cum grano salis for if the Fine be immoderate or else he has not the Money then ready but either offers Security to pay it or else prays for some time and in the interim to stand upon his Recognizance in either of these Cases to commit for not paying the Fine into Court is not justifiable because it is to punish for not doing an Impossibility for Lex non legit ad impossibilia Secondly It is not justifiable because if the Fine be paid the Law is as much satisfied if it be paid five years hence as if it be paid then immediately into Court for the Law does not suppose that the most wealthy man does carry so much Money about him Thirdly It is very unreasonable because it does in a great part disable the person to pay the Fine for if he be a man that manages his own Affairs his Writings that are necessary to make the Security may be so dispos'd of that it will be difficult to come at them besides there being a necessity upon him to have the Money those of whom he is to have it will be very apt to hold him to harder terms for the World is so unnatural and brutish that one man is but too prone to make his Advantages upon the Misfortunes and Necessities of another and that Proverb Homo homini lupus is in no Case more true than in the business of Money ARGUMENTS AGAINST The Dispensing Power THAT which Sir M.H. Resolved by Lord Chancellor Egerton no Non obstante could dispense with the Law about Sale of Offices Coke 234. foresaw and prophecied is now fulfilled viz. That our Slavery whenever it happen'd was rather to be feared from the Twelve Redcoats in Westminster-ball than from 12000 standing Forces for this Opinion if from henceforward it shall be Law then has our Freedom received a dreadful Wound in the Head for we shall hold all our Rights and Properties but precariously even no longer than it is the King's pleasure to have it so But be it as it will and how clear soever it may appear to the Judges yet at present it does confound the Vnderstandings of all People besides because till now it has been hidden from the Eyes of our ablest Sages of the Law wrapt up in such Clouds and thick Darkness that the most discerning of them have not been able to pry into it and therefore it passes all our Understandings that this Sett of Judges who had not Law enough to employ them at the Bar before they were raised to the Bench should find out the Secret and give an Absolute Opinion for which there is not any president to be produced and therefore shrewdly to be suspected that it is not grounded upon Law no more than those Opinions were for which several Judges have been hanged The Law of England has ever been reputed to be as plain and intelligible as that of the Jews which was written on the Palms of their Hands save only when Judges are ignorant and needy and are assured that Parliaments are at a great distance and then only are such Opinions as those given for their Ignorance makes them assured their Poverty makes them leap before they look and when Parliaments seem very remote under that shelter they grow bold But it is to be hoped that such Opinions as these will pass for Law no longer than the Nation is govern'd without a Parliament which sooner or later will come as certain as that there will be a Day of Judgment It is strange that these Judges should understand so great a Mystery as this unless there be as great Vertue in a Judge's Gown as was in the Mantle of Elijah and if so how happens it that the same Spirit has not rested on those who have sate before them on the Bench but if a double Portion of that Excellent Spirit is rested upon our present Judges that they are able to dive into so great a Mystery as this and see so much further than any who have been before them surely they are also endowed with the Tongue of Angles and so can explain this matter to the Understandings of the People which in Duty they are bound to do or else in time with the price of their Heads they may come to give the true Reasons of this their Opinion 1. That the Kings of England are Soveraign Princes 2. That the Laws of England are the King's Laws 3. That therefore it is an incident inseparable Prerogative in the Kings of England as in all other Soveraign Princes to dispense with all Penal Laws in particular Cases and upon particular necessary Reasons 4. That of these Reasons and Necessities the King himself is the sole Judge and which is consequent thereupon 5. That this is not a Trust invested in or granted to the King but the ancient Remains of the Soveraign Power and Prerogative of the Kings of England which never was yet taken from them nor can be Therefore in this Case such Dispensation being pleaded by the Defendant and such Dispensation being allow'd by the Demurrer of the Plaintiff and this Dispensation appearing upon Record to come time enough to save the Defendant from the forfeiture Judgment ought to be given for the Defendant quod querens nil capiat per billam Soveraign Power is of a vast extent that is as much as unlimited and to which no Bounds is or can be set That the Kings of England in Parliament have a Soveraign Power is true that with the Consent and Concurrence of the Lords and Commons he may do what he will is without question and it is as certain that out of Parliament his Power is limited and confined within certain Bounds and Limits which he cannot pass without doing violence to Justice and the Laws for there are two Powers in the King the one in Parliament and that is Soveraign the other out of Parliament which may be directed and controuled by the former and therefore called Potestas subordinata pag. 10. Rights of the People p. 9. Argument of Property therefore his Power is Soveraign only sub modo for out of Parliament many of his Acts are not only questionable but void in themselves Rights of the Kingdom 83. for what he shall do against Law those Acts bind no more than if they were a Child's he cannot command one man to kill another he cannot pardon a common Nusance nor an Appeal at the suit of the Party And multitudes of the like Instances might be given for if the King's power out of Parliament was as great as in Parliament then there 's an end of the Policy of this Government and the Barons Wars was only to beat the Air. It is most certain that till these late days during which we have been so very much Frenchified Roads are called the King's Highway but the Freehold is in the Lord of the Soil and of the Profits growing there as Trees c. Terms of the Law 56. that
affirm that ours is perfect in comparison of any other Government in the World for if we consider those Nations that have Parliaments that Assembly is of little or no use to the People but to pass into Laws the Edicts of their King But God be praised our Parliament is of far greater use and advantage to us for there it is that our Grievances are redressed and Laws that by process of time are become useless or burthensome are repealed and new and profitable Laws and Statutes are made and in a word Barliaments to our Neighbours are their Burden but our great Happiness Secondly All manner of Taxes and Impositions are laid upon the People at the Will and Pleasure of the King But we can have no Tax imposed upon us but by our Consent in Parliament and there is this peculiar to us from the rest of the World That no English-man can be taxed for his Hand-labour whereas in other Countries and especially France every man pays for what he gets by his Labour In France every Labourer pays two parts of three to the King as if he get Six pence in a day Four pence is paid immediately to the King's Officer Thirdly In other Countries War and Peace is made by the King without consulting the People and they are chargeable to that War tho' made without their Consent or against their Interest So it is with us our King has the sole power of making War and Peace but the Sinews of War is in the People I mean Money and that they cannot part with but with our own Consent And although the Matter of War and Peace is an Arcanum Imperii and that no man as some say may pry into it save they to whom the King is pleased to communicate it Yet I conceive in this our Government where the People are so essential a part of it that they ought to be satisfied with the Ground and Reason of the War before they make themselves chargeable to it and the People are not bound to support every War that the King may engage in for methinks it 's all the reason in the World that a Man should be satisfied with the Cause before he part with his Money and I think that Man is very unworthy of the Honour to serve his Country in Parliament who shall give away the Peoples Money for any other thing but what shall be effectually for the good and advantage of the People and Nation Fourthly The Estates and Goods are taken from the People without assigning a Reason of it but only that it is the Mind of the King to have it so But here no Man can be deprived of his Estate or Goods but by due course of Law for Possession is that the Law is very tender of But although some say That the King's Commission may not be resisted in any case whatsoever I shall not argue that point because this is not a proper time for it and I hope we shall never have occasion to try it if it ever should happen I 'll lay the Blame at the door of his Ministers for our King is a merciful Prince and loves not such things Yet this I am sure cannot be denied That every Man's House is his Castle and may defend himself and his Goods against those that shall assault or molest him and I cannot believe that Man can be really a Friend either to his King or Country but rather does it out of some sinister end or to curry Favour with the Court that shall extol the King's Prerogative above the Laws because this Doctrine if true quite destroys the Fundamentals of our Government for if ever you set the King above Laws then it must necessarily follow that the King derives his Title to the Crown of England not from the Laws of England but from something else but I am sure that man does the King no great Service who puts the King to seek his Title to the Crown of England any where else than from the Laws of England To set the King above all Law but that of his own Will does so directly tax the Justice of God Almighty that I cannot believe him to be a good Christian that is of that Opinion Fifthly In other Countries the Subjects are Imprisoned and Hanged at the Command of the King without any other Reason given But none of us can be deprived of Life Limb or Liberty but for some Offence first committed against some known Law Sixthly Our Neighbours are pressed and forced to serve in foreign Countries against their Wills and are hanged for refusing Our King may press any of us for the defence of the Nation but I never heard that the King could press any English-man to serve beyond the Seas Seventhly In other Countries though the King or his Officers commit never so many or great Outrages and Cruelties upon the People yet have the People no Remedy against either the King or his Officers But with us though our Law says That the King can do no Wrong yet his Officers and Ministers may and if any Man shall do an unlawful thing though by the King's Command that man is accountable to the People for it and it is the Right of every English-man to call him to account for if neither the King nor his Officers are answerable for a breach of the Laws then our Laws signifie nothing and are but a dead Letter and we no better than Slaves These Particulars I have now mentioned I suppose may be sufficient to convince any reasonable man of the Excellency of our Government I shall not proceed further into Particulars or discourse how and with what Caution all our Laws are made and how Justice is administred in all Cases for I should not only weary you but want time to finish so great a Work therefore I shall say this in part That in no Government in the World the People live with such Liberty and Security of what we enjoy when the Laws are duly observed and followed as we do no Prince more safe and happy than ours when he holds to the Laws and it is the mutual Interest of both King and People to maintain the Laws It is the Interest of the People to support the King in his Legal Prerogative and it is the Interest of the King to preserve the People in their due Rights and Liberties for the Happiness of one is bound up in the Welfare of the other There is a certain ballance betwixt the King's Prerogative and the Peoples Properties and he that endeavours to turn the Scales to either side does in effect endeavour the destruction of both for the Interest of the King and People are so interwoven that we cannot separate or distinguish one from the other In a word our Government is both the Envy and Admiration of our Neighbours But Gentlemen notwithstanding our excellent frame of Government yet I find that many are impatient under it and thirst extreamly after that which is called a Common
Parliaments are discontinued that mutual Complacency is lost which otherwise the constitution of the Government does naturally produce betwixt King and People Changes seldom happen for the better and therefore the People will not be much delighted with the discontinuance of Parliaments because a more mild and equal way of governing has not yet been found out than what is prescribed by Magna Charta and though in this Change of Government the advantage should fall on the Peoples side yet they may suspect that there is Death in the Pot till it has proved it self by its effects because by how much the advantage is on their part by so much must the Kings Inches be pared and a desire to advance rather than restrain their Power is an Infirmity to which Kings as well as other Men are subject And those Arbitrary Symptoms which ever do precede the laying aside of Parliaments are no less than so many demonstrations that it must end in a Despotick Power For there are several things which are only Cognizable in Parliament and then this Dilemma will follow either that there must be a failer in Justice or if any other Court or Authority do hold Jurisdiction of them the whole proceeding would be Arbitrary As for Example The giving of Money the Repeal of Old Laws or Enacting of new Statutes and the last resort of Justice in Case of Appeals or Impeachments for should those or any of them be treated of but in Parliament the Government would thereby become intirely Despotick When a King attempts to find out a new way of governing it s an undeniable Argument that he is weary of the Old one and that King of England who is uneasie with the Ancient way of governing will never be pleased with any but what gives up all into his hands When any King of England has try'd the Experiment he has found in the Issue that he had better to have let it alone For whenever he has Wrestled with the People has in the Conclusion got the fall and often been crushed by it Then next to this like a younger Brother of the same ill Family and bears the second ill Character to the laying aside of Parliaments is when the Privy Council is turned into a Cabinet the former being only kept up for a shew and to give a Reputation to the Advices and Proceedings of the latter A Cabinet Council may at first seem but a small Evil yet it conceives and brings forth many Ugly Consequences For it is ever the fore-runner of the neglect of Parliaments which thing alone is sufficient to give the People an utter dislike of it And besides the King does hereby forbid all others but those of the Cabinet either to come near him or give him any Advice For what incouragement has any other of the Privy Council to offer their Sence considering that if it does not jump with that of the Cabinet their Advice shall not only be rejected but every thing that fell from them will be improved as much as it can bear to their disadvantage and therefore in a short time they will as much undervalue the Attendance at the Council-Board as the King does their Advice unless they are more fond of the bare Name of a Privy Councillor than they are of their Reputation for what greater slight can be put upon Men of Sense and Honour than to be used only as a Foil to set off the Transactions of other Persons not so deserving and worthy as themselves A Cabinet Council keeps the King in the dark he can hear but one side and that the wrong one too for honest Men seldom come there for if any such thing be proposed unto them unless they are less Wise than Honest Their Answer will be That in the multitude of Councillors is the King's safety When a King has entered a Cabinet Council he 'll hardly come out the same Man his very Nature and Disposition will be changed by the constant Converse and Insinuations of those that he calls into that place and so of a hopeful Successor may become a very indifferent King So great is the force of frequent and private Conversation He was a Wise Man who said That in governing the way as well as the end ought to be clear From whence no Argument can be rais'd for a Cabinet Council the methods of that being obscure and uncertain and in no sort consistent with the honest and plain way of this or any other popular Government for reason of State is not found in our Law Books or Statutes and the Arcana imperii mentioned by such as write of the Politicks are adapted for Governments where will rather than any known and certain Law is the measure of it for though the King of England may be never so well appized in the use of them yet he is never so much out of his way as when he puts that knowledge into practice and therefore plain and open Councils are the least suspected best understood and approved an honest man after he has told his Story is not afraid to let any man else be heard what he says is like true Mettal that will abide the touch Whereas the Advice of Knaves like Thieves or Beasts of Prey lurks in holes and shrouds it self under the Darkness is afraid to come near the Light because it will not indure the day And there is this further difference betwixt open and private advice for the former seldom fails and the latter as seldom meets with success This close way of giving and taking advice is ever attended with the Kings retiring from the sight of his People being seldom seen and more difficult to be spoke with For it is the Policy of such as have him in their hands to keep him as much as they can within their own Circle because it 's the surest way to maintain the ground they have got and to gain what they want But when a King thus hides himself it is because he is either ashamed or afraid to be seen and when he is shy of being seen the People in a short time will as little value the sight of him as he is willing to expose himself to view To be quick of dispatch and easie of access is the Character of a right States-Man and no Prince ever lost ground by practising it himself for the contrary Method ruines Friendship amongst private Persons and a King will quickly find the ill Effects of it It may be objected that familiarity breeds contempt but that King is very ill skilled in Mediums who is ignorant of the time and manner of receiving his Subjects so as to dismiss them from his presence with content and satisfaction without loosing that due distance that ought to be kept betwixt him and them And the lowest condescentions and meanest familiarity cannot loose a Prince so much as too much retiredness or being over-reserved And this retiredness like Twins born together is usually attended with such a slowness
