so strong a dose of Folly and Madness or indeed both together to make up the Composition of a Popish Heir to the Protestant Crown of England Especially an heir that can be so Fond of the Gew-Gaws Bawbles and Trumpery of Romish Superstition as to Hazzard Three Crowns for them So that if in Truth he but fairly stood the Test of an Old Statute we have already the Begging of his Reversion would be so Fesible that it would be Cross we won and Pile he lost P. 35. Here 's a short way of Putting the King as well as the Duke out of Capacity to Govern First say that he is a Papist and then Beg the Possession of the Crown as well as the Reversion for so being We are come now to the End of the Character Complete which is so far from being a Defence of the first Part against L' Estrange's Papist in Masquerade that first he has not spoken One Syllable to the Point in Question 2ly In the very Title of Complete he does as good as Confess that he has no more to say And 3ly he has in the 18th page of his Second Part Blown up the very Foundation of his Former and Effectually of his whole Pretense and Design The Scope of his Discourse is briefly this First to Render the Duke as Odious and Dangerous to the Nation as Art and Malice can make him by Virulent Reflections upon his Person under the Dreadfull Character of a Popish Successor 2ly To shew from the Precedents of former Times that it is no new thing for the Supreme Power to Divert the Succession Now as to the Danger of a Popish Successor so far was I from Disputing it that for Quiets sake I gave it for Granted Papist in Masquerade P. 3. So that he must not call his Character Complete A Defence against L Estrange of what L' Estrange did not oppose And for the Point of the Succession I have not said one Word whether it may lawfully be done or not but on the Contrary Industriously Declin'd it as I have shew'd already P. 18. So that his Mighty Defence is only a Beating of the Air and a Flourish upon two Topiques out of the Limits of the Controversy The First Point being out of doors upon the admittance of the Danger and the Second Postpon'd out of this regard that it is a king of a Preposterous Question to enquire whether it may be done or not if the King would agree to it before we know whether the King will agree to it or no And this way of Pressing it will bear yet a worse Construction his Majesty having already and over and over Declar'd that he cannot in Honour Justice and Conscience Consent to it As to the Title of the Character Complete it Expounds it self in the Concession that he has said all that he has to say Nor shall I need to Enlarge upon that Stabbing Contradiction of himself which I have already noted P. 10. Only in one word I shall recommend it the second time to a Remark That whereas he Grounds all the Dangers Terrors and Fatalityes of a Popish Successor upon the Dukes Bigottery in the Romish Religion he Discharges us P. 13. of all those Apprehensions by a Positive Averrment that the Duke is so far from being a Bigot that it is his Pride and not his Conscience makes him a Papist and that he would rather see the Popedome Perish then lose his Humour Wherein first he dissolves his Argument 2ly He betrays himself manifestly to Espouse the Interest of a Faction against his Judgment And 3ly He Authorizes in so doing the Disinheriting of a Prince as well for his Complexion as his Religion And this is not all neither For after the frighting of the Careless and Impious with the Fears of Slavery and the Weak and Scrupulous with the Dread of Hell and Damnation in case of a Popish Successor Representing the Calamity to be wholly Insupportable and making it a Point of Conscience upon what terms soever to Prevent it he chalks out to the People such a way for the doing of it as shall much more certainly destroy the King himself and the Monarchy then the Successor He sets forth the Necessity of doing the thing His Admiration that the King should Refuse it How he has lost the Hearts of his People by it and all the way bespattering his R. Highness though two thirds of the dirt fall upon his Majesty Resolving all at last into Two or Three Modest Propositions upon the Foolery of Passive Obedience the Fundamental Sovereignty of the Multitude c. Upon which Positions If the Duke be thrown out to day the King is almost sure to follow him to Morrow His Reply upon my Exceptions to these Positions is in Effect rather a Yielding of the Cause then a Defence of it But such a Yielding as Discovers only an Impotency though with Great Good will of Defending it This is the Substance of his Discourse and how far it will be found a Defence of his Former Character against the Papist in Masquerade will best appear upon Comparing the Reasons and the Arguments on both Parts It is the main Drift of his Pamphlet to Terrify People into a Dread of his R. Highness and into Undutifull thoughts toward his Majesty by the Dismal Story 's he tells of the Danger