were extraordinarily dreadful for their Religion Why did they not appear in the defence of some of these poor miserable Emperors who were thus slaughtered one upon the neck of another How could they satisfie their consciences to pay their Allegiance to thirty Emperors in one hundred and ten years and suffer above twenty of these to be deposed and murthered without ever in the least concerning themselves what became of them or who was in the Imperial Throne Certainly here was some reason for this it was not Cowardice never in any Age were there greater numbers of Heroical Martyrs than in this Century four of the ten Persecutions fell in this short period of time and they bore them with all the bravery that any of their Ancestors had shewn The Deposing Doctrine was not then dreamt of At the end of this dreadful Century they were as Innocent as at the beginning of it there was never a Traytor or Usurper to be yet charged upon the Christian Church Well but what then why did they suffer the Pagans to murther their Princes at this rate How could they in conscience pray for thirty Emperors in one hundred and ten years most of which were stained with the Royal Bloods of their Predecessors and who had no other Title than that of a Prosperous Usurpation and a successful Rebellion Let the Iacobites of our Age come forth now and try if they can justifie these Primitive Christians in all this let them produce their Arguments and form Apologies for them which shall not at the same time be unanswerable Objections against their own Practice All that I can say for these Holy Menl is this They followed the Example of our Saviour and as he said in another case who made me a Judge and a divider of Civil Inheritances or of the Titles and Claims of Princes So they said here who has given us Power or Command to interest our selves in these things If we do our Duty and submit to and pray for those Powers that we find set over us by Men as the Instruments by God as the great disposer of Crowns and Scepters we are safe for it is he that Ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men and sets over them The basest of Men such as Oliver Cromwel was Kings given to sinful Nations in his Wrath and sometimes as suddenly again taken away in his Anger and at others continued longer for the Tryal of his People or the chastisement of wicked Men. St. Austin saith Let us ascribe the gift of Kingdoms and Imperial Powers to none but the True God he that gives eternal felicity in the Kingdom of Heaven to none but the Pious but the Earthly Kingdom both to the good and to the bad as he pleaseth who is not pleased with injustice For though we should in this case say all we know yet it would at last be impossible for us to search the hearts of Men and by a clear discovery to judge of the justice of God in relation to Kingdoms That one True God therefore who needs neither the Approbation Judgment nor assistance of Men when he pleased and as far as he pleased gave the Empire of the World to the Romans who gave it before that to the Assyrians and Persians And a little lower He that gave the Kingdom or Empire to Marius gave it to Julius Caesar he that gave it to Augustus gave it also to Nero He that gave it to Vespasian and Titus two merciful sweet Princes gave it also to Domitian a most cruel Prince And that I may not be forced saith he to run through all the Particulars he that gave it to Constantine a Christian gave it to Julian an Apostate whose great parts and Sacrilegious and detestable curiosity was deceived by the love of Empire who trusting afterwards in those vain Oracles to which he was too much addicted and being too secure of the Victory they had promised him burnt his Navy on the Tigris which should have supplied his Army with Provisions and rashly pursuing irrational Designs was deservedly cut off in the Enemies Country Now I would fain have our Jacobites tell me whether the same True God has abandoned the Government of the World and when he did so Did he give the Empire of the World to Nero to Domitian to Julian the Apostate all Usurpers and some of them Murderers of their Predecessors nay to Marius who was the very Image of Oliver Cromwel and has he not since that done any thing of that Nature Did not he that gave the Kingdom of England to King James give it also to King William Did not the Primitive Fathers submit to and pray for Nero Domitian and Julian though Murderers and Usurpers as well as to Claudius Titus and Constantius It was well known Claudius left a Son whose birth was never questioned and that Nero was set up by the Intriegues of Agrippina his Mother Yet St. Paul owned his power to be God Rom. 13. For in that Princes Reign this Epistle was written as Bishop Pearson proves in his Annals of St. Paul pag. 15. But the Christians were few in number then Well but they were numerous enough in the second and third Century but they were all of St. Augustin's mind then too and left God to dispose of the Kingdoms of the World as he thought fit Now how did they know that he had given the Empire in their times to this of that Man but by the event and was that sufficient to justifie them in their acquiescing in and submitting to the Will of God thus discovered and will not the same be sufficient to us too Is not the same Providence as powerful and as vigilant in our times as in theirs For my part I was none of them that did or durst have resisted or Rebelled against King James but when he chose rather to leave his Kingdom than to do his Subjects Right it was just with God and Men to confirm the Election he had made and seeing he would not continue in the Station God had placed him in that of a Regular and Limited Monarchy but aspired to an Absolute and unlimited Arbitrary Empire and persecuted those who had set him up and preserved him in his Throne It was just I say that God should say unto him as he did to Saul Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord he hath rejected thee from being King. Seeing you have provoked and deserted your People and have fled into a strange Country when you might by observing your Oath and your Laws have lived happily in your own you shall the fruit of your own folly and I will give it to a neighbour of thine that is better than you Now I would fain know of my Country men who are still dissatisfied what I or any of the other Members of the Church of England who never resisted King James till he left us have done more than the Primitive Christians did in the like Circumstances and I
