to their Power and beyond it have endeavoured to depose any Prince whom they judge Heretical the not owning of the Pope's Supremacy is thought a sufficient cause for excommunicating first and then deposing such a Prince and incouraging the People to withdraw their Allegiance and take Arms against them witness the Bull of Pope Pius against Queen Eliz. and the approbation of that hellish Powder Plot against King James for the contrivance whereof Garnet was numbred among their Saints at Rome and the deposing of Kings and Emperors of the Romish Communion hath been often practised by the Pope in Germany France and other Countries on frivolous pretences as the History of former and later times doth abundantly manifest And our own Chronicles shew what was practised by the English Nation when it was wholly at the devotion of the Pope in deposing one King and choosing another And God forbid that any Protestant Nation should be guilty of such Principles or Practices as have been received and allowed of by the Romanists Our case is vastly different as is evident by the Declaration of the Lords and Commons the many Grievances therein mentioned and the occasion of a just War given to the present King reduced the late King who had wholly destroyed the Foundation and Species of the Government to desert the Nation and to fly to France for refuge leaving his People in Confusion and made it necessary for them to do what they have done to prevent their utter destruction by those Flames which he having kindled fled from them for his own security Nor can any Protestant Nation be scandalized at our Transactions they having done the same thing on a like occasion Thus the Swedes excluded Sigismond the Third and his Heirs for altering the established Religion by introducing Popery and sending his Son to be educated a Papist for violating his Oath altering the Laws raising Souldiers and exacting Money contrary to Law causing a Nobleman to be assassinated for diswading him from his illegal Practices punishing such as would not receive the Romish Religion and deserting his Country without consent of his People for which causes he was adjudged to have Abdicated his Kingdom and the Nation chose Charles Duke of Sudermannia to succeed him Christiern the Second King of Denmark was so dealt with by his People and what the Hollanders did against the King of Spain and the Scot against Queen Mary is generally known and neither of these can be scandalized at us who have acted more innocently than the best of them Object From the Act of 13 of Q. Eliz. which makes it high Treason during her Reign and forfeiture of Goods ever after in any wise to hold or affirm that an Act of Parliament is not of sufficient Force and Validity to limit and bind the Crown of this Realm and the descent limitation and inheritance thereof It is objected that this Act concerns not the present case seeing what is to be done for the descent and limitation of the Crown is to be done by an Act of Parliament but a Convention is no Parliament and that Act was made only to serve the present Interest of the Queen against the Claims of the Queen of Scots Answ That in the circumstances wherein we were left there was this Remedy left us and no other the late King having immediately before his departure destroyed the Writs for calling a Parliament though he had prepared the Elections for such a one as might serve his purpose And an extraordinary Distemper requires unusual Applications yet this was the most usual and proper means for what could heal our Distractions but an unanimous agreement of the People in choosing a Convention when a Parliament could not be had And who were more able or likely to consult for the common welfare than the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representatives of the People duly Elected with whom the King having left them in Person left his Authority with them and they became as August an Assembly as ever any Senate of the Ancient Romans when the Empire became void who had the Power to create an Emperor which also had been often practised by the Ancient Britains Nor was it fit that the Nation should continue without a King least every Man should have done what seemed good in his own Eyes as when there was no King in Israel And though a Convention have not the formality of a Parliament yet that being not to be had it hath a greater Power than a Parliament because they act not as Subjects but a free People who may choose their King and make such Laws for Government as shall not be in the Power of the King and Parliament to dissolve without the Dissolution of the Government itself as when the Foundations are destroyed the Fabrick must fall nor was there any one to invalidate the Acts of a free Convention as the King in Parliament might do by his Negative Voice 2. And whereas it is objected that the Act of 13 Eliz. respected only the Title of that Queen and was made to serve the present turn this is contrary to the express Letter of the Act which provides that ever after it should be punishable with