of a Popish Successor Now say I on the other side P. 3. It would have been Fair Play in the Character-writer if he had Ballanc'd the Dangers and told us This is the Danger One way and that Another For First there are many Dreadfull Dangers which we cannot avoid but by Incurring Greater As the Leaping of a Garret Window when the Fire has taken the Stair-Case which is only a Prudent Election under a Calamitous Necessity of the less Evil of the Two Now the same Action which would have been a Madness without that Necessity becomes an Act of Prudence with it The Great Danger of the Leap being Warranted by the Greater danger of the Fire Secondly It happens many times that we have no other choice before us but either to suffer the Highest Degree of Misery that can befall us in this world or else to Prostitute our Souls for the saving of our skins and Fortunes Now under such an Exigence as this let the Prospect of things be never so terrible we are to oppose the Duty of Christians of Subjects and of Honest men to all Hazzards whatsoever and patiently to Endure whatever we cannot with Conscience and Honour either Resist or Decline According to the Practice of the Primitive Martyrs who witnessed their Profession with their Blood as Christians and submitted as Loyal Subjects without Resistance So that we are not to Govern our selves by a naked Speculation of the Perils that we are to Encounter and the means of Avoiding them without enquiring into the Consistency of those means with the measures of Conscience and Duty And again P. 51. We shall now Counterpose
long The Characterizer says he tells us P. 3 That in a Bigotted Prince his Moralls shall be Slaves to his Zeal And then I am asham'd that any men that pretend to write sense should endeavour to Perswade us that a Popish Bigot and a man of Courage and Wisdom in a Successor should not go further towards the Establishing of Popery then a Coward and a Fool. I will allow that he that is Daring enough to Attempt any thing and Subtil enough to play his Game to the most Advantage is much mâ—re Capable then a man less Bold and Crafty of bringing his Ends to Pass But what is this Fearâ—â—ssness and Cunning to True Courage and Wisdom that Govern all our Actions according to the Measures of Right Reason and Iustice So that the Authour gets nothing upon this Point unless he can make out Temerity and Breach of Faith to be Virtues But the Great Danger I find is in a Bigotted Papist and either our Popish Successor is That or That Danger does not fall into this Case Had we an Heir Apparent says the Character Ibid of no more Religion then a Julian or a Nero and yet at the same time were Completely Master of the Moral Virtues possibly he might steer c. Now would I fain have the Author of the Character and his Deputy to lay their Heads together upon this Text. We might do well enough he says with a Iulian a Nero c. and why not well enough then as he himself has stated the matter P. 13. in his Reply upon L'Estrange If his Royal Highness says L'Estrange would have plaid the Hypocrite as the Characterizer charges it upon him he would have Render'd himself a Protestant to the Eye of the World though a Papist in his heart That being the only means to have Gain'd him his Point But Behold now with what Indignation the Character-maker Reflects upon such a Supposition I wonder says he to what Readers these Authours write that at this time of day they would make us believe that his Squeamishness against the Test and the Oath of Supremacy made our Conscientious Heir quit his Honourable Employmentn As we better remember 'T was not so much the Test as the Test-makers that Disgusted him His natural Antipathy to Parliaments his Continual Little thoughts of that Great Councell and less of them he will have if ever he comes to the Crown with his Disdain that such Insolent Earth and Ashes should dare to give Laws to his Divinity So that in short his Pride not his Conscience got the Ascendent and whatever Advantages he might have gain'd by-keeping his Employments and swallowing the Oaths yet such is his Perverse and Stubborn Haughtiness that he would rather cry Sink Interest Perish Succession and even Popedom it self rather then Truckle to what I Scorn The Reader will take notice here of the shifting of the Scene and that the Business is no longer the POPISH Successor the BIGOTTED Successor but the PERVERSE the STVBBORN the HAVGHTY Successor The Successor of no Religion at all So that he has Chang'd his Battery from the Opinion and Profession of the Successor to the temperament of his Humour and the same Bolt strikes a Perverse KING to the Heart as well as a Perverse SVCCESSOR Nay the Character lays violent Hands upon it self in this Paragraph and cuts the very throat of its own Arguments What 's become now of all his Expanded Rhetorick and his Embroder'd Allegories One hasty word has laid this mighty piece of Ostentation level with the ground And the