which such unparallel'd Proceedings may produce The Prince of Orange in his additional Declaration hath these Words We are confident that no Persons can have such hard thoughts of us as to imagin that we have any other Design in this undertaking than to procure a Settlement of the Religion and of the Liberties and Properties of the Subjects upon so sure a foundation that there may be no danger of the Nation 's relapsing into the like Miseries at any time hereafter How far some Persons may extend this Clause That there may be no danger of the Nation 's relapsing into the like Miseries for the future I cannot tell but for any one to understand it so as if his Highness meant that there could be no security against the Nation 's Relapse if the King be not deposed and he himself put into possession of the Throne is I am sure an Interpretation very disadvantageous to his Honor and looks more like a Jesuitical Equivocation than that Candor and Christian Sincerity which hath brightned and rendered illustrious all the Actions of his Highness both at home and abroad The Answerer also to the Reflecter upon his Highness's Declaration will not permit us to harbour any such Suspicions as if a Crown was the End of this Expedition All such says he pag. 23 24. as believe the Prince of Orange has brought this Army and intends to make War upon England and subdue it to his mere Will and Pleasure trample all Laws both divine and human under feet dethrone his present Majesty and make himself King they will stay and fight for him sc the King or at least to the best of their power in some manner assist and help him On the contrary such as believe that the Prince's meaning is nothing of all this c. Here you see that this Author who 't is to be supposed was not unacquainted with the Prince's intentions utterly rejects it as a false imputation that his Highness came to dethrone his present Majesty and make himself King. Nay he thought himself obliged so fully to declare against this scandalous Report that he seems to have encouraged all those who believed it To stay and fight for the King or at least to the best of their power in some manner assist and help him So far was this Gentleman from entertaining any such thoughts of the Prince's Expedition which some Men nevertheless do now so industriously labor to make the effect of it There is another thing which makes well meaning Men apt to suspect the present management and with-holds them from closing with it so fully as otherwise its probable they might do That Paper which goes under the Title of the Prince's Third Declaration is as I am credibly informed none of his and is disowned by the Prince himself Now this pretended Declaration coming out when the Army was in such a dubious Condition and fluctuating betwixt the King and the Prince did more harm to the King's Affairs than all the other Papers I believe published at that time And if this was no real but a sham-Declaration and yet was permitted without Contradiction 't is plain that Sophistry and Tricks are made use of as lawful Policies and that any kind of means are permitted if they will but do the business and serve the present turn This makes plain and honest Men who have no Ends to serve but what are just and are willing to use no kind of Means but what are so This makes them shie and cautious of engaging too far in those Designs which they see carried on by crafty and deceitful Artifices working under a Military Power and Force ready to defend them I might mention the great number of Papists in the Dutch Army as another disswasive from venturing our selves in this bottom We are afraid of Papists of all sorts and of all Countries German and Dutch as well as French and Irish the Constitutions of the one may be more harmless than of the other but the Principles of both we know are equally destructive and when occasion serves who knows but that the Principle may prevail over the Constitution and the Papist get the better of the Dutch-Man 'T is ill trusting Popery in any shape This is a Root which whereever it is planted can bring forth no good Fruit. The Bogs of Holland cannot we think make it less malignant than those of Ireland To come to a conclusion there remain several things to be cleared before we can altogether comply with what is now prosecuted with so much Zeal That the Prince of W. is a supposititious Child That a League was made by our King with the King of France for the Destruction of his Protestant Subjects and rooting out our Religion under the Notion of the Northern Heresie That the late King was poysoned and that the Earl of Essex was murthered These things we desire may be proved and then we cannot but agree that nothing can be too bad for the guilty Authors These are such damnable Villanies such horrid Crimes that both the Principals and Accessories ought to be esteemed and treated no better than Tories and Banditi Men of seared and profligate Consciences forsaken of God and Enemies to Mankind But then seeing these are such heavy Accusations and grievous Charges they ought certainly to be well proved before they be believed and produced as Arguments against the Life Honor and Estate of any Person for si satis esset accusasse c. If it be enough to accuse where should we find an innocent Person If these dreadful things can be made out it would I believe