TYRANNY DETECTED AND THE Late Revolution Justified, BY THE LAW of GOD, the LAW of NATURE, AND THE PRACTICE of All NATIONS.  
BEING A History of the Late King James' Reign, and a Discovery of His Arts, and Actions, for Introducing Popery and Arbitrary Power, and the Intended Subversion of the Protestant Interest in the Three Kingdoms: AND How that Design affected all EUROPE.  
WHEREIN All the Arguments against the REVOLUTION are fairly Propounded, and Candidly Answered; the Pretended Reasons against the Present SETTLEMENT Recited, and Modestly Refuted; and Obedience to King WILLIAM, and his Government, Legally and Religiously Asserted.  
By RIC. KINGSTON.  
LONDON, Printed for John Nutt, near Stationer's Hall, MDCXCIX.   

To the Right Honourable WILLIAM Earl of Portland, Viscount Woodstock in the County of Oxon, Baron of Cirencester in the County of Gloucester, Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter, One of the Lieutenant-Generals of His Majesty's Forces, Groom of the Stole, First Gentleman of the King's Bedchamber, One of the Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council, etc.  
May it please your Lordship,  
MY vast Obligations to your Lordship's Goodness exceeding all possibility of Retaliation, and a private Acknowledgement being too faint a Testimony of the Gratitude of my Mind, I have presumed on this Method to make my Thankfulness extend beyond the Limits of my Life, and acquaint the World that His Majesty's Bounty, and your Lordship's Favours, have not been thrown away upon an Ungrateful Person, but bestowed upon a Dutiful Subject, who hath hitherto, and as long as God affords him Life, will express his Duty to your Lordship, in the Sincerity of his Service to His Majesty's Government; and that I know will be more acceptable to your Lordship, than tedious Harangues, or elegant Expressions; where the greatest I can make, is the least that I acknowledge to be due to your Lordship from me.  
The following Discourse, my Lord, shows the Lawfulness of our late happy Revolution, and might justly command my Obliging the World with an Account of your Lordship's extraordinary Merits, in that, and all other Occasions, for England's Safety; But when I consider your Lordship is better pleased in deserving, than hearing an excellent Character, and that your Lordship being one of those Pillars that under His Sacred Majesty support the Weight of Public Transactions, I cannot hope the Great Affairs of your Eminent Station should afford you Time to Read a longer Dedication, and therefore dare not give my self the Liberty of writing so much as a short Elegy upon a Subject that is able to justify the largest Panegyric. Now,  
That your Lordship may enjoy a long and happy Life, exalted in your Prince's Favour, and prosperous in all your Negotiations, to the Encouragement of true Piety, Loyalty, and Virtue, shall be the Incessant Prayers of,  
My Lord, Your Lordship's Most Humble, and Entirely Devoted Servant, RIC. KINGSTON,   

The PREFACE.  
Reader,  
THis small Treatise that now salutes your Hands, and is submitted to your Censure, is the Tenth I have Writ and Published on the Government's Behalf since the happy Revolution; and for some Reasons being forced to conceal my Name, some of the Scribbling Tribe have been pleased to call themselves the Authors of them, and have stolen Rewards from Public Hands for what were only my Productions; therefore seeing most of those Books are Sold off, and as soon as a Work of another Nature is Completed, that has been long under hand, I shall Collect them all into one entire Volume, Publish it with my Name to it, and leave the Usurpers to prove their Titles to what they have so unjustly claimed. In relation to the Subsequent Discourse, I must acknowledge the Path has been already trod by others; but whether in Brevity and Perspicuity they have made the Way so plain to every Understanding, yourself, not I, must now determine. However, since large Volumes neither correspond with the Purses nor Leisure of the Generality of English Readers, and that our Enemies talk this Subject as lewdly now, as at the Beginning of the Revolution, I have accommodated our Friends with an Antidote against that Infection, at a Price, and in a Volume, that will neither burden the Reader's Memory, waste his Time, nor disoblige his Pocket; and yet furnish him with Reasons to answer all Objections in favour of James the Second, or those advanced against our Legal Establishment.  
Vale.   

Tyranny Detected; AND THE Late REVOLUTION JUSTIFIED, etc.  
WHoever has an Inclination to satisfy himself, or others, that the Attempt of the late King, in Subverting the Protestant Religion, and Introducing and Establishing Popery in these Kingdoms, was no Design of a late Invention, nor only owing to the Caprichio of his own Bigotry in the Romish Persuasion; to go no further backward, must take his Aera from the Restoration of Charles the Second, who was Embarked in the same Enterprise tho' (for fear of Travelling again, as he was pleased to phrase it) he was unwilling to divulge it, till he was leaving the World, and thought it Inconsistent with his future Estate, any longer to conceal the Secret.  
To the Banishment of the Royal Family, and their sitting lose in the Principles of that truly Catholic Religion, in which they were Educated, must be ascribed this fatal Change: Their Exile, and other Inconveniencies, laid 'em open to many Temptations: The Allurements and Promises of those Popish Princes, on whom they must necessarily have some kind of Dependence, smoothed the Way; and the Caresses, and Incessant Importunities of their Mother, assisted by the Crafts and Treachery of Priests and Jesuits, (who know how to improve every Advantage,) at length prevailed upon the Unsteady Royal Brothers, to Abjure the Protestant, and Espouse the Popish Religion. Their Example Influenced many that had either Dependence on them, or Expectation from them, to Write after 
* Quicquid Principes faciunt praecipere videntur. Quint. ●la. 4.  their Copy; and so the King, and Duke, were early furnished with a Sett of Men, Ready Prepared to execute what was subservient to the Great Design of Subjecting England's Obedience to the Triple Crown.  
Nor can any Rational Man (at this time of day) doubt, but that Charles the Second Lived and Died a Papist, who hath either heard what he both Said and Did when under the Prospect of approaching Death, and past hope of Acting a Part any longer; or who have Read the two Papers left in his Strong Box, published to the World, and Attested by the late King James to be Genuine. No less have we Reason to doubt, but Setting up Popery and Arbitrary Power was his Darling-Project, since the whole Course of his Reign was but one Entire Confirmation of those Destructive Machinations: And tho' with the Highest Asseverations, and Dreadful Imprecations, he often denied both; making us believe what he was not, by Inveighing against what he really was; yet the Actions of Princes, that speak louder, and convince more effectually than feigned Declarations, or Proclamations; Evidently showed he did but bubble, and delude the Nation, till, Insensibly to us, and with Security to himself, he might appear in his own Likeness, and do here, what in France he had promised.  
His Engaging in an Expensive and Bloody War against the States of Holland, could have no other Design, but to weaken the Protestant Interest, both in that Commonwealth, and in his own Kingdom. Provocations they had given him none; nor could he assign any Reason of State on his own part, unless he fetched it from the Romish Alcoran, that says, we must have no Peace with Heretics, and allows all Acts of Injury and Violence to Protestants.  
His stifling the Popish Plot, and delivering the Papists, as much as in him lay, from the Danger into which it had cast them; His being the Author, or, at least, the Great Encourager of Sham-Plots, charged upon Protestants; His continued Confederacies with the Known Enemy, to the Disobliging of his own People; His Betraying of Europe by false and flattering Promises, when he might have prescribed what Terms of the Peace he pleased, during the whole Course of his Mediation at Nimeguen; or, in Conjunction with the Dutch, and other Allies, have continued the War against France, to the greatest Advantage that ever was put into the Hands of the Confederates; is a manifest Proof, how he stood affected: And tho' he made great Shows as if he had been in earnest, all was but Deceit and Colour; for at length, contrary to all the Rules of Policy, and without Ground or Pretext for such Proceed, a Peace was clapped up 
* Sir W. Temple's Memoirs  in the Duchess of Portsmouth's Chamber, by the Intervention and Pursuit of Monsieur Barillon; to the great Amazement, and general Prejudice of all Christendom.  
His then Majesty's neglecting to Assist the French Protestants, under great Persecutions for their Religion, was more than a Tacit Consent to their Utter Extirpation. His Intailing the Duke of York upon the Nation, contrary to the Desires and Endeavours of Three Parliaments; and that not out of Love to his Person, but Affection to Popery, which he knew that Prince was engaged by Solemn Oath to establish; are Sufficient Evidences of Charles the Second Religion, and his being engaged in the Design of Subverting ours; which, I think, no Man will question, that was not concerned with him in it.  
'Twas by a strange Providence, as well as great Oversight in the Conduct of the late King, that we arrived at this Discovery; for so many good Men that believed the Tremendous Oaths his Majesty, Charles the Second had swallowed, and thought it impossible he should prevaricate in so solemn a Matter, were so fixed in their Opinions of King Charles' being a Protestant, and so Outrageous against them that durst but whisper the contrary, that had it not been for his Receiving Absolution, and Extreme Unction, from a Popish Priest, a little before his Death; and for what he left in Writing, under his own Hand; he would still have passed for a True Protestant; and the Nation, in favour of that Monarch; would have still been kept under their former Delusions. And,  
Tho', at the same time, it gives us but an Indifferent Character of this Prince, who, for the Lucre of a Crown, thus notoriously dissembled with God and Man; and that in all his Declarations and Speeches to the Parliament, and in Complying in the Offices, and in Communicating in the Holy Sacrament of the Church of England, he wore the Vizor of a Protestant, when he was a Member of the Church of Rome, and was by Oath, when he changed his Religion at St. Germains, in France, obliged to set up Popery! Yet it gives us an Everlasting Abhorrence of Romish Principles, which, for the Sordid Interest of that Idolatrous Church, did not only Dispense with, but Indulge such Crimes, as the worst of Heathens, and Pagans, would blush at the Thoughts of. And here, tho' the Series of the Narration will hardly allow it, I will draw a Veil before the Picture of this Unhappy Prince; and without Exposing his Intricate, and Bifarious Actions to a more Open View, and Censure, content myself by telling the Reader, he Lived in a Cloud, he Died in a Storm: But by what means he came to his End, God knows; tho' the Suddenness and Meanness of his Interment Raised many Suspicions.  
Neque Sepulchrum, quo recipiat habet portum corporis:  
Ubi remissa humana vita, corporis requiescat a malis.  
He had no Tomb, nor with a Port was blest;  
Where, after Death, his Corpse in Peace might rest.  
I am not unsensible that some Judicious Enquirers into these Affairs, will think I ought to have begun the Designs of Advancing Popery and Arbitrary Power with the Reign of the Family of the Stewarts in this Kingdom; But since I cannot with Justice think the first two Kings designed to bring in Popery; and having Occasion to take notice of every of their particular Efforts for the Introduction of Arbitrary Power, in their several Reigns, in the subsequent Discourse, I thought it excusable that I began no Earlier than the Restoration of Charles the Second, and therefore proceed to show what Methods were taken by him, to Erect those Idols, and subvert our Religion and Laws; and they were principally Four: First,  
1. By Abusing the Credulity of the Nation, with the fond Hopes of such Privileges and Immunities, as were never intended them. Of this kind was his Declaration from Breda; which promised Indulgence and Liberty of Conscience to all Protestants, that would live peaceably under the Civil Government; But if we had looked before us, and not suffered our Prejudices against the many late Mock-Governments, the Tyranny of our Fellow-Subjects, and the Transports of being delivered from them, in the Accession of the Rightful King to his Throne, to have blinded our Eyes, we might easily have perceived, that it was never in his Thoughts to perform it: For, the Previous Obligations he was under, to the Church of Rome, had a Virtue to Supersede, and Annul, his Engagements to English Heretics. So that all he Intended by that Declaration, was, to Tie up the Hands; and Lull those into a Tameness of Admitting his Return into his Dominions, whom a Jealousy of being afterwards persecuted for their Consciences, might have awakened, to withstand and dispute it, till they had better Security. And so it came to pass; for he was no sooner seated in the Throne of his Ancestors, and saw himself secure, but he discharged himself from every thing that the Royal Word, and Faith of a Prince, had obliged him to perform. Secondly,  
2. By Sowing Discord, Dividing Protestants, Alienating their Affections, and Embittering their Minds one against another; that being so Divided, and Enraged, they might contribute to each other's Destruction; or, by weakening their Interest, become an easy Prey to the Fury of Papists. And truly, nothing but an Early Prospect of this Method could have Emboldened King Charles to enterprise upon our English Liberties, and the Reformed Religion: For, tho' there have been always Differences among them, concerning Ecclesiastical Government, and Discipline, and about Forms and Modes of Divine Worship; yet they always accorded in Essentials of Religion, and in the Preservation of their Natural and Legal Rights and Privileges, as well as in a Common Detestation of Popery and Tyranny, and the Sinister Arts of promoting them; But when these Fiery Bombs of a Popish Court, were by various Hands, thrown among Protestants, all went to wrack by our fatal Divisions; and such an Unlimited Power was thrust into the Hands of Caesar, over our Lives, Religion, Laws, Estates, and Liberties, that if his Amorous Intrigues, and Careless Temper, had not diverted him, he had certainly arrived at that Pitch of Absoluteness in Church and State, that he aspired after; and had laid all his Subjects at the Discretion and Will of the Monarch.  
3. The next Expedient that King Charles employed, to accomplish his Design, was, Encouraging and Cherishing Papists upon every Occasion, when it might be done without an open Reflection on himself, or Government; and yet, sometimes he broke through those Maxims also; tho' one would have thought their Intolerable Insolences, on every Gleam of Royal Favour, might have justly checked his Clemency. Instances of his particular Respects for that People might be easily given; but because it will be particularly discoursed in his Successor's Reign, I shall give but Two here, and those were, His Conniving at their Increase, and Executing the Laws with greatest Rigour against Protestant-Dissenters; giving private Instructions to his Judges, to stifle the Execution of the Laws against Popish Recusants, tho' directly levelled against them, and but by a forced Construction, inflicted upon Protestants.  
4. But the last, and most Effectual Stratagem, for the Service of this King's Arbitrary Ends, was, Tying all his Ecclesiastical Promotions to the Preaching up Passive Obedience, and Nonresistance: And in this he succeeded so unluckily, that those who refused to comply with this Upstart Doctrine, were scarce reckoned among the Number of Christians; whilst a little Court-Zealot, that had nothing else to recommend him, but a Blind Obedience to the Orders of Whitehall, in Preaching up this Slavish Doctrine, was Dignifyed with the Title of a True Son of the Church, and Loaded with Preferments.  
Into what a doleful Condition was this Nation reduced, when Religion was forced to truckle to New-invented Politics, and our Laws were Bribed into a Conspiracy against themselves? Now both Pulpit and Press were Surfeited with such Discourses as these, viz. That Monarchy was a Government by Divine Right; That it was in the Prince's Power to Rule as he pleases; That it was a Grace and Condescension in the King to Govern by Laws; That for Parliaments to Direct or Regulate the Succession, bordered upon Treason, and was an Offence against the Law of Nature; and, That the only Benefit left to Subjects, in case the King will Tyrannize over their Consciences, Persons, and Estates, is, tamely to suffer, and, as they Absurdly expressed it, to Exercise Passive Obedience.  
Thus were Minds, and Consciences, of the Subjects corrupted with such Pestilent and Slavish Notions, that at length the whole Nation was betrayed into such a Stupidity, and Insensibility of their Religion, and Legal Rights, that our Limited Monarchy was almost turned into an Absolute Tyranny, and our Ancient Privileges dwindled into nothing.  
Under pretence of Preserving the Church, too many of the Clergy gave themselves over to an Implicit Serving of the Court; and became, not only Advocates, but Instruments, for the Robbing Corporations of their Charters; Imposing Sheriffs upon the City of London, who were not Legally Elected; and of Fining and punishing Men Arbitrarily, for no Crime, save their having, by Modest and Lawful Ways, Asserted their Own, and the Nations Rights.  
Under pretence of Jealousy of the fanatics, they became Tools under this King, for Justifying the Dissolution of so many Parliaments, the Invasion made upon their Privileges, the Ridiculing and Stifling Popish Plots, the Shamming of Forged Conspiracies upon Protestants; the Condemning of several Men to Death, for High Treason, who could be Rendered Guilty by the Transgression of no Known Law; and finally, for Advancing the Duke of York into the Throne, who was engaged in a Conjuration against Religion, and the Civil-Government; and whom Three several Parliaments, for those Reasons, would have Excluded from the Succession. But,  
When I say, these Enormities were committed by the Clergy, I desire not to be understood, as if I intended to comprehend all that Sacred Order under the Gild of such Rash and Inconsiderate Designs; for there were many Good Men among them, who were so far from Sacrificing our Religion, and Laws, to Popery and Arbitrary Power, that they publicly declared their Dislikes, and Abhorrence of such Extravagant Proceeding, tho' they wanted Power to stem the Torrent that was overflowing both Church, and State; and as soon as Providence ministered an Occasion, were the first that put to their Hands to stop the Violence of the Stream, and Confine the Power of the Late King, within the Bounds of Law and Justice. But to return from, this Digression;  
This Passive Obedience Doctrine was broached by some Modern Divines, about the middle of the Reign of King James the First; who, in Opposition to Buchanan, Knox, and other Scotch Ministers, (that gave too great Encouragement to Sedition, and Rebellion,) and to Curry Favour with that Monarch, run into contrary Extremes, under the Names of Duty, and Loyalty: So hard and difficult it is, to observe the Golden Mean.  
Dr. Harsnet, Bishop of Chichester, was the first I meet with in that Reign, that gave himself the Liberty, from these Words, Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, to discover New Notions in Politics, as well as Divinity; and to Assert publicly, That the King had an Absolute Right to all that Subjects were possessed of. And for this Service, in Betraying his Country, he was Translated from the Diocese of Chichester, to Norwich; and thence, to the Archbishopric of York.  
In the Beginning of the Reign of King Charles the First, these Preachments run something higher; and Dr. Manwaring holding forth before that King, at Whitehall, Invested him with an Uncontrollable Authority; gave him Power to Raise Taxes, or Subsidies, without Consent of Parliament; and in the Conclusion, resigned all the King's Subjects to the Devil, that refused to obey it: For which he was presented to a Fat Living in Essex, and afterwards promoted to the Bishopric of St david's; which, under what sad Constellation, or Fate, I know not, has often been Pestered with Men of the same Principles!  
The Promotion of these Temporizers encouraged Dr. Sybthorp, a Confident and Kinsman to Dr. Lamb, to attempt the Mending his Circumstances by Tracing their Steps: And in an Assize-Sermon at Northampton, on Rom. 13.7. he laid our All at the King's Feet; and left poor Subjects nothing but Tears for their Loss, and Prayers to be supplied in their Wants. Thus, bating Preferments, Sybthorp soon obtained his Ends; and his Vicarage of Brackly was mended, by the Addition of the Rich Parsonage of Burton on the Wold, in the same County.  
Nor did the Reward of this Service extend only to Sybthorp, but slew a Cathedral Height; for Dr. Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, refusing to Licence this Sermon to be Printed, was soon after Suspended from his Bishopric, and Dr. Laud, that did Licence it, being then Bishop of St. David's, was Translated to London, and afterwards to the Metropolitan See of Canterbury. Nay, so strong run the Tide of Preferment then in this Corrupted Channel, that few Divines, or Common or Civil Lawyers, were preferred to any considerable Place, either in Church, or State, that did not in the Pulpit, and on the Bench, vigorously maintain these Novel and Destructive Opinions, to the Scandal of their Functions, and intended Ruin of the Kingdom.  
To this Doctrine must be ascribed the Mischiefs of all former and later Reigns; under the Protection of which, any King may play the Tyrant without Control, tho' it often proves Fatal to him that lays the Train: And so it happened to Charles the Second; for no sooner had his Unlimited Power been so Strenuously Asserted, that he was come to give the finishing Struck, but his Death seemed Necessary, and Seasonable, to make way for the Duke of York, to open the Execution of the Grand Design, in a barefaced Subversion of the Religion and Laws of England.  
At the Beginning of the Restoration, so great an Opinion was conceived of His Highness the Duke of York, that his partial Admirers would suffer no Man to Insinuate his being Reconciled to the Church of Rome; but set him up under all the Noble Qualities that might render him Acceptable to a Credulous People; not only as Merciful in his Temper, Just in his Deal, and endued with all Gracious Inclination to our Laws, and the Rights of the Subject, but for one Orthodox in his Religion too, and who would prove a Zealous Defender of the Doctrine, Worship, and Discipline of the Church, as Established by Law.  
In this Persuasion they continued some Years; and tho' he had at length withdrawn himself from all Acts of Fellowship with the Church of England; Refused the Test, enjoined by Law, for distinguishing Papists from Protestants; had Resigned his Office of Lord High Admiral; stood Excluded from the House of Lords; and that so many Parliaments had eadeavoured to Exclude him from Succession to the Crown, because he had Revolted to the See of Rome, and thereby became Dangerous to the Established Religion; yet all this would make no Impression upon a Wilfully Deluded, and Obstinate Sort of Protestants; but in Defiance of all Means of Conviction, they would persuade themselves, that he was still a Zealot for our Religion, and a great Patriot of the Church of England: Nor could any thing undeceive them, till upon his Brother's Death, he openly declared himself to be a Papist; and afterwards, in the Fumes and Raptures of his Victory over the late Duke of Monmouth, had discovered, and proclaimed, his Intentions to overthrow both our Religion, and Laws. Yea, so closely had some sealed up their Eyes against all Beams of Light, and hardened themselves against all Evidences from Reason, and Fact, that had Success attended the Duke of Monmouth's Arms, the late King had gone off the Stage with the Reputation among them, of a Prince tender of the Laws of the Kingdom; and who, notwithstanding his being a Papist, would have preserved the Reformed Religion, and maintained the Church of England in all her Rights and Grandures: And tho' his whole Life had been but one continued Conspiracy against our Civil Liberties and Privileges, he had left the Throne with the Character, and under the Esteem, of a Prince that, in the whole Course of his Government, would have regulated himself by the Rules of the Constitution, and the Statutes of the Realm.  
Aditum nocendi perfido praestat fides. 
Sen. in Oed. Act. 3. Scen. 1.   
So Simple Truth does her fair Breast Disarm,  
And gives Base Treachery a Power to Harm.  
King Charles being now Dead, the late Duke's Expectations Answered, and his Ambition gratified with a Crown; at his first coming to it, he endeavoured to Confirm some, and Gain other of his Subjects into a good Opinion of him, and their own Happiness under his Government: And therefore, in his first Speech to the Parliament, declared so much Tenderness for them, and such a Dear Respect for the Preservation of their Liberties, that the Cajoled Parliament, from an Excess of Satisfaction, showed as much Affection for him, as ever Parliament did to a Prince of their own Religion; and gave Money till he himself put a stop to the profuse and excessive Expressions of their Satisfaction.  
It must be granted, that the Lives of some Professors are not so bad as the Consequences of their Erroneous Opinions; and it was charitably thought by the Parliament, that the late King James, tho' a Papist, would not Govern so Arbitrarily as the Encouraged Doctrines of the Age gave him Leave to do; But when they saw their Error, and perceived that Popery and Arbitrary Power were never to be parted; that the Monks and Friars Entered to Act in their proper Habits; that Seminaries were set up in several Places, and Houses filled with these Religious Furies; that the Laws being, in the late Reign, betrayed into his Hands, he unmercifully Stabbed and Dispatched them; and that his Antecedent Oaths and Promises were all come to nothing; how it filled them with Resentments, for his having thus Abused their Credulity, Deceived their Expectations, and Reproached their Glorying, and Boastings of him? But, alas! it was then too late to seek a Remedy for those Evils, that an Easy Belief, and a Fond Compliance with Empty Popish Promises, had brought upon us: Now we Feel, what we would not See, and Prevent, at a Distance.  
— Quid nobis certius ipsis 
Lucret.   
Sensimus esse potest, quo vera, ac falsa notemus?  
And what thing can there be more sure than Sense,  
By which we Truth discern from false Pretence.  
We smarted under our own Rod, and had plenty of miserable Occasions for the Religious Exercise of that fatal Duty, Passive Obedience! Our Satisfactions in our New King were vanished; and the Hopes of living happy Subjects under him, were sunk into Apprehensions of Approaching Slavery: A general Consternation fell upon the whole Body of the People; and the very Tools that assisted the late King in subverting their own Religion, and the Civil Rights of their Brethren, were afraid, in so Universal a Calamity, that themselves should also feel the sad Effects of that Thunder, with which they had Armed their Tyrant.  
In how happy a Condition was James the Second, before he violalated his Oaths, and Promises; and so might have continued, if he could have prescribed any Limits to his Desires of Reigning more Absolutely than the Laws of the Constitution would allow him? He had all things at pleasure, to make him Great among his own Subjects, and Formidable to his Enemies. The Parliament gave him more Money, for the Time, than to any of his Predecessors: The Nobility raised him Forces, to subdue a Popular Invader: Addressors offered him their Lives and Fortunes, and vied with each other in the Demonstrations of their Loyalty!  
What related to the private Satisfaction of the late King's Humour, was cheerfully complied with: But when it was apparent that the whole Kingdom was designed a Sacrifice to his Lawless Ambition, and Frentick Zeal! his Subjects began to search into the Measures of their Submission, and to inquire how far they were obliged to obey an Arbitrary Prince; and from thence, began to take new Measures; insomuch that the late King no sooner altered from what he seemed to be in his first Speech, but the People changed from what they were; and took up Resolutions to Embrace the First Opportunity, and Means of Deliverance.  
But because Precipitation, and Immaturity in Action, Ruin the best laid Erterprises in the World, they resolved to Suffer till Patience should Ripen the Design, and render the Execution of it Easie, and Effectual. To this purpose, the Great and Wise Men of the Kingdom having abandoned the Court, as an Infectious Palace, and retired into the Country, they debated on this Subject; and all agreeing in an Acknowledgement of their own Weakness, in so manifestly exposing themselves, and their Country, to the Capricious Humours of a Tyrannical Prince; tho' they hearty wished him all Happiness; yet they thought their Duty was stretched too far, when by a blind Submission to his Irregular Commands, they were obliged to forego the Natural Principles of Self-Preservation; and that by seeking officiously to add to their Loyalty, they must Detract from their Judgements, Consciences, and Honesty; and therefore apylyed themselves to find out a Remedy that might either Recover, or Disarm him, and yet deprive him of nothing but the Liberty of doing Wrong. And,  
Who can blame those Wise and Prudent Patriots, for laying hold on the first Advantage for their own, and the Nation's Preservation, when all Hopes of the late King's Reformation were so utterly Extinguished, that every Moment produced new Projects of our Ruin? He now Gloried in being thought a Zealous Papist! and gave up himself Entirely to the Conduct of Infamous Jesuits! They were the Governors and Directors of his Conscience! they Influenced all his Counsels! And he seemed to have no other Sentiments, either in Religion, or Politics, but what was breathed into him by that wretched Society.  
He parted with a Flower of his Crown, in Abolishing the Act of Supremacy; and divested himself of all Power in Spiritual Affairs, to gratify the Pope's Ambition; and from being Supreme in his own Dominions, was reduced to be an Under-Officer to the See of Rome; having left himself no Power, but to Execute such Orders in Extirpating Heretics, as that Church thought fit to impose upon him.  
See into what a Subjection and Vassalage he had brought himself! He that would observe no Laws at home, laid himself under the Penalty of those at Rome; who would allow him no Room for Mercy to his Subjects, without bringing a severe Judgement upon himself. For 
* Tho. Acqu. Sescind. par. Sur●mae ●●aest. 50. Art. 3.  if he neglected to destroy Heretics, after he was admonished by that Church to do it, he forfeited his Crown to the Pope, his Subjects were discharged of their Allegiance, himself Deposed, and his Kingdom must be given to another. Severe Sentences for not being a Murderer: But there is a Worse behind; his Eternal Damnation must follow his Temporary Losses, and Deprivation, in case of Disobedience.  
Under these Circumstances, what Hopes had England of any Good from James the Second? For, after all this, to pretend he would support our Religion, and Civil Constitutions, (which are as opposite to Popery, as Light to Darkness,) is mere Nonsense, or think he would run any of these Hazards, or blot his Name in the Roman Calendar, to preserve a Poisoned Nation, a Generation of Obstinate Heretics, Enemies and Traitors to God and Man, (for with these Epithets Bellarmin adorns our Characters,) is to persuade the World that our Reason's grow downward, and that by imbibing this contradiction, we were preparing to swallow Transubstantion also.  
Suetonius in the Life of Tiberius says that Emperor could never have made such Inroads upon the ancient Privileges of the Roman Empire, if he had not been assisted in it by Time servers and flatterers, nor could James the second so easily have fallen into the Desire and Exercises of a Dispotic power, if his own Inclinations had not been assisted by the concurrence of Ill men, and the prevailing opinions of the age, that made way for it; among which this was one, viz. that Monarchy and Hereditary Succession was by Divine Right, and Inalienable. A pleasing doctrine to Princes that are grasping at Arbitrary Power, as giving them liberty to be as Tyrannical as they please, because no Man can be said to offend that acts 
* Nemine injuriam facit, qui jure suo utitur.  from a principle of Divine and Inherent Right; for that never dies, nor can be Abolished, and therefore, since this Doctrine has been of fatal consequence, both to Kings and Subjects, Give me leave to offer something against its spreading farther, by ask these modest Questions?  
When, and to whom, was this Charter granted? If they say it had the same original with the Creation, and was conferred on Adam by God Almighty, their Proof ought to be taken, and with certainty too, from the Sacred Records, before they can hope to gain credit to their Assertion. Now that Adam had a Paternal Authority none will deny, but that he had a Monarchical Jurisdiction, and that it was perpetual, and extended beyond the bounds of his own Family, or that his Sons, when out of their Father's Jurisdiction had not the same Authority in their own Families, as Adam had in his, is not where to be found in Scripture, granted either before, or after the Universal Deluge to Noah's posterity; for besides the absurdity of the Notion, in making all other Forms of Government in the World Tyrannical and Unlawful, 'tis unreasonable in respect of Kings themselves: For unless they can prove themselves the immediate Heirs of Adam, which is impossible to do, they have no right to the Crowns they claim by Human Constitutions, but are all Usurpers; and when the late King makes such a Proof he will say something to the purpose, till then, I think it improperly urged on his behalf, that the Divine Right of Monarchy began in Adam; because there was such an early breach in the Succession as might spoil all pretences to it for the future. I wish the case be not too parrellel. For,  
Cain having murdered his Brother and Fled his Country he made a forfeiture of his Right, and by his Abdicating the Government after the Decease of Adam it must devolve upon Seth; which was an Interruption in the Succession in the very first Descent, that it could never be throughly settled in after Ages. The Truth is, before the Flood the Scripture is so silent in this matter, that no Man can affirm whether the Government of the World in those yearly Ages was Regal, Aristocratical, or Paternal, and consequently not in which Form to fix this pretended Divine Right, without offering injury to the other. Nor after the Flood do we mind this Right granted to Noah in greater proportion than to his Sons in common; Which was, to acquire what they could, and enjoy what they acquired; for these are the words of their Charter, to subdue the earth and 
* Gen. 9  possess it.  
