late King James's Reign was a Necessary Tyranny and so much the more necessary to push him forward to accomplish his Designs that this Necessity was impos'd upon his Conscience by the Laws of his Church under the Expectation of Rewards or Dread of the Punishments that would attend his Obedience or Disobedience to their Decrees All the Popish Writers agree that * Beccan Theol. Scot. p. 1. c. 13. quaest 5. Tho. Aquin. Summmae quaest 10 art 3. Durand Sancta Portian quaest utrum Haeret. sint tolerand quaest 5. Bellarmin de hicis l. 3. c. 21. Concilio Tolof p. 46. Concil Later 4. every Prince ought to Exterminate his Protestant Subjects that the Omission of that Duty is Damnable and that putting them to Death when they have nothing else to lose is a Just Meritorious Action And we have Reason to believe if Heaven was to be purchas'd God pleas'd the Papists gratify'd and his own Ambition and Prejudice humour'd in doing it the late King would not leave these Blessings behind him Now where the People claim a Right to their Privileges as well as the Prince to his Prerogative the Prince will certainly begin his Reign with the Destruction of those that have a Right to oppose his Absolute Authority And these Maxims of a Right to do it in Conscience were the Inducements to King James's Tyranny which we might expect to see Increas'd but never Relax'd for tho' he might change his Councils he could not change his Conscience nor whilst he had such Directors of it as the Jesuits are can it be suppos'd otherwise but that he would follow the Lessons they taught and he imbib'd as conducing to his Eternal Happiness Fifthly 5. It was a Consummated Tyranny nothing remain'd Entirely Free but all was subjected to the good Pleasure of his own Will His Arbitrary Power influenc'd all in Authority His Privy Council generally speaking were made up of such as would concour with his Unlimited Authority and were oblig'd by their Interest to assist the Project and Subvert all that oppos'd it The Judges gave it for Law that he had a Dispencing Power and ought not to be Resisted in the Exercise of it The Magistracy was infected with the same Malady and the Soldiery were oblig'd to defend it with Sword in Hand 6. It was as intended an Eternal Tyranny for besides that his Abrogating the Laws gave an Example to his Successors to trace his Methods and in time make themselves as Despotick Princes as the Czar of Moscovy or the Turkish Emperor he was introducing a Suppositious Heir that should be train'd up in the same Principles and invested in the same Power and so keep out a Protestant Successor whose Religion would better instruct him in his Duty in maintaining his own Prerogative and yet indulging his Subjects in such a Liberty as does no way Impair or Attaint their Allegiance Whereas a Popish Successor would have made Tyranny as perpetual as 't is Absolute 7. To conclude The Tyranny of the late King's Reign was an Incurable Tyranny If it had arose from the Heat of Youth Time might have quench'd that Fire in correcting the Cause If it had proceeded from any Corporeal Disease a Remedy might have been found to cure it If it had been the Effect of an Incurable Disorder in his Intellects or Temperature we might have flatter'd our selves that it would last but one Reign or that Defect might have been supply'd by a Regent But none of these can be objected against the late King James for he Nurs'd it many Years in his own Bosom it grew up with his Understanding and was a true Tyranny in its Design necessary as impos'd on him by his Conscience evident in all his Actions Universal in its Object and Extent Consummated in its Degrees Eternal in its Consequence and altogether incurable by reason of his Age and introducing a Popish Heir without the Application of such a Speedy and Effectual Remedy as God was pleas'd to send us in our Extremity Some of the late King James's Friends are pleas'd to extenuate the Crimes they cannot defend in charging all the Faults of his Reign upon his Ministers which if allow'd to be True might lessen them in part but not discharge him of the whole For if the Master's Actions be never so Innocent or Inoffensive yet if out of Cowardice or Affection he becomes the Patron of his Servants Insolencies and Outrages by Protecting or not Punishing their Misdemeanours he renders himself Guilty and will share in the Contempt and Hatred of his People But when we consider how he labour'd the Point himself by Closetting Persuading and Threatning many Great Men and others to engage with him in his Design of Setting up Popery and Dispencing with Laws and whose Image and Superscription it bears the Glory of the Enterprize will be all his own for I can never think his Ministers capable of all those Extravagancies themselves any further than that they knew it would please him Indeed I can very easily suppose them chiefly Devoted to their Own Interests and willing to Share in the Spoil of Ruin'd Subjects yet methinks there should be some kind Remembrance of their Native Country that would sometimes check the Dissoluteness of such Arbitrary Managements And a certain Pride that Men take in acting prudently and not exposing themselves to the Hatred and Derision of all Mankind should have stopp'd their Carier in such Illegal Proceedings And so it appear'd for at last under