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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44655	A letter to Mr. Samuel Johnson occasioned by a scurrilous pamphlet, intituled, Animadversions on Mr. Johnson's Answer to Jovian in three letters to a country-friend : at the end of which is reprinted the preface before the History of Edward and Richard the Second, to the end every thing may appear clearly to the reader, how little of that preface has been answered / both written by the Honourable Sir Robert Howard.	Howard, Robert, Sir, 1626-1698.	1692 (1692)	Wing H3000; ESTC R4333	26,604	76

us'd those Passages of his But I will state the matter fairly and then his meaning runs thus I know not how these Arguments against Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience can make for their Majesties Service and the Honour of the Reformation it 's possible the noble Author doth I readily answer him That I think I do and shall endeavour to demonstrate it But first give me leave to be a little surpriz'd that Dr. Hicks or his Friend who 't is likely are the same in Principle if not in Person should be concerned for their Majesti● Service or the Safety and Honour of a G●vernment which Dr. Hicks R●no●●ces and tho it seems he could not with a safe Conscience officiate in his Calling under an Unlawful Power made so by virtue of the Doctrine of Passi●e Obedience yet he says he understands not how the opposition to this Doctrine can be for the Service of the Government This is a strange Riddle that the Doctrine of Passive Obedience made Dr. Hicks against the Government and yet he understands not how the Opposition of that Doctrine can be for the Service of it But leaving these Contradictions I will endeavour to shew him I do understand upon what Foundation this Government and the Safety and Honour of it stands Perhaps he hopes it cannot be made out and then it would be great rejoicing for Men of those enslaving Principles to see that though we were freed from Popery and Slavery which that Betraying Doctrine prepared for us yet were still in the Condition of Slaves by the Power of Conquest This has been boldly asserted by some Pens but I leave it to you Sir to give this Opinion its due Correction as you have promised in two of the Observators And I doubt not but all true Englishmen will fully perceive this horrible Attempt against their Honour and Freedom to see Endeavours used to turn that into Slavery that was the Means to free us from it I shall now proceed to shew what I promised and shall readily confess that I do not think the Principles I assert are for the Safety of one of Dr. Hicks's complicated Tyrants but they may be for a good Prince that opposes Tyranny 'T was against these Principles that the Nation implor'd and obtain'd Relief and according to their Original Right fix'd the Crown on their Reliever's Head In the Prince of Orange's Declaration 't is declared The King cannot suspend the Execution of Laws 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 towards the end expresly declares That his Design was to prevent all those Miseries which must needs follow upon the Nation 's being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery and that all the Violences and Disorders which have overturned the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully redress'd in a Free and Legal Parliament His additional Declaration is only to shew how clear he was in these Principles by taking occasion from some Reports spread about that he intended to conquer and enslave the Nation He there declares again the Design of his Undertaking was to procure a Settlement of the Religion and the Liberties and Properties of the Subjects upon so sure a Foundation that there might be no danger of the Nation 's relapsing into former Miseries and that the Forces he brought with him were utterly disproportioned to that wicked Design of conquering the Nation if he were capable of intending it Adding a little after That it was not to be imagined that those that invited him or those that were already come in to assist him would join in a wicked Design of Conquest to make void their own lawful Titles to their Honours Estates and Interests Thus contrary to the Doctrine of Passive Obedience the Foundation was laid for the Honour and Safety of the Government upon a Free Parliament which is the People there represented Accordingly when by the unanimous Assistance and Consent of the Nation the Prince of Orange came to London a Convention was called which assembled Jan. 22. 1688 9. After many Debates in both Houses about the Abdication of the Government and the Vacancy of the Throne the Houses on the 12th of February fully agreed to a Declaration in which having enumerated the Particulars whereby King James did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom whereby he had abdicated the Government the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons being now assembled in a full and free Representative of this Nation 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 c. And then proceed to enumerate the Particulars in which they are comprehended which they claim and demand as their undoubted Rights and Liberties To which Demand of their Rights they say they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange Having therefore an entire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanc'd by him c. The 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 On the 15th of February his Majesty spoke thus to both Houses 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 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 And in his Answer the fifth of March 1688 9 to the Address of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled in Parliament he uses these Expressions I came hither for the Good of the Kingdom and 't is at your Desire that I am in this Station I shall pursue the same Ends that brought me I hope by this Account I have shewed my nameless Adversary that the Safety and Honour of this Government was procur'd and founded against his Principles of Passive Obedience which had they been as sacredly observ'd as he would have them our Redemption had never been effected and perhaps he had been better pleased However he pretends to be concerned for the Honour and Safety of a Government which is founded and settled contrary to his Imperial Principles upon that sure and happy Consent that the Laws Liberties and Properties of the Nation were

