Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	king_n	power_n	successor_n	2,893	5	9.1968	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96259	The case of the Irish Protestants in relation to recognising, or swearing allegiance to, and praying for King William and Queen Mary, stated and resolved.	Wettenhall, Edward, 1636-1713.	1691 (1691)	Wing W1490A; ESTC R229883	19,849	30

used us But this is in our favor For it appears hereby those who were their Conquerors were our Deliverers and if it be lawful in this case for the Irish to accept of Terms 't is our duty to be thankful to God that there are those now come who can give Terms both to them and us This Plea sufficiently justifies us Irish Protestants against any possible Imputation to us from our Irish Adversaries in this behalf And as to our English Friends we will suppose them more sensible of our Condition than that before them we ought to make Apologies when in our Consciences we want none But as to the Irish let me tell them farther no imaginary freedom of theirs can now in Conscience exempt them from this Subjection The People of the Jews the Seed of Abraham were never in bondage to any as free born a People certainly as Irish Men can be yet when God put them under the Yoke of Nebuchadnazzar his command by the Prophet encouraged too by a blessing annext is serve the King of Babylon and Live The same which God speaks now by the Voice of his Providence to the Natives of this Kingdom in as much as he has left nothing else possible to them They must therefore be subject not only for Wrath but Conscience sake and for Men to swear to do what is their duty to do cannot certainly be unlawful VIII FURTHER not only God but even King James II. has made it impossible to his Protestant Subjects to keep the Oath of Allegiance to him For that Oath expresly as well as another ordinarily taken by many of us I mean the Oath of Supremacy obliges all who have taken it not only to defend to the uttermost of their power His Majesties Person Heirs and Successors but both His and Their Crown and Dignity Which Crown and Dignity signifie as the Oath of Supremacy and so the Law interprets those Terms all Jurisdictions Preeminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs or Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm that is of England The Crown of England saith our Law is Imperial and subject to no Prince on Earth but only unto God If therefore a Prince will subject his Crown and so his People to a Foreign Power and especially to that Power which has now these several Ages incessantly and indefatigably by all means within its Sphere studied and endeavor'd the Ruin of them and the Extirpation of their Religion I mean to the Pope of Rome it becomes impossible for the Subjects of such a King at once or together to the uttermost of their power to defend His Person and His Heirs and Successors His and Their Crown and Dignity The Kingdom of England of which by Law and Prescription Ireland is a Branch and dependent has ever been avowed and to this day is a Free Kingdom But how Tributary and enslaved it would become by being again subjected to the Papacy I list not to aggravate yet cannot but in short take notice that the Heir by the Subjects defending and maintaining such a King Possessor loseth of his Power and Rights and so doth the Crown of its Dignity Preeminence and Authority In such case therefore a Man can no more keep this Oath than he can reconcile Contradictions which even the Roman Catholick Divines ordinarily Teach is not in the power of Omnipotence And such is the Case between James II. and all the Protestants of these Three Kingdoms But it was worse with the Poor Irish Protestants than with the rest of the People of any of his Majesties Dominions We though most of us English-men were not only subjected to Roman Catholicks but to the most inveterate of them Irish Roman Catholicks Enemies to us on other scores besides our Religion contrary to the express Laws of both Kingdoms in this behalf contrary to the manifest Interest of the Heir contrary to the Honor and Dignity of the Crown of England from which as far as an Act of an Irish Parliament could do the feat this Kingdom of Ireland was by Statute solemnly past in that their Parliament above mentioned in effect actually separated and disunited The Crown of England was hereby to lose the Kingdom of Ireland a very considerable Emolument certainly as well as Honor and Jurisdiction These things are notorious matter of Fact and so publickly manifest that they cannot be denied I speak not of being subjected to a French Government and Governors of our being enforced to supplicate many times for our Liberties and Lives I am sure for the supports of our Lives the eating the Bread and wearing the poor Clothes which of our own were left us and some of us directly for our Lives even in Cases wherein we were Offenders against no Law of God or of Man Military or Civil I speak not I say of our being necessitated thus to supplicate to Governors of a Foreign Nation and