shift and wash his hands of it as if he had not been the Author of it though 't was notorious that he was Secondly 't is to be noted that in the fatal year 1648 when that blessed Martyr King Charles the First was so barbarously Murdered the several Articles brought in charge against him were all grounded upon Principles taken out of this Jesuites Book nay a great part of the very Book it self so much as served the turn of those cursed Regicides was Reprinted under another counterfeit Title viz. Several Speeches delivered at a Conference concerning the power of Parliaments to proceed against their Kings for misgovernment They were forced to be beholden to this Jesuite for Principles to defend that Unnatural War and that Unjust Sentence For could the Protestant Religion which they pretended to maintain have born them out it is not credible they would have brought upon themselves so much Infamy by raising up a Jesuites Ghost to speak for them The sending of that Book abroad did clearly demonstrate what they and their designs were And I would sain know whether an unprejudiced man will not conclude that there is some ugly design on foot now when this very Book is brought upon the Stage again For you must observe in the next place that the Present you sent me is the very same Book now lately Printed the Third time the very same Book that was first intended to tear the Government into pieces and to turn this Land into a field of Bloud the same Book that laid the foundations of the late Rebellion the very same Book â—hat served to bring the best of Kings to the Scaffold the very same Book that helped them to justifie that villanous and most horrid Fact And what can we gather hence but that some extraordinary Intrigue is in hand which needeth the help of this old Jesuit again There are so many Knaves in the world already that men need not fetch Father Parsons from the dead only for a shew And the world is so abundantly stockt with Books that Doleman would not have been Re-printed for nothing For be pleased to observe too what the state of Affairs was then in the days of Queen Elizabeth when this Book was published first under that Title A zealous and wise Protestant Monarch was then Reigning but she being not likely to have any Issue the discourses of men were as they are now about the Succession James King of Scotland was the next Heir by Bloud but his Religion did not please the Jesuits For this reason they laid their Noddles together to defeat him of the Crown if it were possible and that matchless man at mischief Father Parsons wrote among other Books this which he called by the name of Doleman wherein he indeavoured to persuade the World that all Monarchies are de jure Elective and that Proximity of Bloud was not sufficient to intitle any man to the Imperial Crown of England without the Peoples Choice Approbation and Consent which by reason of the Numbers Interest and Policy of the Papists then he did hope would never be given to King James As the ground of all this he had the confidence to place the Plenitude of power and all Absolute Soveraignty in the hands of the People so that according to his Principle owned in this Doleman the Commonwealth may Lawfully and at their pleasure fore-close and hinder the next Heir if on the account of his Religion or in any other Respect they judg him unfit to Succeed nay that they may without sin Depose and Destroy a Prince though actually vested and possest of the Throne if in the administration of the Government he answer not that Trust which was reposed in him by his Lords and Masters the People In fine He told the Queens Subjects that the Descent and Disposal of the Crown did depend wholly upon their pleasure and that they had an unlimited power at any time to determine upon this or that form of Government and might alter it when they thought fit and chuse whether they would have a King or no and turn the Monarchy into an Aristocracy or Democracy as they saw occasion and judged it best By these Popular Principles this Jesuit and the rest hoped to serve these Ends either to prevent the Succession of the King of Scots which was the first and Grand design or in case he should Succeed to prepare a ready way to Ruine him and indeed to ruine his Family too and to subvert his Government if they did not answer the expectations of the Church of Rome Nor did they fail of their ends in every particular For though King James came peaceably to the Crown yet these Principles did work so powerfully that they laid Barrels and Trains of Gunpowder under the Parliament House and afterwards made stirs in the Parliament it self and in Forty One raised a Bloudy and Unnatural Rebellion and in the end changed the Government into a Republick and caused the Monarch and the Monarchy to be cut off together Haec Ithacus voluit these were the natural effects of this Book called Doleman which some now have thought convenient and necessary for their Turns to set out again in a new and more polish'd Edition These things being observed touching the Author and of the Design in Printing and Reprinting of this Book I cannot fancy my self to have paid you all those Respects which are due from me till I take a few steps further and shew you a little first what Use hath been made of this Book and these Dolemanian Principles of late and then what those Reasons are on which these Principles are founded For affairs are Uncertain now as they were when these Principles came first into the world The Book is admirably well Calculated for our Meridian otherwise it might have lain still in the dark and no more regarded than an Almanack out of date Methinks I see in it some of Lilly's Prognosticks or Hopes at least of some change of weather and therefore 't is necessary that to preserve our Peace and good Government we look a little into the Nature and Strength of the aforesaid Principles And the rather because I see they are very Pleasant and Taking with the People their bare Popularity though they have no Reason or Sense is enough to recommend them to the favour and kind embraces of the Vulgar who love dearly to be medling with Government and cannot but be Tickled at Heart when they are told that they have a Soveraign Power in them which they did not dream of that they can Make and Unmake Kings that Crowns and Scepters lie at their Worships feet that Princes must make court to them for Succession and that they can if they will bar them out and come like the Tribunes of the People of Rome with an uncontroulable Veto These are fine and delicate Doctrines and beyond the Fawnings of some others who tell us to please us that we have power to chuse all
