present at the Sermon At London likewise things succeed no worse Every Holy Day at preaching People so frequent that many of the Chappels cannot contain them Two of ours Darmes and Berfall do constantly say Mass before the King and Queen Father Edmund Newil before the Queen Dowager Father Alexander Regnes in the Chappel of the Ambassador aforesaid others in other places Many Houses are bought for the Colledg in the Savoy as they call it nigh Somerset-house London the Palace of the Queen Dowager to the value of about eighteen thousand Florins in making of which after the Form of a Colledg they labour very hard that the Schools may be opened before Easter In Ireland shortly there will be a Catholick Parliament seeing no other can satisfy the King's Will to Establish the Catholick Cause there In the Month of February for certain the King hath designed to call a Parliament at London 1. That by a Universal Decree the Catholick Peers may be admitted into the Upper House 2. That the Oath or Test may be annulled 3. Which is the best or top of all That all Penal Laws made against Catholicks may be Abrogated which that he may more surely obtain he desires every one to take notice that he hath certainly determined to dismiss any from all profitable Imployments under him who do not strenuously endeavour the obtaining those things also that he will Dissolve the Parliament with which Decree some Hereticks being affrighted came to a certain Peer to consult him what was best to be done to whom he said the Kings pleasure is sufficiently made known to us what he hath once said he will most certainly do if you love your selves you must submit your selves to the Kings Will. There are great preparations for War at London and a Squadron of many Ships of War are to be fitted out against a time appointed what they are designed for is not certain The Hollanders greatly fear they are against them and therefore begin to prepare themselves Time will discover more Liege 2. Feb. 1688. II. A Letter from the Reverend Father Petre Iesuit Almoner to the Kiâ—g of England written to the Reverend Father la Cheese Confessor to the most Christian King touching the present Affairs of ENGLAND Translated from the French. Most Reverend Father IF I have fail'd for the last few days to observe your Order it was not from want of Affection but Health that occasion'd the neglect and for which I shall endeavour to make amends by the length of this I shall begin where my former left off and shall tell you That since the appearing of a Letter in this Town written by the Prince's Minister of Holland which declares the Intentions of the Prince and Princess of Orange relating to the Repealing the Test or to speak more properly their Aversion to it This Letter has produc'd very ill Effects among the Hereticks whom at the return of some of our Fathers from those Parts we had perswaded that the Prince would comply with every thing relating to the Test that the King should propose to the next Parliâ—ment in case he should call one to which I do not find his Majesty much inclin'd But the coming of this Letter of which I have inclos'd a Copy has serv'd for nothing but to incourage the Obstinate in their aversion to that Matter The Queen as well as my self were of Opinion against the sending of any such Letter to the Hague upon that Subject but rather that some Person able to discourse and perswade should have been sent thither for all such Letters when they are not grateful produce bad Effects That which is spoken Face to Face is not so easiâ—y divulg'd nor any thing discover'd to the People but what we have a raind the Vulgar should know And I believe your Reverence will concur with me in this Opinion This Letter has extreamly provok'd the King who is of a temper not to bear a refusal and who has not been us'd to have his Will contradicted And I verily believe this very affront has hastned his Resolution of re-calling the English Regiments in Holland I shew'd his Majesty that part of your Letter that relates to the Opinion of his Most Christian Majesty upon this Subject which his Majesty well approves of We are interested to know the Success of this Affair and what Answer the States will give The King changes as many Heretick Officers as he can to put Catholicks in their places but the Misfortune is that here we want Catholick Officers to supply them And therefore if you know any such of our Nation in France you would do the King a pleasure to perswade them to come over and they shall be certain of Employments either in the old Troops or the New that are speedily to be rais'd for which by this my Letter I pass my Word Our Fathers are continually employ'd to convert the Officers but their Obstinacy is so great that for one that turns there are five that had rather quit their Commands And there are so many Male-contents whose Party is already but too great the King has need of all his Prudence and Temper to manage this great Affair and bring it to that Perfection we hope to see it in ere long All that I can assure you is That here shall be no neglect in the Queen who labours night and day with unexpressible Diligence for the propation of the Faith and with the Zeal of a holy Princess The Queen Dowager is not so earnest and Fear makes her resolve to retire into Portugal to pass the remainder of her days in Devotion she has already ask'd the King leave who has not only granted it but also promised that she should have her Pension punctually paid and that during her Life her Servants that she leaves behind her shall have the same Wages as if they were in waiting She stays but for a proper Season to imbark for Lisbon and to live there free from all Stories As to the Queen's being with Child that great Concern goes as well as we could wish notwithstanding all the Satyrical Discourses of the Heriticks who content themselves to vent their Poyson in Libels which by night they disperse in the Street or fix upon the Walls There was one lately found upon a Pillar of a Church that imported That such a day Thanks should be given GOD for the Queen 's being great with a Cushion If one of these Pasquil-makers could be discover'd he would but have an ill time on 't and should be made to take his last Farewel at Tyburn You will agree with me most Reverend Father that we have done a great thing by introducing Mrs. Celier to the Queen this Woman is totally devoted to our Society and zealous for the Catholick Religion I will send you an account of the progress of this Affair and will use the Cypher you sent me which I think very admirable I can send you nothing certain of the Prince and Princess
't is for ever lost But I hope your Lordships and all those Gentlemen who compose this August Assembly will proceed with so much Zeal and Harmony that the Result of your present Consultations may be a lasting and grateful Monument to Posterity of your Integrity Courage and Conduct SEVERAL QUERIES Relating to the present Proceedings in Parliament More especially recommended to the Consideration of the BISHOPS I. HOW the House of Commons can answer it to those People whom they Represent if now they have an Opportunity they do not settle the Government upon such a Foundation as will be likely not only to preserve the Nation from Foreign Enemies but also from falling into the like unhappy Circumstances which it is but just now escaped out of and which in a great measure have proceeded from a want of a right Settlement of Publick Affairs at the Restauration of King Charles the Second II. Whether this can be done without altering the Succession since the Birth of the Prince of Wales is not proved supposititious though perhaps no Body doubts but it is so And supposing it proved so Whether it would not be more feasible to make a President now than to try the Experiment first when the next Right of Succession is claimed by the Infanta of Spain or perhaps some Prince her Heir too strong to resist without the Assistance of the Prince of Orange especially if there happen to be such Divisions amongst Us as are at this Time III. Whether it can be immagined to be worth the Prince of Orange's while to leave Holland where he is the chief Man and become a Subject in England nay and have such an uncertain Interest in his stay here that if his Wives Life chance to drop perhaps he may be banished in a Years time and not have a Place as things may happen to put his Head in For his Interest in Holland must necessarily fall into other Hands And no Body knows what fallings out may happen betwixt Us and the Dutch or what other Contingencies may happen that may give cause of Disgust IV. Whether considering the present State of Affairs the Strength of the King of France and the Irish Rebellion to say nothing of the Effects which the Entreaties and subtile Insinuations of a Father must necessarily have upon any one that is good natur'd it be safe to trust the Administration of Affairs to a Woman though never so vertuous And whether we shall be able to protect our selves against all these formidable Enemies and bring things to a due Settlement without the Assistance of the Prince of Orange whose Foreign Alliances are such as we can never hope to obtain if we confer the Crown upon any other V. Whether it would be a greater real Kindness to the Princess of Orange to make her sole Queen after such a manner as she will be likely to be turned out again or to make her and her Husband joint King and Queen during their two Lives I say her Husband who is a Prince not only able to defend her and her Kingdom from all the Dangers that may happen but also to take all the Trouble which may occur in the Administration of Affairs off her Hands so that she will enjoy all the Pleasure of being Queen without any thing of Trouble And we may add to this that if it had not been for him she had never enjoyed the Crown nor the Nation their Freedom VI. Whether the Terms the Parliament shall make with one that can pretend no Right to the Crown but what they give him will not be more likely to be kept by him than by one that pretends a Title and will be flatterâ—d up both by Lawyers and Divines I mean the Scum of them with Notions of a Right jure Divino and a Prerogative which cannot be parted with or abolish'd though by the King's Consent or Act of Parliament VII Whether the House of Commons upon these Considerations and divers others too long to mention will not think it necessary that the Prince and Princess of Orange be crowned King and Queen for their two Lives And whether it can be imagined that the Commons should so far betray their Country as to recede from this Point so necessary for its Preservation notwithstanding all the Disturbances which the Bishops shall make in the House of Lords and though they do not meet with the Concurrence of that House so soon as in reason might be expected VIII Whether the House of Lords will suffer themselves any longer to be imposed upon by the Bishops in a thing that will be so injurious to the Nation as it will be not to comply with the House of Commons in this great Point which must necessarily put such a damp upon Trade that it will certainly be the Ruin of many hundreds of Families in the Nation whose dependance are upon Handy-Craft-Trades to say nothing of the Disadvantages which may accrue by such a Delay to the poor Protestants in Ireland and admitting they should whether the Circumstances of Affairs would not in a little time force them to a compliance with the House of Commons IX Whether the Prince of Orange will not shew himself one of the unkindest Men in the World if he doth not stick by these People till he seeth them secured that have ventured their Lives and Fortunes for Him and their Country in confidence of his Protection and whether he as Head of the Protestant Religion be not obliged to stand by the 48 Protestant Lords and House of Commons that have served their Country so faithfully X. Whether it would not be Prudence in the Bishops supposing their Designs be good as I would hope they are to shew their readiness to assist the Nobility and Gentry in carrying on this great Work whereby they might settle the Church upon the surest Foundation the Laws of God and of the Land and continue themselves in the Affections of the People XI Whether all the Protestant Blood which shall be spilt in Ireland by reason of these long Delays will not be justly laid at the Bishops doors if they proceed after the same manner they have begun And lastly To answer the great Objection that we shall lose the Kingdom of Scotland if we make the King Elective for this Turn Whether the Scots can chuse any body that will be more agreeable to their Interests than the Prince of Orange and supposing they can Whether it be not madness to imagine since they have a different Parliament different Laws and a different Original Contract so that the King may commit a Forfeiture there when he hath committed none here or a Forfeiture here when he hath committed none there that they will not place the Crown upon him without any respect to what is done here whether we make it a Forfeiture or only a bare Demise A Protestant Precedent offer'd to the Bishops for the Exclusion of K. James the Second IF Necessity which is a great Branch
notwithstanding any want of thâ— Kings Writs or Writ of Summons or aâ—y defect whatsoever and as if the King had been present at the beginning of the Parliament this I take to be a full Judgment in full Parliament of the case in question and much stronger than the present case is and this Parliament continued till the 29 th of December next following and made in all thirty seven Acts as aboâ—e mentioned The 13 Caroli 2. chap. 7. a full Parliament called by the Kings Writ recites the other of 12 Caroli 2. and that after his Majesties return they were continued till the 29 th of December and then dissolved and that several Acts passed this is the plain Judgment of another Parliament 1. Because it says they were continued which shews they had a real being capable of being continued for a Confirmation of a void Grant has no effect and Confirmation shews a Grant only voidable so the continuance there shewed it at most but voidable and when the King came and confirm'd it all was good 2. The dissolving it then shews they had a being for as ex nihilo nihil sit so super nihil nil operatur as out of nothing nothing can be made so upon nothing nothing can operate Again the King Lords and Commons make the great Corporation or Body of the Kingdom and the Commons are legally taken for the Free-holders Inst. 4. p. 2. Now the Lords and Commons having Proclaimed the King the defect of this great Corporation is cured and all the Essential parts of this great Body Politique united and made compleat as plainly as when the Mayor of a Corporation dies and another is chosen the Corporation is again perfect and to say that which perfects the great Body Politique should in the same instant destroy it I mean the Parliament is to make contradictions true simul semel the perfection and destruction of this great Body at one instant and by the same Act. Then if necessity of Affairs was a forcible Argument in 1660 a time of great peace not only in England but throughout Europe and almost in all the World certainly 't is of a greater force now when England is scarce delivered from Popery and Slavery when Ireland has a mighty Army of Papists and that Kingdom in hazard of final destruction if not speedily prevented and when France has destroyed most of the Protestants there and threatens the ruin of the Low-Countries from whence God has sent the wonderful Assistance of our Gracious and therefore most Glorious King and England cannot promise safety from that Forreign Power when forty days delay which is the least can be for a new Parliament and considering we can never hope to have one more freely chosen because first it was so free from Court-influence or likelihood of all design that the Letters of Summons issued by him whom the great God in infinite Mercy raised to save us to the hazard of his Life and this done to protect the Protestant Religion and at a time when the people were all concerned for one Common interest of Religion and Liberty it would be vain when we have the best King and Queen the World affords a full house of Lords the most solemnly chosen Commons that ever were in the remembrance of any Man Living to spend Mony and lose time I had almost said to despise Providence and take great pains to destroy our selves If any object Acts of Parliament mentioning Writs and Summons c. I answer the Precedent in 1660 is after all those Acts. In private cases as much has been done in point of necessity a Bishop Provincial dies and sede vacant a Clerk is presented to a Benefice the Presentation to the Dean and Chapter is good in this case of Necessity and if in a Vacancy by the Death of a Bishop a Presentation shall be good to the Dean and Chapter rather than a prejudice should happen by the Church lying void Surely â fortiori Vacancy of the Throne may be supplied without the formality of a Writ and the great Convention turn'd to a Real Parliament A Summons in all points is of the same real force as a Writ for a Summons and a Writ differ no more than in name the thing is the same in all Substantial parts the Writ is Recorded in Chancery so are His Highnesses Letters the proper Officer Endorses the Return so he does here for the Coroner in defect of the Sheriff is the proper Officer the People Choose by virtue of the Writ so they did freely by Virtue of the Letters c. quae re concordant parum differunt they agree in Reality and then what difference is there between the one and the other Object A Writ must be in Actions at Common Law else all Pleadings after will not make it good but Judgment given may be Reversed by a Writ of Error Answ. The case differs first because Actions between party and party are Adversary Actions but Summons to Parliament are not so but are Mediums only to have an Election 2. In Actions at Law the Defendant may plead to the Writ but there is no plea to a Writ for electing Members to serve in Parliament and for this I have Littleton's Argument there never was such Plea therefore none lies Object That they have not taken the Test. Answ. They may take the Test yet and then all which they do will be good for the Test being the distinguishing Mark of a Protestant from a Papist when that is taken the end of the Law is performed Object That the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy ought to be taken and that the new ones are not legal Answ. The Convention being the Supream Power have abolish'd the old Oaths and have made new ones and as to the making new Oaths the like was done in Alfreds time when they chose him King vide Mirror of Justice Chap. 1. for the Heptarchy being turn'd to a Monarchy the precedent Oaths of the seven Kings could not be the same King Alfred swore Many Precedents may be cited where Laws have been made in Parliament without the King 's Writ to summon them which for brevity's sake I forbear to mention For a farewel the Objections quarrel at our Happiness fight against our Safety and aim at that which may indanger Destruction The Amicable Reconciliation of the DISSENTERS to the CHURCH of ENGLAND being a Model or Draught for the Universal Accommodation in the Case of Religion and the Bringing in all Parties to Her Communion Humbly presented to the Consideration of Parliament WHereas there are several parties of Christians in the Nation who must and will ever differ in their Opinions about the Church and Discipline of it in the Question which is of Christ's Institution it is not our Disputes about the Church â—s Particular which are rather to be mutually forborn and every party left herein to their own Perswasion but a common Agreement in what we can agree and that
