bind him but what proceeds from his own Mouth nor that neither any longer than he pleases and by vertue of such a Traiterous Legerdemain a Prince is to be distinguish'd oft and absolv'd from a Coronation-Oath and our Allegiance to be transpos'd or inverted by a barbarous Contradiction of the Term into a subsequent Obligation And the Duty of Obedience must shift with the Wind because the Weathercock was placed upon Churches in pious memory of St. Peter who besides denying Christ preach'd as 't is said the Doctrine of Passive Obedience also I 'm sure if this be true morally speaking 't will be nonsense and to no purpose to pretend to establish any Laws in Church or State And our Ancestors had been ev'ry jot as well employ'd at Push-pin or with Socrates and his Boys playing at Cob-Nut or riding the Hobby-horse with as good a grace as contending for Magna Charta All Government in short without the immediate hand of Heaven which we are not taught by God or instructed by the Events of Story to rely on or expect will at this rate of Argument become utterly impracticable and must degenerate into Confusion So on the other side the misapplication of the Constitution of Government may be almost as fatal as the throwing it off As for instance in a Mixt or Limited Monarchy where the Ingredient Qualifications are not duly observed and fairly maintain'd Sometimes these Forms have prov'd but Snares on the Subjects Liberties and Properties Thus it is when one part of the State encroacheth upon the others and 't will be the same thing when they have all together or two of them too close and united a Correspondence and Intelligence and the Trinity in Unity or Vice versa if I may so speak are confounded and consolidated The one part of the Body represented may thus as well be betray'd out of its Rights as huffed out of them in the other Case Where-ever a Constitution is not preserved in its primitive force and dignity according to the true intent thereof some part may and must suffer A Legislative Power may be as pernicious as an Executive for 't is far from impossible that Injuries may be done under the Colour and Mask of Laws Sir William Temple quotes Heraclitus for saying The only skill or knowledge of any value in the Politicks was the Secret of governing all by all And he afterwards remarks That what Prince soever can hit of this Secret need know no more for his own Safety and Happiness or that of the People he governs For no State or Government can be much troubled or endanger'd by any private Factions which is grounded upon the general Consent and Satisfaction of the Subject Happy Kings if they would be contented to have kept within the Confines of such Measures But this is a Doctrine which will not go down with Kings Thus Germany flourish'd till Charles the Vth's time who introduced higher Reasons of State till the Jesuits taught the way of bringing the Sovereign Power from the States to the Empire What hath Spain got by the pretence of an Absolute Power i. e. Oppression It lost Portugal it lost the Low Countries c. And in truth the Kings of Spain have exerted their Power so far till they have lost it all and by Trick of Favourite-Ministers and other Politicks interchangeably transacted and shuffled between them and the French Kings they are now at last scarce in a Condition by virtue of such Arbitrary Extravagancies to defend themselves The Princes of Italy who are so Absolute only betray their own Weakness by it And though France at present may seem to flourish outwardly yet who knows not that She groans in her Bowels Indeed Sir Robert Cotton is unhappily mistaken in his Conclusion touching England That it cannot groan under a Democracy which it never yet felt or fear'd And the late Times under King Charles the First seem to be an Instance to the contrary and an Exception to that Rule But then the Reasons are given by him but just before viz. That such a Government suiting thus with Monarchy must strictly maintain its Form And I doubt 't was something like affecting at Arbitrary Power exclusive of his Parliament at least the House of Commons which brought that Unfortunate Monarch within the Exception to the Rule and the Rule may stand good still Generally speaking Trick and Fraud seldom make a Second Advantage and Matchiavel after all his Noise instances only in Alexander the Sixth who he says thriv'd by it yet mark the End he at last was poyson'd by a Fraud prepared by his Bastard Borgia for another The French have a Saying L' Addresse surmonte la Force But I suppose they are not so harden'd to extend this to all Frauds and Falsifications There are some Honest Politicks and Stratagems which a Man of Honour may lawfully use no doubt in War in Peace in Treaties Honest if only that Custom hath given them a sort of Sanction Though by the by of old these Methods were despised by the Braver Heroes even before Christianity which allows us to be Wise as Serpents but Innocent as Doves But all that I contend for in Modern Politicks is the Exercise of Justice and Honour which is or ought to be the Peculiar Character of Kings And that Sincerity is the likeliest Principle to establish a Nation And must hold with Padre Paolo That open Honesty and Plain-dealing at last will prevail against Trick and Artifice All Laws of Power are or are supposed to be founded on the Law of God and 't is said Righteousness supports Crowns For God's sake What is the Moral of Prerogative What is the End of this Absolute Power Whence do Kings derive this superlative Talent of controuling Mankind Is it that they have been stiled and courted as Gods or their Representatives Alas we find they represent Man in Understanding and Failings 'T is not therefore that they are inspired with any greater Degree of Perfection or Wisdom No we find by Experience they are in this like other Men subject to the same Passions and Infirmities As King James the First said They differ not in Stuff Their Natural Advantages do not afford them such Superiority and Pre-eminence in Power with any Justice of Human Reason This great Deference and Submission which they claim as due to their Character must be either That God once vouchsafed them his Supernatural Assistance or That now Kings are presumed to have the Assistance of a Better and Wiser Council If the first the Signs are vanished if the latter 't is confess'd due subject to the Rules and Forms of the General Law of Nations and the Municipal Laws of the Land on supposition that Kings act and labour by the joint Concurrence of Wise and Legal Councels for the Publick Good of the Common-wealth Hence it is that they are endow'd with greater Privilege Hence it is that they are intitled to what is call'd Prerogative to pass over the Definitions
A Summary Review OF THE Kings and Government OF ENGLAND A POLITICAL ESSAY OR Summary Review OF THE Kings and Government OF ENGLAND Since the Norman Conquest By W. P _____ y. Esq Principis est Vertus maxima nosse suos Martial All Precepts concerning Kings are in effect comprehended in these Remembrances Remember thou art a Man Remember thou art God's Vicegerent The one bridleth their Power and the other their Will Lord Bacon 's Remains LONDON Printed in the Year 1698. TO THE READER 'T IS said Action is the Life of a Prince Speculation of a Scholar If the first would give himself to Thinking somewhat more and the latter to Action perhaps it would not be amiss they would Each of 'em discover some Defects in themselves and Both be more Useful to the World Be it how it will however I present you with my Thoughts defective enough as not being much seen in one or t'other the Fruit of Idleness and turning over a few Books for want of better Employment They are some passing Observations on the Conduct of our Princes who have managed the Scepter from the Norman Conquest and Those that managed Them I do not pretend hereby to limit the Descent of our Kings to that Line I know the Learned derive their Pedigree from much higher Pretensions from I know not whence even from Adam and that will scarce satisfy some will have them all the immediate Work of God All Originals I have not the Confidence to Dedicate this Issue but only to a Random Patronage if any one shall be so kind to give it a favourahle Reception Something like that with the Child left in the Temple-Cloysters with this Inscription Pray be exceeding kind to this Infant as Related to Both Societies by Father and Mother's side Some Authors who can bring in but the Name of a King must interest Him in the Title and think the Work presently due to Majesty and presume to Address the Offspring to his Protection But I do not think the Pretence of Duty doth sufficiently Apologize for the Vanity and Ambition of it Besides that Kings seldom read Books they see with other Mens Eyes and those who did have not much improv'd the Talent of Government to their Own or the Nation 's Advantage I would have Address'd it to a Friend if I had any as I should my self yet I know not what Commission I have to venture a Friend's Reputation in my Bottom Though after all I must in truth beg leave to question Whether there be any such thing as a True Friend notwithstanding all the fine Harangues on that Subject Not that I hope I have behaved my self so indifferently in my Conversation as undeserving that Character but I mean Regular Friendships are founded on adequate Considerations and are generally too much upon the Square in mutual Expectation Alas I have nothing to leave a Friend except it be Eudamidas's Legacy a Wife and Children and could I find a Charixenus or Aretheus I should very willingly quit the World and with greater Satisfaction than to remain in it unless it were only at the