is to be submitted because such or such are of this or that Opinion yet since I have set down the Doctrine asserted in our Days when the hazard of Religion it self did not seem to prevail above Flattery and Design I will briefly shew also the Opinions of our Ancient and most Authentick Authors which have been often quoted and therefore I will be very short in it I will begin with an Original Agreement in Magna Charta printed by the present Bishop of Salisbury which declares That if the King should Uiolate any Part of the Charter and refuse to rectify what was done amiss it should be lawful for the Barons and People of England to distress him by all the ways they can think of as Seizing his Castles Possessions c. According to which seems grounded the Opinion That a King is not a King where his Will governs and not the Law For if a King's Power were only Royal then he might change the Laws and charge the Subject with Callage and other Burdens without their Consent But the King has a Superiour God also the Law by which he is made King For a King is constituted that he should govern the People of God and defend them from Injuries which unless he performs he loses the very Name of a King From that Power which flows from the People it is not lawful for him to Lord it over them by any other Power that is a Political not a Regal Power Let Kings therefore temper their Power by the Law which is the Bridle of Power So that the right understanding of this Law of Resisting or not Resisting in Cases of Necessity seems to depend on the Intention of those that first entred into Civil Society from whom the Right of Government is devolved on the Persons governing Certainly no Civil Society ever made a Contract with intention to be oppress'd or destroyed and he there observes that Men did not at first unite themselves in Civil Society by any special Command from God but for their own Safety to withstand Force and Violence and from this the Civil Power took its rise I will now proceed to a more proper way of Argument than Quotations and briefly consider the Reason of Government and the necessary Consequences in respect of the Conditions of the Governing and the Governed and as a Builder that designs to build strongly I will use a Foundation laid by that excellent Architect Mr. Hooker in his Ecclesiastical Polity I will faithfully transcribe his Words and though not join'd together in his Discourse yet the Reason is so strong that guides an Argument of this nature that it has naturally its own Cement and Connexion which will appear in these following Words Presuming Man to be in regard of his depraved Mind little better than a wild Beast they do accordingly provide notwithstanding so to frame his outward Actions that they be no hindrance to the Common Good for which Societies are instituted unless they do this they are not perfect it resteth therefore that we consider how Nature finde out such Laws of Government as serve to direct even Nature depraved to a right End To take away all such natural Grievances Injuries and Wrongs there was no way but growing into a Composition and Agreement among themselves by ordaining some kind of Government Publick and by yielding themselves subject thereunto that unto whom they granted Authority to rule and govern by them the Peace Tranquillity and happy Estate of the rest may be preserved Men always knew that when Force and Injury was offered they might be Defenders of themselves they knew that however Men may seek their own Commodity yet if this were done with Injury to others it was not to be suffered but by all good Men and by all good Means to be withstood Impossible it is that any should have compleat Lawful Power but by Consent of Men or immediate Appointment of God because not having the natural Superiority of Fathers their Power must needs be either usurp'd and then unlawful or if lawful then consented unto by them over whom they exercise the same They saw that to live by one Man's Will became the cause of all Mens Miseries this constrained them to come into Laws The Lawful Power of making Laws to command whole Politick Societies of Men belongeth so properly unto the same entire Societies that for any Prince or Potentate of what kind soever upon Earth to exercise the same himself and not either by express Commission immediately and personally received from God or else by Authority derived at the first from their Consent upon whose Persons they impose Laws is no better than mere Tyranny Laws they are not therefore which Politick Approbation hath not made so but Approbation not only they give who personally declare their Assent by Voice Sign or Act but also when others do it in their Names by Right originally derived from them as in Parliament c. Thus strengthened by this great Man to whom the Church of England has justly paid a particular Veneration I shall with the more confidence proceed to do the Nation Justice and begin with those granted and undeniable Principles That the Authority Power and Right of Self-Defence and Preservation was naturally and originally in every individual Person and consequently united in them all for Ease Preservation and Order but every one could not be a Governour and Governed and without Agreement where to fix a useful Power to execute such convenient Agreements or Laws as should be consented to for their own Good and Benefit they could not be safe against one another for if Interest and Appetite were the free Guides without the check of any Law or Punishment Mankind must be in a state of War and destroying one another the certain Consequence of that Condition for Faith and Justice in all could not be depended upon to be sufficiently binding unless Men had no depraved Natures but had been endued with such Original Vertue and Justice that they were as sure and careful of their mutual Preservations as Laws or the fear of Punishment could oblige them For this reason were Laws invented and consented unto and 't were a fatal Absurdity if the Cause was for Preservation by the Power of such Laws that those Laws should have no Power to limit or confine the Authority of Him or Them that were chosen to govern by the Conditions contained in them for otherways the Mischief was but chang'd and they that out of a reasonable apprehension had bound themselves from oppressing one another should give unlimited Power to others to do it if they pleas'd so that unless this ridiculous Supposition could be granted it must be acknowledged of consequence that though the Magistrate was set above the People yet the Law was set above the Magistrate For where any thing is to be observed and obeyed there a perfect Superiority is acknowledged Whoever therefore is set up to

