Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A49341
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A letter to the Bishop of Sarum being an answer to his Lordships pastoral letter / from a minister in the countrey.
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Lowthorp, John, 1658 or 9-1724.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing L3334; ESTC R5173
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43,367
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44
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Order of Kings is of DIVINE RIGHT being the ORDINANCE of GOD HIMSELF founded upon the PRIME LAWS of NATURE and clearly Established by EXPRESS Texts both of the Old and New Testaments A SUPREME POWER is given to this most Excellent Order by GOD HIMSELF in the Scriptures which is That Kings should Rule and Command in their several Dominions ALL Persons of what Rank or Estate soever whether Ecclesiastical or CIVIL That when Prelates used the Power of Calling and Dissolving Councils c. It was as in times of PERSECUTION with supposition in case it were required of submitting their very LIVES unto the very Laws and Commands even of those PAGAN Princes that they might not so much as SEEM to disturb their CIVIL Government which Christ came to Confirm but by No Means to Undermine For any Person or Persons to set up maintain or avow in any their said Realms c. under ANY PRETENCE whatsoever Any INDEPENDENT COACTIVE Power either Papal or POPULAR whether Directly or Indirectly is to UNDERMINE their great Royal Office and Cunningly to Overthrow that most Sacred ORDINANCE which GOD HIMSELF hath Established And so is TREASONABLE against GOD as well as against the King For Subjects to bear ARMS against their Kings Offensive or DEFENSIVE upon ANY PRETENCE whatsoever is at least to Resist the Powers which are ORDAINED of GOD And though they do not Invade but only RESIST St. Paul tells them plainly They shall receive to themselves DAMNATION Rom 13.2 This Extract from the Publique and Authentick Records of the Church of England will I hope Convince Your Lordship and the World that the Doctrine to which we have so often given our Assent is Evidently Repugnant to the Deposing our Kings by Any Povver on Earth And that therefore K. James II. according to our own Doctrine our Subscriptions have made it such is still our Lawful King notwithstanding his Failings in the Administration of the Government that we still owe him the Allegiance of Faithful Subjects and for that very Reason we cannot Swear the the New Oaths and thereby transfer it during his Life to any Other Whether it will prove Effectual to this end or no time will inform us But I think it cannot possibly fail of another which is this to Vindicate my self and my Brethren and Fellow-Sufferers from your Lordships severe and uncharitable Censure of Adhereing Obstinately to a preconceited groundless Opinion Page 28. since 't is Evident that we hold no more then is plainly Decree'd by so considerable a part of the Catholique Church and the only Support of the Reformation And we cannot but believe that should we Renounce this Truth to prevent a Persecution or to keep the Doors of our Churches shut against the Dissenters the Reproach and Scandal hereof would be indelible I cannot close this Letter Page 28. till I have given my Opinion of the Passage you cite out of the Magna Charta granted by K. John which you say is now with his Great Seal to it in your Lordship's hands An unfit Archive for Records of such Publique Concern Tho' I do not see that it Concludes very strongly in Favour of the Proceedings in this late Revolution An exact Judgement indeed cannot be given without a sight or a Copy of the rest of the Charter But by comparing and examining some Copies of Records relating to the Transactions of those Times which now happen to be in my hands I am induced to entertain this Opinion of it that that Charter has not the force of a perpetual Law in every Clause and Member of it But that it was only a Personal Treaty and Pacification between that King and his Rebellious Barons who overpower'd him And does no more Bind his Successors in this Part of it then his Surrender of the Crown into the hands of his Holiness and his receiving it again in Vassalage from him I am enclin'd to this Opinion by these following Considerations 1. That within the space of Nine Years this Charter was Ratifi'd at least four times For the doing whereof no tollerable Reason can be Assign'd if it had at first the Force and Continuance of a Law 1. The first Confirmation of it was granted in the First Year of the Reign of K. Henry 3. and probably at his Coronation for within four or five Months after the Death of his Father I find him granting to his Subjects of Ireland thus that You may enjoy the same Liberties Libertatibus Regno nostro Angliae a Patre Nostro NOBIS Concessis Dat. ap Glouc. 