forfeiture of Goods in any wise to hold or affirm that an Act of Parliament was not of sufficient force c. So that this Act still continues in force as the reason of it doth viz. to prevent the dangerous disputes concerning the Succession Object But the Convention ought to have set the Crown on the right Heir as the most likely means to prevent all Disputes Answ Quod fieri non debuit factum valet That which ought not to be done in more peaceable times may be warrantably done in case of imminent danger and Necessitas cogit defendit The Affairs of the Nation were involved in so many Intricacies by reason of a Confederacy of the Popish Princes against the Protestants throughout all Europe and the delivering up of Ireland into the Possession of the Papists who also had the Command of the strength of England by Sea and Land that the Courage and Conduct of a Woman though never so well qualified could not be thought competent to wrestle with so many and great difficulties and who more fit to unite so Noble but distorted a Member as the Kingdom of England to the Body of the Protestants than he who by mutual Consent of the Princes of that perswasion was chosen to be their Head who also being of the Bloud Royal and having married the right Heir was by her consent and by the consent of the Princess Anne as well as by the unanimous consent of the Nation chosen to stand as a Skreen between them and the Fury of the French King to defend their Title to the Crown which he had so successfully recovered from a lost condition Or who so fit to wear the Crown as he that won it for himself and the Right Heirs when otherwise they might have
Riot hath power to suppress the Riotous persons so hath every private person against such persons as assault him contrary to the Law and a fortiori much more a Community of Lords and Commons against an Army not qualified according to Law. Mr. Sheringham who most rationally defended the Power of our Kings doth grant That those Laws which are made for the benefit of the Prince and People are fundamental and cannot be altered without the Ruin of the whole Building if therefore any Law or Declaration in favour of the Prince against the People or of the People against the Prince shall be made it destroys the fundamental Laws and is invalid Among the Laws of King Edward c. 17. De Regis Officio The Liberties of the People being mentioned it is said That the King is constituted for the preservation of them which if he do not neo nomen Regis in eo constabit he shall not retain the Name of a King And Bracton says l. 2. c. 24. Est enim Corona Regis facere Justitiam Judicium pacem tenere sine quibus consistere non potest nec tenere i. e. The Crown of the King is to do Justice and Judgment to preserve Peace without which he cannot subsist and to this purpose is that which Matthew Paris mentioneth fol. 563. of the London Edition Comites Cestriae Gladium Sancti Edwardi qui Curtain dicitur ante regem bauclantes in signum quod Comes Palatinus regem si oberret habet de jure potestatem coercendi That the Earls of Chester carried a Sword which was called Curtain before the King to signifie that when the King did err that Earl had a Power to restrain him and that Parliament that deposed Richard the 2d did refer to a known Statute which they told him was not long since put in practice whereby it was provided That if the King through a foolish Obstinacy and contempt of his People or any other irregular way should alienate himself from his People and would not govern by the Laws of his Kingdom made by the Lords of the Kingdom but should exercise his own Will from thenceforth it was lawful for them with the consent of the People to depose him from the Crown Which Law was not denied nor indeed is it extant totidem verbis though it be implied in the Charter of King John where Liberty was granted the Lords and Commons in such cases to seize his Dominions and only to take care of the Persons of the King and Queen in a private Capacity And by the 24th Article against that King it was alledged That he had caused the Records and Rolls concerning the State of the Government to be erazed and embezelled to the great detriment of the People and disherison of the Crown And the Author of the Mirror p. 8. speaking of the rise of our Monarchy says That when 40 Princes chose one King to Reign over them to govern the People of God and to maintain the Christian Faith and defend their Goods and Persons in quiet by the rules of Right and to be obedient to the rules of Right if he did not so he should loose the Name of a King. These things are sufficient to prove an Original Contract so fundamental that no future Statute can abrogate it For the Common-wealth is still in the condition of a Minor that cannot be forced to stand to Laws made against its own benefit And Constantinus Leo in the Bizantine History says That the end of a King is the general good which if he perform not be is but the counterfeit of a King And Theodosius Junior in the Institute l. 1. Titul 24. says The Prince is bound to the Laws