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death_n	great_a	king_n	prince_n	9,804	5	5.4951	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54759	The character of a popish successour compleat in defence of the first part, against two answers, one written by Mr. L'Estrange, called The papist in masquerade, &c., and another by an unknown hand.	Phillips, John, 1631-1706.	1681 (1681)	Wing P2081; Wing S2671_CANCELLED; ESTC R23102	48,706	43

humor of Swearing and Counter-swearing could be any other than the caprice of their new Head and Governor Now pray observe the slyness of this slur he puts upon Majesty He cunningly insinuates that Matter of Fact may not be Matter of Right and that when the Humor Caprice or Pleasure of a King influences the Votes of his Parliament to make it so Now upon concession of Mr. Lestranges opinion here 's a broad gate opened for a Rebellion for by his Argument 't is but disallowing the rightfulness of Hearth money and indeed almost all the rest of the Kings Revenues because the King generally askt the Parliament money first and so since the first spring of those grants were from the knowledge of the Kings pleasure to have it so 't is but Mr. L'estranges denying the matter of right in this case and so he makes the King a Tyrant to demand his own and thereupon encourages the Subject to the most impudent undutifulness and disloyalty in nature Now those cross Capers and contradictions as he calls them in declaring the same Persons one while Illegitimate and afterwards legitimate is one of the greatest Arguments that the conservation of a Nations Peace was held a greater piece of Conscience in that Age then the maintaining the right of Blood when Illegitimacy it self upon occasion could be restored to the power of Succession Neither was there any such Swearing or Counter-swearing or any such levity as he calls it in that grave Assembly for the Oath they enjoyn'd the People in fidelity to the Kings Heirs could have no other meaning than whilst they were Lawfully so and in all Justice the Obligation of it expired in course when the Law declared them no longer such Nor was it indeed any more than the Tenure of our present Oath of Allegiance in which we swear to be faithful to the King 's lawful Heirs and Successors which the Ignorance of some People has used as an Argument against the changing of Succession as thinking they have sworn fealty to the next of Blood whereas in reality there 's nothing in that Oath that binds them to the Person but the Thing to no particular Man any further than as he is Heir and Successor Lawfully so and no Man truly is either Heir or Successor til he Inherits and Succeeds and as 't is most ridiculous to think the intent of an Oath of Allegiance is to make a Man Swear Loyalty to a fellow Subject as as the greatest Heir apparent is no more whilst the King Lives so the duty of that part of the Oath cannot necessarily be understood to commence or take effect till the present Kings death and then if in the mean while the absolute Power of the Land the King Lords and Commons have constituted a new Heir and Successor the obligation of that Oath of Allegiance can have no other Aspect then to the Heir and Successor so constituted Mr. Lest fithly with Reverence to the utility and constitution of good and wholesome Laws it is not presently to Cite a statute and say there 's a precedent for those Laws that are repugnant to the Light of nature and Common Right are Nullities in themselves Now here 's one of the boldest Master strokes of the pen that ever came in print This point once gain'd all the Protestant Laws since the reformation and the whole fabrick of the present Government are totally subverted 'T is but a Popish Successors believing aud maintaining that all the Protestant Laws ever since Henry the 8ths perversion are against the light of nature and consequently Nullites in themselves So down goes the Protestant Church up start the old Statutes de Haeretico comburendo the old Smith field Fire-works whilst Popery comes in in the open face of day most triumphantly introduced even by the awful Divinity of Law and Justice for its Supporters So that after all Mr. Lestranges Vindication of the Honor Honesty Veneration of Oathes Performance of Laws and Preservation of the Protestant Religion in a Popish Successor he has very subtly sound him out an Evasion to be a greater Tyrant and Devil than the Author of the Character could paint him and that too with all the Innocence in the World and even without the least Blemish of Infidelity But to come a little nearer to him in the first Place these Acts for the settlement of the Crown were so far from being repugnant to the Light of nature that on the contrary 't is evidently manifest that the Law-Makers that made e'm mov'd by no other Guide or Light but that For since self Preservation is the first and greatest thing that the light of nature teaches all Mankind the very preamble to the Acts confirm us that the preservation of themselves and their Heirs in Peace and Tranquillity and to avoid the future Effusion of English Blood was the sole End and Design of those Acts. Secondly