these Apprehensions we find many that deserted the late King after he thought himself sure of them and resign'd their Places and refus'd to act by his Commission or obey his Orders after their Names were Inserted in Commissions and their Persons Actually Engag'd in his Service So that 't is plain this Project was the Issue of his own Brain heated by the Jesuitical Dictators of his Conscience The Fountain was corrupted and then no wonder the Streams run foul Something might be said in favour of the late King if he had set up his Dispencing Power for a General Good but 't is evidemt that it was only intended to enable Papists to ruin Protestants and therefore the Irish Parliament in their Act of Attainder put it out of their King's Power to exercise his Prerogative in shewing Kindness to Protestants that wanted it For when * See The State of the Protestants in Ireland by Bishop King p. 179. Sir Thomas Southwell was contrary to the Articles on which he Surrender'd himself condemn'd for High Treason against King James and at the Request of the Lord Seaford that King was willing to Pardon him and sent his Warrant to the Attorney-General Sir Richard Neagle to draw a Fiat the Attorney-General positively told the King he could not Pardon him and tho' the late King seem'd to be in a Heat and told Sir Richard he had betray'd him yet it must be presum'd they Understood one another for so the Matter ended and Sir Thomas went
our Religious and Civil Rights and therefore we swore to obey him But when he broke his own Oath and employ'd his Power to Ruin us and our Religion out Allegiance was at an End and we had no Reason to observe those Oaths that were taken when Things were in a better Posture and which we should never have took if we could have fore-seen what since has unfortunately happen'd for tho' we were cheated by our Credulity the Change of Circumstances has cancell'd the Obligation of those Oaths and made it our Duty to do the contrary We are oblig'd to obey our Parents while they maintain their Characters but our Obedience ceases when they command what is sinful Nature founded our Obedience to Authority upon a Supposition that it was for the Good of the Community Kings are the Guarrantees of this Formal Alliance and from the Obligation of the Original Compact arises our Submission But if Princes extend their Authority beyond the first Design of its Institution and destroy the Society over which they preside our Obedience is at an end and we may justly oppose them for no Oath or Promise of Obedience can supercede our Antecedent Obligations to our selves or our Country Had King James kept his own Oath we had been oblig'd to ours but his changing from what he promis'd to be set us at liberty The Deceit was his own Contrivance in disguising himself for had he appear'd in his own Likeness and honestly told us what he design'd before we were decoy'd into Oaths I believe there would have been as many Non-Jurants then as there were Honest and Thinking Men in the Kingdom All Oaths tho' never so cautiously worded have still some Tacit Exceptions or else they would sometimes Interfere with Common Equity Therefore 't is a good Exception in Law and a Salvo in Conscience to say that the Thing when the Oath was taken was Unforeseen and so unlikely to happen that it was thought almost impossible to come to pass viz. That the late King James should endeavour to Ruin his Subjects which of necessity must have been his own Ruin also when the Account should be adjusted between himself and Partners Again As the late King manag'd his Affairs these Oaths and our Obedience were Contradictory to themselves and therefore not Obliging We swore in the Oath of Supremacy that the King is Supream Head and Governor in his Dominions and that the Pope neither hath nor ought to have any Superiority or Authority therein But the late King notwithstanding this Law would have the Pope Supream in Spirituals Could we make him what he would not be Could he absolve us from those Oaths after we had taken them Or how was it possible for to observe them but we must offend one Way or t'other The Low says we must take these Oaths or pay Five Hunder'd Pounds besides other Penal Disabilities The King says we must not take them upon pain of his Displeasure and being turn'd out of the Offices we enjoy as our Freeholds by taking the Oaths what must the Subject do when the Law and the King are at so great Variance and the Subjects Duty involv'd in such Intricacies that could never be salv'd but by the Monarch's Abdication But That which utterly puts an End to the Obligatory Part of these Oaths and makes them Null and Void was his Voluntary Withdrawing himself from the Kingdom Abdicating the Government and Leaving the Throne Vacant for that set his Subjects Free to all Intents and Purposes because he that leaves the Government of his Subjects must be suppos'd to Resign his Interest in them for Government is so necessary for the Preservation of Subjects that he who intends to have Subjects must at the same time intend to have them Govern'd or their whole Allegiance ceases Nor if he could pretend he was forc'd to go off will that avail him because it was of his own procuring He might have prevented it by Calling a Parliament and Complying with Justice and the not doing what he ought