shine forth under the Kingly Government How comes this Answerer to praise the Kings Religion when as himself as well as the rest of his Scots Countreymen have not onely made the first insurrection against the Kings Religion but entred into a Covenant and raised war and at last sold the King for money according to the Kings own published profession Principally against the Kings Religion or against the innovation thereof at least And what the King said further of the Scots Religion and consequently of the Answerers Religion you may read at large in the 14 and 16 Chapters of his printed Book It is well known what harsh and bitter Sermons and Books were made but lately at Breda and the Hague against the Reformed Religon whom they still hatefully termed Calvinists Are there in England divers Sects there are here also not a few God mend it and even as the Governors here would gladly see it otherwise so likewise those in England in the mean time we are assured that in England divers books are forbidden and were burnt by the Hangman which here passe up and downe yet every where The Ambassadors have in the Name and behalf of the whole English Government declared the Conformity of their Religion with ours They tolerate some others and so do we onely we allow more and greater toleration then they Neither we nor they approve of a Spanish Inquisition They do not allow the Church an absolute power of Excommunication no more do we and the Scottish Kirk also was fain to remit it now themselves So that the Presbyterians rage and roaring against Sects and Sectaries is groundless for between themselves and the Independents so named there is not difference in the main of Religion or profession besides Discipline but it should seem the Presbyterian Boutefeus aim at a Papall Power to administer the Jus Clavium at pleasure as the Scots have But their young King hath already taught them another Lesson disapproving thereby also the English Presbyterians It were much to be wished indeed that all men were of one minde that there were but one Religion Our Answerer I believe knows as little how to advise or compass it as others Nay he himself refusing to go to the same Church where the King went during his abode here and the Queen of Bohemia and the Princess Royal and all the Royalists doth thereby sufficiently evidence that there are sects and divisions as well between his party and the Kings as there is between the English and the Presbyterians That which he mentioneth of the good life of his Royal Christians I profess I understand not If by a good life he means a merry joviall life dum vixit vixit bene I yeild that at Court they live more merrie and frollick then elsewhere and thence it is that at London they have put down all the Play-Houses and such like places and practises of profane and scandalous recreation That otherwise the life and fruitfull Conversation of the Royalists should be more holy and exemplary then that of the English Independents as they call them I never heard of before Were they not the Kings evil Councellors his flatterers and seducers whom I return to the Answerer for his Albii Cassii Nigri that made as well the Presbyterians as the rest complaine so much against him from time to time And I pray were not the Presbyterians the first and the onely men that took the King to task The Answerer himself was one of them and of those Covenanters that supplanted the King for his maintaining the Episcopal Hierarchie And when the Presbyterians afterwards went about to introduce the Presbyterian Hierarchie changing onely the Name and maintaining the Substance then said the others whom he calls Independents Soft my Masters we have freed our selves from the Bishops Yoke shall we put our necks under the Presbyterians The Answerer alledgeth some other books which make for him How many other blew books might easily be produced against the same and to his prejudice The King himself complains in his book ch 15. and 21. how much hurt these books did him so that I know not why the Answerer so highly esteems these blew books and that publickly in print too now as well as in the Generall Assembly odiously checking the Soveraign Government here for having begun to treat with the English and presumptuously spreading the same abroad among the Commons as though the Magistrates were regardless of their Office and as if he intended to incense and raise the Commons against the Governors contemning the publick Oâ—dinances in this behalf As for the Successes the Answerer knows well enough that several other Kings Republicks Princes and Potentates had beforehand acknowledged the Republick of England and honored the same with their Ambassies and Credentials And England also sent first unto this State before this State sent to England We have not looked upon the successes but upon the Example of others The Answerer saith that the English thâ—mselves do disavow the great Turk Again the Gentleman throwes it beyond my reach or he knows not what he avers himself I never heard of any such Disavowing but this I know well on the contrary that all Christian Potentates acknowledge the Turk for what He is and accordingly honor him with their Ambassies The Answerer's King himself scrupled not to send to the Turk no more doth the English Republick Men Laws Governments must every where be taken and used as they are As long as the Answerer and his King are forced to let the Government remain as it is so they must give us leave to do the same The Answerer saith that there is as much difference between the English Government and Liberty and that of ours as there is between Milk and Ink according to the saying of one Salmasius calling him a great Personage Sure the Answerer knows well that Salmasius his Book where he had this crotchet is publickly declared a Libell and scandalous here Do great Personages use to write Libells Furthermore He saith That the Batavians or Hollanders have been a Free Nation from all ages and under the subjection of none Certainly he is a dreaming or else he hath the art to make white black and black white at pleasure or Milk and Ink is all one to him What hath not Holland been under Earls above eight hundred years And lastly under the House of Burgundy Austria and Spain Indeed the Earls were tied to Laws and so were the Kings of England if he say an Earl is no King I answer England is divided in more then fifty Counties or Earldomes so France is divided into many principalities and Counties He that gets the command over them soon gets a Title King Prince Earl or Lord it comes all to one if they have no Superiours But all of them are bound to their Oaths and the Laws Neither in France nor in Spain nor anywhere else are Kings allowed an unlimited power The Examples in France are too fresh
Romans whom they did acknowledge onely Civilli as Tacitus saith nor to any Directors Counts and Governors which were constituted by themselves The English have more then a thousand years been governed by Kings all sprung from the same Royal Stock to whom they have successively sworn Obedience and Loyalty The King of Spain after a war of almost eighty years hath in two solemne Treaties the one before the twelve yeares Truce and the other in the late concluded peace acknowledged the Vnited Provinces to be a Free State and that privative Whereupon his Catholique Majesty for himselfe and his Successors hath disclaimed all Pretences of Soveraignty here Whereas Charls the first that blessed Martyr whose innocent blood like that of Abels cries loud to the highest Heaven for vengeance against those who now sit upon his Throne not onely was but was ever by them acknowledged for their lawfull Soveraigne instead of disclaiming his Royalty over them as must be if the resemblance stand compleat was both devested of his power deprived of his life and his Princely Successor so far as in them lieth kept back and disenabled from the exercise of his undeniable power over them whereof let them find an absolute parallell from the Creation untill now In Israel King Ahab did tyrannize and as a man sold unto sin above others provoked Gods wrath against him In Rome there was Nero more like a Monster then a Man Amongst the Christans Christiernus in Denmark Wencelaus in Bohemia who was likewise Emperour behaved themselves so wickedly that it was said of them that they had east off humane nature Not much unlike to them was Richard the third called the