The New Testament gives no greater encouragement to this pretence of Divine Right than the Old; for tho' in the Theocracy Kings were set up by God, yet that method ceased when Shylo came; and tho' the blessed Jesus, and his Holy Apostles, were very pressing in those Moral duties of Obedience to Superiors, yet they no where asserted a Divine Right, nor prescribed any Forms of Government, or making alterations; but yielded a cheerful Submission to the Reigning Powers where they came, without calling their Titles into doubtful Disputations. Now seeing we cannot find this Divine Right of Monarchy, and Hereditary Succession, granted by the Law of God, as founded in Paternal or Patriarchal Authority, nor Morally impressed on human Nature, nor positively Revealed in holy Scripture, which I shall particularly discourse hereafter; let us descend into our own Histories, and if we cannot find it there, we must leave it as a Chimaera, or a politic Stratagem to Introduce Tyranny.  
Democracy was the first Government in this British Isle. Their Druids served both for Priests and Judges; the whole Nation were a barbarous People that knew not God and worshipped Idols. And it would seem strange to search for a Pearl in this Dunghill; to derive a Pedigree from these brutish Ancestors: or build a Divine Right of Succession, upon such a Heathenish foundation, when a Human Right is more Eligible and Honourable.  
After the Druids, succeeded a Race of Lords or Petty Kings, that divided Britain into eight and twenty Provinces, and changed the Democracy into an Aristocracy, every Province paying Allegiance to their own Lord; and because among such a Medley, it would be hard to find from which of them to derive a Divine Right of Succession, I shall leave it as too Nice and Intricate a matter, and pass to the Romans.  
Whose Government when Julius Caesar made his first and second Descent into Britain was Aristocratical, and he himself had then no greater title than Dictator, and if we examine the whole time of their continuance here, which was Five hundred Years, we shall find that all the several Governors came in by Intrusion, Usurpation, Adoption, Confirmation, or Purchase; but not one of them ever claimed by Hereditary Succession.  
Britain being abandoned by the Romans, they elected Vortigern Earl Cornwall King; but upon the Lewdness and Debauchery of his life, and neglecting the true Interest of the Kingdom, they Deposed him, and chose his Son Vortimer, and after his decease, upon promising to Govern more Regularly, by a new Election, re-inthroned Vortigern; who was Conquered by the Saxons whom he called in to assist him in his Wars against the Picts and Scots; so that here also we have quite lost all pretences to a lineal Succession from the Britain's, or a pretended Power from God to Oppress and Ruin his People.  
The Saxons were a Wild, Illiterate, and Barbarous People, living by Plunder and Rapine; Soldiers of Fortune without any certain Habitation, and having no Title of their own, as they Demeaned themselves, could very ill pretend to have one from God; nor could their Heptarchy introduce a Divine Right among us; for than we must allow seven Kings at once to Govern by Divine Right in England. The Danes drove out the Saxons, enjoyed the Monarchy many Years, and after much struggling were repulsed by the Saxons, and they again by the Danes, among whom were so many Kings Banished, Murdered, and Deposed, that 'tis impossible, with any kind of certainty, to fix a Succession from any of them. For,  
Edward the Confessor that succeeded Harold, the last Danish King in England, and in whom, for want of Issue that Line was extinguished, had no Hereditary Right. 'Twas at first indisputably in Edward Son of Edmond Ironside, Father to Edgar Etheling his Nephew, during his Life; and after his Decease, to that Edgar who was also Nephew to the Confessor.  
Harold, Son of Earl Godwyn, that without other Ceremony set the Crown upon his own Head had no pretence of Right to it, (tho' as affairs then stood was very fit for it;) for Edgar Etheling was then living and claimed it, tho' he wanted Power to maintain his Right, and so Harold kept the Crown till he was deprived of that, and his Life, by one of another Family and a Foreign Nation; which has utterly destroyed all pretensions to the Divine Right of Succession in this Kingdom, unless you will make God the Author of all those horrid Murders, Devastations, and Confusions that were committed by many of these Princes in acquiring their Crowns. And here I must pursue the Succession from the Norman Race.  
William the First was Illegitimate, and had not Right but from his Sword, and the People's submission and Electing him, after he had subdued King Harold, and the latter Right he always preferred before the former.  
William the second was Elected against the Right of his Elder Brother Robert, who was then living.  
Henry the first was Elected King, Favente Clero & Populo, his Elder Brother Robert being living at the same time, and claimed the Crown in Right of his Birth.  
King Stephen was Elected a Clero & Populo, and Maud, who had the Right of Succession was excluded.  
Henry the second came in by consent, yet he had no Hereditary Right; for his Mother Maud the Empress, Daughter and Heir to Henry the First was then living.  
King John had no Right of Succession; for he had an Elder Brother, Jeffery Earl of Britain, who had issue Arthur and Eleanor, whose Heirs for aught we know to the contrary, may still have a being in the World; but John, tho' Arthur, his Eldest Brother's Son, was then living, was Elected a Clero & Populo, and being divorced from his Wife, had Henry the Third by his new Queen.  
Henry the third was Crowned, and settled in the Kingdom by the general Election of the People, tho' he had no Right to the Succession; for Eleanor Daughter to Jeoffry his Father's Eldest Brother was then living.  
Roger Mortimer Earl of March, Son of Edmund by Philippe Daughter and Heiress to Lionel Duke of Clarence, a younger Son of Edward the Third was by Parliament in the 9 R. 2. declared Heir apparent to the Crown, which could not be but by virtue of an Act of Parliament.  
Henry the Fourth came to the Crown by way of Election, and in the eighth Year of his Reign was the first Act of Parliament made for entailing the Crown with Remainders.  
By virtue of which Entail his Son Henry the fifth became King, and after him Henry the sixth, in whose time  
Richard Duke of York claimed the Crown, and an Act of Parliament was made 39 Hen. 6. that Henry should enjoy the Crown for his Life, and Richard and his Heirs after him. After which King Henry raise's an Army, kills Richard, for which He, the Queen, and Prince were all Attainted, 1 Edw. 4. because Richard was declared Heir apparent to the Crown after Henry by Act of Parliament; but this Attainder was repealed in terms of Disgrace and Detestation. 
1 Hen. 7. Rot. Parl. 1 Hen. 7.   
Edward the fourth succeeded Henry 6. by virtue of an Act of Parliament made in the time of Hen. 6, for entailing the Crown, as Son and Heir to the Duke of York.  
Richard the third was confirmed King by Act of Parliament, tho' he came to it by blood and murder.  
Henry the seventh comes in by no Legal Title, because Edw. the fourth's Daughter, and his own Mother were both living. In his time the Crown was entailed on him and his Heirs, by an Act of Parliament, and he would never suffer any other Title to declare his Right.  
Henry the eighth succeeded, who, as all his Laws speak, derived his Title to the Crown from his Father by virtue of the Act of Parliament abovenamed, and not by any Title from his Mother, tho' by the Law of Succession, his Right from Queen Elizabeth, Daughter of Edw. 4. was indisputable. In his Reign the Crown was thrice entailed, but the great one was that of 35. c. 1. by which  
Edward the sixth, Queen Marry, and Queen Elizabeth succeeded, in whose Reign was made an Act of Parliament, making it high Treason to say it was not in the Power of Parliaments to limit the Succession of the Crown.  
Upon the Marriage of Queen Mary to King Philip of Spain, both the Crowns of England and Spain were entailed, and the Articles of Marriage confirmed by Act of Parliament, and by that Act of Parliament Philip was created King, and exercised Sovereign Authority, and particularly in making Laws, together with the Queen, the Style of the Royal Assent to Bills in Parliament, being at that time Le Roy & La Reigne les veulent, by all which it appears, that the Kings of England, since the Crown was settled in a particular Family, as well as before are Kings by the Laws of the 〈…〉 of human Constitution, tho' their Power is from God Almighty. Nor does this opinion aim at the changing our Hereditary Monarchy into an Elective Kingdom; but shows that there is no such absolute necessity of keeping the Lineal Descent in respect of a single Person, that it cannot be changed for the preservation of a Kingdom, contrary to the Opinion of our Lawyers, who affirm from History, Records, and Law-Books, that our Monarchy is Hereditary as to a Family, but Elective as to Persons. However, to obviate the prejudice that might arise from that preconceit, I shall show you 'tis Hereditary; and yet, that that Hereditary Right came also by Law, and therefore may be interrupted by our Legislators.  
That England is an Hereditary Monarchy, and that the common course of Succession is to be inviolably observed when it consists with the public good and safety of the Kingdom, none will deny; for our own Laws have so determined it, as a custom grounded upon sufficient Reasons. Our Ancestors perceiving that the way of Electing Kings was subject to many Inconveniencies, and often exposed the Kingdom to Tempests, Interregnums, and Revolutions, as well as to the seditious commotions of underhand dealers, and the Pride and Ambition of Men too desirous to be uppermost. And that Kings coming to the Crown by Election, neglected the Demeans, and squandered away the Treasure of the Nation, because they had no prospect of leaving the Crown to their Heirs; 'twas therefore thought advisable, and beneficial to the Public, to fix the Royalty in a particular Family. As for example. In the eighth of Hen. the fourth, there was an Act of Parliament which entailed the Crown with Remainders. And to name no other instances of the like kind, it was made Treasonable by an Act of Parliament in the thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth, for any Man to affirm that the common Laws of this Realm ought not to direct the Right of the Crown of England, or that the Laws were not of sufficient force and validity, to limit and bind the Crown of this Realm, and the Descent, Limitation, Inheritance, and Government thereof, So that 'tis plain, an Hereditary Right, is a Right by the Laws of England, and not otherwise: And what need is there of any other, since a Right by Law makes a Rightful and Lawful King, in despite of all the overnice Distinctions of State-Criticks to the contrary. And, truly  
Of all Men living, the late King James, and his Defenders, have lest Reason to quarrel this Right by Law: For, How came it to pass, that the Line of the Stewarts had a better Title to the Crown of Scotland, than that of the Balliol's; but only that the Laws of Scotland, that is, the Consent of the Estates of that Kingdom made them so? For, otherwise, if we search into the Pedigrees of those two Families, we shall find that Balliol, according to the common received Rules of Descent, was nearer in Blood to the last King David, than Bruce; and was so adjudged at a solemn Hearing 
* Bak. Chron. pag. 96.  between both Parties, by our King Edward the First, in Parliament. Besides, the late King has left it upon Record, from his own Mouth, that the Laws of England were able to make a King as great and happy as he could desire to be; and after that, I cannot imagine what he could wish for next. But,  
His Intentions being fixed to destroy those Laws that, in observing them, would have made him great and happy, he stood in need of a Title Superior to them; therefore his Flatterers contrived one of a Divine Original, and yet it died before him; the Divinity of his Office was more Mortal than that of his Person; and well it might, having no Being, unless in the Heads of its first Inventore. The Scripture has declared the Falsity of this new Hypothesis: 
† Rom. 13.  St. Paul saying, There is no Power, but of God, must be understood of Government in general: For the Apostle does not say, There is no Prince, but is of God; but, There is no Power, but of God. St. Peter also makes Kings to be of Humane Constitution, as well as our Laws, which know no such thing as a Personal Authority in the King, Antecedent, and Superior to all Laws; nor no Divine Law, or just Inference from it, which does any where set aside Humane Constitutions agreeable to Christianity, and beneficial to Civil Societies.  
Therefore, if a King, by Lawful Succession, shall act unlawfully; and instead of preserving the Religious and Civil Rights of his Subjects, shall endeavour to destroy them, he may be set aside, without Prejudice to the Constitution, since we are not obliged to preserve the Right of the Succession to the Destruction of the Kingdom. Fit, and Just, aught to overrule Custom; and Formalities give way to the Necessities of the Public. 'Twas a common Saying amongst the late King James' Favourites, that their King had a Divine Right, and therefore he would not be a Slave to the Law: And there is greater Reason that his Subjects should not be Slaves to a Tyrant, that broke them; nor Millions of Souls be ruined, to humour a Single Person.  
No pretended Right whatsoever can Legitimate Unlawful Practices; and therefore, when a King, forgetting whose Minister he is, degenerates into Tyrant, and deprives the Nation of all those Blessings that Heaven had given us the quiet Enjoyment of; I think there can be no Reason assigned, why we should endure those Violences any longer than till we are in a Capacity to help ourselves. The Right of Succession has been always Claimed, but not constantly Enjoyed; and the Two Houses of Parliament, notwithstanding this Claim, have set the Crown upon the Heads of those Princes whom they knew had no Hereditary Right to it; and yet they have been esteemed as Lawful Kings in all our Chronicles and Laws, while those who were next of Blood were laid Aside, when the Safety of the Kingdom, which is to be considered in the first, and chiefest place, makes it necessary so to do.  
Into what a lamentable Condition would this Kingdom have been reduced, if the Law that Intails the Succession on the Next in Blood, should also give him a Power to do what he pleases, be it Right or Wrong! Wherefore, as the Law has often dispensed with the Next Heir, before he came to the Crown, for the former Reasons; so it shows us, that we are no ways bound to a Prince on the Throne, who, by Breaking the Laws of the Constitution, has Abdicated the Government, and stands Virtually Deposed by his own Actions, as well as by a Law as ancient as Edward the Confessor. (or rather, Edgar, his Grandfather,) which says, If the King refuseth to govern by Law, not so much as the Name, or Title, of King remains to him: For 
* Nec nomen Regis in eo constabit Spel. Concil. leg. Guil. c. 6. Hoveden's Annals, Part 2. p. 608.  he ceases to be King, that governs by his own Will, and not according to Law. So that 'tis plain, the Kings of England are not Kings by a Divine, but Humane Appointment: They are not Absolute, but Limited Monarches, and Circumscribed and Bounded in their Powers, and Prerogatives, from Oppressing and Destroying their Subjects; which if the late King had observed, without suffering himself to have been abused by False Notions, and Fawning Flatteries, he might have been as Great, and as Happy a Prince, as he could have wished himself to be: Whereas, striving to be above all, has reduced him into a Mean and Insignificant Station. So true is that Maxim, That they which Wrestle with Laws, are always Thrown; and fall Uneasy, and Unpityed. But,  
As Mischiefs seldom come Alone, so this pretended Divine Right was accompanied with the Doctrine of Passive Obedience, and Nonresistance; the first set him above all kind of Restraint; and the other laid his Subjects under his Feet, to be Trampled on, or Destroyed, at his Pleasure; and both being of pernicious Consequence, I shall endeavour to stop the Currency of the latter also, by showing that the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Nonresistance are False in their Application of it, and Dangerous to Kings, and Destructive to Subjects.  
They are false, as the Authors apply them, in Licensing all kind of Wickedness; and putting it into the Power of every Arbitrary Ruler, to invade the Laws and Liberties, the Lives and Fortunes of his Subjects, and to do what Mischief he pleases, whilst by a Voluntary Submission, we yield up our Rights; which though we might have been able to have Kept them while we had them, may never be in any possibility of Regaining them when we have lost them.  
Nam quid vis citius dissolvi posse videmus,  
Quam rursus reficio—  
For Things much sooner perish, than attain  
(Being dissolved) to be repaired again.  
Sad Examples whereof we have in our Neighbouring Kingdoms, who, for want of a timely opposing the Arbitrary Power of their Kings, have fallen into Governments as Absolute and Tyrannical as the Ottoman Empire, where no Man can call any thing his own.  
Certainly, those which with so much Zeal, contend for Passive Obedience, never considered the Consequences of it. What would not some Princes do, if they were assured that no body would oppose them? Nay, what would not the late King have done, had he been let alone to pursue his Violent Methods, without that most admirable Check of Providence that encountered him?  
Nature has founded our Obedience upon a Supposition, that it was for the Good of the Community, and not otherwise: And would it not be a Contradiction, if Princes might extend their Authority beyond the Design of its Institution, and attempt the Destruction of the Society, and we quietly submit to whatever they pleased to do? I am as far from denying the Persons of the Kings and Queens of this Nation to be Sacred, and Inviolable, as any Man living; yet, I dare not say they are to be Obeyed in All Cases whatsoever; for then the Doctrine of Passive Obedience, and the Bowstring, would be the same; and we must owe our Lives to Fortune, not to Justice.  
What if a King should take pleasure in Burning of Cities, Murdering Men, and Ravishing Women; for such Kings there have been in the World, and what has been, may be again? Sure 'twould be a piece of the greatest Impiety, and Wickedness, but to imagine he might do it without Control. Fathers, by the Law of Nature, have a greater Authority over their Children, than Kings have over their Subjects; and yet, if a Father comes to kill his Child, he is not obliged to submit, and open his Breast to the Dagger; or hold up his Throat, whilst his Father cuts it! No; Nature, Common Sense, Self-preservation, and the Practice of all Nations, is too powerful for the Sophistry of such Principles; and those that cannot reason, can feel what they are to do in such Cases.  
Grotius says, The King must be bereaved of his Wits, that attempts the Destruction of his whole People; but grants that they do sometimes destroy one Part, for the sake of another; (as King James' Design was, to destroy the Protestants, in favour of the Papists; and the English, in favour of the Irish;) but says, he ought not to be Obeyed in such Frentick Depopulations. And if Grotius thinks the Prince Mad that attempts it, we may conclude them little better, that misapply their Parts, to defend it: For, tho' the Scripture commands Obedience to Authority, without Exception; yet in Cases of Certain, Apparent, and Extreme Necessity, such as ours was in the late Reign, it may as Reasonably be presumed to be Excepted out of that General Rule, as Works of Mercy and Charity were allowed upon the Sabbath-day, by our Blessed Saviour. 'Tis the Right of Kings, that we Obey them; and suffer Private Injuries, rather than destroy the Public Peace: But 'tis the Right of God that we Disobey them, when their Wills oppose his Divine Laws, or Common Safety.  
2. It is dangerous to Kings themselves, as it invests them with a Power to do more than they Ought, which at one time or other will be turned upon themselves; for where Fear and Terror are the only Foundations of Obedience, the Seed of Resistance will be growing up: Men may bear the Yoke of Servile Subjection, for a while, with Patience; but if it galls their Shoulders by a sharp and long Continuance, they will bethink themselves how to throw it off: Therefore the Way for Princes to keep their Power, is, to exercise it with Lenity; and to grasp at no more, than what tends to the Subject's Ease, as well as their own Superiority over them.  
This makes a Prince Supreme by his Virtue, as well as his Character; and so Indears his Subject's Duty, that he cannot raise his Thoughts above the Pitch of their Obedience: Whereas, if he acts like the late King James, and Insists upon Obedience without Reserve, and will force a Necessary and Reciprocal Duty into Extremity of Slavery, it will put his Subjects into the same Humour, and learn them, by his Example, to exceed the Bounds of their Allegiance. All Compulsary Methods, Indirect Courses, and Stretches of Power, are a kind of Foul Play; and he that uses it himself, does, by Implication, allow it those he plays with; as the late King found, by a dear-bought Experience.  
Mighty Nations may be upheld by Absolute Power; but the Narrow Territories of England must be supported by Justice, or the Door will be set open to the Next better Comer. For tho' the British Nation, generally speaking, are great Lovers of Monarchy, yet they perfectly hate Tyranny; and as they were born Free, so they love to continue in that happy Condition, as their Right, and not upon the Precarious Condescensions of a Superior Power.  
3. 'Tis Destructive to the Being and Safety of the People; for a Single Arm, Unresisted, is able to Assassinate a whole Kingdom. Passive Obedience has no other Tendency, than to Invite Destroyer's; and, without being obliged to their own Ill Nature, Courts them to exert their Cruelties in our Utter Extirpation, and at once destroy all the Laws of the Land. I would fain know to what purpose Laws are made in our Defence, if we must have no Benefit by them; and whether faustering this Principle, is not to bind the Subjects Hand and Foot, and leave nothing but poor suffering Souls in the whole Kingdom, as often as the Sovereign is pleased to exercise his Arbitrary Jurisdiction?  
Inventing this Doctrine, and giving it a Currency through the whole Land, looked as if the Authors and Promoters of it were fishing for Expedients to Ruin the Kingdom; trying Experiments, how high their King could provoke, and how low and meanly we could submit to his Arbitrary Injunctions. They showed a Wantonness in their Impositions, and a Luxury in abusing the Patience and Quietude of the Nation, till Vengeance overtook them. 'Tis the Scandal of English-Men, that they are fond of Novelties; and these State-Brokers were willing to keep up the Reproach in the highest Instances: But, sure, they could not, in their Lucid Intervals, imagine there was any Pleasure in Irish Massacres, or think that Wooden-Shooes would sit easy on English Feet; and therefore were unkind in Tempting the late King to be Cruel, whose Inclinations wanted no Spur to quicken his Zeal for our Destruction.  
But to do these Sticklers all the Right we can, and yet silence them for ever, their Practices are the best Confutations of their Principles; for, tho' when other Men smarted, they felt no Pain; yet, when they saw Sacrilegious Hands seize their Preferments, and that the Swords of their Artificial Forging were like to pierce their own Bowels, they began to Distinguish away this Destructive Doctrine, Propose Methods to prevent their Ruin, and, for the Generality of them, were as forward as any, to Invite, and Join with our Great Deliverer. Now, since the very Gentlemen that hatched, and showed this Monster in Government, have with their own Hands taken down the Cloth, they have proved my Assertion; viz. That the Doctrine of Passive Obedience, directed to these Ill Ends, is False in its Application, Dangerous to Kings, Destructive to the People, and aught to be reduced to its Primitive Standard, or, as they employed it, to be banished the World.  
Nonresistance, linked with Passive Obedience, is but using more Words to express the same thing; and I should have wholly overlooked it, as a Frivolous, if not a Ridiculous Addition, but that it gives me an Opportunity to confute the whole Design of Enslaving the Kingdom, by showing,  
That in Cases of General, Evident, and Extreme Necessity, for the Preservation of a Kingdom, such as ours was under the Dominion of the Late King James, 'tis lawful for Subjects, in their own Defence, to oppose a King that would destroy them.  
And here I have a very Tender Point to handle, lest I should seem to encourage Sedition, or humour those that are given to Change; which is as far from my Intentions, and as contrary to my Inclinations, as the two Poles are distant one from another. I am endeavouring to beget a good Opinion of our present Settlement, to keep Men in a quiet Obedience to the Government, to live in Peace and Charity one with another, to remove the Prejudices that some have conceived against the Methods that were used to remove the late King James, and placing King William in the Vacant Throne: And to procure these Good Ends, I am obliged to show our Resisting him, as Affairs were then Circumstantiated, was Lawful, and Justifiable, both in the Action, and Intention; and therein am so far from Encouraging Sedition, that I have all along restrained the Subjects Resistance to Cases of General, Evident, and Extreme Necessity; and never to be attempted, but upon such Emergencies. To every Good King, and Lawful Government, we have as many Ties of Obedience, as there are Christian Virtues; and he must Renounce his Christianity, that forsakes his Allegiance; for Obedience is a Duty which we Religiously own to God, which we Naturally own to our Parents, which we Morally own to our Laws, and which we Religiously, Naturally and Legally own our Sovereign, as he is God's Vicegerent, Father of his Country, and our Liege Lord. This is the Prince's Due, and the Subject's Duty; and, to prevent Mistakes, will be further explained in the following Character of a True English Subject.  
He is one that Quietly, and Contentedly, moves in his own Sphere, without Intermeddling in Nice and Secret Matters of State, that are out of his Reach, and Inconsistent with his Duty; that hearty Obeys the King, in all his Commands that do not thwart the Laws of God, Nature, or his Country; that Honours, Loves and Defends the King's Person, Crown and Dignity, and Cheerfully Contributes to the Support of his Government; that makes his Private Concerns stoop to the Public Good, and Sustains those Losses with Patience that he suffers for the Common Interest: One that can distinguish betwixt Slavish Fear, and Religious Obedience; betwixt the Interest and Cause of a whole Nation, and the Clamours and Discontents of a Litigious and Incorrigible Faction: One that will be True to his King, without being False to his God, or Treacherous to his Country. And, to conclude, One that (like the Poet's Dyal) always stands True, tho' the Sun of Reward, or Favour, never shines upon him.  
In this Portraiture of an English Subject in Little, you may see the whole Design of Christianity on this Subject; which is, Keeping every thing within its proper Bounds, without Needless Increments, or Criminal Abatements of Royal Authority, which always terminate in Vanity, or Wickedness; and consequently, are extremely prejudicial to the Receiver, and Detractor.  
'Tis the Evil in the Increase and Use of Power, that those declaim against, who are for no more than a Legal Obedience; for Nonresistance, in its proper Latitude, has its true Weight and Value with us, as much as any other Christian Duty; and tho' we cannot swallow it so Glibly, as it was Adulterated in the late Prescription, (to serve a Temporising Interest, abstracted from the Public Good,) yet that does not hinder us from Digesting it better, and Practising it more Dutifully, and Constantly, than those who were as Ready to Throw it up, as they were to Imbibe it; or that still Retain it, to do further Mischief. And having thus secured our Loyalty and Fidelity to our Sovereign, under this Supposition, I shall reassume the Argument for Resistance, when the Necessity of it is as Certain, and General, as ours was.  
All differing Persons about Nonresistance agree in this, That if a King is resolutely bend to Destroy his Subjects, and that no Persuasion can alter his Purpose; but that he stocks himself with such Ministers and Officers as will cooperate with him in the execution of his Tragical Designs; his Subjects may Desert him, Decline his Government and Service, and seek Protection where they can find it. Of this Opinion is the Excellent Grotius, Barclay, Pufendorf, Bodin, Bishop Bilson, Bishop Sanderson, Dr. Hammond, and Mr. Falkener. I confess they say the case is not to be put, as almost impossible to happen; yet I think it but Reasonable to suppose it here, because I shall prove it in the Sequel beyond Contradiction, that the late King James was under a necessity of destroying his Protestant Subjects, that all his Actions openly declared it, and therefore may say, with the Author of Jovian, That 'twas Lawful to resist him, since he himself has said in the same Page, That he should be tempted to pray for the Destruction of such a Prince, as the only means of delivering the Church; and for that Reason I am charitably inclined to think, that the great Promoters of Nonresistance never intended this Doctrine should extend beyond Private and Tolerable Evils; for stretching it to Intolerable and Universal Mischiefs, would have proclaimed 'em void of Sense and common Discretion, as well as Humanity, which can no way agree with some of their Characters.  
Sober Men would soon be agreed about the Resistance pleaded for, if they were not more prejudiced against the Word, than against what is intended in the Thing, either as to the Object or End of it; for to resist Violent Usurpations, and Horrid Cruelties, is not Resisting the Supreme Authority, or the Ordinance of God, but opposing Murderers, and Cutthroats, who under Venerable Disguises are Destroying the People, and covering the Land with Blood and Carnage.  
Names and Titles can never Sanctify or Alter the Nature of Facts, the thing done, and the Manner and End of doing it will denominate the Action: For though as King he may put his Subjects to Death by form of Law, he cannot kill or otherwise destroy them without it, but at the same time he gives himself another Epithet, loses the Right he had, and ceases to be a King by such repeated Acts of Illegality and Tyranny.  
The Ends of Government (which is the People's Good) are as Sacred as the Prince's Authority; and if, as the Apostle says, he be not to us the Minister of God for Good, he loses the Title of God's Minister, for his Servants they are whom they obey. St. Paul never Intended to Abrogate the Laws of Nature, which gives every Individual Person a Right to his Own, nor Expose Men to Beggary, Slavery, Inevitable Ruin here, and Damnation hereafter; for Resisting a Prince that was engaged to destroy his People; since no Man that has not lost the use of his Reason, can believe that Murdering, Ruining, and Enslaving the Bodies and Souls of the People, is any part of Civil Government, or that Resisting an Implacable Tyrant, is Resisting the Ordinance of God; when 'tis plain that God never gave him any such Authority.  
To say that such Kings are set up by the Almighty, as a Punishment for our Sins, is no Argument against Resistance, but a strong one for it; for the Pestilence, Famine, and the Sword of Foreign Enemies, are all of them Evils sent by God for the punishment of our Offences; yet I think no Man will say but we ought by all Natural and Humane Endeavours to free ourselves from those Calamities, without an immediate Revelation. The like may be said of Tyrants; for the contrary would levelly us with Beasts, which may be Sold, Killed and Devoured, at the Will of those that have power over them. So that from what has been said, 'tis evident that Resisting Tyrants, is not Resisting the Supreme Authority, but Defending ourselves against the Insults of a Destroyer, under the cover of another Title. This Consideration will set us right, and not Rob us of the pleasant Ideas that spring from our Deliverance; for if any, for by Ends, deny what has been said above to be a Truth now, they will be of another Mind at the Day of Judgement, when things shall appear as they are.  
The Ends of Resistance, and Self-Defence, does also prove the Lawfulness of it, as it Respects the King, or his Subjects, who are equally concerned in the Benefit of it. Is it not better for a King to Assure his Authority by rendering it Just and Moderate, than expose it to danger by Arbitrary Attempts? Is it not better to comply with the kind Persuasions and Dutiful Admonishments of his true Friends, and Faithful Counsellors, (which is always presumed to go before Actual Resistance) than to feel the bad Effects of his own misguided Will? Cicero says, 
Cicero pro Balb.  * By this means the Romans established their Empire, in sharing the Advantages of it among the People, whose Obedience is secured by Acts of Grace, and Protection from Danger; and truly did not the boundless Ambition of Unwary Monarches blind the Eyes of their Reason from discerning their True and Lasting Interests, they would never run into such Extremes of Arbitrary Sway, as rendered their Government Odious, and their Persons Hated.  
