Difficulties and for securing the Protestant Religion If the Parliament at Oxford says he P. 17. were not damnably mistaken or very Lewdly forgetfull they have declared Nemine Contradicente that neither they nor their Predecessors have ever heard or seen one Sillable or such a Frame of Expedients offer'd them The Gentleman under favour forgets himself if he means that there never were any such Expedients offer'd for this Project of Accommodation was Agitated and Modified even in the late Long Parliament And Expedients have been likewise since Propos'd unto which his Majesty refers himself in his late Declaration in these words But coâ—trary to our OFFERS and Expectation we saw that NO EXPEDIENTS would be ENTERTAIN'D but that of a Total Exclusion c. P. 6. Toward the bottom of the Seventeenth Page the Character makes an Invidious Descant upon the hopes the Papists had of a Toleration but not one Syllable of the Persons that started those hopes nor upon what Interest and Consideration the Design was set affoot Now he knows very little of our Affairs who does not understand that none were so forward and so Importune for the Gaining of the Dukes Assistance toward such an Indulgence as those very People that are now so Clamorous against his Royal Highness for it Not that any such Disposition was wrought by his Interest but they Labour'd it however under that Plausible Pretext that Provided the Dissenters might be eas'd on the one side they would do their best also and Content themselves that the Papists might be eas'd on the other The Nineteenth Page smells of the Romance Second Ajax Vlisses Palladium Troynovant Tullia c. as if the Author were speaking to us by his Deputy And then toward the bottom of the Page Enter the True Author again who P. 21. guides his Deputy's hand while he writes these words The Author of the Character is a Person so far from laying his hand on his heart and owing any Benefit to Royal Pardons or Acts or Oblivion that I must say this Truth for him Ianuary 48. was past before he was born I would he had taken in the other two Figures 16. to have told us what Century he speaks of There was a Gentleman of my acquaintance in the late times that would needs make himself the Author of Killing no Murther and had like to have been hang'd for his pains though he never wrote Syllable on 't But if Mr. Deputy has so great a kindness for his Principal as to take the Character upon him the Millers man that was Truss'd for his Master was told I remember that he could never do his Master better Service The Remainder of his Discourse is almost wholly Forrein to the matter in Question Insisting Principally upon two Points the Danger and the Inconvenience of a Popish Successor wherein I have declar'd my self in my first Character P. 3. that I take All his Suppositions of Difficultyes and Hazzards in the Case for Granted not that I think them so great as he Represents them but yet admitting them so to be that very Concession will not do his Business The second Point is Whether the Parliament of England may by the Laws of England Exclude the next heir of the Blood from the Succession of the Crown upon thiâ— Question I have thus deliver'd my self in my Case Put P. 9. Some are of opinion For it others Against it but the Legality or Illegality of such an Act is a Point that I am not willing to meddle with either one way or other For whether the Thing may Lawfully be done or not there may be Danger yet and Inconvenience in the Putting of the Question And so likewise in my first Character P. 53. As to that way which is matter of Parliamentary Cognizance I reckon it my Duty to Acquiesce in the Legal Issue of their Debates as an Authority to which I have ever paid a Duty and Veneration So that it would be utterly superfluous to spend Time and Words upon an Argument wherein I can for Quietness and for brevity sake allow him his asking and preserve the main of the Cause still untouch'd But for such Passages as fall in by the by and properly within the Compass of my Design I shall take such notice of them as I find Pertinent to my Purpose In the 24th Page he makes his Gloss upon that Clause in the Oath of Allegeance where we swear to be faithfull to the Kings Lawfull Heirs and Sucessors There 's nothing in that Oath says he that binds them to the Person but to the Thing to no Particular man any further then he is Heir and Successor Lawfully so and no man truly is either Heir or Successor till he Inherits and Succeeds Now if this Clause binds us not to the Person but to the Thing We swear Fidelity Previously to the Right which takes place before the Succession In the Lowest Line of this Page he Lodges the Absolute Power of the Law in the Three Estates in Parliament And P. 25. Expounds this Position under the notion of the Higher Powers of England King Lords and Commons which is a Flat denial of the Kings Sovereign Power And since he is pleas'd to set up a new form of Government He should do well to furnish us with a New Oath of Supremacy too That instead of Declaring the Kings Highness to be the only Supreme Governour of this Realm We may Swear Faith and True Allegeance to King Lords and Commons and to their Highnesses Lawfull Heirs and Successors This Coordinate Imagination was the Main Pillar of the Late Rebellion See what Work he makes now upon these following words in my First Character P. 60. With Reverence to the Utility and Constitution of good and wholsome Laws it is not presently to Cite a Statute or say there 's a Frecedent for those Laws that are Repugnant to the Light of Nature and Common Right are Nullities in themselves Now says he Here 's one of the boldest Master-strokes of the Pen that ever came in Print This Point once gain'd All the Protestant Laws since the Reformation and the whole Fabrick of the Present Government are Totally Subverted 'T is but a Popish Successor believing and maintaining that all the Protestant Laws ever since Harry the Eight's Perversion are against the Light of Nature and Consequently Nullityes in themselves His Logique I perceive is all of a piece If one Popish Prince be a Tyrant or a Faith-breaker All MVST be so If one Statute BE found against Common Right therefore All MAY BE so And then what fear I say of a Popish Successors Damning All Protestant Laws when 't is a Known Rule that the Judges are the only interpreters of the Law But These Possible Nullityes will find better Quarter perhaps from Walker then from L' Estrange and therefore I shall refer Mr. Deputy to the History of Independency Pag. 116. 117. Printed at London 1648. The Authority of the Iudges is Iudicative whose Office is