Instance of such a Friend for his Service and to pay him the Satisfaction of Gratitude in due Acknowledgments But this is too extravagant an Expectation for Eudamidas had but One Daughter to bequeath between Two Friends whereas I have enow to break Friendship it self enow to set forth a decent Parade of Intercession for Mercy if it should be my Misfortune to be convicted of a Capital Offence Nevertheless I have somewhat more particularly designed these short Reflections for the Entertainment of a particular Acquaintance or two and that in a sort of Grateful Return That as I have the Honour and Advantage of Improving by their Conversation so I on my part might endeavour to contribute somewhat to their easier Information in some things who have not Leisure nor perhaps Inclination to peruse larger Volumes or to read over tedious Histories 'T is for this Reason especially that I have contracted these Remarks into as narrow a Room as the Length and Variety of Matter will possibly bear and Brevity is the only Commendation I expect but this I think with some Justness otherwise I am very little concerned at the Success or with what Opinion I shall be received in the World I pretend but to Sketch not to Draw exactly not to a Finished Piece Besides I am sure there 's no one can be more severe upon me than I am upon my self and there 's scarce any body sharper-sighted to discover an Imperfection in a Child of my own than the Father And for this I have Authority What you have is but the Diversion of a long Vacation one Summer's recollected Thoughts drest up between a very ordinary Study and Garden and without help from Conversation as not having Opportunity to spend Time or Money any where abroad I confess I might have made a more Elaborate Piece of it I can't tell whether the better for that But if the Subject of these Considerations seems to require a more serious and intent Application as if any does 't is this in my Judgment I hope it may put some other Person upon it of better Qualifications and of a greater Genius and Diligence this way Not but that I my self have Leisure enough God knows and a little too much for a Man in my Circumstances But I must confess for my part as the World goes I cannot think it Tanti For besides that a Man will hazard the Reputation of his own Understanding in the Pretences of Reforming that of others 't is not in my Inclination to jade a Reader in a Journy of Paper and Ink no more than my self The Drudgery of the Mind is of the worst sort And 't were well if some other Writers were of this Opinion they would save a great deal of Trouble to others at least If it be Objected That I am not particular in my Citations I confess it I write an Essay not a formal Treatise But the Passages have been so beaten and the Authorities so well known of late Years that I conceive 't is superfluous and I needed not However I must aver they are Truths and faithfully delivered as well as my Memory will bear which I must confess is treacherous enough Yet I give you nothing but what I 'm sure I my self have met with and received and that any Man but moderately versed in Books will easily discover and acknowledge And in Arguments and Authorities which are not Nice or Critical 't is not of much Importance or Material to be so exact Others I suppose will say I touch things slightly I agree it I write not to those who are Strangers to Books and Reading but to refresh their Memories who perhaps may not have much better than my self and to give Hints to those who are inclined to make larger Enquiries upon Occasion It may serve to Admonish if not to Inform and may Divert if it cannot
that And Dr Hicks says also Only the Laws of Men are God's Ordinances St. Paul speaking of Authority in general says Ordinance of God St. Peter of the particular Persons administring Authority calls it the Ordinance of Man Sir Robert Filmer upon that Render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are God's divides all between God and the King and leaves nothing to the poor Subject which doth not very well consist with our Saviour's Advice to him whom he bid Sell All that he had and give to the poor which grieved the Young Man for he had Great possessions It seems by this our Saviour implies the Subject had Property otherwise he could not have Sold it Thus they make their own Idol We see then by the better Opinions of Divines and Learned Men all Forms of Power are Authentick with respect to the Laws and Constitutions of Places and submit to all Powers imports only Obedience according to Law the Ordinance of Man To render unto Cesar c. implies certainly that something was left in him who rendred It is not said Give all to Cesar So no Man will controvert the submitting to every ordinance with the Context for Rulers are a Terror to the Evil and not to the Good There never was any King in Israel but had some Engagement and Tye upon him Formally with God or by Covenant with Man To keep the Laws to judge righteously to seek the Good of the People c. Besides the Case of the Apostles is wonderfully different in all respects As to Property c. the Government of the Roman Emperors was Absolute taking it at worst and therefore Christians who had no Law on their side could not resist This is said by some tho' our Saviour does not seem to mean it so whereas Ours under our Kings is limited and mixt therefore not the same foundation to apply the Injunctions of Non-resistance from the Apostles As to Religion the Apostles came counter to all Laws and therefore were to submit to them Not to raise Rebellion on account of a new Religion which had no foundation in any Law And the proper Talent and Business of the Apostles was suffering for the sake of the Gospel therefore impertinent as well as prophane and wicked for them to think of resisting any Powers What is this to the maintaining a Religion established by a Law But this Construction imposed upon Us towards Passive Obedience is a Conceit against the Opinion of most Learned Men and also contrary to the Common Practise of the Christian World Grotius Selden c. understand submission to every ordinance to be to the Government and the Laws thereof And so in common construction and intendment those Texts may be taken a Direction from the Apostles to their Missionaries and Correspondents who were to travel through variety of Governments to pay all Duties and Civil Respects to Kings and Magistrates and may be satisfied with that particular application of Obedience They were enjoined not to enquire into the Fundamental Rights of Power but to take them as they found them being only Powers of this World with proper Laws for keeping Mankind in Peace and Order in general according to the Respective Customs and Constitutions I believe besides the Gospel is an Universal Instruction for Obedience to the Laws on the severest punishment of disobedience to them 'T was intended to make them good Subjects but not Slaves 'T is too much to be Passive and Martyrs by whole Nations with the Laws and Religion bleeding by our Sides Let 's look into the Customs and Usages of other Ages and Places and enquire into and examine the Principles and Opinions of Learned Divines on the Occasions of Power and the Exercise or Abuse of it If a man should consult the Histories of the first Kings of France and Spain both before and since those Nations receiv'd the Light of the Gospel and the hudled abrupt Succession besides the very odd Partnerships in Kingdoms he will find matter but of small Veneration for Titles to Crowns of Old Times whatever he may fancy is due to the Present Establishments And I doubt we should discover but a faint blind Track of Active Providence in the transferring Kingdoms as 't is call'd but only rather the Effects of a Ludicrous Fortune Suppose we should be free and tell the World we have Elected Made or Appointed call it what you will King William King of Great Britain instead of King James without the formality of Deposing or taking off his Crown or Head to make a Vacancy or without the Ens Rationis of a Vacancy it would be no more than what may be justified by Precedents of no Bad Times in other Countries and our Own too In France the Instance of Childerick degraded and Aegidius or Gillon Master of the Roman Militia who was a Stranger but in Reputation for Probity and Wisdom Elected in his stead It is said the French according to their Ancient Rights conferr'd upon Pepin after Thierry was stripp'd of his Royalty the Sovereignty of Austrasia And afterwards Pepin his Grandson Son of Charles Martel and Father of Charlemain by a Parliament assembled was appointed King although there was One of the Marovignian Race remaining but Young Stupid and Witless And for the Honour of the Church Pope Zachary confirm'd him Upon which in another Parliament at Roymes they degraded Childerick and Elected Pepin And the Archbishop of Mentz Boniface declared to them the Validity of the Pope's Answer And after at the Assembly at Carbonnat the Austrasian Lords and Estates acknowledged Charlemain their King They might do says the History this and if he had not had That Right he had been an Usurper for the Children of Charlemain were living Hugh Capet's best if not only Title was Election For Charles Duke of Lorrain was of the Carolovinian Race and Heir but as is said of little merit In Spain the Visigoths about 1200 years since made and unmade their Kings as they pleas'd I suppose 't will not be said They were the worse Christians for being nearer the time of our Saviour and his Apostles So it was in Denmark too till they lately changed from Elective to Hereditary from a Limited to an Absolute Government and so for ought we know it may again when that Arbitrary Power hath had its full swing To look back here at home formerly it was so And I know not why we may not be permitted to go upwards as far as we please since those on t'other side think fit to go backward to Henry the Third for the beginning as they say of our Constitution Egbert the First sole Saxon King upon the Report of the Death of Britric with great speed returned out of France where during the time of his abode he had serv'd with good Commendation in the Wars under Charles the Great by means whereof his Reputation encreasing amongst his own Countrymen he was thought worthy of the
