is a known Maxim that the King of England never dies This Kingdom knows no interregnum But when the Predecessor Ceases Then the Successor begins to Reign And therefore in all the Revolutions which have happen'd in England it is remarkable that the Right of Inheritance was always the Claim tho' often unjustly apply'd to the Person Thus K. Henry the Fourth Cott. Rec. 1 H. 4. P. 388. so soon as the Resignation of K. Richard the Second was read and the Sentence of Deposition was pronounc'd immediately stood up and CLAIM'D the Kingdom and Crown of England c. as his INHERITANCE descending by RIGHT from K. Henry the Third Nay even the Election of that Bloody Vsurper K. Richard the Third See the Record at large Cot. Rec. 1. R. 3. Page 709. by the Three Estates out of Parliament the only Precedent for our late Convention which was also confirm'd by a succeeding Parliament was grounded upon his RIGHT TITLE and ESTATE c. to and in the Crown c. by the Laws of God and Nature and also by the ancient Laws c. of this Realm c. And therefore it was Decreed c. That he was the very undoubted King c. as well by RIGHT of Consanguinity and INHERITANCE as by Election The Recognition of the Parliament to K. James the First is yet more full For they acknowledge 1 Jac. 1. c. 1. That IMMEDIATELY upon the Dissolution and Decease of Elizabeth late Queen of England the Imperial Crown of the Realm c. did by INHERENT BIRTH-RIGHT and Lawful and Vndoubted SUCCESSION descend c. to his Majesty From which and many other Passages in our Laws and Histories it is Evident that by the Constitution of this Government the Crown immediately devolves to the Heir by a Lineal Haereditary Right of Succession So that there is no room for either a Convention or a Parliament to appoint or determine the Successour because he is actual King before they can even Assemble to proclaim him much less to make such a Decision as manifestly supposes or makes an Interregnum and breaks the Succession by excluding the known Rightful Heir But I perceive your Lordship is positively in the Right Page 26. and that you have Examin'd the Nature of Civil Societies in general according to the Roman Law and the Nature of the English Government from the Laws and History of England with so much Care that you understand our Constitution much better then our Legislators themselves and may therefore be allowed to Contradict them as oft as you please But methinks some maintainers of a contrary Opinion deserve more Consideration from an English Bishop then your Lordship here seems willing to afford them It is a very bold Censure that at once reaches the Compilers of the Homilies a whole Vniversity and the Repeated Convocations of the Clergy and that charges all these Ornaments of the Church of England with want of Learning or Care to understand the Constitution of our own Government and of the Necessary Knowledge of the Degrees of Submission which are due from the Subjects to our Kings for all these agree that a Supream Power is lodg'd with them which Exempts them from being call'd to an Account Page 26. or Resisted by their People 1. Your Lordship sometime ago thought it Answer sufficient to the Bishop of Oxford to show that his Assertions were repugnant to the Doctrine of this Church as Exprest in the Homilies And prest it justly enough upon him that he must either Renounce our Church Enquiry into the Reasons for Abrogating the Test Art 35. and all he Possest in Consequence of his having Sign'd her Articles wherein it is Declar'd that the Homilies contain a Godly and wholesome Doctrine or else that he must Answer his own Plea Your Lordship has Subscrib'd them as well as He And if you continue of the same Opinion you too must either Retract or Resign For they lay this down for an Universal Principle That Kings and Princes Hom. against Reb. Par. 1. as well the EVIL as the GOOD do Reign by GOD's ORDINANCE and a little lower declare their Original to be neither by Chance and Fortune nor by Ambition but that they are SPECIALLY appointed by the ORDINANCE of GOD. They hence Conclude that when God gives a People an EVIL Prince he does it for the punishment of their Sins and that we are therefore bound to Obey such least after we have provok'd God by our Wickedness to place them over us by Rebelling against them we be found to Rebel also against God And to shew the reasonableness of this Opinion they add What a Perilous thing were it to Commit unto the Subjects the Judgment which Prince is Wise and Godly and his Government Good and which is Otherwise As though the Foot must Judge the Head But they carry the Case further and suppose the Prince to be Evil indeed and also evident to all Mens Eyes that he is so What 's to be done to have such an Evil remov'd from us Their Answer is Let us take away our Wickedness which provok'd God to place such a one over us and God will either displace him or of an Evil Prince make him a Good Prince so that we first will change our Evil into Good But to obviate all Objections that can be rais'd they go on thus Ib. Par. 2. Shall not we especially being so Good Men as we are Rise and Rebel against a Prince HATED of GOD and GOD's ENEMY and therefore likely not to prosper either in Peace or War but to be Hurtful and PERNICIOUS to the COMMON-WEALTH No. What shall we then do to an EVIL to an UNKIND Prince our KNOWN MORTAL and DEADLY ENEMY HATED of GOD HURTFUL to the COMMON-WEALTH c Lay no VIOLENT HAND upon him saith good David but let him LIVE till GOD appoint and work his End either by NATURAL DEATH or in War by LAWFUL ENEMIES not by TRAITEROUS SUBJECTS Lastly since the Redress of the Common-Wealth and the Defence of Religion are the usual Pretences for all Insurrections Ib. Par. 4. they have carefully prepar'd fit Antidotes against these Pests Against the former this Rebellion is the greatest Ruin and Destruction of all Common-Wealths and against the later this The TRUTH of the Gospel though it cost them their LIVES that Teach it is able to maintain the True Religion In a word God alloweth neither the DIGNITY of any Person nor the MULTITUDE of any People nor the WEIGHT of ANY CAUSE as SUFFICIENT for the which the Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes I shall only observe upon all this that let the Pretence of taking Arms against the King be what it will the Compilers of these Homilies call it in plain Terms nothing less then Rebellion And therefore since this Doctrine is Calculated for the Meridian of England before I can submit to Swear the New Oaths whereby I should be oblig'd as much
