A FULL ANSWER To all the Popular Objections That have yet Appear'd For not Taking the Oath of ALLEGIANCE TO THEIR PRESENT MAJESTIES Particularly offer'd to the Consideration of all such of the DIVINES OF THE Church of ENGLAND And Others as are yet UNSATISFIED SHEWING Both from Scripture and the Laws of the Land the Reasonableness thereof and the Ruining Consequences both to the Nation and Themselves if not Complied with By a Divine of the Church of ENGLAND and Author of a late Treatise entituled A Resolution of certain Queries concerning Submission to the Present Government Licensed and Entred according to Order London Printed and are to be sold by R. Baldwin in the Old-Bailey 1689. A full ANSWER To all the Popular Objections That have yet Appear'd For not Taking the Oath of Allegiance TO THEIR Present MAJESTIES c. A REQUEST TO ALL Such as are yet Unresolved IN THE Case of Allegiance THere are few Men so ancient or wise who may not still improve their Judgments and be made sensible of their Errors and without shame do that which St. Augustin did to his great reputation make their Retractations The effects of the Prejudices and Prepossessions of the Mind are like those of the Disease of the Body called the Jaundice which represents things black or yellow according to its own distemper only that of the Mind is far more incurable than that of the Body It is with Men as with new Vessels whatever strong Liquors are first infused to them they still retain a smack and savour of them No Tyranny is with more difficulty cast off than the Prejudice and Prepossessions of such Principles by which we have been in our first Education captivated and dogmatized No less than a Miracle could divert St. Paul from that furious temper wherein he had been educated as a Pharisee To evidence the truth hereof I shall only instance in some learned and pious Men that have been educated in the Church of Rome who having been instructed from their youth that they ought to believe as the Church believes that their Church is guided by an Infallible Spirit that the Pope is Christ's Vicar and Plenipotentiary are prepared to receive and believe all the Dictates of that Church though contrary to the Scriptures to Reason and Sence with equal veneration as the written Word Hence it is that they swallow the Doctrines of the Popes Supremacy to depose one Prince and set up another as he shall see cause of his Infallibility in coining new Articles of Faith forbidding what Christ commanded and commanding what Christ forbid of Transubstantiation and Worshipping of Wafers and Images and offering more Prayers to the Virgin Mary than to God and their Saviour and some of them esteem her Milk of equal vertue with Christ's Blood and it is unaccountable how deaf they are to all those charming Arguments which from Scriture Reason and Sence have been irrefragably urged against them Now though the grandeur of that Church and the interest of some Men therein may thus captivate many yet I cannot nor can my Brethren impute this blind obedience and implicit belief of learned Men and such as are piously inclined to any thing more than to the prejudices of their Education And we cannot but think it their duty to search the Scriptures to consult their own Reason and the Arguments of such sober learned and pious Men as differ from them in such Doctrines Nor is it impossible but we who have been educated in the Church and Kingdom of England may have our Judgments captivated by some false Opinions and Principles concerning the Power of our Kings and the Allegiance of Subjects for the rectifying of which it is necessary to reflect on those times wherein we had our Education which I suppose was with many others as with my self about the Year 41 but with the most of my Brethren since that time whereof I shall give this brief account It is evident to all Men of sober principles that have had any true relation of the rise and progress of those unhappy Divisions and Wars that they were begun and continued by a factious and discontented Party under the vain pretences of the great danger that threatned our Religion and Liberties which War abating some groundless Fears and Jealousies occasioned by some unusual Acts of that best of Kings and the best are not free from all faults to which the iniquity of those times that reduced him to great exigence had necessitated him had no other cause but the ambition of some the discontent of others and the hopes of the Jesuits on one side and of other Sects on the other side to raise themselves by the ruine of the established Church to which that blessed Prince was so devoted as well as to the welfare of his Subjects both in respect to the Laws and Liberties that he sacrificed his Life for their preservation as by the event through the great mercy of God it proved to be for though that bloody War wrought great confusion and destruction both before and after the death of the Royal Martyr yet the dissention of his enemies occasioned the discovery of each others wicked designs and practices which