makes his Desertion Voluntary I mention this only to answer those that object it without Cause whose Partiality spoils their Judgments and drives them to little Shifts to support their false Pretences His Departure into France and Desertion of the Crown was whol Voluntary no Force compell'd him no Danger threaten'd him the People were willing to have Retain'd him but he according to Hales's and Brent's Advices would leave the Kingdom in Confusion that he might return the sooner and have his Ends of us which would bear very Severe Reflections but his Going off being the only kind Act that ever that King did for England I shall omit them now out of pure Gratitude for that transcendent Favour What remains then but a serious Advice to our Scrupulous or Obstinate Brethren that they would no longer insist upon Controverted Cases and Ill-tim'd Niceties that hinder their Obedience or slacken their Gratitude to God and our Sovereign Lord King William for our Miraculous Deliverance nor Ruin themselves nor expose the Nation to Danger for the sake of the late King when they neither ought nor can do him any Service for seeing by the Law of Nature the Design of Government and the Practice of all Nations the late King hath Forfeited and Renounc'd his Right and they are discharg'd from their Oaths and Allegiance to him that they would now honourably deliver up that Pretence which they can no longer defend and pay their Obedience where Divine Providence the Laws of the Land and an Extraorninary Merit has made it due What can be more dishonourable than that the Dishonour and Loss that has befallen this Unfortunate Prince was the Consequence of his own Arbitrary Actions and is primarily to be imputed to himself in exceeding the Bounds of his Limited Authority which he ought in no wise to have done for the Royal Dignity of England is so far from being a Despotick kind of Government that it carries along with it in its very Essence a Mixture of Interests betwixt King and People and lays an Obligation upon the King to govern not by his own Arbitrary Will but according to Law And so careful have the English Subjects always been to preserve the Government in this Equal Poize that every Deviation from it has been look'd upon by them as a Step towards Tyranny And not only the English but so strangely has all Antiquity look'd upon the Affectation of Absolute Power that Isidore lays it down as the Character of a Tyrant That he is Ambitious of Absolute Dominion and oppresses his Subjects by a Lawless Authority And the Scholiast of Aristophanes says That a King differs from a Tyrant in this that a King possesses his Kingdom as receiving it from his Subject upon certain Conditions prescrib'd by Law but a Tyrant Enters and Rules by Force and Violence James the Second could not be ignorant that other Kings of England have sometimes shew'd their Inclinations and made some
since I have been often forc'd to give his Government that Title that I may not seem to beg the Question or slander the Reign of that Unfortunate Prince give me leave to shew you here that it was a Tyranny through the whole Course of his unhappy Reign and that the Power he assum'd and the Maxims he acted by had all the Marks of Tyranny First It was a True Tyranny for the Violence he offer'd his Subjects was not the Effect of Inadvertency Ignorance Weakness or Passion which may sometimes attend the best of Princes but it was the deliberate Act and Execution of many premeditated Resolutions and grounded upon a Belief that he had a Right to do whatever he thought fit to his Subjects To do an ill Action may be sometimes the Misfortune not always the Fault of a Prince But when that Action is justify'd by a Right to do it tho' the Laws utterly forbid it it is an Act of True and Absolute Tyranny and can neither be defended or palliated David was not a Tyrant in the Affair of Uriah for he committed the Crime like a Criminal he was asham'd of the Action and did all he could to smother it and never attempted to change his particular Passion into a publick Law or Example He who kills one or a few says * Sen. Ep. 17. Qui unum qui plures occidit non tamen Reipublicae laesae sed caedis est Seneca is not a Tyrant against the Commonwealth but a Murtherer For Tyranny consists in doing Wrong to all grounded upon a Principle that he may do it Lawfully So Ahab's Action in taking away Naboth's Vineyard was a heinous Crime but not properly an Act of Tyranny because he did it by Collusion and under Colour of purchasing it without any Pretence of Right to do it But all the late King James's Actions had another Face he justify'd his doing private and particular Injuries by assuming a Right to do so by All. He intail'd Misery and Destruction upon the Kingdom by suspending and abolishing all Laws that were made for its Security and setting up his own Will instead of them He was not content to imprison some Bishops or to affront some great Lords or deprive some particular Persons of their Rights but he struck a Blow at the Root and by the Exercise of his Dispencing Power and giving Authority to Papists whose Consciences laid them under a Necessity of destroying Hereticks he was Ruining All For to suspend the Penal Laws against Papists was in plain English but to give them Power in time to execute the Bloody Decrees of the