King of Poland that if he broke his Oath and violated the Laws the People of that Kingdom should not be oblig'd to pay him Obedience and these two Cases are Parallel in Fact with the late King James's in Deserting the Kingdom of England The Fundamental Laws of Hungary * Bonfin decad 4. lib. 9. C. 11. Restrain and Limit the Power of their Kings by a Coronation Oath expresly conditional and have given so many Instances of their Right to Depose them * Chalcondil Hist l. 2. p. 120. that 't were lost labour to Recite them having refer'd to the Authors that Treat on that Subject In Spain we find Peter of Castile Depos'd for a Suppositious Birth and Philip of Arragon for Incontinency Indeed the Nobility and Commonality of that Kingdom have formerly took such a Power and Liberty in Censuring the Actions and Deposing their Kings for slight and trivial Causes that they are not fit to be reckon'd among the material Instances of other Nations in cases of Certain and extreme Necessity In the ancient Kingdoms of Denmark * Pontanus l. 8. c. 9. Sweden and Norway which are all of Gothic Original the meanest people had a Voice in the Elections of their Kings and if mistaken in their Choice they Depos'd him and chose another still giving preference to the Royal Family if there were any of them qualify'd Sometimes they wholly neglected that Method and Elected the Brave and Valiant Hero that had signaliz'd his Kindness and Courage in the Expulsion of a Tyrant and Rescuing their Privileges out of the hands of an Oppressor And sometimes they chose a private Person whose Eminent Parts and Probity had mark'd out as worthy of that Dignity which himself ne're thought on Give me leave to give you a Remarkable Instance in the Kingdom of Sweden of the Tyranny of an Absolute Monarch Christern the Second King of Denmark obtain'd the Crown of Sweden by Conquest and looking upon the Ancient Privileges of those Subjects as Inconsistent with his Royal Dignity quickly came to Resolutions of destroying of the Senators and Principal Noble-men that he thought Enemies of his Imperial Arbitrary Power and to facilitate the execution of his barbarous Decree he put on a Kinder Visage than he commonly wore suffering no Cloud to possess his Royal Brow but appear'd in shew of Respect and Kindness that he might oblige them to trust that before suspected him Under this Visor of Friendship and Affability he invites the Lords to a magnificent Feast at Stockholm where two days together they were splendidly treated and the third day basely Murther'd This surprizing bloody start from a King to a Tyrant so terrify'd the Nation that it put them upon freeing themselves and whilst they were revolving various Means to Accomplish it a Deliverer appears in the Person of Gustavus Ericson descended from the Ancient Kings of Sweden and Nephew to King Canutson who so effectually check'd the Tyrant that Christern who had Abdicated the Government by his continued Tyranny was so Hated by his Subjects Deserted by his Soldiers and beaten by his Rival that he consummated his Abdication by flying out of the Kingdom and Gustavus the Generous Deliverer by a Convention of the Estates * Peterson in Chronic. Holsat l. 8. was Elected and Crown'd King of Sweden which he Govern'd happily all the days of his Life I am sensible that some will tell me that things are now otherwise than I have related of Denmark and that the Government there is an Absolute Monarchy to which I reply Let them take it for their pains I did not speak of things as they are now perverted by Fear and Force but as they were Originally constituted and dare promise him that will give himself the pleasure of reading the English History of the State of that Kingdom he will not think the Model ought to be transported into England Portugal by telling Alphonsus the Third that if he would not adict himself to the Affairs of the * History Portual in Reign Alphons 3. l. 6. and Ordin Portugal 17. l. 2. Sect. 3. 4. 5. 6. Kingdom the Estates of the Realm would Depose him and Elect another King and by Banishing their late Monarch for the barbarous Effect of his Frenzy have fully declar'd their Opinions in that Matter When the Kings of France abus'd their Authority that Nation afferted their Right as in Deposing Childeric Father of * Greg. Tower l. 2. c 11. Clowis and in the same manner proceeded against another Childeric in the Eighth Century And if we descend to the Race of Charles the Great their Histories will inform us that Louis Surnam'd The Good was Dopos'd by a General Assembly of the Estates at Thionville and the Articles on which they proceeded to his Deposition are to be read in Baronius and du Chesne le Comte After him the Estates Depos'd Charles the Gross and Charles the Simple and stood so much upon their Right to do it that when in another Instance they were threatned by Pope Adrian the Second with Excommunication they sent him word They would defend their Privileges and their Liberties unto Death In the Second Race of their Kings notwithstanding Charles of Lorrain was * Guil. de Nanz. ad an 987. Heir to Lewis the Fifth and consequently ought to have enjoy'd the Crown of France yet the Estates laid him aside for no other Reason but because he was suspected to be in the German Interest who were Enemies to France and gave the Crown to Hugh Capet Henry the Third that had been Depos'd in Poland was also Depos'd in France by Advice of the Sorbonne and the greatest part of the Estates When Theodore the Second attempted to make himself Master of the Lives and Estates of his Subjects they â—â—se against him Depos'd him Shav'd him thrust him into a Monastery and plac'd his Brother Chilpric in the Throne In the Time of Charles the Simple mention'd before finding him unfit to encounter the Insults of the Normans the Estates conferr'd the Soverignty on Lewis and Charlemain who tho' of the same Blood had not the same Right to the Crown And 't is but consulting their own * Important Maxims publish'd by Mr. Joly in 1663 Can. d' Egles Paris Histories to shew that that Nation was always in Possession of the Right of Explaining Limiting Extending and Altering the Succession as often as their Circumstances requir'd it And truly I cannot but wonder the French Jesuits who in favour of the late King James have so slovenly Rail'd against our †Pere d'Orleans Hist Revol d'Angleterre Convention of Estates for Deposing him dare bespatter the Judgment of their Infallible Pope Zachary whose Opinion being ask'd by the French Lords about the Lawfulness of Deposing King Childeric answer'd That the French were discharg'd of their Oath of Fidelity to Childeric since he had not acquitted himself towards them as he had solemnly promised the Nature of Conditional Contracts
