and Imitation whereby they both encouraged and hardened him in those evil Courses and propagated the Imitation of it to all ranks of people The Parliament it self that is the Majority unadvisedly and contrary to the true Constitution of this Government declared him to be by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom in effect above all Law and his very Officers irresistible and required of all Officers of Corporations Officers and Souldiers in the Militia and of the Clergy and Universities a Declaration to the same effect subjected the Dwelling-houses of the People to be searched at the pleasure of his Officers formed a new Militia and put it wholly into his Hands and profusely gave him vast summs of Money out of the Estates of the people beyond all need reason and justice The Commissioners and Convocations of the Clergy in their new Additions to the Common Prayer without any regard to what he or his Successors might prove in time or to the inconvenience they might thereby bring upon themselves needlessly gave him the Title of most Religious and Gracious in publick forms of most solemn address to Almighty God and the Kings Arms were in divers Churches in the City set above the Commandments of God in the place of most solemn Worship whereas at Oxford as I have heard the Founders Arms in the Theatre being placed above the Kings were ordered to be taken down for the Indecency Agreeable hereunto was Loyalty as they call'd Compliance with the Will and Pleasure of the King whether legal or not cry'd up as the only Honesty and Non-Resistauce and Passive-Obedience as if they were the greatest and most necessary Doctrines of Religion by all who sought the Favour of the Times in their ordinary Discourse and Conversation and publickly so asserted in Speeches in Sermons from the Pulpit and in Printed Books by such as expected any special Favour or Preferment Nor stay'd it here for the King now assured by such Demonstrations of the Obedience and Compliance of his People and thereby encouraged to take the Liberty to gratifie his Lust more openly than otherwise perhaps he would have done and being a Person of a pleasant Wit and delighting in Repertees Jests and such like Diversions from serious thoughts the stream of the Courtiers Gallants and all who affected to be reputed such presently ran with a full torrent into the same Chanel and soon overspread a great part of the Nation And vain aiery Lightness frothy and Obscene Discourse profane and horrid Swearing and more then brutish satisfaction of Lust and Contempt of all Religion were not only indulged but affected too as generous qualities of a Gentleman and certain Notes and Evidences of Loyalty and Fidelity to the King and consormity to his own heart and mind And those who made any scruple of Conscience to run to the same Excess of Riot were looked upon and despised as disaffected disloyal mean spirited fools and Fanaticks but those who did dare to oppose either the Debaucheries of these Loyalists or the illegal actions of the King as Imprudent Rash and Madmen And so great a Baseness and Degeneracy thereupon presently seised and tainted many that not considering the severe Denunciations of our Saviour against such they were even out-faced and ashamed of their Religion and became Hypocrites in Debauchery and to avoid the Imputation and Reproach of being religious and sneaking did actually sneak to such degenerate and despicable Wretches while by base compliance in obscene Discourse and familiar Swearing they gloried in their shame and would seem companions with them in such things as yet they never acted indeed And in so degenerate a state what can be so absurd and inconsistant that Men will not do What wonder is it then to see Men at the same time in Words applaud the Non-Obedience of the Bishops and yet in their acts comply with the Dispensing Power To see those who by their High Professions of Loyalty and Non-Resistance had invited and encouraged the King to use his liberty to inslave them when they found that he presuming too much upon their High Profession was like indeed to involve them in the same Slavery and Mischiefs with the rest choose rather to enter with others into secret Conspiracies for the Common Safety than in time to prevent that with a true and generous Loyalty and Fidelity openly oppose his Illegal Proceedings These things with some few others made the Government of King Charles II. uneasy and brought King James II. to his Exit We are now entring as I said into a New Scene of Affairs And that this may proceed more happily it cannot but be of great use to reflect upon and consider well the Errors Miscarriages and true Causes of the unhappiness and sad Catastrophes of the two former I have already briefly touched some of the more immediate and visible Causes Historically as to the matter of Fact But to make a right use of them it may be necessary to enquire a little more deeply and Philosophically into them These Causes therefore to go to the bottom are two-fold Natural and Divine which doth secretly but effectually dispose and order the Natural The Divine is by way of Judgment which is always just and for some Sin and doth frequently proceed to Excision cutting off and Extirpation of whole Families when the sin is persisted in though for the most part unless in case of some heinous crime gradually giving fair warnings and opportunities to one after another to prevent by Reformation the final and utter Extirpation of all And though many times the Root of Bitterness lye deep and be hard by others to be detected yet it is not seldom that the Sin is legible and apparent in the Punishment and certainly if we well