woful case to fall into the hand of the Lord when angry Descend we now to Natural Reason and consider what that dictates to us in this matter it being sufficiently demonstrated that Monarchy is of Divine Institution by what is before-mentioned but put case there were nothing touching it in Divinity one way or other hath not the experience and practice of the World for some thousand of years inform'd us that an Hereditary Monarchy is the best sort of Government for the People in reference to the support of Human Society Have not all Philosophers and Politicians of any note left their Opinions to posterity that it is so Hath not Monarchy been the setled Government of this Kingdom for so many Centuries of years And are not our Chronicles so plain in the point that no considerable mischief ever befell us but by interrupting Hereditary Succession of the Crown and that that mischief hath been of no less consequence than the ruin of the then Inhabitants and shall such Mushrooms as you pretend to say that not only the Line of Succession but Monarchy it self may be alter'd because such Ignoramus's in Politicks know no other way of saving a Nation from drowning but by casting it into the fire We have had warning sufficient I hope not to be gul'd with any such whim whams any more But because nothing less at present than the alteration of the Succession or of Monarchy it self would serve your turn to keep out Popery I will for your satisfaction if it be possible and if your understanding and honesty will bear it make it plain in a few words that we are as safe and secure against Popery as the Art of man can make us and that we want nothing but what is Gods own work to secure us from Popery so long as we stick close to and maintain the Hereditary Succession of the Crown though we should happen to see a Popish Successor and the way to perfect the work and to prevail with God to do what doth belong to him is by Prayers and Penitence not by Sedition and Rebellion If ever Popery should be establisht in England I speal in reference to what lies in the power of men it must be either by Military force or by Law the Military force must be either home force or foreign force by home force it can never be though the King were a Papist because the whole Nation is averse to it and very violent against it except a very inconsiderable number who if they should offer the least look that way they would be devoured as a hungry Lyon would devour a new fallen Lamb and as to foreign force the only way to subject us to it is to divide us into two considerable Parties and then to engage us in the Slaughter of each other which would most assuredly be the consequence of setting a side of any of the Royal Family from their turn of Succession And of this the Kingdom can give many sad instances I shall mention only that of Deposing Richard II. and setling the Crown upon Henry the Fourth though by Act of Parliament and with Richard the Second's seeming but forc'd consent which produced such miserable Wars between the Heirs and Favourers of both Kings as rendred the Kingdom a meer Slaughter-house for the most part of fourscore years in which time the number of the slain is uncertain but if we may guess at Hercules's body by the length of his foot their number must be very vast for I find there was slain upon that occasion in one Battle thirty six thousand seven hundred threescore and sixteen Persons and all the Arts and Acts of Parliament afterwards which were many and which played handy-dandy with the Crown acting it one while upon one then upon another could never settle affairs till it had pleas'd God to do it by ordering the matter so that the Heirs of both Families were one of them a Man and the other a Woman and that these did marry one another whose Nuptial Feasts lull'd the Nation into a pacifick slumber and put an end to those unhappy Troules and England once again enjoy'd a blessed peace until another unparallel'd Usurpation upon the Crown by the seeming sanctified Parliament in King Charles the First his time which can never be forgot though you are angry it is not These Instances should be caution enough to any reasonable men not to invade Gods Prerogative and interrupt the Hereditary Succession of the Crown but leave it to its due and establish'd course of Descent I am confident scarce any man of sense believes but that if ever hereafter in our days especially it should happen that the next in Suceession to the Crown by course of descent should be put by though by Act of Parliament it would produce as sad effects as ever it did and it is not improbable but our Popish Neighbours who are more Potent now than ever would lay hold on such an opportunity the French King as I am credibly inform'd having now a standing and established Army of two hundred thousand men or more how easie then would it be for him when we had mangled torn and destroyed the greatest part of our selves to make himself Master of the wearied surviving Party and then Impose upon them his own Popish Religion So that to me nothing seems so ready a way to introduce Popery as altering the Succession of the Crown out of its Lineal Course of Descent unless it be by suffering Conventicles where men teach and