and even by those the Dispensing wherewith was so warmly urg'd against the King For in the Fifth of Eliz. It is Enacted That every Person which hereafter shall be Elected or Appointed a Knight Citizen or Burgess or Baron for any of the five Ports for any Parliament or Parliaments hereafter to be holden shall from henceforth before he shall Enter into the Parliament House or have any Voice there openly receive and pronounce the said Oath of Supremacy before the Lord Steward c. and that he which shall Enter into the Parliament House without taking the said Oath shall be deemed no Knight Citizen or Burgess c. nor shall have any Voice but shall be to all Intents Constructions and Purposes as if he had never been Returned or Elected c. And shall suffer such Pains and Penalties as if he had presumed to sit in the same without any Election Return or Authority But this Oath appearing ineffectual to exclude the Presbyterians and other Dissenters The present Synod well knowing that there are other Sects which endeavour the Subversion both of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England NO LEâ—S THEN PAPISTS DO although by another day Syn. Lond. 1640. can 5. the Seditious Sectaries c. do at their MEETINGS contrive INSURRECTIONS as late EXPERIENCE hath shewed 16 C. 2. c. 4. §. â— who by woful Experience have been since found equally dangerous to the Government both of Church and State * 25 C. 2. c. 2 it was of late further Enacted that All and every Person or Persons as well Peers as Commoners that shall bear any Office or Offices Civil or Military c. or shall have Command or Place of Trust c. shall take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance c. and receive the Sacrament and that those who shall Refuse or Neglect the same shall be ipso facto adjuged uncapable and disabled in Law to enjoy the said Office c. And every such Office c. shall be void But if this will not be admitted to extend to all the Members of Parliament as such tho' I think the greatest Trusts of the Kingdom are reposed in them however by another Parliament it is more fully Enacted 30 Car. 2. that Every Peer and every Commoner shall take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and shall make subscribe and audibly Repeat this Declaration against Transubstantiation c. Before he take his Place in the House c. And where any Member of the House of Commons shall c. by the Neglect hereof be Disabled to Sit c. the Place or Places for which they c. were Elected is hereby Declared Void c. as if such Members were Naturally Dead All which Laws being interpreted according to the Reasons and Occasions of them reach a Convention as well as a Parliament For undoubtedly where any great Care is necessary to preserve the Superstructure it is much more to secure the Foundation If therefore such caution be necessary to prevent Corruption in a part of the Legislative Body surely it is no less necessary to prevent it in that which takes upon it to Constitute the Legislature it self Yet for all this no Member of either House as such had any regard to these Statutes 2. There is neither Authority in Law nor approvâ—d Precedent in History for such an Assembly 1. That it has no Authority in Law is evident for that so strictly requires the Royal Summons to all such like Assemblies that the greatest Exigencies of Publick Affairs do not excuse the neglect thereof And your Lordship has formerly own'd that the want of the Kings Writ was such an Essential Nullity Reflections on Parliamentum Pacificum §. 1 that no subsequent Ratification could take it away Thus the Second Parliament of King Charles II. found it necessary to confirm all the useful Laws of the former for this very Reason because they wanted a due Summons tho' they had the Royal Assent to Legitimate their Meeting and further declare that the Manner of the said Assembling c. is not to be drawn into Example Nay sometimes they will not allow it even the Name of a Parliament but call it only a late Assembly 13 C. 2. c. 15. 2. It has no Approv'd Precedent in History For the Memory of that of Richard 3. which has a great resemblance to this in many Particulars is too black to be insisted on And all the Transactions of the several Parliaments or rather Conventions during the Vsurpations against the Royal Martyr and his Son were adjudg'd by all Lawyers as well as a Parliament to have been in themselves Null and Void Yet I think they had as good Foundation 13 C. 2. c. â—… §. 