I suppose ... that king James had a right to my allegiance, and that secured by an oath; and unless he has given away this right or forfeited it, it is still in him. Now to me it does not appear that he has done either, therefore I dare not give it to another, which ... is the design of the new oaths.... I ought not to have entered into the obligation if I had not designed to have kept it.
Aug. 15. Blechynden to Bonwicke.
He that has no longer a right to the government has no longer a right to my allegiance.... King James has shewn, that he neither has the qualifications for government, nor for this of the English.... A full possession of the power, especially when recognised by the grandees and main body of the people, gives him that has it a title to the obedience and fidelity (or, if you will, allegiance) of all within his territories; at least they are guilty of no sin that promise fidelity to him.
Aug. 20. Bonwicke to Blechynden.
I should be glad to find my friends and relations (whom I have so great a concern for) are in the right, and that it is prejudice in me has blinded me so long. Though I suppose it would be perjury in me to quit that oath that I still think obligatory, yet I have a very charitable opinion of those that have taken the new one, and suppose that conscience has been as much their guide in taking it, as it has been mine in refusing it.... I suppose a man may be dispossessed of a legal right no otherwise than by law.... I am to consider how I am to behave myself under a king, that has possession and not right. The execution of those laws that protect me are (sic) in his hands; I will give him all the obedience that is necessary for that purpose.... But to take an oath of allegiance to the king de facto, certainly cancels my oath of allegiance to the former.... If it were barely submitting to him in power, I suppose we should have no great dispute.
Aug. 25. Blechynden to Bonwicke.
Municipal laws are not the sole measure of right and wrong. There is a superior law of right reason, which respects the common good of mankind, which gave beginning to all civil societies.... You say treason against the king de facto is not treason de jure; hereby you must mean according to equity and right reason; for treason against a king de facto is the only treason by the law of the land, if Coke and Hales[27] may be credited.... You call for a legal forfeiture; nothing else, say you, will forfeit a legal right to a crown. But if you please to consult the gentlemen that write politics, who surely are the best guides in this affair, you will find them assign a great many others.... The assemblies of the grandees and parliaments have near forty times either deposed their prince or waived the next of kin for the good of the community.
Aug. 31. Bonwicke to Blechynden.
Reason must be our best guide, and she has directed you to take the oaths, as she does me to refuse them. I consider on one side there is only a little temporal concern, and on the other the danger of perjury.... For what you urge, that therefore I ought to have no protection from king William, I must be contented; but I think it is the law that protects us both. At present it only deprives us of our livings, and that we must submit to. When the laws become more severe, we must shift as well as we can, and if we cannot live in this country, fly to another.... A whole nation can as ill dispense with their oaths as a single person.