Confessors Title by Succession cannot be justified for that his eldest Brothers Son was then alive to wit Prince Edward who in this Kings Reign came into England and brought his Wife and three lawful Children with him But yet was not this good King Edward the Confessor so scrupulous as to give over his Kingdom to any of them or to doubt of the right of his own Title which he had by Election c. Id. p. 151. And though this Edward had an undoubted Title to the Crown if Proximity of Bloud could have given it yet the Confessor was so far from suspecting any danger from such a Title as that he invited his Nephew into England and welcom'd him when he came with the greatest expressions of Joy and entertain'd him with the greatest confidence Id. ibid. This King Edward being dead Harald Son of Earl Godwin had also the approbation of the Realm to be King Id. p. 152. Nor had the People any regard to this Royal Bloud upon the death of the Confessor but elected Harald the Son of Earl Godwin Id. p. 2. All this is before the Conquest but if we should pass any further down we should find more Examples than before viz. of Kings made in England by only Authority and Approbation of the Commonwealth contrary to the ordinary coursâ— of Lincâ—l Successiâ—n by Propinquity of Bloud Id. p. 53. These few among many other instances which may be given will shew plainly enough how men intituled themselves to the Crown in those days and that then it was no strange thing to hear of a Parliaments medling with the Succession Let us go on more particularly to observe what has been done since the Conquest Id. ibid. After the Conquerors death William Rufus was chosen King though younger Brother to Robert Duke of Normandy to whom the most part of the Realm he means the Normans was inclined to have given the Kingdom presently as due to him by Succession notwithstanding his Fathers Will to the coutrary Id. p. 153. William Rufus had the consent of the Nobles and wise men for his Title and the English Interest was so great at that time that it kâ—pt the Crown upon William Rufus's head in spight of all that the Normans could do in the behalf of Robert though they universally joyn'd with him Id. p. 3. By like means got Henry his younger Brother the same Crown afterward to wit by fair promises to the People c. Id. p. 154. It was by the full consent and Counsel of the whole body of the Realm that the Conqâ—erors Third Son Henry was Elected for their King Id. p. 3. King Henry dying left a Daughter behind him named Mawd which being married first to the Emperour Henry V. he died without Issue and then was she married again the second time to Geoffry Plantaginet Earl of Anjou to whom she bare a Son named Henry But for that Stephen Earl of Bologn was thought by the State of England to be more fit to govern he was admitted and Henry put back Id. p. 154. King Henry died leaving no Issue but Mand his Daughter who had been married to the Emperour and afterward to Geoffry Plantagenet Earl of Anjou No dispute can be made but that she had all the right which Proximity of Bloud could give yet Stephen Earl of Bologn stept in before her and prevail'd with the Estates of the Realm to Elect him King Id. p. 3. The States some years after in a Parliament made an agreement that Stephen should be lawful King during his life only and that Henry and his Off-spring should succeed him Id. p. 155. Afterwards Stephen came to an Agreement with the Empress and her Son and a Parliament who alone could give a Sanction to such Agreement was assembled to confirm it and then Stephen publickly adopts Henry for his Son and with their full consent declares him his Heir and with the same consent Henry gives Stephen the name of Father and agrees that he should continue to be King during his Lise c. Id. p. 4. After King Richard John younger Brother to Richard was Admitted and Crowned by the States of England and Arthur Duke of Britain Son and Heir to Geoffry that was Elder Brother to John was against the ordinary course of Succession Excluded Id. p. 155. Richard dying without Issue Arthur Son of Geoffry Duke of Britain the next Heir to the Crown ought to have Succeeded But John younger Brother to Richard without regarding this divine right of his Nephew applies himself to the People for a more sure though but a Humane Title who being summoned together Elected him King Id. p. 5. Some years after when the Barons and States of England misliked utteâ—ly the Government and Proceeding of this K. John they rejected him again and chose Lewis the Prince of France to be their King and did swear Fealty to him in London depriving also the young Prince Henry King John's Son that was at that time but eight years old Id. p. 156. When King John gave over to dissemble his Nature and went about to change his Religion and discovered himself not to be that worthy man which the People supposed him to have been they remember'd whence he derived his Title and proceeded upon the same reason they had chosen him to make a new Election chusing Lewis Son of Philip King of France who coming to London was there Elected and Constituted King Id. p. 5. Upon the death of King John the People recalled again their former Sentence and admitted Prince Henry to the Crown by the name of King Henry