are still in remembrance and abundantly justifie that gracious King as do also many gracious condescentions and overtures for peace against all their assaults and usurpations Wherefore when after divers confused revolutions it pleased God by a Miracle of Mercy to recal the Royal Family and to establish the King on his Throne the Church in its Rights and the People in their Liberties it is no wonder if some transports of Loyalty and Joy did carry the People to some degree of excess for the people had now before their eyes a lively Image of Charles the First in the meekness and mercifulness of Charles the Second And whereas the Parliaments under Charles the First had abridged him of a necessary Revenue that under Charles the Second granted him even above his desires and as event proved more then was consistent with the welfare of the Nation neither was the Clergy backward in their expressions of Loyalty who with Mephiboseth 2 Sam. 19.30 were content not only to part with some of their just Possessions to those that had usurped them but ready to say Yea let them take all for as much as my Lord the King is come again in peace to his own house And now it was that the Parliament prudently considering what Miseries the Nation endured by the fall of the Crown made it their chief work to re-adorn and fix that by inlarging the Revenue making new Statutes to secure the King's person against traiterous Conspiracies and requiring the people to declare that it was not lawful on any pretence whatsoever c. And divers things and persons did tempt the King to think himself an absolute Prince Finch an ancient Lawyer did attribute to the King all the Divine Perfections viz 1. That of Soveraignty All Lands being held
him he could never do his Prince service but if his Prince and Country should be afterward invaded by the conqueror that not only seeks to take away that life and liberty which he granted him but the lives and liberties of his Relations it may be lawful to defend himself by Arms against his conqueror notwithstanding his Oath which implied an offensive taking of Arms only for to what purpose were life and liberty granted for the present time if it should not be lawful to defend it when assaulted afterward After all my weak endeavours in a business out of my sphere I have reason to doubt that I shall not prevail with such persons as have withstood the declared judgment of that great Council to whom the cognizance of this Affair doth properly belong whose ability and integrity they cannot reasonably suspect Yet with what submission would I become a Petitioner to my Superiors on behalf of such of my Brethren as are known to be zealous Protestants of Consciences truly tender that fear an Oath Men that have strict Principles of Loyalty of pious and peaceable Lives and Conversations and whose number in the Nation is so few that they cannot be suspected of designing any disturbance to the Government may not some time and forbearance be indulged to such what if until a Convocation be called that they may be better infomed If any sort of Men deserve their Princes favour these are they and I pray God it may not be granted to Men of worse Principles But Cynthius aurem vellit I shall rather therefore expostulate farther with my Brethren Why should you not submit your private Judgments to the publick Judgment of the Nation What better Counsel could you chuse than what the Nation did chuse or what better Methods could they take to prevent Confusion They did not drive away the King by fighting against him neither did they fight for him that was their declared Enemy They set the Crown on the nearest in the Royal Line such as love our Nation and Religion Suppose the King had been actually dead and the Crown as it ought had immediately descended to the present Queen who considering the great trouble of the Administration thereof in such difficult times should have desired that the Administration might be committed to the present King who is every way qualified for it could such a Meet-help have been denied What Monsters of Ingratitude then are they who when that Great Prince took his life in his hands and parted with all to save our lives and all that we have if we shall refuse him that honor which without his running so great a hazard for us could we in Duty have denied it him I cannot think that either the Soveraignty of the Prince or the Allegiance of the Subjects do stamp such an indelible Character on them as can by no means be erazed I am not bound to take base Metal for currant Coin tho' it have the Royal Stamp and if when a Subject of England by reason of Poverty or Oppression goeth into France for his safety and subsistance and be enfranchised there his Allegiance to his former Prince doth cease What disparity of reason is there if a King of England having by Male administration made his Government uneasie and impacticable flies to France and becomes uncapable of governing and protecting his People to affirm that his Soveraignty and his Subjects Allegiance do cease together