shift and wash his hands of it as if he had not been the Author of it though 't was notorious that he was Secondly 't is to be noted that in the fatal year 1648 when that blessed Martyr King Charles the First was so barbarously Murdered the several Articles brought in charge against him were all grounded upon Principles taken out of this Jesuites Book nay a great part of the very Book it self so much as served the turn of those cursed Regicides was Reprinted under another counterfeit Title viz. Several Speeches delivered at a Conference concerning the power of Parliaments to proceed against their Kings for misgovernment They were forced to be beholden to this Jesuite for Principles to defend that Unnatural War and that Unjust Sentence For could the Protestant Religion which they pretended to maintain have born them out it is not credible they would have brought upon themselves so much Infamy by raising up a Jesuites Ghost to speak for them The sending of that Book abroad did clearly demonstrate what they and their designs were And I would sain know whether an unprejudiced man will not conclude that there is some ugly design on foot now when this very Book is brought upon the Stage again For you must observe in the next place that the Present you sent me is the very same Book now lately Printed the Third time the very same Book that was first intended to tear the Government into pieces and to turn this Land into a field of Bloud the same Book that laid the foundations of the late Rebellion the very same Book â—hat served to bring the best of Kings to the Scaffold the very same Book that helped them to justifie that villanous and most horrid Fact And what can we gather hence but that some extraordinary Intrigue is in hand which needeth the help of this old Jesuit again There are so many Knaves in the world already that men need not fetch Father Parsons from the dead only for a shew And the world is so abundantly stockt with Books that Doleman would not have been Re-printed for nothing For be pleased to observe too what the state of Affairs was then in the days of Queen Elizabeth when this Book was published first under that Title A zealous and wise Protestant Monarch was then Reigning but she being not likely to have any Issue the discourses of men were as they are now about the Succession James King of Scotland was the next Heir by Bloud but his Religion did not please the Jesuits For this reason they laid their Noddles together to defeat him of the Crown if it were possible and that matchless man at mischief Father Parsons wrote among other Books this which he called by the name of Doleman wherein he indeavoured to persuade the World that all Monarchies are de jure Elective and that Proximity of Bloud was not sufficient to intitle any man to the Imperial Crown of England without the Peoples Choice Approbation and Consent which by reason of the Numbers Interest and Policy of the Papists then he did hope would never be given to King James As the ground of all this he had the confidence to place the Plenitude of power and all Absolute Soveraignty in the hands of the People so that according to his Principle owned in this Doleman the Commonwealth may Lawfully and at their pleasure fore-close and hinder the next Heir if on the account of his Religion or in any other Respect they judg him unfit to Succeed nay that they may without sin Depose and Destroy a Prince though actually vested and possest of the Throne if in the administration of the Government he answer not that Trust which was reposed in him by his Lords and Masters the People In fine He told the Queens Subjects that the Descent and Disposal of the Crown did depend wholly upon their pleasure and that they had an unlimited power at any time to determine upon this or that form of Government and might alter it when they thought fit and chuse whether they would have a King or no and turn the Monarchy into an Aristocracy or Democracy as they saw occasion and judged it best By these Popular Principles this Jesuit and the rest hoped to serve these Ends either to prevent the Succession of the King of Scots which was the first and Grand design or in case he should Succeed to prepare a ready way to Ruine him and indeed to ruine his Family too and to subvert his Government if they did not answer the expectations of the Church of Rome Nor did they fail of their ends in every particular For though King James came peaceably to the Crown yet these Principles did work so powerfully that they laid Barrels and Trains of Gunpowder under the Parliament House and afterwards made stirs in the Parliament it self and in Forty One raised a Bloudy and Unnatural Rebellion and in the end changed the Government into a Republick and caused the Monarch and the Monarchy to be cut off together Haec Ithacus voluit these were the natural effects of this Book called Doleman which some now have thought convenient and necessary for their Turns to set out again in a new and more polish'd Edition These things being observed touching the Author and of the Design in Printing and Reprinting of this Book I cannot fancy my self to have paid you all those Respects which are due from me till I take a few steps further and shew you a little first what Use hath been made of this Book and these Dolemanian Principles of late and then what those Reasons are on which these Principles are founded For affairs are Uncertain now as they were when these Principles came first into the world The Book is admirably well Calculated for our