A REPLY To the Second PART of the CHARACTER OF A POPISH SVCCESSOR By Roger L' Estrange LONDON Printed for Ioanna Brome at the Signe of the Gun in S. Pauls Church-yard 1681. A Reply to the Second Part of the Character of a Popish Successor WHoever duely considers the Bent and the Spirit of the Two Characters here in question will easily Discern that the Exclusion of the Duke of York is the Least part of the Authours either Hope or Pretension For there are but Two ways to bring it about viz. An Act of Parliament or a Rebellion As to the Former the King hath over and over Declared himself against it and most Expressly in his Late Declaration Apr. 8. 1681. P. 7. in These words speaking of a Total Exclusion A Point that in our own Royall Iudgment so nearly concern'd us both in Honour Iustice and Conscience that we could never consent to it Now with what face shall any Subject Presume to Importune his Soveraign or how can he Expect by a Pamphlet to Gain upon him to the Violation of all these Duties And yet we see the Point pursued though no way in the world to be Effected but by a Sedition which by the method taken a body would suspect to be the Business too for the Dint of the Discourse strikes altogether that way 'T is the Popish Successor I must Confess that makes the Report and the Wind drives the Smoak in the face of the Duke but 't is the King all this while that receives the Shot As for Example He takes ye the Treachery of a Wolf the Fierceness of a Tyger the Ingratitude of a Pardon'd Traytor and here 's in short the Composition of his Character of a Popish Successor with Slavery and Damnation at his Heels This Frightfull Figure puts the People naturally upon That Question Act. 16. 30. What must we do to be sav'd Why truly says the Character the King has lost himself Strangely with sticking to his Brother His Peoples Knees are almost as Stubborn as their Petitions and Prayers have been Ineffectuall And I am affraid there are too many who in Detestation of that One Gangreen'd Branch of Royalty can scarce forbear how Vndutifully soever to Murmur and Revile even at that Imperial Root that Cherishes it Pa. 10. Part 1. Insomuch that in Studying to Prevent Tyranny they grow Iealous of Monarchy c. And so far from Supplying the Real and most Pressing Necessityes of his Majesty that they are rather well pleas'd and Triumph in his Greatest Wants and that perhaps when his Glory nay possibly when his nearest Safety calls for their Assistance P. 11. The Writer of the Character has told the People a Heavy Tale here but what if their Knees will not bend what if there be Murmurings and Revilings and not one farthing of mony to be gotten Are we ever the nearer the Disinheriting of a Popish Successor for all this No But if the King will not yield the Character will shew you a Trick for that too The Lords Anointed I would ask says he what this LORDS ANOINTED Is And who 't is is our Native Soveraign When instead of being Free Subjects Pope and Tyranny shall rule over us and we are made Slaves and Papists P. 20. And then below What 's a Passive Obedience to a King of England Alas That Bugbear Passive Obedience is a Notion crept into the World and most Zealously and perhaps as Ignorantly Defended Kings were made for the People and not the People for the King P. 21. And yet once again If now at last Popery must and shall come in as by Law it cannot and consequently must be restor'd by Arbitrary Power If a new Monarchy then a new Conquest and if a Conquest Heaven forbid we should be Subdu'd like less then Englishmen or be Debarr'd the Common Right of All Nations which is to Resist and Repell any Invader if we can P. 21. Now to run it short he might e'en as well have told us in plain Terms Look to your Selves my Masters Here 's a Popish Successor coming on that will send yeu all to the Devil Ye have the whole Nation on your side Never trouble your heads about the King What 's a KING What is this LORDS ANOINTED Is he not Our Servant May not we Resist him if he Invade us Passive Obedience is a Bugbear and does not concern us here in England Wherefore let us Maintain our Rights or fall like Englishmen If This be not a Sedition Contriv'd Chalk'd out and Justified I do not know what Is. To this Châ—racter of a Popish Successor c. I wrote a Reply Entitled The Character of a Papist in Masquerade to which the Author of the First Character has now put out a Rejoynder which he calls The Character of a Popish Successor Complete In Defence of the First Part against Two Answers One Written by M. L'Estrange call'd The Papist in Masquerade c. And Another by an unknown hand Upon a Thorough Examination of this Piece I find it to be only a Pompous Wordy Thing and wholly made up of Shifts and Suppositions without so much as one Argument either Offer'd or Answer'd upon the Stress of the Question so that I shall both for the Readers ease and my own pass over the Ramble of his Discourse and keep my self as close as I can to the Subject in hand It is the main Scope of his Design first to shew the People a Popish Successor in Imagination as Black and Hideous as the Devil and Malice can Paint him 2. to set forth the Absolute Necessity of Barring and Precluding such a Successor upon pain of Bondage and Damnation And 3. Since the King will not be wrought upon against his Brother