A collection of papers relating to the present juncture of affairs in England

A collection of papers relating to the present juncture of affairs in England

Table of contents

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Title page

To the King's most Excellent Majesty. The Humble Petition of William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and divers of the Suffragan Bishops of that Province, (now present with him) in behalf of themselves, and others of their absent Brethren, and of the Clergy of their respective Diocesses.

His Majesties Answer was to this effect.

THE ARTICLES Recommended by the ARCH-BISHOP of CANTERBURY To all the Bishops within his Metropolitan Iurisdiction, the 16th of Iuly, 1688.

Some Heads of Things to be more fully insisted upon by the Bishops in their Addresses to the Clergy and People of their respective Diocesses.

An Account of the late PROPOSALS of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, with some other Bishops, to his Majesty: In a LETTER to M. B. Esq

The PETITION of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament: Together with his Majesty's Gracious Answer to their Lordships.

To the KING's most Excellent Majesty, The Humble Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, Whose Names are Subscribed.

His Majesty's most Gracious Answer.

A Modest Vindication of the Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament.

Extract of the States General their Resolution. Thursday, 28th October, 1688.

The P.O's Letter to the English Army.

An Account of a wicked Design of Poysoning the PRINCE of Orange before he came out of Holland. ALSO A Relation from the City of Orange of a strange METEOR, representing a Crown of Light, that was there seen in the Air, May the 6th, 1688.

In a Letter from a Gentleman in Amsterdam, to his Friend in London, Octob. 1. 1688.

An Account of a Design of Poisoning the PRINCE of ORANGE.

A Relation from the City of Orange, of a Crown of LIGHT that was there seen in the Air, the 6th of May, 1688.

Lord Del—r's Speech.

Prince GEORGE'S LETTER TO THE KING.

The Lord CHURCHIL'S LETTER to the KING.

The Princess ANNE of Denmark's LETTER to the QVEEN.

A MEMORIAL OF THE Protestants of the Church of England Presented to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of ORANGE.

THE PRINCE of ORANGE HIS DECLARATION of Novemb. 28. 1688.

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AN ENQUIRY Into the Measures of SUBMISSION TO THE SUPREAM AUTHORITY: And of the Grounds upon which it may be lawful or necessary for Subjects to defend their Religion, Lives, and Liberties.

An ANSWER to a PAPER, intituled, Reflections on the Prince of ORANGE's Declaration.

Admiral HERBERT's Letter to all Commanders of Ships and Sea-men in His Majesty's Fleet.

AN ENGAGEMENT OF THE Noble-men, Knights, and Gentlemen at EXETER, to Assist the Prince of ORANGE in the defence of the Protestant Religion, Laws and Liberties of the People of England, Scotland and Ireland.

The Declaration of the Nobility, Gentry, and Commonalty at the Rendezvous at Nottingham, Nov. 22. 1688.

His Grace the Duke of NORFOLK's Speech to the Mayor of NORWICH on the First of December, in the Market-place of Norwich.

TO THE KING's Most Excellent Majesty, The Humble Address of GEORGE Lord DARTMOUTH, Admiral of Your Majesties Fleet for the present Expedition, and the Commanders of Your Majesties Ships of War now actually at the Spitehead in Your Majesties Service under his Lordships Command.

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THE EXPEDITION Of His HIGHNESS the Prince of ORANGE For ENGLAND. Giving an Account of the most remarkable Passages thereof, from the Day of his setting Sail from Holland, to the first Day of this instant December, 1688.

A further Account of the Prince's Army, in a Letter▪ sent from Exon, dated Nov. 24.

THREE LETTERS.

I. A Letter from a Iesuit of Liege, to a Iesuit at Friburg, giving an Account of the Happy Progress of Religion in England.

II. A Letter from the Reverend Father Petre, Iesuit, Almoner to the Ki•g of England, written to the Reverend Father la Cheese, Confessor to the most Christian King, touching the present Affairs of ENGLAND. Translated from the French.

III. The Answer of the Reverend Father la Chese, Confessor to the Most Christian King, to a Letter of the Reverend Father Petre, Iesuit, and Great Almoner to the King of England, upon the Method or Rule he must observe with His Majesty, for the Conversion of His Protestant Subjects.

Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on: In a Letter from a Gentleman at York, to his Friend in the Prince of ORANGE's Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament.

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THE DECLARATION Of His HIGHNESS VVilliam Henry, By the Grace of God, PRINCE of ORANGE, &c. Of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England, for preserving of the Protestant Religion, and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

His Highnesses Additional Declaration.

To the Right Honourable My Lords of his Majesty's Commission Ecclesiastical.

The Speech of the Prince of Orange, to some Principle Gentlemen of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire, on their coming to Ioyn his Highness at Exeter the 15th of Nov. 1688.

The True Copy of a Paper delivered by the Lord Devonshire to the Mayor of Darby, where he quarter'd the One and twentieth of November, 1688.

A Letter from a Gentleman at Kings-Lyn, Decemb. 7. 1688. to his Friend in London.

Lyn-Regis, Decemb. 10. 1688.

The Duke of Norfolk's Second Speech at Lynn.

The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, Assembled at Guildhal, Dec. 1688.

A Paper delivered to his Highness the Prince of Orange, by the Commissioners sent by his Majesty to Treat with Him. And his Highnesses Answer.

We, with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen Assembled with Us, have, in Answer to the same, made these following Proposals.

The KING's Letter TO THE EARL of FEVERSHAM, Upon his leaving Whitehall. Together with the Earl of Feversham's Letter to his Highness the PRINCE of Orange, after the King's departure. Whitehall, Decemb. 10. 1688.

The Earl of Feversham's Letter.

By the Prince of Orange, a DECLARATION.

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To His Highness the Prince of Orange. The Humble Address of the Lieutenancy of the City of London.

To His Highness the Prince of ORANGE: The Humble ADDRESS of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled.

The Speech of Sir GEORGE TREBY, Kt. Recorder of the Honourable City of London, to his Highness the Prince of Orange, Dec. 20. 1688.

Chapman Mayor. Cur' special' tent' die Iovis xx. die Decemb' 1688. Anno que R R. Iacobi Secundi Angl' &c. quarto.

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The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince.

The Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church against Hereticks.

An Answer to a late Pamphlet, Intituled, A Short Scheme of the Usurpations of the Crown of England, &c.

An Humble and Hearty Address to all the English Protestants in this present Army.

Several Reasons for the Establishment of a Standing Army, and Dissolving the Militia.

A Discourse of Magistracy; of Prerogative by Divine Right; of Obedience, and of the Laws.

CHAP. I. Of MAGISTRACY.

CHAP. II. Of Prerogatives by Divine Right.

CHAP. III. Of OBEDIENCE.

CHAP. IV. Of LAWS.

The Definition of a TYRANT, by the Learned and Loyal Abraham Cowley, (published by the present Lord Bishop of Rochester) in his Discourse concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwel.

Several Queries proposed to the Sages of the Law, who have studied to Advance the Publick, equally with, if not more than their own private Interest.

A LETTER TO THE KING, When DUKE of YORK, Perswading him to return to the Protestant Religion, wherein the chief Errors of the Papists are exposed, and the Tendency of their Doctrines to promote Arbitrary Government, proved. By an Old Cavalier, and Faithful Son of the Church of England, as Establish'd by Law.

§

Ten Seasonable QUERIES, Proposed by an English Gentleman in Amsterdam, to his Friends in England, a little before the Prince of Orange came over.

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Advertisement.

Five LETTERS From a Gentleman in Scotland, to his Friend in LONDON. Being a True Account of what Remarkable Passages have happened since the Prince's Landing; The manner of the taking of the Chancellor, and his Lady in Man's Apparel; The burning of the Pope, Demolishing of the Popish Chappels, &c. with the total overthrow of the Roman Catholicks.

Edinburgh, Decemb. 3. 1688.

Edinburgh, Decemb. 20.

Edinburgh, Decemb. 22.

Edinburgh, Decemb. 25.

Edinburgh, Decemb. 27.

His HIGHNESS the PRINCE of ORANGE his SPEECH to the Scots Lords and Gentlemen. VVith their Advice, and his Highness's Answer. VVith a True Account of what past at their Meeting in the Council-Chamber at Whitehal, Ianuary 7. 1688/9. His Highness the PRINCE of Orange having caused Advertise such of the Scots Lords and Gentlemen as were in Town, met them in a Room at St. Iames's, upon Monday the Seventh of Ianuary, at Three of the Clock in the Afternoon, and had this Speech to them.

To His HIGHNESS the PRINCE of ORANGE.

A LETTER to a Friend, advising in this Extraordinary Iuncture, how to free the Nation from SLAVERY for ever.

Some Account of the Humble Application of the Pious and Noble Prelate, Henry Lord Bishop of London, with the Reverend Clergy of the City, and some of the Dissenting Ministers in it, To the Illustrious Prince William Henry, the Prince of Orange, on Friday, September 21. 1688.

The Address of the Nonconformist Ministers (in and about the City of London) to his Highness the Prince of ORANGE.

The Speech of the Recorder of Bristol to his Highness the Prince of Orange, Monday, January the 7th, 1688. The Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Commons of the Principal Citizens of the City of Bristol, waited upon the Prince of Orange, being introduced by his Grace the Duke of Ormond, their High-Steward, and the Earl of Shrewsbury: VVhere the Recorder spake to this Effect:

A Word to the Wise, for Settling the Government.

A Modest PROPOSAL to the present CONVENTION.

A Short Historical Account touching the Succession of the CROWN.

A Narrative of the Miseries of New-England, by reason of an Arbitrary Government Erected there.

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Title page

Proposals humbly offered in behalf of the Princess of Orange, Jan. 28.

The Heads of the EXPEDIENT proposed by the Court-party to the Parliament at Oxford, in lieu of the Bill for excluding the Duke of York.

An Account of the irregular Actions of the Papists in the Reign of King James the Second: With a Method proposed how to rid the Nation of them.

The Present CONVENTION, A PARLIAMENT.

A LETTER to a Member of the CONVENTION.

An ANSWER to the Author of the LETTER to a Member of the CONVENTION.

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PROPOSALS Humbly offered To the Lords and Commons in the present CONVENTION, for Settling of the Government, &c.

SEVERAL QUERIES Relating to the present Proceedings in Parliament; More especially recommended to the Consideration of the BISHOPS.

A Protestant Precedent offer'd to the Bishops for the Exclusion of K. James the Second.

Reasons humbly offer'd, for placing his Highness the Prince of Orange, singly in the Throne during his Life.

Good Advice before it be too Late: Being a BREVIATE for the CONVENTION: Humbly Represented to the Lords and Commons of England.

The BREVIATE.

King IAMES the First his Opinion of a KING, of a TYRANT, and of the English Laws, Rights and Priviledges. In two Speeches; The First to the Parliament 1603, the Second 1609.

In his Speech to the Parliament 1603, he expresseth himself thus:

In his Speech to the Parliament, March 21. 1609, he expresseth himself thus:

Proposals to this present Convention, for the perpetual Security of the Protestant Religion, and the Liberty of the Subjects of England. Humbly Offer'd by the Author of the BREVIATE.

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A DIALOGUE between two Friends, wherein the Church of England is Vindicated in joining with the Prince of Orange in his Descent into England. A Dialogue between a Churchman and a Dissenter.

His Majesties Letter to the Lords and Others of his Privy Councel.

Some Remarks on the late Kings pretended Letter to the LORDS, and Others of his Privy Council.

Reasons for Crowning the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen jointly; and for placing the Executive Power in the Prince alone.

A LORD'S Speech Without Doors, To the Lords upon the present Condition of the Government.

Reflections on a Paper called a LORD'S Speech without Doors.

The Bishops Reasons to Queen Elizabeth, for taking off the Queen of Scots, taken out of Sir S. D Ewes Iournal: offered to the Consideration of the Present Sect of Grumbletonians.

ADVERTISEMENT.

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Reflections upon our Late and Present Proceedings in England.

Some short Notes on a Pamphlet, entitled, Reflections upon our late and present Proceedings in England.

The Scot's Grievances: Or a Short Account of the Proceedings of the Scotish Privy-Council, Iusticiary Court, and those Commissionated by them, whereby the Consciences of good Men have been Tortured, the Peace of the Nation these several Years past exceedingly Disturbed, and Multitudes of Innocent People cruelly Oppressed, and inhumanely Murthered.

The Late Honourable CONVENTION proved a Legal PARLIAMENT.

The Amicable Reconciliation of the DISSENTERS to the CHURCH of ENGLAND: being a Model or Draught for the Universal Accommodation in the Case of Religion, and the Bringing in all Parties to Her Communion.

ADVERTISEMENT.

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AN ANSWER TO THE DESERTION DISCUSS'D.

SATISFACTION tendred to all that pretend Conscience for Nonsubmission to our present Governours, and refusing of the New Oaths of FEALTY and ALLEGIANCE. In a LETTER to a FRIEND, By R. B. late Rector of St. Michael Querne, London, And now Rector of Icklingham All-Saints, Suffolk.

To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, And to the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses in this present PARLIAMENT Assembled; The Humbletition of TITUS OATES, D. D.

An Account of the Convention of SCOTLAND.

A SPEECH made by a Member of the Convention of the States in SCOTLAND.

The Grounds upon which the Estates of Scotland Declared the Right of the Crown of Scotland FORFAULTED, and the Throne become VACANT.

The Opinion of two eminent Parliament-Men, justifying the lawfulness of taking the Oaths of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary.

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The Secret League with France proved.

The REASONS why the late K. James would not stand to a Free and Legal Parliament; proposed to those that are fond to have him again.

The REASONS of the Suddenness of the Change in England.

The Iudgment of the Court of France, concerning the Misgovernment of K. James the Second.

The Emperor of Germany's Account of K. James's Misgovernment in joining with the King of France, (the Common Enemy of Christendom) in his Letter to King James. viz.

An Account of what was done between the Time the Prince of Orange came to London, till the Proclaiming him King of England, 1688.

The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons Assembled at Westminster; Concerning the Misgovernment of King James, and filling up the Throne. Presented to King William, and Queen Mary, by the right Honourable the Marquess of Hallifax, Speaker to the House of Lords. With His Majesties most gracious Answer thereunto.

Die Veneris 15 Feb. 1688. His Majesties Gracious Answer, to the Declaration of both Houses.

§

The Declaration of the Estates of Scotland concerning the Mis-government of King James the Seventh, and filling up the Throne with King William and Queen Mary.

The manner of the Proclaiming of King WILLIAM, and Queen MARY, at White-hall, and in the City of London, Feb. 13. 1688/9.

The Coronation of their Sacred Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY was performed at Westminster in manner following, April 11, 1689.

A Proclamation declaring WILLIAM and MARY King and Queen of England, to be King and Queen of Scotland. Edinburgh, April 11. 1689.

The Manner of the King and Queen taking the Scotish Coronation Oath. May 11. 1689.

The Coronation-OATH of England.

The Coronation OATH of Scotland.

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A Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

1. The Humble Petition of Seven Bishops to his Majesty.

2. Articles recommended by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, to all the Bishops and Clergy within his Jurisdiction.

3. Proposals of the Arch-Bishop, with some other Bishops, to his Majesty.

4. Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, for Calling a Free Parliament; With his Majesty's Gracious Answer.

5. Vindication of the aforesaid Petition.

6. Extract of the States General their Resolution.

7. Prince of Orange his Letter to the English Army.

8. Account of a Design to Poison the Prince of Orange before he came out of Holland.

9. A Relation of a Strange Meteor, representing a Crown of Light, seen in the Air near the City of Orange.

10. Lord Del—r's Speech to his Tenants.

11. Prince of Denmark's Letter to the King.

12. The Lord Churchil's Letter to the King.

13. Princes Ann's Letter to the Queen.

14. A Memorial of the Protestants of England, to the Prince and Princess of Orange.

15. Prince of Orange his Declaration of Novemb. 28. 1688. from Sherborn-Castle.

Printed in the Year 1688.

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To the King's most Excellent Majesty. The Humble Petition of William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and divers of the Suffragan Bishops of that Province, (now present with him) in behalf of themselves, and others of their absent Brethren, and of the Clergy of their respective Diocesses.

Humbly sheweth,

THAT the great averseness they find in themselves to the distributing and publishing in all their Churches your Majesty's late Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, proceeds neither from any want of Duty and Obedience to your Majesty, (our Holy Mother the Church of England, being both in her Principles and in her constant Practice unquestionably Loyal; and having, to her great Honour, been more than once publickly acknowledg'd to be so by your Gracious Majesty;) Nor yet from any want of due tenderness to Dissenters, in relation to whom they are willing to come to such a Temper as shall be thought fit, when that Matter shall be considered and settled in Parliament and Convocation. But among many other Considerations, from this especially▪ because that Declaration is founded upon such a Dispensing Power as has been often declared Illegal in Parliament, and particularly in the Years 1662, and 1672, and in the beginning of [Page] your Majesty's Reign; and is a Matter of so great Moment and Consequence to the whole Nation, both in Church and State, that your Petitioners cannot in Prudence, Honour, or Conscience, so far make themselves Parties to it, as the distribution of it all over the Nation, and the solemn publication of it once and again, even in God's House, and in the Time of his Divine Service, must amount to in common and reasonable Construction.

Your Petitioners therefore most humbly and earnestly beseech your Majesty, that you will be graciously pleased, not to insist upon their distributing and reading your Majesty's said Declaration. And Your Petitioners, as in Duty bound, shall ever pray.

Will. Cant.

Will. Asaph.

Fr. Ely.

Jo. Cicestr.

Tho. Bathon. & Wellen.

Tho. Peterburgen.

Jonath. Bristol.

His Majesties Answer was to this effect.

I Have heard of this before, but did not believe it. I did not expect this from the Church of England, especially from some of you. If I change my Mind, you shall hear from me; if not, I expect my Command shall be obeyed.

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THE ARTICLES Recommended by the ARCH-BISHOP of CANTERBURY
To all the Bishops within his Metropolitan Iurisdiction, the 16th of Iuly, 1688.

SIR,

YEsterday the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered the Articles which I send you inclosed, to those Bishops who are at present in this place; and ordered Copies of them to be likewise sent in his Name to the absent Bishops. By the Contents of them you will see that the Storm in which he is, does not frighten him from doing his Duty; but rather awakens him to do it with so much the more vigor: and indeed, the Zeal that he expresses in these Articles, both against the Corruptions of the Church of Rome on the one hand, and the unhappy Differences that are among Protestants on the other, are such Apostolical Things, that all good Men rejoyce to see so great a Prelate at the Head of our Church, who in this Critical Time has had the Courage to do his Duty in so signal a manner. I am,

Sir, Yours.

London, Iuly 27, 1688.

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Some Heads of Things to be more fully insisted upon by the Bishops in their Addresses to the Clergy and People of their respective Diocesses.

I. THat the Clergy often reade over the Forms of their Ordination; and seriously consider, what Solemn Vows and Professions they made therein to God and his Church, together with the several Oaths and Subscriptions they have taken and made upon divers Occasions.

II. That in Compliance with those and other Obligations, they be Active and Zealous in all the Parts and Instances of their Duty, and especially strict and exact in all Holy Conversation, that so they may become Examples to the Flock.

III. To this end, that they be constantly Resident upon their Cures in their Incumbent Houses; and keep sober Hospitality there according to their Ability.

IV. That they diligently Catechise the Children and Youth of their Parishes (as the Rubrick of the Common-Prayer-Book, and the 59th Canon injoyn) and so prepare them to be brought in due time to Confirmation, when there shall be Opportunity; and that they also at the same time expound the Grounds of Religion and the Common Christianity, in the Method of the Catechism, for the Instruction and Benefit of the whole Parish, teaching them what they are to believe, and what to do, and what to pray for; and particularly often and earnestly inculcating upon the Importance and Obligation of their Baptismal Vows.

V. That they perform the Daily Office publickly (with all Decency, Affection and Gravity) in all Market and other Great Towns, and even in Villages, and less populous Places, bring People to Publick Prayers as frequently as may be; especially on such Days and at such Times as the Rubrick and Canons appointed on Holy Days, and their Eves, on Ember and R [...]gation Days, on Wednesdays and Fridays in each Week, and especially in Advent and Lent.

VI. That they use their utmost Endeavour, both in their Sermons and by private Applications, to prevail with such of their Flock as are of competent Age, to receive frequently [Page] the Holy Communion: and to this end, that they administer it in the greater Towns once in every Month, and even in the lesser too, if Communicants may be procured, or how-ever as often as they may: and that they take all due Care, both by Preaching and otherwise, to prepare all for the worthy receiving of it.

VII. That in their Sermons they teach and inform their People (four times a Year at the least, as what the Canon require) that all Vsurp'd and Foreign Jurisdiction is for most Just Causes taken away and abolish'd in this Realm, and no manner of Obedience or Subjection due to the s [...]me, or to any that pretend to act by virtue of it: but that the King's Power being in his Dominions highest under God, they upon all Occasions perswade the People to Loyalty and Obedience to his Majesty in all things Lawful, and to patient Submission in the rest; promoting (as far as in them lies) the publick Peace and Quiet of the World.

VIII. That they maintain fair Correspondence (full of the kindest Respects of all sorts) with the Gentry and Persons of Quality in their Neighbourhood, as being deeply sensible what reasonable Assistance and Countenance this poor Church hath received from them in her Necessities.

IX. That they often exhort all those of our Communion, to continue stedfast to the end in their most Holy Faith, and constant to their Profession; and to that end, to take heed of all Seducers, and especially of Popish Emissaries, who are now in great numbers gone forth amongst them, and more busie and active than ever. And that they take all occasions to convince our own Flock, that 'tis not enough for them to be Members of an Excellent Church, rightly and duly Reformed, both in Faith and Worship, unless they do also reform and amend their own Lives, an so order their Conversation in all things as becomes the Gospel of Christ.

X. And forasmuch as those Romish Emissaries, like the Old Serpent, Insidiantur Calcaneo, are wont to be most busie and troublesome to our People at the end of their Lives, labouring to unsettle and perplex them in time of Sickness, and at the hour of Death; that therefore all who have the Cure of Souls, be more especially vigilant over them at that dangerous Season; that they stay not till they be sent for, but enquire out the Sick in their respective Parishes, and visit them frequently: [Page] that they examine them particularly concerning the state of their Souls, and instruct them in their Duties, and settle them in their Doubts, and comfort them in their Sorrows and Sufferings, and pray often with them and for them; and by all the Methods which our Church prescribes, prepare them for the due and worthy receiving of the Holy Eucharist, the Pledg of their happy Resurrection: thus with their utmost Diligence, watching over every Sheep within their Fold (especially in that critical Moment) lest those Evening Wolves devour them.

XI. That they also walk in Wisdom towards those that are not of Our Communion: and if there be in their Parishes any such, that they neglect not frequently to confer with them in the Spirit of Meekness, seeking by all good Ways and Means to gain and win them over to our Communion: More especially that they have a very tender Regard to our Brethren the Protestant Dissenters; that upon occasion offered, they visit them at their Houses, and receive them kindly at their own, and treat them fairly where-ever they meet them, discoursing calmly and civilly with them; perswading them (if it may be) to a full Compliance with our Church, or at least, that whereto we have already attained, we may all walk by the same Rule, and mind the same thing. And in order hereunto that they take all Opportunities of assuring and convincing them, that the Bishops of this Church are really and sincerely irreconcileable Enemies to the Errors, Superstitions, Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Church of Rome; and that the very unkind Jealousies which some have had of us to the contrary were altogether groundless.

And in the last place, that they warmly and most affectionately exhort them, to joyn with us in daily fervent Prayer to the God of Peace, for an Universal Blessed Vnion of all Reformed Churches, both at Home and Abroad, against our common Enemies, and that all they who do confess the Holy Name of our dear Lord, and do agree in the Truth of his Holy Word, may also meet in one Holy Communion, and live in perfect Unity and Godly Love.

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An Account of the late PROPOSALS of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, with some other Bishops, to his Majesty: In a LETTER to M. B. Esq

SIR,

I Am much surprized at the ill Constructions some People make of the Actions of those Bishops, who have lately waited upon the King; especially considering that most of them are the very Men, who not many Months ago appeared so publickly and so courageously, even to the hazard of all the Interests they had in this World, in Defence of our Protestant Religion, and the Laws of the Land.

In order to the removing all groundless Jealousies, and unreasonable Surmises, in an Affair of so great Consequence, which our Popish Enemies will, I am sure, be very ready to foment and keep up, I have here sent you the Heads of those Matters which were proposed by them to the King.

They waited upon Him, not as a Party separate either from the Nobility or Gentry, whom they could (I believe) have wished his Majesty would rather have called for at this Juncture; or from the rest of the Bishops or Clergy of England; but as Persons whom the King was pleased, upon Reasons known only to his Royal Breast, to command to attend upon Him.

The Heads which I send you, are not taken from any Copy of the Paper which my Lords the Bishops presented to the King. I understand that all their Lordships have been extreamly careful to prevent the publishing of any Copies, and that they still refuse to communicate any, tho they now lie under no Obligations to the contrary. However, I do assure you with all faithfulness, that these Heads which I am now sending you, are true Contents, obtain'd by another Method, which in prudence you will imagine not fit for me to disclose.

You have already been told from me, that every one of these Bishops were sent for up out of their Diocesses by Expresses from [Page] his Majesty, whom they first waited on in a Body, on Friday the 28th of September. I cannot, upon the strictest inquiry, find that any thing passed betwixt the King and them, at that first attendance upon Him, besides general Expressions of Favour and Protection from his Majesty, and general returns of Duty and Loyalty from the Bishops. This was matter of Admiration to us all here, who could not believe but that the King had other Intentions of a nearer and more particular Concern, when he first resolved to send so far for some of these Bishops: but these Alterations in Councils are Things not sit for you or I to meddle with.

However, my Lords the Bishops were not satisfied herewith, concluding (as I suppose) that his Majesty would not have sent for them so far, if he had not intended to have advised with them in this Juncture, and to give them the liberty of offering Him such Counsels as they thought necessary at this Time: And therefore when his Grace my Lord Archbishop of Canterbury waited on the King alone the first time, on Sunday morning, Sept. 30. being indisposed when the other Bishops attended on Friday, their Lordships did, by my Lord of Canterbury, intimate their Thoughts about that Affair, and their readiness to the King; who was pleased not only to permit them to give him the best and most particular Advices, but to encourage them to do it with all the freedom that was necessary for the present Occasion.

Upon this Royal Invitation their Lordships assembled together the next day at my Lord of Canterbury's Palace, and prepared, upon the most mature deliberation, such Matters as they judged necessary for hi [...] Majesty's Knowledg and Consideration: And on the Wednesday after waited on the King in a Body, when his Grace in his own, and in the name of the rest of the Bishops then present, did, in a most excellent Speech, represent to his Majesty such things as were thought by them absolutely necessary to the Settlement of the Nation, amidst the present Distractions, and to the publick Interest of Church and State.

I am assured that his Grace delivered himself upon this Critical Occasion, as with all dutifulness to his Majesty, so with all the readiness and the courage that did become such an Apostolical Arch-Bishop as God hath blest our Church of England with at this Time.

You must not expect here his excellent Words, but an Abridgment of them, according to my Talent, in a meaner Stile.

[Page]I. First, the Bishops thought fit to represent in general to his Majesty, That it was necessary for Him to restore all things to the state in which He found them when He came to the Crown, by committing all Offices and Places of Trust in the Government, to such of the Nobility and Gentry as were qualified for them according to the Laws of this Kingdom; and by Redressing and Removing such Grievances as were generally complain'd of.

II. Particularly, That his Majesty would Dissolve the Ecclesiastical Commission, and promise to His People never to Erect any such Court for the future.

III. That He would not only put an effectual stop to the issuing forth of any Dispensations, but would Call in, and Cancel all those which had since his coming to the Crown been obtained from Him.

IV. That he would Restore the Vniversities to their Legal State, and to their Statutes and Customs, and would particularly Restore the Master of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge, to the Profits of his Mastership, which he had been so long Deprived of, by an Illegal Suspension; and the Ejected President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford, to their Properties in that Colledge: And, that He would not permit any Persons to enjoy any of the Preferments in either Vniversity, but such as are qualified by the Statutes of the Vniversities, the particular Statutes of their several Foundations, and the Laws of the Land.

V. That He would suppress the Iesuits Schools opened in this City, or elsewhere, and grant no more Licenses for such Schools as are apparently against the Laws of this Nation, and His Majesty's True Interest.

VI. That He would send Inhibitions after those Four Romish Bishops, who under the Title of Apostolick Vicars, did presume to Exercise within this Kingdom such Iurisdictions as are by the Laws of the Land Invested in the Bishops of the Church of England, and ought not to be Violated or Attempted by them.

VII. That He would suffer no more Quo Warranto's to be issued out against any Corporations, but would restore to those Corporations which had been already disturbed, their ancient Charters, Priviledges, Grants, and Immunities, and Condemn all those late Illegal Regulations of Corporations, by putting them into their late Flourishing Condition, and Legal Establishment.

VIII. That He would fill up all the Vacant Bishopricks in England and Ireland, with Persons duly qualified according to the Laws: and would especially take into His Consideration the See of York, whose [Page]want of an Archbishop is very prejudicial to that whole Province.

IX. That He would Act no more upon a Dispensing Power, nor insist upon it; but permit that Affair at the first Session of a Parliament to be fairly Stated and Debated, and Settled by Act of Parliament.

X. That upon the Restoration of Corporations to their Ancient Charters, and Burroughs to their Prescriptive Rights, He would Order Writs to be issued out for a fair and free Parliament, and suffer it to Sit to Redress all Grievances, to Settle Matters in Church and State upon just and solid Foundations, and to Establish a due Liberty of Conscience.

XI. Lastly, and above all, That His Majesty would permit some of His Bishops, to lay such Motives and Arguments before him, as might by the Blessing of GOD, bring back His Majesty unto the Communion of Our Holy Church of England, into whose Catholick Faith He had been Baptized, in which He had been Educated, and to which it was their earnest and daily Prayer to Almighty GOD, that His Majesty might be Reunited.

All these Counsels were concluded with a Prayer to GOD, in whose Hands the Hearts of Kings are, for a good Effect upon them; especially the last, about bringing the King back to the Protestant Religion.

And now, Sir, I cannot but ask you, What grounds there are for any Mens Jealousies of the Bishops Proceedings? Pray shew this Letter to all your Friends, that some may lay down their Fears, and others may have this Antidote against taking any up. I do assure you, and I am certain I have the best grounds in the World for my assurance, That the Bishops will never stir one Jot from their PETITION; but that they will, whenever that happy Opportunity shall offer itself, let the Protestant Dissenters find that they will be better than their Word given in their Famous PETITION.

In the mean time let You and I, Commend the Prudence of these Excellent Bishops, Admire their Courage, and Celebrate their just Praises, and never forget to offer up most fervent Thanks to GOD, for his Adorning the Church of England, at this Juncture, with such Eminent Apostolical Bishops. I am with all Respect.

Yours, N. N.

[Page]

The PETITION of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament: Together with his Majesty's Gracious Answer to their Lordships.

To the KING's most Excellent Majesty, The Humble Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, Whose Names are Subscribed.

May it please your Majesty,

WE your Majesty's most Loyal Subjects, in a deep Sense of the Miseries of a War now breaking forth in the Bowels of this your Kingdom, and of the Danger to which your Majesty's Sacred Person is thereby like to be Exposed, and also of the Distractions of your People, by reason of their present Grievances, do think our selves bound in Conscience of the Duty we owe to God, and our Holy Religion, to your Majesty, and our Country, most humbly to offer to your Majesty, That in our Opinion, the only visible Way to preserve your Majesty, and this your Kingdom, would be the Calling of a Parliament, Regular and Free in all its Circumstances.

And Your Petitioners shall ever pray, &c.

W. Cant.

Grafton.

Ormond.

Dorset.

Clare.

Clarendon.

Burlington.

Anglesey.

Rochester.

Newport.

Nom. Ebor.

W. Asaph.

Fran. Ely.

Tho. Roffen.

Tho. Petriburg.

Tho. Oxon.

Paget.

Chandois.

Osulston.

We therefore do most earnestly beseech your Majesty, That you would be graciously pleased, with all speed, to Call such a Parliament, wherein we shall be most ready to promote such Counsels and Resolutions of Peace and Settlement in Church and State, as may conduce to your Majesty's Honour and Safety, and to the quieting the Minds of your People.

[Page] We do likelise humbly beseech your Majesty, in the mean time, to use such means for the preventing the Effusion of Christian Blood, as to your Majesty shall seem most meet.

His Majesty's most Gracious Answer.

My LORDS,

WHAT You ask of Me, I most passionately desire: And I promise You, upon the Faith of a King, That I will have a Parliament, and such an One as You ask for, as soon as ever the Prince of Orange has quitted this Realm: For, How is it possible a Parliament should be Free in all its Circumstances, as You Petition for, whil'st an Enemy is in the Kingdom, and can make a Return of near an Hundred Voices?

The Lords Petition, with the King's Answer, may be printed, Novemb. 20. 1688.

[Page]

A Modest Vindication of the Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament.

THIS D [...]fence is grounded upon three Fundamental Principles:

I. The Right of Petitioning.

II. The Necessity.

III. The Duty.

I. It is the undoubted Right of the Subjects to Petition, being founded upon an Act of Parliament, and the highest Reason in the World; for that is a very monstrous Government, where the People must not approach their King, and acquaint him with their Grievances. The People have the greatest Property in the Land, and therefore the most concern'd when a Foreign Enemy is upon it; their Welfare is the Supream Law, and yet they must not desire to meet in order to consult their own Preservation. The Jesuits (the sworn Enemies to the English Nation) will take care of us, and our Posterity; therefore why should we trouble our selves at this Juncture? They can levy Mony with a Proclamation, they can dispense with all Laws, and what should we do with a Parliament, when the whole Statute-Book serves for no other End but to wipe the Tails of these Reverend Satyrs, who fly into their Dens and Thickets, at the very sound of a House of Commons?

II. The Necessity, and that an indispensible one: The Government turn'd Topsy-Turvy, no Law, no Rule, all in a state of War; all Treaties broken, all Obligations ceas'd; and yet the People must not come together to know why or wherefore they Fight, or how they may avoid destroying one another; they must hack and cut one another to pieces blindfold, and to no other End, but to save the Iesuits, and the Knaves, and to ruin themselves: But the most Reverend Bishops are told, that they shall have a Free Parliament as soon as ever the Prince of [Page]Orange has quitted this Realm; that is, such a Free Parliament as they were like to have had before the Prince came hither, shuffl'd, cut, and pack'd, by Mr. Brent and his Missionaries; or perhaps ten times worse, or rather none at all: for the Church of Rome is grown such an infamous Bankrupt, that no Body will trust her further than they can command her: She may be compar'd to the Tyger, which fawns, sneaks, and lurks, as long as the Hunter is arm'd with his Spear and his Gun; but when once the Weapons are laid down, the Beast flies upon the unwary Forester, tears and devours him.

III. The Duty: For what better Office could those pious Prelats and Patriots of their Country do for the Publick-Good, than to make all People Friends, to save the Lives of many Thousands, and to heal all our Wounds and Sores, which they of the Roman Faith have inflicted upon a People too kind and good natur'd for such ravenous Monsters, who go about seeking whom they may devour. France, Ireland, Hungary, and the Valleys of Piedmont are still reeking with the Blood of their poor innocent Preys, and ecchoing with the Lamentations of a People ruin'd, by trusting these Crocodiles too much; and if God in his infinite Mercy had not watch'd over these Kingdoms, and sent a Gabriel to guard them, they had certainly fallen a Victim to the intollerable Pride, the lawless Fury, and untractable Barbariety of a sort of Animals, call'd Catholicks, subtile and treacherous by Custom and Discipline, not to be chain'd by any Law, either of God or Man; and therefore every Body knows how far we may rely upon them, when the Arch-Angel leaves us.

Exeter, Nov. 21. 1688.

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Extract of the States General their Resolution. Thursday, 28th October, 1688.

UPon mature Deliberation, it is found sit, and resolved, that notice be given to all their Ministers abroad, of all the Reasons which induce their H. and M. to assist the Prince of Orange, going over to England in Person with Ships and Forces, with Orders to the said Ministers to make use thereof in the several Courts where they reside, as they shall think most convenient; and that it be also writ to the said Ministers, that it is known to all the World that the English Nation hath a good while very much murmured and complained, that the King (no doubt with the Evil Counsel, and Inducement of his Ministers) had gained upon their Fundamental Laws, and laboured through the violation thereof; and by the bringing in the Roman Catholick Religion, to oppress their Liberty, and to ruine the Protestant Religion, and to bring all under an Arbitrary Government: That as this inverted and unjust Conduct was carried on more and more, and the Apprehensions thereupon were still greater, and that thereby such Diffidence and Aversion was stirred up against the King, that nothing was to be expected in that Kingdom but general Disorder and Confusion. His Highness the Prince of Orange, upon the manifold Representations, and the reiterated and earnest Desire which was made to His Highness by several Lords, and other Persons of great Consideration in that Kingdom; as also upon the account that Her Royal Highness, and His Highness Himself, are so highly concerned in the Welfare of that Kingdom, could not well endure that through Strife and Disunion they should run the danger, however it went, of [Page] being excluded from the Crown, held himself obliged to watch over the Welfare of that Kingdom, and to take care thereof; and also had the thoughts of assisting the Nation, and giving them a helping-hand, upon so many just and good Grounds, against the Government that oppressed them in all manner of ways that lay in his Highness's Power, for that His Highness was perswaded that the Welfare of this State (the Care whereof is also entrusted to him) was in the highest manner concerned, that the said Kingdom might continue in Tranquillity, and that all misunderstanding between the King and the Nation might be taken away. That His Highness well knowing, that to succeed in so Important and Laudable a Cause, and not to be hindred and prevented by those that were evil inclined towards it, it was necessary to pass over into that Kingdom accompanied with some Military Forces, hath thereupon made known his Intentions to their Highnesses, and desired Assistance from their Highnesses, that their Highnesses having maturely weighed all things, and considered that the King of France and Great Britain stood in very good Correspondence and Friendship one with the other, which their Highnesses have been frequently very well assured of, and in a strict and particular Alliance; and that their Highnesses were informed and advertised, that their Majesties had laboured upon a Concert, to divide and separate this State from its Alliances; and that the King of France hath, upon several occasions, shew'd himself dissatisfied with this State, which gave cause to fear and apprehend that in case the King of Great Britain should happen to compass his Aim within his Kingdom, and obtain an absolute Power over his People, that then both Kings, out of Interest of State, and Hatred and Zeal against the Protestant Religion, would endeavour to bring this State to Confusion, and if possible, quite to subject it, have resolved to commend His Highness in his undertaking of the above said Designs, and to grant to him for his Assistance, some Ships and Militia, as Auxiliaries; that in pursuance thereof, His Highness hath declared to their Highnesses, that he is resolved, with God's Grace and Favour, to go over into England, not with the least insight or intention to invade or subdue that Kingdom, or to remove the King from his Throne, much less to make himself Master [Page] thereof, or to invert or prejudice the Lawful Succession, as also not to drive thence, or persecute the Roman Catholicks, but only and solely to help that Nation in re-establishing the Laws and Priviledges that have been broken, as also in maintaining their Religion and Liberty; and to that end, to further and bring it about, that a free and lawful Parliament may be call'd in such manner, and of such Persons, as are regulated and qualified by the Laws and Form of that Government; and that the said Parliament may deliberate upon, and establish all such Matters as shall be judged necessary to assure and secure the Lords, the Clergy, Gentry, and People, that their Rights, Laws and Priviledges, shall be no more violated or broken, that their High and Mightinesses hope and trust, that with God's Blessing, the Repose and Unity of that Kingdom shall be re-established, and the same be thereby brought into a Condition to be able, powerfully to concur to the common benefit of Christendom, and to the restoring and maintaining of Peace and Tranquillity in Europe. That Copies hereof be delivered to all their Foreign Ministers residing here, to be used by them as they shall see occasion.

The P.O's Letter to the English Army.

Gentlemen and Friends,

VVE have given you so full, and so true an Account of our Intentions, in this Expedition in our Declaration, that as we can add nothing to it, so we are sure you can desire nothing more of us. We are come to preserve your Religion, and to restore and establish your Liberties and Properties; and therefore we cannot suffer our selves to doubt but that all true English-Men will come and concur with us, in our desire to secure these Nations from POPERY and SLAVERY. You must all plainly see, that you are only made use of as Instruments to enslave the Nation, and ruine the Protestant Religion, and when that is done, you may judg [Page] what ye your selves ought to expect, both from the cashiering of all the Protestant and English Officers and Souldiers in Ireland, and by the Irish Souldiers being brought over to be put in your places; and of which you have seen so fresh an Instance, that we need not put you in mind of it. You know how many of your fellow-Officers have been used for their standing firm to the Protestant Religion, and to the Laws of England, and you cannot flatter your selves so far as to expect to be better used, if those who have broke their word so often, should by your means be brought cut of those Straits to which they are reduced at present. We hope likewise, that you will not suffer your selves to be abused by a false Notion of Honour, but that you will in the first place consider, what you owe to Almighty God and your Religion, to your Country, to your Selves, and to your Posterity, which you, as Men of Honour, ought to prefer to all private Considerations and Engagements whatsoever. We do therefore expect, that you will consider the Honour that is now set before you, of being the Instruments of serving your Country, and securing your Religion, and we will ever remember the Service you shall do Us upon this Occasion, and will promise unto you, that We shall place such particular Marks of our Favour on every one of you, as your Behaviour at this time shall deserve of Us, and the Nation; in which we will make a great Distinction of those that shall come seasonably to joyn their Arms with Ours, and you shall find us to be

Your Well-wishing, and Assured Friend, W. H. P. O.

[Page]

An Account of a wicked Design of Poysoning the PRINCE of Orange before he came out of Holland. ALSO A Relation from the City of Orange of a strange METEOR, representing a Crown of Light, that was there seen in the Air, May the 6th, 1688.

In a Letter from a Gentleman in Amsterdam, to his Friend in London, Octob. 1. 1688.

SIR,

THE two inclosed Relations are sent me from an Eminent Divine, now at the Hague, you will do well to make them publick: The poysoning Business I doubt not but was contriv'd by a sort of Men that in all Ages stick at nothing to carry on their Bloody Religion.

[Page]

An Account of a Design of Poisoning the PRINCE of ORANGE.

THere is a Man of Lunenburg Wolfenbuttel, who being fallen in Debt in Amsterdam, upon his Father's Death, his Brother taking no Care of him, was put in Prison and brought extream low; yet he was brought out by the means of a Friend: And soon after a Man who pretended to know him, and to have seen him before, (though the German believes he never saw him) seem'd to take pitty on him, seeing him in a Coffee-House, and gave him a Ducatoon, and promised he should never want; so he entred into a great familiarity with him, but would never let him know where he lodged, only he gave him Appointments in Coffee-Houses, and Taverns, and fed him from time to time with Mony: At last, after some weeks, he drew him into a secret Walk in the Grounds that are not yet built, and ask'd him if he had a Heart to do a bold Thing? The German said he had, if it were not such a Thing as might bring him to a Scaffold. The other said, There was no Danger, only it would require a little hardiness. Then he ask'd an Oath of the German, That he would either do that which he was to propose to him, or presently go out of the Country. The German said, He could not go out of the Country, for he had no Mony: And then he gave him eight Ducats in Gold, and then he he swore the Oath: So the other proposed to him the poysoning the Prince of Orange: that startled him, but apprehending he should be killed if he refused it, he undertook it. The other told him, That in the last Age Men had tried Stabbing or Shooting, but these were dangerous Things, Poisoning was a safe and sure way: He added, That he should have 3000 Pistols in hand, and a Fortune besides. The German ask'd, From whom? The other, who called himself Corne, and spoke [Page] French like a Stranger, but the German cannot judg what Nation he was of; the other, I say, said to him, That if he had the Mony, he was not concern'd to know from whence it came. In short, he made a Proposition to the German, giving him a Quill with a Water in it, carefully stop'd, and told him, that he (the German) lodged in the House of an inconsiderable Man, of whom no regard would be had; and if he would cut the Quill, so that one drop of the Liquor fell into any thing that his Landlord was to drink, he would be certainly dead before to Morrow; and if he would begin with him, one should come to him to such a place to Morrow, having a white Feather in his Hat, who should deliver him 1500 Pistols, and instruct him how to manage the Poisoning the Prince, which he should find would be easy and safe; then upon his going on he should have the rest of the Mony. The German went Home, but was struck with Horror, and so resolved to keep that part of his Oath of going out of the Country; yet he shew'd another his Gold, and told him of his going Home: But from Osnaburgh he writ to one about the Prince; this happned in the beginning of March last. So he was desired to come back, which he did, and the Matter being brought into the Court of Holland, upon an Oath of Secresy, Mr. Halewyn Deputy of Dort, and another, were sent with him to Amsterdam; they found many collatoral Confirmations of part of his Story; but no such Man could be seen in all the Places where he had met with him formerly; the German came to the Hague, and being in the Fair, seeing one of the Shews, and a Dane with him▪ as they came out in a huge Crowd, the German complain'd that one struck him on the Breast with a Battoon: But this was not minded till they were quite out, and he found one had struck at him, as it seems, with a Stilletto under the left Pap, his Cloak and Coat were cut, and the Wound proved but a slight Scratch: the Quill with the Poison in it sealed, is in the Court. It seems, a German was thought a fit Tool, being of a Nation that would not be easily suspected; and the putting it on a Lutheran would have been thought a Master-piece. I give you this Account, which I will Answer for, to satisfy some of your Friends, both Here and in England, who will perhaps desire to know the Certainty of this Matter.

[Page]

A Relation from the City of Orange, of a Crown of LIGHT that was there seen in the Air, the 6th of May, 1688.

ON the 6th of May, 1665, when his Royal Highness, the Prince of Orange, took Possession of that Principality, and whilst his Deputy Mr. Ziulechem was taking the Oath of Allegiance of all the People in the Prince's Name; which was done in the Fields, in the Enclosure of the old Roman Cirque that yet remains; over the Chair of State that was set there for the Prince, a Crown of Light appear'd in the Air, and hover'd over the Chair above an hour: And now this Year, 1688, the same day of the Month, in the same place, the like Crown appear'd and continued there three Hours, all the People of Orange looking on; all the difference between this Years Crown, and that of 1665, being, that this had an Edg of Red about it.

This is written from Orange by an Old Professor of Physick, that is past sixty, and not apt to take Things upon Trust; he writes, that he himself, as well as all the Town, look'd on it for above two Hours with great admiration of that strange Meteor.

An Account of that strange Meteor in 1665, is relat [...]d by Aitrema in his 5th Tome, fol. 595. well attested, and he is a good Author.

[Page]

Lord Del—r's Speech.

THE occasion of this, is to give you my Thoughts upon the present Conjuncture, which concerns not only you, but every Protestant, and Free-born Man of England, I am confident, that wishes well to the Protestant Religion and his Country; and I am perswaded, that every Man of you thinks both in danger, and now to lie at stake. I am also perswaded, that every Man of you will rejoice to see Religion and Property settled; if so, then I am not mistaken in my Conjectures concerning you. Can you everhope for a better Occasion to root out POPERY and SLAVERY, than by joining with the P. of O. whose Proposals contain and speak the Desires of every Man that loves his Religion and Liberty? And in saying this, I will invite you to nothing but what I will do my self; and I will not desire any of you to go any further than I will move my self; neither will I put you upon any Danger where I will not take share in it. I propose this to you, not as you are my Tenants, but as my Friends, and as you are Englishmen. No Man can love fighting for its own sake, nor find any Pleasure in Danger. And you may imagine, I would be very glad to spend the rest of my Days in Peace, I having had so great a share in Troubles; but I see all lies at Stake, I am to chuse whether I will be a Slave and a Papist, or a Protestant and a Freeman; and therefore the Case being thus, I shall think my self false to my Country, if I sit still at this time. I am of Opinion, that when the Nation is deliver'd, it must be by Force or by Miracle: It would be too great a presumption to expect the latter, and therefore our Deliverance must be by Force, and I hope this is the Time for it; a Price is now put into our Hands, and if it miscarry for want of Assistance, our Blood is upon our own Heads; and he that is passive at this [Page] Time, may very well expect that God will mock when the Fear of Affliction comes upon him, which he thought to avoid by being indifferent.

If the K. prevails, farewel Liberty of Conscience, which has hitherto been allowed, not for the sake of the Protestants, but in order to settle Popery. You may see what to expect if he get the better; and he hath lately given you, of this Town, a taste of the Method whereby he will maintain his Army. And you may see of what sort of People he intends his Army to consist; and if you have not a mind to serve such Masters, then stand not by and see your Country-men perish, when they are endeavouring to defend you.

I promise this on my Word and Honour, to every Tenant that goes along with me, That if he fall, I will make his Lease as good to his Family, as it was when he went from home. The thing then which I desire, and your Country does expect from you, is this, That every Man that hath a tollerable Horse, or can procure one, will meet me on Boden-Downs to morrow where I Randezvouz: But if any of you is rendred unable by reason of Age, or any other just Excuse, then that he would mount a fitter Person, and put five Pounds in his Pocket. Those that have not, nor cannot procure Horse, let them stay at home and assist with their Purses, and send it to me with a particular of every Man's Contribution. I impose on no Man, but let him lay his Hand on his Heart, and consider what he is willing to give to recover his Religion and Liberty; and to such I promise, and to all that go along with me, that if we prevail, I will be as industrious to have him recompenced for his Charge and Hazard, as I will be to seek it for my self. This Advice I give to all that stay behind, That when you hear the Papists have committed any Out-rage, or any Rising, that you will get together; for it is better to meet your Danger than expect it. I have no more to say, but that I am willing to lose my Life in the Cause, if God see it good, for I was never unwilling to die for my Religion and Country.

[Page]

Prince GEORGE'S LETTER TO THE KING.

SIR,

WIth a Heart full of Grief am I forced to write, that Prudence will not permit me to say to your Face. And may I e'er find Credit with your Majesty, and Protection from Heaven, as what I now do, is free from Passion, Vanity or Design, with which Actions of this Nature are too often accompanied. I am not ignorant of the frequent Mischiefs wrought in the World by factious Pretences of Religion; but were not Religion the most justifiable Cause, it would not be made the most specious Pretence. And your Majesty has always shewn too uninterested a Sense of Religion, to doubt the just Effects of it in one whose Practices have, I hope, never given the World cause to censure his real Conviction of it, or his backwardness to perform what his Honour and Conscience prompt him to: How then can I longer disguise my just Concern for that Religion in which I have been so happily educated, which my Judgment throughly convinces me to be the best; and for the Support of which I am so highly interested in my Native Country? and is not England now by the most endearing Tie become so?

[Page]Whilst the restless Spirits of the Enemies of the REFORMED RELIGION, back'd by the cruel Zeal and prevailing Power of France, justly alarm and unite all the Protestant Princes of Christendom, and engage them in so vast an Expence for the support of it, can I act so degenerous and mean a part, as to deny my Concurrence to such worthy Endeavours for disabusing of your Majesty by the Reinforcement of those Laws, and Establishment of that Government, on which alone depends the well-being of your Majesty, and of the PROTESTANT RELIGION in Europe. This, Sir, is that irresistable and only Cause that cou'd come in Competition with my Duty and Obligations to your Majesty, and be able to tear me from you, whilst the same Affectionate Desire of serving you continues in me. Could I secure your Person by the Hazard of my Life; I should think it could not be better emploied: And wou'd to God these your distracted Kingdoms might yet receive that satisfactory Compliance from your Majesty in all their justifiable Pretensions, as might upon the only sure Foundation, that of the Love and Interest of your Subjects, establish your Government, and as strongly unite the Hearts of all your Subjects to You, as is that of,

SIR,

Your Majesty's most Humble, and most Obedient Son and Servant.

[Page]

The Lord CHURCHIL'S LETTER to the KING.

SIR,

SInce Men are seldom suspected of Sincerity, when they act contrary to their Interests; and though my dutiful Behaviour to your Majesty in the worst of Times, (for which I acknowledg my poor Services much over-paid) may not be sufficient to incline You to a charitable Interpretation of my Actions, yet I hope, the great Advantage I enjoy under Your Majesty, which I can never expect in any other Change of Government, may reasonably convince Your Majesty and the World, that I am acted by a higher Principle, when I offer that violence to my Inclination and Interest, as to desert Your Majesty at a time when your Affairs seem to challenge the strictest Obedience from all Your Subjects, much more from one who lies under the greatest personal Obligations imaginable to Your Majesty. This Sir, could proceed from nothing but the inviolable Dictates of my CONSCIENCE, and a necessary concern for my RELIGION (which no good Man can oppose) and with which I am instructed nothing ought to come in Competition; Heaven knows with what partiality my dutiful Opinion of Your Majesty hath hitherto represented those unhappy Designs, which inconsiderate and self-interested Men have framed against Your Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion. But as I can no longer joyn with such to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect, so will I always with the hazard of my Life and Fortune (so much Your Majesty's due) endeavour to preserve Your Royal Person and Lawful Rights, with all the tender Concern and dutiful Respect that becomes,

SIR,

Your Majesty's most dutiful and most obliged Subject and Servant.

[Page]

The Princess ANNE of Denmark's LETTER to the QVEEN.

MADAM,

I Beg your pardon if I am so deeply affected with the surprising News of the Princes being gone, as not to be able to see You, but to leave this Paper to Express my humble Duty to the King and your Self; and to let You know that I am gone to absent my self to avoid the King's Displeasure, which I am not able to bear, either against the Prince or my self: and I shall stay at so great a distance, as not to return before I hear the happy News of a Reconcilement: And as I am confident the Prince did not leave the King with any other Design, than to use all possible means for his Preservation; so I hope You will do me the Justice to believe that I am uncapable of following him for any other End. Never was any one in such an unhappy Condition, so divided between Duty and Affection, to a Father, and a Husband; and therefore I know not what to do, but to follow one to preserve the other. I see the general falling off of the Nobility and Gentry, who avow to have no other End, than to prevail with the King to secure their Religion, which they saw so much in danger by the Violent Counsels of the Priests; who to promote their own Religion, did not care to what Dangers they exposed the King: I am fully perswaded that the Prince of Orange designs the King's Safety and Preservation, and hope all things may be composed without more Bloodshed, by the Calling a Parliament. God grant a happy End to these Troubles, that the King's Reign may be prosperous, and that I may shortly meet You in perfect Peace and Safety; till when, let me beg You to continue the same favourable Opinion that you have hitherto had of,

Your most Obedient Daughter and Servant, ANNE.

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A MEMORIAL OF THE Protestants of the Church of England Presented to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of ORANGE.

YOur Royal Highnesses cannot be ignorant that the Protestants of England, who continue true to their Religion, and the Government established by Law, have been many ways troubled and vexed by restless Contrivances and Designs of the Papists, under pretence of the Royal Authority, and things required of unaccountable before God and Man; Ecclesiastical Benefices and Preferments taken from them, without any other Reason but the King's Pleasure; that they have been summoned and sentenced by Ecclesiastical Commissioners, contrary to Law, deprived of their Birth-Right in the free Choice of their Magistrates and Representatives; divers Corporations dissolved; the Legal Security of our Religion and Liberty, established and ratified by King and Parliament, annull'd and overthrown by a pretended Dispensing Power; new and unheard-of Maxims have been preached, as if Subjects had no Right but what depends on the King's Will and Pleasure. The Militia put into the Hands of Persons not qualified by Law; and a Popish Mercenary Army maintained in the Kingdom in Time of Peace, absolutely [Page] contrary to Law: The Execution of the Law against several high Crimes and Misdemenours superceded and prohibited; the Statutes against Correspondence with the Court of Rome, Papal Jurisdiction, and Popish Priests, suspended; that in Courts of Justice those Judges are displaced who dare acquit them whom the K. would have condemned, as happened to Judg Powel and Holloway for acquitting the seven Bishop [...]: Liberty of chusing Members of Parliament (notwithstanding all the Care taken, and Provision made by Law on that behalf) wholly taken away by Quo Warranto's served against Corporations, and the three known Questions. All things carried on in open view for the Propagation and Growth of Popery; for which the Courts of England and France have so long jointly laboured with so much Application and Earnestness. Endeavours used to perswade your Royal Highnesses to consent to Liberty of Conscience and abrogating the Penal Laws and Tests, wherein they fell short of their Aim.

That they most humbly implore the Protection of your Royal Highnesses, as to the suspending and Incroachments made upon the Law for maintenance of the Protestant Religion, our Civil and Fundamental Rights and Priviledges; and that your Royal Highnesses would be pleased to insist, that the Free Parliament of England, according to Law, may be restored, the Laws against Papists, Priests, Papal Jurisdiction, &c. put in Execution, and the Suspending and Dispensing Power declared null and void; the Rights and Priviledges of the City of London, the free Choice of their Magistrates, and the Liberties as well of that as other Corporations restored, and all things returned to their ancient Channel, &c.

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THE PRINCE of ORANGE HIS DECLARATION of Novemb. 28. 1688.

WE have in the course of our whole Life, and more particularly by the apparent Hazards both by Sea and Land, to which We have so lately exposed our Person, given to the whole World so high and undoubted Proofs of our fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion, that we are fully confident no true English-man, and good Protestant, can entertain the least Suspicion of our firm Resolution, rather to spend our dearest Blood, and perish in the Attempt, than not carry on the blessed and glo [...]ious. Design, which by the Favour of Heaven we have so successfully begun, to rescue England, Scotland, and Ireland from Slavery and Popery, and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion, the Laws and the Liberties of those Kingdoms, upon such a sure and lasting Foundation, that it shall not be in the Power of any Prince for the future to introduce Popery and Tyranny.

Towards the more easy Composing this great Design, We have not been hitherto deceived in the just Expectation we had of the Concurrence of the Nobility, Gentry, and People of England with Us, for the Security of their Religion, the Restitution of the Laws, and Re-establishment of their Liberties and Properties: Great Numbers of all Ranks and Qualities having joined themselves to us; and others at great Distances from Us, have taken up Arms and declared for Us. And, [Page] which we cannot but particular mention, in that Army which was raised to be the Instrument of Slavery and Popery, many (by the special Providence of God) both Officers and Common Souldiers, have been touched with such a feeling Sense of Religion and Honour, and of true Affection for their Native Country, that they have already deserted the Illegal Service they were ingaged in, and have come over to Us; and have given Us full Assurance, from the rest of the Army, that they will certainly follow this Example, as soon as with our Army we shall approach near enough to receive them, without the Hazard of being prevented and betray'd. To which End, and that We may the sooner execute this just and necessary Design We are ingaged in for the Publick Safety and Deliverance of these Nations, We are resolved, with all possible Diligence, to advance forward, that a Free Parliament may be forthwith called, and such Preliminaries adjusted with the King, and all Things first settled upon such a Foot according to Law, as may give Us and the whole Nation just Reason to believe the King is disposed to make such necessary Condescentions on his part, as will give intire Satisfaction and Security to all, and make both King and People once more Happy.

And that we may effect all this, in the way most agreeable to our Desires, if it be possible, without the Effusion of any Blood, except of those execrable Crimin [...]als who have justly forfeited their Lives for betraying the Religion, and Subverting the Laws of their Native Country, We do think fit to declare, that as we will offer no Violence to any but in our own Necessary Defence; so we will not suffer any Injury to be done to the Person even of a Papist, provided he be found in such Place, and in such Condition and Circumstances as the Laws require. So we are resolved and do declare that all Papists, who shall be found in open Arms, or with Arms in their Houses, or about their Persons, or in any Office or Imployment Civil or Military, upon any Pretence whatsoever, contrary to the known Laws of the Land, shall be treated by Us and our Forces not as Souldiers and Gentlemen, but as Robbers, Free-Booters and Banditti; they shall be incapable of Quarter, and intirely delivered up to the Discretion of our Souldiers. And We do further declare that all Persons who shall be found any ways aiding and assisting to them, or shall march under [Page] their Command, or shall joyn with or submit to them in the Discharge or Execution of their Illegal Commissions or Authority, shall be looked upon as Partakers of their Crimes, Enemies to the Laws, and to their Country.

And whereas we are certainly informed that great Numbers of Armed Papists have of late resorted to London and Westminister, and parts adjacent, where they remain, as we have reason to suspect, not so much for their own Security, as out of a wicked and barbarous Design to make some desperate Attempt upon the said Cities, and their Inhabitants, by Fire, or a sudden Massacre, or both; or else to be the more ready to joyn themselves to a Body of French Troops, designed, if it be possible, to land in England, procured of the French King, by the Interest and Power of the Jesuits in Pursuance of the Engagements, which at the Instigation of that pestilent Society, his most Christian Majesty, with one of his Neighbouring Princes of the same Communion, has entred into for the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of Europe. Though we hope we have taken such effectual care to prevent the one, and secure the other, that by God's Assistance, we cannot doubt but we shall defeat all their wicked Enterprises and Designs.

We cannot however forbear, out of the great and tender Concern we have to preserve the People of England, and particularly those great and populous Cities, from the cruel Rage and bloody Revenge of the Papists, to require and expect from all the Lord-Lieutenants, Deputy-Lieutenants, and Justices of Peace, Lord-Mayors, Mayors, Sheriffs, and all other Magistrates, and Officers Civil and Military, of all Counties, Cities Towns of England, especially of the County of Middlesex, and Cities of London and Westminster, and Parts adjacent, that they do immediately Disarm and Secure, as by Law they may and ought, within their respective Counties, Cities, and Jurisdictions, all Papists whatsoever, as Persons at all Times, but now especially most dangerous to the Peace and Safety of the Government, that so not only all Power of doing Mischief may be taken from them, but that the Laws, which are the greatest and best Security, may resume their Force, and be strictly Executed.

[Page]And We do hereby likewise declare, that We will Protect and Defend all those who shall not be afraid to do their Duty in Obedience to these Laws. And that for those Magistrates and others, of what condition soever they be, who shall refuse to assist Us, and in Obedience to the Laws, to Execute vigorously what We have required of them, and suffer themselves at this Juncture to be cajoled or terrified out of their Duty, We will esteem them the most Criminal and Infamous of all Men, Betrayers of their Religion, the Laws, and their Native Country, and shall not fail to treat them accordingly; resolving to expect and require at their Hands the Life of every single Protestant that shall perish, and every House that shall be burnt or destroyed by their Treachery and Cowardise.

William Henry, Prince of Orange. By his Highness special Command, C. HUYGENS.

Given under our Hand and Seal, at our Headquarters at Sherburn-Castle, the 28th day of November, 1688.

FINIS.

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A SECOND Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. An Enquiry into the Measures of Submission to the Supreme Authority; and of the Grounds on which it may be lawful or necessary for Subjects to defend their Religion, Lives, and Liberties.

II. An Answer to a Paper, intituled, Reflections on the Prince of Orange's Declaration.

III. Admiral Herbert's Letter to all Commanders of Ships and Seamen in his Majesty's Fleet.

IV. An Engagement of the Noblemen, Knights and Gentlemen at Exeter, to assist the Prince of Orange in the Defence of the Protestant Religion, Laws and Liberties of the People of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

V. The Declaration of the Nobility, Gentry, and Commonalty at the Rendezvous at Nottingham, Novemb. 22. 1688.

VI. The Duke of Norfolk's Speech to the Mayor of Norwich on the first of December instant, in the Market-place of Norwich.

VII. The Address of the Lord Dartmouth, and the Commanders of his Majesty's Fleet, giving his Majesty hearty Thanks for calling a Parliament to settle the Realm both in Church and State.

Printed in the Year, 1688.

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AN ENQUIRY Into the Measures of SUBMISSION TO THE SUPREAM AUTHORITY: And of the Grounds upon which it may be lawful or necessary for Subjects to defend their Religion, Lives, and Liberties.

THis Enquiry cannot be regularly made, but by taking in the first place, a true and full view of the nature of Civil Society, and more particularly of the nature of Supream Power, whether it is lodged in one or more Persons?

1. It is certain, That the Law of Nature has put no difference nor subordination among Men, except it be that of Children to Parents, or of Wives to their Husbands; so that with Relation to the Law of Nature, all Men are born free: and this Liberty must still be supposed entire, unless so far as it is limited by Contracts, Provisions and Laws. For a Man can either bind himself to be a Servant, or sell himself to be a Slave, by which he becomes in the power of another, only so far as it was provided by the Contract: since all that Liberty which was not expresly given away, remains still entire: so that the [Page] Plea for Liberty always proves it self, unless it appears that it is given up or limited by any special Agreement.

II. It is no less certain, that as the Light of Nature has planted in all Men a Natural Ptinciple of the Love of Life, and of a desire to preserve it; so the common Principles of all Religion agree in this, that God having set us in this World, we are bound to preserve that Being, which he has given us, by all just and lawful ways. Now this Duty of Self-preservation is exerted in Instances of two sorts; the one are, in the resisting of violent Aggressors; the other are the taking of just Revenges of those, who have invaded us so secretly, that we could not prevent them, and so violently that we could not resist them: In which cases the Principle of self-Preservation warrants us, both to recover what is our own, with just Damages, and also to put such unjust Persons out of a Capacity of doing the like Injuries any more, either to our selves, or to any others. Now in these Instances of Self-Preservation, this difference is to be observed; that the first cannot be limited by any slow Forms, since a pressing Danger requires a vigorous Repulse, and cannot admit of Delays; whereas the second, of taking Revenges, or Reparations, is not of such haste, but that it may be brought under Rules and Forms.

III. The true and Original Notion of Civil Society and Government, is, that it is a Compromise made by such a Body of Men, by which they resign up the Right of demanding Reparations, either in the way of Justice against one another, or in the way of War, against their Neighbours; to such a single Person, or to such a Body of Men as they think fit to trust with this. And in the management of this Civil Society, great distinctions is to be made, between the Power of making Laws for the regulating the Conduct of it, and the Power of executing those Laws: The Supream Authority must still be supposed to be lodged with those who have the Legislative Power reserved to them, but not with those who have only the Executive; which is plainly a Trust, when it is separated from the Legislative Power; and all Trusts, by their nature import, that those to whom they are given, are accountable, even though that it should: not be expresly specified in the words of the Trust it self.

[Page]IV. It cannot be supposed, by the Principles of Natural Religion, that God has authorised any one Form of Government, any other way than as the general Rules of Order, and of Justice, oblige all Men not to subvert Constitutions, nor disturb the Peace of Mankind, or invade those Rights with which the Law may have vested some Persons: for it is certain, that as private Contracts lodg or translate private Rights; so the Publick Laws can likewise lodg such Rights, Prerogatives and Revenues in those under whose Protection they put themselves, and in such a manner, that they may come to have as good a Title to these, as any private Person can have to his Property: so that it becomes an Act of high Injustice and Violence to invade these: which is so far a greater Sin than any such Actions would be against a private Person, as the publick Peace and Order is preferrable to all private Considerations whatsoever. So that in Truth, the Principles of Natural Religion, give those that are in Authority no Power at all, but they do only secure them in the Possession of that which is theirs by Law. And as no Considerations of Religion can bind me to pay another more than I indeed owe him, but do only bind me more strictly to pay what I owe; so the Considerations of Religion do indeed bring Subjects under stricter Obligations to pay all due Allegiance and Submission to their Princes, but they do not at all extend that Allegiance further than the Law carries it. And though a Man has no Divine Right to his Property, but has acquired it by human means, such as Succession, or Industry, yet he has a Security for the Enjoyment of it, from a Divine Right; so tho Princes have no immediate Warrants from Heaven, either for their Original Titles, or for the extent of them, yet they are secured in the Possession of them by the Principles and Rules of Natural Religion.

V. It is to be considered, that as a private Person can bind himself to another Man's Service, by different degrees, either as an ordinary Servant for Wages, or as one appropriate for a longer time, as an Apprentice; or by a total giving himself up to another, as in the case of Slavery: in all which cases the general Name of Master may be equally used, yet the degrees of his Power, are to be judged by the nature of the Contract: so likewise Bodies of Men can give themselves up in [Page] different degrees to the Conduct of others: and therefore though all those may carry the same Name of King, yet every ones Power is to be taken from the measures of that Authority which is lodged in him, and not from any general Speculations founded on some Equivocal Terms, such as King, Sovereign, or Supream.

VI. It is certain, that God, as the Creator and Governour of the World, may set up whom he will to rule over other Men: But this Declaration of his Will must be made evident by Prophets, or other extraordinary Men sent of him, who have some manifest proofs of the Dvine Authority that is committed to them on such occasions, and upon such Persons declaring the Will of God in favour of any others, that Declaration is to be submitted to and obeyed. But this pretence of a Divine Delegatation, can be carried no further than to those who are thus expresly marked out, and is unjustly claimed by those who can prove no such Declaration to have been ever made in favour of them or their Families. Nor does it appear reasonable to conclude from their being in Possession, that it is the Will of God that it should be so, this justifies all Usurpers when they are successful.

VII. The measures of Power, and by consequence of Obedience, must be taken from the express Laws of any State or Body of Men, from the Oaths that they swear, or from immemorial Prescription, and a long Possession, which both give a Title, and in a long Tract of Time make a bad one become good, since Prescription, when it passes the Memory of Man, and is not disputed by any other Pretender, gives by the common Sense of all Men a just and good Title: so upon the whole matter, the degrees of all Civil Authority are to be taken either from express Laws, immemorial Customs, or from particular Oaths, which the Subjects swear to their Princes: this being still to be laid down for a Principle, that in all the Disputes between Power and Liberty, Power must allways be [...]roved, but Liberty proves it self; the one being founded on [...]y upon a Positive Law, and the other upon the Law of Nature.

VIII. If from the general Principles of Human Society, and Natural Religion, we carry this matter to be examined by the Scriptures, it is clear that all the Passages that are in the Old [Page] Testament, are not to be made use of in this matter of neither side. For as the Land of Canaan was given to the Iews by an immediate Grant from Heaven; so God reser [...] still this to himself, and to the Declarations that he shoul [...] [...]ke from time to time, either by his Prophets, or by the Answers that came from the Cloud of Glory that was between the Cherubims, to set up Judges or Kings over them, and to pull them down again as he thought fit. Here was an express Delegation made by God, and therefore all that was done in that Dispensation, either for or against Princes, is not to be made use of in any other State that is founded on another Bottom and Constitution, and all the Expressions in the Old Testament relating to Kings, since they belong to Persons that were immediately designed by God, are without any sort of Reason applied to those who can pretend to no such Designation, neither for themselves nor for their Ancestors.

IX. As for the New Testament, it is plain, that there are no Rules given in it, neither for the Forms of Government in general, nor for the degrees of any one Form in particular, but the general Rules of Justice, Order and Peace, being established in it upon higher Motives, and more binding Considerations, than ever they were in any other Religion whatsoever, we are most strictly bound by it to observe the Constitution in which we are; and it is plain, that the Rules set us in the Gospel can be carried no further. It is indeed clear from the New Testament, that the Christian Religion as such, gives us no grounds to defend or propagate it by force. It is a Doctrine of the Cross, and of Faith, and Patience under it: And if by the order of Divine Providence, and of any Constitution of Government, under which we are born, we are brought under Sufferings for our professing of it, we may indeed retire and fly out of any such Country if we can; but if that is denied us, we must then, according to this Religion, submit to those Sufferings under which we may be brought, considering that God will be glorified by us in so doin [...], and that he will both support us under our Sufferings, and glo [...]iously reward us for them.

This was the State of the Christian Religion, during the three first Centuries, under Heathen Emperors, and a Constitution in which Paganism was establish'd by Law. But if by the [Page] Laws of any Government, the Christian Religion, or any Form of it, is become a part of the Subjects Property, it then falls und [...] [...]other Consideration; not as it is a Religion, but as it is become one of the principal Rights of the Subjects to believe and profess it: and then we must judg of the Invasions made on that, as we do of any other Invasion that is made on our other Rights.

X. All the Passages in the New Testament that relate to Civil Government, are to be expounded as they were truly meant, in opposition to that false Notion of the Iews, who believed themselves to be so immediately under the Divine Authority, that they could not become the Subjects of any other Power, particularly of one that was not of their Nation, or of their Religion; therefore they thought they could not be under the Roman Yoke, nor bound to pay Tribute to Cesar, but judged that they were only subject out of Fear, by reason of the force that lay on them, but not for Conscience sake: And so in all their Dispersion, both at Rome and elsewhere, they thought they were God's Freemen, and made use of this pretended Liberty as a Cloak of Maliciousness. In opposition to all which, since in a course of many Years, they had asked the Protection of the Roman Yoke, and were come under their Authority, our Saviour ordered them to continue in that, by his saying, Render to Cesar that which is Cesar's; and both St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, and St. Peter in his general Epistle, have very positively condemned that pernicious Maxim, but without any formal Declarations made of the Rules or Measures of Government. And since both the People and Senate of Rome had acknowledged the Power that Augustus had indeed violently usurped, it became Legal when it was thus submitted to, and confirmed both by the Senate and People: and it was established in his Family by a long Prescription, when those Epistles were writ: So that upon the whole Matter, all that is in the New Testament upon this Subject, imports no more, but that all Christians are bound to acquiesce in the Government, and submit to it, according to the Constitution that is setled by Law.

XI. We are then at last brought to the Constitution of our English Government: so that no general Considerations from Speculations about Sovereign Power, nor from any Passages, [Page] either of the Old and New Testament, ought to determine us in this Matter; which must be fixed from the Laws and Regulations that have been made among us. It is then certain, that with Relation to the Executive part of the Government, the Law has lodged that singly in the King; so that the whole administration of it is in him; but the Legislative Power is lodged between the King and the two Houses of Parliament; so that the Power of making and repealing Laws, is not singly in the King, but only so far as the two Houses concur with him. It is also clear, that the King has such a determined extent of Prerogative, beyond which he has no Authority: As for Instance, If he levies Mony of his People, without a Law impowring him to it, he goes beyond the Limits of his Power, and asks that to which he has no Right: So that there lies no Obligation on the Subject to grant it; and if any in his Name use Violence for the obtaining it, they are to be looked on as so many Robbers, that invade our Property; and they being violent Aggressors, the Principle of Self-Pres [...]rvation seems here to take place, and to warrant as violent a Resistance.

XII. There is nothing more evident, than that England is a Free Nation, that has its Liberties and Properties reserved to it, by many positive and express Laws: If then we have a Right to our Property, we must likewise be supposed to have a Right to preserve it: for those Rights are by the Law secured aginst the Invasions of the Prerogative, and by consequence we must have a Right to preserve them against those Invasions. It is also evidently declared by our Law, that all Orders and Warrants that are issued out in opposition to them, are null of themselves; and by consequence, any that pretend to have Commissions from the King for those Ends, are to be considered as if they had none at all; since those Commissions being void of themselves, are indeed no Commissions in the Construction of the Law; and therefore those who act in vertue of them, are still to be considered as private Persons who come to invade and disturb us. It is also to be observed, that there are some Points that are justly disputable and doubtful, and others that are so manifest, that it is plain that any Objections that can be made to them, are rather forced Pretences, than so much as plausible Colours. It is true, if the Case is doubtful, the Interest of the publick Peace and Order ought to carry it; [Page] but the Case is quite different, when the Invasions that are made upon Liberty and Property, are plain and visible to all that consider them.

XIII. The main and great Difficulty here, is, that though our Government does indeed assert the Liberty of the Subject, yet there are many express Laws made, that lodg the Militia singly in the King, that make it plainly unlawful, upon any Pretence whatsoever, to take Arms against the King, or any Commissioned by him: And these Laws have been put in the Form of an Oath, which all that have born any Employment, either in Church or State, have sworn; and therefore those Laws for the assuring our Liberties, do indeed bind the King's Conscience, and may affect his Ministers; yet since it is a Maxime of our Law, that the King can do no wrong, these cannot be carried so far as to justify our taking Arms against him, be the Transgressions of Law ever so many and so manifest. And since this has been the constant Doctrine of the Church of England, it will be a very heavy Imputation on us, if it appears, that though we held those Opinions, as long as the Court and Crown have favoured us, yet as soon as the Court turns against us, We change our Principles.

XIV. Here is the true Difficulty of this whole Matter, and therefore it ought to be exactly considered: First, All general Words, how large soever, are still supposed to have a tacit Exception and reserve in them, if the Matter seems to require it. Children are commanded to obey their Parents in all things: Wives are declared by the Scripture, to be subject to their Husbands in all things, as the Church is unto Christ: And yet how comprehensive soever these words may seem to be, there is still a reserve to be understood in them; and though by our Form of Marriage, the Parties swear to one another till Death them do part, yet few doubt but that this Bond is dissolved by Adultery, though it is not named; for odious things ought not to be suspected, and therefore not named upon such occasions: But when they fall out, they carry still their own force with them. 2. When there seems to be a Contradiction between two Articles in the Constitution, we ought to examin which of the two is the most Evident, and the most Important, and so we ought to fix upon it, and then we must give such an accommodating sense to that which seems to contradict it, that [Page] so we may reconcile those together. Here then are two seeming Contradictions in our Constitution; The one is the Publick Liberty of the Nation; the other is the Renouncing of all Resistance, in case that were invaded. It is plain, that our Liberty is only a thing that we enjoy at the King's Discretion, and during his Pleasure, if the other against all Resistance is to be understood according to the utmost extent of the Words. Therefore since the chief Design of our whole Law, and of all the several Rules of our Constitution, is to secure and mai [...]tain our Liberty, we ought to lay that down for a Conclusion, that it is both the most plain and the most important of the two. And therefore the other Article against Resistance ought to be so softned as that it do not destroy us. 3. Since it is by a Law that Resistance is condemned, we ought to understand it in such a sense as that it does not destroy all other Laws: And therefore the intent of this Law, must only relate to the Executive Power, which is in the King, and not to the Legislative, in which we cannot suppose that our Legislators, who m [...]de that Law, intended to give up that, which we plainly see they resolved still to preserve entire, according to the Ancient Constitution. So then, the not resisting the King, can only be applied to the Executive Power, that so upon no pretence of ill Administrations in the Execution of the Law, it should be lawful to resist him; but this cannot with any reason be extended to an Invasion of the Legislative Power, or to a total Subversion of the Government. For it being plain, that the Law did not design to lodg that Power in the King, it is also plain, that it did not intend to secure him in it, in case he should set about it. 4. The Law mentioning the King, or those Commissioned by him, shews plainly, that it only designed to secure the King in the Executive Power: for the word Commission necessarily imports this, since if it is not according to Law, it is no Commission; and by Cons [...]quence, those who act in virtue of it, are not Commissionated by the King in the Sense of the Law. The King likewise imports a Prince clo [...]hed by Law with the Regal Prerogative; but if he goes to subvert the whole Foundation of the Government, he subverts that by which he himself has his Power, and by consequence he ann [...]ls his own Power; and then he [Page] ceases to be King, having endeavoured to destroy that upon which his own Authority is founded.

XV. It is acknowledged by the greatest Assertors of Monarchial Power, that in some Cases a King may fall from his Power, and in other Cases that he may fall from the Exercise of it. His Deserting his People; his going about to enslave, or sell them to any other; or a furious going about to destroy them, are in the opinion of the most Monarchial Lawyers, such Abuses, that they naturally divest those that are guilty of them, of their whole Authority. Infancy or Phrenzy do also put them under the Guardianship of others. All the Crowned Heads of Europe have, at least secretly, approved of the putting the late King of Portugal under a Guardianship, and the keeping him still a Prisoner for a few Acts of Rage, that had been fatal to a very few Persons: And even our Court gave the first countenance to it, though of all others the late King had the least reason to have done it, at least last of all, since it justified a younger Brother's supplanting the Elder; yet the Evidence of the Thing carried it even against Interest. Therefore if a King goes about to subvert the Government, and to overturn the whole Constitution, he by this must be supposed, either to fall from his Power, or at least from the Exercise of it, so far as that he ought to be put under Guardians; and according to the Case of Portugal, the next Heir falls naturally to be the Guardian.

XVI. The next Thing to be considered, is to see in Fact whether the Foundations of this Government have been struck at, and whether those Errors that have been perhaps committed, are only such Maleversations as ought to be imputed only to human Frailty, and to the Ignorance, Inadvertencies, or Passions to which all Princes may be subject, as well as other Men. But this will best appear, if we consider what are the Fundamental Points of our Government, and the chief Securities that we may have for our Liberties.

The Authority of the Law is indeed all in one word, so that if the King pretends to a Power to dispense with Laws, there is nothing left upon which the Subject can depend; and yet as if the Dispensing Power were not enough, if Laws are wholly suspended for all Time coming, this is plainly a repealing of [Page] them, when likewise the Men, in whose Hands the Administration of Justice is put by Law, such as Judges and Sheriffs, are allowed to tread all Laws under-foot, even those that infer an Incapacity on themselves if they violate them; this is such a breaking of the whole Constitution, that we can no more have the Administration of Justice, so that it is really a Dissolution of the Government; since all Trials, Sentences, and the Executions of them, are become so many unlawful Acts, that are null and void of themselves.

The next Thing in our Constitution, which secures to us our Laws and Liberties, is a Free and Lawful Parliament. Now, not to mention the breach of the Law of Triennial Parliaments, it being above three Years since we had a Session that enacted any Law; Methods have been taken, and are daily a taking, that render this impossible. Parliaments ought to be chosen with an entire Liberty, and without either Force or Preingagements: whereas if all Men are required before-hand to enter into Engagements how they will vote if they are chosen themselves, or how they will give their Voices in the Electing of others? This is plainly such a preparation to a Parliament, as would indeed make it no Parliament, but a Cabal, if one were chosen, after all that Corruption of Persons who had preingaged themselves, and after the Threating and Turning out of all Persons out of Imploiments who had refused to do it: And if there are such daily Regulations made in the Towns, that it is plain those who manage them, intend at last to put such a number of Men in the Corporations, as will certainly chuse the Persons who are recommended to them. But above all, if there are such a number of Sheriffs and Mayors made over England, by whom the Elections must be conducted and returned, who are now under an Incapacity by Law, and so are no legal Officers, and by cons [...]quence those Elections that pass under their Authority are null and void: If, I say, it is clear that things are brought to this, then the Government is dissolved, because it is impossible to have a Free and Legal Parliament in this state of things. If then both the Authority of the Law, and the Constitution of the Parliament are struck at and dissolved, here is a plain Subversion of the whole Government. But if we enter next into the particular Branches of [Page] the Government, we will find the like Disorder among them all.

The Protestant Religion, and the Church of England make a great Article of our Government, the latter being secured, not only of old by Magna Charta, but by many special Laws made of late; and there are particu [...]ar Laws made in K. Charles the First, and the late King's Time, securing them from all Commissions that the King can raise for [...]udging or Censuring them. If then in opposition to this, a Court so condemned is ercted, which proceeds to Judg and Censure the Clergy, and even to disseise them of their Free-holds, without so much as the form of a Trial, though this is the most indispensable Law of all those that secures the Property of England; and if the King pretends that he can require the Clergy to publish all his Arbitrary Declarations, and in particular one that strikes at their whole Settlement, and has ordered Process to be begun against all that disobey'd this illegal Warrant, and has treated so great a number. of the Bishops as Criminals, only for representing to him the Reasons of their not obeying him; If likewise the King is not satisfied to profess his own Religion openly, though even that is contrary to Law, but has sent Ambassadors to Rome, and received Nuncio's from thence, which is plainly Treason by Law; If likewise many Popish Churches and Chappels have been publickly opened; if several Colledges of Iesuits have been set up in divers parts of the Nation, and one of the Order has been made a Privy Counsellor, and a principal Minister of State: And if Papists, and even those who turn to that Religion, though declared Traitors by Law, are brought into all the chief Imploiments, both Military and Civil; then it is plain, That all the Rights of the Church of England, and the whole Establishment of the Protestant Religion are struck at, and design'd to be overturned; since all these Things, as they are notoriously illegal, so they evidently demonstrate, That the great Design of them all, is the rooting out of this Pestilent Heresy, in their stile, I mean, the Protestant Religion.

In the next place, If in the whole course of Justice, it is visible that there is a constant practising upon the Judges, that they are t [...]rned out upon their varying from the Intentions of [Page] the Court; and if Men of no Reputation nor Abilities are [...]ut in their places; If an Army is kept up in time of Peace, [...]d Men who withdraw from that illegal Service, are hanged up as Criminals, without any colour of Law, which, by consequence, are so many Murders; and if the Souldiery are connived at and encouraged in the most enormous Crimes, that so they may be thereby prepared to commit greater ones, and from single Rapes and Murders proceed to a Rape upon all our Liberties, and a Destruction of the Nation: If, I say, all these things are true in Fact; then it is plain, that there is such a Dissolution of the Government made, that there is not any one part of it left sound and entire: And if all these things are done now, it is easie to imagine what may be expected, when Arbitrary Power, that spares no Man, and Popery that spares no Heretick, are finally established: Then we may look for nothing but Gabelles, Tailles, Impositions, Benevolences, and all sorts of Illegal Taxes; as from the other we may expect Burnings, Massacres, and Inquisitions. In what is doing in Scotland we may gather what is to be expected in England; where if the King has over and over again declared, that he is vested with an Absolute Power, to which all are bound to obey without reserve, and has upon that annulled almost all the Acts of Pa [...]liament that passed in K. Iames I. Minority, though they were ratified by himself when he came to be of Age, and were confirmed by all the subsequent Kings, not excepting the present. We must then conclude from thence, what is resolved on here in England, and what will be put in Execution as soon as it is thought that the Times can bear it. When likewise the whole Settlement of Ireland is shaken, and the Army that was raised, and is maintained by Taxes that were given for an Army of English Protestants, to secure them from a new Massacre by the Irish Papists, is now all filled with Irish Papists, as well as almost all the other Imployments; it is plain, that not only all the British Protestants inhabiting that Island, are in daily danger of being butchered a second time, but that the Crown of England is in danger of losing that Island, it being now put wholly into the Hands and Power of the Native Irish ▪ who as they formerly offered themselves up sometimes to the Crown of Spain, sometimes to the Pope, and once [Page] to the Duke of Lorrain, so are they perhaps at this present treating with another Court for the Sale and Surrender of the Island, and for the Massacre of the English in it.