Romish Church upon English Protestants Secondly 2. The late King James's Tyranny was not only a True but it was also a Notorious and Evident Tyranny No Artifice Pretence or Colour could hide it from the Eyes of all Men it was to be Read in All his Actions past and present What he had in Speculation when he was Duke he practis'd when he was King The Maxims of the greatest * Quod Principi placuit Lex esto Tyrants he still laid Claim to and observ'd no Rule or Law but his own Will Am not I your King and ought to be obey'd without Reserve was the Language of his Proclamations as well as his private Closetings He threaten'd all that would not comply with his Absolute Power that they should feel the Effects of his Displeasure and by discarding some of the most Intelligent and Experienc'd Men in the Kingdom to to usher in Raw and Head-strong Papists proclaim'd to all the World he aim'd at something that was Illegal and could not be compass'd but by Agents of his own Creation that would venture at All to please their Master And that the Knowledge of what he design'd might not be confin'd within his own Territories he sent an Ambassador to the Pope directly against the known Laws of the Kingdom and receiv'd a Nuncio from thence with as much publick State and Pomp as if he design'd to let all the World see how far his Vanity and Affectation of Arbitrary Power and Affronting the Laws would carry him tho' in that he had no better Success than in the rest of his Negotiations for the Pope knew him too far in League with the F K to think him a Friend of his and treated his Ambassador accordingly 3. It was an Universal Tyranny Nothing was exempted from his Lawless Will for by his false Persuasion in Religion that we as Hereticks were fallen from our Rights and had no just Claim to any thing we possess'd our Consciences our Lives and our Estates were all at his Disposal and tho' he might by straining the Point shew us a little Favour and let us enjoy them a while yet he could do us no Wrong in taking them away at his pleasure Agreeably to this Persuasion he adapted all his Actions and no Order Degree or Condition of Men in the Kingdom but in some Instance or other felt the Smart of them The Nobility and Gentry by the Inquisition that was made after Popish Lands and the Promise of Restoring them to the Church saw themselves in danger of being Robb'd of their Estates or holding them precariously at the Pleasure of Monks or Friars And some that were then forc'd to sell their Estates were great Losers and could scarce find Chap-men as Things then stood that car'd to buy them Some of the Reverend Bishop's were Imprison'd for declaring they had Consciences others Cited before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for not admitting Popish Priests into Benefices and all frown'd on that durst take the Liberty to Preach against the King's Religion They saw their Power declining by the Authority that was given to four Popish Bishops to hold Visitations in their Diocesses and the whole Body of the Protestant Clergy were on the Brink of Ruin for not Reading his Illegal Declaration Both the Universities felt the Effects of his Unlimited Power in the Dissolution of Magdalen-College in Oxford and the Suspension and taking away the Perquisites of the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge The Parliament to whom he had many Obligations were Dissolv'd for refusing to Repeal a Law made against Papists The Judges that had so much Law and Honesty as to declare their Opinions against his Dispencing Power were laid aside and others thrust into their Places that would serve his Arbitrary Purposes Protestant Officers in the Army were to their great Loss Cashier'd to make way for Papists and some of them threaten'd with Death for * Lieut. Col. Beaumont Tho. Paston Simon Park Tho. Orm Will. Cook and John Port all Officers 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—anders refusing to admit Irish Papists into their English Protestant Companies that had the Guard of no less important place than Portsmouth Merchants were forc'd to pay Custom where no Law enjoin'd it Inn-keepers Victuallers and other Trades-men were impoverish'd by Free Quarter and the Poorest People in the Kingdom were Oppress'd by the Illegal Exaction of Hearth-Money Fourthly 4. The
into Scotland with the Lord Seaford without being able to obtain a Pardon for his Life or Estate From this and other Instances that might be given we may see their Popish Juggling for when an Act of Parliament is made against a Papist 't was no less than Treason to question the King 's Pardoning and Dispencing Power but when an Act bears hard on a Protestant and their King as he pretends has a Mind to Ease them then the King has no Power to Dispence he cannot grant a Pardon his Hands are bound up by Law So that the End of Setting up this Dispencing Power was only to shelter Papists from the Law and ruin Protestants for the Papists in their Hearts we see are as much against it as the Protestants To go on The late King declar'd in Council that he would publish such a Proclamation in England as he had done in Scotland and that none should have Employments under him that would not co-operate in taking off the Penal Laws And he began to execute these Resolutions with a Conduct full of Violence and