all Good they are his his Ordinances and Institutions Rom. 13.1 2. III. Plowing and sowing and the whole business of preparing Bread Corn is absoluely necessary to the Subsistence of Mankind This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working Isa 28. from 23d to 29th Verse IV. Wisdom saith Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom I am Vnderstanding I have Strength by me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice By me Prinees rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth Prov. 13.14 V. The Prophet speaking of the Plow-man faith His God doth instruct him to Discretion and doth teach him Isa 28.26 VI. Scripture neither gives nor takes away Mens Civil Rights but Ieaves them as it found them and as our Saviour said of himself is no Divider of Inheritances VII Civil Authority is a Civil Right VIII The Law of England gives the King his Title to the Crown For where is it said in Scripture that such a Person or Family by Name shall enjoy it And the same Law of England which has made him King has made him King according to the English Laws and not otherwise IX The King of England has no more Right to set up a French Government than the French King has to be King of England which none at all X. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars neither makes a Caesar nor tells who Caesar is nor what belongs to him but only requires Men to be just in giving him those supposed Rights which the Laws have determined to be his XI The Scripture supposes Property when it forbids Stealing it supposes Men Lands to be already butted and bounded when it forbids removing the Ancient Land-marks And as it is impossible for any Man to prove what Estate he has by Scripture or to find a Terrier of his Lands there so it is a vain thing to look for Statutes of Prerogative in Scripture XII If Mishpat Hamelech the manner of the King 1 Sam 8.11 be a Statute of Prerogative and prove all those Particulars to be the Right of the King then Mishpat Haccohanim the Priests custom of Sacrilegious Rapine Chap. 2.13 proves that to be the Right of the Priests the same word being used in both places XIII It is the Resolution of all the Judges of England that even the known and undoubted Perogative of the Jewish Kings do not belong to our Kings and that it is an absurd and impudent thing to affirm they do Coke 11. Rep. p. 63. Mich. 5. Jac. Note Give us a King to judg us 1 Sam. 8.5 6 20. upon Sunday the Tenth of November in the same Term the King upon Complaint made to him by Bancroft Arch-bishop of Canterbury concerning Prohibitions was informed That when Question was made of what matters the Ecclesiastical Judges have Cognizance either upon the Exposition of the Statutes concerning Tythes or any other thing Ecclesiastical or upon the Statute 1 Eliz. concerning the High-Commission or in any other case in which there is not express Authority by Law the King himself may decide it in his Royal Person and that the Judges are but the Delegates of the King and that the King may take what Causes he shall please to determine from the Determination of the Judges and may determine them himself And the Arch bishop said That this was clear in Divinity That such Authority belongs to the King by the Word of God in Scripture To which it was answered by me in the presence and with the clear consent of all the Justices of England and Barons of the Exchequer That the King in his own Person cannot adjudg any Case either Criminal as Treason Felony c. but this ought to be determined and adjudged in some Court of Justice according to the Law and Custom of England And always Judgments are given Ideo consideratum est per Curiam so that the Court gives the Judgment And it was greatly marvelled that the Arch-bishop durst inform the King that such Absolute Power and Authority as is aforesaid belonged to the King by the Word of God. CHAP. III. Of OBEDIENCE I. NO Man has any more Civil Authority than what the Law of the Land has vested in him nor is he one of St. Paul's Higher Powers any farther or to any other purposes than the Law has impowered him II. An Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power is so far from being the Ordinance of God that it is not the Ordinance of Man. III. Whoever opposes an Usurped Illegal and Arbitrary Power does not oppose the Ordinance of God but the Violation of that Ordinance IV. The 13th of the Romans commands Subjection to our Temporal Governours because their Office and Imployment is for the Publick Welfare For he is the Minister of God to Thee for good Verse 4. V. The 13th of the Hebrews commands Obedience to Spiritual Rulers because they watch for your Souls Verse 17. VI. But the 13th of the Hebrews did not oblige the Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Mary's Time to obey such blessed Bishops as Bonner and the Beast of Rome who were the perfect Reverse of St. Paul's Spiritual Rulers and whose Practice was murdering of Souls and Bodies according to that true Character of Popery which was given it by the