these Acts have nothing repugnant or destructive of common right For if by common right he implies a right to any possession or pretension derived from human Power and the Laws of Man then 't is plain by the Constitution of our Government where our Laws are not like these of the Medes and Persians that the Law-makers that gave can take and in that respect there 's no right so firm which the absolute Power of the Law lying in the three States in Parliament cannot shake But if by common right he means a right derived from the Laws or Commands of God and therefore those Acts of Parliament are nullities in themselves because repugnant to the Rules and Duty of Christianity Then he would do well to tell us when that Law of God was made or that Command given But that there is no such Law nor any such Rules of Christianity is plainly to be demonstrated from the most eminent precedents of holy writ where we find proximity of blood has been so far from challenging that unalterable Right of Empire that on the other side there have been several Changes of Kings made in that case even amongst Gods own People and that always by his Consent and sometimes by his special Order Besides if any such Law of God had been made and left us in holy Scripture 't is certain that Law ought to have no more obligation over one Christian Kingdom than another and then consequently Venice and Holland that have no Kings at all and Poland that always elect their Kings by Mr. Lestranges Inference live Age after Age in continual Violation of Common Right the Duty of Christians and the Laws of God I do confess I have heard of a Command of Christ that says Let every Soule be subject unto the higher Powers for there is no Power but of God whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation and therefore if the higher Powers of England the King Lords and Commons are an Ordinance of God too it is

same applauses of present and commendation of all succeeding Ages that the immortal Brutus delivered up his darling Sons to the Rods and Axes of the Lictours c. I here 's a stupendious Character of a Popish Successour indeed What Iö Paeans might England sing if Rome's long hope their Churches Champion and Restorer their hopeful Hercules would build his Columnes and write his Nil plus ultra here But alas we are deceived his Labours are to come there 's a pestilent contagious Northern Heresie to be rooted out that many headed Beast of Errors and Schisms that like Cerberus and Hydra are to be subdued whilst in the defence of Religion and the Cause of God he 's to play a second Atlas and even the weight of Heaven is to lie on his shoulders But our Oratorical Scribler has promis'd Wonders in a Popish Successours Name and elegantly pickt out a most excellent Brutus for his Comparison I remember there was another Roman of that Name though not of that Nature whose Story is equally as famous and as pertinent to the matter in hand A Brutus the Head and Leader of a Conspiracy against the life of the great Caesar a Brutus that joyn'd his heart and hand with the Murderers and blended his Dagger in the Assassination amongst the thirty mortal wounds that stab'd the Majesty of the World a Brutus to whom the dying Monarch with an Astonishment more surprizing than the death he received in his last gasp could say Et tu Brute Is my Son my Friend my Darling my Delight the man I have rais'd loved honour'd cherisht and defended is Brutus a Traytor But to bring our Author to his right wits again and to shew him how unlikely 't is that the English Rods or Axes shall ever hurt a Son of Rome under a Romish Successour If the Popish or Jesuitish party have found such Mercy under the Reigns of Protestant Kings but shall now on the contrary stand the inevitable shock of Statutes Jayls and Gibbets under a Popish King the Jesuits have plotted fairly If the Pope and his Conclave have no deeper politicks than this comes to the very Geese that kept thir Capitol before them had more Brains than they If this were the effect of their hopeful Royal Heirs Conversion Heaven help 'em for Hell has forsaken ' em No Mr. Littleplot once in thy life thou art mistaken and to convince thee that the Protestant Laws will not nay shall not be so hard-hearted under his Reign nor his St. Omers Friends treated so coursly as thou imaginest they have had a little taste of their kinder Entertainment before hand For Example Were there a Country where Commissions of Peace day after day and time out of mind have been taken away for daring but to lift a hand against a Son of Rome nay at the same time when all other Recusants have been prosecuted and that with encouragement and reward and all by a Royal Heir's protection and interest Would not any Reader reply Will he that has been their Guardian-Angel whilst but their fellow-Subject suffer a hair of their heads to perish when he 's their King But yet our new Sir Positive will defend our Protestant Laws even in despight of Fate and tell you That Justice shall guide her hand so impartially and poise her scales so evenly as shall be to the admiration of present and succeeding Ages Now I fancy I have heard a Tryal where