A FIFTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England. VIZ. I. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince. II. An Answer to a late Pamphlet, entitled, A Short Scheme of the Usurpations of the Crown of England, etc. III. An humble and hearty Address to all English Protestants in the Army. Published by Mr. Johnson in the Year 1686. IU. Several Reasons against the Establishment of a standing Army, and Dissolving the Militia. V A Discourse of Magistracy; of Prerogative by Divine Right; of Obedience, and of the Laws. VI The Definition of a Tyrant, by Abr. Cowley: With several Queries thereupon proposed to the Lawyers. VII. A Letter to the King, inducing him to return to the Protestant Religion. VIII. Ten Seasonable Queries, proposed by an English Gentleman at Amsterdam to his Friends in England. Licenced and Entered according to Order. London printed, and are to be fold by Rich. Janeway in Queen's-head Court in Paternoster Row, 1688. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince. A Prince putting himself and his Dominions under the Authority of the Pope, and admitting (as he must unavoidably) the Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church, all his Protestant Subjects being, by the Judgement and Sentence of that Church, Heretics (a) Distinct. 19 cap. a Caus. 25. q. 1. cap. 11. , do forthwith lie under the Penalty which those Laws and Constitutions will have inflicted upon Heretics; Heresy (b) Cap. Vergent. de Hotticis. being the highest degree of High-Treason, called therefore by them, Laesae Crimen Majestaetis Divinae: So the English Protestant must be a Traitor, and the worst of Traitors, and exposed to the Penalties of High-Treason. The Laws and Decrees of the Romish Church against Heretics. Heresy (c) Cap. Infam. 6. q. 1. p. 297. is denounced Infamous, and the Heretic must be dealt with as such; which is many Penalties in one. First, Whereby they are deprived of all Nobility, Jurisdiction and Dignity, and debarred from all Offices, and public Councils, Parliaments and others; being made uncapable of choosing, and being chosen: So that it reacheth all sorts (d) Suar. de Fide disp. 12. §. 9 r. 5. l. 2. c. 29. of Clergy, Laity, Noble and Ignoble; which is extended to their Children also. For, they say, The Issue of Traitors, Civil and Spiritual, lose their Nobility. And all that own any Duty to such Infamous Persons, are discharged and exempted therefrom, as Subjects (e) Cap. de Haer. from their Prince, Servants (f) Aa●o●. Tom. 1. l. 8. c. 12. q. 7. from their Masters, Children (g) Cap. 2. Sect. fin. de Haer. in 6. from their Parents, whom they also may lawfully kill. Whereby we may see a little, to what condition the Admission of the Papal Authority would reduce us, expelling both Nature and Humanity, and making the dearest Relatives unnatural and barbarous to one another; it would leave no Protestant either Dignity or Authority, either Safety or Liberty; Nobles are sentenced to Peasants, and Peasants to Slaves. Secondly, Another Penalty to which Heretics are condemned by their Law, is Confiscation of Goods and Estate; and this they incur ipso jure, & ipso facto; that is, immediately as soon as they show themselves Heretics, before any legal Sentence have passed: For which there is an express Decree in the Canon-Law; (h) Cap. cum secundum Legis de Haer.. Inno III. cap. de Vergentis. Bona Haereticorum ipso jure discernemus consiscata; We decree the Goods of Heretics to be confiscate by Sentence of Law. The Effects of this Confiscation, wherein they all agree, makes the Severity of the Law apparent, viz. First, All the Prosits made of the Estate from the first day of their Gild, is to be (i) Vasq. in Suar. disp. 22. S. 4. n. 11. refunded. Secondly, All Alienations (k) S. 1. n. 5. by Gist, Sale, or otherwise, before Sentence, are null and void; and all Contracts for that purpose (l) Cap. Vergent. de Haer. rescinded. Thirdly, Children, Heirs of Heretics, are deprived of their Portions; yea, though they be Papists. Whereby it appears, that as soon as the Papacy is admitted, all Title and Property is lost and extinct among us: And therefore we must not think that Pope acted extravagantly, who declared, That all his Majesty's Territories were his own, as forfeited to the Holy See for the Heresy of Prince and People. Not only Abby-Lands are in danger, who ever possess them; but all Estates are forfeited to his Exchequer, and legally confiscated: All is his own which Protestants in these three Nations have or ever had, if he can but meet with a Prince so wise as to help him to catch it; whose process follows them beyond their Grave, and ruins their Children, and Child's Children after them. And when they have stripped the Heretic of his All, they provide that no other shall relieve him, viz. That none shall receive him into their Houses, nor afford him any Help, nor show him any Favour, nor give him any Counsel. We are here in England zealous for Property; and all the reason in the World we should so be: But we must bid adieu to this, when we once come under the Pope's Authority; for as soon as this is admitted, all the Protestants in these Nations are Beggars by Lrw, viz. by the Laws of that Church, which will then be Ours, divesting us of all Property and Title to whatever we account our own. Thirdly, Another Penalty which their Law inflicts on Heretics, is Death (m) Cap. ad abolendum de Haer. Suar. Dis. 23. Bul. urb. 4. & Inno. 4. , which is the Sentence of the Canon-Law; and which is so absolute, that no Secular Judge can remit, and which is the Judgement of all the Doctors, Ita docent omnes Doctores: And from which Penalty, neither Emperors nor Kings themselves are to be freed or exempt. And the Death they inflict is burning alive: No Death more tolerable, or of less exquisite Torture will satisfy the Mercy of that Church. The Canon saith thus; Decernimus ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburantur; We decree, that they shall be burnt alive in the sight of the World. So our last Popish Successor, Queen Mary, practised upon near three hundred Persons, without regard either to Age, Sex, or Quality: the Scripture they urge for it, is John 15.6. (n) Jac. de Gra. decis. l. 2. c. 9 n. 2. If any one abide not in me, men gather them and cast them into the Fire, and they are burnt. So that as soon as the Papal Authority is admitted among us, all the Protestants in these Nations are dead Men in Law; being under a Law that hath sentenced us to be burnt alive, and under a Power that hath declared it necessary that no one of us escape with Life. Fourthly, Where legal Penalties cannot take place, by reason of opposite Strength, they hold War necessary, and lawful to chastise Heretics: For which we might give you divers Authorities; (o) Bonacina Diano. Castro Molanus, etc. Car. Allen. ad mon. to Nobl. & Peop. p. 41. but let Cardinal Allen, our Countryman, suffice; who asserts it is not only lawful, but necessary: His words are these: It is clear (saith he) what People or Persons soever be declared to be opposite to GOD's Church, with what Obligation soever either of Kindred, Friendship, Loyalty, or Subjection I be bound unto them; I may, or rather must take up Arms against them; and then must we take them for Heretics when our lawful Popes adjudge them so to be. And which (saith Cardinal Pool) is a War more holy than that against the Turks. Fifthly, To destroy them by Massacres is sometimes held more adviseable than to run the hazard of War, and which (they say) is both lawful and meritorious, for the rooting out a Pestilent Heresy, and the promoting the Roman Interest. This set afoot the jirish Massacre, that inhuman bloody Butchery, and so much from the Savageness and Cruelty of their Nature, as the Doctrines and Principles which directed and encouraged it; as also that of Paris, than which nothing was more grateful and acceptable to their Popes, as their (p) Eriess of P.G. 13. & Clem. 8. Bulls make manifest, and the picturing it in the Pope's Chamber; and for which, as a most glorious Action, Triumphs were made, and public Thanksgivings were returned to God. So in Savoy, and elsewhere, both in former and latter Times. And this was that which the late Conspirators aimed at so fully intending a Massacre. Those that escaped a Massacre, saith (q) 5. Jes. Trial, p. 28. Dugdale, must be cut off by the Army. And (r) Col. Lr. to the Internuncio. Coleman tells the Internuncio in his Letters; That their Design prospered so well, that he doubted not in a little time, their Business would be managed to the utter Ruin of the Protestant Party: The effecting where of was so desirable and meritorious, that if he had a Sea of Flood, and an hundred Lives, he would lose them all to carry on the Design. And if to effect this, it were necessary to destroy an hundred Heretical Kings, he would do it (s) Prance 's Nar. p. 4. . Singleton the Priest affirmed, That