Heirs without respect to the right Heir whom he had not yet married and for ought they knew never intended of which his strange carriage towards that good Lady whom he confined to live with the Queen Dowager her Mother in London but he kept Edward Plantagenet the Son and Heir of George Duke of Clarence close Prisoner in the Tower might give the Nation just cause of suspicion that he intended to Reign by his own Title as Heir of the House of Lancaster or as Conqueror without any respect to the Title of the House of York And he intended faith the Lord Bacon that it should be so believed for to the Act of Parliament he added the Pope's Bull for confirmation But in our Case much more Justice Wisdom and Moderation did appear the Title of the right Heir being united to that of our Deliverer and the Crown intailed on the right Line the present Administration being by consent and in the name of the King and Queen which was not observed in the Case of Henry the Seventh and the consent of the Princess Anne being also obtained who hath now a nearer prospect of the Crown than otherwise she could have hoped for Nor is the making of the Convention a Parliament without a President for in the year 1660 when General Monk had summoned several Members in the like manner but not so free there being many of the King's Party excluded yet they were made a Parliament by the King notwithstanding any want of the King's Writs Anno Car. 2di 12o. And as to the Rational Part of the Answer let it be considered That a Nation must unavoidably run into Confusion unless such a means may be used for suppose the Royal Line should be extinct there can be no fitter means to settle a Government than by such a Convention duly chosen and the Agreement of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal who want only the Royal Writ to Summon them and that not being to be had the Nation may do what is in their power to prevent that Confusion which the King 's deserting them and carrying with him the Broad-seal leaving two Armies in the midst of the Nation by reason whereof it might in a short time have been as ill with us as it is now with our distressed Brethren in Ireland made necessary and Necessity hath no Law superiour to it This therefore may be an Answer to those that object against the too great hast in proceeding to a Settlement before a Parliament could be regularly called by Writ for considering the great Destraction of the Nations and the ill Circumstances wherein this and the Kingdom of Ireland were The delay of a speedy Establishment might have unsettled us for ever for the King having either deserted the Government or being driven from it and another being fully possessed of the Kingdom the common Safety would soon be destroyed if either the prevailing Power should be resisted or some person not be admitted for the Administration of Justice and Prevention of Violence As when a Ship master forsakes his Ship in a Storm and his Mate thrusts himself into his Office to guide the Ship if the Mariners will not presently obey him as long as he guides the Ship towards the Harbor the Ship must likely perish and the Mariners in it Or if the right Master should be utterly disabled by Sickness or Destraction to perform his Office may not another assume his Office by consent of the Mariners 'T is King James the First 's saying The King is for the Commonwealth and not the Commonwealth for the King The end is alway accounted more noble than the means And unless it should be granted that a King in plenary Possession ought to be acknowledged and obeyed I cannot see on what ground our Saviour commanded Tribute to be given to Caesar or the Apostle injoyned Subjection to the Higher Power The Powers then in being being such as usurped on the Senate and were set up as Emperours by a part of the Souldiary their best Title being the Approbation of the Senate Ex post facto The Usurpation of Julius Caesar is too well known to need a Relation and that could not give a sufficient Title to Augustus against the Claim of the Senate the Argument of our Saviour for paying him Tribute was because the Money bore his Image as also the Money in the days of Julius Caesar bore his and so may be an argument for paying Tribute to any Prince whose Money is current in a Nation But this will be more evident by considering who was the Prince in being when the Apostle wrote his Epistle to the Romans which was either Claudius Caesar or Nero and the most credible Historians inform us that on the death of Caligula the Consuls and Senate advised how they might restore their Commonwealth to its ancient Freedom taken from them by the Caesars but being too slow in their Resolutions because of Dissentions among themselves it hapned in the interim that Claudius having hid himself being frighted with the news of Caligula's death was discovered by a common Souldier who knowing him saluted him Emperour and led him forth to his fellow-Souldiers with whom he remained a part of the night Minore spe quam fiduciâ saith Suetonius the Consuls and Senate then sitting in the Capitol consulting for their common Liberty sent for him by the Tribune of the People to have his Advice therein the Souldiers and People assembled desired that one might be