3. and as much Law for what they did as our late Convention can pretend to 3. They had no Power to Transact such Matters or make such Decisions as they have undertaken except it be made out that a larger Power was delegated to them then to a Parliament This more extensive Authority if any such they had they must of necessity derive either from those they represent or from him who Summon'd them But from neither of these could they derive it Not from the former because the Electors were the very same as to a Parliament and they always impower'd their Representatives with as large a Deputation as they could give to Consult about the great and weighty Concerns of the Publick and to give Assent accordingly in their Names nor from the later because if so the Prince of Orange had a greater Power devolv'd on him by those few Lords and Commons who desir'd him to take upon himself the Administration of Publick Affairs then he afterwards receiv'd from the Convention when they presented him the Crown and Regal Authority which is down-right Nonsence Besides my Lord there is no greater power imply'd by the word Convention For every Convention of the two Houses of Parliament is a true Convention of the three Estates This is fully declar'd to Q. Elizabeth thus We Your most Humble 1 Eliz. c. 3. Faithful and Obedient Subjects the Lords SPIRITUAL and TEMPORAL and COMMONS in Parliament Assembled c. Representing the THREE ESTATES of your Realm c. Humbly beseech c. So that I think we may from hence conclude that the late Convention had at most no more than an Equal Authority with the two Houses of Parliament without the King who is not to be included by the Three Estates It only remains then in the next place to show you that such a Parliament hath no such Power This is sufficiently declar'd by the Parliaments themselves When they call those that Proceeded against the Life of King Charles I. a TRAYTEROUS ASSEMBLY and the most Detestable Traytors that ever were they therefore Renounce 12 C. 2. c. 11. 14 C. 2. c. 29. 12 C. 2. c. 30. Abominate and Protest against that Impious Fact that Execrable Murther and
agreeable to the Maxims of Machiavelli then to the Doctrine of the Church of England And if Your Lordship do not well Limit the Judge of this Necessity I may safely Affirm that all the Vnnatural and Rebellious Principles of the Jesuits and our Democratists join'd together cannot be more pernitious to any State then this one of Your Lordship's For Instance Can there be any Grievance so intolerable and so necessary to be redrest in any Government as that of Suppressing the True Religion Is it not also most undoubtedly true that every man firmly believes the Religion he Professes to be the True and the Best If then any Sect whether Christians Turks or Jews find their Circumstances such that to support their True Religion the dearest thing on Earth and the Exercise thereof the greatest Priviledge and most desirable Happiness that can be secur'd by any Establishment it is absolutely Necessary or at least in this Extremity the safest way not only to Murther the Reigning King but perhaps even his whole Race and to Massacre all those who any ways set themselves in opposition to 'em This Maxim Justifies all it was absolutely Necessary and therefore upon that very account Just and Good Again Should a Combination of Men Deliberate thus Nothing can barr an aspiring English man from Disturbing the Government by Treasonous Attempts and Usurpations but an apparent Impossibility of Success Nothing concludes such an Impossibility but a perpetual want of Pretence and Title by placing an Hereditary Right in another if therefore the Succession be once interrupted there can be no Peace nor Happiness to the Nation till it falls again into the Right Line This Opinion they are Confirm'd in by considering the long Warrs between the two Houses of York and Lancaster till they were United by K. Henry the Seventh and of late the continued Convulsions and Changes of the very Forms of the Government after the Murther of K. Charles the First till the Happy Restauration of His Heir and Rightful Successor These Observations they apply to the Present Settlement and find it not unlike that under K. Henry the Fourth and fear the Consequences will be the same For His Majesty having a Just and a Legall Title to the Crown will never desist from all possible Endeavours to be Restor'd to his Own and K. William having obtain'd the Possession seems resolv'd tho by the Power of a Forreign Army to keep it If the King have Success he must return with such as are no Friends to the English and the Intollerable Affronts which have been put upon him will probably prompt him to a just Revenge And will be a very strong Temptation to him to Execute those Designs which have been so unreasonably Charg'd upon him If he dyes in the Attempt he entails all his Forces his Friends and the Justness of his Warr to his Son and that Line that may possibly Spring from him But should these fail and K. William remain without this Competition Yet the Government is Unhing'd the Crown is become Elective whereby every man may plead a Right who can get Voices and Hands enough to reach it and the natural sullen Complaints of the People and their Pretences of Grievances will successively reach out Hopes and Occasions to some Proud Aspiring Patriots to Attempt it From these Melancholly Reflections they come to this Conclusion That in this Extremity and to prevent this Continuance of Miseries and at last inevitable Ruine the safest way and therefore the best is to Restore the Succession to the Right Line by Removing the two Contending Kings and the Disputed Prince and leaving Q. Mary the Second the Rightful Heiress alone in the Throne whereby the Government will be sixt again upon the only firm and lasting Basis This they resolve and this they Execute Can your Lordship Condemn them The Resolution is necessary to the Peace and Happiness of the Nation and upon that very account Just and Good because 't is Necessary But I believe this will pass with very few for sound Doctrine and therefore your Lordship may find your self Oblig'd either to Retract the Maxim or at least to explain it so that it will signifie very little in the place