by himself to be Irreligious is the true Foundation of our new Government Hitherto he has begged the whole Question and supposed the present Governours to be rightful and lawful King and Queen and now after he has done this he sets himself to prove it Certainly this Man's Logick is very extraordinary If it might be supposed it needed not to be proved and if it could be well proved it needed not have been supposed Yet this Gentleman to make this sure Work will needs do both though the Method he takes to do this be very preposterous his special Gift of Reasoning by a neat Figure called Hysteron Proteron sets the Cart before the Horse and first supposes it and then goes about to prove it The Question says he p. 9. is not whether rightful lawful Kings are to be obeyed but wâ—o in our Circumstances is our rightful lawful Sovereign And so he addresses himself to settle King William's Title and put it beyond all dispâ—te which being so rare a Sight and so great a Novelty and Curiosity it may deservedly challenge our best Attention especially it being withal our real-Interest For I cannot think that any Man of the least degree of Wit would undergo outward Disquiets Dangers and Inconveniences in not submitting heartily to this present Government if his Conscience would let him be quiet within Let us see then what we in Reason and Conscience think of this new Title to what was most evidently by Gâ—d's and Man's Law too another Man 's Right That Party that stickled to make the Prince of Orange King do hold that the People have the Power to make and unmake the supreme Magistrate and so they fix his Title upon the Creation of the People and make account the same People by virtue of the same Power can limit his Authority and annihilate it again as one of them profest openly in the House of Commons Nay this was the only Reason and Interest they had or could have to make him King for the Commonalty of whom they pretend to be the best Patrons were not at all burthened with Taxes under King Iames and withall themselves enjoy'd Liberty of Conscience and lastly had more than should have fallen to their share in Places and Offices And what could they wish more except the pulling down Monarchy ten Pegs lower and dwindling it into a Duke of Venice Which could not be while the legal King governed but might they hop'd be easily brought about when themselves had the making and consequently the modelling of their new Magistrate For 't is but reasonable that they who give and bestow a Thing should give as much and as little of it as they please But this Plot was carried too openly which obliged the House of Lords fearing their Ruine by a Common-wealth rather to vote any new King at a venture than become Slaves to the People Nor would a precarious Authority satisfie a Genius that naturally aimed at being Absolute So when they had given all the Money that they thought could well be raised without an extreme Wrong to the common Good of the People they were packs away and home they went gnashing their Teeth that they should be so Silly as to bring themselves into a Noose they could not untie and which in time might come to hang their Liberty Property and if they should dare to mutter too rudely their Persons too Thus that First Title fell which served well enough while the Young Government was yet in its Swaddling-clouts but when it became bigger it out-grow it as Children do their Cloaths After this our Church of England Men who all this while stood Trembling left this new King being in his Inclination a perfect Presbyterian and the Creature of their Adversaries should come to ever-ever-power them and trample on them finding that Things did not coâ—â—on well between the ungrateful Sovereign and these his disgusted Subjects but that they grew weary of one another judged it was now their time to strike in Wherefore they offered him their most humble Serâ—ice which being accepted they laught in their Sleeves at the poor baffled Presbyterians telling them after an upbraiding and scornful Manner You would needs give us a King whether we would or no and now we will keep him up whether you will or no. So all this was done not out of Love to him for he has the ill luck to have few Personal Lovers but for fear of the opposite Party and to secure themselves against their emulous Competitours or revenge themselves upon them If then Title as it ought be that which gives and upholds Authority his best Title after he had now got rid of the hanck the Presbyterians had upon him next to that of the Confederacy owning him for his Money and Assistance which now begins to knock off was in reality The Feud between our Church and Dissenters Which Two made up a Second and a Third Title to prop up by turns this feeble Authority Money then they voted him and to engratiate themselves by out-bidding the others full thrice as much as the Dissenters had done so that the Nation was half begger'd by his Transporting it beyond Sea to hire Foreign Soldiers and bribe the Confederates and yet though they thus