Parliament without which he had no more Right to them than the Prince of Wales now has In the mean time the Pulpits were the Ensurers of the King's Word and said it was like the Laws of the Mâ—des and Persians which Altered not And as for the Customs they Preached that he had a Natural Right to them for they had gotten the true Art of spelling all the Oppressions and Devildoms in the World out of the pregnant word King though it is impossible to fetch any more Power out of that word than just what the People of England have put into it What I write is in the Memory of Man It is true in Sweden the word King now of late signifies infinite Power in Denmark since the Force put upon the Senate it is Proclamation-Law in King Ioseph's Kingdom of Hungary it is doing of Justice in general or according to his young Discretion in France it is Will and Pleasure because it is and it is the Mouth-watering General Excise Standing Armies Levying Money All things This makes him a Powerful and a Formidable Enemy but it would be more formidable to have those Outlandish things come hither though it were to make another as Powerful Monarch here as the late Licensed Book of the State of England would fain have it I take it to be a Licensed Book because it was Published in the Gazetâ—e But I tell that Author it is impossible to have here in England such a brave thing as the French King is till we be first made such sorry things as the French Subjects are I have not forgot where I digressed and I say that by Experience Popish Tyranny is so far better than Protestant that Pâ—ople are more aware of it and sooner rid their hands of it We saw this so plainly in Powis-house that nothing more can be writ upon the Subject A Massâ—house devoted to Destruction was saved by the Inscription of my Lord Delamere's Name that it was provided for his Lodging But a Protestant Inscription will never save a Mass-house a second time I might descant upon his Calling in Providence to decide a Title which is to employ the Majesty of Heaven in Undersheriffry and the Woes he lays upon Non-swearers and their Fighting against God if they happen to be in the Wrong as I will swear they are But I will keep my Word because as I said he seems to recal his first Paragraph in his Second which begins in these following words But all this may look like a Pathetical aggravating the Matter unless it should appear to be well supported I go therefore in the next place to set before you those Reasons that seem convincing to me even though there were no more to be said for the present Settlement but that we have a Throne filled and a King and Queen in Possession From henceâ—orth therefore Rhetorick apart we must expect nothing but Reasons and convincing Reasons I shall take the pains of examining them one by one and find out if I can their Power of Conviction which I am afraid is like an Estate left in Diego's Will The First Reason which seems Convincing to him and sufficient for the Purpose is that we have a Throne filled and a King and Queen in Possession A Throne filled I think it is for it never yet held more than one Person at a time unless it were widened once in a Thousand Years by the Consent of the People I believe that a King and Queen in Possession at once or a King and Queen de Facto Together in Opposition to de Iure which the Scotch Parliament justly called a Villanous Distinction would have frighted even Coke himself the first Author that I know of that affected Distinction and much more would have frighted old Littleton out of whose Mouth there never came any thing else but Ung Dieu Ung Roy. We know a King alone comes from Heaven or a Queen alone comes from Heaven and either of them Fills a Iure-Divino Throne But to talk of Two in Possession together without first naming the true Cause of it which was the Good-will of the People who were perfectly free to have had either or neither or both is to talk of an utter Impossibility For here all their Schemes fail them all their Texts fail them and they cannot shew any such Pattern in the Mount Besides Possession even of a single Person is the worst Title in the World it is the Claim of a Disseysor an Intruder an Usurper and of Oliver who told the Fifth-Monarchy Man that he only kept Possession of the Throne till King Iesus came and then he was ready to Resign it to him The Pastoral seems to be aware of this and therefore immediately these words follow in the same Paragraph The bringing the State of the Question so low may seem at first view not to be of so much Advantage to Their Majesties Title but since I intend to carry the Matter further before I leave it I hope it may be no incongruous Method to begin at that which will take in the greatest Numbers since there is no Dispute in this that they are actually in Possession of the Throne that they protect us and that we by living under their Protection and