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<DATE>2012-03-21</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B120110.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<VID>184341</VID>
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<HEAD>A WORD to the Wi&s;er JACOBITES, Worthy their Peru&s;al <HI>Over a Sober Di&s;h of Coffee.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Being a SHORT THEORY of the <HI>Pre&s;ent E&s;tabli&s;hment,</HI> Shewing its Righteou&s;ne&s;s; That all may Rejoice, and Pray in Faith, for its PEACE. <ADD>22. Oct. 1697.</ADD></HEAD>
<BYLINE>By <HI>W. B.</HI></BYLINE>
<P>IN War, all things in Effect follow the Will of the &s;tronge&s;t, &s;o far as his force reaches; but in <HI>Peace,</HI> Right mu&s;t Rule; otherwi&s;e <HI>Peace</HI> is &s;o far lo&s;t, or turned into a Confederacy in Iniquity. That <HI>Peace</HI> may therefore be a Ble&s;&s;ing, and do us good in the i&s;&s;ue of Things; it mu&s;t be in Conjunction with Righteou&s;ne&s;s. But becau&s;e &s;ome think this impo&s;&s;ible in the <HI>Peace</HI> of the Pre&s;ent E&s;tabli&s;hment, others are doubtful about it, others believe it may be, but upon &s;uch Principles, as being practi|&s;ed upon, would de&s;troy all <HI>Peace:</HI> To &s;ecure therefore the Ble&s;&s;ing of our <HI>Peace</HI> the better (&s;ince God hath at la&s;t granted it to the Prayers of good Men) it may be of &s;ome u&s;e, briefly to &s;hew the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Pre&s;ent E&s;tabli&s;hment, by its accord with the natural Laws of Right in God's Kingdom over Men.</P>
<P>To me it &s;eems very plain, that a Man's Right in a thing is nothing but the Command, which his Will hath over that thing; and I know none otherwi&s;e minded: And it being &s;o, (1.) I cannot under&s;tand, how the thing that is at the Command of no Man's Will, is in any Man's Right, and if it be not, it is in a State of Immunity. And, (2.) If any fingle Man comes afterward to have a thing &s;uch at the Com|mand of his Will, he has the Right in it; therefore nothing but Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, which is the having a thing at the Command of ones Will, is in Nature the Original Title of Right. This Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion happens either by natural Donation, or by Acqui&s;ition, which Acqui&s;ition is either by the exerci&s;e of a Man's natural Power, or the Act of another.</P>
<P N="1">1. Excepting Parental Rights, or &s;uppo&s;ing them remit|ted by the Mancipation of the Child; pure Nature in the fir&s;t in&s;tance makes a Man him&s;elf, and none other; the Ma|&s;ter and Owner of his own Body and its Members, by put|ting them under the Command of his Will, and con&s;equent|ly gives him a Right and Property in them. Overlooking this, gave the fatal Occa&s;ion to an irreligious. Man, to draw up that mon&s;trous Doctrine of <HI>Hobbs</HI> his Politicks. For though it be not more evident, that the Boughs in the Wood belong to that Tree, which they grow upon, and none other; then it is evident, that Nature hath put my Limbs under the Command of my own Will, and of none others; yet he will have it, That Nature makes nothing one Mans (that is at the Command of one Man's Will) more than another.</P>
<P N="2">2. If I command the&s;e Limbs by the Dictate of my Will to procure natural Su&s;tenance, I do but make u&s;e of my own Right; and it is Ju&s;t, becau&s;e the U&s;e of a natural Right; and it is Good, becau&s;e it is to &s;ave a Life; and doing what is Ju&s;t and Good, is the Exerci&s;e of a Vertue: So far Domi|nion is founded in Grace; for excepting a Man's Right in his own Body, or Rights conferr'd upon him by the Act of another; a Man hath no Dominion over any thing, but by the Exerci&s;e of this Vertue of Indu&s;try.</P>
<P N="3">3. If by this exerci&s;e of Vertue, he compa&s;&s;es any thing (in a State of Immunity) u&s;eful for Life, a Bea&s;t, a Fowl, a Fi&s;h, Fruit, or the like; that is then reduced under the Command of his Will, and he hath therefore a Right in it; which Right being gained by the u&s;e of his natural Pow|ers, may be called an acquired natural Right.</P>
<P N="4">4. But that any thing was then in a po&s;ture and place where he could mancipate it, was to him a Contingency by the Di&s;po&s;ition of Divine Providence: God therefore brought &s;uch a thing to him, and delivered it into his Hand, and con&s;equently gave him a Right to it by this providential Di&s;po&s;al, as he did to his own Body by framing his Humane Nature, from whence re&s;ults the &s;acredne&s;s of natural Rights, and the Divine Ble&s;&s;ing in them.</P>