attainting of many hundreds of the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland who were fled to England But the Town of London-Derry holding out and an Army being every Day expected from England the 18th of July this Parliament was prorogued till October And notwithstanding their Act for Liberty of Conscience and the dreadful Expectation of a sudden Revenge from England the Popish Clergy took possession of the Tithes and Church Revenues and many of the Protestant Clergy were clapt up in Prison in order to be sent into France All that our discontented Party here in England have to say to all this is That we must not believe all is told as out of Ireland but they mean That we must believe nothing of it but call in King James and try if he will use us at the same rate We have a Proverb That Experience is the Mistress of Fools and certainly none but such will come a second time under her Discipline when they have so lately tried it and see every Day hundreds of the Nobility Gentry and Clergy of Ireland flee hither to save their Lives with the loss of all besides who agree very exactly one with another in these dreadful Stories Now let it be considered That nothing was asked by the Bishops in their Proposals and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in their Petition of the 17th of November but a free and legal Parliament and the redress of our Grievances and that this was the principal thing insisted on by the Prince of Orange in his Declaration viz. That a free and legal Parliament might settle and adjust all things in Difference or Dispute and that it was obstinately refused till the 28 th of that Month and then granted when it could be no longer denyed the greatest part of the Nobility and Army being then gone over to the Prince Let also that Passage in the Proclamation of the 30th of November be considered For the reconciling all Publick breaches and obliterating the very Memory of all past Miscarriages We do hereby Exhort and kindly Admonish all our Subjects to dispose themselves to Elect such Persons for their Representatives in Parliament as may not be byassed by Prejudice or Passion but qualified with Parts Experience and Prudence proper for this Conjuncture and agreeable to the Ends and Purposes of this Our Gracious Proclamation And after this that by his Message of the 8th of December sent by the three Lords to the Prince of Orange He promised That he would consent to every thing that could be reasonably required for the security of those that came to it that is to the Parliament And that the 10th of December he sent for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and Sheriffs of London to Whitehall and again passed his Word to them That though the Queen and Child were gone for France He would stay with them And though this Evening he received such an Answer from the Prince to his Proposals that he could not but acknowledge It was fairer than he could or did expect Yet after all these solemn ingagements he burnt the Writs for the Summoning a Parliament and went the very next Morning away for France as his Roman Catholick Friends had foretold he would above a fortnight before And who accordingly sent a Letter to him whilst he was at Salisbury perswading him to come back from thence and withdraw himself out of the Kingdom and leave it in confusion Assuring him That within two years or less the Nation would be in such Disorder that he might come back and have his Ends of it That is Ruine both our Civil Rights and our Religion When all these solemn promises were thus easily broken or rather never intended to be kept at the very time they were made and all those he has since made have been violated in Ireland where only he had power to keep or break his word what can we conclude but that as a Minister of State told our Planters It is very undecent not to say undutiful to tax this King with his Promises Who of all Mankind has shewn the least regard in time past to them and for time to come can never be blamed for any breach the Parties that take his word being alone responsible for their Incorrigible folly Some of these Men have confessed to me That if ever he be restored they expect to be treated as they were before without Truth Justice or Mercy but yet if it be his Right he must have it And they cannot think his Right can be determined but by Death or a voluntary surrender or a Conquest made by meer Foreigners to the utter Ruine of the English Nation And they will admit no Answer to these their Scruples but what shall be palpable convictive to that degree that they can make no Objection against it Now if they admit all the dreadful consequences that attend this relapse and yield up both Church and Nation to certain and inevitable ruine only that they may not be damned for Perjury and Disobedience to a King that has left them when he might have staied and now offereth to return and do what he then refused What shall we also consent and sacrifice our selves and our Posterity to the humour or scruples of these Men Shall we suffer the English Church Liberties and the very People of England to be destroyed to gratifie two or three hundred persons I have been told from good hands That one of our Bishops said Though he could not satisfie his own Scruples yet he thought the English Nation fools if ever they suffered King James to return and I may from hence reasonably conclude the far greatest part of our Scruplers are satisfied in the main and do heartily wish they could also be of the same mind with the rest of their Brethren in the rest so that the cause is half obtained against them and those that shall finally persist will I hope not meet with much Compassion it being scarce possible there should not be a very great deal of Will in so much blindness Our Neighbours abroad have observed with wonder That England was delivered from an Arbitrary Government which threatned the Ruine and Desolation of the whole Nation and the Destruction of our Religion without the shedding any of our Blood and that the Army of our Deliverer has committed no Disorder or Rapine in any of our Places through which it passed Now one would think the manner of our Deliverance were a Mercy almost equal to the Deliverance No they cry if King William the Third had entered England as William the First did and had slain fifty or sixty thousand English Men in a Battle then it had been a true Conquest and would have justified our submission and God would not have been offended with us if we had transferred our Allegiance from the beaten James to the Victorious King William Now if Men were like Beasts altogether distitute of the use of Reason and capable of no Reflection but the
