Ark of God they must be handled with Ceremony and tho we approach them with never so much respect yet by an unskilful touch we may easily offend and 't is a trespass upon Majesty to come too near it The 15th of February the Lords and Commons ordered That His Majesties most gracious Answer this day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be enroll'd in Parliament and Chancery which is as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Us 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 my 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 Thus ended that stupendious Revolution in England which we have so lately seen to the great Joy of the Generality of the Protestants of Europe and of many of the Catholick Princes and States who were at last convinced that the attempting to force England to return under the Obedience of the See of Rome in the present conjuncture of Affairs would certainly end in the Ruin of this potent Kingdom and whilst it was doing the present French King would possess himself of the Remainder of the Spanish Netherlands and the Palatinate and perhaps of the Electorates of Cologne Mentz and Triers a great part of which he hath actually seized whilst the Prince of Orange was thus gloriously asserting the English Liberty The Convention having declared the King and Queen as aforesaid proceeded to Declare themselves a Parliament to settle the Coronation-Oath to Repeal that Clause in an Oath and Declaration That it is unlawful upon any pretence whatsoever to Take up Arms against the King or those Commissioned by him To revive the Administration of the Law which had been interrupted and therein they particularly Enact That Indictments c. for Offences committed betwixt the 11th of December and the 13th of Feb. 1688 should run Contra Pacem Regni And by the First Act of this present Parliament The Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons did Recognize and Acknowledge That their Majesties were and of Kight ought to be by the Laws of this Realm their Sovereign Liege Lord and Lady King and Queen of England c. And by the same Act it was enacted That all and singular the Acts made and Enacted by the last Parliament were and are the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom and as such ought to be reputed taken and obeyed by all the people of the same God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY FINIS BOOKS Printed for Richard Baldwin TRuth brought to light by Time or the most remarkable Transactions of the first fourteen Years of King James's Reign The second Edition with Additions A New Plain Short and Compleat French and English Grammer whereby the Learned may attain in few Months to Speak and Write French Correctly as they do now in the Court of France And wherein all that is Dark Superfluous and deficient in other Grammers is Plain Short and Methodically Supplied Also very useful to strangers that are desirons to learn the English Tongue For whose sake is addded a Short but very Exact English Grammer The Second Edition By Peter Berault The Devout Christian's Preparation for holy Dying Consisting of Ejaculations Prayers Meditations and Hymns adopted to the several States and Conditions of this Life And on the four last things viz. Death Judgment Heaven and Hell Victoriae Anglicanae being an Historical Collection of all the Memorable and Stupendious Victories obtain'd by the English against the French both by Sea and Land since the Norman Conquest viz. The Battle 1. Between K. Henry II. and Robert of Normandy 2. At Morleis 3. At the Rescue of Calice 4. At Poicters 5. At Cressey 6. At Agincourt 7. At the mouth of the River Seine 8. At Vernoil 9. At Cravant 10. At the Relief of Orleance with the great Actions of the Lord Salisbury and Talbot 11. Of Spurrs Dedicated to all the Commission'd Officers of the Maritime and Land Forces Price stitcht 6 d. Mathematical Magick Or the Wonders that may be Performed by Mechanical Geometry In Two Books Concerning mechanical Powers Motions Being one of the most Easie Pleasant Useful and yet most neglected part of Mathematicks Not before treated of in this Language By J. Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester The Fourth Edition The Memoirs of Monsieur Deagant Containing the most Secret Transactions and Affairs of France from the Death of Henry IV. till the beginning of the Ministry of the Cardinal de Richlieu To which is added a particular Relation of the Archbishop of Embrun's Voyage into England and of his Negotiation for the advancement of the Roman-Catholick Religion here together with the Duke of Buckingham's Letters to the said Archbishop about the Progress of that Affair Which happen'd the last Years of King James I. his Reign Faithfully translated out of the French Original A True Relation of the Cruelties and Barbarities of the French upon the English Prisoners of War being a Journal of their Travels from Dinant in Britany to Thoulon in Provence and back again With a Description of the Scituation and Fortifications of all the Eminent Towns upon the Road and their Distance c. Faithfully and impartially Performed by Richard Strutton being an Eye-witness and a Fellow-Sufferer The State of Savoy In which a full and distinct Account is given of the Persecution of the Protestants in the Valleys of Piedmont by means of the French Councils As also of the Unreasonable Conditions and Demands that the French King would have put on the Duke of Savoy And of the just Causes and Motives that induced that Duke to break off from the French Interest and join with the Confederates Together with the most memorable Occurrences that have since hapned there As also the true Copies of all the Letters and Dispatches that have passed between them
Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted upon which Letters Elections have been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their Respective Letters and Elections being now Assembled in a full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like case have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That the pretended Power of suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without consent of Parliament is illegal That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws or the execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like nature are illegal and pernicious That Levying of Money to or for the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be Granted is illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be by consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects being Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their condition and as allowed by Law That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free That the freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannell'd and Returned and Jurors which pass upon men in Trials for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular persons before Conviction are illegal and void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthning and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do Resolve That WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joynt Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oarhs of Allegiance and Supremacy 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 I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my Heart Abbor 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 Jurisdiction Power Superiority Prcheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God Jo. Brown Cler. Parliamentor The same day this Declaration bears date Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange arrived in the River of Thames in the Afternoon and was received with all the Hearty Demonstrations and Expressions of Joy by the City that are usual on such occasions The 13th of February the Lords and Commons ordered the following Proclamation to be published and made WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his great Mercy to this Kingdom to vouchsafe us a miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary 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 persuaded of the great and eminent Virtues 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 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 wit all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging Who are accordingly so to be owned deemed 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 VVilliam and Queen Mary with long and happy Years to reign over us God save
whom God raises up to be the Restorers and Delivers of a People when they are either brought low by Tyranny and Oppression or when they are torn in pieces by Factions among themselves p. 12 13. Thus when the Roman State being torn by a long Civil War had even bled it self to death it had certainly expir'd if it had been left to it self Augustus came in and not only bound up the Wounds but put as it were a new Soul into the Body He made it not only live but flourish by his great Care and Wisdom and Industry which so oblig'd the People that they even forc'd him to accept of the Empire These were such Benefits to Mankind as whosoever was enabled to do it was as if God had put a Glory about his Head it so markt him out to the People that they could not go beside him in their Choice No they took him as a successful Tyrant whom they had not power to withstand The Romans did not understand our new-coin'd Choice of God And if our Regency-men had known that the Prince of Orange was chosen of God they would not have voted as they did they took him as one already chosen of God p. 13. In those Kingdoms wherein the Succession is continued by a new Election upon every Vacancy or wherein a new Election is made upon the Extinguishing of the Royal Family the person on whom the Election falls in either case owes his promotion to God from whom it comes the same way to him as it came to his first Predecessor in that Kingdom p. 16. In all sorts of Government as the Sovereign Power in every Countrey or Nation is of God so they that are invested with it whether one or many are in the place of God and have their Promotion from him The Transferring of this Power from one to another is the Act of God And this he does proceeding Judicially as being Judge p. 17. First God does this Secondly He does it Judicially For the first of these God has such an Interest in the disposing of power as none can pretend to but himself Men have their part in setting up what they cannot put down again It is a Woman's Consent makes a Man be her Husband the Fellows of a College chuse one to the their Head a Corporation chuse one to be their Mayor All these do only chuse the person they do not give him the Authority It is the Law that gives that and that Law so binds their hands that they cannot undo what they have done No more can a Nation undo its own Act in chusing Men into Sovereign power I do not say but they may chuse Men into Government expresly with that Condition That they shall be accountable to the people and then the Government remains in the Body of the Nation it is that which we properly call a Commonwealth But for Sovereign Princes and Kings even where they are chosen by the Nation and much more in Hereditary Kingdoms as they have their Authority from God so they are only accountable to him For he is the only Potentate King of king and Lord of lords He alone both makes Kings by his Sovereign Power and by the same he can unmake them when he pleases p. 18 19. Nay more than so He puts down one and sets up