Inviting of him over and the Dissenting Archbishop who thought fit to draw back afterwards was pleased to Countenance his coming to London and to assist with his Counsels He was willing to be in the Sanhedrim upon the Vacancy which by his favour was as far from being Passive as Harnessing and Equipping c. and several Noblemen with their Chaplains at their Elbows agreed upon the first Overtures against King James who only differ'd after in the Form of Administration and supplying the Power There were those who would have been contented and satisfied with a Regency which by the by was as much against the late Notions of Loyalty and 't was once taught that it was as Damnable to put any Restraint upon a King or Fetter his Prerogative or to limit the Measures of our Obedience as to cancel and throw them off If then there be no steady Obstruction in our way no Irrefragable Arguments but what are Overturn'd or Embarrass'd Why may we not throw off the Mask and declare our selves frankly and sincerely And talk as becomes Gentlemen or Free-born Creatures of Reason and tell the World That King James was no longer fit to be entrusted with the Government That he could give no Adequate Security for his Administration That it was no more in his Power than his Will to Rule according to Law That it could not be therefore safe to Re-admit him on any Terms because he would not be restrain'd by any Qualifications In short That King Jamess Character and Administration are inconsistent and incompatible with the Laws of this Realm and that therefore it was necessary absolutely necessary That the Government should be supplied and some Other Person admitted and placed in the Throne from and by whom might be assur'd he would Observe and Maintain the Constitution in Church and State And that for these Reasons we have admitted King William to the Crown allow'd him to take the Government as King of England and consented to transfer our Allegiance to him and have Recognized Acknowledged and Declared His Majesty he having accepted the Crown and Royal Dignity To be of Right and by the Laws of this Realm our Sovereign Lord and King of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging c. If our Principles are just the Consequence must be so too If the Premises be true the Conclusion is warrantable Montaign says Authority is not given in favour of the Magistrate but of the People And 't is the general Opinion That Government was made for them whether originally it were made by them or not All the respective Schemes of it are contrived to provide for the Welfare of the Community and the Laws and Constitutions of Power are the Measures of Submission to it Thus the Notions of Providence and Human Right may be understood and consist in Human Understanding Kings and Subjects may know their Duties Kings may preserve their Rights so long as they continue to be Rational Men and Man may preserve his Native Honour in the Character of his first Creation as he was made after God's Image also Thus I hope this Present King may at last rest in Peace being setled by such a Recognition and guarded by an Association in Parliament Though 't is hard to imagine how the Voluntary one came to be boggled at after such a Declared Right in Parliament before and Oaths of Allegiance taken to it And long may He live to Assert the Rights of the People To administer Justice and to retrieve the Honour of Great Britain by vindicating it from the Encroachments suffer'd not to say consented to in the late Reigns FINIS CORRIGENDA PAge 3. Line 16. read we are p. 6. l. 2. r. off p. 8. l. penult for affecting r. offering at p. 18. l. 17. r. Sir Henry Spelman p. 22. l. 8. r. Aristotle p. 31. l. 15. r. Government p. 35. l. 4. r. they p. 116. l. 8. r. to make War p. 118. l. 5. r. n' avoit p. 123. l. 6. r. ever governed p. 137. l. penult r. souffert p. 152. l. 27. r. Revenue p. 153. l. 29. r. Opiniatreté p. 160. l. 5. r. Noble id l. 24. r. and he p. 161. l. 5. r. dimm p. 180. l. 28. for i e r and even
Edify As to what relates to the Justification of this Government it may be thought this comes out but poorly at this Time of Day and is a sort of barbarous Triumph over the Silenc'd and Oppress'd But those who know how early I was engaged in this Revolution another Way as early almost as any Gentleman on this Side of the Water cannot entertain such Thoughts of me I can only say I have not advanc'd one Expression upon that Consideration and the Occasion given me now was only Reading over some Books which had been on both Sides Published but not with Satisfactory Arguments to me and not in so clear a Method on the Side of the Revolution as I wish'd and besides I do not find that Men are less apt to Talk against the Government now than they were Seven or Eight Years ago and therefore I suppose this Publication may not be unseasonable even under so Long and Prosperous a Success of this Establishment which can never be made too Secure in the Hearts and Affections of the People Your Humble Servant W. P. A Summary Review OF THE KINGS and GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND c. ' T IS somewhat wonderful and I know not by what Fate it comes to pass That those Nations which by Nature seem design'd to enjoy the most retired Repose and Tranquility as not being by Situation involv'd in the common Hurly-burly of the World should yet notwithstanding deny themselves that Happiness as it seems and run into equal Confusion and Trouble with the large Continents of Men. Whether it be that we ascribe too much or too little to the Powers above and assume to our selves too far in the Conduct of Human Affairs Or whether in truth we are not permitted to establish that settled Peace and Pleasure here below which Mortals in their Wisdom would fancy and pretend to prescribe to themselves Be it how it will Is it not certain that all States Civil and Ecclesiastical too when they have arriv'd to the Top of Grandeur by a sort of Necessity as it were dissolve into Luxury and by an unaccountable Weakness and Vanity dwindle into Disreputation lose their Edge and are disarm'd till another Encroachment steps up and takes the place Not that all New Establishments and Reformations have been always for the better but only to shew that all sublunary things are subject to change However That Government and some Form of Polity is necessary cannot be disputed though it may what sort is But admitting Monarchy to be the best constitution and with all the Compliments of Comparison and Advantages that the Church will have for that doth not pretend that it is the Only Form approved by God with exclusion to others yet we see the best Scheme of this whether Absolute Limited or Mixt Hereditary or Elective hath never yet been capable to establish and secure it in Peace and Prosperity long as it were to intimate That even the wisest Scheme if any such be of Policy will have its Defects and all Foundations of Government are planted in a changeable Soil and are transform'd even in Notion either through the Perverseness or Inconsideration of the Prince or People or both Nay when we have pray'd in Aid of Religion and taken that into our support what wretched work has Religion it self made in States and unhinged them as Learning has Religion Those very Means that should compose and settle have subverted and do still disorder the World What Mischiefs have not those two words Prerogative and Liberty introduced both in Law and Gospel Construction and those two Epithets of Obedience Active and Passive are sacrific'd to Forms more than Force and have been abus'd almost as much by Government as Anarchy In our best Form of Government as we call it when the Constitution comes to clash the sole Question is Which is to be preferred the Person and Will of a Prince or the Law of the Land Which is most sacred the Power or the Ordonnance Which is to be obey'd and maintain'd the King who invades the Law and Religion Establish'd for 't is certain such a Case hath happen'd or Religion and Law which establish'd them Whether Religion or the Humour of a King be to be obey'd even for the sake of Religion This it seems hath been made a Doubt and hath been a Theme more than sufficiently handled of late Years especially and managed with Artifice enough to say no worse on both sides Indeed if we were now under a Theocracy the extravagance of the Dispute would be on t'other hand and if God at this day could be suppos'd to govern our Governors as in the Jewish Oeconomy when Rulers Captains Priests Judges and Kings were immediately inspired and led by the Almighty to keep them from stumbling or swerving before that Kings were given for a Curse and when not made such Implicit Faith and Obedience must be then due But when God himself leaves us to the Rules of Human Laws as he plainly intimates and is confest by the most Learned Divines who are impartial 't is otherwise And I must confess in my poor Opinion God forgive me if I err and I err in good Company under the Gospel God seems not so much concern'd in Human Powers otherwise than Human Laws And our Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount hath not one word about Kingdoms only of another World After which the Texts of the Apostles are not to be taken in a general extended Sense for our Saviour himself who is and must be suppos'd to comprehend all necessary Instructions for a Christian when he insists on superlative Directions would no doubt have vouchsafed some Guide in obedience to the Powers on Earth if he had not concluded them by the Measures of their respective Constitutions and his Expression of rendring unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's c. sufficiently implies the force of that Argument and the Exempt reservation of Property c. No doubt the meaning of the Apostles has been strain'd too far by some Divines and besides it infers but little to us forasmuch as they do not nor ever did agree in their Interpretations 't will be to little purpose that the Apostles were inspired if we are not inspired also with an adequate degree of Apprehension But this only by the by This is not my Province and I shall have occasion to resume this Argument hereafter All that I shall say at present is That Arbitrary Power and Legal Right are Contradictions and cannot consist in Human Understandings Therefore I shall make bold to take Power in that sense which may consist with Reason and Rejecting the first tack the word Legal to it and shall wave or post-pone the Premisses from the absurdity of the Conclusion For if it be allow'd or may be suppos'd That a King can with his own breath blow away the Laws of the State or at second-hand remove the Land-mark or is to be told by any Metaphysical Pedant That no Law can
give the Remainder to their Subjects clogg'd and incumbred with a Condition to defend the Realm This is but an ill sign of a Limited Monarchy by Original Constitution or Contract At this rate a Man who writes with the Fancy of a Government may expose any thing even himself But why doth this necessarily follow May not several Privileges and Powers be lodged in the Crown for Conformity and Dignity of Government by Consent And so May not Estates or the Lands of a Kingdom be divided by Contract with the acknowledgment of the Tenure and to express the Service How come Lands to Escheat to the Crown for they are forfeited for Treason I mean of Cities but that there is no Heir How comes the King to have the Year Day and Waste of Lands which Escheat to the Lord By what Law if not of Contract To say they moved from the King and were Limitations of his Bounty is as much suppos'd on the other hand and gratis dictum If he had virtually all Lands Why not all Goods c. too No man will say that If he had I confess there would be then no use of Parliaments But to proceed the King by his Prerogative may Call and Prorogue and Dissolve Parliaments By what Law had he this Prerogative If not by Law of Compact and Consent of Necessity to avoid Confusion for if he could Command his Subjects Purses c. there could not otherwise be any Original use of them He might and would no doubt have call'd and made use of only a Privy or Cabinet Council or Cabal for after this way of Inference no King would certainly have Clogg'd himself with the impertinent Formalities of a Parliament their Predecessors were very Weak or Prodigal to Clip their own Wings and give their Subjects a share in the Legislative Power This is but an ill sign of an Original Absolute Arbitrary Power And 't was upon this pretence though those Gentlemen don't care to own it That they would have endeavoured to Disengage their King from the use of Parliaments and would conclude That the King might chuse whether he would ever call any or not at least in this Form Thus they would beg the Question and presume the Consequence on their side because equally absurd The King may Proclaim War c. Does it follow therefore that he may make it without other Heads and Hands Thus they confound the Executive and Legislative Authority They say Scribling is a sign of a Licentious Age and some think of a Decaying State too Ought not some Creaturs to be Muzled There were many odd sort of extravagant Books published on Subjects of this Nature in the Reign of King Charles the II d not without Reason as we may suppose But all these violent pursuits in both Extremes are suspitious and where all Parties mean nothing but the Publick Good there 's nothing of this nature worth contending for And whoever will reflect on the Circumstances and Occasions or Times of such Publications and the advancing these high-flown Notions with a little pains of Comparison will easily see through the Mystery of their Policy It is very extraordinary That Subjects make Kings Conquerors in spight of their Teeths and against their own Professions and Declarations on purpose to make themselves Slaves by their own Consequence though this really is neither the true Signification nor Import as Mr Spelman makes appear in his Glossary let them take it in their own sense but we may assure our selves they did not intend to inslave themselves They tell us That William the I st was a Conqueror and therefore we were all Slaves c. though at other times Force and Success will make no Right Yet afterwards they also tell us when we come to insist on our Rights as Subjects That Magna Charta was obtained by Force c. What then So had the Crown been before it seems by them Either the People of England had some Legal Rights before the Conquest or not If they had as is confess'd 't was time to endeavour the Restoring of them If William the I st were an Intruder and came in by Force of Arms only he was but a Successful Usurper and the People being under a Force could not lose their Rights If he came in with pretence of Title Title continued them in their Rights and either way was justifiable I am engaged in this matter before I am aware and beyond my first intention and I shall meet with these Gentlemen anon But not to forestal you in the History I can't avoid a Hint upon those times being upon Magna Charta and that being by that Act declared to be Declaratory of the Fundamental Rights and Common Laws of the Realm To shew the Arts of Debauching Kings and the end of such Attempts in one previous Instance Hubert de Burgo as you may see in Sir Edward Coke's Preface to Magna Charta c. meaning to make his step to Ambition which ever Rideth without Reins persuaded and humoured that King That he might avoid that Charter of his Father King John by Duress and his own great Charter and Charta de Foresta also for that he was within Age whereupon the King got one of the great Charters and that of the Forest into his Hands and by his Councel unjustly Cancell'd both the said Charters though this Hubert de Burgo was Primier Witness of all the Temporal Lords to both the said Charters whereupon he became in high Favour with the King c. But soon after for Flattery and Flatterers have no sure Foundation he fell into the King's heavy Indignation and after many fearful and miserable Troubles he was Justly and according to Law Sentenc'd by his Peers in open Parliament and as justly Degraded of the Dignity which he had unjustly obtained c. So that other Notion of Paternal Right is as Extraordinary This takes a short way and makes Mankind Rebels from the Creation or from the Flood Who could have imagined That this Paternal Dominion from Adam could have been inferr'd from that Expression of the Psalmist The earth hath he given to the children of men Which Sir Robert Filmer learnedly says Doth shew that the Title of Government comes from Fatherhood Methinks it seems a more plausible and literal Argument to Exclude Fathers or to lay them aside as they do in some Countries at such an Age Why have not this Party a scruple of Conscience about all other Variations of Government even by God himself At this rate they ought to procure Masses for the Souls of their Progenitors who lived in the Heptarchy It is certain no body living under any Commonwealth can hope to be Saved as remaining in a continued state of Rebellion Thus they create a double Obligation on Men and harrass their very Souls between their Natural and Political Parents in virtue of the Fifth Commandment But as much a Frenchman as he seems to be I know not how he will excuse
Pharamond for introducing the Salique Law nor the Nobless of the Country for encouraging it for the Commandment says Honour thy Mother also I hope Sir Robert Filmer had no Gavelkind Land the Custom of Tanestry and Borough English must also be abominable in his sight which to other Men seem to be built upon good natural Principles of Reason But seriously what indifferent Person if there can be any such in the World will without indignation digest such sort of Debates After the same fashion Sir Robert Filmer gives us farther to understand He cannot learn That either the Hebrew Greek or Latin have any proper Original Word for a Tyrant or Slave it seems these are of late invention and taken up in Disgrace of Monarchical Government Why not more Charitably as well as more truly from the Experience of the Abuses in the Exercise of such Monarchical or Absolute Powers And he himself had given the reason but just before viz. That the Greek and Latin Authors liv'd in Popular Governments For which reason no doubt there was no occasion for such Monstrous and Barbarous Terms But he could not be in earnest in this Observation I must appeal from his Sincerity to his Judgment He does well to bar all other Schemes but his own He forbids us to rely on Aristotle the Grand Master of Politicks or the Greek or Latin Historians who liv'd in Popular Times Though Monsieur Rapin allows Aristole c. to be us'd in Divinity and says St. Thomas and other Divines have us'd