If thus all the several Branches of our Constitution are dissolved, it might be at least expected that one [...] should be left entire, and that is the Regal Dignity: But [...]cer [...]ng the Birth of the supposed Prince of Wales, no Proofs [...]re ever given either to the Princess of Denmark, or to any oth [...] Protestant Ladies, in whom we ought to repose any Con [...]ce that the Queen was ever with Child; that whole Matter b [...]g managed with so much Mysteriousness, that there were violent and publick Suspicions of it before. But the whole Contrivance of the Birth, the sending away the Princess of Denmark, the sudden shortning of the Reckoning, the Queen's sudden going to St. Iames's, her no less sudden pretended Delivery; the hurrying the Child into another Room without shewing it to those present, and without their hearing it cry; and the mysterious Conduct of all since that time; no Satisfaction being given to the Princess of Denmark upon her Return from the Bath, nor to any other Protestant Ladies, of the Queen's having been really brought to Bed. These are all such evident Indications of an Imposture in this Matter, that as the Nation has the justest Reason in the World to doubt of it, so they have all possible Reason to be at no quiet till they see a Legal and Free Parliament assembled, which may impartially, and without either Fear or Corruption, examine that whole Matter.

If all these Matters are true in Fact, then I suppose no Man will doubt, that the whole Foundations of this Government, and all the most sacred Parts of it, are overturned. And as to the Truth of all these Suppositions, that is left to every Englishman's Judgment and Sense.

[Page]

An ANSWER to a PAPER, intituled, Reflections on the Prince of ORANGE's Declaration.

IT seems a strange piece of Arrogance that any Man should reflect on a Declaration, because it does not begin as he would have it; that is, with a Manifestation of our Clandestine League with France, whereby an Army of Frenchmen, together with our Papists, Irish, and other Mercenaries, might establish Popery in England. The Reflector ought to have consider'd, that a Clandestine League, tho' it may be very notorious to its Existence and Effects, may likewise be very difficult to prove, according to the meaning of the word Clandestine. But that there is such a one, we have the Testimony of the King of France, in a Memorial delivered to the States of Holland; and though it has been since disowned by our Court, and Mr. Skelton upon it committed to the Tower; his short Confinement, and sudden Advancement to a Regiment, shews that his Disgrace was but a trick of State: It is also an inconsequential way of Arguing, that because the Prince does not begin his Declaration with it, therefore there is no such League, things of that high consequence being easier and better carried on by secret Messages, than Writings under Hand and Seal.

2. In his second Reflection, he tells us the Prince had needed less Apology, if he had pretended only to have come to deliver the King from Evil Counsellours, and to ingage him further in the Interest of Europe; forgetting the Prince does declare to us he comes for that end, tho' not singly, and brought over his Army to secure him from the Rage and Fury of those Evil Counsellours. His next Quarrel is, that the Prince uses the Stile, Of We and Vs within His Majesties Dominions; a [Page] thing, I believe, ordinary enough in Great Princes, when they speak, or write to their Inferiours. The Prince of Orange is General of a great & numerous Army, Admiral of a vast Fleet, State-holder to a High and Mighty Common-wealth, and consequently, too great to speak in the Stile of a Private Person; so that Rewarding, Punishing, Commanding, Advancing, may very naturally fall within his Power. Nor is it any Crime to endeavour the calling of a Free Parliament, and settling the Nation, tho by ways and methods unusual in our days, nothing being more frequent in our Histories, than for our Barons, with Arms in their Hands, to compel their Kings to call and hearken to their Parliaments: But now there being a standing Army of fourty thousand Mercenaries in the Land, it was grown a Crime to petition for a Parliament, and a Folly to expect a free one, new Charters and Corporations, and a general Nomination of incompetent Magistrates, having taken the Election of Members for Parliament out of those Hands, the Laws of the Land, and Memorial Custom, had intrusted with them. According to the new Scheme designed by those Upstart and Popish Counsellours, no Man was to Elect, or be Elected for Parliament, that would not ingage, as far as in them lay, to take away the Penal Laws and Test; nay, those wicked Counsellors prevailed yet farther upon his Majesty; and he that pardoned so many of his Enemies, was not suffered to forgive his best Friends, and most Loyal Subjects a Refusal or Excuse in that particular.

That the Prince will send back his Army, seems to some a strong presumption that he will not stay behind, since even our own lawful King thinks himself not safe without an Army of Mercenaries in his own Kingdom. From a strain'd Phrase or two, Of We and Vs, Require and Command, sometimes used in his Declaration, to infer, That the Prince of Orange intends to make himself King of England, seems to all rational Men a very captious and unsatisfactory way of arguing, and a very unjust Calumny cast upon so great a Prince, since more than once in express terms, he declares he has no design upon his Majesty's Crown or Person, so that all that Reproach falls to the Ground.

3. In his third Reflection, he tells us the Prince wants a clear Call, and that a Son against a Father, a Nephew against [Page] and Unkle, a Neighbour against a Neighbour, cannot be such: That he is a Son-in-Law, and a Nephew to his Present Majesty, gives the Prince a fair and just pretence to interpose in our Affairs: had he been a Foreigner, as our Reflector terms him, it might have look'd like an intended Conquest; had he not been a Neighbour, it had been Impossible for him to have afforded us this seasonable Assistance. But some think, that where Attempts are made to introduce the Catholick Religion, by a Conspiracy against the Laws that secure and establish the Protestant Religion and the Test, that only can keep the Papists out of the Government: And to carry on this Conspiracy the better, the old Charters are taken away under pretence of Forfeiture and Surrender; new ones granted, such as might bring Elections within the Power of those Evil Counsellors; Papists upon the Bench, a Jesuit in the Council, and whole Troops of them in the Army: 'Twas high time for a Protestant Prince, that had so near relation to the Crown of England, to look about him, and choose rather to be censured by our Reflector, and such as he, for entering upon the Stage a little before his time, than be justly reproach'd and curs'd to the End of the World, by all such as love the Protestant Religion, and ancient Government of England, for appearing too late in their Defence. The Example of Henry the Fourth of France, may teach us how hard it is for a Protestant Prince to obtain his Right, where the Catholick Religion is predominant; nor was the new Armour of Popery he put on at last, sufficient to defend the old Protestant against the Stab of a Jesuited Novitiate.

4. His fourth Reflection acquaints us, the Protestant Religion is at once expos'd and hazarded; for if the King prevail, what can the Prince of Orange's sort of Protestants expect at his Hands, which are indeed all sorts of Protestants that I know of, for the Presbyterians, Independants, Phanaticks, Church-of-England-Men, are in his Army: 'Tis fair warning, and I hope God will give the Protestants Grace to make the right use of it: As for their changing Masters, 'tis a Chimera of his own, and utterly foreign to the Declaration he pretends to reflect upon. Lest we should forget, he remind [...] us with that admirable Demonstration of, I say, that the whole Protestant Religion is at stake; for which I heartily [Page] thank our worthy Reflector, for tho it be very true, we had not seen it in Print but for him.

5. In his fifth Reflection, he tells us that some Laws are better broken than kept, which will not be easily granted; 'tis indeed true, that some Laws were better be repealed than continued: But then they must be null'd by the same Power they were constituted, and not by any part of it in contradiction to the whole.

His instance is, That Christianity could not have been introduc'd had the Pagan Laws been executed; by which Parallel he would warrant Popery to be the true Christianity, and the Protestant the Heathen Persecutors; Laws for Idolatry cannot bind, therefore Laws against it cannot; a very strange Inference, and I allow that a Lawful Authority by exceeding their just Bounds, may act unlawfully, but the Legislative Power cannot, since all over the World the Supream Power ever was absolute, be it in one or more. He says, no Man is obliged to maintain a Religion that is not true, be it never so legally established: So that it is but saying the Protestant Religion is not true, and His Majesty, notwithstanding his repeated Ingagements, is no longer bound to protect it. For in the words of our Reflector 'tis an Absurdity and Impiety to do so.

6. The sixth thing considerable in our Reflector is, his Defence of the Dispensing Power, and the use His Majesty, seduc'd by his Evil Councellors, makes of it; which is no other than the setting aside of all our Laws made for the Security of the Protestant Religion; but sure such a Prerogative can never be legally vested in the Crown, which, if admitted, were the destruction of all Law.

Had those Evil Counsellors only prevailed with his Majesty, to have dispensed with the Penalties inflicted on Catholicks and other Dissenters, for serving of God according to their particular Consciences, though perhaps contrary to Law, the matter had never been complained of: But to put them into Places of the highest Trust, to make one Lieutenant of Ireland, another President of the Council, a third Lieutenenant General of the Tower, a fourth a Judg; imploying numbers of them in the Army, Court, &c. is a Transgression of the Law, which is certainly very dangerous, [Page] if not immediately, yet inevitable in its Consequences to the Protestant Religion and Government, and therefore a Mischief remote only (as an Egg is from a Chicken) from the worthy Reflector's Malum in se, which he acknowledges this Dispensing Power extends not to. And the particular Catholicks breaking the Law in these Points, are without Excuse: For no Man is obliged in Conscience to be a Judg, a Priest, a Minister, a Privy-Councellor, a Courtier, or a Souldier in time of Peace, contrary to the Laws of the Land. Nor do those Laws deprive the King of the Service of any of his Subjects absolutely; since all Men, if they please, may capacitate themselves for Imployment. If the High-Commission-Court be at an end, Magdalen-Colledge and the Bishop of London restored, we may in all appearance thank the Honesty and Caution of some of its worthy Members, and the Noise of what our Reflector calls the Prince of Orange's Invasion; though some will say, a Descent upon England made by a Prince of the Blood, Married to the Eldest Daughter of the present King, upon the Invitation of many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal, and of the considerable Gentry, Commonalty of all Counties, might have deserved a fairer Name. Nor ought any Man to complain if his honest Neighbour break violently into his House at a time when his Family cry out Fire or Murther; the common Obligation of Humanity, and a due care of their own Preservation, exact no less of them. But this Paper is not intended for a Vindication of the Prince, I will therefore return to my Reflector again, who undertakes for all good Protestants that they only refus'd to repeal the Test, by reason of the Security it affords to their Religion. As if they had cast off all care of their Civil Concerns, and were only intent upon Religious Affairs, so as to consent to give his Majesty a Majority of Papists in the House of Lords; by which he might have two Negative Voices upon all Laws to be offer'd: and an House of Pears ready to repeal the Habeas Corpus Bill, and such Statutes as any ways seem to incumber what Papists think his Majesties Prerogative, of which they maintain the Dispensing Power to be an Essential Part; and well they may, since it is the very Power, by which he maintains them in Places and Imployments: So that by leave of my worthy Reflector, the Considerations of Religion, tho [Page] they are the principal, are not the only Reasons, that have determined all good Protestants to a Non-concurrence with his Majesty in the Repeal of the Test.

8. In his eighth Reflection he tells us, That Chappels are places of Devotion; so are Turks Mosques, and the Iews Synagogues, yet no good Christian but would be offended to see them multiply'd and encouraged, either in his own, or his Neighbours Country.

9. In his ninth he tells us, The King was content the Test should remain. I answer, These Evil Counsellors were not content the Test should remain, but sent their Regulators and other Agents, to threaten, promise, remove and change the Magistrates in all Corporations in order to the procuring Members of Parliament, such as were to enter the House under solemn Promises, and firm Resolutions, to take off the Penal Laws and Test, notwithstanding all the weighty, nay, convincing Arguments they might meet with there to the contrary: A desperate sort of Senators, and fitter for Catalines Conspiracies than an English Parliament. Nor did these Evil Counsellors cease to sollicit even Knights of the Shire, till the general Indignation their Proposals met with, together with the Noise of the Prince of Orange's Preparations, frightned them from a further prosecution of their enormous Attempts. He ingenuously confesses the seizing of Charters to have been a fault, so there is no Contest between us on that Point; but he adds, That the Prince of Orange has nothing to do with it; now others think him highly concern'd in it; for if, according to Sir Thomas Moore, Rex Potest Iuriper Parta mentem & potest & destrui; or according to the Opinion of latter Times, a Parliament may make a Bill of Exclusion; a Prince that has so near a Relation to the Crown of England, ought not to suffer any foul play in the calling together such an Assembly as may null his Title, or preclude him of his Right to the Crown in time to come. 'Tis true, the Counsel for seizing Charters was given in the last King's Reign, and most of them then seized, but no Man can deny but some have been condemned and seized in the Reign of his present Majesty, and restored not till the Apprehension of the aforesaid Invasion; so that we are promised a Free Parliament, only because they cannot put one of their own framing upon us.

[Page]10. His tenth Paragraph needs no answer.

11. In his eleventh, he tells us there were but two Papist Judges, as if the Laws were not broken unless the Judges were all Papists; or that Judges sitting contrary to Law could give a Legal Sentence. Both these defects he supposes supplied by the Dispensing Power, a Power sufficiently baffled by those Gentlemen of the long Robe of Counsel for the Bishops, and not defended by either Judges or Counsel on the other side; for which two of the Judges, Iones and Holloway, lost their places on the Bench.

12, 13. His twelfth and thirteenth concern Ireland and Scotland, and therefore I will leave them untouch'd, to the Gentlemen of those Nations, who best understand, and are most sensible of the Oppressions they are under.

14. In his fourteenth, he pleads the Validity of the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, tho' that pretended Prerogative has been discuss'd and baffled in Parliament, within these few years, and deserted as such by His late Majesty; he affirms, that the King, as Head of the Church, might oblige the Bishops to cause the Declaration to be read in the Churches, which if they had complied with, in the Opinion of many good Protestants, they had precluded themselves of their Votes in Parliament against it; for with what Forehead could they Vote against the Declaration, when they caused it to be read in their Churches? An Act amounting to no less than maintaining, or owning, the Dispensing Power.

15. In his fifteenth, he allows the Prince and Princess of Orange, have, in terms full of respect, signified to the King their deep regret which all these things have given them, and their Thoughts abour Repealing the Test and Penal Laws as an Expedient of Peace; but blames him, it seems, for doing all this so respectfully and privately, and would rather had it done by a Manifesto, that some of the Prince's Friends might be imprisoned for delivering it, as Captain Lenham is for bringing over the Declaration. He tells us next, the King has come up almost to Fagel's Letter, which was the Declaration of their Minds, viz. The Church-of-England-Test, and Laws of Supremacy to remain; then urging the King's Concessions, which may be observ'd to bear date only from the report of the Prince's Preparations for England.

[Page]16. He tells us in his sixteenth, That the Prince thinks a Free Parliament to be the last and great Remedy for these Evils▪ but complains these Wicked Counsellors are against it, for fear of being called to Account, that they had preingaged Voices to take off the Penal Laws and the Test; and regulated Corporations and Burroughs, that so they might assure themselves of the Members of Parliament. He allows the Charge, but says, What has all this to do with the King? No Man says it has, and the Prince only requires the removal and punishment of those Evil Counsellors in a Free Parliament.

17. Next our Reflector tells, That there never was a Parliament absolutely Free, but that Drink, Mony, and other Evil Arts, have had a great sway in Elections. This is true, but no reason that we should consent to a General or Fundamental Corruption of our Elections, because we cannot avoid some few and casual Ones. Then he would have had the Prince have desired the King to have laid aside those Evil Counsellors, as if it were not Notorious, that the Princes dislike of some Men has been their ready way to Preferment in our Court; and Embassadors for Holland have been, of late, chosen out of those he has most aversion for; as if these Wicked Counsellors feared nothing so much as a good Understanding between His Majesty and the Prince of Orange.

19. In the nineteenth he tells, The Prince and Princess of Orange's Question concerning the Birth of the Prince of Wales, saying, That during the Queen's pretended Bigness, and in the manner in which the Birth was managed, there have appear'd so many just and visible grounds of Suspicion, that not only the Prince himself, but all good Subjects in England, do vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born of the Queen.

20. Next our Reflector tells us, That the Prince ought to have writ to the King for a private satisfaction in this Matter, which the King would no doubt have given in the manner that all reasonable Men do when they are examined against themselves. All Men allow the imputation of such an Imposture, to be a great Reflection on their present Majesties. But some think they have in a great measure drawn it upon themselves, by omitting to have those Witnesses by, and those Methods observed, that our Laws require to prove the Birth of a Legitimate Prince of Wales: 'Tis not perhaps enough to say, that there were as [Page] many Witnesses, and as good Proof of it as the Law exacts; still the Question returns, Why not the same Persons? a Legal Proof admits of no Equivolent.

Our Reflector will not deny, but that there has been common Fame all over Europe, that this Prince of Wales was not Born of the Body of her Majesty, and common belief of it among Protestants; this of it self were enough to make the next Heir to the Crown look about, and move every Stone that the Matter might be examined by impartial Methods in a Free Parliament, which is all that the Prince and Princess of Orange aims at; for their Proofs to the contrary, 'tis not to expected they should acquaint the World with them before the Trial.

22. In his two and twentieth Reflection on the eighteenth Paragraph, where the Prince says, He was invited to this Expedition by many Lords, both Spiritual and Temporal, and many Gentlemen, and Subjects of all Ranks: Our Reflector is pleased to tell him he is mistaken, as Monmouth was. Notwithstanding those eminent Peers, Gentry and Commonalty of all sorts that are already in his Camp, and such as are going daily, as well Souldiers as others; nor considering the great number of the Nobility that are in the Country and have not been examin'd, and that such as were examin'd here in Town, did no more than answer, Not Guilty to the Charge of High-Treason: So that there are more Nobility and Gentry with him than with his Majesty.

In his three and twentieth Reflection on the 19th and 20th Paragraph, where the Prince refers all to a free Parliament; our Reflector says it belongs not to him, to refer other Mens business; as if the Prince had no relation to the Crown: Then tells us we are already in possession of what the Prince promises us; as if the Catholicks were all out of imployment, the Dispensing power given up, no standing Army, no apprehensions of Popery and Arbitrary Power, and a Free Parliament for redressing of Grievances of all kinds in being.

24. In the twenty fourth Reflection on the three last Paragraphs of the Princes Declaration, he tells us, The Prince has a manifest design upon the-Crown, because he summons the Nobility, Gentry and People of England to his Standard: And if so, who must stay with the King? To that may be answered, All such as believe the Prince of Orange has brought this Army, and intends [Page] to make War upon England to subdue it to his meer will and pleasure, trample all Laws, both Divine and Humane, under his Fleet, dethrone his present Majesty, and make himself King; they will stay and fight for him, or at least to the best of their power, in some other manner assist and help him: On the contrary part, such as believe the Prince means nothing of all this, but brought over his Army only the better to assist the Nobility, Gentry, and People of England, upon their earnest desires, and frequent solliciations, and reiterated complaints, in the recovering of the old Legal way of choosing Members for Parliament, which by Illegal new Charters, on pretended Forfeitures, was in a ready way to be for ever lost; in rescuing all the Laws of England from the devouring Jaws of a Dispensing Power; in reducing Popery within those bounds the Law has prescribed it, which, like an Inundation, had so over-flowed its Banks, that our Religion and Government were in peril to be swallowed up by it; and finally, to redress these and all other grievances, if for these and no other ends or concerns Men think the Prince has landed here, such Men will take his part, espouse his quarrel, and contribute to his success: and in these cases every Man will judg for himself, as they did in our late Civil Wars.

Again, he charges the Prince with a design of Conquest; which not only the Prince himself disclaims throughout his Declaration, and will hereafter disown in all his Manifesto's; but the States of Holland, who have so vigorously assisted, and engaged themselves with all their Power and Credit, to maintain him in this Attempt, have assur'd us he left Holland under high and solemn Protestations to the contrary. All this is, I hope, sufficient to dash the strain'd inferences of an inconsiderable Reflector.

As for that impudent Calumny of Perjury he endeavours to fix upon the Prince, it needs no other refutation than a serious consideration of the Charge it self; his Words are, The Prince of Orange swore to the States of Holland never to be their Stateholder, tho' it were offered him, and yet is now that very Stateholder he swore never to be on any terms. Now let any reasonable Man consider, whether it be possible a Wise State should by an Oath given him, disable the Prince of Orange from being their State-holder, tho' Circumstances and times should so [Page] change, that their immediate preservation and very existence of their State should require him to accept, and execute that Office. For his personal Reflections towards the latter end, I think very Impertinent, and only fit to be buried in Contempt.

Thus having followed my tedious Reflector through his twenty four Reflections, I take my leave of him, reserving the Princes farther Vindication to some time when I shall be more at leisure to write, and people willinger to read, than they can be under the present surprize, hourly expectation, and continual anxiety, for the event of this Heroick Enterprise.

Admiral HERBERT's Letter to all Commanders of Ships and Sea-men in His Majesty's Fleet.

Gentlemen,

I Have little to add to what his Highness has express'd in general Terms, besides laying before you the dangerous Way you are at the present in, where Ruin or Infamy must inevitably attend you if you don't join with the Prince in the Common Cause, for the Defence of your Religion and Liberties; for should it please God, for the Sins of the English Nation, to suffer your Arms to prevail, to what can your Victory serve you, but to enslave you deeper, and overthrow the True Religion, in which you have liv'd, and your Fathers dy'd? Of which, I beg you, as a Friend, to consider the Consequences, and to reflect on the Blot and Infamy it will bring on you, not only now, but in all After-Ages, That by Your means the Protestant Religion was destroy'd, and your Country depriv'd of its Ancient Liberties: And if it pleases God to bless the Prince's Endeavours with Success, as I don't doubt but he will, consider then what their Condition will be that [Page] oppose him in this so good a Design, where the greatest Favour they can hope for, is, their being suffer'd to end their Days in Misery and Want, detested and despised by all good Men.

It is therefore, and for many more Reasons too long to insert here, that I, as a true English-man and your Friend, exhort you to join your Arms to the Prince for the Defence of the Common Cause, the Protestant Religion, and the Liberties of your Country. It is what I am well assured the major and best part of the Army as well as the Nation will do so soon as convenience is offered. Prevent them in so good an Action whilst it is in your Power, and make it appear, That as the Kingdom hath always depended on the Navy for its Defence, so you will yet go further by making it, as much as in you lies, the Protection of her Religion and Liberties; and then you may assu [...] your selves of all Marks of Favour and Honour suitable to the Merits of so great and glorious an Action. After this I ought not add so inconsiderable a thing,, as that it will for ever engage me to be in a most particular manner,

Your faithful Friend, and humble Servant, AR. HERBERT.

Abord the Leyden, in the Gooree.

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AN ENGAGEMENT OF THE Noble-men, Knights, and Gentlemen at EXETER, to Assist the Prince of ORANGE in the defence of the Protestant Religion, Laws and Liberties of the People of England, Scotland and Ireland.

WE do ingage to Almighty God, and to his Highness the Prince of Orange, and with one another, to stick firm to this Cause, and to one another in the Defence of it, and never to depart from it until our Religion, Laws, and Liberties are so far secured to us in a Free Parliament, that we shall be no more in danger of falling under Popery and Slavery. And whereas We are ingaged in the Common Cause under the Protection of the Prince of Orange, by [Page] which means his Person may be exposed to Danger, and to the desperate and cursed Designs of Papists, and other Bloody Men, We do therefore solmnly ingage to God and to one another, That if any such Attempts be made upon Him, We will pursue not only those that made them, but all their Adherents, and all we find in Arms against Us, with the utmost Seve [...]ty of just Revenge in their Ruine and Destruction; and that the executing any such Attempt (which God of his Infinite Mercy forbid) shall not deprive us from pursuing this Cause which we do now undertake, but that it shall encourage Us to carry it on with all the Vigor that so barbarous Approach shall deserve.

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The Declaration of the Nobility, Gentry, and Commonalty at the Rendezvous at Nottingham, Nov. 22. 1688.

WE the Nobility, Gentry, and Commonalty of these Northern Counties assembled together at Nottingham, for the defence of the Laws, Religion, and Properties, according to those free-born Liberties and Priviledges, descended to us from our Ancestors, as the undoubted Birth-right of the Subjects of this Kingdom of England, (not doubting but the Infringers and Invaders of our Rights will represent us to the rest of the Nation in the most malicious dress they can put upon us) do here unanimously think it our Duty to declare to the rest of our Protestant Fellow-Subjects the Grounds of our present Undertaking.

We are by innumerable Grievances made sensible, that the very Fundamentals of our Religion, Liberties, and Properties are about to be rooted out by our late Jesuitical Privy-Council, as hath been of late too apparent. 1. By the King's dispensing with all the Establish'd Laws at his pleasure. 2. By displacing all Officers out of all Offices of Trust and Advantage, and placing others in their room that are known Papists, deservedly made inc [...]pable by the Establish'd Laws of our Land. 3. By destroying the Charters of most Corporations in the Land. 4. By discouraging all persons that are not Papists, preferring such as turn to Popery. 5. By displacing all honest and conscientious Judges, unless they would, contrary to their Consciences, declare that to be Law which was meerly arbitrary. 6. By branding all Men with the name of Rebels that but offered to justify the Laws in a legal Course against the arbitrary proceedings of the King, or any of his corrupt Ministers. 7. By burthening the Nation with an Army, to [Page] maintain the Violation of the Rights of the Subjects. 8. By discountenancing the Establish'd Reformed Religion. 9. By forbiding the Subjects the benefit of Petitioning, and construing them Libellers; so rendring the Laws a Nose of Wax, to serve their Arbitrary Ends. And many more such like, too long here to enumerate.

We being thus made sadly sensible of the Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government that is by the Influence of Jesuitical Counsels coming upon us, do unanimously declare, That not being willing to deliver our Posterity over to such a condition of Popery and Slavery, as the aforesaid Oppressions inevitably threaten; we will, to the utmost of our Power, oppose the same, by joining with the Prince of Orange (whom we hope God Almighty hath sent to rescue us from the Oppressions aforesaid) will use our utmost Endeavours for the recovery of our almost ruin'd Laws, Liberties, and Religion; and herein we hope all good Protestant Subjects will with their Lives and Fortunes be assistant to us, and not be bugbear'd with the opprobrious Terms of Rebels, by which they would fright us, to become perfect Slaves to their tyrannical Insolencies and Usurpations; for we assure our selves, that no rational and unbyassed Person will judg it Rebellion to defend our Laws and Religion, which all our Princes have sworn at their Coronations: Which Oath, how well it hath been observed of late, we desire a Free Parliament may have the consideration of.

We own it Rebellion to resist a King that governs by Law, but he was always accounted a Tyrant that made his Will the Law; and to resist such an one, we justly esteem no Rebellion, but a necessary Defence; and in this Consideration we doubt not of all honest Mens Assistance, and humbly hope for, and implore the great God's Protection, that turneth the Hearts of his People as pleaseth him best; it having been observed, That People can never be of one Mind without his Inspiration, which hath in all Ages confirmed that Observation, Vox Populi est Vox Dei.

The pesent restoring of Charters, and reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given on Magdalen Colledge Fellows, is plain, are but to still the people, like Plums to Children, by deceiving them for a while; but if they shall by this [Page] Stratagem be fooled, till this present storm that threatens the Papists, be past, assoon as they shall be resetled, the former Oppression will be put on with greater vigour: but we hope in vain is the Net spread in the sight of the Birds; For (1.) The Papists old Rule is, That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks, as they term Protestants, tho' the Popish Religion is the greatest Heresy. And (2.) Queen Mary's so ill observing her promises to the Suffolk-men that help'd her to her Throne. And above all, (3.) the Popes dispensing with the breach of Oaths, Treaties, or Promises at his pleasure, when it makes for the service of Holy Church, as they term it. These, we say, are such convincing Reasons to hinder us from giving Credit to the aforesaid Mock-Shews of Redress, that we think our selves bound in Conscience to rest on no Security that shall not be approved by a freely Elected Parliament, to whom, under God, we refer our Cause.

His Grace the Duke of NORFOLK's Speech to the Mayor of NORWICH on the First of December, in the Market-place of Norwich.

Mr. MAYOR,

NOT doubting but you and the rest of your Body, as well as the whole City and Country, may be allarmed by the great Concourse of Gentry, with the numerous Appearance of their Friends and Servants, as well as of your own Militia, here this Morning, I have thought this the most [Page] proper place, as being the most publick one, to give you an account of our Intentions.

Out of the deep sense we had that in the present unhappy Juncture of Affairs, nothing we could think of was possible to secure the Laws, Liberties and Protestant Religion, but a Free Parliament; WE ARE HERE MET TO DECLARE, that we will do our utmost to defend the same by declaring for such a Free Parliament.

And since His Majesty hath been pleased (by the News we hear this day) to order Writs for a Parliament to sit the 15th of Ianuary next, I [...] can only add in the Name of my Self and all these Gentlemen, and others here met, That we will ever be ready to support and defend the Laws, Liberties and Protestant Religion: And so GOD SAVE THE KING.

To this the Mayor, Aldermen, and the rest of the Corporation, and a numerous Assembly did concur with his Grace, and the rest of the Gentry.

His Grace at his lighting from his Horse, perceiving great numbers of Common People gathering together, called them to him, and told them, He desired they would not take any occasion to commit any Disorder or Outrage, but go quietly to their Homes; and acquainted them that the King had ordered a Free Parliament to be called.

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TO THE KING's Most Excellent Majesty, The Humble Address of GEORGE Lord DARTMOUTH, Admiral of Your Majesties Fleet for the present Expedition, and the Commanders of Your Majesties Ships of War now actually at the Spitehead in Your Majesties Service under his Lordships Command.

Most Dread Sovereign,

THE deep sense we have had of the great Dangers your Majesties Sacred Person has been in, and the great Effusion of Christian Blood that threatned this your Majesties Kingdoms, and in probability would have been shed, unless God of his infinite Mercy had put it into your Majesties Heart to call a Parliament, the only means, in our opinion, under the Almighty, left to quiet the Minds of your People; [Page] We do give your Majesty our most humble and hearty Thanks for your gracious Condescension, beseeching God to give your Majesty all immaginable Happiness and Prosperity, and grant that such Counsels and Resolutions may be promoted, as conduce to your Majesties Honor and Safety, and tend to the Peace and Settlement of this Realm both in Church and State, according to the Establish'd Laws of the Kingdom.

Dartmouth. Berkley. Ro. Strickland.

I. Berry.

Io. Beverley.

Iohn Leake.

George S. Lo.

Iohn Lacon.

Fr. Wicell.

Will. Davis.

Iohn Munden.

Tho. Legg.

Tho. Leighton.

St. Akerman.

W. Cornwal.

W. Ienning.

Ioh. Clements.

Io. Ashby.

Rob. Wiseman.

Iohn Ieniper.

Will. Booth.

Tho. Coale.

R. D'Lavall.

Tho. Iohnson.

M. Aylmer.

Fr. Frowde.

Tho. Skelton.

Ab. Potter.

A. Hastings.

Io. Montgomery.

M. Tennant.

Clo. Shovell.

E. Dover.

R. Weston.

W. Botham.

I. Tyrrel.

St. Fairborne.

Henr. Botler.

William Pooley.

Io. Fraseby.

Ba. Wild.

On board the Resolution, at Spitehead, Decemb. 1. 1688.

FINIS.

§

§

§

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A THIRD Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. The Expedition of the Prince of Orange for England; giving an Account of the most Remarkable Passages thereof, from the Day of his setting Sail from Holland, to the first Day of this Instant December.

II. A further Account of the Prince's Army, in a Letter from Exon, Novemb. 24.

III. Three Letters. 1. A Letter from a Jesuit of Leige, to a Jesuit at Friburg, giving an Account of the happy Progress of Religion in England. 2. A Letter from Father Petre to Father La Cheese. 3. The Answer of Father La Cheese to Father Petre.

IV. Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on: In a Letter from a Gentleman at York, to his Friend in the Prince of Orange's Camp. Addressed to all Members in the next Parliament.

Licensed and Entred according to Order.

London printed, and are to be sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row, 1688.

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THE EXPEDITION Of His HIGHNESS the Prince of ORANGE For ENGLAND. Giving an Account of the most remarkable Passages thereof, from the Day of his setting Sail from Holland, to the first Day of this instant December, 1688.

HIS Highness the Prince of Orange set Sail from Holland with 51 Men of War, 18 Fire-ships, and about 330 Tenders, being Ships hired of Merchants for the carriage of Horse and Foot, Arms, Ammunition, &c. The Fleet stood out at Sea to the Norward, which met with horrid Storms for two Days and two Nights together, in which bad Weather there were lost above 500 Horse, and a Vessel parted from the Fleet, wherein were 400 Foot, supposed to be lost, but now known to be arrived safe at the Texel, but grievously shatter'd and torn by the Storms; two of the Prince's principal Men of War were forced to new Rigg at Helversluse.

The Prince immediately, on his return back, inform'd the States of the condition of the Fleet, (which was not so damnified as was represented by the Vulgar and Ignorant) who [Page] thereupon, to lull a great Man asleep, the States, or some one employed by them, order'd, That the Harlem and Amsterdam Courantier should make a dismal Story of it, by representing to the World, that the Prince returned with his Fleet miserably shatter'd and torn, having lost nine Men of War, and divers others of less Concern; 1000 Horse ruin'd; a Calenture among the Sea-men; the loss of Dr. Burnet, and the chief Ministers under the Prince; the ill Opinion the States had of the Expedition: In short, that a 100000 l. would not repair the Dammage sustained; and, almost next to an impossibility, that the Prince should be in a condition to pursue his Design till the Spring. And yet at the same time all hands were at work to repair the damaged Ships, which were inconfiderable; so that in eight days time they were all re-fitted. The Signal being given by the discharge of a Gun, all the Fleet immediately weigh'd Anchor and stood out at Sea, steering their Course Norward all that Night; next day, upon Tide of Ebb, they made a Stretch, and made a Watch above a League, and then stood Westward, and lay all Night in the same posture, not making two Leagues of Watch.

In the middle of the Night, an Advice-Boat brought us an Account, that the English Fleet, consisting of 33 Sail, lay to the Westward of ours. Upon which the Prince fired a Gun, which caused a great Consternation in the whole Fleet, we having a brisk Easterly Wind, concluded themselves to be all ruin'd: But the small Advice-Boats crusing for a more certain Account of the English, brought us back word, That instead of the English Fleet, which the former Advice had alarm'd us with, it was Admiral Herbert with part of our Fleet, which had been separated some hours from the Body of the Fleet: Upon whose arrival, great rejoicing was among us all, and a Signal of Joy was given for it by the Prince.

In the Morning, about Eight, the Prince gave a Signal, that the Admirals should come aboard him: Immediately after the whole Fleet was got into the North-foreland, upon which the Prince gave the usual Sign of Danger, (according to the printed Book) and ordered that the Fleet should all come up in a Body, some fifteen or sixteen deep, his Higness leading the Van, in the Ship Brill, (in English, Spectacles): His Flag was English Colours; the Motto impailed thereon, is, THE PROTESTANT [Page] RELIGION, AND LIBERTIES OF ENGLAND; and underneath, instead of Diu & Mon Droit, AND I WILL MAINTAIN IT.

The Council of War, from aboard the Prince, sent three small Frigats into the Mouth of the Thames, viz. the Porpus, Postilion, and Mercury; who on their return, brought us word, That the English Fleet lay in the Buoy of the Nore, consisting of 34 Sail, and three more which lay in the Downs. The Wind continuing at E. N. E.

The Prince immediately thereupon, gave another Signal of stretching the whole Fleet in a Line, from Dover to Callis, twenty five deep: So that our Fleet reached within a League of each place; the Flanks and Reer were guarded by our Men of War. This sight would have ravish'd the most curious Eyes of Europe. When our Fleet was in its greatest splendour, the Trumpets and Drums playing various Tunes to rejoyce our Hearts; this continued for above three hours.

Immediately after the Prince gave us a Sign to close, and we sailed that night as far as Beachy, and commanded us to follow the Signal by Lights he had hung out to us, viz. all the small Sail should come up to him by morning.

By the morning-day we espied the Isle of Wight, and then the Prince ordered the Fleet to be drawn into the same posture as before related: yet not stretching above half Channel over in this place. About five in the morning we made the Start, the Wind chopping about to the Westward; upon which we stood fair by Dartmouth, and so made for Tor-bay, where the Prince again ordered the whole Fleet into the same posture as at Dover and Callis.

Upon his arrival at Tor-bay, the People on Land, in great numbers, welcom'd his Highness with loud Acclamations of Joy.

Immediately after the Prince gave two Signals, that the Admirals should come aboard him, which they did; and then order'd, that the whole Fleet should come to an Anchor, and immediately Land; and further order'd, that the Admirals should stand out at Sea as a Guard, as well as the smaller Men of War to Attend and Guard their Landing; and also order'd six Men of War to run in to Guard Tor-bay.

[Page]The Prince then put out a Red Flag at the Misen-yard-arm; and provided to land in sixty Boats, laid ready for that purpose: Upon which the Prince signified, that General Mackay with his six Regiments of English and Scots should first Land; and also, that the little Porpus with eighteen Guns should run a-ground to secure their Landing: But there was no Opposition; for the People bid us Heartily Welcome to England; and gave us all manner of Provisions for our Refreshment.

The fifth of November (a Day never to be blotted out of the English-man's Heart) the Prince caused to be landed about 2000: The Country bringing in all manner of Provision both for Man and Horse, and were paid their Price honestly for it.

The Prince the same Day commanded Captain M— to search the Lady C—'s House, at Tor-Abby, for Arms and Horses; and so all other Houses which were Roman Catholicks. The Lady entertained them civilly, said her Husband was gone to Plymouth: They brought from thence some Horses, and a few Arms, but gave no further Disturbance to the Lady or her House. Nor shall it be forgotten, what was faithfully acted at this Lady's House, immediately on our arrival at Torbay: There was a Priest, and some others with him were upon a Watch-Tower to discover what our Fleet was, whether French or Dutch: At last they discovered the White Flags on some of our Men of War; the ignorant Priest concluded absolutely we were the French Fleet, which with great impatience they had so long expected; and having laid up great Provisions for their Entertainment, the Priest ordered all to the Chappel to sing Te Deum for the arrival of their supposed Forces; but being soon deceived, on our Landing, we found the benefit of their Provisions; and instead of Vostre Serviture Monsieur, they were entertained with Yeen Mijnheere, Can you Dutch spraken? Upon which they all ran away from the House, but the Lady and a few old Servants.

Presently after the Prince of Orange's Landing, he sent a Quince to the Earl of Bath, which was supposed to intimate his coming in to him.

The whole Army, to the best of my knowledg, consisted of about 30000 Horse and Foot, Volunteers, &c. The News of the [Page] Prince's landing was brought to the City of Exeter by several Expresses to the Earl of Bath: they landed all their Horse first of all, and after that the Foot, all the Army being ashore by Tuesday Three of the Clock in the Afternoon, all their Baggage, Provisions, and Ammunition being sent about for Topsham, where they were brought up by Water to this City, there was abundance landed with the Prince at Torbay for present Service in case they should need it. The Wednesday, being the 7th currant, one Captain Hicks came to Town (who is the Son of that worthy Divine Mr. Iohn Hicks the N. C. deceased) and as soon as he came, the Mobile in very great numbers flocked to him to list themselves in the Service of the Prince of Orange, which the Mayor hearing of, sent for him and questioned with him, whether he had a Commission for what he did? but he would produce none, nor give any account of the Prince's Design, upon which he was committed to Prison; but the Concourse of People was so great about the Guild-Hall, that they would not suffer him to be carried away, so he remained there till next day in the Custody of two Constables, and was very nobly provided for by the Mayor; Thursday the Lord Mordant with three or four Troops of Horse came to Town, and Dr. Burnet with him, and when they came to the Gate of this City it was shut against them, upon which the Lord Mordant commanded the Porter to open the Gate on pain of Death, which was presently set open, and being open, required him on the same Penalty not to shut it again: as soon as they were entred, the Lord M. went to the Hall, and set Captain Hicks at liberty, and inquired of his Usage, who gave the Lord M. a very large Character of the Mayor's Civility & Respect to him, upon which there was a Guinea given those that waited on him; that Afternoon the Lord M. and Dr. Burnet waited on the Mayor to know if he would meet the Prince at the Gate, and govern the City under him? which he excused, and told them he was under the Obligation of an Oath to his Majesty, and therefore desired the Prince would lay no Commands on him that should be prejudicial to his Conscience, and after some debate of the Matter they departed, all the Thursday they kept coming to Town; the Friday the Prince came with his Guards, and were marching into, and some through the City to places adjacent about three hours without ceasing, and more [Page] or less they came in still until Night; Men better hors'd I never saw in all my Life.

The Prince's Entry was in this manner:

1. The Right Honourable the Earl of Macklesfield with 200 Horse, the most part of which were English Gentlemen richly mounted on Flanders Steeds, (managed and used to War) in Head-Pieces, Back and Breast, bright Armour.

2. 200 Blacks, brought from the Plantations of the Netherlands in America, having on Imbroider'd Caps lin'd with white Fur, and Plumes of White Feathers, to attend the Horse.

3. 200 Finlanders or Laplanders, in Bears Skins, taken from the Wild Beasts they had slain, the common Habit of that cold Climate, with black Armour, and broad flaming Swords.

4. 50 Gentlemen, and as many Pages to attend and support the Prince's Banner, bearing this Inscrption, GOD and the PROTESTANT RELIGION.

5. 50 Led-Horses, all manag'd and brought up to the Wars, with two Grooms to each Horse, and two Coaches of State.

6. After these Rid the Prince on a Milk-white Palfrey, armed Cap-a-Pee, a Plum of White Feathers on his Head, all in bright Armour, and forty two Foot-men running by him.

7. After his Highness followed likewise on Horseback 200 Gentlemen and Pages.

8. 300 Switzers with Fuzees.

9. 500 Volunteers, each two led-Horses.

10. His Captain and Guards 600 armed Cap-a-Pee. The rest of the Army brought up the Reer.

Saturday most part of the day, and Sabbath-day, and Monday, and Tuesday the main Body of the Army came, and most of them, only some few Regiments of Foot, marched to Tiverton, Collumpton, Honiton, &c. and to the Neighbouring Parishes, and the Foot to Clist-beath, where they incamped and pitch'd their Tents. The Bishop fled, and is come for London, and we hear is made Arch-bishop of York; the Dean likewise withdrew, whose House the Prince took for his Lodgings. The Lord's-day Dr. Burnet preach'd at the Cathedral on the last Verse of 107th Psalm, wherein he observed the wonderful Providence of God towards them in the whole Conduct of Affairs in this Undertaking, and how they intended to have landed the 4th of November if it had been possible, it being [Page] the Prince's Birth-day, and the Day of his Marriage to the Princess, but they could not possibly make the Land, and so could not get the Shoar till the 5th, that England's Deliverance might be begun on the same Day that it was formerly designed for Ruin and Destruction. On Monday all the Canons that were in Town were summoned to appear in the Quire, and likewise the Singing-Men, when after they had sung Te Deum, Dr. Burnet read the Prince's Declaration, and after the Declaration, a short Prayer for the Success of the Prince, and so departed. There was not one of the Canons appeared; and when the Declaration was reading the Singing-Men went away, they being commanded in the Service to forbear praying for the Prince of Wales. Monday Captain Burrington, who lives by Crediton, came to the Prince and offered him his Service, who was very kindly received by Him; after that every day the Gentry from all parts of Devonshire, Somersetshire, &c. flocked to him in great numbers, it would take up too much time to name them, few absenting themselves, and those that did, there is great notice taken of them; they have entered into an Association to stand and fall with the Prince; several Lords came to him while here, as the Lord Colchester, the Lord Abbington, the Lord Cornbury, the Lord Shrewsbury, &c. It is incredible to tell you what they have brought with them, except you saw it, there being 200 of their Ships come into the River of Topsham. Plymouth Fort is surrendered to the Prince by the Lord of Bath, and the Lord Huntington, and the Popish Officers that were therein with Father Turner are seized and secured, and the Popish Souldiers discharged; and coming hither and owning themselves such, are committed by Mr. Seamour, who is made our Governour, and one Major Gibson Deputy-Governour. Here are several thousands of Souldiers that have listed themselves, and many thousands more would have done the same, but the Marschal de Schomberg told the Prince there was no need of them, so were dismist again. They have a vast Treasure with them, I am certainly informed of 50 Waggons loaded with Cash. They have landed about 120 Field-Guns, several of which remain still here, the other are gone with the Prince. The last News we had was, that the Prince was at the Earl of Bristol's, which is by Sherborn, where we are informed that Prince George, the Duke of Grafton, the Lord [Page] Churchill, and Colonel Trelawny met him, and that the Prince saluted them in the words of David to the Men of Iudah and Benjamin, 1 Chron. 12.17. If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine Heart shall be knit unto you; but if ye be come to betray me to mine Enemies, seeing there is no Wrong in my Hands, the God of our Fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. And they replied in the words of Amasai in the 18th Verse, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou Son of Jesse: Peace, Peace be unto thee, and Peace be unto thine Helpers, for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them Captains of the Band. The Prince at his going from hence, gave the Mayor this Character, That he was worthy to be trusted, for being faithful to his Trust.

A further Account of the Prince's Army, in a Letter▪ sent from Exon, dated Nov. 24.

HAD I not insensibly over-slipt my Time the last Post, you had received this then: When I came here, I endeavoured to inform my self, after the best manner I could, as to the Number and Quality of the Prince's Army, and all generally concluded them to be about 30000, all pick'd Men, and many of them personally present at the Siege of Buda. This I am certain of, that they appeared to be Men resolute, well Disciplined, and Stout, and of an extraordinary Stature, and their Arms suitable, Musquets, Swords, and Pikes, being far larger than ever I yet saw; and notwithstanding the Streets were thronged, almost as thick as yours on a Lord-Mayor's Day, yet was it even a rarity to see one of them shorter than six Foot, and some of them were, I am confident, six foot and a quarter, if not six foot and an half in Height: So that were it lawful to trust in an Arm of Flesh, they might have some cause to presume; but the tenour of their words were otherwise, their civil deportment, and their honesty of paying for what they have, (and the strictness of their Discipline hinders [Page] them from being otherwise) winning not a little the Affections of the Country-men, who daily resort hither, forty or fifty in a Gang, to be Listed. My Lord Mordent's Regiment was soon compleated, which with two others, was raised and maintained at the Charge of the Gentry in this County, of which Edward Seymour Esq is by the Prince made Governour. During his Highness stay here, which was till last Wednesday, there appeared a Court most splendid, composed, not only of Foreign, but of many of the English Nobility and Gentry, which came hither to wait on his Highness since his Arrival, of both Ranks, upwards to the number of Sixty, all mighty Gallant in their Equipage, each striving thereby to add to the Glory of their Design. The Gentry of these Parts first seemed slow in their Advances to serve the Prince; but as soon as the Ice was broke by Capt: Burrington, the majority soon followed his steps, and have entred into an Association. It is to admiration to consider the vast Magazine of all Warlike Utensils brought hither by the Prince's Army, their Baggage having for a Fortnight together been continually Landing, and yet not fully ended: Were it not for the badness of the Roads, as I was informed by a private Sentinel, they could draw into the Field an Artillery of above 200 Pieces: But the greatest Curiosity I yet saw, was a Bridg of Boats, such as I conceive the Imperialists use to pass over the Danube and Save with, which was for the speedy conveyance of their Carriages, laid over the River in two or three Hours, and afterwards as soon removed; not to mention a Smith's Shop or Forge, curiously contrived in a Waggon; or another Contrivance the Foot carry with them to keep off the Horse, which in their manner may well yield the Service of a Pike.

There hath been lately driven into Dartmouth, and since taken, a French Vessel loaden altogether with Images, and Knives of a very large proportion, in length nineteen Inches, and in breadth two Inches and an half; what they were designed for God only knows.

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THREE LETTERS.

I. A Letter from a Iesuit of Liege, to a Iesuit at Friburg, giving an Account of the Happy Progress of Religion in England.

IT cannot be said what great Affection and Kindness the K. hath for the Society, wishing much Health to this whole Colledg by R. P. the Provincial, and earnestly recommending himself to our Prayers. The Provincial, Alexander Regnes, being come back for England, the K. was graciously pleased to send for him; (several Earls and Dukes waiting his coming at the hour appointed) the Q. being present, the King discoursing familiarly with him, asked him, How many young Students he had, and how many Scholasticks? To which (when the Provincial had answered, That of the latter he had Twenty, of the former more than Fifty) he added, That he had need of double or treble that number to perform what he in his Mind had designed for the Society; and commanded that they should be very well exercised in the Gift of Preaching; for such only (saith he) do we want in England.

You have heard, I make no doubt, that the K. hath sent Letters to Father Le Cheese, the French King's Confessor, about Wadden-house, therein declaring, that he would take in good part from him, whatsoever he did or was done for the English Fathers of the Society. Father Clare Rector of the said House going about those Affairs at London, found an easy access to the King and as easily obtained his Desires. He was forbid to kneel [Page] and kiss the King's Hand (as the manner and custom is) by the K. himself, saying, Once indeed your Reverence kissed my Hand; but had I then known you were a Priest, I should rather have kneeled and kissed your Reverences hand.

After the Business was ended, in a familiar Discourse, the K. declared to this Father, That he would either Convert England, or die a Martyr; and that he had rather die to morrow, that Conversion wrought, than reign fifty Years without that in Happiness and Prosperity.

Lastly, He called himself a Son of the Society, the Welfare of which, he said, he as much rejoiced at as his own: And it can scarce be said how joyful he shewed himself when it was told him, That he was made partaker, by the most Reverend Father N. of all the Merits of the Society; of which number he would declare one of his Confessors: Some report R. P. the Provincial will be the person, but whom he designs is not yet known. Many do think an Archbishoprick will be bestowed on Father Edmond Petre, (chiefly beloved) very many a Cardinals Cap, to whom, (within this Month or two) that whole part of the K. Palace is granted, in which the K. when he was Duke of York used to reside; where you may see I know not how many Courtiers daily attending to speak with his Eminency, (for so they are said to call him) upon whose Counsel, and also that of several Catholick Peers, highly preferred in the Kingdom, the K. greatly relyes, which way he may promote the Faith without violence. Not long since some Catholick Peers did object to the K. that he made too much haste to establish the Faith, to whom He answered, I growing old, must make great steps, otherwise, if I should die, I shall leave you worse than I found you. Then they asking him, why therefore was he not more sollicitous for the Conversion of his Daughters, Heirs of the Kingdom? He answered, God will take care for an Heir; leave my Daughters for me to Convert; do you by your example reduce those that are under you, and others to the Faith. In most Provinces he hath preferred Catholicks; and in a short time we shall have the same Justices of the Peace (as they are called) in them all. At Oxford we hope Matters go very well; one of our Divines is always Resident therein; a publick Catholick Chappel of the Vice-Chancellor's, who hath drawn some Students to the Faith. The Bishop of Oxford seems very much to favour the Catholick [Page] Cause: He proposed in Council, Whether it was not expedient, that at least one Colledg in Oxford should be allowed Catholicks, that they might not be forced to be at so much Charges, by going beyond Seas to Study? What Answer was given, is not yet known. The same Bishop inviting two of our Noblemen, with others of the Nobility, to a Banquet, drank the King's Health to an Heretical Baron there, wishing a happy Success to all his Affairs; and he added, That the Faith of Protestants in England, seemed to him to be little better than that of Buda was before it was taken; and that they were for the most part mere Atheists who defended it. Many do embrace the Faith, and four of the chiefest Earls have lately posfessed it publickly.

The Reverend Father, Alexander Regnes, Nephew to our Provincial, to whom is committed the Care of the Chappel of the Ambassador of the most Serene Elector Palatine, is whole days busied in resolving and shewing the Doubts or Questions of Hereticks, concerning their Faith, of which number you may see two or three continually walking before the Dores of the Chappel, disputing about Matters of Faith amongst themselves.

Prince George, we can have nothing certain what Faith he intends to make profession of.

We have a good while begun to get footing in England. We teach Humanity at Lincoln, Norwich, and York. At Warwick we have a publick Chappel, secured from all Injuries by the King's Souldiers. We have also bought some Houses of the City of Wigorn in the Province of Lancaster. The Catholick Cause very much increaseth. In some Catholick Churches, upon Holy Days above 1500 are always numbred present at the Sermon. At London, likewise, things succeed no worse. Every Holy Day, at preaching, People so frequent, that many of the Chappels cannot contain them. Two of ours, Darmes and Berfall do constantly say Mass before the King and Queen, Father Edmund Newil before the Queen Dowager, Father Alexander Regnes in the Chappel of the Ambassador aforesaid, others in other places. Many Houses are bought for the Colledg in the Savoy (as they call it) nigh Somerset-house, London, the Palace of the Queen Dowager, to the value of about eighteen thousand Florins, in making of which, after the Form of a [Page] Colledg, they labour very hard that the Schools may be opened before Easter.

In Ireland shortly there will be a Catholick Parliament, seeing no other can satisfy the King's Will to Establish the Catholick Cause there. In the Month of February, for certain, the King hath designed to call a Parliament at London: 1. That by a Universal Decree, the Catholick Peers may be admitted into the Upper House. 2. That the Oath or Test may be annulled. 3. Which is the best or top of all, That all Penal Laws made against Catholicks, may be Abrogated; which that he may more surely obtain, he desires every one to take notice, that he hath certainly determined to dismiss any from all profitable Imployments under him, who do not strenuously endeavour the obtaining those things; also that he will Dissolve the Parliament: with which Decree some Hereticks being affrighted, came to a certain Peer to consult him what was best to be done: to whom he said, the Kings pleasure is sufficiently made known to us; what he hath once said, he will most certainly do: if you love your selves, you must submit your selves to the Kings Will. There are great preparations for War at London, and a Squadron of many Ships of War are to be fitted out against a time appointed; what they are designed for is not certain. The Hollanders greatly fear they are against them, and therefore begin to prepare themselves. Time will discover more.

Liege, 2. Feb. 1688.

[Page]

II. A Letter from the Reverend Father Petre, Iesuit, Almoner to the Ki [...]g of England, written to the Reverend Father la Cheese, Confessor to the most Christian King, touching the present Affairs of ENGLAND.
Translated from the French.

Most Reverend Father,

IF I have fail'd, for the last few days, to observe your Order, it was not from want of Affection, but Health, that occasion'd the neglect; and for which I shall endeavour to make amends by the length of this.

I shall begin where my former left off, and shall tell you, That since the appearing of a Letter in this Town, written by the Prince's Minister of Holland, which declares the Intentions of the Prince and Princess of Orange, relating to the Repealing the Test, or to speak more properly, their Aversion to it: This Letter has produc'd very ill Effects among the Hereticks; whom, at the return of some of our Fathers from those Parts, we had perswaded, that the Prince would comply with every thing relating to the Test that the King should propose to the next Parli [...]ment, in case he should call one; to which I do not find his Majesty much inclin'd. But the coming of this Letter (of which I have inclos'd a Copy) has serv'd for nothing but to incourage the Obstinate in their aversion to that Matter. The Queen, as well as my self, were of Opinion, against the sending of any such Letter to the Hague upon that Subject, but rather that some Person able to discourse and perswade, should have been sent thither: for all such Letters, when they are not grateful, produce bad Effects. That which is spoken Face to Face, is not so easi [...]y divulg'd, nor any thing discover'd [Page] to the People, but what we have a raind the Vulgar should know: And, I believe, your Reverence will concur with me in this Opinion. This Letter has extreamly provok'd the King, who is of a temper not to bear a refusal, and who has not been us'd to have his Will contradicted: And, I verily believe, this very affront has hastned his Resolution of re-calling the English Regiments in Holland. I shew'd his Majesty that part of your Letter, that relates to the Opinion of his Most Christian Majesty, upon this Subject, which his Majesty well approves of. We are interested to know the Success of this Affair, and what Answer the States will give. The King changes as many Heretick Officers as he can, to put Catholicks in their places; but the Misfortune is, that here we want Catholick Officers to supply them: And therefore, if you know any such of our Nation in France, you would do the King a pleasure to perswade them to come over, and they shall be certain of Employments, either in the old Troops, or the New that are speedily to be rais'd; for which, by this my Letter, I pass my Word.

Our Fathers are continually employ'd to convert the Officers; but their Obstinacy is so great, that for one that turns, there are five that had rather quit their Commands. And there are so many Male-contents, whose Party is already but too great, the King has need of all his Prudence and Temper to manage this great Affair, and bring it to that Perfection we hope to see it in ere long. All that I can assure you is, That here shall be no neglect in the Queen, who labours night and day with unexpressible Diligence for the propation of the Faith, and with the Zeal of a holy Princess. The Queen Dowager is not so earnest, and Fear makes her resolve to retire into Portugal ▪ to pass the remainder of her days in Devotion: she has already ask'd the King leave, who has not only granted it, but also promised that she should have her Pension punctually paid; and that during her Life, her Servants that she leaves behind her, shall have the same Wages, as if they were in waiting. She stays but for a proper Season to imbark for Lisbon, and to live there free from all Stories.

As to the Queen's being with Child▪ that great Concern goes as well as we could wish, notwithstanding all the Satyrical Discourses of the Heriticks, who content themselves to [Page] vent their Poyson in Libels, which by night they disperse in the Street, or fix upon the Walls. There was one lately found upon a Pillar of a Church, that imported, That such a day Thanks should be given GOD for the Queen's being great with a Cushion. If one of these Pasquil-makers could be discover'd, he would but have an ill time on't, and should be made to take his last Farewel at Tyburn.

You will agree with me (most Reverend Father) that we have done a great thing, by introducing Mrs. Celier to the Queen: this Woman is totally devoted to our Society, and zealous for the Catholick Religion. I will send you an account of the progress of this Affair, and will use the Cypher you sent me, which I think very admirable. I can send you nothing certain of the Prince and Princess of Denmark; he is is a Prince with whom I cannot discourse about Religion; Luther was never more earnest than this Prince. It is for this reason that the King (who does not love to be denied) never yet press'd him in that matter, his Majesty thinking it necessary that the Fathers should first prepare things, before he undertake to speak to him. But this Prince, as all of his Nation, has naturally an Aversion to our Society; and this Antipathy does much obstruct the progress of our Affairs; and it would be unreasonable to complain hereof to the King, at present to trouble him, tho he has an intire Confidence in us, and looks upon our Fathers, as the Apostles of this Land. As for Ireland, that Country is already all Catholick; yea, all the Militia are so. The Vice-Roy merits great Praise; we may give him this Honour, That he is a Son worthy our Society; and I hope will participate of the Merits of it. He informs me, he has just writ to your Reverence of these matters, how things go there. Some Catholick Regiments from those parts will speedily be sent for over for the King's Guards; his Majesty being resolv'd to trust them, rather than others; and may do it better in case of any popular Commotion, against which we ought to secure our selves the best we can. His Majesty does us the Honour to visit our Colledg often, and is most pleas'd when we present him some new Convert-Scholars, whom he incourages with his gracious Promises. I have not Expression sufficient to let you know with what Devotion his Majesty communicated the last Holy-days; and a [Page] Heretick cannot better make his Court to him, than by turning to the Catholick Faith. He desires that all the Religious, of what Order soever they be, make open Profession as he does, not only of the Catholick Religion, but also of their Order; not at all approving that Priests, or Religious should conceal themselves out of Fear; and he has told them, That he would have them wear the Habit of a Religious; and that he will take care to defend them from Affronts. And the People are already accustomed to it; and we begin to celebrate Funerals with the same Ceremony as in France; but it is almost a Miracle to see that no body speaks one word against it, no not so much as the Ministers in their Pulpits; in so good order has the King managed these Matters. Many English Hereticks resort often to our Sermons; and I have often recommended to our Fathers to preach now in the beginning, as little as they can of the Controversy, because that provokes; but to represent to them the Beauty and Antiquity of the Catholick Religion, that they may be convinc'd, that all that has been said and preach'd to them, and their own Reflections concerning it, have been all Scandal: For I find (as the Apostle says) they must be nourished with Milk, not being able to bear strong Meat. Many have desir'd me to give them some of our Prayers, and even the holy Mass in English: which I mean to do, to satisfy the meanest sort, of which the greatest part do not understand Latin, but not to take away from the new Converts their Testaments, which is a matter of moment; and, that we may not disgust them at the beginning, we must permit th [...]m to have them for a time, till they part with them of themselves. I had need of C. H's Counsel upon this Point, and not in this only, but also in a great many other matters that daily press me: for you may easily believe, that I have often more business than I can well dispatch; and we must work with so much Circumspection and Precaution, that I have often need of your Paternity's wise Counsel. But the Lord and the good Virgin do strengthen me as there is occasion.

The Bishop of Oxon has not yet declar'd himself openly; the great Obstacle is his Wife, whom he cannot rid himself of: His design being to continue Bishop, and only change Communion; as it is not doubted but the King will permit, and our holy [Page] Father confirm: tho I do not see how he can be farther useful to us in the Religion in which he is, because he is suspected, and of no esteem among the Hereticks of the English Church: nor do I see that the-Example of his Conversion is like to draw many others after him, because he declar'd himself so suddenly. If he had believ'd my Counsel, which was to temporize for some longer time, he would have done better; but it is his Temper, or rather Zeal that hurried him on. There are two other Prelates that will do no less than he; but they hold off alike, to see how they may be serviceable to the Propagation, and produce more Fruits, while they continue undiscover'd.

That which does us most harm with the Lords and great Men, is the apprehension of a Heretick Successor: For (as a Lord told me lately) assure me of a Catholick Successor, and I will assure you, I and my Family will be so too. To this happy purpose, the Queen's happy Delivery will be of very great moment. Our zealous Catholicks do already lay two to one that it will be a Prince: God does nothing by halves; and ever day Masses are said upon this very occasion.

I have gain'd a very great point, in perswading the King to place our Fathers in Madalen-Colledg in Oxon; who will be able to tutor the young Scholars in the Roman Catholick Religion. I rely much on Father Thomas Fairfax, to whom I have given necessary Instructions how to govern himself with the Heretick People; and to take care in the beginning, that he speak not to them any thing that may terrify. And, as I tell you, a Religious has need here of great Prudence at this time, that the King may hear of no Complaints that may displease him; and therefore we dare not at present, do all we shall be able, and bound to do hereafter, for fear of too much haring the Mobile.

I like well that Father Hales goes to stay some time at the Hague incognito, on pretence of solliciting for a Place, which is not soon to be got there; and I have given him a Letter to some of that Court: Father Smith that is there now, by reason of his great Age, not being able to do all he ought and wishes to do, and is also too well known there. And I shall often impart to you what I shall learn from those Quarters: from whence I shall weekly receive something of moment, so [Page] long as the two Courts are in so bad Intelligence together, as at present they are. For my part, to speak freely on this Topick to your Reverend Fatherhood, I am of opinion, we should rather endeavour to moderate, than aggravate the Difference between them; tho I know I do not in this matter altogether concur with the Sense of the French Ambassadour, who considers only his Master's Interest: But we are necessitated to take other Measures, and such as perhaps may not always agree with the Interest of France in this matter.

And I think aggravating this Breach at present, to be also prejudicial to the Catholick Religion it self. The great Design we have so long aimed at, is applying to the King of France to take from the Hereticks all hopes of a Head, or any other Protection, than what they must expect from their own King; whereby they finding themselves expos'd to his Pleasure, will the more readily subscribe to his Will. But this misunderstanding between us, will occasion an opportunity to the Hereticks to set up the Prince of Orange for their Chief: And let me assure you not to deceive your selves, The Religious of England, as well as the Presbyterians themselves, regard the Prince of Orange as their Moses; and his Party is already so powerful in both these Kingdoms, that it will appear terrible to any thinking Person, should things come to extremity; as may never happen, if matters are not push'd on too far, but managed with Moderation. And I desire therefore, with great deference to you better Judgment, that this matter might be hinted to his Most Christian Majesty, as opportunity shall serve, and am sensible it must be done with very great caution.

I can tell you nothing at present concerning the certainty of calling a Parliament; it requires so many things to be consider'd of, and measures to be taken, that his Majesty ought to be well assur'd of the success, before he convenes them together. I am not of opinion with many other Catholicks, who say, That by calling them the King hazards nothing; for, if they will not answer his Ends, he need only prorogue them, as is usually done: But it is my Opinion, and the Sense of many others, That his Majesty hazards much; for if it should unfortunately happen, that they should in their Assembly refuse to comply with his Majesty's Desires, it may be [Page] long enough ere he compass his Ends by way of a Parliament, and perhap [...] never: and then there rests no Expedient, or other Means but by Violence, to execute the Orders of his secret Council, which must be suppos'd by his Army; who, upon a pretence of Incamping, may be called together with the less Jealousie or Suspicion. So, you may see (most Reverend Father) that we do not want work in these Quarters; and I must be supported by your Prayers, which I beg of you, and from all those of our Society.

His Majesty is so desirous that things may be done in order, and upon a sure Fund, so as to be the more lasting, that he makes great application to the Shires and Corporations, to get such Persons chosen f [...]r the Parliament, as may be favourable to his Ends, of which he may be sure, before they come to debate: And the King will make them promise so firmly, and exact such Instruments from them in writing, that they shall not be able to go back, unless they will thereby draw upon themselves his Majesty's utmost Displeasure, and make them feel the weight of his Resentment. And I have here inclos'd some Effects of his Majesty's Endeavours in this matter, which is an Address which the Mayor, Sheriffs and Burgesses of New-Castle in the County of Stafford, have presented to the King [see the Gazette, where this Corporation, as well as Glocester and Teuxbury, and others, in their Addresses, promise to chuse such Members as shall comply with his Majesty's Desires.] If all Towns were in as perfect Obedience as these, we should certainly have a Parliament call'd, which the Catholicks and Nonconformists expect with great Impatience. But since this cannot be said of many of them, the King's secret Council think good to wait for the Queen's Delivery, that they may see a Successor, who may have need of the whole Protection of the Most Christian King to support him, and maintain his Rights. And, by the Grace of God, we hope, that that Prince, treading in his Father's steps, may prove a worthy Son of our Society, like his Father, who thinks it no Dishonour to be so call'd.

As to other things (most Reverend Father) our Fathers with me, as well as generally all the Catholicks, with what grief do we hear of the Disunion that arises between his [Page] Holiness and the Most Christian King! How does my Head, in imitation of the Prophet's, become a Spring of Tears to lament night and day the Schism that I fores [...]e coming into the Church! Is is possible that our holy Society should not stand in the Breach, and prevent the Mischiefs that this difference may occasion in the Church? And that no body can reconci [...]e Levi and Iudah, the Priesthood and the Scepter, the Father and the Son, the eldest Son of the Church with the Vicar of Christ upon Earth? And what a Desolation, and what Advantage to the Hereticks must this occasion? They begin already to bid us convert the Children of the Family, before we begin to convert Strangers. And I must with grief confess, they have but too much reason for what they say; and if there does not come some present Assistance from above, I foresee this Affair will occasion great Prejudices in the North: Nor have we any hope that his British Majesty will interpose herein openly, he receiving so little Satisfaction from his Holiness in some Demands made by his Ambassadour at Rome, which (morally speaking) ought not to have been denied so great a King, who first made this step (which his Predecessors for a long time were not willing to undertake) in sending his Ambassadour of Obedience to Rome: And yet for all this our holy Father had not any particular Consideration of this Submission and Filial Obedience: so that I dare not mention this matter but by way of Discourse, daily expecting that of himself he will be pleased to make some Proposal therein. I doubt not (Reverend Father) of your constant Endeavour to accommodate this matter, thereby to take away from the Hereticks, especially the Hugonots of France, this occasion to laugh and deride us: and we should think the Ch [...]nge much for the worse, if, instead of the French King's going to Geneva, he should march to Rome: What may not all this come to? especially since the Marquess de Lavardin has been so passionate in his Discourse to the Cardinal-Chancellor, as to call him Impertinent; and so far to forget his Duty and Reverence toward our Holy Father, the Pope himself, as to say he Doted: as the Hereticks do confidently discourse in these parts. I have caused some Masses of the Holy Ghost to be said, That God would please to inspire the discontented Parties with a Spirit of Peace and Concord. You did acquaint me some time since, [Page] That Madam Mainteron did take upon her the Title of Daughter of the Society; by virtue whereof, you may command her, by virtue of Obedience, to use her Credit and Eloquence with the King, to incline him to an Accommodation in this matter. In the mean time, I hear that at Rome, many eminent Persons endeavour the same with his Holiness, who says, He cannot, nor ought not to recede from what he has done; otherwise it were in effect to submit to the Articles made in France by the Clergy in 1682, and consequently of too great moment to recant: and therefore Submission ought to come from the Son, and not from the Father. I recommend my self (Reverend Father!) to your Prayers and Blessing, desiring you would continue to assist me with your Salutal Counsels, and rest for ever.

Yours, &c.

St. Iame's, Feb. 9.

III. The Answer of the Reverend Father la Chese, Confessor to the Most Christian King, to a Letter of the Reverend Father Petre, Iesuit, and Great Almoner to the King of England, upon the Method or Rule he must observe with His Majesty, for the Conversion of His Protestant Subjects.

Most Reverend Father,

WHen I compare the Method of the French Court (which declares against all Heresies) with the Policy of other Princes, who had the same Design in former Ages; I find so great a difference, that all that passes now a days in the King's Council is an impenetrable Mystery: and the Eyes of all Europe are opened to see what happens; but cannot discover the Cause.

[Page]When Francis the First, and Henry the Second his Son, undertook to ruine the Reformation, they had to struggle with a Party which was but beginning and weak, and destitute of Help; and consequently easier to be overcome.

In the time of Francis the Second, and Charles the Ninth, a Family was seen advanc'd to the Throne by the Ruine of the Protestants who were for the House of Bourbon.

In this last Reign many Massacres hapned, and several Millions of Hereticks have been sacrificed, but it answer'd otherways: and his Majesty has shew'd (by the peace and mild ways he uses) that he abhors shedding of Blood; from which you must perswade his Britannick Majesty, who naturally is inclin'd to Roughness, and a kind of Boldness, which will make him hazard all, if he does not politickly manage it; as I hinted in my last, when I mentioned my Lord Chancellor.

Most Reverend Father, to satisfy the desire I have to shew you by my Letters the Choice you ought to make of such Persons fit to stir-up, I will in few words (since you desire it) inform you of the Genius of the People of our Court, of their Inclinations, and which of them we make use of; that: by a Parallel which you will make between them and your English Lords, you may learn to know them.

Therefore I shall begin with the Chief: I mean our Great Monarch. It is certain he is naturally good, and loves not to do Evil, unless desired to do it. This being so, I may say, he never would have undertaken the Conversion of his Subjects, without the Clergy of France, and without our Societies Correspondence abroad. He is a Prince enlightned; who very well observes, that what we put him upon, is contrary to his Interest, and that nothing is more opposite to his Great Designs, and his Glory; he aiming to be the Terror of all Europe. The vast number of Malecontents he has caused in his Kingdom, forces him in time of Peace to keep three times more Forces, than his Ancestors did in the greatest Domestick and Foreign Wars: which cannot be done without a prodigious Expence.

The Peoples Fears also begin to lessen, as to his aspiring to an Universal Monarchy: and they may assure themselves he has left those Thoughts; nothing being more opposite to his [Page] Designs, than the Method we enjoyn him. His Candor, Bounty, and Toleration to the Hereticks, would undoubtedly have open'd the Doors of the Low Countries, Palatinate, and all other States on the Rhine, and even of Switzerland: whereas things are at present so alter'd, that we see the Hollanders free from any fear of danger; the Switzers and City of Geneva, resolv'd to lose the last drop of their Blood in their Defence; Besides, some Diversion we may expect from the Empire, in case we cannot hinder a Peace with the Turks, which ought to hasten his Britannick Majesty, while he can be assured of Succors from the most Christian King.

Sir, his Majesty's Brother is always the same; I mean, takes no notice of what passes at Court. It has sometimes happen'd, that the King's Brothers have acted so, as to be noted in the State; but this we may be assur'd will never do any thing to stain the Glory of his Submission and Obedience: And is willing to lend a helping-hand for the Destruction of the Hereticks; which appears by the Instances he makes to his Majesty, who now has promised him to cause his Troops to enter into the Palatinate the next Month.

The [...]auphin is passionately given up to Hunting, and little regards the Conversion of Souls; and it does not seem easy to make him penetrate into Business of Moment; and therefore we do not care to consult him which way, and how the Hereticks ought to be treated. He openly laughs at us, and slights all the Designs, of which the King his Father makes great account. The Dauphiness is extreamly witty, and is, without doubt, uneasy to shew it in other Matters besides Complements of Conversation. She has given me a Letter for the Queen of England; wherein after her expression of the part she bears of the News of her Majesty's being with Child, she gives her several Advices about the Conversion of her Subjects.

Most Reverend Father, She is undoubtedly born a great Enemy to the Protestants, and has promoted all she could with his Majesty, in all that has been done, to hasten their Ruin; especially having been bred in a Court of our Society, and of a House whose hatred against the Protestant Religion is Hereditary, because she has been raised up by the Ruin of the German Protestant Princes, especially that of the Palatinate. But [Page] the King having caused her to come to make Heirs to the Crown, she answers expectation to the utmost.

Monsieur Louvois is a Man who very much observes his Duty, which he performs to admiration; and to whom we must ack [...]owledg France owes part of the Glory it has hitherto gained, both in regard of its Conquests, as also the Conversion of Hereticks; to which latter I may say, he has contributed as much as the King: he has already shewed▪ himself Fierce, Wrathful, and Hardhearted in his Actions towards them; though he is not naturally inclin'd to Cruelty, nor to harrass the People. His Brother, the Arch-bishop of Rheims, has Ways which do not much differ from those of his Soul; and all the difference I find between them is, That the Arch-bishop loves his own Glory, as much as Monsieur de Louvois loves that of, his Majesty. He is his own Idol; and give him but Incense, and you may obtain any thing. Honour is welcome to him, let it come which way it will. The least Thing provokes this Prelate; and he will not yield any thing derogatory to his Paternity. He will seem Learned; he will seem a great Theologian, and will seem to be a good Bishop, and to have a great care of his Diocess; and would heretofore seem a great Preacher. I have hinted in my last, the Reasons why I cannot altogether like him; which are needless to repeat.

The Arch-bishop of Paris is always the same, I mean, a gallant Man; whose present Conversation is charming, and loves his Pleasures, but cannot bear any thing that grieves or gives trouble, though he is always a great Enemy of the Iansenists, which he lately intimated to Cardinal Camus. He is always with me in the Council of Conscience, and agrees very well with our Society, laying mostly to Heart the Conversion of the Protestants of the three Kingdoms. He also makes very good Observations and Designs, to give some Advice to your Reverence, which I shall convey to you. I do sometimes impart to him what you write to me.

My Lord Kingston has embrac'd our good Party: I was present when he Abjur'd in the Church of St. Denis; I will give you the Circumstances some other time.

You promised to send me the Names of all Heretick Officers who are in his Majesty's Troops; that much imports me, and [Page] you shall not want good Catholick Officers to fill up their places. I have drawn a List of them who are to pass into England, and his most Christian Majesty approves thereof: Pray observe what I hinted to you in my last, on the Subject of the Visits, which our Fathers must give to the Chief Lords, Members of the next Parliament; those Reverend Fathers who are to perform that Duty, must be middle-aged, with a lively Count [...]nance, and fit to perswade. I also advised you in some of my other Letters, how the Bishop of Oxford ought to behave himself, by writing incessantly, and to insinuate into the People the putting down the Test; and at the same time calm the Storm, which the Letter of Pentionary Fagel has raised. And his Majesty must continue to make vigorous Prohibitions to all Booksellers in London, not to print any Answers; as well to put a stop to the Insolency of Heretick Authors, as also to hinder the People from reading them.

In short, you intimate to me, That his Majesty will follow our Advice: It's the quickest way, and I cannot find a better, or fitter, to dispossess his Subjects from such Impressions as they have received. His Majesty must also, by the same Declaration, profess in Conscience, that (if complied with) he will not only keep his Word, to maintain and protect the Church of England; but will also confirm his Promises by such Laws, as the Protestants shall be contented with. This is the true Politick way; for by his granting all, they cannot but consent to something.

His most Christian Majesty has with great success experienced this Maxim: And though he had not to struggle with Penal Laws and Tests, yet he found it convenient to make large Promises, by many Declarations; for, since we must dissemble, you must endeavour all you can to perswade the King it is the only Method to effect his Design.

I did also in my last, give you a hint of its Importance, as well as the ways you must take to insinuate your selves dexterously with the King, to gain his good Will.

I know not whether you have observed what passed in England some Years since; I will recite it, because Examples instruct much.

[Page]One of our Assisting Fathers of that Kingdom, (which was Father Parsons) having written a Book against the Succession of the King of Scots to the Realm of England. Father Creighton, who was also of our Society, and upheld by many of our Party, defended the Cause of that King, in a Book Intituled, The Reasons of the King of Scots, against the Book of Father Parsons: And though they seem'd divided, yet they understood one another very well; this being practised by order of our General, to the end, that if the House of Scotland were Excluded, they might shew him who had the Government, the Book of Father Parsons; and on the other Hand, if the King happened to be restored to the Throne, they might obtain his good Will, by shewing him the Works of Father Chreighton: So that which way soever the Medal turn'd, it still prov'd to the advantage of our Society.

Not to digress from our Subject, I must desire you to read the English Book of Father Parsons, Intituled, The Reform of England; where, after his blaming of Cardinal Pool, and made some observations of Faults in the Council of Trent, he finally concludes, That suppose England should return (as we hope) to the Catholick Faith in this Reign, he would reduce it to the State of the Primitive Church: And to that end all the Ecclesiastical Revenue ought to be used in common, and the Management thereof committed to the care of Seven Wise Men, drawn out of our Society, to be disposed of by them as they should think fit. Moreover, he would have all the Religious Orders forbidden on Religious Penalties, not to return into the Three Kingdoms, without leave of those Seven Wise Men; to the end it might be granted only to such as live on Alms. These Reflections seem to me very judicious, and very suitable to the present State of England.

The same Father Parsons adds, That when England is reduced to the True Faith, the Pope must not expect, at least for Five Years, to reap any benefit of the Ecclesiastical Revenue; but must leave the whole in the hands of those Seven Wise Men, who will manage the same to the Benefit and Advancement of the Church.

The Court goes this day for Marli, to take the Divertisements which are there prepared: I hope to accompany the [Page] King, and will entertain him about all Business; and accordingly as he likes what you hint to me in your Letter, I shall give you notice.

I have acquainted him with his Britannick Majesty's Design of building a Citadel near Whitehal; Monsieur Vauban, our Engineer, was present: After some Discourse on the Importance of the Subject, his Majesty told Monsieur Vauban, that he thought it convenient he should make a Model of the Design, and that he should on purpose go over into England to see the Ground.

I have done all I could to suspend the Designs of our Great Monarch, who is always angry against the Holy Father; both Parties are stubborn: the King's natural Inclination is, to have all yield to him; and the Pope's Resolution is unalterable.

All our Fathers most humbly salute your Reverence. Father Roine Ville acts wonderfully about Nismes amongst the New Converts, who still meet, notwithstanding the Danger they expose themselves to.

I daily expect News from the Frontiers of the Empire, which I shall impart to your Reverence, and am with the greatest Respect,

Yours, &c.

Paris, March 7. 1688.

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Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on: In a Letter from a Gentleman at York, to his Friend in the Prince of ORANGE's Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament.

THE Credulity and Superstition of Mankind hath given great Opportunities and Advantages to cunning Knaves to spread their Nets, and lay their Traps in order to catch easie and unwary Creatures; these being led on by Ignorance or Stupidity, they by Pride or Ambition, or else a Vile and Mercenary Principle; therefore seeing we are in this State of Corruption, bred up to believe Contradictions and Impossibilities, led by the Nose with every State Mountebank, and Monkish Iugler, moved like Puppets by Strings and Wires; it seems high time to vindicate Human Nature, and to free her from these Shakles laid upon her in the very Cradle; for Man (who ought to be a Free and Rational Animal) in his present State is only an Engine and Machine, contriv'd for the Vanity and Luxury of Priests and Tyrants, who claim to themselves, and seem to monopolize the Divine Stamp, tho we are all made of the same Materials, by the same Tools, and in the same Mould, equal by Nature, met together and link'd in Societies by mutual Contracts, plac'd by turns one above another, and entrusted for some time with the Power of executing our own Laws, and all by general consent for the Publick Good of the whole Community; this is the genuine Shape and Figure of Primitive and Sound Government, not distemper'd and fatally infected with the monstruous Excrescences of Arbitrary Power in one single Member above all the Laws of the whole; Infallibility, Divine Right, &c. started by Knaves and Sycophants, believ'd by Fools, who scarce ever heard of the Greek and Roman Histories, and never read their own. I shall therefore give some Examples (out of an infinite number) of People ruin'd and utterly destroy'd by [Page] their easie Credulity, and good Nature, matter of Fact being a stronger Proof, and better Rule to steer Mankind, than the empty Notions of the Schools, invented only to perplex and confound our Ratiocination, lest it should discover the naked Truth of things. The present Letter will confine it self only to Publick Promises, Oaths, and Solemn Contracts, scandalously violated by the Roman Catholicks, not with Heathens and Hereticks only, but amongst themselves: We will begin with the more remote Countries.

The Spaniards and Portugueses have acted so treacherously with the Africans, and the Natives of both Indies, that the Cruelty of the History would be incredible, if it was not related by their own Historians; their Leagues and Treaties (the most sacred Bonds und [...]r Heaven) were soon neglected, and the Spirit of their Religion broke all before it; how many Millions of those innocent Creatures were murder'd in cold Blood, and for Pastime sake, with all the variety of Torments that the Devil could inspire into them; how soon were the vast Regions of Mexico, New Spain, Peru, Hispaniola, Braseel, &c. depopulated, above twenty Millions of the poor harmless Inhabitants being put to death in full Peace, and they the best natur'd People in the World, and very ingenious; tho they may seem Savages to a sort of Men, who think all Barbarians that differ from them in Habits, Manners, Customs, Diet, Religion, Language, &c. not considering that all wise Nature hath contriv'd a different Scene of things for various Climates; Nay, such is the Inhumanity of these Catholick Nations here at home, that they will frequently bring Strangers (settled amongst them by the Laws of Commerce) and their own fellow-Subjects into the Inquisition, especially if they are Rich, upon a pretence of some Heretical Opinion, tho they themselves at first protect and license the Opinion; as in the case of Molino, whose Book had receiv'd an Imprimatur from most of the Inquisitors of Spain and Italy, and even from the Infallible Head of the Church, yet afterwards it was burnt, and he himself together with many of his Followers miserably tortur'd; the Pope scarce escaping the Punishment. The Generous Marshal Schomberg (driven out of France for his great Services) who had won many Battels for the Portugueses, and s [...]v'd their C [...]untry, could not be suffer'd to end his Old [Page] Age amongst them, but was forc'd in the midst of Winter to commit himself to the Sea, and fly to an inhospitable Shoar.

The present French King renounced all his Pretences on Flanders, concluded the Pyrenean Treaty, and swore at the Altar not to meddle with that Country: but how well he observ'd that Sacred Covenant, Baron D'Isola will best inform you in his Bouclier d'Etat, for which he was thought to be poison'd. Neither hath the French Monarch been contented to break all Faith and Measures with the Spaniard, but he hath gone about to deceive and ruine t [...]e Pope, Emperour, and all the Princes and Electors of the Empire, the Prince of Orange, Duke of Lorrain, the Switzers, the Dutch, and the English, and not only these his Neighbours and Allies, but his own Protestant Subjects, who had all the Security that Solemn Edicts, Oaths and Promises could afford them, besides many other Obligations upon the Crown for bringing the King to the Throne; yet all of a sudden they found themselves oppress'd and destroy'd by his Apostolical Dragoons, their Temples razed, their Wives and Children taken away, their Goods and Estates confiscated, themselves cast into Prisons, sent to the Gallies, and often shot at like Birds: His seising of Lorrain, France, Compte, Alsace, Strasburgh, Luxem [...]urgh, the Principality of Orange, the County of Avignon, Philipsbourg, the whole Palatinate, the Electorates of Mentz, Treves, and Cologn, his building of Cittadels in the Empire and in Italy, &c. are so contradictory to National Agreements, and Publick Treaties, that scarce a Iesuit or a French-man can have Impudence enough to defend them; a Banditto, a Pyrate, or a Pick-pocket would be asham'd of such Actions; and an ordinary Man would be hang'd for a Crime a Million times less. His seising upon Hudson's Bay, and leading the English into Slavery; the French Treachery in the Engagement at Sea between us and the Dutch, their frequent seizing of our Ships, are light things, not worthy our Resentment, being under the Conduct of a Monsieur whom the World so justly vilifies and despises.

The Emperour can have no good Pretence to condemn the King of France, or any other Catholick Prince for breach of Common Faith and Honesty, since he himself hath plaid the same Game with his Protestant Subjects, inviting some of the [Page] Chief of the Hungarian Nobility to Vienna, under the colour of Treaty and Friendship, and then cutting off their Heads, seiz [...]ng their Estates and Properties, destroying their Pastors and Churches, and extirpating the whole Reform'd Religion, after he had promis'd and stipulated to protect and give them the Liberty of their Consciences. The Parisian Massacres were carried on and executed under a Mask of Friendship, all the principal Protestants of France being invited to the Healing-Marriage, to revel and caress, were barbarously butcher'd in their Beds at the Toll of a Bell, when they dream'd they sl [...]p securely. The Irish Massacre of above 200000 Protestants was no less treacherous, it was a Copy of the Spanish Cruelty i [...] the West Indies, to whom the Irish are compar'd by Historians for their Idleness and Inhumanity, tho not for their Wit.

