This made them easie to be perswaded to believe that it was their Prerogative to Call and Prorogue and Dissolve Parliaments at their own Pleasure and accordingly to do it in effect at the pleasure that is at the perswasion of those Favourites Whereas not only the Notion is false and set up only for the Advantage of Favourites and Criminals but the Practice was doubly mischievous to the Kings themselves For 1. It was a great cause of Discontent heightned the Differences between the King and the People and made the Kings Cause so much the worse in those Differences and unjustifiable being often times a wilful and obstinate refusal of Justice and Protection of Criminals against the whole Nation 2. It deprived the King as well as the People of the proper Remedy of those Mischiefs For Parliaments are the great Security under God of Kings from Abuses as well as of the People from Oppression and the Persons were either Guilty or Not Guilty If Guilty they ought to be try'd and either suffer according to their Crimes or if there were any special reason for it be pardon'd If not Guilty yet ought they to be try'd that their Innocence might be cleared and the Nation satisfy'd Fifthly The same may be observ'd concerning the great Noise that was made of the Monarchy and the Church as if both were design'd to be presently destroyed which were nothing but false Clamours to incense People and raise a Faction by the Instigation of those evil Men for their own support and defence against Justice The just Punishment of Criminals who betrayed both King and People was the Destruction of Monarchy and Reformation of the manners of the Clergy the Subversion of the Church in their account But by these means were a great many honest well-meaning People impos'd upon and a mighty Faction rais'd Whereas it is certain that the English Monarchy being not meerly an Honorary matter but of great Use and Advantage to the whole Nation both at home and abroad if it be not abused the People and their Representatives in Parliament have always so well understood their Interest therein and do so at this day that nothing but some extraordinary matter ever could or can alienate their Affections from it This is plain in the case of King Charles I. when notwithstanding the great Provocations which are set out in the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom 15 Dec. 1642. and some others that Parliament would neither have destroyed the Monarchy nor hurt the King though out of those Confusions a violent Party was rais'd which did both nor would the Nation after be quiet till his Son was restored And for the Church the Bishops and Ecclesiastical Courts might have been quiet had they been truly Christian as they would be called But that which moved the Indignation of most understanding and honest Men against them was to see Christianity prophan'd and Offices of Religion sought and used as Secular Employments to see Formality encouraged sincere Piety though perhaps mixt with some unnecessary Scrupulosity oppressed and the Ministers of the Righteous Kingdom of Christ turn Promoters of Arbitrariness and Tyranny And it is no wonder if such Causes produce such Effects Sixthly It was the raising and heightning of that Faction by the Favourites and Criminal Party that brought things to that Extremity of a War which otherwise might have been composed and all satisfy'd with the Removal of a few Evil Men from about the King the Punishment of a few Criminals and the Reformation of a few necessary things But while these Evil Counsellors and Favourites raised that Faction for the security of themselves under the pretence of the King and the Church they thereby laid the Foundation of the real Destruction of both for some time And I wish all honest Men may take warning by it now and not suffer themselves to be impos'd upon again after such an Example For there is Just such another Faction which hath gone very high of late especially in the business of Elections under the same Pretences of the Monarchy and the Church wherein the greatest Sticklers were those sort of Persons which the Vindicators of the last years Transactions recommend to Favour that is the Criminals of the two last Reigns the Counsellors Agents and Accomplices of King James and the Regency-men and Haesitators who refuse to act under King William with whom the Papists joyned under-hand And their greatest Opposition was for the most part against such as were most Cordial and Active for the present King and Queen I have but one thing more to observe which comes now into my mind and hath not been so well considered as it ought and that is the great and mischievous Influence which such prodigal and unadvised conferring of Honours as was begun by King James I. and has been continued fince is apt to have in the producing of such Troubles Honor and Riches are things which may be of good use for the Benefit of others when they fall to the share of Good Men who have Hearts to make use of them for that purpose But I