the scrupulous Brotherhood learn with greediness any manner of Doctrine specially the lawfulness of King-killing and Rebellion to propagate their Heresies Sects and Schisms Hence I may say it is very evident that by force of Arms Popery can never be setled here so long as the Succession of the Crown is kept in the due course of Descent and it may be made as manifestly appear that it can never be introduc'd by Law though there were a Popish Successor for though the King be the Law-maker yet his power is so limited and restrained by the Law of Usage and Custom that he can make no new Law without the consent of his Parliament and the Law as it is is Provisional enough to prevent the Papists acting to any prejudice For as the Law now is no man is to be a Member in either House of Parliament unless he upon Oath renounce Popery and take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy nor can any man practise the Law Physick Chyrurgery the Art of an Apothecary or any Liberal Science for gain unless he renounce Popery and take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy No man can be Ordained a Minister of the Gospel or permitted to Preach in a Church unless he Renounce Popery but at a Conventicle be he Papist or be he Turk or Jew or what he will he may Preach there any manner of Doctrine and the People are angry if they be interrupted So that we are in danger of being
taught no Popery in Pulpits unless among the Lawless Conventicles whose Teachers if the Law be put in Execution against their Disciples will have but few Hearers and if all this be not enough his Majesty was Graciously pleased to assure us that he would make any new Law to secure us from Popery Yea even to the restraining of a Popish Successor so that the Succession of the Crown were not put out of its Lineal Course of Descent and I dare say the great Gown-man whoever he was whose Opinion as some say so far sway'd the Commons that they thought no Law could sufficiently secure us against a supposed Popish Successor but Exclusion from the Succession could not really be of that mind for a King can do no great harm he is but one man and if he should in his own Person attempt to offer any unjust violence to any man it is an easie matter to fly from him and that without imputation of Cowardise it being upon no account justifiable to resist the Kings Person with force but if any man Officer or other should by the Kings Command kill wound or beat any man that doth not obstinately refuse to answer his charge by course of Law before he is Convicted of the Fact by Verdict of his Peers or Equals or by his own Confession and before he is sentenc'd by a Judg for that purpose lawfully Authorised he that should so do is punishable notwithstanding such Command and moreover though the King by his Prerogative Royal may lawfully cause any man to be Imprisoned in order to come to Tryal yet if in the Commitment it appear not to be for Treason or Felony specially nam'd he must be bayl'd by the Judg and though Imprison'd for any of those offences yet he is to continue in Prison but until he may be Try'd by due Course of Law but unto the Kings Legal Commands in a Judicial way the whole Strength and Power of the Nation is bound to assist in compelling Obedience thereunto be his Commands signified by Himself or by his Magistrates and Judges in his Name who are sworn to do therein as the Law requires and not otherwise so that the King hath all Power to do lawful things lawfully yet to do any thing illegally he hath so little Power that it is truly said the King can do no wrong and besides all this every King at his Coronation takes an Oath to confirm the Laws to his People to maintain the Gospel established in the Kingdom to keep Peace execute Justice and grant the Commons their rightful Customs be his own Religion what it will So that here 's all the Bars and Bolts imaginable to keep out Popery from being imposed on the People of England whatever the Kings Religion be which those do not well consider that compare these days with those of Queen Mary which were long before any of these Laws before-mentioned were made and when Reformation was but scarce begun by her Father towards the later end of his Reign and countenanced but not much improv'd by her Brother who died an Infant King and when that Queen came to the Crown it cannot be supposed that the tenth part of the Nation were Converts from Popery as appears by what then hapned for she soon got a Popish Parliament who as soon submitted themselves to the Pope and asked Pardon for their offences against him and declared themselves ready to abrogate all Laws prejudicial to the See of Rome but the Case is alter'd now Here 's no Popish Members can be elected the whole Nation being almost Protestants and consequently will elect no Papist nor one suspected to be so or if any such should chance to be so elected yet no such Popish Member is to be admitted into Parliament So here 's no Popish Parliament can be that should consent to make Laws in savour of Popery nor can there be any Popish Magistrates admitted that should favour the Papists by omitting to execute the Laws against them Nor is there any Priests that should perswade them to Popery to be