determin'd by God or Nature for then they should be All one in all Nations seeing God and Nature are one to All. Doleman part 1. pag. 7. 11. And Mr. Hunt tells us that no man intends by any thing in the Scripture that All Mankind is obliged to any One Form of Government and therefore All men are left to their own Posts p. 39. It is left unto every Nation or Countrey to chuse that Form of Government which they shall like best and think most fit for the Natures and Conditions of their people id p. 7. 10. Civil Offices are of Humane Original id Argument p. 241. The Government is de jure such as it is ibid. God never made any Common-wealth but one by his Directive Will and that only for One Nation for in these things he hath left men ordinarily in the hands of their own Councils and to their own Prudence ibid. God approveth what a Realm determineth in chusing or changing its form of Government Doleman pag. 10 11 58 118. Such Governments which men make God approves and requires obedience to them Mr. Hunt in Postscript p. 38. The Commonwealth hath power to chuse their own fashion of Government as also to change the same upon reasonable causes Doleman par 1. cap. 1. pag. 10. No Civil establishment but is Controulable and Alterable to the publick weal. Postscript p. 42. Though many Learned and Great men have believed and for good Reasons as I may shew you hereafter that Monarchical Government came into the World by Gods own Grant and Appointment Yet Doleman saith that Monarchy was commonly chosen by the people in the beginning Part. 1. pag. 12 21 66. And Mr. Hunt asketh where is the Charter of Kings from God Almighty to be read or found Postscript pag. 36. The Jesuit alledgeth that St. Peter calls Kingly Authority a Humane Creatuâ—e for that by mans free Choice this particular form of Government as all others also is appointed in every Commonwealth and that by Mans Election and Consent the same is laid upon some particular Man or Woman according to the Laws of every Countrey Doleman part 1. cap. 2. pag. 14. And Mr. Hunt alledgeth in like manner that Saint Peter stileth Kings as well as the Governours under them the Ordinance of Man which cannot have any other sense but that Men make them and give them their Powers Postscript pag. 37. Whereas an Objection was foreseen that God said to Solomon By me Kings reign Prov. 8. 15. and that St. Paul told the Romans that there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are Ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. 1 2. And whereas the Apostle doth there speak not only of Authority in General and in the Abstract but pointeth also to the very Person of the chief Magistrate to Nero himself stiling him the Minister of God a Revenger one that beareth the Sword meaning plainly the Man To this the Jesuite answers by a Jesuitical evasion that all this is to be understood of Authority Power and Jurisdiction in itself according to the first institution Doleman part 1. cap. 1. pag. 7. And Mr. Hunt answers to the very same effect that this is meant of Government in the General which is called Gods Ordinance for this reason because in general God approves of Governments Postscript pag. 37. Yet this reacheth not the point nor is it any answer at all For the Scripture there speaketh of the Person and Power of a Monarch and of Government by a Monarch and so it followeth that Monarchy is of Divine Institution the Ordinance of God himself To evade which the Jesuite and Mr. Hunt do equally hold that Regal Government is by Gods Permission that Kings are said to Reign by God because they Reign by his Permission and that their Power is the Ordinance of God because Gods Permission goes along with the Peoples Choice Doleman part 1. c. 6. pag. 99 100. and Postscript pag. 36. Both of them do interpret it not of Gods Directive but his Permissive Will which is not pertinent nor home to the purpose because Gods General Providence is over all things He suffers even Sin to Reign he permits Thieves to Steal and Murderers to Kill and yet who will dare to say that by him Thieves Râ—b and that Murder is his Ordinance As to the point of Succession to a Crown by Descent Inheritance and Birth Thus saith Father Parsons And thus saith Mr. Hunt It was ordained by the Commonwealth that the elder and first in Blood should succeed Doleman part 1. cap. 6. pag. 106. The Succession to the Crown is Hereditary because the People so appointed it would have it so or consented to have it so Postscript pag. 43. Some other conditions must needs be requisite for coming to Government by Succession besides the only propinquity or priority in blood and yet it seems they are not prescribed by any Law of Nature or Divine for that then they should be both immutable and the self same in all Countries as God and Nature are one and the same to all without change where notwithstanding we see that these conditions and circumstances of Succeeding by Birth are divers or different in different Countries as also they are subject to changes according to the diversity of Kingdoms Id. par 1. c. 1. p. 2. The Succession to the Crown is of a Civil Nature not established by any Divine right several Kingdoms have several Laws of Succession some are Elective others are Hereditary under several limitations The several limitations of the Descent of the Crown must be made by the People in conferring the Royal Dignity and Power which is more or less in several Kingdoms Id. ibid. pag. 42. As the Commonwealth hath Authority to chuse and change her Government so hath she also to limit the same with what Laws and Conditions she pleaseth Id. p. 10. If the Royal Family be extinct it belongs to the People to make a new King under what Limitations they please or to make none Id. ibid. p. 43. The Commonwealth giveth the King his great power over them and prescribeth Laws unto him and all Limitations of the Princes absolute Authority do come from the Commonwealth as having Authority above their Princes Id. part 1. c. 2. It is evident that the Succession to the Crown is the Peoples Right Id. ibid. Both the one and the other of these two points were ordained by the Commonwealth to wit that the Elder and First in Blood should succeed and that he should be such a Person as can and will govern to the publick weal of all Id. pag. 106. For Princes are subject to Law and Order and the Commonwealth which gave them their Authority for the common good of all may also restrain or take the same away again if they abuse it to the Common Evil. Id. p. 58. Though the Succession to the Crown is Hereditary because the People so appointed