To teach his Subjects a way of doing it by themselves by Absolving them in this Particular Case from the Common Tyes of Christianity Prudence and Allegeance To These Three General Heads I oppos'd Certain Previous Considerations which he takes very little notice of in his Reflections upon my Papers though the whole sum of this Controversie does most undeniably depend upon the Resolving of those Points But of this hereafter As to the rest I followed my Parallel betwixt the Bare-fac'd Iesuits and the Disguis'd betwixt the Proceedings of One and Forty and of Eighty One as a necessary Precaution that under the Pretence of Abolishing the NAME of Popery we might not Establish the DOCTRINE of it In the first Page of the Preface it is observed upon L'Estranges Character that the sole Drift of his Book was not in the least to Expose Popery any further then to make the Fanatical and Iesuitical Principles agree c. Well! and what can expose Popory further then to prove it Fanaticism and to Range the Papists with the Smiters of their Fellow-servants Matth. 24. 49. and according to that Dreadful Sentence Matth. 24. 51. to appoint Iesuits their Portion with the Hypocrites Take his Opinion says the Character abstracted from
Dangers to Dangers Here is a Present Opposed to a Future A Greater to a Less and a Protestant King to a Papist The Present Danger is the Probable Effect of these Intoxicating Methods to the People If Fancy was Poyson to the Multitude under the Late King the same Fancy in a Larger Dose and with less Corrective to it will be at leaft as strong a Poyson to the People under this So that we are in Forty times a Greater Danger of a Sedition at Hand then of a Popish Successor at a Distance Now what is there in the Future to weigh against the Life of the King the Safety of the Church the Law Government and the Peace of the Kingdom There may Possibly be a Popish King and there may Probably not And then P. 3. I must Distinguish betwixt the Unhappy Circumstance of being under the Allegeance of a Prince of that Persuasion who is Actually in Possession and Exercise of his Power and the Remote Possibility only of that Danger And a Possibility too of such a Condition that a Thousand things may Intervene to Prevent it As the Contingences of Issue Survivorship c. As to the Ballance of a Greater Danger and a Less P. 52. We 'le e'en take the matter as they suppose A King upon the Throne that 's Principled for Arbitrary Government and Popery but so Clogg'd and shackled with Popular and Protestant Laws that if he had never so great a mind to 't there is not a Subject in his Dominions that would dare to serve him in his Design But on the other hand there 's no King at all No Church No Law No Government No Magna Charta no Petition of Right no Property no Liberty c. And again P 52. Here 's a Protestant Prince Expos'd for fear of a Popish one Is the Chimera of a Future Danger of more value to us then the Conscience of an Incumbent and Indispensable Duty Shall we take pet at God Almighty's Providence and not go to Heaven at all unless we may go our own way Shall we Levell a Shot at the Duke at a distance if there be no coming at him but through the Heart of our Sovereign Moreover P. 53. The Diverting or Disappointing of the Succession must be either by Prevention or by Exclusion If there be danger from a Popish Successor during his Expectancy within the Kingdom the Danger is Infinitely Greater if he be Driven out of it For First supposing it the Peoples Act which the Character does manifestly allow of rather then fail there must be an Illegal and Popular Violence to accomplish it and there 's the Peace of the Government broken already Beside that the Authors of that Violence can never be secure but by following it with More and Greater And this comes presently to be a natural Transition from a Murmur against a Successor to a Tumult in the State In which case the King has only this Choice before him either to part with every thing for the asking or to stand the shock of a Rebellion Now take it either way Here 's much a Greater Mischief Incurr'd then that we fear'd Beside a Standing Army Taxes and Oathes that follow in Course and a new set of Liberty-Keepers and Major-Generalls to secure the Peace This is the Scene of things at home and if we look abroad we shall undoubtedly see the Successors Interest and Reputation encreasing dayly in regard of his Sufferings his Title and his Religion P. 54. Now in Case of a Popish King who is either kept out or Driven on t from the Exercise of his Right by the Tumultuary Licence of the Rabble whether that King makes any Attempt or no the Nation must be at the Charge at least of a Defensive War and of Impositions to maintain it And this will be the Inconvenience even in the Bare Prospect of the State of the Nation without striking a Blow But from Scotland at least if not from Ireland too they must Expect to be Ply'd with Continual Alarms till the Insupportable Expense of Guarding the Borders and Coasts shall make them as Sick of their New Patriots as ever they were of their Old ones and force them at last to render themselves and their Spoyl to the Irresistible Conjunction of as many Powers as will be then Confederate to their Destruction And then comes in the Popery in Earnest that was dreaded but in Fancy before When this new King shall by the Proper Act and forfeiture of a seduc'd and unforeseeing people be delivered from the Fetters of both Honour and Laws Who brings in Popery then but they that Discharg'd him from those Sacred Bonds by the folly and Contumacy of their own Inconsiderate Undertakings Compare now the Danger of a Popish King bounded by Protestant Laws and Ruling over a Protestant People where he may be as happy as an Imperial Crown and the Affections of his Subjects can make him Compare I say a Popish King under these Gracious and Obliging Circumstances in the Quiet Adminstration of his Government with a Prince that is forc'd to make his way