another Both the Words imply something of an high place and here they are used of Civil Government or Dominion Of this it is said That God so deprives one of it as that he advances another in his stead This can be understood of nothing else but the Conquest of one Prince over another For what one resigns by a Voluntary Act he is said to lay down or to give it up to another But putting down is the Act of a Superior by which one 's place is taken from him against his Will Now God being the Superior that does this by the Act of his Providence it must be such an Act as gives the Power from one against his Will to another whom God is pleased to set up in his stead Thus in giving one Prince a Conquest over another he thereby puts one in Possession of the other's Dominions he makes the other's Subjects become his Subjects or his Slaves accordingly as they come in upon Conditions or at the Will of the Conqueror In short he giveth him the whole Right and Power of the other Prince p. 18 19 20. When those Kings that living in a settled Kingdom will not govern according to the Laws thereof it is a breach of Faith not only to their people but to God also where they are sworn to the observing of Laws And though they are not therefore to be deposed by the people yet they cannot escape the vengeance of God who ordinarily punishes them with the natural effects of their Sin On the other hand if a Prince will have no law but his Will if he tramples and oppresseth his people their patience will not hold out always they will at one time or other shew themselves to be but Men. At least they will have no heart to fight for their Oppressor So that if a Foreign Enemy breaks in upon him he is gone without remedy unless God interpose But how can that be when God is Judge himself Should the Judge hinder the doing of Justice It is God's Work that Foreigners come to do Howbeit he meaneth not so He means nothing perhaps but the satisfying of his own Lust But though he knoweth it not he is sent in God's Message for which all things being prepared by Natural Causes and God not hindering his own Work but rather hastning it no wonder that it succeeds and that oftentimes very easily p. 24 25. When it happens as it doth sometimes and that especially for the Sins of a Nation that they come to be under weak or wicked Kings even these they must not resist God hath taught them otherwise What then Must they be left to the Wills of these Tyrants Or of them that govern weak Kings which is commonly worse Must they endure all the load of Oppression that these will lay upon them That is For a few Mens pleasure must a Nation be made miserable This is far from God's design in the Institution of Government He makes Kings his Ministers for the good of their People If any will take that Office upon them they must be have themselves accordingly Otherwise if they take it as given them only for themselves it is such a breach of Trust that God cannot but punish them for it But how should he do this so as that the punishment may have its effect in warning others not to transgress in like manner He cannot do this better than by making Men his Instruments in it And therefore it is that God tho he has infinite ways yet commonly chuses to employ Men in this Service He either finds them at home that are not afraid of the Power as they ought to be or
that Door And whereas the Parliament that is now in being recognized Their Present Majesties to be Rightful and Lawful King and Queen of this Realm according to the Laws of the same They ought to have acknowledged him King as being set up by God who is not bound by Humane Laws and the Queen as set up by God-knows who who is not bound by Humane Laws neither and at the same time to have own'd that this Providence of God in setting up the King and this Providence of God-knows-who in setting up the Queen does not take away the Legal Right of the Late King but that he having a Legal Right may assert and vindicate it in opposition to the Providence of God and the Providence of God-knows-who and that all who are not under any obligation to Their Present Majesties may lawfully assist him in order to the recovery of this Legal Right Tho we who are under an obligation to Their Present Majesties are bound to obey them by reason of the Events of the Providence of God and of the Providence of God-knows-who Other Instances of this kind might be added and it were a very easie matter to word some parts of the then Prince's Declaration the Votes of Parliament the Instrument of Government and some few Laws made since the Settlement as they ought to and would have been worded if the Prince the Two Houses and the People of England had proceded upon these Gentlemens Principles But that I forbear because it would seem scurrilous I leave it to be the result of comparing the two Columes of these ensuing Papers In short here 's the Sense of the Legislative Body of the Realm and of the People of England set Cheek by Jowle with the Sense of a few Gentlemen of the Sacred Order who would persuade us that our Government is drop'd out of the Skies like the Image that fell down from Jupiter or as the Egyptian Priests persuaded Alexander the Great that he was the Son of their God being convinced of it themselves I suppose by the Events of Providence and his Success in a War Just or Vnjust God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms AND Some Clergy-mens Ways of Disposing of Them THE Measures that were taken in the late King's Reign for the introducing of Popery and Arbitrary Power were so open and undisguised That the most purblind amongst us could not but see them and all Protestants that is the whole Body of the People were uneasie under their then present Circumstances and dreadfully apprehensive of their future