heard among us unless in Conventicles so that here 's no room by Law for Popery sure in England nor ever can be if we keep to the course we are in and gape not after changes in the Government or suffer our selves to be frighted with shadows so far as to depend more upon dishonest Policy than Gods Providence and honest Prudence But suppose that Originally the Succession of the Crown were in the people yet in the same breath you contradict your self by saying it is so now for you say also that they have appointed and consented that it should be Hereditary Is not a Bargain a Bargain Do you think they can Revoke this Agreement at pleasure I think there is no Law for that That the people of England both in this and former Ages as far as an Oath Established by Act of Parliament can oblige which I think no man will say but it is the greatest obligation in the World have or ought to have â—ound themselves that the Succession of the Crown shall â—e Hereditary The Oath of Allegiance Established by the Legislative â—uthority in your own Notion and by the Statute 3. â—â—c and 4. and elsewhere so frequently obliged to be â—â—ken is in these words viz. That we will bear faith and true â—llegiance to his Majesty His Heirs and Successors and him â—â—d them will defend to the utmost of our power against all â—â—nspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made â—â—ainst his or their persons c. Now for a little Exposition upon the Text for nothing can be so plain but some may invert the sense of it since some wrest even the Scriptures to their own Damnation and yet go according to their Consciences still such as their nature is such is their Logick the Spider draws Poyson from the same Flower that the Bee gathers Honey First I shall observe only That the Statute which appoints this Oath of Allegiance was made since the Statute of the 13. of Queen Elizabeth which made it an Offence to say the Queen by Authority of Parliament could not limit the Descent of the Crown and if the said Statute that appoints the said Oath by such appointment hath so limited and setled the Descent and Succession of the Crown that I cannot perceive how now it can be justly altered for demonstration whereof it is requisite the signification of the word Heirs be rightfully understood this word Heirs is in our English Dialect the same the Latins called Heredes Sanguinis Heirs of the Blood not adopted Heirs still the next of kin to the Deceased Successively one after the other for ever for though a Father should give away his Estate from his Eldest Son yet he is Heir though a disinherited one and though men dispose of their Lands as they think fit Yet Deus facit Haeredes God makes Heirs and I take the meaning of the word Heirs in that Oath to
be no other than the next of Kin to the deceased King and the joyning of Successors to Heirs is capable of or at leastwise in the common sense and understanding thereof which is the sense it ought to be taken there can have no other construction but that the Kings Heirs shall be his Successors for ever and that we shall pay the same Allegiance to the Kings Heirs in their turns as we do to them but you say the unlimited power of the Legislative Authority can do any thing alter Succession yea Monarchy it self even at the very day that you wrote the Postscript without Controversie the power of the Legislative Authority is very great but I must distinguish between what may be done and what may be justly done If Monarchy or the Succession thereof should be altered by the Legislative power as it was by a Part of the Legislative Authority in dismal 48. and as is apparent some wish it should again It doth not therefore follow that it should be just to do so any more for whatsoever is contrary to the Eternal Law of God though commanded by the Legislative Authority is unjust and though the Legislative Authority may be of that power and force as to compel Obedience to their Laws yet they can never make Vice a Vertue or give Sanctity to a thing that is malum in se evil in it's very nature and essence By the Oath of Allegiance we declare that we do plainly and sincerely swear according to the express words there set down and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of these words If so by Heirs there must be meant the same that is meant thereby according to the common sense in common discourse and according to that sense then by Heirs is meant the next of Kin for when we enquire who is such a mans Heir we mean who is next of Kin to him But oh say you and the new-true Protestants the Succession of the Crown was not intended to be so absolutely limited to the Heirs but that if the Parliament thought fit to appoint another that is not the real Heir he must be the man This is a very vain idle and empty Hypothesis and a meer groundless supposition for the Oath it self restrains the meaning of the words to their common sense and understanding and renounces all manner of mental evasion or reservation whatsoever so here 's no reservation for an objection against the Heir neither as to his Religion or Person Here I have shewed you Gods Example of Establishing an Hereditary Monarchy and his precepts to obey it in no place in Divinity do I find a power