bring back James the Second which is by the Law of the Land made Treason against the present King and Queen and if the Historian think himself so bound I suppose he is as faulty in not endeavouring the Restoration of the one as he hath been too Industrious to exclude the other besides those Oaths bound us not only to the defence of the King as if the Government were excluded but expresly to withstand all such as should offer any violence to any of His Majesty's Subjects much more to the whole frame of our Government which too many without any Lawful Commission did with great violence and injustice and we were sworn to defend to our power all Jurisdictions Priviledges c. granted or belonging to the King's Highness not such as were neither granted or belonging as the Claim and Exercise of an Arbitrary Power and dispensing with Fundamental Laws and altering the established Religion as many other actions of the late King were and lastly I suppose that by the plain letter of the Oath of Allegiance which says That neither the Pope of himself nor by any other means with any other hath power to annoy the King's Countries License any to bear Arms raise Tumults or offer any violence or hurt to His Majesty's State or Government or any of his Subjects All which things the Pope by any means or in conjunction with any other the King himself not being excepted hath no power to do by this Oath but having so done the Oath binds the Subjects rather to resist than to assist and doth certainly permit the Subjects if not oblige them to defend themselves against all Opposers In a promissory Oath the matter whereof doth respect things future that matter is subject to change and uncertainty and so is the Obligation also which ceaseth with the matter for then it may not be in the power of the person to perform what he swore to and really intended rebus sic stantibus and no Man is bound to do an impossible thing nor is any Oath so absolute when it is made that it may not admit of some tacite Conditions So Bishop Sanderson in his Praelect 7. § 7. There is Solutio vinculi per cessationem materiae aut mutationem aliquam notabilem factam circa causam Juramenti principalem When the state of things is so changed from the time of swearing to that of fulfilling that if at the time of taking the Oath that change which afterward followed had been fore-seen the person would not have taken such an Oath Thus when Solomon promised Bathsheba to grant her Request and she desired that Adonijah might Marry Abishag one of King David's Concubines which was a kind of Treason for any one to attempt except the Successor Solomon notwithstanding his Solemn Promise instead of performing it swore that Adonijah should dye yet Solomon brake not his Promise because there was a tacite Condition that Adonijah should ask nothing that was unlawful Thus in the Oaths above mentioned we swore to defend the King's Person and the Privilidges and Prerogatives granted and belonging to the Crown this tacite Exception is plainly to be understood that if the King should attempt to subject his Kingdom to a Foreign Power and leaving us in Confusion should put himself under the Power of the French King which is diminutio Capitis a kind of Civil Death and by his Arms seek to destroy the Community and Government which by those very Oaths we were bound to defend the Obligation of those Oaths doth cease upon his attempting such things which if they had been fore-seen and expressed in those Oaths the Subjects would never have taken them Now although some Divines in their occasional Discourses of Government particularly of this of England seem to make it Absolute and indefesable and inseparable from the person of the Prince yet when they come to consider particular cases which they could not foresee or for the odiousness of them and the almost impossibility of happening they omitted the same Divines do agree to the Heads above-mentioned and make Exceptions to their own General Rules as will appear in what followeth hereafter In the mean time I doubt not but the Reader hath observed that as well Divines when they Treat of Law-matters and Moot-cases as Lawyers when they handle Points and Controversies in Divinity are guilty of many Blunders as particularly the Authors of the Erudition who affirm that the Proclamations of the King are as binding as a Law and Bishop Bancroft who told King James in the presence of Cook and other Lawyers That the King might call and Judge any Cause personally in his Chamber But of this we need no other instance than the present Historian who after so great a Deliverance as he must confess the Nation hath had and of which such ungrateful Murmurers as the Historian are unworthy to partake After that the Great Assembly of the Nation have declared their Judgments by their Oaths and many thousands of the Clergy joyned with them presumes after an Histrionical manner to bring them on the Stage and represent them as Rebels Traytors and perjured Persons not without Reflections on their present Majesties as Usurpers to say no worse is a most uncharitable if not an unrighteous deed seeing he stands in a manner Solus contra omnes Had he differed through a doubting Conscience he should have by the Apostle's Rule Rom. 14.22 kept his perswasion to himself and with all Humility and Modesty sought satisfaction and not have published