Instead of enumerating the several Illegal Practices then on foot to subvert the Establish'd Religion and Government I shall insert verbatim the Declaration of his present Majesty then Prince of Orange which gives a true and lively Scheme of the Condition of the People of England under King James his Government and grounds the Lawfulness and Justice of his Arms who had so near a concern in the Succession upon the Obligation he was under for his Princess's his Own and the Nation 's Interest to interpose in order to their deliverance God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms The Declaration of his Highness William Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Orange c. of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for preserving of the Protestant Religion and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland 1. IT is both certain and evident to all men That the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs established by the lawful Authority in it are openly transgressed and annulled More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavoured and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the Established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is established among them and to take such an effectual care that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact Observation and Maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs 2. Upon these grounds it is that we cannot any longer forbear to declare That to our great Regret we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of those Realms and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in an open and undisguised manner 3. Those Evil Counsellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible pretexts did invent and set on foot the King 's Dispensing Power by Virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can suspend and dispense with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and so have rendred those laws of no effect tho there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joynt concurrence of King and Parliament so likewise Laws so enacted which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be Repealed or Suspended but by the same Authority 4. for tho the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and to which he is condemned as in the Cases of Treason or Felony yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence That the King can entirely suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony unless it is pretended that he is clothed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and that the Lives Liberties Honours and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly on his good Will and Pleasure and are intirely subject to him which must infallibly follow on the King 's having a power to suspend the Execution of the Laws and to dispence with them 5. those Evil Counsellors in order to the giving some Credit to this strange and execrable Maxim have so conducted the Matter that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges declaring That this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown as if it were in the power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expresly contrary to Laws enacted for the Security of the Subjects In order to the obtaining this Judgment those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion
may be secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in general the Protestant Beligion and Interest over the whole World may be supported and encouraged to the Glory of GOD the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be herein concerned In the mean time we will endeavour to preserve as much as in us lies the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminster and the parts adjacent by taking care to disarm all Papists and secure all Jesuits and Romish Priests who are in or about the same And if there be any thing more to be performed by Us for promoting his Highness's Generous Intentions for the publick good we shall be ready to do it as occasion requires Signed W. Cant. T. Ebor. Pembrook Dorset Mulgrave Thanet Carlisle Craven Ailesbury Burlington Sussex Berkeley Rochester Newport Weymouth P. Winchester W. Asaph F. Ely Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriburg P. Wharton North and Grey Chandois Montague T. Jermyn Vaughan Carbery Culpeper Crewe Osulston Whereas his Majesty hath privately this Morning withdrawn himself We the Lord Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are hereunto Subscribed being assembled in Guild-hall in London having agreed upon and Signed a Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster assembled at Guild-hall the 11th of December 1688. do desire the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembrook the Right Honourable the Lord Viscout Weymouth the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely and the Right Honourable the Lord Culpeper forthwith to attend his Highness the Prince of Orange with the said Declaration and at the same time to acquaint his Highness with what we have further done at this Meeting Dated at Guild-hall the 11th of December 1688. The Lords before they came down to the City had appointed the Lord Mayor Court of Aldermen and the Common-Council to be assembled to concert with them the means of preserving the City and Kingdom and when the Peers had thus led the way they presently resolved also on the following Address to his Highness the Prince of Orange May it please Your Highness WE taking into consideration your Highness's fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion manifested to the World in your many hazardous Enterprises wherein it hath pleased Almighty God to bless you with