deal of difference betwixt a lawful King and an Usurper 2. Example answered An impertinent example of Israel but an alien an usurper and a scourge to them for their sinne and therefore no pattern for others to rebell against their lawful King 2. For the example of Ezechias rebelling against the King of Assyria it is most impertinently alledged for Ezechias was the lawful King of Juda and the King of Assyria had no right at all in his Dominions but being greedily desirous to enlarge his territories he incroached upon the others right and for his injustice was overcome by the sword in a just battell and therefore to conclude from hence that because the King of Juda refused to obey the King of Assyria therefore the inferiour Magistrates or Peers of any Kingdome may resist and remove their lawful Prince for his tyranny or impiety surely this deserves rather fustilus retundi quà m rationibus refelli to be beaten with rods then confuted with reasons as Saint Bernard speaketh of the like Argument And whereas they reply that it skilleth not whether the Tyrant be forreign as Eglon and the King of Assyria were or domestique as Saul Achab The absurdity of their replication and Manasses were because the domestique is worse then the forreign and therefore the rather to be suppressed I will shew you the validity of this argument by the like The seditious Preachers are the generation of vipers nay farre worse then vipers because they hurt but the body onely and these are pernicious both to body and soul therefore as a man may lawfully kill a viper so he may more lawfully kill any seditious Preacher But to omit their absurdity let us look into the comparison betwixt domestique Quia Dare absurdum non est solvere argumentum and extranean Tyrants and we shall find that domestique Tyrants are lawfully placed over us by God who commandeth us to obey them and forbiddeth us to resist them in every place for the Scripture makes no distinction betwixt a good Prince and a Tyrant in respect of the honour reverence and obedience that we owe unto our superiours as you see the Lord doth not say Touch not a good King and Obey righteous Princes but as God saith Honour thy father and thy mother be they good or bad so he saith Touch not the King resist not your Governours speak not evil of the Rulâ—rs be they good or be they bad and therefore Saint Paul when he was strictly charged for reviling the wicked high-Priest answered wisely I wist not brethren that he was Gods High-Priest for if I had known him to be the true High-Priest I would not have spoken what I did because I know the Law of God obligeth me to be obedient to him that God hath Bad kings to be obeyed as well as the good placed over me be he good or bad for it is Gods institution and not the Governours condition that tyeth me to mine obedience So you see the mind of the Apostle he knew the Priest-hood was abolished and that he was not the lawful High-Priest therefore he saith God shall smite thee thou whited wall But if he had known and believed him to be the true and lawful High-Priest which God had placed over him he would never have said so had the Priest been never so wicked because the Law saith Thou shalt not revile thy Ruler But for private robbers or forreign Tyrants God hath not placed them over us nor commanded us to obey them neither have they any right by any Law but the Law of strength to exact any thing from us and therefore we are obliged by no law to yield obedience unto them neither are we hindred by any necessity either of rule or subjection but that we may lawfully repell all the injuries that they offer unto us 3. For the peoples hindring of King Saul to put his son Jonathan to death 3. Example answered Saul was contented to be perswaded to spare hâ—s son I say that they freed him from his fathers vow non armis sed precibus not with their weapons but by their prayers when they appealed unto himself and his own conscience before the living God and perswaded him that seâ—ting aside his rash vow he would have regard unto justice and consider whether it was right that he should suffer the least damage who following God had wrought so great a deliverance unto the peohle as Tremelius and Junius in their Annotations do observe And Saint Gregory saith The Gâ—egor in 1 Reg. 4. people freed Jonathan that he should not die when the King overcome by the instanâ—e of the people spared his life which no doubt he was not very â—arnest to take away from so good a son 4. Touching Ahikam that was a prime Magistrate under King Jehoiakim 4. Example answered I say that he defended the Prophet not from the Tyranny of the King but from the fury of the people for so the Text saith The hand of Ahikam that is saith Tremelius the authority and the help of Ahikam â—erem 26. 24. was with Jeremy that They that is his enemies should not give him into the hands of the people which sought his life to put him to death because Ahikam had been a long while Counsellour unto the King and was therefore very powerful in credit and authority with him And you know there is a The act of Ahikam no colour for Rebellion great deal of difference betwixt the refraining of a tumultuous people by the authority of the King and a tumultuous insurrection against the King That was the part of a good man and a faithful Magistrate as Ahikam did this of an enemy and a false Traytor as the opposer of Kings use to do 5. For the defection and revolting of the ten Tribes from Rehoboam 5. Example answered their own natural lawful King unto a fugitive and a man of a servile condition and for the Edomites Lybnites and others that revolted against King Joram and that Conspiracy which was made in Jerusalem against 2 Chrâ—n 21. 2 Reg. 14. 19. Amazia I answer briefly That the Scriptures do herein as they do in many other places set down rei gestae veritatem non facti aquitem the truth of things how they were done not the equity of the things that they were rightly done and therefore Non ideô qura factum â—ctions commanded to be done are not to be imitated by us unlâ—sse we be sure of the like commandement legimus faciendum credamus ne violemus praeceptum dum sectamur exemplum We must not believe it ought to be done because we read that it was done lest we violate the Commandement of God by following the example of men as Saint Augustine speaketh for though Joseph sware by the life of Pharaoh the Midwives lyed unto the King and the Israelites robbed the Aegyptians and sinned not therein yet we have no warrant without sinne to follow