Tyrant of England yet none of all these was ever condemned to die by the sentence of their subjects Insomuch that it is observed that the Israelites after they had deserted their King Rehoboam although an oppressor never enjoyed a happy hour but were infested with continual wars both civil and forraign til at last they were utterly destroyed and carried captives into Babylon Of Nero it was said primum damnati Principis exemplum I adde postremum non mactati tamen as in this case The Confederate Provinces were first forced in their Religion their persons and goods seized and 100000. of them killed The prevailing party in England after those insolent and high affronts done to his Majesty ere his constrained removal from his Court at White-hall took up Arms gave out Commissions levied men according to his Majesties last true and undeniable words and seized upon the Regalia before He once put himselfe into a posture of defence In the Low Countries their liberty was More Majorum fully restored to them without prejudice to any man In England Religion and Liberty are shamefully trampled under foot and the House of Commons so dismembred and its priviledges violated that the eighth part of ten were beyond all parallel cast out as the Declaration and Protestation of the secluded members Feb. 13. 1648. doth testifie The proceedings of the High and Mighty States are approved and justified by all the World on the contrary those of the English condemned and abhorred and by themselves confessed as irregular and unwarranntable a most pregnant proof and probatio probata of their wrong as is contained in the said Declaration of the Ministers The which premises the High and Mighty States being pleased to take into serious consideration according to their accustomed wisdome and justice and calling to mind those divers Treaties betwixt the Kings Royall Predecessors and their Lordships in his Majesties person yet firmly standing And seeing likewise divers of their Lordships resolved for a punctuall observation of a neutrality since the yeare 1642. betwixt the late King his Majesties Father of blessed memory and his Parliament the which by the partial confederacy with the one party now laboured for wil in all appearance be violated and infringed Therefore their Lordships are earnestly intreated not to hearken to the said Propositions as being prejudiciall to the King my gracious Masters interests and dangerous to this State likewise that the acknowledging them for a free Republick which possibly the condition of the times and benefit of Trade hath occasioned be not drawn into a further consequence much lesse an occasion given therby forgeâ—ting Iosephs sufferings that the afflicted be yet more afflicted their Liberty retarded and their calamity lengthened His Majesties affairs God be praised are yet in a very good and hopefull condition farre better then some of his Royall Predecessors who have notwithstanding run through all difficulties and became considerable to their friends as formidable to their enemies King Robert the Bruce about three hundred years agoe being likewise by the Rebellion of his subjects and the disloyaltie of the Baliol and Cumming and their adherents fiercely assailed by King Edward of England who at once was possessed of most of the Towns and strengths in Scotland kept a Parliament in Saint Andrews took his Queen prisoner killed four of his brethren amongst whom were those duo fulmina belli defaced or removed all the Monuments and Registers of that Kingdom was constrained with one or two servants to hide himself among the Hills yet notwithstanding all this in a short time after recovered his whole Kingdom was Crowned with Honor and Glory and forced his insolent Enemie in confusion to fly from Sterling to Dumbarr and thence in a Fisher-boat Xerxes like escaped narrowly with his life I say Sterling Invictum fatale Scotorum propugnaculum Of which 't is said Hìc latium remorata est Scotia cursum His Majesties Royal Grand Father Henry the fourth King of France and Navarre yet of fresh memory was in a lower condition and had less power to resist those of the League and the powerfull King of Spain yet at last became victorious in the overthrow of his enemies to the great advantage and very considerable succour of the Netherlands The distressed condition of the Predecessors of the High and Mighty States General whom after so many changes the Almighty God hath to the admiration of the whole World brought into a safe Haven however Sirius a Spanish Writer jesting with those of Holland and their confederates did say What can the Hollanders do against the King of Spain as now some scoffingly aske how can the Scots stand against the powerfull English Is an eminent and visible example that it is all one with the Lord to help with few or with many and that when all strength and humane hopes do fail he will arise Gloriously for the deliverance of the righteous crowning them in the end with honor and good success I. Shal we then look upon the present successes and prosperity of that party as alone unchangeable for the which such strange grounds are by them pretended as are no where found being so Diametrically opposite according to the Declaration of the said Divines in and about London TO I. Gods holy word II. The instinct of nature III.
Natural reason IV. The Laws of all Nations V. The constitutions particularly of the Kingdome of England who above all other people most obsequiously and affectionately regard and reverence their Kings as in those maxims of their Law Rex non moritur Rex nulli facit injuriam c. VI. The Judgement of all Casuists VII Their Oaths of Fealty Supremacy and Allegiance repeated particularly at the admission of every Member into the House of Commons their Protestation their Covenant their Solemn League and Covenant and an hundred Declarations besides the Pulique Faith of the Kingdom of England solemnly given to the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland upon their receiving his Majestie at New-Castle in all which they professed to the world that they would maintain and preserve with their lives and Estates the Kings Person Honor Rights and Royal Posterity II. Or shall we rest satisfied in the Sophistry of those Sectaries who out of Christs answer to the subtil question of the Herodians and Pharisees if it were lawfull to give tribute to Cesar answered ostendite mihi numisma cujus habet imaginem inferre that fide implicitâ the party now in England is to be acknowledged without any further enquiry or examination since our Saviours answer speaks nothing for their advantage But on the contrary his commanding Tribute to be given to Cesar whom the Jewes formerly acknowledged to be their King confirmeth and establisheth lawfull power and consequently condemneth sedition and rebellion else David should have submitted unto and acquiessed in the usurped power of Absolom who was possessed of all the land even unto Iordan and carried away all Israel after him and Solomon in the power of Adonijah Iehoiada in Athalia's and the Machabees in the power of Antiochus Epiphanes the grand enemy of the Iews yea the Estates of the United Provinces should have then obeyed the force of the Duke of Alva who by the emblem of his Statue formerly set up in Antwerp did signifie that he had invested himself with the absolute power It is well said by one of the Ancients Omnis potestas est à Deo sed acquisitio potestatis furto raepina incendio aut perduellione non est à Deo sed ab hominum affectibus Satanae malitiâ III. Or may we suffer our selves to be abused by the examples and presidents which the said Sectaries alledg of the Kings Edward the second and Richard the second who by reason of their incapacity were forced to resigne their Crowns the one to his son the other to his Competitor King Henry the fourth but neither of them to an inconsiderable small remainder of an house of Commons or the People Onely in a full Parliament both their resignations were confirmed and neither executed but were alway afterwards honorably entertained yea one Roger Mortimer which is worth the observing the chief Author and actor in deposing of Edward the second and Crowning his son Edward the third in his fathers place according to which President his Majesty Charls the second ought by these to have been Crowned was by a Parliament four years after together with his fellow-murtherers condemned as a Traytor