capable of being perverted to so great an Invasion of the Rights or breach of the Rules of Parliament let such ill-designing flatterers suggest what they please But where ever the fault of this miscarriage lay our Addressers were heartily glad of it and Petition the King that he will put this Act of 35 Eliz. in execution for the safety of the Church his Majesties Sacred Person and Government So Ripon Sussex c. They accuse the Two Houses as enemies to our Church and Religion which they endeavour'd to undermine and ruine when they went about to Repeal this Act which is a chief Bulwark of both So Holland in Lincolnshire Now one would think the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled better knew what would maintain our Religion than these men but the truth is our Religion is not the same with the Parliament and them and so no marvel if what will maintain the one's would ruine the other's They call their Religion that which is establisht by Law and this they will defend with their Lives and Fortunes In this protestation the rankest Papist in England will joyn with them believing Magna Charta to be the firmest Law and Popery to stand as unshaken thereupon as an House founded upon a Rock for all the blasts and billows of suppos'd Heretical Kings and Parliaments all whose Acts and Ordinances against Holy Church a Papist reckons to be in themselves void And considering all the circumstances even a charitable man may be pretty confident that this expression Religion establish'd by Law is commonly us'd in this sence when he observes that a Gentleman presum'd to be no very zealous Protestant in a late Print is represented as promising to stand by it and to endeavour to preserve it But this by the way Hence it is that our Addressers account it matter of highest Joy and Satisfaction to understand the King's resolution to maintain the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal course of Descent Oh how it tickles their fancies to have hopes of a Popish Successor So Ely cannot but REJOYCE to find His Majesty expresly professing himself in his own Royal Judgment so nearly concerned in Honour Justice and Conscience to preserve the rightful Succession of the Crown in its Legal descent Thus Northumberland do with the greatest TRANSPORT of JOY and THANKFVLNESS return His Majesty their most humble and express acknowledgment for opposing with such incomparable resolution the Arbitrary and unnatural proceedings against the undoubted right of his Succession in the person of his Royal Brother the greatest Example of Trust Duty and Obedience to his sacred Majesty They would almost persuade one this Royal Brother absented himself from the King's Chapel in obedience to his Majesties Command or else they will give the Dissenters leave to style themselves his Majesties most dutiful and obedient Subjects in imitating so great an Example But to the Point I said above that the prejudices of natural affection c. that the King is byassed by may permit him to stand fair in the opinion of hearty Protestants notwithstanding his opposing the Bill of Exclusion and this entailing a Popish Successour might be matter of their patience and submission but to be so transported with Joy hereupon as our Addressers express themselves to be is a plain token they never intend to be burnt for Hereticks when such a one comes to the Crown but will with Derbyshire c. most heartily to the utmost expence both of their Lives and Fortunes assist support maintain and defend such a Successor with the Regalia's and Prerogatives of his Crown and the Religion and Government both of Church and State as establisht by Law I believe these Gentlemen are not so devested of Flesh and Blood nor have so perfectly learn'd of the Apostle to rejoyce in tribulation but that Fire and Faggot would drive them into sadder apprehensions if they knew not of a Trick to escape them But this is the ground of their Triumph that in such an ones Reign they shall be able to take a fuller revenge on the Schismatical Dogs than the present mild Laws and more indulgent Prince will permit them Who sees not how their fingers itch to be at it that observes their illegal and inhumane treatment of honest and peaceable Protestants at Bristol c. even whilst Laws to punish them for such barbarities are in force to what Cruelties then will not their Fury carry them when it shall be encourag'd and spurr'd on by Law and the Commands of a Jesuited King What shall I say of their preferring Popery before Presbytery of their accounting Calvin a worse man than Ignatius Loyola and his Doctrines more or at least as pernicious What construction can a man put upon their incredulousness of a Popish Plot that has been so sufficiently attested to be real while they profess their firm belief of a Presbyterian Plot that has twice at least been detected by the King and Council to be forg'd and Fictitious in the cases of Dangerfield and Fitz-Harris and was never yet believ'd by any Jury What rejoycings at the acquittal of Wakeman Gascoyne c. and what applause of the fairness of their Tryals but when a Protestant comes to be