Injustice The Lord Bishop of London was put out of the Privy Council and Suspended from his Episcopal Office because he would not Suspend Doctor Sharp now Archbishop of York without Legal Process The Earl of Rochester was depriv'd of his Office of Lord Treasurer because he would not change his Religion And the Duke of Sommerset lost his Office because he would not violate the Laws of the Kingdom in performing the Honours at the Reception of the Pope's Nuncio as is usual at the Introduction of Ambassadors To say in Excuse of this that James the Second turn'd out Great Officers of State because they would not obey him and concurr with his Intensions is to publish a Truth that ought to have been Conceal'd by his own Party because it was an evident Demonstration that his Intentions were Unjust and level'd against our Laws and Religion In Things Lawful tho' not Expedient he found a Tacit Compliance nay some of them to keep him in Temper perhaps comply'd further with him than the Strictness of the Law would justifie as Men pull down some Houses at a Fire to preserve the whole Town from Burning But to comply in all things had been to forfeit their own Honours to justifie his Illegalities and Tyranny 2. The Second Means that the late King James employ'd for the Destruction of the Religion and Liberties of England was granting an Ecclesiastical Commission directly contrary to Law This declar'd by what Methods he intended to govern for every Step he made was a new Project to assert his Arbitrary Power and acquaint his Subjects that he would make all Laws Useless that all Power should rest in his own Hands and the Administration be Issu'd from no other Source but his own Will and Pleasure for there was no Occasion for such a Commission but only to shew what he would be at and declare his Purpose to ruin the Church of England Therefore the Commissioners were Devoto's of the Court for the Archbishop's Name was put in but to grace the Matter They knew before that he would not Act and therefore to colour the Sham they oblig'd him to ask Leave to be absent To make this Commission more Illegal a Papist is appointed one of the Commissioners and the whole cloathed with as Absolute a Power as the late King himself was aspiring after They had not only Power to Repress and Punish all Abuses punishable by the Ecclesiastical Laws and to proceed against Offenders by Interdiction Suspention Excommunication Perpetual Imprisonment c. but they had also Power to Exercise their Authority in all Parts of England to Visit Cathedral-Churches the Universities Colleges Parishes Schools and Hospitals to Judge in all Causes and make new Laws Rules Orders and Statutes and Abolish the Old ones as the present Necessity requir'd notwithstanding any Privilege Statute Exemption or Prerogative to the contrary Which was such a boundless Stretch of Power as never had nor I hope never will have any other President than it self Thirdly He pursu'd his Arbitrary Methods by 3. Setting up Popery in Opposition to the National Religion to Ruin his Protestant Subjects and force the whole Kingdom under Subjection to the Papal Laws which had already sentenc'd them to Destruction and that nothing less could be the Design of this Unhappy Monarch will evidently appear if we consider how Popery represents us to the World and how Papists think themselves oblig'd to treat us under those Characters The modestest Terms the Popish Writers can afford the English Protestants is That they are a Pack of Sacrilegious Usurpers of their Church's Patrimony and a Nest of Obstinate Hereticks that ought to be Sacrific'd to their Revenge and Rooted out of the World by any Means whatsoever and this say they is always to be attempted by every good Prince according to Bellarmine's Salvo Ne sint fortiores nobis Unless they be too strong to be subdu'd For otherwise even Massacres are never condemned but when they are unsuccessful And how then they would have us'd us if they could have established their Mischiess by Laws as Bloody as their Minds let the Marian Persecution acquaintus And why should we tempt them again whose Religion is Cruelty and smells so much of Fire that the very Smoak makes us tremble The Laws of England always intend the Preservation of the Subject but Popery when Triumphant in respect of Protestants is destructive to all Laws contrary to the Law of Society to the Law of Government to the Law of Empire to the Law of Royalty and especially to the Laws of a Mix'd Monarchy such as England's are and Protestants can never be safe where 't is Regnant First 1. Popery is against the Laws of Society in all Protestant Countries as well as in England for according to the Romish Tradition the Reform'd are all Hereticks and as such are Ipso Facto depriv'd of the Right they had to their Goods their Children their Liberty their Privileges and even of their Country and ought to be regarded only as Robbers * Becan Theol Scol p. 1. cap. 15. quaest 6. Thieves Murtherers Rebels and Traytors condemn'd to Death by the Church and ought to be deliver'd to the Secular Power to be Executed And to compleat the Tragedy that Holy Church appoints prodigious Recompences to Princes that Exterminate them and Anathematize those that refuse it Now whilst a Popish Prince lies under the Persuasion that his Protestant Subjects are such as his Church represents them that they are not a People nor have Right to any thing they possess he lies under so great a Temptation to destroy them that they had no Reason in the World to trust him with their Lives or suffer him to set up a Power that will inevitably destroy them Secondly 2. It is not less Incompatible with the Law of Government for that is design'd to Protect and Defend And how can that