and enemy to the King and Kingdome because he killed the said deposed King in Berkley Castle Besides the now prevailing Party by Solemn Protestations did publish and declare to all the world that they did not intend to follow those accursed Presidents although they should suffer never so much by the King and his Party Exact Collect. p. 69. IV. Should we not rather deeply apprehend and with fear look upon those exemplary punishments inflicted upon perjury and Covenant-breaking in Gods holy word as may be seen to omit others in the person of Saul who together with his posterity as also the whole Kingdome of Israel was so severely punished because he destroyed the Gibeonits against the Covenant made with Joshua above 200 years before notwithstanding they procured the same deceitfully As likewise in the History of England and other Kingdoms many pregnant examples to that purpose might be alleadged particularly that of William Thorpe Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in that Realm who for taking a bribe of 80 pounds Sterling was put to death and all his goods confiscated to the Kings use in regard that in so doing he violated the Oath of a Judge as the words run Quod Sacramentum Domini Regis quod erga populum habuit custodiendum fregit malitiose falso rebelliter Parl. 23. Edw. 3d. An Answer to their Memorials .. THe Memorials I pass over as monstrous and which by inevitable consequence not onely tend to cut off all Treaties and alliances betwixt the Kings Majesty and this State and all commerce with his loyal and faithfull Subjects but likewise in some cases to the not suffering of them to dwel or reside in these parts A demand which is against the band of common society amongst men the Soveraignty of the united Provinces and Liberty of the same which have ever been a Sanctuary for honest men and a receptacle of all Nations whatsoever In a word such quale victor victo dare non socius socium rogare solet The cruelty of Tiberius Nero Domitian and others hath for the most part been confined within the walls of Rome or the borders of Italy without persecuting their opposers in a strange land as an omnibus umbra locis adero Concerning the thirty six Articles of the Treaty The thirty six Articles evidently bend I. TO hinder his Majesties Just Right and Restitution to his hereditary Crown and Kingdom of England II. To involve the High and Mighty States Generall in a Labyrinth and great inconveniencies who at present have no enemy III. To encourage and strengthen the Kings irreconcilable enemies and Rebels as the 4 5 6 and 31 Articles doe import IV. Against the forementioned resolutions of the High and Mighty States in the year 1642 concerning the keeping a Neutrality betwixt his Majesties Father of blessed memory and his Parliament of England namely those of the 1 of November and 30 of December 1642 and the 6 of November 1648. V. Against a Declaration and Protestation of the Noble and Mighty States of Holland and West-Friesland dated the 6 of November 1649 to the same purpose VI. Against all former Treaties and Alliances betwixt his Majesties Royall Predecessors and this State As amongst others that of the 14 of February 1593 likewise consisting of 36 Articles betwixt King Henry the 7 of England his Heirs and Successors made in his name and by his Authority as the words of the said Treaty do bear and Philip Arch Duke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy which binde and obliege to this very day divers of the United Provinces and the chief Members and Towns thereof to assist the said King Henry the 7 and his Heirs which unquestionably pleadeth for my Master Charls the second he being the sixth from him in descent in linea recta and to afford them all favour and
to rehearse them The Kings of Spain have been Earls of Holland and acknowledged no superiors now being freed from Spain there is none appearing that pretend any right to Holland Neverthelesse he was bound to the laws by an oath So that King of England was Earle of Essexshire Sussex Yorkshire and of all the rest compendiously called King of England Scotland Ireland but bound to the Lawes They of Holland perceiving their King had infringed the Laws thereupon they opposed him and fought themselves free Bene feliciter saith the King of Spains Embassador Count Pigneranda pro libertate pugnastis ea vobis debetur The English in like manner perceived their King had trespassed against the laws and falsified his oath whereupon they opposed him til they fought themselves into the same condition of Freedom I could say somewhat more here That the King of England out-did Spain He of Spain had sworn to the Roman Religion and conceived himself bound to protect it according to his Oath but the King of England being sworn to the Protestant Religion is charged to have acted against it innovated it and had he gotten the mastery would have changed it That this Assertion owned as well by the Scots as the English is most true appeares by the Covenant first made by the Scots and afterwards embraced also by the English Look upon Chapt. 14. of the Kings Book see what he saith there himselfe of the Covenant Again the Covenant very expresly shewed that the King had an intent to alter Religion and Laws The Answerer himselfe was a Covenanter and Parliamenteer and blew as fiercely and zealously as any against the Kings designe of Innovation as they termed it The second and third Article of the Covenant speaks very plain And there have been a thousand books written both by the Scots English Presbyterians on that subject Nay the Scots themselves have even since the late Kings death excommunicated all that had and did adhere to the King calling them Engagers and declared them Given over to the Devill And for this cause they put poore Montrosse to death and refused him Absolution And what afterwards the King himself and Hamilton Middleton Lauderdale others of this party have suffered is notorious to all the world Also how this King was fain to do penance and to confess the bloud guiltiness of his Father's House How ever all the difference betwixt the Kings of England and Spain was only this that He of England did more and He of Spain less against the Religion that each of them was sworn to It is well known that the Scots were the first that made a Covenant and thereupon took up arms even as the Nobility heretofore in the Netherlands made a League or Union and took up arms to defend it The Scots having cleared their own Land of all the Royall designs and adherents were not content therewith but proceeded to assist the English who were as eager to be rid of the same incumbrances Which being effected and the King brought to this pass that he saw no remedy left him then he betook himself to the Scots at last his own Country men as confiding more in them Why did not the Scots then take him home along with them They said it was not expedient the King might easily put Scotland into new broils as the English found afterwards among themselves for then broke first out those differences betwixt Presbyterians and Independents the former would have a new Hierarchy introduced like that of the Scots the later would have the Reformed Religion maintained as it now stands among them only they would bear with tender consciences and some others as wee doe likewise here The King of Spain hath given up his Right and acknowledged this a Free State had the King of England done the like or would this King content himself yet with the Scottish Crown as his Fore-fathers did the war would soon be at an end And herein Philip shewed himself more reasonable and righteous then Charls whom nevertheless hee styles that Blessed Martyr so highly wronged and persecuted not remembring at least concealing that they were the Scots who began this violent dealing with him But none of this concerns us not can we help it If the Scots vvill begin troubles and war and the Neighbour Kings and Potentates will wink at it vvhat is that to us What is farther said by the Answerer about the Kings death concerns not us of Holland at all If a King wageth war with his subjects he must needs resolve to run the hazard Kings and Princes are flesh and bloud and mortal as well as others As much might have been done in a Charge by the Sword of a private soldier as was afterwards by the hand of the Executioner The Quality or Majesty of a King or Prince is of no consideration to the steel or lead of