their free Consent they would do what they promised without Swearing and if they did not all the Oaths in the World would not make them Did Augustus for this expect no Allegiance from his Subjects Or are not the Eastern Monarchs pretty Absolute because the Law in those Nations does not require Oaths But after all by the Common Law in England and Ireland all above 16 are to swear Allegiance to the King and it may be exacted from them in their Leets And this is the Reason they gave for imposing the new Oaths in Ireland to King William and Queen Mary before there was an Act of Parliament for it And therefore there was as much Law of the Land for swearing of Allegiance to K. James in Ireland after his Repeal of the Oath of Supremacy as our Author can pretend there was for swearing to K. William in Ireland before the new Act imposing the Oaths there So that our Author is out too in matter of Law Sixth Reason in answer to the Question Who shall be Judge But the main of the Difficulty is yet behind and that is That upon our Author's Scheme of dissolving Oaths and Government for such Reasons as he thinks fit he has not told us who shall be Judge of these Forfeitures or Abdications This I have urg'd already but you have not heard our Author's answer He says c. 2. s 1. n. 2. p. 12. it is commonly Objected Who shall be Judge and he resolves it thus That either the People must be left to judge of the Designs of their Governors Or else they must be oblig'd to a blind and absolute Submission without imploying their Understanding in the Case Thus our Author like a mighty Man Yet this Sophism is as poor a one as the last about the Oaths For in the Case we are upon of determining a Cause 'twixt the Government and the Subjects when we say who shall be Judge The meaning is not who shall have Power to think in his own Mind We say Thoughts are free And this sort of passing Judgment or of being a Judge can no more be taken from any Man than his Power of Thinking But when there is a Contest 'twixt King and People which is the Case we are upon the Question who shall be Judge is who has Authority to determine the Cause betwixt them as a Judge does between two contending Parties In which Sense none can be a Judge but he that has a Commission from some who has Power to invest him with that Authority viz. to judge 'twixt King and People which none can have but God alone And to say that every Man who is not such a Judge as this has not leave to imploy his Understanding in the Case because he has not Power Authoritatively to determine the Case so as to oblige and tye up the contending Parties is what this Author would slily pass upon you undiscover'd but it is too plain to bear an Argument Well then The Question is concerning an Authoritative Judge and our Author proceeds I dare appeal says he to all the World whether it be safer to leave it to the Judgment and Consciences of a whole Kingdom to determine concerning the Designs of their Governor or to leave it to the Will and Conscience of the King whether he will destroy them One of these is unavoidable and I am assured it is less probable that the Generality of a Kingdom will concur in a Mistake of this Nature and less mischievous if they should mistake than that a King by Weakness wicked Councellors or false Principles should design to make his People Slaves subvert the Antient Government or destroy one part of his People whom he hates in favour of another Thus our Author And the Case is plausibly laid down and no doubt would gain the Cry at an Election But there is another Prospect of this Case which our Author takes care to conceal and that is What if a Cunning and Designing Incendiary makes a Party and prevails Universally among the People and perswades them to their own Destruction Misrepresent their Governor and Impose upon them That a Civil War is better and by this means get them to Destroy and Consume one another Thus did Absalom thus did Sheba thus Oliver and all the prosperons Rebels There is no other way of moving the People unless you could bring them all to a fair Vote which is only Impossible at least it was never done and therefore we justly may suppose it never will be Let us leave these Disputings in the Clouds and bring this Author to matter of Fact Are not all Revolutions carried on by making Parties Combinations of Leading-men Aspersing your Opposites using all Arts to Byass the Mob to your side Did ever any in such Cases speak nothing but the honest Truth of the Governour against whom they took Arms Did they leave it freely and impartially to the Judgment of the People without any Misrepresentations or invidious Insinuations And was it Equal to them whether the People upon a fair Hearing determin'd against them as Rebels or for them as Patriots Can there be a Method for the People to have such a fair Hearing of the Cause and to determine it Judicially If our Author cannot say that any of these Things has been or are ever likely to be done he must acknowledge That there is infinitely more hazzard of Giddy Peoples being debauch'd by Insinuating Crafty Men who seek their own Advantage in it to entertain Jealousies and Fears of their Governor's Designs and to over-rate every Hardship and ill Usage they receive from him than that a King should design to destroy his People which would be to destroy himself And if one of these is Unavoidable as our Author says It is easy to see where the most danger lyes The one has been our own Case and is almost every day The other is Imaginary without an Instance in the World in the Extremity our Author puts it and at the worst many degrees preferable to a Civil War as will be shewn Nor will the Number of the People or Greatness of their Leaders excuse any thing It makes their Rebellion more Fatal Numb 16.12 In the Rebellion of Korah there were 250 Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation Men of Renown And All the Children of Israel The whole Congregation c. 14. v. 24. mutiny'd against Moses and Aaron and were chusing another Captain and returning into Egypt And Korah gather'd all the Congregation against them c. 16. v. 19 41 49. and on the morrow all the Congregation murmured against ' em For which God destroy'd 14700 by a new Plague Now judge with your self if such a Governor as Moses could not secure himself from the Power which Ten Leading Men had with the People for they were no more who caus'd this Mutiny of the whole Congregation Num. 14.2 viz. Ten of the Twelve Searchers of the Land what Governor 's Virtue Sufficiency or
which was carried to the Earl of M. discovering the said Massacre intended The foolish but artificial Alarm of the few Disbanded Irish cutting all our Throats in England did not fly more Incredibly to be in all Parts of England on the self same Night than this of the Letter found at Cumber flew through Ireland and wrought Prodigious Effects upon a People fitted for such an Impression When this News arrived in Dublin as the faithful History before quoted tells us pag. 8. It so alarm'd the City that above 5000 Protestants appeared in Arms that same night and many Hundred Families embarqued from all Parts in such confusion that they left every thing but their Lives behind them and yet all this as this Historian says he is very well assured was only a contrivance devised as the readiest means to engage the E. of M. who till then was deaf to all arguments for entring into their Association and to animate a dejected People who of themselves were backward to all Arguments of that nature Thus the Historian and that Letter did attain its desired end for not only the said E. of M. did heartily engage and after took upon him to be General of the Association in the North but the generality of the People as if all set on fire at one How to their Arms as readily as they could be commanded so that the whole North of Ireland appeared on the sudden all in one Blaze all in Arms all Marching up and down and all in confusion as themselves give the Account It was this made Derry shut their Gates and was the occasion of all the confusion that followed The Man they first pitcht upon for their General was the E. of Granard who was upon all accompts more competent for that Imployment than any amongst the Associators Pursuant to this Resolution Mr. Hamilton of Tollimore went to Dublin to Represent to his Lordship the number and posture of the Protestants in the North and to invite his Lordship to put himself upon the Head of their Troops But that Noble Lord would not suffer himself to be perswaded by the seeming Advantages of appearing so early and in so considerable a Post for the P. of O. wherein he might by all humane reckoning have turn'd the Ballance of that Kingdom For he wisely considered that tho the Protestants in the North were numerous and arm'd and of Resolution and Courage to excess yet they were Undiciplin'd all Voluntiers and consequently not Party for a form'd Army he told Mr. Hamilton that he did not know what it was to command a Rabble But besides that he had lived Loyal all his Life and would not depart from it in his old age and he was resolved That no Man should write Rebell upon his Gravestone this was his very expression and he pursu'd it for he not only refused to Command the Associators in the North but persuaded them to leave off their mad Enterprise told them they would be ruin'd as it came to pass and Sign'd several Proclamations declaring them Rebels and summoning them to lay down their Arms. Now this Alarme of the intended Massacre and Mr Hamilton's Invitation to the E of Granard to Command the Army of the Northern Association was in the beginning of December 88. about the 6th or 7th and therefore before K. James left England and before the shutting up of Derry against the E. of Antrims Regiment and before Eneskillen refused to quarter the two Companies sent to them by the Lord Deputy which was the 16th of December 88. as you will see in Hamiltons actions of the Eneskillen Men p. 3. So much has the Authors Information fail'd him when he avers without any hesitation That the shutting up of Derry Gates and this of Eneskillen as avovesaid was all that was done by any Protestant in Ireland in opposition to the Government till King James deserted England Though as I have shown before it would not have served much to the use for which our Author brought it if it had been done after the King went away or any time before the Convention declared his Recess to be an Abdication c. But now here is a more material Thing coming and that is The Descent of King James's Army into the North of Ireland in March 1688. Our Author would make us believe That it was wholly Causeless as to any Provocation given by the Protestants but that it was only a Design of my Lord Tyrconnel's