TYRANNY DETECTED AND THE Late Revolution Justify'd BY THE LAW of GOD the LAW of NATURE AND THE PRACTICE of All NATIONS BEING A History of the Late King JAMES's Reign and a Discovery of His Arts and Actions for Introducing Popery and Arbitrary Power and the Intended Subversion of the Protestant Interest in the Three Kingdoms AND How that Design affected all EUROPE WHEREIN All the Arguments against the REVOLUTION are fairly Propounded and Candidly Answer'd the Pretended Reasons against the Present SETTLEMENT Recited and Modestly Refuted and Obedience to King WILLIAM and his Government Legally and Religiously Asserted By RIC. KINGSTON LONDON Printed for John Nutt near Stationers Hall MDCXCIX To the Right Honourable WILLIAM Earl of Portland Viscount Woodstock in the County of Oxon Baron of Cirencester in the County of Gloucester Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter One of the Lieutenant-Generals of His Majesty's Forces Groom of the Stole First Gentleman of the King's Bed-Chamber One of the Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council c. May it please your Lordship MY vast Obligations to your Lordship's Goodness exceeding all possibility of Retaliation and a private Acknowledgment being too faint a Testimony of the Gratitude of my Mind I have presum'd on this Method to make my Thankfulness extend beyond the Limits of my Life and acquaint the World that His Majesty's Bounty and your Lordship's Favours have not been thrown away upon an Ungrateful Person but bestow'd upon a Dutiful Subject who hath hitherto and as long as God affords him Life will express his Duty to your Lordship in the Sincerity of his Service to His Majesty's Government and that I know will be more acceptable to your Lordship than tedious Harangues or elegant Expressions where the greatest I can make is the least that I acknowledge to be due to your Lordship from me The following Discourse my Lord shews the Lawfulness of our late happy Revolution and might justly command my Obliging the World with an Account of your Lordship's extraordinary Merits in that and all other Occasions for England's Safety But when I consider your Lordship is better pleas'd in deserving than hearing an excellent Character and that your Lordship being one of those Pillars that under His Sacred Majesty support the Weight of Publick Transactions I cannot hope the Great Affairs of your Eminent Station should afford you Time to Read a longer Dedication and therefore dare not give my self the Liberty of writing so much as a short Elogy upon a Subject that is able to justifie the largest Panegyrick Now That your Lordship may enjoy a long and happy Life exalted in your Prince's Favour and prosperous in all your Negotiations to the Encouragement of true Piety Loyalty and Vertue shall be the Incessant Prayers of My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Humble and Entirely Devoted Servant RIC. KINGSTON The PREFACE Reader THis small Treatise that now salutes your Hands and is submitted to your Censure is the Tenth I have Writ and Publish'd on the Government 's Behalf since the happy Revolution and for some Reasons being forc'd to conceal my Name some of the Scribling Tribe have been pleas'd to call themselves the Authors of them and have stolen Rewards from Publick Hands for what were only my Productions therefore seeing most of those Books are Sold off and as soon as a Work of another Nature is Compleated that has been long under hand I shall Collect them all into one entire Volume Publish it with my Name to it and leave the Usurpers to prove their Titles to what they have so unjustly claim'd In relation to the Subsequent Discourse I must acknowledge the Path has been already trod by others but whether in Brevity and Perspicuity they have made the Way so plain to every Understanding your self not I must now determine However since large Volumes neither correspond with the Purses nor Leisure of the Generality of English Readers and that our Enemies talk this Subject as leudly now as at the Beginning of the Revolution I have accommodated our Friends with an Antidote against that Infection at a Price and in a Volume that will neither burthen the Reader 's Memory waste his Time nor disoblige his Pocket and yet furnish him with Reasons to answer all Objections in favour of James the Second or those advanc'd against our Legal Establishment Vale. Tyranny Detected AND THE Late REVOLUTION JUSTIFIED c. WHoever has an Inclination to satisfie himself or others that the Attempt of the late King in Subverting the Protestant Religion and Introducing and Establishing Popery in these Kingdoms was no Design of a late Invention nor only owing to the Caprichio of his own Bigotry in the Romish Persuasion to go no further backward must take his Aera from the Restoration of Charles the Second who was Imbark'd in the same Enterprize tho' for fear of Travelling again as he was pleas'd to phrase it he was unwilling to divulge it till he was leaving the World and thought it Inconsistent with his future Estate any longer to conceal the Secret To the Banishment of the Royal Family and their sitting loose in the Principles of that truly Catholick Religion in which they were Educated must be ascrib'd this fatal Change Their Exile and other Inconveniencies laid 'em open to many Temptations The Allurements and Promises of those Popish Princes on whom they must necessarily have some kind of Dependance smooth'd the Way and the Caresses and Incessant Importunities of their Mother assisted by the Crafts and Treachery of Priests and Jesuits who know how to improve every Advantage at length prevail'd upon the Unsteady Royal Brothers to Abjure the Protestant and Espouse the Popish Religion Their Example Influenc'd many that had either Dependance on them or Expectation from them to Write after * Quicquid Principes faciunt praecipere videntur Quint. â—la 4. their Copy and so the King and Duke were early furnish'd with a Sett of Men Ready Prepar'd to execute what was subservient to the Great Design of Subjecting England's Obedience to the Triple Crown Nor can any Rational Man at this time of day doubt but that Charles the Second Liv'd and Dy'd a Papist who hath either heard what he both Said and Did when under the Prospect of approaching Death and past hope of Acting a Part any longer or who have Read the two Papers left in his Strong Box publish'd to the World and Attested by the late King James to be Genuine No less have we Reason to doubt but Setting up Popery and Arbitrary Power was his Darling-Project since the whole Course of his Reign was but one Entire Confirmation of those Destructive Machinations And tho' with the Highest Asseverations and Dreadful Imprecations he often deny'd both making us believe what he was not by Inveighing against what he really was yet the Actions of Princes that speak louder and convince more effectually than feign'd Declarations or Proclamations Evidently shew'd he did but
