pretend to the same nor can nor lawfully may raise or levy any War offensive or defensive against his Majesty his Heirs or lawful Successors c. And in the same Act the grounds of contrary proceedings they call Rebellious Principles the Governments set up against the lawful King they stile usurped Governments and the effect of such doings they say was almost the Ruine and Destruction of this Kingdom But what was wanting then we have just cause to fear will be made up now we are within a little of leaving out the almost and are upon the very brink of utter Ruine and Destruction Now if the sole Supream Government was in King James and the whole power and disposition of the Militia and all Forts and places of Strength were undoubtedly his Right and no War offensive or defensive may be raised against him then all those places were wrongfully taken from him and all the present Rebellions Proceedings and Usurpations are as void as the former It were no hard matter to heap up many other Statutes to this purpose but I think these sufficient for this was the Constitution when King Charles the Second died this was the state of the Government when King James the Second his lawful Successor entred upon it and all these Acts were in their full force when he was driven away and they assert maintain keep up and secure his Right and Supream Power as well against his own Subjects as Foreigners And therefore the Supremacy Authority and Right being still his as all proceedings against him are null in Law and condemned by it so all Persons thus unlawfully divesting him of that his rightful Supremacy and Authority have incurred the Centure of the fore cited Canon made pursuant to these Constitutions and must be adjudged to stand ipso facto excommunicate I am not insensible that by a certain side-wind an Objection may be here brought in which both Prerogative and Commonwealth-men have as it served their Turn insisted on That the Statute-Law is super-induced and to be in force according to the tenour of the old preceding Laws and Customs of England and if repugnant to them void if obscure and doubtful to be explained by them And I am informed that the Paltry I should have said the Poultrey Doctor in his private Pleas in making Converts or rather Perverts doth farther alledg That the Statute-Law is utterly insignisicant in it self and that we are wholly to be guided by antecedent Laws and Customs Whether he means by this to warrantize Rebellion by the worst of Precedents or would have all swallowed up in the Prerogative I cannot tell for he is as much for William as he was against King James so tempting a thing is even the bare hopes of a Bishoprick But against this I desire these few things may be considered 1st I humbly request this bold Doctor or any of his Complices to tell me in plain English Whether the august Court of Parliament which is brought together with so much Charge appears in such State and is stiled the highest Court in the Kingdom sits in all that Formality and Solemnity only to devise New-Nothings or to make Rattles and Baubles for Fools and Children For if his Objection be true I see not what they do more but must be the meerest piece of Pageantry that ever was 2dly It is observable that this Argument if not first trump'd up yet was most warmly managed in the time of King Charles the First when the matter of the Petition of Right was under debate and though they threw Dust in one another's Eyes and amused the Kingdom with sine Harangues about old blind antecedent Laws which no Body knew what to make of yet when they come to pen the Statutes they fairly leave them all to shift for themselves and found it wholly upon preceding Statutes as any Man may there see to his satisfaction 3 Car. 1. in initio 3dly That the fore-cited Statutes are so far from expressing any thing obscurely or doubtfully that they are as intelligible plain and easie as if they had been written with a Beam of the Sun Lastly and which indeed is most considerable all or most and the most pertinent of the fore-mentioned Statutes are not meerly constitutive but declaratory not barely telling us what for the future should be Law but informing us what by the old antecedent Laws were the undoubted Rights of the Crown and rule of Succession and indeed I can discover but two ways whereby the Crown can succeed according to our Constitutions viz. either bâ— Proximity of Bloâ—d in a lineal Succession or by the last Will and Testament of the present rightâ—ul Prince in Possession ratified in Parliament both which are mentioned in the Act of Settlement 35 Hen. 8. and made a rule of Succession for ever 1 Eliz. cap. 3. neither of which will do our Adversaries any Service And thus I think I have given as fair and full an answer to Mr Johnson as he hath done to the rest of his Brethren and the Obstacles being now removed may justly proceed to the Canon which declâ—res all such Persons as deny the Supremacy of their lawful King to be excommunicate ipso facto As to which I shall consider these several particulars First That this Canon is no Novelty but pursuant to and taking pattern from other Canons of the Church of Christ made all along for the security of Princes Secondly What is meant by Excommunication ipso facto Thirdly What is the State and Condition of Persons excommunicate Fourthly What ought to