to involve the Kingdom in Blood and that therefore he made all the haste he could to send down that Army and that no Perswasions would prevail upon him to defer fending it till the King should come lest there should be any Terms proposed or accepted by the People in the North and so that Country escape being Plundered and Undone This is in his num 10. § 8. of ch 3. p. 106 which has this Title in the Heads of his Discoure viz. Lord Tyrconnel hastned to run them into Blood before King James's Coming In the num before p. 104 105. he tells us there was no Provocation or not Sufficient given for the Descent of that Army and here p. 106. what was the true Cause of it We will Examine both For the first he asserts p. 105. They the Protestants were not so much as summoned by him the Lord Deputy This shows the unreasonable haste and precipitancy of the Lord Deputy To send an Army and enter into Blood without so much as summoning the offending Party But our Author goes on Nor did they the Protestants enter into any act of Hostility or Association or offend any till assaulted But finding that continual Robberies and Plunderings were committed by such as the Lord Deputy had intrusted with Arms and Employments The Gentlemen in the North to prevent their own Ruin entered into Associations to defend themselves from these Robbers their Associations did really reach no farther than this nor did they Attempt any thing upon the Armed Robbers except in their own Defence when Invaded and Assaulted by them Insomuch that I could never hear of one act of Hostility committed wherein they were not on the Defensive This was all the Reason the Lord Deputy and Council had to call them Rebels and to charge them in their Proclamation dated March the 7th 1688 with actual Rebellion and with Killing and Murthering several of his Majesties Subjects and with Pillaging and Plundering the Country whereas it was notorious they never kill'd any whom they did not find actually Robbing And for Plundering it is no less notorious that they Preserved the whole Country within their Associations from being Pillaged when all the rest of Ireland was Destroyed And their great Care of themselves and their Country was the Crime which truly provoked the Lord Deputy and made him except from pardon Twelve of the principal Estated Men in the North when he sent down Lieut. General Hamilton with an Army which he tells us in the same Proclamation would
the Irish Papists against us How frequently do we hear them tell us That though we continue to Injure them Rob and Destroy them yet they must Trust in us and be True and Faithful to us c. These are the Words of the Doctor 's Letter and I suppose will be thought but an over good Retortion of this Author's Objection viz. of the Spoil and Plunder committed by King James's Army Whose Discipline and good Government the Dr. in that same Letter does commend exceedingly above that of King William's Army And now as to the other Point viz. My Lord Tyrconnel's haste in sending that Army into the North I suppose our Author intends this for Politicks and upon that head without medling with the Goodness or Badness of the Cause I think my Lord Tyrconnel was rather too slow to suffer the Protestants in the North to be Arming Inlisting Associating against the Government actually Assaulting the Kings Forts and Garrisons Disarming his Souldiers and killing some of them at last publickly renouncing the King and proclaiming a Foreign Prince for their King and acting in his Name and by his Commission and all this was a doing and visibly carrying on from September to March which truly in Politicks was rather too long to suffer it to run And if that Army had not gone down when it did against the Associators in the North it wou'd never have been able to reduce them as it did which appears by the Defence a few of them made afterwards at Derry and Eniskillen And therefore I do not see any ground to blame my Lord Tyrconnel for sending that Army so soon considering that he thought it a good Cause in which he was engag'd But especially considering that our Author himself calls him a Fool for not dealing more briskly with the North in time He laughs at the Lord Deputy for leaving Derry so ill guarded as that they were able to seize it It proceeded says this Author c. 3 â— 8. n. 6. p. 103. from his the Lord Deputies own Ignorance or Negligence who had left that Garrison the only one of any considerable Strength in Ulster where most Protestants lived without one Soldier to guard it This is the Thanks be got for giving them that Opportunity which they had and they cry out upon him as a bloody-minded Man because he would not give them longer time then above three Months after their first seizing of Derry for it was so long before he sent the Army against them It was the 7th or 8th of December 88. that the Protestants seized Derry the first time and the Irish Army did not come to Drommore in the North till the 14th of March following tho all that time the Protestants were improving their Opportunity and every day committing Insults upon that small part of the Army only two Regiments which was Quartered among them But as our Author says in the same Page the Lord Deputy bethought himself too late of his Error but could never retrieve it Mr. Boyse's Narrative p. 13. says That my Lord Tyrconnel deferr'd the sending down his Army twenty days after it had been first resolved on in Council I have another Account which confirms all this viz. The Earl of Granard upon his leaving Dublin about the beginning of Feb. 88. to go to Castle Forbes desired a Person who went with him as far as Chappelisard to pretend some Business with my Lord Deputy on purpose to find out whether he designed to send the Army against the North and that Person went to the Lord Deputy that same day and asked him why he would suffer a Rabble in the North to affront the Government seeing a few of the Army would disperse them the Lord Deputy adswered That he was unwilling to ingage in Blood hoping they would of themselves reflect and come to a better temper But that now since General * This was a Son of the Lord Massereen's whose Souldiers assaulted the King's Forces at Tuam Scevington had made the first Rupture by falling upon and killing some of the Souldiers at Tuam he would send with what Expedition he could to Quash the Rebellion and let them blame themselves for the Consequence This I have from that Person himself and yet the Army did not go to the North till the 11th or 12th of the March following But this Author says as above c. 3. § 8. n. 10. that if he had delayed a little longer till King James had come then in all Probability if King James himself appeared amongst them and offered them Terms they would have complied with him at least so far as to submit Quietly to his Government If the Author thinks this I confess he is the first Protestant of Ireland that ever I found of that Opinion And the issue did pretty well prove it For after when the Associators were beaten at Drumore at Colerain at Clady and driven into Derry and Enneskillen and when King James appeared amongst them and offered them what Terms they pleased they value themselves upon refusing all Terms and holding out But may be this Author thinks That if they had beaten King James's Army they would have been better disposed to have received Terms from him But pray The Author's Character of K. J. how does all this agree with the Character which this Author raises of K. J. in this Book Wherein he represents him as a faithless merciless and bigotted Tyrant who designed to destroy all the Protestants and went as far in it as he could and employed Persons most inclined and fitted to do it and that no Trust was to be given to his Word or to his Oath c. And yet this is the Man whom in all probability this Author says the Protestants in Ireland would have submitted to if he had but appeared amongst them and offered them Terms But I must tell the Author That as to K. J. in his own Person there is another Man has given his Character who had more reason to know him than this Author and is at least as good a Judge that is the Lord Danby stil'd at present Lord Marquess of Carmarthen who in the Speech he made to the Gentlemen assembled in Yorkshire Lord Danby's Character of K. J. in the Infancy of this Revolution represented K. J. to them under as fair a Character as could be given of a great Prince and a good Man and that no Nation in the World would be happier in a King if he were but rescued from the evil Counsel of the Priests and Jesuits c. And I never heard any about his Person say but that he was a very good natur'd Man Even his Enemies charge his Miscarriages to his Zeal for Religion A very singular fault in these Times And even as to his Carriage in Ireland K. J. oppâ—â—â— thâ— Act of Attainder 〈◊〉 Repeal of 〈◊〉 Acts of Settlement I have heard not a few of the Protestants confess That they owed their Preservation and Safety
AN ANSWER TO A BOOK Intituled The State of the PROTESTANTS IN IRELAND Under the Late King JAMES's Government In which Their Carriage towards him is Justified and the Absolute Necessity of their endeavouring to be Free'd from his Government and of Submitting to their present Majesties is Demonstrated London Printed in the Year 1692. TO THE READER READER I Did not intend to have troubled you with any Preface But this is occasioned by a Pamphlet lately published called An Answer to GREAT BRITAIN's JUST COMPLAINT wherein pag. 54. there is this Character of the Book I have Answered which he calls Dr. King's whom I have not nam'd but now may from the Authority of this Author A Book says he writ with that known Truth and Firmness of Reason that every Page of it is a Demonstration which hath been often threatned with an Answer but the long silence of the Party shews Guilt and Despair For the long silence I must tell the Reader That this Answer was prepared upon the first coming out of Dr. King's Book and therefore the Quotations of the Page are according to the first Edition of it in Quarto in the later Editions the Doctor has found cause to make some Amendment which I have taken notice of That this Answer has not before this time appeared in Print has been occasioned by the severe Watch that is kept over all the Presses which has made many interruptions and long delays considering which it is more to be wonder'd at that it has now got through the Briars than that it has stuck so long This must excuse a Difference you will find in the Paper in some Sheets and other Eye-sores of the Impression being done at different Times and Places For these I shall be less concern'd if you will pardon one which was occasioned by the Importunity and Fears of some of the Printers that is to call People