of a King than they would have of coming to Parliament without his Writ Yet since the Right of the People in Person or Representation is indubitable in such a Case what hinders the Validity of the late Choice considering how many Elections of Kings we have had and that never by the People diffusively since the first Institution of the Government And the Representations agreed on tho' I take them to be earlier settled for Cities and Burrough than for the Freeholders in the Counties yet have ever since their respective Settlements been in the same manner as now at least none have since the first Institution ever come in their own Persons or been Electors but what are present personally or representatively and their own Consent takes away all pretence of Error If it be said That they ought to have been summon'd Forty days before the Assembly held That is only a Privilege from the King which they may wave and have more than once consented to be represented upon less than Forty days Summons Mr. Prynne gives several Instances as 49 H. 3. 4 E. 3. 1 H. 4. 28 Eliz. and says he omits other Precedents of Parliaments summon'd within Forty days after the Writs of Summons bear date upon extraordinary Occasions of Publick Safety and Concernment which could not conveniently admit so long delay And Sir Robert Cotton being a strict Adherer to Form upon an Emergency advis'd That the Writs should be antedated which Trick could make no real difference To say however there ought to have been a Summons from or in the Name of a King in being is absurd it being for the Exercise of a Lawful Power which unless my Authorities fail the People had without a King or even against the Consent of one in being Besides it appears That such Summons have not been essential to the Great Councils of the Nation Tacitus shews That the Germans from whom we descend had theirs at certain Days unless when some extraordinary Matter hapned And by the Confessor's Laws receiv'd by W. 1. and continu'd downwards by the Coronation-Oaths requir'd to this very day the general Folcmot ought to be held annually without any formal Summons upon May-day And the Statute 16 Car. 1. which our rigid Formallists must own to be in force has wholly taken away the necessity of Writs of Summons from a King. The Assembly of Lords and Commons held Anno 1660. was summon'd by the Keepers of the Liberties of England not by the King's Writs yet when they came to act in conjunction with the King they declare enact and adjudge where the Statute is manifestly declaratory of what was Law before That the Lords and Commons then sitting are and shall be the Two Houses of Parliament notwithstanding any want of the King 's Writ or Writs of Summons or any defect or alteration of or in any Writ of Summons c. Tho' this seems parallel to the present Case yet in truth ours is the strongest For the King then having been only King de jure no Authority could be receiv'd from him nor could any Act of his be regarded in Law thro' defect either of Jurisdiction or Proof if not both Accordingly as not only the Reason of the thing but the Lord Coke shews a Pardon from one barely King de jure is of no force Besides the Keepers were an upstart Power imposing themselves upon the People without any formal Consent at least not so fully receiv'd to the publick Administration as our present King was who at the Request of a very large Representative of the People pursu'd the late Method of calling a more Solemn Assembly If that Anno 1660. had Power acting with the King to declare it self a Parliament why had not this in defect of a King to declare or chuse one Sure I am prudent Antiquity regarded not so much the Person calling or the End for which a General Council was call'd as who were present that Notice which they comply'd with being always sufficiently formal Wherefore a General Ecclesiastical Council being summon'd in the Reign of H. 1. by William Archb. of Canterb. thither according to the known Law of those Times the Laity came I cannot say they sate there for the Numbers were so great as they commonly were at such Assemblies before the Free-holders agreed to Representations that happy was the Man whatever his Quality who could have a convenient Standing After the Ecclesiastical Matters were over in the Council I now speak of they fell upon Secular Some they determin'd some they adjourn'd some the Judges of the Poll or Voices could make nothing of by reason of the great Crowd and Din. And when the King heard their Determinations and confirm'd them they had full Legal Force But had there been no Warrant from former Times for the late manner of Proceeding the People of Legal Interests in the Government having been restor'd to their Original Right who can doubt but they had an absolute Power over Forms That they were not call'd to a Parliament I hope will not be an Objection since the Word is much less ancient than such Assemblies And since the Cives the Common Subject of the National Power have made their Determination this according to that Positive Law which I have shewn above ought to quiet the Debate and command a Submission And yet were there not positive Law on their side the equitable Reservations before observ'd might be sufficient Warrant Nor is the Civil Law wanting to enforce this Matter One Barbarius a run-away Servant not known to be so got in favour with Anthony at the time of the Triumvirate and by his means came to be Praetor upon this a great Question arose Whether what he did or was done before him during his Praetorship were valid Vlpian decides in the affirmative and Hottoman upon that Question says The Suffrages of the People have the force of a Law. The Reasons given for the Resolution as they are in Gotofred who best reconciles the various Readings will greatly strengthen our Case He tells us That tho' the Question there is only concerning a Servant the Reason of it reaches to Emperors and all Secular and Ecclesiastical Dignities The Reasons why Vlpian holds the Acts of such good are 1. In regard of Common Utility and the Inconvenience it would be to those who had business before him if it were otherwise 2. From the Power of the People to give a Servant this Honour Gotofred thinks If this may be done with certain knowledge that he was a Servant much more if thro' mistake for if the People who have the Supreme Power may with certain knowledge for the sake of the Publick Good not only design a Servant for Praetor but in this Case by a just Election take a Servant away from his Master how much more may it be done as in the Case propounded not to make a Servant wholly a true Praetor not to take
than they are lawful and honest 4. Saving the Power of a Superior Whence if a Son in his Father's Family swear to do a Thing lawful in it self but the Father not knowing it commands another thing which hinders the doing that which is sworn he is not bound by his Oath because by the Divine Natural Law he is bound to obey his Father And he who has sworn not to go out of his House being cited to appear before a Lawful Judge is bound to go out notwithstanding his Oath the Reason is because the Act of one ought not to prejudice the Right of another These two last Instances added to the Consideration of a Legal King will qualifie the Oath declaring it not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and abhorring the Traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are Commissioned by him This I think I may say with warrant from Bishop Sanderson That no Man is bound by this Oath to act against Law under colour of the King's Commission nor to permit such Actions if it be in his power to hinder them the Common Fundamental Law being in this Case the Superior which he is to obey and which is to explain and limit the Sense of Acts of Parliament seeming to the contrary To Bishop Sanderson I may add Grotius who runs the Prerogative of Kings as far as any Man in reason can Yet he allows of reserved Cases in which Allegiance may be withdrawn tho' there is no express Letter of Law for it As 1. Where the People being yet free command their future King by way of continuing Precept Whether there be any such with us can be no doubt to them who read the Coronation Oaths from time to time required and taken upon Elections of some Kings and the receiving others by reason of prior Elections and Stipulations with their Predecessors 2. If a King has abdicated or abandon'd his Authority or manifestly holds it as derelict indeed he says he is not to be thought to have done this who only manages his Affairs negligently But surely no Man can think but the Power of J. 2. is derelict And he cites three Cases wherein even Barelay the most zealous Asserter of Kingly Power allows Reservations to the People 1. If the King treats his People with outragious Cruelty 2. If with an hostile Mind he seek the Destruction of his People 3. If he alien his Kingdom This Grotius denies to have any effect and therefore will not admit among the reserved Cases But if no Act which is ineffectual in Law will justifie the withdrawing Allegiance then none of the other Instances will hold for to that purpose they are equally ineffectual Yet who doubts but the King doing what in him lies to alien his Kingdom gives Pretence for Foreign Usurpations as King John did to the Pope's And whoever goes to restore the Authority of the See of Rome here be it only in Spirituals endeavors to put the Kingdom under another Head than what our Laws establish and to that purpose aliens the Dominion Nor can it be any great Question but the aliening any Kingdom or Country part of the Dominion of England will fall under the same Consideration which will bring the Case of Ireland up to this where the Protestants are disarm'd and the Power which was arm'd for the Protection of the English there is put into the Hands of the Native Papists so that it is not likely to be restor'd to its Settlement at home or dependence upon England without great Expence of Blood and Treasure Even the Author of Jovian owns that the King's Law is his most authoritative Command and he denies that the Roman Emperour had any Right to enslave the whole People by altering the Constitution of the Roman Government from a Civil into a Tyrannical Dominion or from a Government wherein the People had Liberty and Property into such a Government as the Persian was and the Turkish now is c. Tho' by the Roman Lex Regia which himself takes notice of the People had transferred all their Power to the Emperor yet we see the highest Asserter of Imperial Power allows of Reservations If says Bishop Bilson a Prince should go about to subject his Kingdom to a Foreign Realm or change the Form of the Common-wealth from Imperie to Tyranny or neglect the Laws establish'd by Common Consent of Prince and People to execute his own Pleasure in these and other Cases which might be named if the Nobles and Commons join together to defend their ancient and accustomed Liberty Regiment and Laws they may not well be accounted Rebels And soon after he speaks of a Power for preserving the Foundation Freedom and Form of their Commonwealths which they forepriz'd when they first consented to have a King. Where his meaning cannot be restrain'd to express Provisions excluding such as may be equitably intended And not to heap Authorities with this agrees the Divine Plato who after he has affirm'd that the highest Degrees of Punishment belong to those who will misguide a Ship or prescribe a dangerous new way of Physick having brought in Socrates asking whether Magistrates ought not to be subject to the like Laws himself asks What shall be determined if we require all things to be done according to a certain Form and set over the Laws themselves one either chose by the Suffrages of the People or by Lot who slighting the Laws shall for the sake of Lucre or to gratifie his Lust not knowing what is fit attempt to do things contrary to the Institution This Man both he and Socrates condemn as a greater Criminal than those which he had mention'd whose Crime he aggravates as 't is an acting against those Laws which thro' a long Experience had been ordain'd by their Counsel and Industry who had opportunely and duly weighed every thing and had prevail'd upon the People to submit to them 2d To proceed to Positive Law I shall shew how the Contract between Prince and People stood and hath been taken both before the reputed Conquest and since Where 't will appear 1. That Allegiance might and may in some Cases be withdrawn in the Life-time of one who continued King until the occasion of such withdrawing or Judgment upon it 2. That there was and is an establish'd Judicature for this without need of recurring to that Equity which the People are suppos'd to have reserv'd 3. That there has been no absolute Hereditary Right to the Crown of England from the beginning of the Monarchy but that the People have had a Latitude for setting up whom of the Blood they pleas'd upon the determination of the Interest of any particular Person except where there has been a Settlement of the Crown in force 4. That they were lately restored to such Latitude 1. If the King not observing his Coronation-Oath
