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A69598
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An address to the free-men and free-holders of the nation.; Address to the free-men and free-holders of the nation. Part 1
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Bohun, Edmund, 1645-1699.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing B3445; Wing B3460; Wing B3461; ESTC R23155
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159,294
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284
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God From which two I will infer this Conclusion That who ever shall attempt to alter this Right of Succession without a manifest revelation which is not now to be expected is a Notorious Usurper upon the Right of the Person who is to Succeed be the pretence for it what it will and a Rebel against that Providence which gave him that Right Nor will all the Antient Rebellions Usurpations and Disorders which have hapned in this Kingdom Justify them that shall begin them again Now if it should please God so to order it that the Duke should at his Majesties Death be the Next Heir to his Crown I cannot see how any humane Power shall prevent his Succession to it but by encroaching upon his Right and by rebelling against the Divine Providence that gave it to him So that be the Inconveniences that shall follow upon such a Succession what they will or can be we must submit to them upon pain of Rebellion against both God and his Anointed our Lawful Prince And then let any man be judge whether it is better to fall into the Hands of a Popish Prince or into the Hands of an Angry God who is a Consuming fire and who is not bound by any Act of Parliament from afflicting a Sinful and Rebellious People So tho the Church of England hath all the reason in the world to dread such a Prince yet she will have greater reason to dread a Rebellion against him because it runs her upon the Divine Vengeance and is directly contrary to her Principles and the Practise of the Apostles and Primitive Church and is plain down-right Popery So that I conclude Neither She nor any of her Children will be guilty of it come what will come But this is not all we are already Sworn to Bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highness The Oath of Supremacy His Heirs and Lawful Successors and that to our power we shall assist and defend all Jurisdiction Priviledges Pre-Eminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs and Lawful Successors or United and Annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm of which that of an hereditary Succession is one of the principal and we are Sworn not onely to his Majesty whom God Long Continue but also to his Lawful Successors with which Oath none but they that have that Right can dispence for this being a promissory Oath made to them as well as him when their Rights shall fall his Majesty cannot remit their Right nor any of them anothers but they have Every of them in their respective degrees and orders an indispensable Right confirmed to them by this Oath Nor would they cease to be Lawful Successors in the Sence of this Oath tho a Law were made to prevent bar or cut off their Succession because all that is meant by the word Lawful in this place is to be understood by the common Rules of Succession Settled by the Common Law of England viz. the Eldest Son or Daughter before a Younger of the same Sex c. Now if his Majesty cannot do it much less can the Lords or Commons do it because they are all within the obligation of this Oath and it is unreasonable that men should dispence with their own promissory Oathes to others for this would destroy all Faith and Confidence amongst men and pull up the very Roots of all Society and Government Nor can any man imagine that this Oath was made in favour of a Protestant Successor only H. 8. being a Popish Prince in whose time it was Settled at first And the same in effect is Sworn by the Oath of Allegiance with this binding Clause I do believe and in my Conscience am resolved that neither the Pope nor any other Person whatsoever hath power to absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I Acknowledge by good and full Authority to be lawfully Ministred unto me And by this Oath we are also bound to bear Faith and true Allegiance not onely to his Majesty but to his Heirs and Successors and Him and Them to Defend to the Utmost of our power c. Which is to be understood according to their several and respective Rights and at such times as they shall grow and accrew to them and every of them And altho this Oath was Introduced by a Protestant Prince yet is not made to him as a Protestant but as Lawful and Rightful King of this Realm and who ever is So hath and must have Right to impose it upon us be his Religion what it will So that besides the former Sin of Rebellion against the Providence of God Here is an Apparent and Unavoidable Perjury in this Case to Aggravate the other And surely no good Religious man will run upon these two Hideous Sins deliberately to avoid any temporal affliction whatsoever So that were the Case just such as it is represented by the Author of the Character of a Popish Successor It would not Justify the Excluding of such a Successor as he hath described by Force and Arms against his Right and our Oathes to the Contrary tho we were never so certain to Succeed in the Attempt But then that wicked man has most falsly represented things to us and So as it is impossible they should ever prove in the Event if we do not give occasion for it by an improsperous Rebellion nay I believe I may say if we should First it is agreed by All the World That there are Ten Protestants for one Papist thro all the Dominions of England So that if such a Successor should attempt to Extirpate them the bare refusing to aid or assist him in such an enterprize would render it impossible Secondly All our Laws are in favour of that Religion that is Established which could never be Repealed but in Parliament and it is morally impossible to have a Parliament the major part of which will not be Protestants who will never Consent to ruine themselves Thirdly The Revenue of such a Prince will not bear the Charge of so great an Army as will be necessary to reduce the People to a Religion so generally detested and hated as this is In answer to this there is Two things pretended First That he may have Foraign Ayds And Secondly That he will have means to deter or allure many from the Protestant Religion to his own As to Foraign assistances no Prince will dare to admit so many as shall totally over-power his own People because then they will be able to ruine him as the Saxons did the Brittains and he may be sure they will do it So that this is a ridiculous Supposition in a Prince of our own Nation that hath No other Dominions but these As to any Number of People that he may be able to bring over to his Religion they will be very inconsiderable in proportion to those that will never be brought over tho we suppose the Number greater then it is like to be
