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A36486
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An examination of the arguments drawn from Scripture and reason, in Dr. Sherlock's Case of allegiance, and his Vindication of it
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Downes, Theophilus, d. 1726.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing D2083; ESTC R5225
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114,324
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80
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and yet Jerusalem was no more to the Persian Empire than a Village is to England and thus upon the late Abdication as we are taught to call it there might have been a new Heptarchy of Governments nay as many as there are Counties Towns or Villages in the Kingdom every Government would have been throughly 〈…〉 in it self even without a peaceable Possessim and Settlement Thus when Monmouth was at Taunton and the People generally submitted to him as their King his Government was setled in that Town and private particular Men being under the Power of the new King might have lawfully paid Allegiance to him The Doctor thinks it very absurd to found the Right of Government upon Humane Laws or the Legal Consent of the People but if they consent against Law their Consent does make a Lawful King by the Law of Nature and Nations he accounts it a monstrous Absurdity to say that God cannot give his Authority himself without the People nor otherwise than as they have directed him by their Laws if Princes receive their Authority from Humane Laws he cannot imagine that their Power is any more than a Trust for which they are accountable he thinks it a bold Contradiction to say that God cannot remove or set up King 's against Law This is shackling of his Providence and in fine whoever will confine the Power of God in setting up Kings to Humane Laws ought not to be disputed with But now instead of Humane Laws insert the Consent of the People against Law and all these Absurdities and Contradictions are easily reconcil'd to Reason and Religion and he that will not shackle God's Authority and Providence to Submission and Consent shall not be thought fit to be disputed with I grant that the Laws of Nature and Nations do make him a lawful King who has the Consent of a Free People who are under no antecedent Obligation But when they are they have no Power to Consent and then their Consent is a Nullity by the Law of Nature it self for it is a Rule in that Law That Actions which are forbidden by it for defect of Power are not only unlawful but also void this is true in Contracts and Acts of Donation in Vows and Dedition and all relie upon the same Reason He that cannot give 〈…〉 he that cannot be given cannot contract or be contracted with Therefore in what Cases soever the People have no Power to consent to the advancement of a new Sovereign their consent is nothing in Law and therefore cannot make a rightful King according to the Laws of Nature and Nations No 〈…〉 suppose as before that a Rebellious People by the assistance of Foreign Power drive their King out of his Kingdom refuse to restore him or so much as to treat with him and then set up an Usurper over them here the Question is whether their Advancement of the Usurper was lawful and whether they had Power to consent to it if the Doctor can prove the People have Power to rebel depose and set up Usurpers let us see him prove it but if he cannot prove it he will never prove that such a People had Power to consent or that a consent which is nothing can effect any thing can create â—a lawful Right by the Law of Nature or Nations their consent is void and unlawful it is a breach of their Allegiance and that cannot absolve them from it it is Perjury and that is no release from their Oaths and in short it binds them only to Repentance and Restitution He allows that the lawful Prince who is dispossessed has a lawful Right to make War for the recovery of his Kingdom I demand Is not this lawful by the Laws of Nature and Nations It hâ— lawful by those Laws or by none for it is no proper Matter for political Laws and they prescribe nothing about it But the Doctor will grant that and if he will not it is easie to prove it by a cloud of Witnesses and by the practice of Nations But now if the dispossessed Prince by the Law of Nature and Nations has a Right to recover his Kingdom he has certainly a Right by the same Laws to possess it and consequently the Usurper has no Right to it by those Laws unless they are contradictory to themselves by giving two incompatible Rights to the same Possession And this is a plain Demonstration whatever becomes of the Usurper in the Vindication that the Usurper in the Case of Allegiance is not a rightful Prince according to the Laws of Nature and Nations One thing more may seem necessary to be considered because it looks like Argument from Reason and that is the Discourse concerning the Relation between a King and a Subject but I have the Doctor 's Warrant to let it pass as a logical Banter the result of it is this that the Fundamentum Relationâ—s is God's Authority and that says he is always annexed to the settled Possession of the Throne but this again is the Fundamental Proposition in Dispute between us I have endeavoured to answer all the Arguments that are drawn from Scripture and Reason to provâ— it and the Reader is left to judge whether they are sufficiently Answered ADVERTISEMENT THe Reader may please to take Notice That the following Postscript doth not relate to this Book nor yet to the Author but it was an Addition to the Answer to Dr. Sherlock in Defence of the Case of Allegiance to the King in Possession and written to the same Friend but the Impression of it being then prevented it was thought convenient to annex it to this POSTSCRIPT IT will Sir be no small Surprize to you to tell you after all that the Case of Allegianeâ— to a King in Possession with all the Mistakes Nonsense and Trifling which the Doctour now discovers in it had notwithstanding the Doctour's Imprimatur before it saw the Light as you may fully assure your self from the following Testimony of a Person of very good Credit who some time since gave me this following Account The Case of Allegiance to a King in Possession in M. S. was recommended to Dr. Sherlock who read it over and mightily approved it and wished it were then actually printed especially for the sake of Dr. who had written a Letter to him which he also then read wherein he endeavoured to persuade him that Allegiance was due to the Regnant Power He urged to have it printed as soon as might be and that Care might be taken that Dr. should have a Copy which shews a strange Temper in the Master to treat a Book and an Authour at such a rate which a little before he did so approve and commend The Authour ought to take this for a very great Honour done him by the Doctour as great as if the Book had been Licenced under his hand and it will be some Comfort to him to hear that once he stood so fair in the Doctor 's