Character-man has discharg'd the Successor of the most dangerous point out of his own Mouth Why here 's no Popery in the Case it seems Perish Popedom it self says he rather then Truckle to what I Scorn His Spight as we are told was not at the Test but the Test-maker and 't is the Character-maker Probably too that has the Spight at him And who knows but the Test-maker and This Character-maker may be somewhat akin too Now for the Dukes Antipathy to Parliaments I never heard this charg'd upon him but by those that had an Antipathy for Kings And all this is only Fleshing of a Faction upon the Duke to prepare them for further Attempts upon his Majesty himself After this Gross and Palpable Contradiction of himself First in casting the whole weight of his Argument and of our Danger upon the Religion and Bigottery of the Duke And then in declaring him to be of no Religion at all and so far from Bigotted to the Church of Rome that he would Sacrifice even the Popedom it self to his humour which shews that he writes his Gall not his opinion The Reader will not be surpriz'd I suppose at the boldness of any Calumny after so Malicious and so Shameless an Imposture This is to prepare the Reader for another peice of Confidence and Invention in the Story of one Râ—hux P. 3. Wherein if it were possible he has outdone himself Take notice that this Relation was first expos'd to the World at least I never heard of it before in the Second Letter about the Black Box under the Title of A Letter to a Person of Honour c. The Character calls him Rohux the Letter Monsieur Rohan the one being only an Improvement of the other and the Original came into the world with the Black Box unless possibly the Hint might be taken from the Story of Marsilly the Person that Negotiated the Triple Alliance who having been in England went away again about his Business was taken afterwards by a Party of French out of one of the Cantons of Switzerland carried to Paris and there broken upon the Wheel This Account of Marsilly agreeing with that of Rohux in all the Circumstances of an Agency in England his Seizure and his Execution Now though this Narration carries in the very face of it the most Manifest Marks of Falshood in Respect not only of the Incoherence and Incredibility of the Parts of it but in regard also of the almost Impossibility of the Particulars coming to light which are therein Suggested I shall yet over and above Recommend to the Peruser of these Papers the Disagreements betwixt the Character and the Letter which will abundantly Evince the whole matter to be only a Scandalous Contrivance This same Rohux says the Character P. 3. was Commission'd as an Agent into England to Implore his Majesties Mediation to the French King in favour of the Hugonots of France and apply'd himself to his Royal Highness to Facilitate his Access Now the Letter says that Monsieur Rohan as he is there call'd came into England to treat with the King concerning an Allyance betwixt his Majesty and Forreign Protestants meerly for the Preservation of their Religion and that having acquainted the Duke of York with his Errand c. Wee 'le first observe the Differences as we go and afterward set forth what mov'd the Author of the Character to change his Tale. The One makes
A REPLY To the Second PART of the CHARACTER OF A POPISH SVCCESSOR By Roger L' Estrange LONDON Printed for Ioanna Brome at the Signe of the Gun in S. Pauls Church-yard 1681. A Reply to the Second Part of the Character of a Popish Successor WHoever duely considers the Bent and the Spirit of the Two Characters here in question will easily Discern that the Exclusion of the Duke of York is the Least part of the Authours either Hope or Pretension For there are but Two ways to bring it about viz. An Act of Parliament or a Rebellion As to the Former the King hath over and over Declared himself against it and most Expressly in his Late Declaration Apr. 8. 1681. P. 7. in These words speaking of a Total Exclusion A Point that in our own Royall Iudgment so nearly concern'd us both in Honour Iustice and Conscience that we could never consent to it Now with what face shall any Subject Presume to Importune his Soveraign or how can he Expect by a Pamphlet to Gain upon him to the Violation of all these Duties And yet we see the Point pursued though no way in the world to be Effected but by a Sedition which by the method taken a body would suspect to be the Business too for the Dint of the Discourse strikes altogether that way 'T is the Popish Successor I must Confess that makes the Report and the Wind drives the Smoak in the face of the Duke but 't is the King all this while that receives the Shot As for Example He takes ye the Treachery of a Wolf the Fierceness of a Tyger the Ingratitude of a Pardon'd Traytor and here 's in short the Composition of his Character of a Popish Successor with Slavery and Damnation at his Heels This Frightfull Figure puts the People naturally upon That Question Act. 16. 