him with good success But others and they Divines and Bishops too have lately told us That we are not to rely on Scripture in such Cases In what a condition is poor Subject Man And what was all this to the purpose when Scripture it self doth not peremptorily conclude us but leaves us at large to the Laws and Usages of Countries to the Ordinances of Man as Sir Robert himself confesses though with a lamentable strain upon St. Paul and St. Peter Every one saw what was aim'd at and offer'd by way of deduction from those Topicks of Doctrinal Government But because Sir Robert sends us to France to School to be inform'd in our Constitution and very much affects French Policy for he wrote in a time when the French Air was predominant let us see whether the Kings of France themselves did always talk in this Language Whether they have been continually so uniform in this Fancy of Absolute Power for the disposing of themselves and their Kingdoms Francis the First who was Contemporary with our Henry the Eighth and as Haughty a Prince and was attended with the Flattery of Courtiers too when he was taken Prisoner at the Battel of Pavia afterwards for Answer to the Proposals sent him by the Emperor for his Release amongst other things says That they were not in his power because they shock'd the Fundamental Laws of France to which he was subjected c. After he was at liberty having call'd an Assembly of the most Notable Persons of the Three Estates of the Kingdom for their Advice touching the delivery of his Children and himself proffering to return to Prison if they thought fit Their Orders all answer'd separately That his Person was the Kingdom 's not his and as touching the restoring of Burgundy That it was a Member of the Crown whereof he was but Usufructuary That therefore he could not dispose of the one or t'other But withal they offer'd him Two Millions of Gold for the Ransom of his Children and assur'd him That if it must come to a War they would neither spare their Lives nor Fortunes I 'm Mez. Chron. 587. sorry no Precedent will serve for our Imitation but only that of the present French King and his Ally the Great Turk In the sense of these Authors theirs must be the only Apostolick Orthodox Institution We are told also That there is a Place where whenever the King spits the greatest Ladies of his Court put out their Hands to receive it And another Nation where the most Eminent Persons about him stoop to take up his Ordure in a Linnen Cloth And other People where no Subject speaks to the King but through a Trunk and there are no doubt several other such like Fantastick Customs of Submission and Idolatrous Reverence What then Every Land is still nevertheless to be guided by its own Customs and Laws And I wish some of these Absolute Arbitrary-Power-Sparks liv'd in one of the last mention'd Places In earnest Flattery is a most sordid and pernicious Vice and we were lately very near drawing down Judgments on our selves for it and had like to have suffer'd for pretending to offer Sacrifices which were never meant This Stuff of Passive Submission to Arbitrary Tyrannical Powers could never be offer'd to sale in a true Light The Doctrine would stink in the Nostrils of a Good King who had any thing of Virtue Piety or good Nature A King who to use the words of King James the First Acknowledges himself ordain'd for his People having received from God a Burthen of Government whereof he must be Accountable and a good King thinketh his highest Honour to consist in the due Discharge of his Calling and employeth all his study and pains to procure and maintain by the making and executing of Good Laws the Welfare and Peace of his People and as the Natural Father and kindly Master thinketh his greatest Contentment standeth in their Prosperity and his greatest Surety in having their Hearts This as to the Political and Moral part of Government And as to the matter of Religion What is it but to inspire a King with Persecution What must this come to when Kings have different Educations and different Tutors to catechize them if the Civil Establishment be not our Standard and the Law our Protection in Church as well as State As to the Case where the King and the Laws are of the same persuasion If Recusants and Dissenters are so unfortunate as to fall under a Prosecution for their particular Opinions be it at the peril of the King's Conscience and those who advise him but here and here only is the true Notion of being Passive and I must confess I can't tell how to help them Here I think they must suffer and not resist but fly to another City if they do not like that where the Government legally sits upon their Skirts Though I know some don't allow the Legislative Power to intermeddle with Religion as having too much a Lay mixture for the Pallet of the Church Yet for my part I do not see how otherwise we could maintain any Establishment in it For though since the Reformation the King as Head hath the Supremacy devolv'd on him and 't is consented that he may make Canons to bind the Clergy even without a Convocation yet as the Church does not allow him to speak with his own Mouth or Act with his own Hands in the Administration of Essentials of Religion
so the State doth not in the Alterations of them So that he is not Absolute or Independent either in his Ecclesiastical or Civil Capacity of Policy And therefore the whole Constitution and Three Estates must necessarily be call'd in on all Occasions of Change in Discipline or Innovation of Rites as well as in the alteration and repealing of other Old Laws or introducing and declaring New ones This by way of Parenthesis But I was speaking of Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarchal Power and the Extravagancies he infers from thence grounded as he pretends from Scripture Therefore I would only ask him one Question more Was there no such proper Word in the Hebrew Greek or Latin for Tyrant or Slave Pray how then came the Words and Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience into the Greek It must be only taken up of late by some such Authors in disgrace of Monarchical Government according to Law and to put Obedience as Legal out of countenance To bring People to submit blindly to Arbitrary Power There is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek which signifies at least King or Prince But is there any one doubts that there has been such a thing as a Harsh Unreasonable and Unnatural Father or King It must follow then that the Obedience intended by the Apostles who wrote in Greek was only to the Laws and the Legal Exercise of them according to the Usage of their respective Places which made them Legal Or to Kings as not being a terror to the Good but only to the Evil But it would tire even Patience it self to follow these sort of Gentlemen in all their Confused By-ways Therefore to return more immediately to my Subject and to my Friend Seigneur de Montaigne whom I am not asham'd to own let the Grave and Wise say what they will for I must ever have a greater Respect for an Author who talks judiciously of Trifling Matters if they be so than for One who talks triflingly on Judicious Subjects He tells us These Great and Tedious Debates about the best Form of Society and the most Commodious Rules to bind us are Debates only proper for the Exercise of our Wits and all the Descriptions of Policies feign'd by Art are found to be ridiculous and unfit to be put in practice And in another place Not according to Opinion but in Truth and Reality The best and most Excellent Government for every Nation is that under which it is maintain'd This Montaigne says who express'd and practis'd as great Loyalty as ever any Man of Sense and Honour did and I agree with him That all Reverence and Submission is due to Kings except that of the Understanding This as a Gentleman and as a Christian he farther adds Christian Religion hath all the Marks of utmost Utility and Justice but none more manifest than the severe Injunction it lays indifferently upon all to yield absolute Obedience to the Civil Magistracy and to maintain and defend the Laws i. e. in English To submit according to Law And all Policy as well as Religion enforces Obedience to the Administrators of Right and Justice And if it be permitted to argue from Etymologies which is surer than from Examples the Grecians tell us the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Vbi homines versantur vel potius a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod sint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certis legibus juncti And we may assure our selves That People would not build Houses c. till the Possession and Enjoyment of them was establish'd by certain Laws But we shall never have done never come to any settlement if the Forms of Government and Laws are not admitted but suffer'd to be disputed at this time of day We are therefore to take Laws as we find them and as they stand in use and practice by a continued Establishment It can't be material therefore to look back how the Figure of our Legislative Power stood a Thousand Years ago or from a much shorter date of Time How the Form of Writs issued to the Commons was heretofore though no doubt the best Authority is with them and it is confest they were always a Constituent part of the Legislative Power as 't is idle and impertinent to say The Supreme or Legislative Power must be ever Arbitrary this is an absurd Affirmation when all Parties in a Nation agree by their Representatives to the Enaction of Laws By the Laws of God and Man Our Constitution ought now to rest in Peace in an Inviolable Establishment Kings swear as our Saviour preach'd in the Mount to the Multitude