the meanest soldier nostro sequitur de vulnere sanguis Majestate nihil contemtius nec infirmius si sint qui contemnant A living Dog is better then a dead Lion A Pesant owner of some Land is better then a King vvithout Land He that vvill not submit himself to the Discretion of a Conquerour should not runne the hazard of being conquered The Conquering party saw no other Expedient no farther trust given even during the Kings restraint there was faction upon faction division upon division insurrection upon insurrection raised The meanest creature the poorest worm seeks for self-preservation How much more a Man If there had been any means left under Heaven whereby a firm confidence could have been recovered it is very probable the Prevailing party would have yeilded to it But to put all their Fortunes Reputation Freedom Life and Being upon a new hazard again no Reason could advise them Now as to the matter of deposing and destroying of Kings it is so common both in England and Scotland that I admire why the Answerer makes it so strange and prodigious But all these things are so largely set forth in printed Boooks and Pamphlets that the Answerer hath little reason to make a wonder of it Omnia jam vulgata To make an alliance with England were unnecessary if our Commerce and Liberties were not in danger We are bound to look to their preservation The Depredations are unsupportable We do not afflict the afflicted but those whom he calls the afflicted afflict us As for the affliction of Joseph we know not what it means unless he make Joseph a Cavalier and under that notion the Scots themselves were the first that persecuted him And that party in Scotland which the Answerer himself doth esteem the honester viz. the kirk party they abhor the Royalists calling them Malignants The English Ambassadors have declared here in their first Proposition they came not out of necessity but to shew they were willing to choose this State for their best friends They have not desired to ingage us against the Scots But it is well known
both to them and us what practices and mighty indeavours the Royal party hath used these many years to ingage this State against the Parliament now the Common-wealth of England What partial proceedings were there a foot All that came from the King had audience at pleasure the Parliament none The States-men of war were though mostly besides the States knowledge imployed in the service of the King and his Party as if they had been his own What would have been the issue think you if they had ingaged us to make war against the Parliament but to sacrifice our Power our Treasure our Freedome for the inslaving both the Parliament and our Selves Is it forgotten already what past here among us last Summer Had Amsterdam and the Bank of Amsterdam been but surprised once nay had but one man continued alive we should have been in a case sad and bad enough After that this danger was over and we had called the Grand Assembly together for the settlement of our Freedom they acknowledged the Common-wealth of England and resolved to send an Ambassador to them the Parliament shewed themselves so honourable and civil that they prevented us concurring with our own desires of settling both these Republicks in a posture against all that should at any time attempt ought against them They considered who was their present Enemy and how near the King of Scots was allied to him that by his late practises disclosed so much of his Designs against Holland Amsterdam and the whole State Also what special correspondence there past between these two to reduce both Republicks to a plenary Subjection Afterwards when the English had gotten the start of their Adversary by the great Victory at Dunbar Then it is to be observed that they came out of a cordially zeal and affection to deliver us likewise and to further the settlement of our State and by an union with them render us secure at home and feared abroad How and by whom the effect thereof hath been protracted hitherto is well known namely by those who still are Preaching to us that we should submit our selves under the young Prince of Orange that is to say under the sister of the King of Scotland the Guardianess of him whom they would fain force upon us for our Head and Guardian The following both Scripture and prophane Allegations and Histories registred by the Answerer are to no purpose being a thousand times refuted Gods holy Word the instinct of Nature right reason the Laws the Judgements of the Casuists the Oaths Covenants and all these are things the Parliament alledge for themselves with more reason and advantage then the Royalists Those sayings Rex non moritur Rex nulli facit injuriam are known to be rank flatteries and neither in England nor in any other Kingdome allowed of I wonder how this man durst avert such things in the face of this Republick As also that he durst call that a Sophisâ—â—e which the States of Holland had made use of to induce the rest of the Provinces to the Acknowledgment of the English Republick viz to give unto Cesar that is the present Possessor or Incumbent that which is Cesars Why did he not first make known this subtle solution of that Sophism to Spain Portugal Venice Florence Genua France would fain come on too Did they understand the Date Caesari thus we had more reason for it As for those other allegations taken out of several Sermons I shall direct him to infinite other Sermons that were and are daily made in the behalf of the Parliament The Answerers and others wresting of the Scriptures like a Nose of wax to serve their turns is a kind of Prophanation The Memorandums he calls Monstrous things A bold expression They contain the very words set down in the Treaty of Anno 1495. and consequently the States own words delivered unto the English Ambassadors May 2 last which are not monstrous but grounded on very weighty Reason For we do plainly find that for divers years now all along the English and Scots Malignants do not only seek to imbroil us in war but labour likewise daily here to reduce us again under the subjection or Guardianship of the young Prince of Orange that needs a Guardian himself So that it seems Lex Julia de ambitu lies asleep Otherwise this State ought to rid themselves of those strangers that seek to obtrude a new Domination upon us And the English deserve our thanks for having reacht forth their helping hand thus unto us In the Rear now our Answerer falls upon the thirty six Articles and says That the same do prejudice or hinder his Kings Right to the Crown of England All the Kings and Potentates which acknowledge England a Republick do in effect the same thing But indeed neither any of those Kings and Potentates nor we our selves but the Kings owâ— evill Councellors or Proceedings are the cause of all this When the Anserer the rest of his partners the Scots and Covenanters have hurried their Waggon into precipices of ruine it is past our redress To enter into alliance against those that go about to ruine our Commerce and bereave us of our Freedom as much as in them lies is both necessary and commendable If some will needs live under a King let them as for our parts we are resolved by Gods help to maintain our Freedom A League with England will not bring us into a Labyrinth nor make us subjects of Depradation and Slavery but free and secure us from both The Resolutions of Neutrality which he mentioneth are limited with conditions in case the Scots Irish and other Pirats perform Neutrality to us also All the former alliances are between the Nations so their Lord ships the States understand it so also do all the Kings and Potentates understand it that Treat here with the States upon the ancient Treaties as made in those times under the name of the Duke of Burgundy and Austria The Answerer himself implies as much above where he takes the Treaty vvith Duke Philip Anno 1495. as made with their Lordships the States and so likewise the renued Treaty with Scotland in Anno 1594. which Queen Mary had made as Governess in the Netherlands and the King of Scotland notwithstanding renued it with their Lordships Non populi propter Regem sed Rex propter populuÌ„ Kings Princes enter into Treaties as Representers of the People for the peoples sake This Kings forefathers were contented with the Crown of Scotland It grieves the Scots to see themselvs involved in war about a quarrel that doth not concern them but only for the Kings sake who by Pr. Rupert and by other Pyratical ships and other ways plaguing and provoking the English did force them at last to fall with an Army into Scotland for to prevent that Kings falling into England Even so did the great Gustave of Sweden he came with an Army into Prussia and forced the King of Poland his Cousen to