No King in Europe has more his own Will, and lives more happily, than He which conforms his Inclinations and Actions to the Sense of the Law, and the Love of his People; and in this Sense he may be as Absolute as he pleases, without Overturning the World to accomplish it: He can Desire nothing, but what will be freely Granted him; nor Do any thing, that will be Distasted. And what can the greatest Monarch in the World desire more, than to have his Wants Liberally Supplied, his Actions Universally Approved, and Applauded? This, and no other End, is the Design of the Resistance contended for, but that a Prince, misguided by ill Counsel, may, without Injury to his Person, or Diminution to his Rightful Authority, (if fair Means can prevail,) be Reclaimed from Violating the Rights of his Subjects, and brought to a Temper consistent with his Own, and his Subjects Happiness: And if any Ill-minded Men carry it further, we can only say, that the Abuse of a Thing, does not impeach the Lawful Use of it: Let those that offend the Law, suffer for the Breach of it.  
Another End of Resistance, is, the Good of the People; for when all other Means to reduce the Prince into a right Temper, has, with all due Respect, and Submission, been used, but effected nothing; then, and not before, Resistance is necessary; for our Privileges are granted by the same Laws, by which the Prince has his Authority; and makes an Universal Defection, or Resistance, lawful, when all would be Ruined without it; for the Doctrine of Nonresistance is not of Constant and Eternal Obligation, in all Circumstances. Calling to Account, are Acts of Authority; but Resistance for Self-Defence, is a Right of Nature, and Inalienable. In every Province and Kingdom of the Universe, we may find Instances where Subjects have been necessitated to secure Themselves, their Religion, and Liberties, by Resisting their Prince, whose repeated Acts of Tyranny did visibly threaten their Ruin; and this was always looked upon as a sufficient Reason to dispense with their Allegiance, especially when the Necessity was not pretended, or Created, by themselves; but apparently forced on them by their Prince, who was obliged to preserve them. When our Saviour was walking in the Garden, and expected the Jews to come and Seize him by Violence, he was pleased to command, that he which had a Sword, should take it; and being told there were Two Swords, he said, it was Enough. How Enough? Not to encounter the Armed Multitude that came along with Judas! he could not think so! But they were Enough to let his Disciples know, that upon such Occasions they had a Right to defend themselves. In Extreme Dangers, we are allowed to make use of Extreme Remedies.  
Former Ages, it seems, were Strangers to the Doctrine of Nonresistance; for Resistance has been allowed by Kings themselves. Henry the Second allowed it, by causing his * Baron's to Swear, 
●russel's History of 〈…〉.  that if he should not perform the Covenants between himself, the King of France, and Richard Earl of Poictou, his Son; they should renounce him, and join with the King of France, and Earl Richard, against him. Richard the First, when he went to War in the Holy Land, substituted William Bishop of Ely, and Lord Chancellor of England, to Govern in his Absence; who abusing his Authority, the Bishops, Earls and Barons having Routed his Party, they Deposed and Banished him; and these Proceed were approved, and confirmed by the King himself, at his Return. So that in those Early Days the Nobility, Clergy and People had no Apprehensions of an Irresistible Power in Kings, and those Commissioned by them, when they found their Power grew Tyrannical, and Unsupportable.  
King John attempting to destroy the Liberties and Privileges of his Subjects, granted by Magna Charta, the Bishops, Barons, and Great Men of the Kingdom, of all Degrees, and Conditions, took up Arms against him, and never laid them down, till the King, and the Prince, his Son, had sworn upon the Holy Evangelists, to maintain the Subjects Privileges; and if they should break them, that it should be lawful for his Subjects to Renounce their King, and to gain them by Force: And this was never accounted Rebellion; for the Pardon that followed it, was mutual, not only for those that adhered to the Earl of Gloucester, but for those also that took part with the King.  
In the Reign of Edward the Second, this Doctrine of Resistance was asserted upon several Occasions; and so gross were the Enormities of this Prince, that in an Act of Indemnity, in the First of Edward the Third, the particular Illegal Acts of the King, his Father, are recited, and all that Resisted him, are Pardoned, without loading their Memories with Reproachful Epithets.  
Henry Duke of Gloucester opposed the Tyranny of Richard the Second, and had the Crown for his pains; and those that came over with him were pardoned in decent Language, without calling them Rebels, or Traitors. So that, it seems, the Parliaments of Edward the Third, and Henry the Fourth, that Passed these Acts of Indemnity, had no ill Opinion of the Doctrine of Resistance in Cases of Extreme Necessity. To which, give me Leave to add the Opinion of a Learned Man on this Subject, and I shall ease the Reader of further Trouble: 'Tis 
* Opusc. advers. Adulat. consid. 7.  Gerson the famous Chancellor of the University of Paris; who says, 'Tis an Error to assert, that an Earthly Prince, as long as his Dominion lasts, is not engaged to his Subjects in any thing; for, according to the Divine Law, Natural Equity, and the true End of Power; as Subjects own their Prince Fidelity, Subsidy, and Obedience; so their Prince owes them Fidelity, and Protection; and in case he does Publicly, Obstinately, and Imperiously oppress them, their Natural Right takes place, and makes it Lawful for them to Repel Force by Force. So that the late  
King James has no Reason to complain of Hard Measure from his late Subjects: For, if the King of England be a Limited Prince, as certainly he is, and bound by Oath to Govern according to Law, and that his Authority depends upon the Right Exercise of it, and can claim no Allegiance, but upon those Conditions, they are not to blame; for they did not Desert or Resist him, till he had Renounced to be their King according to the Constitution, by avowing to Govern by a Despotic Power, unknown to the Constitution, and Inconsistent with it.  
The Breach was first made on his part, by Renouncing to be their King according to the Law that made him King; that is, such a King as he Swore to be at his Coronation; such a King, to whom the Obedience, and Allegiance; of English Subjects are due; and Setting up a Dominion, which, to all Intents and Purposes, was as manifest an Abdication, or Abandoning his Legal Title, as if had done it by Express Words, or Formal Deed. So that 'tis plain, his Subjects did not Desert or Resist him, till he had Abdicated his Kingship, and Licenced them to provide for themselves, under another Monarch, that would govern according to the Laws of the English Constitution, which he had Renounced.  
If the Entreaties, Persuasions, Admonitions, Addresses, or Petitions, of the Greatest Men of all Qualities in the Kingdom, could have prevailed with him to have done himself, and his Subjects, Justice, the Crown had been still upon his Head, and his Subjects happy under him: But he positively refused all Advices, but what tended to his Ruin; and neither his good Subjects Prayers, the Fear of God, the Love he ought to have born to his own Country, now on the Brink of Destruction, nor his own Interest, could influence him to Act Reasonably, or see his own Ruin, before an Obstinate Perseverance had rendered it desperate! What then must his Subjects do? To content ourselves with Praying to God only for our Deliverance, were to exclude the Measures of Humane Prudence. We take not those Methods when our Houses are on Fire, or a Madman comes to cut our Throats. To wait for his Death, had been to make ourselves miserable while he lived: And by suffering his Arbitrary Power to Increase, and take Deeper Footing, was, to have Entailed Slavery upon our Posterities; and to have expected a Miracle for his Conversion, was, to suffer the Fate of a whole Kingdom, to depend upon a Senseless and Dubious Peradventure: All which being seriously considered, nothing in the World will appear more Reasonable, Just, and Necessary, than our Self-Defence, against the Exorbitancies of James the Second, and providing for ourselves without his Concurrence; it being not in the Design of God, or Nature, or in the Power of Art, to make that Man happy, who, instead of Co-operating to it, Acts directly against it: And therefore, his Interest was not so considerable, as to be preferred before the Safety of the Kingdom, and the Lives and Fortunes of his Quondam Subjects, which were snatched, as Brands out of the Fire, by the Doctrine of Resisting in our Own Defence.  
'Tis true, the Promoters of Slavery, under the Umbrage of Nonresistance fall very heavy upon this Innocent Principle, and upbraid the Notion as opposite to the Law of God, to the Law of Nature, and to the Laws of our own Land; but a brief discussion of their suggestions, will show their Lion is not so fierce as they have painted him. The Holy Scripture does command Obedience to Authority without Exceptions, and forbids Resistance of the Supreme Power under severe Penalties; but it seems very hard that Religion should weaken our Arm in defence of itself, and force our Obedience to a Power set up to Ruin it; and therefore unless our Adversaries can prove this General prohibition is extended in the Design of the Lawgiver, to all cases of Apparent, and Extreme Necessity, such as ours was under the late Reign (which I am assured they cannot do) they say nothing to the purpose; for we urge it no farther, and equally abhor it when it exceeds those Cases as a Doctrine inconsistent with Christianity; but yet we say also that Nonresistance is not always obliging, as affairs may be circumstantiated.  
General Precepts, or Prohibitions, are always to be understood with particular exceptions to unforeseen accidents, and makes what was forbidden at some time, and in some cases, become our Duty in others. Therefore Men must not run into a Triumph when a Text or two, seems to favour their opinion; for as an Ingenious Author observes, Eternal Righteousness, Justice and Truth, Upright Honesty, the Right of the Case, and the Reason of the thing, must always govern the sense of Scriptural expressions. Saul was an Anointed King, and yet David had commission from God Almighty to make War against him when he transgressed the bounds that God had set him. And it may be showed in many Instances, (tho' scarce parallel with our Dreadful circumstances under the Reign of James the Second,) where Resistance was not only allowed but commended. The Judges of Israel who must be presumed to know the Law of God better than others, and were filled with the Spirit of God, in all their Actions encouraged the Israelites to rise in Arms against their Princes who kept them in continual bondage, and slavery, and the Names of Deborah, Barach, Gideon, Abimelec, Jeptha, Samson, etc. are celebrated upon the same occasion.  
Nor is the Law of Nature against Resistance in cases of Extreme Necessity, and I wonder how any Man can urge the contrary, since it both Asserts and Approves it. The Law of Nature says the incomparable Grotius is a Judgement or Instinct of Right Reason, which Judges by the conformity and contrariety of an Action with Reasonable Nature, what there is in every action of moral turpitude, or moral goodness, and how far it is commanded or forbidden by the Author of Nature. Now Right Reason tells us it is Reasonable to defend our Lives against the Attempts of every unlawful Aggressor. And Mr. Hobbs, who can never be suspected to give too little power to Kings, or too much to the People, says 'tis the First principle of Natural Right, for every Man to defend his Life and his Limbs, by all means that he possibly can; for tho' when Communities and Societies are formed, this Right of Defending, and Avenging ourselves, devolves upon the Supreme Magistrate, and consequently makes it unlawful for us to kill a Man that endeavours to Assassinate us, if we can prevent his efforts by addressing ourselves to Justice; yet if by that means we cannot secure our lives, that Necessity puts us in possession of our Natural Right, and our own Arm becomes our Magistrate, and gives us Authority to defend our own lives, tho' (if it cannot be avoided) with the loss of the Aggressors. Let us put the Case.  
Suppose a Prince had resolved on a design to Kill his Subjects, that he solemnly swore to protect; what are the Subjects to do in this condition; To say they will implore the assistance of the Laws was to mock them, and delude ourselves, for they cannot resist Dragoons and Firelocks. To go to the King is to no purpose; he is in the Design, and so far engaged, that he thinks in Conscience he cannot go back, and is therefore stocking himself with a set of Men, that will not boggle at the execution of it. In such a Case this Absolute Necessity (where the Society must perish for want of Protection) puts us in possession of our Natural Right to defend ourselves; for none has a power in Right of his own Will to take away our Lives, but the Almighty power that gave them.  
If an Inferior Magistrate, Governor of a Province, or City, Rebels against the King from whom he received his Authority, in order to deprive him of his Crown and Dignity, none will scruple to resist him in defence of the King, who is Supreme Lord both of him and us: And by the same Reason may a Sovereign Prince be Resisted that Usurps upon the Rights of God; for no Prince is more Superior to his Subalterns, than God Almighty is to all the Kings and Potentates of the whole Earth.  
Reason and Religion command, and commend a dutiful submission to Authority; but neither Reason, Nature, nor Religion, obliges us to comply with the Sovereignty of the Creature, to the prejudice of the Creator, or subscribe to such orders of an Arbitrary Prince, as manifestly oppose the Rights of God, unless we are fond of Inheriting the Title of being Cruel to our selves, Unnatural to our Children, and professed Enemies of our Country, for tho' slavery may be the misfortune of good People, to submit to it can never be their Duty.  
Another great Engine wherewith our Adversaries serve themselves to batter down the Doctrine of Resistance, is the Law of the Land, and particularly▪ the Act of Parliament made in the 13th of King Charles the Second, which seems in their apprehensions, to extirpate this Principal Root and Branch; tho' I believe 'twill fail them, when we have considered the Occasion of that Law, and the Intention of the Ligislators. And this I hope to do with a Modesty suitable to the great Veneration and Esteem that is due to those August Assemblies, Acts of Parliament (in my opinion) being only subject to the Censure of those that have a Right and Power to make them. And yet I hope, with submission, 'twill not be indecent to say that Laws made in extraordinary Heats are not Regular Obligations, nor aught to let Lose the King's Hands and Tie up the Subjects.  
England had been long harassed, Enslaved, and almost Ruined, by an Unnatural War; Scandalised by the Murder of a King, under Forms of Law, and Justice; Oppressed by the Tyranny of their Fellow-Subjects; and wearied out with changes of Governments, and variety of afflictions. Sometimes a Commonwealth, the Keepers of the Liberties of England, a Rump Parliament, than two successive Protectors, a Council of Officers, a Committee of Safety, the Rump restored; another Committee of Officers; the Fag end again; the Secluded Members; a Junto that brought in King Charles the Second, and delivered England out of Cruel Servitude, that was so sick with changing Masters, that when King Charles was Enthroned, and called a Parliament, (which chief consisted of Sufferers under the late Mock-Governments, or the Persons, Sons, or Relations, of such as had been in actual War against the Parliament, or Sufferers for Charles the first) the Excess of Joy that attended their Deliverance, and a Resolution to prevent such Commotions and troubles for the future, so transported them, that they thought they could never do enough to Greaten their Monarch, or discountenance the late Republicans; and therefore in the heat of their Zeal, tho' they aimed well, might overshoot the mark, and stretch the Prerogative of the King, and the Obedience of the Subject, beyond their ordinary Limits, and like Fond Bridegrooms, give away more Authority in a Week, than they could Redeem in their whole Lives; which has been too often practised in England in former times, in hopes to oblige their Monarches, tho' as often attended with Sorrow and Repentance, and these, or at leastwise some of these things might be the occasion of that Law.  
For it could never be the Intention of a Parliament to make the most Violent and Illegal Actions of Arbitrary power wholly , or pull down the excellent structure of a Limited Monarchy, and set up an Absolute Despotic Tyranny, where the King and those commissioned by him might do what they pleased with our Religion, Lives, and Estates, and make it Treason to resist in any case whatsoever. Was not this to give away their own share in the Legislative Power, and contradict the Preamble of every Act of Parliament, which says, all Laws are made by the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons assembled in Parliament, and by the Authority of the same, never failing to insert those Words? And that this would have been the inevitable consequence of such an Unlimited obligation upon the People, is plain, for what makes a King Absolute, but that his Subjects are under a necessity of Obeying him without reserve, i. e. never to oppose his commands in any case whatsoever. And to confirm myself that they never intended such a breach in our constitution, is because the extravagancy of the Act with such a design, would have accused both their prudence and Fidelity.  
Judge Cook in his Institutes, says that Laws made against Right Reason, and the Law of Nature are void in themselves; and then there's no necessity of obeying them longer than till we are in a capacity to deny or dispute it; what Man of Common Sense can believe that so many Wise Men (how good an opinion soever they might have of the King then in the Throne) would Arm all his Successors with a power as Despotic and Absolute as the great Turk, who may have the Heads, and Estates of his Subjects as often as he pleases to command them.  
The last Argument I shall use to show that that Parliament did not Intent to couch the People under such an Entire and Universal Submission as is maintained by our Adversaries, is because they had no Power to do it; for no Power can reach beyond the Reason of its Institution, which is, to preserve the Lives and Privileges of the People, and not make 'em Slaves and Vassals to a Delegated Authority. Who can believe that the Nation ever Entrusted any sort of Men with a Power to destroy them, or to Surrender their All into the Hands of a Cruel Tyrant? As Representatives of the People they could have no more Power than the People could give them, nor could it be extended beyond theirs from whom it was derived, or that is allowed by the Law of Nature, 
Nam quodcunque suis mutatum sinibus exit. 
* Lucrit. l. ●   
Continuo hoc mors est illius. quod fuit ante.  
— Since what doth its limits pass By change, quite perishes from what it was.  because it was not in their power to grant it. No Man can licence another to kill him, because the consent is Unnatural, and Null and Void in itself; so no Community can give any person's power to destroy them, either directly or by consequence; for 'tis preposterous in Nature that the Means should be destructive in the End, and that those that were substituted for our Preservation should be the Instruments of our Ruin; which must necessarily follow if they Intended by that Law to Invest all our Princes with a Power to do whatever they please, and that in no case whatsoever they might be Resisted; to which I shall add no more, till I have answered the Calumny of the Papists, who charge the Revolution upon the Principles of our Religion.  
Pere d'Orleans the Jesuit, with design to draw off the Roman Catholic Princes from a 
* Revolution d'Angleterre, Tom, 3. p. 395.  Confederacy with King William and other Protestant Princes for the preservation of Europe, and to persuade them to unite their Arms with those of France, and the late King James; on whose success (as he says) depends the Glory and Stability of the Popish Religion, after he has scandalously told them that this Confederacy was a Combination against God and his Messiah, the subtle Missionary would insinuate that the late King was Deposed merely upon the account of his Religion, and that if he had been of no Religion, or any thing but a Papist, he had never lost his Crown; which is a great Calumny, and to say no worse a wilful mistake, for in Ancient times, long before the Reformation had footing in England, and when the profession of the same Religion tied Men in one Communion, and Worship; and when there could be no Apprehension of Grudges, upon the Pretence of Different Persuasions in Religion; there were equal Animosities and Struggle between the Ancient Britain's, and their Kings, as often as they thought their Laws and Liberties were in danger of being Invaded or Destroyed by them, None that converse with History can be ignorant, that the same Innate and Congenial Temper has always swayed these Northern Climates, in all Ages within the Reach of History; and was observed to be Predominate by Julius Caesar himself, in his own Reign here. Tacitus has an Instance, very applicable to this purpose: 
* Ipsi Britanni selectum, & tributa, & injuncta Imperii munera impigre obeunt; si Injuriae absint, has aegre tolerant, jam domiti ut pareant nondum ut serviant. Tacit. in Vita Agricolae, Sect. 13.  The Britain's, saith he, are easily assembled, pay Taxes freely, and execute Offices in the Government cheerfully, if no Injuries be offered them; for they are willing Subjects, but impatient under Slavery. When they were under the Power of the Normans, they had often Recourse to their Arms, to prevent the Encroachments, and abate the Oppressions of that Race of Kings, although they were All of the same Religion; as is apparent in the Reign of William the First, who, upon the Opposition he met with, relinquished his Pretence to Conquest, and swore to govern the Kingdom by its Ancient Laws. William the Second was defeated by many of his Subjects, who took part with his Elder Brother, Robert Duke of Normandy, because Rufus had violated the Laws. From the same Cause, when Duke Robert raised an Army against his other Brother, Henry the First, the greatest part of Henry's Army Revolted to Robert, because, as Matthew Paris says, Henry had already been a Tyrant. Another Commotion was raised against this Prince, and the Party headed by Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury. King John was brought to Reason, by the Resistance he found by the Great Prelates, Nobility, and Gentry, who slighted the Pope's Bull for Abolishing their Great Charter; and valued neither the King's Arms, nor the Pope's Excommunicating of them all, when they stood in Competition with their Ancient Rights and Privileges. What Troubles and Danger did the Barons and Bishops bring upon Henry the Third, for Violating their Privileges? His Reign gave Birth to the Complaint that filled the Subject's Mouths in the Reign of King James, viz. That Judgement was committed to the Unjust; the Laws, to the Lawless; Peace, to Men of Discord; and Justice, to the Injurious: So that not only the Nobility, Gentry and Commonalty, but the Bishops of his own Church, Warred against him, threatened him with Excommunication; and that if he would not be reclaimed from his Illegal and Arbitrary Proceed, they would confer with the other Estates of the Realm, and (as they had done in his Predecessor's Time) would choose a New King. And if, in so Ancient Times, when Popery was on the Meridian of Glory, and Power, not only the Laity, but the Prelates of the Church, thought it Lawful to Resist their Monarches, who were breaking in upon their Liberties; why may not Protestants do the same, without Scandal to their Holy Religion, when they had greater Reasons, and stronger Provocations, than former Times could pretend to?  
Their Religion was never in danger by any of those Kings: But ours had received a deadly Wound by James the Second, and was almost Expiring, till we took shelter under a Prince who is not only able to Protect his own Subjects, but to hinder other Nations from being brought under the Yoke of Slavery.  
The Reader (I hope) will easily perceive that these Instances are not urged to flatter the Rage, or gratify the Passions of Seditious Rebels; but only to show, that it has always been the Genius of the English Nation, under all Forms of Religion, to be very Tender of their Privileges; and gave greater Proofs of their Zeal for them in Times of Popery, than ever they have done since ehe Protestant Religion obtained amongst us: Which may, at once, confute the Jesuits, and convince the World, that we did not resist the late King James because he was a Papist, but because he was a Tyrant; tho' it has been observed in England, that Popery was the first Step to Arbitrary Power; and the nearer any of our Kings inclined to Popery, so much the more did our Privileges decline, till at last they were almost totally destroyed by a Prince that openly professed it; and all our Crime is, that we would not be content to be Ruined by the late King, and his Popish Emmissaries; and rather chose to desire Protection, Liberty, and the Restitution of our Privileges, from His Present Majesty, than abide in the Condition of the vilest Slaves to the late King James! A Crime, for which, I am very confident, no Papist, tho' he Rail at us with his Tongue, can condemn us in his Conscience. And this brings us to the last Plea that our Opponents are pleased to enter against the Doctrine of Resistance, and securing our Obedience to the late King; viz. That we are obliged by our Oaths, to Obey, and not Resist him, upon any Pretence whatsoever. To which I Answer:  
How large an Extent soever some Men may give to the Oaths they took, in pursuance of an Act of Parliament in the 13th of Charles the Second; yet they ought to remember what must always be supposed, as the Natural Condition of every Oath, Rebus sic stantibus, Things continuing in the same State as they were in at the Time of Taking these Oaths; for otherwise, the Obligation ceases when Things are so changed, that they are Unlawful, or impossible to be observed. When we took these Oaths to the late King, we believed he would observe and keep his own Oath at his Coronation, and protect us in our Religious and Civil Rights; and therefore we swore to obey him: But when he broke his own Oath, and employed his Power to Ruin us, and our Religion, out Allegiance was at an End, and we had no Reason to observe those Oaths that were taken when Things were in a better Posture; and which we should never have took, if we could have fore-seen what since has unfortunately happened; for tho' we were cheated by our Credulity, the Change of Circumstances has cancelled the Obligation of those Oaths, and made it our Duty to do the contrary.  
We are obliged to obey our Parents, while they maintain their Characters; but our Obedience ceases, when they command what is sinful. Nature founded our Obedience to Authority, upon a Supposition that it was for the Good of the Community. King's are the Guarantees of this Formal Alliance, and from the Obligation of the Original Compact arises our Submission: But if Princes extend their Authority beyond the first Design of its Institution, and destroy the Society over which they preside, our Obedience is at an end, and we may justly oppose them; for no Oath, or Promise of Obedience, can supersede our Antecedent Obligations to our selves, or our Country. Had King James kept his own Oath, we had been obliged to ours; but his changing from what he promised to be, set us at liberty. The Deceit was his own Contrivance, in disguising himself; for had he appeared in his own Likeness, and honestly told us what he designed, before we were decoyed into Oaths, I believe there would have been as many Non-Jurants then, as there were Honest and Thinking Men in the Kingdom.  
All Oaths, tho' never so cautiously worded, have still some Tacit Exceptions, or else they would sometimes Interfere with Common Equity: Therefore 'tis a good Exception in Law, and a Salvo in Conscience, to say, that the Thing, when the Oath was taken, was Unforeseen; and so unlikely to happen, that it was thought almost impossible to come to pass; viz. That the late King James should endeavour to Ruin his Subjects, which of necessity must have been his own Ruin also, when the Account should be adjusted between himself and Partners. Again,  
As the late King managed his Affairs, these Oaths, and our Obedience were Contradictory to themselves, and therefore not Obliging. We swore in the Oath of Supremacy, that the King is Supreme Head and Governor in his Dominions; and that the Pope neither hath, nor aught to have any Superiority or Authority therein: But the late King, notwithstanding this Law, would have the Pope Supreme in Spirituals! Can we make him what he would not be? Can he absolve us from those Oaths, after we had taken them? Or how was it possible for to observe them, but we must offend one Way, or t'other? The Low says, we must take these Oaths, or pay Five Hundred Pounds, besides other Penal Disabilities: The King says, we must not take them, upon pain of his Displeasure, and being turned out of the Offices we enjoy as our Freeholds by taking the Oaths; what must the Subject do, when the Law and the King are at so great Variance, and the Subjects Duty involved in such Intricacies, that could never be salved, but by the Monarch's Abdication? But  
That which utterly puts an End to the Obligatory Part of these Oaths, and makes them Null and Void, was, his Voluntary Withdrawing himself from the Kingdom, Abdicating the Government, and Leaving the Throne Vacant; for that set his Subjects Free, to all Intents and Purposes; because he that leaves the Government of his Subjects, must be supposed to Resign his Interest in them; for Government is so necessary for the Preservation of Subjects, that he who intends to have Subjects, must at the same time intent to have them Governed, or their whole Allegiance ceases. Nor if he could pretend he was forced to go off, will that avail him, because it was of his own procuring: He might have prevented it by Calling a Parliament, and Complying with Justice; and the not doing what he ought, makes his Desertion Voluntary. I mention this, only to answer those that object it without Cause; whose Partiality spoils their Judgements, and drives them to little Shifts, to support their false Pretences.  
His Departure into France, and Desertion of the Crown, was whole- Voluntary; no Force compelled him, no Danger threatened him, the People were willing to have Retained him; but he, according to Hales and Brent's Advices, would leave the Kingdom in Confusion, that he might return the sooner, and have his Ends of us; which would bear very Severe Reflections; but his Going off being the only kind Act that ever that King did for England, I shall omit them now, out of pure Gratitude for that transcendent Favour.  
What remains then, but a serious Advice to our Scrupulous, or Obstinate Brethren, that they would no longer insist upon Controverted Cases, and Ill-timed Niceties, that hinder their Obedience, or slacken their Gratitude to God, and our Sovereign Lord, King William, for our Miraculous Deliverance; nor Ruin themselves, nor expose the Nation to Danger for the sake of the late King, when they neither aught, nor can do him any Service; for seeing, by the Law of Nature, the Design of Government, and the Practice of all Nations, the late King hath Forfeited and Renounced his Right, and they are discharged from their Oaths and Allegiance to him, that they would now honourably deliver up that Pretence which they can no longer defend, and pay their Obedience where Divine Providence, the Laws of the Land, and an Extraorninary Merit, has made it due.  
What can be more dishonourable, than that the Dishonour and Loss that has befallen this Unfortunate Prince, was the Consequence of his own Arbitrary Actions, and is primarily to be imputed to himself, in exceeding the Bounds of his Limited Authority, which he ought in no wise to have done; for the Royal Dignity of England is so far from being a Despotic kind of Government, that it carries along with it, in its very Essence, a Mixture of Interests betwixt King and People; and lays an Obligation upon the King, to govern, not by his own Arbitrary Will, but according to Law. And so careful have the English Subjects always been to preserve the Government in this Equal Poise, that every Deviation from it, has been looked upon by them, as a Step towards Tyranny. And not only the English, but so strangely has all Antiquity looked upon the Affectation of Absolute Power, that Isidore lays it down as the Character of a Tyrant, That he is Ambitious of Absolute Dominion, and oppresses his Subjects by a Lawless Authority, And the Scholiast of Aristophanes says, That a King differs from a Tyrant in this, that a King possesses his Kingdom, as receiving it from his Subject, upon certain Conditions prescribed by Law; but a Tyrant Enters and Rules by Force and Violence. James the Second could not be ignorant that other Kings of England have sometimes showed their Inclinations, and made some private Lashes, and subtle Essays, towards an Unlimited Power; but being told of it, as an Encroachment upon the Laws, they have always publicly disclaimed it; and yet the late King would attempt it!  Fortunae miseras auximus arte vias. 
Propert. lib. 3. El. 6.  
He with Misfortune, 'gainst himself, took part;  
And his own Wickedness increased by Art.  
King Charles the First, in his Declaration from 
* 1694.  Newmarket, showed the Unlawfulness of it; for, says he, The Laws are the Measures of my Power. Few Words, but very significant; and agree with what was said by that great Lawyer, Bracton, That he is no King that governs by his own Will, and not by Law; nor are his Commands obliging. Which made King James, in one of his Speeches to the Parliament, call those Flatterers that persuade Kings not to confine themselves within the Bounds o● their own Laws, Vipers, and the Pests of King and Kingdom And the Lord Verulam says, the People have as good a Right to their Laws, as to the Air they breath in; and he that persuades his Prince to break them, is as great a Traitor to him in the Court of Heaven, as the Villain that draws his Sword upon him in his own Palace.  
Lewis the Eleventh of France, tho' he had been a very Arbitrary Prince, when he lay upon his Deathbed, told his Son Charles the Eighth, that it was a Diminution to the Greatness of a King, not to govern by Law, and treat his Subjects Humanely; for no Man can be called a King, but he that governs Freemen.  
King James the First, in another Speech to his Parliament, sums up all in this memorable Passage, viz. That a King governing in a settled Kingdom, leaves to be a King, and degenerates into a Tyrant, when he ceases to rule according to Law. And yet all this could not restrain James the Second from endeavouring after an Absolute Power.  