after their being exhausted have been Plundered and after Plundering have been burned and razed The Palaces of Princes which in all times and even in the most destructive Wars have been preserved are now burnt down to the Ground The Churches are robbed and such as submitted themselves to them are in a most Barbarous manner carried away as Slaves In short it is become a Diversion to them to commit all manner of insolences and Cruelties in many places but chiefly in Catholick Countries exceeding the Cruelties of the Turks themselves which having imposed an absolute necessity upon us to secure our selves and the Holy Roman Empire by the best means we can think on and that no less against them than against the Turks We promise our selves from your justice ready assent to this That it ought not to be imputed to us if we endeavour to procure by a just War that security to our selves which we could not hitherto obtain by so many Treaties and that in order to the obtaining thereof We take measures for our mutual Defence and Preservation with all those who are equally concerned in the same Design with us It remains that we beg of God that he would direct all things to his Glory and that he would grant your Majesty true and solid Comforts under this your great Calamity we embrace you with tender Affections of a Brother At Vienna the 9 th of April 1689. An Account of what was done between the Time the Prince of Orange came to London till the Proclaiming him King of England 1688. IN December last the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and all the Members of the three last Parliaments of King Charles the Second with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and several of the Common Council of London were summoned by the Prince in that extraordinary Conjuncture when the late King had deserted the Government to consult what was fit to be done And they the said Lords and Commons did desire the Prince to take upon him the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the disposal of the Publick Revenue for the preservation of our Râ—ligion Rights Laws Liberties and Properties and of the Peace of the Nation and that he would take into his Care the Condition of Ireland till the Meeting of a Convention of Lords and Commons which he was entreated by his Circular Letters to summon to meet on the 22 d of Ianuary The Prince accordingly accepted the Administration and issued out his Letters for a Convention to meet on the 22 d of Ianuary as aforesaid The Prince then on December the 30 th issued out his Proclamation for the Continuance of the Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and other Officers and Ministers not being Papists to act in their respective Places till the Meeting of the Convention or other Order to the contrary c. On the 2 d of Ianuary He put out a Declaration for the better collecting of the Publick Revenue On the 5 th of Ianuary he put forth an Order for all Military Officers with their respective Companies to march out of the Quarters where any Elections should be the several Garisons excepted the day before the same be made to the next adjoining Town or Towns being not appointed for any Elections and not to return to their first Quarters till the said respective Elections be made and fully compleated that so the Election of Members for the intended Convention may be free and without any colour of Force or Restraint On the 7 th of Ianuary the Scotish Nobility and Gentry waited on the Prince what was done by them see the 6 th Collection pag. 9 10 11 12. On the 8 th day his Highness put out a Declaration against Quartering of Souldiers in private Houses He found the Treasury very empty of Cash it being said to be but 40000 l. Whereupon he desired the City of London to advance a Sum for his present Occasion and on the 10 th of Ianuary they agreed to lend 100000 l. But it being raised by Subscription it amounted to above 150000 l. On the 16 th of Ianuary He put out a Declaration to assure the Mariners and Seamen of their Pay. The two Houses met on the 22 d of Ianuary 1688 9 the Lords chose the Marquess of Hallifax for their Speaker and the Commons chose Henry Powle Esq for theirs After which a Letter was read in both Houses from the Prince of Orange on the occasion of their Meeting to this Effect That he had endeavoured to perform what was desired from him for the Publick Peace and Safety during his Administration and that it now lay on them to lay a Foundation of a firm Security for their Religion Laws and Liberties That he did not doubt but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation the Ends of his Declaration would be attained He recommended to them the dangerous Condition of Ireland and also of the States of Holland both which required large and speedy Succours and told them That since it had pleased God hitherto to bless his good Intentions with so great Success he trusted in him that he would compleat his own Work by sending a Spirit of Peace and Union to influence their Counsels that so no Interruption may be given to a happy and lasting Settlement The first Thing the two Houses took care of was by mutual Consent to make an Address to the Prince in which they acknowledged him the Glorious Instrument under God in the great Deliverance of the Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power They acknowledged also his great Care in the Administration and entreated him to continue it till further Application and that he would take into his Care the State of Ireland Then the Houses ordered that Thursday Ian. 31. be a Day of Thanksgiving in the City of London and places adjacent within ten Miles and the 14 th of February throughout the whole Kingdom Then the Lords ordered that no Papist or reputed Papist should presume to come into the Lobby Painted Chamber Court of Requests or Westminster-Hall during the Sitting of the Convention And after several Days Debates in both Houses about the Abdication of the Government and the Vacancy of the â—hrone On the 12 th of February the two Houses at last fully agreed all Things in Dispute between them in the following Declaration The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster Concerning the Misgovernment of King James and filling up the Throne Presented to King William and Queen Mary by the right Honourable the Marquess of Hallifax Speaker to the House of Lords With His Majesties most gracious Answer thereunto WHEREAS the late King Iames the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers imploy'd by Him did endeavour to Subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By Assuming and Exercising a Power of Dispensing with and Suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws
Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Iurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God. Io. Browne Cleric ' Parl. Die Veneris 15 Feb. 1688. His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Vs that can be given which is the thing that maketh us value it the more and we thankfully Accept what you have Offered And as I had no other Intention in coming hither than to preserve your Religion Laws and Liberties so you may be sure That I shall endeavour to support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation Die Veneris 15 Februarii 1688. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster That His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses and the Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published And that his Majesties Gracious Answer this Day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be Enrolled in Parliament and Chancery Io. Browne Cleric ' Parliamentorum The Declaration of the Estates of Scotland concerning the Mis-government of King James the Seventh and filling up the Throne with King William and Queen Mary THat King Iames the 7 th had acted irregularly 1. By His Erecting publick Schools and Societies of the Jesuits and not only allowing Mass to be publickly said but also inverting Protestant Chappels and Churches to Publick mass-Mass-houses contrair to the express Laws against saying and hearing of Mass. 2. By allowing Popish Books to be Printed and Dispersed by a Gift to a Popish Printer designing him Printer to his Majesties Houshold College and Chappel contrair to the Laws 3. By taking the Children of Protestant Noblemen and Gentlemen sending them abroad to be bred Papists making great Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colleges abroad bestowing Pensions on Priests and perverting Protestants from their Religion by Offers of Places Preferments and Pensions 4. By disarming Protestants while at the same time he employed Papists in the Places of greatest Trust Civil and Military such as Chancellour Secretaries Privy Councellors and Lords of Session thrusting out Protestants to make room for Papists and intrusting the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom in their hands 5. By Imposing Oaths contrair to Law. 6. By giving Gifts and Grants for exacting of Money without Consent of Parliament or Convention of Estates 7. By Levying and keeping on foot a Standing Army in time of Peace without consent of Parliament which Army did exact Locality free and day Quarters 8. By Employing the Officers of the Army as Judges through the Kingdom and imposing them where there were held Offices and Jurisdictions by whom many of the Leiges were put to Death summarily without legal Tryal Jury or Record 9. By imposing exorbitant Fines to the Value of the Parties Estates exacting extravagant Bail and disposing Fines and Forfaulture before any Process or Conviction 10. By Imprisoning Persons without expressing the Reason and delaying to put them to Tryal 11. By causing pursue and forfault several Persons upon stretches of old and obsolete Laws upon frivolous and weak pretences upon lame and defective Probations as particularly the late Earl of Argyle to the scandal and reproach of the Justice of the Nation 12. By Subverting the Right of the Royal Boroughs the Third Estate of Parliament imposing upon them not only Magistrates but also the whole Town Council and Clerks contrair to the Liberties and express Charters without the pretence outher of Sentence Surrender or Consent So that the Commissioners to Parliaments being chosen by the Magistrates and Councils the King might in effect alsweel nominate that entire Estate of Parliament many of the said Magigrates put in by him were avowed Papists and the Burghs were forced to pay Mony for the Letters imposing these illegal Magistrates and Council upon them 13. By sending Letters to the Chief Courts of Justice not only ordering the Judges to stop and desist sine die to determine Causes but also ordering and commanding them how to proceed in Cases depending before them contrair to the express Laws And by changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts ad vitam aut culpam and giving them Commissions ad bene placitam to dispose them to compliance by Arbitrair Courses and turning them out of their Offices when they did not comply 14. By granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts contrair to Law. All which are utterly and directly contrair to the known Laws Freedoms and Statutes of this Realm Therefore the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland find and declare That King Iames the Seventh being a profest Papist did assume the Regal Power and acted as King without ever taking the Oath required by Law and have by advice of Evil and Wicked Counsellors invaded the Fundamental Constitution of the Kingdom and altered it from a Legal limited Monarchy to an Arbitrair and Despotick Power and hath exercised the same to the subversion of the Protestant Religion and the violation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom Inverting all the Ends of Government whereby he hath forfaulted the Right to the Crown and the Throne is become vacant And whereas his Royal Highness William then Prince of Orange now King of England whom it hath pleased the Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of delivering these Kingdoms from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by advice of several Lords and Gentlemen of this Nation at London for the time call the Estates of this Kingdom to meet the Fourteenth of March last in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not be again in danger of being subverted And the said Estates being now assembled in a full and free Representative of this Nation taking to their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid Do in the first place as their Ancestors in the like cases have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That by the Law of this Kingdom no Papist can be King or Queen of the Realm nor bear any Office whatsoever therein nor can any Protestant Successor exercise the Regal Power until he or she swear the Coronation Oath That all Proclamations asserting an Absolute Power to cass annul and disable Laws the erecting Schools and Colledges for Jesuits the inverting Protestant Chappels and Churches to publick Mass-houses and the â—llowing Mass to be said are contrair to Law. That the allowing Popish Books
to be printed and dispersed is contrair to Law. That the taking the Children of Noblemen Gentlemen and others sending and keeping them abroad to be bred Papists The making Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colledges the bestowing Pensions on Priests and the perverting Protestants from their Religion by offers of Places Preferments and Pensions are contrair to Law. That the disarming of Protestants and imploying Papists in the Places of greatest Trust both Civil and Military the thrusting out Protestants to make room for Papists and the entrusting Papists with the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom are contrair to Law. That the imposing Oaths without Authority of Parliament is contrair to Law. That the giving Gifts or Grants for raising of Mony without the Consent of Parliament or Convention of Estates is contrair to Law. That the imploying Officers of the Army as Judges through the Kingdom or imposing them where there were several Offices and Jurisdictions and the putting the Leiges to Death summarily and without legal Trial Jury or Record are contrair to Law. That the imposing extraordinary Fines the exacting of exorbitant Bail and the disposing of Fines and Forfaultures before Sentence are contrair to Law. That the Imprisoning Persons without expressing the reason thereof and delaying to put them to Trial are contrair to Law. That the causing pursue and forfault Persons upon Stretches of old and obsolete Laws upon frivolous and weak Pretences upon â—ame and defective Probation as particularly the late Earl of Aâ—gyle are contraiâ— to Law. That the nominating and imposing Magistrates Councils and Clerks upon Burgâ—s contrair to the Liberties and express Charters is contrair to Law. That the sending Leâ—ters to the Courts of Justice ordaining the Judges to stop or desist from determining Causes or ordaining them how to proceed in Causes depending before them and the changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts ad vitam aut culpam unto Commissions Durante bene placito are contrair to Law. That the granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts is contrair to Law. That the forcing the Leiges to depone against themselves in Capital Crimes however the Punishment be restricted is contrair to Law. That the using Torture without Evidence or in ordinary Crimes is contrair to Law. That the â—ending of an Army in a Hostile manner upon any part of the Kingdom in a peaceable time and exacting of Locality and any manner of Free Quarter is contrair to Law. That the charging the Leiges with Law-burroughs at the King's instance and the imposing of Bands without the Authority of Parliament and the suspending the Advocates from their Imployments for not compearing when such Bands were offered were contrair to Law. That the putting of Garisons on private Mens Houses in a time of peace without the consent of the Authority of Parliament is contrair to Law. That the opinion of the Lords of Session in the two Causes following were contrair to Law viz. 1. That the concerting the demand of a Supply for a Forfaulted Person although not given is Treason 2. That Persons refusing to discover what are their private thoughts and Judgments in relation to points of Treason or other Mens actions are guilty of Treason That the fining Husbands for their Wives withdrawing from the Church was contrair to Law. That Prelacy and Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters is and hath been a great and unsupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation and contrair to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People ever since the Reformation they having Reformed from Popery by Presbyters and therefore ought to be abolished That it is the Right and Privilege of the Subjects to protest for remead of Law to the King and Parliament against Sentences pronounced by the Lords of Session providing the same do not stop execution of the said Sentences That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and that all Imprisonments and Prosecutions for such Petitions are contrair to Law. That for redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthning and Preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be frequently called and allowed to sit and the freedom of Speech and Debate secured to the Members And they do claim and demand and insist upon all and sundry the Premisses as their undoubted Right and Liberties and that no Declarations Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premisses ought in any ways to be drawn hereafter in consequence and example but that all Forfaultures Fines loss of Offices Imprisonments Banishments Pursuits Persecutions and Rigorous Executions be considered and the Parties seized be redressed To which demand of the Rights and Redressing of their Grievances they are particularly incouraged by his Majesty the King of England his Declaration for the Kingdom of Scotland of the day of October last as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remead therein Having therefore an entire Confidence That his said Majesty the King of England will perfyte the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the Violation of the Rights which they have here asserted And from all other Attempts upon their Religion Laws and Liberties The said Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland do resolve That William and Mary King and Queen of England France and Ireland Be and Be Declared King and Queen of Scotland to Hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom of Scotland to them the said King and Queen during their Lives and the longest Liver of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Royal Power be only in and exercised by him the said King in the Names of the said King and Queen during their joynt Lives And after their deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Queen Which sailing to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body which also sailing to the Heirs of the Body of the said William King of England And they do pray the said King and Queen of England to accept the same accordingly And that the Oath hereafter mentioned be taken by all Protestants of whom the Oath of Allegiance and any other Oaths and Declarations might be required by Law instead thereof And that the said Oath of Allegiance and other Oaths and Declarations may be Abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear True Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God. The manner of the Proclaiming of King WILLIAM and Queen MARY at White-hall and in the City of London Feb. 13. 1688 9. ABout half an hour past Ten in the Morning the Lords and Commons came from Westminster to White-hall in their Coaches and alighted at the Gate went up into the banqueting-Banqueting-House where they presented the Prince and Princess of Orange with an Instrument in Writing for declaring their Highnesses