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
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
Edmond were the Elder he fetcht clearly out of Doleman Part. 2. Cap. 2. pag. 25. and both Parsons and this Collector say that Edmond was believ'd by some to have been put by the Crown for his Deformity The Story of the deposition of Edward the Second is in Doleman Part. 1. cap. 3. p. 46 47. The instance of Edward the Third's being chosen and Elected by the People you find it ibidem and in part 2. cap. 2. of Doleman The instance of King Richard the Second's being deposed is in Doleman part â— cap. 3. and part 2. cap. 3 4. That of Henry the Fourth's being Elected by the People as he pretends is in the same place And what our Collector saith of Henry the Fifth is all taken at large and word for word in a manner out of Doleman part 1. cap. 6. pag. 108 109. Not to trouble you with every little particular when you have already so much of a Specimen I dare say that let any man carefully peruse observe and remember the Contents of Doleman and he will easily discover that this Book is the Forge out of which the Collector of the History of Succession hath taken all those Irons which he hath sent abroad to set this Kingdom on Fire But I must observe unto you that as he hath followed the Jesuit over hedge and ditch in his Examples so he hath followed him exactly too in dealing basely with the world by downright Falsities in some things by gross Partiality and disingenuity in others and by Illogical Consequences in the rest forcing out such Conclusions as the instances do not really yield him to serve his turn But for this I must intreat you to consult well those two excellent Tracts which I recommended unto you above And so much for that Gentleman From whom we could not expect any other Notions than what are serviceable to his secular Ends because his Book argues him to be one that is a meer Politician regardless of the Laws of Religion and governed only by his Interest and he must thank your Charity if you do not think him to be much of the mind of a Gentleman famous now for his zeal whether for his Countrey or himself you may judg it who said once upon a time That he is a Fool who hath any more of Religion than what will serve his Interest And if that be true I must give him that due Character which he hath been meriting for above these 40 years that he for his part is one of the wisest of men But of all men living I wonder at Mr. Hunt a person whose name I cannot mention without due respect because in his Argument for the Bishops Right c. he hath shewed a great deal of good Learning in the Laws and hath exprest his just Zeal for the Interest of the Church and that deep sense which I am perswaded he hath of the Calamitous condition which this poor Nation is now in So that I should have taken no notice of his writings but what would have been entirely for his Honour but that his Personal Worth which I love and value may probably give a Reputation to some Foreign and Groundless Opinions which he runs upon in his Postscript and which the Jesuite Parsons hath furnisht even him with I have heard say that when our Government was lately in a fair way to be run down he was prevailed with to write that Postscript partly by Fear and partly as Penance and Satisfaction to a Party for the Argument which he had written before This is clear that the Bishops are more beholden to him than the King is for he owns their Authority as Bishops to be Divine but as for the Kings title to his Crown he believes it as Doleman alias Parsons did to be a meer Human thing If any of our Clergy deny this I see no reason Mr. Hunt hath to be so very angry with 'em for they hold no more than what all good Christians have ever held no more than what the Church of England hath declared no more than what the Laws of our Country do own and will bear them out in I have been told by many of them that Mr. Hunt hath done them wrong and that he may convince himself if he will but look into their Sentiments well and consider them with an Indifferent and Candid mind but where he pretends to Vindicate and to be Concern'd for them there he accuseth'em and the charge is unjust and had another drawn it up I would have said malitious designed on purpose to render the Clergy odious for being steady and true to the establisht Government in a time when so many are longing for a Change Those Fancies and Dreams of his that the Clergy of England are for a Popish Successor and no Parliaments that they allow of Arbritrary Power that they are ready to abett any Extravagancies in a Prince and the like are idle evil and unworthy insinuations and if Mr. Hunt please to enter the Lists I will find him one that shall undertake the Cause in this point out of that Veneration which we all ought to have for that Sacred Function and out of just and due respects to our present Clergy than which perhaps this Nation was never yet blest with a better But Sir my business is to shew you that Mr. Hunt hath been foully imposed upon by the Jesuite Parsons as to Principles and Doctrines which concern the State And for evidencing thereof you may please to remember that 't is a fundamental Principle in Doleman That all Power and Authority to Institute to Modifie or to Change the particular form of any Government and to admit or exclude a Successor in Monarchy is wholly and uncontroulably in the People Now this is taken for granted by Mr. Hunt as if it were as clear as a Postulatum in the Mathematicks and so he does not so much as offer at any solid and just proof of it only now and then touches upon some notions in Doleman which at first sight may seem to look a little that way Sir I would not willingly and knowingly do this Gentleman any the least wrong or unkindness nay I have that respect for him that I could strain my Charity to believe that he himself hath not borrowed of Doleman but some body else for him But that there has been borrowing in the case you may easiâ—y perceive by the following account The Jesuite saith And Mr. Hunt saith That though Government and Jurisdiction of Magistrates be of Nature and consequently also of God yet the particular form or manner of this or that Government is not by Law either Natural or Divine but is ordained by particular Laws of every Country Doleman part 1. pag. 2 3. That Government is from God as he hath made Governments Necessary in the General order of things but the Specification thereof is from men Postscript p. 38. Father Parsons tells us that particular Forms of Government are not