pleasured him by lavishing away the Money and Riches of the Nation all the Title he could obtain of them unanimously was to be only King de Facto and not de Iure Which encouraged Dr. Sherlock who stood watching his Advantage to face about and build this New and Fourth Title upon the Events of Providence or to use an Expression less blasphemous and more proper for a Rueling Authority on the Wheel of Fortune But the poor Man was so baffled for this new Notion of his particularly by the Author of the Trimming Court Divine and more largely and unanswerably by those two learned and acute Treatises Entituled The Duty of Allegiance settled upon its true Grounds according to Scripture Reason and the Opinion of the Church and by Dr. Sherlock's Case of Allegiance considered with some Remarks upon his Vindication that 't is his best play to sit down with silence and be content to lull his Conscience with his Deanry without awaking or disquieting it by thinking how to answer them lest it start up in his Face and disturb his peaceful and comfortable Enjoyments of his new Acquisitions for I dare challenge him particularly in the behalf of the two latter of those three Treatises that he is so shamefully confuted that he has not one starting-hole left for his Credit to escape by And yet I must tell him That unless he answers them fully he Cheats the Government and is bound in Conscience to make Restitution of his Deanry For why should he be so bountifully paid for weaving a Piece which when it comes to be well lookt into is so full of Bracks Stains and Holes that 't is useless and good for nothing Thus the Fourth Title of a King de Facto
may have Learning enough to use those Four ordinary Words none of them being artificial Law Terms but such honest English as every Gentleman that converses with Persons above the lowest Rank is capable of understanding and using But this candid Gentleman seeing his Cause could not be maintained but by Tricks for this whole turn of Government was nothing but a Trick of Policy disjoyns by his Discourse illiterate from unskill'd in the Law and refers the Four cramp Words to the former and his passing a peremptory Iudgment about our Laws to the latter and when he has done he tells us very sadly one may justly wonder at it and indeed it is very wonderful For to play so many jugling Tricks in so little room wresting almost every Word 'till he has made it crooked and then gracing every Flam he gives us with such a demure Hypocrisie is altogether Monstrous He tells us p. 9. That the Loyal Martyr design'd two Things To assert his Principles and to testifie his Innocency and he sets himself to prove that he did neither As for the former he grants that by the Faith of the Church of England Mr. Ashton meant the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and then confutes him most learnedly by telling us That he suffered not for Passive Obedience but for want of it and that had he regulated his Life by this Principle he had preserved it Did ever any Man's Reason turn tail so aukwardly The constant Doctrine of the Church of England was Passive Obedience to a lawful King and he is the lawful King according to the Constitution of our Government who has Title to it by immediate Succession Now comes this acute Gentleman and pretends without Shame or Wit that the Doctrine of the Church of England is not Passive Obedience to the legal King whom all the World did ever acknowledge for such in their clear unbâ—ass'd and 〈◊〉 in us Thoughts but to anoâ—her who has dispossest this legal King of his Kingdom and whose Title is quite annulled by our English Laws nor own'd by any but some of those who got their Advantages in doing so or who dare not do otherwise And then after he had prevaâ—icated thus eg egiously he teâ—ls us very gravely That certainly there must be some gâ—eaâ— mistakes about the Doctrines and Principles of our Church Whereas if there be any 't is manifestly on his side but to say the plain Truth there is no mistake at all even on his side but an open Prevarication and a wilful shuffling and shifting the whole Subject of the Church of England's Tenet making our Passiâ—e Obedience regard not only a wrong but an opposite Object which is to make the Principles of our Church face abâ—ut with the Times and point as a Weather-cock does to the Wind to a Dispossessour of the true Prince so he gets but Power enough to make himself a strong Party and keep under or Murther by his new Laws and new Judges those who dare be Loyal He pretends that The Doctrines and Principles of our Church are to be found in the Articles and Constitutions of it If he means that only some of them are found there it reaches not home to his purpose But if he means that All the Doctrines of Faith which our Church holds are found there he shews himself to be very weak Sure he cannot forget that God's written Word and it only is our intire and adequate Rule of Faith and that the best Interpreter of it for us to follow is the most unanimous Exposition of it avow'd by