<P N="5">5. The Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of a thing acquired by the voluntary Act of another, gives a Right liable to be rebated, and is actually rebated, &s;o far as the &s;everal Ca&s;es make it.</P>
<P N="6">6. If another Man &s;ees me to want what he po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es, and will &s;pare, and out of Commi&s;eration puts the thing into my Hand, this Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion makes the thing in my <HI>Right:</HI> For tho' I ought to ble&s;s God for ble&s;&s;ing him with &s;uch Store, and inclining his Heart, and thank the Man for be&s;towing it up|on me; yet if I pay neither of the&s;e Debts, the thing is no le&s;s in my Right, and he would deprive me of my Right, &s;hould he take it from me for this neglect of my Duty to God and him; becau&s;e this was not the Condition of the things being put into my Power, but was left to the Pious and grateful Sen&s;e of my own Mind.</P>
<P>The &s;ame Mea&s;ures held, and &s;omewhat more &s;trongly on both &s;ides, if I receive his Alms upon my humbly Intreaty, becau&s;e I did hereby abu&s;e my &s;elf to him, and he conde&s;cen|ded to one, that was not only broken in his Fortune, but in his Spirit likewi&s;e.</P>
<P N="7">7. If &s;ome grateful Sign of acknowledging it a kindne&s;s be &s;tipulated for, as the Condition of delivering the thing into my Hand: Should I upon the Receipt of it fail in this he hath a Right to require it of me, and I ought to re&s;tore it; but he hath no Right to take it from me by Violence or Surreption, and he deprives me of my Right, if he does.</P>
<P N="8">8. If he &s;ignifies, he would not deliver it into my Hand, unle&s;s I will re&s;tore it, or an equivalent to him again; I am bound, if I take it, to Re&s;toration accordingly; and if I do it not, he hath a Right of making Reprizals upon me, and I have none to hinder him.</P>
<P N="9">9. But though I received it upon Condition of Re&s;torati|on and no otherwi&s;e, &s;hould any other Man take it out of my Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; he deprives me of my Right. And if he that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed me of it, &s;hould Die without Heirs, before I actually had re&s;tored it; I am the proper Owner of it, meerly by having it in my Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion. So much for Rights founded upon the Title of Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, which are the Rights from which all others are derived.</P>
<P N="10">10. If then another doth not actually put me into Po&s;&s;e&s;|&s;ion of the thing, but Promi&s;es he will at &s;uch a Time; I have at that time a Right to the thing, but no Right to take it from him, but he is bound to deliver it unto me. But if I have given him a valuable Con&s;ideration for doing of it, and he does it not, I have a Right of Reprizal, and he hath none to hinder me; &s;o that all Rights of this Nature, when the thing is not in the Owners Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, are <HI>Pactitious:</HI> of which there are two Kinds, either explicitely, or impli|citely; and if Candour, Equity, Sincerity, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> be Vertues, there is no difference in the Obligation of an explicite or implicite Pact; and upon one of the&s;e two, are grounded all the Rights betwixt Subjects and Governours, and cannot be under&s;tood otherwi&s;e, for ought ever I could &s;ee.</P>
<P N="11">11. Whether the Late King <HI>James</HI> di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed him&s;elf of his Kingdom, or was di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by others, &s;eeing he cer|tainly now is not in the Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of it; but another is, he can have no natural Right now by the Title of Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion;
<PB REF="2">and therefore King <HI>James</HI> hath no Right at all, unle&s;s what is Pactitious: But no Man hath any Right by Pact, but what is agreed to by the Parties contracting; now the Political Compact in <HI>England</HI> (&s;ince the Crown is Imperial) can have no Parties in it, but the King and the People; and therefore it mu&s;t be either betwixt the King and the People, of el&s;e betwixt the People one with another.</P>