where it stands And now my Lord I have laid before your Lordship my Exceptions to your Reasons Page 23. And till I meet with better Arguments or better Confirm'd I cannot but Conclude that the Settlement now made is sounded upon no Good Grounds and that the Convention had no Authority to make such a Decision and therefore tho' I am ready to submit and pay SOME Obedience to the Possessour of the Throne yet I cannot pay ALL that Obedience and Duty which I naturally owe the Rightful Soveraign And therefore cannot swear it in such words and such terms as imply ALL and are intended by the Imposers to do so There further remains to be Consider'd your Lordships Answer to an Objection from those Oaths and Engagements whereby we were and are bound to K. James Page 23. and his Heirs which is this that Allegiance and Protection are Duties Reciprocal So that if one fails the other ceases What the word Allegiance means in our Oaths and what we are Oblig'd to by it I presume we were agreed above Vid. Sap. P. 6 7. Page 24 25. and therefore no need of engaging in a new Enquiry into the Original of the word But as to the Obligation it self I shall ask your Lordship this easie Question Are you sure that we owe no Allegiance to a Prince whilst he remains under an incapacity to Protect us I never met with any so black Mouth'd but the Recicides themselves or their profest Adherents that they durst deny Allegiance to be due to K. Charles the First under his Confinement yet he was so far from being able to Protect his People that he could not secure himself from the Rude Insolence of his Keepers and the Horrid Barbarities of his Murtherens But are you sure no Allegiance was due to K. Charles the Second in his Exile tho' he could not Protect yet the Parliament has Declar'd and it is undeniable that he was King of England all that time and truly I cannot comprehend the Notion of a King without Subjects nor of Subjects who owe no Allegiance to their King These are too sublime Thoughts for me to understand Page 25. As to the word Heir 't is true No Man can be bound to him till the Inheritance he his Who affirms it do but give us leave to pay our Allegiance to the King and we will never ask to transfer it during his Life to any other But the force of the Objection from the word Heir is this That had you made it appear that K. James has actually ceas'd to be King it had been at least a Death in Law and the Crown being Haereditary by the Constitution of the Government at the same moment had devolv'd to the next of the Line For it
A LETTER TO THE Bishop of Sarum BEING AN ANSWER To his LORDSHIPS Pastoral Letter From a Minister in the Countrey Printed in the Year 1690. A LETTER TO THE Bishop of Sarum My LORD YOUR Lorship has given the World so great and so many Instances of your Ability and Proficiency in all kinds of Learning and of your strength of Reasoning upon every Subject That it is the greatest Disadvantage imaginable to any Cause you can Espouse to be so Weakly Argued by you that room is left for an Answer to your Arguments This added to the Scruples I formerly Entertain'd has rais'd in me a more then common Jealousie that the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy in our present Circumstances Defended in your Lordships late PASTORAL LETTER are unjust and that they are Repugnant to the Laws of this Kingdom as well as to the Doctrine of the English Church The first Report indeed that I met with concerning your Lordships Letter together with the Character which I knew was justly due to the Author begat a Confident Expectation in me of being throughly Convinc'd by it and more than half a blind Resolution of adhering to it and complying with that which I am unwilling to call the Iniquity of the Times But alas my Lord as soon as I had with Earnestness and Impatience of being your Convert procur'd and read it I found my self under the greatest Disappointment I ever met with even so great that I cannot forbear doing this Violence to my own Temper which affects nothing so much as Ease and Privacy to Examine and compare it with such Remarks as I had before made for my own satisfaction and give these publique Reasons of my dissent from it I do not entertain the Vanity to believe that any thing I can offer will have so much of weight in it as to Convince your Lordship you have been mistaken for I am very sensible of my own weakness tho my Opinion of the goodness of the Cause prompts me to this unequal Undertaking besides I have Charity enough to hope you have far better Reasons for the Part you have Acted in this Surprising Revolution then those you have here thought fit to Publish But my design is to apply my self to your Lordship as to a Spiritual Physician and to lay open the state of my Disease and the very foundation of my Scruples before you that by Arguing the matter I may attain to the Truth And I doubt not but you will show the Goodness of your Nature as a Man and your Charity as a Bishop whereby you are Oblig'd to lead the Blind and support the Weak so far as to give me and the World some more satisfactory Directions for our Behaviour under these Difficulties of Publique Affairs This being then the design of this Letter I cannot prosecute it in a better Method then to wait on your Lordship from Page to Page and from Paragraph to Paragraph and to point out to you where your Reasons are not Conclusive nor Satisfactory I agree with your Lordship that should the Clergy choose rather to desert their stations Page 2. then swear the Oaths the Minds of the People would be much distracted And I suppose it is for this Reason that the Act particularly points at them to fright them if possible into a Submission to such things as the Doctrine of the Pulpits gave occasion to Believe they would not fail to boggle at But we must not Ez◠13 16 c. to prevent these Distractions sow Pillows under the Arms of the People and Lull them into a false Security I can with a like readiness Agree to the vast Importance of this matter Page 2. §. 