The Sentiments of these Great Men might be very prevalent upon Ingenuous Princes; yet our Ancestors, unwilling to expose themselves and us to Contingent Hazards, or leave it to the Mercy, or trust only to the Good Nature of Princes, who being but Men, might be swayed by their own Passions, abused by their Credulity, or misguided by Evil Counsellors, to act against their own, and their Kingdom's Safety, they thought fit to bind up their Kings from Invading their Laws, or venturing upon an Unlimited Power, by the most Sacred Obligation in the World; viz. a Solemn Oath, and Promise, at their Coronations, to govern according to the Laws of the Land: And Taking this Oath has always been the constant Practice of our Saxon, Danish and Norman Kings, even to James the Second, who made no Scruple in Taking, nor no Conscience in Breaking it. To this, I might add, that our Kings are Circumscribed by Law, because, in many Instances, the Law hath determined what they can, and what they cannot do lawfully; But because this Point has been Invidiously and Indecently handled, by some Perulant and froward Tempers, who have set too narrow Bounds to the Royal Prerogative, I shall wave it, and conclude this Paragraph with that excellent Saying of King James the First, to both Houses of Parliament: Wherein he expressly tells them, 
* See his Works.  That a King of England binds himself by a double Oath, to the Observation of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom: Tacitly, as being a King; and so bound to protect his People, and the Laws of the Kingdom: And Expressly, by his Oath at his Coronation. So that every King in a settled Kingdom, is bound to observe that Paction made to his People, by his Laws, in framing his Government agreeably thereunto; according to the Paction that God made with Noah, after the Deluge.  
To Recite more upon this Head, was, to pour Water into the Sea; for that King that does not think himself obliged by his Oath to govern according to Law, no other Legal Mound can hold him from breaking down the Fences of the Kingdom, and laying all Waste before him: Which, tho' others might aim at by a Side-Wind, no King of England ever claimed a Right to it, but the late King James; and it was a piece of Haughtiness, and Extravagance, above all Example, except what his own following Practices has furnished us with. And having thus proved, that the late King James was, by his Oath, obliged to Govern by Law, I proceed to show you, that instead of Answering this great End,  
He made it the whole Business of his Reign, to act directly against the Laws, to subvert the whole Constitution, and expose the Nation to certain Ruin and Destruction. And, Secondly, That by so doing, he renounced to be our King; and justified the Legality of the Estates proceed against him.  
That he intended no Good to England, might plainly be discerned, by the great Number of Jesuits and Popish Priests, that from all Parts, flocked about him, and were Caressed and Endeared by him, at his very first Accession to the Crown; for if Charity could have obliged us to believe him never so Good-natured, it was Morally Impossible for him to continue Good, in such Ill Company; who, wherever they come, set the Country in a Flame that receives them. 'Twas, I say, a Sign that some very Ill Thing was to be done, when such Sanguinary Hands were to be employed, as were Reeking hot in the Blood of Neighbouring Protestants; and against whose Cruelties, Self-Interest, Love of Glory, Greatness of Mind, nor Goodness of Nature, could never divert those Princes from Persecuting, and Rooting out their Protestant Subjects, that had once imbibed the pernicious Principles of the Jesuits, who, like their Father, the Davil, are always wand'ring about, seeking whom they may devour.  
In what a happy Estate was the Germane Empire, till the Jesuits prevailed with the Emperor to espouse their Interest; and, rather than let a few Protestants live peaceably in Hungary, involved the Empire in a War that has lasted Thirty Years already, and God only knows when there will be an End of it?  
What Scandalous Breaches of Promises, and Havoc, has been among the Hugonots, in France, by Merciless Cruelties, Murders, Thefts, Rapine, and all kind of Devastations, since the Jesuits have been permitted to influence the Affairs of that Kingdom? To give no more Precedents of their Barbarities to Protestants; and bewitching, with their Poisonous Tenants, the Counsels of Unwary or Bigoted Princes.  
How have they persuaded the Duke of Savoy, contrary to all Politics, to Persecute and Banish his Protestant Subjects, who, in all probability, would have given him the best Assistance, when he shall want their Service, for the Preservation of his Dukedom? And how far the late King James would have followed those Precedents, while these Incendiaries were the Directors of his Conscience, may be easily understood by the first Steps he made towards the Ruin of the Protestant Interest. First,  
In Setting up a Dispencing Power, and Assuming an Arbitrary Authority, that should know no Bounds, but what his own Will should prescribe to it. By virtue of this Unlimited Power, he brought a Jesuit into the Privy-Council, made a Professed Papist Secretary of State, constituted two Popish Judges, and filled up many of the most Important Offices, and Places of Trust, and Profit, in the Kingdom, with Papists; such as Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, Mayors of Cities and Corporations, and Officers in his Army. And that he might be able to gain his Point, and force those that refused to comply voluntarily, he put the Tower of London, the great Magazine of England, and Keeper of the Regalia, into the Hands of Sir Edward Hales, as Rank and Sour a Papist, as ever our Soil produced; and filled all the Vacant Places of his Army with Popish Officers. By the same Authority he granted an Ecclesiastical Commission, gave Four Popish Bishop's Power to visit several Districts in England, placed a Society of Jesuits in the Savoy, and erected Popish Schools and Mass-Houses in most of our Cities and Corporations: And Lastly, To annoy his Subjects, and force his Way through all Difficulties, in Times of Peace, kept a Standing Army.  
'Tis needless to tell the Reader, that these Proceed were contrary to the Laws of the Land, and wholly Inconsistent with them; for there are very few, or none, but know it already, in general Terms. I shall therefore apply myself to show you how it was against Law, and what would have been the Consequences of this Unlimited Power, if the late King had continued longer amongst us. And this brings me to show you his particular Actions.  
To feel the Pulse of England, and try how they Resented his Proceed, the late King commonly began the Exercise of his Arbitrary Power in Scotland; and from the Measures that were taken there, we might take a Prospect of his Tyranny, and our own Calamities; for tho' he showed us his Designs under the Soft Title of Dispencing, in Scotland he threw off that Vizor, and explained himself, in calling it 
Vide Scotch Declaration.  Annulling and Disabling Laws. And to show all the World his Arbitrary Ends, he gave such a Specimen of his Single, Unlimited Power there, that he attempted to do more in that Kingdom, (which, as well as ours, is a Limited Monarchy,) than the United Power of King, Lords and Commons, together, were able to do; and that was, by imposing an Oath on that People, contrary to Law, in these Words:  
You shall swear, to the utmost of your Power to Defend, Assist, and Maintain, the King, and his Successors, in the Exercise of their Absolute Power.  
And this, I take Leave to say, the King and Parliament could not impose upon the Subject; because it was, in itself, a Subversion of the Constitution, as being an Obligation to support a Power destructive to the whole Frame of the Government. This Caprichio of the late King James was the Masterpiece of all his Jesuited Counsels, and the Finishing Struck of an Eternal Vassalage; for this Oath was created by his Arbitrary Power, and his Arbitrary Power was to be supported by this Oath; and both must grow together, and run in an Endless Circle, to the utter Extinction of all the Remains of our Natural Liberty, or Legal Government. And what was done in Scotland, we have Reason to believe, in its Course, must have been exercised in England also; the late King having no more, or other Authority in one Kingdom, than he has in the other; and both then governed by the same Arbitrary Maxims, and Popish Ministers.  
In England, the late King assuming a Dispensing power, Usurped the whole Legislative Authority into his own Hands, for to Dispense with Laws is as great a power as to make them; and by the exercise of it, invested himself with a power as great, if not greater, than that of King and Parliament together, who can jointly, but not severally, give any Resolve the Authority of a Law. The pretences to justify this Action was, that he might have the assistance of all his Subjects, and that the Papists having been equally Loyal to his Progenitors, they might not be discouraged by legal Discriminations. This was but a light pretence, tho' part of the Intrigue, for his dispencing power was chief directed to another and more considerable purpose.  
From the latter end of King Charles' Reign, the Press was loaden with Pamphlets, and City and Country filled with invectives against Parliaments, as unnecessary Wenns in the Government that were fit to be cut off, that the Royal Authority might be without any Legal, or Pecuniary Restraint, or Limitation. Now the Dispencing Power would do this Work effectually; for it put the whole Legislative Authority into the King's Hands, and made Parliaments Useless, and signify Nothing! For this End was it set up: And the Employing Papists, that were Unqualifyed by Law, was for no other End, but to support the Dispencing Power, till it had accomplished what was intended by it.  
Protestants could not be supposed to engage in this Design, for the Law was made in their Favour, and was their Security against Romish Persecutions, and Depredations; and therefore the late King would bring Papists into the Government, to whom the Laws were Enemies, that, in requital, they might be Enemies to to the Laws, and stick at nothing, to support their King's Power that made them what they were, and would only continue them in their Advantageous Stations. So that if that King should gain his Point, there seemed a kind of Mutual Necessity for the late King to Introduce Papists, and for Papists to execute his Orders, or the Power, and the Officers, would sink into their Original Nothing: But the Snare is broken, and we are Delivered.  
Strong Desires are the Common Temptations to the Use of Ill Means; and never did any Man grasp at the Power to do Mischief, without the Purpose. If ever there have been such mysterious Riddles of Irregular Virtue, yet James the Second never gave any Instances of it; for it plainly appeared in him, how effectually the Temptation of Unlimited Power worked in his Ambitious Humour. He never thought any thing Enough, till he had ingross'd a Power to Ruin All, and turn Old England into a Wilderness of New Confusions. By this Dispencing Power, he at once suspended above Forty Statures relalating to our Religion; and the next Week, by the same Arbitrary Power, might have suspended Forty more, that secured our Civil Properties likewise; for he had no more Right to do the one, than the other; and so might have gone on to the End of the Chapter, till he had Abrogated all the Laws in the Statute-Book; and acted here, as afterwards, Doctor King tells us, he did in Ireland; 
* State of Ireland, p. 92.  Seize Men's Goods, for his own Use, by a File of Musqueteers, or, at best, by his own Warrant, without any kind of Legal Process; and to which he had no other Claim, but that he wanted them. Now if this be not Tyranny, nothing in the World can merit that Appellation; and therefore, since I have been often forced to give his Government that Title, that I may not seem to beg the Question, or slander the Reign of that Unfortunate Prince, give me leave to show you here, that it was a Tyranny through the whole Course of his unhappy Reign; and that the Power he assumed, and the Maxims he acted by, had all the Marks of Tyranny.  
First, It was a True Tyranny; for the Violence he offered his Subjects, was not the Effect of Inadvertency, Ignorance, Weakness, or Passion, which may sometimes attend the best of Princes; but it was the deliberate Act and Execution of many premeditated Resolutions; and grounded upon a Belief that he had a Right to do whatever he thought fit to his Subjects. To do an ill Action may be sometimes the Misfortune, not always the Fault of a Prince; But when that Action is justified by a Right to do it, tho' the Laws utterly forbidden it, it is an Act of True and Absolute Tyranny, and can neither be defended, or palliated. David was not a Tyrant in the Affair of Uriah; for he committed the Crime like a Criminal, he was ashamed of the Action, and did all he could to smother it, and never attempted to change his particular Passion into a public Law, or Example. He who kills one, or a few, says 
* Sen. Ep. 17. Qui unum, qui plures occidit, non tamen Reipublicae laesae; sed caedis est.  Seneca, is not a Tyrant against the Commonwealth, but a Murderer: For Tyranny consists in doing Wrong to all, grounded upon a Principle that he may do it Lawfully. So Ahab's Action in taking away Naboth's Vineyard, was a heinous Crime, but not properly an Act of Tyranny, because he did it by Collusion, and under Colour of purchasing it, without any Pretence of Right to do it. But all the late King James' Actions had another Face; he justified his doing private and particular Injuries, by assuming a Right to do so by All. He entailed Misery and Destruction upon the Kingdom, by suspending and abolishing all Laws that were made for its Security, and setting up his own Will instead of them. He was not content to imprison some Bishops, or to affront some great Lords, or deprive some particular Persons of their Rights; but he struck a Blow at the Root, and by the Exercise of his Dispencing Power, and giving Authority to Papists, whose Consciences laid them under a Necessity of destroying Heretics, he was Ruining All: For, to suspend the Penal Laws against Papists, was, in plain English, but to give them Power, in time, to execute the Bloody Decrees of the Romish Church, upon English Protestants. Secondly,  
2. The late King James' Tyranny was not only a True, but it was also a Notorious and Evident Tyranny: No Artifice, Pretence, or Colour, could hid it from the Eyes of all Men; it was to be Read in All his Actions, past, and present: What he had in Speculation when he was Duke, he practised when he was King. The Maxims of the greatest 
* Quod Principi placuit Lex esto.  Tyrants he still laid Claim to, and observed no Rule, or Law, but his own Will: Am not I your King, and aught to be obeyed without Reserve? was the Language of his Proclamations, as well as his private Closetings. He threatened all that would not comply with his Absolute Power, that they should feel the Effects of his Displeasure; and by discarding some of the most Intelligent and Experienced Men in the Kingdom, to to usher in Raw and Headstrong Papists, proclaimed to all the World, he aimed at something that was Illegal, and could not be compassed, but by Agents of his own Creation, that would venture at All, to please their Master. And that the Knowledge of what he designed might not be confined within his own Territories, he sent an Ambassador to the Pope, directly against the known Laws of the Kingdom; and received a Nuncio from thence with as much public State and Pomp, as if he designed to let all the World see how far his Vanity, and Affectation of Arbitrary Power, and Affronting the Laws, would carry him; tho' in that he had no better Success, than in the rest of his Negotiations; for the Pope knew him too far in League with the F— K—, to think him a Friend of his, and treated his Ambassador accordingly.  
3. It was an Universal Tyranny: Nothing was exempted from his Lawless Will; for by his false Persuasion in Religion, that we, as Heretics, were fallen from our Rights, and had no just Claim to any thing we possessed; our Consciences, our Lives, and our Estates, were all at his Disposal; and tho' he might, by straining the Point, show us a little Favour, and let us enjoy them a while; yet he could do us no Wrong in taking them away at his pleasure. Agreeably to this Persuasion he adapted all his Actions, and no Order, Degree, or Condition of Men in the Kingdom, but in some Instance, or other, felt the Smart of them.  
The Nobility and Gentry, by the Inquisition that was made after Popish Lands, and the Promise of Restoring them to the Church, saw themselves in danger of being Robbed of their Estates, or holding them precariously at the Pleasure of Monks or Friars: And some that were then forced to sell their Estates, were great Losers, and could scarce find Chapmen (as Things then stood) that cared to buy them.  
Some of the Reverend Bishop's were Imprisoned, for declaring they had Consciences; others Cited before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, for not admitting Popish Priests into Benefices; and all frowned on that durst take the Liberty to Preach against the King's Religion. They saw their Power declining, by the Authority that was given to four Popish Bishops to hold Visitations in their Dioceses; and the whole Body of the Protestant Clergy were on the Brink of Ruin, for not Reading his Illegal Declaration.  
Both the Universities felt the Effects of his Unlimited Power, in the Dissolution of Magdalen-College in Oxford, and the Suspension and taking away the Perquisites of the Vicechancellor of Cambridge.  
The Parliament, to whom he had many Obligations, were Dissolved, for refusing to Repeal a Law made against Papists.  
The Judges that had so much Law and Honesty, as to declare their Opinions against his Dispencing Power, were laid aside, and others thrust into their Places that would serve his Arbitrary Purposes.  
Protestant Officers in the Army were, to their great Loss, Cashiered, to make way for Papists; and some of them, threatened with Death, for 
* Lieut. Col. Beaumond, Tho. Paston, Simon Park, Tho. Orm, Will. Cook, and John Port; all Officers 〈◊〉 ●●●●anders.  refusing to admit Irish Papists into their English Protestant Companies, that had the Guard of no less important place than Portsmouth.  
Merchants were forced to pay Custom, where no Law enjoined it. Innkeepers, Victuallers, and other Tradesmen, were impoverished by Free Quarter; and the Poorest People in the Kingdom were Oppressed by the Illegal Exaction of Hearth-Money. Fourthly,  
4. The late King James' Reign was a Necessary Tyranny; and so much the more necessary to push him forward to accomplish his Designs, that this Necessity was imposed upon his Conscience by the Laws of his Church, under the Expectation of Rewards, or Dread of the Punishments, that would attend his Obedience, or Disobedience, to their Decrees. All the Popish Writers agree, that 
* 
Beccan. Theol. Scot p. 1. c. 13. quaest. 5.  
Tho. Aquin. Summmae quaest. 10 art 3.  
Durand. Sancta Portian. quaest. utrum Haeret. sint tolerand. quaest. 5.  
Bellarmin. de hicis, l. 3. c. 21.  
Concilio Tolof. p. 46.  
Concil. Later. 4.   every Prince ought to Exterminate his Protestant Subjects; that the Omission of that Duty, is Damnable; and that putting them to Death, when they have nothing else to lose, is a Just, Meritorious Action. And we have Reason to believe, if Heaven was to be purchased, God pleased, the Papists gratified, and his own Ambition and Prejudice humoured, in doing it, the late King would not leave these Blessings behind him. Now, where the People claim a Right to their Privileges, as well as the Prince to his Prerogative, the Prince will certainly begin his Reign with the Destruction of those that have a Right to oppose his Absolute Authority. And these Maxims, of a Right to do it in Conscience, were the Inducements to King James' Tyranny; which we might expect to see Increased, but never Relaxed; for tho' he might change his Councils, he could not change his Conscience; nor whilst he had such Directors of it as the Jesuits are, can it be supposed otherwise, but that he would follow the Lessons they taught, and he imbibed, as conducing to his Eternal Happiness? Fifthly,  
5. It was a Consummated Tyranny; nothing remained Entirely Free; but all was subjected to the good Pleasure of his own Will. His Arbitrary Power influenced all in Authority: His Privy Council, generally speaking, were made up of such as would concour with his Unlimited Authority, and were obliged by their Interest to assist the Project, and Subvert all that opposed it. The Judges gave it for Law, that he had a Dispencing Power, and ought not to be Resisted in the Exercise of it. The Magistracy was infected with the same Malady; and the Soldiery were obliged to defend it with Sword in Hand.  
6. It was, as intended, an Eternal Tyranny; for, besides that his Abrogating the Laws gave an Example to his Successors to trace his Methods, and in time make themselves as Despotic Princes as the Czar of Moscovy, or the Turkish Emperor; he was introducing a Suppositious Heir, that should be trained up in the same Principles, and invested in the same Power; and so keep out a Protestant Successor, whose Religion would better instruct him in his Duty, in maintaining his own Prerogative, and yet indulging his Subjects in such a Liberty as does no way Impair or Attaint their Allegiance: Whereas a Popish Successor would have made Tyranny as perpetual as 'tis Absolute.  
7. To conclude, The Tyranny of the late King's Reign was an Incurable Tyranny. If it had arose from the Heat of Youth, Time might have quenched that Fire, in correcting the Cause. If it had proceeded from any Corporeal Disease, a Remedy might have been found to cure it. If it had been the Effect of an Incurable Disorder in his Intellects or Temperature, we might have flattered ourselves that it would last but one Reign; or that Defect might have been supplied by a Regent. But none of these can be objected against the late King James, for he Nursed it many Years in his own Bosom; it grew up with his Understanding, and was a true Tyranny in its Design; necessary, as imposed on him by his Conscience; evident in all his Actions; Universal in its Object, and Extent; Consummated in its Degrees; Eternal in its Consequence; and altogether incurable by reason of his Age, and introducing a Popish Heir; without the Application of such a Speedy and Effectual Remedy as God was pleased to send us in our Extremity.  
Some of the late King James' Friends are pleased to extenuate the Crimes they cannot defend, in charging all the Faults of his Reign upon his Ministers; which, if allowed to be True, might lessen them in part, but not discharge him of the whole: For if the Master's Actions be never so Innocent, or Inoffensive; yet, if out of Cowardice, or Affection, he becomes the Patron of his Servants Insolences and Outrages, by Protecting, or not Punishing their Misdemeanours, he renders himself Guilty, and will share in the Contempt and Hatred of his People. But when we consider how he laboured the Point himself, by Closeting, Persuading and Threatening many Great Men, and others, to engage with him in his Design of Setting up Popery, and Dispencing with Laws, and whose Image and Superscription it bears, the Glory of the Enterprise will be all his own; for I can never think his Ministers capable of all those Extravagancies themselves, any further than that they knew it would please him. Indeed, I can very easily suppose them chief Devoted to their Own Interests, and willing to Share in the Spoil of Ruined Subjects; yet methinks there should be some kind Remembrance of their Native Country, that would sometimes check the Dissoluteness of such Arbitrary Managements: And a certain Pride that Men take in acting prudently, and not exposing themselves to the Hatred and Derision of all Mankind, should have stopped their Carrier in such Illegal Proceed. And so it appeared; for at last, under these Apprehensions, we find many that deserted the late King, after he thought himself sure of them; and resigned their Places, and refused to act by his Commission, or obey his Orders, after their Names were Inserted in Commissions, and their Persons Actually Engaged in his Service. So that 'tis plain, this Project was the Issue of his own Brain, heated by the Jesuitical Dictator's of his Conscience: The Fountain was corrupted, and then no wonder the Streams run foul.  
Something might be said in favour of the late King, if he had set up his Dispencing Power for a General Good; but 'tis evidemt that it was only intended to enable Papists to ruin Protestants; and therefore the Irish Parliament, in their Act of Attainder, put it out of their King's Power to exercise his Prerogative in showing Kindness to Protestants that wanted it: For when 
* See The State of the Protestants in Ireland, by Bishop King, p. 179.  Sir Thomas Southwell was (contrary to the Articles on which he Surrendered himself) condemned for High Treason against King James; and at the Request of the Lord Seaford, that King was willing to Pardon him, and sent his Warrant to the Attorney-General, Sir Richard Neagle, to draw a Fiat; the Attorney-General positively told the King, he could not Pardon him; and tho' the late King seemed to be in a Heat, and told Sir Richard, he had betrayed him, yet it must be presumed they Understood one another, for so the Matter ended; and Sir Thomas went into Scotland, with the Lord Seaford, without being able to obtain a Pardon for his Life, or Estate.  
From this, and other Instances that might be given, we may see their Popish Juggling; for when an Act of Parliament is made against a Papist, 'twas no less than Treason to question the King's Pardoning and Dispencing Power; but when an Act bears hard on a Protestant, and their King (as he pretends) has a Mind to Ease them, than the King has no Power to Dispense, he cannot grant a Pardon, his Hands are bound up by Law. So that the End of Setting up this Dispencing Power, was only to shelter Papists from the Law, and ruin Protestants; for the Papists, in their Hearts, we see, are as much against it, as the Protestants. To go on:  
The late King declared in Council, that he would publish such a Proclamation in England, as he had done in Scotland; and that none should have Employments under him, that would not cooperate in taking off the Penal Laws: And he began to execute these Resolutions with a Conduct full of Violence, and Injustice.  
The Lord Bishop of London was put out of the Privy Council, and Suspended from his Episcopal Office, because he would not Suspend Doctor Sharp, now Archbishop of York, without Legal Process. The Earl of Rochester was deprived of his Office of Lord Treasurer, because he would not change his Religion. And the Duke of Somerset lost his Office, because he would not violate the Laws of the Kingdom, in performing the Honours at the Reception of the Pope's Nuncio, as is usual at the Introduction of Ambassadors.  
To say, in Excuse of this, that James the Second turned out Great Officers of State, because they would not obey him, and concur with his Intentions, is to publish a Truth that ought to have been Concealed by his own Party; because it was an evident Demonstration, that his Intentions were Unjust, and levelled against our Laws, and Religion. In Things Lawful, tho' not Expedient, he found a Tacit Compliance; nay, some of them, to keep him in Temper, perhaps complied further with him than the Strictness of the Law would justify; (as Men pull down some Houses at a Fire, to preserve the whole Town from Burning:) But, to comply in all things, had been to forfeit their own Honours, to justify his Illegalities, and Tyranny.  
2. The Second Means that the late King James employed, for the Destruction of the Religion and Liberties of England, was, granting an Ecclesiastical Commission, directly contrary to Law. This declared by what Methods he intended to govern; for every Step he made, was a new Project to assert his Arbitrary Power; and acquaint his Subjects, that he would make all Laws Useless, that all Power should rest in his own Hands, and the Administration be Issued from no other Source but his own Will and Pleasure; for there was no Occasion for such a Commission, but only to show what he would be at, and declare his Purpose to ruin the Church of England. Therefore the Commissioners were Devoto's of the Court; for the Archbishop's Name was put in, but to grace the Matter: They knew before that he would not Act; and therefore, to colour the Shame, they obliged him to ask Leave to be absent.  
To make this Commission more Illegal, a Papist is appointed one of the Commissioners; and the whole clothed with as Absolute a Power, as the late King himself was aspiring after! They had not only Power to Repress and Punish all Abuses punishable by the Ecclesiastical Laws; and to proceed against Offenders, by Interdiction, Suspension, Excommunication, Perpetual Imprisonment, etc. but they had also Power to Exercise their Authority in all Parts of England, to Visit Cathedral-Churches, the Universities, Colleges, Parishes, Schools and Hospitals; to Judge in all Causes, and make new Laws, Rules, Orders, and Statutes, and Abolish the Old ones, as the present Necessity required; notwithstanding any Privilege, Statute, Exemption, or Prerogative to the contrary. Which was such a boundless Stretches of Power, as never had, nor, I hope, never will have any other Precedent than itself. Thirdly, He pursued his Arbitrary Methods by  
3. Setting up Popery, in Opposition to the National Religion, to Ruin his Protestant Subjects, and force the whole Kingdom under Subjection to the Papal Laws, which had already sentenced them to Destruction; and that nothing less could be the Design of this Unhappy Monarch, will evidently appear, if we consider how Popery represents us to the World, and how Papists think themselves obliged to treat us under those Characters.  
The modestest Terms the Popish Writers can afford the English Protestants, is, That they are a Pack of Sacrilegious Usurpers of their Church's Patrimony, and a Nest of Obstinate Heretics that ought to be Sacrificed to their Revenge, and Rooted out of the World by any Means whatsoever; and this, say they, is always to be attempted by every good Prince, according to Bellarmine's Salvo, Ne sint fortiores nobis; Unless they be too strong to be subdued. For, otherwise, even Massacres are never condemned but when they are unsuccessful. And how then they would have used us, if they could have established their Mischiess by Laws as Bloody as their Minds, let the Marian Persecution acquaintus: And why should we tempt them again, whose Religion is Cruelty, and smells so much of Fire, that the very Smoke makes us tremble.  
The Laws of England always intent the Preservation of the Subject? but Popery, when Triumphant, in respect of Protestants, is destructive, to all Laws; contrary to the Law of Society, to the Law of Government, to the Law of Empire, to the Law of Royalty, and especially to the Laws of a mixed Monarchy, such as England's are; and Protestants can never be safe where 'tis Regnant. First,  
1. Popery is against the Laws of Society in all Protestant Countries, as well as in England; for, according to the Romish Tradition, the Reformed are all Heretics; and, as such, are Ipso Facto deprived of the Right they had to their Goods, their Children, their Liberty, their Privileges, and even of their Country; and aught to be regarded only as Robbers, 
* Becan. Theol. Scol. p. 1. cap. 15. quaest. 6.  Thiefs, Murderers, Rebels and Traitors, condemned to Death by the Church, and aught to be delivered to the Secular Power to be Executed. And to complete the Tragedy, that Holy Church appoints prodigious Recompenses to Princes that Exterminate them, and Anathematise those that refuse it. Now, whilst a Popish Prince lies under the Persuasion that his Protestant Subjects are such as his Church represents them that they are not a People, nor have Right to any thing they possess, he lies under so great a Temptation to destroy them, that they had no Reason in the World to trust him with their Lives, or suffer him to set up a Power that will inevitably destroy them. Secondly,  
2. It is not less Incompatible with the Law of Government; for that is designed to Protect and Defend: And how can that End agree with that of Popery, which is to Exterminate Heretics? By the Law of Government, we are Objects of Protection; by the Law of Popery, we are Subjects of Destruction. The Prince receives from God, and the Society, a Power to protect his People; but he receives from the Church his Mother, an Order to destroy them, as Condemned Heretics: And which of these two Orders think you shall prevail with a Popish King above the other? Why, thot in which he is most Concerned, and to which Eternal Recompenses are inseparably annexed: And then, in what a sad Condition were the Protestants of England, in the Reign of the late King. Thirdly, Against  
3. The Law of Royalty, to which Popery in the Case supposed has an absolute Antipathy; as will appear, if you consider that all Royalty necessarily contains three Things, viz. the Consent of the People, engaging to obey; the Consent of the King, promising to protect; and the Manner by which the King and People confirm their Promises, which is a Religious Oath. Now, a Popish Prince, that governs a Protestant People will be always wanting on his part of the Contract, if he takes the Maxims of his own Religion for the Rule of his Government.  
'Tis a Contradiction to believe he will act against his own Inclination, or that he will cancel the Antecedent Obligation which he was under to the Church his Mother, in preserving Heretics, that are not a People, but a lose sort of Animals, doomed to Destruction! Does the Prince break his Faith in not performing the Oath he took when Invested with his Kingly Authority and promised to protect his People? No, say the Directors of his Conscience! The Oath was against the Laws of Holy Church; therefore sinful, and void. Besides (say they) the Prince took the Oath with Intention to break it, and the Intention must always govern the Action, especially when it falls under the Church's General Rule of not keeping Faith with Heretics.  
4. To dismiss this Argument; Popery is particularly against the Laws of a mixed Monarchy, such as England's is, because the Prince believes he has a Right to treat Heretics as he pleases; and may lawfully take away their Lives and seize their Estates, without doing them any kind of Injustice; for being fallen from the Right of Society, he can do them no Wrong. Besides, All Princes that attribute to themselves an Absolute Power, think they own an Account of their Actions to none but God, and a Prince under the Circumstances that we have observed, will never think he displeases God, by destroying Heretics, 
* Durand. a San. Port. quaest. 5. utr. sint tolerand.  that, as their Writers say, are Enemies to GOD and Man. So that we see the Advancement of Popery in a Protestant Kingdom, is a necessary Introduction of Tyranny, and Intails a Law of Misery and Desolation upon all Protestants: And such was King James' Design here.  