forthwith named for their Emperour on which Claudius took courage and promising Rewards to the Souldiers being also pittied by the People who thought him designed to suffer punishment they saluted him Emperour Tacitus gives alike relation of Nero his Successor Annal l. 12. That Agrippina his Mother concealing for a time the death of Claudius kept the Palace Gates shut and pretended great kindness to Britanicus the eldest Son of Claudius until she had contrived to make Nero Emperour and having gotten the Praefect of the Bands then on the Guard to her Party sends out Nero accompanied by Burrhus to the Guards where while some expected Britannicus to follow the Praefect and Souldiers to whom Rewards were promised saluted Nero Emperour Now one of these thus advanced to the Empire by the Souldiers was undoubtedly the Emperour then in being when the Epistle to the Romans was written to whom Obedience is required for Conscience sake as to the Ordinance of God if it be replied that the Senate did afterwards confirm them in the Empire that will not vary the present Case the present King and Queen being also confirmed by Parliament That which hath been said leads me to consider these Scriptures which seem to confine our Obedience only to the lawful Powers yet some learned and good men have given such a sence of them as may raise a doubt whether they speak of a King de Jure only or de Facto and if of a King de Jure only then of such a
〈◊〉 Authority to them to whom Obedience is to be yielded for Conscience-sake as our Saviour also Commands to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar ' s. On which occasion also he mentioneth that Statute of Henry VII which indemnifieth those Subjects which acted under the King in being And he adds a Sentence from Nicetas Choniates nec Imperatorem qui absit quaerendum nec qui adsit pellendum esse So that I think the Cases in the 22 of Matth. and Rom. 13. may satisfie Conscience as to our present case for if those Caesars who were then in Possession were to be obeyed for Conscience-sake even then when the Right did belong to the Senate then we may also obey the King now in being tho' there be another to whom it is supposed the Right of Government doth belong without wounding our Consciences Now if the present Power be God's Ordinance we must obey for Conscience's sake for if we believe that God hath an over-ruling Providence in the Government of the World to set up one and pull down another though we see not a Reason of the Alterations that are made yet we must believe that there are great and just causes and such as are directed to good ends especially where it appears that God by such Revolutions brings Order out of Confusion and the changes that are made are effected more visibly by the Counsel of God than Conduct of Man. Another Rule of Conscience is the Glory of God that which tends most to the advancing of God's prescribed Worship the purity of his Ordinances a sound Faith and holy Life we may with a good Conscience submit to It is a saying of Polycarp when he was near his Martyrdom We owe all due Obedience to Princes and Potentates yet not so as thereby to endanger our eternal Salvation The Law of Charity is another Rule of Conscience which as it obligeth us to do good unto all men so more especially to them that are of the houshold of Faith for whom we should lay down our very lives that we may prevent their misery and destruction St. Paul could wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9.3 And what he suffered and did for his Brethren according to the Faith of Christ appears as by his great Afflictions so by his ready complyance in the case of Circumcising Timothy Acts 16.3 because of the Jews which were at Lystra and Iconium though he were of a Persuasion that Christ could profit them nothing that were circumcised seeing that such became debtors to do the whole Law. And Acts 21.23 when St. James and the Elders informed him that the Jews would be offended by his teaching them that they ought not to Circumcise their Children nor to walk after their Customs he was perswaded lest he should offend them to purifie himself and in the Company of others to go into the Temple to shew that he kept the Law. From whence we learn that it is out Duty to part with many Opinions of our own not absolutely necessary to Salvation for the propagation of the true Religion I speak not this as if it were Lawful to do any evil that good may come of it which the Apostle utterly condemns but only on supposition that the late King hath rendred himself uncapable of the Government and that the present King and Queen considering the Circumstances wherein we were are regularly advanced to the Government that we ought to pay our Allegiance to them The Question whether Humane Laws do bind the Conscience is much discoursed of by Divines who resolve that they do not bind the Conscience immediately by their own Authority but mediately by vertue of the Command of God who enjoyns Obedience to the Higher Powers But then if the matter of the Law be unjust or if it be not for the Publick Good which is the end of all Humane Laws they are not Obligatory to Conscience for the Rule for Conscience in things Political is the Publick welfare So the Ancient