a Criminal of Quality convicted of no less a Crime than the subornation and stifling of Evidence and in no less a Case than where the life of the King and the subversion both of Religion and Government were concern'd has been mulkt in the inconsiderable sum of a hundred pound payable perhaps at latter Lammas a meer trifle and scarce more than a Peter-peny for an Absolution Whilst in the other extream there has been a poor Fellow condemn'd to the Pillory Imprisonment and five hundred pound fine ten times more than he was worth in the world for publishing a scandalous reflecting line in a Pamphlet much less offensive in my simple opinion than a Dagger to kill Kings and subvert States And pray where will our Protestant Laws be and what even Ballances is Justice like to have under the full-grown Scepter of a Popish Successour if his influence is so potent in his Minority No a Rhadamanth for an Astraea must be the best of our expectations at that black day Alas the See of Rome is like the old Lake of Sodom the lightest Feather that offends it sinks in it but to its darling Catholick Champions 't is a Lake of liquid Gold where incircled round in Wealth Glory and Preferments the heaviest massiest bars of Iron Swords Daggers Poniards float on the glittering surface of Honour and swim securely Nay I would ask any reasonable man That if the Jesuits hellish Machination against the Kings life had taken effect whether 't is likely that they feared smarting for 't either in this world or the next as dreading a Vengeance temporal or eternal No doubt but they had fairer hopes than so for had their execrable Blow succeeded the blood of Majesty might in all probability have found the same inquisition as the firing of London Or if at worst the world would not have been so satisfied were not the Fanatick shoulders broad enough to bear both the guilt and the punishment Alas 't was but at worst reviving an old experienced shift a known pia Fraus for a Recovery Has not the Gunpowder-Treason poor innocent Papists been a thousand times affirm'd a Plot of Cecils Has not our late designe against both King Religion and Government in contradiction of the unanimous Voice of the whole Nation in Parliament been confidently retorted upon the Presbyterians and that too without the least proof or shadow for 't And then how easily might the Papal policy have made a Popish Murder a Fanatick Stab and so by the borrow'd face of Innocence have most triumphantly play'd the second part of Amboyna and have sheath'd the false Sword in the false Murderers heart whilst the true Dagger had been consecrated and the real Traytor canoniz'd Thus wisely did the prudent Nero lay his burning of Rome at the poor innocent Christians doors and then with all the most exquisite studied Cruelties made the Christian bones rue for what the Infidels hand had perpetrated But to return to our Author I will refer him to some modern Records more applicable to our purpose than the History of his immortal Brutus Have we not lately perus'd whole scrowls of Letters from our Saint Secretary Coleman to French Confessours French Ministers and all for French Interest and as many Rome-wards bound to Jesuits Cardinals and Pope himself fraught with golden Mountains and promis'd Miracles to be acted by the Royal for Rome's Glory Catholick Cause and Mother Church And will any person of common sense believe that our trusty and well-beloved Secretary promis'd more in the name of Al.

lines For indeed as he says a Prince that 's guilty of all this must be both unman'd unchristian'd and an Excommunicate to humane Nature c. if the Gospel and Christianity be truth for the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles will pronounce him such a one But all this while the Reader is to observe that this great Truth is urged by Mr. L'Estrange in favour of his great Mecaenas designing it not so much to set this Brand upon a Popish Successour's perfidy in such a case as to let us understand 't is a picture of a Popish Successour so strangely deform'd and so extravagantly monstrous that 't is not to be matcht or copy'd in Flesh and Bloud and indeed has no being in Nature But not to let him carry it off so what does he think of Sigismond King of Sweden crown'd in the year 1580. who in the very exact parallel to our present state of England being privately bred by his Mother a Roman Catholick unknown to his Father and afterwards being elected King of Poland openly profest the Romish Religion but upon his Fathers death return'd to his Hereditary Swedish Kingdom where with much difficulty he was received but under all the solemn conditions and engagements that could possibly be made between Prince and Subject of his maintaining and upholding their Lutheran Religion But on the contrary no sooner were the Reins in his hand but with all the fiercest Career of Infidelity as if Hell drove him he presently erects Popish Churches places Popish Governours in all his Forts and Castles encourages and countenances no other Perswasion but striving by all Arts imaginary to bring in the Romish Religion Upon this notorious Perjury his Subjects gave him the Reward which