consider what a Sin it is to resist oppose and oppress the Truth when offered especially in matters of great consequence and presented by some special Providence of God all who believe Popery to be an abominable Abuse and Corruption of the genuine Christianity tending to the defacing enervating and subversion of it and that the Reformation desired is nothing but the Restitution of it to its pristine and genuine Lustre and Power must of necessity believe that the Cherishing of Popery and Opposing of such a Reformation may be such a Sin as being persisted in may provoke as great Judgments as this And then if we reflect back as far as the Grand-father of our King James the First and thence observe how Indulgence and Favour to Popery from this first Opposing of the Reformation in Scotland has been continued and continually attended with destructive signal Judgments in his Posterity ever since beginning with one very Prodigious a horrid Dream of the loss of both his Arms and the sudden Death of both his Sons all at distant places in one Night as may be seen in Spotswood it will not be hard to trace and detect the True Root which hath born all this bitter Fruit in that Family
And they who cannot discern this in that Family alone may for their confirmation take also into consideration the Occurrences of a contemporary Family in our Neighbour County France that of Valois from Hen. 2. to its Extirpation and compare with these two the long and happy Reign of Q Elizabeth against which the Gates of Hell could not prevail And if with all these we consider also the Actions and Catastrophe of Hen. 4. of France and the monstrous Wickedness and Barbarous Cruelties of the present King it will not be hard to make a Moral Prediction of the like fate attending this Family of Bourbon also This it is very probable if we consider the Original and Progress pari passu all along of both Sin and Punishment was the Provoking Sin and Root of Bitterness which by Divine Judgment hath exposed them to the strong Delusions which have been the more immediate and apparent Causes of all their Miscarriages and Unhappiness And though it may be hoped Men are now near as well cured of Popery as the Jews of Idolatry yet may this Observation afford us a very necessary Admonition at this time if we be not like the Horse and Mule For certainly that Soul which in these occurrances of this Royal Family within the Period before mentioned cannot discern a continued course of Providence powerfully operateing therein is deeply immersed in Sensuality and very Brutish It is therefore very reasonable that at this time we do seriously consider the Course of Gods Providence and Judgments upon that Family that it was not any Favour to Popery otherwise than as that is an Abuse and Opposition of the true Religion that was the Sin of that Family nor was it that alone but that and other Abuses by Prophanation and Connivance That the Prince is descended from that Family from which he may derive a load of Guilt upon himself by participation in any of those sins by forgetfulness of God and by neglect of those Duties which this late extraordinary Providence calls him unto That the present State of the Nation is a most vitious and degenerate State and that so extraordinary Deliverance when greater Judgments might reasonably have been expected obligeth to great Seriousness affectionate Sense of the special Providence of God in it and effectual Reformation for great and undeserved Mercies do not less oblige either in force or extent than the most severe Judgments And to consider that the same Providence of God which effected all this can easily and certainly will turn all again into Confusion and a greater Judgment if we do not wisely indeavour to concur with it and answer his ends He can take away the Prince and incline the Princess to recall the King he can by impeding or crossing our Preparations for Ireland or an unexpected defeat of part of them discourage the rest and incourage the Irish he can raise up a desperate Party at home and from a cloud of an hand breadth make them cover the Land he can send a Spirit of Division amongst us and Confound our Counsels of Infatuation as he did amongst the Papists to resolve with great imaginary Wisdom and Subtilty upon the direct and most effectual means of our Ruine and Destruction And by these and many other unconceiveable ways and means can he easily and quickly turn all our Transport into Mourning and Confusion This I say he can do and we may provoke him to do it in part or in whole if we like Dogs greedily catch up the Bone and regard not the Masters hand that threw it but continue in that brutish Stupidity which hath so much prevailed in this Nation And it may be considered whether we have not already provoked him to let us struggle with some Difficulties which might easily have been prevented The so easie Compliance or Inadvertence in passing the Order in the Form aforesaid was plainly a Fault and such as I cannot think it consistent with true Piety and due sence of the Majesty and Honour of God for any Mortal to offer to excuse it and certainly nothing could be a more proper Correction of such an Easiness or Inadvertence than to permit the same persons in their Debates to run themselves into such Difficulties with loss of time as might as easily have been avoided as the Order have been amended We have been so long imposed upon with Words that like Children we are easily allured and carried with some and frighted with others without any reason This being perceived an Expedient was sought but such an one chosen as made all the Question whereas I doubt not that the matter might have been proposed