Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n
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A38644
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An Essay upon the original and designe of magistracie, or, A Modest vindication of the late proceedings in England by one who hates rebellion and tyranny.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing E3301; ESTC R29794
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9,556
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16
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was by vertue of this Dispensing Power that the Ecclesiastick Commission was established the Bishop of London suspended the Fellows of Magdalen Colledge turned out And because the Bishops of England would not so farr Justifie his Illegal Pretences as to cause their Clergy read the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience from their Pulpits they quickly saw all the fair promises made to them Evanish and the Loyal Church of England was first branded with the infamous Character of Trumpeters of Rebellion and afterwards treated as the worst of Criminals a very bad recompense for that great zeal with which they had ever Preached up the Impracticable Doctrine of Non-Resistance 4. In Prosecution of the Blessed Design of Reducing Heretieks to the See of Rome all ways were taken to discourage Protestants who were not only debarred from Offices and Imployments of any Trust unless upon such Conditions as the Court pleased to Impose but were even turned out of these that had been Heritable to their Families and a great part of the Militia was intrusted to Roman Catholicks of purpose to Overâ—aw the Parliaments in case the next Assembly should have proved stuborn 5. Tho by many Laws the holding correspondance any way with Rome be declared high Treason yet hath his Majestie had his Resident there and received his Nuncio here to the great scandal of all good Protestants and true hearted Englishmen For it s in effect a Subjecting the Kingdom to a Slavery from which our Ancestors had most gloriously delivered us These things were acted in face of the Sun and none can deny them without renouncing the most comfortable of all his senses Yea the King himself did sufficiently acknowledge them by his sudden restoring the City Charters Magdalan Colledge and some other of the grosser sort of Abuses upon the first Information â—e got of the Princes Declaration The Kings old Age and the fair Prospect of a Protestant Successor made us suffer these things patiently because we hoped to be very shortly delivered from them but to despaire us and cut off all our hopes and to punish the Prince and Princess of Orange for refusing to comply with the Kings Will there is a sudden rumour spread of the Queens being with Child which as it did allarm the whole Kingdom so it made these who were most concerned be at some pains to be assured of the truth of it and yet after their most exact enquiry their doubts were encreased The Court was not ignorant of all this and yet would not give themselves the least trouble to satisfie them tho they had the greatest Interest in the world to do it The place of the Queens lying in was so uncertain and the management of the Birth so misterious the sending away the Princess of Denmark the Imprisoning the Bishops in the Tower gave more then probable grounds to suspect an Imposture and tho these be but presumptions and have not the strength of a full Probation yet they transfer a necessity of eliding them by clearer evidences Thus our Religion Liberties and Laws being ready to sink when Gentle methods had proven ineffectual when Addresses and Supplications even from the most Loyal part of the Nation were counted so many Acts of Treason it was high time to recur to that remedy which nature seems to dictate to every individual in its own defence That zeal with which his Highness the Prince of Orange had ever espoused the Protestant Interest against all its Adversaries made the Nobility and Gentry of England unanimously pitch on him as the fittest person to be their deliverer and both He and his Princess being so nearly interested in the Succession No rational Man can blame him for appearing in Arms and demanding satisfaction that way which hitherto had been refus'd him If the Remedie had been delayed it s more then probable the greater part of the Nation had fallen a Sacrifice to Popery and Arbitrary Government I shall conclude all with a short Reflection upon his Majesties leaving the Kingdom and going for France which Action alone hath done him more hurt than all the rest together for by Depriving Us of that protection which we might expect from his Government He looses his Subjects from that Allegiance they swore unto upon no other Condition then so long as they should enjoy so great a benefit Neiâ—her can any who knows his Majesties Temper impute his flight to Fear or Cowardise but rather of his being conscious of a certain guilt which did banish him from one of the greatest Stations in the World and robbed him of that Bravery and Resolution that he is naturally ended with and which tho he had wanted yet Innocency had supported him and made him outbrave all the Malicious Calumnies of his Enemies with such a heroick constancie of mind as seldom or never fails to come of Victorious The Prince had also acquainted him in his Declaration that he had no other design in coming to England than to referr all the Grivances of the Nation and his own Pretences to a Free Parliament Neither the King nor any man else could ever accuse this Prince with the least breach of promise And tho he had been wanting in that Reverence that is due to the Character of an Vncle and Father in Law yet the Princes own Interest had secured the King from any harsh Treatment for if any thing had been attempted against his Person the Nations Eyes had been opened and would have seen clearly that these specious pretences of Liberty and Property were but so many Delusions and such a Treatment certainly had deserved the greatest Resentment But if the King must needs go can he find no place for shelter but France Where so much Protestanr Blood hath been so lately shed with the greatest Cruelty and Barbarity that ever was heard He cannot be ignorant that his Subjects have a natural Aversion for that Nation and that his closs and constant Correspondence with its Monarch gave them just Jealousies to apprehend that there was more than an ordinary Friendship betwixt them which was every day encreased by his Copieing so near the methods that had been used in that Nation for suppressing the Protestant Religion and establishing Arbitrary Government And if the King have any hopes to reduce his Subjects by Invading them on the Head of a French Army he will find them but ill grounded for instead of reconciling them to him so dangerous and improper a method would even alienate the hearts of his best Friends and Britain would show it self as forward to Fight against Popery and Tyranny as it was averse from giving proofs of its Courage when it must needs have been fatal to Liberty and the Protestant Religion FINIS