by their usual though not proper Names like the Woman of Samaria's de Facto Husband Joh. iv 16. or as Oliver was called a Protector and Absalom a King This Answer to Britain's Complaint recites some of the grossest Mistakes of Dr. King's Book and from his Credit delivers them for most undoubted Truths As pag. 54. That the Repeal of the Acts of Settlement was carried on by King James 's own Sollicitation and that he did struggle with his Bishops and Judges to carry it and after he was duly informed of the Cruelty and Injustice of it that he still pressed it and at last got it passed The notorious Falshood of which I have shewn from undeniable and good Protestant Vouchers and more are to be had if either of these Authors have the hardiness not to submit upon that Point Pamphlet pag. 55. Every where Protestant Churches were taken from them by Force and given to Popish Priests by the Order or Connivance of the late King Which is so far from Truth that Dr. King himself gives Instances to the contrary and tells c. 3. s 18 n. 11. how King James did struggle against the Popish Clergy in behalf of the Protestants and turn'd out the Mayor of Wexford for not obeying His Majesty's Orders in Restoring the Protestants Church there which the Popish Clergy had usurp'd and that He appear'd most zealous to have the Church Restored and exprest himself with more passion than was usual upon that occasion And Dr. King cannot name one Protestant Church in Ireland that was taken from them either by King James's Order or Connivance His Majesty was so very careful in this Point that even at Dublin where he kept his Court neither the Cathedral nor any Parish-Church in the whole City was taken from the Protestants The King only took Christ-Church for his own use which was always reputed as the King's Chappelâ— And Dr. King himself and others then preached Passive Obedience in their own Pulpits in Dublin to that degree as to give offence to some of their Protestant Hearers who thought they stretched it even to Flattery Pamphlet This was done in those parts of Ireland where the Protestants were very peaceable under King James That is where they were so under his Power that they durst not stir for none else then in that Kingdom were quiet and even those who lived under King James's Protection were giving Intelligence against him and betraying him all they could which Dr. King does not only confess but justifies it and was himself one of the Chief which I have sufficiently shewn and I suppose he will not deny but reckons it now as his Merit Pamphlet Those Protestants who scaid in Ireland were oppressed c. But it is evident that they preserved their Effects Houses and Improvements better than those who left the Kingdom and now live Richer and have more to shew which they preserved by King James's Clemency than their Neighbours brought with them from the Countries whither they fled from his Protection Pamphlet Upon Complaint no Protestant could have Redress I have shewn many who had And I believe Dr. King cannot shew one who had not as far as was in the King's Power to grant it And that much more than they deserved at his Hands by their own Confession at this Day and many of them do complain that their Grievances have not been so well Redressed since And if King James can be represented by these Men as a Tyrant and a Bloody Persecutor while he Courted them and sought by all winning Ways to gain them which was certainly the Case while he was among them in Ireland it may bring Men into suspence to believe what is told of the French Hungarian or of any other Persecution But I will not Anticipate what you will find in the following Leaves to which I refer you Only I think it necessary to acquaint you That Pag. 8. of this Answer upon the Head of One Prince interposing between another Prince and his Subjects when he uses them Cruelly I refer to a Book which I thought would have been Published as soon as this and therefore said little to that Point But now that I see no Hopes of its coming out give me leave to enlarge a little and tell Dr. King what advantage the Jacobites make of this Doctrine They say it would justifie King Lewis or any other King to interpose between them and King William For they pretend that they are much more Cruelly used by King William than even Dr. King himself says the Protestants were by King James In England they tell us That their Clergy are Deprived that they are imprisoned without Law for no other fault than Reading the Liturgy of the Church of England in their Houses They complain of Double Taxes Excessive Fines and Bail and Illegal Imprisonments That in Ireland besides the Deprivation of the Clergy all Men and Women who refuse the New Oaths incur a Premunire That in Scotland they are Fined Imprisoned Massacred as Glen-coe c. and put to the Torture against the very Claim of Right
P. 34. l 36. r. in reckoning P. 51. l. 19. r. from the Sabbath P. 52. Margin r. his Principles P. 61. l 5. r. worse P. 91. l. 8. r. in that same Proclamation P 92. l. 1. r. against Robbers l. 35. r. 89. P. 96. l. 17 r to want P. 100. l. 9 r. came to Dublin P. 120. l. 25. r. their Apostacy P. 128 l. 31 r. Corban P. 151. l. 11. r. the day after P 160 l. 10. r. so far P. 167. l. 6. after other add P 171 l. 32. r. in his Penitentials P. 175. l. 2 r. as of P. 188. l. 26. r new-made Officers P. 191. l. 1. r. the Case of Page 161 and 162. are double pag'd Appendix P. 5. l. 1. r. how faithfully P 28 l. 13 14. r. 27 March 1689. P. 58. l. 3. r. Edinburg 20. Apr. 92. P. 67. l. 17. r. 3d of May. P. 72. l. 19. r. pollute our Altars P. 76. l. 8. r. at the Boot Page 35 and 36 are misâ—ag'd and page 48 is printed 42. AN ANSWER to a BOOK Intituled The State of the Protestants in Ireland under the late King James's Government c. THIS Book I am about to Answer does not only undertake to Vindicate those Protestants in Ireland whose Cause it defends from the Imputation of Rebellion in this present Revolution and as the Ground-work of their justification to cast the blackest Aspersions upon King James But if I can Reason aright it is calculated for the Dostruction of Mankind by setting up such Principles as countenance Eternal Rebellions and afford Pretences for War and Confusion to the end of the World and makes Settlement and Peace impracticable among Men. If this Charge can be made good for which I must refer to what follows then the Pains I have taken must be computed not only as a Just Vindication of K. J. from those Aspersions which are falsly laid upon Him but as a Service to Mankind to these Nations in an especial manner who of late Ages have most of all the Nations on the Earth been subject to Rebellion and Revolution And if that has been chiefly occasion'd by such Principles as are set out in this Book then the Discovery may be of use to those who are still pursuing of them blindfold and a Caution to others not to engage to the Destruction of Soul and Body or if engaged to Repent and Return If Learned Men think their Time and Labours well bestowed in rectifying Mistakes in Ancient Histories meerly for the Truths sake much more is it incumbent on us to examin into those Matters of Fact by which we guide our present Actions and for which we shall be accountable at the Day of Judgment as likewise that we suffer not Untruths and False Representations to descend to Posterity unreproved especially of our own Natural Kings whose Fame and Reputation we are in Conscience obliged to Defend as well as their Persons so far as is consistent with Truth and to be silent in such a Case is bearing False Witness at least virtually and slandering the Footsteps of God's Anointed K. James has been loaded with more Calumny by this Author than in all the scurrilous Pamphlets since the Revolution put together which is the Reason this Book of his has been so industriously propagated it goes now in its Fourth Edition and his other Narrative and bitter Invective called a Thanksgiving-Sermon of which I shall have occasion to speak has been spread in all shapes and sizes through the Nation from a Quarto to a Two-penny Duodecimo But I will detain you no longer nor seek to anticipate your Judgment I divide this Book of our Author 's into his Principles and Matters of Fact Division of the Book into Principles and Matters of Fact His Principles hard to be collected Not set down in Method First For his Principles It is no easie Matter to know what they are For tho his Book is digested into great exactness of Method that is not as to his Principles which he no where sets down in plain and express Terms but leaves us to collect them from small Hints and Inuendo's which are scattered immethodically up and down his Book And this was not done by chance but he was asham'd all of a sudden to disown his former Principles nemo repente It is natural for Men to endeavour not to be thought Changeable and Unconstant and to hide or gloss it all they can This we may reasonably suppose to be our Author's Case They are the old Commonwealth Principles For the Principles which he exhibits yet endeavours to conceal in this Book are all the old Rotten Rebel Commonwealth Principles which we formerly exploded in De Jure Regni Rex Lex and other Fanatical Authors condemn'd in the Decretum Oxoniâ—â—se and the Universal Current of the Divines of the Church of England by none more than this Author as you will see hereafter Therefore it is not to be wonder'd that he lets these Principles of his which he has so lately embrac'd drop from him in a covert way as if they were not clean and would foul his Fingers Yet something he must say to them to clear his Passage The Doctrine of Passive Obedience must be remov'd To perform which he employs his Introduction page 1. containing as he tells us an Explication of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and stating the true Notion and Latitude of it And yet he does nothing else in it but to tell us what some People thought of it He begins It is granted by some and then gives three or four Quotations without telling his own opinion otherwise than as you may gather it from his more favourable Representing one side than another In the Heads of the Discourse he promises much fairer than you find the Performance in the Book Numb 1. of the Introduction is That a King who designs to destroy a People abdicates the Government of them Which Position does need a great deal of Explication and stating the true Notion and Latitude of it because a mistake in it would prove of most destructive consequence But our Author leaves it all in the Generals make of it what you can By what I can collect out of him his principle is the same with Bradshau in his Speech upon the Tryal of King Ch. I. viz. That all Power is from the People That Kings are but their Deputies and therefore are accountable to the People and may be deposed by them Against this Dr. Sherlock inveights most bitterly in his Sermon before the House of Commons last 30th of Jan. 91. page 18. where he reckons it as one of the most Fatal Evils of such Examples as that of the day that it infects Mens Minds with loose Notions of Government and Obedience which are at first invented to justifie such Actions and which People are sooner taught than untaught As that all Power is radically in the People and therefore but a Trust which a Prince must give an