Once more we cannot but acknowledge that such an exchange of Princes as the hand of God and the People have made is a Blessing and no Robbery why then should we halt any longer between two Opinions whom we ought to follow If our present Soveraigns give us Protection it will be justly expected that we pay them our Allegiance If any think that the late King hath still a right why do they not declare for him a Neutrality in this Case is intolerable for tho' some few may think themselves obliged in Conscience by their former Oaths yet many others out of fear or hopes of interest or perhaps out of a secret affection to Popery may refuse to pay their Obedience to the present Government and our Governors not being able to discern and judge of the Consciences of Men will take all such Recusants for Enemies and that they that are not with them are against them and only wait for an opportunity to do them mischief and the People will be apt to condemn them for Papists in Masquerade For as the Historian says Non caret scrupulo societatis occultae qui manifesto facinori obviari definit He gives a just suspicion of a secret Confederacy that neglects to obviate an apparent Danger And then though deliverance should come such men cannot expect to partake of it for the Controversie now to be decided is like that which Cicero observeth between the Romans and Carthaginians Non an uter imperaret sed an uter esset Not which of the Kings shall Reign but which shall be Ruined And it would be a very ill requital to expose him again to ruine who once exposed himself to ruine that he might save us But I would ask the men of interest Cui bono what benefit they think to reap by hovering thus in the Air if you are Protestants can you think that the late King will preserve you in your Religion Laws and Liberties if you are Papists can you so depend on his crazy Life as to think that a Protestant Prince would not succeed and then by how much the more troublesom and triumphant you have been for a short time by so much the more will you be fettered by severe and just Laws that you may be so no more In a word they that in this juncture of Affairs will declare themselves friends to neither party do deserve to be declared enemies to both And as Livy says of Metius Suffetius who doubting of the event of the War between the Romans and Albans hovered at a distance with his Army until the Romans had gotten the victory That they condemned him to be torn in pieces with wild Horses The like is observed of Pub. Servilius Medium se gerendo nec plebis vetuit odium nec apud patres gratiam iniit by behaving himself as a Neuter in the Civil Wars of Rome thinking to retain the favour of the Senate and People he incurred the displeasure of both whereas Appius tho' he had taken the contrary party upon a mistake patribus mire fuit gratus was graciously reconciled and accepted of the Senate Therefore I conclude with Suetonius Quando alterum habiturus es inimicum aut socium jacienda est alea alterutri adherendum Seeing you must have one to be your Friend or your Enemy come to a resolution and adhere to him whom you chuse to make your Friend If after all that has been said be not satisfactory as to the Case of Allegiance to their present Majesties and the Voting the Crown vacant pray see the
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
believe the French League for introducing of Popery and Arbitrary Government is worse than an Infidel Object But the King forsook the Land because his Subjects had first forsaken him contrary to their Duty Ans The peoples duty was to be governed according to the Law which is the measure of their Obedience and they being sensible that the King's design was to subvert the Laws and to that end had armed Irish and English Papists contrary to Law they could not joyn with such men in such a design The Papists themselves alway opposed their Kings in the reigns of King John Henry the Third and others that would have submitted the Kingdom to the Pope And if the Subjects had fought for the King in this Cause they had fought for the Pope and for Slavery against the Crown and Dignity of the King against their Religion and Liberties and against the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which bound them pro posse as far as they were able to resist the Usurpations of the Pope by what means soever they should be introduced In brief let this Dilemma be considered either the King was forced to flye or else he deserted the Government willingly if he was forced then there was a Conquest and the Conqueror had right to what by lawful Arms he did obtain if he fled willingly then there was a renouncing of the Government that is an Abdication and so the Crown became void and our Allegiance to the late King ceased Object But the Subjects of England entred into an Association with the Prince and though they fought not yet were in Arms. Ans The Magna Charta granted by King John as well as the Law of Nature and confirmed by many Parliaments doth warrant such an Association for preserving