than Tyranny and a wounded head is better than none at all What is objected against this Opinion from the Old and New Testament is very judiciously refuted by the Author of the Inquiry into the measures of Submission The second Argument is taken from the Oath of Allegiance which Subjects swear to their Prince whereby they engage never to rise in Armes against him To which it is answered that this Oath is accessory to the Contract agreed on betwixt the King and People and so must follow the nature of its principle The Nature of all Contracts is Obligatory on both parties so that if one of the parties fail in the performing his part the other is loosed from his Obligation As it s in this case the People Devolve the power on the Prince upon certain conditions expresly specified The accepting of a Crown on such Terms binds the Prince to perform the Conditions if he does not perform them he ineffect renounces his Right and tacitely consents that it return to those who bestowed it Lawyers say that Contracts can only oblige Equals and therefore no paction betwixt King and Subiect can be binding there is no force in this Argument if we advert that when this Stipulation was made the Prince and Subjects were equall and were only distinguished after the power was conferred Thirdly They instance that this does not bind the Successior to which its answer'd that the Prince engages for himself and Successors who if they would reap the advantage from their Predecessors must have also the disadvantage of being tyed to the same Rules they were adstricted to But for the further security none is admitted to the Government till they take the Coronation Oath Fourthly They upbraid us with the example of the Primitive Christians who suffered the persecution of Heathen Emperours with the greatest Moderation and Patience I do admire as well as they the Constancy patience and other Vertues which these Holy Men were endued with but their case and ours is quite different Paganisme at that time was established by Law and Christianity condemned the Professors whereof suffered as the Disturbers of the publick Peace but blessed be GOD the Law is now on our side and our Religion is become a great part of our Property and the peace of our Country does very much depend on the preservation of it besides if the Christian Religion had been propagate by Arms its Worth had been diminished and the Reputation of the first Founders of Christianity had very much suffered whereas the Morality and Justice of all its Precepts the Holiness and Purity of its Doctrine were of sufficient Efficacy to recommend it and the Constancy and Resolution with which the first Christians suffered Martyrdom were strong Motives to convince the Pagan World of the truth of it But in our Christian common Wealth where there are no moe Heathens to convert as the robbing us of our Religion would be the highest Act of in justice So the parting with it tamely would argue the greatest Stupidity and inconcernedness at men can be capable of The only Difficulty that remains is who shall be Judge of the Princes Actions to know when he is a Tyrrant and when not if it were allowed to the Prince Himself He would be too partial if we should constitute a Right in the People they would be too apt to misconstrue the Princes Actions which should ever receive the most Benign Interpretatiâ—n that the Subject can admit So that to shun boâ—h Inconveniencies the Controversie must be decided by the Laws of the Kingdom There is just such a Plea betwixt the Church of Rome and the Protestants concerning a Judge of Controversies they contend for the Pope as Christs Vicar and reject the Scriptures which we believe are the only Rule of Faith and that in them all things which relate to Salvation are clearly set down so that these of the meanest capacities may easily understand them In a Politick State the Supreme Magistrate is Sworn to Rule according to the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom which we must suppose are known both to King and People because they are a Rule to direct the Government of the one and a measure of the obedience of the other and were fairly enacted at the first constitution It s true indeed that if a Law made by the Civil Power contain any obscurity The sole power of Interpreting that Law belongs to the Lawgivers but we must imagine the Fundamental Laws full of perspicuity and except there be a notorious Violation of them resistance can never be lawful What has been said on this general Head will not answer the design of this paper if it cannot be applyed to the present State of Affairs in England For it is of no purpose to prove that Tyrrany is to be resisted by Arms unless we make it appear that the English Government had altogether Degenerate into Tyranny and that the taking up of Arms under the Auspicious conduct of his Highness the Prince of Orange was no rash Act but done after matture Deliberation and withal the circumspection that an Affair of so great Importance did require The great and earnest endeavours to have the Bill of Exclusion past did sufficiently evince what fears and Jealousies the Parliament had of the danger to which their Religion and Liberties would necessarly be exposed under a Popish Successor His Majesties behaviour since he came to the Crown has clearly demonstrate that these Fears were not groundless for not being conâ—ent to Introduce the Popish Religion so much contraire to Law He hath endeavoured to alter the whole frame of the Constitution and swallow up all our Liberties and Priviledges in an Arbitrary and Despotick Power 1. The first step was made against the freedom of Parliaments which makes up a great part of the Government by their having a share of the Legislative Power lodged in them by their Issuing out Quowaranto's against all the Burghs and Corporations in England the most part of them either through fear or force did surrender their Charters to the King who placed such Magistrates in them as he was most assured of and by this means did altogether invert the freedom of Election 2. Nothing can be more contrary to Law then the erecting of Seminaries of Priests and Jesuits in all the Capital Cities of his Dominions yea such confidence hath he reposed in that Order that he hath committed the direction of his Conscience to one of its Fathers and was not ashamed to own himself a son of the Society 3. His pretence to a Dispensing Power was no mean breach of his Coronation Oath for by it he Usurped the whole Legislative Power And would have imposed on the People in procuring the Votes of the Twelve Mercenary Judges if they had not wisely foreseen the dangerous consequences and feared that his Majestie would farther oblige his Roman Catholick Subjects by Repealing all the Laws that were Enacted in Favours of the Protestant Religion It