King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging desiring them to accept the Crown pursuant to the said Declaration which their Highnesses accepting accordingly the said Lords and Commons came down again to White-hall gate preceded by the Speakers of their respective Houses each attended with a Sergeant at Arms where they found the Heralds of Arms the Sergeants at Arms the Trumpets and other Officers all in readiness being assembled by Orderâ— from the Duke of Norfolk Earl-Marshal of England And Sir Thomas St. George Knight Garter Principal King of Arms having received a Proclamation and an Order from the Lord House to the Kings Heralds and Pursuivants of Arms for Publishing or Proclaiming the same forthwith The Persons concern'd disposed themselves in Order before the Court-gate for making the said Proclamation And the Trumpets having founded a Call three several Times the last of which was answer'd by a great Shout of the vast Multitudes of People there assembled The Noise ceasing the said Garter King of Arms read the said Proclamation by short Sentences or Periods which was thereupon proclaim'd aloud by Robert Devenish Esq York Herald being the Senior Herald in these words WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his great Mercy to this Kingdom to vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Abitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of Orange whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity and being highly sensible and fully perswaded of the Great and Eminent Vertues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange whose zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of Orange and therein desired them to Accept the Crown who have accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm Do with a full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange to be King and Queen of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging who are accordingly so to be owned deemed accepted and taken by all the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from hence-forward bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith and true Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings Reign to bless King William and Queen Mary with long and happy Years to Reign over us God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY Jo. Brown Cleric Parliamentorum Which being ended and the Trumpets sounding a Flourish was answer'd by several repeated Shouts of the People And Directions being given to proclaim the same within Temple-Bar in Cheap-side and at the Royal-Exchange the Proceeding marched in this manner First the several Beadles of the Liberties of Westminster Next the Constables of the said Liberties all on Foot with the High-Constable on Horse-back After them the Head-Bailiff of Westminster and his Men all with white Staves to clear the Way on Horse-back Then the Knight-Marshal's Men also on Horse-back Next to these a Class of Trumpets Nine in all viz. 2 2 2 and 3 followed by the Sergeant-Trumpeter carrying his Mace on his Shoulder all likewise on Horse-back Then a Pursuivant of Arms single Then a Pursuivant and a Sergeant at Arms Another Pursuivant and a Sergeant at Arms Then four Heralds of Arms one after another each with a Sergeant at Arms on his left Hand the Heralds and Pursuivants being all in their Rich Coats of the Royal Arms and the Sergeants at Arms each carrying his Mace on his Shoulder and all on Horse-back Then Garter King of Arms in his rich Coat of Arms carrying the Proclamation accompanied with Sir Tho. Duppa Kt. Gentleman-Usher of the Black Rod in his Crimson Mantle of the Order of the Garter and his Black Rod of Offiâ—e likewise on Horse-back These immediately preceded the Marquess of Halifax who executed the Place of Speaker in the House of Lords in his Coach attended by Sir Roger Harsnet eldest Sergeant at Arms with his Mace. Then follow'd Henry Powle Esq Speaker of the House of Commons in his Coach attended by Iohn Topham Esq Sergeant at Arms to the said House with his Mace. After the two Speakers of the Houses followed the Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshal and Primier Duke of England in his Coach with his Marshals Staff in his Hand And next to him all the Peers in order in their Coaches And last of all the Members of the House of Commons in their Coaches In this Order they proceeded towards Temple-Bar and being come as far as the Maypole in the Strand two of the Officers of Arms with a Sergeant at Arms and two Trumpets went before to Temple-Bar and the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs being by this time arrived there and having ordered the Gates to be shut the Herald at Arms knocked thereat whereupon the Sheriffs being on Horse-back came to the Gate and the said Herald acquainting them That he came by Order of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal assembled at Westminster to demand Entrance into that famous City for the Proclaiming of William and Mary King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging and therefore required their speedy Answer The said Sheriffs ordered the Gates to be opened Whereupon leaving the Head-Bayliff Constables and Beadles of Westminster without the Barr the rest of the Proceeding entred where they found the Lord Mayâ—r Aldermen Recorder and Sheriffs all in their Formalities and on Horse-back except the Lord Mayor who was in his Coach attended by the Sword-bearer and other of his Officers who joyfully receiving them they made a stand between the two Temple-Gates and Proclaimed their Majesties a second time From whence they marched towards Cheap-side a Class of the City Trumpets and the Lord-Mayors Livery-men leading the Way and the said Aldermen and Lord Mayor falling into the Proceeding And near Wood-street end the place where Cheap-side-Cross formerly stood they made another stand and Proclaimed their Majesties a third time And arriving at the Royal-Exchange about Two of the Clock they Proclaimed them a fourth time and at each Proclamation the vast multitudes of Spectators who thronged the Streets Balconies and Windows filled the Air with loud and repeated Shouts and Expressions of Joy. Within Temple-Bar and all along Fleet-street the Orange Regiment of the City Militia lined both sides of the way as did the Green Regiment within Ludgate and St. Paul's Church-Yard the Blew Regiment in Cheap-side and the White in Cornhil The Coronation of their Sacred Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY was performed at Westminster in
manner following April 11 1689. THeir Majesties being come from Whitehal to Westminster and the Nobility c. being put in Order by the Heralds They came down in State into Westminster-hall where the Swords and Spurs were presented to them After which the Dean and Prebendaries of Westminster having brought the Crowns and other Regalia presented them severally to their Majesties which with the Swords and Spurs were thereupon delivered to the Lords appointed to carry them Then the Procession began in this manner Drums and Trumpets Six Clerks in Chancery two abreast as all the rest of the Proceeding went Chaplains having Dignities Aldermen of London Masters in Chancery Solicitor and Attorney General Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber Judges Children of Westminster and of the King's Chappel Choir of Westminster and Gentlemen of the Chappel Prebends of Westminster Master of the Jewel-house Privy Councellors not Peers Two Pursuivants Baronesses Barons Bishops A Pursuivant a Vicountess Vicounts Two Heralds Countesses Earls A Herald a Marchioness Two Heralds Dutchesses Dukes Two Kings of Arms The Lord Privy Seal Lord President of the Council Archbishop of York His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark Two Persons representing the Dukes of Aquitain and Normandy Next the Lords who bore their Majesties Regalia viz. The Earl of Manchester St. Edward's Staff and the Lord Grey of Ruthin the Spurs The Earl of Clare the Queens Scepter with the Cross and the Earl of Northampton the King's The Earls of Shrewsbury Derby and Pembroke the 3 Swords Next Garter King of Arms between the Usher of the Black Rod and the Lord Mayor of London The Lord Great Chamberlain Single The Earl of Oxford with the Sword of State between the Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshall and the Duke of Ormond Lord High-Constable for that Day then the Earl of Bedford with the Queens Sceptre of the Dove and the Earl of Rutland with the King 's the Duke of Bolton with the Queen's Orb and the Duke of Grafton with the King 's the Duke of Somerset with the Queen's Crown and the Earl of Devonshire Lord Steward of his Majesties Houshold who was made Lord. High Steward of England for that Day with the King 's The Bishop of London with the Bible between the Bishop of St. Asaph with the Paten and the Bishop of Rochester with the Chalice Then the King supported by the Bishop of Winchester and the Queen by the Bishop of Bristol under a Canopy born by Sixteen Barons of the Cinque Ports His Majesties Train born by the Master of the Robes assisted by the Lord Eland Lord Willoughby Lord Landsdowne and the Lord Dunblaine and Her Majesties Train by the Dutchess of Somerset assisted by the Lady Elizabeth Pawlett Lady Diana Vere Lady Elizabeth Cavendish and the Lady Henrietta Hyde After the King a Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber and two Grooms of the Bed-Chamber and after the Queen a Lady of the Bed-Chamber and two of Her Majesties Women Lastly the Captain of His Majesties Guard between the Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard and the Captain of the Band of Pensioners followed by the Officers and Band of Yeomen of the Guard. The Sergeants at Arms going on each side of the Regalia and the Gentlemen Pensioners on each side of the Canopy Thus Their Majesties in Their Robes of Crimson Velvet the King with a Cap and the Queen a Circlet on her Head All the Nobility in Crimson Velvet Robes with their Coronets in their Hands and the rest of the Proceeding in their proper Habits marched on foot upon Blew Cloth to Westminster-Abby all the Way and Houses on each side being Crouded with vast Number of Spectators expressing their great Joy and Satisfaction by loud repeated Acclamations Being Entred the Church and all duly seated the Bishop of London who performed this great Solemnity began with the Recognition which ended with a mighty Shout Then Their Majesties Offered and the Lords who bore the Regalia presented them at the Altar The Litany was sung by two Bishops and after the Epistle Gospel and Nicene Creed the Bishop of Salisbury Preach'd on this Text 2 Sam. 23. 3 4. After Sermon Their Majesties took the Oath and being Conducted to their Regal Chairs placed on the Theater that they might be more Conspicuous to the Members of the House of Commons who were seated in the North Cross were Anointed and presented with the Spurs and Sword and Invested with the Palls and Orbs and then with the Rings and Scepters and at Four of the Clock the Crowns were put on their Heads At sight whereof the People shouted the Drums and Trumpets sounded the great Guns were discharged and the Peers and Peeresses put on their Coronets Then the Bible was presented to Them and after the Benediction They vouchsafed to Kiss the Bishops Being Inthroned first the Bishops and then the Temporal Lords did their Homage and Kissed their Majesties left Cheeks while the Treasurer of the Houshold threw about the Coronation Medals Next followed the Communion And Their Majesties having made their second Oblation received the Holy Sacrament Then the Bishop Read the final Prayers and Their Majesties retiring into St. Edward's Chappel and being new Arrayed in Purple Velvet returned to Westminster-Hall wearing Their Rich Crowns of State and the Nobility their Coronets The Nobility c. being seated at their respective Tables which were all ready furnished before their coming in The first Course for Their Majesties Table was served up with the proper Ceremony being preceded by the great Officers and the High-Constable High-Steward and Earl-Marshall And before the second Course Charles Dymoke Esq Their Majesties Champion between the High-Constable and the Earl-Marshall performed the Challenge After which the Heralds proclaimed Their Majesties Styles Dinner being ended and the whole Solemnity performed with great Splendor and Magnificence About Eight in the Evening Their Majesties returned to White-hall A Proclamation declaring WILLIAM and MARY King and Queen of England to be King and Queen of Scotland Edinburgh April 11. 1689. WHereas the Estates of this Kingdom of Scotland by their Act of the Date of these Presents have Resolved That William and Mary King and Queen of England France and Ireland Be and Be declared King and Queen of Scotland to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom of Scotland to them the said King and Queen during their Lives and the longest Liver of Them and that the Sole and Full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and Exercised by the said King in the Names of the said King and Queen during their joynt Lives As also the Estates having Resolved and Enacted and Instrument of Government or Claim of Right to be presented with the Offer of the Crown to the said King and Queen They do Statute and Ordain that William and Mary King and Queen of England France and Ireland be accordingly forthwith Proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland at the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh by the Lyon King at Arms
plain that there are no Rules given in it neither for the Forms of Government in general nor for the degrees of any one Form in particular but the general Rules of Justice Order and Peace being established in it upon higher Motives and more binding Considerations than ever they were in any other Religion whatsoever we are most strictly bound by it to observe the Constitution in which we are and it is plain that the Rules set us in the Gospel can be carried no further It is indeed clear from the New Testament that the Christian Religion as such gives us no grounds to defend or propagate it by force It is a Doctrine of the Cross and of Faith and Patience under it And if by the order of Divine Providence and of any Constitution of Government under which we are born we are brought under Sufferings for our professing of it we may indeed retire and fly out of any such Country if we can but if that is denied us we must then according to this Religion submit to those Sufferings under which we may be brought considering that God will be glorified by us in so doinâ— and that he will both support us under our Sufferings and gloâ—iously reward us for them This was the State of the Christian Religion during the three first Centuries under Heathen Emperors and a Constitution in which Paganism was establish'd by Law. But if by the Laws of any Government the Christian Religion or any Form of it is become a part of the Subjects Property it then falls undâ—â—â—â—other Consideration not as it is a Religion but as it is become one of the principal Rights of the Subjects to believe and profess it and then we must judg of the Invasions made on that as we do of any other Invasion that is made on our other Rights X. All the Passages in the New Testament that relate to Civil Government are to be expounded as they were truly meant in opposition to that false Notion of the Iews who believed themselves to be so immediately under the Divine Authority that they could not become the Subjects of any other Power particularly of one that was not of their Nation or of their Religion therefore they thought they could not be under the Roman Yoke nor bound to pay Tribute to Cesar but judged that they were only subject out of Fear by reason of the force that lay on them but not for Conscience sake And so in all their Dispersion both at Rome and elsewhere they thought they were God's Freemen and made use of this pretended Liberty as a Cloak of Maliciousness In opposition to all which since in a course of many Years they had asked the Protection of the Roman Yoke and were come under their Authority our Saviour ordered them to continue in that by his saying Render to Cesar that which is Cesar 's and both St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans and St. Peter in his general Epistle have very positively condemned that pernicious Maxim but without any formal Declarations made of the Rules or Measures of Government And since both the People and Senate of Rome had acknowledged the Power that Augustus had indeed violently usurped it became Legal when it was thus submitted to and confirmed both by the Senate and People and it was established in his Family by a long Prescription when those Epistles were writ So that upon the whole Matter all that is in the New Testament upon this Subject imports no more but that all Christians are bound to acquiesce in the Government and submit to it according to the Constitution that is setled by Law. XI We are then at last brought to the Constitution of our English Government so that no general Considerations from Speculations about Sovereign Power nor from any Passages either of the Old and New Testament ought to determine us in this Matter which must be fixed from the Laws and Regulations that have been made among us It is then certain that with Relation to the Executive part of the Government the Law has lodged that singly in the King so that the whole administration of it is in him but the Legislative Power is lodged between the King and the two Houses of Parliament so that the Power of making and repealing Laws is not singly in the King but only so far as the two Houses concur with him It is also clear that the King has such a determined extent of Prerogative beyond which he has no Authority As for Instance If he levies Mony of his People without a Law impowring him to it he goes beyond the Limits of his Power and asks that to which he has no Right So that there lies no Obligation on the Subject to grant it and if any in his Name use Violence for the obtaining it they are to be looked on as so many Robbers that invade our Property and they being violent Aggressors the Principle of Self-Presâ—rvation seems here to take place and to warrant as violent a Resistance XII There is nothing more evident than that England is a Free Nation that has its Liberties and Properties reserved to it by many positive and express Laws If then we have a Right to our Property we must likewise be supposed to have a Right to preserve it for those Rights are by the Law secured aginst the Invasions of the Prerogative and by consequence we must have a Right to preserve them against those Invasions It is also evidently declared by our Law that all Orders and Warrants that are issued out in opposition to them are null of themselves and by consequence any that pretend to have Commissions from the King for those Ends are to be considered as if they had none at all since those Commissions being void of themselves are indeed no Commissions in the Construction of the Law and therefore those who act in vertue of them are still to be considered as private Persons who come to invade and disturb us It is also to be observed that there are some Points that are justly disputable and doubtful and others that are so manifest that it is plain that any Objections that can be made to them are rather forced Pretences than so much as plausible Colours It is true if the Case is doubtful the Interest of the publick Peace and Order ought to carry it but the Case is quite different when the Invasions that are made upon Liberty and Property are plain and visible to all that consider them XIII The main and great Difficulty here is that though our Government does indeed assert the Liberty of the Subject yet there are many express Laws made that lodg the Militia singly in the King that make it plainly unlawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King or any Commissioned by him And these Laws have been put in the Form of an Oath which all that have born any Employment either in Church or State have sworn and therefore those
