his own Children that so he might have a pretended Successor to be Educated in the Popish Religion and in time to perfect the Work he had begun or as is believed by some to baffle all hopes of a Protestant Successor for the present and in due time to set up one of his Natural Sons of his own Religion And whereas when many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal Gentlemen and others of all Ranks observing these things and well considering the great and apparent Danger that these Nations were by these means brought into had as the only Remedy under God craved aid of His Highness the Prince of Orange whose interest and concern in these matters as well as Affection to these Nations and to the Protestant Religion did both qualifie and oblige him to interpose and the Prince thereupon coming in with a Competent Army had in a Declaration set out these and the like matters as the cause of his coming and referred all to the Determination of a Free Parliament the Nobility and Gentry and others dayly resorting to him and engaging in an Association with him for the Defence of the Protestant Religion the Antient Government Laws and Liberties of these Nations and great parts of the Armly daily revolting to them the said King James was pleased at first so far to comply with these reasonable Demands as to order Writs for Elections to be Sealed and yet not long after whether through his Conscience of the Illegality of his Actions not able to endure the Examination of these matters or through the instigations of his wicked Counsellours or both caused most of the said Writs to be burnt conveyed away the great Seal the Pretended Prince of Wales the Queen and divers of the Conspirators in that Intrigue and accessories thereunto to prevent as is believed their cross Examination and further discovery of the whole Contrivance and of the rest of the Persons concerned in it and at last departed himself beyond the Seas deserting these Kingdoms and the Government thereof All this being not only true but notorious matter of Fact so that the Relation of it needs neither Apology nor Proof there arise thereupon several QUESTIONS which may concern the whole Nation and all Persons therein who have any regard to the due discharge of their Duty well to consider and in order thereunto I. Questions of State concerning the Constitution of the English Government 1. WHether by the Sacred Scriptures or any Positive Law of God there be any Particular Form of Government prescribed for the several Nations of the World or all be left at liberty to constitute any such just form of Goverment as to them shall seem most convenient And all Persons as strictly obliged to the just and reasonable Observance of those Publick Pacts and Constitutions whereby their several Governments are formed as of any private Pacts whatsoever and all again at full Liberty to use all just and reasonable means for the preservation thereof 2. Whether by THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND in Legislation or making of Laws the Jus Regiae Potestatis or Regal Power be more than one third part of the Kings Negative Voice comprehend any thing more than what each of the Houses have And therefore his assuming as his Prerogative of what belongs to the whole be not an Invading of the Rights both of the Lords and of the Commons and within the sixth Case of Hugo Grotius 1. de Jure belli c. 4. § 13. wherein just force may be used against the Invador 3. Whether by the Constitution of the Government of England for the ordinary Administration of Justice there be not certain Courts and Offices appointed whose Authority the King can neither enlarge nor abridge as in each County the Hundred Courts once in three Weeks the County Court once in a Month the Courts at Westminster once in a Quarter or four times in a Year the Circuits twice in the Year and for Extraordinary Matters by the Common Law and Statutes yet in force and unrepealed ths Parliament once in the Year at least So that the Regal Right in this respect extends little farther than first to the choice of the Persons and secondly that the Commission and all Process be made in his Name as the Supreme in the Government and for the greater Honour and Majesty of the King and Kingdom 4. Whether by the Constitution of the English Government in all Ordinary matters between the King and the Subjects the Ordinary Courts of Justice at Westminster have not Jurisdiction and the Judges of these Courts be not the proper Legal Judges who may and ought to judge and determine according to the Law of the Kings Right and Actions and of the Validity thereof and to order equal Right to be done to the Subjects as well as to the King Himself 5. Whether by the Constitution of the Government of England in all Extraordinary Matters the High Court of Parliament be not the Supream Judicature and may not of themselves without the King both Judge and Correct the Errors and Misdemeanours of the Judges and great Officers of the Nation and moreover enquire into the Actions of the King Himself so far as they concern the Publick State of the Nation and if they see cause both judge and declare them to be publick Grievances and contrary to Law and also demand Redress by Petition and also in cases of great Importance and Necessity when the Constitution and publick State of the Nation is in danger by Force and Arms And whether this Right doth not remain in the Lords and Commons of this Nation in such Case if the King refuse to call a