bubble and delude the Nation till Insensibly to us and with Security to himself he might appear in his own Likeness and do here what in France he had promis'd His Engaging in an Expensive and Bloody War against the States of Holland could have no other Design but to weaken the Protestant Interest both in that Commonwealth and in his own Kingdom Provocations they had given him none nor could he assign any Reason of State on his own part unless he fetch'd it from the Romish Alcoran that says we must have no Peace with Hereticks and allows all Acts of Injury and Violence to Protestants His stifling the Popish Plot and delivering the Papists as much as in him lay from the Danger into which it had cast them His being the Author or at least the Great Encourager of Sham-Plots charg'd upon Protestants His continued Confederacies with the Known Enemy to the Disobliging of his own People His Betraying of Europe by false and flattering Promises when he might have prescrib'd what Terms of the Peace he pleas'd during the whole Course of his Mediation at Nimeguen or in Conjunction with the Dutch and other Allyes have continued the War against France to the greatest Advantage that ever was put into the Hands of the Confederates is a manifest Proof how he stood affected And tho' he made great Shews as if he had been in earnest all was but Deceit and Colour for at length contrary to all the Rules of Policy and without Ground or Pretext for such Proceedings a Peace was clap'd up * Sir W. Temple's Memoirs in the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Chamber by the Intervention and Pursuit of Monsieur Barillon to the great Amazement and general Prejudice of all Christendom His then Majesty's neglecting to Assist the French Protestants under great Persecutions for their Religion was more than a Tacit Consent to their Utter Extirpation His Intailing the Duke of York upon the Nation contrary to the Desires and Endeavours of Three Parliaments and that not out of Love to his Person but Affection to Popery which he knew that Prince was engag'd by Solemn Oath to establish are Sufficient Evidences of Charles the Second's Religion and his being engag'd in the Design of Subverting ours which I think no Man will question that was not concerned with him in it 'T was by a strange Providence as well as great Oversight in the Conduct of the late King that we arriv'd at this Discovery for so many good Men that believ'd the Tremendous Oaths his Majesty Charles the Second had swallow'd and thought it impossible he should prevaricate in so solemn a Matter were so fix'd in their Opinions of King Charles's being a Protestant and so Outragious against them that durst but whisper the contrary that had it not been for his Receiving Absolution and Extream Unction from a Popish Priest a little before his Death and for what he left in Writing under his own Hand he would still have pass'd for a True Protestant and the Nation in favour of that Monarch would have still been kept under their former Delusions And Tho' at the same time it gives us but an Indifferent Character of this Prince who for the Lucre of a Crown thus notoriously dissembled with God and Man and that in all his Declarations and Speeches to the Parliament and in Complying in the Offices and in Communicating in the Holy Sacrament of the Church of England he wore the Vizor of a Protestant when he was a Member of the Church of Rome and was by Oath when he chang'd his Religion at St. Germains in France oblig'd to set up Popery Yet it gives us an Everlasting Abhorrence of Romish Principles which for the Sordid Interest of that Idolatrous Church did not only Dispence with but Indulge such Crimes as the worst of Heathens and Pagans would blush at the Thoughts of And here tho' the Series of the Narration will hardly allow it I will draw a Veil before the Picture of this Unhappy Prince and without Exposing his Intricate and Bifarious Actions to a more Open View and Censure content my self by telling the Reader he Liv'd in a Cloud he Dy'd in a Storm But by what means he came to his End God knows tho' the Suddenness and Meanness of his Interment Rais'd many Suspicions Neque Sepulchrum quo recipiat habet portum corporis Ubi remissa humana vita corporis requiescat a malis He had no Tomb nor with a Port was blest Where after Death his Corps in Peace might rest I am not unsensible that some Judicious Enquirers into these Affairs will think I ought to have begun the Designs of Advancing Popery and Arbitrary Power with the Reign of the Family of the Stewarts in this Kingdom But since I cannot with Justice think the first two Kings design'd to bring in Popery and having Occasion to take notice of every of their particular Efforts for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power in their several Reigns in the subsequent Discourse I thought it excusable that I began no Earlier than the Restoration of Charles the Second and therefore proceed to shew what Methods were taken by him to Erect those Idols and subvert our Religion and Laws and they were principally Four First 1. By Abusing the Credulity of the Nation with the fond Hopes of such Privileges and Immunities as were never intended them Of this kind was his Declaration from Breda which promis'd Indulgence and Liberty of Conscience to all Protestants that would live peaceably under the Civil Government But if we had look'd before us and not suffer'd our Prejudices against the many late Mock-Governments the Tyranny of our Fellow-Subjects and the Transports of being deliver'd from them in the Accession of the Rightful King to his Throne to have blinded our Eyes we might easily have perceiv'd that it was never in his Thoughts to perform it For the Previous Obligations he was under to the Church of Rome had a Virtue to Supersede and Annul his Engagements to English Hereticks So that all he Intended by that Declaration was to Tye up the Hands and Lull those into a Tameness of Admitting his Return into his Dominions whom a Jealousie of being afterwards persecuted for their Consciences might have awaken'd to withstand and dispute it 'till they had better Security And so it came to pass for he was no sooner seated in the Throne of his Ancestors and saw himself secure but he discharg'd himself from every thing that the Royal Word and Faith of a Prince had oblig'd him to perform Secondly 2. By Sowing Discord Dividing Protestants Alienating their Affections and Imbittering their Minds one against another that being so Divided and Enrag'd they might contribute to each other's Destruction or by weakning their Interest become an easie Prey to the Fury of Papists And truly nothing but an Early Prospect of this Method could have Embolden'd King Charles to enterprize upon our English Liberties and the Reform'd Religion For tho' there have been