miraculous Success do render our deepest thanks to the Divine Majesty for the same and beg leave to present our most humble Thanks to your Highness particularly for your appearing in Arms in this Kingdom to carry on and perfect your glorious Designs to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Slavery and Popery and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion and the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms upon a sure and lasting Foundation We have hitherto look'd for some remedy for those Oppressions and imminent Dangers which we together with our Protestant Fellow-Subjects laboured under from his Majesties Concessions and Concurrences with your Highness's just and pious purposes expressed in your Gracious Declaration But herein finding our selves finally disappointed by his Majesties withdrawing himself we presume to make your Highness our Refuge and do in the Name of this Capital City implore your Highness's Protection and most humbly beseech your Highness to repair to this City where your Highness will be received with universal Joy and Satisfaction This Address being approved and Signed four Aldermen and eight Commoners were appointed to attend his Highness with it The same day the Lieutenancy of London Signed this following address to the Prince of Orange at Guild-hall and sent it by Sir Robert Clayton Knight Sir William Russel Sir Basil Firebrace Knights and Charles Duncomb Esquire May it please Your Highness WE can never sufficiently express the deep sense we have conceived and shall ever retain in our Hearts that your Highness has exposed your Person to so many Dangers by Sea and Land for the preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us We have been greatly concerned that before this time we had not any seasonable opportunity to give your Highness and the World a real Testimony That it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is dear to us to attain those glorious Ends which your Highness has propos'd for restoring and setling these distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to your Highness our just and due acknowledgments for that happy Relief you have brought to us and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture we have put our selves into such a posture that by the blessing of God we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's happy Arrival We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can for the perfecting the Great Work which your Highness has so happily begun to the general joy and satisfaction of us all 17. After his Highness had received certain Intelligence that the King was gone back from Salisbury to London he came forward by easie Journeys and entred Salisbury on Tuesday the 4th of December On the 5th the Earl of Oxford came thither to him The same day the Lord Herbert of Cherbury and Sir Edward Harley and most of the Gentry of VVorcestershire and Herefordshire met at VVorcester and declared for the Prince of Orange Ludlow Castle was also taken in for him by the Lord Herbert and Sir VValter Blunt and the Popish Sheriff of Worcester secured in it by that Peer The 7th of December his Highness came on to Hungerford the 8th the Lords sent by the King came thither to him and had the Dispatch already mentioned after Dinner he went to Lidcot The 14th The Commissioners of the Peers Common-Council and Lieutenancy of London presented three Addresses to the Prince at Henly The 15th his Highness entred Windsor 18. The King was stopt in his passage by some who knew him not but seiz'd him and his Company as suspected Jesuits c. but being at last discovered and the noise of his being detained at Feversham coming to the Lords at London the Lords Feversham Aylesbury Yarmouth and Middleton were sent to entreat his return to White-hall whither he came on the 16th in the Evening But in the mean time the Rabble at London demolished the Popish Chappel and Convent at St. John's the Convent and Chappel of Fryars in Lincolns-Inn-Fields and the Popish Chappels in Limestreet and Bucklers-Bury and the Chappel at Wild-house 19. The King being now at White-hall and the Prince at Windsor the King invites the Prince to St. James's but the Lords at Windsor did not think it reasonable nor safe either
King VVilliam and Queen Mary John Brown Clericus Parliamentorum Some Clergy-mens Ways of Disposing of Them A Discourse of God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms c. Promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South But God is the Judge He putteth down one and setteth up another TWO things the Psalmist shews in the words of this Text. First The true Original of Power This in David's time all men took to be from Heaven but from whom there many knew not The Eastern Nations who were generally given to Astrology took it to come from their Stars and especially from the Sun which was the chief Object of their Worship The Psalmist tells them No. Promotion cometh not that way Neither from the Planets rising nor setting nor from its exaltation in Mid-Heaven That 's the meaning of the words from the East But Wise-men come out of the East tho' Promotion come from the North They are not Country-men nor from the West nor from the South From the North of the Zodiac or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hidden part under the Horizon they never thought it to come And as some think that 's the reason why that part of Heaven is not mention'd But the Psalmist might have another Reason to himself why he did not think fit to say it comes not from the North. For there as he saith elsewhere on the North-side of Jerusalem was Mount Sion the City of the great King of Heaven and Earth There in David's time was the Tabernacle and afterwards there was the Temple in which the Mercy-seat between the Cherubims was the place of the Symbolical Presence of God p. 2 3. could David say Promotion comes not from thence No he saith the contrary in the following words for God is the Judge plainly shewing that to him Kings owe their Authority But Secondly It is to him as Judge He gives it Judicially And so to him they are to account for it p. 4. 