two late Kings we had a mighty cry for the Church and Loyalty but were indeed only disguises for the bringing in of Popery and Slavery by reason that nothing can be more effectual for the bringing in of Popery than the dividing of Protestants and nothing can make us more arrantly Slaves than the subjugation of us to the Kings will For the rule then laid down was this that every man that did not come up to every Ceremony of the Church of England tho he professed the Doctrine of it was not to be deemed a good Protestant but to be persecuted and treated as an Enemy to the Publick And in the next place that he only was a Loyal man that did sincerely believe that we must in all cases submit to the King's will and was not in any case to be opposed or resisted and tho he never so openly violated the known Laws yet we were only to defend our selves with Prayers and Tears This notion prevailed with a great many for some time yet it was not the force of reason that gave it so much reputation but Rewards and Preferments on the one hand and Frowns and Displeasure of those in power on the other together with all the other incouragements and advantages that the Government could give it and so might any thing tho never so nonsensical obtain for a while when so supported But let it be fairly reasoned and it will appear that nothing is more distructive to the end of Government than such an unlimited power Considering with all due respect to Kings that they have their frailties and passions as well as other men I cannot believe that he who is the most indulgent of Arbitrary Power can be of opinion that God Almighty made mankind to be miserable and if so how can that and the absolute power of Kings be reconciled for what can render this life more miserable than to be subject to the passions of a man who is restrained by no rules but that of his Will nor does it seem to be consistent with the goodness and justice of God to subject a people to such a condition it 's most plain that he has not left Kings so at large in the exercise of their power and that what power he has given them was to protect and not to oppress his Subjects for otherwise wherefore do we find such repeated examples of God's displeasure against those Kings that have tyrannized it over their Subjects God is a God of Order and has ordained that Order and Peace shall be the end of every Government but is the way to obtain this by giving scope to the unruly passions of a man It 's the King's protection that gives him a right to our subjection for when he denys his protection we may withdraw our obedience and when the King's protection or the Subjects obedience ceases nothing but confusion can ensue If God had ordained that every people should be subject to the will of their Kings he would either have expresly revealed his pleasure therein or discovered it to us by the light of Nature But no such revealed Will is to be found and the light of nature tells us that nothing is more unreasonable than such a power But put the case that King 's are made by Gods immediate direction yet it is scarcely less than blasphemy to conceive that where he does so delegate his power that their actions shall not have such a temperament of Wisdom Mercy and Justice as in some measure to resemble him whom they represent for otherwise it would make him the Author of Confusion yet in our late times all the infringements of the Laws that were made by those two Kings was called a divine right And in the next place he would have provided some means by which the people should have known what would be the Kings Will for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression for otherwise the people would have been in a sad case For they could not in such a case be allowed the use of their reason neither could they know when they were in the right for whilst they do a thing with never so much Reason and Justice the King's fancy may make it Criminal and indeed to govern a people any other way than by known and certain Laws is to suppose mankind to be a compamy of Brutes and not reasonable Creatures It 's blasphemy to suppose that any of God's commands are unjust and yet has he given us express rules to be the measure of our obedience to him and can it then be supposed that he has subjected us to the will of our fellow Creature when he would not require from us such a blind obedience to be paid to himself unless we can believe that the ways and commands of a King are more equal and just than God's If there was a People before there was a King as no doubt there was then will it be a difficult undertaking to prove that Kings have a just right to Arbitrary Power and I know of nothing that savours more of nonsence than to suppose a King without a people If the power of Kings is so unlimited wherefore did Solomon say that oppression would make a wise man made For where I have a right it 's lawful for me to make use of it and therefore oppression does imply that what is done is against right The standing body of our Laws is a clear proof that the power of our Kings is limited How come we by Municipal Laws if we must submit to their will for who ever looks into our Constitution will find that it is not built upon an Arbitrary Foundation but directly calculated to make us a free people But if it shall be answer'd me that this Government was the work of some King and that he directed the form of our Constitution I do in the first place desire to know who that King was and in what Age he lived and in the next place I say that he was extremely Wise and Just and these two other consequences will follow from thence First That that King did believe that it was not so just and reasonable to govern by his Will as by those rules which the Law has prescribed that is that it was more reasonable that the Law should controul his Will rather than that his Will should over-rule the Law Secondly That every King that governs more by his Will he is so much less Wise and Just than that King who was the moulder of our Constitution The more effectual preservation of the publick Peace is the only pretence that a King of England can have for Governing by his Will but if it be out of that regard he will find that the Law has provided safer and juster in that case than his Wit can invent for it 's a rule in our Law that no body is wiser than the Laws But too many instances have made it plain that no King ever desired to rule
without the Law but that he might imploy his power to an ill end and those then that incourage arbitrary inclinations in their Prince are guilty of all the Oppression and Violence that he shall commit The Law is the best hold both of King and people for it 's their mutual and only interest which soever of them lets it go will have much ado to preserve themselves for never did any stand long that parted with it when the King forsakes the Law he ceases to be King and makes room for another that is more righteous than himself and therefore because he endeavoured to set his will above the Law was the late King James set aside and I am perswaded with all the Justice in the World Thus I have indeavoured in a few words to detect the unreasonableness of this arbitrary Doctrine and indeed the great Asserters of it at last discovered what was the true principle that guided them they had very honestly prescribed a rule for others which they could not practice themselves like the Pharisees who were reproved by our Saviour for laying heavy burdens upon others that they would not touch themselves Our Loyal men were very well pleased with arbitrary power whilst they might be imployed and lord it over their neighbours they little dreamt that the wheel might go round for no sooner did they see that this power was like to be exercised upon themselves but they changed their note all their encomiums upon King James were turned into the most bitter invectives that their wit could invent and their threatnings which they used to breath out against the Dissenters were turned into words of Vnity and Reconciliation I will not affirm that the mercenary principle of preferment made them so zealous for Prerogative but this is most certain their zeal never abated till they saw that other people were like to come into play and then they were as forward as any to explode the Doctrine of Non-resistance and to wish success to the Prince of Orange But since King William does not think fit to employ them nothing will serve their turn but King James And because they cannot for shame talk any more of their unshaken Loyalty they have wholly laid aside that word and now their mouths are filled with nothing but the Church and considering that they refuse the Oaths and indeavour to throw all the contempt they can upon this Government therefore in their sense the Church and this Government are two distinct interests and King James a profest bigotted Papist is more likely to support the Church than King William who is a Protestant and thus they demonstrate their care for the Church and if it be not because King William won't put them into imployment I can't imagine why they should be so averse to him unless it is because his Government is more Just and Mild and that he Governs more by the Laws than any of the four last Kings Gentlemen Your inclinations to the Government is not to be question'd yet in regard it has been indeavoured to be so much traduced it may not be improper to say some thing of it Every King of England receiving and holds his Crown upon condition to Govern according to the known and approved Laws of Land for by what means soever he may come to the Crown he can hold it by no other means than by making the Laws the measure of his Power and when he forsakes that good old way he ceases to be King and Male Administration is a forfeiture of his Crown This was the opinion of our forefathers as appears by the many instances of those Kings that have been Deposed for their evil Government And those who have succeeded them have still been acknowledged and obeyed as rightful and lawful tho the other were alive For when the Throne is vacant it naturally comes into the hands of the people because the original dispose and gift of the Crown was from them therefore whoever they place upon the Throne has as good a right to be there as the first King that wore the Crown No Government can want a power to help it self and therefore when the King has set his will above the Laws what other means has the people left but their Arms for nothing can oppose Force but Force Prayers and Tears are our proper applications to God Almighty but signifie but little with an Arbitrary Prince who will be rather confirmed in his purposes when he finds that he is like to meet with no other opposition But this opposing the King with Arms is not justifiable for every wrong step or miscarriage of the Prince save only in cases of extremity when it 's obvious to every man that the King has cast off his affection to the Common Good and sets up his will in the place of the Law and thereby rendered himself unmeet to sway the Scepter For this reason was King James deposed and therefore is this present Government justified to the last degree by very good reason and the constant practice of our Fore-fathers in the like case For long before King Charles dyed the Nation was very apprehensive of the mischief they should be exsposed to if in case the Duke of York should get into the Throne and he had not long been in possession of the Crown before he convinced the world that those jeers and apprehensions were not groundless for he quickly became so exorbitant in the exercise of his power that the Nation grew very uneasie under him where upon the Duke of Monmouth landed in order to deliver us from that which the Nation had so much cause to fear and it did not please God to give him success Yet I am perswaded it was not by reason of the justness of King James 's Cause that God permitted him to prevail for some years but that he might fill up the Measure of his Iniquities and all the Earth might see how justly he was Deposed To recount the particulars of his Male-Administration would take up too much of your time and therefore I will only say this in short That he had so notoriously broken the Constitution of this Government to set up Popery and Slavery that the Nation was necessitated to rise in Arms and by as good right did they take the Diadem from his Head as he ever had to claim it for he having rendered himself unmeet to sway the Scepter the Crown thereby fell into the hands of the people and where then could they so well and properly dispose of it as to set it on his Head that so generously and opportunely came in to our assistance at a time when the Nation lay gasping and just ready to expire with the weight of Popery and Arbitrary Power What horrible unthankfulness to God and ingratitude to King William is every man professing the Protestant Religion guilty of who is disatisfied with the present Government For I would ask any of them what else could have been done to bring
distinctly besides they are different in the manner of Proof for that which is necessary to prove the one does in no sort prove the other and furthermore the one may be effected and the other never so much as intended or designed as that the King may be Murdered and no War levyed nor intended And moreover in the one Case it is Treason as well to intend as to execute it without relation to or being joyned with any thing else but it is not so in the other for it is Treason absolutely in it self as well to compass the Kings Death as to Kill him But an Intention to Levy War and the doing of all things in order to it is not Treason unless the War be levyed except by Misplication or Inference and thus much may serve to prove that they are distinct Species of Treason As to the Fourth No doubt that every Statute is to be construed most strictly to restrain the Mischief against which it was enacted For the Uninterrupted course of all Judgments and Resolutions have been accordingly and nothing can more directly thwart common Sence than to make it otherwise and therefore if the State be absolute the more forcibly that it is construed to restrain the Mischief the more truly is the intent of the Statute pursued for how shall any evil be supprest if the remedy must be applyed but by halves For the Law would then be rather a Mockery than a means to redress the Mischief if it shall not be taken most strongly against it either it is or it is not a restraint of the Evil if it is not why was it made If it is It must be understood in that Sence by which the Mischief or Evil may be effectually prevented and suppressed As to the Fifth The Answer will be best understood by Considering first the Significations of these two words apart Viz. Provably and Overt Provably Signifies To prove or make good by Evidence Argument Reason or Testimony Overt has all these Significations open clear plain apparent manifest notorious evident known undoubted certain perspicuous This then being the Significations of those Words what then can follow more Naturally than that to be provably attainted by Over Deed is that the Fact must not only be direct apparent and notorious to the point but it must also be proved clearly evidently plainly and perspicuously void of all doubt or obscurity and those two Words being taken together do the better Expound each other and seem to be choice Words culled out by the penners of that Statute as the most expressive against all Implications and Inferences which might be made in Case of Treason These things being premised which are as easily proved as alledged there will remain very little for them to maintain their Opinion who say That a Conspiracy to Levy War is an Overt Act of compassing the Death of the King The things which are commonly and chiefly urged for that Opinion are these two First It would be of dangerous consequence if a Conspiracy to Levy War may not be interpreted an Overt Act of Compassing the King's Death because there is no means left to prevent it and the Mischiefs attending it when the War is Levyed Secondly If a War be levyed the Death of the King must needs be intended and will certainly ensue if the Rebels prevail In answer to these it may be replyed That the one of them is but a bare Objection and that the other is no substantial Argument because it begs the Question and then surely that must be a feeble Opinion that has no better a Foundation But a more particular answer to them will discover the Sandy Foundation upon which this Opinion is built And it will be more proper to begin with the Second because in giving an answer to that the other will in a great measure receive an Answer also Therefore as to the Second It may be observed that the Death of the King is made so certain and necessary a Consequence of Levying of War that by reason of that certainty a Conspiracy to Levy War is an Over Act of Compassing the Kings Death Now therefore if that certainty will not hold but that many Cases may be put and Instances produced wherein the Kings Death is not intended nor did it ensue upon the prevailing of the Party then is the whole weight and strength of that Argument of None Effect The Hugonots in France have heretofore Assembled together in Arms and tho' they repeated it several times yet in which of those Occasions does appear either by the cause of their coming together in that manner or by the issue of it that it was Levelled at the Kings Life No the Cause of their rising in Arms was for the asserting of their Religion and just Rights for as soon as their Reasonable Demands were satisfyed they laid down their Arms more willingly than they took them up neither did they attempt any thing against the Kings Life when he was in their power but after they were answered in those things to which they had Right both by the Laws of Nature and the Government immediately they returned home in peace and upon all other occasions proved the most firm and Loval Subjects of all that Kings Dominions and as this present King of France must witness for them if he will do them Justice If the Protestants in France should at this time take up Arms upon so just a provocation as they now have it would be very senceless to suppose that they Levy'd the War with a principal Design to Murder the King and not for the Defence of themselves and their Rights which are so inhumanly and against all Law and Justice at the same time invaded and ravisht from them Story is full of like Cases and Instances to this but to speak more particularly to England What was the Barons Wars the answer to which must be that they took up Arms to assert their Rights and Liberties which the King contrary to his Oath withheld from them and that it lasted near 40 Years yet the Kings Death was never intended nor his Life in any danger for as soon as their just demands were answered they put up their Swords and every man returned home and pray'd for the life of the King And out of English Story what one instance can be produced where the cause of War was declared to be against the Kings life or if that party prevailed the King was put to death by their general consent and approbation For tho' it be true that there are some instances where they have been Murdered after the War yet it is also as true that it was by private Assacination and not by the consent and privity of those who levyed the War for all those that were concerned in the Murder were condemned and executed for it as Traitors as in the Case of Edw. 2d and Richard 2d And as for that of Charles the First which is so much pressed and urged