Brackly was mended by the Addition of the Rich Parsonage of Burton on the Wold in the same County Nor did the Reward of this Service extend only to Sybthorp but slew a Cathedral Height for Dr. Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury refusing to License this Sermon to be Printed was soon after Suspended from his Bishoprick and Dr. Laud that did License it being then Bishop of St. Davids was Translated to London and afterwards to the Metropolitan See of Canterbury Nay so strong run the Tide of Preferment then in this Corrupted Channel that few Divines or Common or Civil Lawyers were preferr'd to any considerable Place either in Church or State that did not in the Pulpit and on the Bench vigorously maintain these Novel and Destructive Opinions to the Scandal of their Functions and intended Ruin of the Kingdom To this Doctrine must be ascrib'd the Mischiefs of all former and later Reigns under the Protection of which any King may play the Tyrant without Control tho' it often proves Fatal to him that lays the Train And so it happen'd to Charles the Second for no sooner had his Unlimited Power been so Strenuously Asserted that he was come to give the finishing Stroke but his Death seem'd Necessary and Seasonable to make way for the Duke of York to open the Execution of the Grand Design in a bare-fac'd Subversion of the Religion and Laws of England At the Beginning of the Restoration so great an Opinion was conceiv'd of His Highness the Duke of York that his partial Admirers would suffer no Man to Insinuate his being Reconcil'd to the Church of Rome but set him up under all the Noble Qualities that might render him Acceptable to a Credulous People not only as Merciful in his Temper Just in his Dealings and endu'd with all Gracious Inclination to our Laws and the Rights of the Subject but for one Orthodox in his Religion too and who would prove a Zealous Defender of the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of the Church as Establish'd by Law In this Persuasion they continu'd some Years and tho' he had at length withdrawn himself from all Acts of Fellowship with the Church of England Refus'd the Test injoin'd by Law for distinguishing Papists from Protestants had Resign'd his Office of Lord High Admiral stood Excluded from the House of Lords and that so many Parliaments had eadeavour'd to Exclude him from Succession to the Crown because he had Revolted to the See of Rome and thereby became Dangerous to the Establish'd Religion yet all this would make no Impression upon a Wilfully Deluded and Obstinate Sort of Protestants but in Defiance of all Means of Conviction they would persuade themselves that he was still a Zealot for our Religion and a great Patriot of the Church of England Nor could any thing undeceive them till upon his Brother's Death he openly declar'd himself to be a Papist and afterwards in the Fumes and Raptures of his Victory over the late Duke of Monmouth had discover'd and proclaim'd his Intentions to overthrow both our Religion and Laws Yea so closely had some seal'd up their Eyes against all Beams of Light and harden'd themselves against all Evidences from Reason and Fact that had Success attended the Duke of Monmouth's Arms the late King had gone off the Stage with the Reputation among them of a Prince tender of the Laws of the Kingdom and who notwithstanding his being a Papist would have preserv'd the Reform'd Religion and maintain'd the Church of England in all her Rights and Grandures And tho' his whole Life had been but one continu'd Conspiracy against our Civil Liberties and Privileges he had left the Throne with the Character and under the Esteem of a Prince that in the whole Course of his Government would have regulated himself by the Rules of the Constitution and the Statutes of the Realm Aditum nocendi perfido praestat fides Sen. in Oed. Act. 3. Scen. 1. So Simple Truth does her fair Breast Disarm And gives Base Treachery a Power to Harm King Charles being now Dead the late Duke's Expectations Answer'd and his Ambition gratify'd with a Crown at his first coming to it he endeavour'd to Confirm some and Gain other of his Subjects into a good Opinion of him and their own Happiness under his Government And therefore in his first Speech to the Parliament declar'd so much Tenderness for them and such a Dear Respect for the Preservation of their Liberties that the Cajoll'd Parliament from an Excess of Satisfaction shew'd as much Affection for him as ever Parliament did to a Prince of their own Religion and gave Money till he himself put a stop to the profuse and excessive Expressions of their Satisfaction It must be granted that the Lives of some Professors are not so bad as the Consequences of their Erroneous Opinions and it was charitably thought by the Parliament that the late King James tho' a Papist would not Govern so Arbitrarily as the Encourag'd Doctrines of the Age gave him Leave to do But when they saw their Errour and perceiv'd that Popery and Arbitrary Power were never to be parted that the Monks and Friars Enter'd to Act in their proper Habits that Seminaries were set up in several Places and Houses fill'd with these Religious Furies that the Laws being in the late Reign betray'd into his Hands he unmercifully Stabb'd and Dispatch'd them and that his Antecedent Oaths and Promises were all come to nothing how it fill'd them with Resentments for his having thus Abus'd their Credulity Deceiv'd their Expectations and Reproach'd their Gloryings and Boastings of him But alas it was then too late to seek a Remedy for those Evils that an Easie Belief and a Fond Compliance with Empty Popish Promises had brought upon us Now we Feel what we would not See and Prevent at a Distance Quid nobis certius ipsis Lucret. Sensimus esse potest quo vera ac falsa notemus And what thing can there be more sure than Sense By which we Truth discern from false Pretence We smarted under our own Rod and had plenty of miserable Occasions for the Religious Exercise of that fatal Duty Passive Obedience Our Satisfactions in our New King were vanish'd and the Hopes of living happy Subjects under him were sunk into Apprehensions of Approaching Slavery A general Consternation fell upon the whole Body of the People and the very Tools that assisted the late King in subverting their own Religion and the Civil Rights of their Brethren were afraid in so Universal a Calamity that themselves should also feel the sad Effects of that Thunder with which they had Arm'd their Tyrant In how happy a Condition was James the Second before he violalated his Oaths and Promises and so might have continu'd if he could have prescrib'd any Limits to his Desires of Reigning more Absolutely than the Laws of the Constitution would allow him He had all things at pleasure to make him Great among his own Subjects