'T is the Prerogative of God by which He acts both in the disposing and also in the transferring of Kingdoms The word God in bringing His Majesty into this Kingdom was truly God's making use of the latter branch of his Prerogative in putting down one and setting up another p. 5. The Powers that be are of God That is the several Kingdoms and States even all that are in the World all have their Authority from God I. This at first was from God we are sure because it was from the beginning of Mankind The first Men that were born into the World were all of Adam's Family p. 7. Noah was the Father of all them that liv'd after the Flood When the Fathers or Heads of some of those Nations made Conquests upon one another as Nimrod did on the Nations about him who was therefore call'd a mighty hunter before the Lord or when they were otherwise incorporated together these made the ancient great Monarchies whereof the Assyrian and Egyptian are famous in Ancient History Other of those Nations or rather great Families continu'd in their ancient way of Patriarchal Government Particularly in that Line out of which God chose his peculiar People Abraham was a mighty Prince in his days But all his Subjects were of his Family out of which proceeded many Nations From his Son Isaac there came two Nations of People one of them by Esau Father of Edom the other by Jacob the Father of Israel who for their times also govern'd those Families or Nations When Jacob and all his Family went down into Egypt there ended their Patriarchal Government After which being Subjects to the King of that Country they were brought into a long and sore Bondage which made their Lives bitter to them for many Generations 2. From this God deliver'd them by the hand of Moses And to shew them how they ought to value this mercy from thence he entitled himself to be their King and dated the beginning of his Reign 3. This Theocracy as we call it continu'd from their coming up out of Egypt till such time as God at his Peoples desire gave them a King to judge them like all the Nations p. 8 9. God was pleas'd so far to grant his Peoples Request that they should be an Hereditary Kingdom But for the first King of the reigning Line I thought the People had chosen him by lot at Mispah God would have the chusing of him himself And accordingly first he chose Saul Then God made choice of David I thought the People had chosen David too a man after his own heart There was no other standing Government in that Nation which God chose to be his peculiar People but what was administred by single Persons And those Persons Title to the Government was either Patriarchal or by Divine nomination Both which ways of coming into Power were so wholly of God that the People had nothing to do but to accept the Choice of God and to submit to it II. In other Nations indeed that did not keep up the Patriarchal Right there the Peoples Consent was required except in the Case of Conquest p. 10 11. And this Consent being merely an humane Act it may seem that the Authority it gives is not as we are here taught from God only But we are to consider by what Motives it is that the People are generally led to chuse any one to rule over them All their Motives may be reduc'd to these two either Merit or Favour If there be any other they are but Compositions of these I. The first Choice of Kings I conceive to have been made on account of Merit the People being led to it by a sense of the Benefits they had receiv'd I judge so from that which having been already shewn I take now for granted that the Earth was peopled at first by great Families Now when those by oppression of powerful Neighbours or by Civil Discord among themselves came to be in great distress such as made them see the necessity of being united in greater Bodies for their own preservation those Heroic Men that shew'd them the way of it and that brought them under Government and Laws these were called the FOUNDERS of the Nations Such was Moses among the People of Israel When he had brought them out of Egypt they own'd this as a Title to Government that he would have had even without Divine Nomination Such was Cecrops among the Athanians and Romulus among the Romans and other first Kings in other Nations p. 11 12. Next to these and something like them were the first Planters of Colonies Such as Cadmus was at Thebes Aeneas in Latium and the like In England such were Hengist and the rest that began the Seven Kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy From one of these namely But not in the Right Line Sir under favour from Cerdic King of the West-Saxons the Descent of our Royal Family is unquestionable But the most like to Founders are they