Judgment of two Parliaments the Realm was destitute of a Lawful Governour Indeed according to the Act of Recognition 1 J. 1. the Crown came to him being lineally rightfully and lawfully descended of the Body of the most Excellent Lady Margaret the eldest Daughter of the most Renowned King Henry the Seventh and the High and Noble Princess Queen Elizabeth his Wife eldest Daughter of King Edward the Fourth The said Lady Margaret being eldest Sister of King Henry the Eighth Father of the High and Mighty Princess of Famous Memory Elizabeth late Queen of England Tho' this pompous Pedigree to avoid all Objections goes as high as E. 4. the Derivation of Title as appears above can be no higher than from the Settlement 1 H. 7. Nor does this Act 1 J. make any additional Provision but indeed seems to flatter the King into a Belief that there was no need of any telling him That they made that Recognition as the First-fruits of their Loyalty and Faith to him and his Royal Progeny and Posterity for ever But neither then or ever after till that in this present Parliament did the People make any Settlement of the Crown but it continued upon the same Foot as it did 1 H. 7. when it was entirely an Act of the People under no Obligation but from their own Wills. And if we should use Sir Robert Filmer's Authority Impossible it is in Nature for Men to give a Law unto themselves no more than it is to command a Mans self in a Matter depending of his own Will. There can be no Obligation which taketh State from the meer Will of him that promises the same Wherefore to apply this Rule Since the People that is now in common presumption is the same with that which first settled the Succession and so are bound only by an Act of their own Will they have yet as arbitrary a Power in this Matter as Sir Robert and his Followers contend that the Prince has whatever Promises or Agreements he has entred into But not to lean upon such a broken Reed nor yet to make those many Inferences which this plain State of the Settlements of the Crown might afford Three things I shall observe 1. If the Settlement made 1 H. 7. who was an Usurper according to the Notion of Dr. Brady and his Set of Men was of no force then there being no Remainders since limited by any Act but what are spent of necessity the People must have had Power of Chusing or there could have been no lawful Government since Queen Elizabeth's time when was the last Settlement except what is now made 2. The Declarations of two Parliaments 28 and 35 H. 8. fully ballance the Declaration 1 Jac. 1. if they do not turn the Scales considering that the Judges in the later Times seem to have had less Law or Integrity than they had in H. the Eighth's I will not take upon me to determine which was the Point of Two that they might go upon 1. That a Government shall not pass by Implication or by reason of a dormant Remainder But there having been so many Alterations since the Settlement 1 H. 7. and the whole Fee once disposed of nor ever any express Restitution of the Settlement 1 H. 7. the People were not to think themselves obliged to a Retrospect 'T is evident at least that they did not Or 2. Perhaps they might question whether they were oblig'd to receive for Kings the Issue of Foreign Princes since there was no means of being sufficiently inform'd of the Circumstances of the Birth neither the Common or any Statute-Law affording any Means of proving it as appears by the Statute 25 E. 3. which for the Children of Subjects only born out of the King's Allegiance in Cases wherein the Bishop has Conusance allows of a Certificate from the Bishop of the Place where the Land in question lies if the Mother pass'd the Seas by the King's License But if our Kings or Queens should upon any occasion be in Foreign Parts 't is to be presum'd that they would have with them a Retinue subject to our Laws who might attest the Birth of their Children and be punish'd if they swear flalsly Wherefore 25 E. 3. 't is declar'd to be the Law of the Crown That the Children of the Kings of England ENFANTZ DES ROYS as the Record has it in whatever Parts they be born be able and ought to bear the Inheritance after the Death of their Ancestors Yet this is most likely to be meant of those private Inheritances which any of the Kings had being no part of the Demeasns of the Crown since the Inheritance of the Crown was not mentioned nor as has been shewn was it such as the King's Children were absolutely entitled to in their Order The most common acceptation of Children is of a Man's immediate Issue As where Land is given to a Man and his Children who can think any remote Descendants entitled to it Nor could it extend farther in the Settlement of a Crown 37 E. 3. c. 10. a Sumptuary Law was made providing for the Habits of Men according to their Ranks and of their Wives and Children ENFANTZ as in the former Statute of the same Reign Now altho' this should extend to Childrens Children born in the same House it could never take-in the Children of Daughters forisfamiliated by Marriage nay nor those of such Sons as were educated in a distinct Calling from their Parents Farther the very Statute of which the Question is cuts off the Descendants from Females out of the number of a King's Children when among other Children not of the Royal Family it makes a particular Provision for Henry Son of John Beaumond who had been born beyond Sea and yet Henry was by the Mothers Side in the Fourth Degree from H. 3. for she was Daughter to Henry Earl of Lancaster Son of Edmund Son to H. 3. Had this Henry been counted among the Children of a King 't is certain there had not been a special Clause for him among other Children of Subjects Nor does the Civil Law differ from ours in this Matter for tho' under the name of Children are comprehended not only those who are in our Power but all who are in their own either of the Female Sex or descending from Females yet the Daughter's Children were always look'd on as out of the Grandfather's Family according to the Rule in Civil Law transcribed by our Bracton They who are born of your Daughter are not in your power And Privileges derogating from Publick Vtility were never thought to reach them as a Learned Civilian has it A Daughter is the End of the Family in which she was born because the Name of her Father's Family is not propagated by her And Cujacius makes this difference between Liberi and Liberi sui sui he says is a Legal Name the other Natural The former are only they who are in a Man's
Power or of his Family and Liberi strictly taken he will have to go no farther But in truth considering the Purview of the Statute which we are here upon Children in it seems to be restrain'd to Sons and Daughters without taking in the Descendants from either the Occasion of the Law being the Births of several ENFANTZ in Foreign Parts which could be but Sons or Daughters to the immediate Parents whether Kings or Private Persons 4. But however this may be enough for my purpose that there is no colour of any Settlement in force but that 1 H. 7. and admitting that to have continued till J. 2. had broken the Original Contract yet that being broken the present Assembly of Lords and Commons had full as much Authority to declare for King WILLIAM and Queen MARY as the Parliament 1 H. 7. had to settle the Crown For H. 7. could give them no Power but what he had received immediately from them Nor is it material to say He was Crown'd first since as I have shewn the Crown confers no Power distinct from what is deriv'd either from an immediate or prior Choice 3d. The Power having upon the Dissolution of the Contract between J. 2. and his former Subjects return'd to the People of Legal Interests in the Government according to the Constitution there can be no doubt with unbyass'd Men but this takes in them only who have Right of being in Person or by Representation in those Assemblies where is the highest Exercise of the Supreme Power But there are two Extremes opposite the to late Election made by such an Assembly The first is of them who would have all things go on in the same Form as under a Monarch which was impossible and therefore the Supreme Law the Publick Safety must needs supply the want of Form nor can be justly controverted till the Lawfulness of the End is disprov'd For all Means necessary to such an End are allowable in Nature and by all Laws But if this should still be disputed all their darling Laws made by the Long Parliament which met after that Convention Anno 1660. will fall to the Ground according to the strict Application of the Statute above-mentioned 16 Car. 1. nay the Attempt of Repealing that Statute being in a Parliament which had been actually dissolv'd before by that very Law which it went about to Repeal that Form which was usual before is in default of King and Officers supplied by another Provision for the Regular Meeting of Lords and Commons And what hinders but the People had as much Power to vary from the common Form when there was no King and that Form could not be observ'd as when there was a King and a possibility of having that Form Others suppose the Consequence of a Dissolution of this Contract to be a meer Commonwealth or absolute Anarchy wherein every body has an equal Share in the Government not only Landed Men and others with whom the Ballance of the Power has rested by the Constitution but Copy-holders Servants and the very Foeces Romuli which would not only make a quiet Election impracticable but bring in a deplorable Confusion But this Dilemma they think not to be answer'd Either the old Form as under a Monarch remains or it does not If it does the late Action of the Lords and Commons was irregular If it does not all the People are restor'd to their Original Rights and all the Laws which fetter'd them are gone Here we must distinguish upon the word Form for if it be taken of the Form of Proceedings or Administration 't is no Consequence that the Form of Government or Constitution should fail because we admit that the other does Mr. Hobbs indeed holds That when a Monarch for himself and his Children has left a Kingdom or renounces it the Subjects return to their absolute and natural Liberty Whom the Learned Pufendorf thus answers They who have once come together into a Civil Society and subjected themselves to a King since they have made that the Seat of their Fortunes cannot be presum'd to have been so slothful as to be willing to have their new Civil Society extinct upon the Death of a King and to return to their Natural State and Anarchy to the hazarding the Safety now settled Wherefore when the Power has not been conferr'd on a King by Right of Inheritance or that he may dispose of the Succession at pleasure it is to be understood to be at least tacitly agreed among them That presently upon the Death of a King they shall meet together and that in the Place where the King fix'd his Dwelling Nor can there well be wanting among any People some Persons of Eminence who for a while may keep the others in order and cause them as soon as may be to consult the Publick Good. The Author of a late Paper in relation to these Times has this Passage not to be neglected All Power is originally or fundamentally in the People formally in the Parliament which is one Corporation made up of three constituent essentiating Parts King Lords and Commons so it was with us in England When this Corporation is broken when any one essentiating Part is lost or gone there is a Dissolution of the Corporation the formal Seat of Power and that Power devolves on the People When it is impossible to have a Parliament the Power returns to them with whom it was originally Is it possible to have a Parliament It is not possible the Government therefore is dissolv'd Hence he would argue a necessity of having a larger Representative of the People that the Convention may be truly National But had this Ingenious Person observ'd Pufendorf's two distinct Contracts by the first of which a Provision was made for a Monarchy before any particular Person was settled in the Throne he would have found no such necessity But if immemorially the People of England have been represented as they were for this Assembly and no needful Form or Circumstance has been wanting to make the Representation compleat all Men who impartially weigh the former Proofs of Elections not without a righful Power must needs think the last duely made Dr. Brady indeed with some few that led him the Dance and others that follow will have the present Representation of the Commons of England to have been occasion'd by Rebellion 49 H. 3. But I must do him the Honour to own him to be the first who would make the Barons to have no Personal Right but what depends upon a King in being for he allows none to have Right of coming to Parliament but such only to whom the King has thought fit to direct Writs of Summons Yet I dare say no Man of sense who has read that Controversie believes him But were his Assertion true it might be granted that the Barons would have no more Personal Right to be of any Convention upon the total Absence or Abdication