which they have here Asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembl'd at Westminster do Resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be Declar'd 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 Joint 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 This Offer being made in due Form and Accepted by the Prince and Princess of Orange now our Gracious King William and the late Queen Mary of Blessed Memory on the 13th Day of February 1688. the Lords and Commons order'd the following Proclamation to be Publish'd and Made WHereas it hath pleas'd 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 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 desir'd 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 with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging who are accordingly so to be Own'd Deem'd and Taken by all the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from henceforward 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 Joh. Brown Cler. Parl. These Ample and Affectionate Demonstrations of the Nation 's Gratitude were as Kindly receiv'd by the King and Queen as they were Dutifully offer'd by their Subjects And thus the King was pleas'd to express himself upon the Notice of it to the Lords and Commons 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 makes Us value it the more and We thankfully accept what you have offer'd And as I had no other Intentious 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 do 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 And now with what Inexpressible Joy and Entire Satisfaction the whole Nation entertain'd Their Majesties Accession to the Throne and seeing those Illustrious Princes that had been hitherto their Hopes and Desires now become their Glory and Crown of Rejoicing is easier to imagin than delineate and therefore I must content the Reader by only saying that nothing was omitted that might express a True and Unfeigned Joy upon that Extraordinary Occasion Thus have I shew'd how by a continual Series of Illegal Actions the late King proceeded to Abdicate and Renounce the Government of these Kingdoms till he compleated it by leaving the Realm And also what an Inevitable Necessity there was at that Conjuncture and as Affairs then stood to supply the Vacancy of the Throne by the Inauguration of that Meritorious Prince that now enjoys it And tho' there needs no other Reasons to satisfie the Scrupulous and command a quiet Submission than that it was done purely for the Welfare of the Nation and was settl'd by Lawful Authority yet because the Enemies of our Peace and Settlement take too great a Liberty to Asperse these Proceedings and Amuse the Unthinking and Unsteady People with contrary Opinions I hope 't will be pardonable to Administer an Antidote against the Infection of Virulent Tongues and Seditious Practices and Reconcile those to Reason and their Duty that have been or still do lie in danger of being perverted by the Sophistry of a Turbulent Faction And this I shall endeavour by shewing that the late King 1. Did Voluntarily Abdicate the Government 2. That the Proceedings of the Convention of the Estates were Just and Necessary That 3. King William's Title to the Crown is Indisputable And 4. The Obedience of his Subjects their Indispensible Duty The late King was under an Obligation by virtue of the Original Contract between the King and People which Compact is Imbody'd in our Constitution Imply'd in our Laws and Runs through all our Histories his Coronation-Oath and the Trust repos'd in him by his People to govern according to the Tenour of our Laws as has been already largely prov'd But on the contrary he broke all the Fundamental Laws fell foul upon the very Essence of the Constitution it self and gave no Quarter to any thing that oppos'd his Arbitrary Usurpation And was not this a publick Declaration that he would not be kept within the Bounds of Law nor hold his Kingly Office upon those Terms The Original Contract made him a Legal King but if he might not act the part of a Tyrant he would be nothing at all He was oblig'd by Law to protect and defend the Protestant Religion but by his unfortunate Persuasion in Religion and his moderate Affectation of Arbitrary Power he thought himself concerned to Suspend the Laws that were the Barriers to secure it and to treat it as the Northern Heresie What was his Actual Suspending and Annulling Laws without Consent of Parliament but a necessary Implication in Common Sense as well as Legal Acceptation that he Renounc'd his Kingly Office