with his Sword for the Recovery of his Own and is not only Prick'd on by the Impulses of Iustice and Vengeance but Animated by the Pope himself and Provoked by Indignation to take the Utmost Advantage of that Foolish Forfeiture the People themselves having Cancell'd the Bonds of Authority and Obedience Let any man Compare these two Cases and then speak his Opinion P. 55. And yet once again If it be reasonable to Believe as we are often told and no Mortal can deny it that our Religion is an Eye-sore to the Church of Rome and that this Island would make a Considerable Addition to our Victorious Neighbours late Conquests what way in the world could be propounded more to the Advantage both of the Crown of France and the Court of Rome then the bringing of matters to the Issue here in question When in the Powerfull and Liberall Assistances to this supposed King for the Regaining of his Own the One and the Other are but doing of their own business This Prince in the mean while being led to the One by Inclination and overborn upon the Other by Necessity Ibid. I shall leave it now to the Reader to Judge how far the Second Character in Reply upon the Papist in Masquerade may be admitted as a Defence of the Former It is the Authors design in both Parts by Amplifying and Rhetoricating upon the Dangers of a Popish Successor to transport the People into the most Desperate Resolutions of Acting Suffering all Extremities rather then submit to that Inconvenience Now as is already said the Danger of a Popish Successor is a point that I have given for Granted before-hand and no part of the matter here in Controversy Nor is the Danger it self simply consider'd of any Concluding Force in this Case for First a Less Danger comparatively must give way to a Greater 2ly Let the Danger be never so
All our Grievances are Redress'd D' ye Call this Addressing or Libelling Or how come these Scandals to wear the name of Petitions He has another Touch at my Parallel in the next Page The Design he says of that Age being to Reduce us to Slavery and this to Free us from it This is more said then he is able to make out for how does he know that the men of Forty One Design'd us to Slavery and that the same men in Eighty One are Designing to Free us from it Does not Popery and Arbitrary Power from the same Lips signifie just the same thiâ—g now that it did then And why may not a man Conclude that the Same Persons with the same Pretences have still the Same Endâ— Th Grievance of the Nation he says is a Popish Successor and That Grievance once Remov'd by a Bill of Exclusion we Counter-mine All the Arts and Subtilties of Rome The King shall have Money and the Entire Affections of All or most of the Commonalty of England which have or can be Alienated or Estranged by his Vnhappy and too Vigorous Defence of a Successor so universally Odious This Clause is to Possess the People that the Excluding of a Popish Successor would do the whole Business It is a Great Blessing to the Party that men of this Kidney are never to be put out of Countenance for the Authour would Blush else at a Suggestion that every man that can read is able to Contradict Here 's the Subject of a Popish Successor Started and the Prerogative of a Protestant King in Possession Invaded by every Pamphleter that Presumes to handle this Question for there are Popish Forts Popish Castles Popish Militia's Popish Guards Popish Courtiers Popish Councellors Popish Iudges Popish Iuries Popish Bishops and in fine Popish Torys and Tantivys as well as Popish Successors And All these Popish Circumstances must be either Remov'd or secur'd to the good liking of the Faction or else the Diverting of the Succession according to the Ordinary language of the Press is as good as nothing And then to Crown the Contumely That Prince is Charg'd with Affecting an Arbitrary Power whole almost Fatal Concessions already have but barely left him Power enough to keep the Crown on his Head But what 's the meaning now of Cramping and Imposing upon the Civil Power what 's that to Religion and the Plot The Solution is this The Faction Designing upon both Church and State finds it Expedient to Attaque both together to the end that the Project upon the score of Religion may hold out till they have Gain'd their Ends upon the Monarchy His next Intimation of the Kings having lost the Affections of the People for asserting the Rights of his Brother though according to Honour Iustice and Conscience as his Majesty himself Declares This Intimation I say is so far from the Report of a Truth as appears by the almost Unanimous Addresses of the Nation to the Contrary that it is clearly an Artifice to Render his Majesty low in the Opinion of his People He Passes now to a Reflection upon Times and Times wherein to my thinking the Reason lyes strong and Directly against him The Miseries of the Late Civil Wars he says are too lively in the Peoples Memorys for them ever to be wrought up again into the same Frenzy Now I fancy on the other hand that the Comig off so Cheap and with so much Profit and Advantage for one Rebellion is a great Encouragement for the same Persons to venture upon another I am the larger upon the Preface because it is somewhat better Colour'd then the Text. Though the Deluded Multitude says he Ibid. were then put out of love with Kings they found too soon by Wofull Experience that the Protectorate was ten times worse and whatever Prejudice they had conceived against the Old Vnhappy King yet the Grievous Oppressions Taxes and standing Armys under Cromwell quickly open'd their Eyes and to their own Sad Cost Assur'd them they had not mended but Marr'd their Condition by Rebelling Ibid. I would he had Explain'd himself whether it was TOO SOON in the Peoples opinion or in his own And then he speaks again as if the Rebellion had been only the setting up of the Protector for he takes no notice of any Grievous Oppressions Taxes and standing Armys till the Protectorate of Cromwell And all the