thy Father saying There shall not fail thee a man upon the Throne of Israel And it appears by two Texts mentioning what had been promised to David that 1 Cron. 22. 2. Sam. 7. 12. it was without any Condition expressed yet it seems subject to the Limitation or Law of that Government which was appointed to take place when they should set a King over them Yet you must understand that what Samuel Deut. 17. 14. to the end foretold would be the Manner of the King must with the Doctor needs have been their Right and then God's Severity to Rehoboam could not so well be accounted for God had acquainted Jeroboam who was chosen in the stead of the Descendant from David with his purpose to give him Ten Tribes and to leave one to Rehoboam but this 1 King 11. 35 36. was but a Prophecy of the Event no Promise made to that he should keep Judah and as to the Revolution did Rehoboam but foretell what God would bring about by a free Election of the People in which Rehoboam was wholly c. 12. v. 20. passive I must confess it is not unsuitable to the Doctor 's Hypothesis to make every Prophecy of an Event to confer a Right which would excuse them who were accessary to our Saviour's Sufferings which were not only foretold but as the Words may seem to import inflicted by God's Command in that of the Prophet Zacariah Smite the Shepherd which our Saviour shews to have been meant in relation to his own Suffering Zach. 13. 7. Mat. 26. 31. But the Case of Rehoboam if the Doctor had taken the pains to compare the Texts of Scripture might have had more weight to bring him in to this Government at the beginning than the Case of Joash which himself answers could to keep him off especially since that Case was an Exception to his Sense of the 13th to the Romans which he thought meant of the Authority of Persons without Limitation to Law and Pag. 13. with the very same way of Reasoning he must needs have concluded meant of Persons in Authority without regard to Right which he now lays down for a Principle II. He pretends in taking the Oath now to submit to the venerable Authority of a Convocation But 1. The Presumption is very strong that he had seen Bishop Overal's Book some Months before he had forfeited his Preferments but King James was then powerful in Ireland Presbytery not fully setled in Scotland and the Church-Rebels there were in a Body and in daily Expectation of Aid from France and Ireland but it is to be hop'd that no Man here had Expectations from either 2. He pretends to submit to the Authority of the Church that is Churchmen or rather some one leading Man like himself who dictated and gave Laws to the rest but 't is plain he follows only his own head-strong Reason which has rarely been Pref. p. 15. cramp'd with the Apprehensions of Novelty and Singularity The Church says The Pharisees in refusing to bind Case of Alleg. pag. 7. their Allegiance and Faith to Caesar by an Oath did thereby shew themselves traiterously affected towards him The Doctor brings himself as an Exception to this Rule for he Prayed for their Majesties as put in Authority by God's Hand yet would not Swear to it That founds the Authority of all Princes in the Patriarchal the Doctor makes this as obscure and uncertain as he renders our Law both for the bounds of Kingdoms and * Page 11. extent of Power and sets up an Authority of God's immediate Gift without limits That shews that the Rump Parliament if ever setled had God's Authority he would seem not to admit this That makes it at least doubtful whether a Government can be setled while the rightful Prince who once had Possession lives this he would evade Had not the Love of Tyranny been more deeply rooted with the Doctor than his Aversion to Usurpation the venerable Authority of his Church I cannot say of the Church of England might have satisfied him that in some Cases it may be as lawful to resist the Person of a Tyrant as to submit to an Usurper When the Thread of their Canonical History drawn up out of Ethnick and Apocryphal Writlngs brought to accompany the Sacred Scriptures led them to the Story of the Maccabees they say That Mattathias moved with the monstrous Cruelty and Tyranny of Antiochus made open Resistance and they assign a Reason or rather Justification of this viz. The Government of that Tyrant not then being either generally received by Submission or Overall 's Convoc p. 67. setled by Continuance which is a manifest Confession that a Tyranny which neither we nor our Forefathers have consented or submitted to is not God's Ordinance but Pag. 30. Himself says the Law haâ— set Bounds to Sovereign Power that limited Prince who attempts to introduce it may be resisted by force till he is strong enough to compel a Submission to his most arbitrary Exercise of Power The Sense of the Church if we believe what the Doctor declared of it when time serv'd is that they who exercise church- Vid. Sermons of church-Church-Communion their Ministry without such Qualifications