his time than be justly reproach'd and curs'd to the End of the World by all such as love the Protestant Religion and ancient Government of England for appearing too late in their Defence The Example of Henry the Fourth of France may teach us how hard it is for a Protestant Prince to obtain his Right where the Catholick Religion is predominant nor was the new Armour of Popery he put on at last sufficient to defend the old Protestant against the Stab of a Jesuited Novitiate 4. His fourth Reflection acquaints us the Protestant Religion is at once expos'd and hazarded for if the King prevail what can the Prince of Orange's sort of Protestants expect at his Hands which are indeed all sorts of Protestants that I know of for the Presbyterians Independants Phanaticks Church-of-England Men are in his Army 'T is fair warning and I hope God will give the Protestants Grace to make the right use of it As for their changing Masters 't is a Chimera of his own and utterly foreign to the Declaration he pretends to reflect upon Lest we should forget he remindâ— us with that admirable Demonstration of I say that the whole Protestant Religion is at stake for which I heartily thank our worthy Reflector for tho it be very true we had not seen it in Print but for him 5. In his fifth Reflection he tells us that some Laws are better broken than kept which will not be easily granted 't is indeed true that some Laws were better be repealed than continued But then they must be null'd by the same Power they were constituted and not by any part of it in contradiction to the whole His instance is That Christianity could not have been introduc'd had the Pagan Laws been executed by which Parallel he would warrant Popery to be the true Christianity and the Protestant the Heathen Persecutors Laws for Idolatry cannot bind therefore Laws against it cannot a very strange Inference and I allow that a Lawful Authority by exceeding their just Bounds may act unlawfully but the Legislative Power cannot since all over the World the Supream Power ever was absolute be it in one or more He says no Man is obliged to maintain a Religion that is not true be it never so legally established So that it is but saying the Protestant Religion is not true and His Majesty notwithstanding his repeated Ingagements is no longer bound to protect it For in the words of our Reflector 't is an Absurdity and Impiety to do so 6. The sixth thing considerable in our Reflector is his Defence of the Dispensing Power and the use His Majesty seduc'd by his Evil Councellors makes of it which is no other than the setting aside of all our Laws made for the Security of the Protestant Religion but sure such a Prerogative can never be legally vested in the Crown which if admitted were the destruction of all Law. Had those Evil Counsellors only prevailed with his Majesty to have dispensed with the Penalties inflicted on Catholicks and other Dissenters for serving of God according to their particular Consciences though perhaps contrary to Law the matter had never been complained of But to put them into Places of the highest Trust to make one Lieutenant of Ireland another President of the Council a third Lieutenenant General of the Tower a fourth a Judg imploying numbers of them in the Army Court c. is a Transgression of the Law which is certainly very dangerous if not immediately yet inevitable in its Consequences to the Protestant Religion and Government and therefore a Mischief remote only as an Egg is from a Chicken from the worthy Reflector's Malum in se which he acknowledges this Dispensing Power extends not to And the particular Catholicks breaking the Law in these Points are without Excuse For no Man is obliged in Conscience to be a Judg a Priest a Minister a Privy-Councellor a Courtier or a Souldier in time of Peace contrary to the Laws of the Land. Nor do those Laws deprive the King of the Service of any of his Subjects absolutely since all Men if they please may capacitate themselves for Imployment If the High-Commission-Court be at an end Magdalen-Colledge and the Bishop of London restored we may in all appearance thank the Honesty and Caution of some of its worthy Members and the Noise of what our Reflector calls the Prince of Orange's Invasion though some will say a Descent upon England made by a Prince of the Blood Married to the Eldest Daughter of the present King upon the Invitation of many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and of the considerable Gentry Commonalty of all Counties might have deserved a fairer Name Nor ought any Man to complain if his honest Neighbour break violently into his House at a time when his Family cry out Fire or Murther the common Obligation of Humanity and a due care of their own Preservation exact no less of them But this Paper is not intended for a Vindication of the Prince I will therefore return to my Reflector again who undertakes for all good Protestants that they only refus'd to repeal the Test by reason of the Security it affords to their Religion As if they had cast off all care of their Civil Concerns and were only intent upon Religious Affairs so as to consent to give his Majesty a Majority of Papists in the House of Lords by which he might have two Negative Voices upon all Laws to be offer'd and an House of Pears ready to repeal the Habeas Corpus Bill and such Statutes as any ways seem to incumber what Papists think his Majesties Prerogative of which they maintain the Dispensing Power to be an Essential Part and well they may since it is the very Power by which he maintains them in Places and Imployments So that by leave of my worthy Reflector the Considerations of Religion tho they are the principal are not the only Reasons that have determined all good Protestants to a Non-concurrence with his Majesty in the Repeal of the Test. 8. In his eighth Reflection he tells us That Chappels are places of Devotion so are Turks Mosques and the Iews Synagogues yet no good Christian but would be offended to see them multiply'd and encouraged either in his own or his Neighbours Country 9. In his ninth he tells us The King was content the Test should remain I answer These Evil Counsellors were not content the Test should remain but sent their Regulators and other Agents to threaten promise remove and change the Magistrates in all Corporations in order to the procuring Members of Parliament such as were to enter the House under solemn Promises and firm Resolutions to take off the Penal Laws and Test notwithstanding all the weighty nay convincing Arguments they might meet with there to the contrary A desperate sort of Senators and fitter for Catalines Conspiracies than an English Parliament Nor did these Evil Counsellors cease to sollicit even Knights of the Shire till
Mouth of the Thames viz. the Porpus Postilion and Mercury who on their return brought us word That the English Fleet lay in the Buoy of the Nore consisting of 34 Sail and three more which lay in the Downs The Wind continuing at E. N. E. The Prince immediately thereupon gave another Signal of stretching the whole Fleet in a Line from Dover to Callis twenty five deep So that our Fleet reached within a League of each place the Flanks and Reer were guarded by our Men of War. This sight would have ravish'd the most curious Eyes of Europe When our Fleet was in its greatest splendour the Trumpets and Drums playing various Tunes to rejoyce our Hearts this continued for above three hours Immediately after the Prince gave us a Sign to close and we sailed that night as far as Beachy and commanded us to follow the Signal by Lights he had hung out to us viz. all the small Sail should come up to him by morning By the morning-day we espied the Isle of Wight and then the Prince ordered the Fleet to be drawn into the same posture as before related yet not stretching above half Channel over in this place About five in the morning we made the Start the Wind chopping about to the Westward upon which we stood fair by Dartmouth and so made for Tor-bay where the Prince again ordered the whole Fleet into the same posture as at Dover and Callis Upon his arrival at Tor-bay the People on Land in great numbers welcom'd his Highness with loud Acclamations of Joy. Immediately after the Prince gave two Signals that the Admirals should come aboard him which they did and then order'd that the whole Fleet should come to an Anchor and immediately Land and further order'd that the Admirals should stand out at Sea as a Guard as well as the smaller Men of War to Attend and Guard their Landing and also order'd six Men of War to run in to Guard Tor-bay The Prince then put out a Red Flag at the Misen-yard-arm and provided to land in sixty Boats laid ready for that purpose Upon which the Prince signified that General Mackay with his six Regiments of English and Scots should first Land and also that the little Porpus with eighteen Guns should run a-ground to secure their Landing But there was no Opposition for the People bid us Heartily Welcome to England and gave us all manner of Provisions for our Refreshment The fifth of November a Day never to be blotted out of the English-man's Heart the Prince caused to be landed about 2000 The Country bringing in all manner of Provision both for Man and Horse and were paid their Price honestly for it The Prince the same Day commanded Captain M to search the Lady C 's House at Tor-Abby for Arms and Horses and so all other Houses which were Roman Catholicks The Lady entertained them civilly said her Husband was gone to Plymouth They brought from thence some Horses and a few Arms but gave no further Disturbance to the Lady or her House Nor shall it be forgotten what was faithfully acted at this Lady's House immediately on our arrival at Torbay There was a Priest and some others with him were upon a Watch-Tower to discover what our Fleet was whether French or Dutch At last they discovered the White Flags on some of our Men of War the ignorant Priest concluded absolutely we were the French Fleet which with great impatience they had so long expected and having laid up great Provisions for their Entertainment the Priest ordered all to the Chappel to sing Te Deum for the arrival of their supposed Forces but being soon deceived on our Landing we found the benefit of their Provisions and instead of Vostre Serviture Monsieur they were entertained with Yeen Mijnheere Can you Dutch spraken Upon which they all ran away from the House but the Lady and a few old Servants Presently after the Prince of Orange's Landing he sent a Quince to the Earl of Bath which was supposed to intimate his coming in to him The whole Army to the best of my knowledg consisted of about 30000 Horse and Foot Volunteers c. The News of the Prince's landing was brought to the City of Exeter by several Expresses to the Earl of Bath they landed all their Horse first of all and after that the Foot all the Army being ashore by Tuesday Three of the Clock in the Afternoon all their Baggage Provisions and Ammunition being sent about for Topsham where they were brought up by Water to this City there was abundance landed with the Prince at Torbay for present Service in case they should need it The Wednesday being the 7 th currant one Captain Hicks came to Town who is the Son of that worthy Divine Mr. Iohn Hicks the N. C. deceased and as soon as he came the Mobile in very great numbers flocked to him to list themselves in the Service of the Prince of Orange which the Mayor hearing of sent for him and questioned with him whether he had a Commission for what he did but he would produce none nor give any account of the Prince's Design upon which he was committed to Prison but the Concourse of People was so great about the Guild-Hall that they would not suffer him to be carried away so he remained there till next day in the Custody of two Constables and was very nobly provided for by the Mayor Thursday the Lord Mordant with three or four Troops of Horse came to Town and Dr. Burnet with him and when they came to the Gate of this City it was shut against them upon which the Lord Mordant commanded the Porter to open the Gate on pain of Death which was presently set open and being open required him on the same Penalty not to shut it again as soon as they were entred the Lord M. went to the Hall and set Captain Hicks at liberty and inquired of his Usage who gave the Lord M. a very large Character of the Mayor's Civility Respect to him upon which there was a Guinea given those that waited on him that Afternoon the Lord M. and Dr. Burnet waited on the Mayor to know if he would meet the Prince at the Gate and govern the City under him which he excused and told them he was under the Obligation of an Oath to his Majesty and therefore desired the Prince would lay no Commands on him that should be prejudicial to his Conscience and after some debate of the Matter they departed all the Thursday they kept coming to Town the Friday the Prince came with his Guards and were marching into and some through the City to places adjacent about three hours without ceasing and more or less they came in still until Night Men better hors'd I never saw in all my Life The Prince's Entry was in this manner 1. The Right Honourable the Earl of Macklesfield with 200 Horse the most part of which were English Gentlemen richly mounted on Flanders
each striving thereby to add to the Glory of their Design The Gentry of these Parts first seemed slow in their Advances to serve the Prince but as soon as the Ice was broke by Capt Burrington the majority soon followed his steps and have entred into an Association It is to admiration to consider the vast Magazine of all Warlike Utensils brought hither by the Prince's Army their Baggage having for a Fortnight together been continually Landing and yet not fully ended Were it not for the badness of the Roads as I was informed by a private Sentinel they could draw into the Field an Artillery of above 200 Pieces But the greatest Curiosity I yet saw was a Bridg of Boats such as I conceive the Imperialists use to pass over the Danube and Save with which was for the speedy conveyance of their Carriages laid over the River in two or three Hours and afterwards as soon removed not to mention a Smith's Shop or Forge curiously contrived in a Waggon or another Contrivance the Foot carry with them to keep off the Horse which in their manner may well yield the Service of a Pike There hath been lately driven into Dartmouth and since taken a French Vessel loaden altogether with Images and Knives of a very large proportion in length nineteen Inches and in breadth two Inches and an half what they were designed for God only knows THREE LETTERS I. A Letter from a Iesuit of Liege to a Iesuit at Friburg giving an Account of the Happy Progress of Religion in England IT cannot be said what great Affection and Kindness the K. hath for the Society wishing much Health to this whole Colledg by R. P. the Provincial and earnestly recommending himself to our Prayers The Provincial Alexander Regnes being come back for England the K. was graciously pleased to send for him several Earls and Dukes waiting his coming at the hour appointed the Q. being present the King discoursing familiarly with him asked him How many young Students he had and how many Scholasticks To which when the Provincial had answered That of the latter he had Twenty of the former more than Fifty he added That he had need of double or treble that number to perform what he in his Mind had designed for the Society and commanded that they should be very well exercised in the Gift of Preaching for such only saith he do we want in England You have heard I make no doubt that the K. hath sent Letters to Father Le Cheese the French King's Confessor about wadden-Wadden-house therein declaring that he would take in good part from him whatsoever he did or was done for the English Fathers of the Society Father Clare Rector of the said House going about those Affairs at London found an easy access to the King and as easily obtained his Desires He was forbid to kneel and kiss the King's Hand as the manner and custom is by the K. himself saying Once indeed your Reverence kissed my Hand but had I then known you were a Priest I should rather have kneeled and kissed your Reverences hand After the Business was ended in a familiar Discourse the K. declared to this Father That he would either Convert England or die a Martyr and that he had rather die to morrow that Conversion wrought than reign fifty Years without that in Happiness and Prosperity Lastly He called himself a Son of the Society the Welfare of which he said he as much rejoiced at as his own And it can scarce be said how joyful he shewed himself when it was told him That he was made partaker by the most Reverend Father N. of all the Merits of the Society of which number he would declare one of his Confessors Some report R. P. the Provincial will be the person but whom he designs is not yet known Many do think an Archbishoprick will be bestowed on Father Edmond Petre chiefly beloved very many a Cardinals Cap to whom within this Month or two that whole part of the K. Palace is granted in which the K. when he was Duke of York used to reside where you may see I know not how many Courtiers daily attending to speak with his Eminency for so they are said to call him upon whose Counsel and also that of several Catholick Peers highly preferred in the Kingdom the K. greatly relyes which way he may promote the Faith without violence Not long since some Catholick Peers did object to the K. that he made too much haste to establish the Faith to whom He answered I growing old must make great steps otherwise if I should die I shall leave you worse than I found you Then they asking him why therefore was he not more sollicitous for the Conversion of his Daughters Heirs of the Kingdom He answered God will take care for an Heir leave my Daughters for me to Convert do you by your example reduce those that are under you and others to the Faith. In most Provinces he hath preferred Catholicks and in a short time we shall have the same Justices of the Peace as they are called in them all At Oxford we hope Matters go very well one of our Divines is always Resident therein a publick Catholick Chappel of the Vice-Chancellor's who hath drawn some Students to the Faith. The Bishop of Oxford seems very much to favour the Catholick Cause He proposed in Council Whether it was not expedient that at least one Colledg in Oxford should be allowed Catholicks that they might not be forced to be at so much Charges by going beyond Seas to Study What Answer was given is not yet known The same Bishop inviting two of our Noblemen with others of the Nobility to a Banquet drank the King's Health to an Heretical Baron there wishing a happy Success to all his Affairs and he added That the Faith of Protestants in England seemed to him to be little better than that of Buda was before it was taken and that they were for the most part mere Atheists who defended it Many do embrace the Faith and four of the chiefest Earls have lately posfessed it publickly The Reverend Father Alexander Regnes Nephew to our Provincial to whom is committed the Care of the Chappel of the Ambassador of the most Serene Elector Palatine is whole days busied in resolving and shewing the Doubts or Questions of Hereticks concerning their Faith of which number you may see two or three continually walking before the Dores of the Chappel disputing about Matters of Faith amongst themselves Prince George we can have nothing certain what Faith he intends to make profession of We have a good while begun to get footing in England We teach Humanity at Lincoln Norwich and York At Warwick we have a publick Chappel secured from all Injuries by the King's Souldiers We have also bought some Houses of the City of Wigorn in the Province of Lancaster The Catholick Cause very much increaseth In some Catholick Churches upon Holy Days above 1500 are always numbred