Interval betwixt Driving the King from London and the setting up of that Mock-Royolet under the Blessed Administration of the Lords and Commons was only a Certain kind of method peculiar to the Godly for the asserting of the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of the Subject against the Fears of Arbitrary Power and Popery I come now to the Conclusion of his Preface I will confess says he This present Age has Derived one thing from Forty one and Forty two and that is a Curse they lâ—ft behind 'em The Curse of the Sheperds boy in the Fable Our Crying out so often formerly Help Master Help the Wolfâ—s in the Sheepfold when he was not there has made us Disbeliev'd at last now he is there and like him too be left most Helpless when we most want it The Authour may be pleas'd to take notice that our Business does not lie with the Wolf in the Fable but with the Wolf in the Gospel the Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing and that the very Wolves that Worryed the Flock under the Last King are now again Grinding their Teeth at 'em under This. And so much for his Preface We shall now proceed to his Text. Upon my Arguing that if Christian Princes under Articles of Treaty and Agreement keep Touch even with Infidels much more will Christians keep Touch with one another What Relation says he P. 1. can Christian Princes keeping Touch with Infidels have to a Popish Successors Tyranny and Injustice over his own Subjects And again P. 2. The Fidelity between Prince and Prince holds no Proportion or Affinity with that betwixt Prince and People A King for Breach of Faith with his People Esteemâ— himself only accountable to God but for Breach of Faith with Forreign Princes whether Christians or Infidels he is accountable to man and may draw down a just War upon his Head for such a Violation c. If I had not more Respect to the Rules of Good Mannâ—rs then to the force of his Reasoning I should upon such an occasion as this treat him as Coursly as he does me upon all occasions The Question is not what a Popish Prince will do upon Interest but what upon Câ—nscience and Religion In which Case the Morality is the Same to another Prince and to a Subject so that our Author is quite beside the Cushion But what says he if his Priests shall perswade him that he ought not to keep his Faith And what say I if his Conscience shall tell him he will be damn'd if he does not Is not the Why and the Wherefore here as broad as it is
Rohan's business to be a General Proposal of an Allyance the Other only a Bare and Particular Intercession for the Hugonots of France The one only makes the Duke acquainted with the Proposal the other Addresses Expressly to the Duke for his Recommendation Now says the Character again This Royal Heir or Masquerader or by what other Title Disguis'd or distinguish'd with a seeming Cordial Friendship Embraces the Poor Hugonots Cause and day after day Receives his Addresses with many Solemn but Airy Promises of Speedy Assistance but in the mean time Disgusted and Gall'd to the Soul at so Audacious and Impious a Petition as the Protestant Prâ—â—ervation and Abhorring so Detestable an Employment Nay 〈◊〉 very Name of the Hereticks Defender instead of his Promised Aid he on the contrary most cunningly laid the Platform of a Revenge as exquisit as so Hainous a Petition deserved Immediately â—e goes to the French Ambassador and tells him how one of the French Subjects had very Arrogantly and Scandalously Calumniated his Great Master with Opprobrious names of Tyranny Oppression and Breach of Faith into which very language he himself before had Exasperated him on Purpose to make his Ruine Secure which the Bare accusation of a suit in behalf of his Religion would not alone have Effected The Ambassador as bound in Duty for the vindication of his Kings Honour desires a further Testimony of the Offence and Offender which the Royal Informer effectually gives him by appointing another Conference with Rohux Where Privately he Plants this Kingly Representative as an Honourable Eves-dropper to overhear a Repetition of the whole Discourse and Confirm his Belief from his own Ears This Conference P. 4. Contriv'd and Manag'd as heart would wish the Ambassador Posts over this Rohuxs Treachery to France whilst he Poor unsuspecting Innocence Continues his Dayly Prayers to his Great Advocate But finding in time so many Dilatory Demurs He luckily at last Discovers he is Betrayed Vpon which Dreading the French King not daring to Return to France He steals away into Switzerland for his Protection but the French King being advertiz'd of his Motions gets him Trepâ—nn'd by an Ambuscado in the night and being by Surprize forced out from thence into France he is broken upon the Wheel Now hear the Letter Mounsieur Rohan hauing acquainted the Duke of York with his Errand after he had in a Private Conference or two transacted with the King about it this Royal Prince out of his wanted kindness to Protestants and the Reformed Religion caused Ruvigni Lieger Ambassador from France at this Court to stand behind the Hangings at St. James while he made this Innocent Gentleman discourse over the whole busness Vpon which Mr. Ruvigny being obliged to acquaint his Master with it M. Rohan who upon some Information that the Duke had betray'd him had withdrawn hence to Switzerland was there seized by a Party of French-Horse and brought to the Bastile whence after some time of Imprisonment he was carried to the Place of Execution and broken on the Wheel Here 's nothing in this Letter of the Seeming Friendship mention'd in the Character the Promises of Assistance the Plot of Revenge the Trepanning of Rohux into Outrages against his Master nor of the Dukes Lewd Contemplations upon the whole matter which 't is Impossible for him to give an account of too and fitter in short for a Stage then a History So that all these Aggravations are only the Old Story Corrected and Amended with Additions for the Credit of his