prefers a Democracy before all as a Government which is much more powerful than an Aristocracy pag. 46. And speaking of the Democratical Government of Româ— which he extols as the bâ—st and most glorious Government that ever the Sun saw pag. 45. he is pleased to observe how truly we are not to examine now That in the most turbulent times of that Commonwealth and Factions between the Nobility and People Rome was much more full of Vertuous and Heroick Citizens than ever it was under Aurelius or Antoninus p. 43. By the way I do not wonder that this Gentleman should indeavour as he doth to persuade the King as if he could Cully him out of his Rights to share those four great Branches of his Prerogative among the Pâ—ople The power of making War and Peace the disposal of the Militia by Sea and Land the appointing of Officers of Trust Civil Military and Ecclesiastical and the Imploying of the Revenues of the Crown pag. 2â—6 257 258. For if these things were done the Ends of this Gentleman and of his Party would soon be served and His Majesty would shrink into a Duke of Venice strait and we should have an Imaginary Prince indeed as he calls the King pag. 43. were but our Government new modelled according to this Platonick Idea But not to digress Though Doleman and this Gentleman differ in some Points yet they agreein the Main viz. That the Foundation of Government and the Power of making Princes is in the People This saith Doleman p. 11. is the ground of all the rest that I have to say Meaning that if this Power be once allowed the rest of his Book must be granted and the Peoples power to change their Government to fore-close a Successor to the Crown to Depose Chastise and Proceed against their King to renounce their Allegiance to forsake their Oaths and the like all this Powâ—r will Naturally follow So that all Rebellions and Treasons are grounded upon this prime Jesuitical Principle touching that Soveraign and Absolute Authority supposed to be lodged in the People of making Kings and of making choice of them aâ— their Proxies and Trustees And is not this the Faith of the Author of Plato Redivivus For pag. 32. He slights the Plea of a Monarchs Divine right to his Crown as a piece of Court-Flattery just as Parsons doth in answer to Belloy Dolman part 1. cap 6. He tells us That the frame of Government was first made by the Persuasion and Mediation of some wise and vertuous person and Consented to by the whole number p. 30. That our Ancestors made choice of this sort of Government Monarchy p. 113. That the burden of the Government is divided between the King and his Subjects p. 116. That the Kings share in the Soveraignty is cut out to him by the Law p. 120. That our Prince hath no Authority of his Own but what was first Intrusted in him by the Government of which he is the Head p. 125. He looks upon these Notions as meer Pretences that the Kings Power came from God that his Subjects cannot dispute it and that he ought not to give an account of his Actions to any but God p. 178. He excuseth the taking Arms by any People in opposition to their Prince from their claim to a Lawful Jurisdiction or Coâ—ordination in the Government by which they may judge of and defend their own Rights p. 215. He tells us as if it were nothing but lawful that all People in the world that have Property will drive out a King that doth reign injussiv populi and exercise the Government Tyrannically p. 71. Besides all these Principles exactly agreeable to those in Doleman he hath a fine Similitude That as in some distempers in the Body when the Head is out of order though the distemper may begin from the disease of some other part or from the mass of Bloud or putresaction of other Humours yet since that noble part is so affected by it that Reason and Discourse fails therefore to restore this again Remedies must be applied to the Head and Humours and Vapours must be drawn from the Head that so it may be able to govern and reign over the Body as it did before or else the whole man like a Slave must be ruled and guided ab Extrinsecâ— that is by some Keeper So saith he it isnow with us in our Politick disease where granting if you please that the distemper does not proceed from the Head but the corruption of other parts yet in the Cure applications must be made to the Head c. p. 231. Now as I was reading Doleman I found such another Similitude in part 1. cap. 3. where he saith As the whole Body is of more Authority than the only Head and may cure the Head if it be out of Tune so may the Weal publick cure or cut off their Heads c. pag. 31. How admirably well do good wits many times jump I remember now that a friend of ours dreamt about two years ago that a great Consult was held somewhere at the Sign of the Nags-head which afterwards adjourned somewhere else to the Sign of the Kings-Head and that there Father Parsons the Jesuit sate Chair-man under the name of R. Doleman Among other things my Friend dreamt too that a wicked Political Catechism was a making there But I lookt upon that as an Idle Fancy for who could dream that such a seditious Pamphlet should come abroad at this time of day But I perceive I was mistaken for yesterday I hapned to read a new Assemblies Catechism bearing that Title A Political Catechism And I found it as full of the Jesuits Venom as if it had been spitten out of Dolemans own mouth For these are some of the Principles in it word for word That the Government being a regulated Monarchy the King is not above the Law but is accountable to the Law and not to God only p. 1. 2. That whatsoever is done by the King without and beyond the limits of the Regulation is not Regal Authority p. 2. 3. That to resist the notorious Transgressions of that Regulation is no resisting of Regal Authority ibid. 4. That it is so far from being a resisting of the Ordinance of God that it is not so much as resisting the Ordinance of men ibid. 5. That the King hath not his power solely or immediately by Divine-right But 6. That the immediate Original of it was from the People 7. That in questioned cases the King is to produce his Grant for he hath no more than what was granted and not the People to shew a Reservation 8. That the good of the Subject is ever to be preferred before the greatness of the King p. 5. 9. That it is lawful for the Two Houses to raise Arms to defend themselves in case an Army be raised against them p. 7. 10. That They are the Legal Judges when there is danger of Tyranny and that they have Legal Power