without Intermeddling in Nice and Secret Matters of State that are out of his Reach and Inconsistent with his Duty that heartily Obeys the King in all his Commands that do not thwart the Laws of God Nature or his Country that Honours Loves and Defends the King's Person Crown and Dignity and Chearfully Contributes to the Support of his Government that makes his Private Concerns stoop to the Publick Good and Sustains those Losses with Patience that he suffers for the Common Interest One that can distinguish betwixt Slavish Fear and Religious Obedience betwixt the Interest and Cause of a whole Nation and the Clamours and Discontents of a Litigious and Incorrigible Faction One that will be True to his King without being False to his God or Treacherous to his Country And to conclude One that like the Poet 's Dyal always stands True tho' the Sun of Reward or Favour never shines upon him In this Portraicture of an English Subject in Little you may see the whole Design of Christianity on this Subject which is Keeping every thing within its proper Bounds without Needless Increments or Criminal Abatements of Royal Authority which always terminate in Vanity or Wickedness and consequently are extreamly prejudicial to the Receiver and Detractor 'T is the Evil in the Increase and Use of Power that those declaim against who are for no more than a Legal Obedience for Non-Resistance in its proper Latitude has its true Weight and Value with us as much as any other Christian Duty and tho' we cannot swallow it so Glibly as it was Adulterated in the late Prescription to serve a Temporizing Interest abstracted from the Publick Good yet that does not hinder us from Digesting it better and Practising it more Dutifully and Constantly than those who were as Ready to Throw it up as they were to Imbibe it or that still Retain it to do further Mischief And having thus secur'd our Loyalty and Fidelity to our Sovereign under this Supposition I shall re-assume the Argument for Resistance when the Necessity of it is as Certain and General as ours was All differing Persons about Non-Resistance agree in this That if a King is resolutely bent to Destroy his Subjects and that no Perswasion can alter his Purpose but that he stocks himself with such Ministers and Officers as will co-operate with him in the execution of his Tragical Designs his Subjects may Desert him Decline his Government and Service and seek Protection where they can find it Of this Opinion is the Excellent Grotius Barclay Pufendorf Bodin Bishop Bilson Bishop Sanderson Dr. Hammond and Mr. Falkener I confess they say the case is not to be put as almost impossible to happen yet I think it but Reasonable to suppose it here because I shall prove it in the Sequel beyond Contradiction that the late King James was under a necessity of destroying his Protestant Subjects that all his Actions openly declared it and therefore may say with the Author of Jovian That 't was Lawful to resist him since he himself has said in the same Page That he should be tempted to pray for the Destruction of such a Prince as the only means of delivering the Church and for that Reason I am charitably inclin'd to think that the great Promoters of Non-Resistance never intended this Doctrine should extend beyond Private and Tolerable Evils for stretching it to Intolerable and Universal Mischiefs would have proclaim'd 'em void of Sence and common Discretion as well as Humanity which can no way agree with some of their Characters Sober Men would soon be agreed about the Resistance pleaded for if they were not more prejudic'd against the Word than against what is intended in the Thing either as to the Object or End of it for to resist Violent Usurpations and Horrid Cruelties is not Resisting the Supreme Authority or the Ordinance of God but opposing Murderers and Cut-Throats who under Venerable Disguises are Destroying the People and covering the Land with Blood and Carnage Names and Titles can never Sanctifie or Alter the Nature of Facts the thing done and the Manner and End of doing it will denominate the Action For tho as King he may put his Subjects to Death by form of Law he cannot kill or otherwise destroy them without it but at the same time he gives himself another Epithet looses the Right he had and ceases to be a King by such repeated Acts of Illegality and Tyranny The Ends of Government which is the Peoples Good are as Sacred as the Prince's Authority and if as the Apostle says he be not to us the Minister of God for Good he looses the Title of God's Minister for his Servants they are whom they obey St. Paul never Intended to Abrogate the Laws of Nature which gives every Individual Person a Right to his Own nor Expose Men to Beggary Slavery Inevitable Ruine here and Damnation hereafter for Resisting a Prince that was ingaged to destroy his People since no Man that has not lost the use of his Reason can believe that Murdering Ruining and Inslaving the Bodies and Souls of the People is any part of Civil Government or that Resisting an Implacable Tyrant is Resisting the Ordinance of God when 't is plain that God never gave him any such Authority To say that such Kings are set up by the Almighty as a Punishment for our Sins is no Argument against Resistance but a strong one for it for the Pestilence Famine and the Sword of Foreign Enemies are all of them Evils sent by God for the punishment of our Offences yet I think no Man will say but we ought by all Natural and Humane Indeavours to free our selves from those Calamities without an immediate Revelation The like may be said of Tyrants for the contrary would level us with Beasts which may be Sold Kill'd and Devour'd at the Will of those that have power over them So that from what has been said 't is evident that Resisting Tyrants is not Resisting the Supreme Authority but Defending our selves against the Insults of a Destroyer under the cover of another Title This Consideration will set us right and not Rob us of the pleasant Idea's that spring from our Deliverance for if any for by Ends deny what has been said above to be a Truth now they will be of another Mind at the Day of Judgment when things shall appear as they are The Ends of Resistance and Self-Defence does also prove the Lawfulness of it as it Respects the King or his Subjects who are equally concern'd in the Benefit of it Is it not better for a King to Assure his Authority by rendring it Just and Moderate than expose it to danger by Arbitrary Attempts Is it not better to comply with the kind Persuasions and Dutiful Admonishments of his true Friends and Faithful Counsellors which is always presumed to go before Actual Resistance than to feel the bad Effects of his own misguided Will Cicero says Cicero pro Balb.