Character And what 's his Authority now for this Diabolical Report but that Infamous Composition of Forgery and Scandal the Letter about the Black Box Wherein after all these Vile Imputations upon his Royal Highness the Duke comes off yet better in 't then the King After his Utmost Effort upon this Romantick Master-piece of Defamation he lets himself down for a while into a vein of Quirk and Cavill and then takes wing again P. 8. into another fit of Rapture and Imagination Were there a Country says he where Commissions of Peace day after day and Time out of mind have been taken away for daring but to lift a hand against a Son of Rome Nay at the same time when all other Recusants have been Prosecuted and that with Encouragement and Reward And all by a Royall Heirs Pretection and Interest c. This way of Trifling might do well enough in a Chimney Corner with a Once upon a time there was a Country c. but Majesty is not to be play'd with at this Idle Rate The Plain English of it is this Look to your selves Good People the King is Popishly affected he will not let any man touch a Papist but the poor Protestant Dissenters all this while they go to pot c and then he thinks to bring it off by casting it upon the Interest or Power of the Duke with his Majesty The very affirming of it is a Scandal for how does he know whether it be so or no Or what if it were so Is it not the Kings Act whoever advises him to 't Or can any man say that the King does an ill thing however influenc'd without reflecting upon his Majesties Honour and Justice Beside the Evident untruth of the matter of Fact the Laws being vigorously Executed against the Papists and the Recusants on the other side Indulg'd till they so far abus'd the Kings mercy by dayly affronts that it was not safe to forbear them any longer His Ninth Page is stuff'd with Reflections upon the Government and first upon the Bench for the Sentence upon Harris for Publishing the Appeal a Libel that excites Rebellion and supports it self in the Encouragement of it upon this Position that He that has the worst Title makes the best King And again in the same Page had the Papists Execrable Blow succeeded the Bloud of Majesty might in all Probability have found the same Inquisition as the firing of London What is this but to Imply an Imputation upon the House of Commons that had the Examination of the whole matter before them and likewise upon his Majesty himself his Ministers and Courts of Justice as if they had not done their parts toward the Discovery of it in their Respective Stations And yet once again Ibid Has not our Late Design against both King Religion and Government in Contradiction of the Vnanimous Vote of the whole Nation in Parliament being Confidently Retorted upon the Presbyterians And that too without the least Proof or shadow for 't And then how easily might the Papal Policy have made a Popish Murther a Fanatick Stab They do ill Certainly that turn the Popish Plot upon the Presbyterians and little better sure that turn the Plots of the Scottish Presbyterians and their Fellow-Covenanters in England upon the Papists And for the Popish Policy of making a Popish murder a Fanatick Stab that 's only a shift they learn'd of the True Protestant Papists that turn'd a Fanatick murder into a
upon Cases brought before them to determine whether an Act be Binding or no For Acts of Parliament against Common Right Repugnant or Impossible are Voyd Coke 8. fol. 118. Dr. and Student L. 1. C. 6. and to expound the Meaning and Signification of the Words of such Act. Mr. Walker was a man of Law and Abilityes and far from a stickler either for Prerogative or Popery Nay even a Borderer upon Coordination it self But yet he brings himself off with a Distinction from the poynt which our Authour swallows Whole It is most certain says the Other Pag. 116. that when the Three Estates in Parliament have pass'd any Act Their Power Determins as to that Act and then the Authority of the Iudges Begins And whereas the Character Pag. 25. calls King Lords and Commons the Higher Powers of England without any more adoe Mr. Walker qualifyes it Pag. 117. Though this Kingdom says he has always been Ruled by King Lords and Commons yet by the King Architectonicè and the other Two Organicè the King as the Architect the Lords and Commons as his Instruments Each in his proper Sphere of Activity without interfering And till This again come in use look for no Peace This was the Principle of 41. and 42. brought off as well as the matter would bear From hence he proceeds upon the agitation of the Question of Disinheriting which as I have said before is nothing at all to my business nor of any moment in the least to the deciding of this Controversy till all other Rubs and Difficulties that lye in the way to 't shall be first clear'd and especially that undenyable Impediment of the Kings Refusal which must be allow'd on all hands whether the thing may be Lawfully done or not to be an Obstacle not to be Disputed or Oppos'd The Character-maker Pag. 26. finding himself pinch'd upon the Doctrine of Passive Obedience according to the Practice and Precept of the Primitive Times and the very Text of Holy Writ it self brings himself at last to this Notable Resolution of parting with his Religion rather then his Argument The Correspondence says he P. 26. between Ours and the Primitive Christians Case is here so incoherently ballanced by L' Estrange that never were Arguments more Fantastical The Primitive Christians preacht Obedience to Nero Yes and they had forfeited their Christianity if they had done otherwise But what was that Nero An Absolute Monarch And what those Primitive Bishops Not such as Ours they were not a part of the Legislative Power of the Nation as Our Prelates are If Nero invented Racks Tortures and Gibbets for Persecuting or murthering the poor Christians he did it by his own uncontrolable Authority nor were those Primitive Bishops call'd to make Laws and therefore had not the