to command their Judgment to be obeyed 11. That they have Power to dispose of the Militia to Levy Moneys Horse Arms c. even without or against the Kings Consent 12. That of their Power they are the Legal Judges and that all the Subjects of this Kingdom are bound by the Laws to obey them herein Ibid. Sir you cannot but remember that the late Rebellion was raised and maintain'd upon these Principles And if there were no new Rebellion intended again for what Reason can you imagine is there a Revival of these Principles which serve for no other end The Author of Plato Redivivus who doth confess pag. 172. That we are to this day tugging with the same difficulties managing the same debates and giving the same disgusts to the Court and Hopes to the Country which our Ancestors did before the Year 1640. might have added too if he had pleased to speak truth to the full that we are acting to this day upon the same Principles on which they acted in 1641. All which Principles are of their Fathers the Jesuites who are of their Father the Devil and are so manifest that he that runs may read them all in Doleman Redivivus If now you chance to read the Character of a Popish Successor you will find it there Asserted pag. 21. That in the Infancy of time and in the first Original of Nations Monarchy came by the Peoples Choice who frequently in the beginning of the World oâ—â— of the natural desire of safety for the securing a peaceful Community and Conversation chose a single Person to be their Head as a proper Supreme Moderator in all differences that might arise to disquiet the Community Now this is utterly false but yet 't is directly Dolemans very Notion pag. 12. And in the Vindication of that Character you will find another of Dolemans Pleas viz. That the Succession of Kingly Government has not been so sacred but upon some Occasions it has been changed by Divine as well as Lawful Authority pag. 14. And in the Vox Populi the zealous True Protestant speaks after the Jesuite saying That the King has no Power but what the Law gives him pag. 2. And yet I ever thought that the Law hath no Power but what the King gives it and if the Law be His Creature how can it be His Creator And again he tells us That the Kings share in the Sovereignty is cut out to him by Law and not left at his disposal pag. 9. and that the King has no Prerogative but what the Law gives him pag. 13. Now Sir the Books and Pamphlets hitherto mentioned have been all Printed since the beginning of the Year 1680. Bâ—t I must observe to you that these Anti-Monarchical and Seditious Doctrines have come so thick into the World by the Midwivery of a certain Speech which was made five years before and which was Father'd upon a Noble Peer who was then very active in the House of Lords In which Speech you find these Positions That the King is King by Law and by the same Law that a poor Man enjoys his Cottage that to say this Family are our Kings and this particular frame of Government is our Lawful Constitution and obligeth us is owing only to the particular Laws of our Countrey Where the Author confesseth also That he cannot find that ever the Jesuites or Popish Clergy only some of our Episcopal Clergy owned Monarchy to be of Divine Right Of all this we had heard no Nâ—ws for a long time 'till some turn'd Malâ—contents by being turn'd out of their Honours and Offices at Court Then the World began to turn too and old Doleman who had been so serviceable to Faction all along was brought again above-board You see the Gentleman doth own that he had been Dealing and Consulting with the Jesuites and Popish Clergy for he matches them against our Episcopal Clergy and declares himself plainly on the Jesuites side But had he held his tongue as to that yet such as had Parsons his Libel in their Studies clearly perceiv'd whom he had been Trucking with for what he saith in that Speech is the very substance of the first Chapter in Doleman Our Clergy do not deny but the King is King by Law if he means according to Law for the Law doth Recognize his Sacred Authority our Laws give him his Due they Own and Acknowledg that Right of Sovereign Power which he hath by the Laws of God by Natural Claim and Inheritance But the Law doth not Found his Right to the Crown as it doth the poor mans right to his Cottage For Kings were Kings before there were Laws and our King would be our Rightful Sovereign were there neither Statute-Book nor Magna-Charta in all England For the Authority of Kings doth not originally depend upon the Laws or Consent of the People any more than it dependeth upon the Consent of my Children that I should be their Father The Kings Power is Antecedent to Law which hath its force from Him as my Being is Antecedent to the Being of my Children which have under God their Life from me I hope it will appear â—'re long that our Episcopal Clergy arâ— but just to their King in owning their Principles which every knowing Man may justifie for them if he will but obey his own Reason That the Jesuites and Popish Clergy should be otherwise perswaded is not to be wondred at because being ingaged by their Interest to pretend that the Popes Supremacy is of Divine Right they are forced in defence of his pretended Power over all Princes to lay their Authority very low as if it were a Mushrome of the Earth a little Creature of yesterday depending for its Being upon the Peoples Courtesie They therefore are not to be wondred at but the wonder is that any among us that are Protestants Zealots Patriots should fetch their Principles from Dowâ—y or St. Omers We are like to have good work when an Israelite must go to the Philistines to sharpen his Coulter and for Heisers to â—â—ough with Really Sir I am quite tired with looking into Libels of this nature and shall only add that if you have Time and Patience enough to read over as many of them as I have done you will find that the most Considerable Writers of Sedition have taken large Collops out of Dolemans sides and that every little Pamphleteer has come in for a Snack so that could Father Parsons now peep out of the Earth he would bless himself to see what Filching and Kidnapping work hath been made of his Principles But I must not forget to tell you of one very lewd Tenent which Father Parsons had the Impudence to Publish to the World to the great dishonour and scandal of Christianity For speaking of the Primitive Christians Passive Obedâ—ence under Julian and other evil Princes he was not asham'd to give this as the Reason why they suffer'd so patiently and resisted not because they wanted Arms to maintain their Quarrel