Meridian otherwise it might have lain still in the dark and no more regarded than an Almanack out of date Methinks I see in it some of Lilly's Prognosticks or Hopes at least of some change of weather and therefore 't is necessary that to preserve our Peace and good Government we look a little into the Nature and Strength of the aforesaid Principles And the rather because I see they are very Pleasant and Taking with the People their bare Popularity though they have no Reason or Sense is enough to recommend them to the favour and kind embraces of the Vulgar who love dearly to be medling with Government and cannot but be Tickled at Heart when they are told that they have a Soveraign Power in them which they did not dream of that they can Make and Unmake Kings that Crowns and Scepters lie at their Worships feet that Princes must make court to them for Succession and that they can if they will bar them out and come like the Tribunes of the People of Rome with an uncontroulable Veto These are fine and delicate Doctrines and beyond the Fawnings of some others who tell us to please us that we have power to chuse all
A LETTER TO A FRIEND OCCASIONED By the late Reprinting of a JESUITES BOOK ABOUT SUCCESSION TO THE Crown of ENGLAND Pretended to have been written by R. Doleman My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Prov. 24. 21. LONDON Printed for W. Davis and J. Hindmarsh at Amen Corner and at the black Bull in Corn-Hill near the Royal Exchange 1682. THE Apostate Protestant SIR I Received your Present and if I thank you for it 't is purely out of respects to the hand that sent it I mean a Book bearing this Title A Conference about the next Succession to the Crown of England pretended to be written by R. Doleman Yet considering what you write that you was startled and astonish'd to see in it such Horrid and Traiterous Assertions and Principles so destructive not of Monarchy only but of every Form of Government I am apt to mistrust that you parted with it chiefly out of Fear of keeping such a Lewd and Dangerous Companion in your Closet especially since you confess that 't was brought to your hands as it were by stealth being happily seized on by one of his Majesties Officers 'T is a dangerous Book indeed and without doubt is published and handed up and down to serve a Turn in these Ticklish times when some Ambitious men have taken Pepper in the Nose and to be Revenged for their disappointments endeavour to make another strong Pass at our Government and would sain hurl the world into Confusion Since you have lodged the Knave with me I 'le take care that for me he shall not go abroad to do mischief But yet I cannot answer your Commands unless I give you some account both of the Author and the Book As for the Author it was not R. Doleman that is but a Counterfeit but Robert Parsons was his Name a notorious and violent Jesuite in the days of Queen Elizabeth a fellow born at Stockersey in Somerseâ—shire and a Bastard it seems which possibly might be an Omen that afterwards he would own for his Mother that Church which is an Whore and as much as in him lay prefer Bastards to a Crown A man of whom the Papists themselves in those days gave this Character that he was filius populi filius peccati one born to be a Plague to the world restless seditious turbuleuâ— cruel imperious treacherous and in a manner the very Epitome of all wickedness They who knew him and his Dealings at Oxford have told us how seditious wanton and factious this lewd Bastards Conversation was and how for his Libelling and other misdemeanours he was thrust out of Baliol College having been so infamous there being then Master of Arts that they hissed him out with hoo-bubs and rung him out with Bells In those days saith my Author England was made the main chance of Christendom the only Butt Mark and White that was aimed at And indeed such was the strength of the Romanists their Conspiracies so frequent and their endeavours so great for a Successor for their turn that affairs were in a very uncertain and tottering condition so that it was expresly given out That England should be made an Island of Jesuites But to promote the Plot none was more industrious than this Parsons 'T was He chiefly that wrought with Pius Quintus to excommunicate the Queen 'T was He chiefly that stirred up the King of Spain to invade our Country 'T was He chiefly that sollicited her Majesties Subjects to abandon their Allegiance Nay 't was He chiefly that that occasioned those Severities the Government was forced to use upon the Papists For the Secular Priests did acknowledge that her Majesty used them kindly for the space of the first Ten years of her Reign so that their condition was tolerable and in some good quiet It was the Principles and Practices of this Parsons that were so injurious not only to our Religion and our Government but to the Interest even of his own Party too You may take this Character as I find it given and very deservedly by a Popish Priest then living This saith he is that same Parsons whom Pope Prince and Peer with all true English hearts have cause to hate This is he of whom his own General reported that he was more troubled with one English man than with all the rest of his Society This is he of whom Cardinal Alan held this opinion that he was a man very violent and of an unquiet Spirit and of whom Mr. Blackwell now his Darling said that his turbulent and lewd life would be a discredit to the Catholick Cause In short the general conceit of all that ever have throughly