their Lives Laws and Liberties when they are in imminent danger and such was the Case of England at that time Object If Subjects have Power to resist their Princes why then did the Primitive Martyrs cast away their Lives died Abner as a fool dieth Ans They had no Laws for establishing their Religion no Votes in choosing the Senators the Laws were against them and their Religion obliged them to submit to the present Powers who had an Absolute Command over them and if these Christians had such Oaths from their Emperors as we have it might be well questioned whether they would not have held him to the performance Object If we may not resist a King acting contrary to the Laws of God and Nature then neither when he acts contrary to the Laws of the Land. Answ The Laws of the Land do grant to Subjects more particular Rights and Liberties than the Law of God doth and the Law of God doth not destroy the Civil Constitutions of a Land which the People may claim and defend it is therefore observable that Queen Mary did not put any to Death for their Religion untill she had procured a Parliament that made void the Laws made on behalf of the Protestants and had reinforced the ancient Laws which were made in times of Popery and procured new ones against Protestants as Hereticks It is a strange account which Ecclesiastical Histories gives of the Primitive Christians that they were Candidati Martyris offered themselves to their Persecutors not only when they were accused and brought before Magistrates but when the Inimicum vulgus invaded them and they might have resisted such as had no Authority against them it was a Rule with Tertul. Quodcunque non licet in Imperatorem nec in quenquam licet By which Rule it was as unlawful to resist a Robber or Murtherer as the Emperor and in his opinion if the Emperor had been a Christian he might not have resisted any violent person but he was a Montanist and had his Errors as in matters of Doctrine so also of Fact as in his Account that the number of Christians were sufficient to have vanquished the whole Roman Empire that it was not lawful to fly in times of Persecution to which end he wrote a Tract De fuga c. which was contrary to our Saviours direction to his Disciples Matth. 10.23 And in truth if it be not lawful to resist a Persecutor neither is it lawful to fly when we are summoned to appear before a persecuting Magistrate for that is determined to be a kind of Resistance But the true Cause of the Non-resistance of the Primitve Christians was that which Tertul. observes Nos externi sumus We are Aliens from the Common-wealth of Rome they had no Laws no Votes in choosing the Senators but were accounted of as Out laws and Enemies to the Government by their Religion it was with them as with such Protestants as live under the Tyranny of the Pope who being apprehended and cast into the Inquisition had neither Power nor Right to defend themselves but it was their duty to give Testimony to the Truth by laying down their Lives for it They were under an Arbitrary Power in the nature of Slaves and Vassels and lookt on as Enemies to the Roman State being of a Religion contrary to what was established but we are Freemen that have our Religion and Properties established by Law and such as act contrary to the Government resist the Ordinance of God and oppose it and may be resisted And the Oaths by which we are obliged bind us primarily to the Government and to the Governours for the sake thereof and if the Government be not Arbitrary neither is our Allegiance due to one that would govern Arbitrarily So that suffering for the Faith of Christ is a distinct thing from suffering for the frame of the Government for if I may not resist I am overcome and yield consent to a change of the Government i. e. to an Arbitrary and Illegal Power contrary to the Constitution under wich I live and so promote the ends of an Oppressing and Usurping Governour and I cannot expect with comfort a Reward from God for casting away my own Life and endangering the Lives of many others when a Government is duely established God approves of it as his Ordinance and the People ought by all lawful means to preserve it for the Gospel of Christ doth no more destroy the priviledges of the People than of the Prince but if the Prince would destroy the Rights of the People they may contest them for in vain are Laws made and Liberties granted if they may not be defended And this may serve to answer the Objection concerning the behaviour of the Primitive Christians who as Bishop Abbot observed when they were armed with publick Laws and Priviledges under Constantine did not submit as when they lived under Dioclesian and Licinius but fought in their own Defence and would rather kill than be killed From the Death of Nero the Christians until Constantines Reign thought it a great happiness to injoy their Religion with Persecution they served the present Emperours fought their Battles and took the Military Oaths though the Emperor made
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