same service what fortune ever fall by chance in the same Battle against the Mind and Will of the Prince as in this Land some time passed hath been seen that it is not reasonable but against all Law Reason and good Conscience that the said Subjects going with their Sovereign Lord in Wars attending upon him in his Person or being in other places by his commandment within this Land or without any thing should lose or forfeit for doing their true Duty and Service of Allegiance c That for the said deed and true Duty of Allegiance he or they be in no wise Convict or Attaint of high Treason ne of other Offences for that cause by Act of Parliament or otherwise by any Process of Law whereby he or any of them shall lose or forfeit Life Lands Tenements c. or any other things but to be for that Deed and Service utterly discharged of any vexation trouble or loss And if any Act or Acts or other Process of the Law hereafter thereupon for the same happen to be made contrary to this Ordinance that then that Act or Acts or other Process of the Law whatsoever they shall be stand and be utterly void 5 Provided always that no Person or Persons shall take any Benefit or Advantage by this Act which shall hereafter decline from his or their said Allegiance Which is to be understood of the King in being as the rest is and against the same King. To this Statute it is alledged That the Title of the Crown was then so ambiguous and uncertain that it was hard to know where the Right lay which is a meer Cavil The Title was as well known then as it is now and is a thing of that Nature that it can never be universally known but the greatest part of Mankind take those that are set over them without further inquiry nor is it reasonable any Man should suffer for obeying them whom he cannot nor ought to resist So that what some have said That every one is bound to take notice of the right Title at his Peril is true if the Person is in Possession but false if he is out of Possession Conquest a voluntary Surrender and a wilful Desertion of a Crown will put an End to the best founded Title in the World as I think is universally agreed so that if the Party pretending has a Title why is he not in Possession too if he is outed by his own Act I am absolved if by the Force and Power of another why then he is conquered and both waies especially if I had no hand in it I am and ought to be absolved before God and Man. But then not only the three Estates of England but all the Princes and Sovereign States in Christendom except the King of France have allowed King William and Queen Mary as the rightful Sovereigns of England which is a kind of giving Judgment against the late King after hearing what has been alledged on both sides So that this Case is determined by all the ways that are possible and must absolve any Man that submits now to that which is the only Supreme Power in England As to the Oaths taken to the late King they create no new Obligation upon us as to the Extent or Duration of our Allegiance I was under the same Obligations of Allegiance before I was sworn as I was afterwards and every Subject of England oweth by the Laws of England a natural Allegiance to his Prince before he is sworn as every Man ows naturally Obedience to God before he entreth into the Baptismal Covenant And so the Primitive Christians were under the same Obligation to their Princes we are tho' I do not find they ever swore any Allegiance to them 2. This Allegiance is no everlasting Obligation as to time Death a voluntary Resignation a wilful Desertion or a lawful Conquest will put an End to it 3. It is no wild unlimited Obedience whilst it lasteth but is plainly limited by the Laws of God and the Laws of the Land and if I obey further actively I am responsible to God and Man for it I come now to the Words of the Oaths which may seem to create any Scruple which in the Oath of Supremacy I suppose may be these I do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King's Highness his Heirs and Lawful Successors and to my Power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Preheminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the King's Highness his Heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm Where first I observe No Man is bound beyond his Power but that all those who stuck to the late King till he left the Nation and another took Possession of his Place are thereby disabled and freed from attempting any further 2. That the Authorities I am to defend are such only as belong to the Crown of England by the Laws of England which are to limit my Allegiance but by the Law of England my Allegiance is now transferred to another and cannot be due to two in opposition each to other so that if I persist in my Allegiance to James II. I am punishable by these very Laws therefore my Allegiance which was a legal Allegiance is determined That in the Oath of Allegiance which may be objected is this I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my Power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity by reason or colour of any such Sentence or otherwise c. Now this Oath which binds us to the Person as the other did to the Power is capable of the same Limitation and is to be limited both as to its Duration and extent by the Laws of England and the Law of Nations and therefore is determinable the same way the other was The Power and uttermost Power reserved and expressed in these Oaths is a Legal Power and therefore no Man is by these Oaths bound to exert his Natural Power for any Prince when he may by the Laws of England be punished as a Traytor for so doing it being a Legal and not an Illegal Allegiance we promise by them If King James would have been contented with the Preheminences Priviledges Authorities and Jurisdictions granted and annexed or belonging to the Crown of England I believe no Body questions but he had been still King of England but by grasping at others which did not belong to him he cut off his own Succours and hindred those that otherwise would have defended him and them from doing it He would not be content with those that belonged to him and they could not fight for or defend any other and between these two his Power fell to the Ground by his own Default and his withdrawing put an End to his Sovereignty