considering that Popery was so long professed in this Nation To that a short Answer will serve That the Pope's Authority was never establish'd here by Law altho' he was allowed many things by reason of the Superstition and Blindness that then overspread this Island yet the King and Parliament could never agree to give him any power by Law nay when he grew immodest in his Encroachments upon the Church they made Laws to restrain him but the Truth is it was the Resolution of the Parliament and especially of the Lords that protected the Nation against the Pope but if Popery should now come in we should have it to all intents and purposes for it would possess both Church and State it must have all Q. Marys days are a sufficient Warning what we must expect from a Popish Successor and how far their Promises are to be relyed on for by the assistance of the Men of Norfolk and Suffolk it was that she did her business and what Promises did she make to them not to make any alteration in Religion and said many other fine things yet as soon as she was setled on the Throne the first thing she did was to alter Religion with the greatest violence and effusion of Blood that was possible and these Men of Suffolk and Norfolk felt the first stroke of her Hand and perhaps the greatest heat of her Fury But I have too far digressed from my first Argument which is That if Protection from the King is not given to his Subjects or Obedience in the Subjects is not paid to the King then if one side fail the other is discharged and the Condition being broken the Obligation is void And this was the reason why Vortigern the Saxon King was deposed by his Lords for he was grown too friendly to Heugist the Dane and the Lords perceiving that he intended to betray the Land to him they to prevent the Common Destruction and because by this practice he had absolved them of their Allegiance therefore they deposed him and set up his Son Vortimer because he was a true lover of his Country There are several other Instances of the like nature which would be needless to be cited because I should rather amuse than satisfie you of the Truth should I recount them all In the next place I do conceive that the King until he be Crowned is not so much King to all intents and purposes as he is after he is Crowned for if the crowning of the King be but a meer Ceremony or Compliment of State and not essential in giving him a Right to the Allegiance of the Subject then certainly no King of England would be troubled with the Ceremony of being formally crowned because then there will lye no Obligation upon him to take the Coronation Oath and so he may be more at liberty to act according to his Will because his Conscience will not be clogged with the weight of so solemn an Oath and then with less Infamy and Reflection he may suspend or pervert the Laws and therefore with submission to better Judgments I am not convinced that the King whilst he is uncrowned has that Right in our Allegiance as he has after that the Crown is set upon his Head in the same way that it ought to be done for before the Crown is set upon his Head by the Archbishop or other person appointed to do it the Nobility and People are asked if they will do their Homage and Service to him which by the way implies that the People are at liberty in the thing and that if he be Crowned it is by their Leave and Election then if the People consent the King takes the Coronation Oath which is to preserve the Church our Laws Liberties and Properties and to administer Justice indifferently and thus when he has Sworn to us the Crown is immediately put upon his Head and then the Nobility and People do their Homage to him and according to this has been the Practice ever since there were Kings in England And I believe there is scarcely an Instance where the People ever swore to the King before be had taken his Oath to them If there be any such President it is to be look'd upon as irregular and not to be a Direction to us for it is not impossible but such a thing may happen but however is it reasonable that one or two Instances shall be sufficient to invalid a Practice of several hundred years to the contrary And is it not a piece of nonsence that we should adventure our Religion and Properties and all we have in the Hand of him that for ought we know has an Obligation on him to ruine or give us up to a Foreigner and not in the first place to take Security from him that he will defend and do us right before we repose so great a Trust in him for otherwise such Confusion and such Contradictions would follow that the Wit of Man cannot invent how to salve them But I acknowledge there are some Instances where the People have sworn to the Succession in the life-time of the Father and thence some do inferr that the King is entitled to our Allegiance before the Crown is set on his Head but this under correction will not hold for it does not appear but that the intended Successor swore to them also at the same time and it is very probable he did yet if he did not it cannot thence be concluded that the King has Right to our Allegiance before he is Crowned for whenever it happen'd that the Successor was sworn to in the life-time of his Father if afterwards he came to the Crown he took the Coronation Oath before the People swore Allegiance to him And therefore it is very plain that an Oath taken to the Successor in the life-time of his Father is nothing more but a declaring the good liking they have of the Successor and that if in case he will promise to defend them and their Properties when his Father or Predecessor dies they will elect him for their King as possibly it might now fall out if in case the Duke of Monmouth were legitimate Don't you think that the People would be very inclinable to swear to his Succession next after the King And I believe you will never find it done but when the King had the Hearts of the People or out of the hopes they had in the Successor for English Men if the King pleases them he may have all they have even to their Skins as a wise man said If an English King will be kind to the People he can never want their Heads Hands and Purses and therefore it is that in the most peaceable and tranquil times that ever the Land saw when King and People had a mutual Confidence of each other we find things done by the King that are more irregular in those times of agreement than was done in times of greater confusion and the reason is because
Men so it cannot be imagin'd that the Law has left Men to so wild a Justice as is guided by Passion and Affection for it had been so great a Defect in the Constitution of this Government that long before this it would have been reform'd And as it is most clear that they are thus restrain'd so those bounds and limits are no less known to them that are acquainted with the Law there are two things which have heretofore been look'd upon as very good Guides 1st What has formerly been expresly done in the like Case 2ly For want of such particular Direction then to consider that which comes the nearest to it and so proportionably to add or abate as the manner and circumstance of the Case do require These were thought very good and safe Directions till it was declared and ever since has been practised in the King's Bench that they did not regard Presidents but would make them and for ought that I can learn or find this of my Lord Devonshire is an Original What Obscurity soever may be pretended in other Cases yet in this the Law has given so positive and plain a Direction that it seems very strange how they came to lay a Fine of 30000 l. upon my Lord Devonshire The Court of Starchamber was taken away because of the unmeasurable Fines which it impos'd which alone was a plain and direct prohibition for any other Court to do the like for otherwise the Mischief remain'd for what Advantage was it to the Nation if it had not been wholly supprest the shifting of Hands gave the People no Ease in the Burden that lay upon them it was all one whether the Starchamber or King's Bench did crush them by immoderate Fines But to put all out of dispute the Statute 17 Car. says expresly That from henceforth no Court Council or place of Judicature shall be erected ordained constituted or appointed within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales which shall have use or exercise the same or the like Jurisdiction as is or hath been used practised or exercised in the said Court of Starchamber And this was upon very good reason because those great Fines imposed in that Court were inconsistent with the Law of England which is a Law of Mercy and concludes every Fine which is left at discretion with Salvo Contenimento If the Fines imposed in the Starchamber were an intolerable Burden to the Subject and the means to introduce an Arbitrary Power and Government as that Statute recites the like proceeding in the King's Bench can be no less grievous and must produce the same Evil. Laws that are made upon new occasions or sudden immergencies the Reason upon which they were made may cease and consequently they do cease also but Laws that are grounded upon the ancient Principles of the Government cannot cease because the Reason of them will ever continue and this Statute of 17 Car. being such no doubt holds good and is now in as much force as the first moment in which it was made and therefore this Fine imposed on my Lord Devonshire is in open defiance of that Statute I think no man can altogether excuse my Lord Devonshire for my part I don 't but think it was a very inconsiderate rash act and I believe the Indiscretion of it abstracted from the Fine is a very sensible trouble to him yet if those things were wanting which may be urg'd in his excuse the Offence and Punishment don't seem to bear proportion Could not the Merits of his Father be laid in the balance nor the Surprize of meeting Coll. Culpepper for my Lord having been abused by him a man of so great Courage and Honour as my Lord Devonshire must needs feel and remember it a long time having received no satisfaction or reparation made him for it but if there were nothing of this in the Case could all that may be said to alleviate his Offence be urg'd against him with a double weight were the Circumstances of the Fact as foul and aggravating as the Malice of his Enemies could wish yet surely a less Fine might have serv'd for the Law casts in a great many grains of Mercy into every Judgment and has ever look'd upon a over-rigid prosecution of the Guilty to be no less Tyranny than the prosecution of the Not guilty because it is Summum jus and has declar'd that to be Summa Injuria But besides all this I do conceive with submission that where the Law has intrusted the Judges with a power to fine it is in a much less degree than they have done in this Case First because the Law is very cautious whom and with what it does intrust it reposes a great confidence in the King yet in some cases his Acts are not regarded by it as the King can do no Ministerial Act a Commitment per speciale mandatum Dom. regis is a void Commitment Where there lies an Action in case of Wrong done to the Party the Acts of the King in those cases according to the old Law Phrase are to be holden for none Secondly Because Liberty is so precious in the eye of the Law it is of so tender a regard that it has reserv'd the whole dispose thereof to its own immediate direction and left no part of it to the Discretion of the Judges and what the Law will not suffer to be done directly it does forbid that it be done indirectly or by a side-wind and so consequently the Judges cannot impose a greater Fine than what the Party may be capable of paying immediately into Court but if the Judges may commit the Party to Prison till the Fine be paid and withal set so great a Fine as is impossible for the Party to pay into Court then it will depend upon the Judges pleasure whether he shall ever have his Liberty because the Fine may be such as he shall never be able to pay And thus every Man's Liberty is wrested out of the dispose of the Law and is stuck under the Girdle of the Judges Thirdly Because the Nation has an Interest in the Person of every particular Subject for every Man either one way or other is useful and serviceable in his Generation but by these intolerable Fines the Nation will frequently lose a Member and the Person that is Fin'd shall not only be disabled from doing his Part in the Common-wealth but also he and his Family will become a Burden to the Land especially if he be a man of no great Estate for the excessive Charge that attends a Confinement will quickly consume all that he has and then he and his Family must live upon Charity And thus the poor man will be doubly punish'd first to wear out his days in perpetual Imprisonment and secondly to see Himself and Family brought to a Morsel of Bread Fourthly Because in all great Cases and such as require a grievous Punishment the Law has in certain awarded the Judgment and next to Life
the Laws have been more frequently stiled or called the Laws of the Land than the King's Laws and therefore if the Denomination of them declares the right the King will be found to have no very strong Title But if they had constantly been called the King's Laws yet that is a very Sandy Foundation to build a power upon of suspending and dispensing with them at his pleasure Now if they are the King's Laws then he only made them but if the Lords and Commons also had their share in the contriving and making of them then that Advice and Consent of theirs gives them such a Title to an Interest in them that they cannot be changed or altered no more than they could be enacted without their Consent for nothing can destroy a thing but the same Power that made it and therefore unless the King alone be the same power that enacted the Laws they cannot be properly called his Laws so as that at his will and pleasure he may dispense with them But if the Laws were made and enacted by him only yet it does not follow that the King may dispense with the Laws when to him it shall seem meet for there is no King so absolute but may be limited Thus we see the Eastern Kings who were as absolute as any Princes upon Earth yet were limited and restrained by their own Promises and Acts. Even that great King Abasuerus who had Ruled over 127 Provinces when he had made a Decree he could not revoke change or dispense with it for the Writing which is written in the King's Name and sealed with the King's Ring may no man reverse Esth 8.8 no nor the King himself which is clear from that famous case of the Decree to destroy the Jews to reverse or suspend which it 's plain he wanted not Inclination and if ever would then have exerted his full power for he was prick'd on by all the Spurs and Inducements that could be in any case yet all he could do was to give the Jews leave to defend themselves therefore if those Heathen Kings were so bound by their Word and Laws of the Country it 's reasonable to suppose that Christian Princes should be as much tyed up by their Words and the Laws and if the King be bound by his Word and the Laws which he shall not pass then is he under the same obligation as if he had actually given his assent to every Law that is now in force because he has given his Word and taken an Oath to preserve and maintain all the Laws And it seems something strange to hear of a power to dispense with Penal Laws there being so late a Judgment against it the late King in Parliament disclaiming it and the whole Case is very remarkable for during the interval of a Parliament he grants a Declaration of Indulgence and at the meeting of the Parliament tells them Nothing of force or constraint brought him to make that Confession but the Truth was too evident to be denied he had done it and would stand by it and should be very angry with any man that should offer to disswade him against it Yet though he had thus braved the Parliament within ten days openly in Parliament he disclaimed it and confessed that he could not dispense with a General Law and had ordered the Seal to be pulled from the Declaration Surely the Case must be very plain that the King after he had justified the thing so solemnly yet should so suddenly eat his words and confess himself in the wrong and to that Parliament too which had almost unhinged the Government to please him which no doubt would have complied with him in it had it been less than to lift the Government quite off of the Hooks And indeed to say that the King can dispense with Penal Laws is nothing less than to dissolve the Government and resolve all into the King's Will and Pleasure for our Parliaments are then but a piece of Pageantry or Puppet-show because in a word the King can annihilate all that they shall do in many Ages all the Provisions that they shall make for the Good of the Nation are but airy notions and painted shews they are and they are not just as the King pleases Now if the King can do this to what purpose have several things been done what means the Statute de Prerog Regis 17 Ed. II for certainly it 's a thing of a much higher and transcendent nature to have power to dispense with all Penal Laws than to have the Preheminence of the Subjects in some particular cases only That he has it not in all originally is plain from that of Appeals for in case of Murder the Appeal at the suit of the Party was to be tryed before the Indictment which was the King's Suit and this was so till Henry VII's time when it was alter'd by Act of Parliament and this carries in it a great probability that there is something in England that is his Superiour but Bracton and Fleta say That Rex habet superieres in regno nempe Deum Legem Parliamentum Nay the Custom of the Mannor shall bind the King Statutes to prevent Fraud shall bind the King The King cannot give the Penalty of any Statute to any Subject he cannot pardon a common Nusance how manifestly preposterous is it then to suppose that the King can dispense with Penal Laws and is restrain'd in these and multitudes of other things of the like nature It has always been taken for Law that where the Subject has an Interest the King cannot pardon and therefore he cannot pardon one found guilty upon an Appeal at the Suit of the Party But if he can dispense with all Penal Laws he may also pardon where the Subject has an Interest and so consequently dispense with all Laws whatever and then no man's Title to his Estate is good nor can any man settle his Estate securely for Fines and Recoveries being now the means used in Settlements and those being directed by particular Acts of Parliament if therefore the King for some particular necessary Reasons shall think fit to suspend those Laws all the Settlements in England will be strangely confused and of how excellent a use upon occasion it may be to dispense with those Statutes which direct Fines and Recoveries is very easie to comprehend Now this power of dispensing seems to be of a very late date for Fortescue who wrote in Henry VI's time tells us That the Kings of England cannot alter nor change the Laws of his Realm at his pleasure and the reason he gives of it is because he governs his People by Power not only royal but also politick which is by such Laws as they themselves desire and gives a very pregnant Reason why the King cannot alter nor change the Laws because the Laws of Men are holy And he shews likewise That this Restraint is no diminution to his Power but does rather aggrandize him it