on which his Authority depends and to the Laws he ought to submit And submitted they have not only since the Norman Kings came to the Crown but long before as hath been shewn which Oaths do as much bind the Consciences of the Kings as of the People and so it hath and must be acknowledged notwithstanding any Dispensation of the Pope to the contrary it was a good King that said He shall not ascend to God's Holy Hill that keepeth not his Oath and Promises For by an Oath Gods Honour is given as an Hostage for the performance and though a King were surprised in giving such an Oath as Joshua was by the Gibeonites yet is he bound to the performance and so it seems are his Successors for when Saul acted contrary to the Oath of Joshua God avenged it on him 2 Sam. 21 12. Old Fleta speaking of the King's Oath says Ipse ad hoc specialiter ex virtute Sacramenti obligatur ideo Corona insignitur ut per judicia populum sibi commissum regat Tho. Walsingham's Hist Angl. p. 193. relates the Coronation of Richard the 2d that the Archbishop with the Marshal of England going before him declares to the People from one part of the Scaffolds to another that the King had taken the Oath and asks them if they would consent to have him their King and Liege-Lord to which they Answer they would the breaking this Oath was one great Article against him And 15 of Edw. 3d Stat. 1. We considering how by a Bond of our Oath we be bound to the observance and defence of the Laws and Customs of the Realm and in the 20th of Edw. 3d 't is expressed more largely We perceiving that the Law of the Land which we by our Oath be bound to maintain is the less well kept and the Execution of the same disturbed we greatly moved in Conscience in this matter desiring as much for the Pleasure of God and Ease of our Subjects as to save our Conscience and to keep our said Oath the like is in the Statute of Provisors so in 3. Rich. 2. The King says he was bound by Oath to pass a new Bill brought to him against Extortion 6. Hen. 6. c. 5. By reason of our Regality we be bounden to the safeguard of our Kingdom So that how light soever the late King esteemed his Coronation Oath these ancient Kings in those dark times of Popery thought themselves strictly bound to the performance of them and the Nobles did retain so much Power in their hands as to enforce their Kings to the observation of them King James told his Parliament March 21. 1609. That the King is bound by a double Oath to preserve the Laws tacitly as being King and so bound to protect his People and the Laws and expresly by his Coronation Oath So as every just King is bound to observe that Paction made with his People by his Laws framing the Government thereunto and a King leaves to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant as soon as he leaves off to govern by Law in which case the King's Conscience may speak to him as the poor Woman to Philip of Macedon either govern according to Law or cease to be King. And elsewhere he said If he should not keep
it was in his power and was perswaded by his Men to have taken it away to whom he thus answers 1 Sam. 26.10 The Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battle and perish i.e. he will assault me and may perish in that attempt which he wilfully attempting may be slain and then I shall be innocent but if I should slay him in cold Bloud and with an intention to destroy him I should be guilty nor was David affrighted from joyning himself with the King of Achish in a Battle against Saul in which Battle Saul perished which was more than his self-defence that so Saul's Army might be weakned or diverted from the pursuit of him Whence it follows that although we hold the King's Person be inviolable yet if he shall unjustly expose himself in a War to destroy his Subjects they may justly raise an Army to defend themselves and though the King should casually perish they are innocent The Blessing pronounc'd by Amasas on David shews Gods approbation of his intended Defence 1 Chron. 12 18. It follows also that a Prince in such a case as David was may joyn himself with the Enemies of his oppressing Soveraign which doubtless will hold in the case of our present King's uniting himself with the confederate Protestant Princes in Defence of their Religion Laws and Liberties which are in danger Albericus Gentilis Professor of Civil Law in Oxford under Queen Eliz. distinguisheth of a threefold lawful Defence 1. Necessary 2. Profitable 3. Honest and says He is necessitated against whom an Enemy comes Armed or prepares Arms on which the War against Methridates was accounted just because of his preparations which their Adversaries accounted a more real Declaration of War than any words Pia arma quibus nulla nisae in armis relinquitur spes He who would keep himself out of Danger must meet and prevent it which is a point of greater Wisdom and Courage than to expect it and revenge it it is also more safe and easie to prevent a future than to redress a present Evil. Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur Hostis We presently slay a Serpent at sight not staying till he hurt us and suffer not noxious Weeds or Thorns to grow up but grub them up by the roots while they are young if we expect the first stroke it may kill or disable us Venjenti occurrite morbo is good advice to a body politick as well as natural If our Adversary have declared his will and is preparing a power to hurt us we may not carry to receive the first blow but anticipate the evil as Gladiators are wont to do Yea it hath been always practised to put a stop to the ambition of great Monarchs who have unjustly invaded one Man's Dominions lest he should attempt the like upon others and hence the Princes of Christendom have been careful to preserve an equal balance between growing Empires Posse nocere sat est quodque potest alios perdere perde prior We may as justly remove impendent evils as those that are actually befallen us The whole World is but one great City and tho some part of Mankind is nearer than others yet our Charity should extend to all Si non homini tamen humanitati Thus Baldus and both Civilians and Canonists determine That it is a fault to omit the defence of another but of ourselves a treachery Siracides Eccl. 4. Free him to whom injury is done out of the hand of the Injurious Constantine says We ought to account of the injuries done to others as our own And if this be the duty of private men much more of Princes and if in the other cases much more in the case of Religion Thus Justine answered the Persians That he ought to defend the Christians whom they would compel to forsake their Religion Thus Constantine helped the Christians that were oppressed by Maxentius and Q. Elizabeth assisted the Hollanders against the Spaniards who sought not only to destroy the Protestant Religion there but having broken down that Pale of Europe as Lipsius called it they should have extended their Tyranny farther Dr. Ferne pleading the Cause of King Charles the First grants That Personal Defence against the sudden Assaults of the King's Messengers if illegal tho' the King be present is lawful even to warding of the King's blows and to restrain his hands and rescue their innocent Brethren out of his hands as the People did Jonathan from the hands of Saul And if a King should joyn with Robbers or Pirates by Land or Sea the Subjects might lawfully defend themselves tho' the King were in their company It is well known that the Emperour the Pope and almost all the Princes in Christendom do joyn to prevent the ambitious Designs of the King of France insomuch that they will rather assist England and Holland than suffer them to fall into the hands of the French and if Popish Princes agree in this for the preservation of their Dominions from an ambitious and aspiring Monarch tho' of their own Religion much more may a Protestant Prince for the recovery of his own Right and for the preservation of the just Rights Laws Liberties and Religion of his Allies and Confederates Aeneas Sylvius If a King contemn the Laws and Subjects all to his Lust will not the States in such a case depose him and chuse another who shall swear to govern by Law as reason tells us it ought to be Aquinas speaking of deposing Tyrants says They are not guilty who do it though obliged to them by Oath for he deserves the People should not trust him who transgresseth the Duty of a King. Object The people of Israel might as well judge David to have abdicated his Kingdom as the people of England King James for great complaints were made against David by Absolom concerning the Male-administration of Government and his Adultery and Murther are in the Sacred Record besides upon the approach of Absolom's Army he fled out of the Land. 2 Sam. 19.9 Ans As to David's personal miscarriages they were done in secret scarce two or three made privy to those designs whence that expression in Ps 51. Against thee only have I sinned intimating that it was not known to his people So Nathan told him 2 Sam. 12.12 Thou didst it secretly but I will do this before all Israel And Uriah being dead and his Wife consenting there was none against whom David had sinned as some do Comment but these personal sins did not make him obnoxious to the censures of his people As for the Administration of the Kingdom it was a forged Accusation of Absolom to steal the hearts of the people from his Father for the Holy Ghost beareth witness to the contrary Ps 78. ult He fed them according to the integrity of his heart and ruled them prudently with all his power And Absolom's Conspiracy was secret and a sudden surprize the men that followed him went