Theologian and will seem to be a good Bishop and to have a great care of his Diocess and would heretofore seem a great Preacher I have hinted in my last the Reasons why I cannot altogether like him which are needless to repeat The Arch-bishop of Paris is always the same I mean a gallant Man whose present Conversation is charming and loves his Pleasures but cannot bear any thing that grieves or gives trouble though he is always a great Enemy of the Iansenists which he lately intimated to Cardinal Camus He is always with me in the Council of Conscience and agrees very well with our Society laying mostly to Heart the Conversion of the Protestants of the three Kingdoms He also makes very good Observations and Designs to give some Advice to your Reverence which I shall convey to you I do sometimes impart to him what you write to me My Lord Kingston has embrac'd our good Party I was present when he Abjur'd in the Church of St. Denis I will give you the Circumstances some other time You promised to send me the Names of all Heretick Officers who are in his Majesty's Troops that much imports me and you shall not want good Catholick Officers to fill up their places I have drawn a List of them who are to pass into England and his most Christian Majesty approves thereof Pray observe what I hinted to you in my last on the Subject of the Visits which our Fathers must give to the Chief Lords Members of the next Parliament those Reverend Fathers who are to perform that Duty must be middle-aged with a lively Countâ—nance and fit to perswade I also advised you in some of my other Letters how the Bishop of Oxford ought to behave himself by writing incessantly and to insinuate into the People the putting down the Test and at the same time calm the Storm which the Letter of Pentionary Fagel has raised And his Majesty must continue to make vigorous Prohibitions to all Booksellers in London not to print any Answers as well to put a stop to the Insolency of Heretick Authors as also to hinder the People from reading them In short you intimate to me That his Majesty will follow our Advice It 's the quickest way and I cannot find a better or fitter to dispossess his Subjects from such Impressions as they have received His Majesty must also by the same Declaration profess in Conscience that if complied with he will not only keep his Word to maintain and protect the Church of England but will also confirm his Promises by such Laws as the Protestants shall be contented with This is the true Politick way for by his granting all they cannot but consent to something His most Christian Majesty has with great success experienced this Maxim And though he had not to struggle with Penal Laws and Tests yet he found it convenient to make large Promises by many Declarations for since we must dissemble you must endeavour all you can to perswade the King it is the only Method to effect his Design I did also in my last give you a hint of its Importance as well as the ways you must take to insinuate your selves dexterously with the King to gain his good Will. I know not whether you have observed what passed in England some Years since I will recite it because Examples instruct much One of our Assisting Fathers of that Kingdom which was Father Parsons having written a Book against the Succession of the King of Scots to the Realm of England Father Creighton who was also of our Society and upheld by many of our Party defended the Cause of that King in a Book Intituled The Reasons of the King of Scots against the Book of Father Parsons And though they seem'd divided yet they understood one another very well this being practised by order of our General to the end that if the House of Scotland were Excluded they might shew him who had the Government the Book of Father Parsons and on the other Hand if the King happened to be restored to the Throne they might obtain his good Will by shewing him the Works of Father Chreighton So that which way soever the Medal turn'd it still prov'd to the advantage of our Society Not to digress from our Subject I must desire you to read the English Book of Father Parsons Intituled The Reform of England where after his blaming of Cardinal Pool and made some observations of Faults in the Council of Trent he finally concludes That suppose England should return as we hope to the Catholick Faith in this Reign he would reduce it to the State of the Primitive Church And to that end all the Ecclesiastical Revenue ought to be used in common and the Management thereof committed to the care of Seven Wise Men drawn out of our Society to be disposed of by them as they should think fit Moreover he would have all the Religious Orders forbidden on Religious Penalties not to return into the Three Kingdoms without leave of those Seven Wise Men to the end it might be granted only to such as live on Alms. These Reflections seem to me very judicious and very suitable to the present State of England The same Father Parsons adds That when England is reduced to the True Faith the Pope must not expect at least for Five Years to reap any benefit of the Ecclesiastical Revenue but must leave the whole in the hands of those Seven Wise Men who will manage the same to the Benefit and Advancement of the Church The Court goes this day for Marli to take the Divertisements which are there prepared I hope to accompany the King and will entertain him about all Business and accordingly as he likes what you hint to me in your Letter I shall give you notice I have acquainted him with his Britannick Majesty's Design of building a Citadel near Whitehal Monsieur Vauban our Engineer was present After some Discourse on the Importance of the Subject his Majesty told Monsieur Vauban that he thought it convenient he should make a Model of the Design and that he should on purpose go over into England to see the Ground I have done all I could to suspend the Designs of our Great Monarch who is always angry against the Holy Father both Parties are stubborn the King 's natural Inclination is to have all yield to him and the Pope's Resolution is unalterable All our Fathers most humbly salute your Reverence Father Roine Ville acts wonderfully about Nismes amongst the New Converts who still meet notwithstanding the Danger they expose themselves to I daily expect News from the Frontiers of the Empire which I shall impart to your Reverence and am with the greatest Respect Yours c. Paris March 7. 1688. Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on In a Letter from a Gentleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of ORANGE's Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament THE Credulity and Superstition of
after they had enjoyed their first Government above threescore years without so much as a preâ—ence of Misgovernment alledged had all their Priviledges at once taken from them There was a Quo Warranto against Conecticot Colony whose Charter was granted to them by King Charles the Second only Letters were sent to them in the King's Name signifying that in case they did resign their Charter they should take their choice of being under New-York or Boston Several of the Magistrates there returned a most humble and supplicatory Answer praying That their former Government might still continue but that if it must be taken from them they had rather be under Boston than New-York This was by some at Court interpreted a Resignation of their Charter and a Commission sent to Sir Edmond Andross who went with some armed Attendants to Hartford their principal Town and declared their Charter and former Government to be void As for Road-Island they submitted themselves to His Majesties pleasure Before these Changes happened New-England was of all the Foreign Plantations their Enemies themselves being Judges the most flourishing and deâ—irable But their Charters being all one way or other declared to be void and insignificant it was an easy matter to erect a French Government in that part of the King's Dominions no doubt intended by the Evil Counsellors as a Specimen of what was designed to be here in England as soon as the times would bear it Accordingly Sir Edmond Andross a Gernsey-man was pitched on as a fit Instrument to be made use of and a most Illegal Commission given him bearing date Iune 3 1686 by which he with four of his Council perhaps all of them his absolute Devotees are impower'd to make Laws and raise Moneys on the Kings Subjects without any Parliament Assembly or Consent of the People It was thought by Wise Men that the Remembrance of Dudley and Empson who were in the days of King Henry the Eighth executed for acting by a like Commission would have deterred them from doing so But it did not for Laws are made by a few of them and indeed what they please nor are they printed as was the Custom in the former Governments so that the People are at a great loss to know what is Law and what not Only one Law they are sensible of which doth prohibit all Town-Meetings excepting on a certain Day once a Year whereas the Inhabitants have occasion to meet once a Month sometimes every Week for relief of the Poor or other Town-Affairs But it is easy to penetrate into the Design of this Law which was no Question to keep them in every Town from complaining to England of the Oppression they are under And as Laws have been Established so Moneys have been Raised by the Government in a most Illegal and Arbitrary way without any consent of the People Sir Edmond Andross caused a Tax to be leavied of a Penny in a Pound on all the Towns then under his Government And when at Ipswich and other places the Select Men as they are there stiled voted That inasmuch as it was against the Common Priviledges of English Subjects to have Money raised without their own Consent in an Assembly or Parliament That therefore they would petition the King for liberty of an Assembly before they made any Rates the said Sir Edmond Andross caused them to be Imprisoned and Fined some 20 l. some 30 l. and some 50 l. as the Judges by him instructed should see meet to determine Yea and several Gentlemen in the Country were Imprisoned and bound to their Good Behaviour upon meer suspicion that they did incourage their Neighbours not to comply with these Arbitrary Proceedings And that so they might be sure to effect their Pernicious Designs they have caused Juries to be pick'd of Men who are not of the Vicinity and some of them meer Strangers in the Country and no Freeholders which actings are highly Illegal One of the former Magistrates was committed to Prison without any Crimes laid to his Charge and there kept half a Year without any Fault and tho he petitioned for a Habeas Corpus it was denied him Also inferiour Officers have extorted what Fees they please to demand contrary to all Rules of Reason and Justice They make poor Widows and Fatherless pay 50 s. for the Probate of a Will which under the former easy Government would not have been a Tenth part so much Six Persons who had been illegally imprisoned were forced to give the Officers 117 l. whenas upon Computation they found that here in England their Fees would not have amounted to 10 l. in all And yet these things tho bad enough are but a very small part of the Misery which that poor People have been groaning under since they have been governed by a Dispotick and Absolute Power For their new Masters tell them that their Charter being gone their Title to their Lands and Estates is gone therewith and that All is the Kings and that They represent the King and that therefore all Persons must take Patents from them and give what they see meet to impose that so they may enjoy the Houses which their own Hands have built and the Lands which at vast Charges in subduing a Wilderness they have for many Years had a rightful possession of as ever any People in the World had or can have Accordingly the Governor ordered the Lands belonging to some in Charles-Town to be measured out given to his Creatures and Writs of Intrusion to be issued out against others And the Commons belonging to several Towns have been given to some of the Governours Council who begged them to the impoverishing if not utter ruining of whole Townships And when an Island belonging to the Town of Plimouth was petitioned away from them by one Nathaniel Clark whom Sir Edmond Andross made his Property because the Agents of the said Town obtained a voluntary Subscription to maintain their Title at Law they were compelled to come not only out of their own Country but Colony to Boston to answer there as Criâ—inals at the next Assizes and bound to their good Behaviour The Officers in the mean time extorting 3 l. per Man for Fees. These were the miserable Effects of New-England's being deprived of their Charters and with them of their English Liberties They have not been altogether negligent as to endeavours to obtain some relief in their sorrowful Bondage for several Gentlemen desired Increase Mather the Rector of the Colledge at Cambridge in New-England to undertake a Voyage for England to see what might be done for his distressed Country which Motion he complied with and in Iune the 1 st 1688 he had the favour to wait on the King and privately to acquaint him with the enslaved and perishing Eâ—tate of his Subjects in New-England The King was very gracious and kind in his Expressions then and often after promising to give them ease as to their Complaints and Fears Amongst other things
some kind of possession of the Kingly Office. Bâ—t after the Judgment made and declared there seems to be no dâ—fference in the consequence and result of the thing between such an extraordinary case of the Cesser of the Royal Dignity and the case of Death or voluntary Resignation or as if the King had been prosest and made himself a Recluse in a Religious House Then it must devolve upon the next Heir her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange As to the pretended Prince of Wales if there had been no Suspicions as to his Birth as there are many violent ones yet his being conveyed into unknown Places by Persons in whom no credit can be reposed and at an Age which exposes him to all manner of Practices and Impostures touching his Person then can there hereafter be no manner of Certainty of him so as to induce the Nation ever to consider any Pretence of that kind These things being considered First Whether will not the declaring her Royal Highness Queen of England as next in Succession be the surest and beâ—t Foundation to begin our Settlement upon rather than upon a groundless Conceit of the Government being devolved to the People and so they to proceed to Elect a King Secondly If that Conceit of devolving to the People be admitted Whether must we not conclude that the Misgovernment of King Iames the Second hath not only determin'd his Roylaty but put a period to the Monarchy it self And then 't is not only a loss as to his Person but to the whole Royal Family Thirdly Whether those Persons that have started this Notion upon pretence of giving the Nation an opportunity of gratifying his Highness the Prince of Orange in proportion to his Merits which it must be acknowledged no Reward can exceed if they were searched to the bottom did not do it rather to undermine this Ancient and Hereditary Monarchy and to give an Advantage to their Republican Principles than out of any Affection and Gratitude to his Highness For if the latter was that they had tâ—e chief respect to would it not be the more proper way to declare her Royal Highness Queen which will immediately put the Nation under a regular Constitution and posture of Government Then it will be capable of expressing its Gratitude to the Prince of Orange in matters touching even the Royal Dignity it self without making such a Stroke upon the Government as the Electing of a King or making any other immediate Alteration in the right of the Monarchy before the Parliament is compleated and constituted in all its parts must amount unto The Heads of the EXPEDIENT proposed by the Court-party to the Parliament at Oxford in lieu of the Bill for excluding the Duke of York I. THAT the Duke of York be banish'd during his Life five hundred Miles from England Scotland and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories to them belonging II. That the whole Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil shall upon the demise of the King be vested in a Regent for such time as the Duke of York shall survive III. That the Regent be the Princess of Orange and in case of her Decease without Issue or with Issue in Minority then the Lady Ann. IV. That if the Duke have a Son educated a Protestant then the said Princesses respectively shall succeed in the Regency during the Minority of such Son and no longer Which obviates an incurable Absurdity in the former Bill of Exclusion V. That the Regent nominate the Privy-Council and they to be or not to be approved in Parliament as shall be judged safest upon directing the drawing up of this intended Act. VI. That notwithstanding these Kingdoms out of respect to the Royal Family and Monarchy it self may be governed by the said Regent in the Name â—nd Stile of Iames the Second c. yet it shall by this intended Act be made Capital for any to take up Arms on his behalf or by a Commission not signed by the said Regent or not granted by lawful Authority derived from and under such Regent or to maintain an Opinion that the retaining the said Name and Stile shall in this case purge the disabilities imposed by this Act or elude the force thereof VII That Commissioners be forthwith sent to the Prince and Princess of Orange to take their Oaths that they will take upon them the execution of this Act and that their Oaths be here recorded VIII That all Officers Civil and Military forthwith take Oaths to observe this Act and so all others from time to time as in the Act for the Test. IX That his Majesty would graciously declare to call a Parliament in Scotland in order to the passing the like Act there and recommend the same and the like to be done in Ireland if thought necessary X. That in case the said Duke shall come into any of these Kingdoms then he shall be ipso facto totally excluded and shall suffer as in the former Bill and the Sovereignty shall be forthwith intirely vested in the Regent upon such his coming into any of these Kingdoms XI That all considerable Papists be banish'd by Name XII That their fraudulent Conveyances be defeated XIII That their Children be educated in the Protestant Religion By these means these three Kingdoms will be united in defence of the Protestant Religion his Majesty's Person and Government and a sure Foundation laid of an effectual League with Holland and consequently with the rest of Christendom in opposition to the growing Greatness of France ☞ 'T was thought fit to reprint this Expedient that the Reader may compare it with the Bill of Exclusion which may be seen at large in the Debates of the House of Commons lately published and judg which was the greatest Evil of the two viz. that which would have set the Duke aside and given him liberty to live where he pleased or that which would have strip'd him of all Power and banish'd him 500 Miles off and left him only the Name of a King. An Excellent Expedient indeed An Account of the irregular Actions of the Papists in the Reign of King James the Second With a Method proposed how to rid the Nation of them By a Person of Quality THE dreadful Revolutions Plots and Conspiracies which have been promoted by the Roman Catholicks in England since the Resormation are of that nature and have caused such fearful Convulsions in our Church and State that it is a great Argument of the Goodness and Providence of God that we have been able to bear so many Shocks and to avoid so many deep Designs as have now twice within the memory of Man brought us to the brinks of Ruin. We must be very impious or very stupid if our last Deliverance has not been able to make us adore the boundless Goodness of God towards us his sinful and unthankful Servants he having defeated the Hopes and totally overthrown the Contrivances of that restless implacable persidious Faction when they seemed