the Third and disanulled the Oath of Allegiance made unto Lewis Prince of France Id. p. 156. King John hapning to die very opportunely the Great men of the Kingdom were called together and Prince Henry then an Infant placed in the midst of them and the whole Assembly cried out unanimously Fiat Rex and acordingly they Crowned King Henry the Third and soon after compelled Lewis to renounce all pretences to the Crown Id. p. 6. The Jesuit Parsons goes no further upon particulars in Chap. 8. Part. 1. than Henry the Third But saith Should we enter into the contention about the Crown between the Two Houses of York and Lancaster which took their beginning from King Henry the Third we should see plainly that the best of all their Titles after the deposition of King Richard the Second depended on the Authority of the Commonwealth for that as the People were affected and the greater part prevailed so were their Titles either allowed confirmed altered or disanulled by Parliaments Cap. 8. Part. 1. Pag. 156. This hint the Collector of the History of Succession took to proceed upon more particulars still and pickt them up and down out of other places in Doleman to which Book he was mainly beholden for the History of the Pretences Claims Titles and Fates of those Princes he names since Henry the Third The doubt whether Edward the First or his Brother
determin'd by God or Nature for then they should be All one in all Nations seeing God and Nature are one to All. Doleman part 1. pag. 7. 11. And Mr. Hunt tells us that no man intends by any thing in the Scripture that All Mankind is obliged to any One Form of Government and therefore All men are left to their own Posts p. 39. It is left unto every Nation or Countrey to chuse that Form of Government which they shall like best and think most fit for the Natures and Conditions of their people id p. 7. 10. Civil Offices are of Humane Original id Argument p. 241. The Government is de jure such as it is ibid. God never made any Common-wealth but one by his Directive Will and that only for One Nation for in these things he hath left men ordinarily in the hands of their own Councils and to their own Prudence ibid. God approveth what a Realm determineth in chusing or changing its form of Government Doleman pag. 10 11 58 118. Such Governments which men make God approves and requires obedience to them Mr. Hunt in Postscript p. 38. The Commonwealth hath power to chuse their own fashion of Government as also to change the same upon reasonable causes Doleman par 1. cap. 1. pag. 10. No Civil establishment but is Controulable and Alterable to the publick weal. Postscript p. 42. Though many Learned and Great men have believed and for good Reasons as I may shew you hereafter that Monarchical Government came into the World by Gods own Grant and Appointment Yet Doleman saith that Monarchy was commonly chosen by the people in the beginning Part. 1. pag. 12 21 66. And Mr. Hunt asketh where is the Charter of Kings from God Almighty to be read or found Postscript pag. 36. The Jesuit alledgeth that St. Peter calls Kingly Authority a Humane Creatuâ—e for that by mans free Choice this particular form of Government as all others also is appointed in every Commonwealth and that by Mans Election and Consent the same is laid upon some particular Man or Woman according to the Laws of every Countrey Doleman part 1. cap. 2. pag. 14. And Mr. Hunt alledgeth in like manner that Saint Peter stileth Kings as well as the Governours under them the Ordinance of Man which cannot have any other sense but that Men make them and give them their Powers Postscript pag. 37. Whereas an Objection was foreseen that God said to Solomon By me Kings reign Prov. 8. 15. and that St. Paul told the Romans that there is no Power but of God the Powers that be are Ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. 1 2. And whereas the Apostle doth there speak not only of Authority in General and in the Abstract but pointeth also to the very Person of the chief Magistrate to Nero himself stiling him the Minister of God a Revenger one that beareth the Sword meaning plainly the Man To this the Jesuite answers by a Jesuitical evasion that all this is to be understood of Authority Power and Jurisdiction in itself according to the first institution Doleman part 1. cap. 1. pag. 7. And Mr. Hunt answers to the very same effect that this is meant of Government in the General which is called Gods Ordinance for this reason because in general God approves of Governments Postscript pag. 37. Yet this reacheth not the point nor is it any answer at all For the Scripture there speaketh of the Person and Power of a Monarch and of Government by a Monarch and so it followeth that Monarchy is of Divine Institution the Ordinance of God himself To evade which the Jesuite and Mr. Hunt do equally hold that Regal Government is by Gods Permission that Kings are said to Reign by God because they Reign by his Permission and that their Power is the Ordinance of God because Gods Permission goes along with the Peoples Choice Doleman part 1. c. 6. pag. 99 100. and Postscript pag. 36. Both of them do interpret it not of Gods Directive but his Permissive Will which is not pertinent nor home to the purpose because Gods General Providence