The Persecutions of the Protestants in the Vallies of Piedmont, are another instance of Popish Immanity and Baseness; they were under the common shelter of publick Pactions and Treaties, and had been solemnly own'd by the Dukes of Savoy, to be the most Loyal and the most Couragious of their Subjects. The present Duke, who undertook this last Persecution, was not content to destroy them with his own Troops, but call'd in the French to assist at the Comedy, to shoot them off the Rocks, to hunt them over the Alps, and to sell the strongest of them to the Gallies, that the very Turkish Slaves themselves might deride and insult over them. Catholicks, who have not Power or Opportunity to execute the same things, seem to condemn the Conduct in Publick, but sing Te Deum in Private, and as soon as ever they have got a sufficient Force, commit the like Barbarities, so essential to their Religion, that all the Instinct of Nature cannot separate them. The Holy Father at Rome (tho he sets up for a moderate and merciful Pontificate) order'd Te Dèum to be sung up and down, for the extirpation of Heresy out of France and Piedmont; and our English Catholicks have given us (as their Army and Interest encreas'd) several Proofs how well they can juggle and disguise themselves; setting up Courts of Inquisition, turning Protestants out of all Employs, and even out of their Freeholds, dispensing with Laws, Ravishing Charters, packing Corporatione, &c. and all under a notion of Liberty or a Divine [Page] Right; they with their Accomplices defended illegal Declarations, and set up an Authority above all our Laws, under the Cloak of a sham Liberty of Conscience, racking at the very same time the Consciences of the Church-of-England-men, and undermining the Foundation of our State. If Mr. Pen and his Disciples had condemn'd the unlawfulness of the Declarations and the Dispensing Power, when they wrote so fast for Liberty of Conscience, they had then shew'd a generous Zeal for a just Freedom in Matters of Religion, and at the same time a due Veneration to the Legislative Power (King, Lords, and Commons) but the secret of the Machine, was to maintain and erect a Prerogative above all Acts of Parliament, and consequently to introduce upon that bottom Tyranny and Popery; yet, notwithstanding all this uncontroulable Power, and shew of [...]randeur, an Easterly Wind, and a Fleet of Fly-Boats, would cancel and undo all again. Our Monkish Historians relate of King Iohn, that being in some distress, he sent Sir Tho. Hardington, and Sir Ralph Fitz-Nicholas, Ambassadours to Mirammumalim, the great Emperor of Morocco, with offers of his Kingdom to him, upon Condition he would come and aid him, and that if he prevail'd, he would himself turn Mahometan and renounce Popery.

I will not insist upon the Violations of Laws and Treaties in the Low Countries, or the Spanish Tyranny over them, because the Spaniards have got so much by that Persecution and Cruelty, that they might be tempted to practise the like again; for by forcing the Netherlanders to take up Arms for their Defence, and by necessitating Queen Elizabeth to assist and preserve them, they have set up a Free and Glorious State (as they themselves have call'd them in some Treaties) that hath preserv'd the languishing Monarchy of Spain, and the Liberty of Christendom.

The base and cowardly Massacre of that great Hero William Prince of Orange, of the Renowned Admiral Coligny, and the Prince of Conde; the many Bloody Conspiracies for the Extirpation of the whole Race of the House of Orange; the Murders of Henry the Second, and Henry the Fourth, are all Records and everlasting Monuments of Popish Barbarity; what incredible Effusions of Blood hath been occasion'd by the frequent Revolts of the Popes against the Emperors, by the [Page] Image-Worship and the Holy Wars? What Treachery in the Bohemian Transactions and Treaties? What Inhumanity in burning Ierome of Prague, and Iohn Hus? when they had the Emperor's Pass, and all other publick Securities from the Council it self, that put to Death those two good Men.

The Reign of Queen Mary is another Scene of the Infidility and Treachery of the Church of Rome; what Oaths did she take? What Promises and Protestations did she make to the Suffolk Men who had set the Crown upon her Head, and yet they were the first that felt the strokes of Persecution from Her? Read her History in Fox's Martyrs, and Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation.

The many Conspiracies to destroy Queen Elizabeth and King Iames, the Gunpowder-Plot, the Counsels carried on in Popish Countries to take off King Charles the First, and the many late Popish Plots are a continued Series and Thred, carried on by the Church of Rome, to break through all Laws both of God and Man, to erect an Universal Monarchy of Priest-Craft, and to bring the whole World under their Yoke. The Swedes have taken an effectual and commendable way to keep Popish Priests and Iesuits (those Boutefeus and Disturbers of Societies, the declared Enemies to the Welfare of Mankind) out of their Countries by Gelding them, and consequently rendring them incapable of Sacerdotal Functions, tho the Priests have found out a Salvo, and will say Mass and Confess, if they can procure their Testicles again, and carry them in their Pockets, either preserv'd or in Powder: In Aethiopia, China, and Iapan, the Romish Priests have been so intollerably turbulent, and such extravagant Incendiaries, that they have been often banished and put to Death; so that now they disguise themselves all over the Eastern Nations, under the Names and Characters of Mathematicians, Mechanicks, Physicians, &c. and dare not own their Mission to propagate a Faith which is grown ridiculous all over Asia.

The long and dreadful Civil Wars of France; the many Massacres and Persecutions, and lastly, the Siege of Rochel, are living Instances how far we may rely upon Engagements and Laws, both as to the taking of that Bulwark, and the promised Relief from hence. The Protestant Defenders of it, refusing to rely any longer upon Paper Edicts; and the Word of [Page] a Most Christian King, had this City granted them as a Cautionary Town for their Security; for before they had always been deluded out of their Advantages by fair Promises, insignificant Treaties, and the Word of a King; yet Lewis the 13th following the vitious Examples of Treacherous Princes, fell upon this Glorious City, which, upon the account of their Laws and Privileges, made a Resistance and brave Defence, (having never heard of Passive Obedience amongst their Pastors) thinking it more lawful to defend their Rights, than it was for Lewis to invade them.

As for the late and present Reign here in England, they are too nice and tender Things for me to touch; whether the Transactions of them are consistent with the Coronation Oaths, the many Declarations, Protestations, publick and solemn Promises, I am no fit Judg; they are more proper for the Gravity of an Historian, or the Authority of a Parliament to handle, than for a private Gentleman in a Letter to his Friend. The Bishops Papers, and the Prince of Orange's Declarations, are the best Memoires of them; but they only begin where the two parts of the History of the growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government left off, and how far we may trust to Catholick Stipulations, Oaths and Treaties, the Facts of past and the present Age are the best Criterions and Rules to guide and determine us; for what happens every day, will in all probability happen to morrow, the same Causes always produce the same Effects; and the Church of Rome is still the same Church it was an hundred Years ago, that is, a Mass of Treachery, Barbariety, Perjury, and the highest Superstition; a Machine without any Principle or setled Law of Motion, not to be mov'd or stop'd with the weights of any private or publick Obligations; a Monster that destroys all that is Sacred both in Heaven and Earth, so Ravenous that it is never content, unless it gets the whole World into its Claws, and tears all to pieces in order to Salvation; a Proteus, that turns it self into all shapes; a Chameleon, that puts on all Colours according to its present circumstances, this day an Angel of Light, to morrow a Beelzebub. Amongst all the Courts of Christendom where I have conversed, that of Holland is the freest from Tricks and Falsehood; and tho I am naturally jealous and suspicious of the Conduct of Princes, yet I could never discover the least Knavery within [Page] those Walls, it appear'd to me another Athens of Philosophers, and the only Seat of Justice and Vertue now left in the World. As for the Character of the Prince of Orange, it is so faithfully drawn by Sir William Temple, Doctor Burnet, and in a half sheet lately printed, that I, who am so averse from Flattery, that I can scarce speak a good word of any Body, or think one good thought of my self, will not write any further Panegerick upon his Highness, only that he is a very Honest Man, a Great Souldier, and a Wise Prince, upon whose Word the World may safely rely.

A late Pamphleteer reviles the Prince, with breaking his Oath when he took the Stat-holder's Office upon him; not considering that the Oath was impos'd upon his Highness in his Minority by a French Faction, then jealous of the aspiring and true Grandeur of his Young Soul; that the States themselves (to whom the Obligation was made) freed his Highness from the Bond; and that the Necessity of Affairs, and the Importunities of the People forced that Dignity upon him, which his Ancestors had enjoy'd, and he so well deserv'd, that he sav'd the sinking Common-wealth, (their Provinces being almost all Surpriz'd and Enslav'd by the French) compared to the gasping State of Rome after the loss at Cannae; His Highness was no more puft up with this Success, than he had been daunted with Hardships and Misfortunes; always the same Hero, Just, Serene, and Unchang'd under all Events, an Argument of the vastness of his Mind; whereas on the contrary, Mutability (sometimes Tyrant, sometimes Father of a Country, sometimes Huffing, other times Sneaking) is often-times a Symptom of a Mean and Cowardly Soul, vile and dissolute, born for Rapine and Destruction.

As for the Princess, she may without any flattery be stiled the Honour and Glory of her Sex; the most Knowing, the most Vertuous, the Fairest, and yet the best Natur'd Princess in the World; belov'd and admir'd by her Enemies, never seen in any Passion, always under a peculi [...]r sweetness of Temper, extreamly moderate in her Pleasures, taking delight in Working and Study; humble and affable in her Conversation, very pertinent in all Questions, charitable to all Protestants, and frequenting their Churches. The Prince is often seen with her at the Prayers of the Church of England, and [...]he with the [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] Prince at the Devotion of his Church. She dispences with the use of the Surplice, bowing to the Altar, and the Name of Jesus, out of Compliance to a Country that adores her, being more intent upon the Intrinsick and Substantial Parts of Religion, Prayer and Good Works. She speaks several Languages even to Perfection; entirely obedient to the Prince, and he extreamly dear to her. In a word, She is a Princess of many extraordinary Vertues and Excellencies, without any appearance of Vanity, or the least mixture of Vice; and upon whose Promise the World may safely depend. As for the many Plots and Conspiracies against this Royal Couple, a short time may bring them all to light, and faithful Historians publish them to the World.

Lastly, We may observe that whereas it hath been the Maxim of several Kings, both at home and abroad of late Years, to contend and outvie each other in preying upon and destroying not only their Neighbours, but their own Protestant Subjects, by all methods of perfidiousness and cruelty; the only way to establish Tyranny, and to enslave the natural Freedom of Mankind, being to introduce a general Ignorance, Superstition, and Idolatry; for if once People can be perswaded, that Statues and Idols are Divinities and adorable, and tha [...] a Wa [...]er is the Infinite God, after two or three ridiculous words, utter'd by a vile Impostor and impudent Cheat, then they may easily be brought to submit their Necks to all the Yokes that a Tyrant and a Priest can invent and put upon them; for if once they part with their Reason, their Liberty will soon follow; as we behold every day in the miserable enslav'd Countries where Popery domineers.

On the contrary, it hath always been the steady and immutable Principle of the House of Orange to rescue Europe from its Oppressours, and to resettle Governments upon the Primitive and Immortal Foundation of Liberty and Property; a Glorious Maxim, taken from the Old Roman Common-wealth, that Fought and Conquer'd so many Nations, only to set them Free, to Restore them wholsome Laws, their Natural and Civil Liberties; a Design so Generous; and every way Great, that the East groaning under the Fetters and Oppressions of their Tyrants, flew in to the Roman Eagles for Shelter and Protection, under whose Wings the several Nations liv'd [Page] Free, Safe and Happy, till Traitours and Usurpers began to break in upon the Sacred Laws of that vertuous Constitution, and to keep up Armies to defend that by Blood and Rapine, which Iustice would have thrown in their Face, and punished them as they deserved; the Preservation and Welfare of the People being in all Ages call'd the Supreme Law, to which all the rest ought to tend.

From the foregoing Relation of matter of Fact, it appears most plain, that the Roman Catholicks are not to be ty'd by Laws, Treaties, Promises, Oaths, or any other bonds of Humane Society; the sad experience of this and other Kingdoms, declares to all Mankind the invalidity and insignificancy of all Contracts and Agreements with the Papists, who notwithstanding all their Solemn Covenants with Hereticks, do watch for all Advantages and Opportunities to destroy them, being commanded thereunto by their Councils and the principles of their Church, and instigated by their Priests.

The History of the several Wars of the Barons of England, in the Reigns of King Iohn, Henry the Third, Edward the Second, and Richard the Second, in Defence of their Liberties, and for redressing the many Grievances (under which the Kingdom groa [...]'d) is a full representation of the Infidelity and Treachery of those Kings, and of the Invalidity of Treaties with them; how many Grants, Amendments, and fair Promises had they from those Princes, and yet afterwards how many Ambuscades, and Snares were laid to destroy those glorious Patriots of Liberty; what Violations of Compacts and Agreements, and what havock was made upon all Advantages and Opportunities, that those false Kings could take! Read their Histories in our several Chronicles.

FINIS.

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A FOURTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. The Prince of Orange's first Declaration from the Hague, Octob. 10. 1688. With his Highnesses Additional Declaration from the Hague, Octob. 24. 88. Corrected by the Original Copy printed there.

II. The Bishop of Rochester's Letter to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

III. The Prince of Orange's Speech to the Gentlemen of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire, coming to joyn his Highness at Exeter, Nov. 15. 88.

IV. A true Copy of a Paper delivered by the Earl of Devonshire to the Mayor of Darby, Nov. 20. 1688.

V. An Address of the Mayor, &c. of Lyn-Regis in Norfolk to the Duke of Norfolk; And the Duke's Answer, Decemb. 6. 88.

VI. A Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the City, assembled at Guild hall, Decemb. 11. 1688.

VII. A Paper delivered to the Prince of Orange, by the Commissioners sent by his Majesty.

VIII. The King's Letter to the Earl of Feversham on his Majesties leaving White-hall: with the Earl's Answer.

IX. A Declaration of the Prince of Orange, to the Commanders in Chief of the Dispersed Regiments, Troops and Companies, to keep them together in Order.

X. An Address of the Lieutenancy of London to the Pr. of Orange.

XI. An Address of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Common-Council of London to the Prince of Orange.

XII. A Speech of Sir G. Treby on delivery of the City Address.

Licensed and Entred according to Order.

London printed, and are to be sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row, 1688.

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THE DECLARATION Of His HIGHNESS VVilliam Henry, By the Grace of God, PRINCE of ORANGE, &c.
Of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England, for preserving of the Protestant Religion, and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

IT is both certain, and evident to all Men, that the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom, cannot be preserved, where the Laws, Liberties, and Customs established, by the Lawful Authority in it, are openly Transgressed and Annulled: More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavoured, and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced: Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it, are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the established Laws, Liberties, and Customs; and above all, the Religion and Worship of God that is established among them; and to take such [Page] an effectual care, that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom, may neither be deprived of their Religion, nor of their Civil Rights. Which is so much the more necessary, because the Greatness and Security, both of Kings, Royal Families, and of all such as are in Authority, as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People, depend in a most especial manner, upon the exact observation and maintenance of these their Laws, Liberties, and Customs.

Upon these Grounds it is, that we cannot any longer forbear to declare, That to our great regret, we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King, have overturned the Religion, Laws, and Liberties of those Realms; and subjected them in all Things relating to their Consciences, Liberties and Properties, to Arbitrary Government; and that not only by secret and indirect ways, but in an open and undisguised manner.

Those Evil Counsellors, for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible Pretexts, did invent and set on foot, the King's Dispensing Power, by virtue of which they pretend, that according to Law, he can Suspend and Dispense with the Execution of the Laws, that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament, for the Security and Happiness of the Subject, and so have rendred those Laws of no effect: Though there is nothing more certain, than that as no Laws can be made, but by the joint concurrence of King and Parliament; so likewise Laws so enacted, which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the Nation, and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it, cannot be repealed or suspended but by the same Authority.

For though the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred, and to which he is condemned, as in the Cases of Treason or Felony, yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence, that the King can entirely suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony: Unless it is pretended, that he is clothed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power, and that the Lives, Liberties, Honours and Estates of the Subjects, depend wholly on his good Will and Pleasure, and are entirely subject to him; which must infallibly follow, on the King's having a Power to suspend the Execution of the Laws, and to dispense with them.

[Page]Those Evil Counsellors, in order to the giving some credit to this strange and execrable Maxim, have so conducted the Matter, that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges, declaring that this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown; as if it were in the Power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws, Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation▪ to the King, to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure, and expresly contrary to Laws enacted, for the Security of the Subjects. In order to the obtaining this Judgment, those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion of the Judges, and procured such of them as could not in Conscience concur in so pernicious a Sentence, to be turned out, and others to be substituted in their Rooms, till by the Changes which were made in the Courts of Judicature, they at last obtained that Judgment. And they have raised some to those Trusts, who made open profession of the Popish Religion, though those are by Law rendred incapable of all such Employments.

It is also manifest and notorious, that as his Majesty was, upon his coming to the Crown, received and acknowledged by all the Subjects of England, Scotland, and Ireland, as their King, without the least Opposition, though he made then open profession of the Popish Religion, so he did then promise, and solemnly swear, at his Coronation, That he would maintain his Subjects in the free enjoiment of their Laws and Liberties; and in particular, that he would maintain the Church of England as it was established by Law: It is likewise certain, that there have been, at divers and sundry times, several Laws enacted for the preservation of those Rights, and Liberties, and of the Protestant Religion: And among other Securites, it has been enacted that all Persons whatsoever, that are advanced to any Ecclesiastical Dignity, or to bear Office in either University, as likewise all other, that should be put in any Imploiment, Civil or Military, should declare that they were not Papists, but were of the Protestant Religion, and that, by their taking of the Oaths of Allegiance, and Supremacy, and the Test; yet these Evil Counsellors have in effect annulled and abolished all those Laws, both with relation to Ecclesiastical and Civil Emploiments.

[Page]In order to Ecclesiastical Dignities and Offices, they have not only, without any colour of Law, but against most express Laws to the contrary, set up a Commission of a certain Number of Persons, to whom they have committed the Cognizance and Direction of all Ecclesiastical Matters: In the which Commission there has been, and still is, one of his Majesty's Ministers of State, who makes now publick profession of the Popish Religion, and who at the time of his first professing it, declared, That for a great while before, he had believed that to be the only true Religion. By all this, the deplorable State to which the Protestant Religion is reduced is apparent, since the Affairs of the Church of England, are now put into the Hands of Persons, who have accepted of a Commission that is manifestly Illegal; and who have executed it contrary to all Law; and that now one of their chief Members has abjured [...]he Pro [...]estant Religion, and declared himself a Papist, by which he is become incapable of holding any Publick Emploiment. The said Commissioners have hitherto given such proof of their submission to the Directions given them, that there is no reason to doubt but they will still continue to promote all such Designs as will be most agreeable to them. And those Evil Counsellors take care, to raise none to any Ecclesiastical Dignities, but Persons that have no Zeal for the Protestant Religion, and that now hide their unconcernedness for it, under the specious pretence of Moderation. The said Commissioners have suspended the Bishop of London, only because he refused to obey an Order that was sent him to suspend a Worthy Divine, without so much as citing him before him, to make his own Defence, or observing the common Forms of Process. They have turned out a President, chosen by the Fellows of Magdal [...]ne Colledg, and afterwards all the Fellows of that Colledg, without so much as citing them before any Court that could take legal cognizance of that Affair, or obtaining any Sentence against them by a competent Judg. And the only Reason that was given for turning them out, was, their refusing to chuse for their President, a Person that was recommended to them by the i [...]igation of those Evil Counsellors; Though the right of a free Election belonged undoubtedly to them. But they were turned out of their Freeholds contrary to Law, and to that express Provision in Magna Charta, That no Man shall [Page]lose Life or Goods, but by the Law of the Land. And now these Evil Counsellors have put the said Colledg wholly into the Hands of Papists; though, as is above said, they are incapable of all such Imploiments, both by the Law of the Land, and the Statutes of the Colledg. These Commissioners have also cited before them all the Chancellors and Arch-deacons of England, requiring them to certify to them the Names of all such Clergy-men as have read the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, and of such as have not read it; without considering that the reading of it, was not enjoined the Clergy, by the Bishops who are their Ordinaries. The illegality and incompetency of the said Court of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, was so notoriously known, and it did so evidently appear that it tended to the subversion of the Protestant Rel [...]ion, that the most Reverend Father in God, William Arch-bishop of Canterbury, Primate and Metropolitan of all England, seeing that it was raised for no other end, but to oppress such Persons as were of eminent Virtue, Learning, and Piety, refused to sit or concur in it.

And though there are many express Laws against all Churches or Chappels, for the exercise of the Popish Religion, and also against all Monasteries and Convents, and more particularly against the Order of the Jesuits: yet those Evil Counsellors have procured Orders for the building of several Churches and Chappels for the Exercise of that Religion. They have also procured divers Monasteries to be erected; and in contempt of the Law they have not only set up several Colledges of Iesuits in divers places, for the corrupting of the Youth, but have raised up one of the Order, to be a Privy Counsellor, and a Minister of State. By all which they do evidently shew, that they are restrained by no Rules or Law whatsoever, but that they have subjected the Honours and Estates of the Subjects, and the Establish'd Religion, to a Despotick Power, and to Arbitrary Government: In all which they are served and seconded by those Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

They have also followed the same Methods with Relation to Civil Affairs: For they have procured Orders to examine all Lords-Lieutenants, Deputy-Lieutenants, Sheriffs, Justices of Peace, and all others that were in any Publick Employment, [Page] if they would concur with the King in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws; and all such whose Consciences did not suffer them to comply with their Designs, were turned out, and others were put in their places, who they believe would be more compliant to them, in their Designs of defeating the Intent and Execution of those Laws, which had been made with so much Care and Caution for the Security of the Protestant Religion. And in many of these places they have put professed Papists, though the Law has disabled them, and warranted the Subjects not to have any regard to their Orders.

They have also invaded the Priviledges, and seized on the Charters of most of those Towns that have a right to be represented by [...]heir Burgesses in Parliament, and have procured Surrenders to be made of them, by which the Magistrates in them have delivered up all their Rights and Priviledges, to be disposed of at the pleasure of those Evil Counsellors, who have thereupon placed new Magistrates in those Towns, such as they can most entirely confide in; and in many of them they have put Popish Magistrates, notwithstanding the Incapacities under which the Law has put them.

And whereas no Nation whatsoever can subsist without the Administration of good and impartial Justice, upon which Mens Lives, Liberties, Honours, and Estates do depend; those Evil Counsellors have subjected these to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power: In the most important Affairs they have studied to discover before-hand the Opinions of the Judges, and h [...]ve turned out such as they found would not conform themselves to their Intentions, and have put others in their places, of whom they were more assured, without having any regard to their Abilities. And they have not stuck to raise even professed Papists to the Courts of Judicature, notwithstanding their Incapacity by Law, and that no Regard is due to any Sentences flowing from them. They have carried this so far as to deprive such Judges, who in the common Administration of Justice, shewed that they were governed by their Consciences, and not by the Directions which the others gave them. By which it is apparent they design to render themselves the absolute Masters of the Lives, Honours and Estates of the Subjects, of what Rank or Dignity soever they may be; [Page] and that without having any regard either to the Equity of the Cause, or to the Conscience of the Judges, whom they will have to submit in all things to their own will and Pleasure; hoping by such ways to intimidate those who are yet in Imployment, as also such others as they shall think fit to put in the rooms of those whom they have turned out, and to make them see what they must look for, if they should at any time act in the least contrary to their good liking, and that no failings of that kind are pardoned in any Persons whatsoever. A great deal of Blood has been shed in many places of the Kingdom by Judges governed by those Evil Counsellors, against all the Rules and Forms of Law, without so much as suffering the Persons that were accused, to plead in their own Defence.

They have also, by putting the Administration of Justice into the hands of Papists, brought all the matters of Civil Justice into great uncertainties; with how much Exactness and Justice soever that these Sentences may have been given. For since the Laws of the Land do not only exclude Papists from all places of Judicature, but have put them under an Incapacity, none are bound to acknowledg or to obey their Judgments; and all Sentences given by them, are null and void of themselves: so that all Persons who have been cast in Trials before such Popish Judges, may justly look on their pretended Sentences, as having no more force than the Sentences of any private and unauthorized Person whatsoever. So deplorable is the Case of the Subjects, who are obliged to answer to such Judges, that must in all things stick to the Rules which are set them by those Evil Counsellors, who as they raised them up to those Imployments, so can turn them out of them at pleasure, and who can never be esteemed lawful Judges; so that all their Sentences are, in the Construction of the Law, of no Force and Efficacy. They have likewise disposed of all Military Imployments in the same manner; for tho the Laws have not only excluded Papists from all such Imployments, but have in particular provided that they should be disarmed; yet they, in Contempt of these Laws, have not only armed the Papists, but have likewise raised them up to the greatest Military Trusts both by Sea and Land, and that Strangers as well as Natives, and Irish as well as English, that so by those [Page] means, having rendred themselves Masters both of the Affairs of the Church, of the Government of the Nation, and of the course of Justice, and subjected them all to a Despotick and Arbitrary Power, they might be in a Capacity to maintain and execute their wicked Designs by the assistance of the Army, and thereby to enslave the Nation.

The dismal Effects of this Subversion of the established Religion, Laws and Liberties in England, appear more evident to us, by what we see done in Ireland: Where the whole Government is put into the Hands of Papists, and where all the Protestant Inhabitants are under the daily Fears of what may be justly apprehended from the Arbitrary Power which is set up there; which has made great numbers of them leave that Kingdom, and abandon their Estates in it, remembring well that cruel and bloody Massacre which fell out in that Island in the Year 1641.

Those Evil Counsellous have also prevailed with the King to declare in Scotland, that he is clothed with Absolute Power, and that all the Subjects are bound to obey him without Reserve: upon which he has assumed an Arbitrary Power, both over the Religion and Laws of that Kingdom, from all which it is apparent what is to be looked for in England, as soon as matters are duly prepared for it.

Those great and insufferable Oppressions, and the open Contempt of all Law, together with the apprehensions of the sad Consequences that must certainly follow upon it, have put the Subj [...]ts under great and just Fears, and have made them look after such lawful Remedies as are allowed of in all Nations; yet all has been without Effect. And those Evil Counsellours have endeavoured to make all Men apprehend the loss of their Lives, Liberties, Honours, and Estates, if they should go about to preserve themselves from this Oppression by Petitions, Representations, or other means authorised by Law. Thus did they proceed with the Arch-bishop of Canterbury, and the other Bishops, who having offer'd a most humble Petition to the King, in terms full of Respect, and not exceeding the number limited by Law, in which they set forth in short the Reasons for which they could not obey that Order, which, by the Instigation of those Evil Counsellors, was sent them, requiring them to appoint their Clergy to read in their [Page] Churches the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, were sent to Prison, and afterwards brought to a Trial, as if they had been guilty of some enormous Crime. They were not only obliged to defend themselves in that pursuit, but to appear before professed Papists, who had not taken the Test, and by Consequence were Men whose Interest led them to condemn them; and the Judges that gave their Opinion in their Favours were thereupon turned out.

And yet it cannot be pretended, that any Kings, how great soever their Power has been, and how Arbitrary and Despotick soever they have been in the exercise of it, have ever reckoned a Crime for their Subjects to come in all Submission and Respect, and in a due Number, not exceeding the Limits of the Law, and represent to them the Reasons that made it impossible for them to obey their Orders. Those Evil Counsellors have also treated a Peer of the Realm as a Criminal, only because he said that the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of Peace; tho it is evident, that they being by Law rendred incapable of all such Trusts, no regard is due to their Orders. This being the Security which the People have by the Law for their Lives, Liberties, Honours and Estates, that they are not to be subjected to the Arbitrary Proceedings of Papists that are contrary to Law, put into any Employments Civil or Military.

Both We our selves, and our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort, the Princess, have endeavoured to signify in terms full of Respect to the King, the just and deep Regret which all these Proceedings have given us: and in Compliance with his Majesties Desires signified to us, We declared, both by word of Mouth to his Envoy, and in writing, what our Thoughts were touching the repealing of the Test and Penal Laws; which we did in such a manner, that we hoped we had proposed an Expedient, by which the Peace of those Kingdoms, and a happy Agreement among the Subjects of all Perswasions might have been settled; but those Evil Counsellors have put such ill Constructions on these our good Intentions, that they have endeavoured to alienate the King more and more from us; as if We had designed to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom.

[Page]The last and great Remedy for all those Evils, is the calling of a Parliament, for securing the Nation against the evil Practices of those wicked Counsellors; but this could not be yet compassed, nor can it easily be brought about. For those Men apprehending that a lawful Parliament being once assembled, they would be brought to an account for all their open Violations of Law, and for their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion, and the Lives and Liberties of the Subjects, they have endeavoured under the specious Pretence of Liberty of Conscience, first to sow Divisions among Protestants, between those of the Church of England and the Dissenters: The Design being laid to engage Protestants that are all equally concerned to preserve themselves from Popish Oppression, into mutual Quarellings; that so by these, some Advantages might be given to them to bring about their Designs; and that both in the Election of the Members of Parliament, and afterwards in the Parliament it self. For they see well that if all Protestants could enter into a mutual good Understanding one with another, and concur together, in the preserving of their Religion, it would not be possible for them to compass their wicked Ends. They have also required all Persons in the several Counties of England, that either were in any Imployment, or were in any considerable Esteem, to declare before-hand, that they would concur in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws, and that they would give their Voices in the Elections to Parliament only for such as would concur in it: Such as would not thus preingage themselves, were turned out of all Imployments, and others who entred into those Engagements were put into their places, many of them being Papists. And, contrary to the Charters and Priviledges of those Buroughs that have a Right to send Burgesses to Parliament, they have ordered such Regulations to be made, as they thought fit and necessary, for assuring themselves of all the Members that are to be chosen by those Corporations; and by this means they hope to avoid that Punishment which they have deserved, tho it is apparent, that all Acts made by Popish Magistrates are null and void of themselves; so that no Parliament can be lawful, for which the Elections and Returns are made by Popish Sheriffs and Mayors of Towns; and therefore, as long as the Authority [Page] and Magistracy is in such hands, it is impossible to have any lawful Parliament. And tho according to the Constitution of the English Government and immemorial Custom, all Elections of Parliament-Men ought to be made with an entire Liberty, without any sort of Force, or the requiring the Electors to chuse such Persons as shall be named to them; and the Persons thus freely elected, ought to give their Opinions freely upon all matters that are brought before them, having the Good of the Nation ever before their Eyes, and following in all things the Dictates of their Consciences, yet now the People of England cannot expect a Remedy from a free Parliament legally called and chosen: But they may perhaps see one called, in which all Elections will be carried by Fraud or Force, and which will be composed of such Persons, of whom those Evil Counsellors hold themselves well assured, in which all things will be carried on according to their Direction and Interest, without any regard to the Good or Happiness of the Nation. Which may appear evidently from this, that the same Persons tried the Members of the last Parliament, to gain them to consent to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws, and procured that Parliament to be dissolved when they found that they could not, neither by Promises nor Threatnings, prevail with the Members to comply with their wicked Designs.

But to crown all, There are great and violent Presumptions, inducing us to believe, that those Evil Counsellors, in order to the carrying on of their ill Designs, and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them, for the encouraging their Complices, and for the discouraging of all good Subjects, have published that the Queen hath brought forth a Son; tho there have appeared both during the Queen's pretended Bigness, and in the manner in which the Birth was managed, so many just and visible grounds of Suspicion, that not only We our selves, but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms, do vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen. And it is notoriously known to all the World, that many both doubted of the Queen's Bigness, and of the Birth of the Child, and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them, or to put an end to their Doubts.

And since our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort [Page] the Princess, and likewise We our Selves, have so great an Interest in this Matter, and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession to the Crown: Since also the English did in the Year 1672. when the States General of the Vnited Provinces were invaded in a most unjust War, use their uttermost Endeavours to put an end to that War, and that in opposition to those who were then in the Government; and by their so doing they run the hazard of losing both the Favour of the Court, and their Imployments: And since the English Nation has [...]ver testified a most particular Affection and Esteem, both to our Dearest Consort the Princess, and to Our Selves, We cannot excuse our selves from espousing their Interests in a Matter of such high Consequence, and from contributing all that lies in us for the maintaining both of the Protestant Religion, and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms, and for the securing to them the continual Enjoyment of all their just Rights. To the doing of which we are most earnestly solicited by a great many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal, and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks.

Therefore it is that we have thought fit to go over to England, and to carry over with us a Force sufficient, by the Blessing of God, to defend us from the Violence of those Evil Counsellors. And We being desirous that our Intentions in this may be rightly understood, have for this end prepared this Declaration, in which as We have hitherto given a true Account of the Reasons inducing us to it; so we now think fit to declare that this our Expedition is intended for no other Design, but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled, as soon as possible; and that in order to this, all the late Charters by which the Elections of Burgesses are limited, contrary to the Ancient Custom, shall be considered as null and of no force; and likewise all Magistrates who have been injustly turned out, shall forthwith resume their former Imployments, as well as all the Buroughs of England, shall return again to their Ancient Prescriptions and Charters: And more particularly that the Ancient Charter of the great and famous City of London, shall again be in force; and that the Writs for the Members of Parliament shall be addressed to the proper Officers, according to Law and Custom. That also none be suffered to [Page] choose or to be chosen Members of Parliament but such as are qualified by Law; and that the Members of Parliament being thus lawfully chosen, they shall meet and sit in full Freedom; that so the two Houses may concur in the preparing such Laws as they, upon full and free debate, shall judg necessary and convenient, both for the confirming and executing the Law concerning the Test, and such other Laws as are necessary for the Security and Maintenance of the Protestant Religion; as likewise for making such Laws as may establish a good Agreement between the Church of England and all Protestant Dissenters, as also for the covering and securing of all such who will live peaceably under the Government as becomes good Subjects, from all Persecution upon the account of their Religion, even Papists themselves not excepted; and for the doing of all other things which the two Houses of Parliament shall find necessary for the Peace, Honour and Safety of the Nation; so that there may be no more danger of the Nations falling at any time hereafter under Arbitrary Government. To this Parliament we will also refer the Enquiry into the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales, and of all things relating to it, and to the Right of Succession.

And We for our part, will concur in every thing that may procure the Peace and Happiness of the Nation, which a Free and Lawful Parliament shall determine; since We have nothing before our Eyes in this our Undertaking, but the Preservation of the Protestant Religion, the covering of all Men from Persecution for their Consciences, and the securing to the whole Nation the free Enjoyment of all their Laws, Rights and Liberties, under a just and legal Government.

This is the Design that We have proposed to our Selves in appearing upon this occasion in Arms: In the Conduct of which, We will keep the Forces under our Command, under all the strictness of Martial Discipline, and take a special care that the People of the Countries through which we must march, shall not suffer by their means; and as soon as the State of the Nation will admit of it, We promise that We will send back all those Foreign Forces that we have brought along with us.

We do therefore hope that all People will judg rightly of us, and approve of these our P [...]oceedings; but We chiefly relie on [Page] the Blessing of God for the Success of this our Undertaking, in which We place our whole and only Confidence.

We do in the last place invite and require all Persons whatsoever, all the Peers of the Realm, both Spiritual and Temporal, all Lords-Lieutenants, Deputy-Lieutenants, and all Gentlemen, Citizens, and other Commons of all Ranks, to come and assist us in order to the executing of this our Design, against all such as shall endeavour to oppose us, that so we may prevent all those Miseries which must needs follow upon the Nations being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery; and that all the Violences and Disorders which have overturned the whole Constitution of the English Government, may be fully redressed in a FREE AND LEGAL PARLIAMENT.

And We do likewise resolve, that as soon as the Nations are brought to a State of Quiet, We will take care that a Parliament shall be called in Scotland, for the restoring the Ancient Constitution of that Kingdom, and for bringing the Matters of Religion to such a Settlement, that the People may live easie and happy, and for putting an end to all the injust Violences that have been in a course of so many Years committed there.

We will also study to bring the Kingdom of Ireland to such a State, that the Settlement there may be religiously observed; and that the Protestant and British Interest there may be secured. And we will endeavour by all possible means to procure such an Establishment in all the three Kingdoms, that they may all live in a happy Union and Correspondence together, and that the Protestant Religion, and the Peace, Honour and Happiness of those Nations may be established upon lasting Foundations.

Given under our Hand and Seal at our Court in the Hague, the Tenth day of October, in the Year 1688.

WILLIAM HENRY, PRINCE OF ORANGE. By His Highnesses special Command, C. HUYGENS.

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His Highnesses Additional Declaration.

AFter We had prepared and printed this our Declaration, we have understood, that the Subverters of the Religion and Laws of those Kingdoms, hearing of our Preparations to assist the People against them, have begun to retract some of the Arbitrary and Despotick Powers that they had assumed, and to vacate some of their unjust Judgments and Decrees. The sense of their Guilt, and the distrust of their Force, have induced them to offer to the City of London some seeming Relief from their great Oppressions, hoping thereby to quiet the People, and to divert them from demanding a Secure Reestablishment of their Religion and Laws under the shelter of our Arms. They do also give out, that we intend to Conquer and Enslave the Nation; and therefore it is that we have thought fit to add a few words to our Declaration.

We are confident, that no Persons can have such hard Thoughts of us, as to imagine 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. And as the Forces we have brought along with us, are utterly disproportioned to that wicked Design of Conquering the Nation, if we were capable of intending it; so the great Numbers of the principal Nobility and Gentry, that are Men of Eminent Quality and Estates, and Persons of known Integrity and Zeal, both for the Religion and Government of England; many of them being also distinguished by their constant Fidelity to the Crown, who do both accompany Us in this Expedition, and have earnestly solicited Us to it, will cover Us from all such Malicious Insinuations: For it is not to be imagined, that either those who have invited Us, or those that are already come to assist Us, can join in a wicked Attempt of Conquest, to make [Page] void their own lawful Titles to their Honours, Estates and Interests. We are also confident, that all Men see how little weight there is to be laid on all Promises and Engagements that can be now made, since there has been so little regard had in Time past to the most solemn Promises. And as that imperfect Redress that is now offered, is a plain Confession of those Violations of the Government that we have set forth; so the defectiveness of it is no less Apparent; for they lay down nothing which they may not take up at pleasure: and they reserve entire, and not so much as mentioned their Claims and Pretences to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power; which has been the root of all their Oppression, and of the total subversion of the Government. And it is plain, that there can be no Redress nor Remedy offered but in Parliament, by a Declaration of the Rights of the Subjects that have been invaded, and not by any pretended Acts of Grace, to which the extremity of their Affairs has driven them. Therefore it is that we have thought fit to declare, that we will refer all to a Free Assembly of the Nation in a Lawful Parliament.

Given under our Hand and Seal, at our Court in the Hague, the 24th day of October, in the Year of our Lord 1688.

William Henry, Prince of Orange.

By his Highness special Command, C. HUYGENS.

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To the Right Honourable My Lords of his Majesty's Commission Ecclesiastical.

IMost humbly Intreat your Lordships Favourable Interpretation of what I now Write, That since your Lordships are resolved to Proceed against those who have not complyed with the King's Command, in Reading His Deelaration. It is absolutely impossible for me to Serve His Majesty any longer in this Commission: I beg leave to tell your Lordships, that though I my Self did submit in that particular, yet I will never be any way Instrumental in Punishing those my Brethren that did not. For, as I call God to Wittness, that what I did, was meerly in a Principle of Conscience; So I am fully satisfied that their forbearance was upon the same Principle. I have no Reason to think otherwise of the whole Body of our Clergy, who upon all Occasions have signaliz'd their Loyalty to the Crown; and their Zealous Affections to His Present Majesty's Person, in the worst of Times. Now, my Lords, the safety of the whole Church of England, seeming to be exceedingly concerned in this Prosecution; I must declare, I cannot with a safe Conscience, Sit or Iudg in this Caufe, upon so many Pious and Excellent Men, with whom (if it be God's Will) it rather becomes me to Suffer, than to be in the least an Occasion of their Sufferings. I therefore earnestly request your Lordships, to interceed with His Majesty, that I may be Graciously dismissed from any further Attendance at your Board: And to assure him, that I am still ready to Sacrifice what ever I have to His Service, but my Conscience and Religion.

My Lords,

I am your Lordships, most Faithful and Obedient Servant, ROCHESTER.

This Letter, as also the foresaid Declaration, should have been in the first Collection, but were forgotten till this.

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The Speech of the Prince of Orange, to some Principle Gentlemen of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire, on their coming to Ioyn his Highness at Exeter the 15th of Nov. 1688.

THO we know not all your Persons, yet we have a Catalogue of your Names, and remember the Character of your Worth and Interest in your Country. You see we are come according to your Invitation and our Promise. Our Duty to God obliges us to protect the Protestant Religion; and our Love to Mankind, your Liberties and Properties. We expected you that dwelt so near the place of our Landing, would have joyn'd us sooner, not that it is now too late, nor that we want your Military Assistance so much as your Countenance and Presence, to justify our declar'd Pretensions; rather than accomplish our good and gracious Designs. Tho we have brought both a good Fleet, and a good Army, to render these Kingdoms happy, by rescuing all Protestants from Popery, Slavery, and Arbitrary Power; by restoring them to their Rights and Properties established by Law, and by promoting of Peace and Trade, which is the Soul of Government, and the very Life-Blood of a Nation; yet we rely more on the Goodness of God and the Justice of our Cause, than on any Humane Force and Power whatever. Yet since God is pleased we shall make use of Humane means, and not expect Miracles, for our preservation and Happiness; let us not neglect making use of this gracious Opportunity, but with Prudence, and Courage put in Execution our so honourable Purposes. Therefore, Gentlemen, Friends and Fellow-Protestants, we bid you and all your Followers most heartily Well come to our Court and Camp. Let the whole World now Judg, if our pretentions are not Just, Generous, Sincere, and above Price; since we might have even a Bridg of Gold to Return back; But it is our Principle and Resolution, rather to dye in a Good Cause, than live in a Bad one, well knowing that Vertue and True Honour is its own Reward, and the Happiness of Mankind Our Great and Only Design.

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The True Copy of a Paper delivered by the Lord Devonshire to the Mayor of Darby, where he quarter'd the One and twentieth of November, 1688.

WE the Nobility and Gentry of the Northern Parts of England, being deeply sensible of the Calamities that threaten these Kingdoms, do think it our Duty, as Christians and good Subjects, to endeavour what in Us lies, the Healing of our present Distractions, and preventing Greater: And as with Grief We apprehend the sad Consequences that may arise from the Landing of an Army in this Kingdom from Foreign Parts; So We cannot but deplore the Occasion given for it, by so many Invasions, made of late years, on our Religion and Laws. And whereas We cannot think of any other Expedient to compose our Differences, and prevent Effusion of Blood, than that which procured a Settlement in these Kingdoms, after the late Civil Wars, the Meeting and Sitting of a Parliament, freely and duly Chosen, We think our Selves obliged (as far as in Us lies) to promote it; And the rather, because the Prince of Orange (as appears by His Declaration) is willing to submit His own Pretensions, and all other Matters, to their Determination: We heartily wish, and humbly pray, That His Majesty would Consent to this Expedient, in order to a future Settlement; And hope that such a Temperament may be thought of, as that the Army now on foot, may not give any Interruption to the proceeding of a Parliament. But if to the great Misfortune and Ruine of these Kingdoms, it should prove otherwise, We further Declare, That We will, to our utmost, defend the Protestant Religion, the Laws of the Kingdom, and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject.

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A Letter from a Gentleman at Kings-Lyn, Decemb. 7. 1688. to his Friend in London.

SIR,

THE Duke of Norfolk came to Town on Wednesday Night, with many of the chiefest of the County; and yesterday in the Market-place received the Address following, which was presented by the Mayor, attended by the Body, and many hundreds of the Inhabitants.

To his Grace the most Noble HENRY Duke of Norfolk, Lord Marshal of England.

My Lord,

THE daily Allarums we receive, as well from Foreign as Domestick Enemies, give us just Apprehensions of the approaching Danger which we conceive we are in; and to apply with all earnestness to your Grace as our great Patron, in all humble Confidence to succeed in our Expectations, That we may be put into such a posture by your Grace's Directions and Conduct, as may make us appear as zealous as any in the Defence of the Protestant Religion, the Laws and Ancient Government of this Kingdom. Being the desire of many hundreds, who most humbly challenge a Right of your Grace's Protection.

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His Grace's Answer.

Mr. Mayor,

I Am very much obliged to you, and the rest of your Body, and those here present, for your good Opinion of me; and the Confidence you have, that I will do what in me lies to support and defend the Laws, Liberties, and Protestant Religion, in which I will never deceive you.

And since the coming of the Prince of Orange hath given us an opportunity to declare for the defence of them; I can only assure you, that no Man will venture his Life and Fortune more freely for the Defence of the Laws, Liberties, and Protestant Religion, than I will do; and with all these Gentlemen here present, and many more, will unanimously concur therein; and you shall see that all possible Care shall be taken, that such a Defence shall be made as you require.

AFter which the Duke was, with his Retinue, received at the Mayor's House at Dinner, with great Acclamations; and his Proceedings therein have put our County into a Condition of Defence, of which you shall hear further in a little time, our Militia being ordered to be raised throughout the County.

Our Tradesmen, Seamen, and Mobile, have this morning generally put Orange Ribbon on their Hats, Ecchoing Huzza's to the Prince of Orange and Duke of Norfolk.

All are in a hot Ferment: God send us a good issue of it.

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Lyn-Regis, Decemb. 10. 1688.

SIR,

BY mine of the 7th Instant, I gave you an Account of the Address of this Corporation to hi [...] Grace the Duke of Norfolk, and of his Grace's Answer thereto. Since which his Grace has sent for the Militia Troops, and put them in a posture of Defence, as appears by the ensuing Speech.

The Duke of Norfolk's Second Speech at Lynn.

I Hope you see I have endeavoured to put you in the posture you desired, by sending both for Horse and Foot of the Militia, and am very glad to see such an Appearance of this Town in so good a Condition. And I do again renew my former Assurances to you, that I will ever stand by you to defend the Laws, Liberties, and the Protestant Religion, and to procure a Settlement in Church and State, in concurrence with the Lords and Gentlemen in the North, and pursuant to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange.

And so God save the King.

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The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, Assembled at Guildhal, Dec. 1688.

WE doubt not but the World believes that, in this Great and Dangerous Conjuncture, We are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion, the Laws of the Land, and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject. And We did reasonably hope, that the King having Issued His Proclamation, and Writs for a Free Parliament, We might have rested Secure under the Expectation of that Meeting: But His Majesty having withdrawn Himself, and, as We apprehend, in order to His Departure out of this Kingdom, by the Pernicious Counsels of Persons ill Affected to Our Nation and Religion, We cannot, without being wanting to Our Duty, be silent under those Calamities, wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed, have miserably involved these Realms. We do therefore Unanimously resolve to apply Our Selves to His Highness the Prince of Orange, who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms, so vast Expence, and so much hazard to his own Person, hath Undertaken, by endeavouring to Procure a Free Parliament, to rescue Us, with as little Effusion as possible of Christian Blood, from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery.

And We do hereby Declare, That We will, with our utmost Endeavours, assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed, wherein Our Laws, Our Liberties and Properties may be Secured, the Church of England in particular, with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters, and in general the Protestant Religion and Interest ov [...]r the whole World may be Supported and Encouraged, to the Glory of God, the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms, and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom, that may be herein concerned.

[Page]In the mean time, We will Endeavour to Preserve, as much as in Us lies, the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminister, and the Parts Adjacent, by taking Care to Disarm all Papists, and Secure all Jesuits and Romish Priests, who are in or about the same.

And if there be any thing more to be performed by Us, for promoting His Higness's Generous Intentions for the Publick Good, We shall be ready to do it as occasion shall Require.

W. Cant.

Tho Ebor.

Pembroke.

Dorset.

Mulgrave.

Thanet.

Carlisle.

Craven.

Ailesbury.

Burlington.

Sussex.

Berkeley.

Rochester.

Newport.

Weymouth.

P. Winchester.

W. Asaph.

Fran. Ely.

Tho. Roffen.

Tho. Petribtrg.

P. Wharton.

North and Grey.

Chandos.

Montague.

T. Iermyn.

Vaughan Carbery.

Culpeper.

Crewe.

Osulston.

WHereas His Majesty hath privately this Morning withdrawn himself, We the Lords Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are Subscribed, being assembled at Guild-hall in London, having Agreed upon, and Signed a Declaration, Entituled, The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in and about the Cities of London and Westminister, Assembled at Guild-hall, 11 Decemb. 1688. Do desire the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembroke, the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Weymouth, the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely, and the Right Honourable the Lord Culpeper, forthwith to attend his Highness the Prince of Orange with the said Declaration, and at the same time acquaint his Highness with what we have further done at that Meeting. Dated at Guild-hall the 11th of December, 1688.

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A Paper delivered to his Highness the Prince of Orange, by the Commissioners sent by his Majesty to Treat with Him. And his Highnesses Answer.

WHereas on the 8th of December 1688, at Hungerford, a Paper signed by the Marquess of Hallifax, the Earl of Nottingham, and the Lord Godolphin, Commissioners sent unto Us from His Majesty, was delivered to Us in these Words following, viz.

SIR,

THE King commandeth us to acquaint You, That he observeth all the Differences and Causes of Complaint alledged by Your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament.

His Majesty, as He hath already declared, was resolved before this to call one, but thought that in the present State of Affairs it was adviseable to defer it till things were more compos'd.

Yet seeing that His People still continue to desire it; He hath put forth His Proclamation in order to it, and hath Issued forth His Writs for the calling of it.

And to prevent any Cause of Interruption in it, He will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the Security of all those that shall come to it.

His Majesty hath therefore sent Us to attend Your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections, and the Security of Sitting, and is ready immediately to enter into a Treaty in Order to it.

His Majesty proposeth that in the mean time the respective Armies may be restrained within such Limits, and at such a Distance from London, as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may in any kind be disturbed, being desirous that the Meeting of it may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms.

Signed, Hallifax, Nottingham, Godolphin.

Hungerford, Dec. 8, 88.

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We, with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen Assembled with Us, have, in Answer to the same, made these following Proposals.

I. THat all Papists, and such Persons as are not qualified by Law, be Disarmed, Disbanded, and Removed from all Employments, Civil and Military.

II. That all Proclamations which Reflect upon Us, or any that have come to Us, or declared for Us, be recalled; and that if any Persons for having so Assisted, have been committed, that they be forthwith set at Liberty.

III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London, the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the hands of the said City.

IV. That if His Majesty shall think fit to be at London, during the Sitting of the Parliament, that We may be there also, with equal Number of Our Guards. Or if his Majesty shall please to be in any place from London, at what-ever distance he thinks fit, that We may be at a place of the same distance. And that the respective Armies do remove from London Thirty Miles, and that no more Foreign Forces be brought into the Kingdom.

V. That for the Security of the Citiy of London and their Trade, Tilbury For [...] be put into the hands of the said City.

VI. That to prevent the Landing of French, or other Foreign Troops, Portsmouth may be put into such hands, as by Your Majesty and Us shall be agreed upon.

VII. That some sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be Assigned Us, for the Maintaining of our Forces, until the Meeting of a Free Parliament. Given at Littlecott, the Ninth of December, 1688.

W. H. Prince of Orange.

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The KING's Letter TO THE EARL of FEVERSHAM, Upon his leaving Whitehall. Together with the Earl of Feversham's Letter to his Highness the PRINCE of Orange, after the King's departure. Whitehall, Decemb. 10. 1688.

THings being come to that Extremity, that I have been forced to send away the Queen and my Son the Prince of Wales, that they might not fall into my Enemies Hands, which they must have done, if they had staid, I am obliged to do the same thing, and to endeavour to secure my self the best I can, in hopes it will please God out of his infinite Mercy to this Unhappy Nation, to touch their Hearts again with true Loyalty and Honour. If I could have relied on all my Troops, I might not have been put to the extremity I am in, and would at least have had one Blow for it; but though I know there are many Loyal and brave Men amongst you, both Officers and Souldiers, yet you know, that both you and several of the General Officers and Men of the Army told me, it was no ways adviseable for me to venture my Self at their Head, or think to fight the Prince of Orange [Page] with them; and now there remains only for me to thank you, and all those both Officers and Souldiers who have stuck to me, and been truly Loyal. I hope you will still retain the same Fidelity to Me, and though I do not expect you should expose your selves by resisting a Foreign Army, and a poysoned Nation, yet I hope your former Principles are so enrooted in you, that you will keep your selves free from Associations, and such pernicious things. Time presses, so that I can say no more.

I. R.

I must add this, That as I have always found you Loyal, so you have found me a kind Master, as you shall still find me to be.

The Earl of Feversham's Letter.

SIR,

HAving receiving this Morning a Letter from His Majesty, with the unfortunate News of his Resolution to go out of England, and that he is actually gone, I thought my self obliged, being at the Head of his Army, having received His Majesties Order to make no opposition against any body, to let your Highness know, (with the Advice of the Officers here) so soon as it was possible, to hinder the misfortune of effusion of Blood; I have ordered already to that purpose all the Troops that are under my Command, which shall be the last Order they shall receive from, &c.

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By the Prince of Orange, a DECLARATION.

WHereas We are Informed, That divers Regiments, Troops and Companies, have been Encouraged to Disperse themselves in an Unusual and Unwarrantable Manner, whereby the Publick Peace is very much Disturbed: We have thought fit, hereby to Require all Colonels and Commanders in Chief of such Regiments, Troops and Companies, by Beat of Drum, or otherwise, to call together the several Officers and Soldiers, belonging to their Respective Regiments, Troops and Companies, in such Places as they shall find most Convenient for their Rendezvous, and there to keep them in good Order and Discipline. And We do likewise Direct and Require all such Officers and Soldiers, forthwith to Repair to such Place as shall be Appointed for that Purpose by the respective Colonels or Commanders in Chief, Whereof speedy Notice is to be given unto Us, for Our further Orders.

Given at Our Court at Henly, the Thirteenth Day of December, 1688.

W. H. Prince of Orange.

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Guild-Hall, London. December the 11th, 1688.

By the Commissioners of Lieutenancy for the said City.

Ordered,

THat Sir Robert Clayton, Knt. Sir William Russel, Knt. Sir Basil Firebrace, Knt. and Charles Duncomb, Esq be a Committee from the said Lieutenancy to Attend His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, and present to His Highness the Address agreed by the Lieutenancy for that purpose: And that they begin their Journey to Morrow Morning.

By the Commissioners Command, Geo. Evans, Cl. Lieut. London.

To His Highness the Prince of Orange. The Humble Address of the Lieutenancy of the City of London.

May it please Your Highness,

WE can never sufficiently express the deep Sence we have conceived, and shall ever retain in our Hearts, That Your Highness has exposed Your Person to so many Dangers both by Sea and Land for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion, and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom; without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us.

[Page]We have been greatly concerned, that before this time we have not had any seasonable Opportunity to give Your Highness and the World a real Testimony, that it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is Dear to Us to attain those Glorious Ends which Your Highness has proposed for restoring and settling these Distracted Nations.

We therefore now unanimously present to Your Highness our just and due Acknowledgments for the Happy Relief You have brought to us, and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture, we have put our selves into such a Posture, that (by the Blessing of God) we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs, and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's Happy Arrival.

We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can, for the perfecting the Great Work which Your Highness has so happily begun, to the general Joy and Satisfaction of us all.

December the 17th, 1688.

THE said Committee this day made Report to the Lieutenancy, that they had presented the said Address to the Prince of Orange, and that His Highness received them very kindly.

December the 17th, 1688.

By the Lieutenancy.

Ordered,

That the said Order and Address be forthwith Printed.

Geo. Evans.

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To His Highness the Prince of ORANGE: The Humble ADDRESS of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled.

May it please Your Highness,

WE taking into Consideration your Highness's fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion, manifested to the World, in your many and hazardous Enterprizes, which it hath pleased Almighty God to bless you with miraculous Success. We render our deepest Thanks to the Divine Majesty for the same: And beg leave to present our most humble Thanks to your Highness, particularly for your appearing in Arms in this Kingdom, to carry on and perfect your Glorious Design, to rescue England, Scotland and Ireland, from Slavery and Popery, and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion, the Laws, and the Liberties of these Kingdoms upon a sure and lasting Foundation.

We have hitherto look'd for some Remedy for these Oppressions and Imminent Dangers We, together with Our Protestant Fellow-Subjects, laboured under, from His Majesty's Concessions and Concurrences with Your Highness's Just and Pious purposes, expressed in Your Gracious Declarations.

But herein finding Our Selves finally disappointed by His Majesty's withdrawing Himself, We presume to make Your Highness Our Refuge: And do in the Name of this Capital CITY, implore Your Highness's Protection; and most humbly beseech Your Highness to vouchsafe to repair to this CITY, where Your Highness will be received with Universal Joy and Satisfaction.

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The Speech of Sir GEORGE TREBY, Kt. Recorder of the Honourable City of London, to his Highness the Prince of Orange, Dec. 20. 1688.

May it please your Highness,

THE Lord Mayor being disabled by Sickness, your Highness is attended by the Aldermen and Commons of the Capital City of this Kingdom, deputed to Congratulate your Highness upon this great and glorious Occasion.

In which, labouring for Words, we cannot but come short in Expression.

Reviewing our late Danger, we remember our Church and State, over-run by Popery and Arbitrary Power, and brought to the Point of Destruction, by the Conduct of Men (that were our true Invaders) that brake the Sacred Fences of our Laws, and (which was worst) the very Constitution of our Legislature.

So that there was no Remedy left but the Last.

The only Person, under Heaven, that could apply this Remedy, was Your Highness.

You are of a Nation, whose Alliance, in all Times, has been agreeable and prosperous to us.

You are of a Family most Illustrious, Benefactors to Mankind. To have the Title of Sovereign Prince, Stadtholder, and to have worn the Imperial Crown, are among their lesser Dignities: They have long enjoyed a Dignity singular and transcendent, viz. To be Champions of Almighty God, sent forth in several Ages, to vindicate his Cause against the greatest Oppressions.

[Page]To this Divine Commission, our Nobles, our Gentry, and among them our brave English Souldiers, rendred themselves and their Arms upon your appearing.

GREAT SIR,

When we look back to the last Month, and contemplate the Swiftness and Fullness of our present Deliverance, astonish'd, we think it miraculous.

Your Highness, led by the Hand of Heaven, and called by the Voice of the People, has preserved our dearest Interests.

The Protestant Religion, which is Primitive Christianity, restor'd.

Our Laws, which are our ancient Title to our Lives, Liberties, and Estates, and without which this World were a Wilderness.

But, what Retribution can We make to your Highness?

Our Thoughts are full-charged with Gratitude.

Your Highness has a lasting Monument in the Hearts, in the Prayers, in the Praises of all Good Men amongst us. And late Posterity will celebrate your ever-glorious Name, till Time shall be no more.

Chapman Mayor. Cur' special' tent' die Iovis xx. die Decemb' 1688. Anno (que) R R. Iacobi Secundi Angl' &c. quarto.

THis Court doth desire Mr. Recorder to print his Speech this day made to the Prince of Orange at the time of this Court's attending his Highness, with the Deputies of the several Wards, and other Members of the Common-Council.

Wagstaffe.

FINIS.

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A FIFTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince.

II. An Answer to a late Pamphlet, entitled, A Short Scheme of the Vsurpations of the Crown of England, &c.

III. An humble and hearty Address to all English Protestants in the Army. Published by Mr. Iohnson in the Year 1686.

IV. Several Reasons against the Establishment of a standing Army, and Dissolving the Militia.

V. A Discourse of Magistracy; of Prerogative by Divine Right; of Obedience, and of the Laws.

VI. The Definition of a Tyrant, by Abr. Cowley: With several Queries thereupon proposed to the Lawyers.

VII. A Letter to the King, inducing him to return to the Protestant Religion.

VIII. Ten Seasonable Queries, proposed by an English Gentleman at Amsterdam to his Friends in England.

Licensed and Entred according to Order.

London printed, and are to be sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row, 1688.

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The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince.

A Prince putting himself and his Dominions under the Authority of the Pope, and admitting (as he must unavoidably) the Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church, all his Protestant Subjects being, by the Judgment and Sentence of that Church, Hereticks a, do forthwith lie under the Penalty which those Laws and Constitutions will have inflicted upon Hereticks; Heresie b being the highest degree of High-Treason, called therefore by them, Laesae Crimen Majestatis Divinae: So the English Protestant must be a Traytor, and the worst of Traytors, and exposed to the Penalties of High-Treason.

The Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church against Hereticks.

Heresie c is denounced Infamous, and the Heretick must be dealt with as such; which is many Penalties in one.

First, Whereby they are deprived of all Nobility, Jurisdiction and Dignity, and debarred from all Offices, and publick Councils, Parliaments and others; being made uncapable of choosing, and being chosen: So that it reacheth all sorts d of Clergy, Laity, Noble and Ignoble; which is extended to their Children also. For, they say, The Issue of Traytors, Civil and Spiritual, lose their Nobility. And all that owe any Duty to such Infamous Persons, are discharged and exempted therefrom, as Subjects e from their Prince, Servants f from the [...]r Masters, Children g from their Parents, whom they also may lawfully kill.

[Page]Whereby we may see a little, to what condition the Admission of the Papal Authority would reduce us, expelling both Nature and Humanity, and making the dearest Relatives unnatural and barbarous to one another; it would leave no Protestant either Dignity or Authority, either Safety or Liberty; Nobles are sentenced to Peasants, and Peasants to Slaves.

Secondly, Another Penalty to which Hereticks are condemned by their Law, is Confiscation of Goods and Estate; and this they incur ipso jure, & ipso facto; that is, immediately as soon as they shew themselves Hereticks, before any legal Sentence have passed: For which there is an express Decree in the Canon-Law; h Bona Haereticorum ipso jure discernemus confiscata; We decree the Goods of Hereticks to be confiscate by Sentence of Law. The Effects of this Confiscation, wherein they all agree, makes the Severity of the Law apparent, viz. First, All the Profits made of the Estate from the first day of their Guilt, is to be i refunded. Secondly, All Alienations k by Gift, Sale, or otherwise, before Sentence, are null and void; and all Contracts for that purpose l rescinded. Thirdly, Children, Heirs of Hereticks, are deprived of their Portions; yea, tho they be Papists.

Whereby it appears, that as soon as the Papacy is admitted, all Title and Property is lost and extinct among us: And therefore we must not think that Pope acted extravagantly, who declared, That all his Majesty's Territories were his own, as forfeited to the Holy See for the Heresie of Prince and People. Not only Abby-Lands are in danger, who ever possess them; but all Estates are forfeited to his Exchequer, and legally confiscated: All is his own which Protestants in these three Nations have or ever had, if he can but meet with a Prince so wise as to help him to catch it; whose process follows them beyond their Grave, and ruins their Children, and Children's Children after them. And when they have strip'd the Heretick of his All, they provide that no other shall relieve him, viz. That none shall receive him into their Houses, nor afford him any Help, nor shew him any Favour, nor give him any Counsel. We are here in England zealous for Property; and all the [Page] reason in the World we should so be: But we must bid adieu to this, when we once come under the Pope's Authority; for as soon as this is admitted, all the Protestants in these Nations are Beggars by Lrw, viz. by the Laws of that Church, which will then be Ours, divesting us of all Property and Title to whatever we account our own.

Thirdly, Another Penalty which their Law inflicts on Hereticks, is Death m, which is the Sentence of the Canon-Law; and which is so absolute, that no Secular Judg can remit, and which is the Judgment of all the Doctors, Ita docent omnes Doctores: And from which Penalty, neither Emperors nor Kings themselves are to be freed or exempt. And the Death they inflict is burning alive: No Death more tolerable, or of less exquisite Torture will satisfy the Mercy of that Church. The Canon saith thus; Decernimus ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburantur; We decree, that they shall be burnt alive in the sight of the World. So our last Popish Successor, Queen Mary, practised upon near three hundred Persons, without regard either to Age, Sex, or Quality: the Scripture they urge for it, is Iohn 15.6. n If any one abide not in me, Men gather them and cast them into the Fire, and they are burnt.

So that as soon as the Papal Authority is admitted among us, all the Protestants in these Nations are dead Men in Law; being under a Law that hath sentenced us to be burnt alive, and under a Power that hath declared it necessary that no one of us escape with Life.

Fourthly, Where legal Penalties cannot take place, by reason of opposite Strength, they hold War necessary, and lawful to chastise Hereticks: For which we might give you divers Authorities; o but let Cardinal Allen, our Country-man, suffice; who asserts it is not only lawful, but necessary: His words are these: It is clear (saith he) what People or Persons soever be declared to be opposite to GOD's Church, with what Obligation soever either of Kindred, Friendship, Loyalty, or Subjection I be bound unto them; I may, or rather must take up Arms against[Page]them; and then must we take them for Hereticks when our lawful Popes adjudg them so to be. And which (saith Cardinal Pool) is a War more holy than that against the Turks.

Fifthly, To destroy them by Massacres is sometimes held more adviseable than to run the hazard of War, and which (they say) is both lawful and meritorious, for the rooting out a Pestilent Heresy, and the promoting the Roman Interest. This set a-foot the Irish Massacre, that inhuman bloody Butchery, and so much from the Savageness and Cruelty of their Nature, as the Doctrines and Principles which directed and encouraged it; as also that of Paris, than which nothing was more grateful and acceptable to their Popes, as their p Bulls make manifest, and the picturing it in the Pope's Chamber; and for which, as a most glorious Action, Triumphs were made, and publick Thanksgivings were returned to God. So in Savoy, and elsewhere, both in former and latter Times. And this was that which the late Conspirators aimed at so fully intending a Massacre. Those that escaped a Massacre, saith q Dugdale, must be cut off by the Army. And r Coleman tells the Internuncio in his Letters; That their Design prospered so well, that he doubted not in a little time, their Business would be managed to the utter Ruin of the Protestant Party: The effecting whereof was so desirable and meritorious, that if he had a Sea of Flood, and an hundred Lives, he would lose them all to carry on the Design. And if to effect this, it were necessary to destroy an hundred Heretical Kings, he would do it s. Singleton the Priest affirmed, ‘That he would make no more to stab forty Parliament-Men, than to eat his Dinner. Gerard and Kelley, to encourage Prance to kill Sir E. B. G. told him, It was no Murther, no Sin, and that to kill twenty of them was nothing in that case; which was both a charitable and meritorious Act. And t Grant, one of the Massacring Gun-powder Traitors, said, upon his Execution, to one that urged him to repent of that wicked Enterprize, That he was so far from counting it a Sin, that on the contrary, he was confident, that that noble Design had so much of Merit in it, as would be abundantly enough to make Satisfaction for all the Sins of his whole Life. See Everard [Page] Digby speaking to the same purpose also; the Provincial Garnet did teach the Conspirators the same Catholick Doctrine, viz. That the King, Nobility, Clergy, and whole Commonalty of the Realm of England (Papists excepted) were Hereticks; and, That all Hereticks were accursed and excommunicated; and That no Heretick could be a King, but that it was lawful and meritorious to kill him, and all other Hereticks within this Realm of England, for the advancement and inlargement of the Authority and Jurisdiction of the Pope, and for the restoring of the Romish Religion. This was that Garnet whom the Papists here honoured as a Pope, and kissed his Fee [...], and reverenced his Iudgment as an Oracle; and since his Death, given him the Honour of Saintship and Martyrdom u. Dugdale deposed, That after they had dispatched the King, a Massacre was to follow.’

But surely, it may be supposed, that the Temper of such a Prince, or his Interest, would oblige him to forbid or restrain such violent Executions in England. Yea, but what if his Temper be to comply with such Courses? Or his Temper be better? Wh [...]t if it be over-rul'd? What if he be perswaded, as other Catholicks are, that he must in Conscience proceed thus? What if he cannot do otherwise, without hazard of his Crown and Life? For he is not to hold the Reins of Government alone, he will not be allowed to be much more than the Pope's POSTILLION, and must look to be dismounted, if he act not according to Order. The Law x tells us, That it is not in the Power of any Civil Magistrate to remit the Penalty, or abate the Rigour of the Law. Nay, if the Prince should plight his Faith by Oath, that he would not suffer their Bloody LAWS to be executed upon his Dissenting Subjects, this would signify nothing: For they would soon tell him, ‘That y Contracts made against the Common Law are invalid, though con [...]irmed by Oath; And, That he is not bound to stand to his Promise though he had sworn to it: And, That Faith is no more to be kept with Hereticks, than the Council of Constance would have it.’ So that Protestants are to be burnt, as Io. Huss [Page] and Ierom of Prague were by that Council, though the Emperor had given them his safe Condu [...]t in that Solemn manner, which could secure them only (as they said) from the Civil, but not Church-Process, which was the greatest. For 'tis their General Rule, That Faith is either not to be given, or not kept with Hereticks. Therefore, saith Simanca, ‘That Faith ingaged to Hereticks, though confirmed by Oath, is in no wise to be performed: For, saith he, if Faith is not to be kept with Tyrants and Pirats, and others who kill the Body, much less with Hereticks who kill the Souls.’ And that the Oath in favour of them, is but Vinculum Iniquitatis, A Bond of Iniquity. Though Popish Princes, the better to promote their Interest, and to insnare the Protestant Subjects, to get advantage upon them, to their Ruin, have made large Promises, and plighted their Faith to them, when they did not intend to keep it. As the Emperor to Iohn Huss and Ierom; Charles the Ninth of France to his Protestant Subjects, before the Massacre; the Duke of Savoy to his Protestant Subjects, before their designed Ruin; and Queen Mary, before her burning of them. But if there were neither Law nor Conscience to hinder, yet in point of Interest, he must not shew favour to Hereticks, without apparent hazard, both z of Crown and Life, for he forfeits both if he doth. The Pope every Year doth not only curse Hereticks, but every Favourer of them, from which none but himself can absolve. a Becanus very elegantly tells us, ‘If a Prince be a dull Cur, and fly not upon Hereticks, he is to be beaten out, and a keener Dog must be got in his stead.’ Henry the Third, and Henry the Fourth, were both Assassinated upon this Account, because they were suspected, to favour Hereticks. And are we not told by the Discoverers b of the Popish Plot, That after they had dispatch'd the King, they would depose his Brother also, that was to succeed him, if he did not answer their Expectations, for rooting out the Protestant Religion.

But may not Parliaments secure us by Laws and Provisions restraining the Power which endangers us? Not possible, if once they secure and settle the Throne for Popery: For, First, [Page] They can avoid Parliaments as long as they please; and a Government that is more Arbitrary and Violent, is more agreeable to their Designs and Principles▪ It being apparent, that the English Papists have lost the Spirit of their Ancestors, who so well asserted the English Liberties, being so generally now fix'd for the Pope's Universal Monarchy, sacrificing all to that Roman Moloch, being much more his Subjects than the King's; and though Natives by Birth, yet are Foreigners as to Government, Principle, Interest, Affection and Design; and therefore no Friends to Parliaments, as our Experience hath told us.

But, Secondly, if their Necessity should require a Parliament, there is no question but they may get such a one as will serve their turns: For so have every of our former Princes in all the Changes of Religion that have been amongst us: As Henry the 8th, when he was both for and against Popery; Edward the 6th, when he was wholly Protestant; Queen Mary, when she was for Burning Alive; and Queen Elizabeth, when she ran so Counter to her Sister. And the Reason is clear, that he who has the making of the publick Officers, and the Keys of Preferment and Profit, influenceth and swayeth Elections and Votes as he pleaseth. And by how much the Throne comes to be fix'd in Popery, the Protestants must expect to be excluded from both Houses, as they have excluded the Papists: For as Hereticks and Traitors, they, as ignominous Persons, &c. you have heard, forfeit all Right, either to chuse, or be chosen in any Publick Councils: And then all Laws which have been made for the Protestants, and against the Popish Religion, will be null and void, as being enacted by an incompetent Authority, as being the Acts of Hereticks, Kings, Lords, and Commons, who had forfeited all their Rights and Priviledges.

But, Thirdly, suppose our Laws were valid, as enacted by competent Authority, and such good and wholsome Provisions, as were those Statutes made by our Popish Ancestors, in those Statutes of Provisoes in Edward the I. & Edward the III. Time, and that of Praemunire in Richard the II. and Henry the IV. for Relief against Papal Incroachments and Oppressions: Yet being against the Laws and Canons of Holy Church, the Sovereign Authority, they will be all superseded: For so they determine, ‘That when the Canon and the Civil Laws clash, one requiring [Page] what the other allows not, the Church-Law must have the observance, and that of the State neglected: And Constitutions (they say) made against the Canons and Decrees of the Roman Bi [...]hops, are of no moment: Their best Authors are positive of it.’ And our own Experience and Histories testify the Truth thereof: For how were those good Laws before-mention'd, defeated by the Pope's Authority, so that there was no effectual Execution thereof till Henry the 8th's Time, as Dr. Burnet c tells us? And how have the good Laws, to suppress and prevent Popery, been very much obstructed in their Execution by Popish Influence?

An Answer to a late Pamphlet, Intituled, A Short Scheme of the Usurpations of the Crown of England, &c.

THE World may very justly wonder at several Passages in this ill-designed, and as ill-writ Pamphlet, which the Author has taken the pains to collect from some petty Grubstreet Chronicle. Henry II. is call'd an Usurper (pag. 4.) because he accepted of the Crown of England in his Mothers Life-time; tho' by her not opposing his Claim, it may very reasonably be concluded, that she freely consented to his Promotion, as the most effectual means to secure the Crown to her Posterity.

But we are told, That a Crown is no Estate to be made over in Trust: If our Author's meaning is, that a Crown is an Estate which the Possessor cannot divest himself of by a voluntary Resignation; both Reason, and a multitulde of Examples in several Ages, and [...]ations, prove that the Principle our Author has laid down, is founded on a gross Mistake. Therefore if our Author designs to publish any more Schemes [Page] of Usurpation, let him first inform us what it is, and how far it extends, lest the World should accuse him of having as notoriously usurped to himself the Title of a Writer, as any of our Princes ever did the Crown of England. He would perswade his Readers to believe, that God punish'd King Edward III. and King Henry V. for their Usurpations, with frequent and unexpected Victories; in the acquisition of which, tho' there was some English Blood shed, (as it was impossible it should be otherwise) yet the Enemies paid an excessive Price for it; after the defeat of their great Armies, and the Imprisonment of their King, they being forced to buy their Peace upon such Terms, as our conquering Usurpers pleased to impose. Nor did ever any well-wisher to the English Nation deny, that these Two Princes were the Glory of their Age, and of our British History. If I should reckon up all the evident Mistakes and false Inferences in this Libel, it would be too tedious, since a careless Eye cannot easily overlook them.

If the Pamphlet finds so undeserved a Reception in the World, as to need a Second Impression, the Author is desired to add to it this Postscript; which being founded on the Principles asserted by him, will shew the World that he hath wilfully, and perhaps partially, forborn to speak of as notorious an Usurper, as any that are mentioned in his Scheme.

Queen Mary, the Off-spring of an Incestuous Marriage, had no other unquestionable Divine Right to the Crown of England, than what was given her by an Act of Parliament, made in her Father's Reign, and the common Consent of the Nobility and People after the Death of her Brother King Edward VI. whose disposal of the Crown, by Letters Patents under the Great Seal, being directly contrary to the former Entail of it, limited by a higher Authority; His Sister, the Lady Mary, was acknowledged Queen. Therefore, according to our Author's abstruse Notions, She (as well as her Grand-father Henry VII.) must be reckoned among the Usurpers of the Crown of England. Let us now see what success attended her, and whether the Nation was happy under her Government. As soon as She saw her self fixed in the Throne, She imprisoned and deprived several of the Protestant Bishop [...], contrary to the then Establish'd Laws of the Realm: She intruded Popish Bishops into the Sees, thus declared vacant; the small remainder of the Protestant Bishops, who [Page] had be [...]n called to Parliament by Writ, were, nevertheless, violently thrust out of the Parliament-House, for refusing to worship the Mass. The Members of the House of Commons, in her First Parliament, were chosen by force and threats: the Free-holders were hindred by violence from exercising their Right of chusing Representatives: false Returns were made; and those who were for the Reformed Religion, tho' duly elected, were by force expelled the House. So that we cannot wonder at the Statues made in this pretended Free Parliament; which was in every Thing influenced by the Court-Party. Shortly after, her Marriage with the haughty jealous Spaniard (of which She her self felt the ill Consequences) was justly disliked by the Nobility and Commonalty. Her base Design of setting up a Supposititious Child for Heir to the Crown, was not only happily defeated, but deservedly exposed to the Censure of the Nation: Her Design to erect the Spanish Inquisition in England was disappointed. Calais (after having belonged to the Crown of Engl [...]nd about two hundred and eleven Years, and which was gained with great difficulty, after eleven Months Siege) was, in the depth of Winter, lost in a Weeks time: And quickly after, all the English Territories were, with small difficulty, recovered by the French. We must not forget how exactly She put in practice the base, treacherous, and destructive Principles of the pretended Catholick Religion, in these remarkable Particulars. She barbarously used her only Sister, the Lady Elizabeth, and designed to have taken away her Life, for no other Cause, but her firm adherence to the Protestant Religion. She imprisoned and burnt Arch-Bishop Cranmer, who had formerly sheltered her from her Father's Fury. She deprived and imprisoned Judg Hales, who alone resolutely opposed King Edward the Sixth's Will: and preferred Judg Bromley to be Lord Chief Justice, though he had, without any reluctancy, prepared the Letters-Patents for her Exclusion. The Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk, who were the first that took up Arms for her, (upon her Promise to permit them the Exercise of their Religion) were the first that suffered Persecution under her. And after she had put to death near three hundred Persons, (without respect to Quality, Age, or Sex) it pleased God to put an end to the Romish Cruelty and Idolatry, by her unexpected and unlamented Death. Nor is her Memory preserved [Page] from Oblivion by any thing, but her repeated Acts of Cruelty and Injustice. This was the Success that attended her, this the Happiness, the Liberty, the Religion establish'd in the English Nation, during her sive Years Tyranny.

That I may not detain the Reader any longer, I will conclude this Advice to our Learned Pamphleteer; That for the future he do not so positively ascribe all unhappy Accidents, as frequent Wars and Rebellions, the Effusion of English Blood, the unfortunate End of some of our Princes, to the Divine Vengeance upon them, for the Usurpations he accuses them of; since, if he will consult our Historians, he may find that Edward II. Richard II. and the Incomparable Prince, King Charles I. though their Title from William the Conqueror is indisputable, were far unhappier than any of the Usurpers he mentions. That in Edward the Fourth's, and Henry the Eighth's Reign, a great deal of English Blood was shed both at Home and Abroad, though their Right was unquestionable, and universally acknowledged. And that as to the promiscuous good or ill Success of all Affairs in this lower World, the observation of the Wisest of Princes, and of Men, is very often exactly verified; There is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked: To the Prince who ascends the Throne by an unquestionable Right, and to him that ascends it by Violence and Usurpation. To the Prince that religiously performs the Solemn Oath taken at his Coronation, and to him that wilfully breaks through all the Obligations he is under, and endeavours by the most base Methods to dissolve the Establish'd Government.

[Page]The following Paper was published by Mr. Samuel Iohnson in the Year 1686. for which he was sentenc'd by the Court of Kings-Bench, (Sir Edward Herbert being Lord Chief Justice) to stand three times on the Pillory, and to be whipp'd from Newgate to Tyburn: Which barbarous Sentence was executed.

An Humble and Hearty Address to all the English Protestants in this present Army.

GENTLEMEN,

NEXT to the Duty which we owe to God which ought to be the principal Care of Men of your Profession especially, (because you carry your Lives in your Hands, and often look Death in the Face). The second Thing that deserves your Consideration, is, The Service of your Native Country, wherein you drew your first Breath, and breathed a free English Air. Now I would desire you to consider, how well you comply with these two main Points, by engaging in this present Service.

Is it in the Name of God, and for his Service, that you have joined your selves with Papists; who will indeed fight for the Mass-Book but burn the Bible, and who seek to Extirpate the Protestant Religion with Your Swords, because they cannot do it with their Own? And will you be Aiding and Assisting to set up Mass-Houses, to erect that Popish Kingdom of Darkness and Desolation amongst as, and to train up all our Children in Popery? How can you do these Things, and yet call your selves Protestants?

And then what Service can be done your Country, by being under the Command of French and Irish Papists, and by bringing [Page] the Nation under a Foreign Yoke? Will you help them to make forcible Entry into the Houses of your Country-men, under the Name of Quartering, directly contrary to Magna Charta, and the Petition of Right? Will you be Aiding and Assisting to all the Murders and Outrages which they shall commit by their void Commissions? Which were declared Illegal, and sufficiently blasted by both Houses of Parliament, (if there had been any need of it) for it was very well known before, That a Papist cannot have a Commission, but by the Law is utterly Disabled and Disarmed. Will you exchange your Birth-right of English Laws and Liberties for Martial or Club-Law, and help to destroy all others, only to be eaten last your selves? If I know you well, as you are English Men, you hate and scorn these Things. And therefore be not unequally yoaked with Idolatrous and Bloody Papists. Be Valiant for the Truth, and shew your selves Men.

The same Considerations are likewise humbly offered to all the English Seamen, who have been the Bulwark of this Nation against Popery and Slavery ever since Eighty Eight.

Several Reasons for the Establishment of a Standing Army, and Dissolving the Militia.

1. BEcause the Lords Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, and the whole Militia, that is to say, the Lords, Gentlemen, and Free-holders of England, are not fit to be trusted with their own Laws, Lives, Liberties, and Estates, and therefore ought to have Guardians and Keepers assigned to them.

2. Because Mercenary Souldiers, who fight for twelve Pence a Day, will fight better, as having more to lose than either the Nobility or Gentry.

3. Because there are no Irish Papists in the Militia, who are certainly the best Souldiers in the World, for they have slain Men, Women, and Children, by Hundreds of Thousands at once.

[Page]4. Because the Dragooners have made more Converts than all the Bishops and Clergy of France.

5. The Parliament ought to establish one standing Army at the least, because indeed there will be need of Two, that one of them may defend the People from the other.

6. Because it is a thousand pities that a brave Popish Army should be a Riot.

7. Unless it be Established by Act of Parliament, the Justices of Peace will be forced to suppress it in their own Defence; for they will be loth to forfeit an hundred Pounds every day they rise, out of Complement to a Popish Rout. 13. H. 4. c. 7.2. H. 5. c. 8.

8. Because a Popish Army is a Nullity. For all Papists are utterly disabled (and punishable besides) from bearing any Office in Camp, Troop, Band, or Company of Souldiers, and are so far disarmed by Law, that they cannot wear a Sword, so much as in their Defence, without the allowance of four Justices of the Peace of the County: And then upon a March they will be perfectly inchanted, for they are not able to stir above five Miles from their own Dwelling-house. 3. Iac. 5. Sect. 8, 27, 28, 29.35. Eliz. 2.3. Iac. 5. Sect. 7.

9. Because Persons utterly disabled by Law are utterly Unauthorized; and therefore the void Commissions of Killing and Slaying in the Hands of Papists, can only enable them to Massacre and Murder.

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A Discourse of Magistracy; of Prerogative by Divine Right; of Obedience, and of the Laws.

CHAP. I. Of MAGISTRACY.

I. RELATION is nothing else but that State of Mutual Respect and Reference, which one Thing or Person has to another.

II. Such are the Relations of Father and Son, Husband and Wife, Master and Servant, Magistrate and Subject.

III. The Relations of a Father, Husband, and Master, are really distinct and different; that is, one of them is not the other; for he may be any one of these who is none of the rest.

IV. This distinction proceeds from the different Reasons, upon which these Relations are founded.

V. The Reason or Foundation, from whence arises the Relation of a Father, is from having begotten his Son, who may as properly call every old Man he meets his Father, as any other Person whatsoever, excepting him only who begat him.

VI. The Relation of an Husband and Wife is founded in We [...]lock, whereby they mutually consent to become one Fle [...]h.

VII. The Relation of a Ma [...]ter is founded in that Right and Title which he has to the Possession, or Service of his Slave or Servant.

[Page]VIII. In these Relations, the Names of Father, Husband, and Master, imply Soveraignty and Superiority, which varies notwithstanding, and is more or less absolute, according to the Foundation of these several Relations.

IX. The Superiority of a Father is founded in that Power, Priority, and Dignity of Nature, which a Cause hath over its Effect.

X. The distance is not so great in Wedlock, but the Superiority of the Husband over the Wife, is like that of the Right-Hand over the Left in the same Body.

XI. The Superiority of a Master, is an absolute Dominion over his Slave, a limited and conditionate Command over his Servant.

XII. The Titles of Pater Patriae, and Sponsus Regni, Father of the Country, and Husband of the Realm, are Metaphors and improper Speeches: For no Prince ever begat a whole Country of Subjects; nor can a Kingdom more prop [...]rly be said to be married, than the City of Venice is to be Adriatick Gulph.

XIII. And to shew further, that Magistracy is not Paternal Authority, nor Monarchy founded in Fatherhood; it is undeniably plain, that a Son may be the Natural Soveraign Lord of his own Father, as Henry the Second had been of Ieffe [...]y Plantagenet, if he had been an English-man; which, they say, Henry the Seventh did not love to think of, when his Sons grew up to Years. And this Case alone is an eternal Confutation of the Patriarchate.

XIV. Neither is Magistracy a Marital Power, for the Husband may be the obedient Subject of his own Wife, as Philip was of Queen Ma [...]y.

XV. Nor is it that Dominion which a Master has over his Slave, for then a Prince might lawfully sell all hi [...] Subjects, like so many Head of Cattel, and make Mony of his whole Stock when ever he pleases, as a Patron of Algiers does.

XVI. Neither is the Relation of Prince and Subject the same with that of a Master and hired Servant, for he does not hire them, but as St. Paul saith, They pay him Tribute, in consideration of his continual Attendance and Imployment for the Publick Good.