be the Behaviour of other Christians towards such as stand â—xcommunicate Lastly the particular restraint here laid as to reconciling such Persons who are censured by this Canon As to the first Christianity which not only teacheth but obligeth us to do good for evil took care of the Supremacy of the Supream Powers even when they were Persecutors but when Kings and Queens became Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers and took the Church into their Protection defending the Persons not only as Subjects but Christians and backing the Canons and Censures of the Church with Civil Laws and Penalties from thâ—nce the Church became bound not only in Duty but in Gratitude to contribute all she could to the protection of that lawful Government which protected her and to render the Civil Laws and Penalties more aweful and effectual did farther enforce them as occasion required but especially for the security of lawful Princes with the Threats and Terrors of Divine Vengeance which by Authority committed to her by God she had power to denounce against such Offenders The Doctrine of Obedience to lawful Powers has been a part of Christianity from its very first entrance into the World even then when it was the greatest Sufferer under them Thus our Blessed Saviour teacheth the Seditious Jews Mat. 22. 21. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are Gods Thus his Apostle St. Paul to the Romans
whole Croud of all his Brethrens Arguments and thereby to their great grief bereaved them of all their Topicks wherewith they were used to blaspheme God in the Pulpits on their Mock-Thanksgiving-Days Nor doth his Performance seem any way displeasing even to the Government it self For though his Book was presented openly at the Parliament-Door yet it not only stands uncensured but is thought to have been the great occasion that the Salisbury Dictator's Book was doom'd to be burnt by the hands of the common Hangman But to make some amends for this triumphant Squander he hath set up a Plea of his own and indeed to do him justice he hath bid the fairest to set the present Government upon somâ— bottom if it could be possibly set on any For if he could make it appear that the late Proceedings were warranted by our Constitutions he would speak more to the purpose than all that hath been said hitherto but I doubt not but to make it appear that our Constitutions utterly overthrow his Plea Now this knocking Argument which will suffer nothing to stand before it is only Abdication still but then it is indeed a Passive Abdication wherein the Person abdicated is a Sufferer and is abdicated not by his own â—ct but by another who hath a certain Right in him and Superiority over him as a Father is said abdicare Filium He seems inclinable rather to call it Abrogation than Abdication a Word which seems harsh with respect to Persons though proper as to Laws and yet in the Verb is sometimes used in that Sense by later Historians but abdicare properly respects Persons However to his purpose he tells us That the People of England did actually abrogate or dethrone King James the Second for Misgovernment and promoted the Prince of Orange in his stead By the People I suppose he means not the dissusive Body but their Representatives for as the former seems impracticable so it is evident that the Feat was done by what they called a Convention and afterwards ratified by what they call a Parliament But herein he and his Masters cannot agree sor they put it upon an Active Abdication which Julian seems by no means willing to allow For they say expresly That King James abdicated the Government and that thereby the Throne became vacant So that all they pretend to is to supply a Vacancy whether there can be any such thing by our Constitutions in our Government I do not here dispute and provide a Remedy against a grand defect when there was no King in Israel and in that very place where he cites the Word abdicate in Tully it is taken in an Active Sense For after they had driven away their Kings the highest share of the Regal Power was conferred on the Consuls and when Mark Anthony offered a Crown to Caesar if he did not expresly yet he effectually renounced his Consulship For had Caesar accepted it he could no longer have been the Consul of a popular State but must thenceforth have acted by Authority srom Caesar or not at all So that this would have been no Forseiture but a real giving up his Power But contrary herâ—to Mr Johnson sairly makes King James tenacious enough of his Authority and tells us that the People abrogated and dethroned him a Power which the Convention knew not of nor did so much as pretend to they had done wisely if they had consulted this Learned Man to understand their own Power before they had gone about their work For though he contradicts them yet he makes them much greater than they were aware of and hath not only set the Subjects above the Sovereign but hath advanced the House of Commons into the place of the Almighty God of Heaven giving them Power to pull down and set up Kings as they shall 〈…〉 and convenient But I hope we are not so bound to follow Mr. Johnson with an 〈◊〉 Faith but that we may examine upon what Grounds he hath given Subjects such a Paramount Authority over their Sovereign And for this he urges in the first place a Message to King Richard the