is over all things He suffers even Sin to Reign he permits Thieves to Steal and Murderers to Kill and yet who will dare to say that by him Thieves Râ—b and that Murder is his Ordinance As to the point of Succession to a Crown by Descent Inheritance and Birth Thus saith Father Parsons And thus saith Mr. Hunt It was ordained by the Commonwealth that the elder and first in Blood should succeed Doleman part 1. cap. 6. pag. 106. The Succession to the Crown is Hereditary because the People so appointed it would have it so or consented to have it so Postscript pag. 43. Some other conditions must needs be requisite for coming to Government by Succession besides the only propinquity or priority in blood and yet it seems they are not prescribed by any Law of Nature or Divine for that then they should be both immutable and the self same in all Countries as God and Nature are one and the same to all without change where notwithstanding we see that these conditions and circumstances of Succeeding by Birth are divers or different in different Countries as also they are subject to changes according to the diversity of Kingdoms Id. par 1. c. 1. p. 2. The Succession to the Crown is of a Civil Nature not established by any Divine right several Kingdoms have several Laws of Succession some are Elective others are Hereditary under several limitations The several limitations of the Descent of the Crown must be made by the People in conferring the Royal Dignity and Power which is more or less in several Kingdoms Id. ibid. pag. 42. As the Commonwealth hath Authority to chuse and change her Government so hath she also to limit the same with what Laws and Conditions she pleaseth Id. p. 10. If the Royal Family be extinct it belongs to the People to make a new King under what Limitations they please or to make none Id. ibid. p. 43. The Commonwealth giveth the King his great power over them and prescribeth Laws unto him and all Limitations of the Princes absolute Authority do come from the Commonwealth as having Authority above their Princes Id. part 1. c. 2. It is evident that the Succession to the Crown is the Peoples Right Id. ibid. Both the one and the other of these two points were ordained by the Commonwealth to wit that the Elder and First in Blood should succeed and that he should be such a Person as can and will govern to the publick weal of all Id. pag. 106. For Princes are subject to Law and Order and the Commonwealth which gave them their Authority for the common good of all may also restrain or take the same away again if they abuse it to the Common Evil. Id. p. 58. Though the Succession to the Crown is Hereditary because the People so appointed
to command their Judgment to be obeyed 11. That they have Power to dispose of the Militia to Levy Moneys Horse Arms c. even without or against the Kings Consent 12. That of their Power they are the Legal Judges and that all the Subjects of this Kingdom are bound by the Laws to obey them herein Ibid. Sir you cannot but remember that the late Rebellion was raised and maintain'd upon these Principles And if there were no new Rebellion intended again for what Reason can you imagine is there a Revival of these Principles which serve for no other end The Author of Plato Redivivus who doth confess pag. 172. That we are to this day tugging with the same difficulties managing the same debates and giving the same disgusts to the Court and Hopes to the Country which our Ancestors did before the Year 1640. might have added too if he had pleased to speak truth to the full that we are acting to this day upon the same Principles on which they acted in 1641. All which Principles are of their Fathers the Jesuites who are of their Father the Devil and are so manifest that he that runs may read them all in Doleman Redivivus If now you chance to read the Character of a Popish Successor you will find it there Asserted pag. 21. That in the Infancy of time and in the first Original of Nations Monarchy came by the Peoples Choice who frequently in the beginning of the World oâ—â— of the natural desire of safety for the securing a peaceful Community and Conversation chose a single Person to be their Head as a proper Supreme Moderator in all differences that might arise to disquiet the Community Now this is utterly false but yet 't is directly Dolemans very Notion pag. 12. And in the Vindication of that Character you will find another of Dolemans Pleas viz. That the Succession of Kingly Government has not been so sacred but upon some Occasions it has been changed by Divine as well as Lawful Authority pag. 14. And in the Vox Populi the zealous True Protestant speaks after the Jesuite saying That the King has no Power but what the Law gives him pag. 2. And yet I ever thought that the Law hath no Power but what the King gives it and if the Law be His Creature how can it be His Creator And again he tells us That the Kings share in the Sovereignty is cut out to him by Law and not left at his disposal pag. 9. and that the King has no Prerogative but what the Law gives him pag. 13. Now Sir the Books and Pamphlets hitherto mentioned have been all Printed since the beginning of the Year 1680. Bâ—t I must observe to you that these Anti-Monarchical and Seditious Doctrines have come