late King James's Reign was a Necessary Tyranny and so much the more necessary to push him forward to accomplish his Designs that this Necessity was impos'd upon his Conscience by the Laws of his Church under the Expectation of Rewards or Dread of the Punishments that would attend his Obedience or Disobedience to their Decrees All the Popish Writers agree that * Beccan Theol. Scot. p. 1. c. 13. quaest 5. Tho. Aquin. Summmae quaest 10 art 3. Durand Sancta Portian quaest utrum Haeret. sint tolerand quaest 5. Bellarmin de hicis l. 3. c. 21. Concilio Tolof p. 46. Concil Later 4. every Prince ought to Exterminate his Protestant Subjects that the Omission of that Duty is Damnable and that putting them to Death when they have nothing else to lose is a Just Meritorious Action And we have Reason to believe if Heaven was to be purchas'd God pleas'd the Papists gratify'd and his own Ambition and Prejudice humour'd in doing it the late King would not leave these Blessings behind him Now where the People claim a Right to their Privileges as well as the Prince to his Prerogative the Prince will certainly begin his Reign with the Destruction of those that have a Right to oppose his Absolute Authority And these Maxims of a Right to do it in Conscience were the Inducements to King James's Tyranny which we might expect to see Increas'd but never Relax'd for tho' he might change his Councils he could not change his Conscience nor whilst he had such Directors of it as the Jesuits are can it be suppos'd otherwise but that he would follow the Lessons they taught and he imbib'd as conducing to his Eternal Happiness Fifthly 5. It was a Consummated Tyranny nothing remain'd Entirely Free but all was subjected to the good Pleasure of his own Will His Arbitrary Power influenc'd all in Authority His Privy Council generally speaking were made up of such as would concour with his Unlimited Authority and were oblig'd by their Interest to assist the Project and Subvert all that oppos'd it The Judges gave it for Law that he had a Dispencing Power and ought not to be Resisted in the Exercise of it The Magistracy was infected with the same Malady and the Soldiery were oblig'd to defend it with Sword in Hand 6. It was as intended an Eternal Tyranny for besides that his Abrogating the Laws gave an Example to his Successors to trace his Methods and in time make themselves as Despotick Princes as the Czar of Moscovy or the Turkish Emperor he was introducing a Suppositious Heir that should be train'd up in the same Principles and invested in the same Power and so keep out a Protestant Successor whose Religion would better instruct him in his Duty in maintaining his own Prerogative and yet indulging his Subjects in such a Liberty as does no way Impair or Attaint their Allegiance Whereas a Popish Successor would have made Tyranny as perpetual as 't is Absolute 7. To conclude The Tyranny of the late King's Reign was an Incurable Tyranny If it had arose from the Heat of Youth Time might have quench'd that Fire in correcting the Cause If it had proceeded from any Corporeal Disease a Remedy might have been found to cure it If it had been the Effect of an Incurable Disorder in his Intellects or Temperature we might have flatter'd our selves that it would last but one Reign or that Defect might have been supply'd by a Regent But none of these can be objected against the late King James for he Nurs'd it many Years in his own Bosom it grew up with his Understanding and was a true Tyranny in its Design necessary as impos'd on him by his Conscience evident in all his Actions Universal in its Object and Extent Consummated in its Degrees Eternal in its Consequence and altogether incurable by reason of his Age and introducing a Popish Heir without the Application of such a Speedy and Effectual Remedy as God was pleas'd to send us in our Extremity Some of the late King James's Friends are pleas'd to extenuate the Crimes they cannot defend in charging all the Faults of his Reign upon his Ministers which if allow'd to be True might lessen them in part but not discharge him of the whole For if the Master's Actions be never so Innocent or Inoffensive yet if out of Cowardice or Affection he becomes the Patron of his Servants Insolencies and Outrages by Protecting or not Punishing their Misdemeanours he renders himself Guilty and will share in the Contempt and Hatred of his People But when we consider how he labour'd the Point himself by Closetting Persuading and Threatning many Great Men and others to engage with him in his Design of Setting up Popery and Dispencing with Laws and whose Image and Superscription it bears the Glory of the Enterprize will be all his own for I can never think his Ministers capable of all those Extravagancies themselves any further than that they knew it would please him Indeed I can very easily suppose them chiefly Devoted to their Own Interests and willing to Share in the Spoil of Ruin'd Subjects yet methinks there should be some kind Remembrance of their Native Country that would sometimes check the Dissoluteness of such Arbitrary Managements And a certain Pride that Men take in acting prudently and not exposing themselves to the Hatred and Derision of all Mankind should have stopp'd their Carier in such Illegal Proceedings And so it appear'd for at last under these Apprehensions we find many that deserted the late King after he thought himself sure of them and resign'd their Places and refus'd to act by his Commission or obey his Orders after their Names were Inserted in Commissions and their Persons Actually Engag'd in his Service So that 't is plain this Project was the Issue of his own Brain heated by the Jesuitical Dictators of his Conscience The Fountain was corrupted and then no wonder the Streams run foul Something might be said in favour of the late King if he had set up his Dispencing Power for a General Good but 't is evidemt that it was only intended to enable Papists to ruin Protestants and therefore the Irish Parliament in their Act of Attainder put it out of their King's Power to exercise his Prerogative in shewing Kindness to Protestants that wanted it For when * See The State of the Protestants in Ireland by Bishop King p. 179. Sir Thomas Southwell was contrary to the Articles on which he Surrender'd himself condemn'd for High Treason against King James and at the Request of the Lord Seaford that King was willing to Pardon him and sent his Warrant to the Attorney-General Sir Richard Neagle to draw a Fiat the Attorney-General positively told the King he could not Pardon him and tho' the late King seem'd to be in a Heat and told Sir Richard he had betray'd him yet it must be presum'd they Understood one another for so the Matter ended and Sir Thomas went