it be of Natural and Divine Institution yet the particular Forms of Governments depend upon the Consent and Good will of the People that Kings are their Creatures that Succession to the Crown is at their disposal that they can alter Government and Succession if they please and even Depose the King himself if they judge it needful and all this by a Boundless and unlimited power of right belonging unto them Now this Considerers Faith is just of the same piece for all the world For he holdeth That though God commands us in our Nature to form our selves into Governments for that Mankind cannot tolerably subsist without them which is Dolemans very Reason though Government because it makes men equal and Reasonable c. seems to be the most principal Institution and Appointment of God in Nature yet the Forms of Government the Persons of the Governours the Order of Succession their respective Powers and Ministries are of Mans appointment and an Humane Creature pag. 8. exactly agreeable to what Doleman delivers pag. 2 3. If you urge that Soveraign Power is called in Scripture the Ordinance of God Doleman will tell you in answer to it that 't is so called because Gods Approbation and Concurrence goes along with the Peoples consent And this is our Considerers very Notion That Gods doing a thing is only the course of Natural and Second causes to which because God gives the Direction and Motion he both doth and is said to do all that is done pag. 13. Whence he proceeds to tell us That every Form of Government is of our Creation and not Gods ibid. That the King hath his Authority from the Consent of the People in the first constitution of the Government pag. 20. 'T is upon the strength of this Principle that he tells us with the same Confidence as Doleman doth That no Laws of Men are so fundamental but that they are Alterable Consider p. 4. That a Government made by Men is not to be left meerly to Chance and the contingency of Birth pag. 5. That all rights of Property are of Positive and Civil appointment and institution p. 7. That no man can have or is entitled to any thing but what and as the Laws allots it to him Ibid. And that just according to Dolemans Notion every Form of Government was never intended unalterable or at least inflexible but was intended and made under Reservations reasonable Exceptions of unforeseen Accidents and rare Contingencies in Humane affairs pag. 13. Now to prove all this That every Form of Government is of Humane Institution c. Doleman offers and insisteth upon but one Argument and 't is this viz. That had Forms of Government been prescribed by any Law of Nature or Divine 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 Doleman part 1. pag. 2 3. Now this is a very weak Argument for God and Nature have been one and the same to all because Anciently every Form of Government in all Countries was Monarchical And it will no more follow that this one Form of Government was not setled at first because several other Forms of Government were set up afterwards than it will follow that one sort of Religion was not instituted at first because so many sorts of Religion crept in afterwards However this poor Argument of Dolemans is made use of by our Considerer For saith he Nature hath made no Laws about Property nor about Governments otherwise all Laws of Property and Right and all Governments would have been the same for what she makes are Universal as the Nature of man Answer to a Letter p. 29. 'T is an avowed Principle in Doleman That it belongs to the Commonwealth to order all Succession to the Crown And this is our Considerers Principle That Succession is properly the Right of the Community p. 20. That Succession to the Crown is the Peoples Right the Right of the whole Community their Appointment their Constitution and their Creature Answer to a Letter pag. 32 33. Whereas it is urged well that the King is by Nature that he is our Natural Prince our Natural Liege Lord c. this Considerer calls this Loathsom Pedantry Answer to a Letter p. â—9 And in like manner saith Doleman When men talk of a Natural Prince or Natural Successor if it be understood of one that is born within the same Realm or Country and so of our own Natural bloud it hath some sense But if it be meant as though any Prince had his particular Government or interest to succeed by institution of Nature it is Ridiculous Doleman part 1. pag. 11. If you ask What power a Commonwealth hath to deprive a Successor without such Causes and Reasons which in the Eye of the Law seem Just Doleman will tell you up and down That the Peoples Power is Boundless Uncontroulable and Unquestionable and that it is to be presumed and owned that what they do in this case is just because they do it And at the same rate our Considerer speaketh That no Government can want a power to preserve it self whether it be by Right or Wrong means he considers not pag. 4. That no private Right but what is governable and may be ordered as to the Legislature shall seem necessary to the preservation of the whole pag. 20. That the King and his great Council in providing for the establishment and security of the Government in their Proceedings are not tied up to the Forms of Judicial proceedings but are to act upon such inducements and in such methods whereby the wisest men govern their affairs in which they are at perfect Liberty and not under the restraint of Laws And that they cannot do Unjustly whatever Methods or Means they use that are Prudentially and Morally necessary to this End Ibid. p. 21. It is justly demandable How a Commonwealth came by this Prodigious Omnipotent and Ungovernable Power so as to be under no Laws of Religion or Natural Equity In answer whereunto Father Parsons saith what I noted before That it would be a very imperfect Law that hath not provided for accidents so weighty and important as some are for saving and conserving of a Commonwealth Preface to Doleman part 1. Answerable whereunto is that Question of our Considerer Can we imagine a Government which is of Humane contrivance to be without a Power to Preserve it self and an Authority in cases that threaten its Ruine to interpose with apt remedies for its Preservation Consider p. 5. If by apt Remedies he meant Honest and Lawful means we deny it not But we cannot yield that any men have Authority to do Injustice They may have Power and Force enough to do so as some upon Shuters-Hill have Power to take away my Purse and as the High-Court of Justice so called had to take away the late Kings Life but this is not Authority or Lawful Power or Lawful Proceeding