Government yet disarming such of these as the Government could come at this Author proves by his usual Climax to be a Design even of Massacre For had they not reason says he p. 115. to believe that they were disarm'd purposely that they might be the more easily Robb'd or Massacred And p. 112. he calls that Disarming perfect Dragooning terrible Dragooning Now consider what a Scheme of Government this Author has given us viz. That if the Government have a Design against our Lives the Government is dissolv'd And if they take a Peny from us or so much as dispute the Charter of any Town or presume but to Disarm any of their Subjects though they be actually in Arms against them this shall be improv'd into a Design of Massacre and then we owe no more Obedience to the Government It is dissolv'd c. The Author's Rule of Abdication consider'd I come now to the Third Point that is of Abdication and the only true Notion of it by all Civilians is A King 's Voluntary Resignation of the Crown to the next Heir But take it in that Sense which by some of late has been put upon it and it will by no means help this Author's Cause For I suppose none even of them will allow that it is left to every private Person to determine what sort of Withdrawing himself shall be judged an Abdication in the King so as to Dissolve the Government and Absolve the Subjects from their Allegiance King Charles the First fled to Scotland to save his Life from those who pretended to make him A GLORIOUS KING King Charles the Second withdrew himself into foreign Countries for several Years yet neither of them was ever said to have Abdicated And it was debated strongly in the Convention Whether King James the Second's Withdrawing was an Abdication or not This shews that they thought the Decision of some Regular Assembly necessary to settle that Point and that it was not lest to every Man to decide so great a Matter whereon the Safety of the Nation does depend Therefore this Author 's justifying what his Protestants of Ireland did upon the Account of King James's Abdication will do them no Service upon that Notion of Abdication set up by the Convention in England because they were up in Arms against King James before the Convention in England declared him to have Abdicated and even before his Withdrawing himself upon which they pretended to ground their Sentence of Abdication But this Author must not stay for that He gives every Man Authority to pass Sentence of Deprivation against his Sovereign when he pleases C. 1. n. 8. p 10. he says By endeavouring to destroy us he the King in that very Act abdicated the Government and therefore in all Equity we are absolved from Oaths made to him as Governor In that very Act Nay even his Design as you have heard to take a Peny from us or to bring a Quo Warranto against a Charter that is to take the Benefit of the Law against any of his Subjects in a Legal manner shall be a Dissolution of the Government and Absolution from our Oaths c. Fifth Reason as to the dissolving Oaths of Allegianee Here is very good Learning as to the Nature of Oaths and Arguments most convincing He goes on in the same Section n. 10. p. 11. That King James consenting to Repeal the Oath of Supremacy in Ireland proved either that be designed to Release us from the Peculiar Obligation arising from them our Oaths of Allegiance as too strict or else that he did not design to depend on our Oaths for our Loyalty whoever does will be mistaken you have given demonstration and therefore laid them aside as of no force to oblige us either of which must proceed from an Intention to destroy the Ancient Government with which he was entrusted Now let us suppose with this Author That King James having seen and experimented the little Security Oaths were to Government against the Byass of Interest or Inclination were willing to remove such a Stumbling-block for the future and that Men should Swear no more would this absolve the Oaths that were taken before Again most know the Objection which the Papists have against our Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy viz. That it depresses the Pope's Power in Spirituals Now because K. James Repeals this our Author would infer That he meant to Release the Protestants from their Allegiance to himself in Temporals Does this Author think That K. James Repeal'd this Oath because it was too full of Loyalty or because there was something else in it which K. James thought was against the Tenets of the Church of Rome I am asham'd to ask the Question none are ignorant of the Reason of it Our Author will find this Argument of his Verbatim almost in the Writings of the Cameronian Presbyterians I know not if he had it from them but at least he sees how near he is come to them for when Men jump in the same Principles it is likely they will find out the same Arguments These Cameronians do prove That K. Charles II. consenting to Repeal the Covenant did thereby Remit the Subjects Allegiance by annulling the Bond of it Vid. The Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Printed at London 1692. p. 49. This Covenant was Established by Act of their Parliament as well as General Assembly and K. Charles II. consented to it and took it and swore by his Coronation Oath in Scotland to maintain it and it swore Faith and Allegiance to him and therefore this Author would do well to think of a Disparity 'twixt his Argument and that of the Cameronians 'twixt K. Charles II. consenting to Repeal the Covenant and K. James II. consenting to Repeal the Oath of Supremacy Each Oath was to Establish a Supremacy over the Church the one a Lay-Regal the other a Lay-Elder and Presbyterial Supremacy And the one King might think the one as faulty as the other thought the other But that either of these Kings meant to weaken the Allegiance of his Subjects by taking away these Oaths the one is as true as the other Our Author has one Argument more why this Allegiance to K. James did cease He K. James having left none no Oath of Allegiance that we know of in this Kingdom which any Law obliges us to take And what then Is there no Allegiance due where there is no Oath Our Allegiance is due by the Law of England prior to the King's Oath to us or ourâ—s to him Oaths in that Case do not create the Duty they are only in Confirmation of what was our Duty before In the Eastern Monarchies they do not use Coronation Oaths nor Oaths of Allegiance And Augustus was so wise says the Unreasonableness of a new Separation on account of the Oaths p. 40. as when they offered him their Oaths he refused them for this Reason Dio. l. 54. He consider'd well saith Dio that if they gave
to destroy one main part of his Subjects in favour of another whom he loves better and of submitting only to tolerable Evils c. which you have heard already 1. The Jews in Egypt The first Instance I give is that of the Jews in Egypt they were about the same time under Egypt that Ireland has been under England that is 'twixt four and five hundred years but with this difference that the English came into Ireland by Conquest whereas Israel was invited into Egypt by their King and it was but a due return of Gratitude from him for Joseph had miraculously saved Egypt from the common Destruction which befell the Nations about and made it the Granery of the World and the richest Nation upon the Earth at that time The Jews were a different People from the Egyptians as the Irish from the English of different Manners Religion Interest They did not live mixed with the Egyptians nor under their Laws as the Irish do with the English but had the Land of Goshen assigned them peculiar to themselves They lived more like an Independent People than the Irish yet they suffered the greatest Oppression from their King that ever was in the World His Design to ruin them was apparent destroying their very Children and they had given no manner of Cause or Provocation on their side They durst not offer Sacrifices to the Lord without apparent danger of being ston'd to death so that they were oppressed most Tyrannically in their Religion as well as their Persons which were condemned to the Brick-kills They were able to have delivered themselves Exod. 12.37 being an Army of Six hundred thousand Men besides Children and a great mix'd Multitude And though God himself sent Moses to deliver them from that Servitude yet it is the peculiar Observation of the whole Convocation of the Church of England and they say it is not to be omitted but that we take notice of it That God would not suffer Moses to carry the Jews out of Egypt till Pharaoh their King gave them leave to depart Afterwards also when the Jews being brought into subjection to the Kings of Babylon did 2. In Babylon by the Instigation of false Prophets Rebel against them they were in that respect condemn'd by the Prophet Jeremy and in all their Captivity which shortly after followed they lived by the Direction of the said Prophet in great subjection and obedience they prayed not only for their Kings and their Children that they might live long and prosper but likewise for the State of their Government the good Success whereof they were bound to seek and regard as well as any other of the Kings most dutiful Subjects and thus they lived in Babylon and other Places of that Dominion till the King gave them leave to depart notwithstanding in the mean time they endured many Calamities and were destitute for many Years of the Publick Worship and Service of God which was ty'd to the Temple and might not elsewhere be practised or attempted Thus Bishop Overal's Convocation-Book c. 28. p. 58. These Jews were finally Destroy'd their Temple Burn'd 3. Under the Romans and City Razed by the Romans and those that escaped of them dispers'd over the face of the Earth in Slavery and Servitude like a cursed Generation and all this fell upon them the same Convocation Book teaches us c. 33. p. 77. not only for their obstinacy against Christ and Crucifying of him but that the immediate and apparent Cause of it was their obstinate Rebellion against the Emperors of Rome their then Lawful Governors This History of the Jews from their Servitude in Egypt to their Destruction by the Romans will in every