Confessors Title by Succession cannot be justified for that his eldest Brothers Son was then alive to wit Prince Edward who in this Kings Reign came into England and brought his Wife and three lawful Children with him But yet was not this good King Edward the Confessor so scrupulous as to give over his Kingdom to any of them or to doubt of the right of his own Title which he had by Election c. Id. p. 151. And though this Edward had an undoubted Title to the Crown if Proximity of Bloud could have given it yet the Confessor was so far from suspecting any danger from such a Title as that he invited his Nephew into England and welcom'd him when he came with the greatest expressions of Joy and entertain'd him with the greatest confidence Id. ibid. This King Edward being dead Harald Son of Earl Godwin had also the approbation of the Realm to be King Id. p. 152. Nor had the People any regard to this Royal Bloud upon the death of the Confessor but elected Harald the Son of Earl Godwin Id. p. 2. All this is before the Conquest but if we should pass any further down we should find more Examples than before viz. of Kings made in England by only Authority and Approbation of the Commonwealth contrary to the ordinary coursâ— of Lincâ—l Successiâ—n by Propinquity of Bloud Id. p. 53. These few among many other instances which may be given will shew plainly enough how men intituled themselves to the Crown in those days and that then it was no strange thing to hear of a Parliaments medling with the Succession Let us go on more particularly to observe what has been done since the Conquest Id. ibid. After the Conquerors death William Rufus was chosen King though younger Brother to Robert Duke of Normandy to whom the most part of the Realm he means the Normans was inclined to have given the Kingdom presently as due to him by Succession notwithstanding his Fathers Will to the coutrary Id. p. 153. William Rufus had the consent of the Nobles and wise men for his Title and the English Interest was so great at that time that it kâ—pt the Crown upon William Rufus's head in spight of all that the Normans could do in the behalf of Robert though they universally joyn'd with him Id. p. 3. By like means got Henry his younger Brother the same Crown afterward to wit by fair promises to the People c. Id. p. 154. It was by the full consent and Counsel of the whole body of the Realm that the Conqâ—erors Third Son Henry was Elected for their King Id. p. 3. King Henry dying left a Daughter behind him named Mawd which being married first to the Emperour Henry V. he died without Issue and then was she married again the second time to Geoffry Plantaginet Earl of Anjou to whom she bare a Son named Henry But for that Stephen Earl of Bologn was thought by the State of England to be more fit to govern he was admitted and Henry put back Id. p. 154. King Henry died leaving no Issue but Mand his Daughter who had been married to the Emperour and afterward to Geoffry Plantagenet Earl of Anjou No dispute can be made but that she had all the right which Proximity of Bloud could give yet Stephen Earl of Bologn stept in before her and prevail'd with the Estates of the Realm to Elect him King Id. p. 3. The States some years after in a Parliament made an agreement that Stephen should be lawful King during his life only and that Henry and his Off-spring should succeed him Id. p. 155. Afterwards Stephen came to an Agreement with the Empress and her Son and a Parliament who alone could give a Sanction to such Agreement was assembled to confirm it and then Stephen publickly adopts Henry for his Son and with their full consent declares him his Heir and with the same consent Henry gives Stephen the name of Father and agrees that he should continue to be King during his Lise c. Id. p. 4. After King Richard John younger Brother to Richard was Admitted and Crowned by the States of England and Arthur Duke of Britain Son and Heir to Geoffry that was Elder Brother to John was against the ordinary course of Succession Excluded Id. p. 155. Richard dying without Issue Arthur Son of Geoffry Duke of Britain the next Heir to the Crown ought to have Succeeded But John younger Brother to Richard without regarding this divine right of his Nephew applies himself to the People for a more sure though but a Humane Title who being summoned together Elected him King Id. p. 5. Some years after when the Barons and States of England misliked utteâ—ly the Government and Proceeding of this K. John they rejected him again and chose Lewis the Prince of France to be their King and did swear Fealty to him in London depriving also the young Prince Henry King John's Son that was at that time but eight years old Id. p. 156. When King John gave over to dissemble his Nature and went about to change his Religion and discovered himself not to be that worthy man which the People supposed him to have been they remember'd whence he derived his Title and proceeded upon the same reason they had chosen him to make a new Election chusing Lewis Son of Philip King of France who coming to London was there Elected and Constituted King Id. p. 5. Upon the death of King John the People recalled again their former Sentence and admitted Prince Henry to the Crown by the name of King Henry the Third and disanulled the Oath of Allegiance made unto Lewis Prince of France Id. p. 156. King John hapning to die very opportunely the Great men of the Kingdom were called together and Prince Henry then an Infant placed in the midst of them and the whole Assembly cried out unanimously Fiat Rex and acordingly they Crowned King Henry the Third and soon after compelled Lewis to renounce all pretences to the Crown Id. p. 6. The Jesuit Parsons goes no further upon particulars in Chap. 8. Part. 1. than Henry the Third But saith Should we enter into the contention about the Crown between the Two Houses of York and Lancaster which took their beginning from King Henry the Third we should see plainly that the best of all their Titles after the deposition of King Richard the Second depended on the Authority of the Commonwealth for that as the People were affected and the greater part prevailed so were their Titles either allowed confirmed altered or disanulled by Parliaments Cap. 8. Part. 1. Pag. 156. This hint the Collector of the History of Succession took to proceed upon more particulars still and pickt them up and down out of other places in Doleman to which Book he was mainly beholden for the History of the Pretences Claims Titles and Fates of those Princes he names since Henry the Third The doubt whether Edward the First or his Brother