Let no Man argue the Impossibility of Introducing Popery into this Kingdom, because the Number of Papists are but small in respect of the Protestants; for that will not render the Design Impracticable, but rather make the Execution of it more cruel and barbarous: A whole Nation upon the matter, must be corrupted from the Faith of the True Religion or be destroyed. You know what Progresses were made towards it, by Tying all Preferments to Popery, Unarming Protestants, putting the whole Strength and Power of the Kingdom into the Hands of Papists, and sending over Irish Soldiers, to increase a needless and dangerous Army. And what this might have grown to in time, was easier to foresee than Remedy; for an Ordinary Strength, Unresisted, might Assassinate a whole Nation. Fifthly,  
5. In the Heat of the late King's Zeal and Fury to procure such a Parliament as might set up a Power and Interest agreeable to his Humour, and destructive to the Kingdom, Quo Warrantoes like Bombs, were thrown into Cities and Boroughs to destroy the Freedom of Elections, which is the Foundation of Government; for What will become of the Liberty of Parliaments, without the Freedom of Elections? And how can England enjoy their Privileges, without the Freedom of Parliaments? All which were to be violated at once by this Undermining Project; and Persons must be imposed upon them for their Representatives in Parliament which were none of their Choice, but Pressed by a Popish Court and solely at their King's Devotion. Some are pleased to express themselves in very harsh Language against that which they call the Pentionary Parliament, as more zealous for the Advantage of the Crown, than the Welfare of the Kingdom; But what dreadful Consequences might be predicted from a Parliament consisting both of Papists and Popish Pensioners, if it had been possible for the late King to have accomplished his Designs, are almost beyond the Power of Melancholy to suggest them in Figures black enough to express their Horror. The Choice of a Parliament that would do whatever he thought fit, was the only thing wanting, therefore all things were disposed and regulated after such a manner, as might bring such a sort of Men together at Westminster, as might gratify his Popish Arbitrary Ends, and Vote Protestants to be the main Grievance of the Nation.  
6. Another Intrigue of the late King's, was to Ruin the Kingdom by a Chain of Consequences, and as the Destruction of the Liberties of England was the Overthrow of the Protestant Religion, so he would make the Subversion of our Religion serve to destroy our Liberties. This made him impatiently covet that Papists might be freed from the Penal Laws and Tests, which were the Barriers to Defend the Nation from Romish Usurpation. And this piece of Tyranny above all the rest is most notorious. A Protestant Nation makes Laws to preserve themselves from being Victims of Popish Fury: These Laws were necessary at all times, but more especially under the Reign of a King that had been pleased to declare himself a Papist; and yet these are the Laws that the late King would violate; and not violate only, but utterly 
* Non tam commutandarum, sed evertendarum rerum cupidi.  Abolish: and persecuted those who had a Zeal to preserve them; Imprisoning some, Destituting others, and Threatening all without Exception that dared to gainsay it.  
For this End he raised an Army, kept it up in Time of Peace, and put into it as many Irish as he could find, of the Posterity of those who committed the Barbarous and Bloody Murders, and Massacres on the Bodies of English Protestants, in 1641. and to do the like to us in England, or force us to submit to the cruel Yoke of Slavery and Superstition. 'Tis natural for a Prince to Raise Forces for the Defence of his Dominions, when he fears Enemies from abroad; But to entertain an Army in Times of Peace, only to Rob his People of their Laws and Privileges! to Ravage his Universities, and to put public Destroyer's into the Govent, must surely pass for a manifest Tyranny! Our Laws do not only totally exclude Papists from Military Offices, but enjoin them to be Disarmed also: Notwithstanding, James the Second did not only Arm them, but put them into the First Employments of the Army and all other Stations: And was so fond of them, that no Consideration either of Quality, Loyalty, or Merit, (except he was a Papist,) could Recommend any Man to this King's Favour, or give him Title to the common Kindness of a Civil Reception; but all were Smiled or Frowned on, as they were distinguished by their Religious Principles.  
Men may live happily under a Government, and yet be excluded from having any Office, or exercising any Authority under it; and therefore the late King's Fondness, and the Papists Forwardness to thrust themselves into Employments, gave a great Suspicion, that it was for no good End, that he put Wise and Experienced Men out, to make room for a sort of Raw Papists, who being not used to Public Business, were not capacitated for it. No Man can imagine that the late King made this bold Adventure, in Employing Papists, for nothing; or that he would disoblige the Body of his People for their sakes only, without designing some other Advantage to himself by it: He must have some peculiar Service for these Unqualifyed Favourites to do, in which the rest of the Nation would not intermeddle. The Contest was between the King's Absolute Power on the one side, and our Laws and Religion on the other: And therefore, to know what Work their King had for them to do, and to what End he would have employed these Services here, is but to see 
Vide State of Ireland under the Reign of the late King James.  what Use he put them to in Ireland, and how they demeaned themselves towards Protestant's where the Scene was opened, and all manner of Violences committed upon Protestants, by his Authority.  
He also corrupted the Exercise of Justice, on which depends the Safety of the Nation and the Stability of the Throne. The Judges were Tampered with, and Admitted upon Condition of favouring and promoting the late King's Arbitrary Power, and the Popish Interest. Those Judges were Deposed who were fixed in their Religion, and Resolutely defended the True Interest of their Country, and others put into their Places, of no Honour, Integrity, or Capacity; but known Temporizers or Papists, who were excluded by the Laws of their Country: Upon this, followed very Arbitrary and Illegal Proceed in the Courts of Judicature. A Prosecution was carried on against Seven Reverend Prelates, for Petitioning the King to Redress their Grievances, and giving their Reasons why they could not obey his Arbitrary Commands. Causes were Tried in the Court of King's Bench, that were only Cognizable in Parliament. Partial, Corrupt and Unqualifyed Persons were Returned, and Served on Juries in Cases of High Treason, that were not Freeholders'. Great Bail required of Persons Committed in Criminal Causes. Excessive Fines Imposed for small Offences. Illegal and Cruel Punishments Inflicted, without Example or Law, to warrant them. And, for a finishing Struck,  
The late King was also pleased to Grant and Seal a Commission to several Unqualifyed Persons, to Examine the Revenues, and Search into the Foundations of all the Hospitals in the Kingdom, and see to what Uses they were first given by their Benefactors: And into the Estates that some time ago belonged to Monks, Friars, and other Religious Orders of the Romish Church, with Intent to Restore them to the Papists, who complained to the late King, that they were Wrongfully Deprived of them. In brief; Never any Prince, in so short a time, committed so many Irregularities, and made such Inroads upon our All, as James the Second did, by his Dispencing Power in England, his Absolute Power without Reserve in Scotland, and his Actual and Absolute Destruction of the Liberties and Religion of the Protestants in Ireland.  
To which, if we add the more than seeming Probability of the late King's Leaguing with France, for the Extirpation of the Northern Heresy 'twill complete his Design, and make the intended Ruin of England unavoidable; for more Hands would have made lighter Work, and Experienced Artists would have finished it sooner. I will not urge this League as a plain and positive Truth, tho' I am strongly inclined to believe it; and therefore shall only produce my Reasons, and leave them with the Reader, to judge as he pleases.  
Mr. Coleman, who must be presumed to know much of his Master's Mind, (being in the same Interest, and the Tool he worked with in all his Secret Practices,) gives great Suspicion of the Truth of this Combination in a Letter to Sir William Throgmorton, Feb. 1. 1678. You well know, (saith he) that when the Duke comes to be Master of our Affairs, (i. e. to be King of England,) the King of France will have Reason to promise himself All things that he can desire. And in a Letter to Father Le Chaise, Confessor to the French King, he says, That His Royal Highness was convinced that His Interest and the King of France 's were the same. And whether he ever thought fit to change his Mind since his Accession to the Crown, his own Actions will better declare, than any Gloss of mine.  
In this State of Amity Things continued between the French King, and the Duke of York till he was King. And when the Prince of Orange's Fleet was preparing for his Noble Expedition into England, they seemed to rest on the same Foot; for Monsieur le Comte d' Avaux, the French King's Ambassador at the Hague, in a Memorial to the State's General, acquaints them, That his Master knowing the great Preparations for War that their Lordships were making, both by Sea, and Land, was not without some Design formed, answuerable to the greatness of those preparations, and his Master believing that it threatened England, he had Commanded him to declare on his part, that the Bands of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain, will oblige him not only to assist him; but also to look upon the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops, or your Fleet, against his Majesty of Great Britain, as a manifest Rupture of the Peace, and a Breach with his Crown.  
To this Memorial the States of Holland gave Answer, That they Armed, after the Example of their Neighbours, to be ready upon Occasion. 'Tis true, the French Ambassador, does not mention the League in express words, yet he gives very shrewd Hints that there was some such thing as a League, or an Equivilent, between, the two Crowns; and so the States of Holland took it. For in their Answer to the English 
* The Marquis d'Arbaville.  Ambassadors' Memorial, their Lordships tell him, That they were long since fully convinced of the Alliance which the King his Master, had treated with France, and which has been mentioned by Mr. Le Comte d'Avaux in his Memorial. The Industry and Care that has been used to stifle this League does also give cause to suspect it. For the Revoking and Imprisoning Sir Bevel Skelton the English Agent in France, upon a Supposition that he had talked of it, and Rewarding him afterwards with the Lieutenancy of the Tower are plain Contradictions; and therefore the English, and Dutch, had reason to believe the League, and Insist upon it, when the French themselves had discovered it. Now compare all this with Mr. Coleman's Letters, and the barbarous persecutions of the French Protestants so tragically carried on in France, and which were also going on to be Imitated in England, at the same time that the French Memorial was delivered, and you will have all the Reason in the World to to continue your belief of it, for the greater security of England.  
Thus have I given a brief Survey of the late King's Tyranny, in Matters of public Fact, as the natural consequence of his Espousing and Advancing the Popish Religion, upon the Ruins of the Reformed. I must now acquaint you what Course the Nation took to procure their Deliverance.  
Who seeing themselves Involved in such deplorable Circumstances, gauled under the Yoke of Papistick Tyranny, Afflicted at the dismal prospect of being deprived of the Exercise of their Established Religion, and the loss of their Civil Properties and Privileges: After they had ineffectually employed all Dutiful and Obliging Methods to Reclaim the King, and waited till England was on the Brink of Destruction, before they would assume their Natural Right, and Defend themselves: God Almighty, (who from Heaven beheld their approaching Calamities) put it into the Hearts of some thoughtful Persons of all Qualities, Degrees, and Conditions in the Kingdom, to make their humble Application to the Illustrious Prince of Orange, who as a Sovereign Independent Prince, nearly allied by his own Blood, but nearer by his Virtuous Princess to the Crown of England, and a Protestant in his Religion, had an undoubted Right to interpose between the late King and his injured Subjects, and according to his own Benignity, and the Example of his Illustrious Progenitors, Defend, and Deliver, an oppressed People.  
Divine Providence having thus prescribed the Means of our Deliverance, some good Men, whose Names ought to be Celebrated with Eternal praises, found a way maugre the danger that attended it, to Address this magnanimous Prince: Lay the Complaints and Dangers of the Kingdom before him, and Implore his Gracious Aid and Effectual Assistance, to Free a Languishing people from inevitable Ruin; promising to Live and Dye with his Highness in so Glorious an Enterprise.  
Animated by his known Piety, and Christian Compassion, his Native Heroic Bravery, and the Prayers and Necessities of a miserably harassed, and almost Ruined Kingdom, he was pleased to undertake our Deliverance; and to the Goodness of God, and this Great Prince's Wise and Valiant Conduct only, We own that Mercy; for though God can work miraculously for the Accomplishment of his own Will, yet in Human Reasoning, no other Prince but our now Gracious King, was qualified to undertake it. For,  
He is a Prince of a Ripe and Excellent Apprehension, of a strong and profound Judgement; has a Right Notion in all Ambiguities, and is not easily Imposed upon by the Sentiments of others. Able to Determine in all Occurrences, by the strength of his own Genius; and yet never unwilling to hear the Opinions of his Counsellors: Deliberate in his Resolves, and Firm in his Purposes: Undaunted in Dangers, and of a steady Conduct in Security. That knows how to gain Power, and how to make it Pleasant and durable by the Regular use of it, as appeared to all the World in the Upright and Discreet management of this Great, and almost Miraculous Revolution.  
The States of Holland accommodated the Prince of Orange with Shipping, and other Necessaries for this glorious Expedient, and merited our eternal Gratitude; but having met with ill Returns 
* Dutch Design Anatomised.  from some Mercenary Pens, I shall take off the Scandal and Reproach they have thrown upon that Action, by showing it, Kind, Grateful, and Justifiable to all the World.  
There are many Considerations that justify the Interposition of the States of Holland, and the first is, That 'twas to preserve the Peace of Europe; for all their Neighbouring Princes perceiving the growing power of France to threaten the Welfare and Quiet of Christendom; and that the Obsequious compliance of the late King James, in all the Proceed of that Towering Monarch (as well as Monsieur le Comte d'avauxes Memorial,) showed a dangerous Alliance between those Two Crowns; the Princes of Europe, and the States of Holland, entered into a Confederacy to prevent the Conjunction of the Armies of these two Princes, and save Europe. This memorable Concurrence happening about the same time that the Prince of Orange had promised to Assist the People of England, in Redressing their Grievances, and Restoring them to their Just Rights and Privileges. Whilst the Prince of Orange was doing that Good Office in England, the other Princes in the League, watched the the Motions of France, and made them uncapable of helping each other; and so the Emperor of Germany, the Pope himself, and the rest of the Confederate Princes as well as the States of Holland, were in the same design against the late King James, as the only means to preserve the peace of Europe.  
Besides, in this Generous Action, the States of Holland writ after an English Copy, and expressed their Gratitude for the same Good Office the English did them on the like occasion, 
* Hist. Belg. p. 203.  when the Spaniards threatened not to leave a Protestant alive in Holland.  
Those Provinces are of the same Religion with us, and when they saw our Prince had formed Designs to make us all Papists, or Destroy us, even Humanity obliged them to secure us, when the whole Nation so apparently wanted it; but the best Reason for what they did, except those of common Christianity, is given by themselves; as I find it in an Extract of the Resolutions of the States of Holland upon the 28th. of October, 1688. where, among other Reasons, for Assisting the Prince of Orange with a Fleet and an Army, this is one. The King of France (say they) hath, upon several Occasions, showed himself disaffected to that State, which gave Cause to fear, and apprehend, that in case the King of Great Britain should happen to 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 that State to confusion, and, if possible, quite subject it.  
There is no question, but this Wise and Prudent State saw our Ruin, would, in time, prove their own also, and Foreseeing and Preventing it, will Justify them before God and all the World.  
Now to show that other Princes were of the same Opinion with the States of Holland, and saw the Designs of the F. K. and the late King James threatened the Peace and Safety of Europe: Let us take a short view how these Princes carried it one towards the other.  
None are Ignorant that the F. K. as soon as he apprehended that a pretended Zeal for Religion was the only way to advance his Ends, and humour his Ambition, but that he trumpt it up in all Courts where the same Religion was professed. Religion was a Cloak to his Designs, when he made an Incursion into the Spanish Netherlands; and in the last Dutch War 
* Anno 1671.  (from whence We may date all our Misfortunes.) He in Conjunction with the King of Great Britain to destroy the States of Holland, Intimated by his Ambassadors to the Pope, to the Emperor of Germany, and all other Princes, whom he had a mind to deter from lending Assistance to the Dutch, that they were a Nation fallen into Abominable Heresies, and therefore all Christians were obliged in Conscience to War against them, and rend in pieces that flourishing Republic; and this furnished King James with the same Religious pretences against his own People.  
At the very beginning of the late King's Reign, the F. K. set him a Pattern at home, and broke the inviolable Edict of Nants, 
* Vid. Ed. Nants, 1685.  and King James, in imitation of so pious an Example, set up his dispencing Power in England, violated his Oaths and Promises to his People, and both under pretence of Zeal for Religion; but all the Roman Catholic Princes were sensible to what eminent dangers that boasted Zeal had reduced them to; for what Reverence, what Veneration could they think those Princes had for the Name of Christian, that made no Conscience of their Oaths, that broke their Faith with Christians, and leagued with Infidels; who preferred the Crescent of Mahomet before the Cross of Christ, and bribed the Turks to begin a War against the Emperor 
* 1683.  and Ruin that Capital City Vienna, which is the Bulwark of Christendom against the Incursions of the Barbarians.  
Who can think that Spiritual Things ever employed the thoughts of that Monarch, unless in order to Temporals, that reflects with what violence he makes ostentation of his Zeal at home, and at the same time espouses the Cause of the Protestants in Germany and Hungary, persuading them to follow the Fortune of Count Teckeley, and to join with the Turk, to demand satisfaction for the violence offered to their Religion. And this deceitful Artifice and Chichanery was the Cause that the Pope, for some time, resolutely refused to elect Fourbin into the college of Cardinals.  
As this affected Devotion of the F— K. was subservient to his Ambition, so James IId's Biggotry was early suspected to rise from the same Cause, as the Earl of Shaftsbury declared before King Charles II. in a Speech 
* Shaftsbury's Speech. State tracts. Part 1. p. 463.  in the House of Lords, that the Duke of York had quitted his Religion, that he might gain a powerful party to his Faction. And this agrees with a Letter written about the same time, and Recorded in the fifth Book of Collections; wherein the Author tells the Duke of York, that 'tis the opinion of all Men, that he Apostatised from his Old, and embraced a New Religion, not as Charmed by its Perfections, but allured by the promises of an Absolute Monarchy, and the blandishments of a Despotic Power, which by this means would one time or other fall into his Hands. Afterwards the same Letter admonishes the Duke to beware, lest being dazzled with the splendour of the French Monarchy he should endeavour to overthrow the best Government in the World, since he seemed to imitate King John who offered to turn Mahometan, if the Emperor of Morocco would assist him with a Force, to Revenge the Insolency of the Barons, who vindicated their Liberties against the Encroachments of their King.  
The Successes of France in War, the intimate correspondence between the Duke of York and that King, who managed England by the Politics of Cardinal Richlieu and Mazarine, at length induced the Duke of York to publish himself a Papist, and knowing that thereby he hazarded the loss of the Church of England party, he cajoled the Dissenters, and heaped his Favours upon them, that they might be the Tools of his Ambition, and also caressed the Romanists both at home and abroad, that they might be inclined for Religion sake to assist him.  
But the Catholic Princes fathomed his design, which was staged under the mask of Piety, and joined with the Interest of France; and therefore Pope Innocent XI. was not only incensed with the French King, and when he was drawing his last breath, recommended his Enmity to the Cardinals that stood about him; but also delivered it as his Judgement, 
* Vindic. Gou. p. 44.  that the designs of the late King James tended only to his own Ambition, and his Brother's of France: and therefore did not receive the Earl of Castlemain, his Ambassador, with so much Honour as was due to such a magnificent and sumptuous appearance; for his Holiness knew how all things were so managed by the Jesuits, that every thing should be a Sacrifice to the Ambition of France; and therefore as the Pope Complimented the late King James with a coolness of affection, so he always suspected him, sometimes discovered his Animosity, and received the News 
* Vid. representat. of Dangers in pol. tract. par. 2. p. 398.  of his Abdication with transports of Joy and Gladness.  
'Tis manifested the Emperor of Germany concurred in opinion with the Pope, for after the late King's Abdication, when he begged the Emperor's assistance in his misfortunes, 
* Tracts of pol. col. 12. vid. the Emp. of Ger. Letter.  and made use of his affection to the Romish Religion as a motive to incline him; the Emperor returned this Answer, That the late King James 's Affairs had been now in a prosperous condition if he had harkened to the advice of his Ambassador, 
* Comitis de Kaknuits.  and not to the perfidy and flattery of the F— King, and had hindered by his Authority and Arms the F— from violating the League, and Peace, whereof he was made Guarrantee by the Treaty of Nimeguen. Now, says the Emperor, How can I assist you, who must be forced to oppose the Forces of F—, and the Turk, who did not doubt of the Fidelity and Assistance of England; for the greatest injury that can be offered to our Religion is done by the F—, who is Confederated with the Turk, the inveterate Enemy of Christianty. So that the Jesuits that persuade the Roman Catholic Princes for their Religion sake to desert the Friendship of our Potent Monarch, who has restored us to our Dying Liberties, is just as if they should persuade the Confederate Princes to declare for those two Kings, who not only designed to enslave all Europe, but also cherished the cause of the Infidels against the Christians; and this brings me again into England.  
And here it would be vain and impertinent in me, to attempt to give a particular account of the Prince his successful and prosperous Expedition, where there were so many Eye-Witnesses of that great and miraculous Providence, that was visible in the progress thereof; which was such as showed the undertaking to be acceptable to Almighty God, who prospers the endeavours of Good Men; but taketh the wicked in the Nets which they spread for the Innocent. I shall therefore only tell the Reader that His Highness the Prince of Orange being happily and safely arrived in England, He was Saluted and Welcomed with all the demonstrations and transports of Joy and Gladness, that an ill used Nation were able to Express, under a sense of their Calamity, and a hopeful prospect of Deliverance, from a cruel Tyranny.  
This Joy and Satisfaction daily increased as his Highness' Declaration was spread through the Kingdom. For the Jesuits having loaded this Pious and Noble Expedition, with all the Odium of Virulent Pens and Tongues, his Highness' Declaration, which showed the End of his coming, was not with any design upon the Person of the late King, Aspiring at his Crown, or with any intention to subdue the Kingdom? (as had been maliciously suggested) but purely that the Abuses and Grievances of the People (Pathetically and Truly Enumerated, in his Highness' Declaration) might be Redressed by a Parliament, free in all its circumstances; all Fears and Jealousies vanished, and Men of all Qualities hastened to put themselves under the Auspicious Conduct of this Illustrious Prince, that God in the Eternal Counsel of his Wisdom, had Appointed to be the Glorious Deliverer of England.  
Now let all Men judge of the Equity of his Highness' Demands, and the Justice of his Proceed. His Own, and his Princess' Right to the Succession of the Crown, was like to be supplanted by a supposititious Child, and a flourishing Kingdom in danger of Destruction, and both evidently, plainly and certainly so. And can any Man think he ought to Renounce his Own, and his Princess' Right, and frustrate the Expectation of a whole Kingdom, to which he was Allied by Blood, Nature, and all the sacred Obligations of Religion, rather than disturb the progress of a Jesuitick Tyranny, covered under Royal Authority? Sure none in the World can think so!  
Had this Illustrious Prince conceived any Prejudice against this Unfortunate Monarch James II. Turned his Eye toward the Crown, or would have seen England's Misery before the Oppressed Subjects themselves Represented it to him, and prayed his Relief; His Highness was not without an earlier 
* Defence de la Nation Britanique, p. ●●  knowledge of it, and Solicitations to do what at last Necessity compelled him to. For there are many yet alive in Germany, Holland and England, that very well remember how much his Highness was Importuned at James the 2d's first coming to the Crown to make a Descent into England, with a Force able to Redress the Affairs of that Country, and prevent the inevitable Ruin which so openly threatened it. This was known immediately after the Death of Charles the Second, when one of the most powerful Princes of Europe having represented to his Highness that All was going to Ruin, and would be utterly lost in England, if a sudden Interposition of the Prince of Orange did not prevent its impending Destruction, and therefore Offered him what Assistance was requisite for such a Noble and Pious Enterprise; but that Puissant Prince received no other Answer, but that his Highness was in hopes that God, and that King's own Interest, would possess him with better Sentiments, and therefore his Highness would Attempt nothing in that kind against the late King, till he was forced to it by the last Extremity; but if his hopes were disappointed, and there was no other Remedy, he would not be wanting in his Duty. And,  
God be praised, his Highness at length, in due time, performed his Promise, and Silenced all that declaim against it.  
It cannot be imagined that his Highness was pleased to see the Efforts of the late King, in abolishing the Penal Laws against Papists, which were so essentially necessary to our Preservation; nor can his Highness be thought easy at the sight of the late King's climbing up a Precipice from which he must necessarily fall, or by an Artificial and Politic Silence encourage K. James' Ministers to carry all things to such Extremities, as might render his Conduct Odious; for the Letter of Mr. fagel upon this Subject, will be an Eternal Monument of the Free and Sincere proceed of his Highness with the late King in this whole Matter.  
Much less can our Adversary deny that his Highness was Requested by the People to Defend their Religion, Rights and Privileges; for God Almighty, to the eternal Confusion of our Enemies, suffered themselves to declare it, in a Memorial, they published to all the Confederate Princes, with design to break the League they were so much afraid of; for after they had in that paper undecently treated his Highness, and menaced him with I know not how many Tragical Stories, they yet acknowledge that He was Invited by the Nation.  
Nor could his Highness hinder the Lords, and other Persons of the best Quality in England, from showing their Grievances, and Imploring his Gracious Succour, when the Extremities they were under compelled them to it; and also told Him that if his Highness refused them, they would enter into their Natural Right, and Defend themselves by their own strength, against a Power which was become (as they declared to his Highness in their Memorial) a Power of Destruction.  
Let our Adversaries now tell us, if the Case was not very Important; and whether the Prince of Orange ought to have contemned the just Fears of the English, and all the Protestants of Europe, who are embarked in the same Interest and Danger, and have slighted all the Princes that either by themselves, or by their Ministers, persuaded his Highness to enter upon an Action on which depended the Common Safety of Europe? I don't believe they dare say, after all the Facts we have enumerated, that his Highness ought to contemn the Public, or dispute Matters of so great Notoriety; but if the English Fears were well grounded, and their Oppressions True and Real, and that if his Highness could not persuade himself from being of the same Opinion with the rest of the World, that he could refuse to assist those that requested it, in such a pressing necessity; and on an Occasion where Providence appeared so expressly for our Deliverance, and which if neglected, perhaps could never be Retrieved.  
Now let the French Missionaries, or their English Pupils produce their Fine Reasons, and tell us if his Highness ought to forget his God, his Religion, the Rights of his Princess, his Own, the Liberty of England, and of Holland (which must Infallibly share in the Misfortunes and Depredations of England) the Protestant Religion breathing its last, and all Europe in danger of losing its Liberty; Let them also tell us if they can, whether the Respects due to a Father in-Law could counter-balance so many Great and stupendious Interests, or the Sacred and Inviolable Obligations that engaged him to God, and the public good of so many Millions of Souls that depended on it?  
Every Prince of the Royal Blood of England, is, in Right of that Blood, obliged to regard England as his Own Country, and to take care of the Inhabitants over whom he has a Right to Reign; that the Demeans of the Crown be not Wasted, nor the Subjects Injured; and the nearer he approaches the Succession, the greater is his Obligation to Defend them from Violence, and his Country from Ruin; to which Country, next unto his God 
* Chari sunt parents, cha●●i liberi, propinqui, familiares; sed omnes omnium charitates Patriae una complexa est pro qua quis bonus dubitet mortem oppetere, fi ea sit profituturus 〈…〉. , and before all other Relations whatsoever, he stands Particularly and Religiously concerned for its Peace and Preservation.  
His Highness the Prince of Orange could not neglect it now in common Prudence, without manifest prejudice to his Right of Succession; for the People of England, by applying to his Highness, had not only Recognized his Right to the Succession, but also acqaainted him in their Memorial, that if he refused them Succour under their present Ill Circumstances, they would Assume their own Right, and Free themselves; and how far their Resentments of such a 'Slight might have Transported them, is not easy to imagine.  
Now although the Reasons alleged are sufficient to show the Justice of the Prince's Interposing between the late King and his Subjects; yet I shall show also that it is justified by many Precedents, and where the Emergencies were not so considerable as ours, nor their Titles to the Government so Incontestable as the Prince of Orange's was to the Crown of England, who yet are Celebrated in History for their great Achievements on such Occasions.  
Constantine's quarrel with Maxentius, 
* Eusebius Eccl. Hist. p. 268.  had no other ground (and that was enough) than that Maxentius Tyrannised over the Romans; for which Constantine Invaded him, Slew him, and was received by the Romans as their Deliverer. As remarkable was his Raising War against his Brother in Law Licinius, because he persecuted the Christians; for which, when he had overcome the Tyrant, the Christians placed him on the Throne in Licinius' Room; and Historians have Celebrated his Name as a most Holy, and Generous Champion, in the Cause of Christ and their Country. Constantine, the Younger Son of Constantine the Great, threatened his Brother Constantius with a War, and made him desist from persecuting the Catholic Bishops, and forced him to Restore Athanasius to his Bishopric of Alexandria: The like was done by King Pipin, and Charles the Great against the Lomlards, and by all the Christian Princes against the Turk, in the Holy War.  
To come nearer our own times. Queen Elizabeth gave a Powerful Aid to the Hollanders, 
* Vid. English Chron. and Hist. of her Life.  against the Tyranny of the Spaniards. King James the First 
* See his Manifesto. 16. and K. C. Declaration on that Subject.  on the behalf of the Prince Palatine, against the Emperor of Germany. King Charles the First, assisted the Rochellers with a Fleet, and an Army against the French King in the cause of Religion, and was encouraged to it by several of his Bishops; and 'twas always looked upon as a great Blemish on the Reign of King Charles the Second, and gave suspicion of his being in the Popish Interest, that he suffered the F. K. to proceed so far in destroying his Protestant Subjects, without such a seasonable Interposition as might have prevented it, or gained an Opportunity of making his Reign glorious, and his Kingdom easy, by a War which in all probality would have brought that Monarch into better Terms for the Advantage of Europe. So that from the Reasons aforementioned, and the Precedents now alleged, his Highness' Expedition to Rescue an Injured People from the Tyranny of Arbitary Power, was one of the most Generous and Pious Erterprises, that any Age has acquainted us with; and that the Good of this Nation, was the only motive that gave birth to this undertaking; see it in the Words of his Highnesses own Declaration.  
Since the English Nation has always testified a most particular Affection and Esteem, both to our Dearest Consort the Princess, and to ourselves, we cannot excuse ourselves, from Espousing their Interests in matters of such high Consequences; and from contributing all that lies in us, for maintaining both of the Protestant Religion, and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms, and for the securing to them, the continual enjoyment of all their just Rights, to the doing of which, we are most earnestly solicited by a great many Lords, both Spiritual and Temporal, and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks. Therefore it is, that we have thought fit to go over into England, and to carry over with us a Force, able by the Blessing of God, to defend us from the Violence of those Evil Counsellors; and we being desirous, that our Intentions in this may be rightly understood, declare that this our expedition is intended for no other design, but to have a free, and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible; and that in order to this, all the late Charters by which the Elections of Burguesses are limited contrary to the Ancient custom, shall be considered as Null, and of no Force; and likewise all Magistrates who have been unjustly turned out, shall forthwith Resume their former Employments, as well as all the Boroughs of England, shall return again to their ancient prescriptions, and Charters, and that the Writs for the Members of Parliament shall be addressed to their proper Officers, according to Law and Custom. That also none be suffered to choose, or to be chosen Members of Parliament, but such as are qualified by Law; and that the Members of Parliament shall meet, and sit in full freedom; that so the two Houses may concur in preparing such Laws, as they upon full and free debate, shall judge Necessary, and Convenient, both for the confirming and executing the Law concerning the Test, and such other Laws as are necessary and convenient, for the security and maintenance of the Protestant Religion, etc.  