who by the Mother's Side is Grandson to Charles the First and Son-in-Law to James the Second is that Person of Charles his Lineage who was to Land upon the Shore of his Father's Kingdom with such Forces as His present Majesty had with him And if this be admitted I am sure His Reign in his own Right is foretold for the Prophesie of that Person says Regnum suum felicissimè administrabit and since Grebner speaks of one to Reign here after the Knight and the Nullus it makes it highly probable that he had a Foreknowledge of the Protectorship of Oliver Cromwel who was commonly known by the Name of Nol. David Pareus one would think had seen the Person of the Prince of Orange in a Divine Dream as he was thought to have seen the City of Heidelburgh in Flames three Years before it hapned Nor is he singular in calling his Hero a Grecian King for Nostredamus called his the Aemathien either resembling him to Caesar who conquer'd Pompey in Greece in the Aemathien or Pharsalian Fields or else with respect to the future Progress of his Arms as far as Pareus mentions Antonius Torquatus who wrote above Two hundred Years since looks like an Historian setting forth the great Changes and Occurrenrences in Europe during the two last Centuries and not obscurely to describe the present Juncture of Affairs Nor does his Northern Prince seem to he other than the English-Belgick Lion. 2d As to the rightful Power which this Nation had to contribute towards the accomplishing of those Prophecies which mark the late Prince of Orange for King of England Not thinking it worth the while to refute the fond Notion of an Absolute Patriarchal Power descending down from Adam to our Kings in an unaccountable way I shall take it for granted that as Grotius has it the Civitas is the common Subject of Power this in the most restrain'd sense is meant of the People of Legal Interests in the Government according to the first Institution Yet if they are entitled to any fort of Magistracy they become part of his Subjectum proprium the proper or particular Subject or Seat of Power Wherefore I take his Cives to be the same with Pufendorf's Quorum coitione consensu primo civitas coaluit aut qui in illorum locum successerunt nempe patres familiâs By whose Conjunction and Consent the Civil Society first came together or they who succeeded in to their Rooms to wit the Fathérs of Families And the most sensible of them who deny this as fighting against their fansied Divine Right of Kingship own that the People have in many Cases a Right to design the Person if not to confer the Power only these Men will have it that the Extent of the Power of a King as King is ascertained by God himself which I must needs say I could never yet find prov'd with any colour But to avoid a Dispute needless here since the Question is not so much of the Extent of Power as of the Choice of Persons Whether any Choice is allowable for us must be determin'd by the fundamental or subsequent Contract either voluntary or impos'd by Conquest and 't is this which must resolve us whether the Government shall continue Elective or Hereditary to them that stand next in the Course of Nature guided to a certain Channel by the Common Law of Descents or limited only to the Blood with a Liberty in the People to prefer which they think most fit all Circumstances considered And if our Constitution warrants the last then we may cut the Gordian Knot and never trouble our selves with Difficulties about a Demise or Cession from the Government or Abdication of it for which way soever the Throne is free from the last Possessor the People will be at liberty to set up the most deserving of the Family unless there be subsequent Limitations by a Contract yet in force between Prince and People which being dissolv'd no Agreements take place but such as are among themselves In which Case whatever ordinary Rule they have set themselves they may alter it upon weighty Considerations And that it is lawful for the People of England at this time to renounce their Allegiance sworn to J. 2. and to prefer the most deserving of the Blood notwithstanding any Oaths or Recognitions taken or made by them I shall evince not only from the Equity of the Law and Reservations necessarily imply'd in their Submission to a King but from the very Letter explain'd by the Practice of the Kingdom both before the reputed Conquest and since 1. For the Equity and reserved Cases I think it appears in the nature of the thing that they for whose benefit the Reservation is must be the Judges as in all Cases of Necessity he who is warranted by the Necessity must judge for himself before he acts tho' whether he acts according to that Warrant or no may be referr'd to an higher Examen but where the last resort is there must be the Judgment which of necessary consequence in these Cases must needs be by the People the Question being of their Exercise of their Original Power and where they have by a general Concurrence past the final Sentence in this Case their Voice is as the Voice of God and ought to be submitted to For the direction of their Judgment in such Cases they need not consult Voluminous Authors but may receive sufficient Light from those excellent Papers The Enquiry into the Present State of Affairs The Grounds and Measures of Submission and The Brief Justification of the Prince of Orange 's Descent into England and of the Kingdom 's late Recourse to Arms. Which I shall here only confirm by some Authorities The first as being of most Credit among them who raise the greatest Dust shall be Bishop Sanderson Of the Obligation of an Oath who shews several Exceptions or Conditions which of Common Right are to be understood before an Oath can oblige in which I shall not confine my self to the Order in which he places them 1. If God permit because all things are subject to the Divine Providence and Will nor is it in any Man's power to provide against future Accidents Wherefore he who did what lay in him to perform what he promis'd has discharg'd his Oath 2. Things remaining as they now are Whence he who swore to marry any Woman is not oblig'd if he discovers that she is with Child by another These two Exceptions sufficiently warrant Submission to such Government as God in his Providence shall permit notwithstanding Oaths to a former King And if he cease to treat his People as Subjects the Obligation which was to a Legal King determines before his actual Withdrawing from the Government 3. As far as we may as if one swear indefinitely to observe all Statutes and Customs of any Community he is not oblig'd to observe them farther
in the main lose the Name of King then no Man can say that Allegiance continues But that so it was before the reputed Conquest appears by the Confessor's Laws where they declare the Duty of the King. But the King because he is Vicar to the Supreme King is constituted to this end that he should rule his earthly Kingdom and the People of God and above all should reverence God's Holy Church and defend it from injurious Persons and pluck from it Wrong-doers and destroy and wholly ruine them which unless he does not so much as the Name of King will remain in him c. Hoveden shews how this was receiv'd by William 1. The King and his Deputy or Locum tenens in his absence is constituted to this end c. in substance as above Which unless he does the true Name of King will not remain in him And as the Confessor's Laws have it in which there is some mistake in the Transcriber of Hoveden otherwise agreeing with them Pope John witnesses That he loses the Name of King who does not what belongs to a King which is no Evidence that this Doctrine is deriv'd from the Pope of Rome The Pope only confirms the Constitution or gives his Approbation of it perhaps that the Clergy of those Times might raise no Cavils from a supposed Divine Right And to shew that this is not only for violating the Rights of the Church the Confessor's Laws inform us that Pipin and Charles his Son not yet Kings but Princes under the French King foolishly wrote to the Pope asking him if the Kings of France ought to remain content with the bare Name of King By whom it was answer'd They are to be called Kings who watch over defend and rule God's Church and his People c. Hoveden's Transcriber gives the same in substance but thro' a miserable mistake in Chronology will have it that the Letter was wrote by Pipin and his Son to W. 1. Lambart's Version of St. Edward's Laws goes on to Particulars among others That the King is to keep without diminution all the Lands Honours Dignities Rights and Liberties of the Crown That he is to do all things in his Kingdom according to Law and by the Judgment of the Proceres or Barons of the Realm and these things he is to swear before he is Crown'd By the Coronation-Oaths before the reputed Conquest and since all agreeing in Substance every King was to promise the People three things 1. That God's Church and all the People in the Kingdom shall enjoy true Peace 2. That he will forbid Rapine and all Injustice in all Orders of Men. 3. That he will promise and command Justice and Mercy in all Judgments And 't is observable That Bracton who wrote in the time of H. 3. transcribes that very Formulary or rather Abridgment of the Oath which was taken by the Saxon Kings In Bracton's time 't is certain the Oath was more explicit tho' reducible to those Heads and 't is observable that Bracton says The King is Created and Elected to this end that he should do Justice to all Where he manifestly shews the King's Oath to be his part of a binding Contract it being an Agreement with the People while they had power to chuse With Bracton agrees Fleta and both inform us that in their days there was no scruple in calling him a Tyrant and no King who oppresses his People violatâ dominatione as one has it or violentâ as the other either the Rule of Government being violated or with a violent Government both of which are of the like import The Mirrour at least puts this Contract out of dispute shewing the very Institution of the Monarchy before a Right was vested in any single Family or Person When forty Princes who had the Supreme Power here chose from among them a King to Reign over them and govern the People of God and to maintain the holy Christian Faith and to defend their Persons and Goods in quiet by the Rules of Right And at the beginning they caused the King to swear That he will maintain the holy Christian Faith with all his Power and will