THE DOCTRINE OF Non-Resistance or Passive Obedience No way concerned in the CONTROVERSIES Now depending between the Williamites and the Iacobites By a LAY GENTLEMAN of the Communion of the Church of England by Law establish'd Cruces nec colimus nec optamus LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIX The Doctrine of NON-RESISTANCE or PASSIVE OBEDIENCE No way concern'd in the CONTROVERSIES now depending c. I Have with some impatience and wonder beheld the bandying of the Non-resisting Doctrine to and fro in this disturbed Kingdom for so many Months and to so little purpose because I am not able to comprehend what any of the contending Parties would be at nor why that Doctrine rather than any other should be made now the Subject of our Disquisitions and Enquiries For what if God has forbidden us upon pain of Damnation to resist our Lawful Princes when they do amiss and has reserved to himself the Censure and Punishment of his own Ministers as I'believe all Lawful Princes are such and that God has for great and wise Reasons tied up our hands Doth it therefore follow from hence that James is still the Lawful King of England Or that when he was so we that believe the Non-resisting Doctrine were bound to sight for him whatever he did And on the other side what can the Friends of their present Majesties pretend to palliate their Contempt and Scorn of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience It was indeed dangerous to them when he first entered England because all that believed themselves bound by it were obliged not to take up Arms for him against King James and so consequently it deprived him of their Assistance But when he had once subdued the Forces and obtained the Throne of that Infatuated Monarch of what use can it be to him to have his Subjects so frequently told That it is lawful for them to take Arms and Defend themselves their Rights and Religions against him I doubt not but His Majesty intends to Govern us with the utmost Clemency and Mercy according to our Laws But when neither Moses nor David could always please their Subjects It is to be feared the best of Princes may at one time or other need the Influence of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience to restrain the madness of the People and therefore they can be no Friends to Government in general nor to him or his in particular who are so zealous to have the Doctrine of Non-resistance extirpated out of the World. The consequence of which is That it is Lawful for every Man to Rebel against his Lawful Prince whenever he thinkâ— it necessary My design therefore in this Discourse being to put an end as far as I can to this unseasonable Dispute I shall endeavour to prove these Particulars as to the Friends of the late King. 1. That thâ—se that believed it were not thereby bound to assert the Mis government of James the Second 2. That seeing he has deserted his Throne and withdrawn his Person and Seals they are not thereby obliged to endeavour the restoring of him The Doctrine of Passive Obedience doth not oblige a Subject to assert the Mis-government of his Prince For it supposeth the Prince may command what he ought not and then it obligeth me to suffer rather than to resist my Prince or to break the Commandments of God or the Laws of my Country or do any other ill Action in Obedience to his Commands Now what is this to the purpose King James had notoriously subverted all our Constitutions and Laws both in Church and State and would suffer no redress the Church of England on the other hand Petition'd him from time to time by her Bishops and Nobility to suffer a Parliament to meet and redress our Grievances but this he would not yield and what should they do in this case Why said the Jesuit in the Answer to the Petition of the 17 th of November 1688. when they had set forth That in their Opinion the Only visible way to preserve his Majesty and this his Kingdom would be the calling of a Parliament Regular and Free in all its circumstances I hope to make it out that the summoning a Parliament now is so far from being the Only way to effect these things that it will be one of the Principal Causes of much Misery to the Kingdom And I am sure both our Duty to God and our holy Religion as well as to His Majesty and our Country doth plainly enjoyn us to use one other effectual means c. which is the keeping inviolably to our Allegiance to our Sovereign and effectually joyning with him to resist all his Enemies Whether Foreign Aggressors or Native Rebels That is let the King do what he please to you you are bound to fight for him and expel the Prince of Orange and subdue all his Adherents I can very well remember what small effect this Oratory had then upon the minds of all Men. There did not seem to be one Protestant in the Nation who could not distinguish between the Doctrine of Non-resistance and that of actually aiding a Prince to destroy and enslave his People His late Majesty however persisted in his Opinion that no Parliament could be holden till the Prince of Orange was driven out and the Clergy and Nobility in theirs that this was the Only visible way to preserve the late King and Kingdom which imply'd that all fighting was dangerous to both till this was done And accordingly as we had no disloyal Exhortations from Press or Pulpit to perswade Men to fight against their Prince so neither had we any to perswade us to fight for him but the thing was committed to God to determine as he thought fit In this our Bishops Clergy Nobility and Gentry and in general all the Children of the Church of England behaved themselves like good Christians and good Subjects too this difficult Case could then be no otherwise well and justifiably managed and if some few forgot their Duty and declared too soon for the Prince of Orange his now Majesty this they only are responsible for those that adhered to the late King till he actually left the Nation and the Government fell for want of the first Mover are not responsible for their Miscarriage if it was one In the Primitive times when this Doctrine was best both understood and practised their Loyalty was one of their lesser Virtues upon which they never valued themselves It would have been then a mean piece of Virtue for a Man to have alledged he had been ever Loyal to his Prince when a Rebel or a Traytor Christian was a thing they looked upon with horror and affrightment they expected Martyrdom every moment and were preparing for it at all times they were told then at their first admission into the Church that they must expect Persecution and every one who took up that Profession did it with that Expectation And the