A King's Coronation-Oath must be interpreted ad Captum Populi and to ordinary Intendment That so there may be some certain Rule of Governing and true Measures of Obeying whereby the whole Community may be preserv'd in Peace and Order which is the End of all Government We in England seem to value our selves more peculiarly on the Polity of our Constitution There hath been enough said in praise of our Laws No doubt they are very good if well observ'd so good at least That I never heard that any King of England ever pretended to except against them when he was ask't the Question at his Coronation Whether he would Observe the Laws and so Good That the Subject as far as I perceive desires only the Confirmation and Continuance of them And I will be bold to say for the Honour of the English Nation and People notwithstanding the ill Name some are pleas'd to give us at home and abroad at present That there was never any War in England from the Barons War to the late Civil War setting aside the Dispute between the H. of Y. and L. but what was occasion'd and begun on Colour of the King 's imposing an Arbitrary Power over the Rights and Privileges of the People and after Complaint and Application for Redress of Grievances and Restitution of their Rights and Privileges and all other Nations have done the same where they could I speak of the beginning of Wars I do not always justify the End of them And must aver That the People of England in general have notwithstanding the Proverb which is Exotick been always Good-natur'd Subjects Easy enough to be impos'd upon and cajoled out of their Money and their Lives for the Service of the Crown And as I think so Modest that they have never assum'd as Men to stand in competition with Majesty nor have ever pretended to be so much as Kings till Kings were persuaded to think themselves more than Men Hence as you will perceive in these short following Remarks have for the most part sprung those Jealousies which divided King and People and disjointed the United Common Interest of Both. Ambitious and Designing Men have rais'd Fantoms of Powers and Laws which had being only in the Clouds at least had none amongst us And Imaginary Constructions have been put upon those which were plain and obvious The Terms of Power and Subjection
after that Unfortunate Action in the Isle of Rhee 'T would make one sick to reflect on Sir Robert Cotton's Speech and Advice in comparison with the Giddy Peevish Measures taken at Court What Event that Parliament was like to have may be seen together with the Talent of these two Kings the Father and Son's King-Craft in the Jesuits Letter in the Speeches within Doors and without and in the Petitions Debates and Remonstrances after that the King had brought himself and his Honour in Jealousy with the People and the People understood the Circumstances of his Administration and Pressures of his Affairs But to shew there were some Dispositions to Agreement the King 's granting the Petition of Right had almost reconciled and soften'd all these Discontents and Misunderstandings till the Old Bone was thrown in again and the Business that unhappy Business of the Duke of Buckingham resumed which caused Ill-natur'd Reflections and in which perhaps all Parties were too stiff Hence the Old Game was plaid over again This set up the Dispute of Tunnage and Poundage this Prorogued the Parliament and after many Exorbitant Bickerings about Religion and Levying this Duty or Branch of the Revenue the Blood was put into such a ferment that although the Duke of Buckingham was gone the Parliament was dissolved in a heat It is pretty hard to find an Impartial Comment on the Transactions of these Times By what appears no doubt some Members of the House of Commons had behaved themselves insolently enough but to do Justice on the other hand there was some provocation on the King's Part not only before but after the Death of the Duke of Buckingham The preferring Montague to a Bishoprick for his Appello Caesarem and Manwaring to another Good Benefice with a Dispensation in contradiction to the Parliament who had Censured and perpetually disabled him for the future to Ecclesiastical Preferment in the Church of England and taking Laud into so peculiar favour as in pious Memory of the Duke of Buckingham for otherwise he had been obnoxious to Censure justly and making Weston Treasurer who died a Papist and Windebank afterwards Secretary of State Besides these Odd Promotions the Malicious and hard Prosecution of the Merchants even to Ruin for not paying the Customs and the little Overtures which were discover'd for breaking Parliaments for the future and to set up Something in Imitation of the Assembly des Notables for he always collogued with the Lords to introduce what should be very like Arbitrary Power These were all things of ill digestion and did not look like Touches of a Complexion with a Limited Monarchy I take no notice of the Affairs in Scotland nor of some Intervening Transactions at Home which are Mysterious and prov'd Unfortunate though they might bear a candid Construction with some The Business of Ship-Money was the Invention of his Attorney-General Noy and the Project was backt with the Opinion of all the Judges obiter and confirm'd by the Judgment of Ten of them on mature Deliberation But how unhappily soever that Affair was resented and succeeded at last this at least must be said in vindication of the King That he did apply the Money to the true Use did equip a Gallant Fleet with it whereupon our Trade was not only made secure by scowring the Seas of Pyrates but in asserting the Honour of the English Nation saved Flanders from being swallowed up between the French and Dutch rescued the Fishery from the Incroachment of the latter by seizing or dispersing their Busses which were fishing on our Coasts and made them petition humbly for what they before by force of Grotius and by force of Arms arrogantly asserted and claim'd as a Right and thus maintain'd the Dominion of the Seas and advanc'd the Reputation of the Kingdom Abroad But we will now come again to the Church which first and last disorder'd the Scene of Affairs in the State Here we see the Misfortune of a Popish Match which renders all Things and Persons suspected and gives a latitude for Enemies to work by Mines who could not have hurt Us by Batteries This makes an Archbishop who was guilty only of Pride and Rashness suspected for Popery also Whilst Cardinal Richlieu behind the Curtain and Nuntio's Priests and Jesuits in Masquerade blow up the Coals till they had kindled the Nation into a War and not only that but their Priests personally engage in it for fear it should not effectually be carried on unless they were in it on both Sides That these things are true is past all doubt and as to the last it appears by Mentet Hist de Troubles de Grand Britain who must be admitted to be a Faithful Author on this Account And here we are launch'd into a troubled Sea here I desire to draw the Curtain for all the rest of this Unfortunate King's Life is too Troubled and Stormy for Calm Remarks of Policy His Consideration came too late I believe even from the first want of it the first foundations of Jealousy were so strong that all the other subsequent Debates could signify nothing towards Satisfaction all the consequential Meetings and Parliaments were Tumults rather than Counsels after the Scotch Air of Sedition blew this way the first false Measures are seldom or never to be retriev'd All this King 's subsequent Actions could never absolutely undeceive his People they must still believe him Popishly affected though they were almost convinc'd he was not a Papist 'T is impossible to dispossess an enraged Multitude and difficult to satisfy generous Minds under prepossessions and prejudices of Opinion The Wounds were too deep for a gentle Cure I presume not to Arraign or Justify his Conduct He seems to have been a better Man than King and a better Churchman than he was believed to be 'T is evident beyond possibility of doubt that he was charged falsly with being a Papist But when a Man has brought himself to the circumstances of Trimming between two Extremes he is in danger of being Crush'd by Both. And that had been King James's Fate no doubt had he been link'd to a Papist as well as his Son whereas had King Charles Married one of the same Persuasion neither his own Trimming nor his Father's would have hurt him but having Married a Papist his Father's Insincerity and Priest-craft Ruined the Son without descending upon him For Popish Priests so long as we Harbour them will sting one way or other Henry the III d and IVth of France fell by the Hands of a couple of Priests upon another sort of suspicion but Ours at second hand from Priests who were not contented only to Kill him unless they Destroyed the Constitution also Hard Circumstances of this poor King to be pursued by the Fanatick Party as giving too great Countenance to Papists and by the Papists for not giving them enough and not coming up to answer their Expectations This I take to be the Case and this the true Consequence of