Second then at Elâ—ham wherein his Parliament averrs that in the case there mentioned it is lawful for them ipsum Regem de regali solio abrogare propinquiorem aliquem de stirpe regia loco ejus in Regni solio sublimare And for this Power in the same Message they plead only an unknown Statute and the infamous Precedent and Larbarous usage of Edward the Second Had not Discontent and Anger blinded them they would have been ashamed of their Precedent and for their Statute neither they nor any other have transmitted it to us So that it seems they durst not trust any with the examination of it But if he please to make amends for that Defect I will recommend to Mr. Johnson's second Thoughts a known Statute in the Reign of the same King Richard the Second wherein it is judged High-Treason for any Person to compass the King's Death to dâ—pose him or make War against him within the Realm or to render up his Homage 21 Ric. 2. Where we shall find his Statute I know not but this is to be found in our Statute Book and in the same King's Reign against whom he sets up a contrary Plea If no Subject can render up his Homage which by the way I take to be much the same with Dr. Burnet's transferring his Allegiance wherein of late he hath had too many Followers nor raise War against his Prince nor depose him without being condemned by the Law for a Traitor I would fain know how he will reconcile his unknown Statute to this known one We are hard put to our Shifts when we are forced to run eight hundred Years backwards for a piece of a Sentence that may seem to look favourably on our Cause And what good at last will King Alfred's Stile do him Dei Gratia Benevolemia West-Saxonicae Gentis I confess he has a hard Task and bad Game to play who through the Artifices of designing Knaves labours under the ill Opinion and hard Thoughts of his Subjects and it was a singular Happiness to King Alfred that he had the Good Will and the very Hearts of his People But though King Alfred for his Piety Justice and Bravery might stand for an eternal Pattern to all Kings that come after him yet no Person that ever sat on the Saxon or English Throne ever acted with a freer or fuller Power than he did as will plainly appear to any that read his History Nor indeed was it possible for him to have done those great Things which he did had he been shackled with those Fetters which our Demigogues endeavour now to hang upon Kings with pretence indeed to curb their Extravagancies and restrain their exorbitant Power but with a real design to drive out all Kings and introduce a Democracy nick-named a Common-wealth the most unquiet troublesome and most arbitrary and tyrannical of all Governments
joined with the Revolutionists in deposing his Prince If he joins with Mr. Johnson in his Argument it is Common-wealth all over if he take up with the other Arguments of his Brethren Julian hath fairly â—iss'd them out of Doors I did once think that Men who raved against the Evasions Equivocations Mental Reservations Dispensations and other deceitful Arts and Tricks of the Jesuits had been Men of Plain dealing Simplicity and Integrity But since I have discovered that those very Men who made the deposing Power their Bell-wether Argument against the Papists were at that same time busie in contriving how to depose their own lawful Prince I have been prone to think that if you should take a Latitudinarian Protestant and a Jesuit and put them both in a Bag and shake them well together it would be hard to determine whether he that came out â—irst or last was the greatest Knave After the deplorable Consusions Divisions Wars Devastations and Oppressions they are the Words of the Act wherewith these Kingdoms were harassed in the former Rebellion the Wickedness of which no Man would have thought could have been exceeded had he not seen this the People jâ—ded with their own Folly and Villany and seeing no â—nd of the Rapine Madness and Cruelty of their Oppressors call Home their Lawful Sovereign King Charles the Second And in the 12th Year of his Reign but of his actual governing the first an Act passed wherein his undoubted Hereditary Sovereign and Regal Authority was acknowledged a perpetual Thanksgiving for his Restoration ordered to be annually and publickly kept All Ministers are thereby bound to celebrate it and to give God Thanks and publickly declare the extraordinary Mercies Blessings and Deliverances received all People are bound on that Day to repair to some Church or Chappel where the Service appointed may be had all Ministers to give notice of it the Lord's Day before and upon the Day to read the Act pablickly and distinctly to the People And this is again confirmed the 13th Car. 2. cap. 11. Certainly no Man that had a Grain of Honesty could think that any People could be guilty of such fulsome Hypocrisie and such downright mocking of God as to keep a publick Thanksgiving for the restoring one Brother to his Right and at the same time to plead the lawfulness of driving away and keeping out the other Brother by force of Arms when the Right and Title of both Brothers was exactly the same By what Authority do they call the other Rebels when they do the same thing Or is it a wicked thing in Presbyterians and Independents to depose Kings but lawful and commendable in Latitudinarians But if forty Parliaments had laid