Religion being contrary to the Established Laws whoever came in to it knew beforehand that at one time or other he might be called to lay down his Life for it and when it happened it was no new or unexpected accident but foreseen and provided for But then they were not so silly as to be fond of their Persecutors or to wish or fight for it We are said Tertullian defamed as Enemies to the Emperour's Majesty tamen nuaquam Alainiani nec Nigriani vel Cassiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani Yet never was any Christian found like Albinus Pescennius Niger or Avidius Cassius Vsurping the Throne and Invading the Government They prayed for the Emperor and performed all the Duties of good Subjects till he persecuted them and endeavoured to destroy the Church of God but then they changed their Notes Quales ergâ— leges ist quas adversus nos soli exequuntur impii injusti turpes truces vani dementes What Laws are these which none ever put in Execution against us but impious unjust base barbarous vain and mad Princes Who ever pleaseth may see enough of this laid together in Jovian pag. 161. and 162. There is not one of those Princes who persecuted the Church but he is represented to the World by the Fathers and Church Historians in the blackest Characters That little Book that was written by Lactantius to shew the dismal Ends and sad Catastrophies of the Persecuting Princes shews how far they were from being fond of Persecution or Persecutors and by what hand soever the enraged Fool fell the deliverance was ascribed to God who makes use of such instruments as he thinks fit to punish bloody and tyrannical Men. And let any Man shew me that the Primitive Christians were discontented when they were delivered if he can So far were some of the Ancient Fathers from fighting for the persecuting Princes when they hapned to be dethroned or invaded that they would not suffer a baptised Person to list himself in the service of a Pagan Prince Tertullian de corona cap. 11. To which purpose he alledgeth that passage of our Saviour He that takes the Sword shall perish by the Sword But then saith he Plane si quos militia praeventos fides posterior invenit alia conditio est Those who were admitted to Baptism after they were listed in the Service of the Emperor were not under the same obligation And we have the Passion of one Maximilian an African who suffered Martyrdom for no other Cause but for that he would not serve the Emperor as a Soldier And the Council of Aâ—les which first admitted baptized Persons to take up Arms limited the Grant to times of Peace which was all one with the saying They would not allow it under Pagan Princes From all which I may reasonably infer They did not think themselves bound to bestir themselves for Pagan or persecuting Princes as if the Church must have perished if they had not had the Honour to preserve every Prince God had set over them till he had ended his Reign and his Life together Yet in all these times the Doctrine of Passive Obedience was at the Highest never call'd in question never doubted of It is as true also The Roman Emperors under whom they lived were absolute Independent Princes whose Will was the Law and the constitution of the Empire differed vastly from that of England So that we are not under the same Obligations they were because our Princes have not the same Legal Powers the Roman Emperors had but then I doubt not but we are as much bound to submit to the Legal Commands of a King of England as the Primitive Christians were to the Legal Commands of their Princes But this was no part of the Controversie under the Reign of James II. who had as little Law as Reason for what he did I could never meet with one single Protestant how discontented soever he was that James II. is not still King of England who would pretend to justifie or excuse any of his Actions no they all grant his Design was certainly to extirpate the Protestant Religion to enslave and consequently to extirpate the English Nation but then say they What of all that no evil is to be done we ought not to rebel to save a Church or a Nation Why what then supposing all this were true What is this to them Have any of them rebelled Yes say they all that have sworn Allegiance to their present Majesties have made defection from James II. who tho' he were never so bad a Man is still our lawful Prince and we are bound to swear Allegiance to no other as long as he is alive To this I reply If the things laid to the Charge of James II. in the Prince of Orange's Declaration are true and I think no body questions that for all the same things in a manner are complained of in the Bishops Proposals but one or two which were too high for any Subject to take notice of why then I say That Prince had a just Cause to make War upon James II. and if he was conquered by him he has as good Right to our Allegiance on that score as ever any conquering Prince had But this is not all It is well known His now Majesty offered to submit all his Controversies to the Decision of an English Parliament which is more perhaps than was ever done by any invading Prince before but James II. was resolved That neither he nor we should have any Right or Redress but rather than submit to that he would go make a Voyage to his most Christian Majesty for his Assistance to make a second Conquest of us There has been much bandying Whether James II. went voluntarily away or were forced and this is a Question not worth one Farthing at the bottom For if he went voluntarily he was forced and if he was forced he went voluntarily I suppose no Man ever said or thought he freely resigned the Crown but that his Mis-government had raised such Jealousies and Discontents in the Minds of his Subject that they neither could nor would fight for him till he had in Parliament done Right first to his People and then to the Prince This he was resolved not to grant be the Event what it would and when he saw himself deserted by all the World still he persisted in his Resolution and after he had promised a Parliament broke his Word with the Prince and the Nation and withdrew his Person and Seals and left us in Anarchy and Confusion Now I say he was not forced to do this he might and as the case stood he was bound to have granted a Parliament and then he might have staid with good safety to his Person and Sovereignty Now if there be nothing asked of a Prince by his Neighbour-Prince upon an Invasion but what he ought to grant and may grant he is forced by no body but himself if