being a greater power in a Prince to be restrained by Law from oppressing than to have an absolute regal power Necessity is a very extensive thing unless it be limited to the Common Good and to be also such that it is observable by the People for otherwise ill Pretences will never want a Necessity for any Irregularity that they have an inclination to commit it and so it will prove the Handle for all the Evil that the Wit and Malice of Devils and Wicked Men can invent or which shall be committed under the Sun And this alone will serve to make the Power of Princes nearer to that of God than any other thing whatever The dispensing with the Laws on pretence of necessary Reasons was sufficiently laughed out of countenance in the case of Ship money which carried a more probable shew with it than the necessity of dispensing with the Laws to let Papists into Office for in that of Ship-money the Mâ—stery of Necessity was so palpably unfolded and discovered that it 's strange the same Trick should be played again so soon whilst the Memory of it is yet fresh It may as well be pretended that what is done for the sake of some few particular persons is for the Common Good and to pretend it's necessary to dispense with the Penal Laws to let Papists into Office for the Laws to keep Papists out of Office were made upon the greatest Reason that could be for by refusing to take the Oaths which are but a reasonable Security to the Government they do render themselves more than suspicious that they look upon themselves to be under another Jurisdiction but by their frequent Plots and Conspiracies they have made themselves the declared Enemies of the Government for they have been the Authors of all our Disturbances and the Fire that has lighted every Flame that has broke out in this Nation And therefore it 's highly reasonable that they should have no place in the Magistracy and the Government is very tender towards them that it suffers its professed Enemies to have any Benefit under it And therefore to dispense with the Laws that Papists may be let into Office if this Necessity is justifiable then may also any other that can be thought on to serve a present turn or occasion Government and Law says Plato is to preserve the buge and undigested lump of a Multitude and to bring all Disorder into proportion so as to become an Harmony And Aquinas says It is a rational Ordinance for the advancing of the Publick Good Government says another the end of it is to protect both King and People from Wrong and Violence Justitiae fruendae causa reges esse creatore says Bodin All others who have written of Government or given a definition of it do concurr with the sence of these that are quoted the sum of all which is this That the end of Government is for the Common Good of the several Societies of Men and therefore what is not for the Common Good is repugnant to the Government so that if a power to dispense with Penal Laws be not for the Common Good then cannot the King of right pretend to it which it cannot be because it manifestly tends to alter the Government and to give up all to the will and pleasure of the King Obj. But say some the Power of dispensing with the Penal Laws is not a Trust But that will be denied till one of these three things can be proved First That the King of England has begotten all his Subjects and so they are all Princes of the Blood Secondly That God Almighty in Holy Writ has set down what form of Government every People in the World shall live under Thirdly That this Government is exactly according to that Model in Holy Writ That a King begot all his Subjects is a thing never yet heard of no not so much as in a Romance The greatest Divines that have been could never yet find that any sort of Government was set down in Holy Writ as a Model to the several People that are under the Sun and the several forms of Government that there are in the World is an undeniable proof that God left every People the Jews excepted to model and frame their Government as it suited and agreed best with the Humor and Disposition of the People who were to live under it and therefore it will follow that the People of England did frame and chuse the Laws and Constitutions under which they were to live and be governed by and therefore it is undeniable that what Power soever the King can claim by Law is a Trust invested in and granted to him by the People and if so it cannot be supposed that they would give him such a power as to leave it to his discretion to dispose of all they had as to him should seem meet for thereby they would render themselves as ridiculous as Solomon's foolish Woman who pulls down her House with her Hands for Fortescue says That no Nation did ever of their own voluntary mind incorporate themselves into a Kingdom for any other intent but only to the end that they might with more safety than before maintain themselves and enjoy their Goods from such Misfortunes and Losses as they stood in fear of for no such power surely could have proceeded from them Fortesc 34. But suppose that the People had given the King such a power yet it being repugnant to the Common Good it seems to be void of it self for our Lawyers says If the King be deceived in his Grant he may revoke it If then the King may do it when it concerns some trivial thing à fortiori may the People revoke their Grant if deceived in so high a point as their All But further in this Case of dispensing with Penal Laws as it violently tends to give up all to the King's will and pleasure so if all were at his dispose â—et in regard that it does not answer to the end of Government he cannot pretend to it for the way of governing must be both right and clear as well as is the end but how that will appear in dispensing with the Laws is as dark as a Beggar 's Pedigree For Lex fecit regem A King is given for the Kingdom and not the Kingdom for the King says St. Thomas And Fortesoue says In a Body-politick the intent of the People is the first living thing having within it Blood That is to say politick Provision for the Utility and Wealth of the same People which it dealeth forth and imparteth as well to the Head as to all the Members of the same Body whereby the Body is nourished and maintained And he says further That a King who rules by Power politick receives his Power from the People If it be objected That many things are left to his Discretion tho' it be great yet that Discretion must be guided by Law for Discretion and Law should be concomitant
Edgar Ethling who had a clearer Title by descent swore Allegiance to him As to the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-resistance there is nothing is so neat an Emblem of it as an Ass and nothing sounds nearer to Nonsence for if in any thing I have a Right to deprive me of it either by Force or Fraud must be confess'd to be a Wrong and Wrong implies a Right to defend and therefore the Law calls every man's House his Castle and his Goods his own Nay even bare Possession is a good Title but if I may not defend these I have no Right to them and if not in them I have as little in my Person or Life But I am perswaded that they who set this Doctrine on foot at least the greater number of them who have been instrumental in propagating of it either did not understand it or else helped it forward in hopes of being well rewarded for their Pains for it is found by Experience that they understood the Practice of it very ill for when the Bishops were clapp'd up in the Tower none cried out so much against King James and arraign'd his Proceedings so much as they that had been the greatest Asserters of this Doctrine But to make this a little plainer I would only ask them this Question that is What is the measure of our Allegiance or Obedience for it is either the King's Will or the Law and the first point of Obedience is to know the Will of the Law-giver and therefore if they say it is the King's Will I do presume to answer That cannot be the Measure of our Obedience because of the uncertainty of it and 2ly Because he may command contrary things which Rational Creatures cannot be bound to in point of their Obedience If then they say it is the Law then it will follow that the Power of the King is limited and when he exceeds the Limits he assumes a Power which neither God Nature nor the Government invested him with and therefore of right he may in such Cases be resisted The Point is very short either the King is limited in his Power or he is not for there is no middle state betwixt Slavery and Freedom If the King is not limited then are we as much under the Subjection of his Passions as his Reason but if he is limited then it is the Law that sets him his Bounds and the exercise of any Power beyond what it allows him is unlawful Neither can it be suppos'd that God would subject the World to the Will and Passions of particular Men because it is inconsistent with his Mercy and Justice The Will of a King is a wild uncertain thing and a very false Guide to follow in governing his People but to make the Law the Measure of all his Actions and the Welfare of his People the end of all his Publick Designs is that alone which will make a King of England safe easie and powerful There is one thing more that I would explain to you and that is the difference betwixt the Government and the Administration of the Government for I am perswaded that several People have been insnared with the notion that they were one and the same thing I believe I need not tell you that a Trust and the execution of it are distinct things and I may tell you that the difference is no less betwixt the Government and the Administration of it for if any thing be done that is not directed by that Trust it is the Act of those that did it and not of the Trust In like manner whatever is done that is not directed by the Law it cannot be charged as a Fault upon the Government But in the two late Reigns every thing that was done though never so unjust unreasonable or without President was called the Government Whereas the Government or Law they are the same is a known certain thing not commanding one thing to day and the contrary to morrow it requires that equal right be done without respect to Persons and regards the Publick Good above any thing and has so attemper'd Mercy and Justice as to protect the Innocent and punish the Guilty But I need not tell you how contrary to this was the Methods and Practice of the two late Reigns to convince you that all was Force and Violence and not the Government Being thus encourag'd by the Addresses of the Tories and the Doctrine of the Clergy King Charles went on at a good rate especially in the latter part of his Reign and the Irregularities of those times may well in a great measure be charg'd upon them for it 's possible that it had never come into King Charles's Thoughts But very probable he had not adventur'd to carry matters so far if he had not been so invited to it by them And his Brother the Duke of York could not but smile in his Sleeve to see him so industrious in preparing his way to the Throne for when King Charles died he had carried the matter so far that he could go no farther unless he did downright declare himself a Papist but whether he died a natural death or had foul play I will leave that to be determin'd by every man in his own Thoughts only thus much I must observe that manifest Symptomes of Poyson appeared on his Body and matters were then so laid that it was necessary to have a Popish Prince on the Throne His Eyes being clos'd the Duke presently shew'd how great an Affection he had for his Brother not only in the great haste he made to interr him but also by the rest of the Treatment he gave his Body for if you had the History of it you would say they gave him the Burial of an Ass And now his Brother being got into his place he quickly pulled off the Vizard for he had not the discretion to dissemble the matter for a short time but out of the depth of his Politicks in a few days went publickly to Mass Fools being always more positive than men of better sence and Cowards most insolent when they have the upper hand for he thought he had the Nation in a String But though this was very plain above board yet the Clergy and Tories so little regarded it that with great Zeal they address'd to congratulate his accession to the Throne as if God in mercy had taken away his Brother to make room for him He had no sooner thus publickly made profession of the Romish Faith but Mass was said openly in other places and in a short time Popish Chappels were erected in several parts of the Kingdom To this he added a great Army who lived in a manner upon Free Quarter committing all manner of other Insolencies and no Redress could be had upon any Complaint But all this did not abate the Loyalty of the Tories and Clergy till after the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth in the West upon which he not only put in Popish Officers
Francis Hargrave THE WORKS OF THE Right Honourable Henry late L. Delamer AND Earl of Warrington CONTAINING His Lordships Advice to His Children Several Speeches in Parliament c. WITH MANY OTHER Occasional Discourses On the AFFAIRS of the Two Last Reigns BEING Original Manuscripts Written with His Lordships own Hand Never before Printed LONDON Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel and John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey 1694. TO The Right Honourable THE EARL OF WARRINGTON My Lord SInce my late Lord Warrington your Father trusted me with the care of your Education your Lordship has made so great a Progress in all things which I Taught you that I am now forced to procure you another Tutor You are become in a little time a great Master of several Languages and most parts of Philosophy and I may say without flattery that your Lordship hath Genius Learning and Piety enough to make one of the Best and the most Accomplish't Gentleman in England But yet your Quality requires something more for it is not enough for one in your Lordships High Station to be Humanist Geographer Historian and I may add a good Man too he must be also a States-man and a Politician but being neither my self I must repeat the same thing over again to my Shame and to your Credit that your Lordship wants a better Master Amongst several of the most Eminent Men which I could recommend to your Lordship I found none so Learned nor indeed so fit to make deep Impressions upon your Mind as your Lordships Noble Father whose Writings belongs to you as well as his Estate I don't doubt but you will strive to get the best share of his Learning nor can you fail of an Extream Delight by drawing Sciences but of the same Spring from whence your Noble Blood did flow His Book then being yours both by Inheritance and by the particular gift of its Authour it would be unjust to present it to any other but your Lordship and needless to recommend it or beg your acceptance for 't Therefore omitting any longer Preface in Recommendation of these Golden Remains I 'll only take leave to make this Observation upon them That as there is nothing wanting in them for your Lordship's Instruction both by Humane Learning and Solid Devotion I have fitted you with the Master that I look't for and whom you wanted From whom having obtained all the Qualifications which your Noble Soul is capable of you have no more to wish for but that you may live and practice 'em and it will be to me both a great Satisfaction and Honour to see my Work finisht by the same Artist who put it first into my hands and trusted me with the beginning of it It will be enough for me that I have put my hands to such a Master-piece and shall be highly honoured if your Lordship take notice of my Endeavours and sufficiently Rewarded if you grant your Protection to him who has no other Ambition than to be Your Lordships Most Humble most Obedient and most Devoted Servant J. Dela Heuze THE CONTENTS I. HIS Lordships Advice to his Children page 1 II. An Essay upon Government p. 36 III. Reasons why King James Ran away from Salisbury p. 56 IV. Observations upon the Attainder of the late Duke of Monmouth with some Arguments for the Reversing thereof p. 70 V. Of the Interest of Whig and Tory which may with most safety be depended on by the Government on the account either of Fidelity or Numbers In a Letter to a Friend p. 82 VI. A Discourse shewing who were the true Incouragers of Popery Written on the occasion of King James 's Declaration of Indulgence p. 88 VII A Speech in Parliament for the Bill of Exclusion That the next of Blood have no Absolute Right to the Crown p. 94 VIII A Speech against Arbitrary and Illegal Imprisonments by the Privy Council Several Laws for the Restraint of this Power Instance of the Exercise of this Power on Sir Gilbert Gerrard about a Black-Box An Objection answered p. 100 IX A Speech against the Bishops Voting in case of Blood Lord Coke 's Opinion against it An Act of Parliament Good to which their Consent is not had Bishops no Peers though Lords of Parliament p. 107 X. A Speech against the Pensioners in the Reign of King Charles II. p. 115 XI A Speech for the sitting of Parliaments and against King Charles the seconds Favourites p. 121 XII A Speech in Parliament on the occasion of some Justices being put out of Commission in the said Reign p. 129. XIII A Speech for the Banishing the Papists p. 133 XIV A Speech on the Corruption of the Judges Laws to prevent it Some Instances thereof particularly Sir George Jeffreys when Judge of Chester p. 138 XV. Some Observations on the Prince of Orange's Declaration On the Exit of King Charles II. and Entrance of the late King whose Administration becoming Exorbitant brought on the Present Revolution The Arbitrary Proceeding of K. James excellently set forth by the Declaration c. In a Charge to the Grand Jury p. 353 XVI A Speech against the Asserters of Arbitrary Power and the Non-Swearers p. 385 XVII A Perswasive to Union upon King James his design to Invade England in the Year 1692. p. 401 XVIII Some Reasons against Prosecuting the Dissenters upon the Poenal Laws p. 412 XIX A Discourse proving the reasonableness of the present Revolution from the Nature of Government p. 421 XX. Whether a Conspiracy to Levy War is an Overt Act of Conspiring or Imagining the Death of the King p. 437 XXI Reasons for an Union between the Church and the Dissenters p. 457 XXII Of the Absolute Power Exercised in the late Reigns and a Defence of King Williams Accession to the Throne Election the Original of Succession Succession not very Ancient Division among Protestants a step to Arbitrary Power Enemies to the Act of Indulgence Disaffected to the Government p. 467 XXIII A Speech concerning Tyranny Liberty Religion Religious Contentions Laws of Advantage to the State cannot hurt the Church Of Conquest Of God's ways of Disposing Kingdoms and against Vice p. 483 XXIV The Legality of the Convention-Parliament though not called by Writ p. 509 XXV A Resolution of Two Important Questions 1. Whether the Crown of England be Hereditary 2. Whether the Duke of York ought to be Excluded p. 541 XXVI The Case of William Earl of Devonshire for striking Collonel Culpepper p. 563 XXVII Arguments against the Dispensing Power p. 583 XXVIII Prayers which his Lordship used in his Family p. 597 XXIX Some Memoirs of the Methods used in the Two last Reigns The Amazing Stupidity of those that would reduce us again into the same Condition p. 613 XXX Some Arguments to prove that there is no Presbyterian but a Popish Plot and against the Villany of Informing in 1681. p. 627 XXXI Monarchy the best Government and the English beyond all other With some Rules for the Choice