given from God to the people to alter it at pleasure or when they think fit upon any pretence whatsoever here 's also an Oath of Obedience required by Act of Parliament from all people to stand to and defend the Hereditary Succession of the Crown here 's also in that Oath a Renuntiation of all Pardons and Absolutions from that Oath and an Explanation that it is to be understood according to the common sense and meaning of the words and this Oath is on ought to be taken by all people in the Kingdom How justifiable then would it be in the Legislative power to Act Counter to all these and having once required us to swear fidelity to an Hereditary Successor and to renounce all Absolutions from that Oath yet after wards to compel us to swear fidelity to one that is not the Hereditary Successor Dic quibus in terris eris mihi magnus Apollo from such Legislative power as despise Gods Example Reject his Providence and will engage a whole Nation to forswear themselves rather than use other means to Restrain even a Popish Successor Good Lord deliver me As to this point of Succession I shall add what I find Recommended by Mr. Prin in his Preface to Cottons Records fol. 10. Observe 14 Kings says he Created and set up merely by Parliaments and their own power in them without any true Hereditary Title have seldom answered the Lords and Commons Expectations in the preservation of their just Laws Liberties and Answers to Petitions yea themselves branded at last for Tyrants Traytors Murderers such another Doom as the ambitious Tower-Builders had confusion of Tongues yea and Senses to And as to the Scrupulous Brotherhood Recommend me to them and let them know that I dare affirm their Teachers are most of them Jesuits the true Papists in Masquerade who instead of Preaching Peace incite the people by a side-wind to Rebellion and let them know also That I desire to know of those seeming tender Conscienced Dissenters what Answer they will make at the great Tribunal when it shall be askt them why they occasioned the Murthering of their King put three Nations together by the Ears made them suck each others Hearts blood out Rob Ravish and Burn for that hath once been the consequence of their Scrupulosity and may be so again if they be not prevented Do you and they think it will be a sufficient excuse to say we could not hear a man Preach in white sleeves we had more kindness for one in a little round Cloak we could not look upon the Minister making the sign of the Cross in Baptism or we were loth lest we should spoil our silk Stockings to kneel at the Sacrament for our Consciences told us he was the finer man that Pray'd and Preach'd without Book by the help of the Spirit whither good or bad than he that well weighed and considered what he should say before he spoke though we are commanded not to be hasty to utter any thing before God Sure these reasons will never excuse them the rather for that they themselves acknowledge that they are but indifferent things in their own nature wherein they dissent from the Government and being so they are the more to blame that dissent and there is greater reason that they should comply with the Government than that the Government should truckle to every Humorist You say well in that you say there is nothing more exposeth the Authority of Government to contempt than a publick and open neglect of its Injunctions therefore I do heartliy wish our Magistrates would use civil force and power as far as by Law they may to enforce Obedience to the Laws both in Church and State and like good wise Parents give their stubborn Children the Rod of Correction in due time before they grow too head-strong I had almost omitted to say any thing touching Usurpers which I conceive may be very material for it is not enough to know who hath right to the Crown at the Decease of a King but it behoves us also to know how to prevent or remove Usurpers in case any such should happen and for that purpose I cannot but inform you that in my reading I find mention made of two sorts of Tyrannical Monarchs one sort of Tyrant is he who of his own
Captivity his own peculiar People the Jews and to redeem them out of the power of a mighty King he chose them a King Moses who none will deny to be a King that knows what belongs to the Office and Power of a King although he was not named a King for he as only Supream under God by Gods own appointment not by the Peoples Election exercised all the Offices of a King over that People he was their chief Captain and their chief Judge and so were all his Successors after him that went by the name of Judges they were Kings and Soveraigns in their turns and were then called Judges as I conceive propter Excellentiam because it is the chief part of a Kings Office by himself and his Deputies to Administer Justice between his Subjects and in those dayes and long before most Kings were called Judges though of latter times the word is applicable to the inferiour Magistrates only God himself is called the Judge of all the Earth as well as the King of Kings That the Judges of Israel that succeeded Moses might as well have been called Kings as Judges will plainly appear if we consider the signification of the word King and the Offices and