he would make no more to stab forty Parliament-Men, than to eat his Dinner. Gerard and Kelley, to encourage Pranëe to kill Sir E. B. G. told him, It was no Murder, no Sin, and that to kill twenty of them was nothing in that case; which was both a charitable and meritorious Act. And (t) Caus. Ep. p. 189. Grant, one of the Massacring Gunpowder Traitors, said, upon his Execution, te one that urged him to repent of that wicked Enterprise, That he was so far from counting it a Sin, that on the contrary, he was confident, that that noble Design had so much of Merit in it, as would be abundantly enough to make Satisfaction for all the Sins of his whole Life. See Everard Digby speaking to the same purpose also; the Provincial Garnet did teach the Conspirators the same Catholic Doctrine, viz. That the King, Nobility, Clergy, and whole Commonalty of the Realm of England (Papists excepted) were Heretics; and, That all Heretics were accursed and excommunicated; and That no Heretic could be a King, but that it was lawful and meritorious to kill him, and all other Heretics within this Realm of England, for the advancement and enlargement of the Authority and Jurisdiction of the Pope, and for the restoring of the Romish Religion. This was that Garnet whom the Papists here honoured as a Pope, and kissed his Feet, and reverenced his Judgement as an Oracle; and since his Death, given him the Honour of Saintship and Martyrdom (u) Five Jes. Trinis, p. 25. . Dugdale deposed, That after they had dispatched the King, a Massäcre was to follow. But surely, it may be supposed, that the Temper of such a Prince, or his Interest, would oblige him to forbid or restrain such violent Executions in England. Yea, but what if his Temper be to comply with such Courses? Or his Temper be better? What if it be overruled? What if he be persuaded, as other Catholics are, that he must in Conscience proceed thus? What if he cannot do otherwise, without hazard of his Crown and Life? For he is not to hold the Reins of Government alone, he will not be allowed to be much more than the Pope's POSTILION, and must look to be dismounted, if he act not according to Order. The Law (x) Caput Offici●m. tells us, That it is not in the Power of any Civil Magistrate to remit the Penalty, or abate the Rigour of the Law. Nay, if the Prince should plight his Faith by Oath, that he would not suffer their Bloody LAWS to be executed upon his Dissenting Subjects, this would signify nothing: For they would soon tell him, That (y) Bon●●i●a de print. p●a●. Disp. 3. q. 2. Contracts made against the Common Law are invalid, though confirmed by Oath; And; That he is not bound to stand to his Promise though he had sworn to it: And, That Faith is no more to be kept with Heretics, than the Council of Constance would have it. So that Protestants are to be burnt, as Jo. Huss and Jerom of Prague were by that Council, though the Emperor had given them his safe Conduct in that Solemn manner, which could secure them only (as they said) from the Civil, but not Church-Process, which was the greatest. For 'tis their General Rule, That Faith is either not to be given, or not kept with Heretics. Therefore, saith Simanca, That Faith engaged to Heretics, though confirmed by Oath, is in no wise to be performed: For, saith he, if Faith is not to be kept with Tyrants and Pirates, and others who kill the Body, much less with Heretics who kill the Souls. And that the Oath in favour of them, is but Vinculum Iniquitatis, A Bond of Iniquity. Though Popish Princes, the better to promote their Interest, and to ensnare the Protestant Subjects, to get advantage upon them, to their Ruin, have made large Promises, and plighted their Faith to them, when they did not intent to keep it. As the Emperor to John Huss and Jerom; Charles the Ninth of France to his Protestant Subjects before the Massacre; the Duke of Savoy to his Protestant Subjects, before their designed Ruin; and Queen Mary, before her burning of them. But if there were neither Law nor Conscience to hinder, yet in point of Interest, he must not show favour to Heretics, without apparent hazard, both (z) Parson' s Philop. p. 109. of Crown and Life, for he forfeits both if he doth. The Pope every Year doth not only curse Heretics, but every Favourer of them, from which none but himself can absolve. (a) Becan. Cont. Aug. p. 131, 132. In Fowlis, p. 60. Becanus very elegantly tells us, If a Prince be a dull Cur, and fly not upon Heretics, he is to be beaten out, and a keener Deg must be got in his stead. Henry the Third, and Henry the Fourth, were both Assassinated upon this Account, because they were suspected to favour Heretics. And are we not told by the Discoverers (b) Oats 's Nar. p. 4. N. 5, etc. of the Popish Plot, That after they had dispatched the King, they would depose his Brother also, that was to succeed him, if he did not answer their Expectations, for rooting out the Protestant Religion. But may not Parliaments secure us by Laws and Provisions restraining the Power which endangers us? Not possible, if once they secure and settle the Throne for Popery: For, First, They can avoid Parliaments as long as they please; and a Government that is more Arbitrary and Violent, is more agreeable to their Designs and Principles: It being apparent, that the English Papists have lost the Spirit of their Ancestors, who so well asserted the English Liberties, being so generally now fixed for the Pope's Universal Monarchy, sacrificing, all to that Roman Moloch, being much more his Subjects than the King's; and though Natives by Birth, yet are Foreigners as to Government, Principle, Interest, Affection and Design; and therefore no Friends to Parliaments, as our Experience hath told us. But, Secondly, if their Necessity should require a Parliament, there is no question but they may get such a one as will serve their turns: For so have every of our former Princes in all the Changes of Religion that have been amongst us: As Henry the 8th, when he was both for and against Popery; Edward the 6th, when he was wholly Protestant; Queen Mary, when she was for Burning Alive; and Queen Elizabeth, when she ran so Counter to her Sister. And the Reason is clear, that he who has the making of the public Officers, and the Keys of Preferment and Profit, influenceth and swayeth Elections and Votes as he pleaseth. And by how much the Throne comes to be fixed in Popery, the Protestants must expect to be excluded from both Houses, as they have excluded the Papists: For as Heretics and Traitors, they, as ignominous Persons, etc. you have heard, forfeit all Right, either to choose, or be chosen in any Public Councils: And then all Laws which have been made for the Protestants, and against the Popish Religion, will be null and void, as being enacted by an incompetent Authority, as being the Acts of Heretics, Kings, Lords, and Commons, who had forfeited all their Rights and Privileges. But, Thirdly, suppose our Laws were valid, as enacted by competent Authority, and such good and wholesome Provisions, as were those Statutes made by our Popish Ancestors, in those Statutes of Prouisoes in Edward the I. & Edward the III. Time, and that of Praemunire in Richard the II. and Henry the iv for Relief against Papal Encroachments and Oppressions: Yet being against the Laws and Canons of Holy Church, the Sovereign Authority, they will be all superseded: For so they determine, That when the Canon and the Civil Laws clash, one requiring what the other allows not, the Church-Law must have the observance, and that of the State neglected: And Constitutions (they say) made against the Canons and Decrees of the Roman Bishops, are of no moment: Their best Authors are positive of it. And our own Experience and Histories testify the Truth thereof: For how were those good Laws beforementioned, defeated by the Pope's Authority, so that there was no effectual Execution thereof till Henry the 8th's Time, as Dr. Burnet (c) Hist. Ref. p. 110. tells us? And how have the good Laws, to suppress and prevent Popery, been very much obstructed in their Execution by Popish Influence? An Answer to a late Pamphlet, Entitled, A Short Scheme of the Usurpations of the Crown of England, etc. THE World may very justly wonder at several Passages in this ill-designed, and as ill-writ Pamphlet, which the Author has taken the pains to collect from some perty Grubstreet Chronicle. Henry II. is called an Usurper (pag. 4.) because he accepted of the Crown of England in his Mother's Life-time; tho' by her not opposing his Claim, it may very reasonably be concluded, that she freely consented to his Promotion, as the most essectual means to secure the Crown to her Posterity. But we are told, That a Crown is no Estate to be made over in Trust: If our Author's meaning is, that a Crown is an Estate which the Possessor cannot divest himself of by a voluntary Resignation; both Reason, and a multituide of Examples