conversed with him is this that he is of a furious passionate hot cholerick exorbitant working humour busie headed and full of Ambition Envy Pride Rancour Malice and Revenge Whereunto through his latter Machiavilian Practices may be added that he is a most diabolical unnatural and barbarous butcherly fellow unworthy the Name nay cursed be the hour wherein he had the Name of a Priest nay of a Religious Person nay of a Temporal Lay-man Jesuit nay of a Catholick nay of a Christian nay of a Humane Creature but of a Beast or a Devil a violater of all Laws a contemner of all Authority a stain of Humanity an Impostume of all corruption a corrupter of all Honesty and a Monopoly of all mischief This was the man Sir whose Book you sent me and had I never look'd into the Book yet considering who and what the Author of it was I could not but blush and be ashamed to think that any in our days especially Pretenders to the Protestant Religion should be such Enemies to Truth to Religion and to Common Honesty as to bring such a wicked mans Issue to light again and to dress it and set it out afresh for a Tool What good can the indifferent world conceive of them who of all Principles espouse the Principles of the Jesuits who are the worst of Papists and of them do especially Admire and Recommend to our reading the Writings of this Parsons who was one of the worst of all Jesuites As touching the Book it self Sir there are divers things which are worthy your observation and which may be of good use to you and to every man in these times who is a zealous impartial and honest-hearted Protestant First That it is so full of Principles that are apparently false pestilent and scandalous that in Queen Elizabeths days when it was first Printed it did not only exasperate our English Government but did likewise give such offence to the very Popish Faction that several of them wrote Books on purpose in confutation of this Counterfeit Doleman so ashamed they were of it Nay Parsons himself finding his Party so offended and himself so rated and condemned upon the coming out of this Book though he was shameless enough endeavoured nevertheless to
it would have it so or contented to have it so yet in a particular case for the saving of the Nation the whole Line and Monarchy it self may be altered by the unlimited Power of the Legislative Authority Id. Postscript pag. 43. If one of a false Religion or some other notorious wicked man or Tyrant should be offered by Succession or otherwise to govern among Christians in these cases every man is bound to resist what he can Id. pag. 16â— 169 172 173. What unreasonableness is there in shutting the door upon him making it fast against him by an act of State who hath excluded himself by his Principles and Designs Id. Postscript pag. 45. Now if you ask by what Law or Power a Commonwealth can pretend to keep a Prince back from succeeding The Jesuite and Mr. Hunt will tell you that the Will and Pleasure of a People in this Case is Law enough that they have an Unlimited and Arbitrary Power lodged in them and that we ought to submit to their determinations without calling their proceedings into question or disputing about the Lawfulness and Justice of them Thus saith Father Parsons And thus saith Mr. Hunt The Realm or Common-wealth hath power to admit or put back the Prince or Pretender to the Crown and the same Commonwealth hath Authority to judg of the Lawfulness of the Cause it is their own affair and a matter that hath its whole beginning continuance and substance from them alone I mean from the Commonwealth for that no man is King or Prince by institution of Nature Therefore it is enough for every particular man to subject himself to that which his Commonwealth doeth in this behalf and to obey simply without any further inquisition Doleman part 1. pag. 160. It is Criminal and dangerous to the being of any Polity to restrain the Legislative Authority and to entertain Principles that disables it to provide remedy against the greatest mischiefs that can happen to any community No Government can support it self without an Unlimited Power in providing for the happiness of the People No Civil establishment but is Controulable and Alterable to the Publick Weal Whatever is not of Divine Institution ought to yield and submit to this Power and Authority Mr. Hunt in Postscript pag. 41 42. And a little before if any Law should exceed the declared measures of the Legislative Authority though in such a case men may have leave to doubt of the lawfulness of such a Law yet if it be not against any express Law of God they will upon a little Consideration determine it lawful if it be necessary to the Commonweal for that nothing can be the concerns of men united in any Policy but may be govern'd and ordered by the Laws of their Legislature for Publick good for by the reason of all Political Societies there is a submission made of all Rights especially of the common Rights of the Community to the Government of its own Laws Id. ibid. pag. 32 33. According to these Principles the Power of a Commonwealth is so unlimited boundless and extensive as that it can over-rule matters which are naturally just and right and justifie any thing that is intrinsically evil if it be for the publick good And whether this be not against the tenor of Christianity and clearly repugnant to the Apostolick Rule that we must not do evil that good may come and whether it be not perfectly introductive of a more Arbitrary Power in the People than can be feared in any English Prince