we seriously did consider the mighty Advantages of an Hereditary Monarchy beyond an Elective we should find it reasonable that though the Laws had not yet the King should endeavour to make ours such much less ought he to alter that most happy Constitution by excluding his Brother For let Men say what they please the same Power that can put by One may All and so change the Best of Government for the Worst or None at all Besides His Majesty cannot but find it his own Interest to stick to the D. when he reflects that there is in all things especially in State-Affairs a Balance necessary by an equal Libration to keep things in a right Order and prevent Confusion and Ruine Where Men are there will be Ambition this creates Parties and Factions these must be kept divided and asunder by their Jars and Disagreement and by so poising them that the less like the smaller Fry of Fishes be not swallowed by the greater the safety of the Prince and State is preserv'd If the Prince be once prevail'd upon to joyn with the One to the suppression of the Other he has resigned his Power and exposed himself to the Mercy of the Conqueror This he likewise does if he gives way to several little Factions to embody into one of greater strength than the rest though assisted with that of his own Particular For here we must suppose three strong Parties one of the Prince and two of the People To keep this Balance in the best posture and to secure the Peace of the Commonwealth by the Kings reigning void of Fear or Jealousie on the score of Factions or his Successor 't is necessary in politie to find or make the next Heir the Object of the Peoples hatred and keep the Factions from combining because however they may chance to be weary of the King either through the inconstancy of their Humours studious of Change and Variety though for the worse or through the ill Conduct of Ministers or the Misfortunes of Publick Affairs when they find a Person whom they hate like to succeed they will be for continuance of the old or else being jealous of one another will not attempt his removal This then being so great an advantage prudent Kings cannot be supposed to neglect it by suffering the immediate Heir to be run down and thereby giving way to the People to dethrone the present Possessor and set up the next in course after To this Wisdom in Henry the Third gain'd by his own and Fathers Misfortunes we owe our present Constitution of Parliament This King perceiving the Lords Power in whom with himself the Supreme Legislative Right then consisted grown formidable the Commons being their Livery-men and Dependents erected these into a Lower House to counterpoise the weight of the other that he joyning with either as Occasion of State required might balance the other and so keep things in an equal and steddy Libration And if his Successors had been as sollicitous to maintain as he was to institute this good Order and Politie the Eternity of this Commonwealth would not at this day have been a Question And as this was our Home-Interest and that of holding the Scales even between France and Spain our Foreign so it plainly appears that not to exclude the Duke is not onely his Majesties particular Interest but also that of the Three Kingdoms Not to insist that the Parliament is not compleatly the Peoples Representative but granting it is they cannot be supposed to enjoy a greater Power than those they represent who because such are the greater and therefore must be concluded explicitly or implicitly to limit the Commissions of these their Trustees and that Consinement Reason will tell us must be within the Bounds of our ancient Rights and Privileges consequently these are not to be invaded without the consent of every individual Person or at least of the major part truly poll'd and computed The present Electors not making a sixth part of the Nation cannot in reason bind the rest contrary to their Interest much less can the Majority of those chosen by them oblige the others to conform to whatever they enact when they find the Statutes more prejudicial than advantageous the End of Government being the Good of the Community i. e. of the major part not of any artificial or fictitious Majority of a Quorum as in the House of Commons of 512 to reckon 40 the greater Number Now if such an Act should be obtain'd the Consequence if the D. survive the King whose Life God long continue must needs be War and Misery Folly and Repentance Our Histories are full of Tragical Events upon such Occasions One of them wrought so great a Depopulation that in sixty miles riding between York and Durham for nine years together there was neither Ground tilled nor House left standing Harold justling young Edgar Atheling out of the Throne produced a Civil War and the Norman Conquest I wish excluding the D. may not enslave us to the French Dominion which may be of greater evil than the cutting of as many of our own Peoples Throats as died in the Yorkist and Lancastrian Quarrel upwards of 200000 of the Commons besides several Kings