so thick into the World by the Midwivery of a certain Speech which was made five years before and which was Father'd upon a Noble Peer who was then very active in the House of Lords In which Speech you find these Positions That the King is King by Law and by the same Law that a poor Man enjoys his Cottage that to say this Family are our Kings and this particular frame of Government is our Lawful Constitution and obligeth us is owing only to the particular Laws of our Countrey Where the Author confesseth also That he cannot find that ever the Jesuites or Popish Clergy only some of our Episcopal Clergy owned Monarchy to be of Divine Right Of all this we had heard no Nâ—ws for a long time 'till some turn'd Malâ—contents by being turn'd out of their Honours and Offices at Court Then the World began to turn too and old Doleman who had been so serviceable to Faction all along was brought again above-board You see the Gentleman doth own that he had been Dealing and Consulting with the Jesuites and Popish Clergy for he matches them against our Episcopal Clergy and declares himself plainly on the Jesuites side But had he held his tongue as to that yet such as had Parsons his Libel in their Studies clearly perceiv'd whom he had been Trucking with for what he saith in that Speech is the very substance of the first Chapter in Doleman Our Clergy do not deny but the King is King by Law if he means according to Law for the Law doth Recognize his Sacred Authority our Laws give him his Due they Own and Acknowledg that Right of Sovereign Power which he hath by the Laws of God by Natural Claim and Inheritance But the Law doth not Found his Right to the Crown as it doth the poor mans right to his Cottage For Kings were Kings before there were Laws and our King would be our Rightful Sovereign were there neither Statute-Book nor Magna-Charta in all England For the Authority of Kings doth not originally depend upon the Laws or Consent of the People any more than it dependeth upon the Consent of my Children that I should be their Father The Kings Power is Antecedent to Law which hath its force from Him as my Being is Antecedent to the Being of my Children which have under God their Life from me I hope it will appear â—'re long that our Episcopal Clergy arâ— but just to their King in owning their Principles which every knowing Man may justifie for them if he will but obey his own Reason That the Jesuites and Popish Clergy should be otherwise perswaded is not to be wondred at because being ingaged by their Interest to pretend that the Popes Supremacy is of Divine Right they are forced in defence of his pretended Power over all Princes to lay their Authority very low as if it were a Mushrome of the Earth a little Creature of yesterday depending for its Being upon the Peoples Courtesie They therefore are not to be wondred at but the wonder is that any among us that are Protestants Zealots Patriots should fetch their Principles from Dowâ—y or St. Omers We are like to have good work when an Israelite must go to the Philistines to sharpen his Coulter and for Heisers to â—â—ough with Really Sir I am quite tired with looking into Libels of this nature and shall only add that if you have Time and Patience enough to read over as many of them as I have done you will find that the most Considerable Writers of Sedition have taken large Collops out of Dolemans sides and that every little Pamphleteer has come in for a Snack so that could Father Parsons now peep out of the Earth he would bless himself to see what Filching and Kidnapping work hath been made of his Principles But I must not forget to tell you of one very lewd Tenent which Father Parsons had the Impudence to Publish to the World to the great dishonour and scandal of Christianity For speaking of the Primitive Christians Passive Obedâ—ence under Julian and other evil Princes he was not asham'd to give this as the Reason why they suffer'd so patiently and resisted not because they wanted Arms to maintain their Quarrel
tremble to consider that the blessed Sacrament of Christs Body and Bloud should be used only as a Politick Tool to capacitate men to be Potent Villains Are not these Dainty Conscientious men who can thus play fast and loose with their Consciences And who have got such a perfect mastery over them that they can set them a whining or put them to sleep at their pleasure so that if a friendly job be to be done at Guild-hall or the Sessions-house poor Dame Conscience is commanded to lie quiet behind the door and when the business is over then she is taken up again to Pewk the next Sunday at the very sight of a Surplice Sir if you think me somewhat sharp I must desire your Excuse because nothing is more hateful to me than a Conscience that is Tender in Part only a Conscience that is much like an Animal in your Garden which you call a Tortoise a Creature that is so very Nice and Tender in some parts that it shrinks up it self presently if you touch it with a Straw but yet is wrapt up in such a deadly hard crusty shell that you may drive Horses and Carts over it and not hurt it And really Sir as I was considering with my self how mighty shy and scrupulous some are in things which are of an inconsiderable nature but Straws in comparison and yet what