Edmond were the Elder he fetcht clearly out of Doleman Part. 2. Cap. 2. pag. 25. and both Parsons and this Collector say that Edmond was believ'd by some to have been put by the Crown for his Deformity The Story of the deposition of Edward the Second is in Doleman Part. 1. cap. 3. p. 46 47. The instance of Edward the Third's being chosen and Elected by the People you find it ibidem and in part 2. cap. 2. of Doleman The instance of King Richard the Second's being deposed is in Doleman part â— cap. 3. and part 2. cap. 3 4. That of Henry the Fourth's being Elected by the People as he pretends is in the same place And what our Collector saith of Henry the Fifth is all taken at large and word for word in a manner out of Doleman part 1. cap. 6. pag. 108 109. Not to trouble you with every little particular when you have already so much of a Specimen I dare say that let any man carefully peruse observe and remember the Contents of Doleman and he will easily discover that this Book is the Forge out of which the Collector of the History of Succession hath taken all those Irons which he hath sent abroad to set this Kingdom on Fire But I must observe unto you that as he hath followed the Jesuit over hedge and ditch in his Examples so he hath followed him exactly too in dealing basely with the world by downright Falsities in some things by gross Partiality and disingenuity in others and by Illogical Consequences in the rest forcing out such Conclusions as the instances do not really yield him to serve his turn But for this I must intreat you to consult well those two excellent Tracts which I recommended unto you above And so much for that Gentleman From whom we could not expect any other Notions than what are serviceable to his secular Ends because his Book argues him to be one that is a meer Politician regardless of the Laws of Religion and governed only by his Interest and he must thank your Charity if you do not think him to be much of the mind of a Gentleman famous now for his zeal whether for his Countrey or himself you may judg it who said once upon a time That he is a Fool who hath any more of Religion than what will serve his Interest And if that be true I must give him that due Character which he hath been meriting for above these 40 years that he for his part is one of the wisest of men But of all men living I wonder at Mr. Hunt a person whose name I cannot mention without due respect because in his Argument for the Bishops Right c. he hath shewed a great deal of good Learning in the Laws and hath exprest his just Zeal for the Interest of the Church and that deep sense which I am perswaded he hath of the Calamitous condition which this poor Nation is now in So that I should have taken no notice of his writings but what would have been entirely for his Honour but that his Personal Worth which I love and value may probably give a Reputation to some Foreign and Groundless Opinions which he runs upon in his Postscript and which the Jesuite Parsons hath furnisht even him with I have heard say that when our Government was lately in a fair way to be run down he was prevailed with to write that Postscript partly by Fear and partly as Penance and Satisfaction to a Party for the Argument which he had written before This is clear that the Bishops are more beholden to him than the King is for he owns their Authority as Bishops to be Divine but as for the Kings title to his Crown he believes it as Doleman alias Parsons did to be a meer Human thing If any of our Clergy deny this I see no reason Mr. Hunt hath to be so very angry with 'em for they hold no more than what all good Christians have ever held no more than what the Church of England hath declared no more than what the Laws of our Country do own and will bear them out in I have been told by many of them that Mr. Hunt hath done them wrong and that he may convince himself if he will but look into their Sentiments well and consider them with an Indifferent and Candid mind but where he pretends to Vindicate and to be Concern'd for them there he accuseth'em and the charge is unjust and had another drawn it up I would have said malitious designed on purpose to render the Clergy odious for being steady and true to the establisht Government in a time when so many are longing for a Change Those Fancies and Dreams of his that the Clergy of England are for a Popish Successor and no Parliaments that they allow of Arbritrary Power that they are ready to abett any Extravagancies in a Prince and the like are idle evil and unworthy insinuations and if Mr. Hunt please to enter the Lists I will find him one that shall undertake the Cause in this point out of that Veneration which we all ought to have for that Sacred Function and out of just and due respects to our present Clergy than which perhaps this Nation was never yet blest with a better But Sir my business is to shew you that Mr. Hunt hath been foully imposed upon by the Jesuite Parsons as to Principles and Doctrines which concern the State And for evidencing thereof you may please to remember that 't is a fundamental Principle in Doleman That all Power and Authority to Institute to Modifie or to Change the particular form of any Government and to admit or exclude a Successor in Monarchy is wholly and uncontroulably in the People Now this is taken for granted by Mr. Hunt as if it were as clear as a Postulatum in the Mathematicks and so he does not so much as offer at any solid and just proof of it only now and then touches upon some notions in Doleman which at first sight may seem to look a little that way Sir I would not willingly and knowingly do this Gentleman any the least wrong or unkindness nay I have that respect for him that I could strain my Charity to believe that he himself hath not borrowed of Doleman but some body else for him But that there has been borrowing in the case you may easiâ—y perceive by the following account The Jesuite saith And Mr. Hunt saith That though Government and Jurisdiction of Magistrates be of Nature and consequently also of God yet the particular form or manner of this or that Government is not by Law either Natural or Divine but is ordained by particular Laws of every Country Doleman part 1. pag. 2 3. That Government is from God as he hath made Governments Necessary in the General order of things but the Specification thereof is from men Postscript p. 38. Father Parsons tells us that particular Forms of Government are not