[Page]XVII. That Publick Office and Imployment is the Foundation of the Relation of King and Subject, as many other Relations are likewise founded upon other Functions and Administrations. Such as Guardian, and Ward, &c.

XVIII. The Office of a King is set down at large in the 17th Chapter of the Laws of King Edward the Confessor, to which the succeeding Kings have been sworn at their Coronation: And it is affirmed in the Preambles of the Statutes of a Malbridg, and of the Statute of Quo Warranto, made at b Glocester, That the calling of Parliaments to make Laws for the better Estate of the Realm, and the more full Administration of Justice, belongeth to the Office of a King. But the fullest account of it in few words, is in Chancellor Fortescue, Chap. XIII. which Passage is quoted in Calvin's Case, Coke VII. Rep. Fol. 5. Ad Tutelam nam (que) Legis Subditorum, ac eorum Corporum, & bonorum, Rex hujusmodi erectus est, & ad hanc potestatem à populo effluxam ipse habet, quo ei non licet potestate alia suo populo Dominari. For such a King (that is, of every Political Kingdom, as this is) is made and ordained for the Defence or Guardianship of the Laws of his Subjects, and of their Bodies and Goods, whereunto he receiveth Power of his People, so that he cannot govern his People by any other Power.

Corolary, A Bargain's a Bargain.

CHAP. II. Of Prerogatives by Divine Right.

I. GOvernment is not matter of Revelation; if it were, then those Nations that wanted Scripture, must have been without Government; whereas Scripture it self says, that Government is the Ordinance of Man, and of Human Extraction. And King Charles the First says of this Government in particular, [Page] That it was moulded by the Wisdom and Experience of the Peopl [...]. Answ. to XIX. Prop.

II. All just Governments are highly beneficial to Mankind, and are of God, the Author of all Good; they are his his Ordinances and Institutions. Rom. 13.1, 2.

III. Plowing and sowing, and the whole business of preparing Bread Corn, is abs [...]luely necessary to the Subsistence of Mankind; This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in Counsel, and excellent in Working. Isa. 28. from 23d to 29th Verse.

IV. Wisdom saith, Counsel is mine, and sound Wisdom; I am Vnderstanding, I have Strength; by me Kings reign, and Princes decree Iustice: By me Prinees rule, and Nobles, even all the Iudges of the Earth. Prov. 13.14.

V. The Prophet, speaking of the Plow-man, saith, His God doth instruct him to Discretion, and doth teach him. Isa. 28.26.

VI. Scripture neither gives nor takes away Mens Civil Rights, but leaves them as it found them, and (as our Saviour said of himself) is no Divider of Inheritances.

VII. Civil Authority is a Civil Right.

VIII. The Law of England gives the King his Title to the Crown. For, where is it said in Scripture, that such a Person or Family by Name shall enjoy it? And the same Law of England which has made him King, has made him King according to the English Laws, and not otherwise.

IX. The King of England has no more Right to set up a French Government, than the French King has to be King of England, which none at all.

X. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars, neither makes a Caesar, nor tells who Caesar is, nor what belongs to him; but only requires Men to be just, in giving him those supposed Rights, which the Laws have determined to be his.

XI. The Scripture supposes Property, when it forbids Stealing; it supposes Mens Lands to be already butted and bounded, when it forbids removing the Ancient Land-marks: And as it is impossible for any Man to prove what Estate he has by Scripture, or to find a Terrier of his Lands there; so it is a vain thing to look for Statutes of Prerogative in Scripture.

[Page]XII. If Mishpat Hamelech, the manner of the King, 1 Sam 8.11. be a Statute of Prerogative, and prove all those Particulars to be the Right of the King, then Mishpat Haccohanim, the Priests custom of Sacrilegious Rapine, Chap. 2.13. proves that to be the Right of the Priests, the same word being used in both places.

XIII. It is the Resolution of all the Judges of England, that even the known and undoubted Prerogative of the Iewish Kings, do not belong to our Kings, and that it is an absurd and impudent thing to affirm they do. Coke 11. Rep. p. 63. Mich. 5. Iac. ‘Note,Give us a King to judg us, 1 Sam. 8.5, 6, 20. upon Sunday the Tenth of November, in the same Term, the King, upon Complaint made to him by Bancroft, Arch-bishop of Canterbury, concerning Prohibitions, was informed, That when Question was made of what matters the Ecclesiastical Judges have Cognizance, either upon the Exposition of the Statutes concerning Tythes, or any other thing Ecclesiastical, or upon the Statute 1 Eliz. concerning the High-Commis [...]ion, or in any other case, in which there is not express Authority by Law, the King himself may decide it in his Royal Person; and that the Judges are but the Delegates of the King, and that the King may take what Causes he shall please to determine from the Determination of the Judges, and may determine them himself.’ And the Arch [...]bishop said, That this was clear in Divinity, That such Authority belongs to the King, by the Word of God in Scripture. ‘To which it was answered by me, in the presence, and with the clear consent of all the Justices of England, and Barons of the Exchiquer, That the King in his own Person cannot adjudg any Case, either Criminal, as Treason, Felony, &c. but this ought to be determined and adjudged in some Court of Justice, according to the Law and Custom of England. And always Judgments are given, Ideo consideratum est per Curiam; so that the Court gives the Judgment —. And it was greatly marvelled, that the Arch-bishop durst inform the King, that such Absolute Power and Authority, as is aforesaid, belonged to the King by the Word of God.’

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CHAP. III. Of OBEDIENCE.

I. NO Man has any more Civil Authority than what the Law of the Land has vested in him; nor is he one of St. Paul's Higher Powers any farther, or to any other purposes, t [...]an the Law has impowered him.

II. An Usurped, Illegal, and Arbitrary Power, is so far from b [...]ing the Ordinance of God, that it is not the Ordinance of Man.

III. Whoever opposes an Usurped, Illegal, and Arbitrary Power, does not oppose the Ordinance of God, but the Violation of that Ordinance.

IV. The 13th of the Romans commands Subjection to our Temporal Governours, because their Office and Imployment is for the Publick Welfare; For he is the Minister of God to Thee for good. Verse 4.

V. The 13th of the Hebrews commands Obedience to Spiritual Rulers, because they watch for your Souls. Verse 17.

VI. But the 13th of the Hebrews did not oblige the Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Mary's Time, to obey such blessed Bishops as Bonner, and the Beast of Rome, who were the perfect Reverse of St. Paul's Spiritual Rulers, and whose Practice was murdering of Souls and Bodies, according to that true Character of Popery, which was given it by the Bishops who compiled the Thanksgiving for the Fifth of November; but Arch-Bishop Laud was wiser than they, and in his time blotted it out.

The Prayer formerly ran thus: To that end strengthen the Hands of our Gracious King, the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land, to cut off these Workers of Iniquity (whose Religion is Rebellion, whose Faith is Faction, whose Practice is murthering of Souls and Bodies) and to root them out of the Confines of this Kingdom.

[Page]VII. All the Judges of England are bound by their Oath, and by the Duty of their place, to disobey all Writs, Letters, or Commands, which are brought to them, either under the Little Seal,18 Edw. III. 20 Edw. III. Cap. 1, 2. or under the Great Seal, to hinder or delay common Right. Are the Judges all bound in an Oath, and by their Places, to break the 13th of the Romans?

VIII. The Engagement of the Lords attending upon the King at York, Iune 13. 1642. which was subscribed by the Lord Keeper, and thirty nine Peers, besides the Lord Chief Justice Banks, and several others of the Privy-Council, was in these words.

We do engage our selves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever, not warranted by the known Laws of the Land. Was this likewise an Association against the 13th of the Romans?

IX. A Constable represents the King's Person, and in the Execution of his Office is within the purview of the 13th of the Romans, as all Men grant; but in case he so far pervert his Office, as to break the Peace, and commit Murther, Burglary, or Robbery on the High-way, he may and ought to be resisted.

X. The Law of the Land is the best Expositor of the 13th of the Romans here; and in Poland, the Law of the Land there.

XI. The 13th of the Romans is received for Scripture in Poland, and yet this is expressed in the Coronation-Oath in that Country: Quod si Sacramentum meum violavero, Incolae Regni nullam nobis Obedientiam praestare tenebuntur. And if I shall violate my Oath, the Inhabitants of the Realm shall not be bound to yield me any Obedience.

XII. The Law of the Land, according to Bracton, is the highest of all the Higher Powers mentioned in this Text, for it is Superiour to the King, and made him King, (Lib. iii. cap. xxvi. Rex habet Superiorem Deum, item Legem, per quam factus est Rex, item Curiam suam, viz. Comites & Barones) and therefore by this Text we ought to be subject to it in the first place. And according to Melancthon, It is the Ordinanee of God, to which the Higher Powers themselves ought to subject. Vol. iii. In his Commentary on the fifth Verse, (Wherefore ye must needs [Page]be subject, not only for Wrath, but also for Conscience sake.) He has these words. Neque vero hac tantum pertinent ad Subditos, sed etiam ad Magistratum, qui cum fiunt Tyranni, non minus dissipant Ordinationem Dei, quam Seditiosi. Ideo & ipsorum Conscientia fit rea, quia non obediunt Ordinationi Dei; id est, Legibus, quibus debent parere. Ideo Comminationes hic posite etiam ad ipsos pertinent. Ita (que) hujus mandati severitas moveat omnes, ne violalationem Politici status putent esse leve peccatum. Neither doth this place concern Subjects only, but also the Magistrates themselves; who when they turn Tyrants, do no less overthrow the Ordinance of God than the Seditious; and therefore their Consciences too are guilty, for not obeying the Ordinance of God, that is, the Laws, which they ought to obey. So that the Threatnings in this place do also belong to them; wherefore, let the Severity of this Command deter all Men from thinking the Violation of the Political Constitution to be a light Sin.

Corolary. To destroy the Law and-Legal Constitution, which is the Ordinance of God, by false and Arbitrary Expositions of this Text, is a greater Sin than to destroy it by any other means: For it is Seething the Kid in his Mothers Milk.

CHAP. IV. Of LAWS.

I. THere is no natural Obligation, whereby one Man is bound to yield Obedience to another, but what is founded in Paternal or Patriarchal Authority.

II. All the Subjects of a Patriarchal Monarch are Princes of the Blood.

III. All the People of England are not Princes of the Blood.

IV. No Man who is naturally free can be bound, but by his own Act and Deed.

V. Publick Laws are made by Publick Consent, and they therefore bind every Man, because every Man's Consent is involved in them.

[Page]VI. Nothing but the same Authority and Consent which made the Laws, can repeal, alter, or explain them.

VII. To judg and determine Causes against Law, without Law, or where the Law is obscure and uncertain, is to assume Legislative Power.

VIII. Power assumed without a Man's Consent, cannot bind him as his own Act and Deed.

IX. The Law of the Land is all of a piece, and the same Authority which made one Law made all the rest, and intended to have them all impartially executed.

X. Law on one side, is the Back-Sword of Justice.

XI. The best things when corrupted are the worst; and the wild Justice of a State of Nature, is much more desirable than Law perverted and over-ruled, into Hemlock and Oppression.

This Discourse of Magistracy, &c. and the former Reasons, were written by the foresaid Mr. S. Iohnson.

The Definition of a TYRANT, by the Learned and Loyal Abraham Cowley, (published by the present Lord Bishop of Rochester) in his Discourse concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwel.

I Call him a Tyrant, who either intrudes himself forcibly into the Government of his Fellow-Citizens, without any Legal Authority over them, or who, having a just Title to the Government of a People, abuses it to the destruction or tormenting of them: So that all Tyrants are at the same time Usurpers, either of the whole, or at least of a part of that Power which they assume to themselves, and no less are they to be accounted Rebels, since no Man can usurp Authority over others, but by rebelling against them who had it before, or at least against those Laws which were his Superiours.

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Several Queries proposed to the Sages of the Law, who have studied to Advance the Publick, equally with, if not more than their own private Interest.

Q. I. WHether the Legislative Power be in the King only, as in his Politick Capacity, or in the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assembled? If in the latter, then,

Q. II. If the King grants a Charter, and thereby great Franchises and Priviledges, and afterwards, the Grantees obtain an Act of Parliament for the Confirmation hereof, is this the Grant of the King, or of the Parliament? If the latter, as it seems to be, because it is done by the whole, and every part of the Legislative Power: then,

Q. III. To whom can these Grantees forfeit this Charter? And who shall take Advantage of the Forfeiture? If the King; then an Act of Parliament may be destroyed without an Act of Parliament? If the Parliament only can call them to an Account; then,

Q. IV. Of what Validity is a Iudgment pronounced (under a colour of Law) in B. R. against a Charter granted by Parliament? If it be of any force, then the King's Bench is Superior to the Legislative Power of the Kingdom: If not, then,

Q. V. What Reason can be assigned, why it is not as safe to Act pursuant to an Act of Parliament, notwithstanding a Iudgment entred in the King's Bench, as it was to Act against an Act of Parliament, before the Iudgment was entred? And then,

Q. VI. Whether they that did the latter, were not downright Knaves? and whether they that refuse to do the former, be not more nice than wise?

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A LETTER TO THE KING, When DUKE of YORK, Perswading him to return to the Protestant Religion, wherein the chief Errors of the Papists are exposed, and the Tendency of their Doctrines to promote Arbitrary Government, proved.
By an Old Cavalier, and Faithful Son of the Church of England, as Establish'd by Law.

Illustrious Sir!

WHEN I look up to the Greatness of your Quality, and down on my own meanness, I cannot but tremble to make this Address, so liable to be censur'd as presumptuous, and obnoxious to variety of Misconstruction▪ But since my Pen is guided by an Heart fill'd with profound Loyalty, and Veneration towards all the Royal Family, and a sincere respect, and most passionate desires for the particular Prosperity. (Temporal and Eternal) of your Royal Highness, I cannot refrain discharging what I apprehended my Duty; and therefore with good Esther, finding not only my Country, but your Highness also, in such apparent (I wish it may not prove inevitable) hazard of Ruin, am resolved to adventure forth, and cast my poor weak Sentiments at your feet; and, If they perish, they perish.

'Tis generally reported, That you are long since turn'd Papist; and so far believ'd, That every day many hundred thousand Protestants are melted into Tears and Horror meerly on that Consideration, and lament the same, as one of the greatest Calamities that has happened in our Age. I must do my self so much Justice as to decla [...]e, That [Page] I am none of those fanatical Spirits, that either raise, or lightly credit Rumours to the prejudice of my Superiors. But besides what has been sworn by Persons, whose Evidence none have hitherto been able to invalidate by any substantial Reasons, or Incoherence in their Depositions; your Highnesses Conduct, and Deportment for many years past, your absenting from the publick Worship of our Church, Refusing legal Oaths and Tests, your countenancing, retaining an in [...]imate Correspondency with Roman Catholicks; and many other Reasons not fit, at least unnecessary here to be mention'd, do all loudly speak it: And for those who would go about to deny it (as some wretched Pamphlet-scriblers, and unthinking Health-drinkers have done▪) besides the folly of the attempt, they unwarily cast a greater load of Ignominy and Dishonour on your Highness, whilst they pretend to vindicate you.

For is it imaginable, That a Prince of your Generosity and Prudence would so far suffer the Affairs of your Royal Brother to be imbroil'd, His Councils discompos'd; all the Protestants in the World swallowed up with Astonishment, and almost despair, your own Honour fullied, your Interest impaired, and these Three Kingdoms put into a deplorable Distraction, meerly upon a false supposition, without rectifying in all this time their mistake by some real Demonstrations to the contrary? If such a Capricio should sway with your Highness, what were it but to render you the worst Subject, the most unkind Brother, the most Impolitick Prince, and the maddest, or most monstrous Man in the World?

I shall therefore take it for granted, and consequently must, tho' with all Humility, and a Sorrow inexpressible, direct my Discourse to your Highness as an Apostate from the Protestant Faith; and if I am mistaken, 'tis your Highness has led not only me, but almost all the World into that Error.

I am not insensible of my own weakness, and how unfit I am to argu [...] matters of Religion with your Highness, and those subtil Sophisters (the Pest of Europe, and shame of Christianity) which are always croaking about Persons of Quality, whom they have perverted to their Idolatries; being my self but a Lay-Gentleman, of little Learning, and in the course of my Life more conversant with the Sword, than the Pen: And I must wonder with Regret, if none of the Right Reverend Fathers, my Lords the Bishops, or some of our other Learned Divines have not vigorously made Applications to your Highness, even in a publick Manner, to regain you to the Protestant Communion: If they have not charg'd you, as they are God's Ambassadors, to shew some Reasons, why you hav [...] broke the League (your Baptismal vows) with his Church, and join'd your self to the Tents of his Enemies. If they have not adjur'd you in the Name of our Lord, to shew on what offence taken amongst us, and for what Beauties observ'd in the Church of Rome, you quitted the true Spouse of Christ, to follow the Enchantments of a Strumpet, whose shameless Adulteries have long since caused an utter Divorce between Her and the Blessed Jesus: If they have not solemnly called Heaven and Earth to Record, that they are ready to satisfie all your scruples, to answer all your objections; and to shew, That it is not through any default in them, for want of Endeavours, nor in our Church for want of Truth; but that your defection must be wilful, as well as unreasonable, whereby to render you either convicted, or inexcusable.

Nor do I doubt, but several of those Glorious Lights of our Church, may accordingly have discharged without fear of flattery their Functions herein, in private discourses: But certainly a matter of that inestimable importance, as wherein not only the Soul of one of the Bravest Princes of the Earth, but also the whole Protestant Interest in the World, especially within these Three Nations, is so deeply and dangerously concern'd, might require, since I am sure it deserves a Publick and General Application: [Page] Nor ought any, though the meanest of Men, to be blam'd for contributing modestlȳ ▪ his help to prevent a disaster of such universal influence: And therefore who knows but that Almighty Providence, who overthrew Iericho's proud Walls of old, not with Battering Engines of War, but with the blast of contemptible Rams-Horns, and is often pleased to make use of the weakest Instruments to effect mighty Works; may give a Blessing to these poor u [...]polish'd, inartificial Lines, which have nothing but the Power of Truth, and the Honesty of a sincere Intention to recommend them to your Princely Consideration?

That you were educated in Protestant Principles, is notorious. I beseech your Highness therefore to satisfie the World what could induce you to a change. I shall not mention your Royal Grandfather, whose Learned Pen baffled all the Conclave, nor shall I insist on that Curse which he solemnly pronounced on any of his Posterity that should turn Papist: I shall only say, Had you not the Example, and the Commands too of a most Indulgent, Pious Prince, your Royal Father, for perseverance therein; who, though barbarously murder'd by vile Men, yet continued stedfast, and even with his last breath discharg'd and [...]lear'd the Doctrine of the Reformed Religion from having any share in their Crimes? What Impiety is it, if you should dare to profess your Fathers Blessed Soul to be eternally damn'd! and yet, if you are a Papist, you can do no less; for you cannot be such without believing, That there is no Salvation out of the Pale of the Church▪ and that there is no Church but that of Rome; and I am confident none can have the Impudence to suggest, that He died in the Communion of that Church: What follows then? or how will you answer this Horrid Scandal on his Sacred Memory, when you shall meet his glorified Spirit at the last dreadful Judgment-day? Nor can the keenest Jesuit blunt the edge of this Argument by a Retortion from the Consideration of your Highnesses Illustrious Mother: For though Papists are so audacious, as to place the Keys of Heaven at the Pope's Girdle, and uncharitably doom us All to unquenchable flames, not affording us so much as a Room in Purgatory: yet Protestants are not so unchristian (but according to Scripture) leave secret things to God, and allow grains for Education, Prepossessions, Ignorance, &c. which is yet no more a Reason for any Man to turn Papist, than 'tis for him that stands safe on the shore to leap off into a Vessel so rotten and leaky as just ready to sink, upon a presumption that still some of those that are in her may escape the danger: Or to chuse an impudent Quack, who boasts he only can cure him; and refuse a Learned Physician, who modestly grants he may peradventure be healed by the other, though very improbably; but withal, that 'tis a Million to one, but the Patient, under such hands, miscarries; and that in this case, eternally.

But quitting this Argument, which is only Personal, I beseech your Highness to tell us, how you, or any Man of sense can so far forget, not only his Education and Interest, but his very Reason, as to imbrace POPERY, frightful, detestable, ridiculous Popery, that Chaos of Superstition, Idolatry, Error and Imposture, that has no foundation but a Cheat; No Ends but to gratifie Pride and Avarice; no solid Argument to promote and maintain it, but Impudence and Cruelty.

Popery, That depends wholly upon nice and poor uncertainties, and unprovable supposals: As 1st. That Peter was Bishop of Rome. 2dly. That He left there one to be Heir of his Graces and Spirit, in a perpetual unfailable Succe [...]sion. 3dly. That He so bequeathed his Infallibility to his Chair, as that whosoever sits in it, cannot but speak Truth; so that all who sit where he sat, must by some secret Instinct, say as he taught; that what Christ said to him absolutely, without any respect to Rome, must be referr'd, yea ty'd to that place alone, and fulfill'd in it. 4thly. That Linus, Clements and Cletus [Page] the Scholars, and supposed Successors of Peter, must he preferr'd (in the Headship of the Church) to Iohn the beloved Apostle then still living. 5thly. That He whose Life is oft times monstrously debauch'd, his Judgment childishly ignorant, cannot yet, when in his Pontifical Chair, possibly erre. 6thly. That the Golden Line of this Apostolical Succe [...]sion, in the confusion of so many long desperate Schisms, shamefully corrupt Usurpations and Instrusions, and confess'd Heresies, yet neither was nor can be broken.

Popery, That teaches Men to worship Stocks and Stones, and painted Clouts, with the fame Honour as is due to our Creator; and lest that practice should appear to her simple Clients too palpably oppo [...]ite to God's Law, most sacrilegiously stifles one of the Ten Commandments in their vulgar Catechisms and Prayer-Books.

Popery, That utterly confounds the true Humanity of Christ, while they give unto it Ten thousand places at once, and yet no place; Flesh, and no Flesh; several Members without distinction; a substance without quantity, and other Accidents; or Substance and Accidents, that cannot be seen, felt or perceived; so that they make a Monster of their Saviour, or nothing.

Popery, That utterly overthrows the Perfection of Christ's satisfaction; for if all be not paid, how hath he satisfied? If Temporal Punishments in Purgatory be yet due, how is all paid? And if these must be paid by us, how are they satisfied by him?

Popery, That hath made more Scriptures than ever the Holy Spirit dictated, or the Ancient Church received; and those which it doth make, Imperiously obtrudes upon the World; and while it thunders out Curses against all that will not add these Books to God's, seems to defie the Curse pronounc'd by God himself to those that add unto his Word, Rev. 22. 18.

Popery, That erects a Throne in the Conscience to a meer Man, and many times rather a Monster than a Man; and gives him absolute Power to make a sin of that which is none; and to dispense with that which is; to create new Articles of Faith, and to impose them upon Necessity of Salvation; to make wicked Men Saints, and Saints Gods; for even by the Confession of Papists, lewd and undeserving Men have leap'd into their Calendar; yet being once install'd there, they have the Honour of Altars, Temples and Invocations; some of them in a stile sit only for their Maker.

Popery, That robs the Heart of all sound Comfort, whilst it teacheth us, That we neither can, nor ought to be assured of the Remission of our sins, and of present Grace, and future Salvation; that we can never know whether we have receiv'd the true Sacraments of God becausewe cannot know the Intention of the Minister, without which they are no Sacraments.

Popery, That racks the Conscience with the needless torture of a necessary shrift, wherein the vertue of an Absolution depends on the fulness of Confession; and that upon Examination; and the sufficiency of Examination is so fu [...]l of scruples (besides infinite Cases of unresolved doubts in this feigned pennance) that the pour soul never knows when it is clear.

Popery, That under pretence of Religion plays the Bawd to sin, whilst both in practice it tolerates open stews, and prefers Fornication in some cases before honourable Matrimony, and gently blanches over wilful Violations of God's Law with the favourable title of Venial Crimes.

Popery, That makes Nature vainly proud, in joining her as Copartner with God in our Justification, Salvation, and idly putting her up with a conceit of her Perfection and Ability to keep more Laws than God hath [...]ade, whence their Doctrines of Merit and Supererogation, &c.

Popery, That requires no other Faith [...]o Justific [...]tion in Christians, than may be found in Devils themselves; who, besides [...] confused Apprehension, can assent to the Truth of God's revealed Will, and Popery requires no more.

[Page] Popery, That instead of the pure Milk of the Gospel, hath long fed her starved Souls with such idle Legends, as the Reporter can hardly deliver without laughter, nor their Abettors be told of without shame and disclamation; so that the wiser sort of the World read these Stories on Winter Evenings for sport, which the poor credulous Multitude hear in their Churches with devout astonishment.

Popery, That requires nothing but meer Formality in our Devotion; the work wrought suffices alone in Sacraments, and in Prayers; if the number be repeated by Rote, no matter for the Affection; as if God regarded not the Heart, but the Tongue and Hands; and while he understands us, cared little whether we understand our selves.

Popery, That hath been often dyed in the Blood of Princes, that in some cases teaches and allows Rebellion against God's Anointed; and both suborneth Treasons; and excuses, pities, honours and rewards the Actors.

Popery, That overloads Men's Consciences with heavy burdens of infinite, unnecessary Tradit [...]ons, far more than ever Moses Commented upon by all the Iewish Rabbins; imposing them with no less Authority, and exacting them with more Rigour, than any of the Royal Laws of their Maker.

Popery, That cozens the vulgar with nothing but shadows of Holiness in Pilgrimages, Processions, Offerings, Holy Water, Latin Services, Images, Tapers, rich Vestures, garish Altars, Crosses, Censings, and a thousand such like, fit for Children and Fools, robbing them in the mean time of the sound and plain Helps of true Piety and Salvation▪

Popery, That cares not by what wilful Falshoods, Equivocations, Perjuries and Abominations it propagates it self, and maintains its credit: And therefore being conscious of her own Villainies, goes about to falsifie and deprave Authors, that might give Evidence against her, to outface all ancient Truths, to foist in Gibionitish Witnesses of their own forging, and leaves nothing unattempted against Heaven and Earth that might advance her Faction, and disable her innocent and just Accusers.

This, this is the true figure of Popery, through whatever false Opticks your Highness may have view'd it: This is that for which you are resolv'd to hazard a Crown of Glory, and three temporal Diadems to boot; and to which you sacrifice both your own Fortunes, and the Tranquillity of many Millions of Souls▪

What then can the World, that kno [...]s the clear light of your Highnesses Elevated Understanding, imag [...] can be the Cause of your Revolt? Will they not be apt to conceive, that you have not espoused this Mock Religion purely for its own sake, but for some promised Dowry of an Absolute Monarchy, or Arbitrary Power, which she might pretend to bring one day with her to your Embraces? But as this is far below the Justice and Generosity of your Highness, so 'tis unworthy the thoughts of any considerate Politician. For suppose any Prince, to whom the British Sceptre may hereafter devolve, intoxicated with the Tinsel Glories of the French Monarch's blustering Grandeur, should be so vain, as to hope to subjugate the English Liberties, and destroy the Constitution of the best Establish'd Government on Earth, by assuming to himself the whole Legislative Power, raising Money, and draining his Subjects at Pleasure without their common Consent in Parliament, &c. and should be so extravagantly enamour'd on this fatal Project (fatal I say, because for above Five hundred years it has shipwrack'd all that coasted that way,) as to be content to shift his Religion, and exchange his Faith, and turn Papist, on a presumption, that the same might facilitate and accomplish his Enterprize: As King Iohn, 'tis said, resolv'd once to embrace Mahumetism, rather than not to be reveng'd of his Barons, claiming their just Liberties. Suppose I say all this should be, and that the present Papists, to get their Religion publickly establish'd, [Page] should comply with his Designs; yet still is it not most reasonable to believe. That having once gain'd their Point therein, they, or their Posterity, will soon recal to mind their Birth rights and Privileges due to them as English-men; and will they not then be perpetually tugging and strugling to regain them, whence continual disturbance will ensue, and a standing Army must be kept on foot to support this ill acquired Grand [...]ur? For those Subjects that contended with King Iohn and King Henry the Third, &c. tho' they were Papists, and of the same Religion with those Princes, could not brook it, to be Slaves to their Arbitrary Pleasures in their Civil Rights: Besides, what a waking dream is it for any King, that is free from the Roman Yoke, to think to make himself more Absolute by involving himself and his Kingdoms in Thraldom to the Church of Rome; wherein not only the Pope pretends a Right to domineer over him, but every Ecclesiastick esteems himself wholly exempt from his Jurisdiction, and all his People will be but half his Subjects, viz. in Temporals; for in Spirituals, and in ordine ad spiritualia (a monstrous draw net, that may include almost all the Actions of Humane Life,) they are wholly to be Conducted by his Holiness and his Subordinate Ministers. How therefore can your Highness, if a Roman Catholick, complain of the late successive Houses of Commons for pressing a Bill to exclude you? Is it any Disloyalty to endeavour to preserve the Imperial Crown of England from a truckling and shameful Servitude to a Foreign Usurper's Power? Or is it any such unheard of thing to debarr a Prince from a Throne, that hath obstinately disabled himself? Certainly, above all Men, the Roman Catholicks ought not to murmur at this; for did not the Pope issue forth a Bull to exclude your Grandfather, King Iames, unless he would turn Papist? And did not the Romanists, though they acknowledged the Title of your other Grandfather, Henry the Great, to the French Diadem; yet refuse to pay him any Obedience, because a Protestant, and on that only score fought against him, as long as he continued so, and thought it no Rebellion? Your Highness perhaps will say—What though they did so, true Protestants, and the Church of England do not own such Principles? Well then, if the Protestant Principles be better than those of the Church of Rome, what Madness is it in your Highness to abandon the first, and chuse the latter?

I am a dutiful and hearty Lover of Monarchy, and when establish'd on such an Equi-pois'd Basis of Wisdom as ours is, shall ever assert it to be the best Form of Government in the World, and most agreeable to the Genius of English-men: But that lineal descent is so sacred a thing, that the Heir presumptive can for no default or crime whatsoever be debarr'd from the Crown by an Act of Parliament, or publick Decree of State, I do not understand; For I am sure the practice in all Ages, both at home and abroad in almost every Nation in the Earth, hath run contrary: And as to Right; those that pretend such Succession in all Cases to be Iure Divino, would do well to shew in what Texts of Scripture the same is prescribed; till then, they do but talk, not argue; and if a Candidate to the Crown, for any Reasons whatsoever, may without offence to the Law of God or Nature, be Excluded by an Act of King, Lords and Commons; Then the Iune-divino-ship vanishes, and nothing is left to be considered: But whether such next Heir have done such Acts, or is so qualified, that in Prudence it be necessary for the Tranquillity of the Publick to Exclude him. Now I believe there are but few of the Church of England, but if the Bill had passed the Lords, and his Majesty had given his Royal Assent to it, would have acquiesc'd [Page] therein, and consequently they do not believe the Exclusion to be simply unlawful by the Law of God or Nature, for against either of them no Humane Ordinances ought to prevail.

But all true Loyalists do not despair, but your Highness may yet prevent all Occasions of such Disputes by opening your eyes; or rather that God (in whose hands are the Hearts of Princes) may irradiate your Royal Understanding, and let you see the horrid Blackness of those Men who have endeavour'd to seduce you, and of those Principles to which they would have inveigled you, on purpose to have made your Highness a Property to their Ambition and Avarice, and that under the shadow of your Illustrious Name they might one day Tyrannize at Pleasure over these Three Kingdoms.

If Heaven shall be pleased to work such an happy Inclination in your Highness, you shall presently see the whole British Empire echoing with Praises and Acclamations, and instead of murmurs of Seclusion, every good Subject shall erect you a Throne in his heart.

But the grand difficulty will be to satisfie the prejudiced World of your sincerity herein; for if your Highness (which God forbid) should declare your self a Protestant only to serve a present turn, and use the Sacred Name of our Religion but as an Engine to advance the design of our bloody Enemies, you would act at once the most dishonourably and (in the end) most prejudicially to your own Interest, in the world, and must certainly expect the blasts of Heaven, and curses of Earth on all your future proceedings; for Hypocrisie is odious to God and Man, nor is there any Monster so abominable to serious Men of both sides, as a Church-Papist.

Your Royal Highness, I hope, will excuse our fears, for we are not ignorant of the Arts and Craft of Rome, that she esteems no means unlawful to obtain her ends. How shall any Oaths be sufficient Tests, when a private dispensation may at once allow the taking, and warrant the breaking of them? Or what signifies the participation of our Sacraments to one that is taught, We have no true Ministers of Christ; if so, no consecration, consequently nothing but an ordinary Breakfast of common Br [...]ad and Wine, and who shall lose the hopes of three Crowns rather than not taste such harmless viands? Not that I dare imagine your Highnesses Understanding would suffer you to believe the lawfulness, or your Princely Generosity permit you to practise these lewd dissimulations; yet since such Doctrines are daily taught in the Roman Church, how shall Protestants be assured they have no Influence on your Conduct? I must therefore with all humble freedom assure your Highness, that after so general an Opinion of your Highnesses having been a Roman Catholick, though you should go never so duly to Church, receive the Sacrament a thousand times, and take Oaths all the way from Holy-rood House to St. Iames's, yet the People would scarce believe the reality of your Conversion, unless withal they see it accompanied with some other Demonstrations. For as Faith without works is dead, so Profession of a Religion, without agreeable endeavours to advance it will be vain. If his Royal Highness, will the People say, be a good Protestant, he will undoubtedly discourage all Papists, the sworn inveterate Enemies of our Religion, he will not suffer a Popish Priest to approach his Person or Palace. If he have had any intimation of any ill designs, if any have been tampering to reconcile him to Popery (which is no less than Treason) he will presently detect those mischievous Instruments, that they may be brought to condign Punishment, and applaud the Iustice that has been done on Coleman, the five Jesuits, [Page] Godfrey's Murderers, &c. thereby stopping the Mouths of that brazen Tribe who would make the World believe they died innocently. He will declare [...] all Arbitrary Designs, detest those who by sneaking flatteries would un [...]ng [...] the ancient and most wise Constitution of our Government. He will heartily recommend Parliaments to his Sacred Brother as the wisest and safest Councils, and even thank the late Houses of Commons for their zeal against him, whilst they apprehended him as an Enemy to his King, and the Religion and safety of the Kingdom. He will vigorously by his Counsels and Interests oppose the growing greatness of the French, which at this day threatens all Europe with Chains, and immediately tends not only to the decay of Great Britains. Trade and Glory, but also to the diminution, oppression, and (if it lay in humane Power) utter subversion of the Reformed Religion throughout the World.

These and the like Noble Fruits, will the People not unreasonably expect from your R. H. when ever you shall please to declare your self a Protestant; which that you may speedily do, not Politickly or Superficially, but with that sincerity, as so serious a matter (of infinite more value than the Three Crowns you are Presumptive Heir to) is the Prayer of all good Men, and particularly of

Your Royal Highness's Most Humble and Faithful Servant, Philanax Verax.

§

LONDON, Printed, and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway, 1688.

[Page]

Ten Seasonable QUERIES, Proposed by an English Gentleman in Amsterdam, to his Friends in England, a little before the Prince of Orange came over.

I. WHether any Real and Zealous Papist was ever for Liberty of Conscience? it being a fundamental Principle of their Religion, That all Christians that do not believe as They do, are Hereticks, and ought to be destroyed.

II. Whether the King be a Real and Zealous Papist? If he be, Whether he can be truly for Liberty of Conscience?

III. Whether this King in his Brother's Reign did not cause the Persecution against Dissenters to be more violent than otherwise it would have been.

IV. Whether he doth not now make use of the Dissenters to pull down the Church of England, as he did of the Church of England to ruin the Dissenters, that the Papists may be the better enabled in a short time to destroy them both?

V. Whether any ought to believe he will be for Liberty any longer than it serves his Turn? and whether his great eagerness to have the Penal Laws and Test repealed be only in order to the easie establishing of Popery?

[Page]VI. Whether if these Penal Laws and Test were repealed, there would not many turn Papists that now dare not?

VII. Whether the forcing of all that are in Offices of Profit or Trust in the Nation, to lose their Places, or declare they will be for Repealing the Penal Laws and Test, be not Violating his own Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, and a new Test upon the People?

VIII. Whether the suspending the Bishop of London, the Dispossessing of the Fellows of Magdalen Colledge of their Freeholds, the Imprisoning and Prosecuting the Seven Bishops for Reasoning according to Law, are not sufficient instances how well the King intend to keep his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, wherein he promiseth to protect and maintain all his Bishops and Clergy, and all other his Subjects of the Church of England in quiet and full enjoyment of all their Possessions with any molestation or disturbance whatsoever.

IX. Whether the Usage of the Protestants in France and Savoy for these three years past, be not a sufficient Warning not to trust to the Declaration, Promises or Oaths in matters of Religion of any Papist whatsoever?

X. Whether any Equivalent whatsoever under a Popish King, that hath a standing Army, and pretends to a Dispensing Power, can be as equal Security as the Penal Laws and Test, as affairs now stand in England?

FINIS.

[Page]

[...]

Notes

a

Distinct. 19. cap. a Caus. 25. q. 1. cap. 11.

↵

b

Cap. Vergent. de Hereticis.

↵

c

Cap. Infam. 6. q. 1. p. 297.

↵

d

Suar. de Fide disp. 12. §. 9. n. [...]. l. 2. c. 29.

↵

e

Cap. de Haer.

↵

f

A [...]zo [...]. Tom. 1. l. 8. c. 12. q. 7.

↵

g

Cap. 2. Sect. fin. de Haer. in 6.

↵

h

Cap. cum secundum Legis de Haer.. Inno III. cap. de Vergentis.

↵

i

Vas (que) in Suar. disp. 22. S. 4. n. 11.

↵

k

S. 1. n. 5.

↵

l

Cap. Vergent. de Haer.

↵

m

Cap. ad abolendum de Ha [...]r. Su [...]r. Dis. 23. Bul. Vrb. 4. & Inno. 4.

↵

n

Jac. de Gra. decis. l. 2. c. 9. n. 2.

↵

o

Bonacina Diano. Castro Molanus, &c. Car. Allen. ad mon. to Nobl. & Peop. p. 41.

↵

p

[...]riess of P. G. 13. & Clem. 8.

↵

q

5. Ies. Trial, p. 28.

↵

r

Col. Lr. [...]o the Intern [...]ncio.

↵

s

Prance's Nar. p. 4.

↵

t

Caus. Ep. p. 189.

↵

u

Five Ies. T [...]i [...]ls, p. 2 [...].

↵

x

Caput Offi [...]m ▪

↵

y

Bon [...]ci [...]a d [...] prin [...]. prat. Disp. 3. q. 2.

↵

z

Parson's Philop. p. 109.

↵

a

Becan. Cont. Aug. p. 131, 132. In Fowlis, p. 60.

↵

b

Oats's Nar. p. 4. N. 5, &c.

↵

c

Hist. Ref. p. 110.

↵

a

Prout Regalis Officii exposcit utilitas.

↵

b

Sicome le profit de Office Demaunde. The Kingly or Regal Office of this Realm, Mar. Sess. 3. cap. 1.

↵

§

§

§

[Page]

A SIXTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. Five Letters from Scotland, giving Account of expelling Popery from thence.

II. The Prince of Orange's Speech to the Scots Lords and Gentlemen met at St. Iames's. With their Advice to the Prince, to take upon him the Administration of the Affairs of Scotland. With his Highness's Answer.

III. A Letter to a Friend, advising in this Extraordiry Juncture, how to Free the Nation from Slavery.

IV. The Application of the Bishop and Clergy of London to the Prince of Orange, Sept. 21. 1688.

V. An Address of the Nonconformist Ministers of London, to the Prince of Orange.

VI. The Address of the City of Bristol to the Prince of Orange.

VII. A Word to the Wise, for Setling the Government.

VIII. A Modest Proposal to the present Convention.

IX. An Historical Account touching the Succession of the Crown.

X. A Narrative of the Miseries of New-England, by reason of an Arbitrary Government erected there.

Licensed and Entred according to Order.

London printed, and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row, 1689.

[Page]

Advertisement.

VVHereas there is a sixth and seventh Collection of old Papers with new Title-Pages (remote from the present Juncture of Affairs) published by R. Baldwin; The Reader is desired to take notice that the Person that collected the first five Parts, will continue them from time to time as often as matter occurs, in which he will take care not to impose any thing but what is new and genuine, and worth the Reader's Money. To be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-Head Court in Pater-Noster-Row, who sells the former five, and so all that shall follow.

[Page]

Five LETTERS From a Gentleman in Scotland, to his Friend in LONDON. Being a True Account of what Remarkable Passages have happened since the Prince's Landing; The manner of the taking of the Chancellor, and his Lady in Man's Apparel; The burning of the Pope, Demolishing of the Popish Chappels, &c. with the total overthrow of the Roman Catholicks.

Edinburgh, Decemb. 3. 1688.

THE Students of the University here, designed some time ago to burn the Pope's Effigies; but that was not more zealously desired to be prevented by some, than to be done by others: Notwithstanding all the imaginable Care taken to prevent it, yet it was done about Ten Days ago, after day-light gone, at the Cross, and blown up with Art, that seems to have been beyond their Invention, [Page] above four Stories high. Two Days thereafter they went to the Parliament-House, at mid-day, passing by the Guards, crying, No Pope, No Papist: And being got into the Parliament-House, (after they had required the Guards to be present at the Sentence) and having got upon the Bench, they Arraigned his Holiness before his Judges, and gave the Jury their Commission, who brought him in Guilty; whereupon, he was sentenced to be burnt publickly at the Cross the Twenty Fifth of this Instant; and withal declared, and protested for a Free Parliament.

On Sunday last, Advertisement was given by a Papist, to a Gentlewoman, to remove her self out of this City, and to carry out her Husband's Papers forthwith, because that Night there should be here a hot Wakening, such as had not been heretofore; and advised her to give the same Advice to any of her Friends she pleased.

Your Friend Mr. M. being acquainted with this, he revealed the same to several of our Magistrates, (which, as is alledged, was not regarded) he went thereafter and acquainted the Guard of our Trained-Bands therewith; whereupon Captain Patrick Iohnstone (Hilton's Brother) caused to beat the Drums, and the Noise having gone abroad, and several Persons having ordered their Arms, and People flocking together to consider what was fit to be done, the Magistrates, with the Council, convened for the same purpose. A great many Boys met also, and went through the whole Town, crying aloud, No Pope, No Papist, No Popish Chancellor, No Melfort, No Father Peters. But the Gates were shut, the Magistrates went along the Streets for the keeping of the Peace; and nothing more was done that Night, except the breaking of three or four Glass-Windows of Papists Houses, and that some of the Boys got up to the Cross, and proclaimed a Free-Parliament, and offered Two Thousand Pounds for Melford's Head; so that Night past over, when all People here were in fear of some ill Designs, and the rather, because of their certain knowledg that there were lying in the Suburbs, a great many Hundreds of Highland-m [...]n, (or rather Thousands) and that all that day the Abbey Gates were exactly kept by Souldiers, Commanded by Captain Wallace a Papist, and none admitted to enter except Papists or Highland-men.

[Page]On Monday, about mid-day, the Chancellor parted thence and went towards the Highlands, by Advice of several of the Privy Council and his Friends, and took a good Guard with him. At Night the Students went (without Arms) to the Abbey, to condemn the Pope, and to Proclaim a Free Parliament, and perhaps to burn what was contained in the Chappel, but without asking Questions, were repulsed by a shower of Ball, whereby several were wounded, and some since dead of their Wounds; which coming to the Privy Councils Knowledg, (which was then sitting) they called the Town Council (then also met) and Captain Grahame; desired them to see to the preservance of the Peace, and sent Six Heralds with an Order to Captain Wallace and his Men, to lay down their Arms, render themselves Prisoners, and deliver their Guards to the Magistrates, but they were answered by Ball; which being reported to the Privy Council, they forthwith ordered Captain Grahame and his Company, Trained-Bands and Militia, to fall upon them, which they did; Wallace and his Men fled, several of them were taken, and some wounded, as were some of Captain Grahame's Men. The Rabble were so incensed upon the firing, and supposition that it was Boys were killed, that they burnt all that was contained in the Chappel, the Jesuits Colledg, the Popish Printing-house, the Abbey Church, the Chancellor's Lodgings; and generally, all that was contained in the Houses of Papists, in the Town and Cannon-gate, excepting what was taken away by some People who designed Plunder.

They had Fires in the Abbey-Court, and at the Cross, all the Night, and spared nothing they got in Papists Houses. Some few Houses were spared at the intercession of some Protestants their Friends, and after true enquiry, I heard the Loss is called greater than it is. None of the Papists themselves were killed or wounded; they met with few of them, those they got they carried into the Guard.

In some of the Popish Houses, they found Arms and Barrels of Powder, which provoked to a more narrow search. All this time the Castle never fired one Gun, which is more attributed to the Duke of Gordon, than to any other inferior Officer. I am told, the Council sent and discharged an Execution from the Castle. Some of the Boys are dead of their Wounds. [Page] Traquair (a Popish Lord) and several others went to, and continue in the Castle for their security. The Council ordered the searching for Ammunition and Arms in some Popish Houses in the Country, and this day committed a Warrant for the restoring of what was plundred out of the Papists Houses.

I had forgot to tell you, that on Monday last the Privy Council disbanded Six Hundred Men, taken on the Friday before, and commanded all the Highlanders forthwith to depart upon pain of Death; and yesterday ordered all Gentlemen to depart out of the Town, excepting such as should give account of their Business to some of the Privy Council. I am credibly informed, that this day in the Privy Council, was voted an Address to be made to his Majesty for a Free Parliament; there are several Noblemen and Gentlemen gone from hence into England, and more to follow, but it's suspected they are going to the Prince of Orange.

Edinburgh, Decemb. 20.

WHen the Chancellor went away privately from the Abbey for Castle Drummond, he gave strict Command to Captain Wallace to preserve the Chappel, &c. The Rabble having gathered and procured Links, without any Fire-Arms, about Six at Night went to the Abbey, and were denied access; whereupon, some pressing forward, Wallace commanded his Souldiers to fire, which they did, and killed and wounded about Twenty, whereof one half died shortly after. The Rabble retired to the City with a great Noise, towards the Entry to the Court of the Parliament-House, where some of the Lords of the Privy-Council were sitting. There some West-Country Gentlemen encouraged them to prosecute a Revenge, and got the Provost of the City to go to the House of Lords, and told them, if they would not give a Warrant to assault Wallace, and force him from the Abbey, they would do it without it. The Lords being alarm'd with the Slaughter, and a Report that several Gentlemens Sons were killed, [Page] and some of their own; they ordered a Herald at Arms, with sound of Trumpet, to command Wallace in the King's Name to give up his Guard at the Abbey to the City: And the Company under the Cities Pay marched first, commanded by Captain Grahame, and after them all the Train'd-Bands and Militia, to force him in case of refusal; several Gentlemen accompanying Grahame, and the Magistrates attending, Wallace refused the Herald, and fired upon Grahame, and the rest behind, wounded some Gentlemen and a few Souldiers: But Grahame marched quickly down a Lane on the South-side of the Porch of the Abbey-Court where Wallace was posted, and by a back way entered the Court, came upon Wallace's Reer, and the Town Companies fronting him; after the first Fire he and all his Men fled, only a few of them were taken, the most part escaping under the Darkness of the Night. The City being thus Master of the Abbey, the Rabble immediately, without opposition, went first to the Chappel, forced the Doors, broke all to pieces, and carried several parcels in Triumph up to the Cross, and burnt them there.

The next day strong Guards were set through the whole City and Suburbs, in convenient places, to repress any farther Tumults; and so all was quiet, and continues so.

This Morning there was coming into Leith a Boat from Burnt-Island, with eighty Men aboard, being a part of two or three hundred which had been sent for by the Duke of Gordon from the North to reinforce the Castle, and the rest to follow. But the Bayliff of Leith having notice before-hand of their coming, sent on Board and discharged their coming into the Harbor, and desired to speak with their Commander, who came ashoar, and owned the Design, being believed to be all Papists: He was seized, and the Men commanded back to the other Shoar, under the highest Pains.

The Lords of the Treasury have called in all Commissions given to Papists, for collecting His Majesty's Revenue.

[Page]

Edinburgh, Decemb. 22.

THE Chancellor thinking, as Affairs stood, he was not secure at home, resolved for France; and with all the Privacy imaginable, he in Womans and his Lady in Mans Clothes, got aboard a Vessel bound from this Firth the 20th instant, being Thursday; which set Sail, the Wind being fair: But a certain Person on Horse-back, riding by Kircaldie, where the Seamen use to walk, called to them and told them, there was a good Prize in that Ship under Sail, namely, the Chancellor of Scotland. Whereupon, about thirty six common Sea-men, commanded by one Wilson, that had been a Bucaneer in America, which had Guns or Muskets, manag'd a light Boat, and without any Provision save a little Brandy, or any Order from a Magistrate, set Sail immediately, and came up with the Ship that Night, boarded her, inquired for the Chancellor, whom they denied to be aboard; but after search, found him and his Lady cloathed as aforesaid, brought the Ship back, and carried the Prisoners, with Mr. Nicolson (a Priest, late Regent in the Colledg of Glasgow) ashoar to Kircaldie Talbooth (or Prison.) The Chancellor wrote Letters yesterday to several of the Privy-Council, complaining of the Injury done him. The Council have ordered him to be carried by the Earl of Marr, and a Company of the Militia, to Sterling-Castle.

The Duke of Gordon has been desired by the Council to lay down his Charge of Governour of the Castle, but he still declines it; alledging, that seeing he has his Commission immediately from the King, and to be accountable to none else, he cannot in Honour lay it down till he has His Majesty's Command for it, and says he had sent a Gentleman expresly to know His Majesty's Pleasure upon that point fourteen days ago, and expects his return every day: And in the mean time, has assured the Council by Letters, and this day the Provost and Magistrates of the City, whom he sent for to speak with, that [Page] he will upon his Word and Honour be a good Neighbour, and not do them or the City any Prejudice.

Two days ago his Captain put an Oath to the Souldiers, whereby they bound themselves to be faithful to His Majesty, and their Superior Officers, and to defend the Protestant Religion, which being refused by twenty or thirty, whereof five were Papists, they were turned out.

There was a Pink arrived at Leith on Thursday, sent by His Majesty. The Searchers seized two Boxes in it directed to the Chancellor, &c. and being brought to the Council, there were found in them several Precepts upon the Treasury for payment of certain Sums to Papists, and some Commissions; in particular, a Commission to one Peter Winste (a Papist) to be Major of the Gates of the Castle, and have Power of all the Keys, without being accountable to the Lieutenant (who is a Protestant) but only to the Duke, and his Deputy, who is a Papist too.

Edinburgh, Decemb. 25.

THis Day the Students burnt the Pope solemnly at the Cross before Thousands of Spectators; our Privy Counsellors and Magistrates were Spectators, and no Inconveniences followed. The Students were divided according to their Classes, (that is, their Years of standing) each Class with its Captain. They advanced orderly, with Swords in their Hands, and Hoitboys before them; the College Mace was carried before them by the under-Janitor in his Gown, and bare.

We have many Reports here of the Landing of Irish-men, but false; the whole Country is in Arms, and Apprehends the Papists; and at Dumfriese they have taken and imprisoned the Provost, with some other Papists and Priests, and guard their Town with Six Companies a-night; and have planted Cannon (taken from their Ships) at the Cross and Ports, and recovered their Ammunition which was sent to Carlavorock Castle.

[Page]

Edinburgh, Decemb. 27.

OUR Council has sent an Address to the Prince of Orange, at least it may go hence on Saturday next. At Glasgow the Prince of Orange was Proclaimed the Protestant Protector. The whole Country is up for the Prince, or at least under pretence for their Safety against Papists; but there is no fear of them in this Kingdom, unless it be in Nithisdale and Galloway; and I think neither there: However, there were some long Knives, or Bagonets, of a strange shape, taken at Kirkudbright.

[Page]

His HIGHNESS the PRINCE of ORANGE his SPEECH to the Scots Lords and Gentlemen. VVith their Advice, and his Highness's Answer. VVith a True Account of what past at their Meeting in the Council-Chamber at Whitehal, Ianuary 7. 1688/9. His Highness the PRINCE of Orange having caused Advertise such of the Scots Lords and Gentlemen as were in Town, met them in a Room at St. Iames's, upon Monday the Seventh of Ianuary, at Three of the Clock in the Afternoon, and had this Speech to them.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

THE only Reason that induced me to undergo so Great an Vndertaking, was, That I saw the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms overturned, and the Protestant Religion in Eminent Danger: And seeing you are here so many Noblemen and Gentlemen, I have called you together, that I may have your Advice, what is to be done for Securing the Protestant Religion, and Restoring your Laws and Liberties, according to my Declaration.

[Page]As soon as his Highness had retired, the Lords and Gentlemen went to the Council-Chamber at Whitehall; and having chosen the Duke of Hamilton their President, they fell a consulting, what Advice was fit to be given to his Highness in this Conjuncture: And after some Hours Reasoning, they agreed upon the Materials of it, and appointed the Clerks, with such as were to assist them, to draw up in writing, what the Meeting thought exp [...]dient, to advise his Highness, and to bring it in to the Meeting the next in the Afternoon.

Tuesday, the Eighth Instant, the Writing was presented in the Meeting: And some time being spent in Reasoning about the fittest way of Coveening a General Meeting of the Estates of Scotland. At last the Meeting came to agree in their Opinion, and appointed the Advice to be writ clean over, according to the Amendments. But as they were about to part for that Dyet, the Earl of Arran proposed to them, as his Lordship's Advice, that they should move the Prince of Orange, to desire the King to return and call a Free-Parliament, which would the best way to Secure the Protestant Religion and Property, and to Heal all Breaches. This Proposal seemed to dissatisfy the whole Meeting, and the Duke of Hamilton their President, Father to the Earl, but they presently parted.

Wednesday, the Ninth of Ianuary, they met at three of the Clock in the same Room, and Sir Patrick Hume took notice of [...]he Proposal made by the Earl of Arran, and desired to know if there was any there that would second it: But none appearing to do it; he said, That what the Earl had proposed, was evidently opposite and inimicous to his Highness the Prince of Orange's Undertaking, his Declaration, and the Good Intentions of preserving the Protestant Religion, and of Restoring their Laws and Liberties exprest in it; and further, desired that the Meeting should declare this to be their Opinion of it. The Lord Cardross seconded Sir Patrick's Motion: it was answered by the Duke of Hamilton, President of the Meeting, That their Business was to prepare an Advice to be offered to the Prince; and the Advice being now ready to go to the Vote, there was no need that the Meeting should give their Sense of the Earl's Proposal, which neither before nor after Sir Patrick's Motion, any had pretended to own or second; [Page] so that it was fallen and out of doors; and that the Vote of the Meeting, upon the Advice brought in by their Order, would sufficiently declare their Opinion: This being seconded by the Earl of Sutherland, the Lord Cardross, and Sir Patrick did acquiesce in it; and the Meeting voted una [...]imously the Advice following.

To His HIGHNESS the PRINCE of ORANGE.

WE the Lords and Gentlemen of the Kingdom of Scotland, Assembled at your Highness's desire, in this Extraordinary Conjunction, do give your Highness our humble and hearty Thanks for your Pious and Generous Undertaking, for Preserving of the Protestant Religion, and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms.

In order to the Attaining these Ends, our humble Advice and Desire is, That your Highness take upon You the Administration of all Affairs, both Civil and Military; the Disposal of the Publick Revenues and Fortresses of the Kingdom of Scotland, and the doing every Thing that is necessary for the Preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom, until a General Meeting of the States of the Nation, which we humbly desire your Highness to Call, to be holden at Edinburgh the Fourteenth day of March next; by your Letters or Proclamation, to be published at the Market-Crosses of Edinburgh, and other Head-Boroughs of the several Shires and Stewartries, as sufficient Intimation to All concerned, and according to the Custom of the Kingdom: And that the Publication of these your Letters or [Page] Proclamation, be by the Sheriffs, or Stewart Clerks, for the Free-holders, who have the value of Lands, holden according to Law, for making Elections; and by the Town-Clerks of the several Burroughs, for the meeting of the whole Burgesses of the respective Royal Burroughs, to make their Elections at least Fifteen Days before the Meeting of the Estates at Edinburgh; and the Respective Clerks to make Intimation thereof, at least Ten Days before the Meetings for Elections: And that the whole Electors and Members of the said Meeting at Edinburgh, qualified as above exprest, be Protestants, without any other Exception or Limitation whatsoever; to Deliberate and Resolve what is to be done for securing the Protestant Religion, and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom, according to Your Highness's Declaration. Dated at the Council-Chamber in Whitehal the Tenth Day of January, 1689.

This Address being Subscribed by 30 Lords, and about 80 Gentlemen, was presented in their presence at St. Iames's, by the Duke of Hamilton their President, to his Highness the Prince of Orange, who thanked them for the Trust they reposed in him, and desired a Time to consider upon so weighty an Affair.

Upon the Fourteenth of Ianuary, his Highness the Prince of Orange▪ met again with the Scots Lords and Gentlemen at St. Iames's; And spoke to them as follows.

§

My Lords and Gentlemen,

IN persuance of your Advice, I will, untill the Meeting of the States in March next, give such Orders concerning the Affairs of Scotland, as are necessary for the Calling of the said Meeting, for the Preserving of the Peace; the applying of the Publick Revenue to the most pressing Vses, and putting the Fortresses in the Hands of Persons, in whom the Nation can have a just Confidence: And I do further [Page] assure you; That you will always find me ready to concur with you in every Thing that may be found necessary for Securing the Protestant Religion, and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Nation.

The Earl of Crawfourd desired of his Highness, That himself, the Earl of Louthian, and others, come to Town since the Address was presented, might have an opportunity to subscribe it; which was accordingly done: His Highness retire [...], and all shewed great Satisfaction with his Answer.

A LETTER to a Friend, advising in this Extraordinary Iuncture, how to free the Nation from SLAVERY for ever.

SIR,

I Doubt not but the Wisdom of the Nation will take the most effectual way to secure our Religion, our Liberties and Property. However, being a Lover of all these, I can't forbear communicating my Thoughts unto you with an assurance you'l consider them.

God hath done great things for us, and yet the greatest thing is not yet done; there are many Difficulties in the way, and many more will be thrown into it. Slavery is most to be dreaded at this time: What is done must be chiefly to guard against it. How to do it, is the principal business of the Great Men in the next Convention. To know where we are, is the first step to be taken. Is the Government dissolved, or only under some Disorders? If the latter; Are the Disorders such as must be laid to the Charge of the King, or to his Ministers, [Page] or both? If to the King; Are they sufficient to depose him? If that be done, Are we more secure from Slavery than now? Will there be more than a Change of Persons in the Throne? A Child for a Father, a Protestant for a Papist? And in a few Years the Succession may fall to the Queen of Spain, or Dutchess of Savoy, both Roman Catholicks, and we in as great, or greater danger of Popery and Slavery than we were the other day; the Constitution remains the same, the Iura Majestatis, viz. the Militia; the Power to make War or Peace; the choosing Judges, Sheriffs, &c. still in the Person of the King; or if only by one Parliament restored to the People, another Parliament may give them the King again. Leges Posteriores priores abrogant. And who can tell what Contests there may be about the Right of the Crown. The Deposed Prince is alive, and his Right by Sword will be disputed, &c.

If the Government be dissolved, the Power devolves on the People; no one can claim the Crown; the Royal Family is as it were extinct; the People may set up what Government they please, either the old, or a new; A Monarchy absolute, or limited; or an Aristocracy or Democracy. If a Monarchy limited, supposing it mostly suited to the temper of the English, they may choose what Family they please to sit in the Throne: They may settle it on the Princess of Orange, Princess Ann, the Prince of Orange, and for want of Issue, on whom else they think meet. These hold not by virtue of an old Right, but by reason of the People's placing it upon them, and the Monarchy may be thus, de Novo, made Hereditary, and the King and Prince of Wales gone, having lost their Right by the Dissolution of the Government. The Iura Majestatis, the Militia, the Power of War and Peace, or the Power of the Sword, with the Power of making Judges, Sheriffs, &c. may be lodged where now the Power of Legislation is, viz. in King, Lords, and Commons, which will necessitate frequent Parliaments, and make it impossible for the Monarch to enslave us. There are but two ways by which Slavery can be brought on us, viz. Force or Injustice. The Militia, or Power of the Sword, being in the People, we are secured from the mischief of Force. The Power of making Judges and all the Ministers of Justice being also in the People, they cannot be ruin'd by Injustice.

[Page]But we must do no Evil [...]hat Good may come of it. Is our Government dissolved, or is it not? If there be a Dissolution, Is it of the Constitution, or only of the Form of Administration? I confess my self not States-man enough to be acquainted with the Fineness of the Politicks, but am apt to run the old Road, and please my self with an old Distinction, All Power is Originally, or Fundamentally in the People, Formally in the Parliament, which is one Corporation made up of three Constituent Essentiating Parts, King, Lords and Commons, so it was with us in England. When this Corporation is broken, when any one Essentiating Part is lost or gone, there is a Dissolution of the Corporation. The Formal Seat of Power, and that Power devolves on the People. When it's impossible to have a Parliament, the Power returns to them with whom it was originally. Is it possible to have a Parliament? It's not possible. The Government therefore is dissolv'd.

If what is essential to our Constitution be invaded or ravished from us, the Constitution is broken. I will instance in two things essential to the Constitution. That the People choose their own Representatives. And that their Representatives have such an Interest in the Legislation, that no Laws be made or abrogated without their Consent. The destroying one or both of these, subverts the Foundation of our Government.

The Government being dissolved, what must the People do? C [...]re must be taken that the Government to be erected by such as will perfectly secure us from Slavery; and be a Fence inviolable to the Liberty and Property of the People: And the Rights of Majesty must be therefore lodged with the Parliament; this will be grateful to the People. The way of doing it must be Great, Awful, and August, that none may be able to quarrel it. A National Convention made up of the Representatives of the Community: That the Convention may be truly National, and represent the Community, it must be larger than a House of Commons ordinarily is. It's this Convention that sets up what kind of Government they please. If they'l have a Parliament made up of King, Lords and Commons, it's sufficient that this Convention is so pleased. The Power of this Convention must be absolute and uncontroulable, accountable to none but God. It gives Laws to [Page] Kings, yea to the whole Parliament, and sets bounds unto it; it shall go so far, and no further. No Act of Parliament can be strong enough to move the Foundation laid by this Convention. The Convention therefore, as it has more Power than a Parliament, and is it's Creator, it must have a larger Body. What think you therefore if the first thing done by the approaching Convention be the increasing their Number. What if they double it? Whether by ordering every Market-Town to send up their Representatives, or every Hundred, Wapentake, &c. or by some other way; according to the proportion of People, and publick Payments, as the wise Men of this Convention shall judg most practicable, that it may be the Grand Council of the Nation. I have unburdened my self, and am

Your Humble Servant.

Ian. 5. 1688.

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Some Account of the Humble Application of the Pious and Noble Prelate, Henry Lord Bishop of London, with the Reverend Clergy of the City, and some of the Dissenting Ministers in it, To the Illustrious Prince William Henry, the Prince of Orange, on Friday, September 21. 1688.

HE declared in Excellent Words, That they came to pay him their Humble Duties and most Grateful Respects for his very great and most hazardous Undertakings for their Deliverance, and the Preservation of the Protestant Religion, with the Ancient Laws and Liberties of this Nation.

He addeth, That they gave up daily many Thanksgivings to Almighty God, who had hitherto been graciously pleased so wonderfully to preserve his Person, and prospe [...] and favour his good Design. And they promised the continuance of their ferventest Prayers to the same God, and all Concurrent Endeavours in their Circumstances, for the promoting yet further that Work which was so happily begun, and also for the perfecting of it, not only in this Kingdom, but in other Christian Kingdoms.

He likewise suggested to the Good Prince, That some of the Dissenting Ministers, and their Brethren, were there present, who having the same sense of his Coming hither, with themselves, had joyned themselves with them by him, to render Him their Humblest and most Grateful Resentments.

His Highness was pleased to declare, That he thanked them for their Attendance, and acquainted them very briefly with the chiefest Ends of his Difficult and Chargeable Expedition: That indeed it was to Preserve and Secure the Protestant Religion (his own Religion and their Religion) and assuring them he should not think any thing (not Life it self) too dear to hazard in promoting and perfecting [Page] so good a Work. Also he offered up (with great Devotion) his solemnest Acknowledgments to Almighty God for his Presence with him, and Blessing upon his Endeavours and Arms hitherto; and asked the Continuance of all their Prayers to God for him.—

The Address of the Nonconformist Ministers (in and about the City of London) to his Highness the Prince of ORANGE.

WEdnesday, Ianuary 2 [...] divers of the Dissenting Ministers in and about London, that go under the Denominations of Presbyterial and Congregational, to the Number of Ninety, or upwards, attended his Highness the Prince of Orange at St. Iames's, being introduced by the Earl of Devonshire, the Lord Wharton, and the Lord Wiltshire. Their Sense was represented by one of those Ministers to this effect, viz.

That they professed their grateful Sense of his Highness's Hazardous and Heroical Expectition, which the Favour of Heaven had made so surprizingly prosperous, &c.

That they esteemed it a common Felicity, that the worthy Patriots of the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom, had unanimously conc [...]rred unto his Highness's Design, by whose most prudent Advice, the Administration of Publick Affairs was devolved in this difficult Conjuncture, into Hands which the Nation and World knew to be Apt for the greatest Undertakings, and so suitable to the present Exigency of our Case.

That they promised the utmost Endeavour, which in their Stations they are capable of affording, for the promoting the excellent and most desirable Ends, for which his Highness had declared▪

[Page]That they added their continual fervent Prayers to the Almighty, for the Preservation of his Highness's Person, and the Success of his future Endeavours for the Defence and Propagation of the Protestant Interest throughout the Christian World.

That they should all most willingly have chosen, That for the Season of paying this Duty to his Highness, when the Lord Bishop, and the Clergy of London attended his Highness for the like purpose, (which some of them did, and which his Lordship was pleased condescendingly to make mention of to his Highness) had their notice of that intended Application been so early, as to make their more general Attendance possible to them at that time.

That therefore tho they did now appear in a distinct Company, they did it not on a distinct Account▪ but on that only which is common to them and to all Protestants.

That tho there were some of Eminent Note, whom Age or present Infirmities hindred from coming with them, yet they concurred in the same grateful Sense of our common Deliverance.

His Highness was pleased very favourably to receive this Application, and to assure them, That he came purposely for the Defence of the Protestant Religion; and that it was his own Religion, wherein he was Born and Bred, the Religion of his Country, and of his Ancestors; That he was resolv'd by the Grace of God always to adhere to it, and to do his utmost Endeavours for the Defence of it, and the promoting a firm Vnion among all Protestants.

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The Speech of the Recorder of Bristol to his Highness the Prince of Orange, Monday, January the 7th, 1688. The Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Commons of the Principal Citizens of the City of Bristol, waited upon the Prince of Orange, being introduced by his Grace the Duke of Ormond, their High-Steward, and the Earl of Shrewsbury: VVhere the Recorder spake to this Effect:

May it please your Highness,

THE Restitution of our Religion, Laws, and Liberties, and the Freeing us from that Thraldom which hath rendred us for many Years useless, and at last dangerous to the Common Interest of the Protestant World, by your Highness's singular Wisdom, Courage, and Conduct, are not only a Stupendious Evidence of the Divine Favour and Providence for our Preservation; but will be, and ought to be an Everlasting Monument of your Highness's Magnanimity, and other the Heroick Vertues which Adorn your Great Soul, by whom such a Revolution is wrought in this Nation, as is become the Joy and Comfort of the Presen [...], and will be the Wonder of all Succeeding Ages,

In the Contrivance and Preparation of which Great Work, your Highness (like the Heavens) did shed your propitious Influences upon us, whilst we slept, and had scarce any prospect from whence we might expect our Redemption.

[Page]But as since your happy Arrival in England, we did amongst the first, Associate our selves to assist and promote your Highness's most Glorious Design, with our Lives and Fortunes; so we now think our selves bound in the highest Obligation of Gratitude, most humbly to present to your Highness our humble and hearty Thanks, for this our Deliverance from Popery, and Arbitrary Power; and likewise, for declaring your Gracious Intentions, That by the Advice of the Estates of this Kingdom, you will Rectifie the late Disorders in the Government, both Ecclesiastical and Civil, according to the known Laws. The due and inviolable Observation of which, will in our poor Opinion, be the only proper Means to render the Soveraign Secure, and both Sovereign and Subject happy.

To which his Highness returned a most Gracious Answer.

A Word to the Wise, for Settling the Government.

IT is an Universal Truth, That no Nation can subsist without some Government; and the Wisdom of this Nation hath framed their Government, to consist in a King, the Lords, and the Commons.

In these three Conjunct, wholly resides the Power of making and altering Laws, for the Common Good of the whole; and i [...] called the Legislative Power.

The King alone is entrusted with the due Execution of these Laws, for the Preservation, Protection, and Comfort of the People, both in Church and State; and this Trust and Power is called the R [...]gal Power.

If then this Nation, being Protestant, and under Protestant Laws, have a King, who shall declare h [...]mself a Zealous Roman Catholick, and put himself under the Power and Conduct of the Papal Jurisdiction, admitting the Pope's Supremacy, Nuntio, Bishops, Appeals, [Page] &c. And to his power endeavour to Establish the Popish Religion in the Realm▪

Quest I. Whether such a King hath not thereby made himself Incompetent, and uncapable to Govern a Protestant Church, and a Protestant People, by their Protestant Laws? and notoriously Abdicated or Renounced the Government?

II. If a King, entrusted with the Regal Power, ut supra ▪ shall Subvert the Fundamental Laws; Dispense with Statutes; Destroy Colleges and Corporations; Erect High and Illegal Courts; Invade the Peoples Freeholds, and Free Elections to Parliament; put the Ports and Power of the Nation into Enemies hands; Protect and Promote Traytors; and turn the Protective Power of the Nation to the Ruine and Destruction of the People, their Laws and Religion: Whether by so doing, such a King doth not, in Fact, declare, That he will not Rule the Kingdom by its Laws and Constitutions, but by his own Absolute Will and Pleasure?

III. If a King so entrusted with the Regal Power, ut supra, shall, and do voluntarily depart the Realm, with the Signals of Government, without any provision for the Publick Administration, and so deserting both the People, Place and Power; Whether such a King hath not Divested himself of that Trust and Regal Power?

IV. If so, and the Lawyers Rule be true, (Quod non est haeres Viventis) Then whether this Regal Power be Descended, so long as the King is Living?

V. If the Regal Power be Fallen, and yet not Descended; whether of necessity it must not fall to its Center, or Root from whence it Sprang, which is the whole Nation, now consisting in Lords and Commons, as it must have fallen, if the King had died without Heir?

VI. If the Regality then be not Descended, but thus Laps'd to the People, and that this most Excellent Government, is therein become Defective; whether it be not of necessity, that this defect be supplied by a speedy Constituting some Person to that Office, Power, and Trust, to compleat the Government?

VII. If that be so; Then what Person, in this present Juncture of Affairs, is most proper to be therewith Invested? Whethe [...] one, who at the Nations charge, at all Times, and upon all Occasi [...]ns, and to the utmost Extremities, hath given undeniable Evidence to the World, of his constant Resolution and endeavours to Subvert the Religion, Laws, and Liberties of his People; Or one, who at [Page] his own Charge, and at the peril of his own Honour, Life, and Fortune, hath Rescued and Delivered the Nation from that deplo [...]able Condition and Danger; and whose Wisdom, Vertue, Courage, and Conduct, is an Honour to the Age, the Joy of all good Men, and the Fear of Bad, both here and abroad, and who must adorn that People, over whom he shall preside?

VIII. If then the Crown be thus fallen, and must be placed de novo; Whether it was ever more necessary than now, to settle and limit the Succession thereof (as it hath been often done) by Parliament; in regard there are but Three Persons of the Protestant Religion an [...] o [...] the Royal Blood viz. his Highness, and the Two Princesses ▪ not much different in Age, beyond whom the Descendants are many, and all Roman Catholicks?

IX. Whether then it may not be adviseable it be limited to the Prince for Life; the Remainder to his Princess, and the Heirs of her Body; the Remainder to the Princess Ann, and the Heirs of her Body; the Remainder to the Prince, and the Heirs of his Body: In Default of such Issue, to such Person and Persons, as the Lords and Commons, then last sitting in Parliament, shall Declare and Appoint?

X. Whether such Limitation will not avoid all Questions which may at present, or hereafter arise, touching the Title of the Crown, either near, or remote, and settle and preserve the Peace of the Nation for ever?

XI. Whether so doing will not prevent any scruple her Highness may have, of accepting the Crown in her Father's Life-time, as did ar [...]se in the Son of King Edward the Second?

XII. Whether thereby the Nation will not in some measure express its Duty and Gratitude to his Highness, who (under God) hath [...]redeemed and Delivered it from Popery and Slavery, and raised his own Merit above the level of a Subject?

XIII. Whether this Great Prince, whom God hath advanced for the Conduct and Safety of the Protestant World, will not be the steer to accomplish those Glorious Ends?

XIV. Whether the Two Royal Daughters, cons [...]dering such his Highness's securing their Right and Succession to the Crown of these Realms, against all Popish Endeavours to hinder the same, will not see just Cause to promote the Limitations aforesaid?

[Page]XV. And lastly, Whether the Wisdom and Interest of the Nation doth not oblige all good Men to concur with his Highness, and his most Noble Declaration, and Gracious Designs, To Establish their Religion, their Liberties and Properties, beyond all Humane Power of Violation, or Subversion for the Time to come?

A Modest PROPOSAL to the present CONVENTION.

THE thing that ofiers it self in this great Conjuncture is, to have a Grand Committee of Lords and Commons (Forty at least from each House) to be as a Privy Council, or Council of State, or Governing Senate.

It were to be wished, that Twenty of each Forty might be for Life; and the other Twenty Biennial, Ten going off every Year. Or half might be changed Annually.

Each Senator or Counsellor to have for his Salary or Maintenance, a Thousand Pounds a Year. This would be such an Advancement to the Nobility and Gentry, as England never saw. And the Charge is a Trifle. There is more sp [...]nt in some Monarchies, upon Hawks, Hounds, and Whores.

The Prince to preside in this Council or Senate (or such Person as he shall appoint in his stead) and to have Ten Votes at least. He must also be General and Admiral; and must have such further Powers, and such a Maintenance or Revenue, as his Great Merits require. But withal, such as are consistent with the Government he designs for us. The Prince's Maintenance should equal, or exceed, that of all the Senators put together.

All that are of this Council, and all that hope to be, (that is, all the Considerable Men of the Nation) will by this means be firm to the Prince. And so will those others who have the great Priviledge of Choosing them, whereby they may have Confidence in their Administration. And this one thing will give the Prince [Page] so strong an Interest, that he needs fear no Pretension that can be against him. It will be better than a Standing Army: The necessity whereof nothing can prevent, but such a Standing Council.

The Parliament to be Chosen Triermially, and to meet Annually.

It is believed that such a Constitution as this, would effectually Secure us (according to the Princes good Intentions) from Popery and Tyranny. And the Prince will be the glorious Author of the Britannick Liberty, as his Great Grand-Father was of the Belgick. The Genoeses to this day adore the Memory of Andrew Doria, who chose rather to make them a Free State, than to be their Prince. Barely to change our Master, would but revive the Feuds of York and Lancaster, and involve us in the like Calamities.

These things to continue but during the Life of the King, and not to prejudice a Protestant Successor.

A Short Historical Account touching the Succession of the CROWN.

IN the Heptarchy, there was no sixt Hereditary Right; one King tripping up the Heels of another, as he had Power, till one got all.

Afterward no sixt Hereditary Right; for Althestan, the Great King, was a Bastard; and so were several others; why by then Courage and Policy got the Crown; so that a Law was made, under the Saxon Monarchy, de Ordinatione Regnam, that directed the Election of Kings, prohibiting Bastards to be Elected.

Edward the Confessor was not King, Iure Haereditario.

William the First (called the Conqueror) had no Right, bu [...] from the Peoples Election.

William Ruffus was Elected against the Right of his Elder B [...]oth [...].

Henry the First came in by the same way.

King Stephen was Elected, a Clero & Populo, and Confirme [...] by the Popo.

Henry the Second came in by Consent, yet he had no Hereditary Right, for his Mother was living.

[Page] Richard the First was charged before God and Men by the Arch-Bishop, upon his Coronation, that he should not presume to take the Crown, unless he resolved faithfully to observe the Laws.

King Iohn, his Brother, because his Elder Brother's Son was a Foreigner, was Elected a Clero & Populo, and being Divorced from his Wife, by his new Queen he had Henry the Third.

Henry the Third was Confirmed, and Setled in the Kingdom, by the General Election of the People; and in his Life-time, the Nation was Sworn to the Succession of Edward the First, before he went to the Holy Land.

Edward the First being out of England, by the Consent of Lords and Commons, was declared King.

Edward the Second being misled, and relying too much upon his Favourites, was Deposed, and his Son was declared King in his Life-time.

Richard the Second, for his evil Government, had the Fate of the Second Edward.

Henry the Fourth came in by Election of the People, to whom Succeeded Henry the Fifth, and Henry the Sixth, in whose time Richard Duke of York claimed the Crown; and an Act of Parliament was made, that Henry the Sixth should enjoy the Crown for his Life, and the said Duke after him; after which, King Henry raises an Army, by Assistance of the Queen and Prince; and at Wakefield, in Battel, kills the Duke; for which, 1 Ed. 4. they were all, by Act of Parliament, Attainted of Treason; and one principal Reason thereof, was, for that the Duke being declared Heir to the Crown after Henry, by Act of Parliament, they had killed him.

Edward the Fourth enters the Stage, and leaves Ed. 5. to Succeed, to whom Succeeds Richard the Third, Confirmed King by Act of Parliament, upon Two Reasons: First, That by reason of a Precontract of Edward the Fourth, Edward the Fifth, his Eldest Son, and all his other Children were Bastards. Secondly, For that the Son of the Duke of Clarence, second Brother to Edward the Fourth, had no Right, because the Duke was Attainted of Treason, by a Parliament of Ed. the 4th.

Henry the Seventh comes in, but had no Title; First, Because Edward the Fourth's Daughter was then living: Secondly, His own Mother, the Countess of Richmond, was then living.

[Page]After him, Henry the Eighth wore the Crown, who could have no Title by the Father; in his time the Succession of the Crown was Limitted several times, and the whole Nation Sworn to the Observance.

Sir Thomas Moor declared, That the Parliament had a Power to bind the Succession, which was declared to be Law, by 13 Eliz. cap. 1. and made a Praemunire to hold the contrary.

Edward the Sixth succeeded, but his Mother was married to King Henry, while Ann of Cleve, his Wife, was living.

Queen Mary was declared a Bastard; and by Vertue of an Act of Parliament of Henry the Eighth, she Succeeded; which Act being Repealed in the First of her Reign, and the Crown being Limitted otherwise by Parliament, all the Limitations of the Crown in King Henry the Eighth's Reign were avoided; so that

Queen Elizabeth, who was declared a Bastard, by Act of Parliament in Henry the Eighth's time, and limitted to Succeed, in another Act in his time, and that Act repealed by Queen Mary, became Queen in the force of her own Act of Parliament, which declares her Lawful Queen.

The Crown was Entail'd in Richard the Second's time; again, in the time of Henry the Fourth; again, in the time of Henry the Sixth; again, in the time of Edward the Fourth; again, in the time of Richard the Third; again, in the time of Henry the Seventh; Thrice in the time of Henry the Eighth.

And upon the Marriage of Queen Mary to King Philip of Spain, both the Crowns of England and Spain were Entailed; whereby it was provided, that of the several Children to be Begotten upon the Queen, one was to have the Crown of England, another Spain, another the Low-Countries; the Articles of Marriage to this purpose, were Confirmed by Act of Parliament, and the Pope's Bull.

So that it was agreed by the States of both Kingdoms, and the Low-Countries, and therefore, probably, the Universal Opinion of the Great Men of that Age, That Kings and Sovereign Princes, with the Consent of their States, had a Power to Alter and Bind the Succession of the Crown; and never denied to be Law till the Reign of King Charles the Second.

True it is, that this Doctrine doth not go down well with those that do pretend to Prerogative,1 Iac. 1. cap. 1. added (as they say) by the Act of Recognition made to King Iames; and the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, [Page] which do make so much talk conce [...]ning Inheritance and Heirs: But let these Gentlemen consider, that the Act of Recognition made no Law for the future; nor doth the same cross the Statute of 13 Eliz. nor doth it take away the power of the Parliament from over-ruling the Course of the Common-Law for after-Ages. Nor do the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy hold forth any such Obligation unto Hei [...]s, otherwise than as supposing them to be Successors, and in that Relation only. And therefore, was no such Allegiance due to Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary, or Queen Elizabeth, until they were actually possest of the Crown, as may appear by the Oath forced by the Statute of H. 8. touching their Succession.35 H. 8. cap. 1. Nor did the Law suppose any Treason could be acted against the Heirs of Ed. 6. Queen Mary, 6 E. 6.11.1, 2, 3. Om. 10. or Queen Eliz. until these Heirs were actually possest of the Crown, and so were Kings and Queens, as by the express words in the several Statutes do appear. Nor did the Recognition, by the Parliament made to Queen Elizabeth, 1 El. 6. declare any engagement to the People to assist, and defend Her and the Heirs of Her Body, otherwise than with this Limitation, being Kings and Queens of this Realm; as by the Statute in that behalf made doth appear.1 El. 3. Moreover, had these Oaths been otherwise understood, the Crown had by virtue of them been preingaged, so as it could never have Descended to Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, or King Iames, but must have remained to the Heirs of Edward the Sixth for ever.

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A Narrative of the Miseries of New-England, by reason of an Arbitrary Government Erected there.

THat a Colony so considerable as New-England is, should be discouraged, is not for the Honour and Interest of the English Nation; in as much as the People there are generally Sober, Industrious, Well-Disciplin'd, and apt for Martial Affairs; so that he that is Sovereign of New-England, may by means thereof (when he pleaseth) be Emperor of America: Nevertheless, the whole English Interest in that Territory has been of late in apparent danger of being lost and ruined, and the Miseries of that People by an Arbitrary Government erected amongst them, have been beyond Expression great.

The original of all which has been the Quo Warranto's issued out against their Char [...]ers; by means whereof they have been deprived of their ancient Rights and Priviledges.

As for the Massachusets Colony (whose Patent beareth date from the Year 1628.) There was in the Year 1683, a Quo Warranto; and after that in the Year 1684, a Writ of Scire Facias against them, and they were required to make their appearance at Westminster in October, which they knew nothing of till the month before, so that it was impossible for them to answer at the time appointed; yet Judgment was entred against them.

Plimouth Colony, after they had enjoyed their first Government above threescore years, (without so much as a pre [...]ence of Misgovernment alledged) had all their Priviledges at once taken from them. There was a Quo Warranto against Conecticot Colony (whose Charter was granted to them by King Charles the Second) only Letters were sent to them in the King's Name, signifying, that (in case they did resign their Charter) they should take their choice of being under New-York or Boston. Several of the Magistrates there returned a most humble and supplicatory Answer, praying, That their former Government might still continue; but that if it must be taken from [Page] them, they had rather be under Boston than New-York: This was by some at Court interpreted a Resignation of their Charter, and a Commission sent to Sir Edmond Andross, who went with some armed Attendants to Hartford (their principal Town) and declared their Charter and former Government to be void. As for Road-Island, they submitted themselves to His Majesties pleasure.

Before these Changes happened, New-England was of all the Foreign Plantations (their Enemies themselves being Judges) the most flourishing and de [...]irable.

But their Charters being all (one way or other) declared to be void and insignificant, it was an easy matter to erect a French Government in that part of the King's Dominions, (no doubt intended by the Evil Counsellors) as a Specimen of what was designed to be here in England, as soon as the times would bear it. Accordingly Sir Edmond Andross (a Gernsey-man) was pitched on as a fit Instrument to be made use of; and a most Illegal Commission given him, bearing date Iune 3, 1686, by which he, with four of his Council, (perhaps all of them his absolute Devotees) are impower'd to make Laws and raise Moneys on the Kings Subjects without any Parliament, Assembly, or Consent of the People.