Circumstance more than over-ballance the parallel of the Irish Nation under the English You see how God blessed the Jews protected and delivered them when they submitted to their Lawful Princes who designed attempted and almost effected their Destruction and Extirpation And on the other hand with what Fury poured out he visited their Rebellion against their Lawful Governors though for the Preservation of their Religion Liberty Property and their very Lives 4. Under Ahasuerus Who does not know the utter Extirpation and Massacre of the Jewish Nation not only design'd but expresly ordered by Ahasuerus And that the Jews would not take Arms in their own Defence till they had the King's Letters and Commission wherein the King granted the Jews to gather themselves together and to stand for their Life Eith 8.11 And the Glorious Effect of this for the Advantage of the Jews every one has read 5. The Gibeonites I might instance here too the Case of the Gibeonites whom Saul sought to destroy after their being 400 Years under the Government of the Jews or Incorporated into one People with them as the Irish are with the English in Ireland And their Case was exactly what the Author puts viz. of a King 's designing to destroy one People under his Government in favour of another whom he loves better for the Text tells us 1 Sam. 21.22 That Saul sought to slay the Gibeonites in his zeal to the Children of Israel and Judah and that he consumed them and devised against them Ver. 5. that they should be destroyed from remaining in any of the Coasts of Israel 6. Our Saviur Christ But to come down to Christianity Christ came with a Commission to form a Society called after his own Name distinct and Independent from all other Societies and Governments in the World Of different Religion Manners and Interest Living under different Rules and Governors Primitive Christians Assoon as they appeared all Kings and Governors fell upon them to root them off from the face of the Earth and Persecuted them with all the Violence and Rage that Hell could suggest and Slaughtered them in Multitudes in most Barbarous and Savage manner Now what were these Christians to do to preserve themselves Were they to take Arms against their Governors who thus apparently sought their Ruin in favour of other of their Subjects whom they loved better No They were totally barr'd from that and if any so so much as sought to save his Life by such means he should not only lose it here but his Soul hereafter Damnation was preached to those who Resisted their Lawful Governors Did they judge with our Author that their Persecuting Kings had Abdicated the Government of those whom they design'd to destroy No they were taught to own them as God's Representatives Rom. 13.1 5. 1 Pet. 2.18 20 23. his Deputies and Ministers and as such to obey them with all Reverence not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake and that not only to the Good and Gentle but even those who Persecuted them for Well-doing And they were to take it patiently without Reviling or Threatning And this was not for want of Power to do otherwise it is in any Man's Power to Revile and Threaten but for Conscience sake
Their Master was stronger and commanded more Armies than all their Enemies And this Author knows very well that Tertullian in his Apology for the Christians told the Emperor Non Deesset nobis vis Numerorum that it was not for want of Power or Numbers that the Christians did not defend themselves against him for they fill'd his Armies his Cities his very Court but that it was from the Principles of their Religion which would not allow them to take Arms against their Lawful Emperor though a Persecutor But I need not mind my Author of this he has taught it often and zealously He knows the History of the Thebean Legion and a Thousand Examples of this Case that are never to be answered upon his new Principle which runs contrary to the History of the Church both under the Law and Gospel and God's own Determination in the very Case this Author puts for the most Advantage of his Cause As the Scripture so our Author named the Homilies he quotes nothing out of them it was not best He says They press with great force the Inconveniencies of such a War that is a Civil War for Liberty or Religion Our Author's defence of himself from Jovian And that the Author of Jovian design'd his First Chapter to shew That Resistance would be a greater Mischief than Passive Obedience and tells us in the Body of the Chapter That the Inconvenience of Resisting the Sovereign would be of ten times worse consequence than it which our Author confesses in the general is true as it relates to private Injuries or the Ordinary Male-administration of Government This has been sufficiently Answered in what is said before but as to the Authorities he quotes I cannot but observe to you with Admiration how directly contrary they are to the use for which he has vouched them That Chapter he cites of Jovian is so far from stinting Non-Resistance to relate only to private Injuries or the ordinary Male-administration of Government that in the very beginning of that Chapter after he has told what Sovereignty is he makes it essential to the Rights of Sovereignty to be free from Resistance or forcible Repulse and to be unaccountable It is Pag. 241. of the Book where he proves that if it were otherwise It would make the Subjects Judge over the Sovereign and in effect destroy Sovereignty and make the Sovereign inferior to the People and therefore says he pag. 242. to cut off all Pretences of Resistance in the English Government the Three Estates as I have proved before have declared against all defensive as well as offensive War it being impossible for the Sovereignty to consist with the Liberty of that Pretence In all Sovereign Governments they must trust their Lives and Liberties with their Sovereign The King is bound in Justice and Equity and for Example sake to observe his Laws but if he will lay aside all Conscience and the Fear of God his only Superior the Rights of Soveraignty secure the Tyrant as well as the Good King from Resistance If he will not act as becomes God's Vicar if he will obstruct or pervert the Laws and govern Tyrannically yet still there is left no remedy to his Subjects by the Law but moral Perswasion for the Laws Imperial of this Realm have declared him to be an Inconditionate and Independent Soveraign See Sir Orl. Bridgman's Speech pag. 12 13 14. and exempted him from all Coërtion of Force If they will turn Tyrants neither fearing God nor the Censures of good Men they are by the Laws of the English Empire as free from Punishment Compulsion or Resistance as the Caesars were He may bear the Sword not for the Defence but for the Offence and Destruction of his Subjects but if he do they have no Authority to Resist him they cannot without sinful Usurpation oppose their Swords to his Grotius condemus all violent Defence against unjust Force from publick Authority Contra vim injustissimam sed Publico-nomine illatam If they Kings do Wrong if they Tyranize it over their Subjects He God will punish them and turn their hearts if he sees fit But their Subjects must not defend themselves by violence against them they must not take up Defensive Arms against them because they are in God's stead for Whosoever Resisteth the Power Resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that Resist shall receive to themselves Damnation as it was written by the Apostle in the time of a wicked Tyrant Grotius says That Reason compels us to confess that Oppression is to be endured lest too much Liberty follow upon the contrary and the Examples of the Ancient Christians teach us that any Violence is to be endured which the Supreme Power lays upon us upon the account of Religion for they are in a great Error who think that the Christians before the time of Constantine abstained from Resistance because they wanted sufficient Strength If the former the Doctrine of Non-Resistance make a Land obnoxious now and then to a Tyrant the latter the Doctrine of Resistance would make it perpetually obnoxious to the Rage and Fury of the deluded Rabble who in Riots Tumults and Insurrections for which they would never want Pretences were Resistance in any Case allow'd are able to do more mischief in a week than ever any Tyrant did in a year The Rage of the worst of Tyrants generally wrecks it self upon particular Persons or Parties of Men but in a Civil War which is worse than any Tyranny all must suffer without distinction Had our Saviour allow'd Subjects under pretence of defending themselves and their Religion to Resist their Sovereign he had come indeed to destroy Mens Lives Though Tyranny be ill yet he knew Resistance was worse Let them suppose him to be a complicated Tyrant to be Pharaoh Achab Jeroboâ—am and Nebuchadnezzar all in one nay let the Spirit of Calerius Maximin and Maxentius come upon him yet I 'm sure it will cost fewer Lives and less Desolation to let him alone than to resist him but if it would not I had rather dye a Martyr than a Râ—bel I appeal to the late Rebellion which the Rebels called a Defensive War to verifie this Doctrine for there was more Blood spilt in it in one Battel than in all the Tyrannies and Persecutions of the Nation since the Conquest and in the two Kingdoms there hath been more Christian Blood shed in Rebellions since the Reformation by pretended Undertakers of Defensive War than throughout the whole Roman Empire in nine of the first ten Persecutions Let us imagine a Popish Prince as biggoted in Religion and as Sanguinary in his Temper as may be now Reigning over us yet he could not likely cause so much Ruin Bloodshed and Desolation in his whole Reign as a War between him and his Resisting Subjects would cause in one Year Wherefore it is plain That it is the Interest even of the People themselves that so great a Power should be in the Soveraign