it be of Natural and Divine Institution yet the particular Forms of Governments depend upon the Consent and Good will of the People that Kings are their Creatures that Succession to the Crown is at their disposal that they can alter Government and Succession if they please and even Depose the King himself if they judge it needful and all this by a Boundless and unlimited power of right belonging unto them Now this Considerers Faith is just of the same piece for all the world For he holdeth That though God commands us in our Nature to form our selves into Governments for that Mankind cannot tolerably subsist without them which is Dolemans very Reason though Government because it makes men equal and Reasonable c. seems to be the most principal Institution and Appointment of God in Nature yet the Forms of Government the Persons of the Governours the Order of Succession their respective Powers and Ministries are of Mans appointment and an Humane Creature pag. 8. exactly agreeable to what Doleman delivers pag. 2 3. If you urge that Soveraign Power is called in Scripture the Ordinance of God Doleman will tell you in answer to it that 't is so called because Gods Approbation and Concurrence goes along with the Peoples consent And this is our Considerers very Notion That Gods doing a thing is only the course of Natural and Second causes to which because God gives the Direction and Motion he both doth and is said to do all that is done pag. 13. Whence he proceeds to tell us That every Form of Government is of our Creation and not Gods ibid. That the King hath his Authority from the Consent of the People in the first constitution of the Government pag. 20. 'T is upon the strength of this Principle that he tells us with the same Confidence as Doleman doth That no Laws of Men are so fundamental but that they are Alterable Consider p. 4. That a Government made by Men is not to be left meerly to Chance and the contingency of Birth pag. 5. That all rights of Property are of Positive and Civil appointment and institution p. 7. That no man can have or is entitled to any thing but what and as the Laws allots it to him Ibid. And that just according to Dolemans Notion every Form of Government was never intended unalterable or at least inflexible but was intended and made under Reservations reasonable Exceptions of unforeseen Accidents and rare Contingencies in Humane affairs pag. 13. Now to prove all this That every Form of Government is of Humane Institution c. Doleman offers and insisteth upon but one Argument and 't is this viz. That had Forms of Government been prescribed by any Law of Nature or Divine then they should be both immutable and the self-same in all Countries as God and Nature are one and the same to all without change Doleman part 1. pag. 2 3. Now this is a very weak Argument for God and Nature have been one and the same to all because Anciently every Form of Government in all Countries was Monarchical And it will no more follow that this one Form of Government was not setled at first because several other Forms of Government were set up afterwards than it will follow that one sort of Religion was not instituted at first because so many sorts of Religion crept in afterwards However this poor Argument of Dolemans is made use of by our Considerer For saith he Nature hath made no Laws about Property nor about Governments otherwise all Laws of Property and Right and all Governments would have been the same for what she makes are Universal as the Nature of man Answer to a Letter p. 29. 'T is an avowed Principle in Doleman That it belongs to the Commonwealth to order all Succession to the Crown And this is our Considerers Principle That Succession is properly the Right of the Community p. 20. That Succession to the Crown is the Peoples Right the Right of the whole Community their Appointment their Constitution and their Creature Answer to a Letter pag. 32 33. Whereas it is urged well that the King is by Nature that he is our Natural Prince our Natural Liege Lord c. this Considerer calls this Loathsom Pedantry Answer to a Letter p. â—9 And in like manner saith Doleman When men talk of a Natural Prince or Natural Successor if it be understood of one that is born within the same Realm or Country and so of our own Natural bloud it hath some sense But if it be meant as though any Prince had his particular Government or interest to succeed by institution of Nature it is Ridiculous Doleman part 1. pag. 11. If you ask What power a Commonwealth hath to deprive a Successor without such Causes and Reasons which in the Eye of the Law seem Just Doleman will tell you up and down That the Peoples Power is Boundless Uncontroulable and Unquestionable and that it is to be presumed and owned that what they do in this case is just because they do it And at the same rate our Considerer speaketh That no Government can want a power to preserve it self whether it be by Right or Wrong means he considers not pag. 4. That no private Right but what is governable and may be ordered as to the Legislature shall seem necessary to the preservation of the whole pag. 20. That the King and his great Council in providing for the establishment and security of the Government in their Proceedings are not tied up to the Forms of Judicial proceedings but are to act upon such inducements and in such methods whereby the wisest men govern their affairs in which they are at perfect Liberty and not under the restraint of Laws And that they cannot do Unjustly whatever Methods or Means they use that are Prudentially and Morally necessary to this End Ibid. p. 21. It is justly demandable How a Commonwealth came by this Prodigious Omnipotent and Ungovernable Power so as to be under no Laws of Religion or Natural Equity In answer whereunto Father Parsons saith what I noted before That it would be a very imperfect Law that hath not provided for accidents so weighty and important as some are for saving and conserving of a Commonwealth Preface to Doleman part 1. Answerable whereunto is that Question of our Considerer Can we imagine a Government which is of Humane contrivance to be without a Power to Preserve it self and an Authority in cases that threaten its Ruine to interpose with apt remedies for its Preservation Consider p. 5. If by apt Remedies he meant Honest and Lawful means we deny it not But we cannot yield that any men have Authority to do Injustice They may have Power and Force enough to do so as some upon Shuters-Hill have Power to take away my Purse and as the High-Court of Justice so called had to take away the late Kings Life but this is not Authority or Lawful Power or Lawful Proceeding