his Opinion against the more mature Judgment not only of our own Nation but of all Christian Princes who do approve of our present Settlement And if my Account fail me not there is not one of an hundred that consent with him and before the Six Months be expired there may not be more then one of that hundred that will stand off and then our Historian may stand alone as Tom of Ten Thousands The PREFACE Considered THE first Paragraph of the Epistle which shews that the Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience are founded in Scripture c. is admitted as Orthodox and the Doctrine of the Church of England but being delivered in general Rules they admit of some Exceptions and carry with them certain tacite Conditions and Qualifications which in case of great alterations would appear to be necessary and justifiable And I suppose that if such a case as ours now is had been thought of or proposed that Declaration viz. That it is not lawful on any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms c. would certainly be excepted or provided against as in the Case of Edward the Fifth when Richard Duke of Gloucester seized on his Person raised War and granting Commissions in the King's Name it might have been lawful for the then Queen Elizabeth having the Broad Seal brought to her by the Archbishop of York to raise an Army to rescue the King from the Usurper's Power notwithstanding he had raised an Army
THE HISTORIAN VNMASK'D OR SOME REFLECTIONS On the Late HISTORY OF Passive-Obedience THE HISTORIAN VNMASK'D OR SOME REFLECTIONS On the late HISTORY OF Passive-Obedience WHEREIN The DOCTRINE of Passive-Obedience and Non-Resistance Is truly Stated and Asserted By one of those DIVINES whom the Historian hath Reflected upon in that Book And late Author of the Resolution of several Queries concerning Submission to the present Government As also of an Answer to all the Popular Objections against the taking the Oath of Allegiance to their present Majesties Licensed and Entred according to Order LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin in the Old-Bailey 1689. SOME REFLECTIONS On the late HISTORY OF Passive-Obedience TWO great Advantages the Established Church of England hath gain'd by those severe Tryals which in the late King's Reign it was severely exercised with The first is that she hath delivered her self from the Imputation and Jealousie of being too much affected to Popery of which she manifested so great an Abhorrence even when Popery was in its Ascendant and made too near an approach to the Throne And the Controversie was managed with so much Learning and Success that she hath acquired deservedly the Title of More than Conqueror The next is the Calumny of her being of a Persecuting Spirit which not only her readiness and bounty for the Relief of such Protestants as were under Persecution though in many things they differed from her perswasions but her exposing her self to suffer for the Protestant Religion all those Afflictions which were actually executed on some and intended against all the Members of that Church hath well-nigh silenced And lest she should fall under that Woe which our Saviour hath denounced against those of whom all Men shall speak well Luke 6.26 A late Historian hath represented the greatest part of that Church as a Generation of Men that have renounced their first Principles of Loyalty and acted contrary to their Solemn Oaths and Declarations Whether the Author be a Papist or some such Journy-man of theirs I shall not enquire but that he hath done a very acceptable work to them is very manifest for if all those Persons which he names and consequently all others that have taken the Oath of Allegiance to our present Soveraigns be Apostates from their Loyal Principles and Publick Declarations and Oaths we can never upbraid the Papists with their Equivocations Dispensations of Oaths and Plots and Conspiracies against our Princes Now though I doubt not among so many learned Men of more Abilities and Advantages than my self who are concern'd in these Reflections of the Historian will vindicate themselves and their Brethren yet I think my self particularly obliged having already asserted that to be our Duty which he imputes as our Crime to wipe off that filth which he hath endeavoured to fasten on us It was an excellent Defence which the Noble Earl of Ossory made in the House of Lords for his Renowned Father the Duke of Ormond against the unworthy Reflections of the E. of S. First saith that Noble Earl I will tell you what my Father hath done He hath faithfully served the Crownwith his Life and Fortunes in all Conditions as well Adverse as Prosperous He acted for him at home and suffered with him abroad he endured the loss and sequestration of his Estate for many years without any reparation by beneficial Offices And now I will tell what my Father hath not done My Father did not advise the shutting up of the Exchequer he did not contrive the breaking of the Triple League nor did my Father encourage the seizing of the Smirna Fleeâ— he never hâ—â—e Arms against his Soveraign or was found in any Plot or Conspiracy against the Crown The like Defence I shall make against the virulent Accusations of the Historian and shall first instance in what they have done They have Preached up Loyalty on all occasions against the Principles and