or not appears by his first departure and returning again and then by departing still under his own Guards a second time when he was by contrary Winds driven into Feversham he still resolved to quit the Land So that if the late King had thought his carrying would have promoted his Interest he would have staid but being guided by better hopes of compassing his designs abroad it follows that he voluntarily and I may say maliciously deserted us destroying the Writs for calling a Parliament concealing the Broad-Seal leaving us under the power of an Army of Irish Papists whom he ordered to be Disbanded without Pay whereby he probably thought we would have crumbled into several Factions and sought it out among ourselves All men count those actions voluntary which were in their power to do or not to do and though after deliberation the will be for a while in equilibrio yet when other Reasons and Circumstances are added to make the Scales turn the Resolution and Actions that follow are our choice 2dly If it had been the present King's Design or Will to have hindred the late King's departure he might have done it and perhaps it might have been for his Interest to have so done but by not doing it he manifested that it was not his will to restrain him but the late King's choice for there was a Treaty offered and accepted by the late King who sent his Commissioners to treat with the Prince but being as by the event it appears resolved on his departure he tarried not for the return of his Commissioners and though he had appointed to meet his own Council in the Morning yet he deserted them in the Night before to which it is said he had engaged himself by Oath to the Queen So that all these pretences of his being willing to remain in his Kingdom were but to facilitate what he was more peremptorily resolved to do i. e. to forsake it So that tho' the consequents of his own Actions which were undoubtedly wilful as his raising a standing Army which revolted from him his abrogating the Laws submitting the Kingdom to the Pope and all those Grievances summ'd up by the Lords and Commons Feb. 12. brought a necessity on him to depart yet seeing that necessity was the effect of his own Voluntary Actions it must be imputed to his will and choice as the cause of it And doubtless the King deserted the Nation on some such deliberations as these He had followed such evil and rash Counsels as had involved him in unextricable Troubles his Counsellors were not able to defend him or themselves and by flight shifted for themselves The Army in which he confided forsook him the Affections of the People were generally alienated from him so that the only Refuge that was left him was his trusty Confederate the King of France to whom he chose to commit himself rather than to submit to a Treaty Object But it may be Objected That the Lords and Commons were too hasty in declaring that the late King had Abdicated his Kingdoms and that they ought to have treated with him and proposed such Terms as might have secured their Religion Laws and Liberties to which if he had consented all our Grievances might have been redressed Answ To this it is answered That the Parliament by their Votes against the Bill of Exclusion had done as much as in them lay to engage him to a Faithful Execution of the Trust reposed in him viz. To Govern according to the Established Laws And his Promise to the Privy-Council immediately on his Brother's Death did manifest what then was or at least ought to have been his Resolution for he declared That he would make it his Endeavour to preserve the Government both in Church and State as it was then established That he knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy and that the Members of it had shewed themselves good and Loyal Subjects therefore he would always take care to defend and support it I know said he that the Laws of England are sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as I can wish and as I shall never depart from the just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown so I shall never invade any man's Property I have often adventured my Life heretofore in Defence of this Nation and I shall still go as far as any Man in preserving it in all its just Rights and Liberties These were Solemn Promises to the performance whereof not only his Honour of which he boasted that he never had broken his Word with any Man but his real Interest should have obliged him I cannot omit that Observation of Job Chap. 34. ver 30. That God in his righteous Judgment will not that an Hypocrite Reign lest the People be ensnared These were Divine Sentences in the King's Lips but his Actions declared what was in his Heart namely to pull down and destroy all that he had promised to preserve and defend with his very Life to which the hope of salvation being then a resolved Papist so pre-ingaged him that in the perswasion wherein he then was his conscience must tell him he must perish eternally if he should perform his promises God only knows how to treat with such Princes It was not in the wisdom or power of men to confine such an Angel of light for if by a Treaty the late King under the circumstances to which he was reduced should have yielded to all the demands of his Subjects his Allies abroad might whenever they had an opportunity to assist him have made all void on pretence that he was under force all the time of such Treaty And if he had been re-admitted with that freedom honor and power which became a King of England who could not foresee