disposition and temper not to prescribe or necessitate them to any particular form And then consequently it will follow that what lawful Right or Power every King claims is by reason of the constitution of the Government and not from Nature If there be any such thing as this Natural Right it must be inherent in all lawful Kings for if some of them have it why not all of them And if any have every King else has the same And if this be so where was the Natural Right of King Stephen and Henry II both born out of the Realm their Fathers Forraigners and at the same time there were others who by right of descent were nearer to the Crown than either of them It was not this natural right that invented the coronation oath neither is it by reason of it that every King of England is bound to take it before they can require any of their Subjects to do them homage and fealty If there be any such thing as this natural right then it will follow that all the Kings of the earth but one are Usurpers because this natural right must arise from Primogeniture and there can be but one man at the same time who is the rightful Heir and Successor to Adam and consequently all others that pretend to be Kings usurp upon his right So that this notion of a natural right pulls down the thing it pretends to set up When a Common-wealth is changed into a Monarchy is it this natural right that makes him King who is first set up Or when a Family is extinct that has been long in possession of the Crown and the Body of the People chuse a King from amongst themselves is it by this natural right that he attains to this dignity But as a multitude of other absurdities would follow upon it so the Apostle puts the thing out of dispute when he says That Kings are the Ordinance of man And here I will leave Kings to resolve which is their best title whether this natural right or the constitution of the Government Differences and disputes do but too frequently arise betwixt the King and People and therefore I will tell you what I conceive to be advisable when such ill humours are afloat Consider whose demands do best suit the common good For by a serious and impartial examination of that you will be able to discover who is in the right For if you follow this rule exactly it will not misguide you And take this Observation along with you When the State is distempered you will find for the most part if not always that the cause of offence proceeds from the Court. And the reason of it is very evident Because so long as English men injoy their rights they have no occasion to quarrel with the King for they need nothing else But Kings as they are always think they are too short in power and those that are about them are too apt to incourage those desires in Kings because the more absolute he is the more able he is to gratifie his Creatures Now in this case let not the opinion of the Clergy govern you for none are blinder Guides than they and no one thing hath done more mischief in this Nation than their politicks If you happen to be on the prevailing side use your advantage with Moderation This you are obliged to do as you are a good Christian and self-interest pleads for it for since the events of all things are uncertain there may come another turn and then in reason you may expect fair quarter from them whom you treated so well in the day of your power If your Party come by the worst remember these two things First don't think the worse of your Cause by reason of the Success Neither make any mean submission nor do any other sordid thing to get out of your trouble use only lawful and honest means for if you are in the right sooner or later it will prevail and then in the end you will come off with double honour 2. If you are examined as a criminal confess nothing only argue against the insufficiency of what is objected against you For First It is an argument of your courage and resolution Secondly By confessing any thing you help them to evidence against your self and others for you furnish them with time and place and then it is an easie matter for a Knight of the Post to give such an evidence against you as is not easily disproved Thirdly It 's very seldom that you will meet with better usage though you confess never so much unless you will turn accuser of others and give evidence against them which is so base a thing that I would advise you to undergoe any extremity rather than do that For as your own Party will for ever abhor you and your Memory so the other side will despise and slight you as soon as you have done their business and all that you can do for the future will never wipe off such a blot If you are concerned in the prosecution of any publick Criminal let your proceedings be tempered with Justice and Moderation For I have seen it fatal to several who have strained and forced the Law to the destruction of others yet in the end fell into the Pit they digged for others and perished by their own Law When the State is so sore that it makes a Man an Offender for a Word and the times are so evil that the prudent keep silence Then are all meetings to be avoided save only such as are upon real business recreation or for Neighbourly Visits and those too in as small numbers as may be for Spyes and Informers will thrust themselves into Consults and Cabals and of all others will say the hottest and most violent things in hopes that believing that all proceeds from the fervency of their Zeal you may thereby be induced to say something that will bring you within the compass of the Law Or if you have the discretion or good hap to say nothing yet your very being in the same Company where such things have been said or uttered may either make you criminal or at best hand involve you into a great deal of trouble without bringing any advantage to the Cause you do assert And besides he that herds in Cabals must implicitely adhere to the opinion of that Company for by asserting his own Judgment in opposition to theirs though he be never so much in the right he runs the hazard of being reproached for a Spye or Deserter As you ought not to refuse any danger when a proportionable advantage will thereby accrue to the Cause you would support so in such sore times you ought to avoid the doing of any thing unnecessary hot and provoking unless where you or the Cause will reap benefit thereby For young men either through the heat of their years or the instigation of more crafty people are too often prevailed upon to do many things that in
all of that Party Every thing moved in Parliament for our settlement receives its opposition from that Party and I do averr that amongst that Party there are none of them who have been preferred by the King have given a Vote but have opposed every thing that was for the Publick good Whatever tends to recal K. James or to facilitate his readmission is vigorously disputed for by that Party And tho' they now stand so stifly for his Interest yet they passively lookt on whilst he was driven out of this Kingdom which is an undeniable Argument that they either wanted Courage or Interest and a defect in either of them makes them rather to be despised than fear'd for if they had neither Courage nor Interest to serve K. James in whom they have so much inclination it will not much mend the matter when this King is in the same Case They have not the face to justifie the late Illegal Proceedings yet are very busie to keep in and get into Imployments the very Persons that were then made use of I don't desire that these People should be removed to make more room for me for I am very well satisfied with the Post I am in and with all possble thankfulness acknowledge his Majesties Grace and Favour but I say this because I wish that every Man the King makes use of were altogether as honest and affectionate to his Service as I am and as able to serve him as I am willing I was and am of opinion that the King made a very wrong step when he employed so many of that Party because it would unavoidably abate the Zeal of many of his Friends and I fear it has had this further bad effect to make those People believe that either he is afraid of them or that they are necessary to him whose utmost hopes or expectations were to shroud themselves under an Act of Oblivion I am far from reflecting upon what the King has done for it lyes heavy upon my Spirits as oft as I think of it but I should rejoyce if I could offer any thing to help the King to make the best of a bad bargain For he has a very ticklish game in his hands If he should now all at once discard that Party no doubt it would confound his business very much for the present and on the other hand if he do not so carry it towards Friends till with more convenience he may put them off that they may see it is necessity and not choice that makes him take this course he will be in great danger of loosing most if not all of them and if so the King will be in very untoward Circumstances For then he will be under the necessity of depending wholly upon this Party and consequently he must run up to all the excess that they have formerly practised and yet he shall not be sure of them for as soon as they can make a better bargain they 'l leave him to shift for himself This I conceive to be the Kings Case and I wish any thing could be thought on that would do his business effectually I do highly approve the Kings Method relating to Ecclesiastical matters in giving of the Church Preferments to none but Moderate Men and of Exemplary Lives for hereby the fierceness of the High Church-Men will be abated and the over-niceness of the Dissenters taken off and consequently bring both sides to better temper which is the first and principal step in order to uniting of Protestants In like manner if the King would for the future dispose of all such places as become vacant to none but Moderate Men and especially give the preference to such as deserv'd well of him this would be to the satisfaction of his Friends and could give no cause of offence to the contrary Party it would let his friends see what further kindness he intended them and the other would have no cause to complain or if they did they would loose ground by it And further to displace such as in Parliament Vote against the Interest of the King and Kingdom I think cannot be a question I am far from thinking it to be justifiable to displace Men for Voting according to their Consciences but when Men are for promoting of that which is against the Publick or for bringing in K James or bringing on Confusion to continue such in Imployment must discourage the Kings Friends and to put them out can offend none but such as whose good or ill will is equally to be regarded Besides the present juncture of Affairs there seems to be but one objection against turning out these sort of Men immediately and that is the doubt in what Interest the bulk of England lies This is a thing that may certainly be known but it would be a great deal more than this Paper can allow of to make it clearly out and yet I will humbly offer one thing that will in a few words give a great deal of light into it That when we have had two State Officers in the same station of different Parties it 's reasonable to suppose that all Persons that have business will apply themselves to the one or the other according to the Interest they are of if then it shall fall out that he who espouses the true Interest of his Country has three times the business of the other I conceive it no mean Argument where the weight of England is Much more I could say upon this Subject and I fear I have already exceeded the bounds of a Letter Yet if what I have said is worth your pains of reading there is no Body to whom I can with so much satisfaction communicate my Thoughts nor will better improve any advantage that may be made by it than your self But if I have not said much to the purpose I hope the honesty of my Inclination will obtain your pardon and continue me the honour of c. A Discourse shewing who were the true Incouragers of Popery Written on the occasion of King James his Declaration of Indulgence UPon the late Declaration of Indulgence many having absented themselves from the Church our high Church-men have from hence taken occasion to lay it down as a Maxime That if Popery be Establisht here in England the Dissenters are the only cause and occasion of it and by the Thunder and Noise that they make in their Pulpits and all other places a great many others are perswaded to be of their opinion yet I cannot assent to it though I am far from turning Advocate either for the Declaration or those that make use of it yet as a moderate and just Man I would set the Saddle on the right Horse and I am perswaded that any impartial considering Man will when he thinks on it seriously find That it is by the help not so much of the Dissenters as the high Church that Popery has put foot into the Stirrup and is ready to mount into the Saddle But yet
Rich. II. the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury made a solemn protestation in the Parliament for himself and the Clergy of his Province for that Matters of Treason were to be entreated of whereat by the Canonical Law they ought not to be present they therefore absented themselves But in regard I have hitherto voucht my Lord Cook for what I have said I desire that it may be observed that he wrote since the Reformation and what was Law when he wrote is Law at this day unless it be changed by some Act of Parliament made since and therefore he that denies my Lord Cook to have written Law must produce some Act of Parliament whereby it does appear that the Law is altered since his time Besides this the Bishops and other Clergy were called to Parliament very uncertainly sometimes more sometimes fewer and sometimes none at all as it was in Edw. I. time Therefore seeing the case to be thus That the Bishops are not Peers but only Lords of Parliament That an Act of Parliament is good though they be absent That they are to be tried by Commoners And that when Capital Matters were to be debated they have withdrawn themselves declaring at the same time that they ought not to have to do in such things And also that they have not so absolute a Right to sit and Vote in the House as the Temporal Lords have because they are called to Parliament so uncertainly I shall be glad to hear what can be said to make their Right unquestionable But if all this were set aside yet it remains on their part to prove that they have sate in Judgment upon the Peers I am apt to believe they will be hardly put to it to produce any President out of good Times when the Nation was in quiet and the Law had its course Nay I think they can scarcey find any that the Proceeds of that Parliament when it was done were not repealed by Act of Parliament and stand so at this day And I should also be glad to see that when a Peer has been tried out of Parliament that any Bishop was ever nominated to sit upon that Lord accused for out of Parliament if a Peer be tryed for his life it is by a select Number named by the King and if the Bishops have Right to sit and Vote upon the Peers it is strange methinks that there is not any Instance to be found where the Bishops or any of them have been named to Judge a Lord out of Parliament Now the reason as I conceive how this comes to pass is because it was never known that a Bishop was tried by the Lords out of Parliament and therefore they cannot try a Lord out of Parliament because they are not Peers for the Lords have never tryed any Bishop but in Parliament and that was always upon Impeachments and not otherwise And upon an Impeachment they may try other Commoners as well as Bishops Besides this it is plain that the Clergy even in the time of Popery would not have to do with Blood in any case whatsoever For when they engrossed all Offices and Places of Honour or profit you shall not find any Bishop that was Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench or Judge of any Court where Mens Lives were to be meddled with and the Clergy were not so ignorant or backward in their Interest as to let slip such profitable places had it suited with their Function I have often considered with my self what it is that has induced so many of the Temporal Lords to contend for the Bishops in this case I cannot perceive but that it is against themselves that they strive for without doubt the fewer that the Temporal Lords are the more considerable they are and why they should strive to make themselves less I cannot comprehend neither can any reason be assigned but that which is obvious to every Mans Thoughts That there is some secret power that governs their Lordships in this Affair But without doubt this powerful hand would not be able to turn the Scales so very much if Nobility had been bestowed only on such as deserved Honour But when Interest prevails above Merit no wonder that a Word or a Look do command so absolutely And yet there is this to be said for the Lord's House that there are a great many Lords who retain the Worth and Honour of their Ancestors That notwithstanding being frowned upon displaced and all possible discouragements yet have they shewed themselves to be Men of English Principles that they will serve the King as Englishmen but will not give up any of their just Rights to please him If the Bishops had never so clear a Right in this matter the it is to be consider'd that whatever Right they have that it was gained in the times of Superstition and Blindness when the Clergy Usurped and Lorded it over the Nation and therefore in regard that England has now recovered its Eye-sight and Understanding they are very unthankful if they do not reduce every thing to its proper Station And if the Bishops are prohibited by a Law not to Vote in Case of Blood or are abridged in any other Matter where the Interest of the King and People require yet the Church is not prejudiced for my Lord Cook tells us in the second part of his Institutes Nec debet dici in praejudicium Ecclesiae libertatis quod pro Rege Reipublicae necessarium invenitur And whether it be not for the Interest of the King and People that the Bishops shall not Vote in case of Blood I submit to any Man that wishes well to England Now I would fain be satisfied why our Bishops are more forward to have to do in case of Blood than the Bishops and Clergy in the time of Popery it 's plain they always declined it but ours will adventure a Kingdom upon it It 's true they will withdraw upon the Tryal of the Five Popish Lords but they will not upon Tryal of my Lord D s Pardon yet thus far they condescend that when Judgment is to be pronounced they will withdraw Very well First it is confessed on all hands that if my Lord D s Pardon do not hold good he dyes for it And next I would willingly understand the difference in this case when a Man is tryed for his Life before several Judges and all of them though he is Innocent resolve that he shall be pronounced guilty but they withdraw themselves and leave one of their Brethren to pass the Sentence Now the question is Whether the rest that were absent are not as guilty of shedding Innocent Blood as he who pronounced the Sentence And so on the contrary for any other thing whatever And whether this does not reach the case in hand I humbly submit But the truth of the matter is the Bishops do know that if my Lord D s Pardon be allowed then Arbitrary Power comes in with a Powder And then will be their Harvest