<P N="12">12. Among&s;t the&s;e it is agreed, the People being di&s;tribu|ted into Lords and Commons, &s;hall give their Con&s;ent in two E&s;tates; and unle&s;s the&s;e two E&s;tates in Parliament with the King agree in the Matter, nothing &s;hall be had to be an Article of the Agreement by the Authority of the Kingdom, which the Subject by his Allegiance or Duty of Subjection to the Sovereign is bound to ob&s;erve. And therefore it is a|greed, that the King &s;hall govern thus by Laws, <HI>Quas Po|pulus ip&s;e &s;ibi elegerit.</HI></P>
<P N="13">13. But it was never agreed explicitely or implicitely, be|twixt King <HI>James</HI> and the People of <HI>England,</HI> that the Go|vernment &s;hould be admini&s;tred by Popi&s;h Officers; but on the contrary, King <HI>James</HI> and the People were expre&s;ly a|greed, that the Government of the Land &s;hould not be ad|mini&s;tred by Popi&s;h Officers. When therefore the Late King <HI>James</HI> after <HI>Monmouth</HI>'s Inva&s;ion, did in his Speech de|clare to the People in Parliament (that is, the other Party in the Contract) that he would not Govern without Popi&s;h Officers, nor &s;uffer any one to gain-&s;ay him in it, and pro|ved he was in very great earne&s;t by the re&s;t of his whole Reign; he expre&s;ly di&s;agreeing to the known and owned Agreement betwixt the King and People of <HI>England,</HI> there was thence forward no Agreement betwixt the King and People (the Parties Contracting) there was therefore no Government at all agreed unto betwixt them; not a Go|vernment admini&s;tred without Popi&s;h Officers, for that the King had &s;olemnly di&s;agreed unto, and re&s;olutely per&s;i&s;ted in, all his Time: Not a Government admini&s;tred by Popi&s;h Officers, for that the People (the other Party) had not con&s;ented to, and therefore (as I &s;aid) there was then no Government agreed to betwixt them: And becau&s;e no pra|cticable Government was agreed upon, there could be no Governour actually agreed to: For to Con&s;ent to a Gover|nour, and not to the Government, is to Con&s;ent to no|thing, but an in&s;ignificant Word.</P>
<P N="14">14. As we &s;ee the People in a Political State, all making one Party contracting, did not Con&s;ent in Parliament: So in their natural Per&s;ons its certain, they had not agreed one with another, that the Government &s;hould be admini&s;tred in King <HI>James</HI> his Reign by Popi&s;h Officers; wherefore there being no Agreement in the Nation about the Govern|ment of it, King <HI>James</HI> could from thence have no Right by Agreement; that is, he had no Pactitious Right to the Government; and &s;ince he hath none by the natural Right of Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, its plain he hath no Right now to the Government of <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P N="15">15. When King <HI>James</HI> refu&s;ed to &s;tand to the National Compact, the People were put into a State of Deliberation; whether they would agree to King <HI>James</HI> his Government, or not; but there is no Rea&s;on to doubt, but they had their Choice, being certainly in no Agreement with King <HI>James</HI> about any Government at all: But though they could not be bound by the Rights of an Agreement about the Govern|ment, when there was no &s;uch Agreement; yet were they bound to ob&s;erve all the private natural Rights by Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;i|on, and the Pactitious Rights by Private Contracts among&s;t them&s;elves.</P>
<P N="16">16. And for the Re-e&s;tabli&s;hing of the Government, the mea&s;ures to be ob&s;erved in a State of Deliberation (wherein Men mu&s;t be &s;uppo&s;ed free) are Coun&s;els directed by the Rule of Charity; the Sum of which is, to do that, which upon a true E&s;timation of all Particulars, is be&s;t for the whole: What that is, was difficult to be Re&s;olved, whil&s;t King <HI>James</HI> was upon the Throne; and therefore its no wonder, if even good Men differed in their Opinion about it, &s;ome being for e&s;tabli&s;hing a new Governour, others not. But when that King was out of Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, the Ca&s;e was but thus (it being equally Ju&s;t to have either) whether was mo&s;t for the Good and Benefit of <HI>England,</HI> to have King <HI>James,</HI> or the Prince anti Prince&s;s of <HI>Orange</HI> e&s;tabli&s;hed in the Go|vernment; and the Body of the Nation being Prote&s;tants, this was no hard Que&s;tion to be Re&s;olved.</P>