Mr. L'Estrange has elegantly allow'd such Perjury deserv'd they excluded him from all the Offices and Benefits of mankind for accusing him of breach of Faith and mischievous practices against the Government they deposed him And this was done by Lutheran Protestants neither Presbyterian nor Independent Fanaticks yet with offer of crowning his Infant-son Vdislaus provided they might have the breeding of him in their own Belief which he refusing after seven years Treaties and other Endeavours for accommodation all in vain in the year 1607. they crown'd his Uncle Charles the third Son of his Grandfather Gustavus Errichson Now how many Bejesuited Fanatical Rebellious Covenanting Trayterous Holy-leaguing Dissenting Psudoprotestants would Mr. L'Estrange have call'd these Lutherans were his Pen retain'd against them and what Volumes would he publish in vindication of Iure Divino and unalterable Succession c. with all the Curses of Bell Book and Candle against them as he has done against the Popish Character for making so slight of that indispensable Duty Passive Obedience though as ill luck would have it certainly the busie Spirit of Mr. L'Estrange was not then in the world for there are no such vilruent Records against them either in any of the Historians of that Age or indeed ever since Now one Remark I would make upon this Sigismond to continue the parallel to our Case He was a Prince in his nature as Heroick as we have or can have a Popish Heir worthy of all those praises that either of these two Answerers have given the last and in short to use one of their own words A Prince for every thing else bating his Perswasion brave to admiration Which one thing must more particularly witness for him his being elected King of Poland a Nation which we all know make their choice for a King out of the gallant famous and illustrious Worthies of all the Princes and Nobility through the whole Christian world And yet we fee neither Magnanimity Justice all the Cardinal Vertues that adorn'd him nor all the promising Perfections and Accomplishments of Nature strengthen'd with all the Bonds of Protestations Oaths or Sacraments could hold the head-strong Violence of his Religion But to return to Mr. L'Estrange in answer to the Character 's proving how improbable nay impossible 't is to suppose we may have a Roman Catholick King That shall discountenance Popery cherish Protestantism and effectually deter all those that shall endeavour to undermine or supplant it he says As to the Influence which a Popish Suceessor may have upon Ecclesiastick Matters As in the Character There needs no more to be said in 't then this that the King has been Gratiously pleased to offer the passing of any Bill for securing the Protestant Religion without Barring or diverting the Succession And such expedients have been also framed to that effect as have been by great Authority judged competent for the obviating of that difficulty The first part of this Assertion all the world knows to be truth but if such Competent Expedients have been framed either the Framers of them have been the Unkindest Men in Christendom or the three last Parliaments the Unluckyest The first in either never producing or publishing those expedients for the Nations service in this time of exigence or the last in never having the good fortune to meet with them for if the Parliament at Oxford were not damnably mistaken or very lewdly forgetful they have declared Nemine Contradicente that neither they nor their Predecessors have ever heard or seen one syllable of such a Frame of Expedients offered them so that with Mr. Lestranges Pardon his above named Great Authority has been greatly unkind in this Matter or else their expedients were like one of the Virtuosoe's Engines never design'd for use But he goes on As to the rest I will not deny but that it is a hard thing for a Prince to teize and persecute a people of his own Religion purely Eonomine for their being so And it is very probable too that he will connive as Men of that perswasion in many cases where the Law directs a Punishment And what is there more in this than what has been done already more or less from the Date of the Statutes themselves to this very Day And what is done by the Government it self towards the Nonconformists at this Instant Where is the great Crime now upon this Admittance in not punishing the Papists so long as the Protestants are not persecuted Here the Reader by the by may take notice that these two Answerers did not confer Notes for one says a Popish Successor will be a second part of the Immortal Brutus and the other that he will be a quite contrary manner of Man But here I would beg Mr. Lestrange to explain himself if he means by a Popish Successors conniving at Men of his own perswasion to be no larger an extent of Royal favor than what that party have received in the two last Kings Reigns the priviledge perhaps of no more than a Queens or an Embassadors private Chapple for the visible worship of the whole party throughout all England then he contradicts the confessions of all the late Popish Martyrs for amongst all their plot silence they unanimously confess