in several Ages, and Nations, prove that the Principle our Author has laid down, is founded on a gross Mistake. Therefore if our Author designs to publish any more Schemes of Usurpation, let him first inform us what it is, and how far it extends, lest the World should accuse him of having as notoriously usurped to himself the Title of a Writer, as any of our Princes ever did the Crown of England. He would persuade his Readers to believe, that God punished King Edward III. and King Henry V for their Usurpations, with frequent and unexpected Victories; in the acquisition of which, tho' there was some English Blood shed, (as it was impossible it should be otherwise) yet the Enemies paid an excessive Price for it; after the defeat of their great Armies, and the Imprisonment of their King, they being forced to buy their Peace upon such Terms, as our conquering Usurpers pleased to impose. Nor did ever any wellwisher to the English Nation deny, that these Two Princes were the Glory of their Age, and of our British History. If I should reckon up all the evident Mistakes and self Inferences in this Libel, it would be too tedious, since a careless Eye cannot easily overlook them. If the Pamphlet finds so undeserved a Reception in the World, as to need a Second Impression, the Author is desired to add to it this Postscript; which being founded on the Principles asserted by him, will show the World that he hath wilfully, and perhaps partially, forborn to speak of as notorious an Usurper, as any that are mentioned in his Scheme. Queen Marry, the Offspring of an Incestuous Marriage, had no other unquestionable Divine Right to the Crown of England, than what was given her by an Act of Parliament, made in her Father's Reign, and the common Consent of the Nobility and People after the Death of her Brother King Edward VI whose disposal of the Crown, by Letters Patents under the Great Seal, being directly contrary to the former Entail of it, limited by a higher Authority; His Sister, the Lady Mary, was acknowledge Queen. Therefore, according to our Author's abstruse Notions, She (as well as her Grandfather Henry VII.) must be reckoned among the Usurpers of the Crown of England. Let us now see what success attended her, and whether the Nation was happy under her Government. As soon as She saw herself fixed in the Throne, She imprisoned and deprived several of the Protestant Bishops, contrary to the then Established Laws of the Realm: She intruded Popish Bishops into the Sees, thus declared vacant; the small remainder of the Protestant Bishops, who had been called to Parliament by Writ, were, nevertheless, violently thrust out of the Parliament-House, for refusing to worship the Mass. The Members of the House of Commons, in her First Parliament, were chosen by force and threats: the Freeholders were hindered by violonce from exercising their Right of choosing Representatives: false Returns were made; and those who were for the Reformed Religion, tho' duly elected, were by force expelled the House. So that we cannot wonder at the Statues made in this pretended Free Parliament; which was in every Thing influenced by the Court-Party. Shortly after, her Marriage with the haughty jealous Spaniard (of which She herself felt the ill Consequences) was justly disliked by the Nobility and Commonalty. Her base Design of setting up a Supposititious Child for Heir to the Crown, was not only happily defeated, but deservedly exposed to the Censure of the Nation: Her Design to erect the Spanish Inquisition in England was disappointed. Calais (after having belonged to the Crown of England about two hundred and eleven Years, and which was gained with great difficulty, after eleven months' Siege) was, in the depth of Winter, lost in a Weeks time: And quickly after, all the English Territories were, with small difficulty, recovered by the French. We must not forget how exactly She put in practice the base, treacherous, and destructive Principles of the pretended Catholic Religion, in these remarkable Particulars. She barbarously used her only Sister, the Lady Elizabeth, and designed to have taken away her Life, for no other Cause, but her firm adherence to the Protestant Religion. She imprisoned and burnt Archbishop Cranmer, who had formerly sheltered her from her Father's Fury. She deprived and imprisoned Judge Hales, who alone resolutely opposed King Edward the Sixth's Will: and preferred Judge Bromley to be Lord Chief Justice, though he had, without any reluctancy, prepared the Letters-Patents for her Exclusion. The Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk, who were the first that took up Arms for her, (upon her Promise to permit them the Exercise of their Religion) were the first that suffered Persecution under her. And after she had put to death near three hundred Persons, (without respect to Quality, Age, or Sex) it pleased God to put an end to the Romish Cruelty and Idolatry, by her unexpected and unlamented Death. Nor is her Memory preserved from Oblivion by any thing, but her repeated Acts of Cruelty and Injustice. This was the Success that attended her, this the Happiness, the Liberty, the Religion established in the English Nation, during her five Years Tyranny. That I may not detain the Reader any longer, I will conclude this Advice to our Learned Pamphleteer; That for the future he do not so positively ascribe all unhappy Accidents, as frequent Wars and Rebellions, the Effusion of English Blood, the unfortunate End of some of our Princes, to the Divine Vengeance upon them, for the Usurpations he accuses them of; smce, if he will consult our Historians, he may find that Edward II. Richard II. and the Incomparable Prince, King Charles I. though their Title from William the Conqueror is indisputable, were far unhappier than any of the Usurpers he mentions. That in Edward the Fourth's, and Henry the Eighth's Reign, a great deal of English Blood was shed both at Home and Abroad, though their Right was unquestionable, and universally acknowledged. And that as to the promiscuous good or ill Success of all Affairs in this lower World, the observation of the Wisest of Princes, and of Men, is very often exactly verified; There is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked: To the Prince who ascends the Throne by an unquestionable Right, and to him that ascends it by Violence and Usurpation. To the Prince that religiously performs the Solemn Oath taken at his Coronation, and to him that wilfully breaks through all the Obligations he is under, and endeavours by the most base Methods to dissolve the Established Government. The following Paper was published by Mr. Samuel Johnson in the Year 1686. for which he was sentenced by the Court of Kings-Bench, (Sir Edward Herbert being Lord Chief Justice) to stand three times on the Pillory, and to be whipped from Newgate to Tyburn: Which barbarous Sentence was executed. An Humble and Hearty Address to all the English Protestants in this present Army. GENTLEMEN, NEXT to the Duty which we own 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 yourselves 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 yourselves Protestant's? And then what Service can be done your Country, by being under the Command of French and Irish Papists, and by bringing the Nation under a Foreign Yoke? Will you help them to make forcible Entry into the Houses of your Countrymen, 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 Birthright of English Laws and Liberties for Martial or Club-Law, and help to destroy all others, only to be eaten last yourselves? If I know you well, as you are English Men, you hate and scorn these Things. And therefore be not unequally yoked with Idolatrous and Bloody Papists. Be Valiant for the Truth, and show yourselves Men. The same Considerations are likewise humbly offered to all the English Seamen, who have been the Bulwark of this Nation against Popery and Slavery ever since Eighty Eight. Several Reasons for the Establishment of a Standing Army, and Dissolving the Militia. 1. BEcause the Lords Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, and the whole Militia, that is to say, the Lords, Gentlemen, and Freeholders' of England, are not fit to be trusted with their own Laws, Lives, Liberties, and Estates, and therefore aught to have Guardians and Keepers assigned to them. 2. Because Mercenary Soldiers, who fight for twelve Pence a Day, will fight better, as having more to lose than either the Nobility or Gentry. 3. Because there are no Irish Papists in the Militia, who are certainly the best Soldiers in the World, for they have slain Men, Women, and Children, by Hundreds of Thousands at once. 4. Because the Dragooners have made more Converts than all the Bishops and Clergy of France. 5. The Parliament ought to establish one standing Army at the least, because indeed there will be need of Two, that one of them may defend the People from the other. 