not only confirm Protestants in their deserved Detestation of Popery but create even in the minds of honest Papists themselves an Aversation to their own Religion when they shall see it contriving and executing such cruel and unnatural Works of darkness To see a Father setting up a pretended Son against the Interest of his own undoubted Children to behold a King bargaining for the Destruction of his own Subjects to represent to our Minds one Brother preparing the deadly Cup for the other who yet ventur'd his Crown rather than he would exclude him from the hopes of it in Reversion to look upon the same Royal Person plotting and managing the Assassination of a Captive and helpless Peer These are such dismal Sights and melancholick Scenes so full of Horror and barbarous Cruelty that they must needs make sad Impressions upon the Hearts even of the boldest Spectators insomuch that if they were proved they would most effectually prejudice all Men against the Author of such monstrous Barbarities and go near to extinguish all Obligations of Duty which otherwise they might owe to his Person and Authority We must therefore call again for the proof of these things or else we cannot because we ought not to believe them upon bare Surmise and Hear-say If these Accusations be cleared once who can reverence the Person guilty of them as the Father of his Country and not rather avoid and fly from him as the worst of Tyrants But if these things be still kept in the Clouds and wrap'd up in uncertain Ambiguities all wise Men will think that it would have been better if they never had been mentioned because this doth but raise the People's Zeal for the present which if not kept up by real Evidence will be apt to turn to the other Extream and commiserate the Cause which before it prosecuted with so much violence The higher Men's Resentments are raised by objecting the most notorious Crimes the lower will they fall if Truth and plain matter of Fact doth not back and maintain them And this is an Advantage which I would not have us give our Adversaries in these things no more than we have done in the matters of Dispute betwixt them and us Here we have proved all our Charges against their Religion let us therefore prove or else not so eagerly insist upon these Accusations brought against their Persons I shall add nothing further but my real Wishes That I could though with the loss of all that 's dear to me in this World contribute to the utter Exclusion of POPERY by all lawful means and I do and shall always pray for a Blessing upon their Designs who sincerely endeavour to procure a Settlement of the Religion Liberties and Properties of the Subjects upon so sure a foundation that there may be no danger of the Nations relapsing into the like miseries at any time hereafter FINIS
REFLECTIONS UPON Our Late and Present PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND London Printed in the YEAR 1689. REFLECTIONS Upon our Late and Present PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND THO no Man wishes better to the Protestant Religion in general and the Church of England in particular than I do yet I cannot prevail with my self to approve all those Methods or follow all those measures which some Men propose as the only Security both of the one and the other Never perhaps was there a more proper time wherein to secure our Religion together with our Civil Liberties than now offers it self if we have but the Skill and Honesty rightly to improve this critical Opportunity but if we shall either let it slip or abuse it we may in vain hereafter wish that we had been wise in time and have cause to repent of our Error when it will be too late to correct it What we do now will transmit its good or ill effects to after-Ages and our Children yet unborn will in all probability be happy or miserable as we shall behave our selves in this great Conjuncture They are likely to enjoy their Religion Laws and Liberties according to the old English Standard if we shall now take the right course to secure them But if we do engage in wrong Counsels and build upon false foundations instead of a Blessing we may leave a Curse to our Posterity and entail upon them Popery Slavery Arbitrary Power and all the miserable Consequences of a divided Kingdom which as sure as the Word of God is true can never stand Let us not therefore be too hasty but pause a while let us make a stop look about us and consider 1. What we have done 2. With what intent we did it 3. What it is that some Men would be at and 4. Whether we can in Honor and Conscience joyn with them in the Desigus now in hand I shall confine my self to these Heads But here before I enter upon any of them I shall take it for granted that the Prince of Orange hath done a great thing for us and under God hath wrought such a Deliverance for the Nation as ought never to be forgotten and can never be sufficiently requited He must be mentioned with Honor and Gratitude so long as the Protestant Name shall be remembred He came not as the ancient Romans and Saxons to conquer and lead in Triumph after him our Religion and Laws our Lives and Liberties but to defend preserve and secure us in them all To this end he undertook this dangerous and chargeable Expedition which hath hitherto proved as much to our Advantage as it will be to his lasting Reputation