way and those that are un-armed resolve another then there can be no Government at all but all will be left at random to a continued succession of discontents contests and confusions which must needs end in the ruine of the unarmed party Wherefore it is a Rule with them That the ancient Majesty of a Kingdom or Commonweal continues no longer if it be changed either by a greater Power or by consent of the People where you see Force and Power are put in equall ballance with popular consent in relation to Government And as if it were the best pedigree of Supremacy they define the Supream Authority to be that which holds claim from God and the Sword and therefore is as it were the Authour of its own Original without dependance on any other so that say that every Commonwealth be it never so small which acknowledges no Superiour but God and the Sword hath a right of Majesty or Political Supremacy So saith Besoldus de Juribus Majest cap. 1. Arnisaeus de Majest cap. 1. and Cammonus de Majest Disput 1. Thes 70.75 c. with many others Seeing therefore that an uncontrolable Power of the sword in plenary possession of any Nation instates him or them whos Sword it is w th all the rights of Majesty much more then may they be claimed by the Parliament of England to whom God hath given a commanding Sword which they lawfully hold in the behalf and by consent of the people And therefore questionless no State or Prince where he seeth such an established Power can in reason question those rights or pretend ground not to own the Power as in all other rights so more especially in the right of Ambassy which is one of the fairest Flowers in the Garland of Majesty For as it hath been observed by the Oracle of our Laws 4. Instit c. 26. they and none but they who enjoy the rights of Majesty or Supremacy have a right of Ambassy It must be from a Soveraign to a Soveraign Power and Authority Thus far now our Assertion stands unquestionable therefore for illustration it must needs be much more clear if we consider that the benefit of Ambassy hath been often allowed even to such as were not solely Supream nor in the plenary possession of any Nation Thus in a Nation divided by Civil War where the Supream Power is in Controversie both the Parties are allowed an equal right of Ambassy by Hugo Grotius l. 2. c. 18. Thus in a popular division at Syracusa the one Party within the City sent an Ambassage to the other Party without under the command of Andronodorus The like was done by Caius Manlius one of Catiline's Fellows to Q. Martins and by Brutus and Cassius to Lepidus and Antony Livius l. 14. Salust Catil who give them that were sent the name of Legats which were the same that we now call Agents and Ambassadors Also according to this Rule during the late Contest here betwixt King and Parliament it was that the Hollander made no scruple to entertain Agents equally from both the Parties Nor hath this Priviledge been allowed those only who in National sidings have had some tolerable pretence to a formal Authority but hath been indulged also to meer Out-Laws such as the Montaneers in the Alps the Assassins of old the Pickeroons in France the Banditi in Italy the Tories in Ireland and the Mosse-Troopers in the Marches between England and Scotland Q. Curtius lib. 7. tels us of twenty thousand such Fellows that were got into a Body to make Head against Alexander the Great and it came to a Fight in which Alexander himself being wounded in the Forlorn it came to a Parley Itaque postero die miserunt Legatos ad Regem Whereupon the next day they sent Ambassadors to the King who received them with all Ceremony and caused them to sit in his presence This were the more to be admired but that we find Cesar himself lib. 3. bell civ giving the like honour to those Fugitives that lurked in the Straits and Passes of the Pyrenaean Mountains and affirming it lawful Yet questionless these instances are not to bee drawn into custom but may be imitated and approved only upon the like occasional accidents and emergents of necessity How ever in regard some have openly in Print indeavoured to abridge us in England of our right and interest in this particular it is requisit we should draw the Lines of Ambassy in its utmost Extent and Latitude that our Inferences and Inductions may arise the more easie For if they who upon the occasion of a National Rupture can at the most lay claim to no more but the name of a Party have been and are admitted into a participation of this right by States and Princes and if so bee that an irregular number of Out-Laws and Renegade's formed into a formidable Body have been received likewise into the same Priviledge by the greatest Monarchs then à minori ad majus the Argument must needs hold good as to those in England who are actually and justly invested with the Supream Power and setled in the Noblest form If scattered Recollections of Fugitives Male-Contents and frighted Remnants have assumed this honour to themselves much more may this Noble Nation of England who though she grew old crooked and deformed under the pressures and oppressions of successive Tyrants yet having shaken them off baffled them beyond recovery and setled her self in the condition of a Soveraign Free State seems now to renue her Age again like the Eagle under the sweet Influences of Liberty She is now her self in full possession of her own therefore let the world know in this case she understands that Possession is more then eleven points of the Law For why was it that the late King of England as one observes having sworn a League with the King of Spain expresly also as he was King of Portugal did notwithstanding receive divers Ambassadors from the new King of Portugal yet was not judged either in England or Spain to have broken his former Oath and League Why was it I say but only to shew that Contracts and Oaths made betwixt Political persons are made in a Political sense viz. with a tacit condition of holding their Possessions These being gon their Publick Relations and Concernments immediatly expire How came it to passe that the Spaniard being driven out of the Vnited Provinces and they by him declared Rebels that yet they assuming to themselves a right of Ambassy had their Ambassadors so readily received by Henry of France and Elizabeth of England but that both those Princes well understood the lawfulness of the action and that they had Jure Gentium a right so to send the Spaniard being dispossessed there It was the same reason too that moved the Hollander to entertain Agents and Ambassadors from this State before the death of the Tyrant for that part which we then possessed and since his death for the whole now in possession
concerns the Kingdom seeing in the first place the Regall dignity is no more but a Function or Office and he himself is but supremus officiarius the highest Officer of the Kingdom and you known an Officer hath no right to what he is intrusted with for the benefit of another Besides we know that if any man be invested with a Propriety he hath a power to alienate or sel away his right but Kings have no such power as to alienate any part of the publick Revenue Kings that have endevoured it in England have been restrained and not onely in that but even in their immoderate expences by Parliament Nor is it so onely in England but many laws have been made and renewed against it in Poland Hungary Scotland France Spain and the Empire for we read what Wenceslaus the Emperour Malcolm of scotland and Henry the sixth of France suffered by attempting it and what miseries they brought thereby upon themselves and the people Innumerable testimonies might be produced against this power of Alienation in Kings but that of Grotius lib. 2. de Jur. bel c. 6. may the better pass instead of all the rest in regard he is in most other particulars a little too rank of the Royalist Patrimonium populi cujus fructus destinati sunt ad sustentanda reipub aut regia dignitatis onera à regibus alienari nec in totum nec in partem potest The patrimony of the people saith he whose revenues are appointed to ease the burthens of the