my thoughts what is to be done In the first place I do propose that every Man of them shall on their knees confess their fault to all the Commons and that to be done at this Bar one by one Next That as far as they are able that they refund all the Money they have received for secret Service Our Law will not allow a Thief to keep what he has got by stealth but of course orders restitution and shall these proud Robbers of the Nation not restore their ill gotten goods And lastly I do propose that they be Voted incapable of serving in Parliament for the future or of injoying any Office Civil or Military and order a Bill to be brought in to that purpose For it 's not fit that they who were so false and unjust in that Trust should ever be trusted again This Sir is my Opinion but if the House shall incline to any other way I shall readily comply provided a sufficient mark of Infamy be set on them that the People may know who bought and Sold them A SPEECH For the Sitting of PARLIAMENTS And against FAVOURITES A King of England at the head of his Parliament is in his full strength and power and in his greatest Splendor and Glory It is then that he can do great things and without a Parliament he is not very formidable Therefore when Kings leave off the use of Parliaments and rely upon the Advice of particular Favourites they forsake their chiefest Interest they lay aside the Staff that supports them to lean upon a broken Reed that will run into their hands and this is proved by the Example of former Kings What Kings perform'd such Enterprizes and did such wonderful things as those who still consulted their Parliaments And who had more the Command of the Peoples Purses than those Kings who met the Natives frequently in Parliament As Witness Hen. I. Edw. I. Edw. III. Hen. V. Hen. VIII Q. Eliz. and what Kings were so mean and obscure despised by their Neighbours and abhorr'd by their Subjects as those who left off the use of Parliaments and doted upon their Favourites As witness Will. II. King John Henry III. Edward II. Richard II. Henry VI. And I think it 's undeniable that when the King leaves off Parliaments he forsakes his Interest he refuses the good and chooses the bad I wish it could not be said that for two years last past the use of Parliaments has almost been laid aside It 's too true that Parliaments have been delayed and there is but a little between delaying and denying and the first step to a denyal is to delay Every Man knows the great need we have had of a Parliament these Seventeenth Months and why has it not met till now It 's very well known how earnestly it was desired by all good Protestants and true Englishmen and what applications have been made to His Majestie that it might sit and it could not be obtain'd till now And it is not to be forgotten how often it has been Prorogued and the Notice that has been given to the Nation of the several Prorogations the first time that we heard of them was by the Gazett in which is seldom any thing of truth and then out comes a Proclamation for a Prorogation about a day or two before the day of meeting When Gentlemen have disposed their Affairs that they may attend at the Parliament and possibly were on their Journey towards London upon the Road they meet the News of the Prorogation very good usage and there is nothing to be said in Justification of such short Notice but that when His Majesty by His Proclamation had appointed a farther time for the meeting of the Parliament that in plain English no Man must believe it would meet For if Gentlemen did believe it they would prepare for it and if they are prepared it 's but reasonable that sufficient Notice should be given to prevent them Certainly they who advised the King in this matter intended that none of His Majesties Proclamations should have any credit For His Majesty he put out several Proclamations against the Papists and we see how they are regarded not the least obedience yielded to them And this giving of such short notice was certainly done on purpose that those Proclamations should neither be obeyed nor believed Thus is the K. abused thus does he loose the hearts of his People and thus is the Nation abused What will become of us when we cannot believe what His Majesty says Out of Parliament the King cannot speak to his People in a more notable way than by Proclamation and as the matter is order'd these are not regarded In a Subject nothing is more Infamous than to say of him that his word is not to be relyed on he does not regard what he says And therefore what Villains are they who by their Advice do bring the King but into the suspition of it This delaving of Parliaments seems to portend the laying of Parliaments aside and if so an Army will follow for the King must govern either by a Parliament or an Army for one of them he must have now the way to get rid of Parliaments is this First Although they meet sometimes yet something must be started to hinder their success or if that wont do Prorogue or Dissolve them before any thing be finisht and thus Parliaments will be made useless and this being done it will not be long before they become burdensome and then away with them for good and all Kings only then grow out of conceit with Parliaments when their Favourites are so overgrown and their Actions are so exorbitant that they will not indure to be scann'd by a Parliament And therefore to save themselves they perswade the King to keep off the Parliament though it be to his great hurt For the last Trump at the Day of Judgment will not be more terrible to the World than the sound of an approaching Parliament is to unjust Ministers and Favourites That State is sick of a grievous Distemper when Kings neglect their Parliaments and adhere to Favourites and certainly that woe is then fallen upon that Nation which Solomon denounces for says he woe to that Nation whose King is a Child And without question he meant a Child in Understanding and not in Years We have had in England Kings who when they were Children by the help of a wise Council have govern'd very well But after that they took matters into their own hands it went very ill with England as Richard II. Henry VI. who whilest they were Children the Government was steer'd aright but their understanding not growing as fast as their Years they assumed the Government before they were ready for it and so managed matters that it 's better not to name them than to reckon them in the Catalogue of the Kings And there is yet another reason why great Favourites should advise against Parliaments Kings that dote too much upon
soever a Parliament is corrupted whether it be by Places Pensions or any other thing that makes the Members thereof to become men of dependance The next Article against K. J. is that he Seized upon the Charters of Corporations thereby bringing their Priviledges to be disposed on at his will and pleasure This was very Notable Injustice yet the making havock of Charters was begun and carried on very far by C. II. to which the Loyalty that then prevail'd contributed very much for who ever was not for surrendering of Charters and giving up their Liberties was mark'd out as Anti-Monarchical and a Commonwealths-Man and this fantastical Loyalty had intoxicated so very many that very few Corporations stood out those that disputed the point were taught the Law of Quo Warrento So that when K. C. died he left his brother little more to do than to give the finishing stroke to that he had brought to so great Perfection by which we see how dangerous it is to make any other thing than the Law the Measure of our Loyalty for altho at first no ill consequence may be apprehended of what is done yet it is not long e're Men find their mistake by the mischief which falls upon their own Pates and with this aggravation that they don't see their error till it is out of their power to remedy it The Declaration next observes how that Ireland was put into the hands of Papists which made many to leave the Country well remembring what fell out in the year 41. This was very true and it is as true that it put every Man in England who valued his Religion and Property under very great fears and apprehensions that the storm would blow over into England Because he that would set up Aarbitrary-Power in England must first try his hand upon Ireland it having been observ'd that whatever Arbitrary thing has been done in England that it has first been practised in Ireland So that when ever things go irregularly in Ireland England cannot think it self safe till affairs are put into a better posture there The Declaration further takes notice that K. J. had declared in Scotland that all his Subjects are bound to obey him without reserve This is the highest of absolute Power and it was plain he intended to do no less in England For there is nothing more certain in humane Affairs Than that when a K. mis-imploys his power in one Kingdom it is not for want of inclination but of means and opportunity that he does not do so in all other places under his Dominionâ— As for Example if a King keep one of his Kingdoms without Parliaments he would do so in another if by some necessity he were not compell'd to do otherwise for C. II. kept Ireland without Parliaments and it was out of regard to his particular Affairs that he called a Parliament in England for you may remember how quickly he sent the Parliament packing that called him in because it was more intent upon setling the Nation than to give him unnecessary supplies and those which he afterwards called were kept no longer than he could squeeze Money out of them The Declaration goes on to remind us how K. J. indeavourâ—d to discourage and take away from the Subject the right of Petitioning The priviledge of Petitioning is an ancient and necessary right and so great a right as it has always been supposed that upon such applications the K. was bound either to redress that whereof they complain'd or to let them see that their complaint was without cause But to take away this right from the people is to deprive them of the means of making known their grievances in the most humble and dutiful way that can be and puts them under a necessity of doing it with their Swords in their hands for there is but one of these two ways of letting the K. know their grievances there is nothing more fit than that Subjects tho' never so much opprest do first make known their sufferings in the humblest and most respectful manner that may be and not have recourse to more compulsive methods till no good is to be done the other way That Prince who is unwilling to hear the complaints of his People plainly intimates that he intends to govern them by the rod of his power and not by the equal and gentle methods of the Law and there seems to be no less a fearful expectation when the addresses of both or either House of Parliament don't meet with success but prove abortive for considering that the Nation does then Petition the K. in its highest Capacity it may reasonably be expected that those applications should be answered with effect unless the K. be wiser than all the World and such a Man was never yet found or else what the Parliament complains of is false or frivilous which is not easily to be suppos'd Then the Declaration reminds as of K. James's design to pack a Parliament that by the Peoples consent those things might be made a Law which he had done contrary to the right of the People and the Law of the Land which was to stab the Nation to the Heart For a Parliament is the Soveraign and only remedy for publick Distempers and if rightly apply'd works an infallible Cure but if it be corrupted makes the Malady how slight or inconsiderable soever to become Incurable He that desires to corrupt a Parliament leaves very little room to believe that the good of his people is the end of his Government for when a Prince looks upon it to be his Intrest to influence and byass the Parliament he cannot be thought to have some Interest with his People There are two ways to corrupt a Parliament The first is to influence the Elections so as to have Men chosen that will serve a particular purpose and design and 2dly if that fail to corrupt the Members by Places Pensions or good round sums of Money which is called Secret Service whereby the Nation becomes felo de se The last article against K. J. is that of imposing upon us a Prince of Wales This indeed if it were so is as great a Forgery and Cheat as ever was heard of but because those whom it more nearly concerns have not yet thought fit to inquire further into it I suppose it will not be expected that I should give any opinion of it at this time This is the substance of the charge brought by the P. Orange against K. J. I think I have not omitted any thing that is material but these are not all the irregularites that K. J. was guilty of yet are they sufficient to shew that his administration was inconsistent with the Rights and Liberties of English-Men and who is he that can imagin that there was any other means but force whereby we could recover our Rights they that think it could have been effected by gentler applications may as well pretend to bind the Leviathan with Cords Those that have
us to a settlement unless the recalling of King James or that which would in effect have restored him Does any man believe that King James is fitter to govern than he was Is he a less Bigot in his Religion or better inclined to the good of England nay may we not rather expect the contrary from him that he will come in all the rage and fury that the deepest revenge can dictate to him thinking of nothing but Fire and Faggot to burn up all before him And therefore can any man desire the return of King James but such as have actually made their terms with him or else do hope that he will accept of their submission but whatever terms they may make for themselves they can scarcely secure it to their Posterity and does he deserve the name of an English man or good Christian that will give up his Posterity to save himself and much less can he pretend to it who will sacrifice his Country and Religion to the will and pleasure of his Prince How must he divest himself of all manner of humanity that implicitly will execute such unreasonable Commands King James will lay upon every man that must expect any quarter from him for every man that will not be aiding and assisting to his business will certainly be treated as an Enemy There are a sort of people who may well be suspected if not already ingaged yet very welt disposed to joyn with any thing that will destroy this Government and they are First such as refuse the Oaths Secondly Such as have taken the Oaths but swear to this King as only King de facto and to live peaceably under the Government Give me leave to think that both these are much more to blame than the Papists for the Papists pursue their interest whilest they indeavour to restore King James and destroy this Government but these other professing themselves Protestants may be compared to Solomon's foolish Woman that pulls down her House with her hands As to those who have not taken the Oaths I suppose they will not say in their own excuse that they have not because like the Quakers they scruple the taking of any Oath and therefore it must be because they don't believe this to be a lawful Government and if so tho I won't call it a down right opposing of it yet I will presume to say that the next step beyond this can be no other than directly to fall upon the Government and I cannot comprehend why they have done this if they don't intend to go further if herein they have acted like rational Creatures that is to do it for some end and since they have thus separated themselves from the interest of the Government they must confess if they have any ingenuity that this is a very mild Government and that the King is a very merciful Prince that will afford them his protection who will not own him for they will not find in their celebrated Doctrine of the divine right of Kings and Passive-Obedience that they ought to expect the common protection and priviledge of the Government when they won't ingage to defend it and therefore it is not easily comprehended wherefore they do behave themselves with so much assurance and even to glory in what they do unless they expect some suddaen turn of Affairs or that they think themselves so very much in the right and have so much vertue and resolution as to indure the utmost extremity that can befall them but as the first is not much to be feared so their insolent behaviour does not argue that they are altogether acted by a Principle of Conscience and I will not condemn all of them since I believe they may make it matter of Conscience to refuse the Oaths but if they would have the world to think so they should behave themselves so quietly and modestly as men that are guided purely by their Consciences As to those that have taken the Oaths but swear to the King as being only King de facto They seem not much honester than those that have refused the Oaths and are equally dangerous for the taking the Oaths in that sense is a juggling with the Government for it is to make the King a King and no King to make him a King for a time and paying of him a temporary Allegiance for it is expresly to declare that some body else has a better right to the Crown than he and whenever that other person comes in sight their Allegiance to this King ceases and their living peaceably under the Government amounts to no more than that they will live peaceably till they have an opportunity to do otherwise and no longer so that they don't submit to this Government because they believe it to be a lawful one but that they may serve themselves of it and be sure which side soever is uppermost and by this principle they may swear to any Government tho never so unlawful Vpon the whole matter Gentlmen you see how watchful an eye ought to be kept upon this sort of men notwithstanding they have the Church so much in their mouths The French had lately a design to land upon us and I believe they still hover about our Coasts for some such purpose but they will not make such an attempt without the expectation of being take by the hand and who are so likely to joyn with them as those who don 't allow this to be a lawful Government and it so falls out that those who are now secured upon this occasion are either such as have not taken the Oaths or else have sworn to this King as King de facto But since these men talk so much of the Church I would be very glad to be informed how it comes to be in danger and why they are so much the more concerned for it than the rest of mankind I know not well what Church they mean but the Protestant Church of England is not so much indanger'd by any thing as by them for till its dues and rights are withheld from it or other violence is offered to it I cannot imagine why any one should say it is in danger But nothing is so dangerous to the Church as when men of loose debauched lives set up for its chief supporters and when the name of the Church is made use of as a Stalking-horse to serve the designs of a self-seeking Party for when this party of men have nothing else to urge against those things that tend to our settlement they generally cry out it 's against the Church so that it 's hard to know what Church they mean and this I am sure of that I will never be of that Church that is to be supported by King James and a French Government In short Gentlemen if you know of any that have spoke contemptuously of this Government have said the King is only King de facto and have sworn to this Government only to live peaceably under it