It was thought by Wise Men, that the Remembrance of Dudley and Empson, who were in the days of King Henry the Eighth executed for acting by a like Commission, would have deterred them from doing so; But it did not, for Laws are made by a few of them, and indeed what they please: nor are they printed, as was the Custom in the former Governments, so that the People are at a great loss to know what is Law, and what not. Only one Law they are sensible of, which doth prohibit all Town-Meetings, excepting on a certain Day once a Year; whereas the Inhabitants have occasion to meet once a Month, sometimes every Week, for relief of the Poor, or other Town-Affairs. But it is easy to penetrate into the Design of this Law, which was (no Question) to keep them in every Town from complaining to England, of the Oppression they are under: And (as Laws have been Established) so Moneys have been Raised by the Government in a most Illegal and Arbitrary way, without any consent of the People. Sir Edmond Andross caused a Tax to be leavied of a Penny in a Pound on all the Towns then under his Government: And when at Ipswich and other places, the Select Men (as they are there stiled) voted, That inasmuch as it was against the Common Priviledges of English Subjects, to have Money raised without their [Page] own Consent in an Assembly or Parliament; That therefore they would petition the King for liberty of an Assembly before they made any Rates; the said Sir Edmond Andross caused them to be Imprisoned and Fined, some 20 l. some 30 l. and some 50 l. as the Judges, by him instructed, should see meet to determine; Yea, and several Gentlemen in the Country were Imprisoned and bound to their Good Behaviour, upon meer suspicion, that they did incourage their Neighbours not to comply with these Arbitrary Proceedings. And that so they might be sure to effect their Pernicious Designs, they have caused Juries to be pick'd of Men who are not of the Vicinity, and some of them meer Strangers in the Country, and no Freeholders: which actings are highly Illegal. One of the former Magistrates was committed to Prison without any Crimes laid to his Charge, and there kept half a Year without any Fault; and tho he petitioned for a Habeas Corpus, it was denied him. Also inferiour Officers have extorted what Fees they please to demand, contrary to all Rules of Reason and Justice. They make poor Widows and Fatherless pay 50 s. for the Probate of a Will, which under the former easy Government would not have been a Tenth part so much. Six Persons who had been illegally imprisoned, were forced to give the Officers 117 l. whenas upon Computation, they found that here in England their Fees would not have amounted to 10 l. in all. And yet these things (tho bad enough) are but a very small part of the Misery which that poor People have been groaning under, since they have been governed by a Dispotick and Absolute Power. For, their new Masters tell them, that their Charter being gone, their Title to their Lands and Estates is gone therewith, and that All is the Kings; and that They represent the King; and that therefore all Persons must take Patents from them, and give what they see meet to impose, that so they may enjoy the Houses which their own Hands have built, and the Lands, which at vast Charges in subduing a Wilderness, they have for many Years had a rightful possession of, as ever any People in the World had or can have: Accordingly the Governor ordered the Lands belonging to some in Charles-Town to be measured out, & given to his Creatures, and Writs of Intrusion to be issued out against others: And the Commons belonging to several Towns have been given to some of the Governours Council, who begged them, to the impoverishing, if not utter ruining of whole Townships. And when an Island belonging to the Town of Plimouth was petitioned away from them by one Nathaniel Clark (whom Sir Edmond Andross [Page] made his Property) because the Agents of the said Town obtained a voluntary Subscription to maintain their Title at Law, they were compelled to come not only out of their own Country, but Colony, to Boston, to answer there as Cri [...]inals at the next Assizes, and bound to their good Behaviour: The Officers in the mean time extorting 3 l. per Man for Fees. These were the miserable Effects of New-England's being deprived of their Charters, and with them of their English Liberties: They have not been altogether negligent, as to endeavours to obtain some relief in their sorrowful Bondage; for several Gentlemen desired Increase Mather, the Rector of the Colledge at Cambridge in New-England, to undertake a Voyage for England, to see what might be done for his distressed Country, which Motion he complied with▪ and in Iune the 1st 1688, he had the favour to wait on the King, and privately to acquaint him with the enslaved and perishing E [...]tate of his Subjects in New-England. The King was very gracious and kind in his Expressions; then, and often after promising to give them ease as to their Complaints and Fears: Amongst other things the said Mather caused a Petition from the Town of Cambridge in New-England to be humbly presented to His M [...]jes [...]y; which because it doth express the Deplorable Condition of tha [...] People, it shall be here inserted.

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. The Petition and Address of John Gibson, aged about 87, and George Willow, aged about 86 Years; as also on the behalf of their Neighbours the Inhabitants of Cambridge in New-England.

In most humble wise sheweth,

THat Your Majesty's good Subjects, with much hard Labour and great Disbursements, have subdued a Wilderness, built our Houses, and planted Orchards, being incouraged by our indubitable Right to the Soil by the Royal Charter granted unto the First Planters, together with our Purchase of the Natives; as also by sundry Letters and Declarations sent to the late Governour and Company, from His late Majesty Your Royal Brother, [Page] assuring us of the full enjoyment of our Properties and Possessions, as is more especially contained in the Declaration sent when the Quo Warranto was issued out against our Charter.

But we are necessitated to make this our Moan and Complaint to Your Excellent Majesty, for that our Title is now questioned to our Lands, by us quietly possessed for near sixty Years, and without which we cannot subsist. Our humble Address to our Governour Sir Edmond Andross, shewing our just Title, long and peaceable possession, together with our Claim of the benefit of Your Majesty's Letters and Declarations, assuring all Your good Subjects, that they shall not be molested in their Properties and Possessions, not availing.

Royal Sir, We are a poor People, and have no way to procure Money to defend our Cause in the Law; nor know we of Friends at Court, and therefore unto Your Royal Majesty, as the publick Father of all your Subjects, do we make this our humble Address for [...]elief, beseeching Your Majesty graciously to pass Your Royal Act for the Confirmation of Your Majesty's Subjects, here in our Po [...]sessions to us derived from our late Governour and Company of this Your Majesty's Colony: We now humbly cast our selves, and distressed Condition of our Wives and Children, at Your Majesty's Feet, and conclude with the saying of Queen Esther, If we Perish, we Perish.

Thus that Petition.

Besides this, Mr. Inc. Mather, with two New-England Gentlemen, presented a Petition and humble Proposals to the King, wherein they prayed that the Right which they had in their Estates before the Government was changed, might be confirmed; And that no Laws might be made, or Moneys raised, without an Assembly, with sundry other particulars; which the King referred to a Committee for Foreign Plantations, who ordered them into the Hands of the Attorney-General to make his Report. The Clerk, William Blathwait sent to the Attorney-General a Copy, wherein the Essential Proposal of an Assembly was wholly left out. And being spoke to about it, he said the Earl of Sunderland blotted out that with his own Hand; likewise a Soliciter in this Cause related that the said Earl of Sunderland affirmed to him, that it was by his Advice that the King had given a Commission to Sir Edmond Andross to raise Moneys without an Assembly, and that he knew the King would never consent to an Alteration, nor would he propose it to His Majesty. When of late all Charters were restored to England, it was highly rational for New-England [Page] to expect the like; for if it be an illegal and unjust thing to deprive good Subjects here of their Antient Rights and Liberties, it cannot be consistent with Justice and Equity to deal so with those that are afar off; Applications therefore were made to the King, and to some Ministers of State. It was urged, that if a Foreign Prince or State should, during the present Troubles, send a Frigate to New-England, and promise to protect them, as under their former Government, it would be an unconquerable temptation; yet no Restoration of Charters would be granted to New-England, which has opened the Eyes of some thinking Men. Thus hath New-England been dealt with: This hath been, and still is the bleeding state of that Country.

They cannot but hope that England will send them speedy Relief; especially considering that through the ill Conduct of their present Rulers, the French Indians are (as the last Vessels from thence inform) beginning their cruel Butcheries amongst the English in those parts; And many have fears that there is a design to deliver that Country into the Hands of the French King, except his Highness the Prince of Orange, whom a Divine Hand has raised up to deliver the O [...]pressed, shall happily and speedily prevent it.

FINIS.

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A SEVENTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. Proposals humbly offered in behalf of the Princess of Orange.

II. The Heads of an Expedient proposed by the Court-Party to the Parliament at Oxford, in lieu of the Bill for Excluding the Duke of York.

III. An Account of the Irregular Actions of the Papists in the Raign of King Iames the Second, with a Method proposed to rid the the Nation of them.

IV. The Present Convention a Parliament.

V. A Letter to a Member of the Convention.

VI. An Answer to the Author of the Letter to a Member of the Convention.

Licensed and Entred according to Order.

London printed, and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row, 1689.

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Proposals humbly offered in behalf of the Princess of Orange, Jan. 28.

IT is a Maxim of the Law of England concerning the Government, That there is no Interregnum. Of necessity there must be a Change in the Person, yet there is a Continuation of the Government. Which shews the Prudence and Perfection of the Constitution, in preventing that, which of all things is most Deplorable, a Failure of Government. This Rule is therefore of that Importance, as not to be given up upon the trivial Saying of Nemo est haeres viventis.

'Tis true, the common and ordinary cause of a Change in the Person that is invested with the Royal Authority, is Death.

But we are now in a rare and extraordinary Case, where the King is living, and yet may be said to be divested of the Royal Office, as having by his Encroachments upon the Peoples Rights, provoked them to resort to Arms; and being vanquished by that Force, followed with a total Defection from him, and his Relinqui [...]hing the Kingdom thereupon, without providing any ways for the Administration of the Government.

This seems to be a Cesser of this Government, and may in Civil and Politick Construction amount to as much as if he had died.

But because this is a Cess of that nature that requires a Judgment to be made upon it, it seems necessary to have a Convention of the Estates of the Nation, to make a Declaration thereupon (for 'tis not for private Persons to determine in the Cases aforesaid, how or when the King has lost his Government) and till such Authoritative Declaration made, the King may be supposed in some kind of possession of the Kingly Office.

B [...]t after the Judgment made and declared, there seems to be no d [...]fference in the consequence and result of the thing, between such an extraordinary case of the Cesser of the Royal Dignity, and the [Page] case of Death or voluntary Resignation; or as if the King had been prosest, and made himself a Recluse in a Religious House.

Then it must devolve upon the next Heir, her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange.

As to the pretended Prince of Wales, if there had been no Suspicions as to his Birth, (as there are many violent ones) yet his being conveyed into unknown Places, by Persons in whom no credit can be reposed, and at an Age which exposes him to all manner of Practices and Impostures, touching his Person; then can there hereafter be no manner of Certainty of him, so as to induce the Nation ever to consider any Pretence of that kind.

These things being considered;

First, Whether will not the declaring her Royal Highness Queen of England, as next in Succession, be the surest and be [...]t Foundation to begin our Settlement upon; rather than upon a groundless Conceit of the Government being devolved to the People, and so they to proceed to Elect a King?

Secondly, If that Conceit of devolving to the People be admitted, Whether must we not conclude, that the Misgovernment of King Iames the Second, hath not only determin'd his Roylaty, but put a period to the Monarchy it self? And then 'tis not only a loss as to his Person, but to the whole Royal Family.

Thirdly, Whether those Persons that have started this Notion, upon pretence of giving the Nation an opportunity of gratifying his Highness the Prince of Orange, in proportion to his Merits (which it must be acknowledged no Reward can exceed) if they were searched to the bottom, did not do it rather to undermine this Ancient and Hereditary Monarchy, and to give an Advantage to their Republican Principles, than out of any Affection and Gratitude to his Highness? For if the latter was that they had t [...]e chief respect to, would it not be the more proper way to declare her Royal Highness Queen, which will immediately put the Nation under a regular Constitution and posture of Government? Then it will be capable of expressing its Gratitude to the Prince of Orange, in matters touching even the Royal Dignity it self, without making such a Stroke upon the Government, as the Electing of a King, or making any other immediate Alteration in the right of the Monarchy (before the Parliament is compleated and constituted in all its parts) must amount unto.

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The Heads of the EXPEDIENT proposed by the Court-party to the Parliament at Oxford, in lieu of the Bill for excluding the Duke of York.

I. THAT the Duke of York be banish'd during his Life, five hundred Miles from England, Scotland and Ireland, and the Dominions and Territories to them belonging.

II. That the whole Government, both Ecclesiastical and Civil, shall upon the demise of the King, be vested in a Regent, for such time as the Duke of York shall survive.

III. That the Regent be the Princess of Orange, and in case of her Decease without Issue, or with Issue in Minority, then the Lady Ann.

IV. That if the Duke have a Son educated a Protestant, then the said Princesses respectively shall succeed in the Regency, during the Minority of such Son, and no longer. Which obviates an incurable Absurdity in the former Bill of Exclusion.

V. That the Regent nominate the Privy-Council, and they to be, or not to be approved in Parliament, as shall be judged safest upon directing the drawing up of this intended Act.

VI. That notwithstanding these Kingdoms (out of respect to the Royal Family, and Monarchy it self) may be governed by the said Regent, in the Name [...]nd Stile of Iames the Second, &c. yet it shall by this intended Act be made Capital for any to take up Arms on his behalf, or by a Commission not signed by the said Regent, or not granted by lawful Authority, derived from and under such Regent; or to maintain an Opinion, that the retaining the said Name and Stile, shall in this case purge the disabilities imposed by this Act, or elude the force thereof.

[Page]VII. That Commissioners be forthwith sent to the Prince and Princess of Orange, to take their Oaths that they will take upon them the execution of this Act, and that their Oaths be here recorded.

VIII. That all Officers, Civil and Military, forthwith take Oaths to observe this Act, and so all others from time to time, as in the Act for the Test.

IX. That his Majesty would graciously declare to call a Parliament in Scotland, in order to the passing the like Act there, and recommend the same; and the like to be done in Ireland if thought necessary.

X. That in case the said Duke shall come into any of these Kingdoms, then he shall be ipso facto, totally excluded, and shall suffer as in the former Bill, and the Sovereignty shall be forthwith intirely vested in the Regent, upon such his coming into any of these Kingdoms.

XI. That all considerable Papists be banish'd by Name.

XII. That their fraudulent Conveyances be defeated.

XIII. That their Children be educated in the Protestant Religion.

By these means these three Kingdoms will be united in defence of the Protestant Religion, his Majesty's Person and Government, and a sure Foundation laid of an effectual League with Holland, and consequently with the rest of Christendom, in opposition to the growing Greatness of France.

☞ 'Twas thought fit to reprint this Expedient, that the Reader may compare it with the Bill of Exclusion, (which may be seen at large in the Debates of the House of Commons, lately published) and judg which was the greatest Evil of the two, viz. that which would have set the Duke aside, and given him liberty to live where he pleased, or that which would have strip'd him of all Power, and banish'd him 500 Miles off, and left him only the Name of a King. An Excellent Expedient indeed!

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An Account of the irregular Actions of the Papists in the Reign of King James the Second: With a Method proposed how to rid the Nation of them.

By a Person of Quality.

THE dreadful Revolutions, Plots and Conspiracies, which have been promoted by the Roman Catholicks in England since the Resormation, are of that nature, and have caused such fearful Convulsions in our Church and State, that it is a great Argument of the Goodness and Providence of God, that we have been able to bear so many Shocks, and to avoid so many deep Designs as have now twice within the memory of Man brought us to the brinks of Ruin.

We must be very impious or very stupid if our last Deliverance has not been able to make us adore the boundless Goodness of God towards us his sinful and unthankful Servants; he, having defeated the Hopes, and totally overthrown the Contrivances of that restless, implacable, persidious Faction, when they seemed to be in such a Condition that they need fear nothing, but the Almighty Power of God, miraculously exerting it self, as in the case of Sennacherib, which they neither feared nor suspected.

The Non-resisting Doctrine had so ty'd the hands of the Church of England Men, that they thought they might saf [...]ly in [...]l over us, and ridicule the Bond that bound us to our good Behavi [...]ur. The Dissenters were, as they thought, so obliged [Page] by the Liberty of Conscience, and the fulsom Applications they had made to them in many ill writ pieces, and by the Favours [...]e [...]owed on Pen and Lob, the two Patriarchs, as they would have been thought of that Party: That they not only suspected no oppositions from them, but really conceived they would have been more than Scaffolds in the ruining Design they had then on foot. The Gentry were reduced to the utmost degree of Contempt, and the Nobility, who only were capable of putting a stop to such notorious and impolitick Encroachments on our Birth-rights and Liberties, were not only closeted, examin'd, re-examin'd, turn'd out of their Stations, brow-beaten, ridicul'd at Court, and in short, driven into the Country; but they were also by all the Arts that were possible rendred odious to the Crown, contemptible to one another, and of no use to their Inferiours.

The Army, which was the next great Engine to bring about their Design, was managed with more Art than is commonly considered; for first there was a Party of Roman Catholicks mixed with the Common Souldiers, to be as it were Spies and Tempters, to creep into all the places of their resort, to observe their Words, Looks and Actions, and to take the opportunity of all their Needs, Crimes, Vices and Follies, to pervert them, and draw them over to the Church of Rome; and in the mean time to secure them from contriving any thing that might interrupt their Projects upon us. Secondly, They punished all who deserted the Service with the utmost Rigour and Severity to keep up [...]h [...]ir numbers. And thirdly, They sent them to quarter in those places that had in any degree refused to comply with their Wills, and not only suffered, but encouraged them to outrage, and sometimes to murder their Hosts; but to be sure in all places they very much impoverish'd those that entertain'd them, and in the Interim they kept all in awe and quiet, whilst the State-Mountebanks practised upon their Lives, Consciences, Liberties and Properties.

A People thus harassed and beset, one would have thought had been consigned to Ruin and Destruction; for where could our Deliverance begin? The Parliament, which is our last resort, was at the same time practised on with all the Art and Address that the Wi [...] of Men or D [...]vils could invent; and he must be of a deep Reach, or a Sanguine Complexion, who in the beginning [Page] of September last could hope to see a [...]ree and a quiet Parliament meet and sit one Month, to represent with any degree of Liberty, our deplorable State and Condition, much less to redress any of our Grievances.

We had one Hope, which if they had left us still, we had certainly been as quiet and pati [...]nt as Iob himself, and that was, that the Princess Mary of Orange would, when God thought fit, succeed his Majesty, and then we promis'd our selves a Day of Redemption from all our Calamities and Oppressions; so that our Posterity would at worst see better days. To deprive us of this remote Comfort, that Scene was laid, and the Lady of Loretto sollicited to procure a Prince of Wales to reduce us to an utter Desperation of any Redress for ever. And now they thought they were so secure of the Day, that they might attack the Heretical Bishops, and the whole body of our Clergy at once, and make them eat their own Dung in the Faces of their respective Congregations; if they had comply'd, the whole Nation would have abhorred them, as a parcel of Cowards; if they did not, the Ecclesiastical Commission was to have mowed them down by whole sale; and when the People had been once deprived of their faithful and learned Shepherds, the Wolves in Sheeps-clothing hoped to have had much better Success than hitherto: but the Bishops interposing so, united the inferior Clergy, that this Design proved abortive, and the declaring the Bishops Petition a Seditious Libel, and so much the more dangerous because penn'd with great Modesty and Humility, so far opened the Eyes of all Men, that the most Ignorant saw nothing less than the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion was aim'd at.

The Army however, which was the great Wheel in this most dreadful Machine, was for the most part Protestant, and had express'd so much Joy at the acquittal of the Bishops, in the Camp at Hownslow-Heath; that they clearly saw, till it was new-modell'd, it could n [...]t b [...] relied on; and therefore the French and Irish were to be invited over, and the Companies changed by degrees: and when six of the O [...]ficers at Portsmouth had with the greatest Humility imaginable, only desired leave to fill up their Companies with such Men of this N [...]tion as they judged most serviceable to the King, or otherwise that th [...]y might be permitted, with all imaginable Duty and Respect, to lay [...]own their Commissions; [Page] for this Offence they were brought up Prisoners to London, and it was given out they should be hanged, as perhaps they had been, if Monsieur de Avaux's Memorial given in at the Hague, had not come in that very Post to enlighten our little Statesmen, and shew them their approaching Danger, and yet after all, the 10th of September last they were cashier'd at Windsor.

And when the Storm from Holland seemed unavoidable, with what Insolence did they treat the Eleven Proposals made by the Bishops, and the Petition presented the 17th of November last, by the Bishops and Peers about the Town? So that till the Army began to go over to the Prince of Orange, and the greatest part of the Nation had declared for him: No Parliament was to be thought of, and the Dispensing Power was the most Sacred of all the Prerogatives of the Crown.

That we may not imagine all this was undertaken, and entred upon without good Consideration of the Difficulties the Roman Catholicks were to met with, I would desire the Reader to peruse a small Piece by them published in the Year 1685, during the first Session of Parliament of Iames the Second, stil'd, Salus Britannica, or the Safety of the Protestant Religion, against all the present Apprehensions of Popery, in Folio. ‘The Design of which, as the Author himself tells us, is to examine what National Operation or Influence a Real Popish Crown'd Head can have over the Lives, Liberties, or Estates of English-men as now enjoyed, and the Religion of the Kingdom, as at present Establish'd, and by confuting even the most substantial of their imagined Dangers, to dissipate those false fears of Popery, &c. page 1.’ And in truth I believe no Man can deny but he has very effectually proved, that it is utterly impossible for a Popish Prince, who has none but these Three Kingdoms, to set up Popery in this Nation, and that all he can gain by the Attempt, will be the Ruine of himself. And certainly they could not but apprehend this might possibly, if not probably, be the Event; yet after all, King and Kingdom was at last to be sacrificed to the holy See of Rome; and on they went when they had proved it impossible to succeed.

I need be the less exact in setting down what they have done, it being within the space of four Years last past, that they have had the management of Affairs, and so all things are as fresh in [Page] all Mens Memories, as if they had been acted but yesterday: I think then, that I may from these Premises safely conclude, that a more daring, restless and implacable Faction never appeared under the Sun than this is; And that it is the Interest of every true English Protestant, of what Perswasion soever he be, to do his utmost to free this miserable Nation from the Danger and Fear too (if it be possible) of ever feeling again the dire Effects of Popish Zeal, or rather Fury.

Our wise Ancestors, for above these three hundred Years, have been labouring to restrain this Demon [...]ick, by Laws, Oaths and Tests; and when all the Methods of Severity fail'd, we have tried the Charms of Kindness, Trust, Friendship and Reliance: We set up a Prince of their Communion, and opposed all those that would have Excluded him, with a Zeal which made us look a little too much in love with one who seem'd designed to be our Scourge by Heaven it self. When he had declared his Religion, and some of his Party, amongst whom Nevel Paine was one, had given us clear Indications of their Rage against us; yet we in Parliament, not only attainted, and thereby ruin'd the late Duke of Monmouth and his Party, but when some Gentlemen propos'd to have the Security of the Protestant Religion taken into Consideration, the House declared they would intirely rely upon his Majesty's Promise for the Security of their Religion, which they valued more than their Lives. And before this, when Charles the Second, the 30th of April 1679, to avoid the Exclusion-Bill, propos'd very advantageous Restrictions of the Authority of a Roman Catholick Prince, the Church-of-England-men rejected them, for fear they should too much weaken and expose the Regal Authority, not to mention the Favours shewn to all the whole Roman Catholick Party, during the fierce Prosecution of the Popish Plot in that Prince's Reign: Well, what could have been done more than was, to oblige Men or Christians to treat us like Friends, when they had an opportunity to express their Gratitude? No, stay you there Gentlemen, we Roman Catholicks have but one Friend in this World, and if you are not for him too, stand off; expect nothing from us but Ruin and Desolation. Will you Repeal the Penal Laws and the Tests? Why I cannot betray my Religion: Then make room for one that will, Turn out, Ite Procul, Ite Profani. And we all know what follow'd, and I suppose no body in this Generation [Page] will have so little wit as to pretend any more to oblige a Roman Catholick by any of these things.

Well, will Oaths bind them? No, they have a Pope, and a Maxim that will frustrate that Ligament, when ever it is for their convenience to be free. And of this we have seen and felt too much already. Will Laws? If you catch and hang the Priest, the Traitor, the Cut-throat, he is made a Martyr, his Crime's deny'd, palliated, excus'd, or it may be justified and defended as occasion serves, and yet after all, they shall have the Satisfaction of clamouring against you for a persecuting Church, and a bloody Nation.

Well, what is to be done? Why, for my part, I can see but one possible Method to quiet the Nation, and that is once for all to clear it of these Monsters, and force them to transplant themselves, not out of the English Dominions, but out of this Island: As long as they continue amongst us, they neither can nor will be quiet; Priests they must and will have, and that Ferment will suffer nothing near it to be at rest. The remembrance of what is past will irritate the Minds of Men, and make them jealous of future Evils, so that no care of the wisest and best Governours can long keep the Nation in Tranquillity and Peace, if these Men-catchers are suffered to nestle amongst us. But then I would have this extended only to England and Scotland, because Ireland would be laid desolate by such an Expedient, and if the English Nation, which has not above 40000 Roman Catholicks, were once cleared, it would very easily suppress and revenge any Attempt could be made in that Kingdom.

Besides this, all Feme Coverts, all Persons above sixty or fifty years of Age, all Day-labourers and Handy-crafts-men might be excepted; these can maintain no Priests, nor much imbroil the Peace of the Nation, or at least for no long time; but then all the Nobility, Gentry, Merchants and rich Tradesmen of that Religion, I think ought to be sent packing, and for the future a Law be made to disfranchise them, and make them incapable of possessing, purchasing, inheriting or transmitting any Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, to the value of forty Shillings per Annum, or upwards.

To make this the more easy, yet it were fitting that every individual Person should be asked whether he had rather leave [Page] Country, or his Religion? and all that would promise the latter upon Oath, to be excused, but so as to forfeit their Estates if they relapsed after the Oath so taken, or brought up their Children in that Religion.

Secondly, To allow all that would transplant themselves the full value of their Estates, both Real and Personal, their Debts being first paid and deducted. This would enable them to live in as great or a greater Equipage and Grandeur in our Plantations, as they ever had here in England; and if they removed into Germany or France, Italy or Spain, their Estates would make their Lives easy, and their Banishment honourable. The World is wide, and if I were one of them I should never stay for an Act of Parliament, but would certainly sell what I had and be gone, that I might enjoy my Religion and my Estate in a warmer Climate.

But, alas, they love their Country too dearly to leave it: what is it in England they love? The Civil Liberties they had brought to the utmost limits of Destruction: The Religion of England they hate above all other; the Earth is not more Fruitful, and the Air is much colder than that of other Countries, and I am confident the English Humour is so far exasperated against Popery, that half a hundred Years will not allay the Fever the last four Years have raised in the English Blood against Popery; so that they have nothing to attach them to England, but the sullen hopes of being a Plague and a Terror to us.

But it will be said, The transporting so much Wealth out of the Nation will too much impoverish us: This ought well to be considered, and a true Estimate made both of the Estates and Debts of the Roman Catholicks, and of the Methods of returning their Effects beyond the Seas, and then perhaps it would rather increase our Trade than abate our Wealth. And as for the weakning us by the taking off so many of our People, this I am sure is a meer Chimera, two or three thousand Persons would be the utmost that we should lose: And those who bought their Estates would be better Subjects and Neighbours than ever they will be as long as they continue Roman Catholicks.

[Page]It is not to be imagin'd, that all or any considerable Part of this Wealth will be transported in English Mony in specie, but in Merchandise, Bills of Exchange, &c. So that I am confident we have more sent away to the Iesuits Colledg beyond the Seas in seven Years, than would be carried out in specie on such an occasion; and hereby we should at once rid our selves of one of the greatest Plagues that any Nation ever struggled so long with.

Nor would it be only Profitable but Iust. They have given us the greatest Provocation that ever was given by Men, to Men. Did ever 40000 Men in any other part of the World ever before endeavour to do what they themselves had proved to be impossible? Did ever such an handful of Men before, by Fraud and Violence, design to enslave a Free, to impoverish a Rich, to subdue a Valiant and Generous Nation? What could they mean by the Force they in Print, and in common Discourse intimated, that was, to compel us to give up our Laws, if fair Means would not do, but a Massacre, or a French Invasion? Let them consider how they have treated thofe of our Religion in France and Piedmont; and then tell me, and all the World, if we have treated them in the same manner, when we have sent them away with all they can justly call their own, only that we might not be forced to ruin them by a flower Prosecution.

The Facility is equal to the Justice of this Method; they are few in number, hated by all the rest of the Nation; and besides all their former Misdemeanours, have, by the late Attempts upon the Religion and Liberties of England, so far encreased the Aversion of all degrees of Men amongst us, that they will find very few to pity them, and not many to speak for them.

The only Objections I can foresee, are, first, That it will impoverish England to suffer them to carry away their Estates, and look too like Popish Cruelty, to turn them out despoiled of what they have, or of a great part of their Fortunes. Now this Objection must be considered in Parliament, because no one Man can make any thing near a true Estimate what the value will be, their Debts being deducted, till a true Account is given of their Estates and Debts, and then I verily [Page] believe it will be found much less than it seems at first.

The second Objection is, That it will weaken us and strengthen our Enemies, to lose so many of our People. To this, I say, it is apparently otherwise; For if those Estates were in the Hands of Protestants, they would much more contribute to the Union and Strength of England, than the Persons of these Roman Catholicks do, of whom we can make little or no use in Civil or Military Affairs, at Home or Abroad, in Peace or War. And if they were added to any other Country, the Peace and Union they would leave us in, would infinitely over-ballance the loss of their Persons, and, as I believe, of their Estates too.

But now, on the contrary, if they be continued still amongst us, we must still struggle with all those Inconveniences, which have necessitated our Ancestors to make so many Laws against them, and the Severities which must be used to keep them under, will, by degrees, when the Memory of the late Transactions is worn off, beget compassion, and that will grow greater, as they grow fewer and less dangerous, and yet at last one single Iesuit may destroy the best of our Princes, and two or three Gentlemen of Estate, may disquiet and enjealous a whole County; and when all is done, no hopes is left that any las [...]ing Peace can be made with them; so that as long as there is any of that Religion in England, there is a Ferment in the Veins of the Nation, which will cause dreadful Paroxims.

Their Emissaries will also sow Dissentions between us and the Dissenters, and exasperate the Parties against each other; so that the good Correspendence which is now between us and them, will, in short time, be turn'd into Hatred on both sides, if all the Care imaginable be not taken on both Sides of these Incendiaries, which will never be wanting whilst we have a Popis [...] Nobility and Gentry, how small soever it is in Number.

The Seminaries at St. Omers, Doway, &c. are kept up by the Nobility and Gentry of that Communion, and tend very much to the imbroiling and weakning England, and the advancing the Interest of France; but would soon [...]d windle away if they had no Supplies from England, as they could have little [Page] if we had no Popish Nobility or Gentry, and the Lands of England were only in the Hands of Protestants.

The retiring of His late Majesty into France, is another strong Inducement: as long as He or the Child is living, they will have a pretence to Plot and cut Throats, and they will have some to pity, and others to applaud them; so that if there were no other Reason, this alone were sufficient to determine the Question, unless we are resolved to shew our selves as careless of a Protestant Prince, as we have been over-fond of a Roman Catholick, which will be an ill Recompence for our Deliverance.

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The Present CONVENTION, A PARLIAMENT.

I. THat the Formality of the King's Writ of Summons is not so essential to an English Parliament, but that the Peers of the Realm, and the Commons, by their Representatives duly elected, may legally act as the great Council and representative Body of the Nation, though not summon'd by the the King, especially when the Circumstances of the time are such, that such Summons cannot be had, will (I hope) appear by these following Observations.

First, The Saxon Government was transplanted hither out of Germany where the meeting of the Saxons in such Assemblies was at certain fixed times; viz. at the new and full Moon. But after their Transmigration hither, Religion changing, other things changed with it; and the times for their publick Assemblies, in Conformity to the great Solemnities celebrated by Christians, came to be changed to the Feasts of Easter, Pentecost, and the Nativity. The lower we come down in Story, the seldomer we find these general Assemblies to have been held; and sometimes (even very anciently) when upon extraordinary Occasions, they met out of Course, a Precept, an Edict, or Sanction is mentioned to have issued from the King; But the times, and the very place of their ordinary Meeting having been certain, and determined in the very first and eldest times that we meet with any mention of such Assemblies, which times are as ancient as any Memory of the Nation it self; hence I infer, that no Summons from the King can be thought to have been necessary in those Days, because it was altogether needless.

Secondly, The Succession to the Crown did not in those Days, nor till of late Years, run in a course of lineal Succession by right [Page] of Inheritance: But upon the Death of a Prince, those Persons of the Realm that composed the then Parliament, assembled in order to the choosing of another. That the Kingdom was then Elective, though one or other of the Royal Blood was always chosen, but the next in lineal Succession very seldom, is evident from the Genealogies of the Saxon Kings, from an old Law made at Calchuyth, appointing how, and by whom Kings shall be chosen; and from many express and particular Accounts given by our old Historians, of such Assemblies held for electing of Kings. Now such Assemblies could not be summon'd by any King; and yet in Conjunction with the King that themselves set up, they made Laws, binding the King and all the Realm.

Thirdly, After the Death of King William Rufus, Robert, his elder Brother, being then in the Holy Land, Henry, the youngest Son of King William the first, procur'd an Assembly of the Clergy and People of England, to whom he made large Promises of his good Government, in case they would accept of him for their King; and they agreeing, that if he would restore to them the Laws of King Edward the Confessor, then they would consent to make him their King: He swore that he would do so, and also free them from some Oppressions, which the Nation had groan'd under in his Brothers and his Fathers time. Hereupon they chose him King, and the Bishop of London, and the Archbishop of York set the Crown upon his Head; which being done, a Confirmation of the English Liberties pass'd the Royal Assent in that Assembly, the same in Substance, though not so large as King Iohn's, and King Henry the thirds Magna Charta's afterwards were.

Fourthly, After that King's Death, in such another Parliament, King Stephen was elected, and Mawd the Express put by, though not without some Stain of Perfidiousness upon all those, and Stephen himself especially, who had sworn in her Father's Life-time, to acknowledg her for their Sovereign after his Decease.

Fifthly, In King Richard the firsts time, the King being absent in the Holy Land, and the Bishop of Ely then his Chancellor, being Regent of the Kingdom in his Absence, whose Government was intolerable to the People for his Insolence and manifold Oppressions, a Parliament was convened at London, at the Instance of Earl Iohn, the King's Brother, to treat of the great and weighty Affairs of the King and Kingdom; in which Parliament this same Regent was depos'd [Page] from his Government, and another set up, viz. the Arch-Bishop of Roan in his stead. This Assembly was not conven'd by the King, who was then in Palestine, nor by any Authority deriv'd from him, for then the Regent and Chancellor must have call'd them together; but they met, as the Historian says expresly, at the Instance of Earl Iohn. And yet, in the Kings Absence, they took upon them to settle the publick Affairs of the Nation without him.

Sixthly, When King Henry the 3d. died, his eldest Son, Prince Edward, was then in the Holy Land, and came not home till within the third Year of his Reign; yet, immediately upon the Father's Death, all the Prelates and Nobles, and four Knights for every Shire, and four Burgesses for every Borough, assembled together in a great Council, and setled the Government till the King should return; made a new Seal, and a Chancellor, &c.

I infer from what has been said, that Writs of Summons are not so essential to the being of Parliaments, but that the People of England, especially at a time when they cannot be had, may by Law, and according to our old Constitution, assemble together in a Parliamentary way without them, to treat of and settle the publick Affairs of the Nation. And that if such Assemblies so conven'd, find the Throne vacant, they may proceed not only to set up a Prince, but with the Assent and Concurrence of such Prince, to transact all publick Business whatsoever, without a new Election; they having as great Authority as the People of England can delegate to their Representative.

II. The Acts of Parliaments not formal nor legal in all their Circumstances, are yet binding to the Nation so long as they continue in force, and not liable to be questioned as to the Validity of them, but in subsequent Parliaments.

First, The two Spencers, Temp. Edvardi Secundi, were banished by Act of Parliament, and that Act of Parliament repealed by Dures & Force; yet was the Act of Repeal a good Law, till it was annull'd 1 Ed. 3.

Secondly, Some Statutes of 11 Rich. 2. and Attainders thereupon were repealed in a Parliament held Anno 21. of that King, which Parliament was procur'd by forc'd Elections; and yet the Repeal stood good, till such time as in 1 Henry 4. the Statutes of 11 Rich. 2. were revived and appointed to be firmly held and kept.

[Page] Thirdly, The Parliament of 1 Hen. 4. consisted of the same Knights, Citizens and Burgesses that had served in the then last dissolved Parliament, and those Persons were by the King's Writs to the Sheriffs commanded to be returned; and yet they passed Acts, and their Acts tho never confirmed, continue to be Laws at this Day.

Fourthly, Queen Mary's Parliament that restored the Pope's Supremacy, was notoriously known to be pack'd, insomuch that it was debated in Queen Elizabeth's time, whether or no to declare all their Acts void by Act of Parliament. That course was then upon some prudential Considerations declined; and therefore the Acts of that Parliament, not since repealed, continue binding Laws to this Day.

The Reason of all this, is, Because no inferior Courts have Authority to judg of the Validity or Invalidity of the Acts of such Assemblies, as have but so much as a Colour of Parliamentary Authority.

The Acts of such Assemblies being entred upon the Parliament-Roll, and certified before the Judges of Westminster-Hall, as Acts of Parliament, are conclusive and binding to them; because Parliaments are the only Judges of the Imperfections, Invalidities, Ille [...]lities, &c. of one another.

The Parliament that call'd in King Charles the second, was not assembled by the King's Writ, and yet they made Acts, and the Royal Assent was had to them; many of which indeed were afterwards confirmed, but not all, and those that had no Confirmation, are undoubted Acts of Parliament without it, and have ever since obtained as such.

Hence I infer that the present Convention, may, if they please, assume to themselves a Parliamentary Power, and in Conjunction with such King or Queen as they shall declare, may give Laws to the Kingdom as a legal Parliament.

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A LETTER to a Member of the CONVENTION.

SIR,

I Hear you are elected a Member of this next Convention, and therefore expect to see you very suddenly in Town; but I ca [...] tell you my mind more freely in Writing, and you may think better of it when you see it before you; and therefore I have rather chose to give you the trouble of this Paper, than to leave all to a personal Conference at our next Meeting.

I will not dispu [...]e with you about what is past, or what is to come; it is too late to do the first, and as for the second, whatever becomes of other Arguments, Interest is most apt to prevail, and therefore all that I beg of you, is to take care that you do not mistake your own and the Nations Interest in a matter of such high Concernment.

There is no less Affair before you than the Fate of Princes, and of three Kingdoms, which requires the most calm, mature, and deliberate Advice; and yet when you come to London, you will find such Distractions and Divisions in Mens Counsels, that all the threatning Dangers of Popery were not a more formidable prospect to Considering Men, all old Animosities are revived, and new ones fomented every day; some are visibly acted by Ambition, others by Revenge; the Dissenter is very busie to undermine the Church, and the Commonwealths Man to subvert Monarchy, and the Lord have Mercy upon us all. I doubt not but you will readily confess, that it is the common Interest to have things settled upon such a bottom, as is most like to last, and then, I am sure, you must consult both Law and Conscience in the matter, and keep to your old Establishment as near as you can; for when there are so many Distempers in Mens Minds, and such contrary Interests, it is no time to innovate, it is no time to lay new Foundations, when there are frequent Earthquakes, [Page] which will not give them time to settle: The Revolutions of State have been so quick and sudden of late, that all prudent Men will be cautions how they try Experiments, which are commonly dangerous and uncertain, but especially in matters of Government, which depend on the good liking of free and moral Agents, and when so many Hundred Thousands are to be satisfied, you can never guess at the prevailing Opinion, by the major Vote of a Convention.

Let us then consider, what is most likely to give the most general satisfaction to the Nation, for that, I am sure, is most likely to be lasting, and because you may be a Stranger to these Matters yet, I will give you an Account of the different Projects now on foot, as well as I can learn them.

Some are for sending to the King, and Treating with him to return to his Government, under such Legal Restraints, as shall give security to the most jealous Persons, for the preservation of their Liberties, Laws, and Religion; and if he will not consent to this, to make the next Heir Regent. Others are for declaring the Crown forfeited or demised, and proclaiming the Princess of Orange. Others will have the Government dissolved, and begin all de novo, and make the Prince of Orange King, or Crown him and the Princess together, and postpone the Title of the Princess Ann, till after the Prince's Death, if he survive the Princess. I shall not pretend to tell you, which of these I should prefer, were it Res integra; for the Question is not, which you and I should like best, but which will be the firmest Foundation for the Peace and Settlement of these Kingdoms.

1. As for the first, though it be horribly decried, and such Men foolishly exposed as Friends to Popery and Arbitrary Power; yet I could never meet with any Man yet, who had the face to reject all Treaty with the King upon any other pretence, but that it was in vain, that it is impossible he should give any Security to the Nation that he would Govern by Law; which is so ridiculous a pretence, that it will satisfy no Body, but those who are resolved, that he shall never return. For, as little as I am versed in this matter, I could frame such Laws, as should put it utterly out of the King's Power to invade our Liberties or Religion: However, I am sure we should have thought our selves very secure, would the King have called a Free Parliament, and given them liberty to have made what Laws they please [...] and that which would have given such general satisfaction before, had it been granted, I suspect, should it be now granted, [Page] and refused that would give as general dissatisfaction; nay▪ the very refusal to Treat, will be thought such a scandalous neglect of our Duty to a Sovereign Prince, and give such Jealousies to People, that those who oppose it, are only afraid that the King should comply, as will be the foundation of universal Discontents, which will shew themselves upon the first occasion. It is certain, would the Convention Treat with the King, either they would agree, or they would not agree; if they could not agree upon the proposal of reasonable Securities, this would satisfie Multitudes of People that they had tried; if they did agree, this would give universal satisfaction, and there were an happy end of all our Troubles.

But now let us suppose, that part of the Convention should prevail which is against Treating with the King, and for deposing or setting him aside without more ado; let us consider what is like to be the most probable Consequence of this.

I [...] is certain, this fundamental Change in the Government cannot be made by any Legal Authority; for the Convention will not pretend to any such Legal Power, and there can be no Parliament without a King; and a King whose whole Authority depends upon a Convention that has no such Authority, is but in a weak state as to Civil Right: No Man will think himself bound in Conscience to obey him, and when every Mans Conscience is free, let such a Prince beware of Epidemical Discontents. And let you and I calmly consider, what Discontents may probably arise upon such a Juncture.

1. First then, All those who think themselves bound by their Oath of Allegiance to defend the King's Person, Crown and Dignity, who wonder at Men of Law, who talk of a Forfeiture or Demise of the Crown while the King lives, and flies out of his Kingdoms only for the safety of his Person, and because he will not trust himself in the power of his Enemies; I say, all such Persons will be greatly discontented at Deposing the King, and will never own any other King▪ while their own King, to whom they have sworn Allegiance lives▪ and tho you should suppose such Conscientious Men to be very few, yet if these few should happen to be Persons of Character, of known Prudence and Abilities, Integrity and Honesty, in Church or State, their Examples would give a terrible Shock to such a new tottering Government, tho they were never so Tame and Peaceable, void of Faction and Sedition themselves.

[Page]And y [...]t l [...]t me tell you, you must not judge of the Numbers of [...]hese Men by the late general defection. The whole Nation, I confess, was very unanimous for the Prince, great numbers of Gentlemen, nay, of the King's own Soldiers went over to him, very few but Papis [...]s offered their Service to the King; but the reason of this was very evident, not that they were willing to part with the King, and set up another in his room, but because they were horribly afraid of P [...]pery, and very desirous to see the Laws and Religion of the Nation settled upon the old Foundations by a Free Parliament, which was all the Prince declared for; but many who were Well-wishers to this Design, will not renounce their Allegiance to their King; and now they see what is like to come of i [...], are ashamed of what they have done, and ask God's pardon for it, and are ready to undo it as far as they can.

2. Besides a thousand occasions of Discontent which may happen in such a Change of Government as this, which no Body can possibly foresee, and yet may have very fatal Consequences, there are some very visible occasions for it besides the sense of Loyalty and Conscience.

How many Discontents, think you, may arise between the Nobility and Gentry, who attend the new Court? Every Man will think he has some Merit, and expect some marks of Favour to have his share of Honour, and Power, and Profit, and yet a great many more must miss, than those who speed, and many of those who are Rewarded, may think they han't their Deserts, and be disconternted to see others preferred before them; and those whose expectations are disappointed, are disobliged too, and that is a dangerous thing when there is another, and a righful King to oblige; for Duty and Discontent together, to be revenged if a new King, and to be reconciled to an old One, will shake a Throne which has so sandy a Foundation: The like may be said of the Soldiery, who are generally Men of Honour and Resentment, and have the greater and sharper Resentments now, because they are sensible of their mistake when it is too late; yet as they ought not to have Fought for Popery, nor against the Laws and Liberties of their Country, fo neither ought they to have deserted the defence of the King's Person and Crown, but have brought the Prince to Terms, as well as the King.

Thus you easily foresee what a heavy Tax must be laid upon the Nation, to defray the Charge of this Expedition, and I believe [Page] the Country would have paid it very chearfully and thankfully, had the Prince res [...]ored to them their Laws, and Liberties, and Religion, together with their King▪ but you know Men are apt to complain of every thing, when Money is to be paid, and it may be it will be thought hard to lose their King▪ and to pay so dea [...] for it too: And tho what the Convention does is none of the Prince's fault, no more than it was his design, yet angry People don't use to disti [...] guish so nicely.

But there is a greater Difficulty still than all this: There are no Contentions so fierce as those about Religion; this gave Life and Spirit to the Prince's Design, and had the main stroke in this late Revolution: And though Popery were a hated Religion, yet most Men are as zealous for their own Religion, as they are against Popery. Those of the Church of England are very glad to get rid of Popery, but they will not be contented to part with their Church into the Bargain, for this would be as bad as they could have suffered under Popery. The several Sects of Dissenters are glad to get rid of Popery also; but now they expect glorious Days for themselves, and what they expect God Almighty knows, for I am confident they don't know themselves. Now consider how difficult it will be, for any Prince, who has but a crazy Title to the immediate possession of the Crown, to adjust this matter so, as neither to disgust the Church of England, nor the Dissenters, and if either of them be disobliged, there is a formidable Party made against them.

This being the Case, should the King be deposed, and any other ascend the Throne, it will be necessary for them to keep up a standing Army to quell such Discontents; for where there are and will be Discontents without any tye of Conscience to restrain Men, there can be no defence but only in Power; and this will raise and encrease new Discontents; for it alters the frame of our Constitution, from a Civil to a Military Government, which is one of the great Grievances we have complained of, and I believe English People will not be better pleased with Dutch, or German, or any foreign Souldiers, than they were with their own Country-Men; and I believe English Souldiers will not be extreamly pleased to see themselves disbanded, or sent into other Countries to hazard their Lives, while their Places are taken up by Foreigners, who live in ease, plenty, and sasety: And [Page] when things are come to this pass, which is so likely, that I cannot [...]ee how all the Wit of Man can prevent it; I will suppose but one thing more, which you will say is not unlikely, that the King return with a foreign Force to recover his Kingdoms, how ready will the Men of Conscience, and the Men of Discontent be to join him, nay to invite him Home again; and if he returns as a Conqueror, you will wish, when it is too late, that you had treated with him, and brought him back upon safe and honourable Terms.

Secondly, Let us suppose now, that all this should be over-voted (for I am sure it can never be answered) and the Convention should resolve to proclaim the next Heir.

1. You must be sure to examine well who is the next Heir, that is, you must throughly examine the Pretences of the Prince of Wales; and yet if you have not good Proofs of the Imposture, you had better let it alone. For tho the Nation has had general presumptions of it, yet a Male Heir of the Crown is mightily desired, and People would be very fond of him, if they had one, and seem to expect some better Proofs than meer Presumptions against him▪ because common Fame has promised a great deal more, and if you should either say nothing to it, or not what is expected, it would be a very plausible pretence for discontented People to quarrel.

2. Suppose the Princess of Orange should a [...]pear to be the next Heir, what if a Lady of her eminent Vertue should scruple to sit upon her Father's Throne, while he lives? Or what if she should scruple it hereafter, and place her Father in his Throne again? This is not impossible; for Vertue is greater than a Throne. For my part, I think you will put a very hard thing upon so excellent a Lady, and I pray God give her Grace to resist the Temptation. A Regency is more tolerable, because a Nation must be governed, and none so proper to govern it as the next Heir; but I should think, none who expect to wear a Crown, should countenance Subjects in deposing their King, nor accept of a Crown upon such Terms, as to take it off of a Father's Head: It is a dangerous thing for a Prince who has a Title to the Crown, to own that the Crown may be forfeited or demised by such a withdrawing; if this be not so, the Princess has no Right to the possession of the Crown yet; and if it be so, her Crown is worth a great deal less than formerly it was, especially if she own [Page] this Secret by accepting the Crown▪ which her Ancestors always concealed, and which the best Subjects of England would not believe before; what they may do after this, I know not.

Thirdly, The next Design (I verily believe without the knowledg or thought of the Prince, who has too great a Mind to think of any thing, which in the opinion of any wise Man could stain and fully his Glory) is to give the Crown to the Prince of Orange, for it must be a Gift, if any thing; for he has no immediate Title to it, that I know of: This is upon a pretence, that the Government is dissolved, and therefore we must begin de novo, which is very ridiculous, when the King is still alive, and the Laws in as full force as ever, only the Regular Administration of Government at present interrupted by the King's absence; but this is not the worst of it, for it is a dangerous pretence too, especially to Men of Quality and Es [...]tes, as you are; for if the Government be dissolved, our Laws are dissolved, and Honour and Property dissolved with them, and then I doubt the Mobile will come in for their share in the new Division of the Lands, and set up for Men of as good Quality as any; for if our Laws are gone, we return to a state of Nature, in which all Men are equal, and all things common; this I believe you will not be for, for the Reason above-mentioned.

If then the Laws continue, the Government is not dissolved, and the Crown is not a Gift, but an Inheritance still, as much as your Estate is; and then the Prince of Orange cannot have it in his own Right, because his own Princess, and the Princess Anne are before him; consider then what the consequence of this Project would be.

1. This alters the essential Constitution of the English Government, by changing an Hereditary into an Elective Monarchy, a thing which I know some Men are very fond of; for then the next occasion they can find to quarrel with their Prince, they may with as much ease turn it into a Common-Wealth; for when the Crown is at the Peoples disposal, they may if they please keep it to themselves.

2. This will entangle all Men of Conscience in new Difficulties; for the Oath of Allegiance does not only bind us to the King, but to his Heirs and Successors, which must be understood of the next lineal Heir, where there is no Authority to alter it; and whatever a Parliament may be thought to have with the Authority and Consent [Page] of the King, no Man pretends, that a Convention of the Estates has any Legal Authority to do it. I should be as heartily glad as any Man, to see the Prince of Orange legally seated on the English Throne; but these are Difficulties I cannot break through. Thus I have given you my hasty Thoughts, and pray God to direct you.

I am Yours.

POSTSCRIPT.

THere is one thing more, I would beg of you, that the Story of French League to cut Protestants Throats in England ma [...] be w [...]ll examined▪ for this did more to drive the King out of the Nation▪ than the Prince's Army, and if this should prove a Sham, as some, who pretend to know, say it is, it seems at least to be half an Argument to invite the King back again. In short, remember you are a Convention, not a Parliament, and therefore nothing can give Authority to what you do, but the good liking of the People; and as Necessity only can justify your meeting without the King's Writs, so I hope you will take care to do nothing but what will justify it self to God, the King, and your Country.

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An ANSWER to the Author of the LETTER to a Member of the CONVENTION.

Reverend Sir,

YOur Name, your Quality, your Religion, and your Design in Publishing this Letter are wholly unknown to me, but the confident Assertion, pag. 3.6.16. That you are sure it can never be Answered; sounds so like a Son, or rather a Father of the Infallible Church, that it has provoked me, if not to answer, yet at least to reflect upon some Passages in this Magisterial Composure.

§. 2. Whatever becomes of other Arguments, Interest is most likely to prevail. You, Sir, suppose your Parliament-Man, in these words, to be one who will regard no Arguments from Justice, Reason, Religion, or the Laws of God or Man; Interest is the only thing which is likely to prevail; an excellent Complement to a Parliament-Man; but it goes higher yet, and takes in the Majority of the States, for no one Man shall ever determine these great things.

§. 3. You tell him, That All the threatning Dangers of Popery were not a more formidable Prospect to considering Men, than the present Distractions and Division [...]. Now surely this is a very bold and daring stroke; but that I am certain these pensive thoughtful Men are not either very numerous, or very considerable; otherwise, the few of the Church of England that are overthoughtful in this Point, deserve much Compassion, because they disquiet themselves and others out of pure tenderness of Conscience, and an over-great Loyalty; but then there is no danger to be apprehended from them; and they will in time satisfy their own Scruples, and in the interim, I doubt not, infinitely more Men dread the Dangers of Popery, even to this Day, than all the [Page] Common-wealth-Men, Dissenters ambitious and revengeful Wretches, which you have so artfully mustered up to fright the Country Esquire with, can over-ballance. Strange it is in the mean time, that the Dangers of Popery, which last October appeared so formidable, should in so short a time vanish, or rather dwindle into nothing: But God, by the Ministry of the Prince of Orange and his Friends, has brought this about. In the rest of that Section I agree with you, and approve of it.

The two next Sections being only a representation of the different Parties of Men now upon the Stage, I leave as I find them.

§. 6. Though the Opinion of those who are for sending to the King, and treating with him to return to his Government, under such legal Restraints, as shall give security to the most jealous Persons for the preservation of their Laws, Liberties, and Religion i [...] horribly decryed, &c. yet the only Reason against it is, because it is vain. Now, Sir, that Reason is so very good, that it may perhaps justily that dreadful Consequence you so shrink at; for though I do not doubt but you are a wonderful Legislator, yet if Twenty wiser Men than you were joined with you to frame these new Laws, yet let but a Popish Prince have the Supreme Executive Power and the Legal Prerogatives, and he will break through all your Restrictions with wonderful Facility, as we have seen by Experience. But then if you leave him the Name, and take away the Power of a King, you set up a Common-wealth immediately, which will not end with your Popish Prince, but there will be stickling to keep all things in the same State in the following Reign, of what Religion soever the Prince is, which was the Reason why the Limitations offered by Charles II. in 1679, were rejected.

[And let it be remember'd also how well that Prince, that was supposed to be a Protestant, kept his Word, and the Solemn League and Covenant, which he solemnly with Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven, swore to observe in Scotland, &c.]

Well, but we would have thought our selves very secure if the King would h [...]ve called a Free Parliament; Yes, Sir, if he would have call'd it Freely, so that it had been the production of his Will without Force; but Sir, it is notorious, he was resolved the Parliament should either not be free, or not meet; and if your Memory will not serve you to recall the virulent Reflection on the humble Petition presented by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal the 17th of November last, in which the Author tells us, That the summoning a [Page]Parliament [...], is so far from being the only way (to prese [...]ve His Majesty and the Kingdom) that it will be one of the principal causes of much Misery to the Kingdom, &c. and nothing would do then▪ but driving the Prince of Orange out of the Kingdom with Force and Arms. Now I say, Sir, If you cannot remember this, you shall never be trusted to frame Laws, if I can help it.

There is another and a better Reason to refuse a Treaty, than the fearing the King should comply. Suppose that he should grant all that you can ask, bating White-Hall, the Reve [...]e, the Title of King, and the Right of calling Parliaments, and making Peace and War: What Security have we that he will acquiesce in this low restrained Estate? Oaths, Laws, and Promises we had before, but what did they signify? Who shall be Guarantee? what shall we do if he break out again? In short quis eustodiet Custodes ▪ So that the many who desire a Treaty, are desired to read the Enquiry into the presen [...] State of Affairs, that they may not come into the Discipline of the severe Lady, who has taught the Protestants in France and Piedmont a Lesson which England too must have gone through with, if God and H. W. P. O. had not saved us.

But if the Convention should refuse to treat, and Depose the King, it would act without a Legal Power, §. 8. Why Sir, here is no occasion to talk of a Deposition, the King is gone of his own accord freely; and they are only to consider whether we shall perish in a State of Anarchy, re [...]al him, and suffer over again all that is past, and all that was intended, but prevented; or whether they shall recognize the next immediate Heir, and enquire who that is? Well, but the next Heir, it seems, shall have small joy of it, his whole Authority depending on a Convention that has no Authority: In good time! Will the Authority of this Prince, when acknowledged, depend on the Authority of the Convention? Did Queen Elizabeth or King Iames I owe all their Authority to the Parliaments which recognized their respective Rights? But no Man will think himself bound in Conscience to obey this Heir. Have you, Sir, the keeping of all Mens Consciences; or the knowledg of their Thoughts? I can assure you mine is not in your custody.

§. 9. All those who think themselves bound [still] by their Oath of Allegiance to defend the King's Person, his Crown, and Dignity, &c. will be greatly discontented. Why Sir, then they may [Page] go over into France, and be admitted into his Guards, and perhaps the generous Allowance given him by the French King, will maintain them, if their Heresie do not over-ballance their Loyalty, and turn it into a Crime, as it happened to the H [...]gonots. Well, but they will never own any other whilst their own King lives: Assuredly this is a wonderful Man, if he could but as certainly inform us of the number, as he can of the Thoughts and future Actions of these Loyalist's.

Well, but if they should happen to be Persons of known Prudence, Abilities, Integrity, Honesty, though they were never so few and never so tame, it would give a terrible stroke to this To [...]t [...]ring Government. Why, Sir, all or the greatest part of such Men in the Nation, were a dreadful Body, tho they were and ever will be few, but Sir, there must be a considerable Body of such Men first satisfied in the Convention, a number without Doors are already satisfied, and more will when the States have passed their Resolves ▪ and the remainder of the Men of this High Character, who will still remain Discontented, if they are any thing Peaceable, though not over Tame, will never be able to shock the most T [...]tering Government in the World by their Examples, how well soever he thinks of them.

Yet, §. 10. He endeavours to shew the number will not be small, because many who joyned with the Prince, are ashamed of what they have done, and ask God pardon for is, and are ready [...]o undo it as far as they can. Well, Sir, how many such do you know besides your self? A List of these Men were worth the having, and may perhaps be easily taken, if one knew how to separate them from the rest; however, I should not fear greatly the terrible Shock of these wonderful Men, till I had better information of their Numbers than you can possibly give us. They were not willing to part with the King, tho they were horribly afraid of Popery. Why, Sir, has the King changed his Religion in France? or are those Gentlemen so fond of the King, that they would now be contented to suffer all that Popery threatned so lately? Or are they become as weary of their Delivery as they were before of Popery? Or, will they sacrifice their Laws, Religion, old Foundations, and Free Parliaments to their Allegiance to their King? If you say, Yes, I have done; if no, then you would have what was not to be had, and will not be contented with what may be h [...]d; and if the Number [Page] of these Men is great, farewel to the Liberties, Laws, Religion; and Priviledges of England, and its Wealth and Inhabitants too, and what is left you may be pleased to divide amongst your Men of Character.

To all this he assures us, §. 10. There will be a Thousand Occasions of Discontent: Ju [...] a Thousand, neither one more or less, besides those springing from the sense of Loyalty and Conscience: Strange, that these Two should be so troublesome, as to equal, if not exceed the whole Thousand that went before.

He that had been before so liberal of his Informati [...]n, now sets us to guess in §. 10. How many will be discontented in the new Court for want of Preferment? Why, Sir, If you please to inform me how many days in February shall be clear, and how many shall be cloudy, I will fall a guessing how many in the new Court shall be pleased, and how many shall be dissatisfied; but when I have done, it will not be worth the while, because this ever happens, and Courtiers have an old way of keeping these Malecontents in hope, till they fall off or gain what they desire; and so if there should happen to be a Thousand of them, they will not be able to shock the Government, if there is no other cause of Discontent than that.

Well, but here Duty and Discontent will mix, because they are sensible of their Mistake when it is too late: For as they ought not to have fought for Popery, nor against the Laws and Liberties of their Country; so neither [...]ught they to have deserted the defence of the King's Person and Crown, but have brought the Prince to Terms as well as the King: Why, Sir, Nemo tenetur ad impossibilia. The King was never brought to Terms, nor perhaps never will: So that if they [...] Fought at all, it must have been for Popery, and against both our Laws and Liberties. Sir, shew when and where the King offered us or the Prince any Terms, and I will pass my word you shall be employed to frame Laws for the Convention, which is certainly a good Employ for one that is so expert at it as you pretend to be.

Well, §. 13. A heavy Tax must be laid upon the Nation, to defray the Charge of this Expedition: Why, Sir, Are you of the Privy C [...]uncil to the Prince? Surely he will be able to find some other Cause, or not make the Tax so very heavy. But Men will be very sorry to lose their King, and pay so dear for it too. Yes doubtless, a Gracious King is a great Loss; but if he will be gone, and [Page] in [...]olve us in a War too, Taxes must be p [...]id, yea, heavy Taxes to support the Charge of it, or Louis will in a short time teach us what the Prince's Expedition was worth, whatever it cost.

But this is not all, we must part with our Church too, the crazy Title will require the giving the Church to the Dissenters, §. 14. The Dissenters have or late acted very well; and perhaps if a wise Man has the mannaging of them; and the Popish Emissaries be carefully looked after, we may compound the Quarrel better cheap than the parting with our Church. Sir, I am well assured a great deal less will for the present content them, and the King is not Immortal, and whenever he Dies, the Crazy Title will be So [...]red again, if no Body be to blame for giving it another terrible Shock.

§. 15. Should the King be Deposed, or any other ascend the Throne, it will be necessary to keep a standing Army to quell such Discontents. You may be a good Law-framer for ought I know, but I will swear you are no States-Man; this whole Section is meer Whimsey borrowed from the Dutch Design Anatomized, who had the folly to talk of Governing England by an Army of Dutch and Germans; but why, God knows, except it were because a few were brought over to deliver us, and cannot presently be returned back to Holland. The Prince is both a wise and a good Prince, and knows the Consequence of keeping those Forces long here, better than a Thousand such Law-framers.

Suppos [...] the King should return with a Foreign Force to recover his Kingdom, how ready will the Men of Conscience be, and the Men of Discontent to joyn with them, nay, to invite him Home again. This looks so like a Roman Catholick Zeal, that if I were not assured he is a Church of England-Man, I could not believe but it was a Disciple of St. Omers: But will the Conscientious Men invite the King home again, with all his Apostolick Vicars, Jesuits, Ecclesiasticall Judges, Dispensing Power, and a round Army of French Dragoons to teach us the French Faith after the French Fashion? Are these the Men of Character, Prudence, Ability, Integrity, or of Conscience either? Would one of the Primitive Christians have talked thus, have stood for a Licinius against a Constantine? Well, if the King comes in a Conqueror, we shall wish we had Treated. Truly I shall not; I had rather be forced than deceived, for then I know what I have to trust to; and I would not willingly be accessary to my own Ruine.

[Page]Well, suppose this unanswerable stuff is over-voted, §. 17. We are to bring good proof the Prince of Wales is an Imposture, or else we h [...]d better let it alone. Very good; the Negative is to be proved; we may guess by this what kind of Laws you, Sir▪ would frame. Well, but if this be not done, the Discontented Men will have a plausible pretence to quarrel: What the Conscientious Men will do we must guess, but in all probability they will not be better quali [...]ed.

What if the Princess of Orange be a Lady of that eminent Virtue that she should scruple to sit upon her Father's Throne whilst he lives? Well, his Majesty has deserted his Throne and Kingdom when he needed not, except he had pleased; and some Body must sit upon his Throne, though he is yet Alive: Now if it be her Right after his Death, why not now? Our Author is at his Prayers, that God would give her Grace to resist the Temptation; and I at mine, That the Author may never be one of her Chaplains till he is better inform'd. The rest of that Section is not unanswerable, but not worth answering.

He has all along supposed the Prince of Orange Crown'd, yet in the 19th Section he proves he can have no Right to it, neither by Descent nor Gift; and truly I am of the same mind for many Reasons, and especially for the sake of the Three alledged by him, Sect. 20, 21, 22. and for some others too of as great weight, which may be found in the Lord Virulam's History of Henry VII. And yet our Case now before us has three Difficulties that had not, 1. A King living. 2. A Prince of Wales true or false. 3. A Nation divided in Religion; to which I might perhaps add the Excessive Power of France, and the Excessive Zeal of this Generation to preserve the Descent of the Crown in the Right Line, and in the Legal Steps and Degrees. And this being done, I am persuaded nothing can divide the English Nation, or lessen their Zeal and Affection to the Prince of Orange, who has deserved the Crown, if it were ours to give him.

The Postscript, which is an Huy and Cry after the French League to cut our Throats, I leave to the Convention: And if I durst be so bold as to ask a Favour of them, it should be to enquire what the Ro. Catholick meant by that Threat of theirs, so frequently printed and spoken by them, If fair means would not obtain the Repeal of our Penal Laws and Tests, foul should.

[Page]Now for a Conclusion, I would desire you, Sir, to propose your method of Restoring the King, and Securing our Laws and Religion, and it shall go hard but I will shew you it is impracticable, or impossible, that it will never be granted; or if it be, never observed: And if you please to bless the World with a Receipt of an Obligation that will bind the Conscience of any other Roman Catholick so fast that neither Iesuit and Pope can break or untie it, I assure you I will joyn with you in a Petition to the Convention, for a Treaty forthwith, without any other Terms to be proposed than the giving us that Security, whatever it is. And in the Interim, I am,

SIR, YOURS.

Ian. 24. 1688/9.

FINIS.

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The EIGHT Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. Proposals to the present Convention for Setling the Government.

II. Several Queries relating to the present Proceedings in Parliament.

III. A Protestant Precedent offer'd for the Exclusion of King Iames the Second.

IV. Reasons offer'd for placing the Prince of Orange singly in the Throne during his Life.

V. A Breviate for the Convention, represented to the Lords and Commons of England.

VI. King Iames the First his Opinion of a King, and of a Tyrant; and of the English Laws, Rights and Priviledges.

VII. Proposals to the present Convention, for perpetual Security of the Protestant Religion, and Liberty of the Subjects of England.

London printed, and are to be sold by Rich. Ianeway in Queen's-head Court in Pater-Noster Row, 1689.

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PROPOSALS Humbly offered To the Lords and Commons in the present CONVENTION, for Settling of the Government, &c.

My Lords and Gentlemen;

YOV are Assembled upon Matters of the highest Importance to England and all Christendom; and the result of your Thoughts, in this Convention, will make a numerous Posterity Happy or Miserable. If therefore I have met with any Thing that I think worthy of your Consideration, I should think my self wanting in that Duty which I owe to my Country and Mankind, if I should not lay it before You. If there be (as some say) certain Lineaments in the Face of Truth, with which one cannot be deceiv'd, because they are not to be counterfeited; I hope, the Considerations which I presume to offer You, will meet with your Approbation: That, bringing back our Constit [...]tion to its first and purest Original, refining it from some gross Abuses, and supplying its Defects, You may be the Ioy of the present Age, and the Glory of Posterity.

[Page] FIrst, 'Tis necessary to distinguish between Power it self, the Designation of the Persons Governing, and the Form of Government. For,

1. All Power is from God as the Fountain and Original.

2. The Designation of the Persons, and the Form of Government, is eirther, First, immediately from God, as in the Case of Saul and David, and the Government of the Ievs; or, Secondly, from the Community, chusing some Form of Government, and subjecting themselves to it. But it must be noted, that though Saul and David had a Divine Designation, yet the People assembled; and in a General Assembly, by their Votes, freely chose them: Which proves, that there can be no orderly or lasting Government, without Consent of the People Tacit or Express'd; and God himself would not put Men under a Governor without their Consent. And in case of a Conquest, the People may be called Prisoners or Salves (which is a State contrary to the Nature of Man) but they cannot be properly Subjects, till their Wills be brought to submit to the Government: So that Conquest may make Way for a Government, but it cannot constitute it.

Secondly, There is a Supreme Power in every Community, essential to it, and inseparable from it; by which, if it be not limited immediately by God, it can form it self into any kind of Government. And in some extraordinary Occasions, when the Safety and Peace of the Publick necessarily require it, can supply the Defects, reform the Abuses, and re-establish the true Fundamentals of the Government; by Purging, Refining, and bringing Things back to their first Original: Which Power may be called, The Supreme Power Real.

Thirdly, When the Community has made choice of some Form of Government, and subjected themselves to it, having invested some Person or Persons with the Supreme Power: The Power in those Persons may be called, The Supreme Power Personal.

Fourthly, If this Form be a mix'd Government of Monarchy, Aristocracy and Democracy; and, for the easy Execution of the Laws, the Executive Power be lodg'd in a single Person; He has, A Supreme Power Personal, quoad hoc.

[Page] Fifthly, The Supreme Power Personal of England, is in Kings, Lords, and Commons; and so it was in Effect agreed to, by King Charles the First, in his Answer to the nineteen Propositions; and resolved by the Convention of Lords and Commons in the Year 1660. And note, That the Acts of that Convention, tho never confirmed by Parliament, have been taken for Law, and particularly by the Lord Chief Justice Hales.

Sixthly, The Supreme Power Personal of England fails three Ways.

1. 'Tis Dissolved: For two Essential Parts fail. 1. A King. 2. A House of Commons; which cannot be called according to the Constitution, the King being gone, and the Freedom of Election being destroyed by the King's Incroachments.

2. The King has forfeited his Power several Ways. Subjection to the Bishop of Rome, is the Subjection against which our Laws cry loudest: And even Barclay (that Monarchical Politician) acknowledges, That if a King alienate his Kingdom, or subject it to another, he forfeits it. And Grotius asserts, That if a King really attempt to deliver up, or subject his Kingdom, he may be therein resisted: And that, if the King have part of the Supreme Power, and the People or Senate the other part, (the King invading that part which is not his) a just Force may be opposed, and he may lose his Part of the Empire. Grotius de Bello, &c. Cap. 72. But that the King has subjected the Kingdom to the Pope, needs no Proof; That the has usurp'd an absolute Power superior to all Laws, made the Peoples Share in the Legislative Power impertinent and useless, and thereby invaded their just Rights, none can deny. 'Twere in vain to multiply Instances of his Forfeitures: And, if we consider the Power exercis'd by him of late, it will most evidently appear to all who understand the English Constitution, that it admits of no such King, nor any such Power.

3. The King has deserted,

(1.) By incapacitating himself by a Religion inconsistent with the Fundamentals of our Government.

(2.) By forsaking the Power: the Constitution allow'd him, and usurping a Foreign one: So that tho the Person remained, the King was gone long ago.

(3.) By Personal Withdrawing.

[Page] Seventhly, The Supreme Power Real remains in the Community; and they may act by their Original Power: And tho every Particular Person is, notwithstanding such Dissolution, Forfeiture, or Desertion, subject to the Laws which were made by the Supreme Power Personal, when in Being; yet the Communities Power is not bound by them, but is paramount all Laws made by the Supreme Power Personal: And has a full Right to take such Measures for Settling the Government, as they shall think most sure and effectual, for the lasting Security and Peace of the Nation. For we must note, that it was the Community of England, which first gave Being to both King and Parliament, and to all the other Parts of our Constitution.

Eighthly, The most Renowned Politician observes, That those Kingdoms and Republicks subsist longest that are often renewed, or brought back to their first Beginnings; which is an Observation of Self-evident Truth, and implies, That the Supream Power Real has a Right to Renew, or bring back. And the most ingenious Lawson observes (in his Politica) That the Community of England, in the late Times, had the greatest Advantage that they or their Ancestors had had for many Ages, for this purpose; tho God hid it from their Eyes: But the wonderful Concurrence of such a Series of Providences, as we now see and admire, gives ground to hope; That the Veil is removed, and the Nation will now see the Things that concern their Peace.

Ninthly, The Acts done and executed by the Supreme Power Personal (when in Being) have so model'd the Parts and Persons of the Community, that the Original Constitution is the best, justest, and the most desirable. The Royal Family affords a Person that both Heaven and Earth point out for King. There are Lords, whose Nobility is not affected by the Dissolution of the Government, and are the subject Matter of a House of Lords; And there are Places, which by Custom or Charter have Right to choose Representatives of the Commons.

Tenthly, There are are inextricable Difficulties in all other Methods. For,

1. There is no Demise of the King, neither Civil nor Natural.

2. There is consequently no Descent.

3. The Community only has a Right to take Advantage of the King's Forfeiture or Desertion.

[Page]4. Whatever other Power may be imagin'd in the two Houses, as Houses of Parliament, it cannot justify it self to the Reason of any, who understand the Bottom of our Constitution.

5. By this Method all Popish Successors may be excluded; and the Government secured, in case all the Protestants of the Family die without Issue: And this by the very Constitution of England. And the Question can never arise about the Force or the Lawfulness of a Bill of Exclusion.

6. The Convention will not be oblig'd to take Oaths, &c.

Eleventhly, If these things be granted, and the Community be at Liberty to act as above; it will certainly be most advisable, not only for the Security and Welfare of the Nation, but (if rightly understood) for the Interest of their Royal Highnesses, to limit the Crown as follows: — To the Prince of Orange during his Life (yet with all possible Honour and Respect to the Princess, whose Interests and Inclinations are inseparably the same with his) Remainder to the Princess of Orange, and the Heirs of her Body; Remainder to the Princess of Denmark, and the Heirs of her Body; Remainder to the Heirs of the Body of the Prince of Orange; Remainder as an Act of Parliament shall appoint.

This will have these Conveniences among others.

1. Husband and Wife are but one Person in Law, and her Husband's Honour is hers.

2. It puts the present Kingly Power into the best Hand in the World; which (wit [...]out Flattery) is agreed on by all Men.

3. It asserts the above-said Power in the Community.

4. It will be some Acknowledgment to the Prince for what he has done for the Nation: And it is worthy Observation, that before the Theocracy of the Iews ceased, the manner of the Divine Designation of their Judges, was by God's giving the People some Deliverance by the Hand of the Person, to whose Government they ought to submit; and this even in that time of extraordinary Revelations. Thus Othniel, Gideon, Iephthah, Samson, and others were invested by Heaven with the Supreme Authority: And though Ioshua had an immediate Command from God to succeed Moses, and an Anointing to that purpose, by the laying on of Moses's Hands: Yet the [Page] Foundation of the People's Submission to him was laid in Iordan. And I challenge the best Historians to give an Instance (since that Theocracy ceased) of a Designation of any Person to any Government, more visibly Divine than that which we now admire. If the Hand of Providence (miraculously and timely disposing Natural Things, in every Circumstance to the best advantage) should have any Influence upon Mens Minds; most certainly we ought not here to be insensible. If the Voice of the People be the Voice of God, it never spoke louder: If a Nation of various Opinions, Interests and Factions, from a turbulent and fluctuating State, falls into a serene and quiet Calm, and Mens Minds are strangely united on a sudden; it shews from whence they are influenced. In a word, if the Hand of God is to be seen in Human Affairs, and his Voice to be heard upon Earth; we cannot any where (since the ceasing of Miracles) find a clearer and more remarkable Instance, than is to be observ'd in the present Revolution. If one examines the Posture of Foreign Affairs, making way for the Prince's Expedition by some sudden Events and Occurrences, which no Human Wisdom or Power could have brought about; if one observes that Divine Influence which has directed all his Counsels, and crown'd his Undertakings, notwithstanding such innumerable Dangers and Difficulties, with constant Honour and Success: If one considers how happily and wonderfully both Persons and Things are changed in a little time, and without Blood: It looks like so many Marks of God's Favour, by which he thinks fit to point him out to us in this extraordinary Conjuncture.

I will trouble you but with one Consideration more; which is, That the two things most necessary in this Affair, are Unanimity and Dispatch: For without both these of your Counsels will have little Effect. In most things 'tis good to be long in resolving; but in some 'tis fatal not to conclude immediately: And presence of Mind is as great a Vertte, as Rashness is a Vice. For the turns of Fortune are sometimes so quick, that if Advantage be not taken in the critical hour, 'tis for ever lost. But, I hope, your Lordships, and all those Gentlemen who compose this August Assembly, will proceed with so much Zeal and Harmony, that the Result of your present Consultations may be a lasting and grateful Monument to Posterity, of your Integrity, Courage and Conduct.

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SEVERAL QUERIES Relating to the present Proceedings in Parliament; More especially recommended to the Consideration of the BISHOPS.

I. HOW the House of Commons can answer it to those People whom they Represent, if now they have an Opportunity, they do not settle the Government upon such a Foundation as will be likely, not only to preserve the Nation from Foreign Enemies, but also from falling into the like unhappy Circumstances which it is but just now escaped out of, and which in a great measure have proceeded from a want of a right Settlement of Publick Affairs at the Restauration of King Charles the Second.

II. Whether this can be done without altering the Succession, since the Birth of the Prince of Wales is not proved supposititious, (though perhaps no Body doubts but it is so)? And supposing it proved so, Whether it would not be more feasible to make a President now, than to try the Experiment first, when the next Right of Succession is claimed by the Infanta of Spain; or perhaps some Prince her Heir, too strong to resist without the Assistance of the Prince of Orange, especially [Page] if there happen to be such Divisions amongst Us as are at this Time?

III. Whether it can be immagined to be worth the Prince of Orange's while to leave Holland, where he is the chief Man, and become a Subject in England; nay, and have such an uncertain Interest in his stay here, that if his Wives Life chance to drop, perhaps he may be banished in a Years time, and not have a Place, as things may happen, to put his Head in? For his Interest in Holland must necessarily fall into other Hands; And no Body knows what fallings out may happen betwixt Us and the Dutch, or what other Contingencies may happen that may give cause of Disgust.

IV. Whether (considering the present State of Affairs) the Strength of the King of France, and the Irish Rebellion, (to say nothing of the Effects which the Entreaties, and subtile Insinuations of a Father must necessarily have upon any one that is good natur'd) it be safe to trust the Administration of Affairs to a Woman, though never so vertuous? And whether we shall be able to protect our selves against all these formidable Enemies, and bring things to a due Settlement, without the Assistance of the Prince of Orange, whose Foreign Alliances are such as we can never hope to obtain if we confer the Crown upon any other?

V. Whether it would be a greater real Kindness to the Princess of Orange to make her sole Queen, after such a manner as she will be likely to be turned out again; or to make her and her Husband joint King and Queen during their two Lives? I say, her Husband, who is a Prince, not only able to defend her and her Kingdom from all the Dangers that may happen, but also to take all the Trouble which may occur in the Administration of Affairs off her Hands, so that she will enjoy all the Pleasure of being Queen without any thing of Trouble: And we may add to this, that if it had not been for him, she had never enjoyed the Crown, nor the Nation their Freedom?

[Page]VI. Whether the Terms the Parliament shall make with one that can pretend no Right to the Crown but what they give him, will not be more likely to be kept by him, than by one that pretends a Title, and will be flatter [...]d up, both by Lawyers and Divines, (I mean, the Scum of them) with Notions of a Right jure Divino, and a Prerogative which cannot be parted with or abolish'd, though by the King's Consent, or Act of Parliament?

VII. Whether the House of Commons, upon these Considerations, and divers others too long to mention, will not think it necessary that the Prince and Princess of Orange be crowned King and Queen for their two Lives? And whether it can be imagined, that the Commons should so far betray their Country as to recede from this Point (so necessary for its Preservation) notwithstanding all the Disturbances which the Bishops shall make in the House of Lords, and though they do not meet with the Concurrence of that House so soon as in reason might be expected?

VIII. Whether the House of Lords will suffer themselves any longer to be imposed upon by the Bishops in a thing that will be so injurious to the Nation, as it will be not to comply with the House of Commons in this great Point; which must necessarily put such a damp upon Trade, that it will certainly be the Ruin of many hundreds of Families in the Nation whose dependance are upon Handy-Craft-Trades, to say nothing of the Disadvantages which may accrue by such a Delay to the poor Protestants in Ireland? and admitting they should, whether the Circumstances of Affairs would not in a little time force them to a compliance with the House of Commons?

IX. Whether the Prince of Orange will not shew himself one of the unkindest Men in the World if he doth not stick by these People, till he seeth them secured, that have ventured their Lives and Fortunes for Him and their Country in confidence of his Protection? and whether he as Head of the [Page] Protestant Religion, be not obliged to stand by the 48 Protestant Lords, and House of Commons, that have served their Country so faithfully?

X. Whether it would not be Prudence in the Bishops (supposing their Designs be good, as I would hope they are) to shew their readiness to assist the Nobility and Gentry in carrying on this great Work, whereby they might settle the Church upon the surest Foundation, the Laws of God and of the Land, and continue themselves in the Affections of the People?

XI. Whether all the Protestant Blood which shall be spilt in Ireland by reason of these long Delays, will not be justly laid at the Bishops doors, if they proceed after the same manner they have begun?

And lastly, To answer the great Objection, that we shall lose the Kingdom of Scotland if we make the King Elective for this Turn.

Whether the Scots can chuse any body that will be more agreeable to their Interests than the Prince of Orange? and supposing they can, Whether it be not madness to imagine, since they have a different Parliament, different Laws, and a different Original Contract (so that the King may commit a Forfeiture there, when he hath committed none here, or a Forfeiture here, when he hath committed none there) that they will not place the Crown upon him without any respect to what is done here, whether we make it a Forfeiture, or only a bare Demise?

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A Protestant Precedent offer'd to the Bishops for the Exclusion of K. James the Second.

IF Necessity, which is a great Branch of the Law of Nature, did not press us at this time, to come to some speedy and pertinent Determinations, as to the business, especially, of settling the Government, that Nicety, which seems to be promoted and set afoot in all our Counsels, might, considering the Weightiness of the business in hand, rather claim the just Commendation and Applauses of every good Man, than, as it seems now, fall under their Censure; and I may say Indignation. If the matter debated were extraneous, and the Kingdom within it self peaceably and firmly settled; if the Circumstances of our Affairs were ordinary and usual, and could admit of an unlimited time for their Decision; if we were secure from injurious Resolutions of our Enemies abroad, or from the private Machinations of disaffected Persons at home: If these [...]hings were so, it were worthy the Wisdom of those, who by their unseasonable Scruples (so generally resolv'd against, and now again by them started) may seem either ignorant of the desperate languishing condition of these Kingdoms at present, or prejudic'd and dis-affected to the E [...]ace and Settlement of them for the future; I say, it were then worthy the Wisdom of these Men to dissect every particular of so important an Affair, before they made any Determination of the General. As we all acknowledg the extraordinary Circumstances of this Juncture, so they themselves have not been a little contributing to this happy Revolution: The Prince's first Declaration tells us, he had the Invitation of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. Was it Justice and agreeable to Conscience then, to call for Foreign Arms to assist [Page] us against our own King, in the recovery of those Rights, Liberties and Properties, which, contrary to Law, he had invaded and taken from us? And is it now become a Scruple in those same Consciences, to be confirm'd in those Rights, &c. by the same Arms and Power? Is that pretended, absolute, unlimited Power, which in their Prayers and Sermons they have so often nibbled at, and endavoured to retrench, now in its just Debasement become so Inviolable and Sacred, that it must become a Point of Faith entirely to submit to it? Has this small fit of Fear and Discouragement in our implacable Enemies, so well secur'd us from any future Enchroachments, that we need not be careful of any further Assurance? Has these Men's Re-embellish'd Honours so obliterated the Memory of the Dangers some of them so lately have escap'd, and the rest justly fear'd, as to free them from all Apprehensions for the future? What is it these Gentlemen would be at? what do they fear? Is it without Reason, without Justice, without Precedent, that we desire to be everlastingly secur'd from Popery & Slavery? Not without Reason; for when we have seen many of our fairest Branches lopp'd off, many of our Liberties invaded, many of our Laws perverted, and the Axe at last laid to the Root of our Government, 'tis high time then, I say, to provide for our our Safety, and to put a stop to that Current which would have quickly over-run and drowned us: Not without Justice, for where my Life and Property is hunted after, and assaulted, I may, by the Law of God and Man, [...]epel the Injury, and stand in my own Vindication: Not without Precedent, even in Protestant Kingdoms, (not to mention the Romanists, who both teach and practise the Deposing of evil and wicked Magistrates) and though in England we may perhaps think the Changes we have very lately seen among our selves admit of no Precedent, it may easily be prov'd that which hath been done of late in this Nation, hath been in great part formerly presented and allowed of upon Foreign Stages; yea, and not many Years out of the Memory of some yet living, if we would but look into the Actions of other Regions, and those too wherein the Reform'd Religion is professed, we shall find that they, by their publick Records, acknowledged that in case of Tyranny and Oppression, it was lawful not only to defend their Lives and [Page] Liberties against all Assaults, but reduce and declare the Persons so offending, incapable of holding the Government.

A lively Example of this, and almost exactly parallel with ours, was the Case of Sigismond the Third, Hereditary King of Sweden, who by a Convention of the States of that Kingdom, was Excluded, even with his Heirs, (a Severity, which both the Honourable Houses of Parliament here have, with great Justice and Wisdom, declined) from that Crown for ever: Some of the Articles drawn up against him were these; First, For swerving from their received Christian Religion; as also, from his Oath and Promise, and Solemn Engagement made to his People at his Coronation, to preserve their Rights and Priviledges; as also, their Holy Reform'd Religion Inviolated; For departing the Country without the Consent, and unwilling to the States and Orders of the Realm; For exporting several Acts of great Concernment out of the Cancellarie; For prosecuting such as would not embrace or favour the Romish Superstition; For contemning, and endeavouring to undermine and annul those laudable Institutions and Laws made for the Security of the Realm, and the Establishment of the Protestant Reformed Religion; For raising up what Enemies he could against his Native Country, thereby to involve his Subjects in a Deluge of Blood, which he intended, and had almost effected▪ For inhumanely designing and suborning Russians and Villains, to Murder and Assassinate one of the chief Nobles, for no other Reason, but that out of Conscience and Duty, he would have perswaded him from those Irregularities and notorious Breaches of the known Laws of the Land. For these, and many more Causes, as the sending his Son out of the Land, without the Consent of the States, and causing him to be brought up and educated in the Romish Superstition, did the Swedes (submitting the same to the Judgment of all sincere and candid Arbitratours) justify their Abdication for ever, of King Sigismond the Third, and his Heirs, from the Crown of Sweden, &c. and proceeded strait to the Constituting and Electing of Charles Duke of Sudermannia; vid. Spanheim 's Hist. of Sweden, &c. And in conclusion, they pray for, and doubt not of a candid Construction, a benign and favourable Acceptation, from all Christian Emperors, Kings, Princes, States, &c. of this their Legitimate Defence, and to vindicate them and their most [Page] equal Cause from all Calumny, or e [...]il Interpretation whatsoever. The Circumstances relating to this present Juncture in England, bear so near a resemblance almost in all these Grievances objected against the said Sigismond, that our late King, by a sort of [...], seems to have breath'd his Soul, rather than to have copy'd after him, though indeed in some Cases he has plainly out-done the Original, especially in relation to his supposed Son. And as our King thought fit to Copy a King of Sweden, I cannot apprehend how it can lessen our Judgments or Integrity, our Piety, or our Loyalty, to follow the Example of the Swedes, excepting in the case of the Lawful Heirs (whom every good Englishman and Protestant, to their utmost Danger and Peril, are ready to defend and maintain) to take such Measures for our future Security, and lawful Establishment, as shall not by any Humane Art or Endeavour, be liable to Interruption.