in Arms candidly and sincerely are these 1. The defending and securing of the true Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Government founded upon the word of God and summarily comprehended in our Confessions of faith and Catechisms and Established by the Laws of this Land To which Kings Nobles and People are solemnly sworn and engaged in our National and Solemn League and Covenant and more particularly the defending and maintaining the Kingly Authority of our Lord Jesus Christ over his Church against all sinful Supremacy derogatory thereto and encroaching thereupon 2. The preserving and defending the Kings Majesty his Person and Authority in preservation and defence of that true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom that the World may bear Witness with our Consciences of our Loyalty and that we have no thoughts or intention to diminish his just Power and Greatness 3. The Obtaining of a free and Unlimited Parliament and a free General Assembly in Order to the Redressing or foresaid Grievauces for preventing the eminent danger of Popery and Extirpating of Prelacy from amongst us This therefore being the cause we appear for and resolve in Gods great Name to own They are much more honest and ingenuous than our Dissenters for that they speak frankly and freely what they mean to do which the other deny in words and prosecute in deeds as much as the Scots as far as they durst thereby Homologating all the Testimonies of faithful Sufferers for the truth in Scotland these eighteen years by gone We humbly request the Kings Majesty would restore all things as he found them when God brought him home to his Crown and Kingdoms and if that cannot be obtained then we heartily and humbly invite intreat beseech and obtest in the Bowels of Jesus Christ all who are under the same * * That is the Obligation of the Covenant Bonds with us to occur in the Defence of this Countrey Cause and Interest And that they will not stand still and see not only us oppressed but this foresaid cause ruined Adversaries highly and proudly insult against God and all good Friends of the truth discouraged Yea the Protestant Cause in Britain and Ireland and even your selves within a little time made a Prey of or else forced when we are Broken which the good Lord prevent dreadfully to wrong your Consciences Finally because we desire no mans hurt or blood We request our Countrey men now the standing Forces of this Kingdom some of them being our Friends and Kinsmen not to fight against us least in so doing they be found fighting against the Lord whose cause and quarrel we are sure he will own and signally countenance seeing we fight under his Banner who is the Lord of Hosts I have taken the pains to transcribe this Long Declaration not for any delight I take in it but because it is an undeniable instance and demonstration that the Kirk-men in Scotland did then intend to have renewed that War again that formerly brought this Nation to the very brink of Ruine and was the means of the Barbarous Murther of his Majesties Father of the Banishment of our King and his Brothers and Sisters for twelve years of the expence of 48 Millions of Money and Plate and of the loss of one hundred thousand Lives by Fire Sword and Famine All which calamities were begun and carried on by these very men first in Scotland by the incouragement of some factious men of our own Nation and afterwards here in England upon the same pretences As any man may remember that is but fifty years old and the rest may see by comparing this Declaration with those that were made then and therefore I cannot but admire the Providence of God in preventing this Presbyterian Plot by a Prorogation in the very nick of time without which this Rebellion would in all likely-hood have had much countenance from some in England who encouraged it Underhand upon pretences of Countenance from above how groundless soever nor had it ended as it did and where it did if they had got the first battel or but been able to have kept the Field But for the benefit of my Country Reader who is not acquainted with the affairs of Scotland let me observe two or three things for the better understanding of this Grand Cheat and without which this doleful Story may leave great impressions of pity upon the mind of an English-man which these bloudy Rebels of all the world do not deserve The Reader then shall be pleased to understand that besides this Rebellion there was a former one at Pentland Hills where these Covenanteers fought the Kings Forces in ranged Battel in 1666 and in many of their Field Conventicles there was weekly Meetings of Hundreds and Thousands of Armed men formed into Troops and Companies ready upon all occasions of probable capacity to fight against the King for the King in Sion And in 1676 they appeared so numerous that the Privy Council of Scotland advised his Majesty to send English Forces to lie in readiness upon the Borders and to order Viscount Granard to lie with an Army on the Irish Coasts ready to be transported upon occasion and likewise upon the Motion of the Marquess of Athol to procure the Lords of the Highlands a Commission to march with their Vassals under the Command of his Majesties Major General into the West which descent of the Highlanders is mentioned in the Declaration and Aggravated beyond truth or reason by stilling them Barbarians which those that knew these men aver they were not but behaved themselves very civilly to prevent the Field Conventicles from running together into a general Rebellion as they did this May. But to come to particulars they had a Field fast near Iedburgh in Tiveotdale toward the latter end of March 1678 where there were present 7 Preachers and 5000 people the men being armed to seek God for three things 1. That he would be pleased to put an end to the persecution of his people in that Kingdom 2ly That he would have mercy on all those that took the wicked Bond that was not to suffer any Conventicles on their Lands and give them grace to repent 3ly That he would bless with success those Noble Lords that were gone to London to complain of the Duke of Lauderdale and who procured the first Address against him though to no purpose There was another in the March the May following where were assembled eight or 9000 People to receive the Sacrament and renew the solemn League and Covenant of which the Privy Council gave his Majesty an account And another near Dumbar shortly after where they fell upon the Kings forces of the Basse that went out to dismiss them and killed one of the Souldiers and wounded more Finally my Author who is a learned Gentleman saith if he should go on to enumerate all the Field Meetings till that great one which began the Rebellion this May he might write a History The Spirit of Popery