Parliament there being then no Superiour Authority or other means to determine the matter between them when the very damental Laws and Constitution are in Question Indeed it is plain in the Frame and Composure of the Government it self and in the Actions of our most Antient and Succeeding Parliaments and confirmed by the Polititie of those People from whom they did descend that out Wise Ancestors in the Constitution of this Government did particularly intend and take care of two things The one to give all the Honour and Majesty that could be to the King for the greater Honour and Advantage to the Nation abroad The other to retain all the Power that might be to themselves for the greater Security and Benefit of the Publick at Home And therefore when they had limited and confined his Power as much as was thought convenient they invested him with the rest not as a Right which he might dispose of or use as he pleased but as a Trust the management whereof they would inspect and consider and for that end as well as to inspect the Actions of inferiour Officers supply Defects c. did think fit to have frequent Conventions or Parliaments So that his Right hath a great and weighty Duty if not a Condition in Law as they call it essentially annexed to it
and he is in effect only the Supream Officer and a kind of High Reeve of the Nation as the High Shire-reeve of the County who in many respects doth truly represent him And therefore because some have in our Age asserted such an Unaccountableness and Irresistibility in the King as is inconsistent with this Constitution and others from some Clauses and Declarations prescribed in some late Statutes passed soon after the Return of the late King Charles the Second may think themselves bound in Conscience to maintain the same it may be necessary to propose to their serious consideration some few Questions concerning those Clauses and the Oaths and Declarations prescribed in the Statutes of 12 13 14. Ch. 2. 1. WHether they who did take these Oaths and declare accordingly are thereby being only Declarative of their belief at that time and not promissary for the future obliged to persist in the same belief and act accordingly in all cases which may happen without further Inquiring or Examination of the Truth of that matter 2. Whether all or any of those Clauses or the Oaths prescribed in the Statutes aforesaid being all meerly Declarative and not Constitutive do or can make any real alteration in the Laws and in the very Constitution of the Government from what they were before 3. Whether the vulgar sense of those Clauses Oaths and Declarations be not inconsistant with the Natural and Original Right of Mankind to defend and maintain their Rights the special Constitution of the English Government the frequent Practice of English Parliaments and known Principles of Law allowed at this day be not contrary to the Sentiments and Practices of most Nations of this part of the World to the Judgment and Practice of divers Reformed Churches upon great deliberation in their own Case and of Queen Elizabeth King James c. and the State of England in their Assistance to other People oppressed by their Kings and their Ministers and of dangerous Consequences both to Prince and People disposing Princes with more Liberty to transgress the Laws and exposing innocent People if they believe it to oppression by them if not to Wars and Contention with them for the maintenance of their Right and therefore the Clauses and Declarations aforesaid to be either wholly rejected as false or else accommodated with some better and more convenient sense and Explication as that which no Man will deny That neither the King nor his Ministers acting according to Law may be resisted upon any Pretence whatsoever And it may deserve some Considerations 4. Whether considering the Time when these Statutes were made the ambiguous Terms in which the Declarations are drawn neither restraining them to Lawful Actions and Commssions because that would not serve the turn nor expresly extending to Unlawful because that was not likely to pass the Activity and cunning Insinuation of the Romish Emissaries and their real Interest to have the Government absolute in one governable Prince rather than subject to the Counsels and Resolves of an untractable Parliament and the Tricks which they have since imposed upon us it be not likely that in these as well as some other Statutes about and since that time there may not be some of their Projects craftily intermixed and unperceived in the transport the Nation was then in and the rather if the late late King Charles the Second had before that time entred into their Communion as is now believed And because in these things many well-meaning people may be imposed upon not only by the Authority of men whose Judgments may be byassed by Prospect of Favour and Advantage but also by Ambiguity of words as King Absolute Imperial it may be fit to note that the word King doth not necessarily import more than one having Supreme Executive power to govern according to Laws as the King of England certainly hath though the Parliament may judge whether he doth so or no. So that if any claim more that is to be prov'd from the special Constitution of the Government So the word Absolute when that is attributed to the Kings of England it is to be understood not in respect of Laws but of Tenure They hold not of Pope Emperor or any other person or State And in like manner the word Imperial when used of the Crown