against the Political Laws he is bound by the Common Laws of Soveraignty not to resist him or defend his Life against him by force It is to be observ'd that here are two sorts of Law God's Law and the Devil's Law that which supports and defends Right is God's Law that which takes away Life unjustly is the Devil's Law for he was a Murderer from the beginning But Contradictions are so frequent in that Discourse that I do not wonder to see the zealous Author shew one in his own particular and incogitantly perhaps profess a violent Resolution to break his own sacred Rule of Passive Obedience For I suppose if a Woman scolds and gives hard Names she is not Passive for then Billingsgate is Passiveness incorporated And I shall desire the Reader to judg whether there be much difference in theirs and our Author 's active Tongue-Assault for he loudly cries out with a very sharp Excursion That he should rather think it his Duty than the breach of it to tell not only a Popish Prince but a Popish King to his Face did he openly profess the Popish Religion That he was an Idolater a Bread-Worshipper a Goddess-Worshipper an Image-Worshipper a Wafer-Worshipper with an c. as if he had more Names in store for him But I must do the Author right to let the Reader know that Jovian was written when King James the Second was Duke of York and had not declar'd himself a Papist and perhaps he thought he would never have done such a rash thing but yet for fear of the worst the Author retreats to his Doctrine of Passive Obedience from this dangerous Sally he had made with an unadvised Boldness and then tells us 't is reasonable to depend on the Conscience of a Popish King and seemingly returns to a modest Repentance that he had express'd such a Displeasure against one that worshipped more Gods than one for after this terrible muster of hard Names he falls back as he was and pays such a profound Devotion to Passive Obedience that now he seems to extend it even to Thoughts as not to think ill of his own rail'd at Idolater this I suppose may be called forward and backward or to blow hot and cold in the same breath to make the Contradictions appear plain enough This Opinion yet he sticks most to if you will trust him as much as he advises you to trust the Idolater and tries to give you a Reason for it for he says That Suffering as in the Case of the Thebean Legion can never happen in Great Britain we of these Kingdoms having such Security against Tyranny as no People ever had I suppose he forgets his own Position and means a Truth that he before destroyed the Security he means if he can mean any after he has taken away all must be the Political Power that is the Laws Can any Man have the Charity to believe that he could think he proposed any Security from Laws that had set up an Imperial Power or Soveraign Law as he calls it which is the Will of a King to take them all away if he pleases He might as well tell us of a Security by certain Deeds to all which were fix'd Revocations and yet would have us depend on such Arbitrary Settlements without Right or Power to oppose those Revocations thus the continued Contradictions appear that mingle with such Notions A Man that stutters much in his Speech is hardly to be understood but such an excessive Stammering in Writing makes it much harder to guess what a Man means But in another place he gives us an additional Reason for trusting and to deter us from examining a Tyrant's Actions or opposing the Imperial that is Arbitrary Power which is That a King is accountable to none but God To make good this Opinion he quotes some of the Church-of England-Divines and of the Reformed Bochart a French-man whose Authority he often repeats As to these of the Church of England Mr. Johnson has fully answered that and quoted Statutes enough and Judgments of Convocations in Queen Elizabeth's Time that assert and support a contrary Doctrine to this unlimited Passive Obedience for they approved the Resistance of those in Scotland and France who actively and by force attempted to defend their Religion and Liberties I shall only add the Precedent of King Charles the First reputed the Church of England's Martyr He was of the same Judgment with the Church and State in Queen Elizabeth's time witness that Business of Rochel who took Arms upon the same account and received Assistance from him which approved an active Opposition against the Oppression brought on their Religion and Liberties But I find not only our Author but he that writ the History of Passive Obedience is a great Admirer of Bochart calling him the Glory of the Reformed and having quoted many of the Church-of England-Divines he then as well as Bochart's Letters to Dr. Morley quotes some other of the Reformed Divines But though I do not think this Cause depends as Mr. Johnson says upon telling Noses yet I will set down in the Margent that I may not interrupt my Discourse the several Opinions of eminent Reformed Divines which the Author of the History of Passive Obedience being so industrious to search Opinions must probably omit as not being useful for his business and indeed there are very few Arguments that may not be supported with Opinions for Flattery Design or present Interest has caused more Opinions than the true just Reason of the subject Matter could ever allow But if we should build a Confidence on this Foundation and the Prince be such a one as either does not believe or consider there is such an Account to be made up we should be miserably deceived And it hath not been frequently known that a Prince has liv'd as if he ever apprehended any Account in the other World to be given of his Actions in this all these Doctrines are but insinuating Flatteries to make Princes forget Men for the Service of God can hardly be performed by the Neglect of Men. But if the Author would have us believe that a King is accountable to none but God he ought to explain himself to us in the particular of K. James the Second a profest Papist and tell us to which of all his Gods he is to be accountable for our Good whether to a piece of Bread a Wafer an Image a Goddess or to all I could not have been so ingenious as to make his own Position so ridiculous as he himself has contrived to do it but in it self it appears a very strange Doctrine to trust to the Account a Popish King is to make with his God for those he believes his God will damn 'T would seem as rational for a Man to take an Estate to hold by the Life of a Man that he believed was to be certainly executed There is another as rational a