by him of late it will most evidently appear to all who understand the English Constitution that it admits of no such King nor any such Power 3. The King has deserted 1. By incapacitating himself by a Religion inconsistent with the Fundamentals of our Government 2. By forsaking the Power the Constitution allow'd him and usurping a Foreign one So that tho the Person remained the King was gone long ago 3. By Personal Withdrawing Seventhly The Supreme Power Real remains in the Community and they may act by their Original Power And tho every Particular Person is notwithstanding such Dissolution Forfeiture or Desertion subject to the Laws which were made by the Supreme Power Personal when in Being yet the Communities Power is not bound by them but is paramount all Laws made by the Supreme Power Personal And has a full Right to take such Measures for Settling the Government as they shall think most sure and effectual for the lasting Security and Peace of the Nation For we must note that it was the Community of England which first gave Being to both King and Parliament and to all the other Parts of our Constitution Eighthly The most Renowned Politician observes That those Kingdoms and Republicks subsist longest that are often renewed or brought back to their first Beginnings which is an Observation of Self-evident Truth and implies That the Supream Power Real has a Right to Renew or bring back And the most ingenious Lawson observes in his Politica That the Community of England in the late Times had the greatest Advantage that they or their Ancestors had had for many Ages for this purpose tho God hid it from their Eyes But the wonderful Concurrence of such a Series of Providences as we now see and admire gives ground to hope That the Veil is removed and the Nation will now see the Things that concern their Peace Ninthly The Acts done and executed by the Supreme Power Personal when in Being have so model'd the Parts and Persons of the Community that the Original Constitution is the best justest and the most desirable The Royal Family affords a Person that both Heaven and Earth point out for King. There are Lords whose Nobility is not affected by the Dissolution of the Government and are the subject Matter of a House of Lords And there are Places which by Custom or Charter have Right to choose Representatives of the Commons Tenthly There are are inextricable Difficulties in all other Methods For 1. There is no Demise of the King neither Civil nor Natural 2. There is consequently no Descent 3. The Community only has a Right to take Advantage of the King's Forfeiture or Desertion 4. Whatever other Power may be imagin'd in the two Houses as Houses of Parliament it cannot justify it self to the Reason of any who understand the Bottom of our Constitution 5. By this Method all Popish Successors may be excluded and the Government secured in case all the Protestants of the Family die without Issue And this by the very Constitution of England And the Question can never arise about the Force or the Lawfulness of a Bill of Exclusion 6. The Convention will not be oblig'd to take Oaths c. Eleventhly If these things be granted and the Community be at Liberty to act as above it will certainly be most advisable not only for the Security and Welfare of the Nation but if rightly understood for the Interest of their Royal Highnesses to limit the Crown as follows To the Prince of Orange during his Life yet with all possible Honour and Respect to the Princess whose Interests and Inclinations are inseparably the same with his Remainder to the Princess of Orange and the Heirs of her Body Remainder to the Princess of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body Remainder to the Heirs of the Body of the Prince of Orange Remainder as an Act of Parliament shall appoint This will have these Conveniences among others 1. Husband and Wife are but one Person in Law and her Husband's Honour is hers 2. It puts the present Kingly Power into the best Hand in the World which witâ—out Flattery is agreed on by all Men. 3. It asserts the above-said Power in the Community 4. It will be some Acknowledgment to the Prince for what he has done for the Nation And it is worthy Observation that before the Theocracy of the Iews ceased the manner of the Divine Designation of their Judges was by God's giving the People some Deliverance by the Hand of the Person to whose Government they ought to submit and this even in that time of extraordinary Revelations Thus Othniel Gideon Iephthah Samson and others were invested by Heaven with the Supreme Authority And though Ioshua had an immediate Command from God to succeed Moses and an Anointing to that purpose by the laying on of Moses's Hands Yet the Foundation of the People's Submission to him was laid in Iordan And I challenge the best Historians to give an Instance since that Theocracy ceased of a Designation of any Person to any Government more visibly Divine than that which we now admire If the Hand of Providence miraculously and timely disposing Natural Things in every Circumstance to the best advantage should have any Influence upon Mens Minds most certainly we ought not here to be insensible If the Voice of the People be the Voice of God it never spoke louder If a Nation of various Opinions Interests and Factions from a turbulent and fluctuating State falls into a serene and quiet Calm and Mens Minds are strangely united on a sudden it shews from whence they are influenced In a word if the Hand of God is to be seen in Human Affairs and his Voice to be heard upon Earth we cannot any where since the ceasing of Miracles find a clearer and more remarkable Instance than is to be observ'd in the present Revolution If one examines the Posture of Foreign Affairs making way for the Prince's Expedition by some sudden Events and Occurrences which no Human Wisdom or Power could have brought about if one observes that Divine Influence which has directed all his Counsels and crown'd his Undertakings notwithstanding such innumerable Dangers and Difficulties with constant Honour and Success If one considers how happily and wonderfully both Persons and Things are changed in a little time and without Blood It looks like so many Marks of God's Favour by which he thinks fit to point him out to us in this extraordinary Conjuncture I will trouble you but with one Consideration more which is That the two things most necessary in this Affair are Unanimity and Dispatch For without both these of your Counsels will have little Effect In most things 't is good to be long in resolving but in some 't is fatal not to conclude immediately And presence of Mind is as great a Vertte as Rashness is a Vice. For the turns of Fortune are sometimes so quick that if Advantage be not taken in the critical hour
of the Law of Nature did not press us at this time to come to some speedy and pertinent Determinations as to the business especially of settling the Government that Nicety which seems to be promoted and set afoot in all our Counsels might considering the Weightiness of the business in hand rather claim the just Commendation and Applauses of every good Man than as it seems now fall under their Censure and I may say Indignation If the matter debated were extraneous and the Kingdom within it self peaceably and firmly settled if the Circumstances of our Affairs were ordinary and usual and could admit of an unlimited time for their Decision if we were secure from injurious Resolutions of our Enemies abroad or from the private Machinations of disaffected Persons at home If these â—hings were so it were worthy the Wisdom of those who by their unseasonable Scruples so generally resolv'd against and now again by them started may seem either ignorant of the desperate languishing condition of these Kingdoms at present or prejudic'd and dis-affected to the Eâ—ace and Settlement of them for the future I say it were then worthy the Wisdom of these Men to dissect every particular of so important an Affair before they made any Determination of the General As we all acknowledg the extraordinary Circumstances of this Juncture so they themselves have not been a little contributing to this happy Revolution The Prince's first Declaration tells us he had the Invitation of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Was it Justice and agreeable to Conscience then to call for Foreign Arms to assist us against our own King in the recovery of those Rights Liberties and Properties which contrary to Law he had invaded and taken from us And is it now become a Scruple in those same Consciences to be confirm'd in those Rights c. by the same Arms and Power Is that pretended absolute unlimited Power which in their Prayers and Sermons they have so often nibbled at and endavoured to retrench now in its just Debasement become so Inviolable and Sacred that it must become a Point of Faith entirely to submit to it Has this small fit of Fear and Discouragement in our implacable Enemies so well secur'd us from any future Enchroachments that we need not be careful of any further Assurance Has these Men's Re-embellish'd Honours so obliterated the Memory of the Dangers some of them so lately have escap'd and the rest justly fear'd as to free them from all Apprehensions for the future What is it these Gentlemen would be at what do they fear Is it without Reason without Justice without Precedent that we desire to be everlastingly secur'd from Popery Slavery Not without Reason for when we have seen many of our fairest Branches lopp'd off many of our Liberties invaded many of our Laws perverted and the Axe at last laid to the Root of our Government 't is high time then I say to provide for our our Safety and to put a stop to that Current which would have quickly over-run and drowned us Not without Justice for where my Life and Property is hunted after and assaulted I may by the Law of God and Man â—epel the Injury and stand in my own Vindication Not without Precedent even in Protestant Kingdoms not to mention the Romanists who both teach and practise the Deposing of evil and wicked Magistrates and though in England we may perhaps think the Changes we have very lately seen among our selves admit of no Precedent it may easily be prov'd that which hath been done of late in this Nation hath been in great part formerly presented and allowed of upon Foreign Stages yea and not many Years out of the Memory of some yet living if we would but look into the Actions of other Regions and those too wherein the Reform'd Religion is professed we shall find that they by their publick Records acknowledged that in case of Tyranny and Oppression it was lawful not only to defend their Lives and Liberties against all Assaults but reduce and declare the Persons so offending incapable of holding the Government A lively Example of this and almost exactly parallel with ours was the Case of Sigismond the Third Hereditary King of Sweden who by a Convention of the States of that Kingdom was Excluded even with his Heirs a Severity which both the Honourable Houses of Parliament here have with great Justice and Wisdom declined from that Crown for ever Some of the Articles drawn up against him were these First For swerving from their received Christian Religion as also from his Oath and Promise and Solemn Engagement made to his People at his Coronation to preserve their Rights and Priviledges as also their Holy Reform'd Religion Inviolated For departing the Country without the Consent and unwilling to the States and Orders of the Realm For exporting several Acts of great Concernment out of the Cancellarie For prosecuting such as would not embrace or favour the Romish Superstition For contemning and endeavouring to undermine and annul those laudable Institutions and Laws made for the Security of the Realm and the Establishment of the Protestant Reformed Religion For raising up what Enemies he could against his Native Country thereby to involve his Subjects in a Deluge of Blood which he intended and had almost effected For inhumanely designing and suborning Russians and Villains to Murder and Assassinate one of the chief Nobles for no other Reason but that out of Conscience and Duty he would have perswaded him from those Irregularities and notorious Breaches of the known Laws of the Land. For these and many more Causes as the sending his Son out of the Land without the Consent of the States and causing him to be brought up and educated in the Romish Superstition did the Swedes submitting the same to the Judgment of all sincere and candid Arbitratours justify their Abdication for ever of King Sigismond the Third and his Heirs from the Crown of Sweden c. and proceeded strait to the Constituting and Electing of Charles Duke of Sudermannia vid. Spanheim 's Hist. of Sweden c. And in conclusion they pray for and doubt not of a candid Construction a benign and favourable Acceptation from all Christian Emperors Kings Princes States c. of this their Legitimate Defence and to vindicate them and their most equal Cause from all Calumny or eâ—il Interpretation whatsoever The Circumstances relating to this present Juncture in England bear so near a resemblance almost in all these Grievances objected against the said Sigismond that our late King by a sort of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to have breath'd his Soul rather than to have copy'd after him though indeed in some Cases he has plainly out-done the Original especially in relation to his supposed Son. And as our King thought fit to Copy a King of Sweden I cannot apprehend how it can lessen our Judgments or Integrity our Piety or our Loyalty to follow the Example of the Swedes excepting
to name no other A fifth is the last Appeal Now let but the Power of the Militia and choosing Magistrates be laid where Legislation is and we shall be fundamentally delivered from all Slavery for ever in the Nation If we be enslaved or oppressed by any Prince for the time to come it must be either by Force or by Injustice We cannot be oppressed by Force because no Forces then can be raised by Him but by a Parliament He cannot rule by an Army or by Violence for the Militia is in the Lords and Commons as well as in Him and they will not let him do so We cannot be oppressed with Injustice for the Iudges and Officers entrusted with the Execution of Iustice shall be chosen also by them and they will look to that It is true while no Parliament sits the King by Virtue of the Executive Power lying in him may raise Arms and put in Officers and Magistrates as there iâ— need but both these are to be done under the Controul of the next Parliament which are therefore to sit often by ancient Statutes there being no War to be levied nor Magistrates confirmed without their Approbation Let us remember the State we are in a State that puts the Supream Power in the Hands of the People to place it as they will and therefore to bound and limit it as they see fit for the publick Utility and if they do it not now the Ages to come will have occasion to blame them for ever When the Supream Power is upon the disposing if they do not take this Item as part of their proper Work To bind the Descent of it to a Protestant I shall blame them But I shall do so much more if after the Danger we have been in of Arbitrary Domination and Popery by the King 's raising Arms and putting Judges in and out at his Pleasure they do not take more care of the Supream Power to lay it and its Rights better together Especially seeing nothing can indeed be that in Nature which it is without its Properties This is uniform I must persist to the Nature of Government that where the Supream Authority is there must be its Prerogatives and where the chief or principal Rights of it is there should all the rest which depend upon and belong to it be placed also Where Legislation is lodged there should the Militia there should the Power of making Judges to name nothing more than serves my turn be lodged also It is this hath been the great Declension Fault or Defect of our English Common-Wealth that the People have suffered these Rights of Soveraignty to come to be divided arising we must conceive from the Administration that is Male-Administration as appears for Example in the Militia which upon the fresh coming in of the late King was in two or three hot Acts declared now and ever to have been in the King when both the Assertion was gross Flattery and such Acts void as fundamentally repugnant to the Constitution There is one Difficulty to be thought on and that is the Negative Voice of the Prince in his Parliament The Lords and Commons may agree upon some Law for the publick Benefit and the King alone may refuse to pass it If he be obstinate this is a great Evil and might really make one think it would be better therefore for the preventing this Inconvâ—nience to place the Supream Power in Lords and Commons only without a Controler Unto which may be added the Power of Calling and Dissolving Parliaments at pleasure by virtue whereof our Kings hitherto have pretended a Power predominant over them But forasmuch as these Prerogatives may be disputed and the Negative Voice hath been deny'd by many Judicious Men who have pleaded the Obligation of former Princes to confirm those Laws quas vulgus elegerit it is to be hoped that the Wisdom of the Nation will be able to find out some Expedient or Salve for this Difficulty and for more than that also so long as they have the Golden Opportunity to bring a Crown in one Hand with their Terms or Conditions in the other As for the several Grievances that need Redress and many good Things that are wanting to compleat the Happiness of our Kingdom there may be some Foundation laid happily or Preparations made in order thereunto by this Convention but as belonging to the Administration and being Matters of long Debate they are the Work more properly of an ensuing Parliament Only let not the Members of this present Great Assembly forget that they having so unlimited a Power and the Nation such an Opportunity which as the Secular Games they are never like to see but once they are more strictly therefore bound in Conscience and in Duty to their Country to neglect no kind of thing which they judg absolutely necessary to the publick Good. I care not if I commend three or four such Particulars against the time to Consultation which shall be these A Regulation of Westminster-Hall A Provision against buying or selling of Offices A Register of Estates A Freedom from Persecution by a Bill for Comprehension and Indulgence in the business of Religion A Redemption of the Chimny Mony which bringing the King to be Lord of every Man's House is against Property and an over-Ballance in the Revenue is against the Interest of the Nation THE Breviate bing ended we cannot but reflect upon the King there being so much Concern in the Minds of many about their Allegiance to Him though He be gone But such Persons as these should look a little more to the Bottom That a People is not made for the King but the King for the Peole And though He be greater than them in some Respects yet quoad finem the People are always greater than Him That is If the Good of the one and the other stand in Competition there is no Comparison but a Nation is to be preferr'd before one Man. As appears by the Opinion of King Iames the First hereto annexed If the Being of them be inconsistent one with another there is no doubt but it is better that a King cease than that a whole Nation should perish And upon such a Supposition as this all Obligation as to Duty must cease likewise There are some tacit Conditions in all Oaths as the best Casuists tell us such as Rebus sic stantibus for one that we must steer our Consciences by in these Cases He is the Minister of God for our Good says the Scripture And if any Prince therefore be under those Circumstances as that it cannot be for the Peoples Good that he should rule over them we do look upon such a Ruler to be bound in Conscience to give up his Government as being no Minister of God upon that Account And so having no Authority from God for that Office the Peoples Obligation to be subject to Him is at an end with it If they obey him longer it is for Wrath not for