the Doctrine of our Church-men and the agreeable and constant Practice of our Church If then he would prove that our Church does not hold Passive Obedience and Indispensable Allegiance to our lawful King upon our Rule of Faith that is does not hold it part of her Faith he should have produced such and so many genuine grave and eminent Members of one Church as are beyond Exception who have unanimously declared themselves to understand the Scripture in an opposite Sense and upon that ground held the contrary I except always from that Number Dr. Sherlock who is so flexible a Complier with every side that I fear he is of no side and ready to be of any as God-Mâ—mmon shall inspire him by proposing a good fat Deanry or some such irresistible Temptation As for the Practice of our Church giving us light to know her Faith it cannot be possibly manifested better than by her Carriage towards King Charles II. in the Protector 's days who had Abdicated twiâ—e if the leaving England to avoid danger to his Person might be called Abdicating and there was another actual supreme Governor who had got all the Power into his Hands and so was Providentially Settled in Dr. Sherlock's Sense yet none of the genuine Sons of our Church flincht from their Allegiance to their King in those happy days when honest Principles as yet unantiquated made our Church shine gloriously even in the midst of Persecution but all adher'd to their legal King though all of them suffered in their Estates and many lost their Lives rather than forego their Duty But as our Author told us formerly that Mr. Ashton died for want of that Passive Obedience which the Church of England holds so he tells us here that he might have believed himself obliged by his Religion to look upon his rightful lawful Prince whatever his Principles were or his Practices might be as God's Vicegerent and accountable to God only from whom he received his Power All this says he he might have done and have been alive still because as he contends King William was his rightful lawful Prince So that it seâ—ms let King William be of what Principles he will even though he were as zealous a Papist as King Iames or let his Practices be what they will even to the Subverting all our Liberties Properties nay the most Fundamental Laws of the Land still we are to believe our selves obliged by our Religion to look upon him as on God's Vicegerent accountable to God only and consequently to obey him as such Which ridiculous Partiality overthrows a good part of his Book and makes all the Deserters and fiâ—st Adherers to the Prince of Orange and the whole Parliament that set him up for their King and the Consent of the Nation he talks of to be Irreligious and Wicked For since King Iames was confessedly at that time their rightful lawful King nor can he be pretended to have worse Principles and Practices than those mentioned which comes within the compass of his whatever his Principles are or his Practices might be and this Man confesses that notwithstanding all this they were obliged by their Religion to submit to him as God's Vicegerent it follows unavoidably that we are to believe they violated the Principles of Religion in the highest Degree who deserted him opposed him turned him out and set up a Stranger in his stead Yet this Action of theirs confest
with another to prevent his utter Overthrow and Destruction and in such a case for wise and politick Ends to stop the exorbitant and dangerous Growth of a potent Neighbour and for the same Prince to take away another Prince's Crown because he is uneasie and ungratefull to his Subjects Yet after such fallacious Inferences our Author with his wonted Modesty adds Let those who now with as much Ignorance as Confidence upbraid Men with Renouncing the Doctrines and Principles of the Church of England read and consider these Passages and if any thing will make them more wise and humble this will He contends all along to prove from those Instances which are of several Independent Governours and so relate to the Law of Nations that this Proceeding of the Prince of Orange is not repugnant to the Doctrines and Principles of the Church of England p. 15. and more particularly afterwards from the Homilies p. 21 22. which say we are bound to obey a Heathen Tyrant and to pray for him from the Jews who were commended to pray for the King of Babylon and for obeying Augustus lastly from our Saviour's acknowledging the Roman President 's Power and Authority as given him from God Nay he argues a fortiori p. 21. from the Homilies thus If they and consequently the Church of England declare we are bound by God's Word to obey a Heathen Tyrant much more ought we by the Doctrines and Principles of our Church to pay Allegiance to good and religious Princes c. This is the full force of his Argument why we ought to pay Allegiance to the present Governours But first We cannot think thâ—m good and religious whilst we see they have wilfully broken and obstinately continue to break God's holy Commandments the Observing