Services done for the Government yet do their utmost to make it Contemptible Some of them carry their Fire in Dark-Lantherns sigh out their Sorrows for Mis-managements deplore the Danger that hangs over us and persuade the World that every thing is out of Order because themselves are out of Office Others Rail outright and carry the Brands Ends open in their Mouths to kindle Combustions and Archimago-like make Variance between the Head and the Body upon no other Ground than Obloquies Suspicions and Fears those Brats of Rotten Fame that have no Father but their own Invention These are A sort of Men Illuminated into a kind of Distraction whom nothing can please and what any thing cannot but displease ever constant to their Old Dislikes and the Beginning of New Wishes and who like the Bay of Biscay are always Rough and Angry let the Wind blow where it will Talk of Loyalty and Obedience you raise their Passion and they call you Tory If you talk Well of all Men they call you a Trimmer Speak of preserving a due Temperament in the State they call you a Whig or Republican And say nothing and they proclaim you a Fool because you are not a Busie-Body What a strange Pass are Things brought to by carrying all Things into Extremities Some Men by Overstraining the Doctrine of Obedience made it Contemptible Must we therefore wholly lay aside that Evangelical Precept Because we are not oblig'd to obey a Tyrant must we therefore dispute away our Duty to the King and make our Submission as Arbitrary as the Power we declaim'd against Because we ought not to submit to a Destroyer must we not obey our Preserver Because a more than ordinary Liberty of Censuring Publick Affairs was assum'd in our late Times of Confusion and Disorder must that Pragmatical Humour be continu'd to create new Jealousies and Disturbances now the State is settl'd a Good King in the Throne and Justice equally Administer'd through the whole Kingdom No! Sure 't is time for these Over-active State-menders to comport themselves with more Modesty and Decency to the Government to bind their Tongues to the Good Behaviour to Restrain Seditious Discourses and Intermedling in Publick Affairs to study to be Quiet and do their own Business to fear God honour and obey the King For whatever they think of it or however it may have been abus'd or mis-apply'd in former Reigns Obedience to Princes is the Doctrine of the Bible and the Indispencible Duty of Subjects to their Sovereign And therefore upon that Head I will here endeavour to settle it You cannot be ignorant what a Character our Enemies give us viz. That we are as Unchangeable as the Wind and as Unconstant and Quarrelsome as the Waves of the Sea that are always Fluctuating and dashing themselves to pieces Fickleness is the Reproach of our Nation abroad and has render'd us Vile and Cheap amongst other Nations Now an Opportunity is put into our Hands to confute those Prejudices by a Stability in our Allegiance to such a King and Subjection to such a Government as all Europe admire and envy us for Now we have an Advantage to shew our Complaints again the late King were True and that the Causes of them were Real and may gain a Reputation of our Conduct when we shew by our Actions that as we had the Prudence to change so much for the better so we have the Wisdom to know when we are well and the Honesty to continue so The Papists reproach our Religion with Disloyalty and therefore after we have struggl'd so hard to keep it we ought to shew it was worth Contending for and wipe off that Aspertion by extolling its Vertue because amongst other Excellencies it obliges us to a Fermety in our Allegiance beyond all other Motives in the World and that upon a Religious Foundation chiefly we build and maintain our Duty to the King and tho' Lower Considerations have sometimes their Place and Value yet that the Grand and Durable Obligations spring from those Sacred Maxims And I the rather press it to you upon this Score because it will justifie you before God make you appear truly Religious and Reasonable before Men and will be thought best Subjects by the King because your Loyalty is the Fruit of your Religion As for Interest it is so Uncertain and Changeable a Thing that it gives a Prince no Security in Relying upon that Topick nor a Subâ—ect can scarce trust himself with it For the same Reasons that now Induce Men to be Loyal may if the Scene should change a better Offer â—e made and a Pardon inclos'd prevail with the same Persons to be Rebels and Traytors Those that follow'd our Blessed Saviour for the Loaves whereof they eat and were fill'd soon forsook him And those that adhere to our King only as Rats and Mice do a Barn because there is Grain in it are in danger of Deserting him as soon as they find their Expectations frustrated Things are but at an Ill pass when Subjects Loyalty continues no longer than while they are Oblig'd by Favours and when every froward Person shall set up against the Court if he be not Advanc'd and Rewarded as his own Ambition and Avarice tells him he ought to be Gratitude and Thankfulness to a Prince are eternally due from his Subjects and is a good Foundation to build our Obedience upon but we have sorrowfully experienc'd that some Men's Loyalty have expir'd with their Shouts and Acclamations or at least but the Loss of an Employment and all the Reason that can be given for it is because their Duty was not grounded upon Religion and Conscience The People of England have been always great Pretenders to both and now if they have not so long wrangl'd about these Things that they have quite lost them and have had God and Conscience so long in