at first in such commodious terms and expressions and so enforced with Reasons and Demonstrations as that it would have passed as easily as another Vote did at that time and with no inconsiderable advantage And if this be so why might there not be some secret energy of Providence or Subtraction of a more favourable Direction in it This may be too nice a Speculation for this Generation But this I know that the very thoughts of men are not so much in their own power as they imagine but are subject to the Power not only of God but of much inferiour Spirits by his permission and he is no great Philosopher who doth not perceive it nor very knowing Christian who doth not believe it And were it understood how intimately and effectually his Providence doth interpose in all things perhaps there would not be much doubt of what I say But they that understand these things may make their use of them Of the other more immediate and more apparent Causes there is one that is Prophanation of Religion which hath a double Efficacy Moral and Natural Moral as a sin provoking Gods Displeasure and Judgments and so is comprehended in what I have said before Natural in respect of its Contagious and Spreading Nature and of the mischievous Effects and Consequences of it All evil Examples especially of persons of great Place and among people disposed to receive Impressions from them are very Infectious but none more than Irreligion and Prophaneness partly thro' the Sensuality of men in the Corrupt State of Nature which is easily affected with Objects of Sence and therefore apt for them to neglect and contemn things of a more refined and Spiritual Nature and partly through the Impressions and Efficacy of the envious Apostate Spirits who of all things are most gratified with it and most active to promote it and for this cause there is the more reason to check and suppress the very first and least appearances of it for a little Leven leveneth the whole Lump but yet more if we consider also the pernicious Effects and Consequences of it even of a natural growth and production For it is plainly a direct Introduction to Irreligion and thereby an Inlet to all manner of Disorder in Persons Families and States as may plainly be perceived by this Consideration True Religion in man
A CAVEAT AGAINST FLATTERY AND PROFANATION OF Sacred things to Secular Ends UPON Sight of the Order of the Convention for the Thanksgiving AND Consideration of the Misgovernment and Misfortunes of the last Race of Kings of this Nation LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXIX A CAVEAT AGAINST FLATTERY AND PROFANATION of Sacred things to Secular Ends. I Was not more pleased with the first News of the Order of the present Convention for a Publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God upon so just and admirable occasion than I was otherwise moved and disturbed at the first Sight of their Order to see all that lively sense which I expected of such an admirable Providence and Mercy of God to these Nations in so seasonable so easie and yet so great and if it be not our own fault compleat Deliverance to dwindle in my apprehension into a kind of mean servile fawning Complement to the Prince under a Formality of Religion This hath filled me with variety of Thoughts which I cannot forbear to communicate to some of those who are concern'd in it I mean the Members of the Convention The Prince I look upon as a person greatly to be esteem'd lov'd and honour'd both for the Character generally given of his Virtues and more especially for that he seems to be chosen and design'd by the Providence of God for a special Instrument of great and desirable matters in this Age and hath been so already to this Nation And therefore to assist him and concur with him to those ends is in my Opion an Act of Subservience to the Divine Providence which is a Glorious and Angelical Employment but yet to express our Respect to him in such a manner as this whether through Flattery or Transport I conceive is neither proper decent nor safe either for him or for the Nation The Cause of this Publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God is thus expressed For having made His Highness the Prince of Orange the Glorious Instrument of the Great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power Whereas in truth the principal Cause of it is not the Instrument but the Great and very great Deliverance with many such Circumstances as are remarkable indications of the special Providence and over-ruling hand of God in it And for this most solemn Thanks ought to have been paid to Almighty God by this Nation whoever had been the Instrument And yet in this Order is there not one Word of this Great Deliverance more than was necessary to express what it was that the Prince of Orange was the Glorious Instrument of as if his being the Instrument was the Only or the Principal thing for which we were to give Thanks I deny not but there was special reason to give Thanks for that also as well as other Circumstances but then it ought to have been express'd in its proper manner and order the Deliverance first expresly with proper words of its due amplification as the principal and then by what Instrument as is frequently added in the Scripture upon such occasions by the hand of his servant Moses And as our common form expresseth that which is above all Gods inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ It must therefore be confessed that the principal matter of our Thanksgiving is in this Order either omitted or mentioned only occasionally so as to serve only to express the other at best in a preposterous manner And this Inversion of