prefers a Democracy before all as a Government which is much more powerful than an Aristocracy pag. 46. And speaking of the Democratical Government of Româ— which he extols as the bâ—st and most glorious Government that ever the Sun saw pag. 45. he is pleased to observe how truly we are not to examine now That in the most turbulent times of that Commonwealth and Factions between the Nobility and People Rome was much more full of Vertuous and Heroick Citizens than ever it was under Aurelius or Antoninus p. 43. By the way I do not wonder that this Gentleman should indeavour as he doth to persuade the King as if he could Cully him out of his Rights to share those four great Branches of his Prerogative among the Pâ—ople The power of making War and Peace the disposal of the Militia by Sea and Land the appointing of Officers of Trust Civil Military and Ecclesiastical and the Imploying of the Revenues of the Crown pag. 2â—6 257 258. For if these things were done the Ends of this Gentleman and of his Party would soon be served and His Majesty would shrink into a Duke of Venice strait and we should have an Imaginary Prince indeed as he calls the King pag. 43. were but our Government new modelled according to this Platonick Idea But not to digress Though Doleman and this Gentleman differ in some Points yet they agreein the Main viz. That the Foundation of Government and the Power of making Princes is in the People This saith Doleman p. 11. is the ground of all the rest that I have to say Meaning that if this Power be once allowed the rest of his Book must be granted and the Peoples power to change their Government to fore-close a Successor to the Crown to Depose Chastise and Proceed against their King to renounce their Allegiance to forsake their Oaths and the like all this Powâ—r will Naturally follow So that all Rebellions and Treasons are grounded upon this prime Jesuitical Principle touching that Soveraign and Absolute Authority supposed to be lodged in the People of making Kings and of making choice of them aâ— their Proxies and Trustees And is not this the Faith of the Author of Plato Redivivus For pag. 32. He slights the Plea of a Monarchs Divine right to his Crown as a piece of Court-Flattery just as Parsons doth in answer to Belloy Dolman part 1. cap 6. He tells us That the frame of Government was first made by the Persuasion and Mediation of some wise and vertuous person and Consented to by the whole number p. 30. That our Ancestors made choice of this sort of Government Monarchy p. 113. That the burden of the Government is divided between the King and his Subjects p. 116. That the Kings share in the Soveraignty is cut out to him by the Law p. 120. That our Prince hath no Authority of his Own but what was first Intrusted in him by the Government of which he is the Head p. 125. He looks upon these Notions as meer Pretences that the Kings Power came from God that his Subjects cannot dispute it and that he ought not to give an account of his Actions to any but God p. 178. He excuseth the taking Arms by any People in opposition to their Prince from their claim to a Lawful Jurisdiction or Coâ—ordination in the Government by which they may judge of and defend their own Rights p. 215. He tells us as if it were nothing but lawful that all People in the world that have Property will drive out a King that doth reign injussiv populi and exercise the Government Tyrannically p. 71. Besides all these Principles exactly agreeable to those in Doleman he hath a fine Similitude That as in some distempers in the Body when the Head is out of order though the distemper may begin from the disease of some other part or from the mass of Bloud or putresaction of other Humours yet since that noble part is so affected by it that Reason and Discourse fails therefore to restore this again Remedies must be applied to the Head and Humours and Vapours must be drawn from the Head that so it may be able to govern and reign over the Body as it did before or else the whole man like a Slave must be ruled and guided ab Extrinsecâ— that is by some Keeper So saith he it isnow with us in our Politick disease where granting if you please that the distemper does not proceed from the Head but the corruption of other parts yet in the Cure applications must be made to the Head c. p. 231. Now as I was reading Doleman I found such another Similitude in part 1. cap. 3. where he saith As the whole Body is of more Authority than the only Head and may cure the Head if it be out of Tune so may the Weal publick cure or cut off their Heads c. pag. 31. How admirably well do good wits many times jump I remember now that a friend of ours dreamt about two years ago that a great Consult was held somewhere at the Sign of the Nags-head which afterwards adjourned somewhere else to the Sign of the Kings-Head and that there Father Parsons the Jesuit sate Chair-man under the name of R. Doleman Among other things my Friend dreamt too that a wicked Political Catechism was a making there But I lookt upon that as an Idle Fancy for who could dream that such a seditious Pamphlet should come abroad at this time of day But I perceive I was mistaken for yesterday I hapned to read a new Assemblies Catechism bearing that Title A Political Catechism And I found it as full of the Jesuits Venom as if it had been spitten out of Dolemans own mouth For these are some of the Principles in it word for word That the Government being a regulated Monarchy the King is not above the Law but is accountable to the Law and not to God only p. 1. 2. That whatsoever is done by the King without and beyond the limits of the Regulation is not Regal Authority p. 2. 3. That to resist the notorious Transgressions of that Regulation is no resisting of Regal Authority ibid. 4. That it is so far from being a resisting of the Ordinance of God that it is not so much as resisting the Ordinance of men ibid. 5. That the King hath not his power solely or immediately by Divine-right But 6. That the immediate Original of it was from the People 7. That in questioned cases the King is to produce his Grant for he hath no more than what was granted and not the People to shew a Reservation 8. That the good of the Subject is ever to be preferred before the greatness of the King p. 5. 9. That it is lawful for the Two Houses to raise Arms to defend themselves in case an Army be raised against them p. 7. 10. That They are the Legal Judges when there is danger of Tyranny and that they have Legal Power
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