Powers exercised by those Judges as to the word King it signifies him that hath the highest Power and Command in a Countrey and those Judges in their turns and but one at once and during his life exercised all the power of a King they commanded the Officers of the people and judged Israel And I would also note unto you that most of them were chosen by God himself and but very rarely by the people and when ever they did usurp upon Gods Prerogative in that particular as they did when of their own accord they chose Abimeleck the base Son of Jerubbaal it soon happened that they fell a Butchering one another and thereby reduced themselves to such a confused state for want of a Rightfully Constituted King or Judge that they were brought to the brink of Ruin and so it happen'd to them alwayes when they transgressed in that nature but still upon Recantation and seeking to God he would vouchsafe to choose them a King then called a Judge and whilst they could keep such a Judge they did well enough Yet after a little Prosperity they were still apt to return to their licentious Liberty and after this rate did they continue for about Four hundred Years but at length it was brought to that pass by their perverse self-conceitedness that God had quite forsaken them and whereas formerly God did often Converse with their Prophets as one man doth with another by word of mouth and directed them they rejected his directions and depended only on their own Policy so that God withdrew his favour from them for a long time And in the Third of the first of Samuel you will find it Recorded that there was no open Vision in those days but in a while after God was pleased to Reveal himself again to Samuel and to advise him how to Retrive and Govern those almost lost People And forasmuch as soon after they asked for a King and that it is there said that God was angry with them for it and forasmuch as that passage is made use of by some as an Argument against Kingly Government I cannot omit shewing unto you that God was not against their having any King at all but the displeasure was because they would at that very time have another Governour or King than God had set over them which was Samuel Such a Feeble old man as he according to their understanding was not fit to Govern them they did not at all regard it that God was with him And this was the cause of the Anger as appears by the sequel of the Story For says God to Samuel They have not rejected thee but me have they rejected And this I do the more firmly believe to be the true meaning of that passage and reason of Gods Anger for God designed long before that time that they should have a King and consequently should be Governed by a Kingly Government though you say page 36. That it was a Government of their own choice for in Numb 24 verse the 7. The Prophet Balaam foretelling the prosperity of Israel says that the King of Israel should be higher than Agag the King of the Amalekites and Deut. 17. verse 14. God gives Israel these Directions When thou art come into the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee verse 15. thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose not whom they would themselves with Directions in that Chapter how their King should behave himself and his Sons after him so that if there had not been a King designed for them by God himself sometime or other that Prophesie of the Prophet Balaam could never have been fulfilled and the Directions who should be King and how he was to behave himself and upon what terms he and his Sons after him were to enjoy the Crown had been in vain whereby it is most manifest that the mere desiring of a King as some would have it was not the fault but desiring a new King at an undue time desiring a King not choosing one themselves which had they done had been a greater fault by much Another Reason that makes me of belief that the meer asking of a King had it been at a due time had been no Offence because God was not long angry nor did he long withstand their desires but soon after commanded Samuel to hearken to the people and give them a King but this King was to be of Gods choosing not of their own choosing as you falsely affirm page 36. for God himself told Samuel that Saul should be the man and caused him to be Anointed before the people knew ought thereof and afterwards God directed the Lot according to his own Predestination and fore-appointment and when Samuel presented him to the people as chose by God they made no more ado but submitted to the choice and shouted and cryed God save the King yet some Sons of Belial there were in those days that did not like the choice all which proceedings you may find in the Eighth of the first of Samuel Saul being thus Established and a Successor thought of for as yet the Succession of Monarchy was not settled Samuel by Gods special appointment and of his own meer motion without any Request from the people chose David to be Sauls Successor and in him did God make Monarchy Hereditary and Established it so as you may see in the Second of Samuel 7.12 by saying to David in this manner when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up thy Seed after thee and verse the 16. thy House and thy Kingdom shall be Established before me for ever and in another place the Scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloe come Here