Thus his Highness was pleased to declare his intentions, with which the Nation was so Entirely satisfied, that they conquered all that Read, or heard them, insomuch, that many Persons of Quality, and others, met his Highness at Exeter, put themselves under his Conduct, and many other Lords and Great Men, who had raised Forces in all parts of the Kingdom, to strengthen the Prince's Expedition, were marching with all speed to join his Highness' Troops. And now  
A War being ready to break forth in the Bowels of the Kingdom, several Spiritual and Temporal Lords, in an humble Petition to the late King, advise him in order to Redress the Grievances of his People, to prevent Distractions, and the effusion of Christian Blood, to call a Parliament free in all its circumstances; but the late King was pleased to Deny their Request, till the Prince of Orange had acquitted the Realm. 
* vid. his Answer to the Lord's Petition.   
Several Privy Counsellors before this, had advised his Majesty to call a Parliament without delay, and before his Subjects Asked it; assuring him, that if any attempts were made upon his Royal Person, or Authority, it would effectually engage many honest Men to stand by him; besides, no ill consequences could be suspected from it, because it would always be in his Power to Prorogue or Dissolve it; and then he might, at the last Shift, trust to his Land and Sea Forces. But  
The Jesuits, who had his Ear, and Heart, entirely open, and fixed to their pernicious Counsels, on the other hand, represented to him, that he would be in Danger to see the great Forces which he had then on foot, join with his Parliament against him; or, at least, Discontents and Divisions would arise amongst them: But if he stood his Ground, and suffered no Parliament to meet, All would faithfully adhere to him, so long as he absolutely relied on his Forces: And, accordingly, he took this last and worst Advice, and would never be brought off, till it ended in his Ruin.  
In order to fight the Prince, the late King having sent a great Army before, he marches down to Salisbury himself; where continuing a while, and finding his Army daily Desert, and being assured by the Lord Feversham, and others, that he could not Rely upon the remaining part of his Soldiery, (who unanimously declared they would not fight against Protestants, nor offend the Prince that Heaven had sent, for the Deliverance of the Nation from Popery,) with a very small Number of Attendants the late King returns again to London, and in Council order the Lord Chancellor Jeoffreys to 
* vid. the Proclamation dat. Nou. 30th, 1688.  Issue out Writs for the Sitting of a Parliament at Westminster on the 15th Day of January following. And,  
To second this plausible Pretence of Gratifying the Prince, and the whole Nation, in Calling a Parliament, the late King, by three Noble Peers, sets on foot a Treaty with the Prince, for the Security of the Parliament's Sitting without Interruption, the Accommodating all Differences, and Restoring Peace and Tranquillity to the Nation. The Prince freely accepts it; and with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with him, his Highness was pleased to send the late King such Proposals as he was pleased to say, 
* The Letter to a Bishop, q. 14.  were Better, and Fairer, than he could, or did expect from him: But all this, on the late King's part, was only a Flourish, a Touch of the Jesuits Morals; for the late King never intended to perform one Syllable of these Specious Pretences; and therefore, having sent away the Queen, the Child, Count Dada, the Pope's Nuntio, Father Petre, and caused the Broad Seal to be thrown into the Thames, he only showed this Complaisance, to Gain Time for his own Departure into France after them.  
What a fair Opportunity was now, at the very last, put into the late King's Hands, to have Redeemed his Honour, Settled the Nation, and prevented all ill Consequences to his Person, and Affairs, if he had pursued his own proposed Methods for an Accommodation, and kept his Voluntary Promises; but he would not. So that we can solve these Self-sought Evils no otherwise, but by saying,  
What Heaven, in the Eternal Council of his own Will, has Decreed, can never be Revoked; and that for the Accomplishing God's Divine Pleasure, Men act directly contrary to their own Interests, which has been notorious in the whole Conduct of this Unhappy Prince, and has been Jocosely observed by others.  
I remember to have seen a Letter written into France, from Ireland, by a French Commander there, giving an Account of the late King James' Management of his Affairs in that Kingdom, wherein he expresses himself after this manner, That if (the late) King James had as many Kingdoms to lose as are numbered in Europe, his own Conduct would forfeit them all; for if he had Twenty Counsellors, and Nineteen of them were Men of approved Wisdom, and Integrity, and but one Fool, and senseless Person among them, he would certainly follow the advice of that blind Bayard, in opposition to all the other Sages. But,  
Without reflecting upon his Counsellors, the late King confirmed the French Gentleman's Opinion of himself, in pursuing the False and Destructive Opinions of those that advised him to withdraw himself, against the wholesome Counsels of so many Wise Men, that advised Calling of a Parliament, in order to his own, and the Nation's future Happiness; and made it appear a Project so weak, and silly, that there seems something of a Divine Infatuation in it.  
But he had promised the Queen, and, as some say, taken the Sacrament upon it, to follow her; and thought fit rather to break his Promise with a whole Nation, than not humour a pettish Woman: Go he must, go he will, let whatever will be the Consequence of it: And therefore, to do all the Mischief he could before he went, and leave the Realm in all the Confusion was possible;  
He Ordered all those Writs for the Sitting of a Parliament that were not sent out, to be burnt, and a Caveat to be Entered against the making use of those that were sent out; and about the same time sent Orders to the Earl of Feversham to Disband the Army, and Dismiss the Soldiers, which was done accordingly: And then the late King made his first Attempt to leave the Kingdom.  
How could the Jesuits have done their King a greater Injury, than in persuading him to a continual Breach of his Promises, which exposed his Honour and Integrity to common Censure, and drew the Contempt of the whole Nation upon him, as a Prince never to be trusted! At his first Accession to the Throne, one of the Things his Favourites magnified him for, was, for being True to his Word; but he resolved to prove the contrary, and break it in every Instance.  
He promised to protect the Church of England, and maintain the Protestant Religion, when his whole Design was to destroy both, and declared it in every, Action! He promised to Govern by Law, and not Arbitrarily; and at the same time was Investing himself, and his Ministers, with a Power to destroy them! He promised an equal Distribution of his Favours; and that he would serve himself, and the Government, indifferently, with the Use of All his Subects; yet set up Papists, to crush the Protestants! And when driven to the last Extremity, when his All was at Stake, He promised to Call a Parliament, when he was resolved it should have no Effect; and therefore burned the Writs, to hinder their Sitting; He promised, by this Means, to secure the Peace and Happiness of the Kingdom; when he had resolved beforehand, to withdraw himself, and leave it in Confusion!  
Of these Riddles, and Self-Contradictions, we had continual Experience from his Creatures also; who, when they were under any Necessity of serving themselves by the Credulity of Protestants, flaped us in the Mouth with their King's Justness to his Word; but when the Fish was caught, threw away the Net, and left the Protestants to repent their Easiness at leisure. So that Doctor Cartwright had the only true Notion of a Popish King's Promises, when in a Sermon Preached at his Deanary of Rippon, he told his Auditors, that the late King's Promises were Donatives, and ought not to be too strictly examined, or charged upon him; but that we must leave His Majesty to explain his own Meaning: For which, and other like Services, he was rewarded with the Bishopric of Chester: And the late King did the Doctor the Honour to Copy his Original, and suffered neither Truth, Faith, nor Sincerity, to accompany any of his Promises made to his good Protestant Subjects.  
Nay, if the late King would at any time have kept his Word, he could not; for by putting himself under the Power of the Roman Church, he made it as impossible for him to keep his Faith with Protestants, as it was for Sygismond the Emperor to prevent the Burning of Jerome of Prague, (to whom he had granted Safe Conduct,) when the Council of Constance had a Mind to Sacrifice him, as a Contumacious Heretic.  
Delays being dangerous, and the late King's Tricking evident, His Highness the Prince of Orange, by the Advice and Consent of the Body of the Nation, took up a Resolution of sending out his Circular Letters to all Parts of the Kingdom, to choose Members for a Convention of the Estates of the Kingdom, to Meet at Westminster, and settle the Affairs of the Nation; but before the appointed time of their Session came, News was brought, That the late King endeavouring to make his Escape, was taken in 
* Decemb. 12.  Kent, and brought (with Sir Edward Hales, and Mr. la Baddy,) to Feversham, in that Country. Whereupon, some Lords (by what Politics I am a Stranger to) sent the Lords Feversham, Ailesbury, Yarmouth and Middleton, to desire the late King to return to London; which he complied with: Came to Whitehall on 
† Decemb. 14  Sunday in the Evening, and on 
* Decemb. 18.  Thursday following summoned a Council:  
And to show he Returned with the same Principles, and Resolutions, that he went away with, tho' he had then a lucky Opportunity to Ingratiate himself with his Protestant Subjects, by doing some Pleasing and Popular Act in favour of them, and their Religion; directly on the contrary, as if he courted his own Ruin, all he did in that Last Act of his Government, was showing his Respect and Zeal for the Popish Interest; and as if he had come back for no other End, but to serve the Papists, made an Order of Council to prohibit Pulling down their Houses, and despoiling them of their Goods, by the Tumultuous Rabble; which, tho' it was Good, and Commendable in itself, yet was needless in respect of the late King, because the Committee of Lords had, by a Public Order, taken Care in that Matter 
* Decemb. 14.  before his Return to London. To this Order in favour of the Papists, he added another, in Discharging Dr. Leighton, a Popish Bishop, out of Newgate. So that instead of Reforming Abuses at his Return, by Shipping off Priests and Jesuits, Purging his Council, Disclaiming his Arbitrary and Dispencing Power, Pulling down Popish Meeting-places, Disarming Papists, and Encouraging Protestants, which under his present Circumstances, might have been, in Justice, and Reason, expected from him; we found nothing but an Invincible Resolution to persevere in his former Illegal Courses, and make the Nation know, that as soon as he had Power, all things should run in the same Popish, Arbitrary Channel as he left them in; and that our Chains should be made Heavier, by our late Struggling to shake them off.  
A former Testimony of his Resolutions to favour Papists, and advance their Religion upon every Smile of Providence, was conspicuous, in sending the Bishop of Winchester to restore Magdalen-College to the Protestants when he heard the Prince of Orange was coming; but hearing a Storm had made it unlikely for His Highness to come that Winter, the late King immediately recalled the Bishop, and continued the Papists in Possession of the College, till the Certainty of the Prince's being Landed, returned the Bishop, to complete that Work; which never would have been done, if Necessity had not compelled the late King to do it then, in hopes to persuade the Nation he would change his Measures.  
Now almost all the Garrisons, Forts, and Places of Strength, in England were put into the Prince's Hands; the Generality of the Nobility and Gentry, and City of London, had sent the Prince their Submission, put themselves under his Conduct, and invited him forthwith to come to London, and take upon him the Care of the City and Kingdom: Which being known by the late King, he also Invited the Prince of Orange to come to St. James', and bring with him what Number of Troops he pleased.  
The Prince of Orange communicated the late King's Letter to the Peers then at Windsor, who concluded, that the Shortness of the Time could admit no better Expedient, than that the late King might be desired to remove to some Place within a reasonable Distance from London. Ham was pitched upon as most convenient; and Notice was sent of it to the late King, by three Noble Peers, accordingly. But the Lords at Windsor hearing that Whitehall was again crowded with Irishmen, Priests, Jesuits, and Papists, did not think it Reasonable the Prince of Orange should accept the late King's Invitation, and venture his Person near a Place haunted with such Bloody-minded and Profligate Wretches, till the Prince's own Guards had taken Possession of the Posts about Whitehall, to prevent that Danger.  
Removing and placing the Guards, made it late before the Lords could deliver the Message they brought from Windsor, viz. That the late King would Remove to Ham: Which, at his own Desire, and I suppose to facilitate his Purpose of going into France, (tho' that was a Secret unknown to others,) was changed to Rochester. There the late King continued a while; but resolving to be Nothing, unless he might be Absolute; like Children that have lost their Favourite Play-thing, throw away all the rest in a Fit of Pettishness; so he went into France, left England very abruptly, and the Convention took that Opportunity of parting with him Fairly.  
Thus James the Second Abdicating the Government by other Previous Actions, as well as his Flight, yielded his vacant Throne to the Pr. of Orange; and if His Highness had Ascended it without any other Ceremony, as some Kings of this Nation have done before him on the like Occasion, none could have blamed him for making use of the Advantage his Sword had gained him; But as he came to Redress the Grievances of the Nation, by Calling a Free Parliament, so he would abide by their Determination in what concerned his own Person, and not by any Rash or Precipitate Action, seem to cross the End of his Coming, which was to have all Things settled according to Law; and therefore he left that, and all other our Affairs, to be settled by the approaching Parliament.  
In the mean time, the Prince Advised with the Lords, how to pursue the Ends of his Declaration in Calling a Free Parliament, for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion, Restoring the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom, and Settling them so firmly, that they might not lie in danger of being again Subverted.  
To Answer this Great End, in Settling the Nation by a Parliamentary Proceeding, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled in their House at 
* Decemb. 22  Westminster; and being agreed on the Particulars, Humbly desire 
† Decemb. 25.  His Highness the Prince of Orange to take upon him the Administration of Public Affairs, both Civil, and Military, and the Disposal of the Public Revenue, for the Preservation of the Religion, Laws, Liberties and Properties, and the Peace of the Nation: And that His Highness would take into his particular Care the present Condition of Ireland; and endeavour, by the most speedy and effectual Means, to prevent the Dangers threatening that Kingdom. All which their Lordships requested His Highness to undertake, and exercise, till the Meeting of the intended Convention on the 22th of January ensuing; and presented it to His Highness (with their Proposals about Calling a Parliament) at St. James', December the 25th, 1688. To which His Highness was pleased to return this Answer to the Peers, assembled at the same place on December the 28th following.  
My LORDS,  
I Have considered of your Advice; and, as far as I am able, I will endeavour to secure the Peace of the Nation, until the Meeting of the Convention in January next; for the Meeting whereof I will forthwith issue out Letters according to your Desire. I will also take care to apply the Public Revenue to the most proper Uses that the present Affairs require; and likewise endeavour to put Ireland into such a Condition, that the Protestant Religion may be maintained in that Kingdom: And I assure you, that as I came hither for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion, and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom, so I shall always be ready to expose myself to any Hazard, for the Defence of the same.  
His Highness' Letters being dispersed, the Election of Members for the Convention was carried on with all the Expedition and Freedom imaginable, and the Temper of the Nation fully discovered in the Choice they made. The 22th of January, 1688. both Houses met again; and having chosen their Speakers, the following Letter from His Highness the Prince of Orange was Read in both Houses.  
My LORDS,  
I Have endeavoured, to the utmost of my Power, to perform what was desired from me, in order to the public Peace, and Safety; and I do not know that any thing hath been omitted, which might have tended to the Preservation of them, since the Administration of Affairs was put into my Hands. It now lies upon you to lay the Foundations of a firm Security for your Religion, your Laws, and your Liberties.  
I do not doubt, but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation as is now met, the Ends of my Declaration will be attained: And since it hath pleased God hitherto to bless my good Intentions with so great Success, I trust in him, that he will complete his own Work, by sending a Spirit of Peace and Union to influence your Counsels, that no Interruption may be given to a happy and lasting Settlement.  
The dangerous Condition of the Protestants in Ireland require a large and speedy Succour: And the present State of Things Abroad oblige me to tell you, that next to the Danger of Unseasonable Divisions amongst yourselves, nothing can be so fatal as too great Delay in your Consultations. The States, by whom I have been enabled to rescue this Nation, may suddenly feel the ill Effects of it, both by being too long deprived of the Service of their Troops which are nowhere, and of your Early Assistance against a powerful Enemy, who hath Declared a War against them. And as England is, by Treaty, already engaged to help them upon such Exigencies, so I am confident that their Cheerful Concurrence to preserve this Kingdom, with so much Hazard to themselves, will meet with all the Returns of Friendship and Assistance which may be expected from you, as Protestants, and Englishmen,  their Condition shall require it.  
Given at St. James', the 22th of January, 1688. Will. H. P. d' Orange.  
The Two Houses, under a deep Sense of their Dangers, and Deliverance, in the first place, by mutual Consent, expressed their Thankfulness to God, by appointing a Day of Public Thanksgiving throughout the Kingdom; and to His Highness, as the Glorious Instrument of the Great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power, in the following Address, which was presented to the Prince of Orange, the 22th of January, 1688. in these Words:  
Die Martis, 22 Jan. 1698. The Address of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, Assembled at Westminister, in this present Convention, to His Highness the Prince of Orange.  
WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, Assembled at Westminster, being highly sensible of the great Deliverance of this Kingdom, from Popery, and Arbitrary Power; and that our Preservation is, next under God, owing to your Highness, do return our most humble Thanks and Acknowledgements to your Highness, as the Glorious Instrument of so great a Blessing.  
We do further acknowledge the great Care your Highness has been pleased to take in the Administration of the Public Affairs of the Kingdom, to this time: And we do most humbly desire your Highness, that you will take upon you the Administration of Public Affairs, both Civil and Military, and the Disposal of the Public Revenue, for the Preservation of our Religion, Rights, Laws, Liberties and Properties, and of the Peace of the Nation. And that your Highness will take into your particular Care the present State of Ireland, and endeavour, by the most speedy and effectual Means, to prevent the Dangers that threaten that Kingdom. All which we make our Request to your Highness to undertake and Exercise, till further Application shall be made by us, which shall be expedited with all convenient Speed: And we shall also use our utmost Endeavaurs to give Dispatch to the Matters recommended to us by your Highness' Letter.  
To which Address, presented by both Houses at St. James', His Highness the Prince of Orange made this Reply the same Day.  
My Lords and Gentlemen,  
I Am glad that what I have done, has pleased you: And since you desire me to continue the Administration of Affairs, I am willing to accept it. I must recommend to you the Consideration of Affairs Abroad, which makes it fit for you to expedite your Business; not only for making a Settlement at home, upon a good Foundation; but for the Safety of all Europe.  
The Lords having declared by a Vote of that House, That Popery was Inconsistent with the Government of England, the Commons, upon the 28th of January, passed the following Vote, viz.  

Resolved,  
THat King James the Second having endeavoured to Subvert the Constitution of this Kingdom, by breaking the Original Contract between King and People; and by the Advice of Jesuits, and other Wicked Persons, having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom, hath Abdicated the Government, and that the Throne is thereby Vacant.   
This Vote occasioned several Conferences between the two Houses of Lords and Commons, in the Painted Chamber at Westminster; (the Substance whereof, as they are transmitted 
* 〈◊〉 Debate at large between the House of Lords and House of C●●●●●●.  to us, will be occasionally produced in the Sequel.) But on the 7th of February, the Lords sending a Message to the Commons, that they had Agreed to the Vote sent them up on the 28th of January last, without any Alterations, on the 12th of February following both Houses Unanimously Agreed to Declare as followeth.  

The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, Assembled at Westminster.  
Whereas the late King James the Second, by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors, Judges and Ministers, employed by him, did endeavour to Subject and Extirpate the Protestant Religion, and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom;  
By Assuming and Exercising a Power of Dispencing with, and Suspending of Laws, and the Execution of Laws, without Consent of Parliament.  
By Committing and Persecuting divers Worthy Prelates, for humbly Petitioning to be excused from Concurring to the said Assumed Power.  
By Issuing, and Causing to be Executed, a Commission under the Broad Seal, for Erecting a Court, called The Court of Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs.  
By Levying Money for and to the Use of the Crown by Pretence of Prerogative, for other Time, and in other Manner, than the same was Granted by Parliament.  
By Raising and Keeping a Standing Army within the Kingdom in Time of Peace, without Consent of Parliament; and Quartering of Soldiers contrary to Law.  
By Causing several good Subjects, being Protestants, to be Disarmed, at the same time when Papists were both Armed and Employed contrary to Law.  
By Violating the Freedom of Elections of Members to Serve in Parliament.  
By Prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench, for Matters and Causes Cognizable only in Parliament, and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses.  
And whereas of late Years, Partial, Corrupt and Unqualifyed Persons have been Returned, and Served on Juries, in Trials; and particularly, divers Jurors Served in Trials for High Treason, which were not Freeholders'.  
And Excessive Bail had been Required of Persons Committed in Criminal Causes, to Elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject.  
And Excessive Fines have been Imposed.  
And Illegal and Cruel Punishments Inflicted.  
And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures, before any Conviction, or Judgement against the the Persons upon whom the same were to be Levied.  
All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes, and Freedom of this Realm.  
And whereas the late King James the Second having Abdicated the Government, and the Throne being thereby Vacant;  
His Highness the Prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power) did (by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and divers Principal Persons of the Commons) cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, being Protestants; and other Letters to the several Counties, Cities, Universities, Boroughs and Cinque-Ports, for the Choosing such Persons to represent them, as were of Right to be sent to Parliament, to Meet, and Sat at Westminster, upon the 22th Day of January, 1688. in order to such an Establishment, as that their Religion, Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being Subverted: Upon which Letters, Elections have been made.  
And thereupon, the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, pursuant to their respective Letters, and Elections, being now Assembled in a Full and Free Representative of this Nation, taking into their most Serious Consideration the best Means for attaining the Ends aforesaid, do in the first place, (as their Ancestors, in like Cases, have formerly done,) for the Vindicating and Asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties, Declare,  
That the Pretended Power of Suspending of Laws, or the Execution of Laws, by Regal Authority, without Consent of Parliament, is Illegal.  
That the Pretended Power of Dispencing with Laws, or the Exercise of Laws, by Regal Authority, as has been Assumed and Practised of late, is Illegal.  
That the Commission for Erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other Commissions and Courts of the like nature, are Illegal, and Pernicious.  
That Levying of Money to or for the Use of the Crown, by Pretence of Prerogative, without Grant of Parliament, for a longer Time, or in other Manner, than the same is or shall be Granted, is Illegal.  
That it is the Right of the Subject to Petition the King; and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning, is Illegal.  
That the Raising or Keeping a Standing Army within the Kingdom in Time of Peace, unless it be by Consent of Parliament, is against Law.  
That the Subjects, being Protestants, may have Arms for their Defence, suitable to their Condition, and as Allowed by Law.  
That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free.  
That the Freedom of Speech, and Debates or Proceed in Parliament, ought not to be Impeached or Questioned in any Court, or Place, out of Parliament.  
That Excessive Bail ought not to be Required, nor Excessive Fines Imposed, nor Cruel and Unusual Punishments Inflicted.  
That Jurors ought to be duly Impannell'd, and Returned; and Jurors which Pass upon Men in Trials for High Treason, aught to be Freeholders'.  
That all Grants, and Promises of Fines, and Forfeitures, of particular Persons, before Conviction, are Illegal, and Void.  
That for Redress of all Grievances, and for the Amending, Strengthening and Preserving of the Laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently.  
And they do Claim, Demand, and Insist upon all, and singular the Premises, as their Undoubted Rights and Liberties; and that no Declarations, Judgements, Do, or Proceed, to the Prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises, aught in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence, or Example.  
To which Demand of their Rights they are particularly Encouraged by the Declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange, as being the only Means for Obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein.  
Having therefore an Entire Confidence that His said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him, and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights, which they have here Asserted, and from all other Attempts upon their Religion, Rights and Liberties;  
The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, Assembled at Westminster, do Resolve,  
That William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, be, and be Declared King and Queen of England, France and Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto belonging; to Hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms, and Dominions, to them the said Prince and Princess, during their Lives, and the Life of the Survivor of them; And that the Sole and Full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in, and Executed by the said Prince of Orange, in the Names of the said Prince and Princess, during their Joint Lives: And after their Deceases, the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms, and Dominions, to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess; and for Default of such Issue, to the Princess Anne of Denmark, and the Heirs of her Body; and for Default of such Issue, to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange.  
And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, do Pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to Accept the same accordingly.   
This Offer being made in due Form, and Accepted by the Prince and Princess of Orange, now our Gracious King William, and the late Queen Mary of Blessed Memory, on the 13th Day of February, 1688. the Lords and Commons ordered the following Proclamation to be Published, and Made.  

WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God, in his great Mercy to this Kingdom, to vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power; and that our Preservation is due, next under God, to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of Orange, whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us, and our Posterity; and being highly sensible, and fully persuaded of the Great and Eminent Virtues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange, whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will, no doubt, bring a Blessing along with her, upon this Nation. And whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster, have made a Declaration, and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of Orange, and therein desired them to accept the Crown; who have accepted the same accordingly: We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London, and others of the Commons of this Realm, do with full Consent, Publish and Proclaim, according to the said Declaration, William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, to be King and Queen of England, France and Ireland, with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging; who are accordingly so to be owned, Deemed and Taken by all the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions; who are from henceforward, bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith, and True Allegiance; Beseeching God, by whom King's Reign, to Bless King William and Queen Mary with Long and Happy Years to Reign over us.  
God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY. Joh. Brown, Cler. Parl.   
These Ample and Affectionate Demonstrations of the Nation's Gratitude were as Kindly received by the King and Queen, as they were Dutifully offered by their Subjects: And thus the King was pleased to express himself upon the Notice of it, to the Lords and Commons.  
My Lords and Gentlemen,  
THis is certainly the greatest Proof of the Trust you have in Us, that can be given, which is the Thing that makes Us value it the more; and We thankfully accept what you have offered. And as I had no other Intentious in my coming hither, than to preserve your Religion, Laws and Liberties, so you may be sure that I shall endeavour to support them, and shall be willing to do any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom, and to do all that is in My Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation.  
And now, with what Inexpressible Joy, and Entire Satisfaction, the whole Nation entertained Their Majesty's Accession to the Throne; and seeing those Illustrious Princes that had been hitherto their Hopes, and Desires, now become their Glory, and Crown of Rejoicing, is easier to imagine, than delineate; and therefore I must content the Reader, by only saying, that nothing was omitted, that might express a True and Unfeigned Joy, upon that Extraordinary Occasion.  
Thus have I showed how by a continual Series of Illegal Actions, the late King proceeded to Abdicate and Renounce the Government of these Kingdoms, till he completed it by leaving the Realm: And also, what an Inevitable Necessity there was at that Conjuncture, and as Affairs than stood, to supply the Vacancy of the Throne by the Inauguration of that Meritorious Prince that now enjoys it. And tho' there needs no other Reasons to satisfy the Scrupulous, and command a quiet Submission, than that it was done purely for the Welfare of the Nation, and was settled by Lawful Authority; yet because the Enemies of our Peace and Settlement take too great a Liberty to Asperse these Proceed, and Amuse the Unthinking and Unsteady People with contrary Opinions, I hope 'twill be pardonable to Administer an Antidote against the Infection of Virulent Tongues, and Seditious Practices, and Reconcile those to Reason, and their Duty, that have been, or still do lie in danger of being perverted by the Sophistry of a Turbulent Faction. And this I shall endeavour, by showing, that the late King,  
1. Did Voluntarily Abdicate the Government.  
2. That the Proceed of the Convention of the Estates were Just, and Necessary. That,  
3. King William's Title to the Crown is Indisputable. And,  
4. The Obedience of his Subjects, their Indispensible Duty.  
The late King was under an Obligation, by virtue of the Original Contract between the King and People, (which Compact is Embodied in our Constitution, Employed in our Laws, and Runs through all our Histories,) his Coronation-Oath, and the Trust reposed in him by his People, to govern according to the Tenor of our Laws, as has been already largely proved: But on the contrary, he broke all the Fundamental Laws, fell foul upon the very Essence of the Constitution itself, and gave no Quarter to any thing that opposed his Arbitrary Usurpation. And was not this a public Declaration that he would not be kept within the Bounds of Law, nor hold his Kingly Office upon those Terms?  
The Original Contract made him a Legal King; but if he might not act the part of a Tyrant, he would be nothing at all. He was obliged by Law to protect and defend the Protestant Religion; but by his unfortunate Persuasion in Religion, and his moderate Affectation of Arbitrary Power, he thought himself concerned to Suspend the Laws that were the Barriers to secure it, and to treat it as the Northern Heresy.  
What was his Actual Suspending and Annulling Laws, without Consent of Parliament, but a necessary Implication in Common Sense, as well as Legal Acceptation, that he Renounced his Kingly Office? As for his Departure out of the Kingdom, tho' I have already proved it was a Plot of his own laying, in hopes to Involve the Nation in greater Confusions than his own Conduct had already reduced it to; yet in this Case 'tis not material whether it was Voluntary, or Involuntary, since his Withdrawing himself was but a Continuation of his former Actings, wherein he declared he would not govern by those Laws that made him King of England, and was an express Renunciation of his Regal Authority.  
To say that Abdication implies a Formal Renunciation by Deed, is to mistake the Case; for in the Common Law of England, and in the Civil Law, and in Common Acceptation, there are Express Acts of Renunciation, that are not by Deeds. 
* Debate between Lords and Commons, pag. 35, 36.  The Government and Magistracy are under a Trust; and Acting contrary to that Trust, is a Renunciation of that Trust, tho' it be not a Renouncing by a Formanl Deed; for it is a plain Declaration by Act and Deed, tho' not in Writing, that he who hath the Trust, and acting contrary, is a Disclaimer of the Trust; especially if the Actings be such as are Inconsistent with and Subversive of this Trust: For how can a Man, in Reason or Sense, express a greater Renunciation of a Trust, than by the constant Declarations of his Actions to be quite contrary to that Trust; and therefore must be construed an Abdication and Formal Resignation of it.  
That a King may Renounce his Kingship, may be made out by Law, and Fact, as well as any other Renunciation: And that it may, and hath been, will be no Difficulty to to make out, by Instances in all Countries not only where the Crown is, or was Elective: but also where it was Hereditary, and Successive.  

* Debate aforesaid, p. 76.  If a King will Resign, or Renounce, he may do so; as particularly, Charles the First did: 'Tis an Act of the Will, and consequently in his Power to do as he thinks fit: And the late King gave manifest Declarations of his Resolutions to do it in several Instances, as has been particularly showed already. Grotius, and all other Authors that treat of this Matter, and the Nature of it, do agree, That if there be any Word or Action that does sufficiently manifest the Intention of the Mind, and Will, to part with his Office; that will amount to an Abdication, or Renouncing.  