that none should withstand him or rise up against him and that nothing can be more pernicious to the Commonwealth in any Government than that the Subjects should have a Power of taking up Arms to defend their Liberty and Religion All these are Dr. Hicks his Words in the same Chapter our Author quotes and whether they all relate only to private Injuries and the ordinary Male-Administration of Government as our Author would have you believe I will not provoke your Patience to say any more towards it than barely setting down the Words But for the Homilies it may be more material to know if they make for his purpose because they are every Word confirm'd by Act of Parliament and Convocation which this Author and all the Clergy have subscribed and which is more Julian Johnson himself the Patron of Resistance says that it is the next best Book to the Bible Let us see therefore whether what they say relate only to private Injuries or the ordinary Male-Administration of Government From the Homilies And first for the Original of Government the first Homily against wilful Rebellion tells you That it cometh neither of Fortune and Chance as they term it nor of the Ambition of mortal Men and Women climing up on their own accord to Dominion that there be Kings Queens and Princes and other Governors over Men being their Subjects but all Kings Queens and other Governors are specially appointed by the Ordinance of God But to come to our Author's Purpose The Case is put of Kings that seek to Ruine and Destroy and Undoe their People and these Scriptures are quoted When the Wicked do Reign then Men go to Ruine A foolish Prince destroyeth the People and a covetous King undoeth his Subjects And the Question is put Whether Subjects may Resist such Princes Which is ruled absolutely in the Negative with a God forbid and many Reasons are given particularly that Rebellion is the greatest of all Mischiefs and that the naughtiest and lewdest Subjects are aptest to find Faults and that it would be unreasonable to let them be Judges what Princes were Tolerable and what were Evil and Intolerable That a Rebel is worse than the worst Prince and Rebellion worse than the worst Government of the worst Prince that hitherto hath been That such Lewd Remedies are far worse than any other Maladies and Disorders that can be in the Body of a Commonwealth But to leave no room for a Reply the Objection is farther urged What if the Prince be Indiscreet and Evil indeed and it is also evident to all Men's Eyes that he is so Neither is this allow'd for a Cause of Resistance but on the contrary we are admonished to Reflect That it is our Sins have brought such a King to Rule over us God saith the holy Scripture maketh a wicked Man to Reign for the Sins of the People Job 34.10 for Subjects to deserve through their Sins to have an evil Prince and then to Rebel against him were double and treble Evil by provoking God more to Plague them Nay let us either deserve to have a good Prince or let us patiently suffer and obey such as we deserve And that you may not think these were only Moderate and Tolerable Evils or Private Injuries or not Universal enough immediately after the Case is put of the Christians under Caligula Claudius or Nero and the Jews under Nebuchodonosor who slew their Kings Nobles Parents Children and Kinsfolks burn'd their Country Cities yea Jerusalem it self and the Holy Temple and carried the Residue remaining alive Captives with him into Babylon And then is shewn how both Christians and Jews by the Command of the Apostles and Prophets were not only barr'd from Resistance but were obliged to Pray for these Cruel Heathen Tyrants Murtherers and Oppressors of them and Destroyers of their Countrey with a Confession that their Sins had deserved such Princes to Reign over them Yet all this is not thought so bad nor mischievous to a Country as Resistance which as this Homily says does more mischief than Foreign Enemies would or could do And the mischief is more Universal for the Homily says Such Rebels do not only Rise against their Prince against their Natural Country but against all their Country-men Women and Children against Themselves their Wives Children and Kinsfolk and by so wicked an Example against all Christendom and against whole Mankind of all manner of People through the wide World The second Homily inlarges upon the Case of Saul and David and then puts the several Pretences for Rebellion into Questions or Demands which are all resolved from the Command and Example of David Viz. Shall not we specially being so good Men as we are Rise and Rebel against a Prince hated of God and God's Enemy and therefore likely not to Prosper either in War or Peace but to be hurtful and pernicious to the Commonwealth Shall we not Rise and Rebel against so unkind a Prince nothing considering or regarding our true faithful and painful Service or the safeguard of our Posterity Shall we not Rise and Rebel against our known mortal and deadly Enemy that seeketh our Lives Shall we not assemble an Army of such good Fellows as we are and by hazarding our Lives and the Lives of such as shall withstand us and with all hazarding the whole Estate of our Country Remove so Naughty a Prince Are not they some say lusty and couragious Captains valiant Men of Stomach and good Mens Bodies that do venture by force to kill and depose their King being a Naughty Prince and their Mortal Enemy They may be as Lusty and Couragious as they list yet saith Godly David they can be no Good nor Godly Men that so do And so having answered all the above Queries in the negative after his own Example and the Command of God at last this Quere is put What shall we then do to an Evil to an unkind Prince and Enemy to us hated of God hurtful to the Commonwealth c. Lay no violent hand upon him saith David but let him live until God appoint and work his End either by Natural Death or in War by Lawful Enemies not by Traytorous Subjects Thus would Godly David make answer and St. Paul as ye have heard willeth us also to Pray for such a Prince These are the Rules this Homily sets down concerning Rebelling against Evil Princes Unkind Princes Cruel Princes Princes that be to their Subjects mortal Enemies Princes that are out of God's favour and so hurtful and like to be hurtful to the Commonwealth And to shew that all this is not meant only of Particular Persons but of the whole Nation it is thus expressed at the end of this Homily viz. That the whole Jewish Nation being otherwise a stubborn People were to be obedient to the Commandment of a Foreign Heathen Prince and this doth prove that Christian Rebels against Christian Princes are far worse than the stubborn Jews whom we yet account
This is the Author's Quotation wherein I find fault first with his Translation of Grotius and leaving out some of his Words on purpose to hide his meaning and next I will shew that it is nothing to his purpose if it were as he would have it First The Case which Gratius cites out of Barclay is Si Rex vere Hostili animo If a King really with a â—ostile Mind that is as an open Enemy in totius Populi exitium feratur do attempt the Destruction of his whole People Now our Author to bring this Case nearer to his Design and to pass upon the English Readers instead of a truly hostile Mind which is being a perfect Enemy words it only the King having Malice in his Mind a malicious Design which may be easier pretended and infer'd from a hundred things than an open hostile Attempt to cut off a whole Nation if it be not true for Peoples Eyes will undeceive them in that But what would our Author make of this a King's Design to destroy the whole People Grotius says in the above-quoted place That it is hardly possible to enter into the heart of a King who is not mad And our Author does not so much as pretend it against King James but only that he design'd to destroy the Protestant Interest in Ireland Therefore we must come to the other part of what Grotius says viz. That if a King Govern many People it may happen that in favour of one People he may desire the other were destroy'd Thus our Author But Grotius gives his Reason in the Words which our Author conceals viz. Ut Colonias ibi faciat which governs what he said before viz. That a King may design to root out a People where he intends to make a Colony That is so far as to make room for his Colony as it is with our Plantations in Ireland and in America which no Man will stretch farther than to bring the Natives under Subjection not to destroy them all And take notice that these Words Ut Colonias ibi faciat are all the Words which remain of that Section our Author has quoted viz. De Jure Belli Pacis lib. 1. cap. 4. § 11. Our Author has repeated every Word of that Section except these four Words which do conclude it and shew plainly Grotius's meaning to be quite different from what our Author would have us believe why otherwise he should be at the pains of Transcribing that Section and putting it verbatim in his Margin and omit only the four last Words he will give us a Reason in his next Besides Grotius consents to Barclay in that Case of a King 's designing to destroy his Whole People that he thereby demits the Government of them because as he rightly infers a Will to Govern and to Destroy cannot consist together but he does not say that a King may not destroy a part to preserve another Part or that if he does he does thereby Abdicate the Government of those whom he so seeks to destroy There is no such thing in Grotius and there is nothing else would have been to this Author's purpose Remember the Reason of the Thing we were upon before we are now only upon the Quotations And Grotius in this Quotation as set down by our Author puts the Case not only of a Governor's Design to Destroy his People but that he Professes himself an Enemy to his whole People And this is the Act which Grotius says supposes him to be mad and to abdicate his Kingdom which will no ways serve our Author's purpose unless he prove that King James did not only design but profess himself an Enemy to his People nor can you make him Abdicate by this Quotation unless you make him to be mad at the same time But I have said enough as to Grotius From Hammond the next Authority he produces is Dr. Hammond who this Author says in his Vindication of Christ's reprehending St. Peter from the Exceptions of Mr. Marshal approves this Passage of Grotius And so he might without making any Thing for this Author's purpose as I have shewn but how does Dr. Hammond approve it Dr. Hammond says That Grotius mentions some Cases wherein a King may be Resisted as in Case a King shall Abdicate his Kingdom and manifestly Relinquish his Power then he turns Private Man and may be dealt with as any other such Dr. Hammond says That Grotius said so but does Hammond approve of it No not in that place but he brings it as an Objection of his Adversaries which they Quoted out of Grotius against him and he thought it made so little against him that he said they would find little Joy in it and other their like Quotations our of Grotius whom the Doctor in the same place strongly vindicates And indeed what Joy could Mr. Marshal or the Author find in that Saying of Grotius to serve their Principle of Resistance For if a King should voluntarily and manifestly Relinquish his Power and Abdicate his Kingdom and becomes thereby a Private Man and though he may then be Resisted Will it follow that a King may be Resisted That would make this sort of Argument viz. Because a Private Man may be Resisted therefore a King may be Resisted and as Dr. Hammond said I wish our Author Joy of this Quotation But pray tell me if you can imagine what it was could possess our Author to appeal to Dr. Hammond Will he abide by Dr. Hammond's Judgment in this Cause No certainly he will not he writes in flat opposition to him What then Did he think to pick up some odd scrap out of him to give credit to his Cause by naming Dr. Hammond on its side Whereas every one that reads him must see that he runs diametrically opposite to the Principles for which he is produced Nay in the very Paragraph which this Author quotes Dr. Hammond is vindicating Grorius's Principles for maintaining That neither Publick nor Private Persons may lawfully wage War against them under whose Command they are and That it was the greatest injury that could be done to the Ancient Christians to say That it was want of Strength not of Inclination that way that they defended not themselves in time of most certain danger of Death and much more to the same purpose From Hicks The next Man this Author quotes is as unlucky for his Design It is Dr. Hicks Dean of Worcester who wrote Jovian in Answer to Julian the Apostate He is now one of the Deprived Clergy of this Kingdom for his constant adhering to his old Passive Obedience Yet this Author will needs quote him on his side and would have the Reader believe that he is against Passive Obedience even in that Book which he wrote purposely in its defence Some of which you have already heard quoted Well! let him be produced we will hear what he says in this Cause First our Author states the Question Suppose a King endeavours to destroy his