that as long as the Jesuits had the guidance of his Conscience he would a second time have renewed his Promises of establishing our Religion Laws and Liberties only until he found another opportunity to destroy them to which the Name of a King and his Presence among his Subjects and the Subtil Counsels and Devilish Arts of the Jesuits the Credulity of some and the Discontents of many others for under the best Governments there will be Malecontents would have made plausible pretences and arguments for disturbance of our peace which our too powerful Neighbour the King of France hath for a long time had incouragement from the late King to do and only waited for an opportunity and now declares he will endeavour to effect by open War. Thus Coleman's Letter to Sir William Throgmorton Febr. 1. 1673 / 4. You well know that when the Duke comes to be Master of our Affairs the King of France will have reason to promise himself all things that he can desire And in another Letter to L' Cheese that his Royal Highness was convinced that his interest and the King of France 's were the same and if his Royal Highness would endeavour to dissolve
the Parliament the King of France would assist him with his Power and Purse to have such a new one as would be for their purpose which was the subduing of a pestelent Heresie that had domineer'd over a great part of the Northern World a long time of which there were never such hopes of success since the death of Queen Mary God having given us a Prince who is become I may say to a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work. See the Collection of Letters p. 118. So that by what was designed by the Duke and French King and hath since been jointly and vigorously acted we have full assurance of a League with France for our utter ruin and they are Fools or Mad-men that having such clear light and experience to guide them will suffer themselves to be blindfolded a second time and be led to destruction So that what Joab said to David is much more applicable in our Case Thou lovedst thine enemies and hatedst thy friends for thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither the Prince nor his Servants for this day I perceive that if the King had prevailed and all they had died then it had pleased thee well So fond was David of his Absolom 2 Sam. 19.6 It is not necessary that abdication of an Office should alway be an act of the will. Lentulus is said to abdicate the Consulship because he could hold it no longer having been one of the Conspirators with Gatiline And Silla abdicated the dictatorship thinking to find a better opportunity be to revenged on his enemies And Dioclesian left the Empire because he could not effect his will against the Christians These were mixt actions partly through constraint and partly voluntary yet were accounted abdications And our King had involved us in so many miseries that nothing but his desertion of us or our opposing of him could deliver us God prevented the latter and the King granted the former Pufendorf de interregno p. 272. determines that if a King abdicates the peace of his Kingdom and be of an hostile mind or departs from the Rules of governing which he expresseth thus Modum habendi potestatem immutare that then the ground of the Subjects obedience is made void And in the Digests l. 49. Tital 15. de Capt. we have this Maxim Qui fuget ad eos cum quibus nulla est amicitia à fide suscepta transfugit and that the late King hath so done is an evident truth And it is as true that to desert a Government rather than to keep it on just and legal terms is to abdicate it for an abdication may be as expresly signified by real deeds as by any form of words whatsoever As to the League with France for making King James as Absolute as King Lewis and inable him notwithstanding his Oaths and Publick Declarations to the contrary to extirpate the Protestant Religion there wants not sufficient evidence of the endeavours of the Court of France for many years together by correspondence with the late K. while he was Duke of York and assum'd on him the chief administration of Publick Affairs Nor of a too fond if not a willing compliance of Charles the Second to that end Some wise men have thought that the great Revenues granted to the Crown the declaring the Militia to be wholly in the King the binding up not only the Subjects but the Parliament by Oaths and Declarations not to resist the King or those that were commissioned by him on any pretence or cause whatsoever by vertue whereof an hundred Irish or French might have come into the House of Parliament and out all their Throats and they not have dared to draw a Sword in their own defence all which things were against or as far besides the Laws of the Land as of Reason and Common Prudence for doubtless had it been proposed whether those Laws might have been so interpreted they would speedily have made an alteration in them All these I say have been observed by wise men to have been the designs of such as designed to introduce an Arbitrary Government and