the proper and most natural and easie Order is an Argument that it was so formed not by chance but design or to make the most charitable Construction through some inconsiderate Transport And the same is observable in the Epithets given to each I did never affect to contend about words much less would I give occasion of offence to such an Assembly of such persons for a trifle besides they that know me know me to be a cordial friend and well wisher to this Convention and who desire to promote not prejudice their Proceedings But what I intend in this is no slight matter nor will it so much prejudice as be useful to them and to others if it be taken by the right handle and as is intended For from hence I observe two things which deserve very serious consideration and reflection upon them The one a Defect of that due and profound Sense of so great and undeserved a Mercy and of that answerable Reverence and Gratitude to God which our circumstances and condition require If we admit the form of the Order to have proceeded only through Transport of Affection to the Prince which is the most favourable construction we can make of it yet even that is an evidence of what I say and that there was more respect to the Instrument than to the Mercy it self or perhaps to the Author of it by some for after the Author the Mercy it self is next to be consider'd before the Instrument as the principal Motive of our Gratitude and the expressing it otherwise is a kind or degree of neglect or slighting of the Mercy and of disrespect to the Author which a man may easily perceive if he do but consider how such an expression of thanks for some rare favour would be resented by a great Prince from some of his meanest Subjects Would he not think him an Impertinent Fellow and unworthy to be regarded much more unworthy of such a special favour And if we admit that it passed the Houses meerly through Inadvertence which is also the most favourable Construction we can make of that this very Inadvertence is plainly an evidence of the same for had we been affected as we ought that would have made us more mindful and observant of such a matter But if it did proceed from Flattery and design to Complement the Prince and pass tho' observed through Compliance which might possibly be the case of some that is not only unbecoming and below the Gravity of such an Assembly but a plain Profanation of Religion to base and unworthy ends and greatly aggravates the former And this is so plain of it self that I need not say more to prove or explain it But whether either of these two or both was in the bottom it is not a matter to be slighted or lightly passed over How great are the sins of unsuitable Returns for extraordinary Mercies and of Profanation of Religion to Secular ends and the Judgments they usually provoke I leave to Divines to consider more fully But what are their Natural Effects and Consequences and what the Mischiefs we have seen attending them I think greatly necessary to be explained for our common Benefit and necessary Caution for the future We are just now entring upon a new Scene of Affairs and if we well consider the sad Catastrophes of the two preceeding and make just Enquiry into the causes thereof we may meet with much matter of Admonition Caution and Direction and very pertinent to this purpose King James I.
his Mother and Grandfather having both born their own burdens was by the Providence of God brought to the Throne of this Kingdom in Peace even beyond the expectation of himself and many others And though the restless and desperate attempts of the Papists were otherwise enough to terrifie a man of greater natural Courage than himself yet he had for his Encouragement an admirable experiment of the Special Providence of God in the Preservation of his next immediate Predecessor Queen Elizabeth through a long Reign of forty four years notwithstanding all their Conspiracies against her And lest that should not sufficiently affect him he had moreover in the very beginning of his Reign a like experiment thereof in the Preservation of himself and his own Family from one of the most horrid desperate and secret Conspiracies that the World hath ever heard of And what did all this require of him Could it be any thing less than the highest demonstration of Gratitude to God most confident Dependance upon him and intire Fidelity to him And what less from the Nation But what was the Return It was wisely said at his first coming in by one of his Scotch Courtiers to one of the English We have brought you a good King but you Court Flatterers will soon spoil him And so it proved It was indeed a great happiness to have all Causes of Dissention not only in this Nation but also between both Nations so plainly and fully extinguish'd in his person But such was partly the Transport of all sorts of people and such the gross Flattery of many that nothing was enough to magnify either his Wisdom or his Power This and the pompous Titles of Monarch Absolute and Imperial Crown c. soon raised his thoughts above the pitch of an English King. He thought himself as free to exceed the Laws of the Land as God the Laws of Nature when he saw occasion for it though he thought in Prudence such extraordinary Acts like Miracles in Nature were not ordinarily to be done He thought the Rights and Liberties of the People were but Indulgences wrested from their Kings his Predecessors cujus contrarium est verum and might thereupon infer and had wit enough to do it that it was but reasonable for him to regain by Policy if he could what they had lost by Necessity or Constraint These fancies of his were continually fed and confirm'd by self-seeking flattering