in Ireland while King James was there will attest the Truth of what I have said I appeal to Thomas Pottinger Esq who was then Sovereign of Belfast the grearest Town of Trade in the North of Ireland whether upon his Application to King James his Majesty did not give him Protection after Protection for Belfast and the Country about And whether such Protections were not made good to them by King James's Officers and where any of the Irish offered to transgress against the said Protections they were not severely punished upon the first Application to the King or those commanding under him This is likewise attested by Colonel John Hill present Governor of Fort-William at Innerlochy in Scotland but living at that time in Belfast in his Letter from Belfast to the Sovereign of Belfast then in Dublin inserted No. 25. Appendix and which Letter he desires the Sovereign to shew to none and therefore spoke his mind in it and not to flatter the Government There he tells how well Grievances were redressed and King James's Army kept to strict Discipline I demand further Whether the said Mr. Pottinger did not upon his application to King James obtain leave for the Merchants of Belfast and of the Country about to return from Scotland and other places whither they had fled even after the time limitted by His Majesties Proclamation for their Return And whether upon a second application to His Majesty and representing that there was an Embargo on the Scots side King James did not grant them time to return without stinting them to any day while any reasonable Excuse could be made for their delay And whether he the said Mr. Pottinger did not send Notice of this to the Belfast Merchants and others then in Scotland And though few or none of them came over till after Schomberg landed in Ireland with the English Army in August 89 yet whether their Goods were not preserved for them all that time by King James's Order still expecting their Return And whether they did not accordingly find their Goods at their Return Nay ever when Schomberg landed and King James was obliged to remove from that Country and leave it to the Enemy Whether he did not give special Directions to Major-General Maxwell then Commanding in Belfast not to suffer any of the Goods of the Protestants to be plundered nor any of the Country to be burnt upon their leaving it And whether these Commands of His Majesty were not punctually observed not only at Belfast but at Lisburn Hillsborough and all that Country and even at Dundalk it self which King James left in good Order for Schomberg to encamp in and make his Frontier his first Campagne Neither will Mr. Pottinger deny That Mr. Thomas Crocker Merchant of Yoghall in the Province of Munster in Ireland and several other Merchants of Yoghall Cork and other places of that Province did complain to him That their Friends which stay'd behind in Ireland while King James was there did make no application in their behalf to King James whether out of negligence or stubbornness which if it had been done they did not doubt but they would have had their Goods preserved for them as they had at Belfast and other places in the North of Ireland indeed in all places which desired it And I likewise desire Mr. Pottinger to tell whether the several Protections he obtained for these parts of the Country about Belfast were not given gratis without any Fees And whether there was any Conditions so much as an Oath required of those who returned and took the benefit of His Majesties Grace And though their taking the Oath of Fidelity to King James was named in one of the Protections granted to Belfast and the Country about here inserted n. 23. Appendix yet whether upon Mr. Pottinger's representing to my Lord Melfort That the Oath might perhaps startle some and hinder their Return his Lordship did not allow Mr. Pottinger and the other Magistrates not to require the said Oaths And whether accordingly the Retinning Protestants and others were not received into Protection without any Oath at all required from them King James had tried the Security of Oaths before They are certain Snares and a very uncertain Security Mr. Pottinger can likewise give Attestation to the Truth of what Secretary Gorge has told in his Letter of King James's not only keeping his Protections to the Protestants in Ireland but of the extraordinary kindness he upon all Occasions expressed to the English How several English Ships which came into Belfast some from the Indies who knew not of the War others by stress of Weather or other Causes and were seized by the Irish were always Released by King James were suffered to unload and to load again and pursue their Voyage to England Mr. Pottinger can tell the Ships their Burthen aad their Masters Names Nay King James did not only release particular Ships upon their application but gave general Orders to Major-General Maxwell and others Commanding on the Sea-Coasts in the North and we suppose the like in other places That no English Ship should be disturb'd which came thither Many more Instances might be given but these are sufficient to demonstrate that King James did not only freely grant and inviolably keep his Protections to the Protestants in Ireland but extended it likewise to as many of the English as came under his Power though against their Will The French Fleet which carried King James into Ireland took some English Merchant-men while His Majesty was on board and some of the Masters were brought before King James who expecting nothing but Death fell down upon their knees begging their Lives which brought Tears into the King's Eyes and he not only restored them their Ships with all their Effects but ordered two Frigats to attend them and see them safe through all the French Fleet. Dr. Gorge has told you of some severe Examples made in Dublin to shew King James's positive Resolution to protect the Protestants and Mr. Pottinger whom I have quoted as to the North can tell how Lieutenant-General Hamilton when he marched into Lisburn after the Break of Drommore was so far from taking the Plunder of the Country that he caused a Soldier to be shot in the Streets of Lisburn for taking a Silver Spoon from one Mrs. Ellis thâ—â—â—â— Mrs. Ellis and many more of the Protestant Inhabitants did beg his Life The 15th of March 88. the day before the Break of Drommore when the Protestants were generally fled and the Irish thought the Plunder was their own the Lieutenant-General upon Mr. Pottinger's Representation sent immediately his Protection to Belfast which preserved it from 400 Men of the Garison of Carrickfergus which is but 8 miles distance who were on their march to have Plunder'd Belfast but they obeyed the Protection The 23d the Lieutenant-General gave Mr. Pottinger another Protection for Town and Country The 3d of June following Mr. Pottinger had that Protection from King
Christians under the Slavery of the Turk suffer Who would not expect from this Representation to hear of Protestants Gassooted in Ireland Arbitrarily thrown over Precipices Drown'd Tore in Pieces Flead Alive Staking upon the High-Way Mutes and Bowstrings And to take GOD to Witness That this is not Aggravating nor Misrepresenting The Address of the Lord Mayor Aldermen c. of Dublin to King William Printed here Anno. 1690. and Annex'd in the Appendix n. 21. Saith that the Sufferings of the Protestants there under King James Did infinitely surpass an Aegyptian servitude This is as far as words can go This is making King James worse than the Devil himself for the Devil does not Infinitly exceed Pharaoh in Wickedness They were resolved to out-do the Clergy-Addess of their own City spoke by the Bishop of Meath For there he Modestly Confesses to K. William that K. James was able to Crush the Protestants far Worse than he did But Secretary Gorge in his Letter before quoted speaks out and tells in plain English what the Bishop so Gentilely Minc'd The King King James is much avers says the Doctor to all Severity to the Protestants yet clearly sees he can make no Impression of Loyalty on them Notwithstanding as the same Letter tells us He often gave Command to his Officers That in their Engagements with the English they should be Treated as mistaken Subjects and not as obstinate Rebels Yet these were his bitterest Enemies as you have seen And themselves are forc'd to Confess that he used them with less Severity than he might or than they deserved at his hands And after all this to hear them complain of Aegyptian Servitude and cry out upon him as a Tyrant infinitely surpassing Pharaoh the Turk or the French King whom some are made to believe is the Worst of the three is Ridiculous and Wicked it is supposing us all to be Naturals to think to pass such Stuff upon us and this is the most effectual Method to Betray the Cause he pretends to Defend This is Bending a Bow till it breaks to heap up Calumnys and Aggravate them till you make the whole Incredible And the Consequence is not only Dis-believing what Pieces of Truths may be told in this Book of our Authors But if Protestants do own and Countenance it as a True Narrative of the Affairs of Ireland in this Revolution it may bring into Question their true Relations of the Horrible and Bloody Massacre of 41. Mounsieur Clauds Account of the French Persecution And whatever is Written by Protestants It is indeed a discredit to Mankind to all History and will not fail to bring Dis-reputation to whatever Party makes use of it whether Protestant or Papist How has the Legends broken and Ruin'd the Veracity of the Roman Church No Cause is long serv'd by deceit It will one time or other be Discovered Down-right Honesty is the best Policy Let us not be afraid to confess our own Faults nor desire to Enlarge those of our Enemys Humanum est Errare And no doubt there are Errors on both sides But to persist in our Error and to defend it is the Devils part Therefore in the Name of GOD let Truth prevail And let all the People say Amen An Appendix Numb 1. King James's Speech to both Houses of Parliament in Ireland Published by his Majesty's Order May 10. 