of which is the best Test of Goodness and Religion Next he leâ—ves the main Point which Dr. Sherlock mentions out of his Convocations that are better Declarers of the Church of England's Doctrine than the Homilies That the Authority of all those Conquerours was to be thoroughly settled so that there was no morâ—l Possibility the former Governour in case he had been alive could evâ—r by himself or his Friends be restored and therefore we seldom or never hear that any of such ejected or subdued Sovereigns did ever struggle for their Kingdoms or went about to recover them Hâ—w this suits with our preseâ—t Câ—se where the former supreme Governour is living did ever and does still claim it pursues the Recovery of it has a most potent Monarch abroad for his Friend who espouses his Quarrel has engaged his Honour he will either restore him to his Crown or lose his own is easie to be discerned But moreover which is nâ—â—ess material in this Business King Iames has great Parties in each of the three Nations who do not acknowledge thâ— present Governours and look upon them as unjust Vsurpers of their Father's Right Besides which alters the Case extremely here was no Conquest or subduing England by Force nay no War at all exercised upon it His bad Cause forces this mercenary Writer to shuffle to and fro and pretend now one Thing now another but all of them when they come to be scann'd and applied equally to no purpose Conquest he dares not call it in down right Terms for fear of disgusting all England by making us all Slaves yet those Instances of Rightfall Power which he brings and would have us think to be parallel to this New Government and proper to aâ—et it were all true Successes in War and by consequence perfect Conquests 'T is easie to discern by these Hints what he would be at and not hard to conjecture what Title though they have agreed of none hitherto they intend at length to pitch upon finally unless the Patriots of the Subjects Liberty do in time restrain such audacious Attempts Thus far in Answer to his settling King William's Title which being shown to be incoherent and ill grounded in every Regard it follows that Mr. Ashton suffered for a Righteous Cause and for his due Allegiance to his true Sovereign which entitles him to the Honour of a glorious Martyr and this in case he had endeavoured to make way for his Master's Restauration It remains to vindicate his Paper from those other petty Exceptions this Gâ—ntleman makes against it He denies p. 24. that King Iames's Usage after the Prince of Orange's Arrival was very hard severe and unjust Let the World judge A Council was held at Windsor upon Notice of the King 's being in hold at Feversham where it was debated whether or no he should be sent to the Tower And 't is well known who they were that voted in the Affirmative But the Prince having laid his Design feared that if the King staid here some Accommodation would be made so he sent Monsieur Zuylisten to tell him he would have him to stay at Rochester which being a Port Town and towards the Sea might afford him opportunity to escape out of England The Message mist him so he returned to White-hall The next Night the Prince of Orange sent three Lords to him at Midnight to tell him he would have him remove by Ten the next Morning to Ham a place very unlikely to be approved of there being as the King objected neither Furniture nor Provisions for him and therefore as he expected he moved for his Return to Rochester which after his sitting an hour in his Barge waiting his Pleasure was granted And thither he was pack'd away in great State with Dutch Myrmidons now to the eternal Shame of English Suâ—jects their King's Gaolers under whom he suffered Hardship enough but he was not allowed out of his own Exchequer one Farthing to bear his Charges The King had before this sent him a Message by the Earl of Feversham offering to settle all things in Parliament to His and the Kingdom 's Satisfaction Now had the Prince of Orange meant sincerely in what he pretended and come onely for the Good of the Nation what could he have wished more But what would have obliged and sweetened another did highly exasperate him for he relish'd this Condescendence of his soâ—ll being indeed unsuitable to the ambitious Aim he proposed to himself that first contrary to the Law of Nations he made his Ambassadour Prisoner and thâ—n sent his Worshipfull Command at Midnight to his Father to be gone out of his own Palace to a Prison for they told him a Guard was appointed for him at Ham-house whither the Prince of Orange ordered him to go the next Morning enough to let the King see what he was to expect He tells the Prince of Orange could have prevented his going away true But then he feared the Nation would only reduce King Iames not depose him much less chuse another their own King being present it was therefore thought more Politick to fright him away and then pretend Abdication and the Necessity of a new Government which he knew well as he and