their Heads together to secure their Sovereign from any Violence or Harm against any Man Men or body of Men whatsoever of his own Subjects or most effectually to confute Mr. Johnson's Argument I cannot imagine how they could do it in more apt proper and full terms than is done by the Act 12 Car. 2. cap. 30. wherein it is declared That by the undoubted and fundamental Laws of this Kingdom neither the Peers of this Realm nor the Commons nor both together in Parliament nor the People collectively or representatively nor any other Persons whatsoever ever had have hath or ought to have any Coercive Power over the Persons of the Kings of this Realm Here plainly by a full and free Parliament and by universal consent all sorts and all bodies of Men are restrained from using any Violence to their King and this not only at present enacted but declared to be so by the undoubted and fundamental Laws of this Kingdom If this be true Bracton must be mistaken Or shall we esteem his Authority above that of the High Court of Parliament Or what shall become of his respectuetur ad Magnam Curiam when that very Court in this case denies it And that too upon this very account that the undoubted and fundamental Laws are against it There are many other Statutes which seem to be pursuant of this as 13 Car. 2. cap. 1. where that Opinion is condemned That both Houses of Parliament or either of them have a Legislative Power without the King by which alone all the Acts of the Convention are overthrown and all the pretended Authorities thereupon founded Hence in the same Act they proceed to condemn the Proceedings in the former Rebellion declaring That the Oath usually called the Solemn League and Covenant was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the fundamental Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom and that all Orders and Ordinances and pretended Orders and Ordinances of both or either Houses of Parliament for imposing of Oaths Covenants or Engagements levying of Taxes or raising of Forces and Arms to which the Royal Assent either in Person or by Commission was not expresly had or given were in their first creation and making and still are and so shall be taken to be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever Now as if they had had a Spirit of Prophesie this Act seems to be more strongly levelled against the Convention than the long Parliament for the long Parliament were called by the King 's Writ and by his assent to a Bill were continued till they should dissolve themselves but the Convention was a Mushroom sprung up of it self and remaining without root or foundation They were so far from having any colour of Law to warrant them that when they had traiterously driven away their King with Lies Noise and Threats they met contrary to all Law at the invitation of a Stranger their King's Enemy against whom they ought to have defended him and therefore were Traitors in that very Act The long Parliament indeed boldly assumed the whole Authority to themselves but withal they seemed not before hand to be destitute of a very considerable Legal Authority but the Convention as they had no manner of Authority in that case so they pretend to give the Supream Authority to one who as a Stranger had less Authority than themselves But neither could they give what they never had nor he receive from them what they had not to give and therefore this Act as strongly makes null and void all the Oaths Acts Orders Ordinances and Proceedings whatsoever of the present Government as they call themselves as it did the Solemn League and Covenant and other the proceedings of the Rump Parliament and Olivâ—r the First 13 Car. 2. cap. 6. There is an Act wherein it is declared That within all his Majesty's Realms and Dominions the sole Supream Government Command and Disposition of the Militia and of all Forces by Sea and Land and of all Forts and places of Strength is and by the Laws of England ever was the undoubted Right of his Majesty and his Royal Predecessors Kings and Queens of England and that both or either of the Houses of Parliament cannot nor ought to
13. 1. Let every Soul be subject unto the Higher Powers To Titus 3. 1. Put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates And St. Peter as if he had a mind to confirm the very terms of our Canon and contradict his pretended Successor the Pope gives this Charge Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supream c. 1 Pet. 2. 13. The loose Answers which have been devised to take off the force of these Scriptures and encourage eternal Confusions have been of late so shamefully bassled by many learned Pens that I need not concern my self farther with them only I think it fit they should know what Penalty God's Word hath assigned to Offenders in this kind which being no less than Damnation I cannot but as a Christian wish them Repentance that if possible they may escape it though I cannot without deploring their Condition think of the Observation That Rebellion in this is as the Sin of Witchcraft that both Sins do so bewitch Men and carry away their very Hearts and Souls that they rarely if ever think on Repentaâ—ce on this side Hell and then I fear it will stand them in little stead notwithstanding the comfortable Doctrine which their new High-Priest hath broach'd for the benefit of the damned