very much doubt whether ever any Man was the better for them On the contrary it is apparent that many nay most are the worse for them if they be raised much above their own Rank And it is certain that they are no good Men who are very greedy of either but such as will comply with the Means whereby they are to be obtained be they what they will If the Prince who hath the disposing of Honors and Preferments be wise and vertuous be sparing and prudent in conferring them only upon consideration of Worth and Merit it will be an effectual means to incline the People to apply themselves to such means which will be of great advantage to the Commonwealth But if he be prodigal and inconsiderate in the disposing of them he will not fail to attract to him many ill Men of no vertue who will certainly flatter and deceive him make it their business to please him for their own advantage at any rate rather than faithfully serve him And the more Honours he confers upon such the greater Burden he thereby brings upon himself He must provide for his own Creatures and if he hath not good and lawful means to provide for them they will not fail of Projects even of indirect means by him to provide for themselves Besides the Appetite is unsatiable The Man 's no more satisfy'd when made a Lord than when but a Knight I 'm sure not more happy nor when made an Earl than when but a Baron nor when made a Marques than when but an Earl but a Baron but a Knight but a private Gentleman But he needs more his Needs are increased and must be supplied one way or other And from this Root did spring many of those Illegal Projects in the Reigns of King James I. and King Charles I. which in the end produced those bitter Fruits we have been
AUTHORITY ABUSED BY The VINDICATION Of the Last Years Transactions AND The ABUSES DETECTED WITH INLARGEMENTS upon some Particulars more briefly touched in the Reflections upon the Occurrences of the Last Year TOGETHER WITH Some NOTES upon another Vindication Entituled The Third and Last Part of the Magistracy and Government of England Vindicated By the Author of the REFLECTIONS Magna est VERITAS Praevalebit LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXC TO THE KING SIR WHEN I first came in to you to Sherborn I came with as much Appetite though in an infirm Condition to engage in the same Cause with you as I could have done to a good Meal when an hungred And though you are now setled in the Throne and the Storms of War which then threatned this Nation long since blown over Yet I have reason to believe I may run some Danger in what I now do for the Service of your Majesty and my Country And though I doubt not of the Protection of Almighty God and the powerful Supports of Truth Justice and a good Conscience yet because it is my Duty to neglect no honest Means for my Safety and Quiet having here performed an Act of Great Fidelity to your Majesty and the Government of my Country I do claim as my Right the Protection of both for my self and my Labours I have not written one Syllable which I do not believe to be true nor have I forborn a Word which I thought pertinent to my Subject and necessary to your Service And this being done not out of Discontent for any Disappointment * Vnworthily suggested not without the Check of his own Conscience by the Writer of the Vindication p. 30. in quest of some Place for I never sought any though I my self with Five Sons are all ready to serve you if you please to command it nor to serve any Faction or Party but sincerely to preserve one of the Noblest Governments in the World as I have long thought it to serve a Just and Noble Cause as I have else where though briefly proved to serve my Country to serve your Majesty and which is above all to serve Almighty God is such an Act of Fidelity as is too rare to be met with in this Nation at this time And I know you cannot desert me in it without deserting more or less all that I have endeavoured to serve Nor can any one hurt or molest me an innocent Man and endeavouring to do good without bringing greater hurt upon themselves Whereof he who gave occasion of this Writing may be an Example And besides without striking at your Majesty and the Government to say no more For the same intent and purpose besides what I have said in the following Sheets in common I must crave the Favour of a few Words to your self in particular God by his Providence has brought you to one as I said of the Noblest Governments in the World That You and these Nations may enjoy the Compleat Benefit of so great a Favour these things I will presume to say are necessary nay absolutely necessary on your part First That you be very careful to keep up such a firm and quick Sense of the Providence of God in these things that your Heart be neither so lifted up with any high Conceit of your self for what you have already gotten nor so involved in Cares and Endeavours to keep that or get more that you forget him and either take up with the Enjoyment of these things and neglect the