this or nothing This and those which Mezeray reports to have preceded the Death of Henry the IVth of France particularly that Ticket which a Priest found upon an Altar at Montargis giving notice that the King would be Assassinated his Horoscopes which determined the Year of his Life and even the Queen 's own Dream that the King was Stabbing with a Knife to pass by all others relating to this and other Occasions must import this at least to use Mezeray's own Words who I believe was no more Superstitious this way than my self That there is a Sovereign Power which Disposes of Futurity since it so certainly Knows and Foretels it But this Subject is not my Part. Nevertheless in truth there appears to have been some extraordinary Conjunctions of the Planets or something more Extraordinary which gave that extravagant Turn to Powers here below not only in Europe but other remote parts of the World and put sublunary Motions in such a Ferment about these Times as was evident in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland Spain Germany France Portugal and Naples and the Hurly-burlies and Revolutions there and in several other Parts but also between the Tartars and Chineses and in the Empire of the Great Mogul between Cha-gehan and his Four Sons especially Aureng-zeb the Story whereof is Famous and you may Read it at large in Tavernier Which Aureng-zeb Sir William Temple calls a Fanatick and compares to Cromwell as if all such strains of Empire were Enthusiastical like that of the Great Turk But to return to take my leave of King Charles Morally speaking I think the Queen was the Chief Occasion of all those Misfortunes which attended Him and the Nation for there is no reason the Welfare of a Kingdom should hang at a King's Codpiece The King 's Marrying a Papist gave the suspicion of Popery and the suspicion brought in Popery in Earnest CHARLES II. AS to the first Twelve Years of the Nominal Reign of this King 't was such a Farce of Policy and Government that it Libels the Chronicle and I believe he had been sooner in his Throne if he had never made a Step to help himself by the Disturbance of those who usurp'd his Place I wish for his Honour in the beginning he had not intermedled with the Action of Montross during the Treaty with the Scots it reflected some Aspersion upon his Sincerity and he only sacrificed one Friend's Life and the Reputation of others and thereby prejudiced his own Interest for the present But I know that Business hath also another Face and therefore I pass by that and some other Occurrences to proceed to his own Administration after he was Crowned in England Which I shall touch but very slightly neither as slightly as he did the Interests of the Nation the History of these Times being fresh in every one's Memory I am very much at a loss considering the different Opinions of him and his Inconsistency with himself with what Character to introduce this King to his Government If he was a Protestant when he came over to Us as all his fine Declarations c. import surely the Devil ow'd Us a shame pardon the Expression that we should blunder on a Popish Match again at first dash Here was a loose given to the Papist and Fanatick to play their Old Game over again and he put himself under a necessity of Suspition with his People once more For let a Prince make what Gracious Speeches he pleases his Actions will be always more significant and speak plainer than his Declarations Hence this Dilemma became entailed either he doth answer the Expectations of the Papists or not If he doth and gives them any Assurances c. his own People are upon his Skirts If not then he is attack'd by the Indefatigable Plots and Attempts of the Jesuits and that Party In the mean time in what a blessed Condition of Settlement is a Nation It can never be at quiet I shall not pretend to dive into the Mysteries of one Plot or t'other let them stand on their own Bottom in the validity of the Records No doubt there always hath been a Popish Plot of one sort or other more or less as our Kings have given them a helping hand ever since the Reformation and I believe ever will be so long at least as our Kings manage Affairs as they did for the Four last Reigns And for ought I know too there may have been a Fanatick Plot ever since Calvin's time and will continue as long as Kingly Government and Church-Hierarchy are in fashion Neither shall I trouble my self to enquire which Plot was the Agressor which Plaintiff which Defendant which the Original and which the Counter-plot But between them both this King had reduced himself to a pretty Condition of Trouble if any thing could be so to him by his Trimming a Quality which was scouted in the Subject For in the Popish Plot he was to be taken off for not being a Papist or at least for not coming up to their Expectations of him and by the Fanatick Plot he was to be Blunderbuss'd and destroy'd for being a Papist and favouring their Designs too much But to determine the precedence of these Plots I think the Popish Plot first appeared upon the Stage against him and it is thought attended him at his Exit though he died of their own Persuasion I mean the Popish was the first Plot of Quality for I take no notice of such little Things as the Extravagant Matter of Venner or that in the North which was but a Fag-end of that in Ireland and scarce then setled nor of any thing of that nature which happen'd before the Year 1670. I do not find any Plot of Consequence till after the Acts of Parliament against Dissenters not taking notice of the Act of Vniformity or that against Quakers but not till after that against Dissenting Preachers in Corporations that against Conventicles which came after the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and as far as I can see without any great provocation which Acts as they themselves speak were grounded chiefly on Surmise and Suspition Thus was he fain to shuffle on sometimes in the form of Persecution against Dissenters sometimes in that of Toleration and Indulgence to them and their Tender Consciences so that Religion grew a meer State-Weather Cock as Circumstances happen'd and turn'd as Court Cabals mov'd now one way now another Whereas if he had come over a True Church-of-England Man as he pretended to profess himself he might have reduced the Church easily enough to some degree of Uniformity and modell'd the Civil Government and Ecclesiastical State to a good Temper having the Military Power in his own hands by the Militia Acts. But I suppose that was not his Business And he discover'd the same Unsteadiness in Civil Matters shifting Ministers and Officers Proroguing and Dissolving Parliaments without apparent Reasons and 't is said for very bad Ones sometimes and at
himself whether Frighted or not is not material upon which the Prince together with his Consort the next Heir Indisputable to the Crown in a full and due Representation of the whole Community and Body of the Kingdom is and are Declared and Appointed King and Queen Now let us see what we have done upon the whole matter to deserve that harsh Language of the Convocation-Book produced by Dr Sherlock Whether we have done more or so much as all other Nations have done in a Case any thing like Ours Whether we have done more than becomes Good Christians or Men of Honour And what it is that stands in our way to hinder or bar such an Attempt and Action First Setting aside at present those Texts of St. Paul and St. Peter which are the only discouraging Impediments and which have been sufficiently as I think answered and avoided by several Pens Upon the Law of Nature no Man I believe can pretend to say here is any Natural Injustice or Moral Injury done Certainly Nature and Reason prompt us to Defend Injuries and to Repel Force Nature will preserve it self in its Being No Man will say a King of England hath power of Life and Death over his Subjects We say he hath no Power other than by the Law of the Land the Moral as well as Legal Consequence must be That we may Defend our Lives against all Assaults 't is the same of Liberty and Property for there is a Meum and Tuum in all Christian Commonwealths as Archbishop Abbot said before subject only to the Laws of the Place therefore I can't defend my self or House against the King Arm'd with Legal Power as upon a Cap. Vtlagatum or upon a Duty due to him c. but I may where I am out of the compass of a Legal Prosecution If the consequence of Self-defence and Preservation be denied it 's vain trifling to talk of Laws and to value our selves upon Living in a Country where the Measures of Right are ascertain'd and the Limits of Government and Subjection the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and the Bow String will be the same if Laws are only a simple Direction for Information and not an Obligation We must owe our Lives c. at this rate to Fortune not to Justice But since the Restoration it 's said we are under another Tie not to take up Arms by the Extravagant Compliment to King Charles the II d and the Declaration pursuant to that Act. Be it so though all Laws made in Extraordinary Heats are not a regular Obligation but let them take that State-Artificial Obligation into the Bargain the King Swears too and this was not designed to let loose the King's Hands and tie the Subjects for all Obligations whether Natural or Artificial are Reciprocal and Mutual and always so taken and understood in common Intendment There can be no other Notion of Justice Natural Moral or Political and whatever Preference and Advantage is allowed to One above the Other 't is an Authority upon Supposition of Care Protection and for Order and centers in the Good of the Community And I think the Lacedemonians had a Law to Punish Parents who did not their Duty towards their Children Let us therefore take in the highest Instance of Obedience and Duty from Children to Parents No Man I suppose will pretend now that a Father may Castrate Sell or Kill a Child the Inference must be That in any Case of such open Violence a Son may Resist a Father in his own necessary Defence and Self-preservation without offering Reproach Injury or Vindictive Force So in the Case of Lunacy in a Parent or any fatal Extravagance no doubt a Son may lay Hands on a Father by way of Restraint