Authority taketh upon him the Soveraignty by the Assistance of some loose irregular Party without right and this sort of Tyrant is he who by the Laws and Writings of the Ancients is commanded to be kil'd with promise of ample Rewards to such as should do it in this case making no difference whether he be a good man or a wicked one for it is not lawful for any man living of himself or by the Assistance or incitement of any Factions or discontented Party without good right to invade the Soveraignty and to make himself Master of his fellows what colour soever of Vertue Justice Religion or Reformation he pretends in plain English he deserves the worst of Deaths that doth it In this only case it is lawful to proceed according to the Course once known in England by the name of Abbington-Law that is to hang them first and try them after And this manner of proceeding in case of an Usurper was once Established by Law among the Romans by the name of the Law Valeria and thereby leave was given to every man to slay such Tyrant without Tryal For in such a case to proceed by way of formal Legal Justice the Commonwealth would be consumed with the Firebrands of Usurpation before they could be quenched and besides it was impossible to bring such formally to Justice for who could in a Judicial way call to account such a one as Oliver Cromwel in the Head of his Conquering Army therefore it was thought better in such a case to suppress the Tyrant by force or stratagem rather than by too nice insisting upon the Regularities of proceedings by Law lose both the Law and the State also And when I consider this I cannot but say it was much to the disreputation of the old English Cavaliers considering how many indigent Officers did appear at his now Majesties Restauration that none of them had the courage by Dagger or Pistol to cut off that Usurping King-killing Tyrant NOLL But on the other hand this course is by no means justifiable but in case of an Usurper not in case of a Sovereign Prince that is lawfully established and setled or hath right to the Sovereignty either by special call from God as Saul and David or by right of Hereditary Succession as the Heirs of the Kings of England Spain France Turkey Russia and all the Countries of Africa c. I say in such cases that course is by no means to be thought upon for though perchance which falls out rarely that such a lawful Prince forgetting his duty should become beyond measure cruel covetous and wicked perverting both the Laws of God and man which is the other sort of Tyrant his Person ought by no means to be touch'd for God commands Touch not my anointed The want of making a distinction between these two sorts of Tyrants hath led many into great mistakes holding it lawful for Subjects to rise up in Arms against any sort of Tyrant a conclusion of a most dangerous and destructive as well as irreligious consequence For where that Opinion hath got any footing seditious and ambitious Men will never fail to scandalize the best of Princes thereby to provoke the People to Rebellion that these few Villains may reap some profit to themselves by the Ruin of multitudes of others and it hath been often experienced that Rebellion against a lawful Prince though ever so cruel hath caused more mischief than could possibly have hapned had such a one been suffered for his time even in Kingdoms where Kings had more power to do evil than here they have So that in Human Prudence as well as in obedience to Divine Precepts and for our own Oaths sake it is most safe for us to be firm in our Allegiance to our Kings and their Heirs and as to what may happen upon failure of Heirs and who then shall be Successor let it alone for those to determine that may be then concern'd but for my part I am resolved not to be forsworn for any Power upon Earth for I am confident those above will never desire it Nay more God hath said He will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain It is said by our Saviour That all sins shall be forgive men but the sin against the Holy Ghost And I have often thought wilful Perjury might be the sin against the Holy Ghost not only from the evil consequence of it which is dreadful but even from the word of the Commandment that forbids it which says Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain which hath this meaning Thou shalt not swear falsly by his name or affirm any thing falsly and call God to witness the truth of it for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain which is to be understood as if it had said God will not pardon him that taketh his name in vain And there is not that said of the breakers of any of the other Laws but this I refer to the Consideration of your self and the rest of the Bill of Exclusion-men and to all other that make shipwreck of their Oath and Consciences and let me recommend it unto you that you pray for the Peace of our English Jerusalem for they and they only that love it shall prosper And that they may do so is my hearty desire And when I am convinced you are of that temper but not until then I shall be Your Friend W. W. FINIS