acquitted where is the man amongst them that shall I say is glad nay that does not with Durham in their Anti-Association complain of packt Juries and with the Middle-Templers of Juries perverting the Laws and usurping to themselves an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Dominion Which of them exclaims not presently like Norfolk against partial Grand Juries such as can violate their Oaths to procure impunity for Treason and think it merit to affront and oppose the Government Into what Tory's Heart ever did it enter or which of their Tongues ever made the motion to Abhor the most damnable Conspiracy of the Papists to Murther the King Massacre his Subjects and subvert the Protestant Religion but when a Sham-Association and yet that only to prevent a Popish Successour's coming to the Crown is obtruded upon the World then nothing but Death and the Cobler Treason Rebellion Can such men think any man so blind as not to see how they stand affected 'T were needless to observe how generally they have got by heart Thompson's two Letters to prove Sir Ed. Godfry Murthered himself and of what weight those absurd and contradictory suggestions seem to them what impressions the dying Jesu t s Speeches have made upon their Consciences and how charitably scrupulous they are grown whilst they question not but Colledge dyed with a Lye in his mouth What Clergy-man that has taken L'estrange for his Guide and those are more than a good many that will confess the Pope to be Anti-Christ or the Church of Rome to be Idolatrous let Vsher Mede Moore Stillingfleet c. demonstrate it never so plainly They must needs acknowledge they 'l tell you that there are many corruptions in the Church of Rome BUT what Constitution
preservation of our Religion Liberties and Properties that were all lately like to have been swallowed up in monstrous confusions if the special Spirit of God had not inspired Your Heart to prevent it Here not to mention the imputation of Enthusiasm cast upon His Majesty which such a Master of Reason would be asham'd to pretend to what is the scope of both these Addresses but to work His Majesty into an apprehension of Treasonable and Rebellious Designs against His Person and the Government carried on by Two Parliaments than which none ever exprest a greater care and providence for the preservation of both This is the only saving Card that the men of this Interest have to play to make the King jealous and fearful of his Parliaments and consequently to breed a diffidence in them of Him that the foundations of the Government being renderd thus unsteady they may upon a favourable juncture overturn it and erect their own new Model And to accomplish this design 't is not only the method of these whiffling Boroughs already mentioned and of others I might recite as Weymouth Thetford c. but of deeper heads The University of Cambridge it self reflecting on these Parliaments speaks of them in these terms That factious and malicious men have not proceeded to plunder and sequestration to violate our Chapels rifle our Libraries and empty our Colledges as once they did next to the over-ruling providence of God is only due to the Royal care and prudence of Your sacred Majesty who gave so seasonable a check to their arbitrary and insolent undertaking What could be spoken more malicious or what if his Majesty could be induc'd to believe it true could possibly tempt him more to resolve never to put himself into the danger of the like Assembly And that we need not question their desire and design os cashiering Parliaments they take upon themselves a power of repealing an Act of Parliament for they make bold to affirm That no Religion no LAW no fault or forfeiture can alter the Succession whereas the Statute of 13 Eliz. has made it Treason to affirm that the LAWS and Statutes made in Parliament do not bind the Right of the Crown and the descent limitation inheritance and governance thereof It were needless to recite the like assertions in other Addresses for these are enow to convince any man of the design that is not engag'd in it and those that are will never be convinc'd but by a Parliament which in due time may perswade them to recant And to make his Majesty more favourable to their purpose and lest his Wants and necessities should be stronger Arguments to Him for assembling a Parliament the only Legal means of supplying them than their Insinuations for staving him from it they first accuse the late Sessions for unreasonably obstructing his Majesties demands of supplies of mony so Northumberland and then to put Him into a readier method of furnishing himself the County Palatine of Durham in their late Anti-Associations as they call it thus express themselves And that we may not only verbally express our Loyalty we do as in Duty and Allegiance bound give this Assurance That our Lives and Fortunes sha l be ready and that we will CONTRIBVTE MONEY to our uttermost Abilities when ever your Majesties occasions shall require No mention at all of a Parliament but both by the words and the whole scope and drift of this Address it is plain they mean a voluntary Contribution whenever His Majesty shall signifie that his occasions require it Thus by these few passages we see how industriously they are engaged in carrying on the leading half of the Popish Plot viz. Arbitrary Government we shall next inquire what assistance they afford the following half to wit the extirpating the Protestant Religion and introducing of Popery And I doubt not but to make it appear they are thorough pac'd in this also In the Parliament that began Octob. 