from doing what he pleases though they cut off from the Sinner all reasonable Hopes of the Relaxation or Mitigation of them p. 16. Of what comfortable Importance this Doctrine may be to some and how necessary under our present Circumstances let any one judge 'T is impossible Men should have perpetrated such abominable Villanies as have been lately transacted to the Amazement of all that have the least Sense of Piety or Honour left unless their Minds had been first debauched with these or the like Principles He that will audaciously violate the sacred Commands of God acknowledged such by the Church of England his own Subscriptions Oaths and Preaching must necessarily fansie some secret Reserves of Mercy in the Breast of the Almighty for the Authors and Abetters of such horrid Crimes upon some Occasions which will not suffer his Justice to pass upon them in another World or some extraordinary Relaxations or Mitigations of future Torments The first seems to be despaired of because there is small Hopes of Repentance left the Scriptures for that very Reason perhaps amongst many others comparing Rebellion to the Sin of Witchcraft the latter therefore is pitch'd upon as most congruous to carnal-minded Men who to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season and not willing to go to Heaven through Tribulations and Afflictions do rather chuse to undergo a future Puâ—ishment especially if it consists onely as to its Perpetuity in a bare Exclusion from Eternal Happiness Serm. p. 15. Now I say such a Series of Villany as has been hitherto and shall be farther exposed being altogether inconsistent with the Principles of Christianity which this accursed Generation of Monsters had not long since most zealously professed they found it as necessary to Abdicate their Saviour and his Precepts as well as their King and his Rights as far as they durst The first thing they did was to ridicule and blasphemously expose the Doctrine of the Cross and if they could have drawn over the Majority of the Convocation to their Party the next thing they design'd was to have expunged out of the Liturgie the Athanasian Creed which was in effect to have denied the Divinity of our Saviour leâ—t they should have been charged with Rebellion against God as well as their King if all Power be derived from the second Person of the Trinity as Mediator and all lawful Kings whether Christians Heathens or Mahometans be his Vicegerents and he hath the Dispâ—sal of their Crowns and the Command of their Power and doth actually employ and makes use of it in the Prosecution of the righteous Ends of â—is Government as Doctor Scot has learnedly proved in his Christian Life Part. 3. As it appeared necessary to reform the Doctrines of Christianity to make them square the better with their late Practice so likewise to procure an Alteration amongst our Ecclesiastical Governours too it being as much for the Interest of this upstart Government the Metropolitan should be an Vsurper as the supreme Governour in the Civil State Like Bishop like King being as true a Maxim now a No Bishop no King heretofore If the Metropolitical See had been realâ—y void this present nominal Archbishop was unqualified for it being esteem'd an Heretick and by the 84th Canon of the Apostles as being an actual Rebel who ought to be deposed or degraded from his Priesthood and though in the present juncture he cannot be convicted and sentenced yet his Crimes being so notorious all that understand them ought not in Conscience to own him as a Christian Bishop or hold Communion with him according to the 33d Canon of the Laodicean Council that we ought not to pray or communicate with Schismaticks or Hereticks Of what grand Concern these particulars are let every good Christian seriously consider and lay to heart Now it is that Poison is poured out into our Church therefore it 's high time for us to avoid the Contagion according to that excellent Advice of St. Cyprian Keep at a Distance from the Infection of such Men by fleeing from them and shun their Conversation as you would the Cancer or Plague according to the Premonition of our Lord Mat. 15.14 They be blind Leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind c. Let them perish by themselves who are willing to perish let them alone remain without the Church who have forsaken the Church Epist. 