and to encourage the Living to run the hazard of Damnation If I should examine how the Church in succeeding Times trod in these steps of our Saviour and his Apostles it would be a tedious work and therefore I shall only subjoin some few Citations as a Specimen And I hope I shall be pardoned if I take the liberty to translate since I write only for the Instruction of the Ignorant not for the Information of those who are wiser than my self And in that early Collection of Canons commonly known by the name of the Apostle's Canons we find this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If any Man against Right do Wrong to the King or Governour let him be severely punished if he be a Clergy man let him be deposed if a Lay man let him be excommunicated Can. 84. In the Fourth Council of Toledo we find both a neat Preamble and smart Canon to this purpose thus Multarum quippe gentium tanta extat perfidia c. So false say they and perfidious are the Minds of many Men that they will not keep that Faith which by Oath they have promised to their King but whilst with their Mouths they profess to swear in their Hearts retain Treachery for they swear Fidelity to their Kings but break their Oaths not regarding the Judgment of God denounced Jer. 7. 8 c. against those who swear by the Name of the Lord falsly What hope can such have in War with their Enemies What other Nations will trust such in Peace What League at this rate can hold them What Pledg or Assurance can they give that they will keep their Faith with their Enemies when they break that Faith which they have sworn to their own Kings Then follows the Canon Whosoever henceforth either of us any of the Spanish People by any Machination or Contrivance shall violate that Oath of Fidelity which he hath sworn for the Safety of his Countrey the State of the Gothick Nation or the Security of his Prince or shall murder his King or divest him of his Authority or by Tyrannical Presumption shall usurp the Throne let him be Anathema in the sight of the Holy Ghost and the Martyrs of Christ and let him be ejected out of the Catholick Church which he hath profaned by his Perjury and let him be debarr'd from all Christian Communion nor let him have any share with the Righteous but let him be condemned to eternal Punishment with the Devil and his Angels And then the whole Clergy and People give their Consent in these Words Whosoever shall go contrary to this Decree let him be Anathema Maranatha i. e. let him receive Sentence of Damnation at the Coming of our Lord Jesus and both he and his Associates have their Portion with Judas Iscariot Amen Certainly Christians had no light Opinion of the Sins of Rebellion and Usurpation when they denounce such a dreadful Sentence against it and I think Christianity is still the same it ever was however the Professors of it may be altered In the Seventh Council of Toledo cap. 1. we have a Constitution to our purpose in these Words Sed quia plerosque Clericos tantae levitatis interdum pravitatis praesumptive ita elevat c. But because many Clergy-men are so pussed up with Vanity and Wickedness that unmindful of the gravity of their Order and their Faith promised by Oath they through a rash Levity consent to the setting up another King their lawful King being living it is sit that such licentiousness should be altogether taken away and utterly extirpated out of our Communion So that if any Lay-man within the bounds of the Countrey of the Goths shall ambiâ—iously attempt the Crown and shall receive any favour or assistance from Clergy-mâ—n and by successâ—ul Wickedness shall prevail in his ambitious Attempt from the time that any Bishop or Clergyman of what Order soever shall have involved himself in such Crime it 〈◊〉 him to remain excommunicate for ever I think here is ipso facto Excommunication with a Witness But if by the prevailing Wickedness of that Prince with whom â—e unjustly agreed the Bishop shall not be able actually to suspend him from Communion yet if he over live the said Prince whosoever shall admit him to Communion unless at the very Hour of Death and upon sufficient proof of his true Repentance let that Person be liable to the aforesaid Sentence Here you may see that the Church would not suffer even prosperous Villany to rescue Offenders out of her Hands but obliged her Members upon the sâ—verâ—st Penalty upon all Opportunities to make them know themselves What Leâ—iâ—y may for several reasons be used sometimes in such cases belongs not to me to determine only if any think they may be concerned herein I wish they may so think as seriously to repent that they may find both God's and his Church's Mercy From the Concilium Calcuthense I shall cite only part of a Canon though the whole is pertinent enough Let no Man dare to be privy to the murder of a King because he iâ— the Lord 's Anointâ—d and if any Man join in such Wickedness if he be a Bishop or any of the Sacerdâ—tal Order let him be degraded and removed from the Clergy as Judas was from the Apostolick Order and whoever else shall be consenting to such a Sacrilegious Fact he shall perish under the â—ternal bond of an Anathema and coupled with the Traitor Judas shall be burnt in everlasting Fire as it is written not only they who doe but those who consent to the doing such Things shall not escape the Judgment of God It