Bishops who compiled the Thanksgiving for the Fifth of November but Arch-Bishop Land was wiser than they and in his time blotted it out The Prayer formerly ran thus To that end strengthen the Hands of our Gracious King the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land to cut off these Workers of Iniquity whose Religion is Rebellion whose Faith is Faction whose Practice is murthering of Souls and Bodies and to root them out of the Confines of this Kingdom VII All the Judges of England are bound by their Oath and by the Duty of their place to disobey all Writs Letters or Commands which are brought to them 18 Edw. III. 20 Edw. III. Cap. 1 2. either under the Little Seal or under the Great Seal to hinder or delay common Right Are the Judges all bound in an Oath and by their Places to break the 13th of the Romans VIII The Engagement of the Lords attending upon the King at York June 13. 1642. which was subscribed by the Lord Keeper and thirty nine Peers besides the Lord Chief Justice Banks and several others of the Privy-Council was in these words We do engage our selves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever not warranted by the known Laws of the Land. Was this likewise an Association against the 13th of the Romans IX A Constable represents the King's Person and in the Execution of his Office is within the purview of the 13th of the Romans as all Men grant but in case he so far pervert his Office as to break the Peace and commit Murther Burglary or Robbery on the High-way he may and ought to be resisted X. The Law of the Land is the best Expositor of the 13th of the
A FIFTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince II. An Answer to a late Pamphlet entitled A Short Scheme of the Vsurpations of the Crown of England c. III. An humble and hearty Address to all English Protestants in the Army Published by Mr. Johnson in the Year 1686. IV. Several Reasons against the Establishment of a standing Army and Dissolving the Militia V. A Discourse of Magistracy of Prerogative by Divine Right of Obedience and of the Laws VI. The Definition of a Tyrant by Abr. Cowley With several Queries thereupon proposed to the Lawyers VII A Letter to the King inducing him to return to the Protestant Religion VIII Ten Seasonable Queries proposed by an English Gentleman at Amsterdam to his Friends in England Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be fold by Rich. Janeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row 1688. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince A Prince putting himself and his Dominions under the Authority of the Pope and admitting as he must unavoidably the Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church all his Protestant Subjects being by the Judgment and Sentence of that Church Hereticks (a) Distinct 19. cap. a Caus 25. q. 1. cap. 11. do forthwith lie under the Penalty which those Laws and Constitutions will have inflicted upon Hereticks Heresie (b) Cap. Vergent de Hotticis being the highest degree of High-Treason called therefore by them Laesae Crimen Majestaetis Divinae So the English Protestant must be a Traytor and the worst of Traytors and exposed to the Penalties of High-Treason The Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church against Hereticks Heresie (c) Cap. Infam 6. q. 1. p. 297. is denounced Infamous and the Heretick must be dealt with as such which is many Penalties in one First Whereby they are deprived of all Nobility Jurisdiction and Dignity and debarred from all Offices and publick Councils Parliaments and others being made uncapable of choosing and being chosen So that it reacheth all sorts (d) Suar. de Fide disp 12. §. 9. r. 5. l. 2. c. 29. of Clergy Laity Noble and Ignoble which is extended to their Children also For they say The Issue of Traytors Civil and Spiritual lose their Nobility And all that owe any Duty to such Infamous Persons are discharged and exempted therefrom as Subjects (e) Cap. de Haer. from their Prince Servants (f) Aaâ—oâ— Tom. 1. l. 8. c. 12. q. 7. from their Masters Children (g) Cap. 2. Sect. fin de Haer. in 6. from their Parents whom they also may lawfully kill Whereby we may see a little to what condition the Admission of the Papal Authority would reduce us expelling both Nature and Humanity and making the dearest Relatives unnatural and barbarous to one another it would leave no Protestant either Dignity or Authority either Safety or Liberty Nobles are sentenced to Peasants and Peasants to Slaves Secondly Another Penalty to which Hereticks are condemned by their Law is Confiscation of Goods and Estate and this they incur ipso jure ipso facto that is immediately as soon as they shew themselves Hereticks before any legal Sentence have passed For which there is an express Decree in the Canon-Law (h) Cap. cum secundum Legis de Haer. Inno III. cap. de Vergentis Bona Haereticorum ipso jure discernemus consiscata We decree the Goods of Hereticks to be consiscate by Sentence of Law. The Effects of this Confiscation wherein they all