40. ad Plebem c. How can these Men pretend to be Guides to others who keep to no certain Path themselves What certainty can there be in their Doctrines when they vary thâ—m with their Interest and ever calculate them to serve a turn Therefore none ought to communicate with them who value the Salvation of their Souls and are not willing to partake of their Guilt and Punishment The Doctrines and Duties of our holy Religion have the Spirit of Truth and Holiness for their Author and like him are always the same without any shadow of Change But from what Spirit must these bold Attempts upon Common Christianity proceed Holloixius in his Defence of Origen lib. 3. cap. 6. cites several Passages out of his Writings wherein he assigns a different evil Spirit to every Vice or Sin which he calls inimicas adversarias Virtutes and delivers this Notion among the rest There seems to me says he to be an infinite number of contrary Powers or Spirits because in almost every Man there are certain Spirits which incite and provoke him to the Commission of divers Sins E.g. There is a Spirit of Fornication and a Spirit of Anger a Spirit of Avarice and a Spirit of Pride and if it happens that any Man be acted by all these or more Sins he is to be look'd upon as possessed by so many or more Enemies or evil Spirits Surely then according to this Opinion of Origen Legion must have taken Possession in some of the Grandees of this new schisinatical Church of England How obvious is it for any but those who are infatuated and spiritually blind to discern the Spirit of Rebellion Ambition and Emulation the Spirit of Heresie Schism and Persecution the Spirit of Blasphemy Lying Slandering and Apostacy reigning and triumphing among them This word Apostacy I am very sensible will found very harsh in their Ears but let any sober and unprejudiced Person seriously consult the several Acceptations of the Word among sacred and prophane Authors and he will soon be convinced that it will be no easie Task for these Gentlemen to purge themselves from the imputation of it Grotius in his Appendix to his Commentaries de Antichristo tell us thâ—t by Apostacy is understood all kinds of Hostility or Conâ—umacy against a Superiour who has the Right of Commanding and proves it from several Texts of Scripture Sometimes it signifies a Defection or a Revolt see Suidas and Stephanus In its common acceptation amongst Christian Writers a Departure from the Faith by going over to Heresie c. Maimonides as he is
cited by Hottinger in his Thesaur Phil log l. 1. c. 1. s. 3. amongst the several Distinctions of Apostates among the Iews reckons those who taught or sollicited others to sin I shall not make a particular Application of these significations of the word Apostacy to the forementioned Persons I onely refer the Reader to their Sermons and other Discourses their very Prayers and Practices it being so easie to be observed by the meanest Capacity but shall onely add this following Remark as an Illustration of what has been just now charged upon them If the Abrenunciation and the solemn Stipulation to keep God's holy Will and Commandments c. before Baptism were the real Tests of the Faith and Sincerity of the Candidate by which he was obliged to deny himself and to take up his Cross i.e. to forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children Lands and Possessions and to lay down even his very Life when ever they should come in competition with his Duty and we cannot ordinarily be called to the Performance of this our Vow and Covenant but under unrighteous and persecuting Princes then it follows clearly that by our entring into Christianity we have tied up our hands by our own solemn Act from making any forcible Resistence against our supreme Governours upon any pretence whatsoever and that the Doctrine of the Cross or Passive Obedience is a fundamental Doctrine or Principle of the Christian Religion and lastly that whosoever teach or practice otherwise are Renegadoes and Apostates from Christianity it self This was very near the Assertion of Dr. Burnet himself in his Sermon on Rom. 13. v. 5. p. 36. But blessed be God our Church hates and condemns this Doctrine viz. of deposing and resisting of Kings from what hand soever it come and hath established the Rights and Authority of Princes on sure and unalterable Foundations enjoining an entire Obedience to all the lawful Commands of Authority and an absolute Submission to that supreme Power which God hath put in our Sovereigns Hands This Doctrine we justly glory in and if any that had their Education in our Church have turned Renegadoes from this they proved no less Enemies to the Church her self than to the Civil Authority so that their Apostacy leaves no blame on our Church If this be the Case as we have all the Reason in the World to think so it 's plain and evident to any ordinary Understanding That these Men are not true Church of England Divines as they would have all the World believe neither is the Church in Possession any more to be esteemed the True Legal Ancient Church of England than the Donatists of Old were to be accounted the only Catholick Church Their Priesthood is now become Schismatical having erected Altar against Altar their Liturgy Blasphemous and Diabolical wherein they address themselves to God as the Author and Fountain of all unjust Power the Patron of Injustice and the grand Protector and Encourager of the Notorious Violators of his most sacred Laws What is this but with the most impudent and horrid Blasphemy that ever was heard of to beseech the Almighty to divest himself of his most glorious Attributes and to enter into a League with Hell it self for the support and maintenance of all their detestable Impieties What have they