persons who perceiving that to be the way to Preferment strained all their Wit and Parts to gratify his humour and it was not long before he found occasion to exercise that Freedom The Discovery of that horrid Conspiracy which by his admirable Deliverance should have confirmed his Dependance upon the Divine Providence for the future having a contrary effect upon him he cast about to secure his Safety and Quiet by his own Craft and Policy And the only way for that he conceived was by making not only Amity and Leagues but the nearest Alliance that could be with some Potent Prince of the Popish Religion And by all means he must have a match for his Son either from France or Spain for the Accomplishment whereof the Pope whom he had before asserted to be Anti-christ must be complemented with no meaner Title than Sanctissime Pater Indulgence to Papists contrary to the Laws must be agreed and the effectual Execution of the Laws against them actually stopp'd by secret Orders for a publick Declaration for that purpose would not then pass for a Legal Act of Dispensing Power And because they who were most Zealous in Religion were like to be most averse from compliance in these things the very Power of Religion must be discountenanced under the Notion of Puritanism and Indifference and Formality incouraged under the Notion of Loyalty Obedience and Conformity And to this end was the Book of Sports injoyned to be read in Churches and many Pious and able Divines put out of their Employments if not Freeholds too for refusing to read it Nor did he want incouragement in all these things from Flatterers of all sorts who easily prevailed against the sounder and safer Counsels of others And though some of them who had published their false and flattering Argument in Print were questioned in Parliament for it both in King James and in King Charles I time yet even for some of them did the King intercede in Parliament as King James 7. Jac. for Dr. Cowel and others were preferr'd or favoured afterward as Dr. Mainwaring by King Charles I. as others since have gotten what they wrote for and have been well rewarded for their pains Of the former sort see Rushworth and Mr. Petyts Miscellanea Parlementaria of these latter 't is like the Parliament in due time will take notice This unhappy Policy as it was not unlike in its Principles to that of Jeroboam which became a sin to his House even to cut it off and destroy it from off the face of the earth so it proved also in its consequence His eldest and hopeful Son Prince Henry was in the beginning of these courses and soon after the first proposal of such a match taken away by an immature death and himself persisting therein by a death questioned then and in the dark to this day whether not untimely His next Son and Successor King Charles I. whom he had involved in these snares but never lived to see his Marriage accomplished proceeding in the like courses giving incouragement to Flatterers and through their false and deceitful Counsels in many things transgressing the Laws indulging to Papists and discouraging and oppressing many of the most Religious and Conscientious of the Protestants as Puritans and Factious and renewing with more severity that unhappy Policy of the Book of Sports at last concluded this Scene with that unhappy Catastrophe which is well known to the World. King Charles I. having also born his burden to his Son King Charles the Second after he had been tutor'd in a Wilderness of twelve years Exile was Almighty God pleased to open the Gates of his Mercy and when all hopes either from Foreign Assistance or Domestick Conspiracies sailed then by a favourable and manifest Providence to admit or rather conduct him to his Fathers Throne in Peace to the great Joy of himself and the whole Nation putting into his hand upon terms of his Behaviour the prize of a fair opportunity to have made himself and these Nations happy had he had a heart to it and they been disposed for it But such was the Transport they were all under at that time that they soon forgot themselves forgot God and like Pigs to the Trough ran greedily to a brutish enjoyment of their unexpected Happiness and through their Ingratitude to God instead of Blessings which they might have been proved mutual Temptations and occasions of Corruption and Debauchery each to other the new King by a most pernicious evil Example and those about him by self-seeking Flattery Compliance
doubt not but we are now as much over spread with Pharisnism except the best part of it as were the Jews in our Saviours time And what may be the Cause into which all this may be truly resolved Certainly nothing but after an ill and inconsiderate Education the false Appearances of the World and the great Preferments which are attainable by compliance with the pleasure of those who have the disposing of them This is it which hath betrayed both King and Country as I shall presently shew more particularly I do not impute it to the Greatness of the Preferments which are Talents whereof a good Man may make a good use though few have been made better men by them so much as to want of good Education and the unhappy course which was taken in the disposal of many of them Great Preferments are Temptations and Allurements to Covetous and Ambitious Men to use any means to obtain them These being all at the Disposal of the King and King James I. dividing the Common Interest by setting up pretended Prorogative against the Laws made use of this Power to encrease and strengthen his party And though this course proved very unsuccessful to Him and his Son yet King Charles II. fell likewise into the same Error forgetting his Solemn