Language who could not understand us when addressing to them in our own Speech and would not understand our Interpreters in theirs I speak not of Pacts and Sales of which great Evidence as to this Kingdom of Ireland or a great part of it might be given nor of other like or more odious things as designedly avoiding all that might exasperate some Men or together immoderately aggravate others Guilt as well as our Oppressions But it is hereby as clear as the Sun that if there could be degrees in natural Impossibilities there lay the highest natural Impossibility on all but especially the Irish Protestants in the Circumstances they were in to keep this Oath and that not by any fault of their own for they were cast into this impossibility by the Prince to whom by that Oath Allegiance was or was to have been due Now forasmuch as no one can be bound to that which is impossible of all Men the Irish Protestants stand not by the Oath of Allegiance bound to defend the Person of James II. in his or their present Circumstances IX IF it should be said by any These Pleas can only discharge Subjects of so much Allegiance as can be proved unlawful or impossible but they shall still stand obliged to what is lawful and possible I allow it for truth and together Avow that notwithstanding our Performance of what either or both the fore-mentioned Branches of Recognition by the present King and Queen required of us do contain We both may and I doubt not all considerative conscientious Persons within these Kingdoms Do bear and pay all lawful parts or Instances of Duty to our late King And principally what the Article of King John's Magna Charta in such Case as this exacts The Safety of the Persons of the King and Queen and of their Children we look upon as most religiously inviolable None of us would attempt or consent to any attempt upon their Sacred Persons There is indeed a Child in Controversie touching which it must at least be

Means will not do is no less necessary and lawful So that what we ought ordinarily to teach a private handful of People to save their Souls we must not dictate to the three Estates to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal together with the whole Commons assembled in Parliament a Body of near eight hundred Persons all of highest Quality in their respective Ranks and Orders in the Kingdom as a Standard by which they are to regulate the State What Sense would it be to exhort them in Authority and great is the Authority of the three Estates when the King leaves the Nation the greatest certainly in the Nation what Sense would it be I say to preach to them in Authority or to the higher Powers to be subject to and not resist themselves But it is Sense and the Duty of the Clergy to dissuade their People from Revenge from multiplying Suits at Law from Sedition Tumults and rebellious Projects and for this purpose to lay before them the Commands of the Gospel which require of them Peaceableness Meekness and rather to suffer Wrong Damage nay even Oppression it self in some measure than involve all in War and Blood which is a far greater Oppression And this is all the Non-Resistance we preach or hold But whereas we are now involved in War whose Fault is it Theirs sure who begun it who first raised and then maintained an Army contrary to Law c. In a word and to speak roundly The King of England is King of three Kingdoms by Law Protestants not Slaves It is impossible for three Kingdoms to have all their Eyes put out They must therefore see themselves ruining before ruined And it is as unreasonable as impossible to persuade three Kingdoms to give all their Throats to be cut No Law of God or Man can be thought to oblige them hereto For any therefore to think that as the three Kingdoms see so they should not withstand their own Ruin or which is much the same that the Duty of Non Resistance should take place in such a Case as this is for him to forfeit all Sense and Reason or to become really mad that he may seem to be Religious Wherefore when things have their true Names either English or Irish Protestants taking Protection under a Protestant Prince whose just Assertion of his own Rights necessarily involved also their Defence and this at a time when their own King had cast them off from Protection must be acknowledged no Rebellion I avow them who thus fly for seek or accept Protection to be as Passive as any where the Gospel requires them XVIII BUT it will be said in respect of the Invaders there must at least be acknowledged an Offensive War Be it so yet was it a most just one For the Prince of Orange was no Subject and therefore could not be a Rebel and the Causes which he had to enter England when he did and in the manner in which he did with armed Force were both more in number and for Weight and Justice far greater than it can be expected should be represented in this Paper Nor was his Advancement to the Throne less just and equitable I do not find that they who have impartially considered all can assign any thing that could be done more reasonable and as far as Man