established but upon the Ruines of the whole Reformed Interest in Christendom Let all therefore awfully observe the hand of GOD and chearfully submit to his will and without attempting to strugle against Heaven leave K. James to the disposal of Providence Let every Man in his Station contribute what in him lyes to reâ—reive our Religion and Laws from the grievous abuses they have suffered and to secure them to us and our Posterity from the like hereafter and from falling under the fatal Dangers from which GOD has been pleased so signally to rescue them Neither let this Assembly of Estates look back as if they were under any tye to withhold them from advancing vigorously in setling the Government of this Nation now under Anarchy a State in which it cannot subsist Nor let any thoughts of the Right of Succession stop their procedure For besides that there can be no Heir to a living Man the former Arguments are as part against the Prince of Wales true or Supposititious as against King James the 7. But now when God has so wonderfully put this opportunity in their hands let them be as honest and upright hearted Patriots set themselves seriously to consider what is fit to be done for settling a Government in this Nation upon just and solid Foundations whereby the true Religion and publick Peace may be established and secured the just property and Liberties of the Subject clearly asserted and the high-stretched Prerogative of the Crown brought to an equal frame I am perswaded that as it is the Genius so it is the Interest of this Nation to have a Monarchy still established for any other Form must unavoidably evert the whole bulk of our Laws and Customs which might be of fatal Consequence Nor could any other Model be long liv'd here considering the natural bent of Scotsmen to this Besides since experience has discovered to us the worst diseases that can attend Monarchy I think if we be wise we may now apply such Remedies as may secure us for the future against them And so we may be safer under it then any other kind of Government the inconvenieneies whereof in this Nation at least we can only discover by a tract of time As to the choice of a Monarch I think the best method is to follow the example England has set us For besides the just and solid Reasons that determined their choice which are all as pregnant and applicable to us We have further this cogent Reason that England having already declared the Prince of Orange their King out of a due sense of the Great Deliverance he has been Instrumental in working for them We must do the same unless we will declare our selves the most ingrate of Mankind since we are delivered from a far greater Bondage then ever England felt And unless we will resolve to break with England and their King which how fatal it might soon prove every Body can see more then is fit for the Honour of this Nation to express This I shall only say that it were certainly very unkind to the Reformed Religion to divert and weaken by such a breach the K. of Englands hands who is now under GOD the chief support of it But seeing the Fondness of this Nation for the Restoration of K. Charles the Second did hurry them from one extream to another from having abandoned the King and Royal Family to give too much and lay the Foundations of an unbounded Prerogative upon which an Aspiring Court designing to Copy after the Perfidous Cruel Hâ—ctor of Europe finding still unhappily amongst this poor Proud Self seeking People fit Tools for their service have rear'd up an Uncontrolable Despotick Absolute Power in the King and that by repeated Laws but more by a constant Series of Arbitrary practices Whereby they have brought us into Absolute Bondage and laid a Yoke upon us that neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear It therefore nearly concerns and highly becomes the Wisdom of the States of the Kingdom Yea it is their Duty to the Nation whom they Represent and what they owe to their posterity in After-Ages before they give the Crown out of their hands to smooth and purge it of every thing that may be hard and grievous to the People And to leave it only Adorned with such Jewels as can only be firm and shining when by Justice and Mercy they attract the Peoples hearts but will prove brittle and dim when put to gall their Necks I would therefore humbly offer to the Consideration of this Ensueing Meeting some things that to me seem necessary and incumbent for them to do for retrieving this Nation from the intollerable Thraldom we have been brought under And for vindicating and asserting the Peoples Just Right and Freedom without robbing the Crown of any Jewel that 's fit for the Hononr of a King who is to Rule by Law Or without diminishing any part of the Kingly Power that is necessary for enabling out Kings to perform the great duties of their High Charge Let our Kings be Vested with Power to be Nursing Fathers to the Church to be Patres Patriae vigorous Asterters and Defenders of the Honour and Well of the Nation against Attempts from Abroad or Seditions