Example of former Times and their own Prudence should direct them And truly it would be very absurd to imagin that the Legislative Power was so streighten'd that it had no Right to provide against Unforeseen Accidents that might happen or that where the Old Laws seem'd opposite to the publick Good or were wholly silent as not foreseeing every extraordinary Event they could not supply that Defect by making * Quae de novo cinergunt novo indigent auxilio New Ones that might reach the present Circumstances of Affairs or Extend and Explain the Old ones as the Necessity of the State requir'd Laws themselves in time may grow pernitious and tho' well intended at their first Promulgation as Things might after happen would be dangerous to be Retain'd Therefore on all such Occasions the Assembly of Estates have an Indubitable Right to wave the Letter of the Law and explain them or make New ones according to Equity that is according to what the precedent Legislators would have done if they had Foreseen what then had come to pass Private Persons are oblig'd to observe the Letter of the Law but Publick Estates are not under such a Confinement but for the Safety of the Nation must respect the Intention of the Law because the Letter of the Law by Length of Time or a General Corruption of Manners may seem to thwart the Common Interest but the Intention of the Law always respects the publick Good and is never against it This is done every Day in Courts of Equity and ought never to be omitted for the Preservation of a Kingdom where Laws Unrepeal'd and whose Consequences were not dreamt of seem to make Tyranny Lawful And therefore the Convention of Estates in Shutting the Door against James the Second and making it fast after him by an Act of State who had first excluded himself and setling the Government on the Foot it now stands did no more than Assert their own Right and prevent the Mischiefs that have attended the Mis-construction of the Intention of some Laws in Force Now that the Estates of the Kingdom have such a Right is Incontestible in the Opinion of our Adversaries yet they deny that the Convention had such a Power because they were not Conven'd by the late King's Authority A frivolous Objection and returns upon the Head of that deluded Faction For This Defect if it were one was not the Nation 's Fault but lies wholly upon the late King He was Sought to Address'd and Petitioned to Call a Parliament It was the great Importance of the Prince's Declaration He often promis'd it and by Proclamation made a Feint of keeping his Word yet at last burnt the Writs and declar'd positively he would not do it Could the Nation compel him to do what he would not Must the Kingdom be Ruin'd for want of a Formality that was not in their Power to compass Must a Glorious Opportunity of Settling the Kingdom be lost for want of a Punctilio that yet was answer'd in the Intent of it Must the Nation be be blam'd for helping themselves when the late King refus'd it No this would be very loose Reasoning and the Thread is of too course a Spinning to pass upon the Thinking Part of Mankind Had they Objected against the Qualification of the Members the Want of Freedom in their Election or shew'd any Unreasonableness in the Action they had said something worthy of Answer but since they could not I shall go on and prove it Just Necessary and Agreeable to the Practice of All Nations The Laws of God Nature and Nations justifie the Deposing of a Prince whose Arbitrary Government is not only Inconsistent with but Destructive to the Kingdom over which he Presides To name no other Instances in the Old Testament Rehoboam and Jeroboam are Examples of Divine Vengeance for their Tyranny and their Stories are Argumentative The Jews asserted the Lawfulness of Resisting and Dethroning their Kings in many Cases * Joseph l. 4. c. 8. especially in their Wars with Antiochus Epiphanes and the †St. Aug. libr. cont Adem 1.17 Christians follow'd those Examples without thinking their Religion oblig'd them by a Childish Submission to yield up their Natural and Legal Rights and consent to their own Ruin How unreasonable would it be to imagin that a whole Kingdom should deprive it self of the Right of Deposing a Tyrant and preserving themselves since * Principio generi animantium omni est à Natura tributum ut se vita corpúsque tueatur declinétque ea quae noscitura videantur Cicero de Offic. Nature has communicated this Right to all Rational Creatures together with their Being which they can neither give away themselves nor can be justly taken from them by others as I have already prov'd in part and shall do it beyond Contradiction in the following Pages and therefore shall descend to shew you that the Deposing the late King is Warranted by the Practice of other Nations as well as our own in Former Ages The Power of the Emperor of Germany is Limited in many Particulars He cannot alter their Fundamental Laws nor make the Empire Hereditary and the College of the Princes Electors may Depose him for Male Administration as they did Lewis the Good in the Year 833. Which Act was always look'd upon as the Right of the Empire in the Opinion of the German Lawyers and so is transmitted to Posterity be the best of their * Lampadius Diderick Conring Lambert Schafnaburg Aventin l. 7. Annal. Cuspin in Vita Wincesl Carpsor de Leg. Reg. Imperat Germaniae Imperial Capitular Writers One of the Charges against Lewis was that he had broken his Coronation-Oath and Rul'd by Maxims of his own contrary the Establish'd Laws of the Empire The Estates of the Empire also at another time Warr'd against the Emperor Henry the Fourth for the same Cause and at length Depos'd him in a Solemn Assembly A later Instance of the same People was in Deposing Wenceslaus in the Year 1400. And he that will give himself the Satisfaction of Reading the Articles Exhibited against him by the Electors of the Empire will be tempted to think that James the Second had transcrib'd them as the Rules of his Despotick Government they agreed so exactly with it from the Beginning to the fatal End of it The Monarchical Government of Poland being extinct at the Death of †Cromer King Lech it was chang'd by the States into a Government of Twelve Palatins who abusing their Authority were all Depos'd and Lesko Elected King and he withdrawing himself out of the Kingdom to secure himself against the Fury of the Tartars was for that Reason Depos'd and a new King Elected So was Henry the Second Duke of Anjou depos'd by the Poles by the Government of Poland for leaving that Kingdom And the great States-man Bodin tells us 't was expresly inserted as a Condition in that King's Coronation Oath when he was Elected