<P N="17">17. King <HI>James</HI> his Refu&s;al to &s;tand to the Agreement taken preci&s;ely, is in &s;trict Propriety not to be called a wrong to the People of <HI>England;</HI> but unkind, unmerciful, ungrateful, uncharitable, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> For though the People are bound ab&s;olutely to obey according to the Agreement, yet the King by the Contract is not bound to govern, no not by the Coronation Oath; but only, if that he will govern, to govern no otherwi&s;e then is agreed; but he may Re&s;ign when he will without Violation of his Oath; which if he does, and the People have another Sovereign; if he would re|a&s;&s;ume his Government, we are Traytors and Rebels, if we a&s;&s;i&s;t him to recover his Late Right: If he will attempt it by Force, he is to be Re&s;i&s;ted as an Enemy; and &s;o he is, if he attempt it, being faln from his Right any other Way.</P>
<P N="18">18. Becau&s;e not the owning, but the &s;itting in a Seat, fills the Seat; if no one &s;its in the Seat, the Seat is empty, tho' it hath an owner; for he that &s;its in the Seat, hath the Seat in Occupation or Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; if then no one hath the Throne in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, the Throne is plainly Vacant, whether it be Hereditary or no. But, unle&s;s the then Prince of <HI>Orange</HI> by taking upon him (at the Reque&s;t of the Lords and others) the Admini&s;tration of Publick Affairs, was in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Throne; it is certain, when King <HI>James</HI> had withdrawn him&s;elf out of the Kingdom, in the Manner he did; neither He, nor any one el&s;e, was in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion: Therefore the Throne was then Vacant, according to the Lords and Com|mons Vote.</P>
<P N="19">19. Both Hou&s;es acknowledging the Crown Hereditary; we mu&s;t fir&s;t ob&s;erve, every Heir that inherits, enters by Vertue of a Right, that was inherent in the Dying Per&s;on, and by Death, and no other Way, immediately devolves upon him. So that no one can enter upon the Government by the Title of King <HI>James</HI> his Heir, whil&s;t him&s;elf is Living; and &s;ince King <HI>James</HI> has lo&s;t his Right (as was &s;hewed above) no Right of Governing inherent in him at his Death (<HI>rebus &s;ic &s;tantibus</HI>) can be derived from him to any Heir what&s;oe|ver; and becau&s;e it is thus impo&s;&s;ible for any to Inherit the Crown from King <HI>James</HI> Living or Dying; when that King parted with the Right of the Government, as he did from him&s;elf, he likewi&s;e parted with it from his Heirs; having made it naturally impo&s;&s;ible for the Crown to de&s;cend at all by the Right of Inheritance.</P>
<P N="20">20. The Ground being Cleared, The Convention were to take Care to re-e&s;tabli&s;h the Government for the good of the Nation. If then they left us not in Anarchy, but &s;et up a Government, and that Monarchical, not Ari&s;to|cratical, or Democratical; Hereditary, not Elective, in the Royal, and no other Family; by the next in the Right Line, as far as can be known, taking no Notice of one, of whom no Notice was or could be given &s;ufficient for the rea&s;onable belief of the main Body of the Nation; that is, if they placed one as the Pre&s;umptive Heir (when there was in Truth no Heir Apparent) upon the Throne of the Kingdom, and e&s;tabli&s;hed the &s;ame Rights, Laws, Liber|ties, Priviledges, and Religion, nothing could be more wi&s;ely ordered, &s;o far as Man can &s;ee.</P>
<P N="21">21. If the Throne was not filled by Vertue of the Heirs Title, as in an ordinary Ca&s;e; King <HI>James,</HI> having ren|dred that impo&s;&s;ible to be done in Nature, mu&s;t bear the blame of that, the People of <HI>England</HI> are Free. The pre|&s;ent King, and then Prince of <HI>Orange,</HI> had merited an Ad|mi&s;&s;ion into a Confort-&s;hip in the Sovereignty with his Wife, by the Judgment and Joyful Acknowledgment, of the next in the Right Line; and the People, which accor|dingly was con&s;ented to by them the Parties in the Cove|nant. And the Prince&s;s being a Subject of <HI>England,</HI> as &s;uch, Con&s;ents to the Acts of the Legi&s;lator; and therefore all her Political Rights in the Kingdom, are &s;ecured, and none violated by the pre&s;ent E&s;tabli&s;hment; wherein, be|cau&s;e all Rights are &s;aved, which King <HI>James</HI> left natural|ly po&s;&s;ible to be saved, may Heaven and Earth &s;ay <HI>Amen, Amen,</HI> to its Peace and Pro&s;perity.</P>
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<P><HI>London:</HI> Printed by <HI>S. B.</HI> And Sold by mo&s;t Book&s;ellers of <HI>London,</HI> and <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> 1697.</P>
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