now to say Confusion and Shame must cover them who are the Scandal and Reproach of the Pure and Undefiled Religion they should profess Thousands of these could not say though in reality the well known pretence of most that they swore for Bread God forgive them they durst not trust Providence wanted the Courage to give a good Example or to teach their Flocks the danger of Perjury They sinned against God and his Anointed and their own Souls and knew they did so In the preceeding Age we can scarce name a Dignifi'd Clergy-man or any Person Eminent for Piety and Learning in either of the Universities in City or Country who were not outed their Benefices for refusing to take the Covenant or Engagement but now the great Body of the Clergy have been observed to renounce their Allegiance and worship the Idol of the Hogans Indeed out of this Number we must except the Most Reverend the Metropolitan and Seven of his Right Reverend Brethren and the other Clergy and Loyal Fellows in the Universities who have not defiled themselves with the Abominations of their Apostate Brethren whose Virtue and Piety is the only Thing left to attoneâ— for these loud and crying Sins of our Clergy and who incessantly like Abraham intercede with Almighty God to avert his Judgments from this sinful Nation and which the Perjury and Apostacy and the general Defection gives but too sad an occasion to fear hangs over our Heads In short whatever hopes we may conceive of ever seeing the true Church of England flourish in its true Lustre and Purity we must owe it next to the infinite Mercy of God to those never enough applauded Heroes of our Church the true Arch-bishop of Canterbury and those ejected Bishops c. who have stood in the Gap of Schism and borâ—â— up Loyally against the all over-bearing Torrent of the prevaricating Party who have preferred the Peace and Comfort of a good Conscience before all wordly Honour and Interest and fear'd the offending their good God more than their own certain Ruine from ill natured Men. How will these glorious Lights of our Church and true Servants of the living God shine after their Tryal is over past when the Adorer's of Mammon those interloping Arch bishops Bishops and those other mean spiritted Worldlings who preferred their Profit before their Honesty shrink look dim and pale with Guilt and at length their Candlesticks being removed from them come to be utterly extinguish'd and go out like an ill scenting Snuff Some Instances he brings p. 26. to shew we are not singular in Perjury and Rebellion He tells us that the Law of the Land and of Nations require us to swear Allegiance to him who is in Possession Which lame Pretence is answered fully over and over in the forenamed Books against Dr. Sherlock only this Gentleman's Assertion is more raw than his for he proceeds upon quiet Possession as do also our Lawyers whom he speaks of and would have quoted if he durst But this Man makes account that bare Possession however qualified gives Title to our Allegiance nay obliges us to swear it too which we cannot do unless we can safely swear that this Discourse of his is Convictive which Iâ—le be sworn is most pernicious Nonsense and would if followed pervert all the settled Order of Mankind and all Right in the World To assert that mere Possession of a Thing gives a Man Right to it is enough to encourage all Men to be Rebels Vsurpers Robbers Thieves and Cheats It cries aloud to them all Catch that catch may my Masters all that you get is your own by the Law of the Land and of Nations of once you get
but Possession It makes the saying of the Thâ—eves This is mine I stole it very strong Reason and good Sense He 'll say these Cases are not parallel to his But why are they not if a true Prince has as good Right to his Crown as a Subject has to his Money or his Goods For if he has then a Possession transfers the Right of a Crown so it must transfer the Right of a Purse a Cloak c. And with so much the more Reason as the Right of the Crown on which the common Good of the Nation depends ought to be more fixt and unalienable than the Right of private Men to their Goods which are of an inferior Concern Now if the Law of the Land require us to swear Allegiance as due to any present Possessor the same Law declares that Allegiance and consequently the Crown is his Right otherwise the Law would oblige me to swear false And if the Law of the Land declares the Prince of Orange has Right To what end did this Gentleman all this while run about to the Law of Nations to patch him up a Title It must be a pitiful Cause that makes a Man who otherwise has wit enough still interfere thus with himself But he says That if an Oath of Allegiance should not follow Possession there would be infinite Snares to the Consciences of all such who are requir'd to obey but are not bound to enquire into the Right of War Note by the way one of those shuffling Tricks of which his Book is full He begins with Oaths but proceeds as if only Obedience were required As if a Man could not live quietly