6 Feb. Rot. Pat. 1 H. 3. m. 13. as have been granted to our Kingdom of England by our Father and by Vs Which he could not have said had not he himself either Granted or at least Confirm'd them 2. A second Confirmation I meet with in the beginning of the Second Year of the same King's Reign For when he sent down his Charters into the several Counties he sent with them a Mandate to the Sheriffs to see them Proclaim'd in their full County Courts Rex c. Salutem Mittimus tibi Chartas de Libertatibus c. Mandantes quatenus eas legi facias publice in Pleno Comitatu tuo c. dat 22 Feb. Rot. Claus 2 H. 3 The Date of the Mandate is 22 Feb. and therefore a strong presumption that these Charters themselves were distinct from those above-mentioned Because it is very improbable that the former Grant and Ratification which he made above a Year before should lie so long conceal'd and should then want to be disperst and publisht But the Collector of these Records says that in an Ancient MS. supposed to be Writ about the time of K. Edward 1. he finds the Date of these Charters to be 6 Nov. An. Reg. 2. which is a Demonstration of a second Grant 3. In the Year 1218 after Michaelmass and consequently either the latter end of the second Fox's Acts and Mon. ad an 12â—8 or beginning of the third Year of his Reign this King held a Parliament at Westminster wherein he Confirm'd and Ratify'd by his Charter all the Franchises which were made and given by King John his Father 4. In the Seventh Year of his Reign he was Adjudg'd of Age being sixteen Years Old to take the Government into his own Hands This he had no sooner done then the A. B. of Canterbury in open Parliament minds him of the Oath which was Sworn in his Name by the E. of Pembroke Rectore Regis Regni and others at the Pacification between Him and the Dauphin That he would restore and confirm those Liberties to his Subjects for which the War or rather Rebellion broke out between his Father and the Barons Upon this Admonition he owns the Obligation of the Oath and Issues out Writs into every County whereby Twelve Men were Chosen to make Enquiry upon Oath after such Liberties and Franchises as were not Granted by King John Per
is a known Maxim that the King of England never dies This Kingdom knows no interregnum But when the Predecessor Ceases Then the Successor begins to Reign And therefore in all the Revolutions which have happen'd in England it is remarkable that the Right of Inheritance was always the Claim tho' often unjustly apply'd to the Person Thus K. Henry the Fourth Cott. Rec. 1 H. 4. P. 388. so soon as the Resignation of K. Richard the Second was read and the Sentence of Deposition was pronounc'd immediately stood up and CLAIM'D the Kingdom and Crown of England c. as his INHERITANCE descending by RIGHT from K. Henry the Third Nay even the Election of that Bloody Vsurper K. Richard the Third See the Record at large Cot. Rec. 1. R. 3. Page 709. by the Three Estates out of Parliament the only Precedent for our late Convention which was also confirm'd by a succeeding Parliament was grounded upon his RIGHT TITLE and ESTATE c. to and in the Crown c. by the Laws of God and Nature and also by the ancient Laws c. of this Realm c. And therefore it was Decreed c. That he was the very undoubted King c. as well by RIGHT of Consanguinity and INHERITANCE as by Election The Recognition of the Parliament to K. James the First is yet more full For they acknowledge 1 Jac. 1. c. 1. That IMMEDIATELY upon the Dissolution and Decease of Elizabeth late Queen of England the Imperial Crown of the Realm c. did by INHERENT BIRTH-RIGHT and Lawful and Vndoubted SUCCESSION descend c. to his Majesty From which and many other Passages in our Laws and Histories it is Evident that by the Constitution of this Government the Crown immediately devolves to the Heir by a Lineal Haereditary Right of Succession So that there is no room for either a Convention or a Parliament to appoint or determine the Successour because he is actual King before they can even Assemble to proclaim him much less to make such a Decision as manifestly supposes or makes an Interregnum and breaks the Succession by excluding the known Rightful