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 5] 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 6] 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.

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 16] 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 17] 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.

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 30] 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.

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 2] 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 3]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 4] 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 5] 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 6] 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 7] 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 8] 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 9] 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 10] 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 11] 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 12] 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 13] 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 14] 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.

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 16] 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 17] 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 18] 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 19] 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 20] 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 21]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 22]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 23] 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 19 th and 20 th 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 24] 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 25] 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.

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 28] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 13] 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.

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 18] 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 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 4]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.

☞ '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!

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 16] 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 17] 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 3 d. 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 18] 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.

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 8] 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 9]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 10] 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?

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.

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 21] 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 22] 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 23]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 24]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 25] 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 26] 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 27] 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.

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 23] 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 17 th 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 2 d's time, besides the great Body of the City of London being at least esteem'd a 5 th 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 24] 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 29 th 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 29 th 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 25] 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 26] 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.

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.

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 28]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 29] 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 30]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.