Commonwealth and support the Recall dignity cannot be alienated by Kings either whole or in part Num in hoc jus majus fructuario non habent For in this viz. the peoples publick Patrimony they have no more then the right of an Vsu-fructuary who indeed receives the rents and profits but hath no propriety in the lands Seeing now it appears that a King is no more but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ordinance of man a creature of mans making as is to be inferred from the words of St. Peter seeing he is but a servant to the people bargains with them to doe their work according to Laws or Directions to that end wears their Livery and receives wages from them seeing also that the right and propriety of the Kingdom remains in the people not in him and that the most which can be made of him is but an Officer or an Vsu-fructuary one that hath no right in what he possesseth save onely to receive the Profiâ—s or Revenues in lieu of service to be done for some other viz. the Community then it may plainly be inferred that the ends of Kingly Government and consequently all the acts of it doe in no wise relate to the Person Kingship or Family of any King but are terminated jure populi in the right or behalf and for the benefit of the people Thus far our Assertion stands undeniable and therfore for application of it to the present matter in question between us the Scottish Resident let us consider that if Kings are not for themselves but for the people if they be Kings publico jure in the peoples right not in any particular personall qualification of their own then it merrily follows That as the Office so all the Acts of Government and consequently the making Peace or Warre the allaying of enmities the making Contracts and Alliances with forein States and Princes are founded and concluded in the right of the people It is they which treat contract confederate only they agree that he shal transact and sign it The power is originally really and fundamentally in themselves it is but Ministerially in the King as a Publick servant it is for the publick benefit not his own privat that he is intrusted to make a Contract so that whether you consider the publick relation he stands in without which he can be no king nor contract nor do any other act of Government Or whether you consider the publick end and scope of the Contract it must needs follow that his own particular or the interest of his Family cannot be separatly or singly concerned in the business though it run in his name seeing all is done by the right and for the good of the Community But our Scotch Resident alledges out of Grotius l 2. c. 16. That a league made with a King holds firm to him though he be driven by his subjects out of the Kingdom For the right of the Kingdom remains with him though he have lost the possession according to that of Lucan Non unquam perdidit ordo Mutato sua jura loco To this I answer in the first place that if you consider what is said before it must be granted that the right and propriety of a Kingdom remains in the people alwayes be the King in or out of possession Secondly it is much to be wondred that Grotius should so farre forget himselfe as in this place to set down a position quite contrary to what he affirms in another viz. c. 18. in that instance before cited where he saith That Kings who submit their fortunes to the tryall of a set-warre and then are driven out by force of Arms doe not onely lose the right of Ambassy but all other rights of Soveraignty And if so then without question also a King loseth all claim or pretence to any Forein Contracts or Alliances made with him in the behalf of the Kingdom while he stood possessed For by the same reason that he loseth or forfeits one right he loseth all Besides in another place viz lib. 1. cap. 18. he enumerates no lesse then seven or eight casts wherein a King may forfeit and be justly driven out of his Kingly interest and Kingdom As in case a King assume more to himselfe then of right belongs to him Or in case he infringe those lawes that he was sworn to Or incroach upon the Senaticall part and right of the people Or if he relinquish the Helm of government Or give over the protection of the people Or make warre against them Or behave himselfe as a Tyrant or publick enemy of the Nation In all these Cases Grotius grants that a King may justly be deprived and not any of these but might be verified upon the late King of England and his Son the Young Pretender who not onely lost all Right as being the Son of such a Father but by tracing him actually in the same steps of enmity hath made the forfeiture compleat both for himself and the whole family whereby as he loses all other interests so without question his interest in all those forein leagues and contracts that were made with his Father while he was in possession But to return where we left the rights and acts of Government as we have proved being properly the interest and acts of the Community or People and relate no farther to the King than as a delegated Person a Deputy or Trustee to treat and transact in their behalf then without
question when this Officer the King shall either for male-administration or treachery in his trust be put to death or banished with his whole family the Treaties Contracts and Alliances made in his name with any Forain State must needs continue in full force and power to all intents and purposes as long as the People and Community are in being whose Contracts they are To this accords that of Grotius likewise l. 2. c. 15. Si cum Rege contractum sit non statim personale erit censendum foedus i.e. If a League be made with a King it must not be presently looked upon as a personal League For as he saith in the same place after Pedius and Vlpian plerumque persona pacto inseritur non ut personable pactum fiat sedut demonstretur cum quo pactum est The person of the Prince is usually mentioned in the League not that the League should become personal but only to shew with whom it was made But it may be objected that the League with Holland extends not only to the King but to his Successors also 'T is true it doth hold as to the succession that is as long as the succession holds for Leagues must hold to the persons of Princes and their successors as all other Political Compacts between them do viz. with a tacit condition of holding their possessions If the King of Scots can with the peoples consent make good his succession in England then he may lay claim to the Treaties made betwixt England and Holland but in the mean time Hee and his Family being driven out for their Tyranny all the Right to those Contracts is to be exercised by another Succession and Form of Government that is established in the Right and by Authority of the people Nor can this Alteration of Government any whit alter the Case it being a right naturally inherent in all Nations to alter their respective Governments upon occasion into what form they please As long as the people remain the same specifical I do not mean the same individual people of England that they were when the right of Treaty was used and the Treaty with Holland made and ratified by the King in their behalf so long the effects of the Treaty or Treaties are in force to the same ends and purposes that they were at first intended Seneca saith by way of comparison Manet idem flumen aqua transmissa est the River remains the same though the water pass away and Aristotle 3. lib. Pol c. 2. traceth him in the same quaint way of allusion likening the People to a River which retains its old name and is said to be the same that it was long since though a continued succession of new waters doe flow in the Channel so the People that is now is the same in specie that it was an hundred or perhaps a thousand years since and is so called and reputed except it lose the name and estimate of a Nation by being captivated and caried away from their Countrey as the Jews were all in time from Jerusalem and the Holy Land or inslaved in their own Countrey by some Forain Power that holds them in Vassalage as the Olynthians were under Philip the Thebans under his son Alexander the Capuans under the Romans or as the old Britains were under the Saxons the Saxons under the Danes and afterwards under the Tyranny of the Norman Conquerour When their National Power and Authority is once extinct they no longer retain their former interest priviledge or dignity But none of these