Unanimous Vote and Universal Election of the People Confirm'd and Recogniz'd by the same Authority and Law of England by which all his Royal Predecessors enjoy'd the Imperial Crowns of these Kingdoms besides the Undoubted Right of his Excellent Princess and his own Right of Blood and that the Submission of the People and Determination of the Estates of the Kingdom grounded not only upon the Supream Law of Publick Good but also upon the Known and Declar'd Positive Laws and Constitutions of this Government as there has been Occasion in all Ages from the first Foundation of this Limited Monarchy and that this is Conclusive to all Private Subjects Yet because we ought to Resolve Cases here that may stand with the Reason of Mankind when they are debated abroad and that some that have writ on the Behalf of the Government by their weak and precarious Arguments have set up divers Titles that make it look like a Fanciful Chimera or built upon a Sandy or Fictitious Bottom and have more disparag'd the Revolution by their Impertinencies than all that have exercis'd their Pens or Spleens against it I crave Leave to be a little more particular upon it The Crown of England as placed on the Head of our Dread Sovereign William the Third stands Firm and Immoveable there on the Right of the Case and the Reason of the Thing without the Props of Art Oratory or Learning to support it Shuffling between Providential Settlement Conquest and Topping Protections of Power scandalize the King 's Legal Title and mis-lead his Subjects Let but the Matter express it self plainly and it will carry an Entire Conviction and Satisfaction with it in its own Genuine Phrase and Designment 'T is truly and plainly stated in the Prince of Orange's Declaration and is neither more nor less than what briefly follows James the Second directly contrary to his Coronation-Oath breaks through all the Establish'd Laws of the Land Invades and Subverts the Religious and Civil Rights Liberties Privileges and Properties of his Subjects which he solemnly Swore to Protect and Defend and in an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Manner Dissolves the Constitution of Church and State by Usurping a Power unknown to the Constitution and as Inconsistent with it as Light with Darkness His Subjects perceiving All going to Ruin having first us'd all Means to Reclaim him but to no purpose Assume their Natural Right in Defence of their Laws their Lives their Religion and to preserve them Entire oppose the Violent and Arbitrary Methods of the late King and apply themselves to the Prince of Orange our now Gracious King who had a Just Expectation of a Right to the Crown and humbly pray His Highness to assist them in Recovering and Defending their Legal Rights together with his own Title to the Succession both apparently Invaded and endeavouring to be Destroy'd by Clandestine Methods This Illustrious Prince gives the People Assistance and by the Blessing of God and the Mutual Appearance of the Nation for their Self-Defence and Preservation James the Second Conscious of his own Guilt in endeavouring to subvert the Constitution and breaking the Original Contract between King and People and that by the Advice of Jesuits and other Wicked People he had Violated the Fundamental Laws and thereby Abdicated the Government he leaves the Kingdom Upon which Vacancy of the Throne His Highness the Prince of Orange together with his Royal Consort of ever Blessed Memory the next Indisputable Heir to the Crown in a Full and Free Representation of the whole Community and Body of the Kingdom is and are Declar'd and Constituted King and Queen of England c. Now since 't is visible that the late King James was fled and that it was absolutely necessary the Government should be supply'd and some other King plac'd in the Throne who accepting the Crown upon the Conditions tender'd with it would give Assurance of Governing by the Laws of the Constitution and secure our Happiness under him there can remain no reasonable Objection against his Title Besides His Sacred Majesty King William the Third in a more especial manner is God's King as being appointed by his Providence by whom Kings Reign assisted by his Almighty Power and the Glorious Instrument in his Hand to Enterprize and Accomplish such a Deliverance as in common Gratitude without Respect to other Right in all Nations of the World has been constantly Rewarded with a Crown and more particularly in England upon that Respect Alone has justly meritted the Sovereignty His present Majesty is also God's King as being the Wise and Valiant Champion of all the Reformed Churches in Europe and who with his Sword his Head and Heart fights for Christ's Religion and to rescue the Professors of it from mighty Combinations to destroy them Root and Branch In which Great and Glorious Work God Almighty has signally own'd him as his Anointed King in preserving his Sacred Person in the Open Dangers of Wars and from the many Close and Barbarous Conspiracies of Ingrateful Regicides He is also the People's King as being their Voluntary Choice when they had no King and Establish'd by those Laws that were of their own making and the Precedents of their Fore-Fathers on the like Occasions For to rise no higher than the Norman Race William the Second Henry the First King John King Stephen Henry the Fourth Henry the Fifth Henry the Sixth and Henry the Seventh had no other Title but the Consent Election of the People and a Parliamentary Recognition of their Rights But King William the Third 's Right is not only Recogniz'd by a Statute-Law but his Person and Right is Guarded by an Act of Assotiation wherein all his Subjects have oblig'd themselves to Defend him with their Lives and Fortunes and to Revenge the Injury of his Person upon all the Agressors And what could be more done to declare his Right and engage our Obedience 'T is the Rarity of these Things happening and a general Ignorance in the History of Precedent Times that makes such Proceedings seem strange and unaccountable to those who have been Nurs'd up in Slavish Notions and apprehend not the Necessity of those Overtures against King James the Second and Supplying the Throne by the Coronation of William the Third For Our present King William came into as Empty a Throne as the late King James himself did a Civil Death in the Eye of the Law making as effectual a Vacancy as a Natural Death and therefore King William had the same Forms of Investiture as if his Abdicated Predecessor had left the World as well as his Native Country Why then should Men create themselves Trouble or disquiet their own and other Men's Consciences by Vexatious Disputes against the Divine Will Positive Laws and the Concurrence of a whole Nation Solomon was not David's Heir and yet he Reigned and was Obey'd with good Conscience Joram was Ahab's Son but Jehu succeeded King Joram had a Right from Ahab but Jehu from God