rule his People justly without regard to any Person and shall be obedient to suffer Right or Justice as well as others his Subjects And what that Right and Justice was in the last result the Confessor's Laws explain when they shew that he may lose the Name of King. These Laws were not only receiv'd by William 1. and in the Codex of the Laws of H. 1. but were the Laws which in the early Contests which the Barons had with their encroaching Kings they always urg'd to have maintain'd and that their Sanction might not be question'd the Observance of them was made part of the Coronation-Oath till some Archbishops careful only of their Clerical Rights provided for no more of those Laws than concerned them By that Oath which is upon Record and in ancient Prints the King is to swear to grant keep and confirm among others especially the Laws Customs and Freedoms granted the Clergy and People by the most glorious and holy King Edward And even after the King 's taking this Oath they were to be ask'd if they would consent to have him their King and Leige-lord Which is the Peoples part of the Contract and thus the Contract becomes mutual To which purpose the Learned Sir Henry Spelman cites Cujacius the great Civilian to shew that Faith between a Lord and Vassal is reciprocal and gives an Instance in the Oath of one of our Saxon Kings Knute for the proof of its being so here between King and Subject And with Cujacius agrees the no less judicious Civilian Pufendorf When says he the Power is conferr'd upon a King there is a mutual Translation of Right and a reciprocal Promise If it be objected That tho' this was at the beginning a Contract with a Free People it ceas'd to be so from the time of the Conquest I answer 1. Till there be a Consent and Agreement to some Terms of Governing and Subjection 't will be difficult if possible to prove any Right in the Conqueror but what may be cast off as soon as there is an Opportunity 2. William 1. was not receiv'd as a Conqueror but upon a mutual Contract upon which old Historians say Foedus pepigit He made a League with the People which comes to the same thing with what the Holy Writ records of King David That the People made a League with him His Coronation-Oath was the same with that which was taken by his Saxon Predecessors except that the Circumstances of that time requir'd an additional Clause for keeping an equal Hand between English and French. 'T is not to be doubted but that the Norman Casuists inform'd him that this related only to Legal Justice but that in Matters of Grace and Favour he
was left at large How much soever he might have strain'd in this or other Matters I am sure he was far from acting so arbitrarily as some have industriously represented him I will not say on purpose to encourage such Actions in other Princes And it is yet more certain that whatever Right either he or any body under him enjoy'd came from the Compact not from the Breach of Faith. 3. If William 1. did gain the Right of a Conqueror it was Personal and he never exacted this for his Heirs as appears not only by his Declaration when he came to die but by the Fealty or Oath of Allegiance which he required in his Laws The King's Oath is the real Contract on his side and his accepting the Government as a legal King the virtual one and so it is vice versâ in relation to the Allegiance due from the Subject Thus far the Author of Jovian is in the right As in the Oath of Allegiance the People swear nothing to the King but what they are bound to perform unsworn so the King in his Coronation-Oath promises nothing to the People but what in Justice and Equity he is bound â—o perform unsworn Upon which account I will yield to Saravias That in Hereditary Kingdoms the Coronation-Oath confers no new Right and therefore there may be a King before his Coronation Yet we must attend to Grotius his Rule who rightly observes That Succession is only a Continuance of that Power which the Predecessor had So that if the first Possessor comes into Power qualified by express Contract this binds the Successor and he is to be thought to come in upon those Terms The Description which Samuel made of the exorbitant Power of Kings was rather to terrifie them from pursuing their foolish Demand than to constitute such a Prerogative as the King should use whom God would appoint to go in and out before them Which methinks is very manifest in that the worst of Kings that ever reigned among them never challeng'd or assum'd those Prerogatives nor did the People conceive themselves liable to those Impositions as appears by the Application they made to Rehoboam on the Death of Solomon That he would abate some of that Rigour his Father had exercis'd toward them the rash rejection of which contrary to the Advice of his wisest Counsellors cost him the greater part of his Dominions and when Rehoboam would by Arms have reduc'd them to Obedience God would not suffer him because he had been in the fault himself One of the Terms as appears by the Mirrour was That the King should suffer Right or Justice as well as his Subjects And St. Edward's Sword called the Curtein carried before our Kings at their Coronations was in the time of H. 3. a known Emblem and Remembrancer of this But surely whoever us'd that or a Judicial Power in such Cases as above how much soever they continued their Allegiance to the King's Authority could not be said to retain it to his Person 2. There was and is an establish'd Judicature for the great Case in question as is imply'd by St. Edward's Laws which suppose some Judge or Judges in the Case and investing the Proceres with the Supreme Judicature with-holds not this from them However 't is certain the Parliament 9 R. 2. referr'd to a known Statute when they mind him of an ancient one not long before put in practice whereby if the King thro' a foolish Obstinacy contempt of his People or perverse froward Will or any other irregular way shall alienate himself from his People and will not be govern'd and regulated by the Rights of the Kingdom and the Statutes and laudable Ordinances made by the Council of the Lords and the Peers of the Realm but shall headily in his mad Counsels exercise his own arbitrary Will from thenceforth it is lawful for them with the common Assent and Consent of the People of the Realm to depose him from the Throne c. This Law is not now extant but was not then deny'd and the Reason why it is not to be found is very evident from the Articles against this King some Years after In the 24th Article they accuse him of causing the Rolls and Records concerning the State and Government of his Kingdom to be destroyed and rased to the great prejudice of the People and disherison of the Crown of the said Kingdom and this as is credibly believ'd in favour and support of his evil Governance The Mirror tells us That of right the King must have Companions to hear and determine in Parliament all Writs and Plaints of Wrong done by the King c. And the Learned Hornius cites the Speculum Saxonicum of the like Name and Nature with our Mirror the Author of which last was of his own Name The Saxon Mirror as he says was wrote before the Normans came hither The Justices or private Persons says he out of the Speculum neither ought nor can dispute of the Acts of Kings yet the King has Superiors in ruling the People who ought to put a Bridle to him And Hornius says the old Saxon Lawyers limit that Maxim The King has no Peer to wit in exhibiting Justice but in receiving Justice they say he is the least in his Kingdom Tho' Bracton seems to restrain this Rule to Cases wherein the King is Actor in judicio suscipiendo si petat Fleta who takes it from him seems to correct the Copy and has it si parcat If he spare doing Justice to which end both affirm that he was created and chosen King And Bracton himself shews elsewhere that he means more by the Reason which he assigns why the King ought to be the least in receiving Justice Lest his Power should remain without Bridle This for certain he sufficiently explains when he says That no Justices or private Persons may dispute of the King's Charters and Acts but Judgment must be given before the King himself which must be meant of the King in Parliament as appears by a Petition in Parliament 18 E. 1. where Bracton's Rule is received But Bracton says he has God for his Superior also the Law by which he is made King also his Court that is to say the Earls and Barons for they are called Comites being as it were Companions to the King and he who has a Companion has a Master Therefore if the King act without Bridle they are bound to bridle him and Bracton in one place says In receiving Justice the King is compar'd to the least of his Kingdom without confining it to Cases where he is Actor This puts a necessary Limitation to that Maxim That the King can do no Wrong that is not to be adjudg'd so by Judges Commissaries or Commission'd Judges which the Mirror uses in contradistinction to Judges Ordinary sitting by an Original Power yet this does not in the least
interfere with the Judicial Power of the High Court of Parliament and it may be a question whether that Maxim as receiv'd in the Courts of Justice is ever taken to reach farther than either in relation to the Remedies which private Persons may there have against personal Injuries from the King as where 't is said The King cannot imprison any Man because no Action of False Imprisonment will lie against him or rather because of the ineffectualness in Law of his tortious Acts. But what the Nation or its Great Councils have thought of such Acts will appear by a long Series of Judgments from time to time past and executed upon some of their Kings Long before the reputed Conquest Sigibert King of the West-Saxons becoming intolerable by his insolent Actions was expell'd the Kingdom and Bromton shews that this was done in a Judicial manner by the unanimous Consent and Deliberation of the Peers and People that is in the Language of latter Ages by Lords and Commons in full Parliament And eighteen Years after Alcred King of the Northanimbrians that is Northumberland and other adjacent Counties was banish'd and divested of his Soveraignty by the Counsel and Consent of all his Subjects Five Years after this their King Ethelred was driven from the Throne and Kingdom for treacherously procuring the Death of three of his Great Men Alwlf Cynwlf and Ecga Within fifteen Years after this the People having without Example called back Ethelred from Exile slew him without any allowable Precedent and set up in his stead Osbald a Nobleman none of the Royal Stock and he not answering their Expectation they depos'd him in twenty eight days Twelve Years after they deposed their King Eardulf and remain'd long without chusing any Sixty Years after they depos'd their King Osbrich and chose Ella who still swerv'd from the Ends of Government Six Years after they expell'd their King Egbert For sixty nine Years the Kings and their People agreed without coming to any Extremities but then they renounc'd the Allegiance sworn to King Edmund and chose Aulaf King of Norway for their King. Aulaf had not reigned six Years when they drove him away and tho' they receiv'd him again they soon cast him off again and swore Allegiance to the English King Edred Then they rejected him and chose Egric a Dane with whom their independent Monarchy expir'd and turn'd into the Government of Earls I would not be thought to mention those numerous Examples with the least approbation 't is certain they argue great Levity in rejecting or Folly in chusing But if we are believ'd to receive many Laws and Customs from the Germans from whom we are more remotely deriv'd much more may the English Monarchy be thought to partake of the Customs of the contiguous Kingdoms which compose it and by this frequent Practice the Members of it were sufficiently prepar'd to understand that part of the Compact whereby the Prince was oblig'd to suffer Right as well as his Subjects and that if he did not answer the Ends for which he had been chosen he was to lose the Name of King. Either these Examples or rather the continual Engagements in War with Foreigners had such effect that from this time to the Entrance of W. 1. excepting the Case of King Edwin