1. And that this Consideration ought to move us to a serious Reflection on the Foundation of our Dissent before we fix on a Resolution so prejudicial possibly to the publick Peace Page 3. But it must be also allow'd of as great Importance to consider the Legality of these Oaths before we swallow ' em For it will be an Eternal Scandal on the Church of England if all her Sons conspire for the sake of Interest or Prosperity to take a Solemn Oath inconsistent with their former Oaths with the Doctrine of this Church and of particular Ministers in the discharge of their Cures I am sure a Favourable Providence Page 3. with a hopeful prospect of all Temporal Blessings and the fairest beginnings of the most desirable things we can hope or wish for on Earth are no Arguments for the Legality of any Revolution For if they were who could oppose a Successful Rebellion Or Rev. 13.4.7 since none shall be like the BEAST in the Revelations or be able to make War with him why shall not even the Saints when they be overcome by him be obedient to him and Support his Government Nor does the seeming Security of the Protestant Religion Page 3. and our Civil Liberties weigh more in this particular It is a preposterous way to secure our Religion by overturning the very Foundations of it and undertaking to direct the Allwise Providence in the proper Methods of supporting his own Cause The Fate of Vzzah is a fearful Example of the Divine Wrath against the rashness of those who contrary to his Revealed Will dare put forth their hands to hold up the Ark tho' just at the point to be overturn'd 2 Sam. 6.6 God will be obey'd in all his Commands and have this Honour of his Omnipotency left entire to himself to be avenged of his Enemies his own way Besides my Lord whatever danger we are in from a Popish Tyranny an Irish Conquest and Massacre Page 4. and French Barbarity and Cruelty tho this is neither apparent in it self nor the attempt thereof prov'd upon the King we must remember that they are Dangers of our own making For had all the Members of the Church of England been firm to their Maxims had they persisted in opposing all the violent and ill-advised Designs of the King but at the same time had they been Faithful to his Person and Government and when he open'd his Arms tho late and made such large steps towards a Reconciliation had they then return'd into his Bosome for Protection these things could not possibly have happen'd to us Had the King staid the Laws were such that till they were Repeal'd we were safe And none but our own Brethren who would Communicate with us at the Holy Table could have an Opportunity to break down those Hedges Since therefore we are Cheated into this Distress by our own Negligence and the Cunning Malicious Insinuations of others which however excusable in us as a Humane Failing yet persisted in turns Sin we must be well assur'd that the ways wherein we pursue our Deliverance are just and lawful least God should go on to punish Sin with Sin Page 3. This would be a Curse from God indeed and the certain Fore-runner not only of our Temporal
Vnnatural to his Father to his Brother to his Princess and to his Sister To his Father since by this Conquest he has turn'd Him out to Perish in the Inhospitable wide World to his Brother I must have leave and am bound in Charity to believe him such till something of Evidence besides a Common Fame be offer'd to the contrary whose tender Age made him uncapable of doing Him any Injury an Excuse allow'd for K. Henry 3. by the Rebels themselves who sought to Depose his Father Licet vero bonae Memoriae Jo. Pater Noster in aliquo erga voâ— deliquerit ipsuit dâ—licti debemus esse immunes nec Delictum suum aliquate nus Nobis dâ—…bit imputari Rot. Pat. 1. â—… 3. m. 16. and who was naturally unable to support the Fatigue of a Winter Flight to his Princess and to his Sister who never gave him any occasion of complaining yet this Conquest is injurious to all these For it deprives them of a Right in Reversion precedent to his But Lastly This Plea was never mov'd by the Prince himself or any of his Friends in either House of the Convention nor since he was Proclaim'd by any Authority that appears deriv'd from him So that methinks 't is much more proper to leave such Pretensions to those who gave the Crown and all the Power depending on it and who therefore ought and possibly may in good time inspect into the Original and weight of them rather then to acknowledge the Right of Conquest and that Glorious Appendage Absolute Power at the very Name whereof we have been so long frighted out of our Wits in one who never Claim'd it and whose accepting of the Crown as a Gift from the People is a Perpetual Bar to any such Claim But my Lord tho' this is the first time we have heard the Right of Conquest Pleaded yet there were some Persons in the World who even at the time of the Prince's first Landing notwithstanding his fair Declarations to the contrary suspected that his chief Aim was to Depose his Father and Usurp the Crown For all Men who had ever heard of Dr. Burnet knew how far he was engag'd in the Prince's Councels and that Father Petre had never a greater Ascendant over the King then he had over Him they knew too that the Genius of the Countrey wherein he was born and the Advantage of his Natural Wit and Education were so far predominant in him that as the latter would not suffer him to write an unwise thing so the former never let him be guilty of an uncunning or undesigning thing So that the suspicious part of the World were from hence easily induced to believe as soon as his Enquiry into the Measures of Submission appear'd then which never any Paper chalk'd out fairer and easier steps for an Vsurper to Ascend a Throne or at least laid a surer Foundation for a continued Series of Rebellions and Ruining of Kings that Measures and Designs were there drawn for the Prince And indeed the whole Event has show'd that the Suspicion was not groundless For let any man strictly reflect upon this Paper particularly upon that instance of Desertion which he there among other things produces Measures of Sub. §. 