he will run away from his People rather than do them and his Neighbour Right But then when we say His retreat was voluntary we do not pretend there was no force made use of but that it was not made use of to that end All that was asked by the Prince or his own Subjects was a free and legal Parliament and all the force that was used was to that End And this he might and ought to have granted but if he would not the Prince is not to be supposed to have brought 14000 Men only to make a vain Shew with all but either to force him to do him Right or force him out of his Kingdom This Prince was no Subject to King James nor to any other Prince and consequently was no Rebel He had as well good Right as a good Cause to invade this injurious Prince who had injured both him and his good Subjects and without a War would do no right either to the Prince or us For the Prince had tried all fair waies before he tried Force as is notoriously known to all the World. But our Jacobites prate of the Force that was used against him by another Sovereign Prince as injurious only because it was Force Why the Prince was no Subject and if James II. would do him no right without Force tho' we that were then his Subjects had no Right to compel him HE might lawfully compel him by Force to do what he ought to have done without it but would not What Stupidity is it to deny a Sovereign Prince may make use of Force against a neighbouring Prince that has done him Wrong Well but say they His Subjects ought to have fought for King James To which I say Why did they not who hindred them from fighting No they would not fight or which is all one they durst not and now he is gone they think to make him amends by a fullen disclaiming of the present King's Sovereignty But tho' they will not swear they will promise to live peaceably under this King That is they will not own him for the lawful King of England but they will submit to him as they did to Oliver Cromwel till they have an Opportunity to dethrone him and deliver him into the Hand of King James and for this they would be allowed the same Condition with those Subjects that have sworn Allegiance to him Is this reasonable will they admit a Servant or a Rival on the same Terms into their own Families Well but some of his Subjects forsook and others of them fought against him and almost all the rest stood still and would not fight for him 1. What is this to them if they have done as much for him as they could or ought they shall answer for no body but themselves 2. What was the Reason and who gave the Cause of this general Desertion 3. It is denied that King James his Subjects were bound to stand by him and fight for him He had notoriously invaded and destroyed all our Civil and Religious Rights and Liberties and designed the Ruine and Destruction both of them and us and would give us no Assurance we could rely on to do otherwise for the future and therefore if it were unlawful to resist him it was also as unlawful to assist and enable him to destroy the true Religion the English Liberties and Immunities nay the very Nation Now Jovian tells us pag. 272. Whosoever acts contrary to Law in this Realm to the Prejudice of any other Person must be subject to make Reparation by Law against which the King himself can protect no Man as long as the Courts of Law are kept open this has been sufficiently confuted so that there can be no Tyranny nor any Persecution but a most exorbitant and illegal Persecution which must presuppose That Justice is obstructed the Laws and Lawyers silenced the Courts of Judicature that up and that the King governs altogether by Arbitrary Power and the Sword. The Courts were indeed open but we know for all that no Man could have any redress but the Consequences were the same as if they had been shut up But to suppose this saith the Doctor is plainly to suppose the utmost possibility which is next to an impossibility a possibility indeed in Theory but scarce to the reduced into Practice For in such a violent Vndertaking all good Men would withdraw from the Service and Assistance of the King mark that and the Bad durst not serve him because if he died or repented of his Vndertaking they must be answerable for all the Wrongs and Illegalities they were guilty of in his Service And a little lower he tells us To shut up the Laws or obstruct and pervert Justice would prove an exceeding difficult and almost impracticable Undertaking because all his good Subjects and all the bad too that tendered their own Safety would desert him nay Foreigners upon this account would make a Difficulty to serve him because he could not protect them against his own Laws Now all this was done and averred in the Face of the Sun this Possibility was brought into act and things driven on to the utmost Extremity and the only Question then was Whether we should intail this arbitrary tyrannical exorbitant Persecution on our Posterity without any Hopes or Possibility of Redress or whether we should withdraw from his Service and secure our Rights and Religion by it And this was done by all but the Irish and Papists both Good and Bad in a manner as the Doctor foretold it would and to me it seems altogether justifiable I know the Doctor means only a Civil Recess but if it was highly punishable and Infamous to have persisted in a co-operation and Assistance of these things it was worse and more punishable to have fought for them And from hence I conclude All that did withdraw from the Service of the late King when they saw he was resolved on these illegal exorbitant Courses are not to be blamed and that the best of the Primitive Christians would have done the same thing if it had been their lot to have fallen under such a Prince Tertullian de corona c. 12. expounds that Place of Scripture Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's Give the Man to God and the Penny to Caesar The Man bore God's Image as the Penny did Caesar's and when God and Caesar were in opposition the whole Man was God's Right So far were they from thinking their Loyalty to their Prince obliged them to be disloyal to their Religion even then when they never thought of Resisting their hands were tyed up neither to assist nor resist a against persecuting Prince they would do neither of these tho' they perished And are not we still under the same Obligations as to the latter as well as to the former For Shame let no Man boast of that Loyalty to his Prince which makes him Disloyal to God and his Church