or have said that within such a time there will be a change or any other thing that tends to disturb the Government you ought to present it If any Parson or Vicar not having taken the Oaths has officiated at his Benefice since the 2d of Feb. last you ought to present them for it is as much an offence in them to officiate when they have not qualified themselves as if they had never been presented and their contempt is very great Gentlemen Tho I have not mentioned any other parts of your business yet I know you will not neglect them that which I have spoke to does so immediately concern us that I thought it necessary to inlarge upon it And since God has so wonderfully delivered us we could never answer it if we do not our parts for if we perish through our own neglect our blood lyes at our own doors and we deserve the burial of an Ass if we dye like Fools but I trust we shall not nor do I suspect you will be remiss in your parts and therefore I will trouble you no further but dismiss you to your business and I pray God direct you in it A Persuasive to UNION UPON King JAMES's Design to Invade England in the Year 1692. PEace in a Nation is like Health to a Natural Body whose Value is not sufficiently known but by the want of it God Almighty is wonderfully gracious to this Land not only in continuing to us the Blessing of Peace but teaching us the Worth of it by letting us see the Nations round about us at War and groaning under all the miserable Effects of it whilest it is kept at a distance from us and we are only at some Expence which is unavoidable all Circumstances considered unless we will submit to that Monster the French King and indeed God has done so many and great things for us that nothing is wanting to compleat our Happiness but our selves Of all the Mercies this Nation has lately receiv'd I think our Deliverance from King James was none of the least if it be a Mercy to be deliver'd from Popery and Slavery That we were in great danger of it I think 't was very evident from what we had suffer'd and King James had apparently further design'd to do had he been let alone a little longer for his Government was become so exorbitant that Men of all Persuasions many of the Papists not excepted did think his Yoak intollerable and that it was highly just to be relieved against his Oppression For when the Prince of Orange Landed there was scarcely any Man that appear'd for King James nay a great many of his Army deserted him which coldness and neglect could not probably proceed from any thing so much as from the ill opinion they had of his Cause Now if any that were then so indifferent and passive have now conceived a better opinion of him it may well be suspected that a particular pique or some sinister byass guided their Motion at that time and if so it 's no matter what side they are on for those who are govern'd in such Cases by any thing but a publick principle are easily turn'd about by every breath of Air. Nor can I imagine what can give any Man a better opinion of King James than he had of him before he went into France the only place as he says he could retire to with safety considering how improbable it is that any instructions which that Tyrant may give him will make him less inclined to Popery and Arbitrary Power I suppose it is no news to you that King James did lately intend to Land with a French Force I am persuaded that most people believe it they that don't may as well doubt whether there was a Gun-powder Plot for it is as plain as a thing of that nature can be which has not actually taken effect and it is as certain that he and those his good friends had been here several weeks since had they not been kept back by those Easterly Winds which continued so long Yet that did not break their measures it only delay'd the matter for at last they were ready to put all things on Board but were happily prevented by the wonderful Success of our Fleet for which the Name of the great God be prais'd The defeating of their design is a Mercy never to be forgotten for no design that we know of that was ever form'd against this Nation could be more bloody and destructive than this would have been For King James in his Declaration does expressly say That his intent is to spend the remainder of his Reign as he has always design'd since his coming to the Crown These words speak a great deal of Comfort to England for they cannot mean less than what he has already done When he took the Customs against Law Carried on Sham-plots by his countenance and bribery to destroy honest and worthy Men When he bereaved the Corporations of their Liberties and Franchises When he turn'd out Judges for acting according to their Consciences and filling the Benches with the Raff of the Gown When he avowedly set up Popery and erected publick Chapels in all parts of the Kingdom When he placed notorious Papists in the Seat of Justice and brought a Jesuit into his Councels which was more than any Popish Prince but himself ever did When he set up a High Commission When he set up in Time of Peace a numerous Army to the Terror of his Subjects and allowed so little for their Quarters as it amounted to little less than Free-quarter When he assumed a Dispensing Power and declared he would be obey'd without reserve These and a great many other Irregularities were the product of his Reign and it is not very probable that he is brought to a better temper by any thing that he has seen or learnt by his Conversation with the French King and it is as little probable that King would have treated him as he has done had he discover'd in King James any disposition to govern more mildly and reasonably for the future How much he is influenced to the contrary is very evident by designing to bring in the French upon us the people of all others this Nation ought most to dread â—n some Histories they are called the Old Enemy of England and very truly may be called the irreconcilable Enemy of England For who ever looks into Story will find that France has occasiond more trouble to England than all the World besides nay there has scarcely been any ill design against the Nation but France has had a hand in it as if their very Climate did necessitate them to be at Enmity with us If any of our Kings has design'd to enslave us they have entred into a Confederacy with France as the People of all others most likely to serve their purpose and it has always gone ill with England when our Kings have made an intimate friendship with the French
King as we may remember by woful experience Let us consider besides that no People in the World are so noted for Treachery and Cruelty as the French of which they have given such pregnant instances in their new Conquests and the Protestants of their own Nation as were never done by the most barbarous and uncivilized People for after terms agreed on and a submission thereupon and without any new provocation or other occasion given on the part of the conquered the French have fallen upon them taken from them that little that was left and in cold blood murder'd them sparing neither Age or Sex And shall not we then think our selves in a comfortable Condition when we have such Task-masters as these set over us But it seems that these are they by which King James hopes to be restored by them he will do his work and they are the Instruments he will imploy to make the settlement he designs here in England for in his Declaration he plainly tells us That if those he brings over with him are not sufficient he has more of the same sort ready at hand Now though a reconciliation with King James were practicable could there be any Moral assurance that he would sacredly keep his Word and that he had more just and righteous Intentions than heretofore Yet to come in such company and bring such a train along with him makes it impossible to all those who have not abandon'd all Sense of Religion and Morality and are not resolved to run into all the excesses of Cruelty and Oppression and I should think the very thought of it should be abhorred by every Man that values himself upon the title of a honest Man or English Man But that nothing might be wanting to give success to this fatal Enterprize several persons in England I believe some in every County were not only privy but consenting to it and had prepar'd Horse and Arms to assist the French at their Landing yet of what Profession or Communion they are I forbear to name and leave that to be explain'd when the Government calls them to account and therefore only say in general That they who could so take the French by the hand may well be supposed to have renounced the Protestant Religion and abandon'd all bowels to their Country and Posterity and are resolved to keep pace with the French in the murders and havock they shall commit for they would render themselves suspected by being never so little remiss or backward and thereby turn part of the Invader's fury upon themselves for being once ingag'd there is no looking back but at the price of being involv'd in the Common destruction After all this what these Men will call themselves I know not for they cannot pretend to the Name of Protestants and English-men What they deserve that I leave to the Law which is to Judge them What we are always to expect at their hands when they have opportunity I think without breach of Charity I may adventure to say is all the mischief and ruine that our greatest Enemies would bring upon us What we are to do is to bless God for bringing the design to light before it took effect and to do our best endeavour to detect those who are concern'd in this unnatural design that Justice may pass upon them For are not they more to blame than any others that were to have had a hand in this matter Was it not more unnatural and unreasonable for them to joyn with the French than for the French to have such a design against us Would not their joyning in it have been the chief inducement to bring in the French upon us For such an attempt is altogether impracticable without holding an effectual Correspondence here or else to surprize us when we are together by the Ears in a Civil War So that in effect it is they that had brought all the desolation that would have fallen upon their Native Country if that design had taken effect He that can be consenting and assistant to the rooting up of the Protestant Religion and ruine of his Country what thing can be so bad as that upon the score of Honour or Conscience he would refuse May not a Man without being thought severe say What profligate wretches are these what accommodation can be made with such persons and what security from them can be hop'd for longer than they want opportunity to hurt us Is it not then the duty of every Man that has any concern for his Religion or Property to do what in him lies to discover and bring these projectors of our ruine to Justice Perhaps you may not receive any clear information such as will legally convince any person of being ingag'd in the design I have mention'd But you may receive such information as will convince any reasonable Man that they are concern'd in this or some other foul practice against the publick Peace Those who have refus'd the Oaths to this King and Queen cannot be suppos'd to be altogether unconcern'd for King James But if any such have lately provided themselves with either Horses or Arms is that which ought not to be pass'd over unregarded it must be for some purpose that they had so furnisht themselves for people do not usually put themselves to that expence but when they have a prospect of making use of them Their refusing the Oaths is evidence sufficient that they did not design those Horses or Arms for the service of this Government then it will naturally follow that it was against the Government for there is no Medium in such preparations betwixt being for or against the Government he that is not for us may reasonably be supposed to be against us If any persons who have not taken the Oaths and had Arms yet upon a rumor for search for Arms have either convey'd them away or before that had dispers'd them into hands that are not well affected to this Government or else not duly qualafied to keep such Arms is that in my opinion that carries great suspicion along with it for what but a sense of their own guilt could persuade them to convey away or hide their Arms or wherefore should they put them into the hands of other people but with a design to imploy those persons in the using of them and then can any Man suppose that it was intended for the Service of this Government There is a report of a sort of people who for five or six Months last past have talk'd of King James his being here and settled in a short time and of what powerful assiance France would give him to that purpose If you Gentlemen shall be inform'd of any such it is your duty to take notice of it for it 's plain by what has been lately discover'd that they did not speak without book they would not make such discourses for want of something to say but to incourage people to ingage in it and to promote the design
Enemy was dead when their King was beheaded And besides there is a very good argument that the Dissenters hand did not give that stroak in regard they were chiefly instrumental in his Majesties Restauration whilest many who called themselves the Loyal Party sate still at home Or if it were as some say that the Dissenters did that fact yet we cannot justifie the prosecuting of them for that reason because it would be a breach upon the Act of Oblivion a Law that was and is so necessary to settle the distractions of the Nation and he who would destroy that which compos'd our differences does what in him lies to bring in confusion There are several Laws which are not Temporary nor are they repealed by any other Statutes and yet are laid aside as useless because the Reason of them is ceased and Laws cease when the Reason of them ceases as our Lawyers say And if so I cannot tell whether it is not a very good argument why the Dissenters should not be prosecuted upon the 22d of this King seeing they cannot be charged to have preach'd unsound Doctrine nor to be guilty of any contrivance against the Government I wish the Church of England stood upon a broader foundation and the prosecution of Dissenters would increase the Number of Souls but truly I have not heard that it has had that blessed effect nay I doubt it has wrought the contrary way For the reason of it is plain because the English people are very inclinable to pity any that are in distress nay though they are punished justly but when they see any in trouble on the account of some small difference in Religion they not only pity them but after a while do favour their case And if the Laws had been put vigorously in execution against the Papists before the discovery of the Plot they would have found a great number who would have pitied them though the very name of Popery is detestful to the generality of the Nation As no Man knows his own heart certainly by reason of the deceitfulness of it so it is impossible for one Man to know anothers thoughts and if any Man that prosecutes the Dissenters does it for these reasons that I have mentioned or for any other I hope he has a good end in it and acts according to his Conscience and then I wish him good success If I were a busie Man in prosecuting of people for Non-conformity I 'll tell you in what method I would proceed but by this I don 't pretend to prescribe any Man what he should do if I can govern my self a-right it 's as much as I desire I don't take my self to be very able to instruct others In the first place I would begin with the Papists because they differ with us in Doctrines and therefore we and they can never agree unless one side yield wholly to the other I would inquire after the times and places of their Meetings and watch them so narrowly that they should hardly escape me and I would make it my business to find out their Priests that the Law might pass upon them and this I would the rather do because I am persuaded that many Papists would live peaceably with us if there were an effectual Law to keep out the Priests and these Incendiaries I would leave them no rest for the Souls of their feet but I would hunt them out of the Country For by reason of not putting the Laws in execution against the Priests that bloody Massacre happeded in Ireland in which there perished at least 200000 Protestants Now when I had perfectly subdued the Papists that they might do us no hurt then I might be at leisure to fall upon others who did not conform to the Church And if upon the Informations it did appear that they preached unsound Doctrine or Sedition I would not fail to rout their Meetings but upon every information I would examine whether what was preached was unsound or seditious because the 22d of this King was made chiefly to prevent Sedition and as to all other Laws I would not be wanting in my duty to serve the Church Only as to the 35th of Queen Elizabeth some doubt would remain with me First Because the Papists are not within that Law and it is more severe than any Law now in force against the Papists Secondly Because I cannot find that any Man has been punish'd by that Law if any have the presidents are very few and that Law was made upon a supposition of evil practices at their Meetings as was that of the 22d of this King and I am verily persuaded that the reason why few or none have been punish'd by that Law is because they have not been detected of any Sedition or Practice against the Government But if I did put that Law in execution I would do it against one as well as another though they made a great stir for the Church it should not excuse nay with me that should be an aggravation of their offence and I doubt that there are a great many who pretend themselves very zealous for the Church and cannot with patience bear with others who cannot go so high as they do and yet are notorious Offenders against this Law of the 35th of Queen Elizabeth Now by this method I apprehend I should incur the lesser censure and that the World would be more apt to believe that it was my concern for the Church that made me so zealous provided my Life and Conversation were agreeable to that of a good Christian or otherwise I should have much ado to persuade the World that my End was good unless I led a good life For whenever any have professed themselves Zealous for their Church and their Lives have not been answerable to their Profession in the end it has proved that their Zeal was but a pretended one to facilitate and carry on some selfish or ill design and of this there are multitudes of instances and not one to the contrary that I have met with and the reason of it is obvious to every Man for why should he have a real Conserve for the Church who by his Life dishonours God Neither do I believe that I should convince the World that I was zealous for the Church if I fell upon the Dissenters and did not first begin with the Papists For to think that the Papists can be good Subjects as Papists and that the Dissenters are equally dangerous with the Papists proceeds from the same Principle which is a false one Having said this I will in the next place offer my advice to the Dissenters That in regard there are such Laws which stand unrepealed and that many are of opinion that they ought to be put in execution without examining whether any Sedition or Rebellion is hatch'd at those Meetings and that those Meetings may be lookt upon as a contemning of the Government and may give offence I think they would do very well