of England it imports no more than that it is not held of any other Crown II. Question of Law Justice and Prudence upon the Matter of Fact before related 1. WHether the Matter of Fact before related doth not contain divers very high deliberate and resolved Violations of the Laws and Constitution and tending directly and manifestly to the Subversion of the true and ancient Government of this Nation and be not good Evidence and a plain Declaration that the said King James did certainly design and endeavour the Subversion thereof and to make it Arbitrary and was therefore an Enemy to it 2. Whether all this being done at the instigation of the Papists and in favour of their Religion which obligeth them all both Prince and People to use their utmost endeavour for the Extirpation of Hereticks be not also good Evidence and an open Declaration notwithstanding their pretence of Liberty of Conscience that he was also an Enemy to the Religion and People of this Nation being Protestants and by the Pope and his party reputed and condemned for Hereticks 3. Whether the said King James having assumed to himself a power of Suspending and dispensing with the Laws and thereby invaded the Rights of the Lords and Commons and thereby and by many other open Acts declared himself an Enemy to the Government Religion and people of this Nation which are things inconsistent with the Ends and Being of Government and Civil Society and all this contrary to his Solemn Coronation Oath and through the perswasion and instigation of Jesuits and others notoriously guilty by the Laws of High Treason hath not thereby demonstrated himself incapable of the Government of this Nation and not to be further intrusted therewith and therefore 4. Whether the Prince of Orange his Coming in to preserve and maintain the Right of the Princess and himself and to defend and protect an Innocent people in the Legal enjoyment of their Religion Rights and Liberties from Violence Oppression and Destruction designed and prepared as is believed against them contrary to the Laws as Queen Elizabeth and the people of this Nation had heretofore done for his Ancestors and Countrey be not justifiable by the Laws of God and man 5. Whether the Lords Gentlemen and others of this Nation who in this case for the preservation of themselves and their Country invited the Prince to come in or after his coming entred into the Association with him for the Ends aforesaid did any thing therein but what was necessary just and lawful by the Laws of God and Man the Constitution of this Government and many precedents in this Kingdom 6. Whether the Officers and Souldiers who had
Important QUESTIONS Of State Law Justice and Prudence Both Civil and Religious UPON THE Late Revolutions AND PRESENT STATE OF THESE NATIONS Consistere simul non possunt Voluntas Imperandi Voluntas Perdendi Grot. 1. de Juri Belle. c. 4. § 11. Regi in partem non suam involanti vis justa opponi potest quia eatinus Imperium non habet Grot. ibm § 13. Quisquis Imperii Summi partem habet non potest non jus habere eam partem tuendi Quod ubi fit potest Rex etiam suam Imperii partem Belli Jure amittere Grot. ibm By Socrates Christianus LONDON Printed in the Year 1689. ADVERTISEMENT THe Design of this Paper is not what some might imagine by the Title to raise Doubts and Questions but the contrary to prevent and resolve them Certain it is that many Difficulties are and may be better and with more Ease Brevity and Satisfaction resolved meerly by well stating the Question than by long Arguments and Discourses And the old Socratick way of convincing and instructing by Questions hath been thought by some Wise Men of latter Ages not less useful or satisfactory than that of Syllogistical Disputations The present State of the Nation WHERE 's King James the Second being long since Seduced from the Reformed Religion wherein he was Educated to the Superstitions and Abominations of the Romish Religion out of his great Zeal for the same and through the Evil Counsels and Instigations of the Jesuits and of other Persons of the same or the like wicked Principles and Perswasions hath ever since with great earnestness and by various means endeavoured the Re-establishment thereof and the suppression and utter extirpation of the genuine Christian Religion reformed from the Superstitions and Abominations of the Roman and publickly professed under the protection of the Laws in these and divers other Nations as of a Pernicious Heresie and under the Notion and Name of the Northern Heresie And for that end during the Reign of the late King Charles the Second held divers secret Counsels and Conspiracies both with notorious Enemies of the Reformed Religion beyond the Seas and at home with Persons notoriously guilty by the Laws of High Treason And in pursuance of those Counsels and Conspiracies is generally believed to have been a Principal Author and Promoter of Wars Bloodshed and other great Mischiefs among the Professors of the Reformed Religion that being weakened by their own hands they might the more easily be Destroyed and Subjugated by those of his party And whereas the said King James since his access to the Throne in further prosecution of the same Designs Counsels and Conspiracies not to mention any secret Practices which may possibly be made more manifest in due time hath notoriously contrary to the true Constitution of the Government of this Nation contrary to divers express Statutes contrary to his own repeated Word and Solemn Promises