I leave to such Honest and Indifferent Persons as your selves to judg It hath been a Doctrine hitherto received by all rational and sober men that Dominion is not founded in Grace and that men do not hold their Estates and Civil Rights by their Religion And I am confident there is no Dissenter from the Church of England but would think himself hardly and unjustly dealt with should he be bound to forfeit all he is worth in the World for his Non-Conformity Now one would think that Princes should have the same priviledg at least which all Ordinary and Private men have But in this point some are very Partial and would vary and alter the case where a Successor to the Crown is concern'd For thus saith the Jesuite Parsons of all other holds I esteem the tenure of a Crown if so it may be termed the most irregular and extraordinary Men may not judg 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 For if a Private man have many daughters and die seized of Lands in Fee-simple without Heir Male his said Daughters by Law shall have the said Lands as Copartners equally divided between them but not the Daughters of a King for that the Eldest must carry away all as though she were Heir Male Doleman part 2. pag. 72. And thus saith Mr Hunt as he had written just after Doleman The descent of the Crown is governed according to the presumed will of the People and the presumption of the Peoples will is made by measuring and considering what is most expedient to the publick good whereas Private Estates are directed in their descent according to the Descendents And this is the reason that the descent of the Crown is governed by other Rules than Private Estates Only one Daughter and not all as in Private Estates shall succeed to the Crown Postscript pag. 42. I did not think to have found so much of old Father Parsons his Paw in a New Book set forth for the preservation of the Protestant Religion For who could dream that any man should make use of a Woolf to save and secure the Sheepfold Yet I am willing to believe that Mr. Hunt in all this has no Design which he thinks to be Evil and am heartily sorry that so zealous a Protestant hath so unfortunately run upon Jesuitical Principles But Mr. Hunt in page 33. of his Postscript directs us to a Pamphlet called The great and weighty Consideration considered And good Reason he had to recommend it the Book is so very like his own that a diligent Reader would believe them both to be the Off-spring of one Father and as near of kin as Simeon and Levi. Old Father Parsons can never die as long as he hath such an hopeful Issue so like him in Lineaments and Spirits And I begin to wonder why some of late would be at the Expence to set out Doleman in a New Edition since in this and the two former Pamphlets a true Protestant so called may find matter enough to compile a Dolemanian Catechism were old Doleman utterly lost at least he might extract enough again to do the job of 41. and 48. and that I suppose is as much as some in the world do desire Sir you must well remember that these are the Articles of Doleman's Creed That though Government in the general Notion of
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
contrary while they wanted strength and if this be not a scandal thrown upon the Catholick Church a reproach cast upon Religion and an horrible reflection made upon the very Founder and Author of it I know not what is And since this Person hath been pleased thus to disparage Christianity and to ridicule the Doctrine of the Cross by Drolling with the Doctrine of Passive Obedience I do not at all wonder that he hâ—th taken the confidence also to fall so foul upon Dr. Hicks as to bring both his Integrity and his Learning into Question 1. First his Integrity For he plainly intimates his suspition that when the Doctor in his Sermon on the 30th of January Preached the Doctrine of Passive Obâ—dience he might have a secret design to wheedle men out of their Lives that he taught such Doctrine as is fit to turn a Nation into shambles and enough to tempt and invite Tyranny and Cruelty into the World pag. 88. Nay he declareth his fears that this Doctrine was calculated and fitted on purpose for the use of a Popish Successor and to make us an easier prey to the Bloody Papists pag. 89. In such times as these when it may soon cost any man his Life to lye under the displeasure of the Rabble could this Author have any but a Black and Malicious design in thus exposing a worthy Person to their Hatred and Fury Dr. Hicks is better known than to be suspected by any but ill men and yet I do not see what Reason even such men can have to suspect his Integrity for that Sermon For is not the purport of the day enough to excuse and justifie him Or could a man Preach upon the point of Passive Obedience more seasonably than on that day If you please to consult the Office appointed for that day you will find that the Epistle ordered to be read contains and inculcates that very Doctrine and I wonder how it should escapâ— this Authors Observation if he useth to be at Church on the Anniversary of the Kings Martyrdom The Doctors business was to Preach submission to our lawful Governours This every Clergy-man ought to do and every honest Clergy-man will do that loves and regards his Flock and is careful to give them wholsom food and to keep them from the Bane for it seems the Sermon was Preacht a year before in his own â—arish where he Resides Now could the Doctor pursue this good Design better than by shewing what the Doctrine and Practice