little impression the weighty things of the Law make upon them I thought presently of your Tortoise and was minded but that I do not care to give Names to call that a Tortoise Conscience which some call a Tender a True-Protestant and an Ignoramus-Conscience You need not wonder at all this since as I said they have grafted the Crab upon the Apple I mean the Jesuit upon the Protestant For no good can ever be expected where Dolemans Principles are suckt in But you may see how basely Partial these Folks are in their ordinary Censures For let a man be a true Friend to the King and the Established Government and presently forsooth he is a Papist Let him Kneel at the Rails in a Chancel and he is a Papist Let him be for the use of the sign of the Cross or for reading part of the Communion-Service at the Communion-Table and hâ— is a Papist Let him refuse to do evil that good may come though that was St. Pauls way and he is called a Papist Or let him be for Subjection to a Lawful Prince and when time serves for Passive Oâ—edience and he is a Papist with a witness But let these men profess the Faith and Doctrines of the Jesuits let them Lie and Equivocate like the Jesuits let them violate Oaths or Conster them in theâ—r own sense like the Jâ—suits let them Dispense with one another in doing any wickedness that is serviceable to their Cause as the Jesuits do yet who but they the True Protestants The only Patrons of their Country The bravâ— Assertors of Religion Liberty and what not That Learned and great man Bishop Sanderson hath in one of his incomparable Sermons this following passage I remember saith he to have read long since a Story of one of the Popes but who the man was and what the particular occasion I cannot now recal to mind that having in a Consultation with some of his Cardinals proposed unto them the course himself had thought of for the setling of some present Affairs to his most advantage when one of the Cardinals told him He might not go that way because it was not according to Justice he made answer again That though it might not be done per viam Justitiae yet it was to be done per viam Expedientiae The Pope thought that any thing was lawful for him to do that was but expedient for his Turn and Interest Are not our Factious men now clearly of that Popes Persuasion goodly Protestants as they are Do they not break over all bounds of Justice when it is expedient for them Do they not Plead or Contemn the Laws according as it is expedient for them Do they not Obey or Disobey as it is expedient Do they not cry up or cry down Parliaments as it is most expedient Do they not go to a Church or a Conventicle as it is expedient Do they not Receive or Refuse the Holy Sacrament as it is expedient Do they not avoid or stickle for Offices as it is expedient Do they not observe or violate Oaths as it is expedient Do they not shake hands with the Jesuit or give him a kick as it is expedient And yet these men would persuade us that there is no Plot on their side though Doleman be brought to life again just as the Jesuits pretended that there was no Plot on their side though they plaid the like Pranks and disseminated the like Principles when Doleman saw the light first I accuse no particular Persons but if the Faction have no villanous Design in hand they are damnable Fools to make such broad signs and have damnable ill luck to have so many ugly Marks upon them For what courses have they omitted which a cunning Achitophel would think necessary to be taken supposing that there were a design to subvert our present Government As little a Politician as I am yet were I a great man and could I suffer my self to be an Ill Subject I know not what more effectual course could be taken to rend all into pieces than this First I would make my self Popular and would curry favour with City and Country by pretending to be a very Consciencious man and a zealous Protestant whether I had any thing of Conscience or Religion in me or no. My next care should be the Populace having entertained a great opinion of me to tell my Fellow-Subjects and Admirers that Kings are not such great men nor Kingly Government such a great matter but that Monarchs and Monarchy it self ought to truckle to the Conveniences of a Kingdom Thirdly my business should be to possess the People throughly with this Opinion that all Power is derived from them that a Crown is a Donative and Gift of theirs and that they have an Unlimited Power either to continue a King and his Government or to lay aside both as shall be most expedient My fourth care should be to lay open my Princes Infirmities to disparage his Judgment as Weak and Impolitick to render his Authority contemptible to Reflect upon all miscarriages in his Government and to make his Person vile and hated But then for fear of falling into open Treason my next care should be to traduce and accuse his Counsellours and to make the world believe that they were all Papists and perfectly designed the introduction of Arbitrary Power that so I might wound the Prince himself through the sides of his Ministers Sixthly Under pretence of securing Religion Liberty and Property I would make my Interest and Party strong and gain over as many considerable men as I could and persuade them to enter