1689. My Lords and Gentlemen THE exemplary Loyalty which this Nation exprest to Me at a time when others of my Subjects so Undutifully behaved themselves to Me or so basely betrayed Me and your seconding my Deputy as you did in his bold and resolute asserting my Right and preserving this Kingdom for Me and putting it in a posture of Defence made Me resolve to come to you and to venture my Life with you in the Defence of your Liberty and my Right and to my great Satisfaction I have not only found you ready and willing to serve Me but that your Courage has equal'd your Zeal I have always been for Liberty of Conscience and against Invading any Man's Property having still in my Mind the saying of Holy Writ Doe as you would be done by for that is the Law and the Prophets It was this Liberty of Conscience I gave which my Enemies both abroad and at home dreaded especially when they saw that I was resolved to have it established by Law in all my Dominions and made them set themselves up against Me though for different Reasons seeing that if I had once settled it my People in the Opinion of the one would have been too Happy and I in the Opinion of the other too Great This Argument was made use of to persuade their own People to join with them and too many of my own Subjects to use Me as they have done but nothing shall ever persuade Me to change my Mind as to that And wheresoever I am Master I design God willing to establish it by Law and to have no other Test or Distinction but that of Loyalty I expect your Concurrence in so Christian a Work and in making effectual Laws against Profaneness and Debauchery I shall also most readily consent to the making such good and wholsome Laws as may be for the general Good of the Nation the Improvement of Trade and the Relieving such as have been injured by the late Acts of Settlement as far forth as may be consistent with Reason Justice and the publick Good of my People And as I shall do my part to make you happy and rich so I make no doubt of your Assistence by enabling Me to oppose the unjust Designs of my Enemies and to make this Nation flourish And to encourage you the more to it you know with how great Generosity and Kindness the Most Christian King gave a secure Retreat to the Queen my Son and my Self when we were forced out of England and came to seek Protection and Safety in his Dominions how he embraced my Interest and gave such Supplies of all forts as enabled Me to come to you which without his obliging Assistence I could not have done This he did at a time when he had so many and so considerable Enemies to deal with and you see still continues to do I shall conclude as I began and assure you I am as sensible as you can desire Me of the signal Loyalty you have exprest to Me and shall make it my chief Study as it always has been to make you and all my Subjects happy The Parliament of Ireland's Address to the King Most Gracious Sovereign WE Your Majesty's most dutifull and loyal Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled being highly sensible of the great Honor and Happiness we enjoy by Your Royal presence amongst us do most humbly and heartily thank Your sacred Majesty for vouchsafing to come into this your Kingdom of Ireland and for your Grace and Goodness to Your Subjects in calling this Parliament and for Your Majesty's Tender and
People by which we must mean the whole People as already shewn out of Grotius otherwise if this Author would have it meant only of a part of the People he should tell us what part and how circumstantiated that we might know his meaning But Dolus latet in Generalibus In which this Author has indeed an excellent faculty for it is harder to know where to have him than to confute him But to the Case in hand Jovian says That to suppose this is plainly to suppose the utmost Impossibility But supposing it then our Author quotes him again saying that in such a Case his good Subjects would desert him By which he means no more as he there explains himself than not Assisting him in such wicked Designs which certainly would be the part of a good Subject But what is this to Deposing Abdicating taking Arms against him and putting another in his place But he goes on with Jovian and quotes p. 152. where he says He should be tempted to pray for the Destruction of such a Prince What Ground or Reason does Jovian give for this He says in the Words immediately before which our Author forgot to sâ—â— down that all this was upon the Supposition of such a Prince as Julian who had sinned against a Series of Divine Miracles and discovered a Diabolical Malice against Christ and 〈◊〉 breach of Charity might be supposed upon Scripture Principles to have sinned against the Holy Ghost and become incapable of Repentance And upon that Supposition says Jovian I should be tempted to pray for his Destruction as the only means of delivering the Church Dr. Hicks knew no other way of Deliverance for the Church in the Time of Persecution but what came from God that is either God's Converting or Removing the Persecutor who was our Lawful Governour Now if you will suppose him incapable of Repentance it is a suppose indeed which we have no certain means of knowing but supposing it as old Gregory probably did in the Case of Julian then there is no other way but his Destruction and whether we should Pray even for that is a Question which Dr. Hicks does not determine unless it be in the Negative He says he should be Tempted to pray so Now whether does this Argue that Praying so was a Duty or a Sin We are said to be Tempted to Sin not to our Duty Lead us not into Temptation does not mean Lead us not to our Duty God tempteth no man but every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lusts Jam. 1.13 14.4.1 and inticed as to Curse or Resist his Governors from which Lusts â—â—me Wars and Fightings says St. James Therefore Dr. Hicks calling it a Temptation to pray for the Destruction of his Prince though a Julian argues that he thought it a Sin at least even this Author will not have the Confidence to â—â—y that Dr. Hicks by this Expression was positive in its being our Duty to pray to But this he was Positive in viz. That you must do no more than Pray These are his Words which follow those this Author has Quoted I must also declare says he that I would do nothing but pray against him I would draw fourth no Squadrons against him but such as old Gregory did against Julian Squadrons of Prayers and Tears I would Dye rather than Resist him or those that were put in Authority under him Now I would gladly know What it was which tempted this Author to leave out these Words of Dr. Hicks's which would have abundantly shewn his Principle in this Matter to every the meanest Reader We must conclude that our Author did not intend it But to amuse them with the first part to mistake the Doctor as if he had been for Resistance But his Practice is such an undeniable Comment upon his Writings That this Author could not have light upon a way to expose both himself and his Book more effectually than by Quoting Dr. Hicks as one whose Opinion he follows From Faulkner The last Quotation he brings is from Faulkner's Christian Loyalty B. 2. c. 5. n. 19 20. Let us hear the Words he produces They are these viz. But if ever any such strange Case as is supposed should really happen I confess it would have its great Difficulties Who ever doubted it I cannot imagine what he brought this for I suppose all the meaning was to shew That the Passive-Obedience-Men would not have such Cases to be put And can you blame them Disloyal and Seditious Spirits to stir Men up to Rebellion do make Cases that never were in the World And it is next to Impossible that ever they should be as a King going about to Destroy All his whole People or Half or a Quarter of them Who would endure it if any Man should publish such Cases of the Parliament as suppose an Act of Parliament were made to Hang every Man at his Door to Sell the Nation to the French to Massacre the Whole or Half or Quarter of the People If any Man should raise such Suggestions of the States in Holland and desire to know what the People were to do in such Cases I suppose there is no Government but would stop his Mouth without being at the Pains of satisfying his Curiosity Yet this Author is very Angry that the Non-Resistance-Men should desire such Cases not to be put Hear Dr. Faulkner's own Words which our Author thinks do him so great service But in truth the Case above-mentioned ought not at all to be supposed or taken into Consideration for there is greater hurt to be feared from the making such Suppositions than from the Things supposed since it is much more likely that such Designs should be imagin'd and believ'd to be true when they are false as they were in the unjust Out-crys against our late Gracious Sovereign than that they should be certainly true And every Good Man yea every Reasonable Man may have as great Confidence that no such Case will really happen as can be had concerning the future state of any thing in this World Thus Dr. Faulkner Our Author may perhaps say That all this is made out in his Book concerning K. James but that is begging the Question And this I may say I am sure without offence That this Author will never make any Man believe that K. James did design the Extirpation or Massacre either of the whole Protestants in Ireland or half or quarter of them He had them all except two small Towns in his mercy for a whole Summer and did not kill a Man of them though he believed and it proved true that their Hearts were against him and would Joyn with his Enemies when ever they could of which their daily Deserting him and giving Intelligence to the Enemy was a Demonstration yet he preserved them from being destroyed and took pains to hinder those who were ready enough to have done it I will not deny out that he might desire to