agree makes the Severity of the Law apparent viz. First All the Prosits made of the Estate from the first day of their Guilt is to be (i) Vasq in Suar. disp 22. S. 4. n. 11. refunded Secondly All Alienations (k) S. 1. n. 5. by Gist Sale or otherwise before Sentence are null and void and all Contracts for that purpose (l) Cap. Vergent de Haer. rescinded Thirdly Children Heirs of Hereticks are deprived of their Portions yea tho they be Papists Whereby it appears that as soon as the Papacy is admitted all Title and Property is lost and extinct among us And therefore we must not think that Pope acted extravagantly who declared That all his Majesty's Territories were his own as forfeited to the Holy See for the Heresie of Prince and People Not only Abby-Lands are in danger who ever possess them but all Estates are forfeited to his Exchequer and legally confiscated All is his own which Protestants in these three Nations have or ever had if he can but meet with a Prince so wise as to help him to catch it whose process follows them beyond their Grave and ruins their Children and Children's Children after them And when they have strip'd the Heretick of his All they provide that no other shall relieve him viz. That none shall receive him into their Houses nor afford him any Help nor shew him any Favour nor give him any Counsel We are here in England zealous for Property and all the reason in the World we should so be But we must bid adieu to this when we once come under the Pope's Authority for as soon as this is admitted all the Protestants in these Nations are Beggars by Lrw viz. by the Laws of that Church which will then be Ours divesting us of all Property and Title to whatever we account our own Thirdly Another Penalty which their Law inflicts on Hereticks is Death (m) Cap. ad abolendum de Haer. Suar. Dis 23. Bul. Vrb 4. Inno. 4. which is the Sentence of the Canon-Law and which is so absolute that no Secular Judg can remit and which is the Judgment of all the Doctors Ita docent omnes Doctores And from which Penalty neither Emperors nor Kings themselves are to be freed or exempt And the Death they inflict is burning alive No Death more tolerable or of less exquisite Torture will satisfy the Mercy of that Church The Canon saith thus Decernimus ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburantur We decree that they shall be burnt alive in the sight of the World. So our last Popish Successor Queen Mary practised upon near three hundred Persons without regard either to Age Sex or Quality the Scripture they urge for it is John 15.6 (n) Jac. de Gra. decis l. 2. c. 9. n. 2. If any one abide not in me men gather them and cast them into the Fire and they are burnt So that as soon as the Papal Authority is admitted among us all the Protestants in these Nations are dead Men in Law being under a Law that hath sentenced us to be burnt alive and under a Power that hath declared it necessary that no one of us escape with Life Fourthly Where legal Penalties cannot take place by reason of opposite Strength they hold War necessary and lawful to chastise
She intruded Popish Bishops into the Sees thus declared vacant the small remainder of the Protestant Bishops who had been called to Parliament by Writ were nevertheless violently thrust out of the Parliament-House for refusing to worship the Mass The Members of the House of Commons in her First Parliament were chosen by force and threats the Freeholders were hindred by violonce from exercising their Right of chusing Representatives false Returns were made and those who were for the Reformed Religion tho' duly elected were by force expelled the House So that we cannot wonder at the Statues made in this pretended Free Parliament which was in every Thing influenced by the Court-Party Shortly after her Marriage with the haughty jealous Spaniard of which She her self felt the ill Consequences was justly disliked by the Nobility and Commonalty Her base Design of setting up a Supposititious Child for Heir to the Crown was not only happily defeated but deservedly exposed to the Censure of the Nation Her Design to erect the Spanish Inquisition in England was disappointed Calais after having belonged to the Crown of England about two hundred and eleven Years and which was gained with great difficulty after eleven Months Siege was in the depth of Winter lost in a Weeks time And quickly after all the English Territories were with small difficulty recovered by the French. We must not forget how exactly She put in practice the base treacherous and destructive Principles of the pretended Catholick Religion in these remarkable Particulars She barbarously used her only Sister the Lady Elizabeth and designed to have taken away her Life for no other Cause but her firm adherence to the Protestant Religion She imprisoned and burnt Arch-Bishop Cranmer who had formerly sheltered her from her Father's Fury She deprived and imprisoned Judg Hales who alone resolutely opposed King Edward the Sixth's Will and preferred Judg Bromley to be Lord