6. Because it is a thousand pities that a brave Popish Army should be a Riot. 7. Unless it be Established by Act of Parliament, the Justices of Peace will be forced to suppress it in their own Defence; for they will be loath to forfeit an hundred Pounds every day they rise, out of Compliment to a Popish Rout. 13. H. 4. c. 7. 2. H. 5. c. 8. 8. Because a Popish Army is a Nullity. For all Papists are utterly disabled (and punishable besides) from bearing any Office in Camp, Troop, Band, or Company of Soldiers, and are so far disarmed by Law, that they cannot wear a Sword, so much as in their Defence, without the allowance of four Justices of the Peace of the County: And then upon a March they will be perfectly enchanted, for they are not able to stir above five Miles from their own Dwellinghouse. 3. Jac. 5. Sect. 8, 27, 28, 29.35. Eliz. 2.3. Jac. 5. Sect. 7. 9 Because Persons utterly disabled by Law are utterly Unauthorised; and therefore the void Commissions of Killing and Slaying in the Hands of Papists, can only enable them to Massacre and Murder. A Discourse of Magistracy; of Prerogative by Divine Right; of Obedience, and of the Laws. CHAP. I. Of MAGISTRACY. I. RELATION is nothing else but that State of Mutual Respect and Reference, which one Thing or Person has to another. II. Such are the Relations of Father and Son, Husband and Wife, Master and Servant, Magistrate and Subject. III. The Relations of a Father, Husband, and Master, are really distinct and different; that is, one of them is not the other; for he may be any one of these who is none of the rest. iv This distinction proceeds from the different Reasons, upon which these Relations are founded. V The Reason or Foundation, from whence arises the Relation of a Father, is from having begotten his Son, who may as properly call every old Man he meets his Father, as any other Person whatsoever, excepting him only who begat him. VI The Relation of an Husband and Wife is founded in Wedlock, whereby they mutually consent to become one Fle●h. VII. The Relation of a Master is founded in that Right and Title which he has to the Possession, or Service of his Slave or Servant. VIII. In these Relations, the Names of Father, Husband, and Master, imply Sovereignty and Superiority, which varies notwithstanding, and is more or less absolute, according to the Foundation of these several Relations. IX. The Superiority of a Father is founded in that Power, Priority, and Dignity of Nature, which a Cause hath over its Effect. X. The distance is not so great in Wedlock, but the Superiority of the Husband over the Wife, is like that of the Right-Hand over the Left in the same Body. XI. The Superiority of a Master, is an absolute Dominion over his Slave, a limited and conditionate Command over his Servant. XII. The Titles of Pater Patriae, and Sponsus Regni, Father of the Country, and Husband of the Realm, are Metaphors and improper Speeches: For no Prince ever begat a whole Country of Subjects; nor can a Kingdom more properly be said to be married, than the City of Venice is to be Adriatic Gulf. XIII. And to show further, that Magistracy is not Paternal Authority, nor Monarchy founded in Fatherhood; it is undeniably plain, that a Son may be the Natural Sovereign Lord of his own Father, as Henry the Second had been of Jeffery Plantagenet, if he had been an Englishman; which, they say, Henry the Seventh did not love to think of, when his Sons grew up to Years. And this Case alone is an eternal Confutation of the Patriarchate. XIV. Neither is Magistracy a Marital Power, for the Husband may be the obedient Subject of his own Wife, as Philip was of Queen Mary. XV. Nor is it that Dominion which a Master has over his Slave, for then a Prince might lawfully sell all his Subjects, like so many Head of , and make Money of his whole Stock when ever he pleases, as a Patron of Algiers does. XVI. Neither is the Relation of Prince and Subject the same with that of a Master and hired Servant, for he does not hire them, but as St. Paul saith, They pay him Tribute, in consideration of his continual Attendance and Employment for the Public Good. XVII. That Public Office and Employment is the Foundation of the Relation of King and Subject, as many other Relations are likewise founded upon other Functions and Administrations. Such as Guardian, and Ward, etc. XVIII. The Office of a King is set down at large in the 17th Chapter of the Laws of King Edward the Confessor, to which the succeeding Kings have been sworn at their Coronation: And it is affirmed in the Preambles of the Statutes of (a) Prout Regalis Officii exposcit utilitas. Malbridg, and of the Statute of Quo Warranto, made at (b) Sicome le profit de Office Demand. The Kingly or Regal Office of this Realm, Mar. Sess. 3. cap. 1. Gloucester, That the calling of Parliaments to make Laws for the better Estate of the Realm, and the more full Administration of Justice, belongeth to the Office of a King. But the fullest account of it in few words, is in Chancellor Fortescue, Chap. XIII. which Passage is quoted in Calvin's Case, Coke VII. Rep. Fol. 5. Ad Tutelam namque Legis Subditorum, ac eorum Corporum, & bonorum, Rex hujusmodi erectus est, & ad hanc potestatem à populo effluxam ipse habet, quo ei non licet potestate alia suo populo Dominari. For such a King (that is, of every Political Kingdom, as this is) is made and ordained for the Defence or Guardianship of the Laws of his Subjects, and of their Bodies and Goods, whereunto he receiveth Power of his People, so that he cannot govern his People by any other Power. Corolary, A Bargain's a Bargain. CHAP. II. Of Prerogatives by Divine Right. I. GOvernment is not matter of Revelation; if it were, than those Nations that wanted Scripture, must have been without Government; whereas Scripture itself says, that Government is the Ordinance of Man, and of Human Extraction. And King Charles the First says of this Government in particular, That it was moulded by the Wisdom and Experience of the People. Answ. to XIX. Prop. II. All just Governments are highly beneficial to Mankind, and are of God, the Author of all Good; they are his his Ordinances and Institutions. Rom. 13.1, 2. III. Ploughing and sowing, and the whole business of preparing Bread Corn, is absoluely necessary to the Subsistence of Mankind; This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in Counsel, and excellent in Working. Isa. 28. from 23d to 29th Verse. iv Wisdom saith, Counsel is mine, and sound Wisdom; I am Understanding, I have Strength; by me Kings reign, and Princes decree Justice: By me princes rule, and Nobles, even all the Judges of the Earth. Prov. 13.14. V The Prophet, speaking of the Ploughman, faith, His God doth instruct him to Discretion, and doth teach him. Isa. 28.26. VI Scripture neither gives nor takes away men's Civil Rights, but jeaves them as it found them, and (as our Saviour said of himself) is no Divider of Inheritances. VII. Civil Authority is a Civil Right. VIII. The Law of England gives the King his Title to the Crown. For, where is it said in Scripture, that such a Person or Family by Name shall enjoy it? And the same Law of England which has made him King, has made him King according to the English Laws, and not otherwise. IX. The King of England has no more Right to set up a French Government, than the French King has to be King of England, which none at all. X. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, neither makes a Caesar, nor tells who Caesar is, nor what belongs to him; but only requires Men to be just, in giving him those supposed Rights, which the Laws have determined to be his. XI. The Scripture supposes Property, when it forbids Stealing; it supposes Men Lands to be already butted and bounded, when it forbids removing the Ancient Landmarks: And as it is impossible for any Man to prove what Estate he has by Scripture, or to find a Terrier of his Lands there; so it is a vain thing to look for Statutes of Prerogative in Scripture. XII. If Mishpat Hamelech, the manner of the King, 1 Sam 8.11. be a Statute of Prerogative, and prove all those Particulars to be the Right of the King, then Mishpat Haccohanim, the Priest's custom of Sacrilegious Rapine, Chap. 2.13. proves that to be the Right of the Priests, the same word being used in both places. XIII. It is the Resolution of all the Judges of England, that even the known and undoubted Prerogative of the Jewish Kings, do not belong to our Kings, and that it is an absurd and impudent thing to affirm they do. Coke 11. Rep. p. 63. Mich. 5. Jac. Note, Give us a King to judge us, 1 Sam. 8.5, 6, 20. upon Sunday the Tenth of November, in the same Term, the King, upon Complaint made to him by Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, concerning Prohibitions, was informed, That when Question was made of what matters the Ecclesiastical Judges have Cognizance, either upon the Exposition of the