further Prosecution of his Service or deserting your Confidence in him decline to vulgar Policies for your own Security or Advantage Secondly That often contemplating the unconceivable Excellence of the Divine Majesty which hath given Being to and governs this vast Universe whereof the whole Earth is in comparison of the rest but a Point and raising your Soul above these transient things which the Vulgar admire you look upon the Acceptance of a Crown as an Act of Charity to poor Mortals but your only true Glory to consist in the Approbation of that excellent Majesty and of his Glorious though to us Mortals Invisible Ministers Such as is the Applause and Admiration of the Rabble to a great King such and no more is the Applause and Admiration of the greatest of Mortals to a truly Wise Man without the Approbation of the Celestial Spectators Thirdly That assuring your self that you are raised up by the Providence of this Glorious Majesty for his Service in these Nations at least if not further you generously prosecute the same with all Fidelity according to his Will and Pleasure that is his Eternal Laws of Righteousness his Express Instructions and Commands and the Constitution and just Laws of this Government and Nation which is the special Ordinance of God for this People that is ordered and preserved by his Providence Fourthly That for that purpose you generously and faithfully endeavour to improve all the Advantages put into your Hand and Talents committed to your Trust for the Honour of his Name Worship Laws and Institutions that is the Exemplary Authority of your Royal Person and of your Royal Family conniving at no vitious Persons there though otherwise never so great or necessary the Dispensations of your Honours and Favours and the strict Execution of the Laws which is your proper part in the Government The doing of this magnanimously slighting the vulgar Prudentials of Animal Polititians is that which in the Sacred Scripture is called Faith and highly recommended But to boggle at any of this will be dangerous to you and may produce as great Disappointments as those of the last Year and make your Counsels prove Abortive and it may be as destructive as King James's did by the like means You have begun well in your Letter to the Bishops but the like Care is to be taken that the Laws be strictly executed by the Judges and Civil Magistrates Nor would this Debase but Improve your Military Discipline and make it more prosperous and successful Fifthly That to this end and purpose also you inform your self as well as may be concerning the true Constitution of the English Government and your own Part therein that you neither neglect nor exceed your Duty or fall into any of the unhappy Miscarriages of some of your Predecessors but wisely and religiously contenting your self with what has been conferred upon you and justly belongs to you to the others you generously secure to each their own Sixthly That for Information in these matters you rely upon no private or secret Counsellors but in the Intervals of Parliament consult the Privy Council and Judges and the great Council of the Nation as soon as may be This it was which raised you to the Throne It is their Interest to preserve the Hernour and Majesty of the Monarchy and they will certainly do it And it was nothing but the Craft of ill Men who kept our late Brinces in continual Jenlousies of Parliaments to hold
in plain English most deliberate wilful and wicked Murders being committed under Colour and Pretence of Law of most of which Judgment hath been reversed by Authority of Parliament and that I think it differs not much in the fight of God whether a Man have his Hand or his Tongue dip'd therein And I doubt not but the great and good Sir Matthew Hale would have been of the same Opinion which this Gentleman who gives him those deserved Characters will find some Reason to believe if he please to peruse but The Account of the Good Steward concerning the Gift of Elocution But to the business The Votes of 23 Jan. have enumerated thirteen Heads of Crimes for every one of which some Persons may be excepted out of the Bill of Indemnity Against all Punishments of these our Lawyer takes Exception as Punishments never declared or promulged and which by the Standing Laws and Common Justice of the Realm could not be inflicted That is to say They are neither Treason Felony nor Misdemeanours For for all those there are Punishments declared and to be inflicted by the Standing Laws and Common Justice of the Realm I must add Nor Crimes punishable by any Statute And this is the least that these Words can imply So that we must suppose that they are nothing like any of those we meet with in the Impeachments Indictment Articles c. against those Flatterers and Evil Counsellors and Instruments of Princes which my Lord Coke mentions in his Chapter of Flattery or any others to be found in our Records Books of Entries Reports or Statutes not so much as those concerning the High-Commission Court 17 