Roman Law Salus Populi Suprema Lex which is the same with that of the Apostle He is the Minister of God to thee for good i. e. not for thy Private Good only but for the Publick Good attending continually on this very thing i. e. the Publick Good wherein thy Private Good is concerned for the Laws do not respect this or that particular man's case but the Common good and good Laws may be grievous to this or that particular Man in some cases which yet highly conduce to the Publick Welfare and better is a private Inconvenience than a publick Mischief Those Laws therefore that tend most to the Publick welfare are the Rule of Conscience in Political Affairs And for the same Reason that when a Magistrate makes a Law against God's Law in Religious Matters it doth not bind the Conscience For the same Reason when a Magistrate makes a Law against the Publick welfare it doth not bind the Conscience in Political Affairs The Reason is because the Magistrates Power is derived from God and God hath limited and determined that Power for the Publick Good as its great end and such Laws as are contrary to that end have no Authority nor do oblige the Conscience It is truly said that some things are commanded because they are good other things are good because they are commanded Now our Obedience to Governors is good because it is commanded but a respect to the Publick welfare in all Laws is commanded because it is the chief good and end of Government and so is Prior and Paramount to all Politick Laws and hence it is that the Casuists do resolve that Humane Laws do not bind the Conscience when things grievous and intolerable are commanded But then the Question will be Who shall judge whether the Laws made are conducing to the Publick Good or not when not only the Magistrate but the Representatives of the People have pre-judged it and therefore past it into a Law Answ There are few Laws like those of the Medes and Persians unalterable what was for the Publick Good at the time of making the Law may afterward on the alteration of Times and Accidents prove to be otherwise and when the Reason of a Law ceaseth the Obligation of it ceaseth also as to Conscience There was a Law made against the use of that pernicious Weed of Hops as the Law termeth it because it was thought prejudicial to the Health of the Subject and though the Reason of the Law might be good as to some particular Men Yet long Experience taught that the use of Hops was more beneficial to the Publick and therefore though that Law was not repealed yet the use of Hops was continued Now the Question is whether such Brewers as continued the use of Hops against the Statute did sin or not in so doing If they did not sin it was because their Consciences were not obliged by that Law if they did
sin then the breach of a mistaken and erroneous Law is a sin and damnable which is a very hard Sentence But Secondly Although the greater part of the People with their Legislators may judge the Laws made to be for the Common good yet every Man must judge of his own Actions in reference to those Laws whether they be agreeable to the Common good or no for the greater number in Councils may err there is no Infallible Judge in Civil or Religious matters If then the Law-givers may err or my Conscience tells me that they do err I am not bound to do what they Command by a blind Obedience but to use my private discretion in enquiring whether the thing enjoyned be for the Publick good or not for if I am allowed to use the judgment of my private discretion in Religious matters why not in Civil Men are not to go as Beasts where they are driven much less to act contrary to their Reason and Judgment which makes them worse than Beasts who will follow their Senses unless they are hindred by force so that I am not bound to obey a Law meerly Humane for Conscience-sake when I judge that Law contrary to the Publick welfare but I must submit to the Penalty if I cannot honestly avoid it But if a Magistrate that is obliged to govern by Laws do resolutely set himself to destroy those Laws and ruin not only the generality of his Subjects but his own Crown and Dignity we are not bound in Conscience to obey such a Magistrate because of a prior Obligation to preserve the publick welfare which was the end of Government and to which the means are subordinate It now remains that having proved that Scripture and right Reason to be the Rule of Conscience for our Obedience both to Magistrates and their Laws in foro interno that I do also prove that a respect to the Publick good not being contrary to any Law of God is our Rule for Obedience in foro externo One chief Law imprinted by God on the Reason of Mankind is the conservation of it self and for that end vim vi repellere to repel Force by Force for which end Mankind were taught to live in Societies and establish Rules and Laws for the Common Safety therefore homines conspirantes in communem utilitatem are the Subject-matter of a Common-wealth this being the end of all Societies no Civil Constitution can annul this Bond of Nature So Panormitan Quando jus Civile aliquid disponit contra jus naturae standum est Juri naturae So also when the Law makes provision for such things as the Law-givers fore-see and afterwards some