Nephew to the English Monarch Edred who was driven out of the Kingdom Anno 957. I find nothing of the like nature A King was but a more splendid General nor could he hope to maintain his Dignity but by hardy Actions and tender usage of his People their extraordinary Power had slept but for few Years after the Death of the reputed Conqueror till the time of King Stephen the third Successor from W. 1. who after Allegiance sworn to him had it a while withdrawn for Maud the Empress but the People soon return'd to it again rejecting her who was nighest in Blood because she denied them the Benefit of St. Edward's Laws This Power of the People to be sure was rous'd by the extravagant Proceedings of King John upon which the Earls and Barons of England without the Formality of Summons from the King give one another notice of meeting and after a long private Debate they agreed to wage War against him and renounce his Allegiance if he would not confirm their Liberties and agreed upon another Meeting for a peremptory Demand declaring That if he then refus'd them they would compel him to Satisfaction by taking his Castles Nor were they worse than their words and their Resolutions had for a while their desir'd Effect in obtaining a Confirmation of their Liberties but the Pope soon absolv'd the King and encourag'd him to the violation of them till they stoutly casting off the Authority both of King and Pope proceeded to the Election of another King Lewis the Dauphin of France But the Dauphin assuming a Power not brook'd in the English Government upon the Death of King John they set up his Son H. 3. and without any solemn Deposing of Lewis compell'd him to renounce his Pretensions Henry treading in his Father's steps had many unhappy Contests with his Barons and having call'd in numbers of Foreigners they sent him a solemn Message That unless he would remove those troublesom Guests they would all by a Common Council of the whole Realm drive him and his wicked Counsellors out of the Kingdom and would consider of making a new King. Upon this both Sides had recourse to Arms and neither valued the others Judicial Sentence but for certain the Sentence threatned H. 3. was executed upon his Grandson E. 2. who was formally depos'd in Parliament for his Misgovernment whose Case with his next Successor's but one R. 2. by what I have observ'd before appear to have been no Novelties in England Nor was it long before the like was again put in practice more than once H. 6. being a weak misled Prince gave occasion to Richard Duke of York whose Line was put by to cover his Designs for restoring the elder Family with the Pretence of Redressing Publick Grievances The Crown he was so far from pretending to at first that himself swore Allegiance to H. 6. in a very particular manner But having afterwards an Advantage given by the Divisions of them who had driven him out of the Land he in a fortunate Hour with lucky Omens as was believ'd challeng'd the Crown as his Right upon which there was an Agreement ratified in Parliament That H. 6. should enjoy it during his Life and R. and his Heirs after him And tho' Richard Duke of York and his Son Edward afterwards E. 4. had sworn That H. 6. should enjoy the Royal Dignity during Life without trouble from them or either of them yet Richard having been treacherously slain by the Queen's Army immediately after the solemn Pacification Edward at the Petition of some of the Bishops and Temporal
Lords took upon him the Charge of the Kingdom as forfeited to him by breach of the Covenant establish'd in Parliament Yet this gave him no sure Settlement for the Popularity of the Earl of Warwick drove him out of the Kingdom without striking a Stroke for it Upon which H. 6. was again restor'd to his Kingly Power and Edward was in Parliament declared a Traytor to the Country and an Vsurper of the Realm the Settlement upon R. and his Heirs revok'd and the Crown entail'd upon H. 6. and his Heirs Males with Remainders over to secure against Edward's coming to the Crown Yet the Death of the Earl of Warwick having in effect put an end to King Henry's Power he was soon taken Prisoner and put to death as his Son had been before and then Edward procures a Confirmation in Parliament of the Settlement under which he enjoy'd the Crown Thus as the Power of the People or Great ones of Interest with them turn'd the Scales from time to time so 't was their Consent which fixt them at last during the the Life of E. 4. It may be said That whatever the Law or Practice has been anciently neither can now be of any moment by reason of the Oath requir'd by several Statutes declaring it not lawful upon any Pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and abhorring the Traiterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person And 2. The Clause in the Statute 12 Car. 2. whereby it is declar'd That by the undoubted and fundamental Laws of this Kingdom neither the Peers of this Realm nor the Commons nor both together in Parliament or out of Parliament nor the People Collectively or Representatively nor any other Persons whatsoever had have hath or ought to have any Coercive Power over the Persons of the Kings of this Realm I shall not here insist in answer to the first on the necessity of a Commission and a King continuing Legal in the Exercise as well as Possession of Power nor the difference between the Traiterous Acts of single Persons and the Revolt of a Nation nor yet upon the Authority of the Common Law whereby a Constable or other Officer chose by the People may act without any Authority from the King. And for the latter as Coertion is restrain'd to the Person of the King the declaring against that is not contrary to the Authorities for discharging Allegiance by a Judicial Sentence or otherwise by vertue of equitable and supposed Reservations provided a tender Regard to the Person be still observ'd But if Proceedings to free our selves from his Authority fall under this Coertion then I shall offer something which may remove both this and the other from being Objections to what I have above shewn To keep to what may equally reach to both Authorities I shall not urge here That these Statutes being barely Declaratory and enacting no Law for the future introduce none so that if the Fundamental Laws shall appear to be otherwise the Declarations do not supplant them Nor yet to insist upon a Rule in the Civil Law That the Commonwealth is always a Minor and at liberty to renounce the Obligations which it has entred into against its Benefit which is the Supreme Law. But I shall stop their Mouths who object these Statutes and maintain That according to what themselves receive for Law the Parliaments which enacted these Declarations had no power so to do and then the Law must stand as it did For this let us first hear Mr. Sheringham whose Authority few of these Men dispute They that lay the first Foundation of a Commonwealth have Authority to make Laws that cannot be alter'd by Posterity in Matters that concern the Rights both of King and People For Foundations cannot be remov'd without the Ruine and Subversion of the whole Building Wherefore admit the Acts had been duly made according to him they would be void if the Fundamental Law were as I have shewn However I am sure I can irrefragably prove to them who will not have a Nation sav'd without strict Form of Law That the Parliament which made those Acts had no Power at the time of making them being by the express Words of a former Statute repeal'd The Triennial Act 16 Car. 1. provides in a way not easily to be defeated not only for holding a Parliament once within Three Years at least but that all Parliaments which shall be Prorogu'd or Adjourn'd or so continued by Prorogation or Adjournment until the Tenth of September which shall be in the third Year next after the last Day of the last Meeting and Sitting of the foregoing Parliament shall be thenceforth clearly and absolutely dissolv'd Now say I that Parliament which enacted these Laws had sat beyond that Time Ergo c. These were made in the Parliament next after the Convention which brought in the King which they I am sure will not call a Parliament Wherefore we must go back to the first Long Parliament which upon their own Rule Rex est caput finis Parliamenti was dissolv'd by the Death of C. 1. Anno 1648. notwithstanding the Act for making it Perpetual which indeed by the Words of it seems only to provide against any Act of the King to the contrary without their Consent But by the Death of the King that Parliament lost the Being which before it had as it was under him when it was Parliamentum nostrum the Parliament of Charles the First and so expired An. 1648. by Act in Law. And perhaps it s own breaking up in Confusion before was in Law an Adjournment sine die working a Dissolution by either of which that Parliament was dissolv'd more than three Years before the Parliament which made the Statute in question which Parliament assembled An. 1661. and was ipso facto dissolv'd when it attempted to make those Statutes it having been continued by Prorogation or Adjournment beyond the Tenth of September in the Third Year after the Dissolution of the last Parliament of Charles the First which was the next foregoing Legal Parliament according to strict Form for the Parliament which brought in C. 2. Anno 1660. was not summon'd by the King's Writs consequently the Parliament 1661. having no Power after it had continued as above whatever was the Ancient Law in this Matter remains as it did before those Laws If it be Objected That the Necessity of the Times had dispens'd with the Letter of the Triennial Act as to this Particular 1. They who would plead these Statutes cannot urge it since they will not allow of greater Necessity to authorize the Maintaining and Restoring the Constitution But surely however Necessity might support other Laws it shall not such as alter the Constitution but every Legal Advantage shall be taken for restoring it 2. The Necessity was not absolute for the First Parliament of Charles the Second might continue together as long
Judges in B. R. in the time of Q. Eliz. on my side King R. 3. had granted certain Priviledges to the Burgesses of Glocester with a Saving to himself and his Heirs and it was agreed by all the Justices That altho' the Words are Saving to himself and his Heirs it shall be taken for a perpetual Saving which shall go to his Successors This therefore they adjudg'd to reach the Queen who 't is well known was not Heir to R. 3. The great Objection is That in the Contests for the Crown between the Families of York and Lancaster each Side pretended Title by Proximity of Blood and as either prevail'd their Right was acknowledg'd to be according to God's Law Man's Law and the Law of Nature To which I answer As appears in the very Objection this was apply'd to those who had no such Right of Proximity as well as those who had and thus 't was to R. 3. as well as to E. 4. And even the Election of H. 4. after the Deposing and Relinquishing of R. 2. with his own express Consent is by the same Parliament that says so much of the Title of E. 4. called an Usurpation upon R. 2. Wherefore if this Record be any way leading to our Judgments no Deposing or Resignation whatever be the Inducement can be of any force Whence 't is plain that all these are but Complements to the longest Sword however they neither set aside former Authorities nor establish any Right for the future at least not more for the Heirs of E. 4. than the Parliament of R. 3. did for his Heirs Yet whoever comes next by Right of Proximity according to any Settlement in being I will not deny that they enjoy the Crown according to God's Law Man's Law and the Law of Nature for as the Great Fortescue has it All Laws publish'd by Men have their Authority from God and upon which the Author of Jovian argues and supposes all Laws of Men to be the Laws and Ordinances of God Yet who can say but these Humane Creatures or Ordinances of Men may be altered as they were made And tho' it may seem strange to some yet I may with great Authority affirm That when the People had determin'd the Right on the Side of R. 3. he was King as much according to God's Law as E. 4. For Pufendorf holds That where