But as Precedents are least satisfactory, or least confronting to obstinate Opposers; where they make only for one party: A Popish Sigismund deposed for Male-Administration in a Protestant Kingdom, may not perhaps be allowed to carry its sufficient Justification with the Romanists; and therefore the Tables ought to be turn'd, and the Ballance made by Parallels of their own side; the most prudent way of combating, and securing a Victory in this matter, being to lay the Scene of War in the Enemies Country.

To confute therefore, and silence all the Romish Pretensions of Disgust and Murmur, against the Injustice of such a Deprivation, from Examples of Popish Deposals of Male-administring Protestants; we'll begin with Henry of Navarre, afterwards Henry the Fourth of France.

The famous Holy League enter'd into by the Pope himself, and so many potent Allies; together with all the Romish Subjects of Fran [...]e, against that undoubted Heir of the Crown of France, and at that time by succession the rightful King, is so notoriously known to the World, that all the tedious Particulars of the History, would be impertinent.

Let it suffice, here was a Prince, the unquestion'd Inheritor of the Crown of France, actually by all Open and Hostile Means (and all such Hostility avowed and abetted, and his [Page] very Birth-right fore-closed by the Pope himself) opposed and denied his Accession to the Throne, for no other Unqualifications, but be a Hugonot; that is, of a Perswasion contrary to the Establish'd, and Regnant Romish Religion in France; being in all other Respects acknowledged a most excellent Prince: Insomuch, that after all other ineffectual Endeavours of recovering his Birth-right; he had no means left to repeal his Exclusion and Debarment from the Throne, but by his Abjuration of the Reformed Religion, and return to the Romish Worship.

This Case of Henry the Fourth, instead of a Parallel to ours, does not come up to half the Justification of the present Measures of England. For here was a Soveraign Prince under Deprivation, for no other Default, but his meer Religion: for this Henry the Fourth being then but in his Entrance to the Empire (if truly that) was consequently yet at least (whatever they might fear) under no Dilemmas of the least breach of Compact with his People, no Forfeitures for Male-Administration, or Violation of the Laws of the Land, or Rights of his Subjects; their Dangers as then being only Apprehensions. If therefore the meer private Opinion of a Crowned Head, different from the Establish'd Religion of the Land, has been of weight enough (it self alone) in their own Scales to oversway the Birth-Right of Princes, and make a Bar to Empire; and that too, so solemnly confirmed and ratified, even by the Sanction Apostolick, the Decretals of Rome it self: What Objections or Allegations can our Romish Disputants, whether Foreign or Domestick, make against the like Bar in Empire, after so notorious an actual Male-Administration, in the present Case of England, such too visible Ruptures of the Laws of the Land, and in defiance of all Obligations of Engagements, Covenant, Word, Honour, or OATHS themselves?

The next Example I shall point them to, is, that of the late Portuguese King, who by the Ordinance of the States of Portugal, ratified by the Pope's Assent, was dethroned, and his Brother invested with the Soveraignty; and not only that, but his Queen too taken from him, Divorced, and by a Dispensation married to his Brother. The Grounds of this Deposal being only this, that the King was sometimes taken with Delirious Fits.

[Page]If such a Personal Infirmity was ground sufficient to displace the Crown: Have not the Peop [...]e, or Community of England, in Convention asse [...]bled, as much Right on their Side, for the Deposal of a King▪ for a far greater Infirmity, (of the two a more violent Madness) his lo [...]g tried and radicated Incapacity of being held, either by the Bonds or Ties of Honour, Laws, or Oaths: There being this infinite Difference between the Outrages of the one and the other, as that a Prince so bigotted, resolved for the Introduction, right or wrong, of his own Religion, is the more Dangerous Frantick. For his Superstitious Frency may push him to Violences that will hurt whole Nations, whereas the Outrages of the other can be only Personal. And if the Hands of the Lunatick Portuguese were thought Just to be tied up with no less Shackles, than taking both his Kingdom and Queen away from him; who shall Arraign the Wisdom of the English, for depriving their King of his Kingdom, (much good may do him with his Queen) under an infinite larger Capacity, and more dangerous propensity to Mischief. And for so doing, what Warrant shall they want, when the present unforced Desertion of the King, and quitting the Helm, has put the Power of Decision in that Point into their own Hands, and lost him all Right of Appeal against the Alienation.

I shall venter to add one last Consideration, viz. The Bull of Pope Pius Quintus, against Queen Elizabeth; by which the Pope deprives her of all Title to the Imperial Crown, and all Dominion, Dignity, and Priviledg whatever; declaring, that all the Nobility, Subjects, and People of England, and all others which have in any sort sworn unto her, to be for ever absolved from any such Oath; and all manner of Duty of Dominion, Allegiance, and Obedience, &c. and all forbidden to obey her, or her Motions, Mandates, or Laws, upon pain of Anathema. Vide Bishop of Lincoln's Brutum Fulmen, p. 6.

I recite this unjust Deposal of a Lawful Queen, by the pretended Authority of the Pope, no other, than to let the World know, that the Romish Party have the least Reason in Nature, to complain of the Deprivation of Princes. They, whose Infallible Guides can so insolently and arbitrarily place or displace Crown'd Heads (not to mention the Illegality of the Pope's Interposition, in the Affair in any kind) for only [Page] acting by Law, in Matters of Religious Changes, for such were all Ecclesiastick Alterations of that Queen, by the unquestion'd Authority of Acts of Parliament; can be but ill furnish'd with Arguments, against the present Deprivation, enacted by the whole Community of England, for such violent Measures and Foundations, already form'd and begun, for the subversion of Church and State against all Law.

Reasons humbly offer'd, for placing his Highness the Prince of Orange, singly in the Throne during his Life.

I. IT will be a clear Assertion of the Peoples Right, Firm Evidence of a Contract Broken, and a sure Precedent to all Ages, when, after a most Solemn Debate, the Estates of England Declare, That the King having Abdicated the Government, and the Throne thereby Legally Vacant, They think fit to Fill it again with One who is not Immediate in the Line.

II. It will be a Caution to Succeeding Kings, of what Fatal Consequence a general Derogation from the Laws may be, when they find, by this Instance, the Exercise of the Kingly Office in Danger, not only with Reference to Themselves, but Precarious to their Family by the Misgovernment. And Generations to come shall praise our Conduct, when reading the History of this Day, it appears we understood our Case; had Honour and Honesty to maintain it, and Wisdom enough to transmit it Perfect to our Posterity.

III. It will be the highest Obligation upon the Two Princesses that can be expected from a sensible People; when, next to Asserting our own Right, by a Fact (which is absolutely necessary, and above all other humane Arguments) they see themselves of Inestimable Value with Us, by Recontinuing the Line in Remainder; And that their own strict Adherence to the Protestant [Page]Religion and Interest, out-weighs the Demerits of their Unhappy Father.

IV. The Princess of Orange will share in all the Glory of a Crown, without the Trouble of it: Easy from Popish Reflection, That She sits in her Father's Throne while he lives. And it concerns the Kingdom, as well as the Princess, to take care, That She be at Rest from those Sollicitations on the Behalf of Papists, which, under the Countenance of Her Father will perpetually assault Her tender Breast. Nor is there any room for the Princess of Denmark to think Her self Neglected; The Exchange being attended with many Advantages, such as it would be lost Time to repeat, they are so very Obvious, and likewise too many for the Compass of this Paper.

V. If the Prince of Orange be not King in His own Right, His Interest cannot be intirely Ours; For though His Gallantry be an Assurance of Sincerity to Us; yet, if there remain any Probability of His Returning to Holland, as upon the Death of His Wife, if She only be Sovereign, his Interest must be divided: Nor will it, according to the Art of Government, become the Prudence of any Nation to open the Secrets of their Policy to One, whom they may be so Unfortunate as to part with into a Country that may possibly interfere with Us.

VI. It is dangerous to the Government it self to vest the Exercise of the Sovereignty in Both, for they may differ in Sentiments of things: and if there be a possibility of Division, it would be an unancountable Weakness, and great Oversight, not to secure our selves in so Important a Point.

VII. It is Repugnant to grant the Crown to Both, and fix the Administration in One; For the Administration is an Incident Inseparable from the Sovereignty. To be a King, or Queen, and not to have the Exercise of King, or Queen, is a Contradiction: a Departure from all the Rules that were ever laid down in Government, unless in case of Personal Incapacity, and therefore below a Masculine way of Reasoning.

Lastly. It supports the noble Maxim, That a neighbouring Nation may take Arms to assist the Rescue of a People oppressed by Tyranny. And Foreign Princes will be apt to look into themselves, when they hear, by our Example of Gratitude, That they are no longer Safe, than Just to their Subjects.

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Good Advice before it be too Late: Being a BREVIATE for the CONVENTION: Humbly Represented to the Lords and Commons of England.

WHereas we cannot but be made very apprehensive by those several efficacious Papers, such as Dr. B's, Mr. F's, A Word to the Wise; and another as close, Four Questions Debated, and the like; which go about, left the swaying part of the Nation should be so much intent upon One Th [...]ng, as that Others be neglected; or lest they be so taken up with putting the Crown upon an Head most deserving it, as that they forget what is to be done first; which is, The Consideration of the Constitution of the Realm, and the declaring that Constitution, before any Person be admitted into actual Regiment; it being common for those that look but on one Thing, to be too sudden. We therefore judg it meet, That this ensuing Paper, which was in a few Copies given to some Members of the Houses, for preventing that Evil, should also be made publick, to go abroad with such Papers as those of the former Nature. For, as it is wise in a People when they make any Compact, whether with their Rulers, or others, that though they believe the Party they deal with to be the best in the World, to treat with him for all that, and be as punctual upon the Terms to make all secure, as if they were dealing with the worst: So it is also honest for them, in seeking the Good of their Country, to deny Self-interest, and to prefer the benefiting a Nation, before the magnifying any single Person whatsoever.

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The BREVIATE.

THE People of this Nation are by Birth a Free People, who are born to a Liberty of Person and Propriety in their Goods and Lands; and therefore England is rightly call'd a Free State.

To understand the Government, we must know that these two Things are always to be distinguished, the Constitution, and the Administration.

The Constitution of a Government does lie in the Original Agreement of the People, which they make between themselves, or with their intended Governour, or Governours, before the Government be set up, whether there be none before, or the Former at an end.

When the People are in such a State, while there is no Order of Superiority, or Inferiority introduced, it is called a Community: When a Ruler is chose, so that there is a Ruling and Ruled Part, it is a Society, or called a Common-Wealth.

Let us suppose a Company of Families, that having no dependance on one another, nor any one having Power over the other, yet living near each other, do find it convenient to join together in a Society, for mutual Defence against some Foreign Enemy, or for the reaping several Advantages which they shall receive by it. The Heads or Representatives of these Families assembled, are to consider what is to be done in order to these Ends.

Three Things more especially they must consult upon;

1. What Government (as to the Sort or Kind) is best for them?

2. Who shall be Governour or Governours?

3. And by what Laws or Rules they shall govern, who are entrusted with the Supreme Power?

And more particularly, in relation to what Measure of it they will allow them to have over their Persons and Estates, to use them as they have Occasion, for the Publick Good. For when they are yet free in both, the Governour can have Power so far, but no farther than they at first consent. Whatsoever [Page] Reservations of Liberty the People make in their Agreement, these are to be look'd upon as their Rights by the Laws of the Constitution, and essential thereunto, and consequently inviolable by any of these Governours whom they set up for the Administration; the very Laws of the Administration being void, so far as they interfere with any of these of the Constitution.

The Constitution and Laws thereof being agreed upon, and it being impossible for Humane Prudence to foresee all Accidents, which must be provided for; therefore as they arise, the Administration necessarily must lie in these two Things: The making farther Laws (subordinate still to those forepriz'd) as occasion requires, and seeing them executed, that is, in Legislation and Judgment. The One is the Business of the Supreme Authority; the Other of the Inferior Magistrates or Officers, and Executioners of the same, according to that Fundamental Agreement made by the People.

Our Government now, as constituted in order to this Administration, is, we know, a mixt Government. A Government is known to be pure or mixt, by the placing the Supreme Authority. If the People place it singly in the King, or singly in the Nobles, or singly in the People, then it is a pure Monarchy, Aristocracy, or Democracy: But when it is placed in all Three, it is a mixt Government, as Ours is, where there are no Laws in the Administration made but by King, Lords, and Commons.

These Things I pursue only so far as is necessary, to the reaching my main Purpose; and the leading me to a right discernment of the present Condition into which we are now brought in regard to this said Government.

The Supreme Power of the Nation being placed in a Parliament, which is a Corporation of King, Lords, and Commons, that is, the Supreme Authority residing in King, Lords and Commons, as One Corporation, there does appear, at this Conjuncture, a Dissolution of the Government; A Dissolution manifestly, as to the Exercise of it. This Appearance does arise from the opening of the last Scene. For the King being now gone, gone from his People, and departing from his Government, that One Corporation (we speak of) is broke; so that there remains now no subject for that supreme Authority; [Page] It being evident, that a Parliament, wherein an Essential point of our Constitution does consist, cannot now be Assembled: And the Providence of God it self hath extraordinarily determin'd our Case. If a King dies, he hath a Successor, and the Right devolves upon Him; but whilst the King lives, he hath no Successor, and the Right remaining in Him and no Other; and he being divided from his Lords and Commons, the Subject of the Supreme Power, or this One Corporation (whereof the King is a Chief, Essential, and Constituent Part) does perfectly cease, and must necessarily cause a Dissolution.

I choose not to found this upon what does more convince Others, which comes to this Account: The King, by his frequent Malversation in the Government, and rooted Design of subverting our Religious and Civil Rights, for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power and Popery, which being aggravated by such an Endeavour, as the destroying that Share in the Government, which every Commoner hath, that hath Right to choose his Representative in Parliament, by his Garbling Corporations, and so evacuating this Liberty in effect; and by such an endeavour also, as the exterminating his Protestant Subjects; seeing that Religion which he would have introduced, is such, as by the Principles of it, if it comes into Domination, must do so to all Hereticks; and thereupon may he be look'd on no longer as Rex, but Hostis, and Hostis Publicus: Besides, the subjecting us to a Foreign Jurisdiction, and the very changing the Government, by that indefinite Dispensing Power over the Laws, as was carved to him by his Judges, from Regal to Despotical: It is judged by them, that he is fallen thereupon from his Royal Dignity; and that the Universality thereby have Warrant not only to defend themselves against him, but by Vertue of that Sanction, which is tacitly implyed in the Laws of the Constitution, to proceed on to take the Forfeiture He hath made of his Government, and Depose Him: For it is a fond thing, (think they) to imagine any Laws without a Sanction; and impossible there should be any other Sanction in Treaties between Free Nations, or between a Free People, and the Governour they set over Themselves, than Force to be used by the Parties concern'd; there being no Third Party on Earth to appeal to, in such Cases.

[Page]However this be, it being taken for granted, That the Government is dissolved, and I suppose upon that preceding Account, of the One Corporation (I say) being broke, the Supreme Authority that lay before in the Three as united in One, does escheat, or fall to the Community; who must therefore choose a new Subject for that Power; and it lies at their Discretion to place it in what Subject they please: They may lodg it in the Lords and Commons alone, without a King, if they think that Government best; the matter lies altogether upon their Agreement, and Consent. I suppose it most likely, that they will agree to place it again in a Monarch, Lords and Commons (the Person only left at Choice, and Care had to prevent all Danger of Law in the Case) according to the Ancient Constitution; Though what Man can know the Mind of a Nation, when once come together, if he knows his own Mind?

There is one thing we have now Opportunity to obtain, which we can never recover again, if it be lost; and that is, what His Highness the Prince of Orange hath made one of his two Designs, The Delivery of the People from Slavery; which can never be done effectually, and radically, but upon this Advantage. The delivering us from Popery, is contained in the setling our Religion; and that being a Work of great length, is the business more properly of a Parliament; but this is a thing must be done by the Community, and consequently by thofe that are the Representatives of it, a Convention, so called (in regard to a higher Capacity hereunto) and not a Parliament; for that represents the People, not as in a Community, but as in a Common-wealth, where there is pars imperans, as well as subdita, which now is not. A Parliament makes Laws for the Administration, but the People as in a Community make Laws for the Constitution.

I would therefore humbly offer it to the Consideration of those, who shall meet as Members of this Convention, That, in order to the Effect premised, they do but agree and pitch upon this one certain Point of good Policy, that where they place the Supream Authority, they lay also the Rights or Properties of it; that is, the Iura Majestatis (Majestas being Maxima Potestas) all together.

[Page]The Rights of Majesty, or the Supream Power, are mainly these: The first is Legislation, or making Laws; and this undoubtedly lies in a Parliament. The next, is the Power of raising Arms, or Armies, or the Militia, the Power of making Peace and War, or the Power of the Sword, which is necessary to maintain those Laws. The third is a Power over our Estates, or the Purse, or raising Mony, which must maintain the Sword. A fourth, is the Power of choosing Magistrates to rule Us according to these Laws; such as Judges and Sheriffs, to name no other. A fifth, is the last Appeal. Now let but the Power of the Militia and choosing Magistrates, be laid where Legislation is, and we shall be fundamentally delivered from all Slavery for ever in the Nation.

If we be enslaved or oppressed by any Prince for the time to come, it must be either by Force or by Injustice. We cannot be oppressed by Force, because no Forces then can be raised by Him, but by a Parliament. He cannot rule by an Army, or by Violence; for the Militia is in the Lords and Commons, as well as in Him, and they will not let him do so: We cannot be oppressed with Injustice; for the Iudges and Officers entrusted with the Execution of Iustice, shall be chosen also by them, and they will look to that.

It is true, while no Parliament sits, the King by Virtue of the Executive Power lying in him, may raise Arms, and put in Officers and Magistrates as there i [...] need; but both these are to be done under the Controul of the next Parliament (which are therefore to sit often by ancient Statutes) there being no War to be levied, nor Magistrates confirmed, without their Approbation.

Let us remember the State we are in, a State that puts the Supream Power in the Hands of the People, to place it as they will: and therefore to bound and limit it as they see fit for the publick Utility; and if they do it not now, the Ages to come will have occasion to blame them for ever. When the Supream Power is upon the disposing, if they do not take this Item, as part of their proper Work, To bind the Descent of it to a Protestant, I shall blame them: But I shall do so much more, if after the Danger we have been in, of Arbitrary Domination and Popery, by the King's raising Arms, and putting Judges in and out at his Pleasure, they do not take more care of the [Page] Supream Power, to lay it and its Rights better together: Especially, seeing nothing can indeed be that in Nature, which it is, without its Properties. This is uniform (I must persist) to the Nature of Government; that where the Supream Authority is, there must be its Prerogatives; and where the chief or principal Rights of it is, there should all the rest which depend upon, and belong to it, be placed also: Where Legislation is lodged, there should the Militia, there should the Power of making Judges, to name nothing more than serves my turn, be lodged also. It is this hath been the great Declension, Fault, or Defect of our English Common-Wealth, that the People have suffered these Rights of Soveraignty, to come to be divided, arising (we must conceive) from the Administration, that is, Male-Administration, as appears, for Example, in the Militia, which upon the fresh coming in of the late King, was in two or three hot Acts, declared now and ever to have been in the King; when both the Assertion was gross Flattery, and such Acts void, as fundamentally repugnant to the Constitution.

There is one Difficulty to be thought on, and that is, the Negative Voice of the Prince in his Parliament. The Lords and Commons may agree upon some Law for the publick Benefit, and the King alone may refuse to pass it. If he be obstinate, this is a great Evil, and might really make one think, it would be better therefore (for the preventing this Inconv [...] nience) to place the Supream Power in Lords and Commons only, without a Controler. Unto which may be added, the Power of Calling and Dissolving Parliaments at pleasure; by virtue whereof, our Kings hitherto have pretended a Power predominant over them. But forasmuch as these Prerogatives may be disputed, and the Negative Voice hath been deny'd by many Judicious Men, who have pleaded the Obligation of former Princes to confirm those Laws, quas vulgus elegerit; it is to be hoped that the Wisdom of the Nation will be able to find out some Expedient or Salve for this Difficulty, and for more than that also; so long as they have the Golden Opportunity, to bring a Crown in one Hand, with their Terms or Conditions in the other.

As for the several Grievances that need Redress, and many good Things that are wanting to compleat the Happiness of [Page] our Kingdom; there may be some Foundation laid happily, or Preparations made in order thereunto by this Convention; but as belonging to the Administration, and being Matters of long Debate, they are the Work more properly of an ensuing Parliament. Only let not the Members of this present Great Assembly forget, that they having so unlimited a Power, and the Nation such an Opportunity, which, as the Secular Games, they are never like to see but once, they are more strictly therefore bound in Conscience, and in Duty to their Country, to neglect no kind of thing, which they judg absolutely necessary to the publick Good. I care not if I commend three or four such Particulars against the time to Consultation, which shall be these: A Regulation of Westminster-Hall: A Provision against buying or selling of Offices: A Register of Estates: A Freedom from Persecution (by a Bill for Comprehension and Indulgence) in the business of Religion: A Redemption of the Chimny Mony, which bringing the King to be Lord of every Man's House, is against Property; and an over-Ballance in the Revenue, is against the Interest of the Nation.

THE Breviate bing ended, we cannot but reflect upon the King; there being so much Concern in the Minds of many, about their Allegiance to Him, though He be gone: But such Persons as these should look a little more to the Bottom, That a People is not made for the King, but the King for the Peole: And though He be greater than them in some Respects; yet, quoad finem, the People are always greater than Him: That is, If the Good of the one, and the other, stand in Competition, there is no Comparison, but a Nation is to be preferr'd before one Man. (As appears by the Opinion of King Iames the First, hereto annexed.) If the Being of them be inconsistent one with another, there is no doubt, but it is better that a King cease, than that a whole Nation should perish. And upon such a Supposition as this, all Obligation as to Duty must cease likewise. There are some tacit Conditions in all Oaths, as the best Casuists tell us (such as Rebus sic stantibus, for one) that we must steer our Consciences by in these Cases; He is the Minister of God for our Good, says the Scripture: And if any [Page] Prince therefore be under those Circumstances, as that it cannot be for the Peoples Good that he should rule over them; we do look upon such a Ruler to be bound in Conscience to give up his Government, as being no Minister of God upon that Account: And so, having no Authority from God for that Office, the Peoples Obligation to be subject to Him, is at an end with it. If they obey him longer, it is for Wrath, not for Conscience sake. If his Majesty now of Great Britain, out of some deep Sense, that he, being a Roman Catholick, cannot rule, and be true to his Religion, (which he may suppose does oblige him to an Establishment thereof by all the ways and means of his Church, though never so destructive to ours (but it will be to the Hurt, not Good of us who are Protestants) hath been pleased to withdraw himself from his Government, to make us more quiet and happy; We are in all Gratitude to acknowledg his Piety, Goodness, and Condescention to be so much, as very few of his Subjects could ever have suspected: But if it be out of another Mind he hath done it, We have still more Reason to bless Almighty God, who does often serve his Providence by Mens Improvidence; and cutting off Mens Ends from their Means, he uses their Means to his own Ends, when he is pleased to work Deliverance for a People; as he hath at this Season, so graciously and wonderfully done for Us, that there is nothing more needful, even to the most scrupulous Conscience, than an humble and awful Acquiescence in the Divine Counsel, to give Satisfaction in this Matter.

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King IAMES the First his Opinion of a KING, of a TYRANT, and of the English Laws, Rights and Priviledges. In two Speeches; The First to the Parliament 1603, the Second 1609.

In his Speech to the Parliament 1603, he expresseth himself thus:

I Do acknowledg that the special and greatest Point of difference that is betwixt a Rightful King and an Usurping Tyrant, is in this: That whereas the proud and ambitious Tyrant doth think his Kingdom and People, are only ordained for satisfaction of his Desires, and unreasonable Appetites; The Righteous and Iust King doth by the contrary acknowledg himself to be Ordained for the procuring of the Wealth and Prosperity of his People; and that his great and principal worldly Felicity, must consist in their Prosperity. If you be Rich, I cannot be Poor; if you be Happy, I cannot but be Fortunate: And I protest, your Welfare shall ever be my greatest Care and Contentment. And that I am a Servant, it is most true, that as I am Head and Governour of all the People in my Dominion, who are my natural Subjects, considering them in distinct Ranks: So if we will take in the People as one Body; then as the Head is ordained for the Body, a [...]d not the Body for the Head, so must a[Page]Righteous King know himself to be ordained for his People, and not his People for Him.

Wherefore I will never be ashamed to confess it my principal Honour to be the great Servant of the Common-Wealth; and ever think the Prosperity thereof to be my greatest Felilicity, &c.

In his Speech to the Parliament, March 21. 1609, he expresseth himself thus:

IN these our Times we are to distinguish betwixt the State of Kings in the first Original, and between the State of settled Kings and Monarchs, that do at this Time Govern in Civil Kingdoms: For even as God, during the Time of the Old Testament, spake by Oracles, and wrought by Miracles; yet how soon it pleased him to settle a Church, (which was Bought and Redeemed by the Blood of his only Son Christ) then was there a Cessation of both: He ever after governing his Church and People within the Limits of his revealed Will. So in the first Original of Kings, whereof some had their beginning by Conquest, and some by Election of the People, their Wills at that Time served for a Law; yet how soon Kingdoms began to be settled in Civility and Policy, then did Kings set down their Minds by Laws, which are properly made by the King only; but at the Rogation of the People, the King's Grant being obtained thereunto; and so the King came to be Lex loquens, a speaking Law, after a sort binding himself by a double Oath to the Observation of the Fundamental Laws of his Kingdom: Tacitly, as by being a King, and so bound to protect, as well the People, as the Laws of his Kingdom; and expresly by his Oath at his Coronation: So as every just King in a settled Kingdom is bound to observe that Paction made to his People by his Laws, in framing his Government agreeable thereunto, according to that Paction which God made with Noah after the Deluge: Hereafter, Seed-time and Harvest, Summer and Winter, Cold and Heat, Day and Night shall not cease, so long as the Earth remains. And [...]herefore a King Governing in a settled[Page]Kingdom, leaves to be a King, and degener [...]tes into a Tyrant, as soon as he leaves off to rule according to his Laws. In which Case the King's Conscience may speak unto him as the poor Widow said to Philip of Macedon, Either Govern according to your Law, aut ne Rex [...]is, or cease to be King; and tho no Christian Man ought to allow any Rebellion of People against their Prince, yet doth God never leave Kings unpunished when they transgress these Limits. For in that same Psalm where God saith to Kings, Vos Dii estis, Ye are Gods; He immediately thereafter conclude, But ye shall die like Men: The higher we are placed, the greater shall our Fall be; Vt casus sic dolor, as the Fall, so the Gri [...]f, the taller the Trees be, the more in danger of the Wind; and the Tempest beats sorest upon the highest Mountains. Therefore all Kings that are no Tyrants, or Perjured, will be glad to bound themselves within the Limits of their Laws; and they that perswade them the contrary, are Vipers and Pests, both against them and the Common-Wealth. For it is a great difference betwixt a King's Government in a settled Estate, and what Kings in their Original Power might do in Individio vago. As for my part, I thank God I have ever given good proof that I never had Intention to the contrary: And I am sure to go to my Grave with that Reputation and Comfort, That never King was in all his Time more careful to have his Laws duly observed, and himself to govern thereafter, than I.

That Just Kings will ever be willing to declare what they will do, if they will not incur the Curse of God. I will not be content that my Power be disputed upon, but I shall ever be willing to make the Reason appear of all my Doings, and rule my Actions according to the Laws.

And afterwards speaking of the Common Law of England, which some conceived he contemned, saith to this purpose; That as a King, he had least cause of any Man to dislike the Common Law; for no Law can be more favourable or advantageous for a King; and extendeth further his Prerogative than it doth; and for a King of England to despise the Common Law, is to neglect his own Crown. It is true, that no Kingdom in the World, but every one of them hath their own Municipal Laws agreeable to their Customs, as this Kingdom hath the Common Law. Nay, I am so far from disallowing the Common Law, as I protest that if it were in my Hand to chuse a new Law for this Kingdom, [Page] I would not only prefer it before any other National Law, but even before the very Judicial Law of Moses, for conveniency to this Kingdom at this Time, tho in another respect I must say, both our Law, and all Laws else are very inferiour to that Judicial Law of God; for no Book nor Law is perfect nor free from Corruption, except only the Book and Law of God. And therefore I could wish that some Corruptions might be purged and cleared in the Common Law, but always by the Advice of Parliaments; for the King with his Parliament here are Absolute, in making or forming any sort of Laws.

First, I could wish that it were written in our Vulgar Language; for now it is an old mixt corrupt Language, only understood by Lawyers: Whereas every Subject ought to understand the Law under which he lives; since it is our Plea against the Papists, that the Language in God's Service ought not to be in an Unknown Tongue, according to the Rule in the Law of Moses, That the Law should be written in the Fringes of the Priests Garment, and should be publickly read in the Ears of all the People; so me thinks ought our Law to be made as plain as can be to the People, that the excuse of Ignorance may be taken from them for conforming themselves thereunto.

Next, our Common Law hath not a settled Text, being chiefly grounded upon old Customs, which you call Responsa Prudentum — I could wish that some more certain were set down in this case by Parliament: for since the Reports themselves are not are not always so binding, but that divers times Judges do disclaim them, and recede from the Judgment of their Predecessors: It were good that upon a mature deliberation, the Exposition of the Law were set down by Act of Parliament, and such Reports therein confirmed, as were thought fit to serve for Law in all times hereafter, and so the People should not depend upon the bare Opinions of Judges, and uncertain Reports.

And lastly, there be in the Law contrary Reports and Precedents; and this Corruption doth likewise concern the Statutes and Acts of Parliament, in respect there are divers cross and cuffing Statutes, and some so penn'd as they may be taken in divers, yea contrary Sences. And therefore could I wish both those Statutes and Reports, as well in the Parliament, as Common Law, to be once materially reviewed and reconciled.

[Page]And that not only Contrarieties should be scraped out of our Books, but that even such Penal Statutes as were made but for the use of the time (for breach whereof no Man can be free) which do not now agree with the condition of this our time, might likewise be left out of our Books, which under a tyrannous and avaricious King could not be endured.

And this Reformation might, we think, be made a worthy Work, and well deserves a Parliament to be set of purpose for it, &c.

And as to the Point of Grievances, tells them, That there are two special Causes of the Peoples presenting Grievances to their King in time of Parliament.

First, For that the King cannot at other times be so well informed of all the Grievances of his People, as in time of Parliament, which is the Representative Body of the whole Realm. Secondly, The Parliament is the highest Court of Justice, and therefore the fittest place where divers Natures of Grievances may have their proper Remedy, by the establishment of good and wholsome Laws: Wherein he addresses himself especially to the Lower House, who as representing the Body of the People, may, as it were, both Opportunè & Inopportunè, in Season, and out of Season; I mean, either in Parliament as a Body, or out of Parliament as private Men, present your Grievances unto me.—

I am not to find fault that you inform your selves of the particular Grievances of the People: Nay, I must tell you, ye can neither be just nor faithful to me, or to your Countries that trust and employ you, if you do not; for true Plaints proceed not from the Persons employed, but from the Body represented, which is the People. And it may very well be, that many Directions and Commissions justly given forth by me, may be abused in the execution thereof upon the People, and yet I never receive Information, except it come by your means at such a time as this is.

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Proposals to this present Convention, for the perpetual Security of the Protestant Religion, and the Liberty of the Subjects of England. Humbly Offer'd by the Author of the BREVIATE.

AFter the Great Blessings that seem designed for the whole Nation, from the happy Agreement between the Two Houses, in that great Point before them, the Vacan [...]y of the Throne; I cannot but crave Pardon and leave to put the Representatives of the Nation in remembrance, that though this Vacating of the Throne opens so large a Door to our Great and many Deliverances, yet our lasting Security is not intirely compleated here; and that th [...]refore they baulk not the next Point, which is as stoutly to be asserted, viz▪ That the Power now of setling the Government, and filling the Vacancy, is reverted to the Community, whereof they are the Representatives. This is an opportunity we are like never to have again in the World; and a Precedent ought to be made for the Ages to come. It is not to be thought, after an Agreement on the first Point, but that this Convention is willing to invest the Prince of Orange with the Government, during his Life; (for they say, both the Princesses are willing it should be so, and no prejudice to either:) But how this can be orderly done, until the Power be asserted; let the Wisdom of the Nation consider, and lay it well to Heart.

There is One main objection. If the Convention choo [...]e a King and Queen at this Time, then will the Government be for ever Elective. But this is a great Mistake: for, we must know it is the Constitution of a Government, which makes it Elective or Hereditary, and not One Actual Choice, or single Precedent. This being (note that well) by a Convention, not a Parliament▪ whilst in the present Juncture, that Vacancy in the Throne (which may never happen again to the End of the World,) leaves us no other Expedient of reestablishing our Government, then by Electing Our Governour.

When an Hereditary Kingdom is set up that was none before, the Person on Necessity must be by Election at first; though [Page] at the same time, the Compact of Obedience to the Person so Elected, and to his Heirs in Succession after him, may be such, that what at first was in the peoples Power and Right to give, after submission payed, will never lie in their Power to resume back. The Case is the same here▪ And if we understand then, when it is resolved, that the Throne is vacant, or Government dissolved, (which is all one) the meaning is not, that the Constitution of the Government is dissolved (for therefore is it so warily express) Su [...] the Government [...] the Administration. It is Essential to Government to have [...] Imperans, and pars subdita; and the pars Imper [...] failing (as in our Case) the Government is [...]; I that is, it is dissolved so, as there can be no Exercise of it, [...] it be setled again▪ Nothing that the King can do, or [...] can do, can vacate the Constitution. It is That they both Derive from and bold by. Only the Commu [...]ity being those, as firsts made it, (it must be confest) they can dissolve it, or Change it, if they think fit. The King hath not yet dissolv'd it, but the Convention (being, upon the Dissolution of the Government, in the Exercise call'd this together, as Deputies of the Community, to set that up,) may do so: or what is better; they may confirm the Fundamental [...] of it, and mend the rest, as they see good. It were then Advisable; both for the Honour and Safety of the Nation, That the Convention did agree and declare, that the Government of England be still an Hereditary Li [...]i [...]ed Monarchy; with this change only, that the Descent of the [...]own, be found to a Protestant. This [...] Objection for ever.

Be it agreed and declared again, that the Governme [...]t be still a [...] Government ▪ and that the Supream Legislative Power with all the Rights and Properties of it▪ do, and shall lie in a Parliament.

For Gods sake and Your Countries, use your present Advantage; lest you [...] for the loss of so favourable an offered Opportunity never to be regained.

The Constitu [...]ion (I say) of the Gov [...]nment should be considered and declared, and the Power of this Convention to dispose of New Gove [...]ours be asserted, before the actual Inve [...]titure of Any be concluded, if we resolve to be true Subjects of England, or have any Regard to Our Selves, on our Posterity, in a Concern for valuable, as Generations to come shall reap the Blessing of it, and acknowledg the Founders.

FINIS.

§

§

§

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A NINTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. A Dialogue between two Friends, wherein the Church of England is vindicated in joyning with the Prince of Orange in his Descent into England.

II. His late Majesty's Letter to the Lords and others of his Privy Council.

III. Some Remarks on the late King's pretended Letter to the Lords, and others of his Privy Council.

IV. Reasons for Crowning the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen jointly; and for placing the Executive Power in the Prince alone.

V. A Lord's Speech without Doors to the Lords, upon the present Condition of the Government.

VI. Reflections on a Paper, called, A Lord's Speech without Doors.

VII. The Bishops Reasons to Queen Elizabeth for taking off the Queen of Scots: offer'd to the Consideration of the present Sect of Grumbletonians.

With an Advertisement of the Learning and Rhetorick of the late Lord Chancellor Iefferies.

London printed, and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row, 1689.

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A DIALOGUE between two Friends, wherein the Church of England is Vindicated in joining with the Prince of Orange in his Descent into England.
A Dialogue between a Churchman and a Dissenter.

Churchman.OH! Neighbour, I am heartily glad to see you; I have long desired to have an hour's Discourse with you, that I might know your Sentiments of the Present Conjuncture.

Dissenter.

Sir, I thank you for my kind Reception, and shall endeavour to make my Visit as agreeable as I can.

Ch.

Well, Neighbour, what do you think of the Times now?

Diss.

Why, to tell you the truth, I cannot but be pleas'd with the Humour of a Gentleman, who died lately, and injoined his Relations to bury him with his Face downward, saying, That in a short time the World would be turned upsidedown, and then he should be the only Person who lay decently in his Grave.

Ch.

Why, I must confess there has been a considerable Revolution, but I hope we Churchmen have still kept up our Reputation.

Diss.

Ay to be sure; but I hear Hue and Cry has lately been sent after your Doctrines of Passive Obedience, Non-Resistance, Iure Divino-Monarchy, &c. And they say some Roguish Fellow [Page] has pack'd them up, and run with them back as far as Forty one.

Ch.

Indeed our Passive Obedience and your Addresses have been the two great Supporters of the King's Hopes; but he has now found, to his Sorrow, that we no more designed to obey Arbitrary Commands, than you Address'd for Establishment of Popery: But here's the Mischief of it, you Dissenters will still Be condemning us before you have heard us either Explain our Doctrines, or Distinguish the Times.

Diss.

Come, come, don't tell me of Explaining or Distinguishing, Honesty is Uniform, and needs no such Shifts: Why did you not Explain and Distinguish while the Court smil'd, and you had the Whip in your hands? As for our Addressing, 'tis plain to all the World we only designed to return the King Thanks for that Common Liberty and Ease we had from your Severities.

Ch.

'Pray' Neighbour, be not so warm; you know the Complement was attended with the Promise of Lives and Fortunes, but not to be too nice upon your Good-Breeding in the Case; lend me but a little Patience and I'll demonstrate to you that the Proceedings both of our Clergy and Laity in this late Revolution have been consonant to their former Doctrines, Reason it self, and the Constitution of this Kingdom.

Diss.

Well, I commend you at least for fair Promises, I wish you perform them better than a Great Man before you has performed his.

Ch.

That I shall leave to the Judgment of the Impartial: But first of all I must crave leave to tell you, That I shall not here undertake to defend the extravagant Notions of every Upstart, who, through Prospect of Advantage, might flatter the Court with his own Chimaera's: But, by the aforesaid Doctrines, I mean those generally preached up by the Learned and unbiass'd Clergy, and approved of by all the thinking Men of our Church.

Diss.

I must confess I cannot expect you should defend the Excesses of every Novice; but I can by no means reconcile these late Proceedings to those Doctrines which were Asserted by the most Learned of your Clergy.

Ch.

Which therefore of our Doctrines would you insinuate to me?

[Page]Diss.

Why▪ in short, to see a Company of People up in Arms, and joining with an Invader, who had so Zealously Asserted Passive Obedience, Non-Resistance, &c. and had taken several Oaths, disabling them upon any Pretence whatsoever to take up Arms without the King's Order, &c. This I say is a Riddle to me.

Ch.

Your Objection I confess is weighty, though obvious and the common talk; but being prepared by many Premeditations on this Subject, if you please to lend me a little Attention, I shall endeavour to satisfy your Difficulties.

Diss.

'Tis what my Charity much desires.

Ch.

First, therefore, to deal ingenuously with you, I confess, at the beginning of this Revolution I was under a very great Surprize: I, who have been in Arms for His Majesty, a warm stickler for the Church of England, puffed up with all the Bravado's and Excesses of an Oxford Loyalty, must needs be Alarmed to hear our Nobility and Gentry beating up for the Prince of Orange, even in the Bowels of our Country. But when I came more seriously to reflect upon the Foundations of our Government, as well as those antecedent Obligations which God Almighty has reserved as his own inviolable Prerogative, I began to regulate my Zeal by calmer measures. And making a more impartial and strict Inquiry into the Opinions of Learned Men concerning the Regal Power, I found this most generally agreed upon; viz. That the Obedience and Disobedience of Subjects must be measured by the peculiar Constitutions of every Kingdom, without respect either to the Jewish Polity, where things were determined by God Almighty's special Command, or the Behaviour of the Primitive Christians, who had few or no Legal Rights to Assert.

Diss.

Ay, but you Churchmen flattered the Court so long, till our Constitutions were all swallowed up in the Abyss of Prerogative.

Ch.

I must confess while Kings are a Protection to Liberty, Property and Religion, the World is naturally prone to flatter them; neither would it be good Breeding to make too nice Inquiries into the Limits of a Prince while he does not exceed them; but when Distress comes impetuously upon a Nation, when Life and All that is Sacred to us lies at Stake, then the Inquiry is not only just; but necessary.

[Page]Diss.

What Conditions therefore will you Churchmen at length confine your Prince too?

Ch.

Why, I shall present you with a short, but impartial view of the Constitutions of this Kingdom, as I find them most faithfully and ingenuously represented by the Royal Martyr in his Answer to the Nineteen Propositions, in these Words, viz. ‘There being Three kinds of Government among Men, Absolute Monarchy, Aristo [...]racy and Demo [...]racy, and all these having their particular Conveniences and Inconveniences, the Experience and Wisdom of our Ancestors hath so moulded this out of a mixture of these, as to give to this Kingdom the Conveniences of all Three, without the Inconveniences of any one, as long as the Balance hangs even between the Three Estates, and they run jointly on in their proper Chanel, &c. In this Kingdom the Laws are jointly made by a King, House of Peers, and House of Commons, chosen by the People, all having free Votes, and particular Priviledges, &c. And in this Kind of Regulated Monarchy, that the Prince may not make not use of his Power to the Hurt of those for whose Good he hath it, and make use of the Name of Publick Necessity for the Gain of his private Favorites and Followers, to the detriment of his People; the House of Commons (an excellent Conserver of Liberty) is solely entrusted with the Levying of Monys, and the Impeaching of those, who for their own Ends, though countenanced by any surreptitiously gotten Command of the King, have violated that Law which he is bound to protect, &c. Since therefore the Power Legally placed in both Houses, is more than sufficient to Prevent and Restrain the Power of Tyranny, &c. Our Answer is, Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari.’ So far this Royal Author. And indeed what could a generous Prince acknowledg, or a Priviledg-asserting Subject desire more? Therefore, upon the whole, it appears by the Confession of the best of Men, as well as the wisest of Princes, that we are under a Government so well appointed for Society and the Exigencies of Humane Kind, that nothing but Folly can think of Establishing a better, and nothing but a Jesuit disturb it: The Scriptures themselves seem to have meant it when they tell us that Caesar's Prerogative must never come in Competition with that of God Almighty, and that Governors shall be a Terror to evil Works. Here King [Page] and People have each their Territories, and all the Provision imaginable made against those Distractions which either Interest or Passion should attempt. From all which what can be more naturally inferred, but that we in this Kingdom are by no means obliged to resign up our selves to Violence and Oppression, but that Passive Obedience has its Limits, and the Oath of Allegiance its Restrictions: A regulated and conditionated Monarch can expect no Obedience from me but what is Conditional too; and what an Absurdity does it seem, that by a Legal Oath I should swear an absolute Obedience to that Authority which is not Absolute? Besides, those Subsidies which were granted by the Clergy in several of Queen Elizabeth's, Parliaments for the Relief of the French, Dutch and Scotch Protestants, against their Oppressors, plainly shew that it was all along the Opinion of the Church to Resist in case Rights and Religion were Invaded: Neither am I perswaded that the learned and unbyass'd Clergy of our present Church ever meant any other Obedience than an active Conformity to the Intent of the Law, or a Passive Submi [...]sion to the Penalties of it. Therefore [...]hough upon the Foundations of our Government, an impatient Spirit might with a great shew of Reason establish a very extensive Latitude, in asserting the Subjects Right; yet in Favour of Monarchy, which I Reverence, and with Respect to the Present Conjuncture, I shall only now trouble you with these four Propositions, supposing a mixt Government; 1. That Suspicions and Jealousies of a Prince's sinister Designs are no sufficient Grounds for Subjects violently to assert their Rights, but in this Case the Event of things mu [...]t be left to Providence. 2. That though one Man, or a greater number of Men receive manifest Injuries by the Abuses of Government, yet while they are but an inconsiderable part of the Community, they are in Duty bound rather to submit to Oppression, than interrupt the common Peace: But, 3. When Dangers become demonstrable, when Religion it self, and the very Foundations of Government are so undermined by the Insinuations of an inconsiderable party, who have obtained the Ear of their Prince, that its unavoidable Ruine must necessarily follow. In this Case I cannot see any Reason why Right may not be as [...]erted. But, 4. When a Foreign Prince with a considerable Army Invades a Nation, upon pretence of putting a stop to such [Page] violent Proceedings, besides, perhaps some just Causes of a War; I say in this Case, That the whole Nation may and ought to rise and put themselves in such a Posture, that they may be able to return him Thanks acording to the Merits of his Favours, without being jealous of his Greatness. And indeed our present Case is so circumstantiated, that I Question whether it may be paralle'd in History; and let any Man tell me where the Subjects of a Limited Monarchy, tired out with the Abuses of Government, did by sighting for their King encourage Oppression by the Blood of Thousands, when they might effect a Treaty in all probability with little or no Bloodshed, by joining with a Prince of their own Interest, who, perhaps, can shew more just Causes of a War than one?

Diss.

I must confess what you have said seems to carry a great deal of Reason and Moderation with it, which I must allow.

Ch.

Let but a moderate Papist lend me one grain of his own Principles, and I am confident he cannot but be of my Mind; for may we but modestly measure the King's future Proceedings (had we trusted him with Victory) by those we had already seen, how dismal would the Prospect be? Should we but recollect how barefacedly he has been striking at the Northern Heresy ever since the Oxford Parliament; what Mercy could we expect? How far some of the Protestant Nobility were engaged in an Association to assert their Rights, I shall not here pretend to determine, but this we may modestly presume, That all their Crimes were seen through a Popish Magnifying-Glass, and no Artifice neglected to ruine them. An ingenious Gentleman was deservedly applauded for his Rhetorical Colours in the Narrative of that Conspiracy, and I was well pleased with a Gentleman's Fancy, who imagined another Interest would now engage him to atone for his unhappy Continuance in the High-Commission Court, by Writing what he observed of the Popish Designs, during his stay there. Another eminent Instance of those Violences which were Encouraged above, was the Presenting Two and fifty Persons in the County of Northampton as disaffected to the Government, and branding them with all the Scandals imaginable; many of which I personally know to be as Faithful to the Crown, and in all Respects as honest and worthy Gentlemen as any in the [Page] Kingdom. But to come nearer the Present Conjuncture, how were our Law, Properties, and all, prostituted by a few Dispensing Gentlemen, some of them perfectly incapable of any Place of Trust, and all of suspected Integrity. How surprizing was it to see persons of the most contemptible Character placed among our Bishops; and all the sacred Authority lodged in a Court which was erected against an express Act of Parliament? What a Riddle was it that our learned Prelates (hitherto the great Supporters of the Crown) should be Imprisoned for acting according to their Consciences, in refusing to Read that which pretended to establish the greatest Liberty of Conscience? Could any one that saw Six hundred Scholars up in Arms, and chearfully demonstrating their Loyalty in the Western Rebellion, ever think to see the Fellows of Magdalen Colledg ingratefully turned out like Dogs, and perhaps one of the finest Foundations in Europe, become a Kennel for Miscreants, who were more unworthy to be Members of an University, upon the account of their Insufficiency, than they were incapable of it by Law? It seem'd almost a Jest to me to see in Christ-Church persons of that eminent Character and Learning, superintended by a Wretch not fit for common Converse. In which Society there is a Person in whom the Gentleman and the Scholar do very eminently meet, and who for his happy Conduct and great Care to maintain the Repute of that Colledg during these Violences, has certainly now all the Title to the Deanry that either merit, or the common Rules of Gratitude can afford him. But to proceed, I say to see how all Freedom of Elections to Parliament was in a manner taken away; how the Poll at Northampton was like to be Regulated by Powder and Bullet, and the whole Government managed by Father Petre, Pen, Lob, and a few more such mercenary Wretches; and all this to introduce a Religion contrary to Scripture, and destructive of all Society, for which we expected great things would have been said while the Asserters of it had Command of the Press, and the Countenance of a Prince, yet nothing was produced but Fallacy and Nonsense: These, I say, (not to mention the subverting Succession, a League with France, and those horrid Murthers laid to the Court) are Provocations too great even for Primitive Obedience: But seeing these Violences have in all probability found their period, and [Page] the Betrayers of God and their Country are now coming to Answer for themselves, I shall leave further Reflections to a free and unbyass'd Parliament.

Diss.

Ay, but what was it that encouraged these Violences? Was it not your unseasonable Zeal for an unlimited Obedience? your Oxford Decree, and such like Monuments of the Heats of that Age?

Ch.

Why, to tell you sincerely my Opinion in the Case; I am perswaded there were Two Parties in the Nation undermining the Government; the one by more secret and mysterious Methods endeavoured to introduce Popery; the other by more evident and bare-faced Proceedings, attempted the Extirpation of Monarchy: Therefore the Generality of the Churchmen being more sensible of the Designs of the latter, endeavoured to stand like Moses in the Gap with those you term unseasonable Doctrines, which I also take to be the Occasion of the Oxford Decree; for though in my own private Opinion I never approv'd of it, but wished it might have perish'd in the same Rogus with the Books it condemned; yet I am so well satisfied of the Learning and Integrity of those worthy Gentlemen who were chiefly concerned in it, that I do really believe it was only promoted for the Preservation of the Government.

Diss.

Ay, you Churchmen have such a way of Respecting one another, that you had like to have fooled us, and your selves out of all; neither could I ever find you were sensible of the approaching Calamities, till Oppression touch'd your own Copy-holds.

Ch.

What you object to us in this Case seems to redound to our greatest Honour: for by our Principles we had always such a Reverence for Monarchy, that we were willing to connive at the failings of a Prince as long as we could; but having our Rights established by Law, we knew when we came to be oppress'd: The very Foundations of our Government were assaulted, and so we were forced to make Enquiry into our Constitutions.

Diss.

So then at length you will acknowledg the Prince of Orange not only to be a great, but a just Deliverer.

Ch.

Since I have been better acquainted with the horrid Designs of our Adversaries, and found the Contest to be only [Page] between Papist and Protestant, I am not only highly sensible of the Prince's Generosity, but have inserted the Justice of his Cause from the marvellous Providences when have wrought his Success: It is certainly part of his Character, that as his first Pretences were modest, so Fortune has not tempted him to exceed them; and we have still all the Reason in the World to imagine that he only generously designed to relieve us from Oppression, without any sinister Intent of making himself Great: The Noble Cause he has undertaken is the Protestant Interest, and I doubt not but the Lord of Hosts will fight his Battels. Indeed the Success of this his first Enterprize has been so wonderful and surprizing, that it will make an Annal suspected, and seem a Fable to Posterity: For who will believe that a King, who, had he acted agreeably to the true Interest of Himself and People, might have been almost the Balance of Christendom, who was prepared with a standing Army, and always Remarkable for his Conduct in War, should be invaded by a near Neighbour, Son, and Nephew; and now in a Months time so generally deserted by his Nobility, Gentry, and Military Forces, as to choose, before the Sword was drawn, to fly for Refuge to a Prince whose Title he and his Ancestors had long disputed? This, I say (as the Learned Dr. Burnet Argues at large) was the Lords doing, and ought to be marvellous in our Eyes.

Diss.

It was indeed an unparall'd Act of Providence; but now our Deliverance is so far Compleated, what are you Churchmen willing to do towards an Accommodation, and to the Healing of those Differences which in a great measure have contributed to the Growth of Popery?

Ch.

Though it be far above my Character to dictate what is fittest to be done at so great and difficult a Conjuncture, yet my humble Wishes, are, that the Guardians and Supporters of our Church may resolve upon such Condescentions as may satisfy reasonable Men, and prevent any longer Dissensions amongst us: Yet this I would advise you and your Party, i. e. to stay till you are Invited, and not to thrust your selves into our Church: We are now in the hopeful Crisis of our Fever; and therefore you ought to take care left by tampering too much, you disturb Nature in those methods she has took to digest her Humours, and so ruine all. I am not ignorant that at the beginning [Page] of the Reformation when a Church was to be made out of a Church, several Ceremonies were retained in Compliance to that Age, which a violent; Alteration would have too much surprized; but now, the Humours of Men being changed, may justly be laid aside. On the other hand, I am perswaded with the Author of Foxes and Firebrands, that Rome has all along been industrious to foment our Divisions, by sending us Emissaries, who could artificially dissemble a tender Conscience, and make credulous People believe that all the Decencies of our Worship were nothing but [...]oppery, Superstition, and the Remainders of Popery: Therefore I say my Wishes are, that a Free and Unbyass'd Parliament will tread the middle path, bearing an equal Respect to the Decenies of our Church, and the tender Consciences of reasonable Men.

Diss.

Well, Neighbour, I am heartily glad to see these happy effects of our Calamities; and, as I think, there can be no Government so perfectly appointed as to satisfy all, yet I approve so well of your Temper and Wishes, that I hope we may all Unite upon such or the like terms.

Ch.

Therefore to end our Dispute, I shall only now detain you with my hearty Prayers, that the Result of this ensuing Convention on Ian. 22. may be happily to settle the Crown; and that in the succeeding Parliament, the management of these Difficulties may fall into the Hands of such Wise and Unbyass'd Persons, that Peace and Truth may be established upon everlasting Foundations, and no sinister Interest interrupt so great a Design.

Diss.

Sir, you have infinitely encouraged me to wait upon you oftner, we being I think now either both Churchmen, or both Dissenters.

Ch.

Sir, The Design of this Conference was to tell you freely my Sentiments, and I intend ere long to make it more publick, being willing to provoke some more learned and judicious Pen to perfect what I have here weakly attempted.

Farewel.

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His Majesties Letter to the Lords and Others of his Privy Councel.

JAMES R.

MY Lords, When we saw that it was no longer safe for Us to remain within Our Kingdom of England, and that thereupon. We had taken Our Resolutions to withdraw for some time, We left to be communicated to you and to all Our Subjects, the Reasons of Our withdrawing: And were likewise resolved at the same, time to leave such Orders behind Us to you of our Privy Councel, as might best suit with the present state of Affairs: But that being altogether unsafe for Us at that time; We now think fit to let you know, that though it has been Our constant care since Our first Accession to the Crown, to govern Our People with that Justice and Moderation, as to give, if possible, no occasion of Complaint; yet more particularly upon the late Invasion, seeing how the Design was laid; and fearing that Our People, who could not be destroy'd but by themselves, might by little imaginary Grievances, be cheated into a certain Ruine: To prevent so great Mischief, and to take away not only, all just Causes, but even Pretences of Discontent; We freely, and of our own accord redressed all those things that were set forth as the Causes of that Invasion: And that we might be informed by the Councel and Advice of our Subjects themselves, which way we might give them a further and a full Satisfaction, We resolved to meet them in a Free Parliament; And in order to it, We first laid the Foundation of such a Free Parliament, in restoring the City of London and the rest of the Corporations to their ancient Charters and Priviledges; and afterwards actually appointed the Writs to be issued out for the Parliaments meeting on the 15th of Ianuary: But the Prince of Orange seeing all the [Page] Ends of his Declaration answered, the People beginning to be undeceived, and returning apace to their ancient Duty and Allegiance; and well fore-seeing that if the Parliament should meet at the time appointed, such a Settlement in all Probability would be made, both in Church and State, as would totally defeat his ambitious and unjust Designs, resolved by all means possible to prevent the meeting of the Parliament: And to do this the most effectual way, he thought fit to lay a restraint on Our Royal Person; for as it were absurd to call that a Free Parliament, where there is any force on either of the Houses, so much less can that Parliament be said to act freely where the Soveraign, by whose Authority they Meet and Sit, and from whose Royal Assent all their Acts receive their Life and Sanction, is under actual Confinement. The hurrying of Us under a Guard from Our City of London, whose returning Loyalty We could no longer trust, and the other Indignities We suffered in the Person of the Earl of Feversham when sent to him by Us; and in that barbarous Confinement of Our own Person, We shall not here repeat, because they are We doubt not by this time very well known; and may, we hope, if enough considered and reflected upon, together with his other Violations and Breaches of the Laws and Liberties of England, which by this Invasion he pretended to restore, be sufficient to open the Eyes of all our Subjects, and let them plainly see what every one of them may expect, and what Treatment they shall find-from him, if at any time it may serve his Purpose, from whose Hands a Soveraign Prince, an Uncle, and a Father could meet with no better Entertainment. However, the sense of these Indignities, and the just Apprehension of further Attempts against Our Person, by them who already endeavoured to murther Our Reputation by infamous Calumnies (as if We had been capable of supposing a Prince of Wales) which was incomparably more injurious, than the destroying of Our Person it Self; together with a serious Reflection on a Saying of Our Royal Father of blessed Memory, when He was in the like Circumstances, That there is little distance between the Prisons and the Graves of Princes (which afterwards proved too true in His Case) could not but persuade Us to make use of that which the Law of Nature gives to the meanest of Our Subjects of freeing Our selves by all means possible from that unjust Confinement [Page] and Restraint. And this We did not more for the Security of our own Person, then that thereby We might be in a better Capacity of transacting and providing for every thing that may contribute to the Peace and Settlement of Our Kingdoms: For as on the one hand, no change of Fortune shall ever make Us forget Our Selves, so far as to condescend to any thing unbecoming that High and Royal Station, in which God Almighty by Right of Succession has placed Us: So on the other hand, neither the Provocation or Ingratitude of Our own Subj [...]cts, nor any other Consideration whatsoever, shall ever prevail with Us to make the least step contrary to the true Interest of the English Nation; which We ever did, and ever must look upon as Our own. Our Will and Pleasure thereof is, That you of Our Privy Councel, take the most effectual care to make these Our Gratious Intentions known to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about Our Cities of London and Westminster, to the Lord Mayor and Commons of our City of London, and to all Our Subjects in general; and to assure them, that We desire nothing more, than to return and hold a Free Parliament, wherein We may have the best Opportunity of undeceiving Our People, and shewing the Sincerity of those Protestations We have often made of the preserving the Liberties and Properties of Our Subjects and the Protestant Religion; more especially the Church of England as by Law establish'd, with such Indulgence for those that dissent from Her, as We have always thought Our selves in Justice and Care of the general Welfare of Our People bound to procure for them. And in the mean time You of Our Privy Councel, (who can judg better by being upon the place) are to send Us your Advice, what is fit to be done by Us towards Our returning and the accomplishing those good Ends. And We do require you in Our Name, and by Our Authority, to endeavour so to suppress all Tumults and Disorders, that the Nation in general, and every one of Our Subjects in particular, may not receive the least Prejudice from the present Distractions that is possible. So not doubting of your Dutiful Obedience to these Our Royal Commands, We bid you heartily Farewel. Given at St. Germans on Laye the 4/4 Ianuary 1688/9. And of Our Reign the fourth Year.

By his Majesties Command. MELFORT.

Directed thus, To the Lords, and Others of our Privy Councel of Our Kingdom of England.

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Some Remarks on the late Kings pretended Letter to the LORDS, and Others of his Privy Council.

IT begins thus, My Lords, When we saw that it was no longer safe for us to remain within our Kingdom of England, &c.

His Majesty would have given great Satisfaction to the World in discovering where the Danger lay in tarrying here; from whom, and for what cause.

He is pleased to say farther: We now think fit to let you know, that though it has been our constant care since our first Accession to the Crown, to govern our People with that Iustice and Moderation as to give, if possible, no occasion of Complaint, &c.

I do not understand why his Majesty would not let us know these his Gracious Intentions before, when they might have done Himself and Us Good.

But quid verba audiam cum facta videam, to what purpose are Words when we see Facts? And as to his Moderation, I appeal to the Pope himself, or the French King, who chiefly blame him for his Rashness and want of Temper; and as for his Justice, among a thousand publick Instances to the contrary, he should remember his discountenancing and turning out of their Employments all such as would not enter into his Idolatrous Worship, and comply with his illegal and arbitrary Designs. Besides, what Justice can Hereticks expect from a Prince, who is not only a Papist, but wholly devoted to the Order of the Jesuits, and values himself for being a Member of those Reverend Cut-throats? Yet more particularly upon the late Invasion, seeing how the Design was laid, and fearing that our People, who could not be destroyed but by themselves. The Design was to preserve the Nation from falling under the cruel Dominion of the [Page] French, and to keep our selves from being dragg'd by the Hair of the Head to Mass, and from undergoing all those Miseries which those of the same Religion, and for the same Cause, have endured now lately in France and Savoy. To prevent so great a Mischief, (that is to say, destroying our selves,) and to take away not only all just Causes, but even Pretences of Discontent: We freely and of our own accord, redrest all those things that were set forth as the Causes of that Invasion. I appeal to the common Faith of Mankind touching the Insinserity of these Words, whether if this Invasion had not been, these and worse Grievances had not followed. And that we might be informed by the Counsel and Advice of our Subjects themselves, which way we might give them a further and full Satisfaction; We resolved to meet them in a Free Parliament, &c.

The late Kings of England have been as desirous of a Parliament as Popes of a Free and General Council; there being nothing they have more studiously avoided, and greatlier feared.

But the Prince of Orange seeing all the Ends of his Declaration answered, the People beginning to be undeceived, and returning apace to their ancient Duty and Allegiance, resolved by all possible means to prevent the meeting of the Parliament, &c.

How far the Prince of Orange has been from preventing the meeting of a Parliament, we need only consult our senses.

The hurrying us under a Guard from our City of London, whose returning Loyalty we could no longer trust, and the other Indignities we suffered in the Person of the Earl of Feversham, when sent to him by us, and in that barbarous Confinement of our own Person, we shall not here repeat.

Do's any Man think the Prince of Orange would have had the same gentle Treatment from the King, had he been in like manner under his Power? And as to the Kings concernment for the unheard of Suffering of the E. of F. I do not wonder at it, having ever had so little Affection, or rather so great an Antipathy to his English Subjects.

This will be sufficient to open the Eyes of all our Subjects, and let them plainly see what every one of them may expect, and what Treatment they shall find from him, if at any time [Page]it may serve his Purpose, from whose Hands a Soveraign Prince, an Vncle, and a Father could meet with no better Entertainment.

All wise and good Protestants are so certain of happy times under the Government of this most excellent and incomporable Prince, that they have nothing left to fear or desire, but that God would preserve him from the Hellish Fury of the Papists And as to all these Relations of a Soveraign Prince, an Uncle, and a Father: The King would have done well to have acquitted himself to the Prince as became all these Relations.

However the Sense of these Indignities, &c. And as if we had been capable if supposing a Prince of Wales.

I believe and know that the Conscience of a Popish Prince, wholly under the Conduct of the Jesuits, will find no Difficulty in consenting to so pious a Fraud, provided it can be carryed on with all prudent Cautions.

For as on the one hand, no change of Fortune shall ever make us forget our selves, so far as to condescend to any thing, unbecoming that High and Royal Station, in which God Almighty, by right of Succession has placed us. So on the other hand, neither the Provocation or Ingratitude of our own Subjects, nor any other Consider [...]tion whatsoever, shall ever prevail with us to make the least step, contrary to the true Interest of the English Nation.

His Majesty's sincere Friend the French King, with whom he now enjoys a nearer Converse, will also concur with him in this good Design of promoting the true Interest of England. And as to his Majesty's Inclinations to Mercy, and passing by Provocations, we need mention no other Instances, but those in the West, where the Cruelties exercised on those unfortunate People, cannot be parallel'd in any History of Barbarians.

Our Will and Pleasure therefore is, that you of our Privy Council, take the most effectual care, to make these our gracious Intentions known to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and to all our Subjects in general, and to assure them that we desire nothing more, than to return and hold a Free Parliament, wherein we may have the best Opportunity of undeceiving our People, and shewing the Sincerity of those Protections[Page]of preserving (especially) the Church of England as by Law established.

A Man wou'd wonder any Prince that overlooks what his Secretary writes, should suffer such apparent and palpable Untruths to pass: For it is not manifest to all the World; That the late King, through the Jesuits Counsel, did all that was possible to weaken and overturn (especially) the Church of England, as well by open Declarations and Practices, as by more secret Ways and Contrivances, inciting one part of his Protestant Subjects to destroy the other, and then immediately after exposing them for it, and encouraging and inspiring these later with a Spirit of Revenge and Retaliation▪

And thus having briefly ran over whatever seems material in this Letter, I shall desist from Repetitions, and insisting on mere words of Course, and Matters of form, seeing this would be to tire to Reader's Patience, and a lesning of his Judgment.

Reasons for Crowning the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen jointly; and for placing the Executive Power in the Prince alone.

WHereas the Grand Convention of the Estates of England, have asserted the Peoples Right by declaring, That the late King James the Second, having endeavo [...]red to Subvert the Constitution of the Kingdom, by breaking the Original Contract between King and People: And by Advice of Iesuits, and other wicked Persons, having Violat [...]d the Fundamental Laws: And having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom, has Abdicated the Government, and that the Throne is thereby Vaca [...]t. For which Misgovernment He has forfeited [Page] the Trust of the Regal Inheritance of the Executive Power, both in Himself, and in His Heirs, Lineal and Collateral; so that the same is devolved back to the People, who have also the Legislative Authority; and consequently may of Right Give and Dispose thereof, by their Representatives, for their future Peace, Benefit; Security, and Government, according to their good Will and Pleasure. And forasmuch as it is absolutely Necessary, that the Government be speedily setled on sure and lasting Foundations, and consequently, that such Person or Persons be immediately placed in the Throne, in whom the Nation has most reason to repose an entire Confidence: It therefore now lies upon Us to make so Judicious a Choice, that we may, in all Humane Probability, thereby render Ourselves a Happy People, and give Our Posterity cause to Rejoice, when they shall read the Proceedings of this Wise and Grand Convention. Who is it therefore that has so highly Merited the Love and good Opinion of the People, the Honour of Wearing the Crown, and Swaying the Scepter of this Land, as His Illustrious Highness the Prince of Orange? who with so great Expence, Hazard, Conduct, Courage, and Generosity, has happily Rescued Us from Popery, and Slavery; and with so much Gallantry Restored Us to Our Ancient Rights, Religion, Laws, Liberties, and Properties: for which Heroick Action, we can do no less, in Prudence, Honour, and Gratitude, than Pray Him to Accept Our Crown.

II. It is better to settle the Exercise of the Government in One who is not immediate in the Line, than in One that is; (1.) Because it is a clear Asserting of a Fundamental Right, that manifests the Constitution of the English Government, and covers the Subjects from Tyranny and Slavery. (2.) It cuts off the Dispute of the pretended Prince of Wales. (3.) The old Succession being legally Dissolved, and a new one made, the Government is secured from falling into the Hands of a Papist.

III. The making the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen jointly, is the Nation's Gratitude and Generosity: and by re-continuing the Line in Remainder, is manifested the inestimable Value the People have for the two Princesses, notwithstanding the Male-administration of the Unhappy Father.

[Page]IV. The present State of Europe in General, and of these Kingdoms in Particular, require a Vigorous and Masculine Administration. To recover what's lost, rescue what's in danger, and rectify what's amiss, cannot be effected but by a Prince that is consummate in the Art both of Peace and War. Tho the Prince and Princess be King and Queen jointly, and will equally share the Glory of a Crown, and we the Happiness of their Auspicious Regin: yet the Wisdom of the Grand Convention is manifested,

First, In placing the Executive Power in One of them, and not in Both; for two Persons, equal in Authority, may differ in Opinion, and consequently in Command; and it is evident no Man can serve two Masters.

Secondly, It's highly necessary and prudent, rather to vest the Administration in the Husband, than in the Wife.

(1.) Because a Man, by Nature, Education and Experience, is generally rendred more capable to Govern than the Woman.

Therefore, (2.) the Husband ought rather to Rule the Wife, than the Wife the Husband, especially considering the Vow in Matrimony.

(3.) The Prince of Orange is not more proper to Govern as he's Man, and Husband only, but as he is a Man, a Husband, and a Prince of known Honour, profound Wisdom, undaunted Courage, and incomparable Merit; as he's a Person that's naturally inclin'd to be Just, Merciful and Peaceable, and to do all Publick Acts of Generosity for the Advancement of the Interest and Happiness of Humane Societies, and therefore most fit under Heaven, to have the sol [...] Executive Power.

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A LORD'S Speech Without Doors, To the Lords upon the present Condition of the Government.

My Lords,

PRay give me leave to cast in my Mite at this time upon this great Debate; and though it be with an entire dissent to some Leading Lords, to whom I bear great reverence, it is according to my Conscience, and that is the Rule of every honest Man's Actions.

My, Lords, I cannot forbear thinking, that a greater Reproach can hardly come upon any People, than is like to fall upon us Protestants, for this unpresidented usage of our poor King: We feared the security of our Religion because of Him, and are now like to Violate a great part of it by forfeiting our Loyalty towards Him; Religion is the Pretence, but some fear, a New Master is the Thing: This I take to have been to Business of to Day; for, notwithstanding we see how feeble a thing Popery is in England, that it is beaten without Blows, and routed so effectually, that it can never hope, nor we justly fear, it should return upon us, and consequently our Religion pretty secure, yet I don't see that this satisfies us, unless the King goes also: He must be turned away, and the Crown change its Head; for if the Crown be not the Quarrel more than Property, and his Majesty's Person than his Religion; Why did not the Prince stop, when he heard a Free Parliament was calling by the King's Writs, (where all Matters, especially that of the Prince of Wales, might have been considered) or at least, where his Majesties Commissioners of Peace met [...]im? Who advised him [...]o ad [...]ance, and give his Majesty that apprehension of [...]is own insecurity; and if any thing but a [Page] Crown would have served him, Why was a Noble Peer of this House clapt up at Winsor, when his Majesty sent him on purpose to invite the Prince to St. Iames's? a Message that affected all good Mens Hearts more then any thing, but his Majesty's return, it look'd so Natural and Peaceable. But it seems, as if it had been therefore affronted, for the Invitation could not have been received without the King's remaining King; and who was there that did not lately say, it should be so? I and who is there now that does not see it is not so?

We can, my Lords, no longer doubt of this, if we will remember that the same Night the Prince should have answered his Majesty's kind Message, The King's Guards were changed, and at midnight the Prince's Guards were clapt upon hi [...] Majesty's Person; and which is yet more extravagant to accomplish the business, Three noble Lords, in view, were sent to let him know, It was not for his safety, or the Princes honour, that he should stay in his own Palace. A strange way, my Lords, of treating ones own King in his own House. I cannot comprehend how it was for the Prince's Honour the King should go against his Will; or how it was against his Honour that his Majesty should be safe in his own House: I leave it with your Lordships to think who could render the King's stay unsafe at White-hall after the Dutch Guards were posted there?

My Lords, this I confess is the great Iniquity that sticks with me, and deserves our severest Scrutiny and Reflection; that after driving our King away, we should offer to [...]ddress our selves to any Body to take the Government as if he had formally disserted it: It becomes us rather to ask▪ Where the King is? how he came to go? and who sent him away? I take the Honour of the Pe [...]rage of England to be deeply ingaged, both at Home and Abroad, to search but this Minor, and especially those who are now present, most of whom owe their share i [...] th [...]t noble Order to his Majesty, his Brother, Father, or Grandfather. It is not unreasonable to believe the King had not gone at first, but upon some Messag [...] sent, and Letters received, to take care of his Person, for that nothing less than the Crown was intended; but being not out of his own Territories, and therefore no Dissertion, Abdication, or Remise, as the Criticks of the Conjuncture we are under pretend, (for the King may be where [...]e will in his own Kingdom:) we [...]ee while it was in [Page] his choice to go, he returned, and by as good as our advise too; so that we cannot in truth say his Dissertion is the cause; for it is plainly the Effect of our late extraordinary proceedings. If any should say, He needed not have gone now: it is a great mistake, for [...] King ought to go, if he cannot stay a King in his own Kingdom, which Force refused to let him be: And to stay a Subject to another Authority, had been a meaner forfeiture of his Right, then can in justice be charged upon his Retirement: Wherefore his going must and will lie at their Doors that set him an hour to be gone out of his own Palace,

Many are angry (and yet pleased) that he is gone for France; but where, my Lords, should he go? Flanders dared not receive him: Holland, you could not think he should go to; and Ireland you would have liked less; and when we consider how far a League with France has been made the cause of his Misfortune (though to this day it is in the Clouds) what other Prince had the same Obligation to receive and succor him: Therefore whatever Arts are used to blacken his Retreat, we cannot, with any shew of Reason, imagine that he could think himself safe with us, that had exercised Soveraign Power without him our Soveraign Lord, and under the protection of a Forraign Prince and his Army; though at the same time, we had Sworn Allegiance to him, and that it was unlawful for us to take up Arms against him under any Pretence whatever.

My Lords, if this be not virtually and in effect to pull the Crown off his Head, and dethrone him unheard, I am to learn my Alphabet again. This is short warning to give Kings, for us at least, my Lords, that boast of Loyalty, and were brought to these Seats by the favour of the Crown. What can other Nations think of the Nobility of this, if we come not to a juster temper? God defend us, and our Children after us, from the ill Consequences of what has been done, and prevent the rest. Had we imbraced the happy Providence of his Majestyes return, we might have improved it, that the Children unborn should have blessed us: Then we had reformed safely, for by joyning Title to our Actions, we had made them legal: This we should have had from his Majesty, or a plain denial, which would in some measure have excused so rare and unusual an Enterprise: Nor can I comprehend which way it is possible to guard the Prince's Honour, but by doing his Majesty [Page] Rights, for your Lordships may please to remember, that in the Memorial of the States, that was printed among us, which they gave to all the publick Ministers at the Hague, to justify their lending the Prince their Forces upon this Expedition, they do expresly say, It was upon condition not to dethrone the King, or alter the Succession; and in my Opinion we are in the high way to both.

My Lords, we are Protestant Christians, as well as Peers of the Realm; and are now upon our Religion and Conscience, as well as Honour, to do right: Let us so act as we can answer it to God and Man, and not stumble at Straws and leap over Blocks: Errors cannot be corrected by committing greater; nor one part of the Government be mended, by beating out another to do it. I need not tell your Lordships, that by our Laws, Kings cannot err, and therefore they are not accountable, but their Ministers are, without whom a King cannot perform any Act of Government, which is the reason of the Maxim; and therefore let them be punished that the Law only makes guilty. This our wise Ancestors contrived to save the Head of the Government whole, and to prevent the Confusion and Disorder that might otherwise be apt to attend the Form of it; nor is it indeed a thing that ought to be indured by us Peers, to suppose that he that raised us so high, could be for any Reason thrown by us so low.

My Lords, Let us limit the King if you please, but not renounce Him; there is a difference between restraining and destroying Him. What need of such extraordinary Remedies, since that which secures the Government under one King, will do it under another? Popery it self can never come in but over the Bridg of Despotick or Absolute Power; and if we can secure our selves from that, we are as safe against Opinion as against Ambition; and till we are so by an Amendment of our Constitution, we are exposed to the meer good Nature of the Prince in Possession who [...]ver he be. And to render what I have said to your Lord [...]hips not unreasonable, and what I have to move your L [...]rdships to, in the close of my Speech, not ungrateful▪ [...] beseech your Lordships that we may cast up our Account [...]nd see how our Loss and Gain stands, so far as we have gone in our late Change.

[...]e have lost a lawful King, and got an unlawful Protector, [Page] as our Law stands; we have missed a Legal and a Free Parliament, and have got a Convention that cannot make Laws, nor call a Parliament that can, but what will need a Confirmation from a better Authority.

We have lost the Reputation of keeping our Faith with Hereticks, by breaking our solemn Oaths with our King, in the time of his Extremity, because we thought him such, though he gave us leave to lay down our Commissions, that we might not have the Temptation or occasion to betray Him; But we have got the Reputation of good Protestants by it; though I fear, not of good: Men, in that some of us have not only not shown our selves religiously concerned for our Religion, but in some respect, not honestly; that besides a thousand personal Immoralities, could press Advance Mony from the King overnight, to bear the charges of disserting Him next day, against our warm and repeated Vows, to take his Fate, and d [...]e at his Feet? and that any of us should be sainted for this Treachery, and numbred among the Heroe [...] for our running away, cannot surely be the Lords doing, let Dr. Burnet say what he will, and yet it is very marvellous in some Mens Eyes for all that. These are the Sparks, my Lords, that hunt the poor Kings Blood, though we know they had hardly had any in their Veins but for his Bounty and yet are the Favorites of the Reformation. For Christ's sake, my Lords, let us not at this rate christan Villany, and rank Dishonesty among the Graces. Popery it self could not have done more, and it is certain, we are even with the Papists now to all Intents and Purposes.

This is not all our Loss, we have rebelled against the fifth Commandment also, Honour thy Father; and though we have got that of leaving Father for the sake of Religion, we could have but little Religion to do it in such a manner, to so affectionate a Father; nor did it lessen the Error, to have a Church of England Apostle to be Captain of her Life-Guard, in his blew Coat, and Iack-Boots, and an arrant tempora [...]. Sword in his Hand, to defend natural Affection and passive Obedience. This was an odd sort of Compliance with our Saviour's Command, to put up his Sword, as one of St. Peters Successors. My Lords, I m [...]st not stop here; we thought we had been rid of [...] Souldiers, but find we have got as many Papists in our Dutch, we had in our English Army: Now it is plain, that either all [...] pists [Page] are not alike, and then the Danger we have apprehended from Papists, is not universal, as we have affirmed, but that they are to be lived with, since we are to be saved and guarded from the Danger of Popery by them; or we have ill luck to think we can be safe from that Religion by those that are of it, because they are Dutch-men. My Lords, I am sorry we can take such Pleasure to see Strangers tread our Courts, pray God it does not show the way to other Countries to take their turns. But that a Dutch Papist should be so harmless a thing with us, that though no Papists could be so, shows our Contradictions to a Madness. I know not how well our Souldiers like to give way to Dutch-Men, that though they had purchased a Preferance to Strangers at a dear rate; but it is the justest thing in the World upon them, that the Prince should distrust those to guard him, that had betrayed their own Master that loved them to a fault; they may serve to be sent for Holland, to be knookt on the Head in the Dutch-mans quarrel, but never to be trusted at home, though they have given up their Quarters with their King to Foreigners, so that the Proverb is true upon them, they have hereby brought their Noble to Nine-pence. Yet to be just, I must confess it is a Reproach due to their Officers, and not all of them neither, and time may give those the Opportunity to retrieve the Credit they have lost by other Mens Faults.

We were also very apprehensive of the ill Consequences of the dispensing Power, especially in the case of Sr. Edward Hales; but it seems the Common Council of London are forbid to take the usual Oaths, and yet required to act, which is an unqualified Capacity. We were in hopes we had lost a rude Army, but we have found a ruder; twenty places cry out of them; and Kingstone certainly with great Justice, that in two Nights time was two hundred Pounds the worse for them. And for Closseting we have got Questioning, that they that won't enter into Associations to protect the Prince of Orange, without one of our King, is to have no Imployment; so that if the Prince should take the Crown, I am bound to defend him against my own King, and my sworn Allegiance though he come in the right of his Crown. Believe me, my Lords, it is the boldest bid that ever Men made; I see Forty one was a Fool to Eighty eight; and that we Church of England Protestants shall cancel all the Merits of our Fathers, overthrow [Page] the Ground and Consequence of their most exemplary Loyalty to King Charles the first and second, render their Death, the Death of Fools, trample their Memories and Blood under our Feet, subject our selves to the just Reproach of the Phanaticks, whose Principles and Practices we have outdone, even to that King that we forced upon them, and by our Example had brought them to live well withal. God help us, this my Lords makes me say, that either we must turn from being Church-of-England-Men, or steer another course, for it is but too plain that Presbytery is leading us out of our ancient way; and whether we believe it or no, our Church sinks, and will more, for that is the Interest that suits best with a Dutch Humour and Conjunction; and be sure, if we are so base to leave our King, God will be so just as to leave us; and here, my Lords, I shall leave you, with this humble motion, that we make an humble Address to his Majesty to return home to us, that we may act securely, and not go out of the good old way, which may intail Misery upon us and our Posterity. I should think we have had enough of sending our Princes abroad, in that much of the Inconveniency we have lain under since their Restoration, has been chiefly owing to it: We have driven him where we would not have him go, and do what we can to provoke that League we have been afraid of; and made a great part of the reason of this strange Alteration in the Kingdom. Some tell us, it is too late, but I cannot comprehend the good sence of such an Objection; Is it at any time too late for a King and his People to agree? after bloody Battels it has not been thought so, in all times and Nations; and why it may not be without them, I never heard a good reason yet: If his going was unreasonable, it has hurt him more than us, since we may thence hope for the better terms; if it was not a Fault to go, it will be a great one in us, if we can have him home upon good terms, and will not; for if I may with leave speak it, his return is as much our Conveniency as his Advantage.

The offensive part of Him is gone, that is to say, the Power of Popery, and what remains is our great Interest to keep and improve to our own Benefit and Safety; I mean, my Lords, His undoubted Title and Kingship. And whatever some hot Men say, that are more governed by private Avarice and Revenge, then the publick Good of these Kingdoms, I cannot but renew [Page] my motion to your Lordships, that we may send a Duke, an Earl, a Viscount and a Baron, and two Spiritual Lords to invite his Majesty home, upon the Constitution of the Government. And my Lords, forgive me if I say, that if we can but get our Iuries, Sheriffs, Iudges, High Courts of Chancery and Parliaments setled as they ought to be; the Army at least reduced, the Militia better regulated, and a due Liberty of Conscience established to all Protestant Dissenters, and so far to Papists only, as the Law against Conventicles does admit, we may yet be happy; and upon these terms, my Lords, and no other, will his Highness the Prince of Orange become truly meritorious with the English Nation.

Reflections on a Paper called a LORD'S Speech without Doors.

THIS Noble Lord would have done ingenuously in letting the World know his Name, and whether he be a Lord or not; for one cannot gather it from his Liberality, of casting in a mite at this time, when mean People, such as Trades-men, have more generosity, and effectually contributed to the publick Peace and Honour of the Nation. And as to his dissenting to some leading Lords on the account of Conscience; we are in the dark as to what sort of Conscience his is, whether Papist or Phanatick Conscience, or indeed whether it be any Conscience at all, which makes him differ from some leading Lords; for the making of Speeches within or without Doors, is no infallible Mark of either.

But he says, He cannot forbear thinking that a greater Reproach can hardly come upon a People, than is like to fall on us Protestants. Ah, good Soul, what's the matter? Are the Protestants at length found to be the Firers of [...]heir own City, or Sr. Edm-B. Godfrey, and the Earl of Essex's Murtherers? &c. Why no, O its this unpresidented Vsage of our poor King. A good tender-hearted [Page] Jesuit i'le warrant thee, that has entred (with Campian) into an Holy League and Covenant to destroy all Protestant Kings and Princes, unless they become as bigotted to the Society as the poor King was. But let me take the Boldness to ask your Honour one Question; Is there no time when compassion is due to the Country? Religion is the Pretence, but some fear a new Master is the thing. And is it any wonder if a new Master be desired, when the old one will not let me serve him, but will destroy me, and perhaps himself too; this being a clear case, and evident to all Orders and Degrees of Men among us.

We see how feeble a thing Popery is in England: and it is, I do not doubt, your Lordships great Grief that your old Master may not be let in again, to strengthen and revive her drooping and almost decayed Spirits.

But why did not the Prince stop, when he heard a Free-Parliament was calling by the Kings Writs, where all matters, especially of the Prince of Wales, might have been considered, &c. As to a Free-Parliament, is it not evident to all the World that the King could not bear it? Besides, who told his Lordship, that his old Master would abide by the Decisions of a Free-Parliament, touching the Legitimacy or Spuriousness of his Prince of Wales?

The Kings Guards were changed, and at Midnight the Prince's Guards were clapt on his Majesties Person. And I pray what harm befel him from this change?

It seems he might, notwithstanding, dispose of himself as he pleased. And was it decent, when his own People forsook him, that he should be left at the Discretion of the Rabble?

It becomes us too to ask where the King is? how he came to go? and who sent him away? A notable Question indeed, and which every Apple-woman, or Broom-man can resolve.

But many are angry, and yet pleased. This is Nokes all over: Why then, angry and pleased is one and the same thing with your Lordship.

That he is gone for France: but where, my Lords, should he go? Flanders dared not receive him. Good your Honour why? is not his Catholick Majesty as zealous and hospitable as the most Christian King? Ay but the Spaniard had no private Leagues of assisting each other to root out the Northern Heresy, and other Intimacies which every Body must not know of.

[Page]Holland you could not think he should go to. Yet there was a time when Holland was more kind to him and his Brother than France, and he has rewarded the former very well for it.

Therefore we cannot, with any shew of Reason, imagin that he could think himself safe with us, that had exercis'd Soveraign Power without him our Soveraign Lord.

Sure I am, no Man of Sense could think himself safe under his Power, that was unwilling to part with his Religion and Property.

And under the protection of a Foraign Prince and his Army. And without his Protection, what wou'd have become of us?

Though at the same time we had sworn Allegiance to him, and that it was unlawful for us to take up Arms against him under any Pretence whatever.

I would know of your Lordship, Whether the Oath, in your Honour's sence, does not make our Lives and Estates to depend on the Prince's mere Will and Pleasure?

My Lords, let us limit the King, if you please, but not renounce him. Did he tell your Reverence he would be limited? And was he not limited before? Besides, a Prince of his Humour, and in his Circumstances, must needs be very easy, and his Subjects very secure, under these Chimerical Limitations.

But we had lost a Lawful King; and gotten a more Lawful, and infinitely Better in his room.

Against our warm and repeated Vows, to take his Fate, and die at his Feet. I know not of whom the Gentleman speaks, unless it be of Addressers, whose Dissimulation and deceitful Courtship I have ever more abominated than himself.