can see more wholesome to the Interest of Religion and Peace whether in the three Kingdoms or even in Christendom it self But these things have been undoubtedly deduced by abler Hands nor is it needful to our present purpose any more than to point at them We here have had a long and very dark night and have been often abused with false Lights so that perhaps we know not yet the true State of many Transactions nor are capable therefore to discourse of them as were requisite Some persons possibly there are all whose Conduct I cannot excuse but the Swearing Faith to or Praying for King William or Queen Mary does no wise involve any in a necessity of such Mens Vindication XIX THE Conclusion then of all shall be Out of the Power of a King which would not be perswaded to preserve himself and neither could nor would protect his Protestant Subjects Out of the Hands of merciless and barbarous Fellow-Subjects who were bent to have destroyed both themselves and their Country and all in it with themselves and finally from the Lashes of the Scourge of Christendom God has brought us poor oppressed Protestants under a Protestant Prince The Case now in short is whether we will accept Protection or no The Conditions indeed say our Adversaries are very hard Yes they are no less than what God has made our Duty if not our Necessity to Swear to bear Faith and true Allegiance to and to Pray for our Deliverers and their Conquerors in that Quality wherein we find them and wherein they have Delivered us and Conquered them That is to promise sacredly to Man such Subjection and to make to God such Prayers which in our present Condition even without such Promise it were sin not to do In the whole Revolution God has not vouchsafed to us such Irish Protestants who are mainly concerned in this Paper any active part in advancing these Princes to their Power He has thought fit to assign us still only a Passive Lot We must acknowledge it is not it has not been our Business to set up Powers but yet we must own it is our Duty to obey them And no less certainly to be thankful to God and them if we may be protected by them The Scripture is express Let every Soul be subject to the higher powers Such certainly the Conquerors are And I exhort that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all Men for Kings and all that are put in Authority even for the person of a Nero therefore at that time and if for the froward much more for the good and gentle Let us chearfully then comply in both points and lay down not our Conquered Arms for Arms we Protestants have not been now a long time suffered to wear but our captivated Hearts at the Feet of King WILLIAM and Queen MARY whom God long preserve AND O thou who hast hitherto delivered us from our Enemies Deliver us now from our selves Let there be no Shimei or Sheba in our Israel But bow thou the Hearts of all the Tribes as one Man that they may establish the Kingdom in their Majesties whom thy Hand and out stretched Arm has now set over us Do thou O King of Kings defend these the true Defenders of the Faith and make their Arms by Land and Sea Victorious for the Reformation if it might be thy Will at least for the Pacification of Christendom that we whom thou hast saved from the Hands of our Enemies may serve thee without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before thee all the Days of our Life and these Kingdoms may flourish in Truth and Sanctity in Peace amd Plenty to the Glory of thy Name and of the Blessed Memory of our Deliverers to all Posterity Amen FINIS

confest what a most zealous and constant adherent of King James's the same too if I mistake not more than once in great Power and Trust under him has not doubted to publish to the World The business of the Prince of Wales has been so carried as if those whom it most concerns that it should be true had not had a mind it should be believed or words to that effect for I have not the Paper by me 't is intitled Englands Crisis It is to me an ungrateful task to give such Descant or Illustration to this ingenuous Acknowledgment as the Case requires but instead thereof I must be so faithful to my own sense as to add That the Persons most concerned for the Legitimacy of that Child have now so farther managed the matter that I see not how its Legitimacy is possible ever to be made out to the Publick Satisfaction of these Nations Wherefore in my Apprehension it must remain a doubt till the day shall come that shall open all things In the mean time being there is the same Reason of things not in being and of things not apparent no Man can forfeit his Allegiance for not being sollicitous for the preservation of this Child especially now it is removed out of the Sphere of our Defence as well as Knowledge As to any other part of Allegiance imaginable in the present Juncture lawful or possible it would be considered in special what the Particulars are Our Counsel would never be taken and we have been declared again and again not to be trusted yea and notwithstanding the utmost fidelity of many of us