our Bishops though I confess we may think it fitting that we should have power in both points as well as in one and as the world goes Kings and Bishops way well expect to fare alike But in good earnest Sir I am grieved at Heart and 't is enough to raise the Indignation of every Honest man to find that so many among us do inconsiderately not to say maliciously run altogether upon this Jesuits Principles and that in these times when we are all so afraid of Popery that one would think we should be most especially afraid of Jesuitism Yet if you please to give your self the trouble to peruse those seditious Pamphlets which have been published of late you will find what I note to be true that generally they borrow large portions out of this most wicked Libel written by a most wicked Wretch on purpose to ruine the interest of the Protestant Cause Nay that the Authors of them have so exactly followed the Scope the Tenents the Arguments the Examples and the very Phrase many times that we may well believe they had old Doleman open before them as they were writing I shall give you Proof and Instances of this by and by In the mean while we may conclude that these men were not so straightned as to be Constrained to do this For they might have been abundantly furnished with Anti-Monarchical and Republican Principles out of other Authors such as Ficklerus Stephanus Junius Brutus Knox 〈◊〉 and some more of that Age who were main good Friends to the Jesuits in this point But because Fa. Parsons hath made great Improvements of those Principles which others had vended a little before and because his great design was to bar all Succession to the Crown of England by Natural Descent and Inheritance and to that end hath used all the most plausible Arguments and because all this is serviceable to the Designs of some Now who consider more what is Expedient than what is Just therefore they do willingly chuse to make this Author though a Jesuit their Guide and do take all their Measures from this Libel rather than others How they will answer this to God to their own Consciences and to the sober World I do not know but that the Truth of what I say may be manifest I shall instance in some of the Principal Pamphlets which have been written of late And I shall begin with that which hath made the greatest Noise viz. the History of Succession which the Author saith is Collected out of the Records and the most Authentick Historians But had he said Collected out of Doleman he had spoken a more Ingenuous Truth than perhaps he hath told us in the whole Book besides For though he hath adorned his Margin with divâ—rs Quotations out of Records and Authors which I suppose he consulted to conceal his Theft or to put a fair Colour upon it at least yet the Matter is taken out of that Authentick Historian Doleman However he came by the Fringe and the Lace 't was his Friend honest Fa Parsons that furnish'd him with the Stuff I do not intend to examine the Candour the Sincerity or the Logick of this Collector because it is a thing besides my Purpose and for the consideration of those things I refer you Sir to that Learned and Solid Answer called The great Point of Succession discussed c. and to that excellent Tract entituled Religion and Loyalty supporting each other For my business is only to shew matter of Fact that this Collector hath filch'd his Pamphlet out of that Jesuit who to cheat the world gave himself the Surname of Doleman In this blessed History we are to consider first the Design Secondly the Principles of the Author And thirdly the Examples he useth to serve his Ends. Iâ— Now the Design is to prove that the Government of England is not a setled Hereditary Monarchy that Succession is not Title enough to make the next Heir King but that the Election of him ought to be before his Coronation that the Succession is wholly under the Controul of Parliament and that they can limit it and subject it to Conditions and alter the Course of it as they please Now this is the very Sum of the First and the sixth Chapter in Doleman Part. 1. For in the first Chapter he tells us That Succession to Government by nearness of Bloud is not by Law of Nature or Divine but only by Humane and Positive Laws of every particular Commonwealth and consequently may upâ—n just causes be altered by the same pag. 1. And in the sixth Chapter he affirms That though Priority and Propinquity of Bloud in Succession is greatly to be honoured regarded and preferred in all affairs of Dignity and Principality yet are we not so absolutely and peremptorily bound thereunto always but that upon just and urgent occasions that course may be altered and broken pag. 104. He founds Regal Power in Succession and Election both pag. 105. And being to answer that Question What interest a Prince hath by Secession alone to any Crown before he be Crowned or Admitted by the Commonwealth He saith That an Heir Apparent before his Coronation and Admission by the Realm hath the same and no more interest to the Kingdom which the King of Romans or Caesar hath to the German Empire after his Election and before he be Crowned and to use a more familiar Example to to Englishmen as the Mayor of London hath to the Mayoralty after he is chosen and before he be admitted or have taken his Oath For as this man in rigour is not truly Mayor nor hath his Jurisdiction before his Oath and Admission nor the other is properly Emperour before he be Crowned so is not an Heir Apparent truly King though his Predecessor be dead until he be Crowned and admitted by the Commonwealth pag. 106. In fine He is Positive that Heirs Apparent are not true Kings until their Coronation how just soever their Title of Succession otherwise be and so that no Allegiance is due unto them before they be Crowned pag. 108. To make these things out is the Grand Design of Father Parsons and his Plagiary the Author of this History of Succession And though you well know that all this is contrary to the Laws of our Realm which recognize all Succession to this Crown to be by Inheritance and allow of no Interregnum but say that the King never dieth because the next Heir is actually King that very minute after the breath of his Predecessor is gone yet you see how closely this Collector hath followed the steps of Doleman all our Laws to the contrary notwithstanding II. As touching this Collectors Principles 1. He is clearly of opinion That the Commonwealth hath Power to change the direct order of Succession for otherwise the Government would want power to defend it self by making such alterations as the variety of Accidents in several Ages may make absolutely necessary p. 15. That