Practices of Papists and Fanaticks they have suffered Sequestrations and Imprisonment for their Loyalty in the days of Charles the First they have defeated the Plots and Attempts of all dis-affected Persons in the Reigns of Charles and James the Second They have stoutly withstood the united strength of Papists and Sectaries which conspired their Ruine They suffered under the late King for refusing to Obey him in things unlawful and never failed to Obey him according to the Laws they prayed for him and in humble manner Petitioned him and gave him such wholsome Counsel as might make him Happy both here and hereafter And now let me tell you what they have not done They have not Preached up an Arbitrary and Absolute Power in their Prince to dispence with the Laws established They have not encouraged a standing Army nor Addressed their Thanks for a Toleration and Indulgence of Papists and Sectaries They have not promised Obedience without a Reserve they have not taken Arms under him to fight for Popery and Slavery nor yet to resist him or expose him to his Enemies Yet these are the things which the Historian expects we should have done and submitted our Religion Laws and Liberties yea our very Lives to those who were prepared to devour them all All this the Historian expected as the necessary Consequences of our Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience though neither Parker nor Cartwright would ever have inferred such a conclusion from those premises nor were ever intended by those Doctrines as by the mature determinations of some of those Reverend Divines which he hath quoted will hereafter appear If therefore our not doing those things above-mentioned be the Crimes which are laid to our charge we shall plead Guilty and use the like Defence for our selves as St. Paul did Act. 23.6 when he was smitten contrary to Law Men and brethren concerning the resurrection of the dead are we called in question For our Deliverance from so great a Death as was prepared for us was a Miracle next to the Resurrection of the Dead and was not done but by God's own power And the wonderful Providence of God in contriving our Deliverance so as at the same time to fall into no sin and to be delivered from all danger Is the Lord's doing and marvellous in our eyes It was a great straight that David was in when being persecuted by Saul he fled to Achish and being kindly entertained by him and made Captain of his Guards he offered to fight for him against Saul whereby he was engaged either to fight against Saul or to betray Achish his Benefactor But by the Providence of God the Lords of the Philistines having conceived a jealousie that David would betray them prevailed with Achish to dismiss him and so he retired to his own City Ziglag 〈◊〉 and secured it against his Enemies Much like this was the Case to which the Clergy of England were reduced They were terrified and oppressed by their Prince the present King undertakes their Protection and Deliverance they being no Men
doubt but it was the intention of the Legislators to exclude them out of those Laws which were made with respect to a more particular occasion as the 〈◊〉 face to those Laws plainly sheweth It is notoriously known how hardly the Church was beset by two busie and powerful Factions when those Laws were enacted who though they agree in Principles tending to Rebellion yet that they might undermine the Church they found Patrons and an Interest in Court and Council in the Reign of Charles and James the Second and how opposite soever the Factions were to each other they were still ready to unite against the Church as their Common Enemy in which case it was requisite that the Members of the Church should use all honest means to retain their Superiours in a good Opinion of their undoubted Principles of Loyalty and to press the same Duty on such as were suspected to be of a contrary Mind against whom the Parliament especially intended those Tests and Declarations for who can suppose them such Mad-men as to make a Law upon a particular emergent Occasion as should cassate and destroy all other Laws for the preservation of their Religion Lives and Liberties and to establish Tyranny Popery and Idolatry by Law if the King will have it so for which end he may by the killing letter of that Law when ever he pleaseth bring in what Foreign Forces he pleaseth to eat us up and no Resistance must be made if this Law be strictly understood without any Reserve or Consideration of the Occasion of making the Law and the intention of the Law-givers which undoubtedly was their own and the preservation of the Nation And wise Men think that if there should be such a pack of Law-makers as to serve a turn of their own should have no regard to the over-turning and perverting as well of the Duties we owe to God our Neighbours and our selves as the Ancient Fundamental Laws of the Land that they are utterly void and we should sin more in swearing to keep such Laws than in not observing them The Historian reflects so severely on some Divines as if he came with a Commission from James the Second to execute on them the consequences of the Doctrines of Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience they are Arraigned and Condemned as Apostates Traytors and perjured Persons and when time serves they shall not want an Executioner In the mean time