Now had King James the Second came into 
† Idem, p. ●7. ●8.  an Assembly of Lords and Commons in Parliament, and expressed himself in Writing, or Words, to this purpose; I was born an Heir to the Crown of England, which is a Government limited by Laws, made in full Parliament, by King, Nobles, and Commonalty; and upon the Death of my last Predecessor I am in Possession of the Throne; and, now I find I cannot make Laws without the Consent of the Lords, and Representatives of the Commons in Parliament: I cannot suspend Laws that have been so made, without the Consent of my People. This, indeed, is the Title of Kingship I hold by Original Contract, and the Fundamental Constitution of the Government; and my Succession to, and Possession of the Crown, on these Terms, is part of that Contract. This part of the Contract I am Weary of, I do Renounce it, I will not be obliged to observe it; I will not execute the Laws that have been made, nor suffer others to be made, as my People shall desire, for their Security in Religion, Liberty and Property; which are the two main Parts of the Kingly Office in this Nation. I say, suppose he had so expressed himself, doubtless this had been a plain Renouncing of that Legal Regular Title which came to him by Descent: If then he, by particular Acts, such as are enumerated in the Vote of the Convention, of the 27th of January, he has declared as much, or more than these Words can amount to, than he has thereby Declared his Will to Renounce the Government: He has by the Acts beforementioned, manifestly declared that he will not govern according to the Laws made; nay, he cannot do so, for he is under a strict Obligation, (yea, the strictest,) and Superior to that of the Original Compact between King and People, to Act contrary to the Laws, or to Suspend them. This did amount to a manifest Declaration of his Will, that he would no longer retain the Exercise of his Kingly Power, as it was Limited, and Restrained; and sufficiently declared his Renouncing the very Office. And his Actings declared, quo Animo, that he went away because he could no longer pursue, nor accomplish what he designed, and was so strongly obliged to, that the Splendour of three Crowns could never divert him from it.  
It was an Abdication in the highest Instances: Not a particular Law was violated; but he fell upon the whole Constitution, in the very Foundation of the Legislature. Not only particular Persons were injured; but the whole Frame of the Kingdom, the Protestant Religion, and our Laws and Liberties were all in danger of being Subverted. And which aggravates the Circumstances, the late King himself, who had the Administration Entrusted to him, was the Author, and Agent in it: And when he could no longer afflict us himself, went away with Design to obtain Foreign Forces, to compel our Submission to his Arbitrary Power. Now because the late King had thus Violated the Constitution, by which the Law stood as the Rule both of the King's Government, and the People's Obedience, therefore it was judged an Abdication to all Intents and Purposes, and that by his Abdication the Throne became Vacant.  
Nothing less than Things grown to such Extremities could warrant these Proceed; for, God forbidden every Violation of the Law, or Deviation from it, should be accounted an Abdication of the Government: The Thoughts of such a Severity upon 
* Debate between the Lords and Common, pag. 86.  Crowned Heads, is abhorred by all Good Men. For when a King breaks the Laws in some few particular Instances, it is sufficient to take an Account of it from those Ill Ministers that were Instrumental in it; Why such a thing was done, contrary to Law? Why such a Law was not put in Execution by them, whose Duty it was to see it done?  
In Ordinary Cases of Breaking the Laws, you have Remedy in Ordinary Courts of Justice; and in Extraordinary Cases, in the Extraordinary Court of Parliamentary Proceed: But in our Case, where we were left without Redress, the Malefactor being both a Party, and Judge of his own Breaches of Law, made Extreme Remedies absolutely necessary, and has been always practised upon the like Emergencies. For,  
The Great Council, or Assembly of the Estates of this Kingdom, from the first Institution of the Government, had an Inherent Right to Assemble themselves in all Cases of Necessity; such as Abdications, Depositions, Disputable Titles to the Crown, Settling the Successions, and to supply the Vacancy of the Throne, as the Example of former Times, and their own Prudence should direct them. And, truly, it would be very absurd to imagine that the Legislative Power was so streighten'd, that it had no Right to provide against Unforeseen Accidents that might happen; or that where the Old Laws seemed opposite to the public Good, or were wholly silent, as not foreseeing every extraordinary Event, they could not supply that Defect, by making 
* Quae de novo cinergunt novo indigent auxilio.  New Ones that might reach the present Circumstances of Affairs, or Extend and Explain the Old ones, as the Necessity of the State required.  
Laws themselves, in time, may grow pernicious; and tho' well intended at their first Promulgation, as Things might after happen, would be dangerous to be Retained: Therefore on all such Occasions, the Assembly of Estates have an Indubitable Right to wave the Letter of the Law, and explain them, or make New ones, according to Equity; that is, according to what the precedent Legislators would have done, if they had Foreseen what then had come to pass.  
Private Persons are obliged to observe the Letter of the Law; but Public Estates are not under such a Confinement, but for the Safety of the Nation, must respect the Intention of the Law; because the Letter of the Law, by Length of Time, or a General Corruption of Manners, may seem to thwart the Common Interest; but the Intention of the Law always respects the public Good, and is never against it. This is done every Day in Courts of Equity, and ought never to be omitted for the Preservation of a Kingdom, where Laws Unrepeal'd, and whose Consequences were not dreamt of, seem to make Tyranny Lawful. And therefore the Convention of Estates, in Shutting the Door against James the Second, and making it fast after him by an Act of State, who had first excluded himself, and settling the Government on the Foot it now stands, did no more than Assert their own Right, and prevent the Mischiefs that have attended the Misconstruction of the Intention of some Laws in Force.  
Now that the Estates of the Kingdom have such a Right, is Incontestible in the Opinion of our Adversaries; yet they deny that the Convention had such a Power, because they were not Convened by the late King's Authority. A frivolous Objection, and returns upon the Head of that deluded Faction. For  
This Defect, if it were one, was not the Nation's Fault, but lies wholly upon the late King: He was Sought to, Addressed and Petitioned to Call a Parliament: It was the great Importance of the Prince's Declaration: He often promised it, and by Proclamation made a Faint of keeping his Word, yet at last burnt the Writs, and declared positively he would not do it.  
Can the Nation compel him to do what he would not? Must the Kingdom be Ruined for want of a Formality that was not in their Power to compass? Must a Glorious Opportunity of Settling the Kingdom be lost for want of a Punctilio, that yet was answered in the Intent of it? Must the Nation be be blamed for helping themselves, when the late King refused it? No, this would be very lose Reasoning; and the Thread is of too course a Spinning, to pass upon the Thinking Part of Mankind. Had they Objected against the Qualification of the Members, the Want of Freedom in their Election, or showed any Unreasonableness in the Action, they had said something worthy of Answer; but since they could not, I shall go on, and prove it Just, Necessary, and Agreeable to the Practice of All Nations.  
The Laws of God, Nature and Nations justify the Deposing of a Prince whose Arbitrary Government is not only Inconsistent with, but Destructive to the Kingdom over which he Presides. To name no other Instances in the Old Testament, Rehoboam and Jeroboam are Examples of Divine Vengeance for their Tyranny, and their Stories are Argumentative. The Jews asserted the Lawfulness of Resisting and Dethroning their Kings in many Cases, 
* Joseph. l. 4. c. 8.  especially in their Wars with Antiochus Epiphanes; and the 
† St. Aug. libr. cont. Adem 1.17.  Christians followed those Examples, without thinking their Religion obliged them, by a Childish Submission, to yield up their Natural and Legal Rights, and consent to their own Ruin.  
How unreasonable would it be to imagine that a whole Kingdom should deprive itself of the Right of Deposing a Tyrant, and preserving themselves: since 
* Principio generi animantium omni est à Natura tributum, ut se, vita, corpúsque tueatur, declinétque ea, quae noscitura videantur. Cicero de Offic.  Nature has communicated this Right to all Rational Creatures, together with their Being, which they can neither give away themselves, nor can be justly taken from them by others; as I have already proved in part, and shall do it beyond Contradiction in the following Pages; and therefore shall descend to show you, that the Deposing the late King is Warranted by the Practice of other Nations, as well as our own in Former Ages.  
The Power of the Emperor of Germany is Limited in many Particulars: He cannot alter their Fundamental Laws, nor make the Empire Hereditary; and the College of the Prince's Electors may Depose him for Male Administration, as they did Lewis the Good, in the Year 833. Which Act was always looked upon as the Right of the Empire, in the Opinion of the Germane Lawyers; and so is transmitted to Posterity be the best of their 
* Lampadius, Diderick, Conring. Lambert. Schafnaburg, Aventin. l. 7. Annal. & Cuspin. in Vita Wincesl. & Carpsor. de Leg. Reg. Imperat. Germaniae & Imperial. Capitular.  Writers. One of the Charges against Lewis was, that he had broken his Coronation-Oath, and Ruled by Maxims of his own, contrary the Established Laws of the Empire. The Estates of the Empire also at another time Warred against the Emperor Henry the Fourth for the same Cause, and at length Deposed him in a Solemn Assembly. A later Instance of the same People was, in Deposing Wenceslaus, in the Year 1400. And he that will give himself the Satisfaction of Reading the Articles Exhibited against him, by the Electors of the Empire, will be tempted to think that James the Second had transcribed them, as the Rules of his Despotic Government, they agreed so exactly with it, from the Beginning, to the fatal End of it.  
The Monarchical Government of Poland being extinct at the Death of 
† Cromer.  King Lech, it was changed by the States, into a Government of Twelve Palatins; who abusing their Authority, were all Deposed, and Lesko Elected King; and he withdrawing himself out of the Kingdom, to secure himself against the Fury of the Tartars, was for that Reason Deposed, and a new King, Elected. So was Henry the Second, Duke of Anjou, deposed by the Poles by the Government of Poland for leaving that Kingdom. And the great Statesman Bodin tells us, 'twas expressly inserted as a Condition in that King's Coronation Oath, when he was Elected King of Poland, that if he broke his Oath, and violated the Laws, the People of that Kingdom should not be obliged to pay him Obedience; and these two Cases are Parallel in Fact with the late King James', in Deserting the Kingdom of England.  
The Fundamental Laws of Hungary 
* Bonfin. decade 4. lib. 9 C. 11.  Restrain and Limit the Power of their Kings by a Coronation Oath, expressly conditional; and have given so many Instances of their Right to Depose them 
* Chalcondil. Hist. l. 2. p. 120.  that 'twere lost labour to Recite them, having referred to the Authors that Treat on that Subject.  
In Spain we find Peter of Castille Deposed for a Suppositious Birth, and Philip of Arragon for Incontinency. Indeed the Nobility, and Commonality of that Kingdom, have formerly took such a Power, and Liberty, in Censuring the Actions, and Deposing their Kings, for slight and trivial Causes, that they are not fit to be reckoned among the material Instances of other Nations, in cases of Certain and extreme Necessity.  
In the ancient Kingdoms of Denmark, 
* Pontanus l. 8. c. 9  Sweden and Norway, which are all of Gothic Original, the meanest people had a Voice in the Elections of their Kings; and if mistaken in their Choice they Deposed him, and chose another; still giving preference to the Royal Family, if there were any of them qualified. Sometimes they wholly neglected that Method, and Elected the Brave and Valiant Hero that had signalised his Kindness and Courage in the Expulsion of a Tyrant, and Rescuing their Privileges out of the hands of an Oppressor. And sometimes they chose a private Person, whose Eminent Parts and Probity had marked out as worthy of that Dignity, which himself ne'er thought on. Give me leave to give you a Remarkable Instance in the Kingdom of Sweden, of the Tyranny of an Absolute Monarch.  
Christern the Second King of Denmark, obtained the Crown of Sweden by Conquest; and looking upon the Ancient Privileges of those Subjects, as Inconsistent with his Royal Dignity, quickly came to Resolutions of destroying of the Senators, and Principal Noblemen, that he thought Enemies of his Imperial Arbitrary Power; and to facilitate the execution of his barbarous Decree, he put on a Kinder Visage than he commonly wore, suffering no Cloud to possess his Royal Brow, but appeared in show of Respect and Kindness, that he might oblige them to trust, that before suspected him. Under this Visor of Friendship and Affability, he invites the Lords to a magnificent Feast at Stockholm, where two days together they were splendidly treated, and the third day basely Murdered.  
This surprising bloody start from a King to a Tyrant so terrified the Nation, that it put them upon freeing themselves; and whilst they were revolving various Means to Accomplish it, a Deliverer appears in the Person of Gustavus Ericson, descended from the Ancient Kings of Sweden, and Nephew to King Canutson, who so effectually checked the Tyrant, that Christern who had Abdicated the Government by his continued Tyranny, was so Hated by his Subjects, Deserted by his Soldiers, and beaten by his Rival, that he consummated his Abdication by flying out of the Kingdom, and Gustavus the Generous Deliverer, by a Convention of the Estates 
* Peterson in Chronic. Holsat l. 8.  was Elected and Crowned King of Sweden, which he Governed happily all the days of his Life  
I am sensible that some will tell me that things are now otherwise than I have related of Denmark, and that the Government there is an Absolute Monarchy; to which I reply, Let them take it for their pains. I did not speak of things as they are now perverted by Fear and Force; but as they were Originally constituted, and dare promise him that will give himself the pleasure of reading the English History of the State of that Kingdom, he will not think the Model ought to be transported into England.  
Portugal, by telling Alphonsus the Third, that if he would not addict himself to the Affairs of the 
* History Portual in Reign Alphons. 3. l. 6. and Ordin. Portugal. 17. l. 2. Sect. 3. 4. 5. 6.  Kingdom, the Estates of the Realm would Depose him, and Elect another King; and by Banishing their late Monarch for the barbarous Effect of his Frenzy, have fully declared their Opinions in that Matter.  
When the Kings of France abused their Authority, that Nation afferted their Right; as in Deposing Childeric, Father of 
* Greg. Tower, l. 2. c 11.  Clowis; and in the same manner proceeded against another Childeric, in the Eighth Century. And if we descend to the Race of Charles the Great, their Histories will inform us that Lovis, Surnamed The Good, was Doposed by a General Assembly of the Estates at Thionville; and the Articles on which they proceeded to his Deposition are to be read in Baronius and du Chesne le Comte. After him, the Estates Deposed Charles the Gross, and Charles the Simple; and stood so much upon their Right to do it, that when in another Instance they were threatened by Pope Adrian the Second with Excommunication, they sent him word, They would defend their Privileges, and their Liberties, unto Death.  
In the Second Race of their Kings, notwithstanding Charles of Lorraine was 
* Guil. de Nanz. ad an. 987.  Heir to Lewis the Fifth, and consequently aught to have enjoyed the Crown of France; yet the Estates laid him aside, (for no other Reason, but because he was suspected to be in the Germane Interest, who were Enemies to France,) and gave the Crown to Hugh Capet.  
Henry the Third, that had been Deposed in Poland, was also Deposed in France by Advice of the Sorbonne, and the greatest part of the Estates. When Theodore the Second attempted to make himself Master of the Lives and Estates of his Subjects, they ●●se against him, Deposed him, Shaved him, thrust him into a Monastery, and placed his Brother Chilpric in the Throne. In the Time of Charles the Simple (mentioned before) finding him unfit to encounter the Insults of the Normans, the Estates conferred the Soverignty on Lewis, and Charlemagne; who tho' of the same Blood, had not the same Right to the Crown. And 'tis but consulting their own 
* Important Maxims, published by Mr. Joly, in 1663. Can. d' Eagles Paris.  Histories, to show that that Nation was always in Possession of the Right of Explaining, Limiting, Extending and Altering the Succession, as often as their Circumstances required it. And truly I cannot but wonder the French Jesuits, who in favour of the late King James, have so slovenly Railed against our 
† Pere d'Orleans Hist. Revol. d'Angleterre.  Convention of Estates for Deposing him, dare bespatter the Judgement of their Infallible Pope Zachary, whose Opinion being asked by the French Lords about the Lawfulness of Deposing King Childeric, answered, That the French were discharged of their Oath of Fidelity to Childeric, since he had not acquitted himself towards them as he had solemnly promised; the Nature of Conditional Contracts being such, that where one Party does not perform his Covenant, the other are absolved from theirs. Which Advice being approved, the Lords and Great Men of the Kingdom Assemble at Soissons, Depose Childeric, and Elect Pepin to be their King. But above all, I am amazed to hear the 
* Advice de Refugies, p. 60.  French Missionaries, and other Writers, so openly and scandalously Declaim against Dethroning Kings, when the very Monarch that now enjoys the Crown of France, wears the Crown in Consequence, and by Right of such Depositions. Nay,  
It would be no hard matter to prove that almost all the Governments in the World own their Settlements to Conventions of Estates, Assembled and Authorised by a Necessity of providing for the Public Safety.  
So that the Conventional Parliament of England, in Deposing James the Second, made no Encroachment upon the Rights of Kings, nor Violation of the Law of God, of Nature, or the Law of Nations; but agreeably to all these Laws, Asserted their own Rights, in taking more Care for the Safety of a whole Kingdom, than the Pretensions of a Single Person who endeavoured to destroy it. And in this they did but follow the Practice of former Ages in their own Country, as will appear by and by, in the following Examples.  
God has invested Kings with a Power to do Justice, but not to commit Violences; and therefore, when they wilfully convert their Authority into a Power of Destruction, as James the Second did, Subjects have a Right by the Law of Nature to Repel Force by Force; for the Necessity of Public Safety is a Law so Sacred, that it Abolisheth all others that oppose it, and Justifies all the Revolutions and Settlements in the World that are built upon that Foundation.  
It is the First and greatest Obligation of Mankind, to procure and promote the Welfare of the Body whereof they are Members; which if every one would think himself obliged to do, there would be a Circulation of Safety and Prosperity through the whole. 
* Eâque lege notus sis, ut ea habeas principia naturae quibus parere, & quae semper sequi debeas ut utilitas, tua, communis utilitas sit: vicissimque communis utilitas, tua sit.  Cicero, lib. 3. expresseth this to the Life, in saying, That we are born under a Law, and instructed by the Principles of Nature, that oblige us to prefer the Common Good before our own, so that at length the Common Good may be our own Advantage also. With a single Respect to this Common and Mutual Good, the Light of Reason shining in Wiser Heathens, (which yet shines brighter in Christians exalted by Revelation,) dictated the Necessity of Government, as an Instrument without which it could not possibly be attained. Fair, Useful, Just and Equal Rules of Conversation were by Common Consent agreed on; and some One, or More Persons, Renowned for Wisdom, Probity and Courage, were Entrusted, and Impower'd to Enforce, as Occasion should require, the Community to observe them: Which Ruler was bound by Mutual Compact to govern by the Rules agreed on, and under that Condition the People gave their Oaths to obey him. So that those People that think themselves bound by their Oaths to an Absolute Obedience to their Prince, without Reserve, forget that the Ruler's Office is merely Relative to their People's Welfare; and they also forget their first Obligation, to seek the Good of the Community.  
If a Ruler act contrary to his Trust, by setting aside the Laws of the Constitution made and agreed on by Prince and People, as necessary for the Conservation of every Individual Person; and by excercising an Arbitrary Power of his Own Erecting, evidently seeks the Ruin of that Body he ought to preserve, the Necessary Defence of themselves is no Offence against the Nature of Government, (which was Originally Instituted for the Preservation, and not for the Destruction of the Society,) and therefore cannot be looked upon as Criminal.  
The Judgement of the great Melancton concerning Government, in his Exposition on the Fifth Commandment, will clear this Point: In regard (saith he) something will go amiss in every Society, for the Love of Peace we must bear with many Faults of our Princes; and so long as they design well in the main, tho' they fall into Mistakes, we ought to bear them with Patience, and hid their Frailties as much as possibly we can. But of a Tyrant he says, a few Lines before, 
* Nec praetextu operis Divini excusanda aut tuenda sunt vitia, nec propter loci dignitatem tolerandae sunt manifestae & Atroces injuriae impietates, & flagitiosae libidines Tyrannorum sine fine grassantium; sed reliqua politia, cui Deus gladium dedit, recte facit, cum Caligulas, Neronis & similia portenta removent a Gubernation.  That the Pretence of a Divine Right can neither excuse or justify his Crimes, nor the Dignity of his Office tolerate him to exercise a Wicked and Wilful Tyranny; but when his Impieties and Injuries to his People are evident, and unsufferable, the Powers to whom God hath, in such an Extremity, committed the Sword to protect and deliver an Oppressed Nation, may remove him from the Government, as the Romans did Caligula, Nero, and other Monsters of Cruelty, who were not only Enemies to the Commonwealth, but to all Mankind.  
Indeed, when an Absolute Government hath, for the Sins of the People, taken firm Rooting, (which, Thanks be to God, was not England's Case,) I deny not but such as were born under it, aught to be content with their Servile Condition, till Heaven is prevailed with by their Prayers and Piety, to release them from Thraldom: But in a Free Estate the Case stands as is before rehearsed.  
Polanus, in proposing the Question, whether we ought to obey an Absolute and Tyrannical Prince, exactly answers the Case of England under the Reign of the late King James; saying, We must distinguish between an Absolute, and a Limited Monarchy; in the former it must be born with, because the Prince does but exercise his own Authority, like Nabuchadnezzar: But 
Sed si Rex seu Princeps habeat limitatum, & adstrictum certis conditionibus, in quas juravit, seu quas se promisit servaturum, Penes Status aut Primores Regni, seu Principatus est coercere Regis seu Principis Tyrannidem & immanitatem. Syntag. lib. 10. cap. 62.  if the King or Prince governs in a Limited Monarchy, where he receives his Crown on certain Conditions, which he promises and swears to observe; but instead of it, breaks his Oath, and sets up a Despotic Power, unknown to the Constitution, and Inconsistent with the Safety of it, the Estates of the Kingdom may depose him from his Royal Dignity. And this is Melancton's meaning also, as may be collected from his Words already cited, cui Deus gladium dedit, to whom God hath given the Authority.  
The Case thus stated, makes England unconcerned in the Deep Submissions of the Primitive Christians, who tho' they had Power, made no use of it to free themselves, by throwing off their Tyrannical Emperors: Their Lots fell to them under an Absolute Government, and they remained contented with the Dispensation of God's Alwise Providence: But may I not be permitted to say, their Natural Liberty to cast off their heavy Yoke was restrained by Christian Prudence? The Church was yet in too narrow a Room, but was intended by God Almighty to be spread through the other Parts of the World; and therefore Rulers would have been far more averse from admitting the Propagators of it into their Territories, if the Christians had contracted the Imputation of Turbulence by standing upon their Natural Right to defend themselves; whereas their Lamblike Deportment gave them an easier Access to all Places and Persons. And if their Forbearance and Patience was the Fruit of this sole Prudential Consideration, their Successors are not so much obliged to the same Course, in those Countries where Crowns and Sceptres have submitted to the Cross, and the Christian Religion has obtained a Civil Right of Protection, and Immunity from Persecution; for than they ought not, they cannot relinquish this Right, no more than they can destroy themselves, or suffer Violence and Cruelty to destroy the Innocent. And what is said of the Christian Religion in reference to Paganism, holds also true between the Reformed Religion and Popery. But  
The great Objection, which they call Unanswerable, is yet behind, viz. That a King, in Scripture-Language, is called a Father; to honour a Father is the Fifth Commandment, and therefore the Obedience of a Subject is as immutably fastened to him, whatever his Miscarriages are, as that of a Natural Son to a Vicious, Barbarous Parent. A powerful Objection, which is always in their Mouths on a double Account. But if I can prove that a Natural Father may lose his Claim to his Son's Obedience, their King's Right to our Obedience must fall with it, and proves his Abdication Lawful; which I shall attempt by giving these several Things in Answer, all grounded upon no mean Authorities. And First,  
1. The Appellation Father only describes the Nature of the Kingly Office, which is the Tender Care, and Studious Regard, he ought to exercise for the Safety and Prosperity of his Subjects. It tells not what he always is, but what he always should be: And while he carries it to his People as a Father, it is no less than a Damnable Sin, not to pay him a Filial Obedience. But whether the late King James had any Claim to our Duty upon that Consideration, I leave it to the Reader, who by this time has had a Glimpse of his Conversation. Secondly,  
Our Obligation to obey Natural Parents, must give place to our Endeavours to preserve our Country. Cicero saw this by the Light of Nature, and therefore says, 
* Quid si Tyranidem auc●pare, si patriam prodere conabitur Pater? Selebitne filius? Imo vero obsecrabit patrem ne id faciat: si nihil proficiet; accusabit, minabitur etiam: ad extremum, si ad pernitiem Patriae res spectabit, Patriae salutem ante●on●t saluti patris.  If a Father acts the part of a Tyrant, and endeavours the Destruction of his Country, the Son may lawfully oppose him; and if he will not be reclaimed, and brought to Reason, the Son may accuse him, threaten him with Punishment, or confine him; being obliged to prefer the Safety of his own Country, before the private Satisfaction of his Father. Thirdly,  
3. A Natural Father, by repeated Acts of Barbarity and Cruelty upon his Son alone, may forfeit all Just Claims to his Son's Filial Obedience. Let us put the Case; A Man who lives near the Sea, harbours and cherishes in his Mind a perfect Hatred of his Son, upon Contrariety in Religion, or some other Cause; and in the Heat of his Fury, resolves to destroy him; (History will warrant this Supposition;) and therefore, to prevent the Eye, and Censure of the World, privately binds him, puts him in a Chest, and carries him to the Seaside at Low-Water Mark, that the Returning Flood may carry him to his Death: I also suppose, that after the Son has floated a while in this helpless, hopeless Condition, a Ship or Boat coming by, the Mariners take him up, and save that Life which his Father Intentionally, and Actually, thought he had made away. In this Case, The Father can never have any Right to his Son's After-Obedience, because he endeavoured to destroy that Being wherein the Relation and Duty was founded: And is a good Argument to oblige us to a Grateful and Dutiful Return to our Great Deliverer, King William; but utterly destroys the Pretence of a Paternal Right in the late King James, after he had converted his Power of Preservation into a Power of Desolation, and Destruction; because he had destroyed the Relation on which our Duty was Originally founded, and without which he had no Claim to it.  
In such, and Easier Cases than now is put, Wise Men, for above a Thousand Years together, have judged that such Cruel Fathers have lost all Just Title to their Abused Children, as may be read in the Decrees of the Emperors Valentinianus, Valens, and Gratianus, directed to Probus the Perfect, Recorded by Justinianus Codicis liber octavus, Tit. 52. and in the Decree of Justinian the Emperor, directed to Demosthenes, his Praetorian Perfect. By all which it appears, that a Man's exposing his own Child in a Box, or Basket, on the Highway, at a Stranger's Door, or elsewhere, where he is sure to perish, unless some Charitable Hand by chance takes him up, and preserves him, amounts in Sound Judgement to the Forfeiture of his Claim to their future Obedience, (supposing their Casual Preservation,) notwithstanding the firm Ties of Nature and Property.  
All the great Interpreters of the Civil Law, from Justinian hitherto, have approved the  Judgement: Baldus, Salycetus, and others, have done it of old; and the latter Swarms of Civilians, Hermannius, Vulteius. Harpprectus, etc. have given their Assent to it: All which I shall wave, and only recite the Words of Hadrianus Saravia, who, tho' a Stranger, was, in respect of his great Learning; preferred here by Queen Elizabeth. He expresses the Sense of all the rest, in his First Book de Imperandi Authoritate, & Christiana Obedientia, in saying, that 
* Qui recens natos Infantes abjiciunt feris devorandos, aut a quovis tollendos, omne jus paternum simul objeciunt. Nihil enim genuisse promerentur, nisi Natos educaverint. Cap. 2.  if Parents grow so unnatural and cruel to the Issue of their own Loins, as to expose them to Wild Beasts, or by other Cruelties endeavour to deprive them of their Lives, they forfeit all kind of Paternal Right to, and Authority over their Children, because they had divested themselves of Humanity, and not answered the End for which God and Nature designed them; which was, to educate and preserve their Children, but not do them any Injury. So that the Inference from these Premises will utterly overthrow the Objection of our Adversaries, in favour of the late King James.  
For if a Patron that out of a Principle of Cruelty exposeth the Life of his Slave, makes a Forfeiture of his Property in him, much more may a Prince for the same Reason forfeit all his Interest in his Freeborn Subjects. And if a Natural Father, who seeks the Destruction of his Son, does therefore lose all just Claim to that Son's Obedience, much more may a Prince: who is but a Casul, Political Father, and is invested with that Relation only by Agreement, and Compact, may a Fortiori, for the same Reason make a just Forfeiture, and lose all just Claim to the Obedience of his Political Children.  
So that the Convention of the Estates Assembled at Westminster, in Deposing the late King, and conferring the Crown upon our Gracious King William the Third, have done nothing against the late King James but what they were necessitated to do, and what they are justified in doing by the greatest Authorities in the Christian World.  
At the late King's Going off, and making no manner of Provision for the Administration of the Government, the Nation seemed to be in the same Condition they were in when the Original Contract was first made; and the same Care was requisite to settle the Distracted Affairs of the Realm, under that Confusion wherein he left it, as if we never had been blessed with any Settlement at all; and consequently, the Convention, upon the Vacancy of the Throne, had Power to Model Things as the present Circumstances of the Public exacted, without being confined to the Precedents of former Ages; and yet so great was the Modesty of that Venerable Assembly, and their Care to prevent Innovations, that they did nothing but what had been already done upon the like Occasion many Hundred Years before.  
How the Clergy, the Barons, and the Commons deported themselves towards King John five Hundred Years ago, and Deposing him, and Electing Lewis of France, I have already acquainted you; and therefore shall say no more here, than that the Grounds of their Proceed were for Regaining those Franchises that were notoriously invaded by that Arbitrary Prince, and are contained in the Great Charter of England.  
King Edward the Second, tracing the same Arbitrary Methods, the Barons send him word, That 
* Trussell 's Hist p. 2●6.  unless he put away Peirce Gaveston, that corrupted his Counsels, and squandered his Revenue, and also addicted himself to Govern by the Laws of the Land, they would, with one Consent, Rise in Arms against him, as a Perjured Person. And so they did, and Beheaded his Minion Gaveston, notwithstanding the King's earnest Solicitation for his Life. The same Fate attended the Spencers: And a Parliament being called without his Consent, at length himself was Deposed; who confessed the Sentence of his Deposition was just, that he was sorry he had so offended the State as they should utterly Reject him; but gave the Parliament Thanks that they were so 
* Trussell 's Hist. p. 218.  gracious to him, as to Elect his Eldest Son their King.  