any other Title Allegiance is not due to the Crown but to the natural Person of the King which is ever accompany'd with the Politick Capacity it is due to the natural Body by Nature God's Law and Man's Law cannot be forfeited nor renounced by any Means it is inseparable from the Person and it has been said to be due to him even when he is driven out of his Kingdom And lastly we have the Resolution of all the Lord's and Commons in the Case of the Claim of the Duke of York against Henry the Sixth that an illegal Settlement of the Crown by Acts of Parliament and the Settlement of 60 Years Possession without interruption were not sufficient to defeat the legal Title nor to settle the Usurper's against it Further it appears from the whole Sâ—…ies of our History from the constant practice of Usurpers and from the Acts and Recognitions of their Parliaments that no Possession whatsoever without a legal Right was ever esteemed a through Settlement by the Parliaments the People or by the Usurpers themselves they have always pretended to a Legal Right and got themselves to be declared Kings dejure by their Parliaments for the satisfaction of the People to what purpose but that they knew it was the surest Foundation of their Power that the People could never be brought to a plenary Submission nor their Government be throughly setled without a general Persuasion of it These Recognitions of Parliaments were as illegal as the Usurpations they could not alter the nature of things lawful Parliaments did always declare them to be invalid and null the whole Body of the Nation have rejected and made no account of them and they never yet were effectual to establish Usurpation But they who had no Right thought the Pretente and Opinion of it necessary to a Settlement they knew that Parliaments were the best Instruments to delude the People and therefore they made them to recognize Force and Usurpation to be Right and Inheritance and this constant practice of Usurpers is an evident Proof that it has been the Universal Sense oâ—â— the Nation that without a Legal Right there could be no hopes of Settlement Lastly I appeal to the Sense and Reason of Mankind whether according to the natural course of things there can be a through Settlement of an Usurped Power while the rightful Prince is actually prosecuting his Right Mankind are not so degenerate nor so much in love with Oppression and Injustice as to have no regard to Right nothing is more natural than to commiserate and assist the Oppressed and that may well be expected in the case of a Rightful Sovereign to whom the Subjects have sworn Assistance and whom they know to be wrongfully deposed The generality of Men will never so far shake off the bands of Reason and Equity as to think they are loos'd from the Obligations of rendring every Man his due and doing as we would be done by Brave and Generous Spirits will never be wanting who will dare even to dye for a Righteous Cause and will scorn to abandon a Prince because he is unfortunate Men may be câ—â—eated and deluded for a while with the plausible Pretences of Religion and 〈◊〉 Publick Safety but time does always discover the Imposture and when once the Fig-Leaves are remov'd the Usurpation and Injustice will be expos'd naked to their view and their Abhorrence will be heightned by the Briars and Thorns the Sweat and Labour and Misery they have produc'd and then they will strive who shall be the first in bringing back their King all this is natural to imagine what has often happened and what may be reasonably expected Usurpers are always in the state of Robbers they may be well arm'd and strongly fortisied but they can never be secure Usurpation will never want Enemies not Right its Friends and Defenders Nature and Religion and the Common Interest of Mankind do conspire for Right and Justice against Injury and Oppression and 't is not likely they should be establish'd in spite of so powerful a Combination Lastly it was never yet known in this Nation that a Legal Right to the Crown when prosecuted was totally deserted or a through Settlement acquir'd without it and therefore I conclude that Reason and Experience do assure us that Right is necessary to a through Settlement The Result is this that seeing the Civil Law the Law of Nations the Law of England the Practice of Usurpers the constant Sense of the People and even Reason it self do unanimously agree in proving the necessity of Right to Settlement it is very unreasonable to consider Settlement without it or when we meet with it in any Author to give it such an Interpretation as is warranted by no good Writer and is contradictory to Law and Practice Reason and Experience and when on the contrary it may fairly be interpreted in a sense agreeable to them The Doctor concludes this Section with repeating his former Prejudice and insinuating a new one That his Principles are so very useful in all Revolutions that Subjects have reason to wish them true and to examine over again those strict Principles of Loyalty which if pursued to their just consequences must unavoidably in some junctures sacrifice whole Kingdoms at least all Subjects who pretend to this degree of Loyalty and Conscience to the ill Fortune of their Princes Now this is nothing but Wheedling and Prevaricating if his Principles be false it is certain they are not useful to the Good of Mankind and 't is as impious to wish them true as to wish that Vice were Virtue as absurd as to wish that an Ox were an Elephant His Principles are useful enough to them who think sleeping in a whole Skin should be preferred to all Obligations and such is that Principle which was once vouched by the Devil Skin for Skin and all that a Man hath c. But the strict Principles of Loyalty are such as may sacrifice Kingdoms to the ill Fortune of a Prince so may the Principle of Passive Obedience to the Cruelty of a Prince so may the Doctrine of the Cross to the Fury of a persecuting Prince so it is possible that Obedience to any Law of God oâ— Nature may in some junctures be the destruction of a Kingdom must the Laws of God and Nature be therefore cancelled Must the Doctrine of the Cross and of Non-resistence be therefore rejected as destructive to Society Must the Principles of Honour Loyalty and Fidelity be sacrificed to ill Fortune Is our Allegiance due to Fortune And if a righteous Cause be unsuccessful is it our Duty to abandon and bind our selves by Oaths to oppose it We may thus briefly answer his Objection We will discharge our Duty and leave the Event to God But as for the Doctor 's Principles they are exactly the same with Mr. Ascham's and because he professes greatly to reverence the profund Judgment of Bishop Sanderson I will conclude