and Princes and Nobles without number The Duke cannot be supposed to want Sticklers both at home and from abroad few will believe the Act lawful in its own nature nor the King's Consent free or themselves not bound by Oath to his Assistance Scotland and Ireland will rejoyce at another Civil War in England in hopes to free themselves from the Inconveniences of being Provinces Those who have least to lose are the usual Gainers by Rebellion There are sown between these Nations Seeds of Discontent and there will not be wanting those who will improve them I have heard from knowing Persons there are no less than Fifty thousand Irish Soldiers now living that have been trained up in the French and other Forreign Service and I believe there cannot be fewer of the Scottish People These all with many of our own Countreymen will quickly credit the Lawyers that tell us No Act no Crime no Attainder of Treason can bar the next of Blood from being King in the instant of time his Predccessor does not so much die as transmit his Life his Breath or his Soul by a State-Metempsychosis into the Nostrils the Body of his Successor Edward the Fourth Henry the Seventh Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and King James enjoy'd the Crown though all excluded by Acts of Parliament if they ought to have the name that were the Effects of Force Strong hand and an usurping Tyrannick Power These Statutes were by all Judges of England accounted void in themselves and therefore never had the honour of Repeals nor were they brought into Plea by Sir Walter Rawleigh one of the greatest Wits of that Age though he urged a very trivial one The King 's not being Crown'd a Ceremony of Pomp and State not of Use or Necessity as
That the Commons have not brought any one Man into trouble besides Papists but Men of known Loyalty and of the Church of England Addressing by repeated Instances in favour of H. who ought in our opinion to have been executed for Treason if guilty of no other Crime than his saying he could be back'd with Sixty thousand Men to stand by him for printing that Seditious Libel The Appeal How is Popery more dangerous than Presbytery either in Principles or Practice Suppose the first is for the King killing and Deposing Doctrine of which all her Professors are asham'd and therefore disown it as a general Tenet allowing it onely a probable Opinion of some private Divines And where have Princes felt the Effects of it as they have in Germany from the Anabaptists in France from the Hugonots in the Netherlands from the Geuses in Geneva Scotland and England from the Presbyterians For shame let 's give the Devil his due and not make him blacker than he is 'T was the Presbyterians of Scotland that made War against and banish'd their lawful Queen M. and began the Rebellion in 37. against King Charles the First 'T was these in England and not the Papists who fought in his defence that cut off this Princes Head But what if the Papists say An Heretick King may be excommunicate and depos'd and that every one is so that is not of the Church of Rome Does not the Presbyterian say the same in other words And is not the dogmatical Classis or Synod the sole Arbitrator and as Imperious and Infallible as St. Peter's Chair That Dominion is founded in Grace and That an Idolatrous King may be cut off and That a King is but the Peoples Officer or Trustee and if he fails in his Duty of which they alone are to be Judges they may resume their Grant and spurn him beside the Throne Put one anent the other the Hares Head against the Goose Giblets and Dee'l a Barrel better Herring will you find among all The Case is so plain I need not instance Authors especially in a private Epistle But let me see whether Knox or Buchanan's Disciples or any of your English Presbyter Followers can purge themselves and their Writings from these pernicious Principles Did not all the Popish Plotters lately executed not onely aver their own Innocence but deny the King-killing Doctrine Was not the contrary plain here with us in the several Risings of the Whigs And did not the Murderers of the Archbishop of St. Andrews as well as those just now by-past maintain the lawfulness of their Proceedings and chuse to die asserting the King was justly excommunicate and that it was doing God service to kill him rather than take their Pardon and disown those damnable Tenets and Doctrines of Devils What a stir all over your Nation has the Murther of a single Justice of Peace Sir E. B. G. made and even that by the Papists is not so very clear but that some doubt whether they were really the Authors But granting they were those that suffer'd for the Crime denied it with horrid Execrations and Asseverations of their Innocence and yet allowing them guilty that is much very much less than the barbarous Assassination of a Protestant the Metropolitan of Scotland the wicked Instruments of which the Presbyterians were so far from disowing it that they impudently gloried in that inhumane Act as a meritorious piece of Zeal and