he directs a fatal blow at one single and obscure Person but through him wounds all the rest who though they be many Heads yet all standing on the same Neck and our Historian thinks he hath got the Advantage which Nero wished for however he thinks he deals friendly with him if as Butchers are wont to use their Swine who scrape them a little before they cut their Throats Mr. Long says he is so well known for his Zeal in this good Cause viz. of Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience to all that have seen his Answer to Mr. Johnson and Hunt His no Protestant but Dissenters Plot and other such Treatises that it is wondred that of late he should own himself the Author of the Solution of the Popular Objections c. Answ They who have known Mr. Long ever since the War began against Charles the First know that he hath inviolably practised those Doctrines himself to which in those Writings he perswaded others and shrunk not from them after the Prince of Orange came to Exeter as the present Bishop of Salisbury and several Members of the Church of Exon can attest and continued to Pray for the late King until he received Order for the contrary though he were publickly disturbed for so doing but when he considered that the late King had deserted the Government and left us in Confusion that the States of the Kingdom had admitted their present Majesties to the Throne even then though our Governours were changed he changed not his Opinion of the Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience but thought that it ought to be transferred from the Person of the late King to the present King and Queen so that it is no wonder that he owns himself the Author of the Solution of Popular Objections wherein if any thing be urged by him that seems to comply with the Opinion of Mr. Johnson c. it was an Argument ad hominem and in such a case as happened after Mr. Johnson had written and was scarce thought possible to happen and we hope never will more And though he needed not that Apology of St. Austine's making retractations and to confess Errare possum Hereticus esse nolo yet he thinks it much better to do so than with Bellarmine to make such Recognitions as should declare his Obstinacy in a dangerous Error as the Historian doth And as to the particular Quotations from a Sermon of that Authors the Reader may observe that they were aimed at the Popish and Fanatical Doctrines of Resisting and Deposing Lawful Princes for the good of the Kirk and Mother-Church and do not touch a hair of them that did neither Resist nor Depose nor are any way guilty unless their not sighting with Popish and Irish unqualified Miscreants for the utter Destruction of our Church and Religion and the establishing of Popery and Slavery be a Crime of that Magnitude as to be accounted Perjury and Treason which seeing the late King's Souldiers very honourably and worthily refused it could not be expected from those who were to sight under another Banner What remains then but that we study to be quiet and to do our own business not provoking not envying or slandring one another but leaving the Government of the Nation to God and our Superiours make it our business to govern our selves according to the Laws of God and the Land and to follow the things that make for Peace and whereby we may edisie one another and not publish Histories with a design to foment Divisions to alienate the Affections of the People from their present Governours and to run us again into Confusion And although the Author of the History do conceive that either we have been too sinful in not assisting the late King though it were out of our Power or not Passive enough in our Obedience to him yet I shall still think it my Duty to Pray that neither he nor we may sin in resisting Lawful Authority nor suffer under an Unlawful and Arbitrary Power Lead us not into temptation And I hope that all good Protestants will joyn with me not only in this Prayer but in that Thanksgiving of the Royal Prophet Psal 66.8 9 c. O bless our God ye People and make the voice of his praise to be heard which holdeth our Soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved for thou O God hast proved us thou hast tryed us as Silver is tryed Thou broughtest us into the Net thou layedst Affliction on our Loyns thou causedst Men to ride over our heads we went through fire and water and thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place I will go into thy House with burnt-offerings I will pay thee my Vows FINIS ADVERTISEMENTS A Resolution of Certain Queries concerning Submission to the Present Government The QUERIES I. Concerning the Original of Government II. What is the Constitution of the Government of England III. What Obligation lies on the King by the Coronation-Oath IV. What Obligation lies on the Subject by the Oaths of Supremacy c. V. Whether if the King Violate his Oath and actually Destroys the Ends of it the Subjects are freed from their Obligation to him VI. Whether the King hath Renounced or Deserted the Government VII Whether on such Desertion the People to preserve themselves from Confusion may admit another and what Method is to be used in such Admission VIII Whether the Settlement now made is a Lawful Establishment and such as with a good Conscience may be Submitted to By a Divine of the Church of England as by Law Establish'd