it would have it so or contented to have it so yet in a particular case for the saving of the Nation the whole Line and Monarchy it self may be altered by the unlimited Power of the Legislative Authority Id. Postscript pag. 43. If one of a false Religion or some other notorious wicked man or Tyrant should be offered by Succession or otherwise to govern among Christians in these cases every man is bound to resist what he can Id. pag. 16â— 169 172 173. What unreasonableness is there in shutting the door upon him making it fast against him by an act of State who hath excluded himself by his Principles and Designs Id. Postscript pag. 45. Now if you ask by what Law or Power a Commonwealth can pretend to keep a Prince back from succeeding The Jesuite and Mr. Hunt will tell you that the Will and Pleasure of a People in this Case is Law enough that they have an Unlimited and Arbitrary Power lodged in them and that we ought to submit to their determinations without calling their proceedings into question or disputing about the Lawfulness and Justice of them Thus saith Father Parsons And thus saith Mr. Hunt The Realm or Common-wealth hath power to admit or put back the Prince or Pretender to the Crown and the same Commonwealth hath Authority to judg of the Lawfulness of the Cause it is their own affair and a matter that hath its whole beginning continuance and substance from them alone I mean from the Commonwealth for that no man is King or Prince by institution of Nature Therefore it is enough for every particular man to subject himself to that which his Commonwealth doeth in this behalf and to obey simply without any further inquisition Doleman part 1. pag. 160. It is Criminal and dangerous to the being of any Polity to restrain the Legislative Authority and to entertain Principles that disables it to provide remedy against the greatest mischiefs that can happen to any community No Government can support it self without an Unlimited Power in providing for the happiness of the People No Civil establishment but is Controulable and Alterable to the Publick Weal Whatever is not of Divine Institution ought to yield and submit to this Power and Authority Mr. Hunt in Postscript pag. 41 42. And a little before if any Law should exceed the declared measures of the Legislative Authority though in such a case men may have leave to doubt of the lawfulness of such a Law yet if it be not against any express Law of God they will upon a little Consideration determine it lawful if it be necessary to the Commonweal for that nothing can be the concerns of men united in any Policy but may be govern'd and ordered by the Laws of their Legislature for Publick good for by the reason of all Political Societies there is a submission made of all Rights especially of the common Rights of the Community to the Government of its own Laws Id. ibid. pag. 32 33. According to these Principles the Power of a Commonwealth is so unlimited boundless and extensive as that it can over-rule matters which are naturally just and right and justifie any thing that is intrinsically evil if it be for the publick good And whether this be not against the tenor of Christianity and clearly repugnant to the Apostolick Rule that we must not do evil that good may come and whether it be not perfectly introductive of a more Arbitrary Power in the People than can be feared in any English Prince I leave to such Honest and Indifferent Persons as your selves to judg It hath been a Doctrine hitherto received by all rational and sober men that Dominion is not founded in Grace and that men do not hold their Estates and Civil Rights by their Religion And I am confident there is no Dissenter from the Church of England but would think himself hardly and unjustly dealt with should he be bound to forfeit all he is worth in the World for his Non-Conformity Now one would think that Princes should have the same priviledg at least which all Ordinary and Private men have But in this point some are very Partial and would vary and alter the case where a Successor to the Crown is concern'd For thus saith the Jesuite Parsons of all other holds I esteem the tenure of a Crown if so it may be termed the most irregular and extraordinary Men may not judg of this as of other Pleas of particular persons nor is their trial alike nor the common Maxims or Rules always of force in this thing as in others For if a Private man have many daughters and die seized of Lands in Fee-simple without Heir Male his said Daughters by Law shall have the said Lands as Copartners equally divided between them but not the Daughters of a King for that the Eldest must carry away all as though she were Heir Male Doleman part 2. pag. 72. And thus saith Mr Hunt as he had written just after Doleman The descent of the Crown is governed according to the presumed will of the People and the presumption of the Peoples will is made by measuring and considering what is most expedient to the publick good whereas Private Estates are directed in their descent according to the Descendents And this is the reason that the descent of the Crown is governed by other Rules than Private Estates Only one Daughter and not all as in Private Estates shall succeed to the Crown Postscript pag. 42. I did not think to have found so much of old Father Parsons his Paw in a New Book set forth for the preservation of the Protestant Religion For who could dream that any man should make use of a Woolf to save and secure the Sheepfold Yet I am willing to believe that Mr. Hunt in all this has no Design which he thinks to be Evil and am heartily sorry that so zealous a Protestant hath so unfortunately run upon Jesuitical Principles But Mr. Hunt in page 33. of his Postscript directs us to a Pamphlet called The great and weighty Consideration considered And good Reason he had to recommend it the Book is so very like his own that a diligent Reader would believe them both to be the Off-spring of one Father and as near of kin as Simeon and Levi. Old Father Parsons can never die as long as he hath such an hopeful Issue so like him in Lineaments and Spirits And I begin to wonder why some of late would be at the Expence to set out Doleman in a New Edition since in this and the two former Pamphlets a true Protestant so called may find matter enough to compile a Dolemanian Catechism were old Doleman utterly lost at least he might extract enough again to do the job of 41. and 48. and that I suppose is as much as some in the world do desire Sir you must well remember that these are the Articles of Doleman's Creed That though Government in the general Notion of