under a Government without Swearing and calling God to witness that the Governor has Right to the Kingdom and consequently to our Allegiance whether we know he has or no. But let us apply our selves to his Discourse All the play of these Men is to persuade the World that this business of Allegiance due to King Iames only is a Kind of dubious Case and then if they can but get their Judgment to bover they hope that Interest or Fear may turn the Ballance and make them swear to King William Whereas we maintain that 't is a most plain Case which none but byass'd Men can doubt of Is it not evident to all that King Iames was Three Years agoe the undoubted Supreme Governor and that all the World held that none but he had Right to the Crown and consequently that Allegiance would then be lawfully sworn to none but him Is it not evident that he is living and has not given up his Right and so by the common course of the World 't is evidently his still Is it not evident even to themselves that the new Right of the Prince of Orange is obscure that Men are in several Minds about the Ground and Reason of it some alledging one Thing others another which shews that England it self is not satisfied with the Truth of his Title but is led on by Fear or Interest Is it not evident that very many conscientious and good Men amongst whom are the Primate and some Bishops and many reverend and worthy Pastors of our Church do refuse to take the New Oath whose Authority far outweighs all the others in regard they have no Motive but pure Conscience since they are ruin'd for refusing whereas the Complying Party find Interest and the Favour of great Men by their mercenary Submission Is it not manifestly evident to every sincere Christian's Conscience even of the most ordinary Capacity that Oaths are most Sacred Things and that those Oaths which were due or have been sworn upon certain Grounds to an undoubted and indisputable Authority ought not to be unsworn again by swearing Allegiance upon uncertain Grounds to a dubious at least and disputable Authority So that here is no moot Case in the Business as he would pretend but plain Sense which every sincere and conscientious Christian is capable of comprehending There is no danger then of infinite Snares as he madly calls them not of any at all but those of weak Fears or base Interest which have already ensnared many Consciences and are spread every where as the Devil's Nets to entangle and ensnare the unwary unstable and worldly minded Men. He asks p. 26. If it be Perjury and Rebellion in the now French King's Conquests for the Inhabitants to take Oaths of Fidelity to the French King Now this is a very pleasant Gentleman and for all his objecting p. 19. The admiring the French Conduct to this sort of Maiâ— Mr. Ashton's Friends He hath said more for the French King than any Iacobite in England will say and the rankest French Man in the World can say no more and that is that he hath a Right to all the Places he has over-run with his Arms in Flanders Savoy yea and the Principality of Orange too But then Where is that independant Sovereignty which our Author talks of as necessary and essential to make a Title by Conquest For he is possess'd of the Principality of Orange and therefore according to our Author the King of France is Prince of Orange and no body else And not to meddle with what Right Conquest conveys as being foreign to the present Question here is this vast difference in the two Cases The King of France actually Conquered these Places and People the Prince of Orange did not Conquer England and none but a Mad-man will say he did And therefore if the Author would have made the Case parallel he should thus have put his Question Whether it would not have been Perjury for the Inhabitants of those Places to have put the Government into the French King's Hands to transfer their Allegiance and to take an Oath of Fidelity to him when it was in their Power to resist nay when he could not do it otherwise but by themselves and by their own Contrivance and Assistance In that Case which is plainly ours I stick not to affirm that it is Perjury and Rebellion with a witness and no Man who hath not his Ear bored and is became a Slave to Interest can have the Face to deny it And yet for all that he goes on If it be not Perjury and Rebellion in those Conquer'd Provinces How comes it to be so here By which we say again he is ready to maintain for he does here manifestly suggest it already That England is the Prince of Orange's by Conquest and all our Lives and Estates are at his Disposal And there wants nothing but one of his infinite Snares a good rich Deanry or Bishoprick to make him perfectly hold and openly maintain that Opinion Parliaments had best look to such Libels in time left the pretended Conqueror come to abdicate them too as Vseless or Obstacles to the pretence of Conquest and make all our Countrey-men become Slaves to his Ambition But what meant he by his instancing p. 26 27. in the Portugueze's swearing Allegiance to the Duke