particular interest as well as his duty does indispensibly oblige him to do what in him lyes to support it In order to this that which is now more especially expected from us is first To inquire into the neglects of those in whom the Law has reposed any trust and Second to discover those who have broken or violated the Laws that such criminals may be brought to condign punishment And since the execution of the Laws is our proper business and that the Laws should have their course is absolutely necessary to the being of the Government It may not be impertinent as I conceive at this time to say something of the Nature of Government and particularly of our own constitution or rather it seems necessary to take all occasions to explain it considering what variety of opinions there is amongst us of that which is or ought to be the Supreme authority or power in England Many wise and learned men have written of the Nature of Government and given excellent definitions of it but of all others Plato seems to me to have done it in the fewest and plainest words which are these Government or Law says he is to preserve the huge and indigested lump of a Multitude and to bring all disorder into proportion so as to become an harmony And Next to him is the learned Aquinas says that it is a rational ordinance for the advancing of the publick good Several others have spoken to the same purpose which I omit because I will be as little tedious as I can Two things I have observed from hence first That order and peace is or ought to be the end of every Government And second That in every Government there is some particular principle that runs through the whole Scheme of that Constitution and that as that principle is followed or neglected so accordingly it goes ill or well with the publick that is when those who are intrusted with the executive power do pursue that principle every thing moves regularly and the Government is firm and stable But when they steer by any other Measures the State does unavoidably fall into disorders and Convulsions and that whoever he be that is placed at the head of the Government if he desires to have the Hearts and Prayers of his People whilst he lives and that after-Ages shall bless his Memory It is necessary first That in general he resolve to Govern well And Secondly Throughly and rightly to apprize himself of that principle that is the Soul of the Government or at least-that he be advised by such as are most likely to know it and will give him faithful Counsel Otherwise he will be like a Traveller that in the Night misses his way upon some large Plain wandering he knows not whither and is more likely to meet with some disaster than to find his way Having said this it is natural for you to expect that I should tell you what that Principle is which is the Life and Foundation of this Government If I am not much mistaken and I am verily perswaded that I am not I take it to be this That every Subject of England has so clear a property in his Life Goods and Estate and every thing else which he possesses that they cannot be taken from him nor ought he to be disturbed in the Injoyment of them without his voluntary Consent or for some Offence against the Law And in the next Place that there be not a Failure in Justice that is That no man be left without remedy where his Right is concern'd and that every Criminal be pun sht according to the Demerits of his Offence I am apt to believe that every man will think that this is very agreeable to Natural Reason and then I don't see how it can be inconsistent with the Prerogative of the Crown altho' I know that not very long since and I fear yet there are some who carry the Prerogative much higher placing it above the Law but nothing save the Iniquity of the times and the Depravity of such mens Manners could support or give Countenance to so senseless a thought For they are very ignorant of the Nature of Prerogative if they think it is a Powet to do Hurt and not to do Good Certainly the Kings Prerogative is to help and relieve the People where the Edge of the Law is too sharp and keen and not a Power by which he may Oppress and Destroy his Subjects Men are to be Govern'd by a Power that is guided by Reason unless we can suppose they have no more understanding and are of no greater Value than the Beasts that Perish It was said by one who was a very competent Judge in the Case as I remember it was Sir John Fortescue That it is a greater Power in a Prince to be restrained by Law from oppressing than to have an absolute Regal Power And says another great Author The way if Governing must be both right and clear as well as is the End And how this can be expected when a King is guided by no other Rule than that of his Will and Pleasure I don't see no more than that a man can depend upon the Weather Does not all the Examples of it that ever were prove that absolute Power and Oppression are inseparable and the one as naturally proceeds from the other as the Effect does from the Cause It 's a Riddle to me how that Prince can be called Gods Ordinance who assumes a Power above what the Law has invested him with to the grieving and oppressing of his Subjects May not the Plague Famine or Sword as well be called Gods Ordinance since one no less than the other is sent by him for the Punishment of that People he so Visits We may reasonably suppose that Order and Peace is much rather the End of Government than Oppression and Violence because God is a God of Order and when he sent the greatest Blessing upon Earth it was Peace and tho' God was often very wrath with the Kings of Israel and Judah for their Idolatry yet the Innocent Blood that they shed and the Violence and Oppression which they committed provoked him more highly and with his severest Judgements has always testityed his Displeasure against it I could run out into a large Discourse upon this Subject but I will stop here because I am perswaded that what I have already said is sufficient to convince any one that is unprejudiced That an absolute Power is so far from being the Right of a King of England that the exercise of such a Power is unlawful in any King I know very well that in the late Reigns this Doctrine would not have been indured to have said less than this would have lost a man his head For whoever would not comply with Arbitrary power was called Factious and an opposer of the Government But is it not Nonsence or very near a Kin to it to call that Seditious that is for bringing things
the King strove to please the People and they were willing to gratifie him by conniving at his Faults But besides all this the Law of Nature is to be considered and this Law cannot be extinguished by any other Laws whatsoever And this I never heard any man deny The Law of Nature commands Self-preservation and then I would ask whether I am to obey him that will destroy me If we shall have a Prince that plainly declares either by his Words or Actions that he will change our Government and Religion or that he will give us up to a Foreigner or else that he will govern by a standing Army and take away our Properties must I obey him must I not endeavour to rescue my Self and Country from Ruine for in the Saxons time Treason did not relate to any thing but the Government and the general Concern of the Nation and not to the single Person of the King and now though it be Treason to kill the King yet it is only in order to the Publick Good and therefore with the Saxons all Indictments against Legience concluded Feloniae Proditoriae but against the Person of the King only Feloniae But in our days we find things are crept in that is difficult to tell how or when they came in And you shall find in all our ancient Laws that whatever was decreed or enacted was for the Common Good and the King was not concerned otherwise than so far as related to the Common-wealth though I know in our days another Opinion is asserted which I am sure cannot be maintained That all things must give place to the King 's particular Interest For my own part I will obey the King but I think my Obedience is obliged no further than what he commands is for the Common Good Our Government ever since the Conquest has proceeded upon the Saxon Principles and they were grounded upon Self-preservation which I do not find to be repeated by any Act of Parliament for all our Lawyers do agree That it is Treason to subvert the Government and if so without doubt our Allegiance the Laws of God and of Nature command us to defend them I will detain you no longer but only to consider this one thing Whenever we have a Popish King we must expect an alteration at least in our Religion for though he take all the Oaths and Declarations that can be devised yet it ever stands in the way to oppose the Interest of Rome they must all give place and it is meritorious to break those Engagements for that purpose or at worst hand be certainly pardoned if he presume to do it without a Dispensation and it is no more in his power to preserve our Religion than it is for him to work an Impossibility And therefore whether it is better to oppose a Popish Successor seeing we have the practice of our Forefathers to justifie us in it and besides he cannot if he would defend us or else to suffer him to rest in the Throne to destroy all we have and bring in a Religion that will damn Millions of Souls from Generation to Generation And if we may not defend our Religion then we must absolutely depend upon Providence in every thing and not put out our Hand to help our selves up when we are fallen into a Ditch This is the Case and here is an end of all Human Policy but without doubt it is our Duty to do our Endeavours and leave the Success to God Almighty and his Will be done THE CASE OF WILLIAM EARL Of Devonshire ON Sunday the 24th of April 1687. the said Earl meeting on Collonel Culpepper in the Drawing Room in White-hall who had formerly affronted the said Earl in the said King's Palace for which he had not received any satisfaction he spake to the said Collonel to go with him into the next Room who went with him accordingly and when they were there the said Earl required of him to go down Stairs that he might have Satisfaction for the Affront done him as aforesaid which the Collonel refusing to do the said Earl struck him with his Stick as is suppos'd This being made known to the King the said Earl was required by the-Lord Chief Justice Wright by Warrant to appear before him with Sureties accordingly April 27. he did appear and gave Bail in 30000 l. to appear the next day at the King's Bench himself in 10000 l. and his four Suretles in 5000 l. a piece who were the Duke of Somerset Lord Clifford the Earl of Burlington's Son Lord De-la-mere and Tho. Wharton Esq eldest Son to Lord Wharton The Earl appeared accordingly next morning and then the Court told him that his Appearance was recorded and so he had Leave to de part for that time but upon the sixth of May he appear'd there again and being then requir'd to plead to an Information of Misdemeanour for striking the said Collonel in the King's Palace he insisted upon his Priviledge That as he was a Peer of England he could not be tryed for any Misdemeanour during the Priviledge of Parliament and it being then within time of Priviledge he refused to plead the Court took time to consider of it till Monday which was the last day of the Term and the Earl then appeared and delivered in his former Plea in Parchment the Judgment given by the House of Lords in the Case of the Earl of Arundale 3 Car. was urged on the behalf of the Earl viz. That no Lord of Parliament the Parliament then sitting or within the usual times of priviledge of Parliament is to be imprison'd or restrain'd without sentence or order of the House unless it be for Treason or Felony or for refusing to give Surety for the Peace And also that the like Priviledge was about two years before allow'd in the Case of my Lord Lovelace The Court over-rul'd the Earl's Plea and requir'd him to plead to the Information the first day of the next Term and to be a Plea as of this Term and so he had Leave to depart but his Sureties were not called for to see if they would continue as his Bail The next Term he appeared and pleaded guilty to the Information and so the last day of the Term the Court did award That he should pay a Fine of 30000 l. be committed to the King's Bench till it be paid and to find Sureties for the Peace for a year To all which Proceeding and Judgment three notorious Errors may be assign'd I. The over-ruling of the Earl's plea of Priviledge II. The Excessiveness of the Fine III. The Commitment till it be paid 1. The over-ruling the Earl's plea of Priviledge is a thing of that vast consequence that it requires a great deal of time to comprehend it aright and is of so great an extent that more may be said of it than any one man can say The Judgment seems to be very unnatural because an inferiour Court has taken upon it to reverse a Judgment
wealth thinking no doubt to enjoy greater Priviledges and Immunities than now they do But I am apt to believe that they who are not contented under this Government have not consider'd aright what a Common wealth is A Common-wealth makes a sound and shadow of Liberty to the People but in reality is but a Monarchy under another Name for if Monarchy be Tyranny under a single person a Common wealth is Tyranny under several persons as many Persons that govern so many Tyrants but let it be the best that can be yet the People under any Common-wealth enjoy not that Liberty that we do Gentlemen as the Excellency of this Government is an Argument sufficient to disswade any of us from the least attempt of alteration so Experience has taught us that no sort of Government but that we now live under will suit or agree with England Let us but consider the late Troubles how many several kinds of Government were there set up one after another All ways were tryed but nothing would do till we were returned to our old and ancient way But Gentlemen it may fall out that we our selves may be the Authors of our own Destruction for whatever the Parliament does we are bound up by it if they pass a Law to give away all we have to the King we must submit to it for it is our own Act and therefore it highly behoves us to be very cautious who we chuse to represent us in Parliament we put all we have into their Hands and what they do must bind and oblige us Every Man is mortal and possibly may be corrupted to vote against the Interest of them he represents I accuse none of your Representatives nor do I accuse all only tell you that Men may be corrupted Therefore in my opinion whenever you have occasion to chuse a Member for the Parliament as now you have you ought to have a care of an ambitious Man or a Man that is vain glorious for it was never known that any of that Temper were so out of a real intention to the Publick Good for Ambition or Vain-glory was never accounted to be the Make of an Honest Man and if you 'll give me leave I 'll tell you what sort of a Man I shall give my Vote for if I cannot have a Man that is both wise and honest then I would rather be for an honest than wise man for I would rather trust all I have with a man that is truly honest and less knowing than with a man that is more knowing and less honest I shall always be for a man that has a good Estate in the Country for though he may possibly forget us yet he will remember himself and avoid all unnecessary charge upon the Country because he himself is to pay part of it Next I am for a moderate man one that is not strict or rigid neither one way nor the other either in Church or State for it's Moderation that must keep every thing in right order and it's Severity and Rigidness that will bring things into confusion In short Gentlemen let your own Judgment and not another Man's Interest or Inclination direct you in this case for our Parliament is our Weal or Woe And now I will proceed to the Particulars of your Charge The first and chief thing that you are to present is High-Treason To Compass or Imagine the Death of the King the Queen of their Eldest Son Now Gentlemen you must observe that the Heirs to the Crown are of two sorts first Heir Apparent that is the King 's Eldest Son that is living for no body else can be Heir Apparent secondly their Expectant or Presumptive that is he who in course of Descent is next in Blood to the King if he hath no Son Now the Offence is not so great to kill or procure the Death of the Heir Expectant as it is to compass or imagine the death of the Heir Apparent To levy War against the King in his Realm or to adhere to the King's Enemies in his Realm or to give them Aid or Comfort in the Realm or elsewhere To counterfeit the King 's Great Seal or Privy Seal or his Money To bring false Money into England counterfeit the Money of England and knowing the same to be false with intent to make payment with the same To kill or slay the Chancellor Treasurer or the King's Justices of the one or the other Bench Justices in Oyer or of Assize and all other Justices assign'd to bear and determine being in their Places doing their Offices To counterfeit the King's Sign Manual Privy Signet or Seal by 1 Q. Mary 6. To diminish scale or lighten the current Money of England 18 Eliz. 1. So Clipping Washing Rounding and Filing of Current Money by 5 Eliz. 2. There are too many Offenders in this nature amongst us The second time to extol and maintain the Pope's Authority formerly usurped here and the second time to refuse to take the Oath of Supremacy 5 Eliz. 1. A Priest or Jesuite that shall come and remain here who shall be in any Seminary and not return within six months after proclamation 27 Eliz. 2. To put in use any Bull or Instrument of Reconciliation or Absolution from Rome or from any person authorized or claiming Authority from Rome Any Person that shall willingly receive any Absolution and all Aids and Abettors it 's High-Treason in them by 13 Eliz. 2. To withdraw any of the King's Subjects from their Obedience or Religion And such Persons as shall be withdrawn from their Obedience to the King or their Religion 23 Eliz. 1. And now Gentlemen give me leave to take notice to you of them who very largely discourse that the King is above the Laws I am very apt to believe that they don't consider very well what they say nor don't know or remember that as it is High-Treason to kill or hurt the King so it is High-Treason to subvert the Government or to endeavour any alteration of it and then I would ask any man to solve me this Question Whether or no it be not an alteration of the Government to render all our Laws ineffectual and useless which must necessarily follow and where it is or upon what they ground their Opinion I am sure the Word of God warrants no such thing nor can any such thing be found in the ancient Government of this Island for at first it was govern'd without a King I don't mention this as if I question'd the King's Title to the Crown no Gentlemen I would have every subject to pay him all possible Duty and Obedience but I say this to shew you that there is no Ground for that Opinion that the King is above the Laws And I am sure I never met with it either in Magna Charta or any Law made since and therefore I could wish they would forbear to preach up such destructive Doctrine both to King and People I am sure it is for