Heir But I perceive your Lordship is positively in the Right Page 26. and that you have Examin'd the Nature of Civil Societies in general according to the Roman Law and the Nature of the English Government from the Laws and History of England with so much Care that you understand our Constitution much better then our Legislators themselves and may therefore be allowed to Contradict them as oft as you please But methinks some maintainers of a contrary Opinion deserve more Consideration from an English Bishop then your Lordship here seems willing to afford them It is a very bold Censure that at once reaches the Compilers of the Homilies a whole Vniversity and the Repeated Convocations of the Clergy and that charges all these Ornaments of the Church of England with want of Learning or Care to understand the Constitution of our own Government and of the Necessary Knowledge of the Degrees of Submission which are due from the Subjects to our Kings for all these agree that a Supream Power is lodg'd with them which Exempts them from being call'd to an Account Page 26. or Resisted by their People 1. Your Lordship sometime ago thought it Answer sufficient to the Bishop of Oxford to show that his Assertions were repugnant to the Doctrine of this Church as Exprest in the Homilies And prest it justly enough upon him that he must either Renounce our Church Enquiry into the Reasons for Abrogating the Test Art 35. and all he Possest in Consequence of his having Sign'd her Articles wherein it is Declar'd that the Homilies contain a Godly and wholesome Doctrine or else that he must Answer his own Plea Your Lordship has Subscrib'd them as well as He And if you continue of the same Opinion you too must either Retract or Resign For they lay this down for an Universal Principle That Kings and Princes Hom. against Reb. Par. 1. as well the EVIL as the GOOD do Reign by GOD's ORDINANCE and a little lower declare their Original to be neither by Chance and Fortune nor by Ambition but that they are SPECIALLY appointed by the ORDINANCE of GOD. They hence Conclude that when God gives a People an EVIL Prince he does it for the punishment of their Sins and that we are therefore bound to Obey such least after we have provok'd God by our Wickedness to place them over us by Rebelling against them we be found to Rebel also against God And to shew the reasonableness of this Opinion they add What a Perilous thing were it to Commit unto the Subjects the Judgment which Prince is Wise and Godly and his Government Good and which is Otherwise As though the Foot must Judge the Head But they carry the Case further and suppose the Prince to be Evil indeed and also evident to all Mens Eyes that he is so What 's to be done to have such an Evil remov'd from us Their Answer is Let us take away our Wickedness which provok'd God to place such a one over us and God will either displace him or of an Evil Prince make him a Good Prince so that we first will change our Evil into Good But to obviate all Objections that can be rais'd they go on thus Ib. Par. 2. Shall not we especially being so Good Men as we are Rise and Rebel against a Prince HATED of GOD and GOD's ENEMY and therefore likely not to prosper either in Peace or War but to be Hurtful and PERNICIOUS to the COMMON-WEALTH No. What shall we then do to an EVIL to an UNKIND Prince our KNOWN MORTAL and DEADLY ENEMY HATED of GOD HURTFUL to the COMMON-WEALTH c Lay no VIOLENT HAND upon him saith good David but let him LIVE till GOD appoint and work his End either by NATURAL DEATH or in War by LAWFUL ENEMIES not by TRAITEROUS SUBJECTS Lastly since the Redress of the Common-Wealth and the Defence of Religion are the usual Pretences for all Insurrections Ib. Par. 4. they have carefully prepar'd fit Antidotes against these Pests Against the former this Rebellion is the greatest Ruin and Destruction of all Common-Wealths and against the later this The TRUTH of the Gospel though it cost them their LIVES that Teach it is able to maintain the True Religion In a word God alloweth neither the DIGNITY of any Person nor the MULTITUDE of any People nor the WEIGHT of ANY CAUSE as SUFFICIENT for the which the Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes I shall only observe upon all this that let the Pretence of taking Arms against the King be what it will the Compilers of these Homilies call it in plain Terms nothing less then Rebellion And therefore since this Doctrine is Calculated for the Meridian of England before I can submit to Swear the New Oaths whereby I should be oblig'd as much