facilitate the bringing in of Popery though they that acted did not intend to serve the ends either of France or the Crown of England so far On this Errand was the Dutchess of Orleance some years since sent into England to assure Charles the Second of the Assistance of the King of France in reducing the Parliament to the King's pleasure to this end were Tolerations and Indulgences granted French Whores admitted with great power and pomp and all things so well prepared though more slowly and secretly in the Reign of Charles the Second that there wanted nothing but James the Second's ascending the Throne to give a Consummatum est to that design of bringing in both Popery and Slavery upon us And that being effected too soon alas for England then notwithstanding the Coronation-Oath the many Publick Protestations to maintain the Church of England and the Protestant Religion and of whose Loyalty he was well satisfied and that he never desired to be more great and happy than he might be by the established Laws yet all these were forgotten and trampled under foot Jesuits and Papists being admitted at Court and into the Privy-Council the King's Conscience submitted to their Conduct the Pope's Nuncio publickly entertained and feasted at the Guild-hall an Embassador sent to Rome Popish Bishops set up with power of Jurisdiction Protestant Bishops put into the Tower the Nobles closetted and such as would not comply to betray their Religion and Country were turn'd out of all the chief Offices by Sea and Land and others put into their room and in all places of Judicature Judges and Juries were adapted for the prosecution of that design there wanted only a complying Parliament and to that end Quo Warranto's were issued out against the Charters and alterations made in them fit for that design Addresses were procured for taking off the Test and Penal Laws i. e. for introducing of Popery by Law an Army of Irish Papists brought in and another prepared in France So that our destruction was much nearer than we believed Monsieur D'Avaux Embassador for the King of France in Holland in his Memorial told the Estates that the Friendship and Alliance between his Master and the King of England did oblige him to assist the King of England and to look on the first act of Hostility by Sea or Land as a Rupture of Peace Coleman's Letters spake to the same effect and the event hath demonstrated the truth of all that was thought to be but groundless fears and jealousies for on the approach of the Prince of Orange these dark mists vanish'd the Nation awaked out of their deep slumber and resum'd their ancient valour and resolution to defend their Religion Laws and Liberties against Popery and Arbitrary Government which seized on us as an armed man. And he that doth not now
Oaths and that no private Person much less a Statesman would so order his affairs as to rely on them No man would ever sleep with open Doors or unlockt Treasure or Plate should all the Town be sworn not to rob Then was the Assertory part of the Declaration debated and it was urged That Assertory Oaths and Declarations were properly appointed to give Testimony of a matter of Fact of which a man may be assured by the evidence of his senses but not to confirm or invalidate Doctrinal Propositions and that the Legislative Power which imposeth such an Oath assumes to its self an Infallibility and must suppose all that take it to be infallible which could not be supposed in ignorant and illiterate Men and that Promissary Oaths in the judgment of Grotius De Jure Belli l. 2. c. 13. are forbidden by our Saviour Matth. 5.34 37. to be multiplied and that to declare upon Oath and to swear upon Oath were the same thing And that to declare upon Oath That it was not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King might introduce a new Form of Government that it was better to leave such things in Generals as in the Law of 25 Edw. 3. which makes it Treason to take up Arms against the King and the restraint of it to any case whatsoever would destroy the distinction between Absolute and Bounded Monarchies if Monarchs have only the fear of God and no fear of Man to restrain them and that our Ancestors took care that the Prince's safety should be in them and never would endure a mercenary or standing Army though Commissioned by the King and that the declaring an Abhorrance of that Traiterous Position of taking Arms by the King's Authority against his Person being set down in universal Terms is not alway to be abhorâ—ed as Traiterous there being but one case and such as is not like to happen again wherein it was so i. e. the Case of the Long Parliament but other Cases might and did often happen wherein taking Arms against such as were Commissioned by the King might be the Subjects Duty as in the instance of Henry the Sixth being taken Prisoner by Edward the Fourth who pretended to the Crown and the Earl of Warwick who gave out what Commissions they pleased but his Wife and Son raised Arms against such Commissions and rescued the King's person by fighting