as the Law requires are guilty of Schism and they who communicate with them communicate in a Schism but the Doctor after he was convinc'd that their Majesties had Power from God to make Laws in Parliament did exercise his Ministry before he had qualified himself as the Law requires which perhaps may drive him to a new Notion of Schism and satisfie him that he has Taught one Error more than he has thought fit to recant III. By his own Confession their Majesties were in full Possession of the Throne and Administration of the Government by a National Submission as soon as the Convention at least the following Parliament had declared for them and he grants that such Consent and Submission makes a Settlement According to this he ought to have taken the Oaths as soon as some Mens Hopes in the New Parliament were disappointed and to have done it then had not been such a Forward Compliance as he condemns The Submission of the People and Determination of the Estates of the Realm he owns to be conclusive Page 50 51 52 53. page 18. to all Private Subjects yet did not pay entire Obedience and Allegiance even in his own Sense till the late King had left Ireland so that he seemed to stay till he might see the Power of the Dispossessed Prince broken which â—iâ— express words make material And he it seems thought it doubtful whether Providence had page 17. setled the Possessor in the Throne while the other had a formidable Army Upon which 't is observable 1. That this argues him to be more than a Private Person or not to have been a Subject till he Swore Allegiance 2. If the Power be no more broken now than it was at the
Dr. SHERLOCK's TWO KINGS OF BRAINFORD Brought upon the Stage IN A Congratulatory Letter TO Mr. JOHNSON Occasioned by The Doctor 's Vindication of Himself in Taking the Oath of Allegiance to Their Majesties after the Time indulg'd by the Law was expired LONDON Printed in the Year 1690. Dr. SHERLOCK's Two Kings OF BRAINFORD Brought upon the STAGE SIR THis is to congratulate your Victory over that Passive Obedience Doctrine the Chief Confessor of which is far from imitating you who were a real Martyr for that Truth which is opposite to it The Great Champions on the other side were Dean Hicks and Dr. Sherlock these gave the word to the Party the first would prove it by Man's Law the last by God's and thus the Laws both Humane and Divine were press'd into its Service Dean Hicks his last Effort for it was in Signing or Dictating the Weak Dying Declaration of the late Bishop of Chichester who had suck'd it in with his Milk and might be thought to dye with a Surfeit of it But the Dean finds yet no occasion to renounce any part of that Doctrine the Defence of which some say procured his Deanery According to his Golden Book God himself had fix'd his Allegiance unalterably to the Vid. Dr. H. his Jovian Late King as long as he should live and to the Sham Prince after him unless his Spurious Birth be fully proved For the Dean had taught that God had Preface to Jov. p 56. given the Imperial Crown of England for an inalienable Inheritance to the Royal Family that is as he immediately explains it to the next Heir upon the Line to exclude whom or any Person of the Royal Family from the Absolute Right or Birth-right which God alone had given him he asserted to be to oppose the Will of God nor does he seem yet to have thought of our Doctor 's Distinctions for Preserving and maintaining the Right of such an one and yet obeying another as having Gods Authority Wherein the Doctor sets up Two Kings one of Right the other by Providence But upon this Point the two Brotherly Champions are divided and leave you Master of the Field while they engage against each other That Dr. Sherlock gives up the Point of Succession and says what amounts to a total yielding the Cause to you may appear from the most Cursory Consideration of his Book and tho I must confess he has a great Art in Startleing his Reader Pag. 3. and helping himself off from Assertions which at first look very Gross yet I cannot but think that in the main he leaves either himself or his Beloved Doctrine without Excuse and where his present Actions oblige him to depart from it he shews it is like a parting with a right hand or right Eye and therein indeed does more for the Government than other Men and endures little less than Martyrdom I need not profess to you that I have no disesteem for the Man but his Opinions in relation to Civil and Ecclesiastical Government are in my apprehension so Derogatory from the Goodness of God Vid. Anonymus his Letters to him about Church Communion so uncharitable to Men and destructive to Humane Societies that I long since thought my self bound publickly to avow my dislike of them tho the Government and consequently in his Sense Gods Authority were on his side as I am sure the Government is now on mine it being founded upon Legal Principles as directly contrary to his as he often is to himself I