30. What must we do to be sav'd Why truly says the Character the King has lost himself Strangely with sticking to his Brother His Peoples Knees are almost as Stubborn as their Petitions and Prayers have been Ineffectuall And I am affraid there are too many who in Detestation of that One Gangreen'd Branch of Royalty can scarce forbear how Vndutifully soever to Murmur and Revile even at that Imperial Root that Cherishes it Pa. 10. Part 1. Insomuch that in Studying to Prevent Tyranny they grow Iealous of Monarchy c. And so far from Supplying the Real and most Pressing Necessityes of his Majesty that they are rather well pleas'd and Triumph in his Greatest Wants and that perhaps when his Glory nay possibly when his nearest Safety calls for their Assistance P. 11. The Writer of the Character has told the People a Heavy Tale here but what if their Knees will not bend what if there be Murmurings and Revilings and not one farthing of mony to be gotten Are we ever the nearer the Disinheriting of a Popish Successor for all this No But if the King will not yield the Character will shew you a Trick for that too The Lords Anointed I would ask says he what this LORDS ANOINTED Is And who 't is is our Native Soveraign When instead of being Free Subjects Pope and Tyranny shall rule over us and we are made Slaves and Papists P. 20. And then below What 's a Passive Obedience to a King of England Alas That Bugbear Passive Obedience is a Notion crept into the World and most Zealously and perhaps as Ignorantly Defended Kings were made for the People and not the People for the King P. 21. And yet once again If now at last Popery must and shall come in as by Law it cannot and consequently must be restor'd by Arbitrary Power If a new Monarchy then a new Conquest and if a Conquest Heaven forbid we should be Subdu'd like less then Englishmen or be Debarr'd the Common Right of All Nations which is to Resist and Repell any Invader if we can P. 21. Now to run it short he might e'en as well have told us in plain Terms Look to your Selves my Masters Here 's a Popish Successor coming on that will send yeu all to the Devil Ye have the whole Nation on your side Never trouble your heads about the King What 's a KING What is this LORDS ANOINTED Is he not Our Servant May not we Resist him if he Invade us Passive Obedience is a Bugbear and does not concern us here in England Wherefore let us Maintain our Rights or fall like Englishmen If This be not a Sedition Contriv'd Chalk'd out and Justified I do not know what Is. To this Châ—racter of a Popish Successor c. I wrote a Reply Entitled The Character of a Papist in Masquerade to which the Author of the First Character has now put out a Rejoynder which he calls The Character of a Popish Successor Complete In Defence of the First Part against Two Answers One Written by M. L'Estrange call'd The Papist in Masquerade c. And Another by an unknown hand Upon a Thorough Examination of this Piece I find it to be only a Pompous Wordy Thing and wholly made up of Shifts and Suppositions without so much as one Argument either Offer'd or Answer'd upon the Stress of the Question so that I shall both for the Readers ease and my own pass over the Ramble of his Discourse and keep my self as close as I can to the Subject in hand It is the main Scope of his Design first to shew the People a Popish Successor in Imagination as Black and Hideous as the Devil and Malice can Paint him 2. to set forth the Absolute Necessity of Barring and Precluding such a Successor upon pain of Bondage and Damnation And 3. Since the King will not be wrought upon against his Brother To teach his Subjects a way of doing it by themselves by Absolving them in this Particular Case from the Common Tyes of Christianity Prudence and Allegeance To These Three General Heads I oppos'd Certain Previous Considerations which he takes very little notice of in his Reflections upon my Papers though the whole sum of this Controversie does most undeniably depend upon the Resolving of those Points But of this hereafter As to the rest I followed my Parallel betwixt the Bare-fac'd Iesuits and the Disguis'd betwixt the Proceedings of One and Forty and of Eighty One as a necessary Precaution that under the Pretence of Abolishing the NAME of Popery we might not Establish the DOCTRINE of it In the first Page of the Preface it is observed upon L'Estranges Character that the sole Drift of his Book was not in the least to Expose Popery any further then to make the Fanatical and Iesuitical Principles agree c. Well! and what can expose Popory further then to prove it Fanaticism and to Range the Papists with the Smiters of their Fellow-servants Matth. 24. 49. and according to that Dreadful Sentence Matth. 24. 51. to appoint Iesuits their Portion with the Hypocrites Take his Opinion says the Character abstracted from