Lawfull power of the least Vote in moderating of Nero's Cruelty or in redresse of the Christians Torments The Author begins now to speak English First he slips in the difference of the Case betwixt an Absolute and a Limited Monarch 'T is true the One Acts according to his Pleasure the Other is so far bounded by Rules and Laws that it is a Violation of Honour and Conscience in Ordinary Cases to pass those Limits But what is all this to the Subjects Obedience For 't is as much Rebellion in Them to take up Arms contrary to Law against a Limited Monarch that plays the Tyrant as against an Absolute Prince that Governs by his Own Will For the Duty of the Subject is the same to the One as to the Other unless there be some clear and explicite Provision or Stipulation in the Government to the Contrary And his Other Shift upon the Difference betwixt Their Bishops and Ours looks as if Mr. Deputy had written that out of his own Mother-wit without consulting his Oracle For how should that Diversity of the Case operate upon the poynt of Passive Obedience to make it more or lesse a Duty He has but one way in the world that I can see to support his Argument and that must be by destroying his Cause For if there be no more then this in 't that the Primitive Bishops had no Votes in Parliament which our Prelates have his Meaning is that when they come once to Vote in Parliament they Act no longer in the condition of Subjects which is a further Explanation of himself upon a Coordinate State Only I think he had as good have kept himself under the Blind of a Legislative Power without Translating it into the Power of MAKING LAWS For though the Two Houses may be properly sayd to Make or to Prepare Bills yet the making of Laws is the Sole Priviledge of the Supreme Magistrate If by what he says of the Power or Right rather of moderating Votes he intends only Offices of Mediation or Councell so far 't is well enough but if he stays there 't will never do his business for there must be Resolution also and Action as well as debate and Advice and that 's the thing he does more then intimate he would be at in the remaining part of this Paragraph We are not says he pag. 30 to wait Gods further Pleasure and Providences to come with so entire a Resignation till we neglect a Lawfull Preservation when approaching Ruine Threatens us The Question with the Author's favour is not the neglecting of Lawfull means but whether the Expedient here under Consideration be Lawful or not And the Writer of the Character is so candid as in the next Clause to come within a very little of agreeing with L' Estrange in the Negative However says he that the Authors Opinion may not appear so strangely Enormous nor his Passion so wholly destructive to Government and so opposite to Christianity as his Answer would render it let us make a little Explanation of the Character c. But he does yet in the same Page declare himself that Passive Obedience may be layd aside under the Tyranny of a Popish Succession That is to say It is Lawfull for Protestant Subjects to Resist a Popish Prince in the Actuall Possession of his Authority and Government For so he expounds himself P. 27. upon the word Successor No man says he truly is either Heir or Successor till he Inherits and Succeeds And then he palliates the matter over again pag. 31. whatsoever Passive Obedience says he is due to our Native Prince we have none due to a Forreign Invader and 't is a plain case that the Popes Supremacy entring into England is an Invading and Usurping Regality How the Opinion of a Prince shall discharge Subjects of their Obedience to Laws I cannot imagine Or by what Right one sort of People under the same Government shall pretend to Over-rule another in such a Case Or I would fain know whether upon the same Ground they may not alter the Form of the Government as well as destroy the Lawfull Successor Or in one word is not the Government already overthrown and all the Laws ipso
Great if we cannot avoid it with Honour and Conscience we must resolve to abide it 3ly Here is a Certain and a Greater Danger Incurr'd for the Avoidance of an Vncertain and a Less 4ly Here is a Disturbance wrought in the Present Government of a Protestant King for fear of a Popish King to come 5ly his Majesty having Positively several times Declar'd that he cannot in Conscience or Iustice agree to the Disinheriting of his Brother and that therefore He will never do it the Exclusion of his R. H. which is here aim'd at can never be compass'd but by a Rebellion 6ly In making a mockery of that which he calls the Bugbear of Passive Obedience the very Position that seems to be Levell'd at the Duke Destroys the King 7ly Upon a Fair Collation of the Publique Danger both ways that of Expulsion or Exclusion over and above the Iniquity is Evidently much Greater then the Admittance of him and the Ready way to bring in that Popery and Arbitrary Power which they Pretend to fear Beside that it is Manifestly the Project of the Book and of the Abettors of it to Reduce This King to the straits of his Late Majesty and leave him at Last his Fathers Game to Play Upon the due Ballancing of these Cases the main Question depends and that which he calls a Defence has not one word of Argument upon any of the Passages above Recited the whole Discourse being rather a Flourish then a Debate To say nothing of the Dangerous Consequences that may reasonably and probably arrive upon the Agitation of this Question by exposing the Life of the Present Prince to a thousand Difficultyes and Hazzards in the Contemplation of either Preventing or Establishing the Successor Whereas in the Regular Course of Order and Government there 's no place for those Extraordinary Deliberations And to me it seems to Imply less Veneration for the Sacred Life of a Prince then we ought to have if we can with so much Indifference think of the Death of our Present Sovereign and yet at the same time enter into Fribbling and Captious Questions about the