Statutes concerning Tithes, or any other thing Ecclesiastical, or upon the Statute 1 Eliz. concerning the High-Commission, or in any other case, in which there is not express Authority by Law, the King himself may decide it in his Royal Person; and that the Judges are but the Delegates of the King, and that the King may take what Causes he shall please to determine from the Determination of the Judges and may determine them himself. And the Arch bishop said, That this was clear in Divinity, That such Authority belongs to the King, by the Word of God in Scripture. To which it was answered by me, in the presence, and with the clear consent of all the Justices of England, and Barons of the Exchequer, That the King in his own Person cannot adjudge any Case, either Criminal, as Treason, Felony, etc. but this aught to be determined and adjudged in some Court of Justice, according to the Law and Custom of England. And always Judgements are given, Ideo consideratum est per Curiam; so that the Court gives the Judgement—. And it was greatly marvelled, that the Archbishop durst inform the King, that such Absolute Power and Authority, as is aforesaid, belonged to the King by the Word of God. CHAP. III. Of OBEDIENCE. I. NO Man has any more Civil Authority than what the Law of the Land has vested in him; nor is he one of St. Paul's Higher Powers any farther, or to any other purposes, than the Law has impowered him. II. An Usurped, Illegal, and Arbitrary Power, is so far from being the Ordinance of God, that it is not the Ordinance of Man. III. Whoever opposes an Usurped, Illegal, and Arbitrary Power, does not oppose the Ordinance of God, but the Violation of that Ordinance. iv The 13th of the Romans commands Subjection to our Temporal Governors, because their Office and Employment is for the Public Welfare; For he is the Minister of God to Thee for good. Verse 4. V The 13th of the Hebrews commands Obedience to Spiritual Rulers, because they watch for your Souls. Verse 17. VI But the 13th of the Hebrews did not oblige the Martyrs and Confessors in Queen Mary's Time, to obey such blessed Bishops as Bonner, and the Beast of Rome, who were the perfect Reverse of St. Paul's Spiritual Rulers, and whose Practice was murdering of Souls and Bodies, according to that true Character of Popery, which was given it by the Bishops who compiled the Thanksgiving for the Fifth of November; but Archbishop Land was wiser than they, and in his time blotted it out. The Prayer formerly ran thus: To that end strengthen the Hands of our Gracious King, the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land, to cut off these Workers of Iniquity (whose Religion is Rebellion, whose Faith is Faction, whose Practice is murdering of Souls and Bodies) and to root them out of the Confines of this Kingdom. VII. All the Judges of England are bound by their Oath, and by the Duty of their place, to disobey all Writs, Letters, or Commands, which are brought to them, 18 Edw. III. 20 Edw. III. Cap. 1, 2. either under the Little Seal, or under the Great Seal, to hinder or delay common Right. Are the Judges all bound in an Oath, and by their Places, to break the 13th of the Romans? VIII. The Engagement of the Lords attending upon the King at York, June 13. 1642. which was subscribed by the Lord Keeper, and thirty nine Peers, besides the Lord Chief Justice Banks, and several others of the Privy-Council, was in these words. We do engage ourselves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever, not warranted by the known Laws of the Land. Was this likewise an Association against the 13th of the Romans? IX. A Constable represents the King's Person, and in the Execution of his Office is within the purview of the 13th of the Romans, as all Men grant; but in case he so far pervert his Office, as to break the Peace, and commit Murder, Burglary, or Robbery on the Highway, he may and aught to be resisted. X. The Law of the Land is the best Expositor of the 13th of the Romans here; and in Poland, the Law of the Land there. XI. The 13th of the Romans is received for Scripture in Poland, and yet this is expressed in the Coronation-Oath in that Country: Quod si Sacramentum meum violavero, Incolae Regni nullam nobis Obedientiam praestare tenebuntur. And if I shall violate my Oath, the Inhabitants of the Realm shall not be bound to yield me any Obedience. XII. The Law of the Land, according to Bracton, is the highest of all the Higher Powers mentioned in this Text, for it is Superior to the King, and made him King, (Lib. iii. cap. xxvi. Rex habet Superiorem Deum, item Legem, per quam factus est Rex, item Curiam suam, viz. Comites & Barones) and therefore by this Text we ought to be subject to it in the first place. And according to Melancthon, It is the Ordinanee of God, to which the Higher Powers themselves ought to subject. Vol. iii. In his Commentary on the fifth Verse, (Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for Wrath, but also for Conscience sake.) He has these words. Neque vero hac tantum pertinent and Subditos, sed etiam ad Magistratum, qui cum fiunt Tyranni, non minus dissipant Ordinationem Dei, quam Seditiosi. Ideo & ipsorum Conscientia fit rea, quia non obediunt Ordinationi Dei; id est, Legibus, quibus debent parere. Ideo Comminationes hic positae etiam ad ipses pertinent. Itaque hujus mandati severit as moveat omnes, 〈◊〉 violalationem Politici status putent esse love; peccatum. Neither doth this place concern Subjects only, but also the Magistrates themselves; who when they turn Tyrants, do no less overthrow the Ordinance of God than the Seditious; and therefore their Consciences too are guilty, for not obeying the Ordinance of God, that is, the Laws, which they ought to obey. So that the Threaten in this place do also belong to them; wherefore, let the Severity of this Command deter all Men from thinking the Violation of the Political Constitution to be a light Sin. Corolary. To destroy the Law and- Legal Constitution, which is the Ordinance of God, by false and Arbitrary Expositions of this Text, is a greater Sin than to destroy it by any other means: For it is Seething the Kid in his Mothers Milk. CHAP. IU. Of LAWS. I. THere is no natural Obligation, whereby one Man is bound to yield Obedience to another, but what is founded in Paternal or Patriarchal Authority. II. All the Subjects of a Patriarchal Monarch are Princes of the Blood. III. All the People of England are not Princes of the Blood. IU. No Man who is naturally free can be bound, but by his own Act and Deed. V Public Laws are made by Public Consent, and they therefore bind every Man, because every Man's Consent is involved in them. VI Nothing but the same Authority and Consent which made the Laws, can repeal, altar, or explain them. VII. To judge and determine Causes against Law, without Law, or where the Law is obscure and uncertain, is to assume Legislative Power. VIII. Power assumed without a Man's Consent, cannot bind him as his own Act and Deed. IX. The Law of the Land is all of a piece, and the same Authority which made one Law made all the rest, and intended to have them all impartially executed. X. Law on one side, is the Backsword of Justice. XI. The best things when corrupted are the worst; and the wild Justice of a State of Nature, is much more desirable than Law perverted and overruled, into Hemlock and Oppression. This Discourse of Magistracy, etc. and the former Reasons, were written by the foresaid Mr. S. Johnson. The Definition of a TYRANT, by the Learned and Loyal Abraham Cowley, (published by the present Lord Bishop of Rochester) in his Discourse concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwell. I Call him a Tyrant, who either intrudes himself forcibly into the Government of his Fellow-Citizens, without any Legal Authority over them, or who, having a just Title to the Government of a People, abuses it to the destruction or tormenting of them: So that all Tyrants are at the same time Usurpers, either of the whole, or at least of a part of that Power which they assume to themselves; and no less are they to be accounted Rebels, since no Man can usurp Authority over others, but by rebelling against them who had it before, or at least against those Laws which were his Superiors. Several Queries proposed to the Sages of the Law, who have studied to Advance the Public, equally with, if not more than their own private Interest. Q. I WHether the Legislative Power be in the King only, as in his Politic Capacity, or in the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assembled? If in the latter, then, Q. TWO If the King grants a Charter, and thereby great Franchises and Privileges, and afterwards, the Grantees obtain an Act of Parliament for the Confirmation hereof, is this the Grant of the King, or of the Parliament? If the latter, as it seems to be, because it is done by the whole, and every part of the Legislative Power: then, Q. III To whom can these Grantees forfeit this Charter? And who shall take Advantage of the Forfeiture? If the King; then an Act of Parliament may be destroyed without an Act of Parliament? If the Parliament only can call them to an Account; then, Q. IV Of what Validity is a Judgement pronounced (under a colour of Law) in B. R. against a Charter granted by Parliament? If it be of any force, than the King's Bench is Superior to the Legislative Power of the Kingdom: If not, then, Q. V What Reason can be assigned, why it is not as safe to Act pursuant to an Act of Parliament, notwithstanding a Judgement entered in the King's Bench, as it was to Act against an Act of Parliament, before the Judgement was entered? And then, Q. VI Whether they that did the latter, were not downright Knaves? and whether they that refuse to do the former, be not more nice than wise? A LETTER TO THE KING, When DUKE of YORK, Persuading him to return to the Protestant Religion, wherein the chief Errors of the Papists are exposed, and the Tendency of their Doctrines to promote Arbitrary Government, proved. By an Old Cavalier, and Faithful Son of the Church of England, as Established by Law. Illustrious Sir! WHEN I look up to the Greatness of your Quality, and down on my own meanness, I cannot but tremble to make this Address, so liable to be censured as presumptuous, and obnoxious to variety of Misconstruction. But since my Pen is guided by an Heart filled with profound Loyalty, and Veneration towards all the Royal Family, and a sincere respect, and most passionate desires for the particular Prosperity (Temporal and Eternal) of your Royal Highness, I cannot refrain discharging what I apprehended my Duty; and therefore with good Esther, finding not only my Country, but your Highness also, in such apparent (I wish it may not prove inevitable) hazard of Ruin, am resolved to adventure forth, and cast my poor weak Sentiments at your feet; and, If they perish, they perish. 'tis generally reported, That you are long since turned Papist; and so far believed, That every day many hundred thousand Protestants are melted into Tears and Horror merely on that Consideration, and lament the same, as one of the greatest Calamities that has happened in our Age. I must do myself so much Justice as to declare, That I am none of those fanatical Spirits, that either raise, or lightly credit Rumours to the prejudice of my Superiors. But besides what has been sworn by Persons, whose Evidence none have hitherto been able to invalidate by any substantial Reasons, or Incoherence in their Depositions; your Highness' Conduct, and Deportment for many years past, your absenting from the public Worship of our Church, Refusing legal Oaths and Tests, your countenancing, retaining an intimate Correspondency with Roman Catholics; and many other Reasons not fit, at least unnecessary here to be mentioned, do all loudly speak it: And for those who would go about to deny it (as some wretched Pamphlet-scriblers, and unthinking Health-drinkers have done,) besides the folly of the attempt, they unwarily cast a greater load of Ignominy and Dishonour on your Highness, whilst they pretend to vindicate you. For is it imaginable, That a Prince of your Generosity and Prudence would so far suffer the Affairs of your Royal Brother to be embroiled, His Councils discomposed, all the Protestants in the World swallowed up with Astonishment, and almost despair, your own Honour sullied, your Interest impaired, and these Three Kingdoms put into a deplorable Distraction, merely upon a false supposition, without rectifying in all this time their mistake by some real Demonstrations to the contrary? If such a Capricio should sway with your Highness, what were it but to render you the worst Subject, the most unkind Brother, the most Impolitic Prince, and the maddest, or most monstrous Man in the World? I shall therefore take it for granted, and consequently must, tho' with all Humility, and a Sorrow inexpressible, direct my Discourse to your Highness as an Apostate from the Protestant Faith; and if I am mistaken, 'tis your Highness has led not only me, but almost all the World into that Error. I am not insensible of my own weakness, and how unfit I am to argue matters of Religion with your Highness, and those subtle Sophisters (the Pest of Europe, and shame of Christianity) which are always croaking about Persons of Quality, whom they have perverted to their Idolatries; being myself but a Lay-Gentleman, of little Learning, and in the course of my Life more conversant with the Sword, than the Pen: And I must wonder with Regret, if none of the Right Reverend Fathers, my Lords the Bishops, or some of our other Learned Divines have not vigorously made Applications to your Highness, even in a public Manner, to regain you to the Protestant Communion: If they have not charged you, as they are God's Ambassadors, to show some Reasons, why you have broke the League (your Baptismal vows) with his Church, and joined yourself to the Tents of his Enemies. If they have not adjured you in the Name of our Lord, to show on what offence taken amongst us, and for what Beauties observed in the Church of Rome, you quitted the true Spouse of Christ, to follow the Enchantments of a Strumpet, whose shameless Adulteries have long since caused an utter Divorce between Her and the Blessed Jesus: If they have not solemnly called Heaven and Earth to Record, that they are ready to satisfy all your scruples, to answer all your objections; and to show, That it is not through any default in them, for want of Endeavours, nor in our Church for want of Truth; but that your defection must be wilful, as well as unreasonable, whereby to render you either convicted, or inexcusable. Nor do I doubt, but several of those Glorious Lights of our Church, may accordingly have discharged without fear of flattery their Functions herein, in private discourses: But certainly a matter of that inestimable importance, as wherein not only the Soul of one of the Bravest Princes of the Earth, but also the whole Potestant Interest in the World, especially within these Three Nations, is so deeply and dangerously concerned, might require, since I am sure it deserves a Public and General Application: Nor ought any, though the meanest of Men, to be blamed for contributing modestly, his help to prevent a disaster of such universal influence: And therefore who knows but that Almighty Providence, who overthrew Jericho's proud Walls of old, not with Battering Engines of War, but with the blast of contemptible Rams-Horns, and is often pleased to make use of the weakest Instruments to effect mighty Works; may give a Blessing to these poor unpolished, inartificial Lines, which have nothing but the Power of Truth, and the Honesty of a sincere Intention to recommend them to your Princely Consideration? That you were educated in Protestant Principles, is notorious. I beseech your Highness therefore to satisfy the World what could induce you to a change. I shall not mention your Royal Grandfather, whose Learned Pen baffled all the Conclave, nor shall I insist on that Curse which he solemnly pronounced on any of his Posterity that should turn Papists: I shall only say, Had you not the Example, and the Commands too of a most Indulgent, Pious Prince, your Royal Father, for perseverance therein; who, though barbarously murdered by vile Men, yet continued steadfast, and even with his last breath discharged and cleared the Doctrine of the Reformed Religion from having any share in their Crimes? What Impiety is it, if you should dare to profess your Father's Blessed Soul to be eternally damned! and yet, if you are a Papist, you can do no less; for you cannot be such without believing, That there is no Salvation out of the Pale of the Church, and that there is no Church but that of Rome; and I am confident none can have the Impudence to suggest, that He died in the Communion of that Church: What follows then? or how will you answer this Horrid Scandal on his Sacred Memory, when you shall meet his glorified Spirit at the last dreadful Judgment-day? Nor can the keenest Jesuit blunt the edge of this Argument by a Retortion from the Consideration of your Highness' Illustrious Mother: For though Papists are so audacious, as to place the Keys of Heaven at the Pope's Girdle, and uncharitably doom us All to unquenchable flames, not affording us so much as a Room in Purgatory: yet Protestants are not so unchristian (but according to Scripture) leave secret things to God, and allow grains for Education, Prepossessions, Ignorance, etc. which is yet no more a Reason for any Man to turn Papist, than 'tis for him that stands safe on the shore to leap off into a Vessel so rotten and leaky as just ready to sink, upon a presumption that still some of those that are in her may escape the danger: Or to choose an impudent Quack, who boasts he only can cure him; and refuse a Learned Physician, who modestly grants he may peradventure be healed by the other, though very improbably; but withal, that 'tis a Million to one, but the Patient, under such hands, miscarries; and that in this case, eternally. But quitting this Argument, which is only Personal, I beseech your Highness to tell us, how you, or any Man of sense can so far forget, not only his Education and Interest, but his very Reason, as to embrace POPERY, frightful, detestable, ridiculous Popery, that Chaos of Superstition, Idolatry, Error and Imposture, that has no foundation but a Cheat; No Ends but to gratify Pride and Avarice; no solid Argument to promote and maintain it, but Impudence and Cruelty. Popery, That depends wholly upon nice and poor uncertainties, and unprovable supposals: As 1st. That Peter was Bishop of Rome. 2dly. That He left there one to be Heir of his Graces and Spirit, in a perpetual unfailable Succedion. 