Popish Stab I proceed now to Page 11. Now in my apprehension says the Authour never did any man so forget himself as Mr. L'Estrange has done here He believes here that that Vnchristian Impression as the Allowance of Perjury is only the Tenet of some profligate wretches wholly lost in Brutality and Blindness But at the latter end of his Book P. 83. he downright contradicts that Belief and says Pope Pius Quintus absolv'd the Subjects of Queen Elizabeth from all their Oaths of Allegiance to her for ever So that now belike it was not only the Maxim of the abovesaid profligate wretches but even of the Great Successor of Peter c. Now in my Apprehension the Author is every jot as much out of the way as L'Estrange for the Same Person may be a Pope and a Profligate wretch into the bargain even by the Concession of Baronius himself and the best of their own Writers In the twelfth Page I am Corrected again Mr. L'Estrange he says forgets himself a little further in this Point and says in the same 83. Page That the Romish Iesuit holds that Dominion is founded in Grace and upon that Principle Deposes Protestant Princes c. then adds that the Pope may deprive a King of his Royal Dignityes for Heresie Schism c. Now by the Authors leave Those Two Words THEN ADDS refer to another Paragraph My business being only to shew Certain Instances wherein the very worst Positions of the Romish Iesuits are Match'd if not Out-done by the Covenanting Iesuits and as much the Tenets of Profligate Wretches on the One side as on the Other He takes me to task again P. 13. for saying That in the Case of a Popish King who is either kept out or Driven from the Exercise of his Right by the tumultuary License of the Rabble an Oath of Abjuration in Case of any fair opportunity for him to Assert his Claim with his Sword in his hand will be so far from Engaging any man against him that yeilded contrary to his Conscience to Swallow it for the saving of his Stake that he will find no Firmer Friends to his Cause or Interest then those men that are stimulated both by Honour and Revenge to the Execution of their Dutyes And upon this Clause he says 't is plain that by those Abjuring-Oath-Swallowing Friends I can mean no other but the Church of England Protestants And afterward P. 14. once again for laying so wretched so Despicable and so cowardly a Condescention at their Dores as the Abjuration of Gods anointed and their Native Sovereign to save a Stake a Cow a Farm or a Cottage Aye But that Abjuration is but a Copy of their Countenance he tells ye Fye Mr. L'Estrange this is worse and worse What the Members of the Church of Englands Communion of Notoriously break a Gospel Precept as to come to a So help me God with a Lye in their Mouths and a Reserve in their hearts to play the Hypocrite and that too even with Oathes and to do so Impious an Ill that Good may come of it What a Stir is here about nothing My Reasoning lyes thus If it comes to a Push the Enemies of the Successor will undoubtedly have recourse to their old Practise of Imposing an Oath of Abjuration for the securing of themselves in their Usurped Possessions And if any say I shall be so weak or so wicked as to take it It will only serve for a Spur to their Revenge so soon as they shall meet with a fair opportunity to Break it without any obligation upon them at all to the contrary So that I do not say either that it is Lawfull to take such an Oath or that any Church of England-men will Submit to do it but that whoever shall be so far Prevail'd upon will find himself both bound in Conscience to break it and Prick'd in point of Honour to Avenge himself upon the Imposers of it I would here desire the Reader to wash his Eyes for the Author is about to shew him one of the most notorious falshoods averr'd that ever look'd Light i' th face P. 15. And this is it L'Estrange says in the Case of Harry the Great The People of France though Roman Catholicks would not submit to the Dispossessing of a Protestant Successor Now says the Character The Roman Catholick People of France were so far from admitting this Protestant Successor to the Throne that 't is Recorded they shut their very Gates against him and so little acknowledged him their King that the Pope and the States of France were for setting up no less then Three Competitors against him c. 