and contrary to the very form of the usual Coronation Oath which he is presumed to have taken assumed to himself a Power to Suspend and Dispense with the Laws which is an Essential part of the Legislative Authority which belongs not to the King alone and under pretence thereof keeping up a great Army in time of Peace hath not only Armed great numbers of Papists but put and continued in Offices both in the Army and in the Navy many Papists and others Persons not qualified by Law And that the Administration of Justice might be also in the hands of Papists and such as were believed would comply with his Designs hath in the Counties chosen divers Papists for Sheriffs displac'd and put out of Office most of the Protestant Justices of the Peace and in their Room hath put and continued professed Papists and other Persons not qualified by Law insomuch that generally throughout the Nation in the Counties there is not a legal Justice of the Peace to be found in many miles distance whatever occasion should happen In Corporations hath by his Letters of Mandamus caused professed Papists to be chosen for Mayors Aldermen and Sheriffs And in the Courts of Justice at Westminster hath placed and displaced Judges till he had furnished the same with such as were believed would most perfectly comply with his Pleasure without much regard to the Laws And for the promotion of those Designs in the Church as well as State hath granted to divers Persons of whose compliance therein he was well assured a Commission in the nature of the High Commission which with all other of like nature at any time to be granted hath by express Acts of Parliament been utterly abolished and made void by which he hath caused the present Lord Bishop of London most unjustly and contrary to all Law and Equity to be Suspended from his Office the President of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge and the President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford contrary to Law to be put out of their Free-holds and by the same proceedings might as may reasonably be believed was designed have turned out all the Clergy of England who would not have complyed with whatever he should have pleased to command And for the more direct restauration of the Papal Authority and Religion in England which to endeavour or attempt is High Treason by the Statutes hath sent his Ambassador to the Bishop of Rome and admitted and entertained a Legate from him hath permitted Popish Bishops to be consecrated in England and to hold their Visitations a Jesuit to be of his Privy Council Jesuit Schools and Convents for Fryers to be erected and Popish Chapels for Publick Mass in divers places and hath placed and permitted known Papists to hold considerable places and Employments in the Church and in the Universities And that the things thus designed and promoted might have been confirmed with the Formalities of a legal Establishment hath used divers indirect Means and imployed divers Agents to have such Persons only chosen to serve in Parliament as he could be assured would comply with his Pleasure therein a practice which strikes at the very root of our Government and tends directly as the most immediate means to the subversion thereof And to compleat all that they might be so Established and Secured for the future from danger of being defeated by a Protestant Sucessor hath by the arts of those Subtile Agents been so far transported in his Passion for that Painted Rotten Religion as to comply with them in an * Though it be in truth Unnatural yet it may not seem so or to be unreasonable to one who reputes them to be obstinate Hereticks and for that Cause deserving to be disinherited unnatural intrigue to adopt or set up a Supposititious Child as is by most Persons in the Nation of all Ranks and Qualities firmly believed notwithstanding the Extrajudicial Depositions In-rolled and Published in Print for his own Son and the Rightful Prince of Wales though to the disinheriting of the true heiress apparent and
indefinitely entred into the Service of the King are not to be presumed to have acted therein as rational men and to have intended a reasonable and legal Service to their King and Country for the preservation of the legal Government Laws and Liberties thereof and not a slavish Service to the will of a Tyrant and Enemy of their Country and therefore in deserting the King and revolting to the Prince and his Associates when this came to be disputed did not do an act of greater Generosity Loyalty end Fidelity to the Government and their Country than if they had continued in his Service and brutishly or upon a vain and mistaken principle of Honour assisted to the subversion of the Government the destruction of their Country-men and the suppression and extirpation of the Religion which they themselves do profess The common abuse of the term Loyalty to impose upon the Nation makes it necessary to explain the genuine Notion of it Which is nothing else when attributed to Persons but either the state of a Free-man or Jus civitatis or a conformity of the Will and Actions to the Laws of the Land and the Government by Law Established But that vulgar notion of Loyalty whereby many well meaning Men have by the Sophistry of Jesuits and ill designing Disloyal Men been imposed upon taken for an Active Compliance with or at least passive Submission to the Will and Pleasure of the Prince whether conformable to the Laws and Established Government or not is in these designing