Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted upon which Letters Elections have been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their Respective Letters and Elections being now Assembled in a full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like case have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That the pretended Power of suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without consent of Parliament is illegal That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws or the execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like nature are illegal and pernicious That Levying of Money to or for the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be Granted is illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be by consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects being Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their condition and as allowed by Law That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free That the freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannell'd and Returned and Jurors which pass upon men in Trials for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular persons before Conviction are illegal and void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthning and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do Resolve That WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joynt Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oarhs of Allegiance and Supremacy be abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my Heart Abbor Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Prcheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God Jo. Brown Cler. Parliamentor The same day this Declaration bears date Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange arrived in the River of Thames in the Afternoon and was received with all the Hearty Demonstrations and Expressions of Joy by the City that are usual on such occasions The 13th of February the Lords and Commons ordered the following Proclamation to be published and made WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his great Mercy to this Kingdom to vouchsafe us a miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of his Highness the Prince of Orange whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being highly sensible and fully persuaded of the great and eminent Virtues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And whereas the Lords and Commons now assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of Orange and therein desired Them to accept the Crown who have accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with full consent publish and proclaim according to the said Declaration WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of ORANGE to be KING and QUEEN of England France and Ireland wit all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging Who are accordingly so to be owned deemed and taken by all the people of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from hence-forward bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith and true Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings reign to Bless King VVilliam and Queen Mary with long and happy Years to reign over us God save
giveth them to whomsoever he will but Subjects in setting up or removing Kings must have regard to Legal Right and if they pull down a rightful King and set up a King without right unless the Constitution of the Government in some cases should allow it greatly sin in it especially when they have sworn the defence of the Legal Right and Legal Succession but the Duty and Allegiance of Subjects does not immediately respect Right but the actual Administration of Government when there is a setled Government in a Nation for that is God's Authority which much be obeyed no man must swear away this no more than any other part of his Duty and no man does swear away this by the Oath of Allegiance as I have already shown p. 31 32. Object But have not Pyrates and Robbers as good a Title to my Purse as an Usurper has to the Crown which he seizes by as manifest force and violence Answ The Outrages of Thieves and Pyrates are very impertinently alledged in this Cause They have force and violence which every man must submit to when he cannot help it but Sovereign Power is God's Authority tho Princes may be advanced to it by no honester means than Thieves take a Purse or break open my House and take my Money or Goods The beginnings of the Four Monarchies were no better and yet their Power was God's p. 34. This Doctrine of Obedience and Allegiance to the present Powers Gen. 49.14 is founded on the same Principle with the Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience and therefore both must be true or both false for it is founded on this Principle That God makes Kings and invests them with his Authority which equally proves That all Kings who have received a Sovereign Authority from God and are in the actual administration of it which is the only evidence we have that they have received it from God must be obeyed and must not be resisted Set aside this Principle That all Sovereign Princes receive their Authority from God and I grant that Non-Resistance is Nonsense ☜ for there is no other irresistible Authority but that of God p. 36. These Principles answer all the ends of Government both for the security of the Prince and Subjects and that is a good Argument to believe them true A Prince who is in Possession is secured in Possession by them as far as any Principles can secure him against all Attempts of his Subjects who must reverence God's Authority in him and submit to him without Resistance tho they are ill used They will not indeed serve the Revolutions of Government to remove one King and set up another and if they would Princes might be jealous of them for whatever Service they might do them at one turn they might do them as great Disservice at another The Revolutions of Government are not the Subjects Duty but God's Prerogative and therefore it is not likely that he has prescribed any certain Rules or Methods for the overturning and changing Government which he keeps in his own hands and which when he sees fit to do it he never wants ways and means of doing But when any Prince is setled in the Throne by what means soever it be these Principles put an end to all disputes of Right and Title and bind his Subjects to him by Duty and Conscience and a Reverence of God's Authority which is the fastest hold he can possibly have of them No Interest is the fastest hold in these cases for those whom Religion will not bind nothing but Force can And therefore these are the only principles which in such Revolutions can make Government easie both to Prince and People and if Government must be preserved in all Revolutions those are the best Principles which are most for the ease and safety of it But on the other hand such an immoveable and unalterable Allegiance as is thought due only to a Legal Right and Title and must be paid to none but to a Legal and Rightful Prince serves no ends of Government at all but overturns all Government when such a Prince is dispossessed of his Throne how long soever he continue dispossessed And what long Inter-regnums may this occasion to the dissolution of Human Societies p. 43 44. I cannot indeed think neither do I believe that any body else does that for a King to leave his Crown and Government in a fright is in all cases necessarily to be interpreted such an Abdication as is equivalent to a voluntary Resignation whereby he renounces all future Right and Claim to it But if he have reduced himself to such a state that he is forced for his own preservation to leave his Kingdom and Government it is plain that in some sense he leaves his Throne vacant too that is there is no body in it no body in the actual Administration of the Government Thus far I think Subjects may be very guiltless who do not drive the King away but only suffer him quietly to escape out of his Kingdoms for this is no Rebellion no Resistance but only Non-Assistance which may be very innocent for there are