of Christ himself was as to this matter and how agreeable thereunto the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Christians was Since therefore that Blessed Prince was Resisted and Murder'd by men whose Principles and Practices were of a far different nature and utterly inconsistent with Christianity how could the Doctor chuse unless he would have been a Tergiversator but take notice thereof and shew the difference by making a Comparison And why should this be construed as a Design to serve the turn of a Popish Successor Surely the Doctor had no need to look so far For I am bound to believe upon this Authors Principle what some would be doing even now had they but opportunity and Power They have plainly shewn their Teeth and we may read the West-Country-Proverb on their Grinns Chud eat Cheese an chad it But whatever these are for the Ministers of the Gospel ought to be for Obedience and Peace and I wish that the Câ—nstitution of our present times were such as that they might think it an Unnecessary and Impertinent thing to preach against Resisting even a Protestant Prince 2. Besides this he is pleased to disparage the Doctors Learning as if he were better versed in the Dissenters Sayings than in the Histories of England and had been beholdâ—n to the Dissenters Sayings for a great part of his Sermon Truly I think this Gentleman may well forgive the injury if he be abused with this complement that he may compare with the Doctor for his Readings But I am apt to think that what Books soever he hath been poring into he hath not read at least not considered some of the Doctors For in the Dedication of that Controverted Sermon he tells that excellent good man the prâ—sent Lord Mayor that he had made it a year ago before the Dissenters Sayings came abroad and that since he had made that Discourse New Collections had been made meaning those Sayings but saith he I have added very little contenting my self with what I had before provided out of their Originals He seems to have mentioned the Dissenters Sayings not upon his own account as having been beholden to those Collections himself but rather for the Readers sake to direct him where he might find many more of the same nature with his own Besides Dr. Hicks his several Citations in his Peculium Dei which was not only framed but Printed before the Dissenters Sayings do sufficiently shew that the Doctor had no need to consult them Into the bargain there was Printed about three years ago a very Useful Book which I would recommend to you whereof Dr. Hicks is on all hands taken to have been the Author 't is called The Spirit of Popery c. And the Animadversions up and down in thâ—t Book upon the Speeches of Kid and King give abundant Evidence that the Doctor had been long conversant with the Phanatical Originals and the Histories which give an account of them I believe the Author of the Dissenters Sayings will not think himself dishonoured should it be said that this Book furnisht him with some Materials But suppose which is common among Writers that Dr. Hicks had borrowed some Hints from Mr. L' Estrange and that Mr. L' Estrange had borrowed others of Dr. Hicks yet this is no more than for one honest man to borrow of another and that is far more Reputable than for a true Protestant to borrow of a true Jesuit and then to be ashamed of his Creditor and Friend For the Doctor had justly Arraigned the Author of the History of Succession for having stoln his Pamphlet out of Doleman the Book which you sent me and which the Doctor in his Sermon calls The most pestilent and dangerous piece that ever was written against this Government p. 28 Julian took snuff at this that a seditious Pamphleteer was discovered to have been trading with a wretched Jesuit And yet he confesseth it to be possible to write an History of the Succession without borrowing from Doleman p. 60. Very good And why then did not that Pamphleteer do it Why was he so Ill-advised as to be beholden to a Jesuit at all Or why was he so Immodest as to borrow his whole stock Or why was he so disingenuous as not to own his Benefactor in whose Book he had run a Tick thus Or why was he so Impudent as to pretend that this Pamphlet was written by a Protestant hand when 't was taken out of the Closet of Father Parsons All that
Evidence hath been given by men whose Credit in other cases has passed unquestioned By which means Justice hath been obstructed and the Law hath been over-ruled or the edg of it hath been turned on one side only so that the King himself hath been denied the benefit of it and men that were notorious for Dishonesty and Sedition have been Protected against him Now it is not credible but that all this is in order to some very evil Design which cannot be carried on but by these very evil means because it cannot be supposed that men would dare to be Hated by the Government to be Obnoxious to the Magistrates Sword to mock Heaven to forfeit their Reputation and to play handy-dandy with their Consciences did not some desperate Plot require such desperate Courses as they cannot but know will one day rise up in Judgment against them even in this World if the establisht Government holdeth The Consideration of these things is enough to convince all thinking Persons that there is a Monstrous Intrigue in hand against the Government But to deal plainly with you all these Arguments to me seem to be over and above For as I mistrusted something of an extraordinary nature above three years ago when Pamphlets came every week abroad full