would have them produce but one Example in all those times of a Christian that did scruple to submit to or pray for the Prince that was set over him be his Title what it would And when his hand is in let him shew me the Christian that desired the Restitution of Dioclesian or Liciniu two persecuting Princes who were as manifestly laid aside as King James was or could be supposing he was purely forced and that there was nothing of his will in it which yet were a very extravagant Supposition 2. I come now to the Second thing I proposed to examine whether those who stand for the Non-resisting Doctrine are by it bound to endeavour the Restitution of James the Second now he had deserted the Throne and withdrawn his Person and Seals I have in part anticipated this Enquiry in the former part as it was impossible to do otherwise by shewing the Primitive Christians who owned and practised this Doctrine to the highest did yet never concern themselves for the Titles or Successions of their Princes but submitted to those they found in the Throne good or bad by what Right Title or Pretence soever they came in The only reason that be given for this is what I have assigned out of St. Augustin viz. That the Kingdoms of the World were so particularly under the Government of God that no person could usurp them without his particular Gift and Providence They did not in this case make any difference between his Approbation and Permission They knew and acknowledged this thing was managed in such manner that it was impossible for Man sometimes after the utmost search to find out the reason of it but yet they said also with St. Augustin God could approve nothing but what was just and in this be sure nothing could happen but what he approved no force no fraud ever prevailed against any Prince that was in Possession but by the Will and Approbation of God Almighty The only Objection that can be made against this is That this will seem to make God the Author or Approver of the ill things that have been done to good Princes in the several Ages of the World. To which I reply That God has very great Reason and Justice in all his Actions though it is not always known to Men. The best of Men have been guilty of great offences some of which have not been known to Men in general and others that were known have not been committed to writing and are lost but when all things shall in the last Day be discovered then it will appear That God was just in all his ways and righteous in all his works And though God has pleased to settle the Kingdom of the World in certain Families and Persons as he thought fit yet he has not thereby bound up his own hands so that let them do what they please every person that is by his Providence exalted to a Throne must necessarily Reign till his Death and shall then be succeeded by none but his next right Heir God never made a personal promise to any Family but that of David and after that to Jehu but in the Family of David as the Promise was in part conditional there were many false steps and aberrations from the true Rules of an Hereditary Succession and for the sins of Solomen God rent ten of the Tribes out of the hand of Rehoboam his Son which never after returned under the House of David and though this is stiled a Rebellion yet God owns that this thing was from him 1 King. 12. 24. And the Family of Jehu ended in the fourth desent as it was foretold Now put these two together That there is a particular Providence that particularly concerns it self in the disposing of Crowns against which neither Fraud nor Force can prevail And That God has an absolute Right as well as full Power to dispose of the Kingdoms of the World as he please and accordingly has in every Age of the World de facto disposed of them and the Conclusion will be That whosoever ascends a Throne and reigns in any Kingdom doth it by the Will and Appointment of God And in this no Wrong is done by God for he may dispose of what is his own when and how he please All Princes are Gods Ministers and Deputies and when he please he may lay them aside and set up others in their stead And this in general is true of all Princes Good and Bad but as to the latter to what purpose are Prayers and Tears stiled The Arms of the Church against persecuting Princes if they were of no Force to what purpose should Men cry unto the Lord because of the King if he were resolved never to hear them or which is all one never to help them And the Difficulty is the same yet if I may not accept of a Deliverance when it comes Why if God is pleased to put an end to the Life of an ill Prince and to set up the next immediate Successor then I may say I am delivered But when did God oblige himself to this That he would exercise this most Sovereign Jurisdiction over Princes only one way and that every Prince should be succeeded by none but his next immediate Heir Where has he obliged us to accept of no other Deliverance and to reject all other Successors but those that we took to be right with the loss of our Lives and Fortunes Did the Primitive Fathers of the Church act or write thus or how come we to be under other Laws than they were If James II. governed us as he ought according to his Laws and his Oath we are bound in Gratitude to desire the continuance of his Government and to be much concerned that we are not still under his Scepter for he was once the undoubted rightful King of England But if it was otherwise if he persecuted that Church he promised and was bound to protect and did not treat us like Englishmen but like Slaves what reason have we to desire now we are delivered to be again brought into the same Circumstances we so lately groaned under Nero Domitian and Decius the three first Persecutors of the Christian Church all of them perished by the Sword but Valerian the fourth as he is reckoned by Lactantius did not escape neither At illum Deus novo ac singulari poenae genere adfecit ut esset posteris documentum adversarios Dei sâ—pe dignam scelere suo recipere mercedem God took a new Course with him and inflicted upon him a new kind of Punishment that he might teach Posterity That the Enemies of God do often meet with a Recompence worthy of their Wickedness for he being taken Prisoner by the Persians lost not only his Sovereignty which he had most insolently abused but his Liberty also which he had deprived others unjustly of and he continued in wretched Servitude to the Day of his Death not only destitute of Help or Pity