'T is very true the Iesuited and the Rebellious Papists of the League did shut their Gates upon him as our Iesuited Covenanters shut the Gates of Hull and other places here in England against our Sovereign But still there was a Party of Honourable and Loyal Roman Catholicks that joyn'd with the Protestants in his Defence and Support And if the Authour of the Character had not been very much to seek aswell in the Civility as in the History of France he would never have call'd that a Point-Blank Falshood which has the Best Authority of France to Vouch it for an Vnquestionable Truth And then so many of his Roman Catholick-Subjects adhering to him notwithstanding the Popes Declaring against him makes it a clearer Case that his Holynesses Deposing of an Heretical Prince does not Absolve all Papists from their Allegiance to him In one word It was upon that Revolution with the Papists in France as it was not long since with the Protestants in England Those that were Factious and Seditious took up Arms against their Prince and those that were Honest and Loyal Assisted him He goes on with a Flourish upon the Instance of Sigismund King of Sweden In whom says he Neither Magnanimity Iustice All the Cardinal vertues that adorn'd him nor all the Promising Perfections and Accomplishments of Nature strengthen'd with all the Bonds of Protestations Oaths or Sacraments could hold the Head-strong Violence of his Religion P. 16. Here is first an Argument drawn from a Particnlar to an Vniversality as if because this Prince brake his Faith no Popish Prince ever did or will keep it Would either the Authour of this Character now or his Deputy take it well to be paid in his own Coin or by his own Measure Here 's an Opposer in truth of his Royal Highnâ—ss rather then of a Popish Successor who to get the fairer blow at his Person has Discharg'd the Point of Religion This Opposer I say of the Duke of York has let fall many Dangerous words as is already prov'd in his two Characters against his Majesties Person Authority and the very Frame of the English Monarchy Does it follow therefore that All the Adversarys of his Royal Highness are Enemies to the King and Government In the next Page upon my saying that Expedients had been offer'd for the Obviating of
Difficulties and for securing the Protestant Religion If the Parliament at Oxford says he P. 17. were not damnably mistaken or very Lewdly forgetfull they have declared Nemine Contradicente that neither they nor their Predecessors have ever heard or seen one Sillable or such a Frame of Expedients offer'd them The Gentleman under favour forgets himself if he means that there never were any such Expedients offer'd for this Project of Accommodation was Agitated and Modified even in the late Long Parliament And Expedients have been likewise since Propos'd unto which his Majesty refers himself in his late Declaration in these words But coâ—trary to our OFFERS and Expectation we saw that NO EXPEDIENTS would be ENTERTAIN'D but that of a Total Exclusion c. P. 6. Toward the bottom of the Seventeenth Page the Character makes an Invidious Descant upon the hopes the Papists had of a Toleration but not one Syllable of the Persons that started those hopes nor upon what Interest and Consideration the Design was set affoot Now he knows very little of our Affairs who does not understand that none were so forward and so Importune for the Gaining of the Dukes Assistance toward such an Indulgence as those very People that are now so Clamorous against his Royal Highness for it Not that any such Disposition was wrought by his Interest but they Labour'd it however under that Plausible Pretext that Provided the Dissenters might be eas'd on the one side they would do their best also and Content themselves that the Papists might be eas'd on the other The Nineteenth Page smells of the Romance Second Ajax Vlisses Palladium Troynovant Tullia c. as if the Author were speaking to us by his Deputy And then toward the bottom of the Page Enter the True Author again who P. 21. guides his Deputy's hand while he writes these words The Author of the Character is a Person so far from laying his hand on his heart and owing any Benefit to Royal Pardons or Acts or Oblivion that I must say this Truth for him Ianuary 48. was past before he was born I would he had taken in the other two Figures 16. to have told us what Century he speaks of There was a Gentleman of my acquaintance in the late times that would needs make himself the Author of Killing no Murther and had like to have been hang'd for his pains though he never wrote Syllable on 't But if Mr. Deputy has so great a kindness for his Principal as to take the Character upon him the Millers man that was Truss'd for his Master was told I remember that he could never do his Master better Service The Remainder of his Discourse is almost wholly Forrein to the matter in Question Insisting Principally upon two Points the Danger and the Inconvenience of a Popish Successor wherein I have declar'd my self in my first Character P. 3. that I take All his Suppositions of Difficultyes and Hazzards in the Case for Granted not that I think them so great as he Represents them but yet admitting them so to be that very Concession will not do his Business The second Point is Whether the Parliament of England may by the Laws of England Exclude the next heir of the Blood from the Succession of the Crown upon thiâ— Question I have thus deliver'd my self in my Case Put P. 9. Some are of opinion For it others Against it but the Legality or Illegality of such an Act is a Point that I am not willing to meddle with either one way or other For whether the