the Question is what Degree or what Line is best the declared Will of the People determines the Controversie since every one is presum'd to understand his own Intention and the People that is now is to be thought the same with that by which the Order of Succession was constituted But let Men argue as nicely as they please for a Right or Sovereignty inseparable from the Person of the next in Blood to the last lawful King let this fall upon J. 2. the reputed Prince of Wales or any other Person of unclouded Birth and Fame and let them argue upon the Declaration 1 E. 4. That Allegiance is there due by God's Law Man's Law and the Law of Nature Certain it is that the Statute 11 H. 7. above-mention'd was not only made in an Age of greater Light but being a subsequent Law derogates from whatever is contrary in the former By this last it is declared to be against all Laws That Subjects should suffer for doing true Duty and Service of Allegiance to the King de facto which is as much as if 't were exprest to be against God's Law Man's Law and the Law of Nature By the necessary Consequence of which Allegiance is due to a King de facto according to all these Laws Wherefore whoever denies Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary or maintains a contrary one to J. 2. offends against God's Law Man's Law and the Law of Nature Nor whatever some imagine can the Proviso at the end of this Statute in the least impair its Force as to what I use it for The Proviso runs thus Provided always That no Person or Persons shall take any Benefit or Advantage by this Act which shall hereafter decline from his or their said Allegiance Where said Allegiance shews it to be meant of Allegiance to the King de facto whose Service is called true Duty and no Man surely can think the meaning to be that if after such Service they turn to the other Side or become Traytors to the present Power they shall suffer for the former Service as Traytors against him that had the Right either during the Reign of the King in being which would be an unlikely owning the ejected Power or hereafter if that should come to be restor'd which would be far from answering the apparent End of that Clause which is to keep Men in Obedience to him who has the Power of punishing the Disobedient Wherefore the plain meaning must be that no Man who departs from his Duty of Allegiance to the present King shall save himself by pleading that he had been in Arms or had done him any signal Service In short this was to be no Corban to answer for any following Departure from Duty 4. I think I have with due regard to all colourable Objections made it appear That Allegiance may in some Cases be withdrawn from one who had been King till the occasion of such Withdrawing or Judgment upon it And this I have done not only from the Equity and reserved Cases necessarily implied but from the express Original and continuing Contract between Prince and People which with the Legal Judicature impowred to determine concerning it I have likewise shewn and exemplified by the Custom of the Kingdom both before the reputed Conquest and since And have occasionally proved That tho' Oaths of Allegiance may reach to Heirs according to special Limitations as was 26 Hen. 8. yet in common intendment by Heirs of a King or Crown no more is meant than such as succeed to it according to the Law positive or implied And that whoever comes to the Crown upon either Allegiance is as much due to him by the Law of God and Nature as it was to the nighest in Blood Or to use the Words of Bishop Sanderson Dignity varies not with the change of Persons Whence if any Subject or Soldier swear Fidelity to his King or General the Oath is to be meant to be made unto them also who succeed to that Dignity And when the Crown continues in the Blood this especially by what I have above shewn puts the Obligation of Allegiance to the King in being out of controversie unless it can be made appear that the Right of the former King remains or that there is some Settlement of the Crown yet in force which ties it strictly to the next I come now to prove That the People of England are actually discharged from their Oaths of Allegiance to J. 2. and were lately restored to that Latitude of Choice which I have shewn to be their Original
Subjects have suspended their Obedience Nor is the German Author Knichen less plain whose Words are If the Magistrate have absolute and full Majesty due Subjection ought by no means to be denied him tho' he be impious Nor may another be substituted in his room upon his being cast out Much less can a new Form of Government be introduc'd But if he were constituted by the People under certain Pacts and Promises sworn to him by the People and therefore is bound to certain Rules of Laws and either to do or avoid things contain'd in those Contracts whether Fundamental Laws or things particularly concerted as for Example the Emperor in our Empire They not being observ'd but studiously enormously and obstinately violated the Hopes of Amendment after many of the Subjects Prayers and Admonitions plainly vanishing he may rightfully be remov'd by the States and People c. The Reason is Because he was promoted to the Government by such Agreement and that sworn to according to the Laws of the Agreement or Contract The Nature of which consists in this That if that Party for whose Sake or Cause they are Constituted violate them the other Party of very Right is freed from the Observance of those things which are granted by such Laws Nor does Philip Pareus come short of this in his Defence of his Father David where he speaks very particularly of the Effect of the mutual Compact But notwithstanding the Discharge from Allegiance to J. 2. some will urge That it continues to the Person that stands next in Blood. Against which I doubt not but I shall offer full Evidence For 1. If as I have shewn the Promise to the King himself be Conditional and his Interest determines by his Breach of the Condition be the Condition precedent in which Case no Interest is vested till Performance or subsequent in which the Breach divests what before was settled What Interest can the Heir have in a Conditional Estate determined by Breach of the Condition And since it has been made appear That the Heirs of a King with us take not as Purchasers by an Oâ—â—ginal Contract upon which there might be some Pretence of an Interest vested in them independent on their Father's Title but they who can be said to have succeeded without an immediate Choice did it by vertue of subsequent Settlements entirely depending upon the Original Contract continuing down to their immediate Ancestors respectively If that Contract be dissolv'd what can support the Settlement Can the Agreement for the Benefit of a King and his Posterity be suppos'd to be other than that if he govern them as King performing the Essentials of the Contract on his part he and his Descendents shall enjoy the Crown Can it be imagin'd that this was made for the separate Benefit of the Heir without regard to the Ancestor's Performance Or is it to be supposed in the nature of the thing that the People would have made such a Contract whereby after being justly discharged from their Allegiance to a King and having acted pursuant thereto they shall enable a Successor to revenge his Ancestor's Quarrel This were such a Contract as that which the Lord Clarendon assures us if never so real can never be suppos'd to be with the intention of the Contracter And Grotius argues against a King's Power of aliening his Kingdom from hence that this is not to be prsum'd to have been the Will of the People in conferring the Power And in another place he says Right is to be measur'd according to the Will of him from whom the Right arises 2. The Power of the King being as Fortescue has it and the Authorities above plainly evince a Populo effluxa deriv'd from the People and the Interest of J. 2. being determined he yet living so that there can be no Heir to him or of his Body What hinders the Operation of the known Rule in Law That where there is no Remainder to take effect at the Determination of the particular Estate it shall revert to the Donor Which in this Case is manifestly the People If it be said That this Rule shall not extend to the Descent of the Crown which differs from Common Inheritances I dare say No Man can shew any Difference but what is more strong for the People's Choice For whereas Common Estates are for the Benefit of them who have the present Interest the Crown is a Trust for the Benefit of the People 3. The Ancient Statute above-mentioned of which the Lords and Commons mind R. 2. upon his Male-administration says That upon putting the King from his Throne with the Common Assent and Consent of the Nation for the Causes there exprest they may set upon the Throne in his stead propinquiorem aliquem de stirpe Regia some body of Kin to the King of the Royal Stock If they were tied to the next it certainly would have been proximum Besides the word aliquem shews a Latitude And according to this upon R. the Second's being Deposed H. 4. claimed the Crown Al 's descendit be ryght Lyne of the Blode comeynge fro the gude Lord Henry Therde But because this without consideration of his Merits in rescuing them from R. 2. entitled him to the Crown no more than another of the Blood therefore the Lords and Commons drew up an Instrument purporting their Election 4. But admit none of the foregoing Arguments were enough to shew That upon James the Second's Abdication or at least losing his Interest in the Government the People of England were restor'd to that Liberty which they had before the Settlement of the Crown which was in force till the Original Contract was broken by him yet I conceive the particular Consideration of the State of the Settlement might afford sufficient Argument Henry the Fourth Fifth and Sixth if we believe Dr. Brady held the Crown by Usurpation Yet the earliest Settlement of the Crown farther than the first Son was in the time of H. 4. Nor as I shall shew was the Crown enjoy'd by J. 2. under better Title than they had H. 5. and 6. came in under an Entail of the Crown 7 H. 4. confirmed 8. The Misgovernment of H. 6. having given occasion to Richard Duke of York of the Blood-Royal and Elder House to assert the Peoples Rights not his own Henry and the Duke with the Consent of the Lords and Commons came to an Agreement in Parliament That Richard and his Heirs should enjoy the Crown after the Death of Henry And tho' here the word Heirs is mention'd without restraint yet considering that it is the first time that ever the Crown was settled so far I know not whether it is not to be taken with Gomezius his Restriction of an Usufructuary or Emphyteutical Estate of the last of which much of the same nature with the other he says If it did not use to be granted to more than the