15. Vid. Sup. p. 20. and compare it with the Arts and Rudeness which were used to fright or force the King to something which might be wrested into that Name And after this if he does not find a sufficient occasion to suspect that the late Revolution was foreseen and design'd when that Paper was writ let the World Judge I am sure if it was not so design'd it was an unlucky Preparative for what follow'd I hope your Lordship will pardon this Excursion and take occasion from hence to clear those Passages wherein I have been mistaken and thereby remove some Hard Thoughts that are entertain'd of your Lordship upon this Account For if all this were true and the Design so laid the whole Revolution instead of giving a Right of Conquest which must be founded upon a Just War would appear the greatest Cheat and basest Treachery was ever Acted P. 19. §. 11. But to return to your Argument You do not prove that the Prince of Orange had a Just Cause of War Or if he had how can that Acquisition be Lawful which is disproportion'd to the Damages sustain'd For tho an Heir in Remainder at Common Law may have a Verdict against his Father upon account of Wastes Page 20. yet I never heard of a Total Ejectment in that Case Besides it is well known that none but the next Heir can bring that Action So that till the Evidence for the Reality of a Prince of Wales be Invalidated neither He nor his Princess could Commence this Suit against the King their Father were He a Subject As to the Matters of Fact in your Instances of Wastes and of the Irregularities in the Government tho' I my self can give very sufficient Testimony if either declining Offers of Advantage or even in some measure suffering for such neglect that I might avoid all Obligations of Gratitude to do any thing prejudicial to the Interest of my Religion will convince your Lordship that I am a Protestant yet I always call'd the Facts you mention here Page 20. in Question For if by subjecting this Independant Kingdom to a forreign Jurisdiction you mean to the Pope You would do well to let us know of what nature that Subjection was For if it was only in Ecclesiastical Matters 't is no more than all Popish Princes allow as Essential to that Persuasion And we of the Church of England ought least of any to complain of this since the Duke of York 's Religion and the Principles thereof were well enough known to us at that very time when we so industriously defeated the Bill of Exclusion So that if his Religion was no Bar to his Succession it will expose a strange kind of Levity in us to urge it against him as an Argument for his Deposition But as for any Temporal Jurisdiction I know of none and am very confident his Holiness never exercised any here But if by this you hint at the Bloody French League you must give us leave to remember that there has none such been yet produc'd 'T is true your Lordship has taken some pains to make it probable But it has been so far from being prov'd upon the King that the Prince Himself did not mention it in his Declaration And when some of the Lords in the Convention being violent against him but in general terms were call'd upon to descend to the Proof of Particulars especially of this and the Spurious Birth of the Prince of Wales your next occasion of a Just War they very tamely let the Debate fall and durst not give any Answer to such a Challenge These intimations of his Majesties Crimes without any appearance of Proof to support them puts us further in mind of some others
as in me lies to support an Establishment whose Foundation is Rebellion I must either be Convinc'd that the Doctrine of these Homilies is not what I have subscrib'd GOOD and WHOLESOME or else I must have this DOCTRINE and these OATHS Reconcil'd 2. The Vniversity of Oxford in a full Convocation have given their Opinion that there cannot be any Power LAWFULLY Exercised within this Kingdom which is not SUBORDINATE to that of the King How then Profiteamur non neutiquam intelligere posse qui possit in hoc regno Potestas aliqua legitime exerceri quae non sit Regiae Potestati Subordinat Jud. Acad. Ox. 1. 1 Jun. 1647. §. viii I beseech your Lordship can the King be accountable to any For to be oblig'd to give an account is the greatest Instance of Subordination Imaginable But the same Vniversity has since given their Judgment more distinctly and definitively and Decreed Judg'd and Declar'd Jud. Acad. Ox. 21. Jul. 1683. all and every of these and some other there mentioned Propositions to be FALSE SEDITIOUS and IMPIOUS and most of them to be also HERETICAL and BLASPHEMOUS INFAMOUS to Christian Religion and Destructive of All Government in CHURCH and STATE viz. Prop. I. All Civil Authority is derived Originally from the People Prop. II. There is a mutual Compact Tacit or Express between a Prince and his Subjects and that if he perform not his Duty they are Discharg'd from theirs Prop. III. That if lawful Governors become Tyrants or govern otherwise then by the â—…aws of God and Man they ought to do they forfeit the Right they had unto their Government Prop. IV. The Soveraignty of England is in the three Estates viz. King Lords and