And that any of us should be numbred among the Heroes for our running away, cannot surely be the Lord's doing, let Dr. Burnet say what he will. This Gentleman do's very well to put himself among the Run-aways; but its' more likely his Reverence wou'd have bin Sainted, and made an Hero by staying behind.

For Christ's sake, my Lords, let us not at this rate christen Villany, and rank Dishonesty among the Graces.

A Man wou'd take his Lordship now for some Lincolns-Inn-Fields Mumper from his Cant; but he beggs in earnest, who's All is at Stake; I know your Honour's Necessity, the State of [Page] who's Case is briefly this; The Papists, and especially the Jesuits in their Consults, both at Home and Abroad, for the setting up of Popery, and extirpating the Protestant Religion in England, have come to this decisive Conclusion, that it's impossible to effect this but under a Popish King.

But says he further, This is not all our loss, we have rebelled against the 5th Commandment also, Honor thy Father; and though we have got that of leaving Father of the sake of Religion, we could have but little Religion to do it in such a manner, to so affectionate a Father.

Here his Reverence, I find, is not serious, but jokes on his poor King; for give me an instance where his Paternal Affection appear'd, unless his Fatherly care of dragging us up in his own Religion be one?

Nor did it, says he, lessen the Error, to have a Church-of-England Apostle to be Captain of her Life Guard, &c.

I wou'd ask my Noble Sir here one Question, (for the Jesuits are wont to be excellent Casuists) Whether a Churchman, observing his own, and his Neighbours Houses a going to be fired by Rogues, he may not use another Sword besides that of the Spirit, to drive them away?

Now he is troubled, and in great conflicts of Spirit, how our Soldiers are like to give way to Dutch-men.

The Dutch Soldiers have behaved themselves with that Civility and Moderation, where-ever they come, as may make others of that Profession blush at a Comparison in this point. However, let not this Matter much afflict your Honour, or Reverence. There will be care taken that our Soldiers shall not give way to Foreigners, nor to every Irish-man, who you know were the Sparks and Darlings of the last Reign.

But now it is but too plain, that Presbytery is leading us out of our Ancient Way. Never fear it, good Father, for there's no danger of either that, or Popery, being the National Religion in England. And having satisfi'd you so far, I am not willing to tire my self with writing Replies to every Word of your Speech without Doors.

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The Bishops Reasons to Queen Elizabeth, for taking off the Queen of Scots, taken out of Sir S. D Ewes Iournal: offered to the Consideration of the Present Sect of Grumbletonians.

FOR that they had a long time, to their intolerable Grief, seen by how manifold most dangerous and execrable Practices, the said Queen of Scots had compassed the Destruction of her Majesties Person, thereby not only to bereave them of the Sincere and True Religion of Almighty God, bringing them and this Noble Crown back again into the Thraldom of the Romish Tyranny, but also utterly to ruinate and overthrow the happy State and Commonweale of this most Noble Realm; to banish and destroy the Professors and Profession of the True Religion of Jesus Christ, and the Ancient Nobility of this Land, to bring thi [...] whole State and Common-weale to Forreign Subjection, and to utter Ruine and Confusion; which Malicious Purposes would never cease to be prosecuted by all possible Means, so long as the said Queens Confederates, her Ministers and Favourites had their Eyes and Imaginations fixed upon the said Queen, the only Ground of their Treasonable Hopes and Conceits, and the only Seed plot of all Dangerous and Traiterous Devices and Practices against her Majesties Sacred Person. And for that, upon advised and great Consultation, they could not find any possible means to provide for her Majesties Safety, but by the just and speedy Execution of the said Queen, the neglecting whereof might procure the heavy Displeasure and Punishment of Almighty God, as by sundry severe Examples of his great Justice in that [Page] behalf left us in Sacred Scripture, doth appear; and that if the same were not put in Execution, they should thereby (so far as Man's Reason could reach) be brought into utter Despair of the Continuance amongst them of the true Religion of Almighty God, and of her Majesties Life, and of the Safety of all her Subjects, and of the Good Estate of this flourishing Commonweale.

For that she (the said Queen of Scots) had continually breathed the Overthrow and Suppression of the Protestant Religion, being poysoned with Popery from her tender Youth, and at her Age joyning in that false termed Holy League and had been ever since, and was then a powerful Enemy of the Truth.

For that she rested wholly upon Popish hopes, to be delivered and advanced, and was so devoted, and doted in that Profession, that she would (as well for the satisfaction of others, as for the feeding her own Humour) supplant the Gospel where and whensoever she might; which Evil was so much the greater, and the more to be avoided, for that it slayeth the Soul, and would spread it self not only over England and Scotland, but also into all Parts beyond the Sea, where the Gospel of God is maintained, the which cannot but be exceedingly weakned, if Defection should be in these two most violent Kingdoms.

For that if she prevailed, she would rather take the Subjects of England for Slaves than for Children.

For that she had already provided them a Foster-father and a Nurse, the Pope and King of Spain; into whose hands if it should happen them to fall, what would they else look for but Ruin, Destruction, and utter Extirpation of Goods, Lands, Lives, Honours and all?

For that as she had already by her poyson'd Baits, brought to Destruction more Noble-men and their Houses, and a greater multitude of Subjects, during her being here, than she would have done if she had been in Possession of her own Country, and arm'd in the Field against them; so would she be still continually the cause of the like spoil, to the greater loss and peril of this Estate; and therefore this Realm neither could nor might endure her.

For that her Sectaries both Wrote and Printed, that the Protestants would be at their Wits end, Worlds end, if she [Page] should out-live Queen Elizabeth; meaning thereby, that the end of the Protestant World was the beginning of their own; and therefore if she the said Queen of Scots, were taken away, their World would be at an end before its beginning.

For that since the sparing of her in the Fourteenth Year of Q. Elizabeths Reign, Popish Traitors and Recusants had multiplied exceedingly: And if she were now spared again, they would grow both innumerable and invincible also: And therefore Mercy in that case would prove Cruelty against them all: Nam [...]st quaedam crudelis m [...]sericordia; and therefore to spare her Blood, would be to spill all theirs.

And for God's Vengeance against Saul, for sparing the life of Agag, and against Ahab for sparing the life of Benhadad was mo [...]t apparent, for they were both by the just Judgment of God deprived of their Kingdoms, for sparing those wicked Princes, whom God had delivered into their Hands. And those Magistrates were much conmmended, who put to Death those mischeivous and wicked Queens, Iezabel and Athaliah.

And now I would desire our Grumbletonians (especially they of the Clergy) to consider how extreamly they have degenerated from the good and laudable Principles of their Fore-fathers. They may see how urgent the Bishops, and others, in Queen Elizabeth's days, were to have the Queen of Scots removed, (as above said) and how they encouraged the Queen to assist the Dutch against their Soveraign Lord, when he attempted them in their Religion and Laws; but now they that first opposed One that has broken the Original Contract between King and People, and done horrid things, contrary to the Laws of God, Nature, and the Land, yet when God, out of his merciful Providence, and singular favour to us all, has inclined him (being sensible of his own Guilt) to leave the Throne, these Very Men that first withstood him (as I said) begin to pitty him, plead for him, and extol him; and continually, both in Pulpit, (for one of them lately said there, That a parcel of Attoms could as soon make a World, as a Convention make a King) and also in Coffee-houses, mutter and grumble against the Proceedings of the great and Honorable Convention of the Kingdom, and are busy in sending out▪ and privately scattering their puling [Page] Pamphlets, under the Titles of Mementoes, Speeches, and Letters, empty of ought else, but the spleen of a foolish and frustrated Faction. Good God! what inconstancy, folly, and madness possesses the Breasts of these Men? to what a miserable slavery would they lead us, and how fond and eager do they seem to have him rule over Us, who (like the Stork in the Fable) has, and would make it his greatest delight, to devour the best of free-born Subjects? But, I hope, that in a little time they will know the Things that belong to the Kingdom's Peace, and dutifully pray for (tho at present there is no uniformity in their Pulpits save in the Dissenters) and submit chearfully and thankfully to him whom God has made the Glorious Instrument of our Deliverance from Popery and Slavery.

God save King William and Queen Mary.

ADVERTISEMENT.

☞THere is lately published the Trial of Mr. PAPILLON, by which it is manifest that the then Lord Chief Justice Iefferies, had neither Learning, Law, nor good manners, but more Impudence than ten Carted Whores, (as was said of him by King CHARLES II.) in abusing all those worthy Citizens who voted for Mr. PAPILLON and Mr. DUBOIS, calling them a parcel of Factious, Pragmatical, Sneaking, Whining, Canting, Sniveling, Prickear'd, Cropear'd, Atheistical Fellows, Rascals, and Scoundrels, &c. as in p. 29. and other places of the said Trial may be seen. Sold by Richard Ianeway, and most Booksellers.

FINIS.

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A TENTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ.

I. Reflections upon our late and present Proceedings.

II. Some short Notes on a Pamphlet, entituled, Reflections upon our late and present Proceedings.

III. The Scots Grievances: or, A short Account of the Proceedings of the Scotish Privy-Council, Justiciary Court, and those commissioned by them, &c.

IV. The late Honourable Convention proved a Legal Parliament.

V. The Amicable Reconciliation of the Dissenters to the Church of England: being a Model or Draught for the Universal Accommodation in the Case of Religion, and bringing in all Parties to her Communion.

London printed, and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater- [...]oster-Row, 1689.

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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 ingage 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, First, What we have done. Secondly, With what Intent we did it. Thirdly, What it is that some Men would be at. And, Fourthly, Whether we can in Honour and Conscience join with them in the Designs now in hand.

[Page]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 Honour and Gratitude, so long as the Protestant Name shall be remembred: He came not as the antient 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 overlook 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 Vertues, 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 silently 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 Enterprise 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?

[Page]Nay, the Army it self soon began to go over, chusing rather to he under the imputation of Cowardise and Disloyalty (which yet a true English-man had rather die 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 justify 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 easy, 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 Mans 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 Doctrine 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 [Page] Religion, in the first place; their Lives, their Laws, and Liberties in the next. After the way, which some call Heresy, 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 Kings personal Service, that they might be the better enabled to serve his real Interest. They hoped by this means to deliver him from his evil Counsellors, and secure both him and his Subjects from the evil and pernicious Practices of some wicked and unreasonable Men.

3. These and such like were the Inducements which prevailed with all well-affected and honest Men, to withdraw from his Majesty, and suspend the actual Exercise of their Allegiance for the present, that they might afterwards exert it according to the fix'd and stated Rules of Law, Conscience, and right Reason.

But now, how contrary is this to those new Models, which some politick Architects are proposing to, or rather imposing upon the Nation? What is it they would be at? And what are the Ends they are driving on? Are they just and good? Are they generous and honorable? Or are they not rather such as would undermine the Government both in Church and State, and reduce us to a state of Nature, wherein the People are at Liberty to agree upon any Government, or none at all?

Plainly, they would reduce us to the Dutch, or some other foreign Measures (which how well soever they may agree with that Country, where they are setled and confirmed, partly by Custom, and partly by the peculiar Necessity of their Affairs) can never be well received in England, till an Act be passed to abolish Monarchy, Episcopacy, and all the Fundamental Laws establish'd by Magna Charta, and all succeeding Parliaments ever since.

The Enquixy into the Measures of Submission to the Supreme Authority, is a Treatise calculated for the times; but surely it is not written according to the Principles and Practice of the Church of England, in the time of the renowned Queen Elizabeth: I am apt to think, that some regard was then had to the [Page] Passages which we find in the Scriptures (especially the Old Testament) relating to the Measures of Submission. But these Examples weigh nothing with our Author, because they are not for his purpose, pag. 5, 6. I am also apt to suspect that Queen Elizabeth would not have thanked any Politician for vending this as a certain and fundamental Principle, ‘That in all Disputes between Power and Liberty, Power must always be proved, but Liberty proves it self; the one being founded only upon a positive Law, and the other upon the Law of Nature, pag. 4.’ She, I perswade my self, on the contrary, would have challenged any such States-man to have prov'd his Liberty; as for her Power (she would have answered) it was ready to prove it self against all who should presume to question it. But what's the meaning of Power being founded only on a positive Law, and Liberty upon the Law of Nature? Is not a Father's Power founded (as he grants) upon the Law of Nature? and is not all Power, even of the greatest Princes, (as far as it is just and honest, and for the Benefit of the Subject) derived from this Paternal Authority of the Father over his Son? Besides, doth not the Law of Nature prescribe the Necessity of putting Power into the Hands of one or more for the Benefit of the whole, which otherwise would be in danger of destroying it self by intestine Divisions? In short, If Liberty be founded upon the Law of Nature, so is all just and lawful Power, since the end of it is only to regulate our Liberty, and in truth to make us more free. Liberty in general is a right to use our Faculties according to right Reason; and the Law in particular tells us which are those Rules of right Reason by which we must govern our selves. And what is Law, but the Commands of the Supreme Power (where-ever it is lodg'd, in the hands of the Prince, the Senate, or the People, or of all of them together) ordering what we are to do or avoid, under the Sanction of particular Penalties?

I beg the Learned Author's Pardon for questioning his Measures: in my Judgment they are not taken from the English Standard, and therefore I hope I may without Offence use my Liberty in refusing them (a Right which proves it self) till he can prove his Power to impose them.

The Enquiry into the present State of Affairs, is a Discourse which seems (by its bold strokes) to resemble the former. I [Page] will say no more of it but this, If what he there lays down for a certain Truth be really so, then all that follows must be granted, as reasonable Deductions from this fundamental Principle: but if this be false, all that he hath said falls to the Ground, for want of a firm and solid Foundation to support it.

Now the Position, which (like a first Principle in Mathematicks) he takes for granted, is this, ‘It is certain (says he, pag. 1.) that the reciprocal Duties in Civil Societies, are Protection and Allegiance; and wheresoever the one fails wholly, the other falls with it.’ This is his Doctrine which I have mentioned before, but shall now consider a little more particularly.

'Tis indeed most fit and reasonable, that Protection and Allegiance should always go together, and accompany one another; but that they do not do so, is but too plain in the present case of England: but doth it follow, that because the King is not in a Capacity to protect his Subjects, therefore he is no longer to be look'd upon as a King? And if he be a King, doth not this suppose that he hath some Subjects? And if so, I would gladly know what kind of Subjects they are who owe no Allegiance?

But let this Question be rul'd by his own Instance, The Duty betwixt Father and Son. Suppose my Father to be so destitute that he cannot, and so perverse, that he will not protect and sustain me; suppose him as churlish as Cain, and as poor as Iob; yet still he is my Father, and I am his Son; that is, he still retains all that Power which (by the Law of Nature) a Father ought to have over his Child: still the Relation holds betwixt us, and whilst it doth so, the Father's Faults or Necessities cannot evacuate the Duty of a Son; which is founded not in the Fathers good Will or Abilities to defend him (though it must be confess'd they are chiefly consider'd) but in that fix'd and immutable Relation which God and Nature have establish'd betwixt them, not to be dissolv'd but by Death. So that if this learned Author will yield (as he seems to do) that Kingly Power is nothing else but the Paternal, consign'd (by the common consent of the Fathers of Families) to one Person, upon such and such Conditions, (specified in the Contract;) I cannot see how this Relation betwixt King and Subject can any [Page] more be utterly dissolved, than that betwixt a Father and his Son.

I shall say no more to this Discourse; and if what I have already said do offend either against the Principles of Reason, or the Law of England, I am willing to be corrected, and acknowledg my Error.

There is another little Paper which yet gives such a great stroke to the Government, that it ought 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 them suppose, that the Government is fallen 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, tho 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, 'tis 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 he 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 [Page] 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 fallen 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 'tis 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 Favour, 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.

[Page]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 Honour 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 Labours, 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 stri [...]ing 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 Doctrine? 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, [Page] howsoever his Power may be restrained. Innovations without former 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, 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 imagine 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 Nations 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 Nations 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 Nations 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 Honour, 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, 'tis to be supposed, was not unacquainted with the Prince's Intentions) utterly rejects it, as a false Imputation, that his Highness came to dethrone [Page] 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, 'tis plain that Sophistry and Tricks are made use of, as lawful Polices, 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 Countrie, 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? 'Tis ill trusting Popery in any shape: This is a Root, which wherever it is planted, can bring forth no good Fruit. The Bogs of Holland cannot (we think) make it less malignant, than those of Ireland.

[Page]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 Heresy: 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 Principles and Accessories ought to be esteemed, and treated no better than Tories and Banditti, 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, Honour, 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 [Page] 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 Peoples 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 Mens 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 (tho 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.

[Page]

Some short Notes on a Pamphlet, entitled, Reflections upon our late and present Proceedings in England.

A Man must read much of this Author's profound Work, before he can fathom the Depths of it, and find what his Design is, or whether indeed he has any Design at all, unless it be that of making a Book.

He tells us at length after much Strugling, and a tedious Repetition of what every body knows (perhaps) better than himself, ‘That all Orders of Men, Ecclesiastick, Civil, and Military, did put the Regal Administration into the Prince of Orange's Hands, and that the Intent of our Proceedings will at least excuse, if not justify us.’ I would have this knowing Gentleman inform the World into what Hands the Regal Administration could be better put? And if the Nation could not do better, whether this their Action does not justify it self? But says he a little above, ‘How did we all generally concur, and unanimously agree to forget our Obligations to our Soveraign. And in Page 4, he tells us, That the Prince of Orange hath done a great thing for us, and wrought such Deliverance for the Nation as ought never to be forgotten, and can never be sufficiently requited.’ I do not at all doubt but this Gentleman can more easily write half a dozen such Books as this is, than reconcile these notable Passages. He acknowledges we have been rescued out of the Hands of him that hated us, and would have destroyed us without a cause, and yet reproaches us with forgetting our Obligations to our Soveraign.

In Page 5. he has this sharp Question, ‘Let every Man ask himself, for what reason he became a party in this general Defection? Was it to divest the King of all Power to protect [Page] his Subjects? &c.’ To repeat these Absurdities is a sufficient Answer to them.

And then again in the next Page, ‘That whatever some obnoxious and ambitious Men might aim at, all good Christians had other Intentions. They were sensibly concerned for the Preservation of their Holy Religion, in the first place: Their Lives, their Laws▪ their Liberties, in the next: And after the way which some call Heresy, 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.’ What measures of Obedience this Man is for, and what he would have us to do, or not to do, I am not able to divine from his Book, for he seems to dislike in one place, what he approves in another. But he tells us in Page 6, & 7 of his Fears of the Government being undermined both in Church and State, and that he shall be reduced to the Dutch or some other foreign measures, which can never be well received in England till an Act be past to abolish Monarchy, Episcopacy, &c.

If this Gentleman's Distractions be not so great as to hinder him the use of his two chief Senses, he may now perceive that his Fears are as vain, as others perceive his Reasoning to be.

But in Page 8. he states a notable Question, for he supposes his Father to be as churlish as Cain, and as poor as Job, and yet maintains he is his Father.

O admirably put! But what's this to a King's apparent Design of ruining and enslaving a People, who have the same both Natural and Civil Right to their Lives and Liberties, as he has to his?

‘But shall we run (says he) into Popery, and perhaps Slavery too? and is not the Deposing a Popish Doctrine? p. 11. and as for Slavery, Must not a standing Army be necessarily kept up to maintain a Title founded only on the consent of the fickle and uncertain People?’

If the Lords and Commons of England are this fickle and uncertain People; I know not where our Author will find more substantial Folks, unless he fancies they are to be met with amongst the Mobile. And as to the Popish Deposing Doctrine, I have already shewed our case comes in no sort near it; for [Page] the late King's Religion did not hinder his possessing himself of the Throne, neither was that the Cause of his leaving it, for he might have enjoyed it and made the best of it, as to himself, in all Freedom, but he thought it beneath him to stop here, and not impose his false Worship on all his Subjects, trampling all the Laws of the Kingdom under his Feet, and thereby claiming not only an absolute Empire over the Bodies, but the Minds of his Subjects.

Our Author likewise shews himself a notable Well-wisher to our Religion and Liberties, when he represents a standing Army (page 11.) in the present Exigency of Affairs, to be such a Grievance, and that too under a Prince, who has not been only born and educated in the greatest Aversion to Popery, and the only Prince uncorrupted by the French King, but whose Genius and Interests do every ways so answer the Necessity of our Nation, that we have no other cause of Fear or Trouble, but at the sense of our own Unworthiness of so great a Blessing.

He seems in p. 12, and 13, to be in great Labour, left the Prince of Orange should make himself a King contrary to the express Terms of his Declaration, and Pretences of coming over here. To which may be answered, that he has in no sort violated that Declaration, for he did not thrust himself into the Throne; and as to his being so now, both de jure and de facto, this being a matter decided by the Justice, Wisdom and Supream Authority of the Nation, it's foolish Presumption, and no less conceited Ignorance for any private Person to argue it.

Our wise Author seems to be moreover concerned and greatly troubled at the Effects produced by the third Declaration, for he says, ‘It did more harm to the King's Affairs, than all the other Papers publisht at that time; whence he concludes its plain that Sophistry and Tricks are made use of, if they will but do the Business.’ What would this Man have? would he have both to succeed, when he elsewhere acknowledges, that the late King's Design was to ruin us, and the Prince's to prevent it? As to Tricks and Sophistry, I detest them as much as any Man, yet think such harmless Guides (whoever was the Author) less pernicious and destructive than force and bloodshed.

[Page]This Gentleman who s [...]ily pleads all along for the Popish Interest, is now for sooth much scandaliz'd at the Dutch-Papists in the Princes Army▪ but at this he need not take Offence, seeing they are going over whence they came, to serve the States against the most unchristian Usurper or both Popish and Protestant Countrys.

But before this worthy Author can come to a Conclusion of his Book, he must have several things proved to him: to wit, ‘That the Prince of Wales 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 Heresy; that the late King was poyson'd; 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.’ This Gentleman cannot but know the Unreasonableness of his Demands, and that what he desires, is not only unseasonable, but impracticable, till the Government be setled, when, and at what time, (perhaps to his great Confusion) these and many other Deeds of Darkness will be brought to light. Moreover the Astonishment he expresses at the mention of these vile Practices, seems to arise in him, rather from some crafty Design, than mere Ignorance of what has been done (oftner than once) in Neighbouring Courts. To conclude then in my Authors own Words; ‘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 him as the worst of Tyrants.’

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The Scot's Grievances: Or a Short Account of the Proceedings of the Scotish Privy-Council, Iusticiary Court, and those Commissionated by them, whereby the Consciences of good Men have been Tortured, the Peace of the Nation these several Years past exceedingly Disturbed, and Multitudes of Innocent People cruelly Oppressed, and inhumanely Murthered.

IN the Tract of these Years, although Informing was a Trade more encouraged than in the Reign of Tiberius, yet they arraigned Multitudes without Informer or Accuser; and whosoever appeared not upon their Summer Citation (which often times was impossible) were treated as Criminals.

They seized many of all Ranks, and detained them Months, and Years, without any Signification of the cause of their Imprisonment; and seldom liberate any such without Exorbitant Bail: but if they could find the least Shadow to prosecute any suspected to mislike their Arbitrary Courses, they precipitated their Process, not allowing them time or means to vindicate their Innocency.

They sent their Inquisitors through their Prisons and Citizens Houses, to examine whom they pleased, upon most intricate Questions of Church and State Government, and made their refusing to answer, or dissatisfactory Answers, the Foundation of their Indictments; others seized in the Crowd at Executions, and some when visiting the imprisoned, were condemned and executed, for refusing to justify their Severities [Page] against their Brethren, and disowning their Dagon of Nor resistance.

They frequently sent out Spies to Prisons, Cities and Country, under Disguise, who by simulating their Dissatisfaction at the Exorbitances of the Government, and Zeal for persecuted Piety, might draw Words from the most wary, sustaining such and other Informers as habil Witnesses to the taking away the Lives of many Innocents, notwithstanding of one Express Act of Parliament to the contrary.

They often prosecuted without a Libel: and when they formed Libels, they seldom restricted themselves to the Points therein contained, holding them, as confessed who refused to answer their captious and extraneous Questions.

They not only employed Emissaries, but Judges themselves were active to suborn Witnesses against the Lives, Estates and Honours of Peers and worthy Patriots (a palpably gross Management of such an Intrigue, having qualified a Person for a chief Seat in their High Court of Justice) and when they could not find such Execrable Russians to serve their turns, they forced Pannals to answer de super Inquirendis, in the most Criminal Cases. They have often sustained Jurors and Witnesses, who could not purge themselves of Prejudice or partial Counsel.

They have Indicted, Tryed, Condemned and executed Persons in one day; and when Intercession hath been made for some time to prepare for Death, it hath been answered, They shall have no time to prepare for Heaven, Hell is too good for them. They have kept some in Expectation of Reprieves and Pardons, till the very Day and Hour of their Execution; others they have hanged early in the Morning, thereby preventing the Peoples seeing their Cruelty, and hearing the dying Persons last Words, and too palpably designing by such Surprizals the Ruine of their Souls. They frequently beat Drums about the Scaffolds, their Cause being such as could not bear the Words of dying Christians. They searched several, when removing them from the Prison to the Scrffold, seized their Testimonies, that so they might not come to publick.

They would have their Laws to reach Thoughts as well as Actions, and many against whom they could charge no matter of Fact, they sought to reach their Lives for their Thoughts, asking them, What think you of the Government, &c.? Some [Page] they have wheedled to Confession, by promising to favour their Ingenuity, upbraiding them for Dissemblers if they would not speak freely, and by mock-Expostulations; viz. Are ye ashamed of your Principles? Are ye afraid to give a Testimony, &c? and forced them to subscribe their Confessions before the Council, which they produced as Witness against them at the Criminal Court, whereupon they were Sentenced and Executed.

When any refused to give Categorical Answers, then could they extort all by Torture, with their Engines of Cruelty, the Boots, fired Matches betwixt the Fingers and Thumkins; and after torturing, hanged several, though thereby they could extort nothing.

When some had answered all their Questions, and cleared themselves of all charged against them, yet would they not pass them so, but impose some of their wicked Oaths, which they concluded they would not take, and according to the measure of Tenderness they discovered in any, they apportioned the Oaths; to the stricter the more smooth; to the laxer the more harsh, such as once their own Natural Consciences did fear at.

They required not only to have their Laws obeyed, but subscribed also, holding it not sufficient that People transgress them not, but likewise own the Justice of them, and the Lawfulness of the Authority enacting them, and swear to maintain them; and yet when some have complyed to all they sought, yet would they not discharge them, but upon Bond to answer again when called.

Not only Extrajudicial Confession will sustain with them, but when they have given the publick Faith, the King's Security, the Act and Oath of Council, that such Confession should not militate, yet they have brought it in as Evidence, and given it upon Oath, when their former Act and Oath was produced in open Court in Demonstration of their Perjury.

They used frequently to pack Juries, picking out such as they thought any thing tender, and not bloody enough, and sometimes listed some who they concluded would not concur, that thereupon they might get occasion to exact their Fines.

Sometimes when the Jury hath brought in their Verdict in Favour of the Pannal, they have made them return and resume the Cognition of the Process again, and threatned them with [Page] an Assize of Error if they did not bring him in Guilty, yea frequently the Advocate theatned them under most peremptory Certifications if they found not the Impannalled Guilty; so that their using Juries was but for the Fashion.

They have sentenced innocent Persons twice, once to have their Ears cut off and banished, and after the lopping of their Ears, they have re-examined them, and sentenced them to Death.

They used to stage several together, of whom they knew some would comply, to tantalize others with the sight of their Liberty, thereby tempting them to bite more eagerly at their snaring Baits, to wound the Conscience.

They have not only Murdered many innocent Christians in taking their Lives, but also endevou [...]ed to Murder their Reputation and the Cause they owned, loading it with most reproachful Epithets, which was their peculiar Policy, to bring the Heads of Suffering to Points most obnoxious to common Censer, and most Extrinsick to Religion, cutting off the Faithful Professors of Religion, and true Lovers of Liberty, under the odium of Enemies to Government.

Some they arraigned whom they could neither reach by adducing many Witnesses against in Tryal, nor by their Examination with their cruel Torture of the Boots, yet hath had their whole Estate seized, and also been sent to P [...]ison in a Rock within the Sea, without being convicted of any Crime.

They finding their means and motions under Colour of Law; and Trials were too slow and troublesome to acquire their designed Cruelties and that the publick Executions tended more to confirm and multiply the Lovers of Religion and Liberty, than to diminish and deter, took a more compendious way of sending out th [...]ir Souldiers impowered to challenge and examine whom they pleased; and to tender Oaths required by no Law, and to punish such by present Death who refused to swear, or scrupled to answer their ensnaring Q [...]estion, which bloody Commissions were so faithfully Executed, that within few Weeks above fifty innocent Persons were cruelly murdered in cold Blood, without either T [...]yal or Conv [...]on, or respe [...]t to Age or Sex.

Although the Multitudes of Famil [...]es ruined by Exorbitant Fining [...], Forfeitures, Banishments, Imprisonments, Free qua [...] terings and Plunderings of Souldier [...], and Barbarities of their [Page] Highland Host: the many cruel Edicts and Proclamations they have published, the unlawful Bonds, and wicked self-contradicting Oaths imposed and pressed, the many Exactions whereby they have impoverished the Country, the many open Oppressions, horrid Tortures and Cruelties practised upon Innocents, the multitudes of Persons Male and Female, whom they have Murdered, Persecuted, Oppressed and Destroyed, are so many and various that they cannot be collected: Yet some have been at no small pains to gether as much of these, as when published in a Martyrology of these times, (which is purposed to be done with all convenient speed) will give the World to know as well the Faithfulness, Patience, Courage and Constancy of these who suffered, together with the Equity of their Cause, as the Inhumanity, Illegality and Severity of their Cruel and Bloody Persecutors.

The Late Honourable CONVENTION proved a Legal PARLIAMENT.

I. THE necessity of a Parliament agreed by the Lords and Commons Voting that the Throne is Vacant; for there being a Vacancy, there follows an immediate necessity of settling the Government, especially the Writs, being destroyed, and the Great Seal carryed away, put a period to all publick Justice, and then there must be a supply by such means as the necessity requires, or a failure of Government.

II. Consider the Antecedents to the calling the Convention; that is, about three hundred of the Commons, which is a majority of the fullest House that can be made, above sixty Lords, being a greater number, than any part divided amounted to at this great Meeting, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of London, by application to His then Highness the Prince of Orange, desired him to accept of the Administration of P [...]blick Affairs, Military and Civil, which [Page] he was pleased to do, to the great satisfaction of all good People; and after that His Highness was desired to Issue forth His Circular Letters to the Lords; and the like to the Coroners, and in their absence to the Clerks of the Peace, to Elect Knights, Citizens and Burgesses; this was more than was done in Fifty nine, for the calling a Parliament in April 1660. for there the Summons was not real, but fictitious, (i. e.) in the names of the Keepers of the Liberties of England, a meer Notion set up as a Form, there being no such Persons, but a meer Ens rationis, impossible really to exist: so that here was much more done than in 1659, and all really done which was possible to be invented, as the Affairs then stood. Besides King Ch. the 2d. had not abdicated the Kingdom, but was willing to return, and was at Breda, whither they might have sent for Writs, and in the mean time have kept their form of Keepers of the Liberties, &c. But in the present case there was no King in being, nor any style or form of Government, neither real, or notional left; so that in all these respects, more was done before, and at the calling of this Great Convention, than for calling that Parliament (for so I must call it) yet that Parliament made several Acts, in all thirty seven, as appears by Keebles Statutes, and several of them not confirmed; I shall instance but in one, but it is one which there was occasion to use in every County of England; I mean the Act for Confirming and Restoring Ministers, being the 17th of that Sessions; all the Judges allowed of this as an Act of Parliament, tho' never confirmed, which is a stronger case than that in question, for there was only fictitious Summons, here a real one.

III. That without the Consent of any Body of the People; this at the Request of a Majority of the Lords; more than hal [...] the number of the Commons duly chosen in King Ch. the 2d's time, besides the great Body of the City of London being at least esteem'd a 5th part of the Kingdom, yet after the King's Return, he was so well satisfied with the calling of that Parliament, that it was Enacted by the King, Lords and Commons As [...]embled in Parliament; that the Lords and Common; then Sitting at Westminster in the present Parliament, were th [...] two Houses of Parliament, notwithstanding any want of th [...] Kings Writs or Writ of Summons, or a [...]y defect whatsoever [Page] and as if the King had been present at the beginning of the Parliament, this I take to be a full Judgment in full Parliament of the case in question, and much stronger than the present case is, and this Parliament continued till the 29th of December next following, and made in all thirty seven Acts, as abo [...]e mentioned.

The 13 Caroli 2. chap. 7. (a full Parliament called by the Kings Writ) recites the other of 12 Caroli 2. and that after his Majesties return they were continued till the 29th of December, and then dissolved, and that several Acts passed; this is the plain Judgment of another Parliament.

1. Because it says they were continued, which shews they had a real being capable of being continued; for a Confirmation of a void Grant has no effect, and Confirmation shews a Grant only voidable so the continuance there shewed it at most but voidable; and when the King came, and confirm'd it, all was good.

2. The dissolving it then, shews they had a being, for, as ex nihilo nihil sit, so super nihil nil operatur, as out of nothing nothing can be made, so upon nothing nothing can operate.

Again, the King, Lords and Commons, make the great Corporation or Body of the Kingdom, and the Commons are legally taken for the Free-holders, Inst. 4. p. 2. Now the Lords and Commons having Proclaimed the King, the defect of this great Corporation is cured, and all the Essential parts of this great Body Politique united and made compleat, as plainly as when the Mayor of a Corporation dies, and another is chosen, the Corporation is again perfect; and to say, that which perfects the great Body Politique should in the same instant destroy it, I mean the Parliament, is to make contradictions true, simul & semel, the perfection, and destruction of this great Body at one instant, and by the same Act.

Then if necessity of Affairs was a forcible Argument in 1660, a time of great peace, not only in England, but throughout Europe, and almost in all the World; certainly 'tis of a greater force now, when England is scarce delivered from Popery and Slavery; when Ireland has a mighty Army of Papists, and that Kingdom in hazard of final destruction, if not speedily prevented; and when France has destroyed most of the Protestants there, and threatens the ruin of the Low-Countries, from whence God has sent the wonderful Assistance of our Gracious, and [Page] therefore most Glorious King; and England cannot promise safety from that Forreign Power, when forty days delay, which is the least can be for a new Parliament, and considering we can never hope to have one more freely chosen, because first it was so free from Court-influence, or likelihood of all design that the Letters of Summons issued by him, whom the great God in infinite Mercy raised to save us, to the hazard of his Life, and this done to protect the Protestant Religion and at a time when the people were all concerned for one Common interest of Religion, and Liberty, it would be vain when we have the best King and Queen the World affords, a full house of Lords, the most solemnly chosen Commons that ever were in the remembrance of any Man Living, to spend Mony and lose time (I had almost said to despise Providence) and take great pains to destroy our selves.

If any object Acts of Parliament mentioning Writs and Summons, &c.

I answer, the Precedent in 1660 is after all those Acts.

In private cases as much has been done in point of necessity; a Bishop Provincial dies, and sede vacant a Clerk is presented to a Benefice, the Presentation to the Dean and Chapter is good in this case of Necessity; and if in a Vacancy by the Death of a Bishop a Presentation shall be good to the Dean and Chapter, rather than a prejudice should happen by the Church lying void; Surely â fortiori—Vacancy of the Throne may be supplied without the formality of a Writ, and the great Convention turn'd to a Real Parliament.

A Summons in all points is of the same real force as a Writ, for a Summons and a Writ differ no more than in name, the thing is the same in all Substantial parts; the Writ is Recorded in Chancery, so are His Highnesses Letters; the proper Officer Endorses the Return, so he does here, (for the Coroner in defect of the Sheriff is the proper Officer;) the People Choose by virtue of the Writ, so they did freely by Virtue of the Letters, &c. & quae re concordant parum differunt, they agree in Reality, and then what difference is there between the one and the other?

Object. A Writ must be in Actions at Common Law, else all Pleadings after, will not make it good, but Judgment given may be Reversed by a Writ of Error.

[Page] Answ. The case differs, first, because Actions between party and party, are Adversary Actions, but Summons to Parliament are not so, but are Mediums only to have an Election.

2. In Actions at Law the Defendant may plead to the Writ, but there is no plea to a Writ for electing Members to serve in Parliament; and for this I have Littleton's Argument, there never was such Plea, therefore none lies.

Object. That they have not taken the Test.

Answ. They may take the Test yet; and then all which they do will be good, for the Test being the distinguishing Mark of a Protestant from a Papist, when that is taken, the end of the Law is performed.

Object. That the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy ought to be taken, and that the new ones are not legal.

Answ. The Convention being the Supream Power, have abolish'd the old Oaths, and have made new ones; and as to the making new Oaths, the like was done in Alfreds time, when they chose him King; vide Mirror of Justice. Chap. 1. for the Heptarchy being turn'd to a Monarchy, the precedent Oaths of the seven Kings could not be the same King Alfred swore.

Many Precedents may be cited, where Laws have been made in Parliament, without the King's Writ to summon them, which for brevity's sake I forbear to mention.

For a farewel; the Objections quarrel at our Happiness, fight against our Safety, and aim at that which may indanger Destruction.

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The Amicable Reconciliation of the DISSENTERS to the CHURCH of ENGLAND: being a Model or Draught for the Universal Accommodation in the Case of Religion, and the Bringing in all Parties to Her Communion.

Humbly presented to the Consideration of Parliament.

WHereas there are several parties of Christians in the Nation, who must and will ever differ in their Opinions about the Church and Discipline of it, in the Question which is of Christ's Institution; it is not our Disputes about the Church [...]s Particular (which are rather to be mutually forborn, and every party left herein to their own Perswasion) but a common Agreement in what we can agree and that is in the Church as National, must heal our Breaches.

The Catholicks are for one Universal Organical Church throughout the World, whereof the Pope is Head, according to some; and the Bishops Convened in a General Council, according to others.

That there is a Catholick Church Visible on earth as well as invisible, whereof CHRIST is Head, who was on Earth, and is now Visible in Heaven, is past doubt also with Protestants▪ But that this Church is Organical, and under the Government of a Monarchy by the Pope, or of an Aristocracy by a General Council, it seems a thing not possible in nature; because neither can any Oe [...]umenical Council ever be Called, or any One Man he sufficient to take on him the Concernmen [...]s of the whole World.

[Page]A Political Church, is a Community of Chris [...]ans brought into an Orber of Superiority and Inferiority by an Head and Members, organized for the Exercise of that Government which is proper to it; but the whole Earth is not capable of any such Order: And Councils therefore which are gather'd out of several Countries, or of Bishops belonging to more Dominions than of one Supreme Power, may behad for mutual Advice and Concord, but not for Government.

A Nation, Empire, or Kingdom, which consists of one Supreme Magistrate and People, who are generally Christians, are capable of such an Ecclesiastical Polity, and a National Church Political in England is to be asserted and maintained.

The Church of England then is a Political Society of all the Christians in the Land, united in the King as Head, and organized by the Bishops, for the executing those Laws or Government which he chooses for their spiritual Good and the publick Peace.

There is this difference between a Church National, the Church Catholick, and Particular Churches: The two latter-are of Divine Right and Essential Consideration, but the former is and can be only of Humane Institution, for it is manifestly Accidental to the Church of Christ that the chief Magistrate and the whole People should be Christian.

Distinguish we here of the Government of the Church as Internal belonging to the Spirit, and External which belongs to Men: And of the External Regiment thereof, which is either Formal belonging to the Ministers, or Officers of Christ; or Objective, belonging to the Magistrate: the one being only by the Keyes, the other by the Sword. Whether the Community now of Christians in England may be accounted a National Church in respect to any Formal Government of it, we leave for dispute to others; let them judg according to the foregoing Definition of a Political Church: But that the main Body of the Nation are, or may be constituted a proper Political Church National in respect to that External Objective Regiment, which is, or should be exercised by the Bishops as the proper Organs thereof under the King, is what we hold reasonable, and would lay as the Foundation-Stone of Peace, in [Page] the matter of Religion between all Persons in the Kingdom.

Let the Parliament therefore we have, be heartily for the Publick Good, and thriving of England, which must and can be only by an entire Liberty of Conscience in opposition to the narrow Spirit of any single Party or Faction, and when such a Parliament as this shall set themselves about the Business of Union to purpose, a Bill should be brought in, Entituled, An Act for declaring the Constitution of our Church of England.

A Parliament is the Representative of the whole Nation, and no doubt but by Consent and Agreement they might (upon the account mentioned) Make a new Constitution, and much more may they Declare the Constitution of it.

It should be declared then in such a Bill or Act that the Church of England consists of the King as the Head, or pars Imperans, who is to give Laws thereto, and all the several Assemblies of Christians which he shall tolerate, as the pars subdita, or Body.

Some Discrimination between the Tolerable and Intolerable is indeed never to be gainsaid by any wise and good Man; unto whom there is no Liberty can be desirable, which is not consistent at least with these three things, the Articles of our Creed, a Good Life, and the Fundamental Government of the Kingdom.

It is not for any private persons, but a Parliament, to prescribe the Terms of National Communion: But we would have all our Assemblies that are Tolerable, to be made Legal by such an Act (and thereby parts of the National Church) as well as the Parochial Congregations.

The Church here therefore must come under a double consideration, as the Church of Christ, and as the Church of England. Take the Church as the Church of Christ, and there must be (as we have said at first) endless Controversy about this point, who are the true Members of it: but take it under the consideration as National, and there will be none at all, for those must be Memb [...]rs whom the Head by a Law does allow to be parts of the Body, and the King under this notion only is made Head of the Church by the Stature, that is, as it is called Ecclesia A [...]glicana.

[Page]The Protestant Dissenter [...] of all sorts, as well as the Conformists, will acknowledg the King to be Supreme Coercive Governour over all Persons, and in all Causes, Ecclesiastical and Civil, throughout his Dominions; And will not those who are Roman Catholicks do the like? Did they not do so in Henry the Eight's time, when they were generally such? Again, the Dissenters of all sorts, even the Congregationalists of every Sect, are ready to submit to any power legally derived from the King and upon such an account will admit of a superintendency of the Bishops, as Ecclesiastical Magistrates under him, when they cannot own any Authority that they have over other Ministers from Iesus Christ; and will not Papists also be subject to all Authority that is exercised legally in his Name, howsoever they may question the Spiritual Title of the English Clergy and their succession?

We would have the Bishops then (qua Bishops, as distinct in Office from Priests) declared no other than the King's Officers▪ whose power is but Objectively Ecclesiastical, and to act Circa Sacra only, by Vertue of his Authority and Commission.

As Iehoshaphat did comit the Charge incumbent upon him as Supreme Magistrate, in regard to all Matters of the Lord, unto the care of Amariah, being Chief Priest, and in regard to the King's Matters unto Zebadiah, being as the Chief Iustice of the Realm: so should the Diocesian Bishop be in our Ecclesiastical, as the Judges are in Civil Matters the Substitutes altogether of His Majesty, and execute his Jurisdiction.

This is indeed at State point which was throughly canvased by Henry the Eight, whose Divines did agree on two Orders alone, Priest and Deacon, to be of Divine Appointment, and that the Superiority of a Bishop over a Presbyter, or of one Bishop over another, was but by the Positive Laws of Men only, as appears in that Authentick Book then put out, entituled, The Necessary Eru [...]ition: And consequently, that the Bishop could not have, or exert any Jurisdiction over the Subject unless warranted and derived from the King, without danger of a Premunire, which made Bonner (wi [...]h others) hold his Bishoprick by Commission.

Upon this ground, if it should please His Majesty to chuse some persons of the Dissenters to this Office, authorizing them [Page] to it no otherwise, than by a like Commission (which they should also hold, with the Judges, quam di [...] se ben [...] gesse [...]un [...]) As none of them could scruple then the acceptance, so must a Union from that day forward commence in England, especially if he would not leave filling up the Vacancies that fall, with such, till they in some measure equal the Conformists.

We are sensible unto what Distress the Ministers of a Particular Congregation of all sorts may be brought in the exercise of Discipline over some potent, turbulent, and refractory Members, and what relief he might find in such an external Ecclesiastical Officer as this: We are sensible how many inconvenices of Congregational Episcopacy may by this means only be saved.

Their work in general should be to supervise the Churches of all parties in their Diocesses, that they walk according to their own principles, in due Order, agreeable to the Gospel, and the peace of one another: And more particularly in the observance of all Laws and Limitations, Rules or Canons, which the King, as Supreme Head, shall by advice of a Convocation, o [...] the consent of his three Estates in Parliament, make on purpose, and impose, upon them, with respect both to the publick Emolument, and the safety of his own Person, Dignity, and Dominions.

For example, suppose this to be one Canon or Injunction, That no Novice, but such as are Grave Men only among the Sects, be admitted to be Teachers. Another, this, That the doors be kept open in all Conventi [...]les for any that wil [...] to come in and hear, that no Sedition be there hatched or broached. There are such, and many the like Impositions may be found, very fit to be laid on some Persons, not needful for others, and it is Time, and the Trial, and Experience which must be the Mother to bring them forth, and cultivate them after, to their best advantage.

To the making such Canons, we humbly motion a third Clerk for the Convocation, to be added to the two in every Diocess, and chose out of the Dissenters with indifferent respect to all sorts of them, that mutual Satisfaction and Concord my thereby be prosecuted with unanimity of Heart and Good will throughout all the Churche [...]: And the two Provinces of Canterbury [Page] and York should unite in this Convocation for the making them one National Church, and not two Provincial ones in a diverse Assembly.

By this means shall one Organ more be added to this great Political Society for deriving an influence from the Head to these parts of the Body as well as others, which now seem neglected, and to have no care taken of them.

The more especial business of such an equally Modell'd Convocation should be the revising the Book of Canons for the reversing the main body of them, having been fitted to that narrow scantling which is unworthy the Church of England, and for the leaving only those, and making new (as we have exemplified in one or two for instance-sake even now) which do, and will suit to that larger Constitution thereof intended by this Paper.

And having now said thus much for Explanation of this Design, we must say some little also in favour of it.

The Design of such an Accommodation as this, shall advance not lessen the outward power and honour of the Bishop, extending it over those who before had no conscientious regard for their Function: while yet it would ease them of the tremendous burden of such a Cura Animarum they take on them otherwise, as must be of impossible performance.

This Design (which is suppos'd to find us in our Divisions, and not to make any) shall by little and little (with God's blessing on it) cool Animosities, and enkindle Charity and Holiness among all parties, which now is so much wanting, while those that are Catholicks, and those that are Protestants, and much more those that are Conformists, and those that are Nonconfrmists, do agree in the substance of one Christianity, having the same Scriptures, the same Articles of Faith in the three Creeds, and the same Rule of Manners in the Decalogue, There is one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. They cannot indeed have both Communion in the same External Worship, but they can have it in the Internal Adoration of the same blessed Trinity, and in One Hope of our calling unto eternal Life through Christ Iesus. They must separate into several Congregations, but there shall be no Schism in the Body by this means for all that.

[Page]For as while the Supreme Power allows only the Parochial Meetings, as established by Law, it hath bin accounted Schism to go to Separate Assemblies: So if the Scene be altered, and these Separate Congregations be also made Legal, this Schism, or Mens being called Schismaticks, in that regard, must vanish and be at an end. Indeed these divers Congregations will Accuse one another as guilty of Sin and Schism before God, for each separating from the others Communion, and threaten his Judgment: but so long as there is no separating from the Church, whereof the King is Head, while he tolerates the Meetings of both, and makes them parts of it as National, there shall be no prosecution of Law against any, but all quiet, as fellow-Members upon that account.

Only, as to the Roman Catholicks, it is not indeed for them to imagine that a Protestant King and Parliament should allow of their Mass in Publick, as they do of the Service-Book. This were not to tolerate the Papists, but to set up Popery; whereas the Determining what is to be permitted to one Party, and what to another, so as no Detriment may be brought to the Church or State, and no Sin or Guilt upon the Nation by that permission, is a nice thing, and the business of this Parliament.

There is one Motion farther should be added, and that is for another Bill also to be brought in to take away Pluralities, (which is the Pest of our present Conforming Clergy) I mean both of Livings and Dignities impartially, to this end, that the King may have wherewithal to engage those he receives into the Church thus enlarged, and consequently restores to their Labours, by this Accommodation; for that is a thing will make the favour indeed significant to such persons.

I will conclude with one Argument for what I have proposed. There is no power given upon Earth for any Man to command that which he in his Conscience does judg to be Sin. Non datur potestas ad malum. But to conform in all things to the present Church according to Law, is Sin in the judgment of Dissenters, Catholicks and others; and the Late King was a Dissenter of one sort himself. The King therefore that was so lately, could not really put the Catholicks upon Conformity; and if he would appear equal to all his People, he could not put [Page] [...]ny other Dissenters on it neither, for the same Cause. That which the Law requires was both in his Conscience and in theirs, a thing prohibited of God. He could not therefore put the Laws in Execution being against God. And if He could not do it acting only but as an honest Man that abides by his Principles: we have no reason to apprehend that so good a King and Queen as we have now, should be ever brought to do it, maugre all the Enticements of the Church of England, or Frowns of the Church of Rome.

FINIS.

ADVERTISEMENT.

A Third Volume of Sermons Preached by the Late Reverend and Learned Thomas Manton, D.D. In Two Parts.

The First containing LXVI Sermons on the Eleventh Chapter of the Hebrews. With a Treatise of the Life of Faith.

The Second containing a Treatise of Self-Denial. With Several Sermons on the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper, And other Occasions. With an Alphabetical-Table to the Whole.

Sold by Thomas Parkhurst, and Ionathan Robinson.

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ELEVENTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England and Scotland. VIZ.

I. An Answer to the Desertion Discuss'd, being a Defence of the late and present Proceedings.

II. Satisfaction tendred to all that pretend Conscience for Non-submission to our present Governours, and refusing of the New Oaths of Fealty and Allegiance.

III. Dr. Oates his Petition to the Parliament, declaring his barbarous Sufferings by the Papists.

IV. An Account of the Convention of Scotland.

V. A Speech made by a Member of the Convention of the Estates in Scotland.

VI. The Grounds on which the Estates of Scotland declared the Right of the Crown of Scotland Forfaulted, and the Throne become Vacant.

VII. The Opinion of two eminent Parliament-Men, justifying the Lawfulness of taking the Oaths of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary.

London printed, and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row, 1689.

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AN ANSWER TO THE DESERTION DISCUSS'D.

IF many of our Long-Rob'd Divines, pust up with a Conceit of their own Parts, would but keep closer to their Texts, and their Duties, most certainly our Peace and Union would be much firmer, and more assured then it is. For being sway'd by Interest and Profit, they are more afraid of losing the Advantages of Earthly Preferment, then the Treasures of Heavenly Felicity. Unless they swim in their own Wishes and Desires, all Things are out of Order. The Church is in danger, they cry; here are Sharers coming in among Us: And by an odd kind of Ecclesiastical Policy, seem rather inclinable to return under the Yoke of Popery, then to endure the Equality of a Dissenting Protestant; rather to be at the check of a Pope's Nuncio, then suffer the Fraternity of a Protestant Nonconformist. They said nothing to the late King, till he began to touch their Copy-holds: then they call'd out for Help; and now they are angry with their Relief, because they are afraid of well they know not what. And this is their Misfortune, that if all things answer not the full Height of their Expectations, they are the first that should be last dissatisfied. If all things go not well, as they imagine, they [Page] presently grow moody and waspish; and while they insinuate their empty Notions into others, who admiring the fluency of their Pulpit Language, either out of Ignorance, or Laziness, allow them a Prerogative over their Understandings, the whole Nation must be embroyl'd by their Surmises and Mistrusts.

Else what had that Gentleman, who wrote the Desertion Discuss'd, to do to busy his Brains with a Subject, neither appertaining to his Function, nor proper for his Talent? Why should he be setting himself up against the voted Judgment of [...]he chiefest and greatest part of the Kingdom? A Man of his Profession would have doubtless better employ'd himself, in contemplating the Story of the Three Murmurers against Moses; and there have learn'd a more sanctifi'd Lesson, then to exalt his Sophistry against the Debates of a Solemn Assembly contriving the Publick Preservation. For certainly never was a fairer Prospect then now, since the many Revolutions under which the British Monarchy has labour'd, of its being restor'd to its ancient Grand [...]ur and Renown, and of enjoying the Advantages of Peace and Prosperity in a higher measure then ever. So that it must be look'd upon as the Effect, either of a most pernicious Malice, or a strange distraction of Brain, for such Discussers as these, to be throwing about the Darnel of their nice and froward Conceptions, on purpose to choak the Expectations of so glorious a Harvest. For they must be Men that want the government of right Reason within themselves, as being enslav'd either to vicious Custom, or partial Affection, or else they would never run themselves and others with so much precipitancy, into the shame and ignominy of upholding the subvertors of National Constitutions. And all this to blacken and defame the noble Endeavours, and prudent Counsels of those renowned Patriots that pursu'd the only means to rescue a languishing Monarchy from impending Thraldom and Ruin.

He does not wonder, he says, that a Man of so much sense and integrity as his Friend is, should be surprized at the Thrones being declared Vacant by the Lower House of Convention. For how, says his Friend, can the Seat of the Government be empty, while the King, who all grant, had an unquestionable Title, is still living.

But the Discusser here forgot, that it had been the resolv'd [Page] Opinion of two Parliaments already, That there was no Security for the Protestant Religion, the King's Life, or the establish'd Government of the Kingdom, without passing a Bill for disabling the Duke of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland; and that unless a Bill were pass'd for excluding the Duke of York, the House could not give any Supply to the King, without Danger to his Person, the Hazard of the Protestant Religion, and Breach of the Trust in them repos'd by the People. Upon which a Bill did pass the Commons, and was sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence, by which Iames Duke of York was excluded and made for ever uncapable to Inherit, Possess or Enjoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm, &c. and he adjudg'd Guilty of High Treason, and to suffer the Pains and Penalties as in Case of High Treason, if after such a Time he should claim, challenge, or attempt to possess or exercise any Authority or Jurisdiction, as King, &c. in any of the said Dominions. 'Tis true, the Lords did not pass this Bill, for Reasons well known; yet was it such a mutilation to the Duke's Title, to be disabled from succeeding in the Kingdom, by the whole Body of the Commons, who are the Representatives of the Nation, that it can never be said, that all Men granted his Title unquestionable, as the Discusser imposes upon the World. Besides the many Instances in History, of several Princes who have forfeited their Succession, and consequently their Title to the Crown, for revolting from the Establish'd Religion of the Realm.

But, says the Discusser, for I look upon his Friend and Him to be all one; (and that he does but put the Question with one side of his Mouth, and answer it with the other) I had thought our Laws, as well as our Religion, had been against the Deposing Doctrine.

That's not the Question; but whether a Prince may commit those Miscarriages in Government, whether he may not so far, peccare in Leges & Rempublicam, as to incur the Forfeiture of his Regal Power? and whether a Prince may be allow'd to subvert the ancient Constitutions and Religion of a Nation, and yet be said to be the Lawful King of that Realm? These are the Questions: For the [...] it is not the Law that deposes him, nor the Religion that justifies it. But it is He that deposes Himself: 'tis the bad Advice [Page] of Evil Counsellors to which he Listens, and which he follows to the ruin of the Kingdom, contrary to the Original Contract between Princes and People, grounded upon the Foundations of all Original Government; I say, 'tis that Adhering to Evil Counsel which deposes a Prince by degrading him from a Lawful King to an Unlawful Tyrant, and renders him Liable to the Animadversion of the Law, and the impeachments of the oppress'd and injur'd People. To assert otherwise were to deprive all National Law and Religion of their self Defence; which is against all the Law and Religion in the World. I am apt to believe that Christ himself had no very good Opinion of the lawfulness of Herod's Regality, when he sent him that Message, Go tell that Fox, Herod: Which I look upon as a Deposal and Degrading of that Arbitrary Prince by the Founder of our Religion, in his own Breast and Judgment, though he forbore the Execution of his Celestial Power. And therefore it is not the Error of Religion, but the Fault of those that do not well distinguish, that Religion suffers in her Doctrines. For only he who governs according to Law is a King, he that endeavours to subvert the Law, is none. Nor is every rambling and precipitate Brain to be Judg of this neither, but the Solid Law, and fundamental Constitutions of the Realm. So that the Country Gentleman was mistaken in his Thoughts, both of our Laws and our Religion. However the pretended Scrupulous Country-Gentleman desires the Discusser to expound the State-Riddle of the Vacancy; and to give him the Ground of the late extraordinary Revolution.

To which the Discusser gives no direct answer at present, but desires his Friend to take notice, That the Gentlemen of the Convention, who declar'd a Vacancy in the Government, lay'd the main Stress of their opinion upon the King's withdrawing himself. For that since the Story of the French League, and the Business of the Prince of Wales were pass'd over in silence, most Men believed that the pretended Breach of that which they called the Original Contract was no more then a popular Flourish.

All which is such an imperfect peice of Incoherence, that none but a madman would have thrust in by Head and Shoulders, as the Discusser has done. For how can it be inferr'd that the Breach of the Original Contract, should be a Popular [Page]Flourish, because the Clandestin League, and the False Birth are hitherto pass'd over in silence? As for the surreptitious Birth, one would think it was sufficiently dilated upon in the Declaration of the Lords; and why it is not farther brought upon the Stage, there may be several Reasons given; and among the rest, because it may be thought that the Imposture will vanish of it self, and so there will be no need of casting an Eternal Blot upon the memory of them that contriv'd and own'd it. Then for the Clandestin League, it Suffices that there is apparent Proof of it in Bank. But to call the Breach of the Original Contract pretended, and a Popular Flourish, is a yerk of Malitious Reflection, which only serves to expose the Discusser to Publick censure. For as there is nothing more certain, then that there is an Original Contract between the King and People of England, the Breach of which has cost the Effusion of so much Blood; so is it as certain that that Original Contract was never so infallibly broken then it was of late. Which as it is allow'd by all the Laws of God and Man, to be a sufficient ground to seek a Remedy; so was nothing more vigorously urg'd by the Convention. Which might have convinc'd the Discusser, that they did not pretend it for a popular Flourish.

But now, lest the Country Gentleman should be shogg'd by seeing the Votes of so considerable a Meeting, debated by a private Hand; the Discusser reminds him, That a Parliament and a Convention are two different Things. The latter, for want of the King's Writs and Concurrence, having no share in the Legislative Power.

But the Discusser forgets, that it was only a Convention of Lords that sent to Richard the Second to meet them at Westminster; which the King at first promis'd to do; but upon altering his Mind, sent him another peremptory Message, that if he would not come according to his Promise, they would chuse another King; and then proceeding farther, according to that Power they had, expell'd against the King's Will several of his chiefest Favourites from the Court; constrain'd others to put in Sureties to appear at the next Parliament, and caus'd several others to be arrested and committed to several Prisons. If a Convention could do this where the King was present, what signifi'd the Writs and Concurrence of an [Page] absent Prince. Nor did they contend for Legislative Power, but only met in a kind of embodied Dictatorship to take care of the present Necessity of Affairs.

But this, says the Discusser, was not justifiable, for that the Nenessity which they pretended, was either of their own making, or of their own submitting to, which is the same Thing. But this is all Nonsence. For if the Necessity was of their own making, then were the Lords and Commons the Authors of all the Miscarriages which they laid to the late King's Charge; If of their own submitting to, then would they never have call'd out for succour and crav'd Relief from their Oppressions. No—They were those crying Grievances sum'd up in the Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembl'd at Westmister presented to their Present Majesties upon the Twelfth of February Last; which when the late King could not justify them by force of Arms, but fled for it, not being able to answer his endeavours to subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom, put them to that necessity of assembling after an Unusual Manner, to provide for the Common Safety.

How ever the Discusser will have it a Necessity of their own creating, tho never so false. ‘For, says he, if the King had either not bin driven out of his Dominions, or invited back upon honourable Terms, they needed not have had recourse to such unusual singular Methods of proceeding.’ And thus the Discusser rambles out of one Untruth into another. For he fled from offer'd Treaty, forsook the defence of his own Forces, and left them to be disbanded in Arrears and without Payment; slipt from his own Council by Night, after he had appointed to meet them in Consultation the next Morning. Nor could he justly suspect, that any Violence would have been offer'd to Him in particular, being so well assur'd as he could not choose but be, of the Generous Inclination, and profound Respect which the Prince had to his Person. But if the Guilt of peculiar Miscarriages hasten'd his Departure, or oversway'd him toleave the He [...]m of Rule without any Form or Face of Goverment: That could ne're be call'd an Expulsion out of his Dominions. And therefore when a certain Gentleman waiting on him at Feversham besought him to return to London, he gave the Person this Reply, That he was an honest Gentleman, but knew not what he knew. And when he had once abandon'd the Kingdom all forlom without either Head or Conduct, without Council, or any Countenance of [Page] Authority, then according to the Judgment of the Common-wealth of Venice in reference to the Succession of Henry the 4th. it belong'd to the Nobility and chief Persons of the Land, as they are the chief Defence of the Royal Authority, to take care of the Publick Safety, whether by usual or unusual Methods of proceeding it matters not; and they have both the Authority of Law and Necessity to justify their Proceedings.

As for his being invited back upon Honourable Terms, 'tis well known how he return'd back, and went through the City on the Sunday Night, attended by his own Guards, and lodg'd in White-Hall, and this most certainly in order to an Accommodation. Only because the Prince was coming to Town, he was sent to, and for the avoiding any Disturbance that might be prejudicial to his Person, was humbly desir'd to retire to Ham-House, with Liberty to make choice of what Persons he thought fit to attend him. Which he promised to do; but recollecting himself, and desiring to know whether he might not return back to Rochester, word was sent him the next Morning that he might do as he pleas'd. All this while here was no Constraint put upon him; so that he could not be said to be driven out of his Dominions, but that it was his own Choice to forsake it.

Notwithstanding all this, The Discusser will undertake to prove, ‘That the King before his withdrawing had sufficient Grounds to make him apprehensive of Danger, and therefore it could not be call'd an Abdication.’

But through the whole Pursuit of his Argument, the Discusser most wretchedly mistakes the Point, quite mistaking the Effects for the Causes. ‘For, says he, Had not the King great Reason to retire to secure his Person and his Honour, when he had met with so many unfortunate Disappointments, with so many surprising and unparallel'd Accidents? When part of the Army was revolted, and the Remainder too apparently unserviceable; When the People had such fatal and unremoveable Prejudices against his Service? When there were such terrible Disorders in the Kingdom, and all Places were either flaming or ready to take Fire? What should a Prince do when he had scarce any thing left him to lose but himself, but consult his Safety, and give way to the irresis [...]able Evil?’

These are very great Disappointments and evil Accidents indeed to befal a Prince. But the Discusser forgets to tell ye, That the Prince [Page] brought all these Inconveniencies upon himself. The Discusser tells ye that part of the Army revolted, but he omits to tell ye, that it was out of a Generous Principle, for that being Protestants, they would not embrue their Hands in the Blood of their Fellow-Protestants and Countreymen, nor be Instruments to enslave the Nation. He tells ye of terrible Disorders in the Kingdom; but does not tell ye, it was time for the People to be in Disorder, when they saw such Incroachments upon their Ancient Franchises, such Inundations of Popery flowing in upon their Consciences, and such a rapid Violence of French Thraldom tumbling in upon their Necks. He complains that all Places were either flaming or ready to take Fire, but forgets to tell you who were the Incendiaries.

These therefore, with several others of the same Nature, being the true Causes that drew the foresaid Inconveniencies upon the King, it follows, that tho the Secondary Constraint of his withdrawing might be occasion'd by the Effects, yet the Primary Cause of his withdrawing proceeded from the First Causes which produced the Effects. Consequently such a Retiring was voluntary and not forc'd; because he may be justly said to fly from something of dreaded Punishment, rather then pursuing Danger, from which he was always at a distance [...]ar enough off, but dubious what would become of him as to the Former.

The Discusser makes many other grievous Complaints to justify the King's First withdrawing (for hitherto he is altogether upon that) but when he comes to sum up all. ‘In short, says he, when the Forts and Revenue were thus disposed of; when the Papists were to be disbanded, and the Protestants not to be trusted; when the Nation was under such general and violent Dissatisfactions; when the King in case of a Rupture had nothing upon the matter but his single Person, to oppose against the Princes Arms, and those of his Subjects; when his Mortal Enemies were to sit Judges of his Crown and Dignity, if no farther; when Affairs were in this tempestuous Condition, to say that a Free and Indifferent Parliament might be chosen, with the Relation to the King's Right as well as the People's, and that the King had no just visible Cause to apprehend himself in Danger, is to out-face the Sun and trample upon the Understandings, and almost upon the Senses of the whole Nation.’

As for the Fortified Towns, it was but Reason that his then Highness the Prince of Orange, who came over to rescue the Nation [Page] from Arbitrary Violence and Oppression, should demand them to be put into his Power, well Knowing them to be then in the Hands of Irish Papists and Cut-Throats, of whom the People stood in Perpetual Fear, and who were rather a Consternation then Security to the Kingdom. And the same reason holds in Relation to the Revenue. For all the World knows, what Vast Sums had been Squander'd away by the late King, when Duke, to keep off the sitting of Parliaments, and to buy off the Members when they Sate; and when that Money was spent so much to the Detriment of the Realm, what Sollicitations were made to the French King for more, to carry on the Popish Cause and Interest. It was as well known how the Revenue had of late Years been Embezl'd to keep up a standing Army of Irish Ragamuffins; as if England were now in its Turn to have been conquer'd by Ireland, as formerly Ireland had been conquer'd by England. From which fears when his present Majesty had delivered the Nation, it was but reason that his Army should be pay'd out of the Publick Stock for their happy Toyl and labour. For the Publick Revenue of all Kingdoms and States was ever Originally intended for the Preservation, and not the Destruction of the People.

Upon the Disbanding of the Papists, the Discusser makes a special Observation, That no Test-Acts nor any Others could barr the King from Listing them as Common Souldiers. This perhaps may be true; that is to say, that a Protestant Prince may list Papists, and a Popish Prince Protestants, to follow him in a lawful War. But when a Popish Prince in a Protestant Nation had made his chiefes [...] Levies of Popish Common Souldiers to over-aw his Protestant Subjects, and put his sole Confidence in them for his known and open Designs and manifest Endeavors to introduce Popery into a Protestant Kingdom, contrary to the Law, 'twas time then to think of disbanding such Vermin, and ridding them out of the Land. And the reason why the Protestants could not be trusted was as certain. For if the King would not trust his Protestants, nay disarm'd them, when Papists were both arm'd and Employ'd, what reason had the Protestants to trust the King. And this was that which among other Things created and foster'd those General and Violent Dissatisfactions in the Nation. For Men have naturally a general and violent Antipathy against having their Throats Cut if they can help it. And therefore since the Kingdom by a Miraculous Providence had obtain'd its Redemption, 'tis to be wonder'd the Discusser should imagine [Page] 'twas ever intended that the late K. should be in a Condition again to oppose either his own or the persons of any others against the Arms of the Prince or those of his own Subjects. And whereas, he says, that the King's Mortal Enemies were to be the Judges of his Crown and Dignity, the Discusser should have done well before he had made his Reflection upon so many Eminent Patriots, to have consulted Grotius, l. 1. c. 4. Par. 8. and the Example of Pausamias King of L [...]cedaemon there cited. Certainly there was no such Impossibility but that a Free and Indifferent Parliament might have been chosen to deal equally between the King and the People. For tho the King perhaps might be conscious that he could not so well rely upon the Kindness of those to whom he had always had such an inveterate Antipathy, yet he might have rely'd upon the Justice of so many Great and Worthy Personages. So that it is the Discusser himself who out-faces the Sun and tramples upon the Understandings and Senses of the whole Nation, who makes these little Rhetorical Flourishes to palliate and obscure the Truth, and to insinuate among the People, as if Wrong and Injustice had been done, where nothing was acted but what was a due debt to Self-Preservation. And with the same Brazening the Discusser out-faces the Sun, and tramples upon the Senses of the Nation, to assert that a Desertion of the Government, after such Proposals, which were rather Assurances of his Safety, was no Desertion. He had been safer in the Affection of the People, when all his evil Counsellers had been remov'd from about him; he had been safer from the Importunities of his Priests and Jesuites; He had been more secure from running himself into farther danger, and safer in the Enjoyment of his Royal Dignity. But he who had so Solemnly sworn to Establish Popery in England or die in the Attempt, thought himself no where safe perhapps, but where he might be procuring his future Bliss, by the Performance of his Vow.

The Discusser now advances to the King's second withdrawing, and puts the Question, what the King had done to incur a forfeiture by his first Retirement? Indeed what had he not done? If the Discusser [...]orgot in his Discussing Heat, the Declaration presented to their Present Majesties would have rubb'd up his Memory. Among the rest there was one, That he had endeavoured to Subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion, and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom, by raising and keeping a Standing Army in the Kingdom in time of Peace, without Consent of Parliament, and quartering Souldiers contrary[Page]to Law; and by causing s [...]veral of his good Subjects to be Disarm'd at the same time when Papists were both Arm'd and Employ'd. Now to what purpose was all this, but to Subject the Kingdom to the Tyranny of the Pope? In such a case Barclay cited by Grotious, l. 1. c. 4. per. 10. gives this for his Opinion, Si Rex regnum alienet, aut alij Subjiciat, amitti ab eo Regnum. To which Grotius himself adds, Si Rex reipsa tradere regnum aut Subjicere molliatur, quin ei resisti in boc posse non dubite. Aliud est enim Imperium, aliud habendi modus; qui n [...] mutetur, obstare po [...]est Populus.

After all this, it cannot be imagin'd that the King returned the second time with an intention to govern; unless he might govern at his own will and Pleasure as he did before. But that would not be suffer'd him; for they who had now avoided the Yoke so near putting about their Necks, would never endure it should come so near their shoulders again. Therefore all the Probality in the World is on this side, That the King perceiving, that by taking the Government upon him again, he should not be able to attain those Ends which he had made the Business of his whole Reign, resolv'd to relinquish it altogether. At which time being at liberty to go or stay, his Departure must of necessity be accounted Voluntary, and consequently an Absolute Abdication.

Lastly, it is impossible that the King could be frighted out of his Dominions, by the making of two or three Addresses to his then Royal Highness the Prince of Orange; for it was no more than rationally he could expect would be done; more especially from the City to the Person, who next under God had deliver'd them from their Continual fears of Fire and Sword. Nor by the denying him a little Gold to Heal with; which looks like an improbable Story of the Discusser's own framing. These are Motions so inconsiderable for a King to forsake his Dominions, that the Discusser seems to have Conjur'd them up meerly to degrade the Courage of the Absenting Monarch, and to mortify his own Discussion. But after all, the Question may be fairly put, whether Withdrawing, in the Construction of our Law, does not rather imply a Guilt, than an Apprehension of Danger, unless it be that of being call'd to an Account, since the Query always propounded to the Jury is, Did he fly for't? Which indeed ought to be the Legal Determination of this Dispute.

[Page]However the Discusser goes on, and tells us, We are to observe, that to abdicate an Office always supposes the Consent of him who quits. And this he affirms to be the meaning of the Word out of Salust, Tully, Livy and Grotius. But both the Supposal, and the Asseveration are false. For Consent implies, that the Question must be put, Whether the Person will Abdicate or no? Which never was put to any Abdicator in this World. Upon a forc'd Resignation it has. But a forc'd Resignation is no Abdication. Certain it is that Abdicare signifies to renounce, forgoe, or abandon. And the Motives to this Abdication are various, and generally prevailing upon the Reason of the Person that Abdicates himself, according to the Condition of Affairs and the Circumstances he is under. And therefore tho a Magistrate may abdicate with the consent of others, yet he rarely does it out of a natural Inclination. Thus it cannot be imagined that Lentulus, one of the Conspirators with Catiline, abdicated the Pretorship, with the Consent of his own Will, for he was one of the most aspiring Men in the Universe; but because he found himself so obnoxious that he could hold it no longer: Thus Sylla abdicated the Dictatorship out of a Vain-glorious Opinion of Felicity that attended him, and to shew that he had such an awe over the Romans, that tho he were a Private Person, no body durst call him to an Account for the Cruelties he had committed. History tells us, that Dioclesian abdicated the Empire, for madness that he could not have his Will of the Christians. How does the Discusser know, but that King Iames abdicated the Government because he could not have his Will of the Protestants? Charles the Vth abdicated the Empire, because he found his wonted Good Fortune had left him. Bernard Rasfield Bishop of Munster finding himself between two Grindstones, the Persecution of the German Priests, for going about to deprive them of their Concubines, and the Pope's Excommunication, if he did it not; abdicated his Principality and Bi [...]hoprick, that he might be at quiet. Lastly, to shew that Abdication does not always imply Consent, Brutus compell'd Tarquinius Collatinus to abdicate the Consulship, only because his Praenomen was invisum Civitati. And then as for what the Discusser adds out of Grotius, That a Neglect or Omission in the Administration of Government, is by no means to be interpreted a Renunciation of it; there's no Body censures the late King for any Omission or want of Diligence in the Administration of his Government, for he [Page] was too diligent indeed; and that Diligence was the main Grievance which disgusted the People; his Diligence to extirpate the Protestant Religion; his Diligence to subvert the Laws and Liberties of the Ringdom; and his Diligence to introduce Popery. And this Diligence, 'tis to be fear'd, was one of the main Causes of his Abdication: Had he omitted more, he would have had less reason to have abdicated. And therefore it is a Vanity to infer that there can be no Pretence for an Abdication; because the Word, as he says, always, that is very rarely, or never, supposes the Consent of him that quits. For that it is not in the Nature of Man to abdicate Empires, Kingdoms, Wealth and Honours, but there must be some compul [...]ive Reason within that moves them to it. When Princes find the Times and Constitutions of the Kingdom will not bear their Government; when Emperors grow stiff and stark with Age, and begin to feel the Lashes of ill-Fortune; when Ambitious Aspirers perceive they must take other Measures to compass their Designs, then they swallow a self-denying Ordinance, and think it convenient to retire from the Cares of the World, or out of Harms way.

The Discusser says, We have but two Instances with us which look like an Abdication since the Conquest, which are in the Reigns of Edward II. and Richard II. both which were unjustly depos'd by their Subjects. 'Tis true, they were so far from looking like Abdications, that they were no Abdications at all. For both those Princes being under a strict Confinement, it was impossible for them to abdicate, unless they could have made their Escapes. Therefore they were forc'd Resignations, and consequently formal Deposals. Nor had the Queen or Henry of Lancaster any cause to declare the Throne Vacant, as having already taken care to fill it themselves: And whether those Princes would have resign'd or no, it would have signified little to them that were by Claim in Possession. But the Discusser has overslipp'd one Instance of a Perfect Abdication since the Conquest, which the King would have certainly felt to his Cost, had not the Pope and the Poictovins been his true Friends: and the Case was much the same as at this Time. For the Lords and Barons of the Realm in the Reign of King Iohn, having often desired the King to restore them their Ancient Rights and Liberties, and finding nothing but Delusions, resolve no longer to be abus'd but betake themselves to Arms. The King then lying at Windsor, and perceiving [Page] himself too weak for the Lords, thought it no good way to proceed by Force but rather by Fraud, and therefore sends to the Lords, that if they would come to Windsor he would grant their Demands. Thither the Lords repairing, tho in a Military Manner (sor they durst not trust the King's Word) he saluted them all kindly, and promis'd to give them Satisfaction in all they demanded: And to that Purpose in a Meadow between Stains and Windsor, call'd Running-Mead, he freely consented to confirm their former Charters; and was content that some Grave Personages should be made choice of to see it confirm'd. But the next Day, when it was to be done, he withdraws himself privately to South-Hampton, and thence to the Isle of Wight: Where it was concluded that he should send to the Pope, acquaint him with the Mutiny of his Lords, and require his Holinesses help. In the mean time the King lay sculking up and down for three Months together in Corners, that no Body knew where to find him; or which was worse, as some write, roving and practising Pyracy upon the Neighbouring Seas.

Whether the Lords and Barons did in Words declare this to be a Vacancy of the Throne, is not material to enquire. Perhaps they were not so curious in those Days: But what they did in Deeds, amounted to the same as if they had done it in Words. For perceiving themselves thus eluded, they swore upon the Holy Altar to be reveng'd. And what Revenge that was likely to have been is easy to conjecture, by their swearing Allegiance afterwards to Lewis the French King's Son, and bearing Fealty to him till the Death of the King. Whence it may be inferr'd, That if a Prince in Hostility with his Subjects deserts his Kingdom, upon any Account, They who are next to the Government are not to hesitate as King Iohn's Barons did, in expectation of the King's Return, but immediately to take care of the Common Safety, lest they should bring the same Ruin upon the Kingdom, as those Barons did by their Delay.

Lastly, If the Discusser will not be convinc'd by what has hitherto been said, Let him examine the King's own words, and try whether he can pick out any better Construction out of them then that which I shall make.

Says the late King in his Letter to the Earl of Feversham, Things being come to that Extr [...]mity, that I have been forc'd to send away the[Page]Queen, and my Son the Prince of Wales, that they might not fall into my Enemies hands, I am oblig'd to do the same thing, and to endeavour to secure my self the best I can, &c. Expres [...]ions of a disponding Mind, and only full of Grief for the Disappointment of the Popish Career. The King was afraid of the Queen, and his Son the Prince of Wales as he calls him, and therefore deeming it convenient to send Them out of the way, believes himself oblig'd to follow them. 'Tis true, there might be some Reason perhaps for him to send Them away; but none to send away himself, not being under the same Circumstances. For let it be Paternal or Conjugal Affection, or both together; What could be a greater Desertion than this, for the sake of a Wife and a Son to leave three Kingdoms at six and sevens? He speaks of securing himself as well as he can, but mentions nothing of Danger; only leaves it to the Lord Feversham and others to presume the Causes of his Fears. But certainly the apprehension of Danger can never excuse a Sovereign Magistrate from the Desertion of his Dominions, at the same time striving and strugling under the Pangs of the Dissolution of Government. If such a Desertion of his Territories in that forlorn and languishing Condition, to accompany the Tribulations of a Wife and a Son, be not a perfect Abdication of his Territories, the Words relinquish, desert, forgo, abandon, abdicate, have lost their Signification. Thus Lysimachus in Plutarch, de sera vindicta Dei, after he had surrendered his Person and Dominions to the Getae, for a Draught of Drink, in the extremity of a parching Thirst, when he had quench'd his Thirst cryed out, O pravum Hominem! that for so small a Pleasure have lost so great a Kingdom. He would be thought very unfit to be the Master of a Ship, that should throw himself into the Sea, when his Vessel and Cargoe were almost ready to perish. And I will appeal to the Lord of Wemm himself, whether if he were to try an Abdicating Prince upon this Point, with the same Huffing and Domineering as he did Inferiour Offenders, he would take it for a good Justification to say, I had thought, or I apprehended my Person to be in Danger. Rather it becomes a Prince at such a time to exert his Courage, and contemn his own, when the publick Security lies at stake, especially when the Remedy propounded was so easy as the Convoking of a Free Parliament. But to withdraw at such a perillous Conjuncture from the Application of his desir'd, nay [Page] almost implor'd Assistance; What can the Discusser think of himself to deny so plain an Abdication?

And this I take to be the Opinion of the late King's Abdication, intimated by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal assembled at Guild-Hall, Decemb. 1688. where they are pleased to say, That they did reasonably hope that the King having sent forth his Proclamation and Writs for a free Parliament, they might have rested secure (as doubtless the King might also have done) in that Meeting. But his Majesty having withdrawn himself, &c. they did therefore unanimously resolve to apply themselves to his Highness the Prince of Orange, &c. That is to say, The King having withdrawn himself from the Cure of the Grand Distempers of the Nation, and consequently Abdicated the Government, they resolv'd to apply themselves to a more Skilful, at least a more Willing Physician. Which had the Discusser more considerately discuss'd, when he wrote his Discussion, would have sav'd him a great deal of trouble and expence.

Thus much for the Reasons which the Discusser brings to prove that the King, before his withdrawing, had sufficient Grounds to make him apprehensive of Danger, and that therefore it cannot be call'd an Abdication. That which follows, being altogether grounded upon certain Statutes and Laws of the Land, to the knowledg of which the Discusser seems to be a great Pretender, is answer'd in a Word, That they who pronounc'd the Throne Vacant, understood the Latitude of their Power, and the Intent and Limits of the Laws and Statutes of this Realm to that Degree, that if nothing else, the Consideration of that might have deterr'd the Discusser from the Presumption of appearing so vainly and scandalously in the World. Nor would I be thought so impertinent to transgress the Bounds of my own Understanding as he has done. For indeed, to tell ye the Truth, if the Discusser should come to a Trial at Westminster-Hall, I am afraid the Lawyers will certainly inform him that he has very much either mistaken or misquoted his Authors.

FINIS.

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SATISFACTION tendred to all that pretend Conscience for Nonsubmission to our present Governours, and refusing of the New Oaths of FEALTY and ALLEGIANCE.
In a LETTER to a FRIEND, By R. B. late Rector of St. Michael Querne, London, And now Rector of Icklingham All-Saints, Suffolk.

SIR,

I Cannot but admire at the Stiffness, not to say Obstinacy of some, in not complying with the present Government, considering the late danger of Popery, and that an Arbitrary Power was exercised amongst us by our late Rulers, in asserting their Dispensing Power, by the Mercenary Judges declared to be Law.

You may remember in our late Conference upon this Subject, you pleaded in Defence of your selves, and others, the Obligation you lay under to the Oath of Allegiance, with your Subscription to the Doctrine of the Church of England, contained in the 37th Article, and the First Canon of the Church: but if it appear that all this is rather grounded upon Mistake, than any solid Reality, I will not question your ready Submission.

[Page]Oaths I confess are very strong Ties upon Men of Conscience, and they are to be tenderly dealt with until that Prejudice be removed; give me leave therefore with Sobriety and Meekness to enquire, Whether that Oath be still in Force, with the Obligation to it? if not, that Plea must vanish and disappear.

And here first, let me remind you of the occasion of imposing the Oath of Allegiance; it was injoyn'd to distinguish betwixt Church and Court, Loyal and Disloyal Papists, upon that horrid Gunpowder-Treason, which hath left a Stain of Villany and Cruelty upon that Religion, never to be wiped off: Read over the Anatomy of that Oath, made by K. Iames the First in his Book of the Defence of it; And what is there in if that can stick upon any Protestant? except that Clause of denying all Foreign Jurisdiction, Prince, or Potentate: And this you seem'd to hint at, when you said the Prince of Orange was a Foreign Prince.

Will you be pleased in answer to this, to fix your Thoughts upon that of the great Apostle St. Paul, he is excepted that put all things under him. So here, without Question, the King may divest himself of all Authority and Power, and when this is done the Obligation ceaseth, as if he were really Dead. The Preface to the New Oath is not an authoritative Abdication; but rather a Declaration of Matter of Fact, that the late King Iames hath abdicated. So that in fine the main of the Controversy lies here, Whether the late King did abdicate? For, if he did, without all Question the Obligation of all Oaths taken unto him is ceased. In confirmation of the Affirmative, I shall endeavour to make it clear that any King may, And secondly, That the late King did abdicate.

That Kings may denude themselves of their Princely Power and Sovereignty, appears from what was done by Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany, and King of Spain at the same time, who did abdicate both; and his Subjects took new Oaths of Fealty to other Princes. Some of those Times might question his Courage, but none did ever except against the Validity of it.

May it not seem something unjust to deny this Liberty to Princes, when they find themselves overcharged with the Weight of Government, to retire into a Privacy for the better enjoyment of their inward Peace and Quiet? But I presume no Man will deny this Hypothesis. It remains to prove the Thesis, That the late King did abdicate.

[Page]1. I will not dwell upon what was done by the Metropolitan, and other Lords of the Council, upon his first withdrawing; they came into the City, and with the Lord Mayor sent for the Lieutenant of the Tower, seize upon the Keys, dispossess the Souldiers, place a new Garrison there, and desire the Prince of Orange to assume the Regency; Why all this, if he had not Abdicated? Upon what other ground durst they raise Arms, seize upon his Royal Fort? Or how can they excuse themselves from formal Rebellion and breach of Oaths, if this be not granted, and is not unpresidented, That Princes shall take up their Scepters again, when they have laid them down. But to pass by this.

2. I would willingly be resolv'd by any Thinking Man, whose Judgment and Testimony is most authentick in this Particular; Whether I am to resolve my self into the Judgment of the whole Nation, in a full and clear Representation in Parliament, or into the private Francies or Opinion of a few Men? I remember what you once repli'd to this, That every Mans Conscience is to judg for himself in point of Practice. But do you not know when, and by whom this Principle was exploded, whilst some were prosecuted for meer Matters of Worship? And shall this be pleaded by those Men who so vigorously have acted against it, when in its own Nature it is so destructive of the Civil Peace? A Line and a Line is an Abomination.

Did ever any Government upon the Pretence of Conscience dispence with Disobedience in Things necessary to its Establishment? And can any Man expect to be excus'd from taking the Oaths, which is the only Moral Security the Government can expect or require; and upon this very Pretence, which if allowed, all Kingdoms must dissolve into Anarchy and Confusion; Religion and Conscience being the Common Pretentions of all Male-Contents. This may suffice to satisfy any sober Rational Man, that is not resolv'd to maintain the Conclusion, be the Premises never so weak.

Some there are that presume their Subscription to the Doctrine of the Church of England, in her Book of Articles, will not permit them to yield their Obedience to these Alterations. But if this shall prove a Mistake, and our Obedience shall be conformable to our Principles, will it not rather be esteemed Peevishness than Conscience?

To discover the Mistake, let us consider when, and by whom, the Articles were composed; and refer the Practices of those Times to the [Page] Articles, as an authentick and clear Interpretation of them, and this also will vanish like Smoak.