maintain by Law that their Majesties are rightful King and Queen and came by their Power by due means which is impossible to be proved upon his Grounds The Absurdity and perhaps Blasphemy of his you can best set in their true Light and expose to the just Abhorrence of Mankind and have already done it by way of Anticipation But tho you have gained the Victory over his Opinions about Civil Government and every Lash you bore for the sake of our English Liberties shall rise about you in Circles of Glory yet such Men will be likely to reap the Spoil till they who maintain the Right to be in King James shall as the Law declares them if they act accordingly be adjudged Traytors to their Majesties and till the Principles of Hobbs and Matchiavel become as Odious as the Doctrine of our Pretenders to the Spirit of the Church of England was in the time of King James Vid. Dr. H's Sermon Vid. Dr. Sherlock 's Case of resistance When that Sovereign Power which was taught to be inseparable from his Person and could make Repeal and Dispence with Laws touch'd but the Hem of the Canonical Garments then the Dying Voice of a Meek Moses and the louder Cry of that Blood which was Sacrificed to their Idol could not be heard for the Jangling of Aaron's Bells Then they who had been transported with the Fallacious Promise of Maintaining the Church of England began to bethink themselves that there was not the least word of Religion and what comfort could it be to them to have Diana's Greatness out of Danger when others were likely to enjoy the Profit of the Shrines Till then the King 's Most Illegal Acts had the Authority of Sovereign Power that is as the Case of resistance Doctor tells us Gods Authority and it would be hard if that Authority could not make them Legal They thought they had this fast on their side and not foreseeing any Probability that there would be a Flaw in the Succession till this Generation should pass away by making that Sacred and Inviolable they hop'd to secure Reverence and Authority to themselves who had taught the Oracles to Philippize and speak as the Present Powers would have them On the other side King James and his Sottish Priests thought those Warm Men of our Clergy believed their own Doctrine and would inculcate it to their People however even the Clergy themselves should be used And finding the Lay-Herd like the Tribe of Issachar imagined that the Levites who had taught them to crouch under their Burden would have had more Modesty and Sense of Shame than to be Clamorous But certain it is how much soever they inveigh'd against your true Representation of the Behaviour of the Primitive Christians towards Julian they out-went the Pattern and were beholden to you for their Justification Far be it from me in the least to reflect upon the Vid. Pref. p. 4. Body of the English Clergy their Learning the World Admires their Prayers at least called for their Majesties and the most of them Swore Allegiance to them as soon as the Law required it and it is to behop'd with Sincerity Yet if they were means of delaying our Settlement or of undermining it I should not think my self Guilty of Profaneness or Infidelity in telling them they would thereby Blacken themselves and Obstruct the Propagation of that Religion Vid. the Doctor 's Pref. p. 4. which by Profession
beginning that Argument fails 3. If it were as much broken at the beginning as now that was not the Argument but some more private Motive 4. If that Argument cannot have full force now himself in holding out so long and others of his opinion in coming into this Government with the same opinion and retaining it may be thought in great measure the occasion Tho Providence had made a Settlement early it was prudent not to venture too far on its side and to see whether it was any more than a pattern or platform to be pulled in pieces presently as soon as God Almighty had taken a view of his Handy-work Or rather tho this was a Settlement which bound the Laity the Clergy Gods peculiar Lot and Inheritance had an Exemption till himself had spoken to them by his Church At least they ought to stay till they saw the Church of England secured and that there was no * Page 50. prospect of securing it by any other means then their Interest obliged them to pretend to Loyalty with the forwardest Shall they ungratefully reject this Blessing from Heaven While they keep up an Empire within an Empire the Changes of Civil Government will not bind them till they are subdued upon the Struggle and by Providence condemned to Affairs truly Spiritual Good God! How long shall Men be made Slaves and the Peace and Settlement of Kingdoms †P. 45. Properties to an equivocal Word When they have to deal with those of Rome then in pious Condescention and Christian Charity to Vid. Dr. Sherlock of the Vnity of the Church compared with his Sermons and Tracts of church-Church-Communion and Vnion with Christ Jesus themselves the Laity shall be called in to their