and must take a continued Commanding Care over him in case of Relapse c. This is agreed on all hands to be the severest Tie of Obedience and therefore Kings are endeavoured to be brought within the Fifth Commandment to make our Chains the faster not in the mean time considering that they make them looser by putting an inconsistent double Duty upon us Thus we are told Religion stands positively in our way and fetters us with an Absolute Obedience to Kings without Reserve c. It seems hard that Religion should weaken our Arm in Defence of it self and force our Obedience and Submission to Laws and Absolute Power in the same breath For where there is Absolute Power there is no Law and where there are Laws there is no Absolute Power But Scripture is to be our Guide I agree it But what Authority shall I rely on Where shall I apply my self for an Interpreter 'T is manifest our own Church cannot settle me that is divided against it self Some bring Instances from the Old Testament Others tell us That is nothing to the purpose those Kings being by God's Designation c. Some tell us these Texts of St. Peter and St. Paul oblige us to Passive Obedience on peril of Damnation And Others as boldly and magisterially inform us That the New Testament gives no Rules for Submission to Forms of Government but only Rules of Justice Order and Peace That those Texts are nothing to Our purpose for the Apostles spoke to those under Heathen Emperors where Paganism was Established by a Law and that those Texts are to be only Expounded against the Jews who still believed themselves under the Divine Authority and thought they could not become the Subjects of any other Power As to the Scripture-Examples we are Taught by a very great Divine and Bishop not to rely on them and he says Those who place the Obligatory Nature of these Examples from Scripture must either produce the Moral Nature of those Examples or else a Rule binding us to follow those Examples especially when these Examples are brought to found a New positive Law Obliging all Christians Some say in general the Bible is a Miscellaneous Book where Dishonest and Time-serving Men may ever in their loose way find a Text for their purpose Sir Robert Filmer upon the Dispute of the Form of Powers for these Texts are sometimes applied to the Form and sometimes to the Quality of Power takes Power only in the Singular Number Powers in the Plural is a damnable Sin and he will have all Governments but the Patriarchal to be Illegal and Abominable but this is so Extravagant that I think none of our Divines pretend to justify him in it and therefore Others on the contrary are of Opinion That Submit to all Powers infers That all Forms of Government are admitted to be good and do not allow that Power in the Singular is to be taken restrictive and so there is no Authority if not of God and the Authorities which are of God's Institution are ordered under God Sir Robert Filmer Dr Hicks c. will have the Legislative Power to be in the King alone And the First says all Legislative Powers are Arbitrary But where is the necessity for
Exhorters The Practice of the World runs otherwise and the Prospect is too Melancholy where there is no Sunshine in the Landscape If then neither the Historical part of the Old Testament nor the Doctrinal parts of the New nor the certain Authority of Councils or Convocations nor the Extrajudicial Opinions of Divines do unanimously evince our Duty of blind Obedience or Non-resistance under a total subversion of a Constitution in Church and State and the Practice of the Christian World in all places is counter to it Why are these Gentlemen so severe upon us and so resty themselves Lay the Scene in Holland Germany France where a Holy League is no News or Portugal c. Resistance is an Orthodox Doctrine but put the Case at Home it must be Heretical and no less than Damnation Why must English-men be the only Cullyes of Europe and have their hands ti'd Although the Church of England does not pretend to follow the Doctrines of the Church of Rome yet I verily believe they never thought to betray their own Church to that by setting up a contrary Doctrine Suarez de Legibus acquaints us with the Popish Doctrine expresly in this Case viz. That Heathen Kings can't be depriv'd of their power by War unless they abuse it to the Injury of Christian Religion or the Destruction of the Faithful that are under them as is the constant Opinion of Divines meaning of the Church of Rome And again If Infidels have the Faithful for their Subjects and would turn them from the Faith or Obedience of the Church then the Church hath just cause of War against them But for Heretick Princes he says the Church hath Direct power over them and may deprive them in punishment of their Infidelity or Heresy This we saw verified in Queen Elizabeth and she by Advice of her Divines in preservation of Church turn'd the Tables upon them I do not believe any of our Divines are so passive to betray their Church and yield to the Pope or any one commission'd by him their Dignities and Revenues though they Deliver over the Nobility and Gentry to Damnation for preserving them in possession of them I mean they who have taken the Oaths to the Government as a King de facto for I believe the Others who are not come in are more charitable for I confess I have an Honourable pity for them and value them never the less for sticking to something though they are unfortunate and differ from me in Judgment But besides the Business of Religion the Papists ought not to be angry with us for Deposing or Removing a King they are uneasy as soon as others and do not take the Passive Doctrine to be any Restraint upon them even in the ill Administration of a Popish King Witness that Story of the King of Spain in Portugal and the Advance of the Duke of Braganza And here at home to look back and instance only in Edward the II d who as the History says being govern'd by Gaveston and the Spencers murder'd his Uncle Thomas Earl of Lancaster and numbers of Great men The People the Popish People rose against him Imprison'd him and a full Repesentative of the Nation in a solemn manner renounced their Allegiance to him but told him withal they would suffer his Son Edward to succeed which was a favour it seems in those Times Therefore I think the Papists whether they consider their Doctrine or their Practice can't hit us in the Teeth justly Their only Grievance is That the Person is mistaken and doth not prove for their turn And I do not doubt notwithstanding Dr. Sherlock's Settlement they would endeavour to remove King William for King James or any other Popish King again And I can't blame them for it for 't is their Principle but as Gentlemen they ought to give us leave to enjoy our fancy too And so to look into our own Church-men who would seem to mince the matter either in their Principles or Practice They tell us a Story of Licinius and Constantine and endeavour to parallel the first with King James II d and justify the latter for making War upon him by whom they intimate King William but they manage it so scurvily on and off that one knows not where to have them they would and they would not as if they were asham'd of their Passive Doctrine and yet asham'd to quit it The Bishop of A. allows a Foreign Prince to make War upon Another who prosecutes his Subjects for Religion if the Religion be his that makes War for that reason and what is this more than hath been said before But Puffendorf speaks boldly and allows also Subjects to use an Absolute Prince as an Enemy if he discovers an Hostile Mind towards them We keep a Clutter withour filial Obedience to the Patriarchal Power c. But Puffendorf grounds even the Paternal Power over Children upon their presum'd Consent and says 't is admitted Sons may when they come of Age chuse whether they will be under their Father's Government or not And here by way of Parenthesis a Man might raise an unlucky Dispute Whether there be any Government Legal and Rightful but what is only obtain'd by Consent For if this be true it will go a great way in the Argument even of their Patriarchal Power which for this reason cannot be Absolute and no Other way can give any Right at all for Conquest is but an overgrown Trespass upon the Possession and Right of another And if there be no Government but by Consent of the Governed whether the People's Consent will carry a Government farther without a subsequent and continued Approbation And the Consequence of that when we Swear Allegiance to a King be not that it is to be understood no farther than he governs by Law and that our Allegiance is due to Law not to the person of a King Whether these Considerations may not be offer'd with as good a Colour as some others have been Whether Kings do not mean this when the consent of the People is ask'd Or whether they mean nothing Whether 't is not understood by the consent c. We might also enquire how our Gentlemen came to be wiser and more scrupulous in their Allegiance than their Forefathers And what Titles William the II d Henry I st K. John K. Stephen Henry IVth Vth VIth and VIIth had if not by Consent We might farther ask them If this Patriarchal Despotick Absolute Power be the Right of Kings and Non-Resistance is not Lawful upon any occasion whatsoever Why they are not Unanimous in their Doctrine And what Lay-men are to do when there is a Schism in the Church But these may be thought invidious Queries But what if these Passive-Gentlemen are not consistent with themselves 'T is plain our Divines here were not so stiff to the first Motions of the Prince's Attempts for our Rescue He himself tells us that Several of the Lords Spiritual as as Temporal were in the