Car. I. But the contrary of all this is so well known to all who have looked into the Records and Books aforesaid that it is as needless as improper for this Paper to offer to recite them But in stead of that I will shew him that which is more that is That the Parliament may declare those things to be Treason the punishment whereof is sufficiently known which never were nor can now by the Ordinary Judges though in the late Reigns they are believ'd to have exceeded their Bounds be judged such and that by the express Words of the Statute 25 E. 3. And because that many other like Cases of Treason may happen in time to come which a man cannot think or declare at this present time it is accorded That if any other Case supposed Treason which is not above specified doth happen before any Justices the Justices shall tarry without any going to Judgment of the Treason till the Cause be shewed and declared before the King and his Parliament whether it ought to be adjudged Treason or other Felony Besides for such Crimes as are of their own Nature great Crimes and not meerly by some positive Law of the State there is neither Law nor Reason why the Legislative Authority in any State should not order and inflict such Punishments as they deserve And among those may doubtless be reckoned all such as have a direct tendency to the Subversion of the Laws and Government of any Stateâ— But Treason against the Kingdom as well as against the King may be found in our Books of Law and History And now I know not what most to admire in this Gentleman his profound Skill in the Law the Modesty of his Assertions or his Honesty and Conscience I cannot but think him a very proper Person to have been one of the Servants of former Crowns one of the last Kings Ministers Officers or Instruments of Justice He was certainly well qualify'd for lit and his Zeal for their Vindication discovers that he had some concern of his own in it And so confident a Gentleman and so qualify'd one would think should get in somewhere now at least into the Parliament and no doubt but set up by the Faction and a great stickler there one of those who are recommended by our Vindicators not only for Pardon and Indemnity but for Favour and Employment to our present King And no doubt but he will be well served by them as well as he was the last Year I cannot let this pass without some further Reflection It is not at all besides the Design of my Writing and no great Digression from that particular matter I am now upon Our other Vindicator tells us that His Majesty came a Stranger to England and but darkly informed of the true Arcana of the last two Reigns and of the Practices and Principles of particular Men it being so much their interest to vail them from his View Whence it is to be suppos'd that at his coming to the Government the Representation made him of Persons and Things could not but receive a Tincture of the many different Principles and Interests of those who made them Considering which it 's no wonder that in such a Maze of Business and Mist of various Representations his Majesty's Bounty might happen to to be misplac'd in some one or other page 29. I know not any thing more truly and reasonably said by that Writer It was indeed a great Disadvantage his Majesty was under being unacquainted with the Principles and Interests of Persons And as that was just Cause both of Caution in the Choice and of Excuse of him from any ill Choice upon the recommendation of others so doth it aggravate the Fault of such recommendations and recommend the Service of such as detect them I shall therefore for the more comple at Detection of some ill Men to what I have before observed add this for Confirmation 1. That the Persons concerned in these Vindications are Men of dangerour Principles in respect of the present Government For if these Crimes be not punishable by Law then are all they who invited the Prince of Orange to come in with an Army and all that associated with him Traytors and he himself an Invader and Usurper 2. They are Men of Arbitrary Principles and so dangerous to the Nation and the true ancient Constitution of this Government For if these Crimes be not punishable by Law our English Monarchy is gone and we are already fallen into a French or Turkish Tyranny 3. They are dangerous Persons to be employed or trusted in respect of their Genius Men of smooth voluble Tongues and of Confidence to impose any thing Of which I could add divers Instances to those I have noted before But I will add only this because it may serve also for another purpose He tells us If the thirteen Heads c. had been reduced into a Law one third at least of the Nation had been involved who with their disoblig'd Relations and Dependents is not so contemptible a Flock c. Now if every one of this third part had but one Relative or Dependent they would make two thirds if two they would make the compleat number of the Nation but if many of them have 10 20 100 as many certainly have they would far exceed the number of