Thing may Lawfully be done or not there may be Danger yet and Inconvenience in the Putting of the Question And so likewise in my first Character P. 53. As to that way which is matter of Parliamentary Cognizance I reckon it my Duty to Acquiesce in the Legal Issue of their Debates as an Authority to which I have ever paid a Duty and Veneration So that it would be utterly superfluous to spend Time and Words upon an Argument wherein I can for Quietness and for brevity sake allow him his asking and preserve the main of the Cause still untouch'd But for such Passages as fall in by the by and properly within the Compass of my Design I shall take such notice of them as I find Pertinent to my Purpose In the 24th Page he makes his Gloss upon that Clause in the Oath of Allegeance where we swear to be faithfull to the Kings Lawfull Heirs and Sucessors There 's nothing in that Oath says he that binds them to the Person but to the Thing to no Particular man any further then he is Heir and Successor Lawfully so and no man truly is either Heir or Successor till he Inherits and Succeeds Now if this Clause binds us not to the Person but to the Thing We swear Fidelity Previously to the Right which takes place before the Succession In the Lowest Line of this Page he Lodges the Absolute Power of the Law in the Three Estates in Parliament And P. 25. Expounds this Position under the notion of the Higher Powers of England King Lords and Commons which is a Flat denial of the Kings Sovereign Power And since he is pleas'd to set up a new form of Government He should do well to furnish us with a New Oath of Supremacy too That instead of Declaring the Kings Highness to be the only Supreme Governour of this Realm We may Swear Faith and True Allegeance to King Lords and Commons and to their Highnesses Lawfull Heirs and Successors This Coordinate Imagination was the Main Pillar of the Late Rebellion See what Work he makes now upon these following words in my First Character P. 60. With Reverence to the Utility and Constitution of good and wholsome Laws it is not presently to Cite a Statute or say there 's a Frecedent for those Laws that are Repugnant to the Light of Nature and Common Right are Nullities in themselves Now says he Here 's one of the boldest Master-strokes of the Pen that ever came in Print This Point once gain'd All the Protestant Laws since the Reformation and the whole Fabrick of the Present Government are Totally Subverted 'T is but a Popish Successor believing and maintaining that all the Protestant Laws ever since Harry the Eight's Perversion are against the Light of Nature and Consequently Nullityes in themselves His Logique I perceive is all of a piece If one Popish Prince be a Tyrant or a Faith-breaker All MVST be so If one Statute BE found against Common Right therefore All MAY BE so And then what fear I say of a Popish Successors Damning All Protestant Laws when 't is a Known Rule that the Judges are the only interpreters of the Law But These Possible Nullityes will find better Quarter perhaps from Walker then from L' Estrange and therefore I shall refer Mr. Deputy to the History of Independency Pag. 116. 117. Printed at London 1648. The Authority of the Iudges is Iudicative whose Office is
upon Cases brought before them to determine whether an Act be Binding or no For Acts of Parliament against Common Right Repugnant or Impossible are Voyd Coke 8. fol. 118. Dr. and Student L. 1. C. 6. and to expound the Meaning and Signification of the Words of such Act. Mr. Walker was a man of Law and Abilityes and far from a stickler either for Prerogative or Popery Nay even a Borderer upon Coordination it self But yet he brings himself off with a Distinction from the poynt which our Authour swallows Whole It is most certain says the Other Pag. 116. that when the Three Estates in Parliament have pass'd any Act Their Power Determins as to that Act and then the Authority of the Iudges Begins And whereas the Character Pag. 25. calls King Lords and Commons the Higher Powers of England without any more adoe Mr. Walker qualifyes it Pag. 117. Though this Kingdom says he has always been Ruled by King Lords and Commons yet by the King Architectonicè and the other Two Organicè the King as the Architect the Lords and Commons as his Instruments Each in his proper Sphere of Activity without interfering And till This again come in use look for no Peace This was the Principle of 41. and 42. brought off as well as the matter would bear From hence he proceeds upon the agitation of the Question of Disinheriting which as I have said before is nothing at all to my business nor of any moment in the least to the deciding of this Controversy till all other Rubs and Difficulties that lye in the way to 't shall be first clear'd and especially that undenyable Impediment of the Kings Refusal which must be allow'd on all hands whether the thing may be Lawfully done or not to be an Obstacle not to be Disputed