them As it was just and necessary on those former Accounts so this makes it a pious Cause and therefore the more worthy of a true Christian Prince It has been judg'd so by them whose Names we have in great Veneration We have the Examples of our own Princes here in England in the best of Times since the Reformation These the Reader may sind collected to his hand in an excellent Book that hath been lately published But this may as well be shewn in the Example of them whom our Princes chose to follow as their Paterns namely of the Christians in Primitive Times and especially at the time of the first Nicene Council In these times we find that Constantine and Licinius having shar'd the Roman Empire between them had passed a Decree together at Milan for Christianity to be the Established Religion And when afterward Licinius in his part of the Empire would have oppress'd it contrary to Law for that cause Constantine the Great made War upon him and in prosecution of that War thrust him out of his Empire For which he was so far from being blamed by any Christian in those times even by those that had been Licinius's Subjects as most of those Bishops were that sate in the Nicene Council that they all gave him the highest Praises and Encomiums and blessed God that had sent them that happy Deliverance by his means Eusebius was Licinius's Subject and he afterwards writ the Life of Constantine the Great in which they that please may read whole Chapters to this purpose As that is a just War which is made upon just and sufficient Cause so the Effect of such a War being a Conquest is Just Conquest being the way by which a Kingdom or Dominion is taken from a Sovereign Prince against his Will and by which another Prince gets it into his Possession as often as this happens there arises a Question between the two Princes whether of them hath a Right to that Kingdom or Dominion For the deciding of this Question it must be by such a Law as is common to both the Parties whose Rights are to be judg'd by it That cannot be the Law of the Kingdom for tho the Prince that is disseiz'd was obliged by that Law while he was in possession yet now it seems he is not and it never was a Law to the Prince that is now in his place It must therefore be a Superior Law such as is common to all Sovereign Princes in their Affairs with one another and that as hath been already shewn is ordinarily the Law of Nations I say ordinarily because there is yet a Superior Law namely the Law of God whether written in our Hearts which we commonly call the Law of Nature or whether an express Revelation from God such as was sometimes given to Men in Ancient Times either of these may derogate from the Law of Nations For this being made up of Customs observ'd by Princes and States among themselves is always subject to the will of him that is Lord of lords and King of kings But whether or how far this may alter the case will be considered afterwards at present we are only to consider what Judgment can be made of it according to the Law of Nations By this it seems to be plain That the Right should go along with the compleat possession So as that wheresoever this is once settled whether by length of time or even sooner by a general Consent of the people there it ought to be presumed there is a Right at least there ought to be no farther Dispute of it There seems to be the same reason for this that there is for the Law of Nations it self for if that Law was ordained for the peace of mankind this quitting of possession must be a part of it for there can be no end of Wars otherwise p. 45 46 47 to 51. This appears by Jephtha's Speech to the King of Ammon that had Chemosh for his God Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy God giveth thee to possess So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before as them will we possess p. 51. It is by way of Conquest that God puts down one and sets up another For so the Babylonian Empire was put down by Cyrus who set up the Persian in its stead The Persian Empire was put down in their last King Darius and Alexander set up the Macedon in its stead The Macedon Kingdom was put down in their last King Perseus and the Roman was fet up in its stead All these Kingdoms were changed by Conquests that they made one upon another And so it was by those Conquests that God removed Kings and set up Kings p. 53. I do not say but they would have opposed the making of one of those Conquests namely that of Alexander the Great because King Darius was then living But when they saw they could not Oppose the Conquest being already made then Just or Unjust they submitted to it and having submitted they were subject without any more Controversie Therefore also Just and Religious Kings have reckoned their Conquests among the great things that God wrought by their means and accounted them as much their Subjects whom they had gain'd by the Sword as them that were born in their Dominions Therefore also God hath commanded his people to give Obedience to the Kings that came in by Conquest without any other Title Nay to such as were capable of no other for they were forbidden to set a stranger over them which was not their brother And yet they were Subjects to strangers such as Cushan Eglon and Jabin c. And in Zedekiah's time God commanded them upon pain of death to become the Subjects of Nebuchadnezzar who had made a full Conquest over them and held their lawful King Jeconiab then in Captivity This is plainly the Doctrine of that Convocation which sate in the beginning of King James I. his time and therefore it cannot but be very unjust to charge any Man with Singularity or Novelty that goes in the steps of so many and so great Authors p. 53 54 55. But some Learned and Judicious Men think That whereas an unjust Conquest happens through the Judgment of God for the punishing of a sinful Prince or Nation it doth not appear that he that is the Instrument of this acquires any Right by it more than those Pirates or Robbers who are instrumental likewise in the punishing of inferior Transgressors And if God gives no Right to him whom he sets up then it remains still in him whom he has put down So that he is rightful King still tho he is out of possession and the other is but an Usurper that is in possession In this case if the Usurper has no pretence of Right no prescription of Time no Consent of the people but only an unjust possession how a Subject ought to behave himself towards him even this is a Difficult Question in a most