at Home Let them have Power to be Terrors to Evil doers and Encouragers of these that do Well Let them have Power to preserve to all their Subjects their Respective Properties and Liberties from all Insolence and Injustice to see all our Laws vigorously Executed and all Transgressors impartially punished These are the only true Jewels of the Crown and every beyond this that 's fixed to it ought to be cleansed and wiped off as noisom dust and rust that will throughly corrupt it It is then the unquestiouable Duty of this Meeting of the States to cut off from the Crown all such Excressences as are useless to a Just King and to our sad experience are Pernicious and of most dangerous consequence to the People First Then it has been often Asserted and maintained That the King derives his Crown and Dignity immediately from GOD that the People do not nor cannot give any Right or Title to it That all power and Authority is Originally and Eminently Inherent in the Crown and that therefore the Parliament can give no Prerogative to the King. This has been long Currant Coyn at Court and amongst Court parasites and of late has had the boldness to appear Bare-fac'd in our Parliaments where it seems to have given rise to yea dictated some of our Acts about the prerogative But it is obvious that this is a Mother Evil and may be broody of all the mischiefs that can be dreaded from Arbitrary Power or Tyranny For if this Maxime hold good what security for our Religion Laws Property or any thing that 's dear to Free men or Christians Sure none but the Princes pleasure Why then should we complain of the late Court stile which makes the Prerogative Royal and
a Supreme Absolute Power to be obeyed without Reserve to signifie the same thing Me thinks the Stile is very Just and Congtuous and goes very well on the Foot of this Maxime Wherefore as we would deliver our selves and our Posterity from the evident hazard of Absolute Slavery this Pernicious Principle must be Absolutely Eradicated It will be fit the States seriously revise all our Acts about the Prerogative where-ever any thing is found to look this way it must either be explained to a harmless meaning or if it will not bear a Tolerable sense it must be cancelled For a little Leven may soure the whole Lump It will also be necessary that the Asserting of this Principle by Word or Writ be declared an High-Crime against the very nature and Constitution of our Government punishable as Treason and unpardonable It has taken deep root and will need a severe steady hand over it to keep it from springing up again in its season from which God deliver us 2. The late assumed Prerngative of disabling Suspending or Dispensing with standing Laws must be declared Illegal and against the Constitution of a free Nation I need not insist to lay open the mischief of such a power all the World sees it and even some of those who asserted it now cry shame on 't 't is so palpably a Gangrene that might overspread eat out or enervate all the strength and Life of our whole Laws I shall only say it will be fit to declare that all Judges or others to whom the Execution of the Law is committed shall upon their highest Peril be obliged to put the Laws of the Nation to due Execution notwithstanding of any Command Mandate or Dispensation they may get to the contrary from any person or persons whatsoever 3. I humbly conceive it will be much the Nations advantage if the Power of Pardoning be restrained as to Assertors or Propagators of any Principles against the Freedom of the Nation and Parliaments in favour of any pretended Prerogative As also as to all Judges Officers or Ministers of State and others having the King's Commission for Malversing in their respective Offices Because if ever it be the ill-fate of this Nation to come under a Designing and Aspiring Prince so long as he has the Power of Pardoning such he will never want Instruments to set up and establish his Prerogative as high as ever Neither will he want Judges and others who will palpably pervert Justice wrest and trample on our Laws and Freedom and with all their Might Sacrifice them and us to his Ambition or other ill Designs And I appeal to every Man that will make but any Reflection on our late Government if he is not convinc'd that many who serv'd it durst never have made such steps as they did if they had not rested secure on that Pillow That however Criminal they became by such measures They being for the Kings service could get his Remission on demand Since there is and will ever be a perverse Crew of ill men whom neither Honour nor Conscience can bind to be Faithful and Just to their Country but who still upon any hopes of Impunity will be Animated to say and do all the mischief they can when 't is accepâ—able to the Princc Let the Terror of severe Laws be set before them to Over-awe them and strip them of all hopes of Impunity by a Princes Favour Such a Limitation will not be uneasie to a just and good Prince and is Absolutely necessary for our safety under an ill one 4. It must