21. 1680. there were two Bills that had each two Readings and were Committed upon the debate of the House the one for Uniting of his Majesties Protestant Subjects the other for exempting his Majestie 's Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of certain Laws whether they would have passed or no is uncertain however they were quash'd by the Prorogation of the Parliament But there was a third Bill which passed both Houses intitled An Act for the Repeal of a Statute made in the thirty fifth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth As the late Long Parliament repealed the Statute de Haeretico comburendo for fear if Popery should once again get the upper hand it would be executed upon Protestants as it was in Queen Marys daies so this present Parliament foreseeing that this Act of Queen Elizabeth that was made against the Prownists and Barrowists of those daies as appears in the Journals of Parliament of that Queen lately published by Mr. Starkey was likely to be perverted to the ruin of the Estates Liberties and it might be Lives of Protestants in the daies of a Popish Successor and thinking it prudent to provide even against the present dangers from the Common Enemy the Papists by bearing a gentler hand over the dissenting Protestants on whom this Act was in part executed and thereby uniting them more firmly in Interest and Affection with the Church of England I say upon these considerations this present Parl. thought fit to repeal that Act of 35 Eliz. But at the end of the Sessions when this Bill should have been presented with the others that were expedited unto his Majesty for his approbation and passing it into an Act there was no fight or tydings of it By whose default it was thus smother'd there has been no opportunity since to find out However some of our late Addressers throw the odium of it upon his Majesty telling him That he was unwilling to pass his Royal Assent to any Act which may repeal that of 35 Eliz. Vide Kents Address How these Gentlemen come to understand the King's mind in this case I know not Sure I am it is very unlikely but his Majesty would have passed this Bill recommended with the concurrent advice and consent of both Lords and Commons if it had been tendred to Him seeing he has alwaies profest so great a regard to tender Consciences and himself from his own motion granted them an Indulgence against this and several other Acts of Parliament which every one may remember how difficultly he was prevailed with by the Parliament to retract saying he was resolved to stand by it But these men would have it believ'd that He 's now otherwise inclin'd and besides if their Insinuations of his Majesties command to stifle it were true it were palpable that He had shaken the very Constitution of Parliaments according to which all Bills that have past both Houses ought to be presented to his Majesty But no truly Loyal Subject will believe so gracious a King
observe how ever since they have resented their treatment We shall only observe what thanks the Commons conn'd G. Earl of H. who was believed to have a principal hand in dissolving the last and staving off the sitting of the present Parliament In an Address against him to the King they thus express themselves That being deeply sensible of the manifold dangers and mischiefs which have been occasioned to this Kingdom by the dissolution of the last Parliament and by the frequent Prorogation of this present Parliament whereby the Papists have been greatly encouraged to carry on their Hellish and damnable Conspiracies against His Majesties Royal Person and Government and the Protestant Religion now establish'd amongst us and have had many opportunities to contrive false and malicious Plots against the Lives and Honours of several of His Loyal Protestant Subjects and having just reason to believe that the said dissolution was promoted by the evil and pernicious Counsels of G. Earl of Hallifax Do therefore most humbly pray his Majesty That he would be graciously pleased to remove the said G. Earl of H. from his presence and counsels for ever But notwithstanding this Address he still keeps his station Sir Rob. Yeomans upon confessing the accusation against him and begging pardon of the House is dismist But Sir Rob. Cann reviling his Accusers and especially being a Parliament man for him to be guilty of such an expression was so great an aggravation that being expell'd the House he is committed to the Tower Thompson's punishment was prevented by the dissolution of the Parliament And now the Parliament according to the direction of his Majesty vigorously prosecute the Plot try all