reviled and treated as such As to our Prayers what it is not lawful for us to endeavor it is not lawful for us to pray for But it has been shewn King James has made it unlawful for us to defend him in his Possession and Exercise of his Regal Power And to bring him back thereto as far as human Prudence I think can see were but to bring our Religion and its Professors under the same Yoke Opressions and danger of Extinction under which we so lately groaned therefore this it is unlawful to pray for As far as we may lawfully pray for him we own we do nor is it inconsistent with the Prayers required of us for King William and Queen Mary Amongst those who Err and are Deceived amongst Our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers whom we beseech God to have mercy on to forgive them and turn their Hearts by way of Eminency we tacitly comprise our late King In secret also perhaps by name we further pray That God would take from him all Ignorance hardness of Heart and contempt of his Word and to bring him home to Christ's Flock that he may be saved amongst the remnant of the true Israelites To do this for him by Name in publick would be looked upon as Affront and publick Reproach To do it in secret as it is Prudent Charity so it is a Loyalty we disown not Thus Samuel mourned for Saul even when God had rejected him and it repented the Lord that he had made him King And beyond what I have thus openly and freely specified I acknowledge I see not any part of Loyalty and Devotion left lawful or possible to us Irish Protestants in behalf of King James II. except any would have added a sublime degree of Civil Honor the saluting or serving him upon the Knee or such like of which together with a Revenue ample enough to maintain a Court I think there ought to be no dispute but none of these interfere with the Recognition required X. Now to return from Objections and to proceed with what was above propounded Lastly it is to be said for the Protestants who now are at least who all along these Troubles remained in Ireland they are as fully and directly Released from this Oath at least from that part of Allegiance Defending King James by force of Arms as Reason Equity or even Express Law can be well conceived to release them In all Civil Othas if the Power imposing the Oath and to whom the Oath is made shall release the Obligees such Obligees are discharged of their Oath and reduced to their first Liberty Now I say we the People before specified were three ways released either from the whole Oath or at least from this part of it which some expect we should own our selves bound to of fighting for King James II. First the whole Oath of Allegiance Summer was twelve-month by King and Parliament a Parliament at least whose Authority and Legitimacy our Adversaries will not impeach was in this Kingdom by express Statute repealed under the Name if my memory fail not of the New Oath of Allegiance And whereas some Peers upon Reasons which are not needful here to be inserted stood against the Repeal of it and one excepted against that style The New Oath of Allegiance the Answer was returned by them who ruled assigning the Reign in which that Oath of Allegiance was made a point wherein the Objector was not at all ignorant as I take it but I am sure was born some Ages at least a long Age and upwards since that Reign and so never took any elder and I am as confident never any Newer or Later Oath of Allegiance to King James Wherefore being by this Repeal released from that Oath of Allegiance and having never taken any other such Irish Protestants as I speak of are under no Oath of Allegiance to King James the Second and that through his own and his Dear Roman Catholick Parliaments Act. Which being I think the only Service they did us we ought not but with thanks to acknowledge and record it to Posterity tho what Service thereby they did THEIR King as appropriating him to themselves they used to call him we must leave him and them together at their leisure to consider Again we Irish Protestants were not only disarmed as abovesaid but by iterated Proclamations interdicted to have any kind of Arms in our Houses tho merely for the Defence of them from Thieves and Robbers and that under divers Forfeitures which in each later Proclamation were still made severer and in the end as I remember the Penalty was no less than being proceeded against as Traitors How far these Proclamations were executed upon many innocent persons in City and in Country by such who coming into our Houses to search for Arms could easily find what themselves had hid I have no mind to speak But certainly King James's forbidding us so strictly to wear or have Arms was on his part a Discharge to us from the use of them tho in his Defence For what it was Treason for us to Have how could it be Allegiance or Duty for us to Vse Lastly it must not be omitted here what is with the greatest Assurance reported by Multitudes even of our Adversaries that upon the late Defeat at the Boyn King James himself told his Irish Commanders then about him He