be declared illegal and not in the Kings power to constitute any Judge or Judicature Ecclesiastick Civil or Criminal except such as are Authorized by the Laws of the Nation As also that it is Illegal for the King to give waâ—rand to any Judge to proceed otherwise in Judgement then by the Forms and Rules the Law and Practice of the Kingdom has set for the several Judicatures and Cases therein cognoscible and that all who accept and proceed conform to any such commissions or Warrands shall be severely punished The experience of the Grievous oppressions the Western Southern and some other shires of this Kingdom have suffered and the much Blood that hath been shed in them very summarly to say no worse by vertue of such Commissions and Proceedings will I am confident Evince the necessity of this For certainly so long as such a power is left to the Crown no Man or Partie can reckon themselves secure of their Liberties or Estates no not of their very Lives longer then they escape being Obnoxious to the Court for then packt Judges and Arbitrary Forms and Rules of proceeding may make sharp Work and havock enough I confess I have often been surprised to see several Sober and Rational men satisfied with and Applaud such methods when used against these they wished to see undone For being blinded with a Passion to have such a party Ruined they did not consider that if the Cannon were turned aâ—ainst themselves they might soon find the fatal Effects of such methods and be thereby summarly exposed to some severe punishment in their Bodies or Goods or perhaps both without hopes of Reddress So it is every Man's Interest that every Subject have a Fair and Legal Tryal and that all his concerns be Judged by the ordinary Judges and conform to the known Laws and Practice of the Realm And that any such power be quite exploded for which there can be no pretence unless you will grant the King a Prerogative above all Laws Perhaps it will be alledged that such Commissions have been very useful in our High-Lands and Borders and that it is impossible to bring the Theeves there to condign punishment or prevent their ruining these Countries unless it be allowed that they be Judged without the Ordinary Rules and Forms of Law. I humbly think it may be worth the serious consideration of our first Parliament to give their special Orders and Instructions for this case But by no means on this account ought the least twigg of any such Transcendant Power above the Laws be left to the King. For if it should be allowed That the King by an Inherent power in the Crown may by his Commission warrand the Judging of Theeves without observing the Ordinary Law in the Nation Why may he not by the same Inberent power give such Commissions for trying all alledged Guilty of every kind of Treason or other Crimes and Transgressions of any Penal Laws Then pray what security has any Subject of a Legal Tryal for any guilt he maâ— be charged with Or what availeth the Laws and Judicatures established for the safety of the Innocent as well as the Punishment of the Guilty 5. It will be fit it be declared That all the Ministers of State Lords of Session and Justiciary and other Inferiour Judges who receive their Commissions from the King shall always get them ad Vitam aut Culpam and not Durante
Beneplacito For when Men hold these places at pleasure it is certainly a great temptation to them who are not of a very firm Honesty to comply with any Designs of the Court and humours of the present chief Favourites And when an honest Man stands his ground and refuses such a Servile Complyance against his Honour and Conscience Then as we have seen he is presently to be turned out and some plyable Tool that will receive any Impressions from these hands put in his place and so our Judicatures filled with Men who will give themselves up to a blind Obedience to the Dictates from Court. And what Justice can the Nation expect from such Judges I do not say the abolishing Commissions Durante Beneplacito will ascertain us of Just Judges But to be sure it will free them whom we shall have from many Temptations to be unjust and secure to us more firmly these that are just and honest So it is well worth the while There is one thing I cannot pass about our Judges tho it be not hujus loci I think it would be much our interest to have Crimen Ambitus in force amongst us as to Session and Justiciarie especially Many wise People have thought that a Man's sueing and Soliciting for such Offices was a just Ground to make him Suspected as unworthy of the Trust This is certain if such Methods were strictly discharged and every one at his admission to these Offices oblidged to purge himself of them we might justly expect they should go more by Merit then they can do while men are allowed to Brigue and Intrigue for them For commonly Cunning and False Men are most Assiduous and Dexterous at Insinuating into a Court. 