Commons The King has but a co-ordinate Power and may be over ruled by the other two Prop. V. Birthright and Proximity of Blood give no Title to Rule or Government and it is lawful to preclude the next Heir from his Right of Succession is the Crown Prop. VI. It is lawful for Subjects without the consent and against the Command of the Supreme Magistrate to enter into Leagues Covenants and Associations for Defence of themselves and their Religion Prop. VIII The Doctrine of the Gospel concerning patient suffering of Injuries is not inconsistent with violent resisting of the higher Powers in case of Persecution for Religion Prop. IX There lies no Obligation upon Christians to Passive Obedience when the Prince commands any thing against the Laws of our Countrey and the Primitive Christians chose rather to die then resist because Christianity was not yet settled by the Laws of the Empire Prop. X. Possession and Strength give a right to Govern and Success in a Cause or Enterprize proclaims it to be lawful and just to pursue it is to comply with the will of God because it is to follow the conduct of his Providence Prop. XV. If a People that by Oath and Duty are oblig'd to a Soveraign shall sinfully dispossess him and contrary to their Covenants chuse and Covenant with another they may be obliged by their latter Covenant notwithstanding their former Prop. XVII An Oath obliges not in the sense of the Imposer but the Takers Prop. XVIII Dominion is founded in Grace Prop. XXVII K. Charles the First made War upon his Parliament and in such a case the King may not only be Resisted but he ceaseth to be King These and some other Democratical Propositions being thus Condemn'd by such Authority and in such Terms I do not envy your Lordship the Honour of maintaining them 3. Lastly The Doctrine of Non-Resistance against our Kings tho' Tyrants and of their Exemption from Account to any Power on Earth is Asserted by a far greater and more Convincing Authority the Injunctions of the King 1 Inj Ed. 6. 1 Inj. Eliz. Bp. Sparrow's Col. P. 2 67. and the Canons and Constitutions of the Church ever since the Reformation In the Injunctions we find that all Ecclesiastics should Preach four times every Year that the King's Power c. is the HIGHEST POWER under God to whom ALL Men by GOD 's LAWS owe MOST Loyalty and Obedience afore and ABOVE ALL Other Powers and Potentates on Earth Cranm. Art ib. P. 23. Rid. Art ib. P. 36. The observance whereof is made an Article of Enquiry by A. B. Cranmer in his Visitations distinct from that about the Popes Supremacy And Bishop Ridley Enquires further whether any Preach that private Persons MAY make Insurrections But if your Lordship will not Acquiesce in the Authority and Decision of these Injunctions and Articles of Enquiry Syn. Lond. An. 1603. can 1. ib. p. 271. I hope you will have some Respect to a Provincial Synod Yet that in the First Year of K. James I. Constitutes and Ordains the same thing with these Injunctions and in the same words The Nine and Thirty Articles of Religion are of a yet greater Authority For they were agreed upon by the Clergy of both Provinces An. 1562 and were afterward Ratify'd and Confirm'd by a Provincial Synod An. 1571. Rat. 39. Art ib p. 107 222 These Articles all we of the Clergy are oblig'd to subscribe and to acknowledge that all and every single Article therein contained is agreeable to the Word of God Syn. Lond. An And so much Care is taken to discover any Change of our Opinion 1603. can 36. ib. p. 287. Ib. can 37. Syn. Lond. An. 1571. can de Ep. ib. p. 223. with Relation to any of them that as oft as we remove from one Diocess to another we are oblig'd to Repeat the same Subscriptions A preceeding Synod is yet stricter for it requires us not only to subscribe our Assent but to give our Solemn Promise that we will Maintain and Defend the Doctrine contained in them as most Agreeable to the Truth of the Divine Word But besides this Particular Obligation us of our Repeated Assent 13 Eliz. c. 12. 14 C. 2. c. 4. two Parliaments have also Confirm'd these Articles After which we are to look upon them as transfer'd from the Ecclesiastical to the Civil State and Incorporated with the Laws and Constitutions of this Government So that every Lawyer as well as Divine is oblig'd to submit to their Authority and to be concluded by them and therefore to own with them Art Rel. An. 1562. n. 37. Spar Col. p. 105. that the Queens Majesty hath the CHIEF POWER in this Realm of England c. unto whom the CHIEF GOVERNMENT of ALL Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Causes doth Appertain But to prevent all Exceptions and Evasions hereof and for ever to Silence those Democratical Principles that begun to be Industriously maintained and instill'd into the People about the year 1640 in order to hasten that Wonderful Rebellion which soon after broak out the Church took care to Decree Syn. Lond. An 1640. can 1. ib. p. 346. that the Most High and Sacred