3dly. That He so bequeathed his Infallibility to his Chair, as that whosoever sits in it, cannot but speak Truth; so that all who sit where he sat, must by some secret Instinct, say as he taught; that what Christ said to him absolutely, without any respect to Rome, must be referred, yea tied to that place alone, and fulfilled in it. 4thly. That Linus, Clemens and Cletut the Scholars, and supposed Successors of Peter; must he preferred (in the Headship of the Church) to John the beloved Apostle, than still living. 5thly. That He whose Life is oft times monstrously debauched, his Judgement childishly ignorant, cannot yet, when in his Pontifical Chair, possibly err. 6thly. That the Golden Line of this Apostolical Succession, in the confusion of so many long desperate Schisms, shamefully corrupt Usurpations and Intrusions, and confessed Heresies, yet neither was nor can be broken. Popery, That teaches Men to worship Stocks and Stones, and painted Clouts, with the same Honour as is due to our Creator; and lest that practice should appear to her simple Clients too palpably opposite to God's Law, most sacrilegiously stifles one of the Ten Commandments in their vulgar Catechisms and Prayer Books. Popery, That utterly confounds the true Humanity of Christ, while they give unto it Ten thousand places at once, and yet no place; Flesh, and no Flesh; several Members without distinction; a substance without quantity, and other Accidents; or Substance and Accidents, that cannot be seen, felt or perceived; so that they make a Monster of their Saviour, or nothing. Popery, That utterly overthrows the Perfection of Christ's satisfaction; for if all be not paid, how hath he satisfied? If Temporal Punishments in Purgatory be yet due, how is all paid? And if these must be paid by us, how are they satisfied by him? Popery, That hath made more Scriptures than ever the Holy Spirit dictated, or the Ancient Church received; and those which it doth make, Imperiously obtrudes upon the World; and while it thunders out Curses against all that will not add these Books to God's, seems to defy the Curse pronounced by God himself to those that add unto his Word, Rev. 22.18. Popery, That erects a Throne in the Conscience to a mere Man, and many times rather a Monster than a Man; and gives him absolute Power to make a sin of that which is none; and to dispense with that which is; to create new Articles of Faith, and to impose them upon Necessity of Salvation; to make wicked Men Saints, and Saints Gods; for even by the Confession of Papists, lewd and undeserving Men have leaped into their Calendar; yet being once installed there, they have the Honour of Altars, Temples and Invocations; some of them in a stile fit only for their Maker. Popery, That robs the Heart of all sound Comfort, whilst it teachethus', That we neither can, nor aught to be assured of the Remission of our sins, and of present Grace, and future Salvation; that we can never know whether we have received the true Sacraments of God because we cannot know the Intention of the Minister, without which they are no Sacraments. Popery, That racks the Conscience with the needless torture of a necessary shrist, wherein the virtue of an Absolution depends on the sulness of Confession; and that upon Examination; and the sufficiency of Examination is so full of scruples (besides infinite Cases of unresolved doubts in this feigned penance) that the poor soul never knows when it is clear. Popery, That under pretence of Religion plays the Bawd to sin, whilst both in practice it tolerates open stews, and prefers Fornication in some cases before honourable Matrimony, and gently blanches over wilful Violations of God's Law with the favourable title of Venial Crimes. Popery, That makes Nature vainly proud, in joining her as Copartner with God in our Justification, Salvation, and idly puffing her up with a conceit of her Perfection and Ability to keep more Laws than God hath made, whence their Doctrines of Merit and Supererogation, etc. Popery, That requires no other Faith ●o Justification in Christians, than may be found in Devils themselves; who, besides a confused Apprehension, can assent to the Truth of God's revealed Will, and Popery requives no more. Popery, That instead of the pure Milk of the Gospel, hath long fed her starved Souls with such idle Legends, as the Reporter can hardly deliver without laughter, nor their Abettors be told of without shame and disclamation; so that the wiser sort of the World read these Stories on Winter Evenings for sport, which the poor credulous Multitude hear in their Churches with devout astonishment. Popery, That requires nothing but mere Formality in our Devotion; the work wrought suffices alone in Sacraments, and in Prayers; if the number be repeated by Rote, no matter for the Affection; as if God regarded not the Heart, but the Tongue and Hands; and while he understands us, cared little whether we understand ourselves. Popery, That hath been often died in the Blood of Princes, that in some cases teaches and allows Rebellion against God's Anointed; and both suborneth Treasons; and excuses, pities, honours and rewards the Actors. Popery, That overloads Men's Consciences with heavy burdens of infinite, unnecessary Traditions, far more than ever M●ses Commented upon by all the Jewish Rabbins; imposing them with no less Authority, and exacting them with more Rigour, than any of the Royal Laws of their Maker. Popery, That cousin's the vulgar with nothing but shadows of Holiness in Pilgrimages, Processions, Offerings, Holy-Water, Latin Services, Images, Tapers, rich Vestures, garish Altars, Crosses, Censings, and a thousand such like, fit for Children and Fools, robbing them in the mean time of the sound and plain Helps of true Piety and Salvation. Popery, That cares not by what wilful Falsehoods, Equivocations, Perjuries and Abominations it propagates itself, and maintains its credit: And therefore being conscious of her own Villainies, goes about to falsify and deprave Authors, that might give Evidence against her, to outface all ancient Truths, to foist in Gibionitish Witnesses of their own forging, and leaves nothing unattempted against Heaven and Earth that might advance her Faction, and disable her innocent and just Accusers. This, this is the true figure of Popery, through whatever false Optics your Highness may have viewed it: This is that for which you are resolved to hazard a Crown of Glory, and three temporal Diadems to boot; and to which you sacrifice both your own Fortunes, and the Tranquillity of many Millions of Souls. What then can the World, that knows the clear light of your Highness' Elevated Understanding, imagine can be the Cause of your Revolt? Will they not be apt to conceive, that you have not espoused this block Religion purely for its own sake, but for some promised Dowry of an Absolute Monarchy, or Arbitrary Power, which she might pretend to bring one day with her to your Embraces? But as this is far below the Justice and Generosity of your Highness, so 'tis unworthy the thoughts of any considerate Politician. For suppose any Prince, to whom the British Sceptre may hereafter devolve, intoxicated with the Tinsel Glories of the French Monarch's blustering Grandeur, should be so vain, as to hope to subjugate the English Liberties, and destroy the Constitution of the best Established Government on Earth, by assuming to himself the whole Legislative Power, raising Money, and draining his Subjects at Pleasure without their common Consent in Parliament, etc. and should be so extravagantly enamoured on this fatal Project (fatal I say, because for above Five hundred years it has shipwrecked all that coasted that way,) as to be content to shift his Religion, and exchange his Faith, and turn Papist, on a presumption, that the same might facilitate and accomplish his Enterprise: As King John, 'tis said, resolved once to embrace Mahumetism, rather than not to be revenged of his Barons, claiming their just Liberties. Suppose