tremble to consider that the blessed Sacrament of Christs Body and Bloud should be used only as a Politick Tool to capacitate men to be Potent Villains Are not these Dainty Conscientious men who can thus play fast and loose with their Consciences And who have got such a perfect mastery over them that they can set them a whining or put them to sleep at their pleasure so that if a friendly job be to be done at Guild-hall or the Sessions-house poor Dame Conscience is commanded to lie quiet behind the door and when the business is over then she is taken up again to Pewk the next Sunday at the very sight of a Surplice Sir if you think me somewhat sharp I must desire your Excuse because nothing is more hateful to me than a Conscience that is Tender in Part only a Conscience that is much like an Animal in your Garden which you call a Tortoise a Creature that is so very Nice and Tender in some parts that it shrinks up it self presently if you touch it with a Straw but yet is wrapt up in such a deadly hard crusty shell that you may drive Horses and Carts over it and not hurt it And really Sir as I was considering with my self how mighty shy and scrupulous some are in things which are of an inconsiderable nature but Straws in comparison and yet what little impression the weighty things of the Law make upon them I thought presently of your Tortoise and was minded but that I do not care to give Names to call that a Tortoise Conscience which some call a Tender a True-Protestant and an Ignoramus-Conscience You need not wonder at all this since as I said they have grafted the Crab upon the Apple I mean the Jesuit upon the Protestant For no good can ever be expected where Dolemans Principles are suckt in But you may see how basely Partial these Folks are in their ordinary Censures For let a man be a true Friend to the King and the Established Government and presently forsooth he is a Papist Let him Kneel at the Rails in a Chancel and he is a Papist Let him be for the use of the sign of the Cross or for reading part of the Communion-Service at the Communion-Table and hâ— is a Papist Let him refuse to do evil that good may come though that was St. Pauls way and he is called a Papist Or let him be for Subjection to a Lawful Prince and when time serves for Passive Oâ—edience and he is a Papist with a witness But let these men profess the Faith and Doctrines of the Jesuits let them Lie and Equivocate like the Jesuits let them violate Oaths or Conster them in theâ—r own sense like the Jâ—suits let them Dispense with one another in doing any wickedness that is serviceable to their Cause as the Jesuits do yet who but they the True Protestants The only Patrons of their Country The bravâ— Assertors of Religion Liberty and what not That Learned and great man Bishop Sanderson hath in one of his incomparable Sermons this following passage I remember saith he to have read long since a Story of one of the Popes but who the man was and what the particular occasion I cannot now recal to mind that having in a Consultation with some of his Cardinals proposed unto them the course himself had thought of for the setling of some present Affairs to his most advantage when one of the Cardinals told him He might not go that way because it was not according to Justice he made answer again That though it might not be done per viam Justitiae yet it was to be done per viam Expedientiae The Pope thought that any thing was lawful for him to do that was but expedient for his Turn and Interest Are not our Factious men now clearly of that Popes Persuasion goodly Protestants as they are Do they not break over all bounds of Justice when it is expedient for them Do they not Plead or Contemn the Laws according as it is expedient for them Do they not Obey or Disobey as it is expedient Do they not cry up or cry down Parliaments as it is most expedient Do they not go to a Church or a Conventicle as it is expedient Do they not Receive or Refuse the Holy Sacrament as it is expedient Do they not avoid or stickle for Offices as it is expedient Do they not observe or violate Oaths as it is expedient Do they not shake hands with the Jesuit or give him a kick as it is expedient And yet these men would persuade us that there is no Plot on their side though Doleman be brought to life again just as the Jesuits pretended that there was no Plot on their side though they plaid the like Pranks and disseminated the like Principles when Doleman saw the light first I accuse no particular Persons but if the Faction have no villanous Design in hand they are damnable Fools to make such broad signs and have damnable ill luck to have so many ugly Marks upon them For what courses have they omitted which a cunning Achitophel would think necessary to be taken supposing that there were a design to subvert our present Government As little a Politician as I am yet were I a great man and could I suffer my self to be an Ill Subject I know not what more effectual course could be taken to rend all into pieces than this First I would make my self Popular and would curry favour with City and Country by pretending to be a very Consciencious man and a zealous Protestant whether I had any thing of Conscience or Religion in me or no. My next care should be the Populace having entertained a great opinion of me to tell my Fellow-Subjects and Admirers that Kings are not such great men nor Kingly Government such a great matter but that Monarchs and Monarchy it self ought to truckle to the Conveniences of a Kingdom Thirdly my business should be to possess the People throughly with this Opinion that all Power is derived from them that a Crown is a Donative and Gift of theirs and that they have an Unlimited Power either to continue a King and his Government or to lay aside both as shall be most expedient My fourth care should be to lay open my Princes Infirmities to disparage his Judgment as Weak and Impolitick to render his Authority contemptible to Reflect upon all miscarriages in his Government and to make his Person vile and hated But then for fear of falling into open Treason my next care should be to traduce and accuse his Counsellours and to make the world believe that they were all Papists and perfectly designed the introduction of Arbitrary Power that so I might wound the Prince himself through the sides of his Ministers Sixthly Under pretence of securing Religion Liberty and Property I would make my Interest and Party strong and gain over as many considerable men as I could and persuade them to enter