Promises from Bredah he industriously as some say fomented differences between the two parties of the Clergy however he too easily consented to that mischievious Act of Vniformity which made an actual Division and was therefore as it is believed secretly promoted by the Papists By this means were many good and useful men excluded from all Preferments and Employments in the Church And though of those who conformed there were many too eminent for their Worth to be passed by yet generally Prerogative Men were the Men who were preferred And this was it which filled the Church with Covetous Proud Ambitious Worldly Men and Court Flatterers And to note it by the way that cursed Dividing of the Church and Nation by that mischievous Act of Uniformty no less contrary to Christian Prudence then Christian Charity proved another great Error in Policy and Government no less inconsistent with civil than Christian Prudence and made his Government uneasie which might otherwise by performance of his Word have been made most easie through a general Unanimity and mutual Emulations for his Service and the Common Good. Flattery the other immediate and apparent cause of the Evils aforesaid is the natural product and off-spring of those Debaucheries of Covetousness and Ambition whereof I have been speaking For the Gratification of these is the only or most common End it aims at And its natural Effects are that it subtilly dangerously and perniciously abuseth deceives and betrays under the specious pretence of great Affection Respect and Service and so much the more dangerously and perniciously by how much the more subtilly and therefore is in men of greatest parts Clergy men especially if once found Unsincere Covetous or Ambitious with so much the greater Caution to be suspected and avoided even by the wisest of Men who otherwise may be subject to its insinuations and imposed on by it King James the First was certainly a Man of no mean or ordinary Wit and parts in other respects but his Affectation of an uncontrolable Absoluteness and his Timorousness exposed him to the crafts of evil Men. He knew well enough that he was bound and obliged by Laws that was too plain to be denied and therefore he made no scruple to profess as much in general in Parliament But under the umbrage of that Profession took liberty to transgress his bounds in many Particulars upon pretence of Law and Prorogative To make this pass the more clearly it was necessary he should incline two sorts of Men the Bishops and the Judges as much as might be to his Service which could not better and more craftily be effected than by setting up the Authority of both as high as might be For this carried an appearance of Favour to them and moreover made them the more serviceable to him he having the choice of the persons Upon this the Judges were apt to strain the Law to comply with his desires but the Bishops and their dependants the Chancellors and Civilians and the Episcopal Clergy were generally for magnifying the Prorogative without consideration of or regard to the bounds prescribed by the Laws and Constitution of the Government partly as the common Interest of their party but more especially as the direct way to gain the Kings Favour and Preferments This produced Flatterers in abundance who strained their Wits by plausible Arguments grounded upon ambiguous Words and false Principles to represent the state of this Government such as the King affected to have it By this means was King James himself in part imposed upon for Quicquid volumus facile credimus but his posterity more and a great part of the Clergy and others who adherd to them in so much that they could never since tell how to extricate themselves out of those false Notions into which the craft and knavery of these Flatters had mislead them especially under the Byass and Prejudice of a supposed Interest This tempted and encouraged the King many times upon occasion to exercise his supposed Prerogative But the people of England being an understanding people and well knowing their own Rights could not so easily be imposed upon by Fallacies contrary to their Interest And hence arose the fatal difference between King and People and between the People themselves while part to maintain their illegal Assertions to get Preferments or being misled sided with the King and part and that the greatest and most considerable part stood firm to the Laws and for maintenance of their Rights And certain it is that those very matters wherein King James and his Successors thus unhappily transgressed the Laws were not at all for their benefit but did meerly gratify insinuateing Courtiers and pernitious Flatterers to the alienation of the minds of the greatest and best part of the people So that their cause in these Differences was both unjust unprofitable and pernitious to themselves And this was their Case in King Charles I. and ever since But of all the matters wherein they transgressed the Laws none was more pernitious even to themselves than Intermissions and unseasonable Prorogations and Dissolutions of Parliaments contrary to the Laws For certain it is and very apparent in the very Constitution of our Government and constant Practice that the People of England have as much Right to inspect the Administration as the King to exercise it And had these Kings exercised this part in summoning Parliaments and permiting them to sit and act according to the Laws which they are sworn to observe this would certainly have prevented the mischiefs which have befaln not only the Nation but themselves more especially For the Majesty Honour and Prosperity of the King is for the benefit of the Nation and therefore