the waies and methods whereby his Majesties safety might be ensur'd and Religion secur'd As for themselves they present an Address declaring their resolution to preserve and support the King's Person and Government and the Protestant Religion both at home and abroad for which the King thankt them heartily As to the Plot they appoint a Committee to inspect and to take an Abstract of the Journals of both Houses as to matters relating to it upon the Report whereof they resolve Nemine contradicente That the D. of York 's being a Papist and the hopes of his coming such to the Crown hath given the greatest countenance and encouragement to the present designs and Conspiracies against the King and Protestant Religion And That in the defence of the King's Person and Government and of the Protestant Religion this House doth declare That they will stand by his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes and that if his Majesty shall come by any violent Death which God forbid they will revenge it to the utmost upon the Papists Hereupon they bring in a Bill and pass it for securing the Protestant Religion by disabling James D. of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereto belonging but with a Proviso that it should extend to the person of the Duke of York only But the Lords rejecting this Bill and thereby the most probable Expedient the Commons could think of for the security of his Majesty and the Protestant Religion being frustrated they then in a Committee of the whole House make these two Resolves First That it is the Opinion of this Committee That as long as the Papists have any hopes of the D. of York 's succeeding the King in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging the Kings Person the Protestant Religion and the Lives Liberties and Properties of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects are in apparent danger of being destroyed The Second That it is the Opinion of this Committee That the House be moved nThat a Bill be brought in for an Association of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects for the safety of his Majesties Person the defence of the Protestant Religion and the preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects against all Invasions and Oppositions whatsoever and for the preventing the Duke of York or any Papist from succeeding to the Crown To both which Resolves the House agreed As to this Bill of Association we shall have occasion to speak to it afterwards but as to the Bill of Exclusion we must say something of it here the rather because our late Addresses and Abhorrers have taken occasion thence to revile this incomparably Loyal House of Commons with endeavours of subverting the Government And I shall demonstrate both its Legality its Equity and its Expediency 1. As to its Legality I could never hear more than two things oppos'd the one that Kings holding their Crowns by right of Primogeniture it is against the Law of Nature to put by the next Heir the other that it is against the Oath of Allegeance The first is so silly an Allegation that one would think no man that has heard of the several forms of Government in the World or read the History of his own Nation could have the confidence to insist upon it In how many Kingdoms has force and violence and the longest Sword settled an absolute Monarchy How oft has that yoke been shak'd off and the Government turn'd into a Free State How many different models of both Monarchies and States are there at this day in the World and yet none of them that I know of but are and ought to be own'd by the Subjects for lawful Governments and submitted unto for the Lord's sake If Princes held by this right how impossible were it for them to make out their Title ab origine if questioned Or shall we say that all States live contrary to the Law of Nature because they retain not this form of Government What shall we say of God's giving the Kingdom of Israel to Saul of the Tribe of Benjamin the youngest of Jacob's sons or to David the youngest of his Father's sons and of the Tribe of Judah while none of Reuben's Off-spring ever sate upon the throne Or if God may by prerogative dispense with this Law how came David to put Adonijah by the throne and seat Solomon in it Here in England King William 2. was King William 1. his third son and yet was advanced to the Crown and his eldest Brother Rtobert shamm'd off with a Dukedom King S ephen succeeded H. 1. though that King had a daughter Maud the Empress then living and Stephen had also an elder Brother named Theobald King John was admitted to the Crown though his elder Brother's son was living It were endless to give Instances both out of sacred and prophane History of the like nature Away then with this extravagant fancy and let the Soveraign Powers think their right sufficiently proved by the Law of the Land by their present quiet possession and the Allegeance of their Subjects But now this Oath of Allegeance is pretended not only to oblige those that take it to the present Soveraign and to his lawful Successors after his decease but even in his life-time To this