Chief Justice though he had without any reluctancy prepared the Letters-Patents for her Exclusion The Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk who were the first that took up Arms for her upon her Promise to permit them the Exercise of their Religion were the first that suffered Persecution under her And after she had put to death near three hundred Persons without respect to Quality Age or Sex it pleased God to put an end to the Romish Cruelty and Idolatry by her unexpected and unlamented Death Nor is her Memory preserved from Oblivion by any thing but her repeated Acts of Cruelty and Injustice This was the Success that attended her this the Happiness the Liberty the Religion establish'd in the English Nation during her five Years Tyranny That I may not detain the Reader any longer I will conclude this Advice to our Learned Pamphleteer That for the suture he do not so positively ascribe all unhappy Accidents as frequent Wars and Rebellions the Effusion of English Blood the unfortunate End of some of our Princes to the Divine Vengeance upon them for the Usurpations he accuses them of smce if he will consult our Historians he may find that Edward II. Richard II. and the Incomparable Prince King Charles I. though their Title from William the Conqueror is indisputable were far unhappier than any of the Usurpers he mentions That in Edward the Fourth's and Henry the Eighth's Reign a great deal of English Blood was shed both at Home and Abroad though their Right was unquestionable and universally acknowledged And that as to the promiscuous good or ill Success of all Affairs in this lower World the observation of the Wisest of Princes and of Men is very often exactly verified There is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked To the Prince who ascends the Throne by an unquestionable Right and to him that ascends it by Violence and Usurpation To the Prince that religiously performs the Solemn Oath taken at his Coronation and to him that wilfully breaks through all the Obligations he is under and endeavours by the most base Methods to dissolve the Establish'd Government The following Paper was published by Mr. Samuel Johnson in the Year 1686. for which he was sentenc'd by the Court of Kings-Bench Sir Edward Herbert being Lord Chief Justice to stand three times on the Pillory and to be whipp'd from Newgate to Tyburn Which barbarous Sentence was executed An Humble and Hearty Address to all the English Protestants in this present Army GENTLEMEN NEXT to the Duty which we owe to God which ought to be the principal Care of Men of your Profession especially because you carry your Lives in your Hands and often look Death in the Face The second Thing that deserves your Consideration is The Service of your Native Country wherein you drew your first Breath and breathed a free English Air. Now I would desire you to consider how well you comply with these two main Points by engaging in this prsent Service Is it in the Name of God and for his Service that you have joined your selves with Papists who will indeed fight for the Mass-Book but burn the Bible and who seek to Extirpate the Protestant Religion with Your Swords because they cannot do it with their Own And will you be Aiding and Assisting to set up Mass-Houses to erect that Popish Kingdom of Darkness and Desolation amongst as and to train up all our Children in Popery How can you do these Things and yet call your selves Protestants And then what Service can be done your Country by being under the Command of French and Irish Papists and by bringing the Nation under a Foreign Yoke Will you help them to make forcible Entry into the Houses of your Country-men under the Name of Quartering directly contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right Will you be Aiding and Assisting to all the Murders and Outrages which they shall commit by their void Commissions Which were declared Illegal and sufficiently blasted by both Houses of Parliament if there had been any need of it for it was very well known before That a Papist cannot have a Commission but by the Law is utterly Disabled and Disarmed Will you exchange your Birth-right of English Laws and Liberties for Martial or Club-Law and help to destroy all others only to be eaten last your selves If I know you well as you are English Men you hate and scorn these Things And therefore be not unequally yoaked with Idolatrous and Bloody Papists Be Valiunt for the Truth and shew your selves Men. The same Considerations are likewise humbly offered to all the English Seamen who have been the Bulwark of this Nation against Popery and Slavery ever since Eighty Eight Several Reasons for the Establishment of a Standing Army and Dissolving the Militia 1. BEcause the Lords Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants and the whole Militia that is to say the Lords Gentlemen and Free-holders of England are not fit to be trusted with their own Laws Lives Liberties and Estates and therefore ought to have Guardians and Keepers assigned to them 2.