6. I think the Kings Ecclesiastick Supremacy as it stands now Asserted by Acts of Parliament ought to be Abrogated I will not enter on the debate what power is allowable to a Christian Magistrate in or about Ecclâ—siastical Matters but leaving this as unnecessary to be discussed here I shall prove the Assertion from these two considerations first if there is any such Supremacy allowable in a Christian Nation to any Civil persons or Judicature it cannot with safety be trusted but where the Legislative power is Lodged 2dly It appears uncharitable and unchristian to enact or leave in Force any Laws Declaratorie of such a Supremacy First Then consider that by this Supremacy the King has Power to turn off any Churchman Summary without any Process of this we have seen several instances he hath also Power thereby at pleasure to Crush any set of Clergy or Church Government he thinks uneasie to him and advance any Party or Model he hopes to be better served by He has by this Supremacy likewise Power if not in express terms yet by very natural Consequence to Suppress all Assemblies Convocations of the Clergy Synods Presbyteries Sessions or any other meetings of Churchmen necessary or convenient for preserving Order in the Church From consideration of these things it is evident and clear as Sun shine That if such a Supremacie be allowed to our Kings then they shall have Power to introduce Corruptions in our Religion by a Corrupt Clergy to raise constant Schisms in our Church to nourish and Foment a Spirit of Animositie and Persecution by one party of Clergy against another to the great reproach of our Religion and danger of our State as past experience may teach us finally they shall have power to dissolve and unhing our Church by depriving Her of all means necessary for establishing and preserving of Order and Discipline without which no Society can subsist And surely these things cannot happen in a Christian Nation without bringing deadly Convulsions upon the Civil State. Now I am confident that after very little reflection on the whole you and every Rational Man will Anticipate me in the Inference and conclude that such a Supremacy is of the last Importance both to the Religion and Civil Interest of the whole Nation and not to be trusted to any but reserved to King and Parliament if it is allowable to any Civil Power Secondly That it is Vncharitable to enact any Laws Declaratorie of such a Supremacie will evidently appear from this that it gives great scandal to good Protestants and pâ—aceable Subjects and is no wayes necessary Surely then it is very unbecoming Christian Charity and Moderation to give great Offence and lay a stumbling block before such Officiously and Needlesly Now all the World knows this Supremacy has been a stâ—ne of stumbling both to Jew and Gentile if I may so speak for not only the Presbyterians have still declaimed against it as an Antichristian inchroachment upon Christs prerogative but many Episcopal have judged it an Invasion and Diminution of the intrinsick power consigned by CHRIST to his Church whereupon severall minent amongst that Clergy resused our Test Thus as the Offensive Nature of such Laws is evident So every considering Man must acknowledge That they are useless because all Laws about Church Government should only be founded on these Grounds That What is thereby injoyned is agreeable to the Word of GOD most consonant to the practise of the purest Churches and most proper and conducing for the Advancement of Truth Piety and good Order in this Church Now on these Reasons onely let every thing in Relation to the Pâ—licy of the Church be Enacted in Parliament without pretending or Declaring by any Act what power they have in such Matters Thus I am sute King and Parliament may do their Duty in this Matter from time to time and a great Deal if not All the Offense would be removed For it cannot be denyed That the Legislative power being in them what Form of Government they apply their civil Sanction to it becomes the Legal Government of the Nation Which is all needs be claimed and their medling in such Matters cannot be quarrelled since all Protestants do not only approve the Parliaments Ratifying of our very Confession of Faith but ordinarly plead that thereby we have greater priviledges and right for defence of it than any principle of Religion it self gives us The only hazard is that they may Err in their choice but I know no Remedy for this unless we go to Rome for Infallibility and I fear we should loose our Labour except That no such Laws be imposed Rigorously to be owned by all but a reasonable Toleration allowed to peaceable Dissenters Seeing then there is no use for such Declaratory Laws of an Ecelesiastick Supremacy Were it not very uncharitable to keep them on foot for a snare and for ginn to so many of our Christian Brethren of the same Religion I may add further it were very Dangerous to the publick peace for certainly from this Fountain many of Our intestine commotions have sprung and these streams are not yet dryed up 7. And Lastly Having already far exceeded the due bounds of a Letter and the brevitie I designed I shall Croud all that