of unworthy and base reflections upon the King upon his Counsellors upon the Bishops and all the Clergy upon the Offices and Rites in the Service Book upon the Long Loyal Parliament and indeed upon the whole Frame and Constitution of our excellent Government which reflections had they been just were surely altogether needless then if nothing but an engagement against the Popish Interest was intended so when I saw the Jesuites Principles brought upon the Stage again and found it confidently Asserted and by many Believed that Monarchy is a meer Human Ordinance that Kings hold their Crowns by the Consent of their Subjects that all Power is Originally in the People that this Power of theirs is Unlimited and Uncontroulable and many the like Positions more which overthrew the Government once then all my doubts vanished strait and what I mistrusted before then I firmly Believed that an Alteration of our Government was intended again and that these Principles were vended about to prepare a way thereunto for to what other purposes could these Principles serve But now at last when I saw that evil men were not contented to Skim and Retal these Principles out of Doleman but moreover have reprinted Dolemans whole Book at large it is impossible for me to force my Charity to believe otherwise than that they have such a black Design against the whole Royal Family and the present Government as I am loth to mention For Books are not wont to be sent abroad into the World but with a Design nor are Booksellers willing to run the hazard of a whole Impression unless there be strong probabilities that it will do either Good or Mischief and the Reprinting of Doleman at this ticklish juncture when the affairs of England are in such an Uâ—certain and Tottering Posture is a plain Argument that 't was done with a Design to possess the People of England with such Notions that they might be ripe for a Rebellion and ready â—or a total change of our Government either according to the State of Venice which is the drift of Plato Redivivus or according to the Model of Holland which other Factionists are generally more inclined unto Consider the thing well Sir and then tell me your thoughts whether that might not be the intent of putting that Pestilent and Villanous Book again into the Press now which at the Kings Restauration and for many years since was hardly valued so much as waste Paper in comparison Men and Books rise or sink in their price according to the condition of Times Twenty years ago it was Hony-moon in England and under God nothing was so dear to our Souls then as our King and our Government and had Doleman appeared abroad then as he doth now we should have thought that Oliver Cromwel had sent the Jesuite from Hell and he would have been Executed at Tyburn by the Hangmans hands before he had done any further mischief But now the Case is alter'd and the smart of Rebellion and Innovation is quite out of some mens fingers and such as are for playing the Old Game over again think it their best course to use the same Cards that were so lucky to 'em once before and Father Parsons is called for to help 'em Deal Sir I will not give you any further trouble now though when I first set Pen to Paper I thought it necessary to Examin those Principles in Doleman which are so Popular in these days And because I find that the Doctrine of the Kings Divine Right to his Crown is become odious to many who look upon it to be full of dangerous Consequences as well as unreasonable in it self and because the Clergy of our Church are hated for that Doctrine sake and the ashes of that Learned Loyal and Honourable Person Sir Robert Filmir have been of late polluted with a great deal of dirt out of the Kennel for no other Reason but because he was such a Fatal Enemy to that Jesuitical Principle that the Original of all Power and Government is in the People therefore I judged it proper and seasonable to shew you what is meant by the Jus Divinum of Monarchy and what strong Reasons that Doctrine is founded upon that so I might vindicate the Integrity and Honour of the Assertors of it But I am not willing that this Letter should swell into a large Discourse However if it may be an acceptable thing to you to be acquainted with my thoughts on that Subject you know you may Command me as my business shall give me leave In the mean time I own my self Sir July the 6. 1682. Your faithful Servant c. FINIS Fa. Watsons Quodlibets Pag. 236. Id. p. 109. Id. p. 217. Id. p. 30â— Id. p. 305. Id. p. 265. Id. p. 236. Quodlibet p. 286. a De jure Magistrat in subdit b Vindiciae cont Tyran Though 't is hard that the same men should be Parties and Judges too * For without Order there is nothing else to be hoped but Horrour and Confusion Doleman Pa. 6. ca. 1. part 1. For remarques upon this Story see the Answer to the History of Succession p. 25. Observe that the power of Deposing a King naturally follows from the Doctrine of the Peoples power to chuse one But is not that Right of Power which a Father hath over his Child and an Husband over his Wife by Divine appointment Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem Diocleâ—ianum Julianum Apostatam Valentem Arianum similes id suit quia deerant Vires Bellar. de Rom. Pontif. 1. 5. c. 7. Azor. instit Moral par 2. 1. 10. c. 2. Nemo nostrum quando apprehenditur reluctatur nec se adversus injustam violentiam vestram quamvis Nimius Copiosus noster sit populus ulciscitur St Cypriar ad Demetâ—ian p. 257. edit Pamel Quodlibets p. 27 Serm. 12. Ad Aulam p. 166.