first second or third Heirs the mention of Heirs simply ought to be restrain'd to those only because the Nature or Quality of the thing granted ought to be attended to After the Death of Richard Duke of York his Son Edward the Fourth as I before observ'd took the Government upon him as forfeited by breach of the Covenant establish'd in Parliament However H. 6. being set up again ten Years after gets that Settlement by which E. 4. was to have benefit to be revok'd and the Crown to be entail'd on his Issue the Remainder to the Duke of Clarence younger Son to the Duke of York Afterwards E. 4. having success revives the Settlement 39 H. 6. Only that he attaints H. 6. with others of his Party Which Attainder was remov'd 1 H. 7. and declar'd contrary to due Allegiance and all due Order And not only the Attainder but that Act of Parliament it self was revok'd So that hitherto there had been no Title in the Heirs of Richard Duke of York or of Edward the Fourth but what was deriv'd under the Settlement of Henry 6. call'd an Usurper and Edward the Fourth's Treason depriv'd him of the Benefit even of that Settlement H. 7. indeed married the eldest Daughter of E. 4. But before that Marriage having conquer'd Rich. 3. he claim'd the Crown As his Words in Parliament were Tam per justum titulum haereditantiae quà m per verum Dei judicium in tribuendo sibi victoriam de inimico suo As well by just Title of Inheritance as by the true Judgment of God in giving him the Victory over his Enemy If it be ask'd how he could have a Right of Inheritance when the Daughter of E. 4. and his own Mother were alive It seems in the Judgment of that Parliament that E. 4. having acted contrary to his Allegiance due to H. 6. he and his had lost the Benefit of the Settlement reviv'd by his successful Treason and that this was lost even before the Revival was destroy'd by Parliament And then tho' H. 7. could not come in without an Election yet he as H. 4. before might have a sort of Inheritance according to a very witty Author who speaking of the Kingdom of Israel says Concludere licet regnum Israelis si stirpem spectas haereditarium certè fuisse at sanè si personas omnino electivum We may conclude that the Kingdom of Israel if you look at the Stock was certainly Hereditary but if at the Persons altogether Elective Be this as it will the Lords and Commons so far regarded King Henry's Claim that they not only receiv'd him for King but it was enacted by the Authority of the then Parliament That the Crowns of the Realms of England and France should rest in him and the Heirs of his Body lawfully coming perpetually and in NONE OTHER When they had thus done the Commons requested the King to Marry Elizabeth Daughter to E. 4. that by God's Grace there might be Issue of the Stock of their Kings So that this was only to preserve the Royal Blood not to give any new Countenance or Confirmation to his Title H. 8. enjoy'd the Crown not as Heir to his Mother but under the Settlement upon H. 7. Nor can it be said that he was in by Remitter since that Act under which his Mother should have deriv'd was Repeal'd And had it stood in force yet it would not have made the Title more Sacred unless it can be shewn that the Mother had a Title prior to the Act of Settlement 39 H. 6. the contrary to which appears by the former Account from Law and History H. 8. procur'd several Settlements of the Crown according as Love or Jealousie prevail'd in him In the 25th of his Reign 't was settled upon himself and his Heirs Males of his Body lawfully begotten on Queen Anne c. declaring the Marriage with Queen Katherin unlawful Remainder to the Lady Elizabeth Remainder to his own Right Heirs 26 H. 8. an Oath was enjoyn'd for that purpose 28 H. 8. the two former Acts 25 26. are Repeal'd the Illegitimation of Mary Daughter to Queen Katherine is confirmed the like declared of Elizabeth Daughter to Queen Anne and the Crown entail'd upon his Heirs Males by Queen Jane or any other Wife Remainder to Heirs Females by that Queen or any other lawful Wife Remainder to such Person or Persons and according to such Estates as he should appoint by Letters Patent or by Will. 35 the Crown is settled subject to such Conditions as the King should make according to the Power there given first upon Prince Edward and the Heirs of his Body the Remainder in like manner upon the Ladies Mary and Elizabeth and the Heirs of their Bodies successively without taking off their Illegitimations And the same Power is given of Disposing by Letters Patent or by Will as by the Statute 28. for which a memorable Reason is given in both Acts Lest if such Heirs should fail and no Provision made in the King's Life who should Rule and Govern this Realm for lack of such Heirs as in those Acts is mention'd that then this Realm should be destitute of a Lawful Governour E. 6. succeeded according to both those Acts After him Queen Mary by the last who at her coming to the Crown could not be look'd on as of the Right Line because of the Acts which Illegitimated her But in the first of her Reign the same Parliament takes off her Illegitimation and Repeals the Acts 25 28 H. 8. And in this the Parliament seems rather to provide for the Honour of her Descent than as Dr. Brady would have it to declare the Succession to be in Inheritance by Right of Blood. Whatever might be the secret Intention I am sure there is no such Authoritative Declaration And the Acts 28 35 H. 8. seem to say quite the contrary 1 2 P. M. tho' there is no direct Settlement it is made Treason to compass the Deprivation or Destruction of K. P. during the Queen's Life or of the Queen or of the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten Queen Elizabeth succeeded by vertue of the Limitation 35 H. 8. and tho Bastardiz'd by the Statutes 28 H. 8. and 1 M. yet her first Parliament declare That she is rightly lineally and lawfully descended and come of the Blood Royal of this Realm to whom and the Heirs of her Body the Royal Dignity c. are and shall be united And enacts That the Statute 35 H. 8. shall be the Law of the Kingdom for ever But the Fee of the Crown not having been dispos'd of according to the Power given by the Statute 28 and repeated 35 H. 8. And the 25 whereby 't was limited in Remainder to the Heirs of H. 8. being repeal'd upon the Deaths of E. 6. and the Queens Mary and Elizabeth without Issue there remaining no Heirs of the Body of H. 8. in the
him from his Master but only by a commodious Interpretation to have what is done by him or with him sustain'd and that so long the Error of the People and Servitude of the Person chosen should not prejudice what is done Gotofred goes yet further and says Magistrates and Judges constituted by Tyrants the Manner of Judgments being kept and things done according to Form of Law or transacted according to their Wills have been held good And yet in this Case the Defect seems greater being the Power is collated by one inhabil and so a substantial Form is wanting Wherefore in this part there seems no difference between the Inhability of the Elector or the Elected And if ever the Common Utility or Publick Good might warrant Actions out of the common Course certainly this could never have been pleaded more forcibly than in the Case of this Nation which unless it had declared for King WILLIAM and Queen MARY which they did in the most regular way that the Nature of the Thing would bear had in all likelihood by French Forces by this time been reduc'd to the miserable Condition of the poor Protestants in Ireland who are by no means beholden to the nice Observers of unnecessary and impracticable Forms I cannot think that I have followed Truth too nigh at the Heels for my Safety in the present Government which I take to be built upon this stable Foundation and that Protestant fondly flatters himself who thinks to retain his Religion and Security upon any Terms at a return of the former which some who were Instruments in setting up this seem madly to contend for But could Men hope to find their private Accounts in such a Change yet surely the dismal Prospect of Common Calamities to ensue should induce them to sacrifice such low Ends to the Interest of their Religion and their Country I am not sensible that I have misrepresented any Fact or Authority tho' I have not urg'd them with that strength which might have been by a better Pen. Perhaps what I have offer'd may give another Notion of the Succession than what many have imbib'd who will think I violate what is Sacred I have not urg'd the Illegitimation of the Children of E. 4. by Richard the Third's Parliament because tho' he was a King de facto if the Character fix'd on him be true he was a Tyrant as well as Usurper upon the innocent Prince E. 5. in whose Name he first took the Government upon him and either terrified or cheated the People into a Compliance with his Pretences Tho' I have not the vanity to believe that any thing of my own can weigh with them who have thought otherwise before especially if they have listed themselves on a Side contrary to that which no Disadvantages can make me repent of Yet I cannot but hope that the Authorities which I have produc'd will occasion some Consideration till they are either evaded or disprov'd And being all Legal Objections are answer'd nor can any Scruple of Conscience be here pretended without much less against Law What hinders but that we should exert our utmost in the Service of that Lawful Government from which we receive Protection and may expect Rewards for Vertue at least the Defence of it if we do not strengthen the Hands of them who have hitherto made that the greatest Crime Wherefore for us now to look back after we have set our Hands to the Plough would be not only to distrust that Providence which has given such a wonderful Encouragement to Perseverance but were enough to tarnish all our Actions with the Imputation of making the Publick Interest a Pretence for carrying on our own 'T is an happiness indeed when they are twisted and thrive together But the Cause is such as a Man ought not to fear to die nay to starve for it And how improsperous soever a Man's Endeavours for this may prove yet it may be a Comfort to have sown that Seed which may grow up for the Benefit of future Ages Nor ought he to repine because another Man hath gilded over his Name by what he has got by the Ruine of his Country or may have insinuated himself again into Opportunities to betray it Let it be enough for him how much soever slighted and contemn'd while he lives to embalm his Memory by a steadiness to Truth and the Interest of his Country not to be shaken by cross Accidents to himself or the Publick Cause Let him still act uniformly while others live in perpetual Contradictions or Varieties their Actions and their Principles thwarting themselves or each other or varying with the State-Weathercocks Let them violate the Laws out of Loyalty unchurch all Protestant Churches but their own out of Zeal against Popery narrow the Terms of Communion to spread the National Religion confine all Advantages to that Communion for the Publick Good make their King the Head of a Party to strengthen his Hands against his Enemies deliver up Charters and retake them gelt of their Noblest Privileges in performance of their Oaths to preserve them fight against their King and yet urge the Obligation of Oaths requiring an unalterable Allegiance to his Person assert that the Power is inseparable from him and yet may in his absence without his Consent be transferr'd to a Regent not to be reassum'd when he should think fit to return grant that he has broken the Contract yet contend that he retains that Power which he receiv'd from the Contract or that tho' the Contract is broken the Throne is not vacant or if it be vacant yet an Heir has a Right and so it is vacant and not vacant at the same time Or that after one has broken a Condition upon which he took an Estate to himself and his Heirs in Fee-simple or Tail another shall enjoy it as Heir to him and that in his Life-time invite a Deliverer yet reject the Deliverance Upon such Principles as these I find an eminent English Prelate censur'd as a Deserter of his Church for going about according to his great Learning to justifie the Oaths taken to the present Government And thus the Cause of J. 2. is made the Cause of the Church of England Certain it is whatever is now pretended 't is more difficult to justifie the taking up or promoting Arms against a Deliverer than an Oppressor And if Arms against the last were lawful even with the Prospect of involving Thousands in the Miseries of War much more are they in Defence of that Power which has restor'd those Liberties which the other invaded and reassur'd the Publick Peace And whoever first engag'd and now draw back not only brand themselves for Traitors but make it evident that Ambition Revenge or some ungenerous Design animated their Undertakings And as I doubt not but they will meet with their due Reward perhaps that Success which Nostredamus and others foretel to our present King may go further with such Men to