Julian saith to it is That 't is impossible to write an History of the Succession without having a great many passages which Doleman has got into his Book ibid. But by his good leave 't is possible to write one History without stealing out of another 'T is possible to imitate a Book without Transcribing it 'T is possible to observe another mans Method without running upon his Principles 'T is possible to treat of his Matter without using his Fancy and to pursue his Design without using his Phrase This is as possible as 't is possible for me to follow a Leader though I do not tread in his very steps But let an indiffâ—rent person compared Doleman with the History of Succession and he will find such an exact agreement not only between the Method Matter and Scope of them both but also between the Principles Expressions Arguments Instancâ—s and the like in bâ—th that though the world be full of Histories yet you shall not find any two that do so exactly jump together as Doleman and the History of Succession do unless they be Abridgments or Transcripts So that a man may well say that the Pamphleteer had a design not to write a new piece but new Vamp an old one and to put a damned Jâ—suit into such a new Dress that he might appear in the world like a true Protestant All these things considered duly I may Infer that since there is now adays such Fresh Trading and Trucking with the Jesuits it is high time for every honest man in this Kingdom to make a Pause and consider seriously whose hands we are in c. p. 27. It is high time for all the honest men in the Kingdom to consider whose hands we are in And I am glad that you begin to consider what a sort of men these are who out of a pretended zeal for the Protestant Cause take such an extravagant course as they do What is there no way to prevent Popery but by planting Jesuitism Is this the way to uphold the Church of England to fetch Shoars and Buttresses from the Church of Rome Have we not good store of wholsom Lews on our side Is not the Genius of the Nation so set against Popery that they may as soon be persuaded to turn Turks Is not our Church so firmly Establisht that if we be but Faithful to Her it is impossible for that Scarlet Whore with whom so many Princes have committed Forniâ—ation ever to have again Joynture or Dower in this Kingdom Besides and above all this are we not sure that the good hand of God will be over us if we be but careful to commit our selves to him in well-doing But 't is observable that these men in all their Writings take so little notice of the Providence of God that a sober man may Reasonably suspect that God is not in all their thoughts They begin at the wrong end and thinking that all must be done by Humane Arts and Policy even rake Hell and scum the Devil as if that were an effectual course to preserve the true Religion and Church of God Setting aside the Romish Faith and the Vow of blind Obedience tell me wherein these men differ from the Disciples of Ignatius Loyola Why only these are Popish and they Protestant Jesuits Of all Sects and Religions saith Father Watson the Jesuit and the Puritan come nearest and are fittest to be coupled like Dogs and Cats together And so he goes on comparing them and making both of them equally alike for their Hypocrisie for their Conspiracies for their Schismatical humour for their malice against Bishops for their Insolence and Disobedience to Government for their violation of Oaths for their Commonwealth-opinions for their Tyranny and Usurping a Power over Princes for their Conforming to the Laws sometimes to serve a Turn for their Dispensing with one another in case of Occasional Communion and Occasional Perjury c. He instanceth in no less than twenty four points a full Double Jury if that would do any good by which if you try both Factions you will find that as they came into the world much about a time so they have been sworn Brethren from the Womb. But he abuseth the old moderate Puritans for 't was only some Rigid men among them that were so Ill-natured so Imperious and such Thorns and Goads in their Governours sides However one Faction has hither so shifted it self into another that the old Puritan that was peaceable and fair-conditioned is quite gone out of the world he has been long ago lost in the Presbyterian and the Presbyterian too is upon the matter lost in the Independent and all of them are so lost in the Jesuit that if you go to unkennel the Fox 't is an even Lay whether you hunt a Jesuit or a Whig What an odd thing is this that men should turn Jesuits for fear of being Papists As I am an honest man 't is matter of great Astonishment to me and a most horrid scandal to Religion that people should pretend such zeal for the Protestant Faith and yet infect themselves with such Jesuitical Principles We Rusticks are wont when we plant an Orchard to observe this Rule generally to graft a better sort of fruit upon a worse as we use to graft an Apple upon a Crab. Hâ—d these men taken this course and have studied Melioration as our term of Art is they would not have grafted the Jesuit upon the Protestant but the Protestant upon the Jâ—suit Then they would have â—hewn their good Husbandry and good Fruit would have come of their Labours But they do not go according to the Rule And then they say they act according to their Consciences Now Consâ—ience if it be Right and Honest observe the Laws of the great Husbandman But when men overlook the directions of God and act according to their Humours or according to the Humours or seeming Interest of a Party then Conscience makes mâ—d work and proves a meer Ignoramus for it ever grafteth the Crab way Hence it cometh to pass that there is such a Dâ—mnâ—ble deal of sowre fruit among us as hath set the teeth of all honest men in the Kingdom on edge For when once men are Jesuited they will never stick at any manner of wickedness Lying Libelling Sedition Dishonesty Dâ—faming of Government Disobedience to Laws Obstruction of Justice Hypocrisie Perjury and I know not how many Vices more they have now lost the name of Sins and are made the Honourable Characters of somâ— who are pleased by a figure to call themselves True Protestants For you may easily observe that mens Scruples now lie one way only viz. about Ceremonies and little things pertaining to Order and Decency in the Church but there is little or no scruple about Immorality they Protest against Conformity but not against Knavâ—ry They will condemn Kneeling at the Sacrament as a damnable sin and yet be guilty of it themselves to serve an End And I cannot but