and put our present King and Queen in the actual Possession of all those Legal Jurisdictions Priviledges Preheminences and Authorities which he was formerly vested with and it is now the same Sin to resist them it was formerly to resist him There may possibly be some who will lightly regard what ever I or any other Man of this Age can say to them will they then vouchsafe to hear one of the most Noble and Royal Orators that ever spoke to men Constantine the Great in his Oration to the Holy Assembly Chap. 24. Of the calamitous Deaths of Decius Valerian and Aurelian three Emperors who persecuted the Church And now I ask thee O Decius who didst once insult over the Calamities of the Just who didst hate the Church who didst inflict such Punishments on those who lived most piously What art thou doing in the other World with what and how dreadful Circumstances art thou surrounded Yea the remainder of thy Life after it in this World and the manner of thy Death shew thy Felicity when thou and all thy Army fell in the Scythian Fields And the celebrated Roman Empire by thy Fall became after this contemptible to the Goths And thou O Valerian when thou didst enter into a bloody War against the Servants of God hast thereby made his Justice known to Men being taken Prisoner by the Persians and kept in Chains in thy Purple and Royal Robes After which thou wert flea'd being dead by Sapores King of Persia and thy Skin by his Order taâ—â—ed and kept as an eternal Trophy of thy Misfortune And thou O Aurelius the unjustest and most wicked Incendiary how much hast thou discovered his Justice whilst madly invading Thrace thou wert cut off in the Field and didst deâ—ile the surrows of the Publick Road with thy wicked Blood Chap. 25. Of Dioclesian who basely resigned the Empire and was struck with Lightning for persecuting the Church Dioclesian also after a wicked Slaughter and cruel Persecution condemning himself through distraction was reduced to a private Life and punished with the Restraint of a mean House What did he get by his War against our God Why that he was ever after afraid of Thunder and Lightning Nicomedia saith this and they who saw it will not be silent among whom I my self was one The Palace was consumed and his very Chamber burnt with Fire from Heaven and thereupon wise Men foretold what would follow for they could not conceal their Thoughts nor suppress their Resentments at the ill things were done but openly and publickly with assurance said one to another What madness is this what boasting in human Power for a Mortal to begin a War against God and injuriously to affront the most chast and holy Religion and without any Cause or Provocation to contrive the Destruction of so many just Men and of so numerous a People What a famous Master and teacher of Modesty to his Subjects will he appear How rarely he teacheth his Soldiers to take Care of their Countrymen Why they stab their fellow Subjects bravely who in Fight never saw the back of a beaten Enemy At last the Providence of God undertook the avenging this Impiety tho' not without the publick Hurt for so much Blood had been shed by him that if he had slain as many of the Barbarians as he did of his own Subjects we might have procured a long Peace by it But the whole Roman Army being then in the Hand of a mean-spirited Prince who had acquired it by Force his whole Army perished when God was pleased to think fit to restore the Romans to their ancient Liberty The Voices of oppressed Men who cryed to God for Help under their Burthens and begged the Return of their natural Liberty are not forgotten nor the Praises they returned when they had regained it and saw an end of their Calamities Did they not declare to all the World How much they admired the singular Providence and paternal Love of God to men when their Liberty and the Equity of their Contracts was restored That is when they were delivered out of the Hands of perfidious Tyrants and became subject to a Prince who would keep his Faith and Promise to them They may be pleased to consider How much of this was our Case and ask their Consciences If the self-same Divine Justice and Providence has not appeared in our Times also and whether we have not as much Reason as they to be pleased and thankful Having thus dispatched what I think fit for the present to be offered to the Friends of the late King I come now to that part of the Nation who being satisfied and highly pleased with the present State of Affairs may therefore be called in contradistinction the Williamists Many of these of late have appeared very pertly against the Doctrine of Non resistance and Passive Obedience and discoursed of it with a Contempt and Scorn as if it were one of the worst and most exploded Doctrines in the whole World and full as Antichristian as that of deposing Kings and disposing of their Kingdoms Now these two being directly contrary each to other in all probability one of them is true If we of the Church of England are not in the right with the Scriptures and all Primitive Antiquity on our side it is fairly probable They of the Deposing Church are for their Claim is older than the Peoples But the Mischief is the Devils is older than either for he pretended to our Saviour when he had shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World and made a conditional Tender of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All this Power and Glory is delivered into my Hands and I give it to whomsoever I will Now this was long before People or Pope put in any Claim and before the latter of these had any Being The Pope it is true claims under the People but the Devil in his own Right But I believe neither of them can shew their Charter though the Devil claimed by a Grant and so I shall leave him and them Pope and all in the intire possession of their several Rights if any they have The Doctrine of Non-resistance has been often proved the genuine Doctrine of the best Ages of the Church and that so fully and clearly that those who would not yield to the Force of the Proof have not been able to deny the Truth of it but have been forced to pretend it was only Temporary and doth not oblige all Ages which is hardly Sense or that the Church is now in other Circumstances than she was then which is not true neither for in some Places she is now under the same or worse Circumstances than she was in the three first Centuries and consequently they at least are under the same Obligations the Primitive Christians were and therefore this very Doctrine is of eternal Verity and will have its Use till the End of the World. The command is general the Examples of it are