things happen which could not be fore-seen and new Reasons and Accidents appear contrary to those Laws here Nature as a common Parent and Protector of Justice and Necessity alters or adds to the Law as when Sextus Tarquinius ravished Lucretia though there were no established Law against that particular sin yet Nature it self directed a severe Punishment And when the Pharisees pleaded their Vows to the Corban in bar to relief of their Parents which is a Law of Nature our Saviour pronounced such Vows null Bishop Taylor p. 296. proves That the Law of Nature cannot be dispensed with by any Humane Power 1. Because God is the Author of it 2. Because this Law of the preservation of the Common welfare is as necessary to the support of Societies as Nourishment is for the support of their Bodies 3. Because Natural Laws are the dictates of Natural Reason and no man hath power to alter Reason which is an Image of the Divine Wisdom and therefore unalterable As to the Law part the Act 11 Hen. 7. c. 1. says That it is not reasonable but against all Laws Reason and good Conscience that Subjects going in War with their Soveraign Lord for the time being should lose or forfeit any thing for doing their Duty and Service of Allegiance and it was Enacted That from thenceforth no Person attending on the King for the time being and doing him true and faithful Service of Allegiance in his Wars should in no wise be convict or attaint of High Treason nor of other Offence for that cause but to be for that Service utterly discharged of any vexation trouble or loss The Lord Bacon p. 144. of his History of Henry VII gives a Reason of this Law For that it was agreeable saith he to reason of State that the Subject should not enquire of the justness of the King's Title or Quarrel and it was agreeable to good Conscience that whatever the Fortune of the War were the Subject should not suffer for his Obedience The Spirit of this Law was wonderful Pious and Noble being like in matter of War to the Spirit of David in matter of Plague who said If I have sinned strike me but what have these Sheep done Neither wanted this Law parts of prudent and deep fore-sight for it did the better take away occasion for the People to busie themselves to prie into the King's Title for that however it fell their Safety was provided for Besides it could not but greatly draw unto him the love and hearts of the People because he seemed more careful for them than for himself The Lord Cook p. 7. in the Third Book of Institutes on the word Le Roy speaking of Treason says That the Act for Treason is to be understood of a King in possession of the Crown and Kingdom for if there be a King regnant in possession although he be Rex de facto only and not de Jure yet is he King within the purview of this Statute And the other that hath Right and is out of possession is not within this Statute And if Treason be committed against a King de facto and not de jure and after the King de jure cometh to the Crown he shall punish the Treason against the King de facto and a Pardon granted by the King de jure that is not also King de facto is void It is the Opinion of all Lawyers that in rebus dubiis melior est conditio possidentis Judge Hales gives the same sense of that Statute in his Remarks on the Pleas of the Crown Chapter of Treason Now both these were great Lawyers and wrote under such as were Kings de jure and in peaceable times The Argument then is this If Treason may be committed against a King in possession or de facto and not against the King de jure being out of the possession then I owe Allegiance to the King in possession and not to the King out of possession though King de jure The Rule of the Law is this I owe Allegiance to him that gives me Protection whether I live at home under a King de facto or live as a Stranger abroad under one that is a King de jure I owe Allegiance unto each while I am under their Protection for thus in Calvin's Case Seventh Book of Cook 's
incipit bellum And it is to be considered that the Bishop wrote this in the Case of Charles the First from which this of James the Second differs toto caelo To those that are not yet reconciled to the now Established Government I shall offer these Considerations First Whether the present King had not a just cause for Invading the Kingdom Secondly Whether having Invaded it and obtained a full and peaceable Possession by a general consent of the People he hath obtained a rightful Title The Causes that do justifie the Invasion are these 1. The Vindication of his Lady's Title which was in a manner endeavoured to be ravished from her by a Prince whose Birth was so much suspected and whereof the Nation was so generally convinced 2. The Invitation of the Subjects Lords Spiritual and Temporal with many Commons groaning under an Arbitrary Power Popery and Slavery for which cause many Lords and Commons had left the Kingdom and sought protection from the present King and came in with him 3. The present King was made the Head of the Protestant Party by those Princes who undertook the Defence of the Reformed Religion against the Popish Princes that had confederated to root it out and a better method could not be taken than to begin with England where if the designs for Popery