some cases wherein Subjects are not bound to assist their Prince and if ever there were such a Case this was it What then shall Subjects do when the King is gone and the Government Dissolved the people left in the Hands of another Prince without any Reason or any Authority or any formed Power to oppose him The Government must be Administred by some-body unless we can be contented that the Rabble should govern But I shall not meddle with that Interval between the going away of the King and the Prince's coming to the Throne but only consider him as placed in the Throne and setled there And now we can find no alteration in the Ancient government of the Nation but only the exchange of persons and all things concur to make this a very advantageous and acceptable Change excepting such difficulties as usually accompany such Revolutions p. 49 50. Legal Rights must be determined by a Legal Authority and there is no Authority can take cognizance of the Titles and Claims of Princes and the disposal of the Crown but the Estates of the Realm They indeed are obliged to take notice of the legal Descent of the Crown ☜ and if through mistake or any other cause they set the Crown upon a wrong Head they must answer for it but private Subjects who have no legal Cognizance of the matter are bound by no Law that I know of to disown a King whom the Estates have owned though they should think the Right is in another p. 52 53. Hitherto have been displayed the Principles of some of our heavenly Guides with respect to our Present Settlement The Conclusion of the whole matter take in the Words of a Worthy Divine lately delivered in a Sermon before the House of Commons viz. WE may safely conclude from the late Deliverance which we have found and the
he brings them in from Foreign Countries Whistling for the Fly out of Egypt or the Bee out of the land of Assyria In plain words stirring up a Pharaoh or a Nebuchadnezzar against them God may employ such if he will tho none is too good for this work to execute his righteous Judgments And when God doth his work by their hands whatsoever the Instruments may be the Cause being so just and so evident as we have supposed All men that see it will say Doubtless there is a God that judges on the earth In the way of Justice But the Pr. of Orange was not a Sovereign Power being dispossest of his Principality God acts as a judge between Two Sovereign Powers when they bring their Causes before him that is when they make War upon one another And when he seeth his time that is when he finds the Cause ripe for Judgment if it proceeds so far then he gives Sentence for him that is injur'd against him that hath done the Injury The effect of this Sentence is a just Conquest and that is the other way in which God proceeding judicially pats down one and sets up another That this may be the better understood there are four things to be consider'd particularly First That War is an Appeal to the Justice of God Secondly That none can be Parties to this but they that are in Sovereign Power Thirdly That to make it a just War there must be a just and sufficient Cause Fourthly That Conquest in such a War is a decisive Judgment of God and gives one a Right to the Dominions that he has conquered from the others That War is an Appeal to God this appears in the nature of the thing p. 25 26 27 28. The Parties to this Appeal are properly such as have no Superior but God For them that have an earthly Superior their Appeal lies to him as God's Minister attending continually on this very thing p. 29. Subjects have no Right to make War without the leave of their Princes For as God has given Princes the power of the Sword so he forbids it to Subjects under a great Penalty They that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword And if he has not admitted them to be Parties in his Court then it is certain that they cannot sue there or if they do they can acquire no Flight by it There is an Original Nullity in all their Proceedings As none have right of making War but they that are in Sovereign Power so neither is it given to them that they may make what use of it they please Particularly they must not make War for the satisfying of their Lusts Ambition Covetousness Vain-glory or the like Nay the righteous God will not hold him guiltless that hath Justice in his Cause and yet in his Heart hath no such thing Lawful things must be done lawfully This Princes must look to as they will answer it to God But as far as man can judge it is a Lawful War that is made for a just and sufficient Cause p. 32. 33. One Prince may make War in defence of another King's Subjects if they see themselves in extreme danger of suffering an intolerable Injury by his Oppression of his own people And in these cases if one Lawfully may then it is certain he ought to do it p. 36. They are so much the more obliged to this when it is evident that the threatning mischief is like to fall upon others as well as themselves and them such as they are bound in Honour and Conscience to protect and support When by fitting still they should certainly expose not only themselves to be ruined but also their Friends and Allies to perish with them in that case Saevitia est voluisse mori it is a sort of bloody Peaceableness it is cruelty to Mankind to go to that degree of suffering Injuries But especially when the Cause of God is concern'd to whom we owe all things and ought to venture all for his sake Surely 't is his Cause when it touches Religion which is all that is dear to him in this world And tho Religion it self teaches us if it be possible as much as in us lies to live peaceably with all man yet as 't is there supposed there may be Cause to break the Peace so it adds infinitely to that Cause when it comes to concern our Religion p. 36 37. There is yet a greater Cause for this when the Suffering-Religion is that which is establish'd by the Laws of that Kingdom and yet the King that is sworn to those Laws and therefore bound to support that Religion is manifestly practising against it and endeavours to supplant and oppress and extinguish it What should other Princes or States that profess the same Religion do in this case They see that such a King is set upon the destroying of their Religion He hath declar'd a hostile mind towards the professors of it in judging them not capable of enjoying their Temporal Rights If he deals thus with his own People what are Foreigners to expect at his hands Can they think themselves secure because they are at peace with him They cannot unless Treaties are more Sacred than Laws Or can they rely upon his Oath But they see he hath broken it And therefore they have reason to judge That either he makes no Conscience of an Oath or he thinks Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks or he hath a Superior that can dispense with him or that will absolve him from the guilt of Perjury in such cases where Religion is concerned In short they are sure of his Will to destroy them and cannot be sure of his Oath to the contrary Wherein them can they be safe But in his want of power to do them hurt But he will not want power if they let him go on for he is getting it as fast as he can He is now strengthning himself by those ways that he takes to be absolute Lord of his own people And he is now weakning Them by oppressing all those among his people whom he knows to be their Friends and Well-wishers He doth both these things together He daily lessens their party and makes them as many more Enemies as he gains Men over to his Religion And if that be such a Religion as pretends to a Right of destroying Men of other Religions knowing this they know what they are to expect When this pretended Right is armed with power it will certainly fall upon them So that they must begin before he is ready for them or else it will be too late to do any thing for their own preservation But as it is necessary for them to do this for themselves so they ought to do it much the rather for the sakes of their oppressed Brethren That by a timely asserting of their own Right they may also deliver them from the Evils they suffer at present and save them from that Destruction which is coming upon