Order of Kings is of DIVINE RIGHT being the ORDINANCE of GOD HIMSELF founded upon the PRIME LAWS of NATURE and clearly Established by EXPRESS Texts both of the Old and New Testaments A SUPREME POWER is given to this most Excellent Order by GOD HIMSELF in the Scriptures which is That Kings should Rule and Command in their several Dominions ALL Persons of what Rank or Estate soever whether Ecclesiastical or CIVIL That when Prelates used the Power of Calling and Dissolving Councils c. It was as in times of PERSECUTION with supposition in case it were required of submitting their very LIVES unto the very Laws and Commands even of those PAGAN Princes that they might not so much as SEEM to disturb their CIVIL Government which Christ came to Confirm but by No Means to Undermine For any Person or Persons to set up maintain or avow in any their said Realms c. under ANY PRETENCE whatsoever Any INDEPENDENT COACTIVE Power either Papal or POPULAR whether Directly or Indirectly is to UNDERMINE their great Royal Office and Cunningly to Overthrow that most Sacred ORDINANCE which GOD HIMSELF hath Established And so is TREASONABLE against GOD as well as against the King For Subjects to bear ARMS against their Kings Offensive or DEFENSIVE upon ANY PRETENCE whatsoever is at least to Resist the Powers which are ORDAINED of GOD And though they do not Invade but only RESIST St. Paul tells them plainly They shall receive to themselves DAMNATION Rom 13.2 This Extract from the Publique and Authentick Records of the Church of England will I hope Convince Your Lordship and the World that the Doctrine to which we have so often given our Assent is Evidently Repugnant to the Deposing our Kings by Any Povver on Earth And that therefore K. James II. according to our own Doctrine our Subscriptions have made it such is still our Lawful King notwithstanding his Failings in the Administration of the Government that we still owe him the Allegiance of Faithful Subjects and for that very Reason we cannot Swear the the New Oaths and thereby transfer it during his Life to any Other Whether it will prove Effectual to this end or no time will inform us But I think it cannot possibly fail of another which is this to Vindicate my self and my Brethren and Fellow-Sufferers from your Lordships severe and uncharitable Censure of Adhereing Obstinately to a preconceited groundless Opinion Page 28. since 't is Evident that we hold no more then is plainly Decree'd by so considerable a part of the Catholique Church and the only Support of the Reformation And we cannot but believe that should we Renounce this Truth to prevent a Persecution or to keep the Doors of our Churches shut against the Dissenters the Reproach and Scandal hereof would be indelible I cannot close this Letter Page 28. till I have given my Opinion of the Passage you cite out of the Magna Charta granted by K. John which you say is now with his Great Seal to it in your Lordship's hands An unfit Archive for Records of such Publique Concern Tho' I do not see that it Concludes very strongly in Favour of the Proceedings in this late Revolution An exact Judgement indeed cannot be given without a sight or a Copy of the rest of the Charter But by comparing and examining some Copies of Records relating to the Transactions of those Times which now happen to be in my hands I am induced to entertain this Opinion of it that that Charter has not the force of a perpetual Law in every Clause and Member of it But that it was only a Personal Treaty and Pacification between that King and his Rebellious Barons who overpower'd him And does no more Bind his Successors in this Part of it then his Surrender of the Crown into the hands of his Holiness and his receiving it again in Vassalage from him I am enclin'd to this Opinion by these following Considerations 1. That within the space of Nine Years this Charter was Ratifi'd at least four times For the doing whereof no tollerable Reason can be Assign'd if it had at first the Force and Continuance of a Law 1. The first Confirmation of it was granted in the First Year of the Reign of K. Henry 3. and probably at his Coronation for within four or five Months after the Death of his Father I find him granting to his Subjects of Ireland thus that You may enjoy the same Liberties Libertatibus Regno nostro Angliae a Patre Nostro NOBIS Concessis Dat. ap Glouc. 6 Feb. Rot. Pat. 1 H. 3. m. 13. as have been granted to our Kingdom of England by our Father and by Vs Which he could not have said had not he himself either Granted or at least Confirm'd them 2. A second Confirmation I meet with in the beginning of the Second Year of the same King's Reign For when he sent down his Charters into the several Counties he sent with them a Mandate to the Sheriffs to see them Proclaim'd in their full County Courts Rex c. Salutem Mittimus tibi Chartas de Libertatibus c. Mandantes quatenus eas legi facias publice in Pleno Comitatu tuo c. dat 22 Feb. Rot. Claus 2 H. 3 The Date of the Mandate is 22 Feb. and therefore a strong presumption that these Charters themselves were distinct from those above-mentioned Because it is very improbable that the former Grant and Ratification which he made above a Year before should lie so long conceal'd and should then want to be disperst and publisht But the Collector of these Records says that in an Ancient MS. supposed to be Writ about the time of K. Edward 1. he finds the Date of these Charters to be 6 Nov. An. Reg. 2. which is a Demonstration of a second Grant 3. In the Year 1218 after Michaelmass and consequently either the latter end of the second Fox's Acts and Mon. ad an 12â—8 or beginning of the third Year of his Reign this King held a Parliament at Westminster wherein he Confirm'd and Ratify'd by his Charter all the Franchises which were made and given by King John his Father 4. In the Seventh Year of his Reign he was Adjudg'd of Age being sixteen Years Old to take the Government into his own Hands This he had no sooner done then the A. B. of Canterbury in open Parliament minds him of the Oath which was Sworn in his Name by the E. of Pembroke Rectore Regis Regni and others at the Pacification between Him and the Dauphin That he would restore and confirm those Liberties to his Subjects for which the War or rather Rebellion broke out between his Father and the Barons Upon this Admonition he owns the Obligation of the Oath and Issues out Writs into every County whereby Twelve Men were Chosen to make Enquiry upon Oath after such Liberties and Franchises as were not Granted by King John Per