Devotion And is it not a smaller Guilt or Evil with the Papists to design the killing of a King than with the Presbyterians to have actually murder'd one of the best that ever sway'd a Scepter and with those Antichristian Zealots of this Kingdom of the same Herd to avow they would likewise gladly sacrifice our present Sovereign And yet what Prints or Pulpits have since inveigh'd against such Hellish Proceedings Was not this together with a form'd Rebellion of many thousands in the Field hush'd and pass'd over in very few days without noise wonder or abhorrence the Memory and Reproach of the other being still in the Mouths of all and freshest in theirs who were Partizans or of the same Principles with those of our Villany Away away Man for shame let it not be said that the Presbyterians are not ee'n as black as the Papists Suppress both or neither 'T is best policy to set them anent each other for a Balance If I did not hear from all hands the Insolence of the Presbyterians and with trouble read many of the Printed Votes and the Ballads on the Bishops for voting against the D's Exclusion I should believe that your present Fears and Disorders in England did proceed from apprehensions of Popery but by many Arguments I am convinc'd That the D's private Opinion is but made the Stale to wreak their Malice against the Kingly Government and that Passion more than Reason does influence your Countrymen For I pray consider Is not Faith the Gift of God Can any Man believe what he pleases And who knows whether the D. was ever of the Church of England Did not the late Rebellion force him to fly into a Popish Country in his Youth And is it not next to impossible to remove Prepossessions especially considering the Unity Antiquity and Universality of that Church wherein all the English Orthodox Divines allow Salvation Can any Man change his Complexion alter the figure of his Face the stature of his Body the colour of his Hair or of his Skin Is not the Jaundice a Disease in the Eye that needs the help of Physick And is not Errour or Weakness in the Understanding a Distemper also that requires the Assistance of a Physician And what Remedy can be proper but gentle Arguments and the persuasive Arts of Discourse and sober Reasonings Persecution makes some Men those of great Souls obstinate and others of little Hypocrites But what Law enacts That an Opinion in the disputable Parts of Religion ought to deprive a Man of his Right to Inherit Wou'd any of your Phanaticks I am sure none of our Whigs wou'd hold their tongues if treated so severely Equality of Justice is that alone which upholds a State and makes a Kingdom happy And why must there be all this stir about the D. when 't is more than probable he may not survive his Brother for whose long Life I am persuaded he as well as all honest Subjects does heartily pray But if he should pray why if a Papist must he more than the French King or other Popish Princes destroy his Subjects To do so would be against his Interest if a Turk or an Atheist The Case wou'd not then be what it was in Queen Maries days Those Laws by which Men suffer'd and yet in her Six years there were not Three hundred and few of them too purely for Religion are abrogated the Body of the People were then more Papists than now Protestants and no new Laws can be made without a Parliament out of which as well as out of
appears not onely in that it could be of no use to him but that several Kings have exercised a full Regal Authority enacted Laws c. before their Coronations And since this Inauguration is but a Formality let it be well weigh'd That unless the Monarchy be made purely Elective and that part of the Common Law and the several Statutes that have declared it Hereditary be repealed in express Words and the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy changed and the Successor mentioned by Name the Act against the Duke falls to the ground of it self in the moment in which he happens to out-live the King for thereby becoming our lawful Sovereign none can fight against or oppose his Right to the Crown without Perjury and Rebellion we having sworn to defend against all Pretenders whatsoever Forreign or Domestick the King's Majesty his Heirs and Successors and all Rights Privileges and Preheminences to them belonging and annâ—xed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And is not the Descent of the Crown upon the next of Blood one of these Rights c. acknowledged by the Common Law and in the Statutes 1 M. Eliz. Jac. The Maxim in our Laws The King never dies confirming as much And was not the Duke then at the taking of these Oaths the next Heir And what Power on Earth can absolve from the Obligation of Promissory Oaths without the Parties own Consent to whom the Promise is made Let us not rail against the Pope for deposing Princes and absolving Subjects from their Allegiance and yet allow the Parliament the same Authority The Bill against the Duke is not onely of an extraordinary but of two natures one expresses a present Punishment