I am sensible it will be said, That we do imitate them, at the same time that we blame them; that the prayers which we have now offered for the averting the divine wrath due to the sin of this day, and for the safety and prosperity of our present gracious soveraign, are a contradiction to one another; and that the late revolution was a return to the principles of those who were concerned in the great rebellion. And there are two sorts of men, who, tho' opposite enough to each other, will be apt to concur in making this objection: the one with a design to justify the murther of the Royal Martyr, or at least the measures which prepared the way for it; the other with an intention to condemn the happy revolution, upon which our present settlement is founded.
Now, to what hath been already observed, with a view to this objection, I need only to add, That these two cases, which some would fain have us believe to be nearly alike, are widely different.
It is well known, That the rebellion against King Charles the first was begun, when all grievances (which in his reign were far from amounting to a total subversion of the constitution) had been fully redressed and repaired. And it was the declared resolution of those who engaged in it, not to defend, but to change the laws and settled form of government, and to encroach upon the just rights of their soveraign; who laboured indefatigably to maintain the established laws and government; who by the laws, to which he had without compulsion consented, had given sufficient proof, that he was as willing to secure his peoples rights as his own; and who was so far from affecting power, that did not belong to him, that his greatest weakness was, that he did not hold fast the rains of government in his hands, but parted with his authority too easily, and made too large concessions to those who were not disposed to make him suitable returns. When the rebels had got the mastery, they then actually compleated a far greater change, than they
had at first professed to desire. A high court of justice was erected for the judging and condemning the King himself as a criminal; the whole royal family were excluded from succeeding to the crown; and kingly government itself was declared against and abolished, and several illegal forms of government were one after another set up in the room of it.
But in the reign of the late King James, no redress of grievances, no opportunity of redressing them in a parliamentary way, could be obtained. Instead of being removed they were justified by pretending, that the King had a power to dispense with the laws at pleasure. And it was very visible that the King and his ministers governed by this pernicious and tyrannical maxim. Now this was plainly a subversion of the constitution, by changing the government from limited to absolute, from legal to arbitrary. When the power of the people prevailed, they made it very evident, that the motive to the measures they had then taken was necessity, and not the being given to
change. No remedy was so much as sought for against the person of the King. No prejudice was manifested against the illustrious family, which had long swayed the scepter of these kingdoms: but all possible regard was shewn to it. The King himself had render'd the setting of the crown upon a person who now pretends to it impracticable; tho' the nation had been ever so well satisfied concerning his birth. But it was immediately settled upon the King's undoubted issue then in the kingdom, and upon a grandson of the Royal Martyr; and afterwards, in default of the issue from them, upon the next branch of the royal family professing the Protestant Religion; with whom alone our constitution could with any prospect of security be entrusted. Nor was there any invasion of the royal prerogative; but the same government in church and state was chearfully submitted to by the people; as on the other hand the liberties of the people were faithfully defended by the crown. In short, of two changes, one of which
was at that time unavoidable, the nation preferred the less to the greater, and that which was safe and advantageous to that which would have been very disadvantageous and destructive.
Which things considered, no man should offer to draw a parallel betwixt the late Revolution and the great rebellion, till he is able to demonstrate, That there is no difference between the doing no manner of hurt to the person of the King, and the executing him publickly as a malefactor; between the settling the crown upon his undoubted issue, and excluding the whole royal family from it without any other necessity than what arose from the guilt of those who excluded them; between the peoples asserting their own undoubted rights, and their invading the undoubted rights of their soveraign; between insisting upon the regular observation and execution of the established laws, and fighting for an alteration of them; between preserving the ancient constitution and utterly overthrowing it from the foundations; or in
other words, between just and unjust; between right and wrong.
Wherefore, Brethren, let us stop our ears against those, whose doctrines open a door to disobedience and rebellion against lawful authority; and no less against those also who would insinuate that our present governours have no claim to the submission, which they acknowledge to be due to lawful magistrates. The powers which now are, are ordained of God; and ordained in mercy to us, for the security of our lives and properties and liberties, and of what we ought to value above all the rest, our most holy Religion. And heavy will be the condemnation of those, who shall refuse to submit to him who is the minister of God to them for good.