enjoying the Benefit of it are therefore bound to make some Returns to them for it In my Life I never met with such a short-winded Author for he is perpetually sucking in his Breath and what he advances in the beginning of a Paragraph is presently recalled A Throne filled and a King and Queen in Possession was in his very last Period a Convincing Argument for this Settlement yea though nothing more were to be said for it whereby it was made such a self-sufficient Convincing Argument as rendred all others superfluous and needless And yet now in this Period he Blemishes his own convincing and self-sufficient Argument as if it might lower and disparage their Majesties Title and plainly confesses it to be purely Drag-net as that which will take in the greatest Numbers One Convincing Argument is as much as one Thousand and as the King has but one Plain Title which is the Gift of the People so there is but one plain Proof of it which is the Instrument of Conveyance of the Crown by both Houses which the King accepting of Confirmed the Thing For that is very true the King might have chose whether he would be King or no he could not be made so against his Will nor can any Man be forced to take a Trust. But after all this had passed in the Face of the Sun and been transacted by the Greatest Authority upon Earth I mean the English Community which as King Charles the First says Moulded this Government and made it what it is and consequently both at first erected the Office of a King and always disposed of the Crown as they found Cause and never did it upon more valuable Considerations than in their last just Choice I say
it is no more than Common Honesty to stand to one's own Act and Deed But in the way of the Passive Doctrine to prostitute the Lives Liberties and Estates of the People of England to the Will of the Prince is Treason against the Realm and Higher Treason than the Highâ—Treason against the Prince For as Fortesâ—ue and the rest of the Lawyers â—ay the King was made for the Kingdom and not the Kingdom for the King And as Treason against the Realm is such as the King cannot pardon so it is such as an Actual King by Succession is capable of being guilty of as appears by several Acts of Parliament which I can shew to any Dabbler in our Government that understands it not He clenches his third Paragraph with a Fourth which follows in these words This is either true or all these who live upon a Continent and that are subject to the Conquests and Invasions of their Neighbours must be misâ—rable For though our Happy Scituation has exempted us for a whole Age from falling under any such Difficulties yet this is a Case that falls often out in all different States which are on the same Continent for if Subjects owe their natural Prince such an Obstinate Allegiance that neither Desertion nor Conqueâ—t can dissolve it then in what a miserable Condition must they be when they fall under the Power of their Enemy that never thinks himself secure of them but treats them still as Enemies till they swear Allegiance to him Now all the true Maxims of Government being such that they must tend to the Preservation and not to the Ruin of Mankind it is certain that all those are false which tend to the inevitable Destruction of Cities and Societies and therefore this of an indiffeasable Allegiance must be reckoned among these since the fatal Consequences that must attend upon it are evident and this is the Opinion in which all who have considered this matter either as Lawyers or Casuists do agree This is shifting the Scene for he knows that we are a World by our selves and have nothing to do with the Continent It is a Londlopeing Argument and till we are in the Condition of the Flanderkin Towns he need not urge us with their Practice and Example And he is wholly out of the way in every word he utters For we are not Deserted or Forsaken nor Conquered or Subdued nor under the Power of an Enemy nor treated as Enemies and cudgelled into an Oath of Allegiance nor ever will be If I were hired to write against the Oath of Allegiance I would use such Arguments as this is Are we in the Case of those that are Slaves under the Spaniard and Slaves under the French that often change their Master but never their Condition that are Prize and Retaken and Prize still Let him answer me to that If not why must our Vertue be taught us by their Necessity God help thâ—m my Soul pities their Case and I should not readily know what to do in it because I never considered it And perhaps it is like one of those wherein our Saviour forbids Forecast and would have no Man Premeditate but promises help at a dead Lift Dabitur in illâ Horâ But in all his Travels could he find no Copy for us to write after nor no Body to match us with but a Conquered People What then is become of our Thanksgiving Deliverance which God and Man have been told of If after all we