I say all this should be, and that the present Papists, to get their Religion publicly established, should comply with his Designs; yet still is it not most reasonable to believe. That having once gained their Point therein, they, or their Posterity, will soon recall to mind their Birth rights and Privileges due to them as Englishmen; and will they not then be perpetually tugging and struggling to regain them, whence continual disturbance will ensue, and a standing Army must be kept on foot to support this ill acquired Grandeur? For those Subjects that contended with King John and King Henry the Third, etc. tho' they were Papists, and of the same Religion with those Princes, could not brook it, to be Slaves to their Arbitrary Pleasures in their Civil Rights: Besides, what a waking dream is it for any King, that is free from the Roman Yoke, to think to make himself more Absolute by involving himself and his Kingdoms in Thraldom to the Church of Rome; wherein not only the Pope pretends a Right to domineer over him, but every Ecclesiastic esteems himself wholly exempt from his Jurisdiction, and all his People will be but half his Subjects, viz. in Temporals; for in Spirituals, and in ordine ad spiritualia (a monstrous draw net, that may include almost all the Actions of Humane Life,) they are wholly to be Conducted by his Holiness and his Subordinate Ministers. How therefore can your Highness, if a Roman Catholic, complain of the late successive Houses of Commons for pressing a Bill to exclude you? Is it any Disloyalty to endeavour to preserve the Imperial Crown of England from a truckling and shameful Servitude to a Foreign Usurper's Power? Or is it any such unheard of thing to debarr a Prince from a Throne, that hath obstinately disabled himself? Certainly, above all Men, the Roman Catholics ought not to murmur at this; for did not the Pope issue forth a Bull to exclude your Grandfather, King James, unless he would turn Papist? And did not the Romanists, though they acknowledged the Title of your other Grandfather, Henry the Great, to the French Diadem; yet refuse to pay him any Obedience, because a Protestant, and on that only score fought against him, as long as he continued so, and thought it no Rebellion? Your Highness perhaps will say— What though they did so, true Protestants, and the Church of England do not own such Principles? Well then, if the Protestant Principles be better than those of the Church of Rome, what Madness is it in your Highness to abandon the first, and choose the latter? I am a dutiful and hearty Lover of Monarchy, and when established on such an Equi-poised Basis of Wisdom as ours is, shall ever assert it to be the best Form of Government in the World, and most agreeable to the Genius of Englishmen: But that lineal descent is so sacred a thing, that the Heir presumptive can for no default or crime whatsoever be debarred from the Crown by an Act of Parliament, or public Decree of State, I do not understand; For I am sure the practice in all Ages, both at home and abroad in almost every Nation in the Earth, hath run contrary: And as to Right; those that pretend such Succession in all Cases to be Jure Divino, would do well to show in what Texts of Scripture the same is prescribed; till then, they do but talk, not argue; and if a Candidate to the Crown, for any Reasons whatsoever, may without offence to the Law of God or Nature, be Excluded by an Act of King, Lords and Commons; Then the June-divino-ship vanishes, and nothing is left to be considered: But whether such next Heir have done such Acts, or is so qualified, that in Prudence it be necessary for the Tranquillity of the Public to Exclude him. Now I believe there are but few of the Church of England, but if the Bill had passed the Lords, and his Majesty had given his Royal Assent to it, would have acquiesced therein, and consequently they do not believe the Exclusion to be simply unlawful by the Law of God or Nature, for against either of them no Humane Ordinances ought to prevail. But all true Loyalists do not despair, but your Highness may yet prevent all Occasions of such Disputes by opening your eyes; or rather that God (in whose hands are the Hearts of Princes) may irradiate your Royal Understanding, and let you see the horrid Blackness of those Men who have endeavoured to seduce you, and of those Principles to which they would have inveigled you, on purpose to have made your Highness a Property to their Ambition and Avarice, and that under the shadow of your Illustrious Name they might one day Tyrannize at Pleasure over these Three Kingdoms. If Heaven shall be pleased to work such an happy Inclination in your Highness, you shall presently see the whole British Empire echoing with Praises and Acclamations, and instead of murmurs of Seclusion, every good Subject shall erect you a Throne in his heart. But the grand difficulty will be to satisfy the prejudiced World of your sincerity herein; for if your Highness (which God forbidden) should declare yourself a Protestant only to serve a present turn, and use the Sacred Name of our Religion but as an Engine to advance the design of our bloody Enemies, you would act at once the most dishonourably and (in the end) most prejudicially to your own Interest, in the world, and must certainly expect the blasts of Heaven, and curses of Earth on all your future proceed 〈◊〉 for Hypocrisy is odious to God and Man, nor is there any Monster so abominable to serious Men of both sides, as a Church-Papist. Your Royal Highness, I hope, will excuse our fears, for we are not ignorant of the Arts and Craft of Rome, that she esteems no means unlawful to obtain her ends. How shall any Oaths be sufficient Tests, when a private dispensation may at once allow the taking, and warrant the breaking of them? Or what signifies the participation of our Sacraments to one that is taught, We have no true Ministers of Christ; if so, no consecration, consequently nothing but an ordinary Breakfast of common Broad and Wine, and who shall lose the hopes of three Crowns rather than not taste such harmless viands? Not that I dare imagine your Highness' Understanding would suffer you to believe the lawfulness, or your Princely Generosity permit you to practise these lewd dissimulations; yet since such Doctrines are daily taught in the Roman Church, how shall Protestants be assured they have no. Influence on your Conduct? I must therefore with all humble freedom assure your Highness, that after so general an Opinion of your Highnesses having been a Roman Catholic, though you should go never so duly to Church, receive the Sacrament a thousand times, and take Oaths all the way from Holy-rood House to St. James', yet the People would scarce believe the reality of your Conversion, unless withal they see it accompanied with some other Demonstrations. For as Faith without works is dead, so Profession of a Religion, without agreeable endeavours to advance it will be vain. If his Royal Highness, will the People say, be a good Protestant, he will undoubtedly discourage all Papists, the sworn inveterate Enemies of our Religion, he will not suffer a Popish Priest to approach his Person or Palace. If he have had any intimation of any ill designs, if any have been tampering to reconcile him to Popery (which is no less than Treason) he will presently detect those mischievous Instruments, that they may be brought to condign Punishment, and applaud the Justice that has been done on Coleman, the five Jesuits, Godfrey's Murderers, etc. thereby stopping the Mouths of that brazen Tribe who would make the World believe they died innocently. He will declare against all Arbitrary Designs, detest those who by sneaking flatteries would unhinge the ancient and most wise Constitution of our Government. He will hearty recommend Parliaments to his Sacred Brother as the wisest and safest Councils, and even thank the late Houses of Commons for their zeal against him, whilst they apprehended him as an Enemy to his King, and the Religion and safety of the Kingdom. He will vigorously by his Counsels and Interests oppose the growing greatness of the French, which at this day threatens all Europe with Chains, and immediately tends not only to the decay of Great Britain's. Trade and Glory, but also to the diminution, oppression, and (if it lay in humane Power) utter subversion of the Reformed Religion throughout the World. These and the like Noble Fruits, will the People not unreasonably expect from your R. H. when ever you shall please to declare yourself a Protestant; which that you may speedily do, not Politicly or Superficially, but with that sincerity, as so serious a matter (of infinite more value than the Three Crowns you are Presumptive Heir to) is the Prayer of all good Men, and particularly of Your Royal Highness' Most Humble and Faithful Servant, Philanax Verax. LONDON, Printed, and are to be sold by Richard Janeway, 1688.