King Richard the Second being lapsed into the same Misfortune of Affecting a Tyrannical Government, the Lords and Commons declare unto him, (then at Eltham,) That 
† Knighton, An. 1386.  in case he would not be governed by the Laws, Statutes, and Laudable Customs and Ordinances of the Realm, and the Wholesome Advice of the Lords and Peers, but in a Headstrong Way, would exercise his own Will; they would Depose him from his Regal Throne, and promote some Kinsman of his of the Royal Family, to the Throne of the Kingdom in his stead. But this Warning having no Effect, at length a Parliament is Called, without the King's Consent, or Approbation, by Henry Duke of Lancaster. They required him to Resign his Crown, which tho' he condescended to, and actually performed it as directed, yet the 
* Trussell, l. 2. p. 43.  Parliament then Sitting, thinking this Abdication not sufficient to build upon, because the Writing might be the Effect of Fear, and so not Voluntary, and Spontaneous; they thereupon proceed to a Formal Deposition, in the Names of all the Commons of England, upon the Articles Exhibited against him, which consisted of Twenty nine Particulars, and the greatest part of them relating to the Affairs of that Time, in which this Age is not concerned: I have contracted them into a narrower Compass than in the 
Trussell's Hist.  Original, without omitting any thing that is material; and are what follows, viz.  
That King Richard the Second wasted the Treasure of the Realm. That he Impeached several Great Lords of High Treason, that Acted for the Good of the Kingdom by Order of Parliament. That he perverted the Course of Justice, and took away the Lives and Estates of certain Noblemen, without Form of Law. That he affirmed All Law lay in his Head, and Breast; and that all the Lives and Estates of his Subjects were in his Hands, to dispose of at pleasure. That he put out divers Knights and Burgesses Legally Elected, and put in others of his own Choice to serve his Turn. That he Raised Taxes contrary to Law, and his own Oath. And Banished the Archbishop of Canterbury without Just Cause, or Legal Judgement pronounced against him.  
For these Reasons he was formally Deposed by Parliament, who at the same time Consented that Henry Duke of Lancaster should be Crowned King, tho' the Right of Blood was in Edmund Earl of March, because (now) Henry the Fourth had signalised himself in Delivering the Nation from the Tyranny of Richard the Second. And after the same manner, tho' with a more Free and Absolute Election, proceeded the late Convention of Estates, in Deposing James the Second, and filling the Vacant Throne with our present Monarch, William the Third, who, under God, was the Glorious and Happy Instrument of Freeing England from the Tyranny of the late King. These Proceed I have already proved to be consentaneous to all Laws: And to confirm it, shall only add,  
That amongst all the Unfortunate Princes that have been laid aside by their Subjects, none were more justly dethroned, than James the Second.  
We read of some Princes that were Deposed because they were Infected with the Leprosy; but I think none will pretend that Leprosy under the Law was as Incompatible with the Government, as Tyranny, and Setting up of Idolatry, was at this Juncture; for that Disease was not in the power of Oziah to help, but Tyranny was the Efflux of the late King's Arbitrary Will, and the Gratification of his Sensual Appetite. Besides, Leprosy is but a Disease in the Body; but Tyranny, in the Soul. Leprosy was but a Ceremonial Evil; but, according to this manner of Speaking, Tyranny is a Moral Evil. Leprosy does but infect; Tyranny destroys.  
King Childeric of France was Deposed for Slothfulness, and neglecting the Affairs of the Kingdom; and it it must be acknowledged, this shameful Inactivity, to which the Kings of France were then accustomed, was grown very disadvantageous to the Government: But France was not in danger of perishing by his Idleness; and England was on the very Moment of being destroyed by the late King's Tyranny, and Subversion of the Laws: And so much Difference as there was between doing Nothing, and endeavouring to Ruin All, so much Difference was there between the Dethronement of Childeric, and that of James the Second.  
There have been Kings Deposed for Involuntary Absence upon certain Occasions; but that cannot stand in Competition with the late King's wilful Renunciation of the Government, by refusing to Govern by the Laws of the Constitution, and his Voluntary Deserting the Kingdom, when no Force compelled him to it. Was there ever any Mention of Introducing another King, till the Throne stood empty by the late King's going away? Did ever so Great a People comport themselves with so little Disorder, when they were Lawless, and without a Government? And was it not high time to provide for the Safety of the Nation, when he that should have Governed it, had voluntarily left it; and not only so, but left it in the greatest Confusion he could possibly reduce it to; and went off, only to procure a Foreign Army to Conquer and Subdue the whole Nation into Slavery; and professed himself an open and Hostile Enemy to the Kingdom. Was the Absence of a Prince to be compared with these Extravagancies? Were they any longer to be submitted to, when there was no Hope of Amendment? They that assert such Contradictions, and Improbabilities, might as well affirm that a Fever was a Recipe for Health; and the Plague a Medicine for Long Life; and would gain Credit as soon to one, as they can do to the other.  
Subjects have Renounced their Kings for Usurping a Power to treat them as they pleased, as was the Case of Rehoboam and Jeroboam: But what is Arbitrary Power, (tho' bad enough too,) when compared with an Actual Necessity of Destroying the Nation; and that Necessity imposed upon the Prince by his Conscience, under the Expectation of Eternal Rewards in the World to come. There may be Hopes of Reclaiming a Prince from the Evil Counsel of Others; but there is no dividing a Man from himself.  
In culpa est Animus, 
* Hor. lib. 1. ep. 14.  qui se non effugit unquam.  
In James the Second Mind, the Fault did lie,  
That never from itself could fly.  
Constantius Copronimus was Deposed for Impiety; but that being a Personal Evil, affected the Public only by the Ill Consequences of a Regale Example: And Impiety was never the Parent of so many Cruelties, as the Superstition we are speaking of has been amongst us. Atheism and Infidelity are Sins of the highest nature; but never were guilty of Shedding so much Humane Blood, as Superstition. And therefore Princes have not been thought so Justly to deserve a Deprivation, and the Loss of their Crowns and Countries, as a Prince Superstitiously devoted to a False Religion, who thinks his Actions Pious at the same time that he is 
* Que est facto pius est sceleratus eodem.  committing the greatest Wickedness, and 
† Crudelitas nobilitata Religione.  rendering himself Infamous by Inglorious Cruelties to his Subjects: Which we had Cause to dread, for, 

* Lucret. l. 5. — Saepius olim,  
Religio peperit Scelerosa, atque Impia facta.  
— In our Forefathers Times,  
Religion did commit the foulest Crimes.   
Some Princes have been Deposed for Cruelty, but their Cruelty not to be compared with his; for a Transient Cruelty was always thought more tolerable than one that was Durable! A particular, rather than a public Mischief! A Cruelty hated by all the World, as appearing in its own Likeness frightful, rather than a Cruelty hidden under the pretext of Piety and Religion! A Cruelty which destroys the Body only, rather than a Cruelty that destroys both Body and Soul at the same time! A tolerable Cruelty and Oppression, before a Cruelty advanced before we are ware into an Inviolable Law of the Kingdom, and may be justly named an 
* Immortal odium & nunquam Sanabile Vulnus. Juvenal. Sat. 13.  Immortal Hatred, and an Incurable Wound, in the Body Politic, that threatens Destruction to the whole Nation. Such was the Tyranny of the late King, whose Outside was Devotion, and Inside Destruction; for tho' in the general Representation of Things he seemed but to take off the Penal Laws against Papists, yet in the Distinct Idea he designed to execute the Penal Decrees of the Church of Rome against Protestants; which was visible in setting up Popish Magistrates, who think themselves obliged to work our Ruin. And in these covered Designs he exceeded most of the Tyrants that went before him, who were contented to abuse their Subjects themselves, without endowing their Inferior Magistrates with a Supreme Power for the same Purposes.  
Nero killed his Mother and Brother, and most of his Honest Courtiers; but did not command his Governors of Provinces to follow his wicked Example. Astyages gave his Favourite the Head of his Son to eat; but did not impose upon his Lieutenants a Necessity of Imitating him in his Barbarous Repasts. The Roman Emperors persecuted the Primitive Christians with all manner of Cruelties; but we do not find that they were so obliged in Conscience to do it, that they put it out of their power to show them any Mercy: But that Popery does it, is known to Heaven and Earth, and they must pull out their Eyes that will not perceive it.  
So that our Adversaries must consent, that the Proceed of the late Convention of Estates, in Deposing James the Second, were the most Natural, Just, Necessary, and Lawful, that ever was, or can be, on the like Occasion. And they have nothing left them to object, unless they can prove that the Laws of which we have spoken, were not of great Consequence to the Nation, or that the late King did not break them, since I have already proved that no Prince can have such an Absolute Right to a Crown, but for the Safety of a Kingdom, he may be dethroned. For,  
By the same Reason that he may Lose it to a Conqueror, or Resign it to a Successor, he may Abdicate it. Otherwise, the very End of Government would be lost, if the Prince that endeavours to subvert the Kingdom does not at the same time forfeit his own Right to it. And therefore the Convention of Estates, who blessed the Nation with the present Settlement, had been Justifiable, though they had failed of Success, the late King having long before ceased to be a Legal King of England.  
My next Undertaking is, to show that King William the Third, now in the Throne of his Ancestors, is Rightful and Lawful King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging. And to prove this beyond all possibility of Dispute, tho' I need use no other Argument, than that he is King by the Unanimous Vote, and Universal Election of the People; Confirmed and Recognised by the same Authority and Law of England, by which all his Royal Predecessors enjoyed the Imperial Crowns of these Kingdoms; besides the Undoubted Right of his Excellent Princess, and his own Right of Blood; and that the Submission of the People, and Determination of the Estates of the Kingdom, grounded not only upon the Supreme Law of Public Good, but also upon the Known, and Declared Positive Laws and Constitutions of this Government, as there has been Occasion in all Ages, from the first Foundation of this Limited Monarchy; and that this is Conclusive to all Private Subjects: Yet because we ought to Resolve Cases here, that may stand with the Reason of Mankind, when they are debated abroad; and that some that have writ on the Behalf of the Government, by their weak and precarious Arguments, have set up divers Titles that make it look like a Fanciful Chimaera, or built upon a Sandy or Fictitious Bottom; and have more disparaged the Revolution by their Impertinencies, than all that have exercised their Pens, or Spleens, against it. I crave Leave to be a little more particular upon it.  
The Crown of England, as placed on the Head of our Dread Sovereign William the Third, stands Firm and  there, on the Right of the Case, and the Reason of the Thing, without the Props of Art, Oratory, or Learning, to support it. Shuffling between Providential Settlement, Conquest, and Topping Protections of Power, scandalise the King's Legal Title, and misled his Subjects. Let but the Matter express itself plainly, and it will carry an Entire Conviction and Satisfaction with it, in its own Genuine Phrase, and Designment.  
'Tis truly and plainly stated in the Prince of Orange's Declaration; and is neither more, nor less, than what briefly follows.  
James the Second, directly contrary to his Coronation-Oath, breaks through all the Established Laws of the Land, Invades and Subverts the Religious and Civil Rights, Liberties, Privileges and Properties of his Subjects, which he solemnly Swore to Protect and Defend; and in an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Manner, Dissolves the Constitution of Church and State, by Usurping a Power unknown to the Constitution, and as Inconsistent with it, as Light with Darkness. His Subjects perceiving All going to Ruin, having first used all Means to Reclaim him, but to no purpose, Assume their Natural Right, in Defence of their Laws, their Lives, their Religion; and to preserve them Entire, oppose the Violent and Arbitrary Methods of the late King, and apply themselves to the Prince of Orange, our now Gracious King, who had a Just Expectation of a Right to the Crown; and humbly pray His Highness to assist them in Recovering and Defending their Legal Rights, together with his own Title to the Succession; both apparently Invaded, and endeavouring to be Destroyed by Clandestine Methods.  
This Illustrious Prince gives the People Assistance, and by the Blessing of God, and the Mutual Appearance of the Nation for their Self-Defence and Preservation, James the Second, Conscious of his own Gild in endeavouring to subvert the Constitution, and breaking the Original Contract between King and People, and that by the Advice of Jesuits, and other Wicked People, he had Violated the Fundamental Laws, and thereby Abdicated the Government; he leaves the Kingdom. Upon which Vacancy of the Throne, His Highness the Prince of Orange, together with his Royal Consort of ever Blessed Memory, the next Indisputable Heir to the Crown, in a Full and Free Representation of the whole Community, and Body of the Kingdom, is, and are, Declared and Constituted King and Queen of England etc.  
Now, since 'tis visible that the late King James was fled, and that it was absolutely necessary the Government should be supplied, and some other King placed in the Throne, who accepting the Crown upon the Conditions tendered with it, would give Assurance of Governing by the Laws of the Constitution, and secure our Happiness under him, there can remain no reasonable Objection against his Title. Besides,  
His Sacred Majesty King William the Third, in a more especial manner is God's King, as being appointed by his Providence, (by whom King's Reign,) assisted by his Almighty Power, and the Glorious Instrument in his Hand, to Enterprise and Accomplish such a Deliverance, as in common Gratitude, without Respect to other Right, in all Nations of the World has been constantly Rewarded with a Crown; and more particularly in England, upon that Respect Alone, has justly merited the Sovereignty.  
His present Majesty is also God's King, as being the Wise and Valiant Champion of all the Reformed Churches in Europe; and who with his Sword, his Head, and Heart, fights for Christ's Religion, and to rescue the Professors of it from mighty Combinations to destroy them Root and Branch. In which Great and Glorious Work, God Almighty has signally owned him as his Anointed King, in preserving his Sacred Person in the Open Dangers of Wars, and from the many Close and Barbarous Conspiracies of Ingrateful Regicides.  
He is also the People's King, as being their Voluntary Choice when they had no King; and Established by those Laws that were of their own making, and the Precedents of their Forefathers on the like Occasions: For, to rise no higher than the Norman Race, William the Second, Henry the First, King John, King Stephen, Henry the Fourth, Henry the Fifth, Henry the Sixth, and Henry the Seventh, had no other Title but the Consent, Election of the People, and a Parliamentary Recognition of their Rights: But King William the three's Right is not only Recognised by a Statute-Law, but his Person and Right is Guarded by an Act of Assotiation, wherein all his Subjects have obliged themselves to Defend him with their Lives and Fortunes, and to Revenge the Injury of his Person upon all the Aggressors. And what could be more done to declare his Right, and engage our Obedience.  
'Tis the Rarity of these Things happening, and a general Ignorance in the History of Precedent Times, that makes such Proceed seem strange and unaccountable to those who have been Nursed up in Slavish Notions, and apprehend not the Necessity of those Overtures against King James the Second, and Supplying the Throne by the Coronation of William the Third. For,  
Our present King William came into as Empty a Throne as the late King James himself did; a Civil Death in the Eye of the Law, making as effectual a Vacancy as a Natural Death; and therefore King William had the same Forms of Investiture, as if his Abdicated Predecessor had left the World, as well as his Native Country. Why then should Men create themselves Trouble, or disquiet their own and other Men's Consciences, by Vexatious Disputes against the Divine Will, Positive Laws, and the Concurrence of a whole Nation. Solomon was not David's Heir, and yet he Reigned and was Obeyed with good Conscience. Joram was Ahab's Son, but Jehu succeeded King: Joram had a Right from Ahab, but Jehu from God. Ishbosheth had Right by Descent from Saul, but David was made King: And 'twas for the sake of Religion that they were thus Placed, and Displaced. In France, Childeric was Deposed, and Egidius, or Gillon, a mere Stranger, (but in Reputation for Probity and Wisdom,) was Elected in his stead. Pepin was Elected King, and Thierry Deposed. Pepin, Grandson to the former, was by Parliament Crowned King, tho' there was of that Marovinian Race in Being. Charlemain's and Hugh Capet's best, if not only Title, was the Choice of the People. So that I wonder the French Writers should question the Legality of the late Revolution in England, since if we look back into the Original of other Kings, and how they came to their Crowns,  
King William's Title to the Crown of England is as good as the best, and much better than some now Reigning in Europe; for if all the Monarches and Governments in Europe that have succeeded such Depositions, or Abdications, have been Unlawful, and Usurped, there is not one Monarch or Government in all Europe, nay, scarce in the whole World, that can say they have a Lawful Authority, but must acknowledge (according to the Doctrine of D' Orleans) that they are all Usurpers: Which I wonder he had the Confidence to Assert, since he cannot be ignorant that the French Kings enjoy their Crowns in Consequence of the Abdications and Depositions of their Predecessors, and the People's Elections which succeeded those Dethronements.  
So that King William 's Title to the Crown of England, is as good as King Lewis' to France, if not better; for their own Historians give great Suspicion of Unfair Deal, and Sly Practices in the Elections of some of the French Kings; but neither Envy itself, nor the most Inveterate of all our Enemies, could ever object it against King William, that by any Acts of Force, or Arts of Corruption, he endeavoured to work on the Members of either House, to labour his own Advancement; but that it was the Free Election of the Majority, after long Debates and Consultations on other Expedients.  
His Majesty did not, like King Harold, lay Violent Hands upon a Crown; but only Accepted it when it was Offered: And, which shows his Goodness and Justice, he received it too on the Conditions that were offered with it; which gives us a lasting Assurance of the Regularity of his Government.  
His Virtue and his Merit recommended him to England, by their Free Election he was made King, and that is the Right he Claims by; and being the most Righteous, and Lawful, that can be without a Miracle, it makes out Allegiance and Obedience to him become our Indispencible Duty. But  
That which I but hinted before, and now comes to Crown all the rest, and put it quite out of Dispute for ever, is, It was God's Doing, the Immediate Hand of Heaven was in it: And, truly, nothing less could have accomplished such Miraculous Things.  
We all know what the Nation Felt, and Feared; the Overturning of this Church, and the Subverting this Government. Now all this being stopped, our Religion secured, our Temporalities safe, and a Check put to the Spirit of Persecution, and all in so short a Time, must be ascribed to an Almighty Power and Goodness.  
That when the Design of our Deliverance was Formed, and Essaying, there should be so extraordinary a Concurrence of all Favourable Accidents, and disposing all Men's Minds the same Way: That the Precipitation and Folly of our Persecutors in opening their Ill Designs so Early, and the Unrelenting Cruelty put in practice in a Neighbouring Kingdom, should send us over so many Thousand Witnesses to awaken us, and show us what we were to expect when that Bloody Religion became Triumphant amongst us; and what all Oaths, Promises and Laws should signify, as soon as they could break through them: And that this should happen at the same time when the late King was Suspending Laws, in favour of the Papists: That our Enemies should go on so fast, and Barefaced: That they should grasp so much at once, and suffer the Hook to be so ill covered when the Bait was thrown out: And that all their Designs should be blasted by themselves, must be ascribed to the Eternal, who brings to Light the hidden Things of Darkness, and suffers the Wicked to be taken in the Snare they prepared for others. Further,  
That the great Supporter of Persecution should start a Quarrel with the Head of that Mystical Babylon, and divert his Force to a New War, (an unjust one to be sure since he began it:) And so many great Princes should Unite, to Stop his Carrier, and preserve Europe: That so great an Army as the late King had Raised, from whom our present King might expect a stout Opposition, should voluntarily Desert, grow Supine, and comply with Reason, and the Good of the Nation: That such a Divided People should so Unanimously Concur in in Electing the same Person to be their King; and that this mighty Deliverance should be perfected without Shedding of Blood, agreeable to the Proposals and Intentions of our Great Deliverer, the Laws of the Land, and the present and future Tranquillity of the whole Nation; must be the Lord's Doing, and aught to be Commemorated to his Eternal Glory, and Accompanied with a Grateful Retribution, and Dutiful Obedience to our Gracious King, who hath done such great Things for us: Which is the last Particular.  
'Tis, doubtless, one of the most palpable Signs of a Base, Profligate Nature, not to be obliged by Favours: 'Twould be an Injury to a Beast, to call him Ingrateful: That Epithet no Being can deserve? but one that is degenerated into something more Vile than the worst of Animals, that has broke through all that is Modest, Ingenious, and Tender and Apprehensive in Humane Nature. And for the Noble Creature Man to be guilty of Ingratitude, in Offending our Deliverer, or Dishonouring our Sovereign, by any Rash or Unadvised Words or Actions, who saved us from Ruin, who snatched us from the Brink of Destruction: To return him Evil for Good, to requite his Favours with Indignities; to Diminish his Power, by taking too much upon themselves; to  his Gracious Intention, or Lessen or Detract from his Goodness, is to sink below Comprehension, and render himself unworthy of the Blackest Thought!  
With what Emotion, and Grief of Mind than can we think of those that are already grown so Insensible of their past Dangers, and forgetting the Mercy of their Deliverance, abuse Modest Ears with Invidious Reflections upon the Supreme and Subordinate Authority they ought to obey! How is Conversation Soured by those Animals, that, like Tame Ducks, are always dabbling in Nasty Gutturs, that Espy and Publish all Men's Faults but their own; and can no more rest from Reproaching their Superiors, than a Crow from feeding on Carrion! Jealousies, like Bulrushes, grow out of the Mud of their own Brains; and their Suspicious and Ungrounded Glances discover more Rancour, than direct Contumelies.  
They boast of their Affection, and mighty Services done for the Government, yet do their utmost to make it Contemptible. Some of them carry their Fire in Dark-Lantherns, sigh out their Sorrows for Mis-managements, deplore the Danger that hangs over us, and persuade the World that every thing is out of Order, because themselves are out of Office. Others Rail outright, and carry the Brands Ends open in their Mouths to kindle Combustions, and, Archimago-like, make Variance between the Head and the Body, upon no other Ground than Obloquys, Suspicions and Fears, those Brats of Rotten Fame, that have no Father but their own Invention. These are  
A sort of Men, Illuminated into a kind of Distraction, whom nothing can please, and what any thing cannot but displease; ever constant to their Old Dislikes, and the Beginning of New Wishes; and who, like the Bay of Biscay, are always Rough and Angry let the Wind blow where it will: Talk of Loyalty and Obedience, you raise their Passion, and they call you Tory: If you talk Well of all Men, they call you a Trimmer: Speak of preserving a due Temperament in the State, they call you a Whig, or Republican: And say nothing, and they proclaim you a Fool because you are not a Busybody.  
What a strange Pass are Things brought to by carrying all Things into Extremities! Some Men, by Overstraining the Doctrine of Obedience, made it Contemptible. Must we therefore wholly lay aside that Evangelical Precept? Because we are not obliged to obey a Tyrant, must we therefore dispute away our Duty to the King, and make our Submission as Arbitrary as the Power we declaimed against? Because we ought not to submit to a Destroyer, must we not obey our Preserver? Because a more than ordinary Liberty of Censuring Public Affairs was assumed in our late Times of Confusion and Disorder, must that Pragmatical Humour be continued, to create new Jealousies and Disturbances, now the State is settled, a Good King in the Throne, and Justice equally Administered through the whole Kingdom? No! Sure 'tis time for these Overactive State-menders to comport themselves with more Modesty and Decency to the Government, to bind their Tongues to the Good Behaviour, to Restrain Seditious Discourses, and Intermeddling in Public Affairs; to study to be Quiet, and do their own Business; to fear God, honour and obey the King: For whatever they think of it, or however it may have been abused, or mis-applyed, in former Reigns, Obedience to Princes is the Doctrine of the Bible, and the Indispencible Duty of Subjects to their Sovereign: And therefore upon that Head I will here endeavour to settle it.  
You cannot be ignorant what a Character our Enemies give us, viz. That we are as Unchangeable as the Wind, and as Unconstant and Quarrelsome as the Waves of the Sea, that are always Fluctuating, and dashing themselves to pieces. Fickleness is the Reproach of our Nation abroad, and has rendered us Vile and Cheap amongst other Nations.  
Now an Opportunity is put into our Hands to confute those Prejudices, by a Stability in our Allegiance to such a King, and Subjection to such a Government, as all Europe admire and envy us for.  
Now we have an Advantage to show our Complaints again the late King were True, and that the Causes of them were Real; and may gain a Reputation of our Conduct, when we show by our Actions, that as we had the Prudence to change so much for the better, so we have the Wisdom to know when we are well, and the Honesty to continue so.  
The Papists reproach our Religion with Disloyalty; and therefore, after we have struggled so hard to keep it, we ought to show it was worth Contending for, and wipe off that Aspersion, by extolling its Virtue, because, amongst other Excellencies, it obliges us to a Fermety in our Allegiance, beyond all other Motives in the World; and that upon a Religious Foundation chief, we build and maintain our Duty to the King; and tho' Lower Considerations have sometimes their Place, and Value, yet that the Grand and Durable Obligations spring from those Sacred Maxims. And I the rather press it to you upon this Score, because it will justify you before God, make you appear truly Religious and Reasonable before Men, and will be thought best Subjects by the King, because your Loyalty is the Fruit of your Religion.  
As for Interest, it is so Uncertain and Changeable a Thing, that it gives a Prince no Security in Relying upon that Topick; nor a Sub●ect can scarce trust himself with it. For the same Reasons that now Induce Men to be Loyal, may, if the Scene should change, a better Offer ●e made, and a Pardon enclosed, prevail with the same Persons to be Rebels and Traitors.  
Those that followed our Blessed Saviour for the Loaves, whereof they eat, and were filled, soon forsook him: And those that adhere to our King, only as Rats and Mice do a Barn because there is Grain in it, are in danger of Deserting him as soon as they find their Expectations frustrated. Things are but at an Ill pass when Subjects Loyalty continues no longer than while they are Obliged by Favours; and when every froward Person shall set up against the Court, if he be not Advanced and Rewarded, as his own Ambition and Avarice tells him he ought to be.  
Gratitude and Thankfulness to a Prince are eternally due from his Subjects, and is a good Foundation to build our Obedience upon; but we have sorrowfully experienced that some Men's Loyalty have expired with their Shouts and Acclamations, or at least but the Loss of an Employment; and all the Reason that can be given for it, is, because their Duty was not grounded upon Religion and Conscience.  
The People of England have been always great Pretenders to both; and now if they have not so long wrangled about these Things that they have quite lost them, and have had God and Conscience so long in their Mouths that their Hearts have almost forgotten there are any such Thing; it now concerns them who have seen so many visible Interpositions of Providence in behalf of our King, our Church, and our Nation, those strange and sudden Changes of Things, and such a mighty Deliverance effected, which nothing but the Right Hand of God could bring to pass; it concerns them (I say) to show that they have a true Sense of Religion and Conscience, in practising an Uninteressed and Undissembled Obedience to their Sovereign Lord King William; for this is all the Requital and Compensation they can make to His Majesty for all his Favours, and Care of them, and would in some measure sweeten and alleviate the Burden of them.  
Shall I be allowed to say one thing without Offence, or Imputation of Flattery; That if ever any King might expect Cheerful Obedience from us for his Own sake, or claim it for God's sake, King William that now Governs us may do it justly; His Majesty's Great and Glorious Undertaking, His Indefatigable Pains, His Toilsome Days, His Restless Nights, His Anxious Cares in preventing the Designs of Ambitious Rival Princes, His Rare and Distinguished Wisdom and Conduct, has blessed us with so happy a Change, that even our Interest combines with our Duty, and is complicated with it.  
Blessed be God, we have now a King that is a Defender of our Faith, a Sovereign to whom it hath so far approved itself, as he hath given the Nation all imaginable Security of our Religion, Laws and Properties, and that they shall never be again in danger of being deprived of them for the future; in which all good Men Rejoice and Triumph, and no Men doubt the Sincerity of it, but those whose own Gild renders them always Suspicious, and Diffident of all Mankind. Add hereto, that as His Majesty's Personal Merits has engaged our Obedience, so are we also obliged to it by that Singular Providence that has still attended, and Miracles of it guarded his Sacred Person through all the Fatigues and Dangers of War, and set His Majesty on a steady Throne in Peace.  
How Plain and Visible then is the Argument for Obedience to his Sovereignty in our Case? And how effectually ought it to work upon this Generation, when the greatest Favours and Kindnesses on Earth Invite, and when Miracles from Heaven command our Duty and Obedience to him.  
Thus are we obliged to obey King William for his own sake: It remains also as a Duty upon us, that we obey His Majesty for God's sake, and that, I hope, will keep it firm in this wavering Generation: I mean, when our Subjection is founded where it truly aught to be, viz. upon Reasons of Religion, upon Principles of Conscience, and Duty to God; which St. Peter calls Submitting for the Lord's sake. And I hope I need not dwell long upon this Head amongst Christians; for if the plain Principles of the New Testament may be allowed to be a Rule of Conscience, and God's immediate Commands do lay any Obligations upon us, than it is evident that Men are as immediately tied to the Duty of Obedience to their Prince in point of Conscience, as to any other Duty whatsoever. Let Conscience be as Free as Men assert it to be, and Accountable to God only, yet it cannot be dispensed withal in this Duty: For if Government be God's Institution, Kings his Vicegerents, and that he hath charged all Men to be obedient to them, and their Lawful Commands, upon pain of Damnation, and his highest Displeasure; then I am sure, if Conscience be an honest Respect to God and his Laws, it must necessarily oblige all Men in this Instance. If St. Paul and St. Peter understood the Obligation of Conscience, or were able to direct the Obedience of it, no more need be added on this Subject, than to desire Men to open their Bibles, and Read their Duty from those Apostles; tho' if need were, I might appeal to the Old Testament, the Doctrine and Example of the Blessed Jesus in the New, the Consonant Doctrine, and Practise too, of the Ancient and Best Christians, to Vouch the Truth of Obedience to Kings for the Lord's sake: And therefore I shall close up this Discourse with my Hearty Wishes  
That God Almighty would please to Bless, Preserve, Protect and Keep King William, that we may long enjoy him, and all those Great and Invaluable Blessings which, by him, God has vouchsafed to us: And that God would so Rule the Heart of his Chosen Servant William, our King and Governor, that he knowing whose Minister he is, may above all things seek his Honour and Glory: And that we, and all his Subjects, duly considering whose Authority he hath, may faithfully Serve, Honour, and Humbly Obey him, in God, and for God, according to his Blessed Word and Ordinance.  
FINIS.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
A True History of the several Designs and Conspiracies against His Majesty's Person and Government; As they were continually carried on from 1688, to 1697. Containing Matters Extracted from Original Papers, Depositions of the Witnesses, and Authentic Records; as appears by the References to the Appendix, wherein they are Digested. Published with no other Design than to acquaint the English Nation, that notwithstanding the present Posture of Affairs, our Enemies are still so Many, Restless and Designing, that all Imaginable Care ought to be taken for the Defence and Safety of His MAJESTY and His Three Kingdoms. By the same Author. Sold by Abel Roper, at the Black Boy, against St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleetstreet.