A Compleat collection of papers in twelve parts relating to the great revolutions in England and Scotland from the time of the seven bishops petitioning K. James II. against the dispensing power, June 8. 1688. to the coronation of King William and Queen Mary, April 11. 1689.

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

WHEN the Prince of Orange (now our Gra∣cious King) his Glorious Expedition, was first made known to the late King, he re∣solved to have a Parliament, upon the Be∣lief that he should have been intirely Master of the Lower House, by Reason of the Regulations he had made in Corpo∣rations, in order to his Popish Designs. But when he was for∣ced to take other Measures, (as he told the Dissenters when he sent for them in the time of his Distress) in restoring the Charters, the Bishop of London, the Fellows of Magdalen-Colledg, &c. He dreaded nothing more than a Parliament on the old Foundations, to which the Prince in his Declara∣tion had referred all; for he knew several things would have been done by such a Parliament, that he chose rather to perish than submit to.

1. The first thing is; The Examination of the Birth of the Prince of Wales (as he is call'd) the questioning of which was a Stab at his Heart, as appears by his last Letter. And the Reflections on the Bishops Petition, mentioning That as a Busi∣ness not fit to be referred then to a Parliament.

2. The next thing was; That Justice would certainly have been demanded against the Evil Counsellors, whom he had pardoned, and was in Honour bound to protect them, having himself forced them to be Criminals.

3. The third was; The consenting to the entire Ruin of Popery in England, by hanging many of his Priests and Je∣suits, and banishing all the rest; and pulling down all the Schools and Chappels they had erected all over England, (a sure Sign they were built upon an Immortal Prince of Wales) though this was done before by the unaccountable Zeal of the Mob••le.

4. He foresaw such a Parliament would not only damn the Ecclesiastical Court, (that Beast with seven Heads) and the Dispensing Power, but would in all probability lessen his Revenue, and bind up the Prerogative; which his great Spirit could not bear.

5. The Prince, he foresaw, would have demanded some Forts to be put into his Hands and the Parliament, for their Security; so said he, If I stay, I shall be but a Nominal King of England, and only be an Instrument to ruin my Religion, my Friends, the Monarchy, and the Child also.

At first he alledged, That the Disorders the Preparations to repel the Invasion caused, would not suffer a Parliament to meet. Secondly, After the Prince was landed, that all the Countries he had under him would not be free. Thirdly, That all that had joined with him, ought not to sit: but when he saw the whole Army and Nation (the Roman Ca∣tholicks excepted) of the same mind, mere Force drove him to consent to Call a Parliament; and when he had again considered the Consequences of it, he at last resolved to throw up the Crown and Government all at once, rather than to submit to all these Hardships.

He seems to have had at the same time a fluttering hope, that (1.) We should never be able long to agree, after he had made it impossible for us to have a Legal Parliament, by burn∣ing the Writs. (2.) That the Church of England Principles would, when the fear and disorder was over, form for him a potent Army in the Nation. And (3.) That the French King would lend him potent Forces, and good store of Mony; and if he recovered the Throne by force, he should be freed of all these Miseries, and have what he only wanted before, a Popish Army, to insure the Slavery of England for ever.

Now I would desire those Protestants, who pretend, now too late, to be so zealous for him, to consider, whether what I have said would not have been expected from him by them, for their Security; and what they would have done had he called a Parliament, and refused them all these things, and have insisted, That they should have taken his Word as to the Birth of the Prince of Wales, have suffered him to have been educated in France, and have suf∣fered the Army, the Prerogative, the Ministers, and the Revenues to have continued entirely as they were, upon a Promise, He would have used them better for the future?

If they say No; They would have had the best Security that Law or Reason could have required: Then all the hard things I have mentioned must have been granted them, and I much question, whether he would now return to the Throne on those terms.

If they say, We ought however to have treated with him, have offered him terms; I say, it would have come to a se∣parate Treaty; and the Church, the Liberties of the Na∣tion, and the Government, would have been ruined that way; and when all had been done, no Bond (that he could have broken) would have held him longer than the Necessity had continued.

The only Advantage we could pretend to have by the coming over of the Prince of Orange with an Army, was to force the King to what he would never have yielded without that Force. Now when he had accordingly passed his Word to the Nation, in the Proclamation of the Thirtieth of November, That there should be a Free Parliament; and to the Prince of Orange, in his Message by the three Lords, That he would consent to every thing that could reasonably be re∣quired for the Security of those that come to it; and yet without any Provocation would burn the Writs, and resolve to with∣draw his Person before these Lords could possibly return him any Answer (for he promised the Queen to follow her, who wont away the day before him.) I say, this breach of his Word so solemnly made and given both to the Nation and the Prince, shew that he was not Master of himself, but turned about by others whither they pleased.

Now suppose the Prince had suffered him to continue at Whitehal, and to call a Third Parliament, what assurance could he have given, that in the end of another forty days we should not have the same trick play'd us, and then in March or April have been left in the same state of Confusion we were in in December, to the certain Ruin of these three Kingdoms, and Holland into the bargain. And when all had been done, the Scruples would have been the same they are now, the Obligations of the Oath of Allegiance the same, and the sin of Deposing a Lawful Prince, who resolved to do the Nation no Right, would have been much greater and more scandalous, than barely to take him at his Word; and since he had left the Throne empty, when he needed not, to resolve he should ascend it no more.

Lastly, Suppose the Prince had been Expelled by the King, Would the King have then granted us what he would not grant us now? Would he not have Disbanded his Pro∣testant Army, and have kept the Irish Forces in Pay, and have every day encreased them? What Respect would he ever after this have shewn to the English Laws, Religion or Liberties, when he had had no longer any thing to fear? The memory of what happened after the Monmouth defeat, (though effected only by Church of England Men) will certainly never be forgotten by others, whatever the Bigots of this sort of Loyalty may pretend or say.

That Expression of the Lord Churchil's, in his Letter, [That he could no longer joyn with Self-interested Men, who had framed Designs against His Majesty's true Interest, and the Protestant Re∣ligion, to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect] ought to be seriously considered by all the Protestants of the Nation: This one Argument prevailed upon him, when he ran the hazard of his Life, Reputation and Fortunes; and now they are all on the other side, I should consider very se∣riously, if I were one of them, what Answer I could make to this turned into a Question in the Day of Death and Judg∣ment, before ever I should Act the direct contrary to what he has done.

For my part I am amazed to see Men scruple the submitting to the present King: for if ever Man had a just cause of

War, he had; and that creates a Right to the thing gained by it: the King by withdrawing and disbanding his Army, yielded him the Throne; and if he had, without any more Ceremony, ascended it, he had done no more than all other Princes do on the like occasions; and when the King after this was taken and brought back by force, he was no longer then bound to consider him, as one that was, but as one that had been King of England; and in that capacity he treated him with great Respect and Civility, how much soever the King complained of it, who did not enough consider what he had done to draw upon himself that usage.

But when all is said that can be said, there may possibly be some Men to whom may be applied the Saying of Joab, Thou lovest thine Enemies, and hatest thy Friends; for thou hast de∣clared this day, that thou regardest neither Princes, nor Servants; for this Day I perceive, that if Absolom had lived, and all we had died this Day, then it had pleased thee well. Had the Pro∣testant Religion, the English Liberties, the Nobility and Gen∣try of this Nation, been all made an Holocaust to their Repu∣tations and Humours, their Scruples and School-niceties, and the Prince of Orange perished, or returned Ruin'd or Inglo∣rious into Holland; we should then have had the Honour of cutting up our Religion, our Laws, and our Civil Rights, with our own Swords; and we should have been the only Church under Heaven that had refused a Deliverance, and Religiously and Loyally had Destroyed it self. In truth, the Men would have purchased Popery and Slavery so dear, ought to have enjoyed both to the End of the World.