or Oppos'd The Character-maker Pag. 26. finding himself pinch'd upon the Doctrine of Passive Obedience according to the Practice and Precept of the Primitive Times and the very Text of Holy Writ it self brings himself at last to this Notable Resolution of parting with his Religion rather then his Argument The Correspondence says he P. 26. between Ours and the Primitive Christians Case is here so incoherently ballanced by L' Estrange that never were Arguments more Fantastical The Primitive Christians preacht Obedience to Nero Yes and they had forfeited their Christianity if they had done otherwise But what was that Nero An Absolute Monarch And what those Primitive Bishops Not such as Ours they were not a part of the Legislative Power of the Nation as Our Prelates are If Nero invented Racks Tortures and Gibbets for Persecuting or murthering the poor Christians he did it by his own uncontrolable Authority nor were those Primitive Bishops call'd to make Laws and therefore had not the Lawfull power of the least Vote in moderating of Nero's Cruelty or in redresse of the Christians Torments The Author begins now to speak English First he slips in the difference of the Case betwixt an Absolute and a Limited Monarch 'T is true the One Acts according to his Pleasure the Other is so far bounded by Rules and Laws that it is a Violation of Honour and Conscience in Ordinary Cases to pass those Limits But what is all this to the Subjects Obedience For 't is as much Rebellion in Them to take up Arms contrary to Law against a Limited Monarch that plays the Tyrant as against an Absolute Prince that Governs by his Own Will For the Duty of the Subject is the same to the One as to the Other unless there be some clear and explicite Provision or Stipulation in the Government to the Contrary And his Other Shift upon the Difference betwixt Their Bishops and Ours looks as if Mr. Deputy had written that out of his own Mother-wit without consulting his Oracle For how should that Diversity of the Case operate upon the poynt of Passive Obedience to make it more or lesse a Duty He has but one way in the world that I can see to support his Argument and that must be by destroying his Cause For if there be no more then this in 't that the Primitive Bishops had no Votes in Parliament which our Prelates have his Meaning is that when they come once to Vote in Parliament they Act no longer in the condition of Subjects which is a further Explanation of himself upon a Coordinate State Only I think he had as good have kept himself under the Blind of a Legislative Power without Translating it into the Power of MAKING LAWS For though the Two Houses may be properly sayd to Make or to Prepare Bills yet the making of Laws is the Sole Priviledge of the Supreme Magistrate If by what he says of the Power or Right rather of moderating Votes he intends only Offices of Mediation or Councell so far 't is well enough but if he stays there 't will never do his business for there must be Resolution also and Action as well as debate and Advice and that 's the thing he does more then intimate he would be at in the remaining part of this Paragraph We are not says he pag. 30 to wait Gods further Pleasure and Providences to come with so entire a Resignation till we neglect a Lawfull Preservation when approaching Ruine Threatens us The Question with the Author's favour is not the neglecting of Lawfull means but whether the Expedient here under Consideration be Lawful or not And the Writer of the Character is so candid as in the next Clause to come within a very little of agreeing with L' Estrange in the Negative However says he that the Authors Opinion may not appear so strangely Enormous nor his Passion so wholly destructive to Government and so opposite to Christianity as his Answer would render it let us make a little Explanation of the Character c. But he does yet in the same Page declare himself that Passive Obedience may be layd aside under the Tyranny of a Popish Succession That is to say It is Lawfull for Protestant Subjects to Resist a Popish Prince in the Actuall Possession of his Authority and Government For so he expounds himself P. 27. upon the word Successor No man says he truly is either Heir or Successor till he Inherits and Succeeds And then he palliates the matter over again pag. 31. whatsoever Passive Obedience says he is due to our Native Prince we have none due to a Forreign Invader and 't is a plain case that the Popes Supremacy entring into England is an Invading and Usurping Regality How the Opinion of a Prince shall discharge Subjects of their Obedience to Laws I cannot imagine Or by what Right one sort of People under the same Government shall pretend to Over-rule another in such a Case Or I would fain know whether upon the same Ground they may not alter the Form of the Government as well as destroy the Lawfull Successor Or in one word is not the Government already overthrown and all the Laws ipso