therefore to deal ingenuously with you I confess at the beginning of this Revolution I was under a very great Surprize I who have been in Arms for His Majesty a warm stickler for the Church of England puffed up with all the Bravado's and Excesses of an Oxford Loyalty must needs be Alarmed to hear our Nobility and Gentry beating up for the Prince of Orange even in the Bowels of our Country But when I came more seriously to reflect upon the Foundations of our Government as well as those antecedent Obligations which God Almighty has reserved as his own inviolable Prerogative I began to regulate my Zeal by calmer measures And making a more impartial and strict Inquiry into the Opinions of Learned Men concerning the Regal Power I found this most generally agreed upon viz. That the Obedience and Disobedience of Subjects must be measured by the peculiar Constitutions of every Kingdom without respect either to the Jewish Polity where things were determined by God Almighty's special Command or the Behaviour of the Primitive Christians who had few or no Legal Rights to Assert Diss. Ay but you Churchmen flattered the Court so long till our Constitutions were all swallowed up in the Abyss of Prerogative Ch. I must confess while Kings are a Protection to Liberty Property and Religion the World is naturally prone to flatter them neither would it be good Breeding to make too nice Inquiries into the Limits of a Prince while he does not exceed them but when Distress comes impetuously upon a Nation when Life and All that is Sacred to us lies at Stake then the Inquiry is not only just but necessary Diss. What Conditions therefore will you Churchmen at length confine your Prince too Ch. Why I shall present you with a short but impartial view of the Constitutions of this Kingdom as I find them most faithfully and ingenuously represented by the Royal Martyr in his Answer to the Nineteen Propositions in these Words viz. There being Three kinds of Government among Men Absolute Monarchy Aristoâ—racy and Demoâ—racy and all these having their particular Conveniences and Inconveniences the Experience and Wisdom of our Ancestors hath so moulded this out of a mixture of these as to give to this Kingdom the Conveniences of all Three without the Inconveniences of any one as long as the Balance hangs even between the Three Estates and they run jointly on in their proper Chanel c. In this Kingdom the Laws are jointly made by a King House of Peers and House of Commons chosen by the People all having free Votes and particular Priviledges c. And in this Kind of Regulated Monarchy that the Prince may not make not use of his Power to the Hurt of those for whose Good he hath it and make use of the Name of Publick Necessity for the Gain of his private Favorites and Followers to the detriment of his People the House of Commons an excellent Conserver of Liberty is solely entrusted with the Levying of Monys and the Impeaching of those who for their own Ends though countenanced by any surreptitiously gotten Command of the King have violated that Law which he is bound to protect c. Since therefore the Power Legally placed in both Houses is more than sufficient to Prevent and Restrain the Power of Tyranny c. Our Answer is Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari So far this Royal Author And indeed what could a generous Prince acknowledg or a Priviledg-asserting Subject desire more Therefore upon the whole it appears by the Confession of the best of Men as well as the wisest of Princes that we are under a Government so well appointed for Society and the Exigencies of Humane Kind that nothing but Folly can think of Establishing a better and nothing but a Jesuit disturb it The Scriptures themselves seem to have meant it when they tell us that Caesar's Prerogative must never come in Competition with that of God Almighty and that Governors shall be a Terror to evil Works Here King and People have each their Territories and all the Provision imaginable made against those Distractions which either Interest or Passion should attempt From all which what can be more naturally inferred but that we in this Kingdom are by no means obliged to resign up our selves to Violence and Oppression but that Passive Obedience has its Limits and the Oath of Allegiance its Restrictions A regulated and conditionated Monarch can expect no Obedience from me but what is Conditional too and what an Absurdity does it seem that by a Legal Oath I should swear an absolute Obedience to that Authority which is not Absolute Besides those Subsidies which were granted by the Clergy in several of Queen Elizabeth's Parliaments for the Relief of the French Dutch and Scotch Protestants against their Oppressors plainly shew that it was all along the Opinion of the Church to Resist in case Rights and Religion were Invaded Neither am I perswaded that the learned and unbyass'd Clergy of our present Church ever meant any other Obedience than an active Conformity to the Intent of the Law or a Passive Submiâ—sion to the Penalties of it Therefore â—hough upon the Foundations of our Government an impatient Spirit might with a great shew of Reason establish a very extensive Latitude in asserting the Subjects Right yet in Favour of Monarchy which I Reverence and with Respect to the Present Conjuncture I shall only now trouble you with these four Propositions supposing a mixt Government 1. That Suspicions and Jealousies of a Prince's sinister Designs are no sufficient Grounds for Subjects violently to assert their Rights but in this Case the Event of things muâ—t be left to Providence 2. That though one Man or a greater number of Men receive manifest Injuries by the Abuses of Government yet while they are but an inconsiderable part of the Community they are in Duty bound rather to submit to Oppression than interrupt the common Peace But 3. When Dangers become demonstrable when Religion it self and the very Foundations of Government are so undermined by the Insinuations of an inconsiderable party who have obtained the Ear of their Prince that its unavoidable Ruine must necessarily follow In this Case I cannot see any Reason why Right may not be asâ—erted But 4. When a Foreign Prince with a considerable Army Invades a Nation upon pretence of putting a stop to such violent Proceedings besides perhaps some just Causes of a War I say in this Case That the whole Nation may and ought to rise and put themselves in such a Posture that they may be able to return him Thanks acording to the Merits of his Favours without being jealous of his Greatness And indeed our present Case is so circumstantiated that I Question whether it may be paralle'd in History and let any Man tell me where the Subjects of a Limited Monarchy tired out with the Abuses of Government did by sighting for their King encourage Oppression by the Blood of Thousands
is evident no Man can serve two Masters Secondly It 's highly necessary and prudent rather to vest the Administration in the Husband than in the Wife 1. Because a Man by Nature Education and Experience is generally rendred more capable to Govern than the Woman Therefore 2. the Husband ought rather to Rule the Wife than the Wife the Husband especially considering the Vow in Matrimony 3. The Prince of Orange is not more proper to Govern as he 's Man and Husband only but as he is a Man a Husband and a Prince of known Honour profound Wisdom undaunted Courage and incomparable Merit as he 's a Person that 's naturally inclin'd to be Just Merciful and Peaceable and to do all Publick Acts of Generosity for the Advancement of the Interest and Happiness of Humane Societies and therefore most fit under Heaven to have the solâ— Executive Power A LORD'S Speech Without Doors To the Lords upon the present Condition of the Government My Lords PRay give me leave to cast in my Mite at this time upon this great Debate and though it be with an entire dissent to some Leading Lords to whom I bear great reverence it is according to my Conscience and that is the Rule of every honest Man's Actions My Lords I cannot forbear thinking that a greater Reproach can hardly come upon any People than is like to fall upon us Protestants for this unpresidented usage of our poor King We feared the security of our Religion because of Him and are now like to Violate a great part of it by forfeiting our Loyalty towards Him Religion is the Pretence but some fear a New Master is the Thing This I take to have been to Business of to Day for notwithstanding we see how feeble a thing Popery is in England that it is beaten without Blows and routed so effectually that it can never hope nor we justly fear it should return upon us and consequently our Religion pretty secure yet I don't see that this satisfies us unless the King goes also He must be turned away and the Crown change its Head for if the Crown be not the Quarrel more than Property and his Majesty's Person than his Religion Why did not the Prince stop when he heard a Free Parliament was calling by the King's Writs where all Matters especially that of the Prince of Wales might have been considered or at least where his Majesties Commissioners of Peace met â—im Who advised him â—o adâ—ance and give his Majesty that apprehension of â—is own insecurity and if any thing but a Crown would have served him Why was a Noble Peer of this House clapt up at Winsor when his Majesty sent him on purpose to invite the Prince to St. Iames's a Message that affected all good Mens Hearts more then any thing but his Majesty's return it look'd so Natural and Peaceable But it seems as if it had been therefore affronted for the Invitation could not have been received without the King 's remaining King and who was there that did not lately say it should be so I and who is there now that does not see it is not so We can my Lords no longer doubt of this if we will remember that the same Night the Prince should have answered his Majesty's kind Message The King's Guards were changed and at midnight the Prince's Guards were clapt upon hiâ— Majesty's Person and which is yet more extravagant to accomplish the business Three noble Lords in view were sent to let him know It was not for his safety or the Princes honour that he should stay in his own Palace A strange way my Lords of treating ones own King in his own House I cannot comprehend how it was for the Prince's Honour the King should go against his Will or how it was against his Honour that his Majesty should be safe in his own House I leave it with your Lordships to think who could render the King's stay unsafe at White-hall after the Dutch Guards were posted there My Lords this I confess is the great Iniquity that sticks with me and deserves our severest Scrutiny and Reflection that after driving our King away we should offer to â—ddress our selves to any Body to take the Government as if he had formally disserted it It becomes us rather to ask Where the King is how he came to go and who sent him away I take the Honour of the Peâ—rage of England to be deeply ingaged both at Home and Abroad to search but this Minor and especially those who are now present most of whom owe their share iâ— thâ—t noble Order to his Majesty his Brother Father or Grandfather It is not unreasonable to believe the King had not gone at first but upon some Messagâ— sent and Letters received to take care of his Person for that nothing less than the Crown was intended but being not out of his own Territories and therefore no Dissertion Abdication or Remise as the Criticks of the Conjuncture we are under pretend for the King may be where â—e will in his own Kingdom we â—ee while it was in his choice to go he returned and by as good as our advise too so that we cannot in truth say his Dissertion is the cause for it is plainly the Effect of our late extraordinary proceedings If any should say He needed not have gone now it is a great mistake for â— King ought to go if he cannot stay a King in his own Kingdom which Force refused to let him be And to stay a Subject to another Authority had been a meaner forfeiture of his Right then can in justice be charged upon his Retirement Wherefore his going must and will lie at their Doors that set him an hour to be gone out of his own Palace Many are angry and yet pleased that he is gone for France but where my Lords should he go Flanders dared not receive him Holland you could not think he should go to and Ireland you would have liked less and when we consider how far a League with France has been made the cause of his Misfortune though to this day it is in the Clouds what other Prince had the same Obligation to receive and succor him Therefore whatever Arts are used to blacken his Retreat we cannot with any shew of Reason imagine that he could think himself safe with us that had exercised Soveraign Power without him our Soveraign Lord and under the protection of a Forraign Prince and his Army though at the same time we had Sworn Allegiance to him and that it was unlawful for us to take up Arms against him under any Pretence whatever My Lords if this be not virtually and in effect to pull the Crown off his Head and dethrone him unheard I am to learn my Alphabet again This is short warning to give Kings for us at least my Lords that boast of Loyalty and were brought to these Seats by the favour of the Crown What can other Nations think of the Nobility of
into utter Despair of the Continuance amongst them of the true Religion of Almighty God and of her Majesties Life and of the Safety of all her Subjects and of the Good Estate of this flourishing Commonweale For that she the said Queen of Scots had continually breathed the Overthrow and Suppression of the Protestant Religion being poysoned with Popery from her tender Youth and at her Age joyning in that false termed Holy League and had been ever since and was then a powerful Enemy of the Truth For that she rested wholly upon Popish hopes to be delivered and advanced and was so devoted and doted in that Profession that she would as well for the satisfaction of others as for the feeding her own Humour supplant the Gospel where and whensoever she might which Evil was so much the greater and the more to be avoided for that it slayeth the Soul and would spread it self not only over England and Scotland but also into all Parts beyond the Sea where the Gospel of God is maintained the which cannot but be exceedingly weakned if Defection should be in these two most violent Kingdoms For that if she prevailed she would rather take the Subjects of England for Slaves than for Children For that she had already provided them a Foster-father and a Nurse the Pope and King of Spain into whose hands if it should happen them to fall what would they else look for but Ruin Destruction and utter Extirpation of Goods Lands Lives Honours and all For that as she had already by her poyson'd Baits brought to Destruction more Noble-men and their Houses and a greater multitude of Subjects during her being here than she would have done if she had been in Possession of her own Country and arm'd in the Field against them so would she be still continually the cause of the like spoil to the greater loss and peril of this Estate and therefore this Realm neither could nor might endure her For that her Sectaries both Wrote and Printed that the Protestants would be at their Wits end Worlds end if she should out-live Queen Elizabeth meaning thereby that the end of the Protestant World was the beginning of their own and therefore if she the said Queen of Scots were taken away their World would be at an end before its beginning For that since the sparing of her in the Fourteenth Year of Q. Elizabeths Reign Popish Traitors and Recusants had multiplied exceedingly And if she were now spared again they would grow both innumerable and invincible also And therefore Mercy in that case would prove Cruelty against them all Namâ—st quaedam crudelis mâ—sericordia and therefore to spare her Blood would be to spill all theirs And for God's Vengeance against Saul for sparing the life of Agag and against Ahab for sparing the life of Benhadad was moâ—t apparent for they were both by the just Judgment of God deprived of their Kingdoms for sparing those wicked Princes whom God had delivered into their Hands And those Magistrates were much conmmended who put to Death those mischeivous and wicked Queens Iezabel and Athaliah And now I would desire our Grumbletonians especially they of the Clergy to consider how extreamly they have degenerated from the good and laudable Principles of their Fore-fathers They may see how urgent the Bishops and others in Queen Elizabeth's days were to have the Queen of Scots removed as above said and how they encouraged the Queen to assist the Dutch against their Soveraign Lord when he attempted them in their Religion and Laws but now they that first opposed One that has broken the Original Contract between King and People and done horrid things contrary to the Laws of God Nature and the Land yet when God out of his merciful Providence and singular favour to us all has inclined him being sensible of his own Guilt to leave the Throne these Very Men that first withstood him as I said begin to pitty him plead for him and extol him and continually both in Pulpit for one of them lately said there That a parcel of Attoms could as soon make a World as a Convention make a King and also in Coffee-houses mutter and grumble against the Proceedings of the great and Honorable Convention of the Kingdom and are busy in sending out and privately scattering their puling Pamphlets under the Titles of Mementoes Speeches and Letters empty of ought else but the spleen of a foolish and frustrated Faction Good God! what inconstancy folly and madness possesses the Breasts of these Men to what a miserable slavery would they lead us and how fond and eager do they seem to have him rule over Us who like the Stork in the Fable has and would make it his greatest delight to devour the best of free-born Subjects But I hope that in a little time they will know the Things that belong to the Kingdom 's Peace and dutifully pray for tho at present there is no uniformity in their Pulpits save in the Dissenters and submit chearfully and thankfully to him whom God has made the Glorious Instrument of our Deliverance from Popery and Slavery God save King William and Queen Mary ADVERTISEMENT ☞ THere is lately published the Trial of Mr. PAPILLON by which it is manifest that the then Lord Chief Justice Iefferies had neither Learning Law nor good manners but more Impudence than ten Carted Whores as was said of him by King CHARLES II. in abusing all those worthy Citizens who voted for Mr. PAPILLON and Mr. DUBOIS calling them a parcel of Factious Pragmatical Sneaking Whining Canting Sniveling Prickear'd Cropear'd Atheistical Fellows Rascals and Scoundrels c. as in p. 29. and other places of the said Trial may be seen Sold by Richard Ianeway and most Booksellers FINIS A TENTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. Reflections upon our late and present Proceedings II. Some short Notes on a Pamphlet entituled Reflections upon our late and present Proceedings III. The Scots Grievances or A short Account of the Proceedings of the Scotish Privy-Council Justiciary Court and those commissioned by them c. IV. The late Honourable Convention proved a Legal Parliament V. The Amicable Reconciliation of the Dissenters to the Church of England being a Model or Draught for the Universal Accommodation in the Case of Religion and bringing in all Parties to her Communion London printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-â—oster-Row 1689. Reflections upon our Late and Present Proceedings in England THO no Man wishes better to the Protestant Religion in general and the Church of England in particular than I do yet I cannot prevail with my self to approve all those Methods or follow all those Measures which some Men propose as the only Security both of the one and the other Never perhaps was there a more proper time wherein to secure our Religion together with our Civil Liberties than now offers it self if we have but the
the Act and Oath of Council that such Confession should not militate yet they have brought it in as Evidence and given it upon Oath when their former Act and Oath was produced in open Court in Demonstration of their Perjury They used frequently to pack Juries picking out such as they thought any thing tender and not bloody enough and sometimes listed some who they concluded would not concur that thereupon they might get occasion to exact their Fines Sometimes when the Jury hath brought in their Verdict in Favour of the Pannal they have made them return and resume the Cognition of the Process again and threatned them with an Assize of Error if they did not bring him in Guilty yea frequently the Advocate theatned them under most peremptory Certifications if they found not the Impannalled Guilty so that their using Juries was but for the Fashion They have sentenced innocent Persons twice once to have their Ears cut off and banished and after the lopping of their Ears they have re-examined them and sentenced them to Death They used to stage several together of whom they knew some would comply to tantalize others with the sight of their Liberty thereby tempting them to bite more eagerly at their snaring Baits to wound the Conscience They have not only Murdered many innocent Christians in taking their Lives but also endevouâ—ed to Murder their Reputation and the Cause they owned loading it with most reproachful Epithets which was their peculiar Policy to bring the Heads of Suffering to Points most obnoxious to common Censer and most Extrinsick to Religion cutting off the Faithful Professors of Religion and true Lovers of Liberty under the odium of Enemies to Government Some they arraigned whom they could neither reach by adducing many Witnesses against in Tryal nor by their Examination with their cruel Torture of the Boots yet hath had their whole Estate seized and also been sent to Pâ—ison in a Rock within the Sea without being convicted of any Crime They finding their means and motions under Colour of Law and Trials were too slow and troublesome to acquire their designed Cruelties and that the publick Executions tended more to confirm and multiply the Lovers of Religion and Liberty than to diminish and deter took a more compendious way of sending out thâ—ir Souldiers impowered to challenge and examine whom they pleased and to tender Oaths required by no Law and to punish such by present Death who refused to swear or scrupled to answer their ensnaring Qâ—estion which bloody Commissions were so faithfully Executed that within few Weeks above fifty innocent Persons were cruelly murdered in cold Blood without either Tâ—yal or Convâ—â—â—â—on or respeâ—t to Age or Sex. Although the Multitudes of Familâ—es ruined by Exorbitant Finingâ— Forfeitures Banishments Imprisonments Free quaâ—terings and Plunderings of Souldierâ— and Barbarities of their Highland Host the many cruel Edicts and Proclamations they have published the unlawful Bonds and wicked self-contradicting Oaths imposed and pressed the many Exactions whereby they have impoverished the Country the many open Oppressions horrid Tortures and Cruelties practised upon Innocents the multitudes of Persons Male and Female whom they have Murdered Persecuted Oppressed and Destroyed are so many and various that they cannot be collected Yet some have been at no small pains to gether as much of these as when published in a Martyrology of these times which is purposed to be done with all convenient speed will give the World to know as well the Faithfulness Patience Courage and Constancy of these who suffered together with the Equity of their Cause as the Inhumanity Illegality and Severity of their Cruel and Bloody Persecutors The Late Honourable CONVENTION proved a Legal PARLIAMENT I. THE necessity of a Parliament agreed by the Lords and Commons Voting that the Throne is Vacant for there being a Vacancy there follows an immediate necessity of settling the Government especially the Writs being destroyed and the Great Seal carryed away put a period to all publick Justice and then there must be a supply by such means as the necessity requires or a failure of Government II. Consider the Antecedents to the calling the Convention that is about three hundred of the Commons which is a majority of the fullest House that can be made above sixty Lords being a greater number than any part divided amounted to at this great Meeting the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London by application to His then Highness the Prince of Orange desired him to accept of the Administration of Pâ—blick Affairs Military and Civil which he was pleased to do to the great satisfaction of all good People and after that His Highness was desired to Issue forth His Circular Letters to the Lords and the like to the Coroners and in their absence to the Clerks of the Peace to Elect Knights Citizens and Burgesses this was more than was done in Fifty nine for the calling a Parliament in April 1660. for there the Summons was not real but fictitious i. e. in the names of the Keepers of the Liberties of England a meer Notion set up as a Form there being no such Persons but a meer Ens rationis impossible really to exist so that here was much more done than in 1659 and all really done which was possible to be invented as the Affairs then stood Besides King Ch. the 2d had not abdicated the Kingdom but was willing to return and was at Breda whither they might have sent for Writs and in the mean time have kept their form of Keepers of the Liberties c. But in the present case there was no King in being nor any style or form of Government neither real or notional left so that in all these respects more was done before and at the calling of this Great Convention than for calling that Parliament for so I must call it yet that Parliament made several Acts in all thirty seven as appears by Keebles Statutes and several of them not confirmed I shall instance but in one but it is one which there was occasion to use in every County of England I mean the Act for Confirming and Restoring Ministers being the 17 th of that Sessions all the Judges allowed of this as an Act of Parliament tho' never confirmed which is a stronger case than that in question for there was only fictitious Summons here a real one III. That without the Consent of any Body of the People this at the Request of a Majority of the Lords more than halâ— the number of the Commons duly chosen in King Ch. the 2 d's time besides the great Body of the City of London being at least esteem'd a 5 th part of the Kingdom yet after the King's Return he was so well satisfied with the calling of that Parliament that it was Enacted by the King Lords and Commons Asâ—embled in Parliament that the Lords and Common then Sitting at Westminster in the present Parliament were thâ— two Houses of Parliament
Dissenter of one sort himself The King therefore that was so lately could not really put the Catholicks upon Conformity and if he would appear equal to all his People he could not put â—ny other Dissenters on it neither for the same Cause That which the Law requires was both in his Conscience and in theirs a thing prohibited of God. He could not therefore put the Laws in Execution being against God. And if He could not do it acting only but as an honest Man that abides by his Principles we have no reason to apprehend that so good a King and Queen as we have now should be ever brought to do it maugre all the Enticements of the Church of England or Frowns of the Church of Rome FINIS ADVERTISEMENT A Third Volume of Sermons Preached by the Late Reverend and Learned Thomas Manton D.D. In Two Parts The First containing LXVI Sermons on the Eleventh Chapter of the Hebrews With a Treatise of the Life of Faith. The Second containing a Treatise of Self-Denial With Several Sermons on the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper And other Occasions With an Alphabetical-Table to the Whole Sold by Thomas Parkhurst and Ionathan Robinson ELEVENTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England and Scotland VIZ. I. An Answer to the Desertion Discuss'd being a Defence of the late and present Proceedings II. Satisfaction tendred to all that pretend Conscience for Non-submission to our present Governours and refusing of the New Oaths of Fealty and Allegiance III. Dr. Oates his Petition to the Parliament declaring his barbarous Sufferings by the Papists IV. An Account of the Convention of Scotland V. A Speech made by a Member of the Convention of the Estates in Scotland VI. The Grounds on which the Estates of Scotland declared the Right of the Crown of Scotland Forfaulted and the Throne become Vacant VII The Opinion of two eminent Parliament-Men justifying the Lawfulness of taking the Oaths of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary London printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row 1689. AN ANSWER TO THE DESERTION DISCUSS'D IF many of our Long-Rob'd Divines pust up with a Conceit of their own Parts would but keep closer to their Texts and their Duties most certainly our Peace and Union would be much firmer and more assured then it is For being sway'd by Interest and Profit they are more afraid of losing the Advantages of Earthly Preferment then the Treasures of Heavenly Felicity Unless they swim in their own Wishes and Desires all Things are out of Order The Church is in danger they cry here are Sharers coming in among Us And by an odd kind of Ecclesiastical Policy seem rather inclinable to return under the Yoke of Popery then to endure the Equality of a Dissenting Protestant rather to be at the check of a Pope's Nuncio then suffer the Fraternity of a Protestant Nonconformist They said nothing to the late King till he began to touch their Copy-holds then they call'd out for Help and now they are angry with their Relief because they are afraid of well they know not what And this is their Misfortune that if all things answer not the full Height of their Expectations they are the first that should be last dissatisfied If all things go not well as they imagine they presently grow moody and waspish and while they insinuate their empty Notions into others who admiring the fluency of their Pulpit Language either out of Ignorance or Laziness allow them a Prerogative over their Understandings the whole Nation must be embroyl'd by their Surmises and Mistrusts Else what had that Gentleman who wrote the Desertion Discuss'd to do to busy his Brains with a Subject neither appertaining to his Function nor proper for his Talent Why should he be setting himself up against the voted Judgment of â—he chiefest and greatest part of the Kingdom A Man of his Profession would have doubtless better employ'd himself in contemplating the Story of the Three Murmurers against Moses and there have learn'd a more sanctifi'd Lesson then to exalt his Sophistry against the Debates of a Solemn Assembly contriving the Publick Preservation For certainly never was a fairer Prospect then now since the many Revolutions under which the British Monarchy has labour'd of its being restor'd to its ancient Grandâ—ur and Renown and of enjoying the Advantages of Peace and Prosperity in a higher measure then ever So that it must be look'd upon as the Effect either of a most pernicious Malice or a strange distraction of Brain for such Discussers as these to be throwing about the Darnel of their nice and froward Conceptions on purpose to choak the Expectations of so glorious a Harvest For they must be Men that want the government of right Reason within themselves as being enslav'd either to vicious Custom or partial Affection or else they would never run themselves and others with so much precipitancy into the shame and ignominy of upholding the subvertors of National Constitutions And all this to blacken and defame the noble Endeavours and prudent Counsels of those renowned Patriots that pursu'd the only means to rescue a languishing Monarchy from impending Thraldom and Ruin. He does not wonder he says that a Man of so much sense and integrity as his Friend is should be surprized at the Thrones being declared Vacant by the Lower House of Convention For how says his Friend can the Seat of the Government be empty while the King who all grant had an unquestionable Title is still living But the Discusser here forgot that it had been the resolv'd Opinion of two Parliaments already That there was no Security for the Protestant Religion the King's Life or the establish'd Government of the Kingdom without passing a Bill for disabling the Duke of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and that unless a Bill were pass'd for excluding the Duke of York the House could not give any Supply to the King without Danger to his Person the Hazard of the Protestant Religion and Breach of the Trust in them repos'd by the People Upon which a Bill did pass the Commons and was sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence by which Iames Duke of York was excluded and made for ever uncapable to Inherit Possess or Enjoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm c. and he adjudg'd Guilty of High Treason and to suffer the Pains and Penalties as in Case of High Treason if after such a Time he should claim challenge or attempt to possess or exercise any Authority or Jurisdiction as King c. in any of the said Dominions 'T is true the Lords did not pass this Bill for Reasons well known yet was it such a mutilation to the Duke's Title to be disabled from succeeding in the Kingdom by the whole Body of the Commons who are the Representatives of the Nation that it can never be said that all Men granted his Title unquestionable
If the dissatisfied Party accuse the Convention for making the Prince of Orange King it is not my Duty to judge those above me therefore I shall only say that if they have done ill Quod fieri non debuit factum valet aâ—d they of the Clergy ought not to censure their Superiours but obey according to the Law and Doctrine of Passive Obedience FINIS The TWELFTH and Last Collection of Papers VOL. I. Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England and Scotland VIZ. I. The Secret League with France proved II. The Reasons why the late King Iames would not stand to a Free and Legal Parliament III. The Reason of the Suddenness of the Change in England IV. The Judgment of the Court of France concerning the Misgovernment of King Iames the Second V. The Emperor of Germany his Account of the late King's Unhappiness in joining with the King of France VI. A full Relation of what was done between the Time the Prince of Orange came to London till the Proclaiming him King of England c. VII The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of England concerning their Grievances presented to King William and Queen Mary With their Malesties Answer VIII The Declaration of the States of Scotland concerning their Grievances IX The Manner of Proclaiming King William and Queen Mary at Whitehal and in the City of London Feb. 13. 1688. X. An Account of their Coronation at Westminster Apr. 11. 89. XI The Scots Proclamation declaring William and Mary King and Queen of England to be King and Queen of Scotland XII The manner of their taking the Scotish Coronation Oath at Whitehal May 11. XIII The Coronation Oaths of England and Scotland London printed and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row 1689. The Secret League with France proved 1. BY the Treaty managed by the Dutchess of Orleans between Charles II. her Brother and Lewis XIV 1670 published by the Abbot Primi in his History of the War with Holland with the priviledg of the French King This Treaty expresly tells us That the French King did promise Charles II to subject his Parliament to him and to Establish the Romish Religion in his Kingdom But before this could be done the said Dutchess told him the Haughtiness and Power of the Hollander must be brought down 2. By the Current of the Design throughout all Coleman's Letters which contain nothing else but the Conspiracy of the Duke of York and the Jesuits against the Government and the Protestant Religion For you know says he in his Letter to Sir W. Throgmorton Feb. 1. 1674 5. when the Duke the late King Iames comes to be Master of our Affairs the King of France will have reason to promise himself all things that he can desire c. Both he and the two Royal Brothers being closly joined together to destroy the Northern Heresy as he in his Letter to Monsieur La Cheese assures us 3. Which Friendship with the French Court is further confirmed by a French Author who wrote the Life of Turene in which he brings in the Duke of York lamenting the Death of that great Marshal of France after this manner Alas says the Duke the loss is great to me in that I am greatly disappointed in those great Designs I have been long meditating upon if ever I come to the Crown of England For the sake of which Passage the then Secretary of State of England forbad the printing of that Book which was then translated and prepared for the Press 4. The French Ambassador at the Hague in a Memorial to the States General Sept. 9. 1618 peremptorily declares there was such an Alliance between the King his Master and King Iames II as to oblige him to succour him c. 5. Both King Charles II and King Iames II were so engaged with the great Nimrod of Francâ— that â—hough several Parliaments of England strugled hard to break the Friendship and gave a vast Sum of Mony in order thereunto yet all in vain And King Iames II was so eager to follow the French Measures that after the Defeat of Monmouth he declared to the Parliament that for the time to come he would make use of Popish Officers as well as keep up a standing Army contrary to Law. 6. We have had sufficient Evidences of his Designs by the care he took to fill his Army with Irish Papists at the same time that he disbanded all the Protestants that served him in Ireland that he might always have an Army at hand in that Kingdom ready to promote his Popish Designs in England which could not be done without a Secret League with France and without a very express assurance of being vigorously supported from thence when the nick of time should come 7. His flying to France and secret conspiring with the great Leviâ—tâ—an there and bringing French Aids with him into Ireland are no other than the putting the Secret League into Execution Many more Proofs may be produced but what has been said may convince any rational unprejudiced Protestant As for those Pharisees that wilfully shut their Eyes of whom we may say That seeing they see and do not peeceive because they are resolved not to yield to the most convincing Evidences that this Affair is capable of for the Parties concerned will hide it as much as they can I bewail their Condition and believe they are so obstinate that only the French Dragoons those booted Apostles can convince them when they come with the League in their Hands to put the Popish Penal Laws in Execution on their Backs from Neâ—gaâ—e to Tybâ—â—n The REASONS why the late K. James would not stand to a Free and Legal Parliament proposed to those that are fond to have him again WHEN the Prince of Orange now our Gracious King his Glorious Expedition was first made known to the late King he resolved to have a Parliament upon the Belief that he should have been intirely Master of the Lower House by Reason of the Regulations he had made in Corporations in order to his Popish Designs But when he was forced to take other Measures as he told the Dissenters when he sent for them in the time of his Distress in restoring the Charters the Bishop of London the Fellows of Magdalen-Colledg c. He dreaded nothing more than a Parliament on the old Foundations to which the Prince in his Declaration had referred all for he knew several things would have been done by such a Parliament that he chose rather to perish than submit to 1. The first thing is The Examination of the Birth of the Prince of Wales as he is call'd the questioning of which was a Stab at his Heart as appears by his last Letter And the Reflections on the Bishops Petition mentioning That as a Business not fit to be referred then to a Parliament 2. The next thing was That Justice would certainly have been demanded against the Evil