Evidence hath been given by men whose Credit in other cases has passed unquestioned By which means Justice hath been obstructed and the Law hath been over-ruled or the edg of it hath been turned on one side only so that the King himself hath been denied the benefit of it and men that were notorious for Dishonesty and Sedition have been Protected against him Now it is not credible but that all this is in order to some very evil Design which cannot be carried on but by these very evil means because it cannot be supposed that men would dare to be Hated by the Government to be Obnoxious to the Magistrates Sword to mock Heaven to forfeit their Reputation and to play handy-dandy with their Consciences did not some desperate Plot require such desperate Courses as they cannot but know will one day rise up in Judgment against them even in this World if the establisht Government holdeth The Consideration of these things is enough to convince all thinking Persons that there is a Monstrous Intrigue in hand against the Government But to deal plainly with you all these Arguments to me seem to be over and above For as I mistrusted something of an extraordinary nature above three years ago when Pamphlets came every week abroad full of unworthy and base reflections upon the King upon his Counsellors upon the Bishops and all the Clergy upon the Offices and Rites in the Service Book upon the Long Loyal Parliament and indeed upon the whole Frame and Constitution of our excellent Government which reflections had they been just were surely altogether needless then if nothing but an engagement against the Popish Interest was intended so when I saw the Jesuites Principles brought upon the Stage again and found it confidently Asserted and by many Believed that Monarchy is a meer Human Ordinance that Kings hold their Crowns by the Consent of their Subjects that all Power is Originally in the People that this Power of theirs is Unlimited and Uncontroulable and many the like Positions more which overthrew the Government once then all my doubts vanished strait and what I mistrusted before then I firmly Believed that an Alteration of our Government was intended again and that these Principles were vended about to prepare a way thereunto for to what other purposes could these Principles serve But now at last when I saw that evil men were not contented to Skim and Retal these Principles out of Doleman but moreover have reprinted Dolemans whole Book at large it is impossible for me to force my Charity to believe otherwise than that they have such a black Design against the whole Royal Family and the present Government as I am loth to mention For Books are not wont to be sent abroad into the World but with a Design nor are Booksellers willing to run the hazard of a whole Impression unless there be strong probabilities that it will do either Good or Mischief and the Reprinting of Doleman at this ticklish juncture when the affairs of England are in such an Uâ—certain and Tottering Posture is a plain Argument that 't was done with a Design to possess the People of England with such Notions that they might be ripe for a Rebellion and ready â—or a total change of our Government either according to the State of Venice which is the drift of Plato Redivivus or according to the Model of Holland which other Factionists are generally more inclined unto Consider the thing well Sir and then tell me your thoughts whether that might not be the intent of putting that Pestilent and Villanous Book again into the Press now which at the Kings Restauration and for many years since was hardly valued so much as waste Paper in comparison Men and Books rise or sink in their price according to the condition of Times Twenty years ago it was Hony-moon in England and under God nothing was so dear to our Souls then as our King and our Government and had Doleman appeared abroad then as he doth now we should have thought that Oliver Cromwel had sent the Jesuite from Hell and he would have been Executed at Tyburn by the Hangmans hands before he had done any further mischief But now the Case is alter'd and the smart of Rebellion and Innovation is quite out of some mens fingers and such as are for playing the Old Game over again think it their best course to use the same Cards that were so lucky to 'em once before and Father Parsons is called for to help 'em Deal Sir I will not give you any further trouble now though when I first set Pen to Paper I thought it necessary to Examin those Principles in Doleman which are so Popular in these days And because I find that the Doctrine of the Kings Divine Right to his Crown is become odious to many who look upon it to be full of dangerous Consequences as well as unreasonable in it self and because the Clergy of our Church are hated for that Doctrine sake and the ashes of that Learned Loyal and Honourable Person Sir Robert Filmir have been of late polluted with a great deal of dirt out of the Kennel for no other Reason but because he was such a Fatal Enemy to that Jesuitical Principle that the Original of all Power and Government is in the People therefore I judged it proper and seasonable to shew you what is meant by the Jus Divinum of Monarchy and what strong Reasons that Doctrine is founded upon that so I might vindicate the Integrity and Honour of the Assertors of it But I am not willing that this Letter should swell into a large Discourse However if it may be an acceptable thing to you to be acquainted with my thoughts on that Subject you know you may Command me as my business shall give me leave In the mean time I own my self Sir July the 6. 1682. Your faithful Servant c. FINIS Fa. Watsons Quodlibets Pag. 236. Id. p. 109. Id. p. 217. Id. p. 30â— Id. p. 305. Id. p. 265. Id. p. 236. Quodlibet p. 286. a De jure Magistrat in subdit b Vindiciae cont Tyran Though 't is hard that the same men should be Parties and Judges too * For without Order there is nothing else to be hoped but Horrour and Confusion Doleman Pa. 6. ca. 1. part 1. For remarques upon this Story see the Answer to the History of Succession p. 25. Observe that the power of Deposing a King naturally follows from the Doctrine of the Peoples power to chuse one But is not that Right of Power which a Father hath over his Child and an Husband over his Wife by Divine appointment Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem Diocleâ—ianum Julianum Apostatam Valentem Arianum similes id suit quia deerant Vires Bellar. de Rom. Pontif. 1. 5. c. 7. Azor. instit Moral par 2. 1. 10. c. 2. Nemo nostrum quando apprehenditur reluctatur nec se adversus injustam violentiam vestram quamvis Nimius Copiosus noster sit populus ulciscitur St Cypriar ad Demetâ—ian p. 257. edit Pamel Quodlibets p. 27 Serm. 12. Ad Aulam p. 166.