occures to me further about the Prerogative into one Article I think it necessary the Convention take to their serious consideration The Kings sole power of Disposal of Trade his power of setting Valuation on current Money his power of the Militia of Peace and Warr and raising the Nation in Arms as they are declared in the respective Acts thereanent As also the Practice of the Kings establishing Instructions of Warr and thereby exempting Souldiers from the ordinary Laws and Judicatures We have seen and felt grievous abuses in the Nation from all these as I could Instance but that I haste to a close and it is enough to my purpose that every thinking Man upon a very little reflection will see such powers may be the Foundation of Arbitrary proceedings in many cases of high Importance to the whole Nation I confess I do not think it adviseable or safe to divest the King wholly of these Powers and reserve them to a Parliament For the exercise of all or most of them may be very necessary much oftner then we can expect or desire parliaments may trvst with the reasonable intervals of parliaments neither do I think it possible to lay down fixed Rules that can continue useful for any time for the Kings managment of these Powers such is the inconstancie and vicissitude of humane Affairs The only Medium I can think on is that the King shall be restricted in the exercise of these Powers to the Advice and Concurrence of a Council or Councils to be named by the Parliament out of the whole States This Council may have their settled Annual Meetings or more frequent if needful and withal be obliged to Conveen when upon any Emergent the King shall call them But as for the Militia since it is palpablie useless to the Crown and Government and very heavy to the People I hope all will be Unanimous to have it totally discharged As for exempting Souldiers from the ordinary Laws and Judges in Causes Civil or Criminal betwixt them and other Subâ—ects least at it is of dangerous Consequence and there is no shadow of Law or Justice for it in this Nation wherefore it ought to be discharged and declared Illegal in all time coming I doubt not e're you come this length you will be as wearie in reading this tedious and indigested Letter as I am of writing it So I shall delay at this time the troubling you with what is fit to be done for securing our Crown from falling again into Popish hands what convenient amendmâ—nts may be made as to the Constitution of and Forms of Procedure in our Parliaments and what is expedient for the Redress of our past Grievancâ—s and necessary for the providing wholesome Remedies for preventing the like hereafter The slightest review of all these tho desired in Powers would swell this Letter into the Volume of a Treatise which I have no thoughts of writing I hope you do not expect it and though the stuff is course you have large enough measure already for an Letter Bâ—sides what is here omitted seems to be the propâ—r work of a Parliament when the Crown is settled but what is spoke of seems necessary to be dispatched by the Meeting of States before they declare the Crown For though I am fully perswaded that if we give the Crown to the King of England with as Absolute unlimited a Prerogative as ever any Tyrant or Sultan Usurped Yet our Religion and Laws and every Man's Liberty and Property would be as secure to Us under so Brave Generous Pious and Just a Prince as they can be by all the Provisions we can devise for their security But it is uncertain how long God may bless us with him who may come after him And this is certain that if once the Crown be settled and a set of Officers of State and Counsellours established our Nobility and great Ministers have unhappily been so accustomed to carrie things here with so high a hand They will be sure to use all their Interest to frustrate all Projects for such Limitations of the Prerogative foreseeing easily that thereby their hands will be more bound up then was usual and I doubt not if you will be at the pains to observe it you 'l easily perceive that such as have but any faint hopes and a remote prospect of getting any share of the Government into their hands will already be shy on these Points Wherefore it nearly concerns every honest Sincere Scotsman to strike thee Iron while it is hot for it is much better holding then drawing If this is acceptable and gives you any satisfaction you shall by the next have more of the matters now omitted March 6. 1689. I am Yours c. POSTSCRIPT Sir I Have said nothing of the Kings Negative Vote in Parliament and his Power of Adjourning and Dissolving them Tho it is of the greatest Importance for if it stands as it is now Asserted all hopes of Redress of Griveances by a Parliament are cut off under an ill Government when there is greatest need of it Wherefore it much concerns this Meeting to adjust in to an harmless Temper Yet I must confess I can hit upon no overture for this that pleases me But I doubt not The things is so Obvious and of such vast Consequence you will hear of it from better hands FINIS