are to be in the Condition of a Conquered People it is a Deliverance downstairs and our last State is worse than the First For we were not Conquered in King Iames's Time though we were in election to be so and though his Westminster-hall Red-coats had made a fair Progress in it And therefore I am sure neither King nor Parliament have reason to thank him for the Choice of this Argument When all is done as I said beâ—ore all Arguments that come from abroad are Foreign to Us. We live under Municipal Laws and Local Statutes and By-Laws that are Peculiar to this Empire And therefore if he had offered us the tenth part of an Argument fetch'd out of the Bowels of our own Laws we would have hearkn'd to him but as for his Stories from abroad he may even if he pleases carry them home again But I love to talk with his Maxims as I do the sight of an Ass who looks like Wisdom and Gravity and is not For Allegiance Defined by Convenience is much like Religion Defined by maintaining a Coach and Six However let us have his own words over again For if Subjects owe their Natural Prince such an Obstinate Allegiance that neither Desertion nor Conquest can dissolve it then in what a miserable Condition must they be when they fall under the Power of their Enemy that never thinks himself secure of them but treats them still as Enemies till they swear Allegiance to him Now I can tell him that Allegiance is so Obstinate a thing that neither Desertion nor Conquest nor any thing in the World but what is intrinsecal to it that is Breach of Covenant or Consent of both Parties can Dissolve it It is a Moral Duty and Heaven and Earth may pass away before Allegiance can pass away As for Desertion we must first know what it is before we can know whether it will affect our Allegiance A Souldier's Deserting and running away from his Colours we know but what is this Deserting a Crown or a Kingdom A Resignation Renunciation Cession accepted by the People is valid and they are words currant in our Law and the Prince being thereby Deposed Allegiance ceases But as for Desertion we must enquire further about it Did the King Desert Willingly or Unwillingly Did not his People Desert him first If so then for shame never say that King Iames Deserted but say that he was Deserted Well now we are coming to the Merits of the Cause Had the People Reason to forsake King Iames or no had he Forfeited had he broke his Allegiance first was He the Aggressor Yes He had made our Allegiance to him Impossible For we were by the Constitution Sworn Brethren Conjurati Fratres ad Defensionem Regis Regni and he had brought things to that pass that we must either part with our King or our Realm The keeping our Allegiance to King Iames's Person would have Perjured us for we owed a Higher Duty to our Country and Laws to which he was sworn as well as we But instead of the double Duty which lay upon him of observare observari facere of Keeping the Laws and Causing them to be kept he abridged our Common Law and Statutes into five Positions of a Dispensing Power After which I would never look upon a Statute-Book more but kept the Copy of that Compendious Law always in my Pocket to see whether it would outlast the Paper which fell in pieces at the Prince's coming Now an Allegiance to the Destruction
after all this was done and the King had a Throne given him by the only Competent Authority that could do it and therefore had a Throne established in Righteousness for little Mercenary People to come in and start him new Titles is instead of suffering him to enjoy that one Stable Throne to offer him two Stools But being engaged in very great Choice of Titles and Arguments I must go on The last we look'd upon was bare actual Possession from which he will infer the Duty of Obedience but it must be drawn by the same Chymistry whereby Sovereign Drops are Extracted for the Use of the English Ladies from very bad outlandish Blood However let us mind the Process Possession of the Throne infers Protection and the Benefit of Protection infers a Reciprocal Duty I will wait for Better Arguments for as for this it will never Convince It is no Dispute indeed amongst the Non-swearers but it is their great Grievance that there is an actual Possession of Kingship where there is not a Legal Right first Proved and made out And to call for Obedience in Return for such an unask'd and imposed and forced Protection is as if a Man for his False Imprisonment of me should demand me to be his Subject and under pretence of guarding me from all my Enemies all that while should require Taxes and bring me in a Bill of Charges I rather fancy that I have good Damages against Him Well but the Convincing Argument of Actual Possession is supposed to have led all People by this time to Actual Obedience and then he has got their Noses in a cleft Stick for then he will force them to swear and having learn'd great A