What he has done argues that he is moved by an higher Principle than any this World affords and can over look his own Ease and Security when the publick Good and the Concerns of Christianity require his seasonable Assistance I could easily make a Panegyrick upon his Virtues and equal him to the most famous Grecian or Roman Captains but I need not set forth his Praises which do so loudly and yet so filently speak for themselves I need not draw any tedious Parallels betwixt his Highness and the Worthies of other Ages since I am I question not herein prevented by all who have read the History of former times and are Witnesses of what he with so much Courage Mildness and Prudence hath done in this 1. Things prospered so well under his Conduct that all of us were ready to submit our selves to his Direction and come under his Protection as the Tutelar Genius of the Nation The effects of his Enterprize have been so strange so wonderful and surprising that had we not seen we should scarce have believed them As soon as the Prince was landed with what Joy and universal good Wishes was the News received How forward were all sorts of People to declare for his Highness How willing were they to lend him an helping hand for the accomplishing his great Work How did we all generally concur and unanimously agree to forget our Obligations to our Sovereign and assist the Prince rather than the King against our selves and his own true Interest Nay the Army it self soon began to go over choosing rather to lye under the imputation of Cowardise and Disloyalty which yet a true-English-Man had rather dye than really deserve than to be instrumental in enslaving their Native Country and bringing it again under the Papal Yoke In short all Orders of Men Ecclesiastick Civil and Military had their eyes fix'd upon the Prince of Orange as their Common Deliverer were resolved to espouse his Cause and accordingly after the King was withdrawn did put the Regal Administration into his hands 2. So far we have gone this we have done and we hope that the Case being extraordinary and Necessity giving a Dispensation the intent of our proceeding will at least excuse if not justifie us if we have not kept our selves within the Common Laws of action For Let every Man lay his Hand upon his Heart and seriously ask himself for what reason and with what intent he became a Party in this general Defection Was it utterly to ruin the King and subvert the Government Was it because he was displeas'd with the ancient Constitution and had a mind to mould and fashion it to his liking Was it because he had an intent to shake off the Government that easie equal and well poised and never enough to be commended Government as King CHARLES I. calls it of the English Nation Was it any honest Man's meaning to subvert this Government to make way for his own Dreams of some Poetical Golden-Age or a Fanciful-Millenium Was it let me ask again to divest the King of all Power to protect his Subjects and then to pronounce roundly that all the Bonds of Allegiance to him are dissolved Was the end of our uniting together to bind his Hands and then prick this Doctrin upon the points of our Swords Protection and Allegiance are Duties so reciprocal that where the one fails wholly the other falls with it Was it to frighten the King out of his Dominions and then to vote that he hath Abdicated his Government Was this the intent and were these the Reasons of our Declaring for the Prince of Orange No certainly whatever some obnoxious and ambitious Men might aim at all good Christians and worthy Patriots had other intentions and were led on by other Motives They were sensibly concerned for the preservation of their Holy Religion in the first place their Lives their Laws and Liberties in the next After the way which some call Heresie so were they desirous still to worship the God of their Fathers And after that manner which some might say was Rebellion so they thought themselves oblig'd to stand up for the Laws and Liberties of their Forefathers For these Ends and for bringing about these worthy Purposes they withdrew themselves from the King 's personal Service that they might be the better
not to be pass'd over without some Animadversion The Sheet which I mean is that which is call'd Advice before it be too late or A Breviate for the Convention This Paper bespeaks its Author to be of the same Complexion and Principles with him who writ The word to the Wise and The four Questions debated They do all of 'em suppose that the Government is fall'n to its Centre or Root from whence it sprang that is to the People as the word to the Wise expresses our present case I know not what can be a more effectual Answer to these Pamphlets and take away the Foundation upon which they argue than that Maxim in our Law received by all honest and learned Lawyers The King of England never dies For if so how is the Government laps'd And if it be not laps'd how can the Throne be said to be vacant And if the Throne be not vacant we are still a Body Politick consisting of Head and Members though much distemper'd and out of order by reason of the Infirmities of the Head. We still live though we are not in good health and our Case doth not require the Sexton to make our Grave but calls for the Physician to apply proper Remedies to cure our Disease If the King