exceptions blessed be God can be verified upon the people of England who are seated pleno Jure in their own fortunate Island and established now in a greater measure of Honour Power and Freedom then ever we enjoyed for many hundred years before Foelices nimiùm bone si sua nôrint And therefore of necessity they must be accounted specifically the same Nation or people that they were when the Treaties were made and concluded betwixt England and the Netherlands though they be not the very same Individuall People and Government No matter saith Grotius l. 2. c. 9. how the Nation be governed whether by a King or by many or by the multitude For the people of Rome remained the same still in the various changes of Government under Kings Consuls and Emperours When the former is extinct a new form ever succeeds with power to govern act and transact in and for the behalfe of the people who being still the same not tied to Forms nor altered by Time over-look all Circumstances and lay hold upon the Substantials of their Interest and Government as they stand qualified and related both at home and abroad And truly it is very pleasant to observe in this particular how even Princes themselves acknowledge as much in their Practises towards each other in the changes of Government For the Duke of Burgoin having concluded amity with England in the person of Henry the 6. no sooner was Henry dispossessed and Edward the 4. invested but he immediatly renues the same League with England in the person of Edward Afterwards Edward hapning to be driven out it was so brought about by Burgoin that the Truce formerly concluded betwixt him and King Edward should in all things bee ratified and confirmed the King's name onely changed to Henry At length Edward made shift to recover all again and then Henry was once more dethroned which was no sooner done but Burgoin sent again a solemn Embassage to renue the Treaty and establish a firm League with England in the person of Edward It is to be observed likewise that during all these Changes Ambassadors went to and fro and all Forain Contracts and Alliances were kept entire without the least question on either side which may serve to inform us of these two particulars That in National quarrels about Title to Government Princes use not to dispute who is in the right or wrong but apply themselves without farther scruple to the parties in possession And secondly that however the Governours of a Countrey may be changed yet all the points of Alliance and Contract being centred in the right and benefit of the people continue unchangeable and entire under every alteration It were endless to reckon up all the examples that might be derived from the practises of States and Princes to confirm this particular we might shew you how the matter of Government being in dispute betwixt Queen Mary and her son James or rather his Guardians though Mary were dethroned and her Sons Guardians got the better yet the amity betwixt us and Scotland continued firm notwithstanding the deposition of the person of Mary But because the Scottish Resident seems to grant that Leagues may hold entire in State-Ruptures though a particular Prince be laid aside but not so if the frame of Government be altered therefore he may be pleased to consider that in the various revolutions of the Florentin Government when the whole frame was changed
proclaimed at Court in their Sermons that All was the Kings no man had any propriety in what he possessed so that the lesse credit is to be given to the Declaration of those pious Ministers as they are called against the Parliament whose partiall testimony is so much applauded by the Resident of Scotland Did Philip of Spain endeavour through his Agent D'Alva to settle his Tyrannies over the Provinces by force of Arms so did the late Tyrant Charls in England first plot a war and then set up his Standard and put the Parliament upon the Defensive as appears by the whole Series of his Councels and Actions whereto more credit is to be given than to his Posthume Book of Meditations which the Resident hath quoted with more affection than discretion Lastly are our Proceedings in England distasted by some of our neighbours through the malice and mis-representation of our English Fugitives So were those of the Hollanders through the malicious subtilty of the Spanish Agents and Ministers who laboured to incense all Christendom and draw the world about their ears till Forain Princes came to have a right understanding of the business So that you see Master Resident might have spared his Milk and Ink too for nec Ovum ovo similius one Egge cannot more exactly resemble another than the case of England in all particulars doth that of Holland in the manner of acquiring our Liberties and Freedoms Now he rails at our judging and beheading the late King and banishing his Family calling it abominable violence and such as the like was never heard of since the beginning of the world Therfore to rectifie the ignorance and malice of himself and his deluded party in this particular some few Instances and Examples shall be here inserted to shew it is no new thing that Kings have been and may be deprived or punished with death for their crimes in Government We read of Amon King of Judah that was slain by a part of the people because he walked not in the way of the Lord and though another part of the people were angry at it and avenged his death upon those that did it yet without question the execution was just according to the Law of God which was without respect of persons that the Idolater should die the death and no doubt the punishment had been inflicted by a Judicial Process had not so great a party of the people been addicted to his ways opposed it which opposition of their is usually the cause in all cases of this nature why Kings are not to be attached as well as other Mâ—â—efactors by an ordinary course of Justice Consider Ahab likewise who though he were taken off himself by divine Justice in the battel at Ramoth-Gilead and so escaped punishment by man for his idolatry and cruelty yet it was executed afterward to the full by John upon his Queen and the whole Family who were utterly rooted out and a blessing annexed to him and his heirs that performed the execution But some may say this fact was extraordinary being done by immediate command from God and so not fit for ordinary imitation Yet for Answer it is sufficient I say that it had a Legal ground viz. the ground of Gods ordinary judgement which commanded that all offendors of the same nature should die the death Gods extraordinary command being superadded to his ordinary Law doth as to us rather confirm then weaken the equity and justice of such a proceeding In like manner we read that the whole people took Amaziah King of Judah and slew him for his idolatry whether they did it by a way of Judicial process or not is not material but done it was and if it were done without process then much more are they to he justified that have the courage to imitate such noble acts of Justice by a solemn and serious proceeding The like had been executed upon Joas the father of Amaziah by a part of the people for his Murther and Apostacy Profane stories both ancient and modern are full likewise to the purpose Romultes the first King of Rome was for his tyranny cut in pieces by the Senate and Tarquin their last King was with his whole family cashiered the form of Government changed by the same power and upon the same occasion Many years after Nero the Roman Emperour was sentenced to death by the Senate which was not primum damnati Principis exemplum as the Resident alledges out of Suetonius The Senate being afterward in time cowed down by Heliogabalus their Emperour so that they could not take the ordinary course with him used means by corrupting the soldiery upon whose strength he depended to put him to death The two famous changes made in the Royal line of France depend upon two such noble pieces of Justice executed upon their Kings the first upon Childerick the third King of France who being judicially deposed by the Nobility and Clergy in Parliament the succession was then cut off from the family of Pharamond and confirmed to the race of Pepin till Charls of Lorrain the last of Pepin's race was in the like manner chastised by Parliament and the Crown translated to the successors of Hugh Capet who hold the same to this day though two of them likewise