No private man ought to lose his Estate but for Legal Causes and by Legal Proceedings To evade the force of this Argument Parsons the Jesuit saith That the Tenure of the Crown is irregular and extraordinary Men may not judge of this as of other Pleas of particular persons nor is their trial alike nor the common Maxims or Rules always of force in this thing as in others To prove which he tells us That only one Daughter of a King though he hath many is to go away with the Crown whereas Private Estates are Divideable among all the Daughters for want of Issue Male Dolman part 2. pag. 72. It seems there is Law and Justice for Private persons but not for Princes And so this Considerer reckons too That the Right of Succession to Government is not placed in the same rank with Private Inheritances nor to be governed by the same Rules That there is one Rule for the Succession of the Crown and another for the Succession of Private Estates For the descent of the Crown is governed and directed according to the presumed will of the People and this saith he gives us the Reason the very Reason in Doleman why one Daughter or Female of the next degree shall succeed to the Crown and not all if more than one whereas a Private Inheritance is equally divided amongst them all Consider p. 32. Heirs Apparent are not true Kings until their Coronation nor is Allegiance due unto them before they be crowned saith Doleman pag. 108. No Allegiance is due to any Prince but whom the Law appoints and as the Law appoints saith this Considerer pag. 30. But Doleman is Positive that Princes may lawfully be Deposed and he observes too as a Remarkable Circumstance as he calls it That God hath wonderfully concurred for the most part with such judicial Acts of the Commonwealth against their evil Princes not only in Prospering the same but by giving also some notable Successor in the place of the deposed Pag. 26. and Chap. 3. Had Father Parsons been alive in our days perhaps he would have instanced in that blessed Bird Oliver Cromwell among the rest But I leave it to you and to other Honest men to judge whether our Considerer had an eye to that passage and observation in Doleman when speaking of the Exclusion of the D. of Y. he saith we know and are most assured of the justness of the undertaking and we have good Hope in the Goodness of God that he will Succeed it p. 7. Yet I do not much wonder at this considering that he goes higher still even from the Successor to the Possessor of the Crown For thus his Politicks run The Crown doth not lie in Dominion but in Trust not in Property but in Care pag. 31. This is exactly Dolemans Notion that a Princes power is Potestas Vicaria or delegata a power Delegate or power by Commission from the Commonwealth given him as their Trustee or Proxy part 1. chap. 4. Upon this Doctrine he builds that Position and it naturally follows that true Kings may be Deposed ibid. and part 2. cap. 4. wherein our Considerer follows the Jesuit at the heels owning that the People may recall their Letters of Attourney and exauctorate their lawful King p. 6. where he saith and with base abusing Dr. Falkner when he seems to commend him I will hope there are very few in this Nation so ill instructed that doth not think it in the power of People to Depose a Prince c. Here the Gentleman speaks out and home and insinuates that for a man to be a Martyr or to bear the Cross of Christ is to be ill instructed According to this Jesuitism is the only true Orthodox Principle and so this Considerer hath lastily con'd Doleman thanks for all his Orthodox instructions For saith Doleman the Commonwealth hath Authority above their Princes pag 19. And this Considerer calls the Commons the Greatest and Best part of the Nation p. 6. which is plainly meant with respect to their Authority because a King cannot be deposed but by some that are supposed to be Greater and Better than Himself And so you see in the end what it is which this Gentleman and others of his Party and Persuasion would fain be at They pretend the Preservation of Religion and at the same time ven'd such Principles as overthrow the very foundations of our Government so true is that common observation that these Pamphleteers begin with his Royal Highness and end at last with his Royal Majesty I need not say any thing of this Considerer's short Historical Collection touching the Succession of the Crown For you and every body may easily see that 't is taken out of Doleman And so let this Considerer and his Father Parsons go together The next that comes to my hands is that Sir Positive Statesman the Author of Plato Redivivus who was so well pleased with the Comical Preface to Doleman where the Jesuit after a Poetical manner brings in two Lawyers at Amsterdam discoursing about Succession to the Crown of England that he could not but imitate the Poetical Fancy himself bringing in a Noble Venetian an English Gentleman and a Doctor at London all discoursing about the present Government in England So that 't is but altering the Scene and the Quality of the Interlocutors and then the Dramatick Farce is in a manner the same I confess this Gentleman is not Doleman all over from Head to Foot but seems to have only the Guts and Garbage of the Jesuit I mean his most Carrion-Principles For in two respects Doleman seems to have been the better man of the two 1. First in respect of that Regard and Esteem for Religion and for the Church which the Jesuit expresseth with so much zeal that he would have all other Interests to truckle to this Whereas this Gentleman seems to own no Apostle but Machiavil the Divine as he often calls him but Ridicule's things Sacred Scoffs at Ordination maliciously Depraves our Church Constitutions and makes use of his best Rhetorick that is Buffoonry and Scurrility to reproach all our Clergy speaking plainly thus pag. 98. The truth is I could wish there had never been any Clergy the purity of Christian Religion as also the good and orderly Government of the world had been much better provided for without them Had the Bookseller been well advised he might have been so respectful to the memory of the Divine Plato as not to have put a Jewel of Gold in a Swines Snout but should have entitled this Book rather Lucianus Redivivus 2. Then as touching Monarchy even Doleman is so fair that he allows it to be the most Excellent most Perfect and most Ancient Form of Government pag. 12. But this Gentlman looks upon it as the very worst and to have proceeded from the Corruption of better Governments pag. 33. Therefore he admires the Venetian Government as the only School in the world at this day pag. â—4 and