Warriors bold Their Force not by the Guard to be controll'd Burdeaux Roan Rochel joyning all their Force Upon the spacious Ocean take their Course The English-Britans and the Flemings joyn'd Shall chase them up to Roan as Clouds with Wind. From farthest Westward of the English Soil Where is the Chief of the brave British Isle A Fleet into the Garonne comes by Blay France to hide Fire in Barrels shall essay Th' English shall pass by Rochel into Blay The Great Aemathien leading them the Way Not far from Agen he the French shall meet The Help from Narboun fails them by deceipt Th' Aemathien o're the Pyrenaeans goes Narboun in War dares not his Way oppose By Sea and Land he with such Pow'r shall ride The Cap shall want a Place where to abide Near Nancy a most bloody Conflict see Th' Aemathien says All shall submit to Me. The British Isle by Salt and Wine in doubt But Mets shan't long be able to hold out A quick Translation of the Empire see In a small Place the lofty Seat shall be A Place inferior of but mean Account Into the middle shall its Scepter mount England of Pow'r shall be the glorious Seat More than Three hundred Years continuing Great Large Forces thence shall pass through Land and Seas To the disquiet of the Portugees Thames Garone Rochel all engag'd in War Oh Trojan-Blood your Arrows fatal are The Scaling-Ladders shall the Fortress reach Fire on the Bridge and Slaughter in the Breach Roman High-Priest Take heed how you come nigh The City which two Rivers do supply The Blood of you and yours shall freely flow There in the Season when the Roses blow Great Changes France betide in luckless Hour In a strange Place shall be the Seat of Pow'r Quite diff'rent Laws and Manners it must take Part of its Mis'ry Roan and Chartres make When the Great Monarch bears away the Prize From those of Ausburgh and their firm Allies Cologne the Chief of Frankfort shall retake Their Way thro' Flanders into France they 'll make Tall Horse-men from the Celtique Gall shall ride With Men of divers Nations on their side Th' Agent for †Aquitain they will confine To make him pliable to their Design The River which does the young Celtique prove Shall in the Empire mighty Discord move For the young Prince the Clergy shall declare He takes the Scepter and the Crown shall wear The Celtique River shall new Channel take Cologne its Out-bound shall no longer make Except the Ancient Language all is new Saturn Mars Leo Cancer Spoils pursue Great Disappointments shall the Frenchmen find Their vain light Hearts puff't up with empty Wind Salt Wine and Bread Water and Beer shall fail The Great one cold and famish't in a Gaol The Blood of Churchmen shall be largely shed And like a mighty River it shall spread Long shall it be before the Slaughter ends Wo to the Clerk Ruine and Grief attends They 'd have the King by Force his Game retreive His Nephew since the Citizens receive The Pris'ner now to talk and act is free The King without keeps far from th' Enemy The King o' th' Isles shall be driv'n out by force For not consenting unto a Divorce From what 's soon own'd unfitting to have been One without Mark of King in 's Place is seen Such Expectation never shall be known In Europe rais'd Asia the Sight shall own One of the League of the Great Hermes's Line In Glory shall the Eastern Kings out-shine The King of Europe with the Northern Flow'r Shall like a Gryphon come in mighty Pow'r In Red and White a num'rous Force shall lead All join'd against the Babylonish Head. Grebner PEr idem tempus Rex quidam Borealis nomine CAROLUS MARIAM ex Papistica Religione sibi assumptam in Matrimonium conjunxerit ex quo evadet Regum infelicissimus Unde populus ejus ipso abdicato Comitem quendam perantiquae Familiae regno praeponet qui tres annos aut eo circiter durabit hoc quoque remoto Equitem quendam bellicosum in ejus locum assumet qui paulo ampliùs regnabit Posthunc eliget nullum Interea unus è stirpe Caroli in littore regni patris sui cum Gallicis Suevicis Danicis Hollandicis Burgundicis Germanicis auxiliis stabit omnes inimicos suos cruentissimo bello superabit postea Regnum suum felicissimè administrabit eritque Carolo magno major Sum Anglicus truculentus Leo modo rugens fremens immane saeviens animosus faelix Victoriosus contra omnes hostes Patriae meae fideliter auxilio venio praesidio ac clementi meae Reginae asporto pretiosum cimelion Margaritam dictam Belgicas Hispanicas dictiones unde Regina mea tempore vitae suae certo magnificè gloriosè Trumphat Terra Jubila Jubila canta exulta quod vidisti exoptatum diem Ruinae excidii Antichristi quod ductu auspicio faelici Anglorum Gallorum Danorum Germanicorum Scotorum Suecorum praesidio dextrae numinis altipotentis fiet Europae labes imbecilitas singulorum ejusdem Regnorum sedem mirabiliter struet Quintae Monarchiae quae sub tempus exitii Romani Imperii ad terrorem totius Mundi ex ruinis Germaniae refulgebit Haec triennii spatio caetera Europae regna aut vi praedomitabit aut belli metu ad Societatem propellet quo universalem Ligam unionem omnium Protestantium efficiet Hoc vexillum de fratribus quoque Uraniae Principis eorum posteris Illustrissimis intelligendum Leones nostri audaces in primâ acie fremunt unde nobis potentia crescit Gloria Fama augescit Grebner TO CHARLES a Northern King much Woe 't will breed To marry MARY of the Romish Creed The People casting off his luckless Sway Shall of an Ancient House an Earl obey Three Years or thereabout he them shall Head Then shall a Warlike Knight come in his stead He something longer shall maintain his Post After him Nol is chose to rule the Rost Of Charles his Lineage there shall One arise Who with French Germans Swedes Danes Dutch Supplies Upon the Shore of 's Father's Realm shall Land And Conquer all who dare his Arms withstand With great Prosperity he long shall Reign In Glory ev'n surpassing Charlemain An English Roaring Lion am I found My Rage and Courage with Successes Crown'd For Aid and Safeguard to my Country come I to my Queen bring a rich Treasure home Holland and Spain well call'd a Precious Stone Whence shall my Queen enjoy a happy Throne Rejoice O Earth Proclaim a Jubilee For you the Fall of Antichrist shall see With happy Conduct in auspicious Hour The English French Scotch Swedish Danish Flow'r Shall cast her down by the Almighty's Pow'r The Europaean Kingdoms
in decay The Scene of a Fifth-Monarchy shall lay Which while the Roman Empire does decline Out of the German-Ruins bright shall shine And with its Lustre terrifie the World E're thrice the Sun has thro' its Houses whirl'd This Europe's Kingdoms shall by Force subdue Or drive to Friendship while they War eschue Whence shall an Universal League be made Of all the Protestants for mutual Aid Of th' Orange Family it shall be said Our Belgick Lions shall the Armies Head And with undaunted Courage Terror spread Hence Glory Pow'r and an unrival'd Fame Shall to all Ages celebrate the Name David Pareus THere shall arise out of the Nation of the most Illustrious Lilies having a long Forehead higb Eye-brows great Eyes and an Eagle's Nose He shall gather a great Army and destroy all the Tyrants of his Kingdom and slay all that fly and hide themselves in Mountains and Caves from his Face For Righteousness shall be joined unto him as the Bridegoom to the Bride With them he shall wage War even unto the fortieth Year bringing into Subjection the Islanders Spaniards and Italians Rome and Florence he shall destroy and burn with Fire so as Salt may be sowed on that Land. The greatest Clergy-man who hath invaded Peter's Seat he shall put to Death and in the same Year obtain a double Crown At last going over the Sea with a great Army he shall enter Greece and be named The King of the Greeks The Turks and Barbarians he shall subdue making an Edict That every one shall die the Death that worshippeth not the Crucified One And none shall be found able to resist him because an Holy Arm from the Lord shall always be with him And he shall possess the Dominion of the Earth These things being done he shall be called The Rest of Holy Christians c. David Pareus Among PROPHECIES Printed ANNO 1682. ONe of long Forehead and of Eye-brows high An Eagles rising Nose and a full Eye From the Illustrious Lillies shall arise And his Realms Tyrants with his Arms surprise To Mounts and Caves they from his Face shall fly And many miserable Wretches die For Righteousness he as a Bride shall take And to the Forti'th Year fam'd Wars shall make Those of the Islands Spain and Italy Subject unto his Pow'r the World shall see Florence and Rome with raging Fire he 'll waste And Salt into the gaping Furrows cast The Prelate that does Peter's Seat invade To taste unwelcom Death by him is made And the same Year a double Crown he 'll gain With a great Army passing o're the Main Greece he shall enter stil'd the Grecian King Turks and Barbarians to Subjection bring By a firm Edict fixing Death on all That don't before the suff'ring Saviour fall None shall be found that can his Force abide Because God's Sacred Arm strengthens his Side The Empire of the Earth by him possest He shall be call'd The Holy Christian's Rest Ant. Torquatus GAlli cum Hispanis pluries longoque tempore pugnabunt Post Turcae cum Hispanis quibus omnibus tandem Hispani superiores erunt Omnia extrema visura passuraque est misella Italia sed praecipuè Longobardi Bellicus furor omnia maligna in Italiam effundet plus Italiae quà m caeteris provinciis astra minantur Apparebit namque fortissimus Princeps à Septentrione qui populos debellabit urbes dominia ac potentatus horribili cum terrore saevissimisque invictissimis bellis expugnabit universos sibi subjiciet vi Aquarum diluvia nedum in Italiâ verum etiam in aliis provinciis locis exundabunt ac humiliora operient loca Civitates Castra submergentur Futurumque est mare Piratis classibus plenum quo magno cum terrore civitates maritimas oppriment spoliabunt Unde fleant expectantes fleantque maximè Romani Imperii hostes Quot dominia mutabuntur quotque illustres familiae antiquae dominia amittent haud facile hoc narrari posset per maximè in Italia continget Quot respublicae per vim cum dolore suos status libertates amittent aliis dominis atque externis subjicientur Florentia Luca Janua Venetiae aliae quoque respublicae praedicto fato erunt subjectae nec evadere poterunt quo tardiùs id fiet eo durius infelicius-que eveniet eis eo fato prementur Nam tam ardua diraque necnon saevissima bella inter Gallos atque Germanos Hispanos ac inter eorum Reges oritura sunt inter quos Angli Italique miscebuntur etiam Turcae ad ea a Christianis in auxilium vocabuntur Itaque tunc videbitur quod totus status orbis sit ruiturus omnes prae confusione rerum timebunt ultimam ruinam Multi contra Romanum Imperatorem suos ferociter ferentur ibunt Sed Romanus Imperator tantâ vi repente contra hostes suos praeter omnem spem opinionem insurget quòd contra omne Judicium opprimet eos superabit ac vincet Gallorum Regem aut interficiet aut secundò capiet Tandem tamen gladio concidet aut amisso regno filiis calamitatibus oppressis ducibusque suis interfectis vitam finiet tunc ultra Gallorum laus sub Aquilâ volabit Tunc Galli infelices erunt Anglus quoque Rex Gallicis ruinis non longè dissimilia pertimescat infortunia Poterit ipsé cum suis adversam experiri fortunam ingenti strage prosterni quia tutum non est sed fatuum contra fata niti Sapiens tamen dominabitur astris FINIS Ant. Torquatus OFten and long Spaniards and French shall fight Then shall the Turks yield to the Spanish Might Poor Italy but Lombardy in chief Shall see and suffer various Grounds of Grief All Ills shall Italy invade by Wars Italy chiefly threatned by the Stars For from the North a Prince of Valour great Shall people Cities Potentates defeat Fierce and invincible against his Foes Subduing all who his Success oppose In Italy and other Countries too The Waters Towns and Castles shall o'reflow Pyrats and Navies shall the Sea infest And Sea port Towns be spoil'd and sore opprest A dismal Prospect this to many shows But most unto the Roman Empire's Foes 'T were tedious to recount how many Realms And Ancient Families Ruine o'rewhelms How many Commonwealths by Force and Fraud Out of their Lives and Liberties are aw'd Letting in cruel Masters from abroad Florence and Venice many other States Shall subject be nor can evade their Fates The longer 't is before they meet their Doom The fiercer will the mighty Ruine come French Germans Spaniards with their several Kings Engag'd in War perpetrate bloody things Italians and the English have their Share And by the Christians Turks invited are Many against the Roman Empire rise Fiercely assailing it and its Allies The Emp'ror shall arise to sudden Powr And conquer all his Foes in lucky Hour Leaving Belief and trembling Hope behind