Exile which as a Subject did the Crime deserve it none will deny may be inflicted the other refers to the future and is at present no Punishment nor can be hereafter for if he out-live his Brother his being King in that moment puts upon him a new Person a Politick Capacity over which not before in being no former Authority could have power nor any after because himself is become Supreme and as such by our own and the Laws of God subject to no Earthly Tribunal Bracton and all our old honest Lawyers tell us with one consent The King can do no wrong i. e. can be accountable to his Subjects for none of his Actions Nemo quidem de factis ejus praesumat disputare multo minus contra factum ejus ire Locus erit supplicationi quod factum suum corrigat emendet quod quidem si non fecerit sufficit ei ad poenam quod dominum Deum expectet ultorem Now he that says The Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy reach no further than to the King in being says not amiss if he takes the King in his Publick Capacity for in that he never dies But if he means no more than the Person of the now reigning Monarch he cancels with his Death the Obligation of those Oaths and makes Rebellion against the Successor no Crime against Conscience though it may be otherwise against Prudence This is to elude the Oath and rob it of the energy designed For 't is plain by the Words Heirs and Successors that the Takers Obligation continues during their own Lives let the Persons of never so many Princes be alter'd and as certain that in an Hereditary Monarchy the Duty is owing to the next of Blood And that a Parliament or any Power may dispence or absolve from the Obligations especially of Promissory Oaths between Party and Party without mutual consent is a Doctrine inconsistent with the nature of Promises where the Promiser gives the other a Right and makes himself his Debtor with the Rules of Christianity of Humane Society and all Governments 'T is no less dangerous to assert That Promissory Oaths or Oaths de futuro are not Obligatory Such a Principle cancels all the Duties and Bonds of Obedience between Prince and Subject of which therefore not onely the Divines and my Lords the Bishops but the State is to be very tender and careful Upon this Foundation 't is evident that if the Duke outlives his Brother and the Monarchy of England as it is be Hereditary and Coronation but Formality we become upon the death of the one the Subjects of the other And though there may be some that will not think of this Truth or notwithstanding will not mind it yet I am assur'd all that are truly Christians and all that are of the Church of England and wise will lay it to heart for Christianity teaches be the Prince of any or no Religion we must be obedient and submit our selves not onely for wrath but also for conscience sake In the late Times of Usurpation they were so sensible of this that they made the People Covenant against the King and renounce their former by after Oaths yet they durst not depend on that Artifice without the assistance of an Army Thus then we see the Duke cannot want a Party in England whose Strength must over-power any other when to it is united that of Scotland and Ireland And here let none be mistaken as if Scotland were govern'd or influenc'd by Presbyterian Domine's the Nobility there do wholly sway and hate refin'd Presbytery and a Plebeian Commonwealth Neither will the Scots be more forward to assist the Duke than the Irish in hopes they may thereby find an opportunity to extirpate the English and regain their ancient Possessions free themselves from any Dependence or at least change their present from that of England to France which on many scores seems to be the true Interest of that Kingdom politickly consider'd either as Popish or Protestant without respect to Religion 'T is a ready In-let to France who will not be wanting to assist the Duke in this Quarrel the onely way he can hope by gaining England on his side to win the Universal Dominion Now to resist the Duke an Army must be maintain'd the General of that Army may turn Papist or Tyrant or both and either way we may be enslav'd by the Duke if he gains the Victory or if he loses it by our own General Thus we may by shunning one Rock split upon another The Romans designing to free themselves from the seeming Tyranny of Julius Caesar who studied by Clemency and Obligations upon every body to secure himself as must needs be his R. H's Interest as it is his Temper and Inclination made way for the real and perpetual one in the Persons of Augustus Tiberius and their Successors And the Graecians repining against their lawful Emperors and deeming their just and wholesom Commands tyrannical and oppressive were so refractory and so obstinate that through spite to their Sovereign they would contribute nothing towards the necessary Defence of the Empire when invaded by the Turk until at last through the just Judgment of the Almighty a fitting Punishment for their Folly they became a Prey to that Tyrant and to this