men plainly Knavery Sycophantry and Treachery against both King and Government and hath betrayed a whole race of Kings into great Mischiefs and Destructions 7. Whether upon due consideration of the precedent Questions all the rest of the Protestants of these Nations ought not in Prudence Justice and Charity to their Country to unite and join with the said Lords Gentlemen and others who have associated for the end aforesaid and unanimously agree to commit the Government Crown and Dignity thereof to the next undoubted Heir of the Royal Family who is duly qualified for the same or by mutual agreement of all parties to such of the Royal Family as is best qualified for the Management thereof in the present Circumstances lest otherwise by their unnecessary over-cautious scrupulous forbearance they give occasion and incouragement to discontented Persons to involve all in such new Troubles Factions Insurrections and Disturbance of the Publick Peace and Settlement as by their more generous Unanimity might easily be prevented And because here may arise some Scruples from the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy these things as to that may be considered 1. Whether the Duty of the Subject be not proportionable to the Right of the King and extends no further 2. Whether the word Heirs ought not to be intended first of legal and undoubted Heirs secondly of such as are duly qualified for the Discharge of such a Publick Trust and Office and not of any such as are non compos mentis or which is worse do cum ratione insanire and would confound and destroy all 3. Whether in the case of Succession both the Practice of Antient Times and an Antient Formality used at the Coronation be not Evidence of a Right of judging and choice upon a special occasion of a fit Person of the Royal Family to succeed remaining in the Lords and Commons of this Nation 8. Whether these Nations professing themselves Christians ought not in Duty to God and Prudence to themselves to acknowledge with all Reverence and Devotion his Admirable Wise Powerful and Gracious Providence in these late extraordinary Revolutions and great and seasonable Deliverance from so many and great both incumbent Evils and impendent Dangers over them and to express their sense thereof both by Solemn Thanksgivings by a speedy and effectual Reformation of that Torrent of Debauchery introduced and designed for their Ruine and by all dutiful Concurrence with the Indications of his Will thereby intimated to us 9. Whether it be not reasonable for a Christian Nation to believe That the said King James having Unhappily by the delusions of the Papists deserted the true Religion wherein he was Educated and revolted to the Superstitions and false Religion which they profess may not by the special Providence and Righteous Judgment of God for the same and other sins be deserted and left to the Delusion also of their unsound and deceitful Policies and thereupon to be deserted by his People and the Army in which he trusted as was Rehoboam by the ten Tribes 10. Whether the Special Providence of God so visible and apparent in this case may not justly be looked upon by all serious Protestants as a Manuduction and Indication of his Will that these Nations should concur therewith in a cause so just and necessary to the Exclusion of the said King James from the Government thereof and to commit the same to some other more proper Person of the Royal Family and whether all who shall obstinately refuse to concur therein have not some reason to fear that they may also in some degree partake of the same Divine Judgments 11. Whether it be not also a Christian Duty incumbent upon these Nations upon this occasion to take into their serious Consideration all those other Actions of the King besides his revolt to the Romish Superstitions and Abuses which may reasonably be believed to have contributed as well through the Judgments of God as by their natural Efficacy to the bringing of all this Evil upon him and thereupon speedily to make all such effectual Provision as may be necessary for the prevention or removal of the same and the like occasions of mischief from the Nation it self 12. And whether among such actions may not justly be reckoned as Notorious first Uncharitable fomenting and promoting of Dissentions and Distractions between Christian Nations and People Secondly Discountenancing the serious profession and practice of the Reform'd Religion and Irreligious encouraging Profaneness and Debauchery both by Example and by Impunity and Connivance Thirdly Unjust Violation of the Laws and established Government contrary to the Coronation Oath and endeavouring to make it arbitrary by various illegal Practices both upon the ordinary Courts of Justice by making the Judges Patents to be only durante bene placito and then displacing such as would not contrary to their Conscience and Duty comply with his pleasure and Designs and upon the High Court of Parliament it self by perverting and interrupting the Legal Freedom of Elections both in the Corporations and in the Counties and tampering with the Members themselves c. For which and the like Evils speedy proper and effectual Remedies ought to be provided Questions of Prudence Religion and Humiliation upon the late Revolutions and present State of the KING 1. WHether the King having by sad Experience found the so much admired Knowledg and Subtilty of the Jesuits especially and other Emissaries of the Church of Rome so perniciously erroneous