Aid When a turn of theirs is to be serv'd or colour'd then Church-men alone without a King are as good Authority as can be urged to the Members of the Church of England For the most part Church-men with a King at the Head of them are the page 10. Supream Authority and Judges in all Controversies about Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Matters and neither can ascribe too much to the other while they hold together Sometimes Constantine and his Arrians at other times he and the Orthodox are the true Church But Orthodoxy like Civil Government went along with the Power Tho the right Faith like the Dispossessed legal King may retain the Right still unaltered yet Error carries on the Name of Church as well as the other does that of Government and ought to be submitted subscribed and sworn to as long as it has Power to Crush the Obstinate Refusers Gods Authority if not Infallibility attends the Chair when it stands guarded in Conjunction with the Throne and no Man ought Saucily to Affront the Powers by preaching up the True Religion where a False one is settled Nay they ought to pray that God would keep and strengthen the Power in that False Worship And according to some Mens Reasons Error in the Chair is more Gods Ordinance than Truth out of it All the Stories of Miracles wrought at the Tombs of Martyrs must be look'd on as lying Legends for who can think that God would give such publick Approbation to their Affronting his Ordinance and Authority Fifthly It is probable the Doctor did not perform his Duty to the late King upon his own Interpretation of Scripture and Providence even before the Abdication But that he did not after is evident for while he not only thought him to have the Right as it is to be presum'd he does still but that God had set up no other Government he did not use the means in his power for the restoring him to full Possession and preferred his own Safety to the Obligation of his Oath to maintain and defend his Right which whether possible or no the event only could shew but it is a safe Rule to run no page 16. Hazard He still leaves him a Right to contend for his lost Crown but sets up the Supream Law common Safety against that Sacred and unalterable Right I shall forbear to draw together into full light all those Instances whereby it appears that he is far from serving their Majesties But in one respect he has not followed the Rules of Prudence in relation to his own Interest How much soever W. I. might grasp at an Absolute Power it is plain from History and Records that he would not pretend to the Name of Conqueror least he should create a Jealousie in his People And had the Clergy of that Age Flatter'd like others since he would have certainly shewn Marks of his Displeasure if it had been for no other reason but that he might demonstrate to his People that they ought to have no Apprehensions of losing their Rights and Liberties upon the Change I shall run the Parallel no farther than to say That no Man can reasonably expect their Majesties Favour who tells them or the World that they are invested with an Absolute Power of the Gift of God without regard to Right without regard to Law Arbitrary Power tho it is a Plant which rises towards Heaven as it pretends a Descent from thence is not likely to over-top King William's Laurels It is a Contradiction to the end and effect of his coming an Enemy to his Crown and Dignity a Friend and Creature of France and King James Nursed up here for their Service And as it gave Rise to that Power with which its Chief Patron has plagued Mankind its Teachers cannot but expect a Reward or more easie Servitude than others if he should accomplish that Universal Tyranny for which it is calculated The Doctor affirms with great Assurance that his are the only Principles which in such Revolutions as page 43. he treats of can make Government easie both to Prince and People And says he if Government must be preserved in all Revolutions those are the best Principles which are most for the Ease and Safety of it But 1. If the Government be limited it is not for its Ease and Safety that the Prince should be thought to have an Arbitrary Power of Gods Gift 2. If the Person of the Prince be the Government it is not for his Ease and Safety that no Laws no Submission of the People can engage his Subjects to this Prince against a supposed Legal King 3. It it much more easie to perswade Men to refer the Determination of Legal Rights to the Legal Authority page 52. of the Estates of the Realm which the Doctor owns to be conclusive than to satisfie them that they ought to Swear Allegiance to a King while a Legal Right remains to his Rival 4. How much soever Subjects may be harangued into a Neutrality they who assist neither are likely to be treated as Enemies which side soever prevails But the Philosophy of Hobbs or Divinity of the Graver Stoicks agree neither with our Constitution nor with Gods Methods in governing the World