against such Commissions And lastly that not to take Arms against any that were Commissioned by the King did evidently introduce Arbitrary Government and if whatever is by the King's Commission is not to be opposed by the King's Authority then a Standing Army is Law whenever the King pleaseth and that the King's Commission was never held sufficient to justifie any Man acting against his Authority which would destroy the most essential and fundamental part of Law for Liberty and Property and make the Government Arbitrary And it was urged That if a Man recovers possession of his House and is by the Sheriff put into it and the person outed procure a Warrant to some Commissioned Officers of a Standing Army to deliver back the Possession the person that is in possession by Law may defend himself by Arms against those who by Commission from the King come by force to Eject him out of his Possession So that such a Declaration and Oath was to establish another Government which the Oath of Allegiance knew not and then swear to maintain it as established All this and much more notwithstanding the Declaration as it stands after sixteen or seventeen days spent in arguing was confirmed and the Consequences plainly manifest how unreasonable it was in it self and how mischievous to the Subjects and therefore is by the Act 24 April last laid aside Concerning the Present Oath The Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy being abrogated our Allegiance was reduced to the Oath of Allegiance as it anciently stood and was to be administred in the Court-Leet the Form whereof runs thus You shall swear that from this day forwards you shall be true and faithful to our Soveraign Lord the King his Heirs and lawful Successors c. which words do not assert the Title to the Crown nor look backward to what is past but assures Fidelity for the future and our Legislators plainly declare that by the words in the late Oath I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance is the same Fidelity meant as in the Declaration ordered to be subscribed by some Dissenters viz. To be true and faithful And doubtless the Legislators who are of the same Communion in the Church of England could not think of laying a greater restraint or obligation on the genuine Members of that Church whom they have found to be always Faithful then upon such Dissenters as had been false And had the two Houses thought or suspected any snare in it they would have been so far from laying it on the Consciences of others that they would not have tought 〈◊〉 with one of their Fingers So that our Legislators have in the Subscription required from those Dissenters clearly resolved what they meant by the word Allegiance in the Oath namely To be true and faithful in which sence as many have declared they would take it without any farther scruple So I see no reason but all may except such unreasonable Men as bogling at shadows from the word Megiance are resolved to incur the sad consequences of being judged Rebellious I have one Request more which I intreat such of my Brethren as are yet Unresolved seriously to consider viz. That having devoted their Persons and Services to Almighty God in the Ministry of the Church of England they cannot without the guilt of Sacriledge in a high degree and upon very clear and demonstrable Arguments withdraw themselves from that Ministry especially in such a juncture of time when there are so many grievous Wolves some in Sheeps cloathing and others with open mouths roaring for their Prey that seek by all means to devour their Flocks and by the loss of her Ministers the Church itself may be in a short time destroyed for there are still too many that bear evil will to Sion and would down with it even to the ground And if it should be found that we have forsaken the Service of God on a Mistake or Prejudice when we shall be called to an account how we have fulfilled our Ministry and watched over the Flocks whereof the Holy Ghost had made us Overseers we must have some substantial Reasons to plead in our Excuse or we shall never render an Account with Joy. The Evil Spirit hath not without a Miracle been sorely cast out and is roving up and down seeking how to enter again and if we by our Divisions should make a breach for him to enter by he will bring with him seven-fold more and dwell among us and make our later end worse than the beginning It is sad when we shall be reduced to such a condition as sometime the Roman State was which could neither ferre Vulnera nec Remedia endure their Wounds nor the Remedies of them If we by our Obstinacy do frustrate all the means of our Salvation and receive the Grace of God in vain and being fond of kissing the Rod that smote us do resist the Hand that would heal us there must be a greater Miracle wrought for our Salvation than hitherto God hath wrought for any man that is to save us against our wills Cujus aures clausae sunt ut ab amico veritatem audire nolit hujus Salus pene desperanda est FINIS ADVERTISEMENT 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