Successor Nigâ—am Illam Diem Luctusam expectare Peccare est contra Câ—â—iles omnes Naturales Leges Neque certe Disputationem de Regiâ Successione contra Regis ipsuis Volâ—â—tatem Ipse Rege Vivo Institutam unquam viri boni probaverunt It is against the Laws both of Nature and of Nations to stand Calculating in the Contemplation of that Black and Dismal Event Nor did ever any Good man approve of Entring into a Dispute about the next Successor to a Crown during the Life and contrary to the Will of the Royall Incumbent This was the Judgment of a French Apologist for Harry the 4th and not without very great reason too for men grow weary of the Present King Intent upon the Successor Enemies to the Government in Being as Placing their thoughts and Fortunes wholly upon the Reversion Insomuch that they look upon themselves at last as Effectually the Subjects of Another Iurisdiction and Contract a False and pernicious Interest in the removal of their Soveraign And it is not all neither that they are Transported by the hopes of Advantage and Preferment into These Undutifull Deliberations but when they are once In and Pinch'd betwixt the Dread of Revenge from the Injur'd Successor on the One hand and of Legall Iustice from an Embroyl'd Government on the Other there 's no Retreating Nor any other way left them then to attempt the saving of themselves by a Common Ruine How miserable now is the Condition of that State when all these Devills of Avarice Ambition Dâ—spair and Iealousy are let loose upon the Government Now there is none of these Hazzards or Difficultyes upon the Succession of a Prince that comes to the Crown by a Right of Descent where the Government is quietly Devolv'd upon him by the Gentle Methods of Providence without the Irregular and Tumultuary favour of the People and without any Eccentrick Motions or Passions to the Peril or Detriment of the Publique Nay the very Enquiry was look't upon by Antiquity as a thing so Impious Undutiful that the fifth Council of Toledo Punish'd the very Question who should Succed to the Crown after the Death of the King with Excommunication and that Decree was Confirmed also by the next following Council Not but that a man may love the King and the Government and yet out of a misguided Zeal Oppose the Succession But there is also a Designing a Spitefull and Seditious Mixture even in that Composition as appears by the Writings and Practices that are Employ'd in favour of that Interest First as to the Designing Part the Cause is not manag'd according to the Peaceable Methods of Charity and Religion but in such a manner as to Irritate and Enflame the Multitude by Arguments rather of Terrour then of Reason 2ly the spite and Malice of the Humour shews it self manifestly in this That they are little better then Stark mad upon the striking of them in that Vein and forget what they Owe to the Heir of the Crown the Character of an Illustrious Prince to the Brother of their Sovereign to the Bravery the Virtues and the Services of his Person to the Honour the Safety and Tranquillity of their Country to the Clemency Conscience and Iustice of a Protestant Prince to the Dignity of their Profession and to the Duty of Subjects They cast off all Respects to Modesty and Good Manners in their Ribaldry and Revilings and lay themselves so open in these Intemperate Outages that they might with a better Grace Expose themselves naked in the Market-place He that shall compare this way of Desending or Propagating Religion with the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel will easily satisfy himself of what Spirit they are Lastly the Seditious Intent of the Libells that have been Publish'd upon this Subject is as Clear as the Light for at the same time while they are hammering into the Peoples Heads a dread of the Succession they are likewise Practicing upon the Honour of the King and Undermining the Monarchy For what 's the Reason of our Scriblers Insisting so obstinately upon this Particular but First as a Point which the People will most probably take fire at And 2ly as a thing which they are sure before-hand his Majesty neither can nor will ever Consent to And from hence they take their Rise to a Deliberation how the Business may be done without him till by foft and Insensible Degrees they Screw the Government off the Hinges The First Clamour is against the Successor for fear of Popery and against the King himself upon the Rebound for not going their way to work to Prevent it Their next Complaint is either for want of or for Fruitless Parliaments and nothing can be more Scandalous or Dangerous to his Majesty then these two Calumnyes So soon as they have wrought upon the People to Think ill of the King their next work is to Dispose them toward the Treating of him ill And this is done by Provocation and Perswasion for it is a Fair step toward the making of a man believe it Lawfull to do a thing if he can but be brought to have a Mind to do it By Remonstrances and Appeals they Compass the Former and then by Positions and False Principles Insinuate the Other It is First the Kings Duty they say to Call Annuall Parliaments 2ly To let those Parliaments sit till they have Redress'd all Grievances 3ly They Inferr from hence that the Common Hall is to Prescribe both the Time and the Business for these Parliaments 4ly That the King is made for the People and not the People for the King and therefore what he will not they may and must 2ly that Passive Obedience is a Bugbear And Defensive Arms Lawfull in the Case of Popery and Religion 6ly It is but Cares or Ianeways declaring that the Clapping up of the Protestant Ioyner is a Levying of War upon the Commoners of England and the Business is done To Conclude What is the Upshot of all this Libelling Contest but to set up a Popular Faction under Colour of Opposing a Popish Successor and at the Instance of a Pragmaticall Club of Mutineeres to put Three Kingdoms again in a Flame for the Rosting of their Eggs The End