had succeeded the Protestant Cause had been almost desparate which is now in a hopeful way of Establishment These Causes are so sufficient to justifie the Invasion that I think no good Protestant will doubt of them and as little doubt can be made of the second Consideration that he who on such just Grounds Invades a Kingdom and having gotten a full and quiet Possession is by the general Consent of the People accepted and declared their King hath a lawful Right and Title for first Ubi desinunt judicia incipit bellum and as Law Suits so War may be waged for prevention of Injuries not yet done As Livy says Justum est bellum quod necessarium est pia Arma quibus nulla nisi in armis relinquitur spes When it is manifest our sitting still will make our Condition worse we may adventure on the danger of War. The War was begun by the French King and his Confederates against the Prince England was like to be in the Confederacy by what the King acted and endeavoured against the Protestant Religion And Tune tua res Agitur This is the first Cause that Justifies the War on the present King's part the second Cause is the Recovery of the Right which his Lady and himself had to the Succession which was in a manner taken from them Grotius de Jure Belli l. 2. c. 1. sect 2. De rebus repetendis proves this at large in a considerable Paragraph to which I refer the Reader And of this I shall give but one or two Instances among many in the Scriptures Abraham's War on the King of Elam who had spoiled Sodom was just Gen. 14. And so were the Wars of Israel against the Assirians and other Nations that invaded their Dominion and would have kept them from them of this there can be no doubt nor can secondly the Vindication of a People oppressed by their Prince against the Laws of God and the Land if a Father seek the destruction of an innocent person his Son may piously restrain his Father from that act which would not only ruine the innocent in this World but himself in the World to come So that this War for the asserting the Title of the Prince and Princess to the Crown and for the defence of our Religion against the Confederacy of Popish Princes to extirpate it which is matter of Fact may appear most Just for tho' Religion may not be propagated by Arms yet it may be defended where it is Established by Law against forreign Powers that conspire the destruction of it Grotius l 2. c. 25. n. 4. approves a War on behalf of Confederates For he that doth not repel an Injury from his Confederates if he can is as much in fault as he that doth the Injury He commends Constantine for making War on Maxentius and Licinius who persecuted such of their Subjects as were Christians only for their Religion Grotius l. 2. c. 20. n. 39. Injuries begun only are not to be vindicated by Arms unless the matter be both very weighty and be already proceeded so far that from what is already done either a certain mischief tho' not yet what was intended hath already befallen or some extraordinary danger do threaten thereby If an Enemy hath once assaulted me and comes armed with a resolution to kill me I am not to tarry till he comes within reach of me and receive his Weapons upon my naked breast but seasonably to prevent him And l. 2. c. 25. n. 8. Those Princes who are free may make War for themselves or others And tho' we should grant that Subjects might not take Arms for their own Defence against their Prince no not in case of greatest necessity which yet is doubted even by those whose purpose it was to defend Regal Power yet it follows not that other Princes may not take Arms in their defence that which is unlawful for one to do for himself by reason of a personal impediment may be lawful for another to do for him As in Affairs of the Church the Bishops are said to take on them the care of the Vniversal Church so beside the care of their particular Dominions Kings assume the general care of Humane Societies Seneca resolves Bello a me peti potest qui a mea gente sepositus suam exagitat And Cicero That War should be undertaken only that we may live in Peace and not be injured It will be objected That God will take care of our Religion Deorum injuriae diis curae perjurium satis habet deum ultorem Answer So it may be said of other Sins which God will punish yet the Laws are justly executed on the Offenders by the Magistrate as all grant And if it be objected That such Offences are punished not so much as committed against God as for the damage done to men Ans It is observed that not only such Offences are punished by men as are directly committed against other men but such as by consequence may be prejudicial to others as Self-murder Sodomy c. for tho' the principal end be to procure God's favour by punishing such Crimes yet it is done also to prevent the influence and notable effects on Humane Societies See l. 2. c. 20. n. 44. It may be farther objected That if we wholly forsake the King we shall justifie the Rebellion against King Charles the First who was charged with designs of bringing in Popery and Arbitrary Government Illegal Impositions Evil Counsellors c. Ans I suppose the Objectors that are so tender of committing any act of Disloyalty against King James the Second will by no means approve of what was done against