their Mouths that their Hearts have almost forgotten there are any such Thing it now concerns them who have seen so many visible Interpositions of Providence in behalf of our King our Church and our Nation those strange and sudden Changes of Things and such a mighty Deliverance effected which nothing but the Right Hand of God could bring to pass it concerns them I say to shew that they have a true Sense of Religion and Conscience in practising an Uninteressed and Undissembled Obedience to their Sovereign Lord King William for this is all the Requital and Compensation they can make to His Majesty for all his Favours and Care of them and would in some measure sweeten and aleviate the Burthen of them Shall I be allow'd to say one thing without Offence or Imputation of Flattery That if ever any King might expect Chearful Obedience from us for his Own sake or claim it for God's sake King William that now Governs us may do it justly His Majesty's Great and Glorious Undertaking His Indefatigable Pains His Toilsom Days His Restless Nights His Anxious Cares in preventing
the Designs of Ambitious Rival Princes His Rare and Distinguish'd Wisdom and Conduct has bless'd us with so happy a Change that even our Interest combines with our Duty and is complicated with it Blessed be God we have now a King that is a Defender of our Faith a Sovereign to whom it hath so far approv'd it self as he hath given the Nation all imaginable Security of our Religion Laws and Properties and that they shall never be again in danger of being depriv'd of them for the future in which all good Men Rejoice and Triumph and no Men doubt the Sincerity of it but those whose own Guilt renders them always Suspitious and Diffident of all Mankind Add hereto that as His Majesty's Personal Merits has engag'd our Obedience so are we also oblig'd to it by that Singular Providence that has still attended and Miracles of it guarded his Sacred Person through all the Fatigues and Dangers of War and set His Majesty on a steady Throne in Peace How Plain and Visible then is the Argument for Obedience to his Sovereignty in our Case And how effectually ought it to work upon this Generation when the greatest Favours and Kindnesses on Earth Invite and when Miracles from Heaven command our Duty and Obedience to him Thus are we oblig'd to obey King William for his own sake It remains also as a Duty upon us that we obey His Majesty for God's sake and that I hope will keep it firm in this wavering Generation I mean when our Subjection is founded where it truly ought to be viz. upon Reasons of Religion upon Principles of Conscience and Duty to God which St. Peter calls Submitting for the Lord's sake And I hope I need not dwell long upon this Head amongst Christians for if the plain Principles of the New Testament may be allow'd to be a Rule of Conscience and God's immediate Commands do lay any Obligations upon us then it is evident that Men are as immediately ty'd to the Duty of Obedience to their Prince in point of Conscience as to any other Duty whatsoever Let Conscience be as Free as Men assert it to be and Accountable to God only yet it cannot be dispenc'd withall in this Duty For if Government be God's Institution Kings his Vicegerents and that he hath charg'd all Men to be obedient to them and their Lawful Commands upon pain of Damnation and his highest Displeasure then I am sure if Conscience be an honest Respect to God and his Laws it must necessarily oblige all Men in this Instance If St. Paul and St. Peter understood the Obligation of Conscience or were able to direct the Obedience of it no more need be added on this Subject than to desire Men to open their Bibles and Read their Duty from those Apostles tho' if need were I might appeal to the Old Testament the Doctrine and Example of the Blessed Jesus in the New the Consonant Doctrine and Practice too of the Antient and Best Christians to Vouch the Truth of Obedience to Kings for the Lord's sake And therefore I shall close up this Discourse with my Hearty Wishes That God Almighty would please to Bless Preserve Protect and Keep King William that we may long enjoy him and all those Great and Invaluable Blessings which by him God has vouchsafed to us And that God would so Rule the Heart of his Chosen Servant William our King and Governour that he knowing whose Minister he is may above all things seek his Honour and Glory And that we and all his Subjects duly considering whose Authority he hath may faithfully Serve Honour and Humbly Obey him in God and for God according to his Blessed Word and Ordinance FINIS ADVERTISEMENT A True History of the several Designs and Conspiracies against His Majesty's Person and Government As they were continually carry'd on from 1688 to 1697. Containing Matters Extracted from Original Papers Depositions of the Witnesses and Authentick Records as appears by the References to the Appendix wherein they are Digested Publish'd with no other Design than to acquaint the English Nation that notwithstanding the present Posture of Affairs our Enemies are still so Many Restless and Designing that all Imaginable Care ought to be taken for the Defence and Safety of His MAJESTY and His Three Kingdoms By the same Author Sold by Abel Roper at the Black Boy against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street