viz. Lewis the third and Charles le Gross have been judicially proceeded against in Parliament And though the people were so tender towards them as not to put them to death yet they were buried alive being mued up within the melancholy walls of some Monastery or else closely confined within the Castle of Orleans In Spain too we read of Suintila Don Alonson the eleventh and Don Pedro judicially proceeded against the first by the fourth National Councel of Toleao the second by publick Act of the Estates of the Realm in the Town of Validolid the third by the Estates of Castile all for their Tyrannical Government The like proceeding also was had against Don Sancho the second of Portugal also against Henry of Poland that was King of France Henry of Swethland Christiern of Denmark and Wenceslaus of Bohemia as also Edward the second and Richard the second of England These last are mentioned by the Resident himself but that which he mainly insists upon is that neither Christiern Wenceslaus Edward nor Richard were beheaded upon a Scaffold as was the late Tyrant Charls However it is sufficient they were judged more worthy of a Scaffold than the Throne and therefore it must needs be more honourable after the late Heroick Example of England that the Judgements of God should be executed in publick before all the world than that they should be stiffled in a Dungeon or the Majesty of them be less'ned by paltry private Assassinations or poisonings acted upon Royall Tyrants and Offenders Even the practise of Scotland it self will furnish us with Examples enough of this nature where no less than fifty of their Kings have been punished with death and the greatest part of
them by a solemn Iudiciall Proceeding as it is set forth by Buchanan their own Historian who affirms it to be More Majorum according to the custome of their Ancestors So that of all other men in the world this Scot Resident hath the least reason to wonder at our Capital Proceeding against a Tyrant as a thing never heard of before in the world since it hath been from all Antiquity the common practice of his own Country Whereas he farther alledgeth the Parliment's manifold reiterated Oaths and their Covenants with above an hundred Parlimentary Declarations and Protestations to protect the King's Person and Posterity c. This must be understood with that tacit Supposition which is naturally included in all those Oaths and Protestations viz. That he do not by any enormous crimes and continued Acts of Tyranny devest himself of his Kingly capacity And in the Covenant it self as much as this comes to is implied by undeniable consequence the whole scope of it being qualified with this special clause In the preservation of Religion and Liberty to shew that if the King should proceed so far as to render himself an irreconcileable enemy to both the Covenant did no longer oblige the Covenanters in any relation to him or his Posterity But he saith The Laws of England favour Kings above the Laws of all other Nations and for this he alledges the parasiticall maxims used by Courtiers Rex non moritur Rex nulli facit injuriam Whereto let us oppose others out of our old Laws more rationall and sound Non debet esse rege major quisquam in exhibitione Juris minimus autem esse debet in judicio suscipiendo si peccat Rex habet superiores Legem per quam factus est Rex Curiam suam c. Nihil aliud potest Rex nisi id solum quod de Jure potest say Bracton and Fleta and whereas he is up again with his pious Divines in and about London whose Declaration he much boasts of in the behalf of the late Tyrant and his Cause In Answer to this he must give us leave to reply in such a sence as out own experiences have taught us that those whom he calls Divines were the greatest Carnalists Formalists and Fanaticks that ever appeared in any Nation Court parasites Trumpets of Tyranny the onely Patrons and Promoters of Slavery both Spirituall and Tempporall They were such as most of the same Tribe ever have been and are men ignorant in the more necessary and solid parts of Learning both Sacred and Civill who make a Trade and Traffique of certain Set-forms and maxims of Divinity wherein being Travell'd as in a Road they cannot out of their old way but immediately they lose themselves and their sences If a Truth though never so bright and glorious come to clash with any of those trading notions which they call Orthodox then immediately like the men of Ephesus they grow stark mad and can sing no other Tune to all the world but Great is their Diana Therefore In those high and weighty Controversies which arise concerning the Rights and Concernments of Commonweals and Kingdoms where their motions are eccentricall little regard is to be had to their frigid Conceptions where in they are wont even in Luce meridianâ toto coelo err are and in this particular it might be made good contrary to their Affirmations and Invectives even as clear as the Sun According to the holy word of God the Instinct of Nature Right Reason The Laws of all Nations and particularly of England That Parliaments or other Supream Assemblies have a Power of Jurisdiction both coercive and punitive over their Kings and of altering Forms of Government according to the Publique exigents and Conveniences of their respective Nations In the meantime this Scot may do well since he often quotes William Prynn to consult that great Scotiser in his Book entitled The Soveraign power of Parliaments as also his own Countriman Rutherford in his Lex Rex who will give him another Account than the raw Pulpiteers of London Next he affirms that the saying of our Saviour which commands the paying of Tribute to Caesar confirmeth and establisheth Lawfull Power Herein we agree with him For though the means whereby that Power of the Caesars was gained were unlawfull and the manner of its Acquisition unjust yet it being once established beyond the controll of any Publique Power and having all Authority seated within it self it immediately became lawfull by way of dispensation having a right to the dispensing of Justice and to the exercise of all Acts of Jurisdiction concerning privat and particular Persons But then saith he should David have acquiessed in the usurped power of Absolom and Solomon in the power of Adonijah Jehoiada in Athalia's and the Machabees in the power of Antiochus Epiphanes Alas the case of these is far different for neither Absolom nor Adonijah were ever seated in a plenary possession nor had they been acknowledged Supream as were the Caesars nor had the Jews made any recognition of Antiochus his Authority nor did he ever bring them under a totall Subjugation as afterwards did the Roman power to whom they then paid a finall submission though they refused it before to Antiochus As for that of Athaliah we finde she had a submission paid for no less than 6 years though her power were usurped and one main reason why the people denied it afterward was becaus she had agrieved the whole Nation with her practises of Idolatry and Tyranny for which cause she was lawfully deposed and put to death in a full Assembly of the Princes and People 2. Kings 11. after which they reduced the Government into its former course of succession Thus much we thought fit to answer as to this particular But what hath this Scottish Resident to do to introduce these Instances of Absolom Adonijah and Athaliah as Arguments against us in England They touch not the matter at all there being as vast a disproportion betwixt them and us as betwixt light and darkness for they were single Usurpers over the People but here in England the People have recovered their own Rights by ridding away an old Tyrannical Usurpation He compares also the Religion that was under Kings in England with the present and saith that in the Kings time it shone as a Lamp more clear then in any other Nation But that now it is nothing like the religion professed in Holland nor indeed Religion it self What the state or religion was in the Kings time I suppose we need not now dispute it having been long since condemned not only by our Presbyterians themselves but in the Iudgement also of Forain reformed Churches as a profane medley of superstitious Innovations And as to the present though we glory not in an external pretended National Vniformity the great Diana of the Clergy and wherein they place all religion because it makes for their profit yet it bears a proportionable conformity to the mind of