1. The Articles were made, or at least confirmed, in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, who was a constant asserter and maintainer of this Maxim, That it is lawful for a neighbouring Prince to relieve and defend the Subjects of another, when invaded in their Laws, Liberties, and Religion. Who was it that protected and assisted the Hugonets in France, against the Tyranny and Violence of their Princes? Was it not this Gracious and Heroick Queen? And who was it that protected the Netherlands against the Violence and Usurpations of the Spanish Monarch? And was all this contrary to the avowed Doctrines of our Church, of which she was the Defender? Was not this defended, or at least allowed of, by the Church-Men of those Times? must it be now inconsistent with the Principles of our Times? Do they bind our Hands, so that if we are invaded we may not crave the like Protection? Let any sober scrupulous dissatisfied Person give a sober Answer and Resolution to these Queries. The Dutch Netherlands erected a new Model of Government under her Protection, after they had shaken off the Spanish Yoak.

2. Let it be granted, what ought not to be denied, That the late King did abdicate, and that the Government did devolve upon the People, and these in a full Representative of the whole Nation, whether in Parliament, or in a Convention, (it matters not which, whilst that was a free and fair Choice) have constituted these to be our Governours; Are we not to pay and swear Obedience unto them, as well as their Predecessors? And if this were rightly weigh'd, would answer an Objection from that Declaration, in the Act of Uniformity, I abhor that Traiterous Position, &c.

If after all this Men will fix all upon a Ius divinum, and fly to Scriptures, let them give plain positive Texts, for a general Form, with Rules universally relating unto, and obliging all Places and Men. If they cannot, let them confess that God hath left all Nations and People, to be ruled by that Government and those Laws, which are most suitable to the Constitution and Temperament of the People; and this I lay down for a Foundation not to be overthrown. But to Answer: those places which are so much insisted upon, that of our Saviour's, St Paul's, and St Peter's, we need to make use of that absurd Assertion of some of the Romanists, That this was only enjoyn'd and to be performed until they had opportunity to make a Resistance.

[Page]This would stain the Glory of the Primitive Martyrs. Not a forced, but a voluntary Martyrdom deserves the Crown; however this gives a taste of the Loyalty of these Men and their Religion, to the maintaining of which the Popish Princes sacrifice all their Power and Policy.

But for a more Substantial Answer, by way of Satisfaction to these Scruples, let it be duly considered, that the Primitive Christians and we were under different and distinct Administrations; they liv'd under absolute Monarchs, their Grandeur was won by the Sword, and confirm'd by a pure Despotick Power; and therefore their Resistance had been unlawful, contrary to the Rule and Force of their Government: but it is quite otherwise with us. We are setled upon a Gothick Model, our Princes make no Laws without our own Consent; they are obliged to the excution of Laws made by our selves with their Consent; they have no Power to dispense with the breach of them by others, nor to invade them themselves. This was own'd by the seven Bishops, declar'd by former Parliaments; so that no Man is bound to pay their Allegiance any further, Let Caesar have what is Caesar's, and the Subjects what is theirs, their Laws, their Birth-right. In some cases Moral positive Duties are superseded by what is naturally Moral, as in the Duties of the fourth Command, so here. Tho Government in general be founded upon Nature, yet this or that Form is but positive; and if it be not consistant with the end of Government, Self-preservation, Why should not it be either altered, or fixed in those who will prosecute the right end, the Preservation of the publick Peace and Liberties of the People?

To what hath been said, let me add, ex abundanti, the late King's retiring into France; if it amount not to an Abdication, it comes near unto a Forfeiture, and no Prince or State can have less Reason to indeavour to restore him to his Crown and Dignity, than that Monarch. Whence hath he his Claim but from Hugh Capet, and he from the Election of the great Men of the Kingdom? and why did they pretend to lay aside Charles Duke of Lorrain, whose Right it was by Succession, but meerly upon this ground, He had joyned himself to the Enemies of the Kingdom? and so they transfer the Crown unto another Family, that of the Capets. And does not all Christendom in general, and the English Nation in particular, look upon that great Man of France as a Common Enemy? shall not that which may hinder Succession, justify in part a translating [Page] of it unto another? But (blessed be God) all these are cleared in an Abdication, and that asserted by the Representative Body of the whole Nation.

And now, good Sir, be perswaded to lay aside all Prejudice, submit your Sentiments to the Judgment of your Superiors, yield your Obedience and Fealty in taking the Oaths; this you see is your Duty, and not only so, but your Interest. It is not long since we were apprehensive of Popery, and the Church-of-England-Men did set themselves in direct Opposition against it, and all the Accesses toward it; for which the Generations to come shall call them blessed. But whence come these Apprensions to be lessened? can we expect a perfect Freedom from these Fears, should he be re-admitted to his Authority? It is not possible a Popish Soveraign should keep Promise with his Heretical Subjects, as they stile us; their words and Oaths, if Roman Catholicks, bind no further then stands with the Interest of their Religion, and we know who both can, and will dispence with Oaths and Promises made to Hereticks.

Would you fetter him by Laws? these have been, like Sampsons Cords, easily broken: Would you place him under Tutors and Governours? He is no minor, cannot submit; aut Caesar, aut Null [...]s. Men are but Men at the best, and Time, and Preferment may alter their Judgments. However these would make him a Prisoner, and no King. Should we submit in hopes of another Opportunity; Would he not settle a Correspondence with Male-contents at Home, and Foreign Princes Abroad? and if he prosper in the Design, hath that Common plea, That his Promises are Void, because made by him when under Restraint? And then, What will become of all that is dear unto us, Religion, Lives, Liberties, and Estates? This is prevented by an Abdication; so that if he return, it must be by Conquest, and then he will rule by the Sword, we shall all be in the same Condition, lie under the charge of Hereticks, Rebels and Traytors; the Government chang'd from a regulated Monarchy into an absolute Tyranny, our Religion abrogated; we shall be sold as Slaves, or burnt as Hereticks. If Men love Bonds and Imprisonments, Rapine and Sequestration, Racks and Tortures, Fire and Faggots, let them continue this Humor and Aversation; but if none of these be lovely, as indeed they are not, let us bless God who hath redeemed us from the Hand of our Enemies, and the Hand of all that hate us. Let us joyn issue with the Divine Providence (which [Page] hath delivered us from all these Evils) in submitting and yielding our Obedience to our Soveraign Lord and Lady, by whose Conduct and Courage we are brought into a state of Freedom and Peace. Be not affrighted out of this by the false Rumors and Reports, spread abroad by evil-minded Men, but let us unite in our Submission to our present Rulers, that thereby we may strengthen their Hearts and Hands in our common Defence.

There remains one Prejudice, but no Objection arising from the vain Fears of some Men, that the Church begins to be shaken in her Authority, whilst matters of Religion fall under a Dispute, and no Convocation consulted with. But this, if fully considered, would swell a private Letter into too great a Bulk. Let me for the present desire you to consider, there is nothing design'd in Doctrinals, but meer Matters of Ceremony, and a relaxation of some Laws, not consistent with the greatest Interest of the Nation in this present Juncture, the Union of Protestants. And out of experience, that the severity of those Laws never reclaim'd one Dissenter, but rather did drive others out of the Pale of the Church; it is not unworthy of, but highly becoming the Wisdom of those worthy Patriots to find out a Method, whereby all Protestants of every Form may be brought into an easy Condition. This Subject, if this Letter find a candid Reception, may be more fully considered of, by

Your very Friend, Servant, and Brother, R. B.

[Page]

To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, And to the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses in this present PARLIAMENT Assembled; The Humbletition of TITUS OATES, D. D.

Most Humbly sheweth,

THat your Petitioner in the Year 1678, discovered a horrid Popish Conspiracy for the Destruction of the late King Charles the Second, His Present Majesty, and the Protestant Religion within these Kingdoms; and prov'd it so fully, that several Parliaments, and Courts of Justice, before whom he gave his Testimony, declared their Belief of it by publick Votes, and the Condemnation of several of the Conspirators. For which Reason, and because your Petitioner would not be terrified by their Threats, nor seduced by their Promises of great Rewards (with both which Temptations they often assulted him) to desist in his Discovery; the Jesuits and Papists pursued him with an implacable Malice, and endeavoured to take away his Fame and Life, by suborning Witnesses to accuse him of Capital Crimes: but being defeated in that Villanous Attempt, they first procured King Charles the Second to withdraw that Protection and Subsistence his Majesty had, at the Request of several Parliaments, allowed to your Petitioner; and then instigated his Royal Highness the Duke of York to prosecute your Petitioner in an Action of Scandalum Magnatum, for speaking this notorious Truth, viz. That he the said Duke of York was reconciled to the Church of Rome; and that It is High Treason to be so reconciled: wherein a Verdict and Judgment for [Page] one Hundred Thousand Pounds Damages were obtained against your Petitioner, and your Petitioner was committed to the King's Bench-Prison.

After this, the same Popish Party obtained leave from King Charles the second, to prefer two several Indictments against your Petitioner, for two pretended Perjuries in his Evidence concerning the said Conspiracy, which they brought on to Tryal in the Reign of King Iames the second; and your Petitioner was upon the Evidence of those very Witnesses, who had confronted him in three former Tryals, and were disbelieved; and through the Partial Behahaviour of the Chief Justice Ieffreys, in brow-beating his Witnesses, and misleading the Juries, convicted of the said Pretended Perjuries, and received this inhumane and unparallel'd Sentence following, viz. [To pay two thousand Marks to the King: To be devested of his Canonical Habit: To be brought into Westminster-Hall with a Paper upon his Head, with this Inscription, Titus Oates convicted upon full Evidence of two horrid Perjuries: To stand in and upon the Pillory two several days, for the space of an Hour: To be whip'd by the comman Hang-man, from Aldgate to Newgate on Wednesday, and to be whip'd again on the Friday following from Newgate to Tiburn: To stand in and upon the Pillory five times in every Year of his Life; and to remain a Prisoner during his Life.] Which Sentence being intended, as your Petitioner hath just reason to believe, to murther him, was accordingly executed with all the Circumstances of Barbarity; he having suffered some thousands of Stripes whereby he was put to unspeakable Tortures, and lay ten Weeks under the Surgeons Hands. Neither did their Cruelty cease here, but because your Petitioner, by God's Mercy miraculously supporting him, (and the extraordinary Skill of a Judicious Chirurgion) outlived that Bloody Usage, some of them afterwards got into your Petitioner's Chamber whilst he was weak in his Bed, and attempted to pull of the Plaisters apply'd to cure his Back, and threatned to destroy him: And that nothing within their Power or Malice might be wanting to compleat your Petitioner's Misery, they procured him to be loaded with Irons of excessive Weight for a whole Year, without any Intermission, even when his Legs were swoln with the Gout; and to be shut up in the Dungeon, or Hole of the Prison, whereby he became impair'd in his Limbs, and contracted Convulsion Fits, and other Distempers, to the great Hazard of his Life. All which illegal Proceedings, and barbarous Inhumanities, [Page] your Petitioner humbly conceives were not only intended as a Revenge upon him, but likewise to cast a Reproach upon the Wisdom and Honour of four successive Parliaments who had given him Cre [...]it, and upon the Publick Justice of the Nation. And your Petitioner humbly hopes that since the Papists themselves have verified and confirmed his Evidence by their late open and avowed Violations of our Religion, Laws, and Liberties, this Honourable House will vindicate the Proceedings of former Parliaments, and discharge your Petitioner from those Arbitrary and Scandalous Judgments, and the unjust Imprisonment he lies under.

Your Petitioner doth therefore most humbly beseech your Lordships and your Honours, to take his deplorable Case into your g [...]nerous and tender Consideration, and to give him such Redress [...]herein as to your Lordships and your Honours great Wisdom, Iustice, and Goodness, shall seem meet: And your Petitioner shall ever pray, &c.

[Page]

An Account of the Convention of SCOTLAND.

THE Convention of Scotland met the 14th of March, 168 [...], in Obedience to the Prince of Orange's Letters; They choice the Duke of Hamilton their President, after which they had several Debates about the Duke of G [...]rdon, a Papist, who keeps the Castle notwithstanding many offers of Surrender, does still keep it for King Iames.

They read a Letter from the King of England, in which he exhorts them to lay aside all Animosities, and Factions, and mind the Publick Good in securing the Protestant Religion, and the ancient Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom on sure and lasting Foundations, particularly that they would endeavour a Union between both Kingdoms, as one of the best Means for the Happiness of both, especially at this time, when the common Enemy is restless to procure the ruine of Britain, and the Protestant Religion every-where.

After which a Letter was read from King Iames, requiring them to support his Royal Authority; by many Threats and Promises, which made no Impression on them; but after some time they drew up, and sent a Letter to King William, full of dutiful Respects, promising to do that which may be acceptable to him, and suitable to the Genius of the Nation.

After setling the Militia and other State-Matters, and having resolved the Power into themselves; they appointed a Committee of 24, made up of all the Estates, to settle the Government: Which Committee have provided for the full Meeting of the Convention Grounds and Reasons on which they have declared the Throne Vacant.

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A SPEECH made by a Member of the Convention of the States in SCOTLAND.

WE are now called together by his Highness the Prince of Orange, to Consult and Deliberate, what Methods will be most proper to secure Our Religion, Laws and Liberties, in order to which, the first thing that will fall under our Consideration, is the setling the Sovereign Power.

I take for granted that you are fully convinced, that King Iames the Seventh, by his many Violations of the Fundamental Laws, by his endeavouring to establish a Despotick and Arbitrary Power, and introduce Popery, (tho he himself had confirmed all the Laws that were enacted in Favour of the Protestant Religion) has thereby subverted the Constitution, and (that our Miseries might have no Redress from him) has left us in a time when we needed his Protection most. The Eyes of all Europe are upon us, and it is in our Power to make our Selves, and our Posterity either Happy or Miserable, by making a choice, either to call back the same King Iames, and hazard once more all that Men account dear, to his Mercy; or to settle the Government on some other, under whom we may live Quiet and Peaceable Lives, without the perpetual Terror of being swallowed up by Popery and Arbitrary Government, which all good Men hoped were now banished, and yet behold a new Off-spring is sprung up, which plead eagerly for both, tho under the mistaken Names of Duty and Allegiance: It's strange that any Man can so far degenerate, as to prefer Slavery to Liberty, and that they should be so much in love with Chains, that when they were fairly shaken off, they shou [...]d run furiously to be Fettered again; as if the Ottoman and French Government were so charming in our Country, that we cannot live without it, tho we have so lately groaned under the dismal [Page] Burden of it: And it might have been supposed that even these, who had been Instrumental in Enslaving their Fellow-Brethren, and were grown Fat with Sucking the Nations Blood, would have taken another Method to Reconcile themselves, than by persuading us to purchase their Safety, at so vast an Expence as the Ruin of more than three Parts of the Nation will necessarily amount to.

If we do but a little reflect on the Motives which these Men (blinded by Self-Interest) make use of, to delude the Nation into a Security that wanted very little of proving Fatal to it, and compare them with the strong Reasons, we have to disswade us from being so imposed on, they will be found so Weak and Impertinent, that we must judg it next to Impossibility, to suffer our selves to be twice Deceived. But if the Experience of our former Miseries, so lately hanging over our Heads, (the very Thoughts of renewing which, make all good Men to tremble) has not made us Wiser, and be not of Efficacy enough, to deter us from venturing another Shipwrack, and exposing all again to the Discretion of Roman Catholicks: It's more than probable that GOD has abandoned us, and given us up to believe strong Delusions.

First, Thay will endeavour to perswade us, that Kings are eximed from Punishments here on Earth, and nothing they do can be quarrelled by their Subjects, which indeed might with some Reason be urged among the Turks, who reserve nothing from the Power of their Sultans, and where it's Death to dispute his Commands, tho never so Arbitrary and Tyrannical: But with what Impudence can such Stuff be imposed on us, who never admit our Kings to the Government, till they swear to rule us according to Law, and no otherways? The Laws are the only Security we have for our Lives and Properties, which if our Sovereign subvert, Subjects cannot be blamed, for making use of the ordinary means to preserve them, and since that cannot be done without withdrawing Obedience from such a Magistrate as goes about to destroy them, such an Act cannot properly be said to punish him, (because we take nothing from him to which he has a just Claim, but do only shun the occasion of making our selves miserable. The Speculative Doctrine of Passive Obedience, has done too much mischief among us, and what has befallen the King may be justly imputed to it, for the believing that without Opposition he might do what he pleased, encouraged him to take such measures as have drawn all these Misfortunes on him.

[Page] Secondly, Others are so Fond as to believe, that we may be Secure in calling the King back, provided they so Limit him, that it will not be in his power to hurt us. These Men do not consider, how small a Complement this is to a Man of the Kings Temper, from an an Absolute Prince, as he was pleased to fancy himself, to content himself with the bare Title of a King; and how insupportable the Charge must be, if from being Master of all, he must force himself to comply with a thousand Masters, and see his Throne become his Prison. But how airy is it to fancy, that any Restrictions of our Contrivance can bind the King? For 1st, It's most certain they can never be Voluntary, and what is constrained and done by Force, is by Law declared to be Void and Null; to whose Assistance the Popes Dispensing Power being joined, would quickly blow off these Sampson Cords, and the Royal Power would again revive with all its Vigour and Luster.

Thirdly, The King is of a Religion that has in a famous Council decreed, That no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks, much less with Subjects whom he looks upon as so many Rebels, and will not miss to treat them as such, whenever they give him the Opportunity of doing it; for his greatest Admirers do not run to that height Idolatry, to imagine him so much Angel, as not to take all methods to revenge so great an Affront, and secure himself at our Cost from such a Treatment for the future; the apprehensions of which Resentments will strike such terrour in Mens minds, that nothing will be capable to divert them from offering up All for an Atonement, and Popery and Slavery will be thought a good Bargain, if they can but save their Lives. Then we may lament our Miseries, but it will not be in our power to help them; for a Prince of Orange is not always ready to rescue us, with such vast Expence and so great hazard to his Person; and if our Madness hurry us so far, we deserve rather is pity than his resentment.

Fourthly, What Arguments has the King given since he left us, to persuade us he will be more faithful in observing his Words and Oaths, than hitherto he has been? Does he not in a Letter lately printed here, expresly say he has ruled so, as to give no occasion of complaint to any of his Subjects? Is not the same Letter signed by one who sacrificed both Conscience and Honour to Interest, who [...]e pernicious and headstrong Counsels has posted him to his Ruine, tho' all that has been done cannot make Him sensible of it? Sure the re-Hereticks to the See of Rome is not less Meritorious than before, nor [Page] King Iames the Seventh, by breathing the French Air, become less Bigot: It were a Dream to fancy it. For so long as the Vatican thunders Excommunications against all such as do not use their utmost endeavours to extirpate Heresie, a Roman Catholick must have no Religion at all, if they be not terrible to him.

The fourth Argument they made use of to persuade such as are and shall be chosen Members of the Convention, That their Interest to call back the King, is, That the Peace and Happiness of the Nation cannot be otherwise secured, nor Factions or Divisions extinguished. But what Factions do you observe, but such as they themselves do foment, on purpose to disturb our Harmony? all which would immediately die, if the Government were once setled on those who deserved it best: for then, if these Fops continued still fond of Popery and Tyranny, they would be chastised, as Disturbers of the Publick Peace. The Argument may very justly be retorted; for if the King return, we will burst out into a flame; and England, which has already declared, will quickly be on our Top, an Enemy too Potent and too Numerous for us, tho' we were all united, besides the Danger to which such a Procedure will expose us, we cut off all hopes of an Union with that Nation, and thereby deprive our selves of an unspeakable Advantage, which would redound to all sorts of People, and would be the only means to support an impoverish'd and sinking Nation. Neither is this the only Inconveniency, tho' it be a very great one; for if we state our selves in opposition to England, by Restoring the King whom they Rejected, it is not to be doubted but he will use his uttmost endeavour to recover that Kingdom, the loss of which is so considerable. Now, seeing it were vain to suppose that the Scots alone were able to second his desires, he must needs have recourse to the French and Irish, whose Religion will procure a more intire Confidence than His Majesty can repose in any others. These therefore must be received into our Bosom; and because Scotland is the most proper place for Invading England, it must be the Scene of all the Blood and Confusion that this melancholly Thought gives us a Prospect of. And what treatment can such Sham-Protestants expect from these, who otherwise would have become their Friends and Allies? And what Figure will they pretend to make, when they set up for a separate Interest from all the Confederate Protestants in the World besides?

The happy Success the PRINCE his Enterprize has met with, has made a considerable Alteration in the Affairs of Europe; for that [Page] great Enemy of the Protestants, and even of Christianity it self, who had propos'd nothing less to himself than an Universal Monarchy, whom the Strictest Leagues and Contracts cannot bind, but without regard to GOD or Man, threatens all his Neighbours with utter Destruction; by the Scene's being changed among us, is so far humbled, that from a Proud and Insulting Enemy, he is become a Supplicant for Peace; well foreseeing, that if Britain join with those other Princes, whom his Insolence, Cruelty, and Avarice, has so justly Armed against him, his Ruine is Inevitable: So that if we have not Soul enough to enjoy this great Blessing, and can easily part with the Glory of being once more the Arbiters of Europe, let us at least have so much Christian Love and Charity for the Neighbouring Nations of our own Perswasion, as not to expose them to a necessary Participation of these Plagues, which our Common Enemies are preparing for us, and which will certainly Terminate in all our Destructions.

Lastly, I beseech you to consider what Persons they are who would Instill this Poyson in you, and you will find them of three kinds. First, those who Postponing the Common Good of the Nation, are wholly acted by Self-Interest, considering that in a Government where Iustice and Mercy equally Flourish, Virtue and Merit, not Villany, will be rewarded. Secondly, They who are ignorant of the Nature of Government, and were never at the pains to inform themselves what Measures the Law of Nature and Nations have set to mens Obedience, but are angry at every thing that thwarts their wild Notions, and will admit of nothing, tho never so reasonable and convincing, if their dull Capacities cannot reach it. The third sort are such as have been instrumental in the inslaving their Country, and are afraid if they be called to an Account, they may be brought to suffer Condign Punishment; if such cannot succeed in their Design, they at least hope to be overlook'd in a General Confusion, so they have nothing unessayed that may tend to their own safety; and if Heaven fail them, they summon Hell to their Aid; not that Love to their Prince, but meer Ambition and Interest, drives these Criminals to such Attempts; neither are they much to blame, if they are at such pains to sow Divisions among us. But no Person of Wit and Iudgment, nor any Good Man that is truly Protestant, and minds the good of his Country, will suffer himself to be so grosly imposed on by such Firebands, who would build their Furture Imaginary Greatness on the Ruine of Our Religion, Laws, and Country.

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The Grounds upon which the Estates of Scotland Declared the Right of the Crown of Scotland FORFAULTED, and the Throne become VACANT.

I. BBcause King Iames the Seventh is a Professed Papist.

II. That the said King Iames did assume the Royal Power, and acted as King without ever taking the Oath required by Law.

III. That he hath by the Council of evil Men invaded the Fundamental Constitution of the Kingdom, and changed it from a limited Monarchy to an Absolute and Despotick Power.

IV. Which Power he hath imployed to the Subversion of the Protestant Religion, and the Violation of the Rights of the Subject. And thereby,

V. Hath inverted all the Ends of Government.

The Opinion of two eminent Parliament-Men, justifying the lawfulness of taking the Oaths of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary.

I. FIdelity and Allegiance sworn to the King, is only a Fidelity and Obedience as it is due to him by the Law of the Lands, for were that Faith and Allegiance more than what the Law requires, we should swear our selves Slaves, and the King Absolute; whereas by the Law we are free, notwithstanding these Oaths.

[Page]II. When therefore by the Law Fidelity and Allegiance ceaseth; then our sworn Allegiance ceaseth: for if Allegiance might be due by the Oath to one Person, whilst by the Law it ceaseth to him and becomes due to another Person, the Oath then would oblige Men to transgress the Law, and become Traytors and Rebels, whereas the Oath is part of the Law, and therefore ought to be so interpreted as may consist with it.

III. Fidelity and Allegiance are due by the Law to King William, and not to King Iames: for the Statute of 25 of Edward 3d, which defined all Treasons against the King, and is the only Statute to that purpose; now that Statute, by the King, understands not only a King de jure, but also a King de facto, tho not de jure, against whom those Treasons Lie: whence the Lord Chief Justice Hales, in his Pleas of the Crown, p. 12. discoursing of that Statute, tells us, that a King de facto, and not de jure, is a King within that Act, and that Treason against him is Punishable, tho the Right Heir get the Crown: and that this hath been the common Sense of the Law, Sir R. S. (upon application to him about it) hath assured us. And according to another Statute, 11 Hen. 7. ch. 1. It is declared Treason to be in Arms against a King de facto, such as Richard the 3d was, tho it was in behalf of a King de jure.

So then by the Law of the Land, all things are Treason against King William, which have been Treason against former Kings, therefore the same Fidelity, Obedience and Allegiance, which was due to them, is due to him, and by Consequence may be Sworn to him by the Law of the Land.

Allegiance and Protection are always Mutual, and therefore when King Iames ceased to Protect us, we ceased to owe him Allegiance by the Law of the Land; and when King William began to Protect us we began our Allegiance to him.

These Considerations, are in our Opinion, sufficient to remove the Grand Scruple about the Oaths. If the dissatisfied Party accuse the Convention, for making the Prince of Orange King, it is not my Duty to judge those above me, therefore I shall only say that if they have done ill, Quod fieri non debuit factum valet; a [...]d they of the Clergy ought not to censure their Superiours, but obey according to the Law and Doctrine of Passive Obedience.

FINIS.

§

§

§

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The TWELFTH and Last Collection of Papers (VOL. I.) Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England and Scotland. VIZ.

I. The Secret League with France proved.

II. The Reasons why the late King Iames would not stand to a Free and Legal Parliament.

III. The Reason of the Suddenness of the Change in England.

IV. The Judgment of the Court of France concerning the Misgovernment of King Iames the Second.

V. The Emperor of Germany his Account of the late King's Unhappiness in joining with the King of France.

VI. A full Relation of what was done between the Time the Prince of Orange came to London, till the Proclaiming him King of England, &c.

VII. The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons of England, concerning their Grievances; presented to King William and Queen Mary: With their Malesties Answer.

VIII. The Declaration of the States of Scotland, concerning their Grievances.

IX. The Manner of Proclaiming King William and Queen Mary at Whitehal, and in the City of London, Feb. 13. 1688.

X. An Account of their Coronation at Westminster, Apr. 11. 89.

XI. The Scots Proclamation, declaring William and Mary King and Queen of England, to be King and Queen of Scotland.

XII. The manner of their taking the Scotish Coronation Oath at Whitehal, May 11.

XIII. The Coronation Oaths of England and Scotland.

London printed, and are to be sold by Richard Ianeway in Queen's-head-Court in Pater-noster-Row, 1689.

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The Secret League with France proved.

1. BY the Treaty managed by the Dutchess of Orleans between Charles II. (her Brother) and Lewis XIV. 1670, published by the Abbot Primi, in his History of the War with Holland, with the priviledg of the French King: This Treaty expresly tells us, That the French King did promise Charles II, to subject his Parliament to him, and to Establish the Romish Religion in his Kingdom. But before this could be done, the said Dutchess told him, the Haughtiness and Power of the Hollander must be brought down.

2. By the Current of the Design throughout all Coleman's Letters, which contain nothing else but the Conspiracy of the Duke of York, and the Jesuits, against the Government and the Protestant Religion; ‘For you know, says he (in his Letter to Sir W. Throgmorton, Feb. 1. 1674/5.) "when the Duke (the late King Iames) comes to be Master of our Affairs, the King of France will have reason to promise himself all things that he can desire, &c.’ Both he and the two Royal Brothers being closly joined together to destroy the Northern Heresy, as he in his Letter to Monsieur La Cheese assures us.

3. Which Friendship with the French Court, is further confirmed by a French Author, who wrote the Life of Turene, in which he brings in the Duke of York lamenting the Death of that great Marshal of France, after this manner; ‘Alas! (says the Duke) the "loss is great to me, in that I am greatly disappointed in those great Designs I have been long meditating upon, if ever I come to the Crown of England.’ For the sake of which Passage, the then Secretary of State of England, forbad the printing of that Book which was then translated and prepared for the Press.

[Page]4. The French Ambassador at the Hague, in a Memorial to the States General, Sept. 9. 1618, peremptorily declares, there was such an Alliance between the King his Master and King Iames II, as to oblige him to succour him, &c.

5. Both King Charles II, and King Iames II, were so engaged with the great Nimrod of Franc [...], that [...]hough several Parliaments of England strugled hard to break the Friendship, and gave a vast Sum of Mony in order thereunto, yet all in vain: And King Iames II, was so eager to follow the French Measures, that after the Defeat of Monmouth, he declared to the Parliament, that for the time to come he would make use of Popish Officers, as well as keep up a standing Army contrary to Law.

6. We have had sufficient Evidences of his Designs, by the care he took to fill his Army with Irish Papists, at the same time that he disbanded all the Protestants that served him in Ireland, that he might always have an Army at hand in that Kingdom ready to promote his Popish Designs in England; which could not be done without a Secret League with France, and without a very express assurance of being vigorously supported from thence when the nick of time should come.

7. His flying to France, and secret conspiring with the great Levi [...]t [...]an there, and bringing French Aids with him into Ireland are no other than the putting the Secret League into Execution.

Many more Proofs may be produced, but what has been said, may convince any rational unprejudiced Protestant. As for those Pharisees that wilfully shut their Eyes, of whom we may say, That seeing they see and do not peeceive, because they are resolved not to yield to the most convincing Evidences that this Affair is capable of, (for the Parties concerned will hide it as much as they can) I bewail their Condition, and believe they are so obstinate, that only the French Dragoons (those booted Apostles) can convince them, when they come with the League in their Hands, to put the Popish Penal Laws in Execution on their Backs, from Ne [...]ga [...]e to Tyb [...]n.

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The REASONS why the late K. James would not stand to a Free and Legal Parliament; proposed to those that are fond to have him again.

WHEN the Prince of Orange (now our Gracious King) his Glorious Expedition, was first made known to the late King, he resolved to have a Parliament, upon the Belief that he should have been intirely Master of the Lower House, by Reason of the Regulations he had made in Corporations, in order to his Popish Designs. But when he was forced to take other Measures, (as he told the Dissenters when he sent for them in the time of his Distress) in restoring the Charters, the Bishop of London, the Fellows of Magdalen-Colledg, &c. He dreaded nothing more than a Parliament on the old Foundations, to which the Prince in his Declaration had referred all; for he knew several things would have been done by such a Parliament, that he chose rather to perish than submit to.

1. The first thing is; The Examination of the Birth of the Prince of Wales (as he is call'd) the questioning of which was a Stab at his Heart, as appears by his last Letter. And the Reflections on the Bishops Petition, mentioning That as a Business not fit to be referred then to a Parliament.

2. The next thing was; That Justice would certainly have been demanded against the Evil Counsellors, whom he had pardoned, and was in Honour bound to protect them, having himself forced them to be Criminals.

[Page]3. The third was; The consenting to the entire Ruin of Popery in England, by hanging many of his Priests and Jesuits, and banishing all the rest; and pulling down all the Schools and Chappels they had erected all over England, (a sure Sign they were built upon an Immortal Prince of Wales) though this was done before by the unaccountable Zeal of the Mobile.

4. He foresaw such a Parliament would not only damn the Ecclesiastical Court, (that Beast with seven Heads) and the Dispensing Power, but would in all probability lessen his Revenue, and bind up the Prerogative; which his great Spirit could not bear.

5. The Prince, he foresaw, would have demanded some Forts to be put into his Hands and the Parliament, for their Security; so said he, If I stay, I shall be but a Nominal King of England, and only be an Instrument to ruin my Religion, my [...]riends, the Monarchy, and the Child also.

At first he alledged, That the Disorders the Preparations to repel the Invasion caused, would not suffer a Parliament to meet. Secondly, After the Prince was landed, that all the Countries he had under him would not be free. Thirdly, That all that had joined with him, ought not to sit: but when he saw the whole Army and Nation (the Roman Catholicks excepted) of the same mind, mere Force drove him to consent to Call a Parliament; and when he had again considered the Consequences of it, he at last resolved to throw up the Crown and Government all at once, rather than to submit to all these Hardships.

He seems to have had at the same time a fluttering hope, that (1.) We should never be able long to agree, after he had made it impossible for us to have a Legal Parliament, by burning the Writs. (2.) That the Church of England Principles would, when the fear and disorder was over, form for him a potent Army in the Nation. And (3.) That the French King would lend him potent Forces, and good store of Mony; and if he recovered the Throne by force, he should be freed of all these Miseries, and have what he only wanted before, a Popish Army, to insure the Slavery of England for ever.

[Page]Now I would desire those Protestants, who pretend, now too late, to be so zealous for him, to consider, whether what I have said would not have been expected from him by them, for their Security; and what they would have done had he called a Parliament, and refused them all these things, and have insisted, That they should have taken his Word as to the Birth of the Prince of Wales, have suffered him to have been educated in France, and have suffered the Army, the Prerogative, the Ministers, and the Revenues to have continued entirely as they were, upon a Promise, He would have used them better for the future?

If they say No; They would have had the best Security that Law or Reason could have required. Then all the hard things I have mentioned must have been granted them, and I much question, whether he would now return to the Throne on those terms.

If they say, We ought however to have treated with him, have offered him terms; I say, it would have come to a separate Treaty; and the Church, the Liberties of the Nation, and the Government, would have been ruined that way; and when all had been done, no Bond (that he could have broken) would have held him longer than the Necessity had continued.

The only Advantage we could pretend to have by the coming over of the Prince of Orange with an Army, was to force the King to what he would never have yielded without that Force. Now when he had accordingly passed his Word to the Nation, in the Proclamation of the Thirtieth of November, That there should be a Free Parliament; and to the Prince of Orange, in his Message by the three Lords, That he would consent to every thing that could reasonably be required for the Security of those that come to it; and yet without any Provocation would burn the Writs, and resolve to withdraw his Person before these Lords cou [...]d possibly return him any Answer (for he promised the Queen to follow her, who went away the day before him.) I say, this breach of his Word so solemnly made and given both to the Nation and the Prince, shew that he was not Master of himself, but turned about by others whither they pleased.

[Page]Now suppose the Prince had suffered him to continue at White [...]al, and to call a Third Parliament, what a [...]surance could he have given, that in the end of another forty days we should not have the same trick play'd us, and then in March or April have been left in the same state of Confusion we were in in December, to the certain Ruin of these three Kingdoms, and Holland into the bargain. And when all had been done, the Scruples would have been the same they are now, the Obligations of the Oath of Allegiance the same, and the sin of Deposing a Lawful Prince, who resolved to do the Nation no Right, would have been much greater and more scandalous, than barely to take him at his Word; and since he had left the Throne empty, when he needed not, to resolve he should ascend it no more.

Lastly, Suppose the Prince had been Expelled by the King, Would the King have then granted us what he would not grant us now? Would he not have Disbanded his Protestant Army, and have kept the Irish Forces in Pay, and have every day encreased them? What Respect would he ever after this have shewn to the English Laws, Religion or Liberties, when he had no longer any thing to fear? The memory of what happened after the Monmouth defeat, (though effected only by Church of England Men) will certainly never be forgotten by others, whatever the Bigots of this sort of Loyalty may pretend or say.

That Expression of the Lord Churchil's, in his Letter, [That he could no longer joyn with Self-interested Men, who had framed Designs against His Majesty's true Interest, and the Protestant Religion, to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect] ought to be seriously considered by all the Protestants of the Nation: This one Argument prevailed upon him, when he ran the hazard of his Life, Reputation and Fortunes; and now they are all on the other side, I should consider very se [...]iously, if I were one of them, what Answer I could make to this turned into a Question in the Day of Death and Judgment, before ever I should Act the dire [...]t contrary to what he has done.

For my part I am amazed to see Men scruple the submitting to the present King: for if eve [...] Man had a just cause of [Page] War, he had; and that creates a Right to the thing gained by it: the King by withdrawing and disb [...]nding his Army, yielded him the Throne; and if he had, without any more Ceremony, ascended it, he had done no more than all other Princes do on the like occasions; and when the King after this was taken and brought back by force, he was no longer then bound to consider him, as one that was, but as one that had been King of England; and in that capacity he treated him with great Respect and Civility, how much soever the King complained of it, who did not enough consider what he had done to draw upon himself that usage.

But when all is said that can be said, there may possibly be some Men to whom may be applied the Saying of Ioab, Thou lovest thine Enemies, and hatest thy Friends; for thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither Princes, nor Servants; for this Day I perceive, that if Absolom had lived, and all we had died this Day, then it had pleased thee well. Had the Protestant Religion, the English Liberties, the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation, been all made an Holocaust to their Reputations and Humours, their Scruples and School-niceties, and the Prince of Orange perished, or returned Ruin'd or Inglorious into Holland; we should then have had the Honour of cutting up our Religion, our Laws, and our Civil Rights, with our own Swords; and we should have been the only Church under Heaven that had refused a Deliverance, and Religiously and Loyally had Destroyed it self. In truth, the Men would have purchased Popery and Slavery so dear, ought to have enjoyed both to the End of the World.

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The REASONS of the Suddenness of the Change in England.

THE true Reasons of the Swiftness of this Change may easily be assigned by shewing the Temper and Designs of Iames the Second; the Temper of William the Third, our Present Soveraign; and the Nature of the English Nation, and of the Times, all concurring with Wonderful Harmony to produce this wonderful Effect. For had Iames the Second undertook any thing but the subjecting England to Popery, and the Exercise of Arbitrary Power to that end, his vast Revenue, his great Army, and the Reputation he had gained at Home and Abroad by the defeat of the Monmouth-Invasion, would have gone near to have effected it: and after all this, if he had in the beginning of October frankly granted all the Ten Proposals made by the Bishops, and suffered a Parliament to have met, and given up a considerable Number of his Ministers to Justice, and suffered the pretended Prince of Wales his Birth to be freely debated and determin'd in Parliament; It would in all probability have prevented or defeated the then intended Invasion. But whilst he thought to save the Pretended Succession, the Dispensing and Suspending Power, and the Ecclesiastical Commission, to carry on his former Design with, when he had baffl'd the Prince of Orange; the Nation saw through the Project, and he lost all.

Had a Prince of less Secresy, Prudence, Courage and Interest than the Prince of Orange, undertaken this business, it might probably have miscarri [...]d: but as his Cause was better, so his Reputation, Conduct, and Patience infinitely exceeded theirs; he would not stir till he saw the French Forces set down before Philipsbourgh, and then he was sure France and Germany were [Page] irrevocably ingaged in a War, and consequently he should have no other opposition than what the Irish and English Roman Catholicks could make against him. For no English Protestant would fight his Country into Vassalage and Slavery to Popish Priests, and Italian Women, when a Parliament sooner or later must at last have determin'd all the things in Controversy, except we resolved once for all to give up our Religion, Laws, Liberties, and Estates to the will of our King, and submit for ever to a French Government.

A Nation of less sense than the English might have been imposed upon, of less bravery and valour might have been frighted; of a more servile temper, might have neglected its Liberties, till it had been too late to have ever recovered them again: But none but a parcel of Iesuits bred in a Cloister, and unacquainted with our Temper as well as Constitution would ever have hoped to have carried two such things as Popery and Abitrary Power, both at once upon so jealous a Nation as the English is, which hates them above any other People in the World.

The cruel slaughter they had made of the poor wretches they took after the defeat at Bridg-water ought to have made them for ever despair of gaining any credit with the Dissenters, who rarely forgive, but never forget any ill treatment. Yet these little Politico's had so little sense as to build all their hopes on the Gratitude and Insensibility of these Men; as if they should for Liberty of Conscience, arbitrarily and illegally granted, and consequently revocable at the will of the Granter, have sold themselves to everlasting Slavery.

They were equally mistaken in their carriage towards the Church of England party, for when some of them had pursued both Clergy and Laity with the utmost obloquy, hatred, oppression and contempt to the very moment they found the Dutch storm would fall upon them. Then all at once they passed to the other extream, the Bishops are presently sent for, the Government intirely to be put into their hands, and all Places, Presses and Papers fill'd with the Encomiums of the Church of England's Loyalty and Fidelity, who but three days before were Male-contents, if not Rebels and Traytors, for opposing the Kings Dispensing Power, and the Ecclesiastical [Page] Commission. And which was the height of folly, the same Pen which had been hired to defame and blacken the Church of England (the Author of the Publick Occurrences truly stated) was ordered to magnify its Loyalty. By which they gained nothing but the intire and absolute disobliging the whole Protestant party in the Nation, so that for the future no Body would serve or trust them.

To compleat their folly and madness they perswaded the King to throw up the Government, and retire into France, pretending we would never be able to agree amongst our selve [...], but would in a short time be forced to recal him, and yield to all those things we had so violently opposed; or if not, he might yet at least force us to submit by the Succours he might gain in France, without ever considering how possible it was we might agree, and how difficult it would be to force us by a French Army, which was equally contrary to the Interest of England, and all Europe besides, and to all intents and purposes destructive of the Interest of that Prince they pretended thus to exalt and re-establish.

Had France been now in Peace, there might yet have been same colour for this; but when all Europe was under a necessity to unite against him for its own preservation, then to perswade the King of Great Britain to desert his Throne, and fly thither for succour, upon hopes of recovering his Kingdoms again by the assistance of the French (the mortal and hereditary Enemies of the English) this was so silly a Project, that there seems to have been something of a Divine Infatuation in it.

However certainly no rational Man will think that all the Princes of Europe would sit still and suffer the French King to conquer Britain, under pretence of restoring Iames the Second to that Throne which he had abandon'd, because he could not bring the Prince of Orange (their Allie) and all his Protestant Subjects to his own Terms.

And yet if none of them should interpose but the Hollanders alone, the English and Dutch Fleets being united would render the landing a French Army so difficult and uncertain, that it would be next door to madness to trust one to their Navy, which is so much inferior to either of the others singly taken.

[Page]So that all things considered, either Iames the Second ought to have stayed at home and have made as good terms as he could with the Prince of Orange, and his own Subjects: Or if he would have abandon'd his Kingdoms, he ought to have despaired of any restitution, and have betaken himself to a private Life as Christina Queen of Sweden did.

But we have now certain Intelligence that Iames the Second Landed the 12th. of March at Kingsale in Ireland, so that now it cannot be doubted but that he hopes to recover England and Scotland by the help of the Irish; as well as the French. His succeeding in this Design laying us at the Mercy of an Irish-French Roman Catholick Army; whose Civility and Kindness to our Nation we may learn from our Country-men, who after having lost all but their Lives, have been forced to flee over to us for Shelter and Protection. I shall not add any other consideration to perswade my Country-men to defend their King, Queen, and the whole Protestant Succession, their Lives, Liberties, Priviledges and Religion, because this alone is sufficient.

The Iudgment of the Court of France, concerning the Misgovernment of K. James the Second.

THE Author (who is a Papist) that wrote that smart Treatise, called A Letter from Monsieur to Monsieur, concerning the Transactions of the Times, &c. writes thus concerning the late King Iames, viz.

King Iames ought to learn what he has to expe [...]t from France, into whose Arms he has thrown himself. France already knows all his Faults, and publishes them. For this Composure issuing immediately from that Court, owns;

1. "His whole Conduct was very little judicious.

[Page]2. ‘That he has followed blind Counsels, and such as are very pernicious to his own Repose and Security.’

3. ‘That he has unadvisedly affected to pull down the Protestant Religion, which was that of the State.’

4. ‘That he has used an imprudent Rigour, as well to the Bishops as to the Universities.’

5. ‘That he was unwise in going about to take off the Test and Penal Laws, which the English look upon as the Sanctuary of the Kingdom.’

6. ‘That his Gust and Fondness for the Court of Rome, and the Monks whom he meant to restore, was ridiculous and whimsical.’

7. ‘That his going about to give Imploys to Catholicks, by taking them away from Protestants, gave but two much reason to all the Members of the State to complain.’

This is exactly the Judgment passed by the Court of France upon the late K. Iames of England; I leave him to think what Succours he is like to expect from a Court that values him so little, and that without any more ado, speaks of him at this rate; would he have more? It roundly declares to him, That the restoring the King of England, is not an Enterprise easy to be executed by a King, how great soever he may be, against whom all the Powers of Europe are preparing to make War. This is a Hint broad enough o' Conscience, and King Iames ought to be satisfied that he knows the French Courts mind.

[Page]

The Emperor of Germany's Account of K. James's Misgovernment in joining with the King of France, (the Common Enemy of Christendom) in his Letter to King James. viz.

LEOPOLD, &c.

WE have received your Majesties Letters, dated from St. Germans the sixth of February last, by the Earl of Carlingford, your Envoy in our Court: By them we have understood the Condition your Majesty is reduced to; and that you being deserted after the landing of the Prince of Orange, by your Army, and even by your Domestick Servants, and by those you most confided in, and almost by all your Subjects, you have been forced by a sudden Flight to provide for your own safety, and to seek Shelter and Protection in France: Lastly, that you desire Assistance from us for the recovering your Kingdoms. We do assure your Majesty, that as soon as we heard of this severe turn of Affairs, we were moved at it, not only with the common sense of Humanity, but with much deeper Impressions suitable to the sincere Affection which we have always born to you. And we were heartily sorry that at last that was come to pass, which (though we hoped for better things) yet our own sad thoughts had suggested to us would ensue. If your Majesty had rather given Credit to the Friendly Remonstrances that were made you, by our late Envoy, the Count de Kaunitz, in our Name, than the deceitful Insinuations of the French, whose chief aim was, by fomenting continual Divisions [Page] between you and your People, to gain ther by an Opportunity to insult the more securely over the rest of Christendom. And if your Majesty had put a stop, by your Force and Authority, to their many Infractions of the Peace, of which by the Treaty at Nimegen you are made the Guarantee, and to that end entred into Consultations with us, and such others as have the like just Sentiments in this matter; We are verily perswaded that by this means you should have in a great measure quieted the Minds of your People, which were so much exasperated through their aversion to our Religion, and the publick Peace had been preserved as well in your Kingdoms as here in the Roman Empire. But now we refer it even to your Majesty, to judg what condition we can be in to afford you any Assistance, we being not only engaged in a War with the Turks, but finding our selves at the same time unjustly and barbarously Attacked by the French, contrary to, and against the Faith of Treaties, they then reckoning themselves secure of England. And this ought not to be concealed; that the greatest Injuries which have been done to our Religion have flowed from no other than the French themselves; who not only esteem it lawful for them, to make Presidious Leagues with the sworn Enemies of the Holy Cross, tending to the destruction both of us and of the whole Christian World, in order to the checking our Endeavours which were undertaken for the Glory of God, and to stop those Successes which it hath pleased Almighty God to give us hitherto; but further have heaped one Treachery upon another, even within the Empire it self. The Cities of the Empire which were surrendered upon Articles, signed by the Dolphin himself, have been exhausted by excessive Impositions; and after their being exhausted have been Plundered, and after Plundering have been burned and razed. The Palaces of Princes, which in all times, and even in the most destructive Wars, have been preserved, are now burnt down to the Ground. The Churches are robbed, and such as submitted themselves to them, are in a most Barbarous manner, carried away as Slaves. In short, it is become a Diversion to them to commit all manner of insolences and Cruelties in many places, but chiefly in Catholick Countries, exceeding the [Page] Cruelties of the Turks themselves: which having imposed an absolute necessity upon us to secure our selves and the Holy Roman Empire, by the best means we can think on, and that no less against them than against the Turks; We promise our selves from your justice ready assent to this, That it ought not to be imputed to us, if we endeavour to procure, by a just War, that security to our selves which we could not hitherto obtain by so many Treaties; and that in order to the obtaining thereof, We take measures for our mutual Defence and Preservation, with all those who are equally concerned in the same Design with us. It remains that we beg of God that he would direct all things to his Glory, and that he would grant your Majesty true and solid Comforts under this your great Calamity; we embrace you with tender Affections of a Brother.

At Vienna the 9th of April 1689.

An Account of what was done between the Time the Prince of Orange came to London, till the Proclaiming him King of England, 1688.

IN December last, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and all the Members of the three last Parliaments of King Charles the Second, with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and several of the Common Council of London, were summoned by the Prince in that extraordinary Conjuncture, when the late King had deserted the Government, to consult what was fit to be done: And they, the said Lords and Commons, did desire the Prince to take upon him the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military, and the disposal of the Publick Revenue, for the preservation of our [Page] R [...]ligion, Rights, Laws, Liberties and Properties, and of the Peace of the Nation; and that he would take into his Care the Condition of Ireland, till the Meeting of a Convention of Lords and Commons; which he was entreated, by his Circular Letters, to summon to meet on the 22d of Ianuary. The Prince accordingly accepted the Administration, and issued out his Letters for a Convention to meet on the 22d of Ianuary, as aforesaid.

The Prince then (on December the 30th) issued out his Proclamation for the Continuance of the Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, and other Officers and Ministers (not being Papists) to act in their respective Places till the Meeting of the Convention, or other Order to the contrary, &c.

On the 2d of Ianuary, He put out a Declaration for the better collecting of the Publick Revenue.

On the 5th of Ianuary he put forth an Order for all Military Officers, with their respective Companies, to march out of the Quarters where any Elections should be (the several Garisons excepted) the day before the same be made, to the next adjoining Town, or Towns, being not appointed for any Elections; and not to return to their first Quarters, till the said respective Elections be made and fully compleated, that so the Election of Members for the intended Convention may be free, and without any colour of Force or Restraint.

On the 7th of Ianuary the Scotish Nobility and Gentry waited on the Prince: what was done by them, see the 6th Collection, pag. 9, 10, 11, 12.

On the 8th day his Highness put out a Declaration against Quartering of Souldiers in private Houses. He found the Treasury very empty of Cash, it being said to be but 40000 l. Whereupon he desired the City of London to advance a Sum for his present Occasion, and on the 10th of Ianuary they agreed to lend 100000 l. But it being raised by Subscription, it amounted to above 150000 l.

On the 16th of Ianuary, He put out a Declaration to assure the Mariners and Seamen of their Pay.

The two Houses met on the 22d of Ianuary, 1688/9; the Lords chose the Marquess of Hallifax for their Speaker; and the Commons chose Henry Powle Esq for theirs. After [Page] which a Letter was read in both Houses from the Prince of Orange, on the occasion of their Meeting, to this Effect.

That he had endeavoured to perform what was desired from him for the Publick Peace and Safety during his Administration; and that it now lay on them to lay a Foundation of a firm Security for their Religion, Laws and Liberties. That he did not doubt but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation, the Ends of his Declaration would be attained.

He recommended to them the dangerous Condition of Ireland, and also of the States of Holland, both which required large and speedy Succours; and told them, That since it had pleased God hitherto to bless his good Intentions with so great Success, he trusted in him, that he would compleat his own Work, by sending a Spirit of Peace and Union to influence their Counsels, that so no Interruption may be given to a happy and lasting Settlement.

The first Thing the two Houses took care of, was, by mutual Consent, to make an Address to the Prince; in which they acknowledged him the Glorious Instrument, under God, in the great Deliverance of the Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power. They acknowledged also his great Care in the Administration, and entreated him to continue it till further Application; and that he would take into his Care the State of Ireland.

Then the Houses ordered that Thursday, Ian. 31. be a Day of Thanksgiving in the City of London, and places adjacent, within ten Miles; and the 14th of February throughout the whole Kingdom.

Then the Lords ordered, that no Papist, or reputed Papist, should presume to come into the Lobby, Painted Chamber, Court of Requests, or Westminster-Hall, during the Sitting of the Convention.

And after several Days Debates in both Houses about the Abdication of the Government, and the Vacancy of the [...]hrone. On the 12th of February, the two Houses at last fully agreed all Things in Dispute between them, in the following Declaration.

[Page]

The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons Assembled at Westminster; Concerning the Misgovernment of King James, and filling up the Throne. Presented to King William, and Queen Mary, by the right Honourable the Marquess of Hallifax, Speaker to the House of Lords. With His Majesties most gracious Answer thereunto.

WHEREAS the late King Iames the Second, by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors, Judges, and Ministers imploy'd by Him, did endeavour to Subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion, and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom;

By Assuming and Exercising a Power of Dispensing with, and Suspending of Laws, and the Execution of Laws, without Consent of Parliament.

By Committing and Prosecuting divers Worthy Prelates, for humbly Petitioning to be Excused from concurring to the said assumed Power.

By issuing, and causing to be executed, a Commission under the Great Seal, for erecting a Court called, The Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes.

By Levying Mony for and to the Use of the Crown, by pretence of Prerogative, for other time, and in other manner, than the same was granted by Parliament.

By raising and keeping a standing Army within this Kingdom in time of Peace, without Consent of Parliament; and Quartering Souldiers contrary to Law.

By causing several Good Subj [...]cts, being Protestants, to be [Page] Disarmed at the same time, when Papists were both Armed and Imployed contrary to Law.

By violating the Freedom of Election of Members to serve in Parliament.

By Prosecutions in the Court of Kings-Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament; and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses.

And whereas of late Years, Partial, Corrupt, and Unqualified Persons, have been returned and served on Juries in Trials, and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High-Treason, which were not Freeholders.

And Excessive Bail hath been required of Persons committed in Criminal Cases, to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subjects.

And Excessive Fines have been imposed.

And Illegal and Cruel Punishments inflicted.

And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be levied.

All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes, and Freedom of this Realm.

And whereas the said late K. Iames the 2d having abdicated the Government, and the Throne being thereby vacant.

His Highness the Prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power) did (by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and divers principal Persons of the Commons) cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, being Protestants, and other Letters to the several Counties, Cities, Universities, Burroughs, and Cinque-Ports, for the Chusing of such Persons to represent them, as were of Right to be sent to Parliament, to Meet and Sit at Westminster upon the 22d Day of Ianuary in this Year 1688, in order to such an Establishment, as that their Religion, Laws and Liberties, might not again be in danger of being Subverted: Upon which Letters Elections having been accordingly made;

And thereupon the said Lord's Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, pursuant to their respective Letters and Elections, [Page] being now Assembled in a Full and Free Representative of this Nation, taking into their most serious Consideration the best Means for attaining the Ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their Ancestors in like Case have usually done) for the Vindicating and Asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties, Declare,

That the pretending Power of Suspending of Laws, or the Execution of Laws, by Regal Authority, without Consent of Parliament, is Illegal.

That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws, or the Execution of Laws, by Regal Authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is Illegal.

That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other Commissions and Courts of the like Nature, are Illegal and Pernicious.

That levying of Mony for or to the Use of the Crown, by pretence of Prerogative, without Grant of Parliament, for longer time, or in other manner, than the same is or shall be granted, is Illegal.

That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King, and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning, are Illegal.

That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace, unless it be with Consent of Parliament, is against Law.

That the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Condition, and as allowed by Law.

That Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free.

That the Freedom of Speech, and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament, ought not to be impeached or Questioned in any Court or place out of Parliament.

That Excessive Bail ought not to be required, nor Excessive Fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted.

That Jurors ought to be duly empannell'd and return'd, and Jurors which pass upon Men in Trials for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders.

[Page]That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular Persons before Conviction, are Illegal and Void.

And that for redress of all Grievances, and for the amending, strengthening and preserving of the Laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently.

And they do claim, demand, and insist upon all and singular the Premises, as their undoubted Rights and Liberties; and that no Declarations, Judgments, Doings, or Proceedings, to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises, ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example.

To which Demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange, as being the only Means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein.

Having therefore an intire Confidence, that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by Him, and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights, which they have here asserted, and from all other Attempts upon their Religion, Rights, and Liberties;

The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve,

That William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, be, and be declared, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions, to them the said Prince and Princess, during their Lives, and the Life of the Surviver of them; And that the sole and full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in, and executed by the said Prince of Orange, in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint Lives; and after their Deceases, the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess; and for default of such Issue, to the Princess Ann of Denmark, and the Heirs of Her Body; and for default of such Issue, to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange.

And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, [Page] do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly.

And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all Persons, of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law, instead of them; and that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Abrogated.

I A. B. do sincerely promise and swear, That I will be faithful, and bear true Allegiance to their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY.

So help me God.

I A. B. do swear, That I do from my Heart Abhor, Detest, and Abjure, as Impious and Heretical, this Damnable Doctrine and Position, That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope, or any Authority of the See of Rome, may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects, or any other whatsoever. And I do declare, That no Foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State, or Potentate, hath, or ought to have, any Iurisdiction, Power, Superiority, Preeminence, or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual, within this Realm.

So help me God. Io. Browne, Cleric' Parl.

Die Veneris 15 Feb. 1688. His Majesties Gracious Answer, to the Declaration of both Houses.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

THis is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Vs, that can be given, which is the thing that maketh us value it the more; and we thankfully Accept [Page] what you have Offered. And as I had no other Intention in coming hither, than to preserve your Religion, Laws and Liberties; so you may be sure, That I shall endeavour to support them, and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom, and to do all that is in my Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation.

§

Die Veneris 15 Februarii 1688.

ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, Assembled at Westminster, That His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses, and the Declaration, be forthwith Printed and Published; And that his Majesties Gracious Answer this Day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment, to be Enrolled in Parliament and Chancery.

Io. Browne, Cleric' Parliamentorum.

[Page]

The Declaration of the Estates of Scotland concerning the Mis-government of King James the Seventh, and filling up the Throne with King William and Queen Mary.

THat King Iames the 7th had acted irregularly.

1. By His Erecting publick Schools and Societies of the Jesuits; and not only allowing Mass to be publickly said, but also inverting Protestant Chappels and Churches, to Publick Mass-houses, contrair to the express Laws against saying and hearing of Mass.

2. By allowing Popish Books to be Printed and Dispersed, by a Gift to a Popish Printer, designing him Printer to his Majesties Houshold, College and Chappel, contrair to the Laws.

3. By taking the Children of Protestant Noblemen and Gentlemen, sending them abroad to be bred Papists, making great Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colleges abroad; bestowing Pensions on Priests, and perverting Protestants from their Religion, by Offers of Places, Preferments and Pensions.

4. By disarming Protestants, while at the same time he employed Papists in the Places of greatest Trust, Civil and Military, such as Chancellour, Secretaries, Privy Councellors, and Lords of Session, thrusting out Protestants, to make room for Papists, and intrusting the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom in their hands.

5. By Imposing Oaths contrair to Law.

[Page]6. By giving Gifts and Grants for exacting of Money without Consent of Parliament, or Convention of Estates.

7. By Levying and keeping on foot a Standing Army in time of Peace, without consent of Parliament; which Army did exact Locality, free and day Quarters.

8. By Employing the Officers of the Army, as Judges through the Kingdom, and imposing them where there were held Offices and Jurisdictions, by whom many of the Leiges were put to Death summarily without legal Tryal, Jury or Record.

9. By imposing exorbitant Fines to the Value of the Parties Estates, exacting extravagant Bail, and disposing Fines and Forfaulture before any Process or Conviction.

10. By Imprisoning Persons without expressing the Reason, and delaying to put them to Tryal.

11. By causing pursue and forfault several Persons upon stretches of old and obsolete Laws, upon frivolous and weak pretences, upon lame and defective Probations; as particularly the late Earl of Argyle, to the scandal and reproach of the Justice of the Nation.

12. By Subverting the Right of the Royal Boroughs, the Third Estate of Parliament, imposing upon them not only Magistrates, but also the whole Town Council and Clerks, contrair to the Liberties and express Charters, without the pretence outher of Sentence, Surrender, or Consent: So that the Commissioners to Parliaments being chosen by the Magistrates and Councils, the King might in effect alsweel nominate that entire Estate of Parliament; many of the said Magigrates put in by him were avowed Papists; and the Burghs were forced to pay Mony for the Letters, imposing these illegal Magistrates and Council upon them.

13. By sending Letters to the Chief Courts of Justice, not only ordering the Judges to stop and desist sine die, to determine Causes, but also ordering and commanding them how to proceed in Cases depending before them, contrair to the express Laws: And by changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts, ad vitam aut culpam, and giving them Commissions ad bene placitam, to dispose them to compliance by Arbitrair Courses, and turning them out of their Offices when they did not comply.

[Page]14. By granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts, contrair to Law.

All which are utterly and directly contrair to the known Laws, Freedoms and Statutes of this Realm.

Therefore the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland, find, and declare. That King Iames the Seventh, being a profest Papist, did assume the Regal Power, and acted as King, without ever taking the Oath required by Law; and have by advice of Evil and Wicked Counsellors invaded the Fundamental Constitution of the Kingdom, and altered it from a Legal, limited Monarchy, to an Arbitrair and Despotick Power; and hath exercised the same to the subversion of the Protestant Religion, and the violation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom: Inverting all the Ends of Government, whereby he hath forfaulted the Right to the Crown, and the Throne is become vacant.

And whereas his Royal Highness, William, then Prince of Orange, now King of England, whom it hath pleased the Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of delivering these Kingdoms from Popery, and Arbitrary Power, did, by advice of several Lords and Gentlemen of this Nation, at London, for the time, call the Estates of this Kingdom to meet the Fourteenth of March last, in order to such an Establishment, as that their Religion, Laws and Liberties might not be again in danger of being subverted. And the said Estates being now assembled, in a full and free Representative of this Nation, taking to their most serious consideration, the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid, Do in the first place, as their Ancestors in the like cases have usually done, for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties, declare,

That by the Law of this Kingdom no Papist can be King or Queen of the Realm, nor bear any Office whatsoever therein; nor can any Protestant Successor, exercise the Regal Power, until he or she swear the Coronation Oath.

That all Proclamations asserting an Absolute Power, to cass, annul and disable Laws; the erecting Schools and Colledges for Jesuits; the inverting Protestant Chappels and [Page] Churches to publick Mass-houses, and the [...]llowing Mass to be said, are contrair to Law.

That the allowing Popish Books to be printed and dispersed, is contrair to Law.

That the taking the Children of Noblemen, Gentlemen, and others, sending, and keeping them abroad to be bred Papists: The making Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colledges; the bestowing Pensions on Priests, and the perverting Protestants from their Religion by offers of Places, Preferments and Pensions, are contrair to Law.

That the disarming of Protestants, and imploying Papists in the Places of greatest Trust, both Civil and Military; the thrusting out Protestants to make room for Papists, and the entrusting Papists with the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom, are contrair to Law.

That the imposing Oaths without Authority of Parliament, is contrair to Law.

That the giving Gifts or Grants for raising of Mony without the Consent of Parliament, or Convention of Estates, is contrair to Law.

That the imploying Officers of the Army as Judges through the Kingdom, or imposing them where there were several Offices and Jurisdictions, and the putting the Leiges to Death summarily, and without legal Trial, Jury or Record, are contrair to Law.

That the imposing extraordinary Fines, the exacting of exorbitant Bail, and the disposing of Fines and Forfaultures before Sentence, are contrair to Law.

That the Imprisoning Persons, without expressing the reason thereof, and delaying to put them to Trial, are contrair to Law.

That the causing pursue and forfault Persons upon Stretches of old and obsolete Laws, upon frivolous and weak Pretences, upon [...]ame and defective Probation, as particularly the late Earl of A [...]gyle, are contrai [...] to Law.

That the nominating and imposing Magistrates, Councils and Clerks upon Burg [...]s, contrair to the Liberties and express Charters, is contrair to Law.

That the sending Le [...]ters to the Courts of Justice, ordaining [Page] the Judges to stop or desist from determining Causes, or ordaining them how to proceed in Causes depending before them; and the changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts ad vitam aut culpam, unto Commissions. Durante bene placito, are contrair to Law.

That the granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts, is contrair to Law.

That the forcing the Leiges to depone against themselves in Capital Crimes, however the Punishment be restricted, is contrair to Law.

That the using Torture without Evidence, or in ordinary Crimes, is contrair to Law.

That the [...]ending of an Army in a Hostile manner upon any part of the Kingdom, in a peaceable time, and exacting of Locality, and any manner of Free Quarter, is contrair to Law.

That the charging the Leiges with Law-burroughs at the King's instance, and the imposing of Bands without the Authority of Parliament, and the suspending the Advocates from their Imployments for not compearing when such Bands were offered, were contrair to Law.

That the putting of Garisons on private Mens Houses in a time of peace, without the consent of the Authority of Parliament, is contrair to Law.

That the opinion of the Lords of Session in the two Causes following, were contrair to Law (viz.) 1. That the concerting the demand of a Supply for a Forfaulted Person, although not given, is Treason. (2.) That Persons refusing to discover what are their private thoughts and Judgments in relation to points of Treason, or other Mens actions, are guilty of Treason.

That the fining Husbands for their Wives withdrawing from the Church, was contrair to Law.

That Prelacy, and Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyters, is and hath been a great and unsupportable Grievance and Trouble to this Nation, and contrair to the Inclinations of the Generality of the People ever since the Reformation, they having Reformed from Popery by Presbyters; and therefore ought to be abolished.

[Page]That it is the Right and Privilege of the Subjects to protest for remead of Law to the King and Parliament, against Sentences pronounced by the Lords of Session, providing the same do not stop execution of the said Sentences.

That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King, and that all Imprisonments and Prosecutions for such Petitions are contrair to Law.

That for redress of all Grievances, and for the amending, strengthning and Preserving of the Laws, Parliaments ought to be frequently called and allowed to sit, and the freedom of Speech and Debate secured to the Members.

And they do claim and demand and insist upon all and sundry the Premisses, as their undoubted Right and Liberties, and that no Declarations, Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premisses, ought in any ways to be drawn hereafter in consequence and example, but that all Forfaultures, Fines, loss of Offices, Imprisonments, Banishments, Pursuits, Persecutions and Rigorous Executions be considered, and the Parties seized, be redressed.

To which demand of the Rights, and Redressing of their Grievances, they are particularly incouraged by his Majesty the King of England his Declaration for the Kingdom of Scotland of the day of October last, as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remead therein.

Having therefore an entire Confidence, That his said Majesty the King of England will perfyte the Deliverance so far advanced by him, and will still preserve them from the Violation of the Rights which they have here asserted; And from all other Attempts upon their Religion, Laws and Liberties;

The said Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland do resolve, That William and Mary, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, Be and Be Declared King and Queen of Scotland; to Hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom of Scotland, to them the said King and Queen during their Lives, and the longest Liver of them; and that the sole and full exercise of the Royal Power, be only in, and exercised by him the said King, in the Names of the said King and Queen, during their joynt Lives: And after their deceases, the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom, to [Page] be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Queen▪ Which sailing, to the Princess Ann of Denmark, and the Heirs of her Body: which also sailing, to the Heirs of the Body of the said William King of England.

And they do pray the said King and Queen of England to accept the same accordingly.

And that the Oath hereafter mentioned be taken by all Protestants of whom the Oath of Allegiance, and any other Oaths and Declarations might be required by Law instead thereof. And that the said Oath of Allegiance, and other Oaths and Declarations, may be Abrogated.

§

I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear, That I will be Faithful and bear True Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY.

So help me God.

The manner of the Proclaiming of King WILLIAM, and Queen MARY, at White-hall, and in the City of London, Feb. 13. 1688/9.

ABout half an hour past Ten in the Morning, the Lords and Commons came from Westminster to White-hall in their Coaches, and alighted at the Gate, went up into the Banqueting-House, where they presented the Prince and Princess of Orange with an Instrument in Writing, for declaring their Highnesses King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging, [Page] desiring them to accept the Crown, pursuant to the said Declaration, which their Highnesses accepting accordingly, the said Lords and Commons came down again to White-hall gate, preceded by the Speakers of their respective Houses, each attended with a Sergeant at Arms; where they found the Heralds of Arms, the Sergeants at Arms, the Trumpets, and other Officers, all in readiness, being assembled by Order [...] from the Duke of Norfolk, Earl-Marshal of England. And Sir Thomas St. George Knight Garter, Principal King of Arms, having received a Proclamation, and an Order from the Lord▪ House to the Kings Heralds and Pursuivants of Arms, for Publishing or Proclaiming the same forthwith: The Persons concern'd, disposed themselves in Order before the Court-gate, for making the said Proclamation: And the Trumpets having founded a Call three several Times, the last of which was answer'd by a great Shout of the vast Multitudes of People there assembled. The Noise ceasing, the said Garter, King of Arms, read the said Proclamation by short Sentences or Periods, which was thereupon proclaim'd aloud by Robert Devenish Esq York Herald, being the Senior Herald, in these words:

WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God, in his great Mercy to this Kingdom, to vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Abitrary Power, and that our Preservation is due, next under God, to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of Orange, whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity; and being highly sensible and fully perswaded of the Great and Eminent Vertues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange, whose zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation; And whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration, and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of [Page] Orange, and therein desired them to Accept the Crown, who have accepted the same accordingly; We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons; Together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London, and others of the Commons of this Realm, Do, with a full Consent, Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration, William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, to be King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging; who are accordingly so to be owned, deemed, accepted, and taken by all the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions, who are from hence-forward bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith and true Allegiance. Beseeching God, by whom Kings Reign, to bless King William and Queen Mary with long and happy Years to Reign over us.

God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY.

Jo. Brown, Cleric. Parliamentorum.

Which being ended, and the Trumpets sounding a Flourish, was answer'd by several repeated Shouts of the People.

And Directions being given to proclaim the same within Temple-Bar, in Cheap-side, and at the Royal-Exchange, the Proceeding marched in this manner:

First, the several Beadles of the Liberties of Westminster; Next, the Constables of the said Liberties, all on Foot, with the High-Constable on Horse-back; After them, the Head-Bailiff of Westminster, and his Men, all with white Staves, to clear the Way, on Horse-back; Then the Knight-Marshal's Men also on Horse-back; Next to these a Class of Trumpets, Nine in all, viz. 2, 2, 2, and 3 followed by the Sergeant-Trumpeter, carrying his Mace on his Shoulder, all likewise [Page] on Horse-back; Then a Pursuivant of Arms single: Then a Pursuivant and a Sergeant at Arms; Another Pursuivant and a Sergeant at Arms; Then four Heralds of Arms, one after another, each with a Sergeant at Arms on his left Hand, the Heralds and Pursuivants being all in their Rich Coats of the Royal Arms, and the Sergeants at Arms, each carrying his Mace on his Shoulder, and all on Horse-back; Then Garter King of Arms, in his rich Coat of Arms, carrying the Proclamation, accompanied with Sir Tho. Duppa Kt. Gentleman-Usher of the Black Rod, in his Crimson Mantle of the Order of the Garter, and his Black Rod of Offi [...]e, likewise on Horse-back.

These immediately preceded the Marquess of Halifax, who executed the Place of Speaker in the House of Lords, in his Coach, attended by Sir Roger Harsnet, eldest Sergeant at Arms, with his Mace. Then follow'd Henry Powle Esq Speaker of the House of Commons, in his Coach, attended by Iohn Topham Esq Sergeant at Arms to the said House, with his Mace. After the two Speakers of the Houses, followed the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, and Primier Duke of England, in his Coach, with his Marshals Staff in his Hand; And next to him all the Peers in order in their Coaches; And last of all, the Members of the House of Commons in their Coaches.

In this Order they proceeded towards Temple-Bar; and being come as far as the Maypole in the Strand, two of the Officers of Arms, with a Sergeant at Arms, and two Trumpets, went before to Temple-Bar; and the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, being by this time arrived there, and having ordered the Gates to be shut, the Herald at Arms knocked thereat; whereupon the Sheriffs being on Horse-back, came to the Gate; and the said Herald acquainting them, That he came by Order of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal assembled at Westminster, to demand Entrance into that famous City, for the Proclaiming of William and Mary, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging; and therefore required their speedy Answer. The said Sheriffs ordered the Gates to be opened. Whereupon leaving the Head-Bayliff, Constables, and Beadles of [Page] Westminster without the Barr, the rest of the Proceeding entred, where they found the Lord May [...]r, Aldermen, Recorder, and Sheriffs, all in their Formalities, and on Horse-back, except the Lord Mayor who was in his Coach, attended by the Sword-bearer, and other of his Officers, who joyfully receiving them, they made a stand between the two Temple-Gates, and Proclaimed their Majesties a second time. From whence they marched towards Cheap-side, a Class of the City Trumpets, and the Lord-Mayors Livery-men leading the Way, and the said Aldermen and Lord Mayor falling into the Proceeding: And near Wood-street end (the place where Cheap-side-Cross formerly stood) they made another stand, and Proclaimed their Majesties a third time. And arriving at the Royal-Exchange about Two of the Clock, they Proclaimed them a fourth time; and at each Proclamation, the vast multitudes of Spectators who thronged the Streets, Balconies and Windows, filled the Air with loud and repeated Shouts and Expressions of Joy. Within Temple-Bar, and all along Fleet-street, the Orange Regiment of the City Militia, lined both sides of the way, as did the Green Regiment within Ludgate and St. Paul's Church-Yard; the Blew Regiment in Cheap-side, and the White in Cornhil.

The Coronation of their Sacred Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY was performed at Westminster in manner following, April 11, 1689.

THeir Majesties being come from Whitehal to Westminster, and the Nobility, &c. being put in Order by the Heralds, They came down in State into Westminster-hall, where the Swords and Spurs were presented to them.

[Page]After which the Dean and Prebendaries of Westminster, having brought the Crowns and other Regalia, presented them severally to their Majesties, which, with the Swords and Spurs, were thereupon delivered to the Lords appointed to carry them.

Then the Procession began in this manner. Drums and Trumpets; Six Clerks in Chancery, two abreast (as all the rest of the Proceeding went;) Chaplains having Dignities; Aldermen of London; Masters in Chancery; Solicitor, and Attorney General; Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber; Judges.

Children of Westminster, and of the King's Chappel; Choir of Westminster, and Gentlemen of the Chappel; Prebends of Westminster; Master of the Jewel-house; Privy Councellors not Peers.

Two Pursuivants, Baronesses, Barons, Bishops; A Pursuivant, a Vicountess, Vicounts; Two Heralds, Countesses, Earls; A Herald, a Marchioness; Two Heralds, Dutchesses, Dukes; Two Kings of Arms, The Lord Privy Seal; Lord President of the Council; Archbishop of York; His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark; Two Persons representing the Dukes of Aquitain and Normandy.

Next the Lords who bore their Majesties Regalia, viz. The Earl of Manchester St. Edward's Staff; and the Lord Grey of Ruthin the Spurs; The Earl of Clare the Queens Scepter with the Cross, and the Earl of Northampton the King's; The Earls of Shrewsbury, Derby, and Pembroke, the 3 Swords. Next, Garter King of Arms between the Usher of the Black Rod, and the Lord Mayor of London; The Lord Great Chamberlain Single; The Earl of Oxford with the Sword of State, between the Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshall, and the Duke of Ormond Lord High-Constable for that Day; then the Earl of Bedford with the Queens Sceptre of the Dove, and the Earl of Rutland with the King's; the Duke of Bolton with the Queen's Orb, and the Duke of Grafton with the King's; the Duke of Somerset with the Queen's Crown, and the Earl of Devonshire, Lord Steward of his Majesties Houshold, who was made Lord. High Steward of England for that Day, with the King's: The Bishop of London with the Bible, between the Bishop of St. Asaph with [Page] the Paten, and the Bishop of Rochester with the Chalice.

Then the King, supported by the Bishop of Winchester, and the Queen by the Bishop of Bristol, under a Canopy born by Sixteen Barons of the Cinque Ports; His Majesties Train born by the Master of the Robes, assisted by the Lord Eland, Lord Willoughby, Lord Landsdowne, and the Lord Dunblaine; and Her Majesties Train by the Dutchess of Somerset, assisted by the Lady Elizabeth Pawlett, Lady Diana Vere, Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, and the Lady Henrietta Hyde.

After the King, a Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber, and two Grooms of the Bed-Chamber; and after the Queen, a Lady of the Bed-Chamber, and two of Her Majesties Women.

Lastly the Captain of His Majesties Guard, between the Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, and the Captain of the Band of Pensioners; followed by the Officers and Band of Yeomen of the Guard. The Sergeants at Arms going on each side of the Regalia, and the Gentlemen Pensioners on each side of the Canopy.

Thus Their Majesties in Their Robes of Crimson Velvet, the King with a Cap, and the Queen a Circlet on her Head, All the Nobility in Crimson Velvet Robes, with their Coronets in their Hands, and the rest of the Proceeding in their proper Habits, marched on foot upon Blew Cloth to Westminster-Abby, all the Way and Houses on each side being Crouded with vast Number of Spectators, expressing their great Joy and Satisfaction by loud repeated Acclamations.

Being Entred the Church; and all duly seated, the Bishop of London, who performed this great Solemnity, began with the Recognition, which ended with a mighty Shout. Then Their Majesties Offered, and the Lords who bore the Regalia, presented them at the Altar. The Litany was sung by two Bishops, and after the Epistle, Gospel, and Nicene Creed, the Bishop of Salisbury Preach'd on this Text, 2 Sam. 23. 3, 4.

After Sermon Their Majesties took the Oath, and being Conducted to their Regal Chairs placed on the Theater (that they might be more Conspicuous to the Members of the House of Commons, who were seated in the North Cross) were Anointed, and presented with the Spurs and Sword, and Invested with the Palls and Orbs, and then with the Rings [Page] and Scepters; and at Four of the Clock the Crowns were put on their Heads. At sight whereof the People shouted, the Drums and Trumpets sounded, the great Guns were discharged, and the Peers and Peeresses put on their Coronets.

Then the Bible was presented to Them, and after the Benediction They vouchsafed to Kiss the Bishops. Being Inthroned, first the Bishops, and then the Temporal Lords did their Homage, and Kissed their Majesties left Cheeks; while the Treasurer of the Houshold threw about the Coronation Medals.

Next followed the Communion; And Their Majesties having made their second Oblation, received the Holy Sacrament. Then the Bishop Read the final Prayers, and Their Majesties retiring into St. Edward's Chappel, and being new Arrayed in Purple Velvet, returned to Westminster-Hall, wearing Their Rich Crowns of State, and the Nobility their Coronets.

The Nobility, &c. being seated at their respective Tables, which were all ready furnished before their coming in; The first Course for Their Majesties Table was served up with the proper Ceremony, being preceded by the great Officers, and the High-Constable, High-Steward, and Earl-Marshall; And before the second Course Charles Dymoke Esq Their Majesties Champion, between the High-Constable and the Earl-Marshall, performed the Challenge: After which the Heralds proclaimed Their Majesties Styles.

Dinner being ended, and the whole Solemnity performed with great Splendor and Magnificence, About Eight in the Evening Their Majesties returned to White-hall.

[Page]

A Proclamation declaring WILLIAM and MARY King and Queen of England, to be King and Queen of Scotland. Edinburgh, April 11. 1689.

WHereas, the Estates of this Kingdom of Scotland, by their Act of the Date of these Presents, have Resolved, That William and Mary, King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland, Be, and Be declared King and Queen of Scotland, to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom of Scotland, to them the said King and Queen, during their Lives, and the longest Liver of Them; and that the Sole and Full Exercise of the Regal Power, be only in, and Exercised by the said King, in the Names of the said King and Queen, during their joynt Lives. As also, the Estates having Resolved and Enacted and Instrument of Government, or Claim of Right, to be presented with the Offer of the Crown, to the said King and Queen. They do Statute and Ordain, that William and Mary, King and Queen of England, France and Ireland, be accordingly forthwith Proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland, at the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh, by the Lyon King at Arms, or his Deputs, his Brethren Heraulds, Macers and Pursevants, and at the Head-Burghs of all the Shires, [Page] Stewarties, Bailliaries, and Regalities within the Kingdom, by Messengers at Arms. Extracted forth of the Meeting of the Estates, by me.

J A. DALRYMPLE, Cls.

God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY.

The Manner of the King and Queen taking the Scotish Coronation Oath.
May 11. 1689.

THis day being appointed for the publick Reception of the Commissioners, viz. the Earl of Argyle, Sir Iames Montgomery of Skelmerly, and Sir Iohn Dalrymple of Stair younger, who were sent by the Meeting of the Estates of Scotland, with an Offer of the Crown of that Kingdom to Their Majesties, they accordingly, at 3 of the Clock, met at the Council-Chamber, and from thence were Conducted by Sir Charles Cotterel, Master of the Ceremonies, attended by most of the Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom, who reside in and about this place, to the Banqueting-House; where the King and Queen came attended by many Persons of Quality, the Sword being carried before them by the Lord Cardrosse, (and Their Majesties being placed on the Throne under a rich Canopy) they first presented a Letter from the Estates to His Majesty; then the Instrument of Government; Thirdly, a Paper containing the Grievances, which they desired might be Redressed; and Lastly, an Address to His Majesty for turning the Meeting of the said Estates into a Parliament: All which being Signed by his Grace the Duke of Hamilton, as President of the Meeting, and read to Their Majesties, the King returned to the Commissioners the following Answer.

When I engaged in this Undertaking, I had particular Regard [Page]and Consideration for Scotland, and therefore I did emit a Declaration in relation to That as well as to this Kingdom, which I intend to make good and effectual to them. I take it very kindly that Scotland hath expressed so much Confidence in and Affection to Me; They shall find Me willing to assist them in every thing that concerns the Weal and Interest of that Kingdom, by making what Laws shall be necessary for the Security of their Religion, Property, and Liberty, and to ease them of what may be justly grievous to them.

After which, the Coronation-Oath was tendred to Their Majesties, which the Earl of Argyle spoke word by word distinctly, and the King and Queen repeated it after him holding Their Right Hands up after the manner of taking Oaths in Scotland.

The Meeting of the Estates of Scotland did Authorize their Commissioners to represent to His Majesty, That that Clause in the Oath in relation to the rooting out of Hereticks did not import the destroying of Hereticks; And that by the Law of Scotland no Man was to be persecuted for his private Opinion; And even Obstinate and Convicted Hereticks were only to be denounced Rebels or Outlawed, whereby their Moveable Estates are Confiscated. His Majesty at the repeating that Clause in the Oath, Did declare, that He did not mean by these words, That He was under any Obligation to become a Persecutor. To which the Commissioners made Answer, That neither the meaning of the Oath, or the Law of Scotland did import it. Then the King replyed, That He took the Oath in that Sense, and called for Witnesses the Commissioners and others present; And then both Their Majesties Signed the said Coronation-Oath.

After which the Commissioners and several of the Scotish Nobility kissed Their Majesties Hands.

[Page]

The Coronation-OATH of England.

The Arch-Bishop or Bishop shall say,

WIll You solemnly Promise and Swear to Govern the People of this Kingdom of England, and the Dominions thereto belonging, according to the Statutes in Parliament agreed on, and the Laws and Customs of the same?

The King and Queen shall say,

I solemnly Promise so to do.

Arch-Bishop or Bishop.

Will You to Your Power, cause Law and Justice in Mercy to be Executed in all Your Judgments.

King and Queen.

I Will.

Arch-Bishop or Bishop.

Will You to the utmost of Your Power Maintain the Laws of God, the true Profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant Reformed Religion Established by Law? And will You Preserve, unto the Bishops and Clergy of this Realm, and to the Churches committed to their Charge, all such Rights and Priviledges as by Law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them?

King and Queen.

All this I Promise to do.

[After this, the King and Queen laying His and Her Hand upon the Holy Gospels, shall say,]

King and Queen.

The Things which I have here before Promised, I will Perform and Keep. So help me God.

[Then the King and Queen shall kiss the Book.]

[Page]

The Coronation OATH of Scotland.

WE William and Mary, King and Queen of Scotland, Faithfully Promise and Swear, by this Our solemn Oath in presence of the Eternal God, that during the whole course of Our Life, we will serve the same Eternal God, to the uttermost of Our Power, according as he has required in his most holy Word, reveal'd and contain'd in the New and Old Testament, and according to the same Word shall maintain the True Religion of Christ Jesus, the Preaching of his Holy Word, and the due and right Ministration of the Sacraments, now Received and Preached within the Realm of Scotland; and shall abolish and gainstand all false Religion contrary to the same, and shall Rule the People committed to our Charge, according to the Will and Command of God, revealed in his aforesaid Word, and according to the Landable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm, no ways repugnant to the said Word of the Eternal God, and shall procure, to the utmost of Our power, to the Kirk of God, and whole Christian People, true and perfect Peace in all time coming. That we shall preserve and keep inviolated the Rights and Rents, with all just Priviledges of the Crown of Scotland, neither shall we transfer nor alienate the same; That we shall forbid and repress in all Estates and Degrees, Reif, Oppression, and all kind of wrong. And we shall Command and Procure that Justice and Equity in all Judgments be keeped to all Persons without exception, as the Lord and Father of all Mercies shall be merciful to u [...]. And we shall be careful to root out all Hereticks and Enemies to the true Worship of God, that shall be Convicted by the true Kirk of God of the aforesaid Crimes, out of Our Lands and Empire of Scotland. And we faithfully affirm the things above written by Our Solemn Oath.

God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY.

FINIS.

Information about this book

Title statement

A collection of papers relating to the present juncture of affairs in England

Edition statement

1688

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2004-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A33842

ID [STC]

Wing C5169A

ID [STC]

ESTC R9879

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

12385164

ID [OCLC]

ocm 12385164

ID [VID]

60825

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A33842)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 60825)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 660:1)

Source

— A collection of papers relating to the present juncture of affairs in England, Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715..

Extent

442 p. in various pagings.

[s.n.],. [London] printed :: 1688-1689.. (First ed. lacks collective t.p.; title from t.p of first pt. Cf. NUC pre-1956 imprints, Wing.) (Editorship ascribed to Bishop Burnet. Cf. Lowndes.) (Each part has special t.p. and separate paging, with pts. 1-5 dated 1688 and pts. 6-12 dated 1689. Pts. 3-12 have imprint: London : Printed, and are to be sold by Richard Janeway ...) (Parts that were sold separately are cataloged separately. Cf. Wing.) (Reproduction of the original in the Huntington Library.)

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