can dye 't is such a defect in our Government as doth strangely disparage it and further supposes that which hitherto we are all to learn the Crown is not Successive Now if it be successive it cannot be disposed of by the Will of the People but only by the Will of God who in that very moment calls the Lawful Heir to the Crown wherein he is pleased to put a Period to the Life of his Predecessor If it be said that the Voice of the People is the Voice of God I believe that should this be granted it will not do their business for I doubt not but that if the Pole was taken and the Question put to all People who are of Years of Discretion the Answer would be That they have still a King and that they are as willing to keep him as they are desirous to exclude Popery for ever that which hath made both him and them so unhappy This I do not much question would be the Answer if we should appeal to the sense of the People in general who yet if the Government be fall'n to them must be allowed to have a Right of Suffrage and a Liberty to speak their Minds as freely as other Commoners in this great Convention Further still If the King never dies by our Law How can he be lawfully depos'd For by Deposition the Throne necessarily becomes void for some time There must be some Interstice some space of time before they who depos'd a King can set up another and till the King in Designation be actually invested with the Regal Office there must of necessity be an Interregnum that is The King contrary to the mind of our Law may dye The Government of England always supposes a Monarch regulated by Law and therefore 't is presumed that he can do no wrong that is Though he may err as well as other Mortals yet the Law of which he is the Guardian brings no Accusation against him but only against his evil Ministers If therefore the King hath err'd as doubtless he hath very much in God's Name let his Ministers be called to an account but why must the Government be dissolved and the King arraign'd condemn'd and depos'd to make way for any new Scheme of Government whatsoever whether French Italian or Dutch Our History indeed affords two Examples since William the First 's time that of Edward the Second and the other of Richard the Second but they did both of them actually resign and besides what they did or was done to them ought to preclude the Right of no succeeding Prince These Examples ought no more to be urged than the Stabbing King Henry the Fourth of France or the Murthering King CHARLES the First of England The Historian in the Life of Richard the Second gives no very good Character of that Parliament which pass'd the Vote for this Deposition The Noblemen says he partly corrupted by Favor partly aw'd by Fear gave their Voices and the Commons commonly are like a flock of Cranes as the first fly all the followers do the like Continuat Dan. Hist p. 46. Let it be here observed that I do not dispute whether the King together with his Parliament may not regulate and entail the Succession as shall by them be thought fit but only whether whilst the King lives whether the Throne can be vacant and the Government be truly said to be laps'd This we deny But however supposing that these things may be so who can make so fair a Claim and so generally satisfactory to the People as the next Heir by proximity of Blood I mean if the Prince of Wales be proved supposititious that incomparable Lady the Princess of Orange These Reflections I have thought fit to make upon some new Notions of our present States-Men by which we guess what they would be at In my opinion I think it is but too evident that they are taking advantage of our present Fears and Distractions to run us into those extremes which the State as well as the Church of England hath always carefully avoided and taken particular care to provide against 4. In this Design can we in Honor and Conscience go along with them whom yet we cannot but highly esteem and value for their Learning and Parts and more especially for their happy and successful Labors in rescuing us from those gross Corruptions of Christian Religion and Human Nature Popery and Slavery But shall we run into Popery and perhaps Slavery too when we have been so long striving against both and are now thanks be to God in a great measure freed from the Danger of either And is not the Deposing a Popish Doctrin And is it not as Antichristian for any Assembly to put it into practice as it was for the Council of Lateran at first to establish it And as for Slavery must not a standing Army be necessarily kept up to maintain a Title founded only upon the consent of the fickle and uncertain People granting that the major part of them are willing And in such a Case must we not be beholden to the Goodness of the Prince rather than the Protection of our Laws if an Arbitrary and Despotick Power be not again introduced We have as yet no Law which wholly disables and excludes a Popish Successor from the Throne and till we have one which I question not but we shall have soon I do not see how we can disanul the King's Title or vacate his Regal Capacity howsoever his Power may be restrained Innovations without fâ—rmer precedent are always dangerous especially those of this nature It will be much more wise as well as safe to bear with some Inconveniencies than bring upon our selves those Mischiefs