they must go through with the whole Alphabet These Powerful Consequences and Convictions we have in the following Paragraph A Man may Lawfully promise to do every thing which he may Lawfully do so that if it is Lawful to obey the King it is also Lawful to promise to do it And therefore since it does not appear that any Persons do doubt of the Lawfulness of obeying it cannot with any colour of Reason be said to be Unlawful to promise it and if it is Lawful to promise it it is also Lawful to swear it for an Oath being only the Sacred Confirmation of a Promise we may Lawfully swear every thing that we may Lawfully promise Now this is an Argument which cries snap like a Mousetrap but will catch nothing The Author loves a Mathematical way of Proving and here it is His Axiom or Postulatum is in the first Sentence which I will allow and give Way to at present and talk with it anon But what he subsumes in the next Sentence is begging the Question and absolutely false in these words And therefore since it does not appear that any Persons do doubt of the Lawfulness of Obeying it cannot with any colour of Reason be said to be Unlawful to Promise it For I will Demonstrate on the Contrary that it does appear that all that refuse the Oath and Ten thousand Men more do doubt of the Lawfulness of Obeying As for the next Clause it is an Irrefragable Truth and beyond all Controversy If it is Lawful to Promise Obedience it is also Lawful to Swear it Because they are both the same thing For according to the Oracle of our English Proverb an Honest Man's Word is as Good as his Bond. And therefore with respect had to the honest and downright Genius of the English Nation let their Posterity take care not to degenerate Our Constitution has assigned no more Penalty to a Perjury upon a Promissory Oath than there is to a bare breach of Promise Perhaps to other People that can Blaw with Meal in their Mouth this may be Unknown but yet they will be always meddling in Alienâ Republicâ If the Non-swearers could give their sent and Consent to Obey they would certainly give their Oath likewise and all that is within them But by their doubting the Lawfulness of an Oath of Obedience they plainly doubt the Lawfulness of simple Obedience and not the Lawfulness of an Oath for unless they be Quakers they cannot do that Which Way would he have their doubting of the Lawfulness of Obeying appear Would he have them Mutiny and doubt themselves into a Jayl Or how do they Obey King William that would not obey him at all if they could Chuse All the World knows that an Involuntary Act is not an Humane Act And therefore what is here called Obedience is Forced Obedience and not the Obedience of Men it is Passive and Dog-kennel Obedience For if their Heart be with King Iames and his Title they cannot possibly Obey King William believing that he has nothing in him to be Obeyed And now I am at leisure to talk with his Axiom A Man may Lawfully promise to do every thing which he may Lawfully do I will give him an Instance to the Contrary It is certainly Lawful for me because our Saviour commands it If any Man compels me to go a Mile with him to carry his Burden to go with him Twain though all such Precepts are to be taken with a Grain of Salt But is it therefore Lawful for me to Promise this Man to be his Pack-horse all my Life and to starve my Wife and Children in not Providing for them and in so doing to be worse than an Infidel I trow not I will give him another Instance In the Year 86. within three or four days after Whit sunday there came down an Order from above which I read and saw was Signed to make me a Close Prisoner though I was in arctâ Custodiâ before wrongfully having purchased the Rules and given two Thousand pound Security The Marshal pursued this Order in removing me from one close Hole to another till he had almost stifled me and perhaps they intended to murder me by a side-Wind I sent him Word by his Steward who is still living that I had rather be Shot than be so used However I submitted to this Usage waiting for Trinity-Term It cost me two or three Fees in Motions at the Kings-Bench-Bar to have the Liberty of the Prison and that Counsel might come to me because I had likewise Notice of a Trial. It was for my Address to the standing Army in which the Parliament that put the Crown upon the King's Head did me also very great Right and owned it for a Publick Service which the Nation enjoyed the Benefit of to this Day I recite the words with all Thankfulness being part of their Early Address to the King which they voted Nemine Contradicente for my Promotion But as I was saying my Friends above and the Court of Kings-Bench were at that Time both of a Mind for the Oppression they laid on the other would not take off At my Trial and I take it for an Honour that it was then for they had fully Conquered the Laws of England they published the five