might be possest of that fear qui cadit in fortem constantem virum for mine eyes did see them and mine ears did hear it said What Bishop soever they met they would be his death and I thanked God they knew not me to be a Bishop Then they set upon Saint Peters Church of Westminster Their furious assault upon Saint Peters Church in Westminster burst part of the door to pieces and had they not been most manfully withstood by the Arch-Bishop of York his Gentlemen and the Prebends Servants together with the Officers of the Church they had entred and likely ransacked spoyled and defaced all the Monuments of the Ancient Kings broken down the Organs and committed such Sacriledge and prophanation of that Holy place as their fellow Rebels have done since in Canterbury Winchester Worcester and other places whereof I shall speak hereafter the like was never seen among the Turks and Pagans and after these things what rage cruelty and barbarity they would have shewed to the Dean and Prebends we might well fear but not easily judge I am sure the Dean was forced to hire Armed Souldiers to preserve the Church for many daies after for seeing these riotous Tumults could not as yet obtain their ends they came nay they were brought again and again and they justled and offered some violence unto the Arch-Bishop's Grace as he went with the Earl of Dover into the Parliament House which made him and the rest of his brethren justly to fear what might be the issue of these sad beginnings which they conceived must needs be very lamentable if timely remedy were not applied to prevent these untimely frights and unchristian tumults Therefore when no Complaints either to the House of Lords or Commons could produce any safe effects but rather a frivolous excuse than a serious redress that they came to petition against the Government and not to seek the destruction of the Governours the Bishops were inforced and in my judgment flesh and blood could take no better course in such a case in such distress and I believe it will be found wisdom hereafter to make their Petition for their security and Protestation against all Acts as null they might have added to them and whom they represented that should be enacted in their unwilling absence while they were so violently hindered from the House and it may be some word might pass in this Protestation that might be bettered or explained by another word yet on such a suddain in such a fright when they scarce had time to take Counsel of their pillows or to advise with their second thoughts quae semper sunt saniores To watch for iniquity to turn aside the Esay 29. 20 21. just for a thing of nought to take advantage of a word or to catch men for one syllable to charge them with High Treason to bring them unto death so many Reverend Bishops to such a shameful end was more heavy than ever I find the Jews were to the old Prophets or the Pagan Tyrants unto the Primitive Fathers nor do I believe you can Parallel the same charge in any History yet 3. For this one necessitated Act of the Bishops the House of Commons 3. How they were committed to Prison do suddainly upon the first sight thereof charge twelv of them with High Treason they were not so long Condemning it as the Bishops in Composing it and accordingly the Lords commit them unto Prison And if this was Treason I demand why could they not prove it so to be Or if it was not why should such an House Flos Medulla regni the greatest and the Highest Court of Justice from which the King consenting with them there lieth none appeal but only to the Court of Heaven accuse them of High Treason I would not have that Court to charge a man with any thing that were not most true for certainly whosoever unjustly compasseth my death is justly guilty of death himself when as the Poet saith Lex non justior ulla Quà m necis artifices arte perire suâ It may be they would have us to believe this Treason was not proved nor the charge so fully followed as they intended out of some mercy to save their lives but I could sooner believe they rejâ—yced to see them fear and were glad of their mistake that they might charge them and by such a charge cast them into prison that so they might the more easily work their Design to cast them out of the Parliament which now they have soon effected and procured an Act for their exclusion And you must know that to cast out from doing good or serving God is a work of the Divel and not of God so the wicked Husbandmen did cast out the right Heir of the Vine-yard out of his own inheritance so the The consquentes of this Act. Jews did cast out the blind man and all that professed Christ out of their Synagogue But you may better judge of this good Act by these consequences which are like to be the fruits thereof 1. Hereby they are all made incapable to do any good either for Gods 1. Made incapable of doing any good honour or their neighbours benefit by executing justice or pronouncing judgment in any cause in any temporal Court and justice which long agon hath fled to Heaven and wanders as a stranger here on earth must be countenanced and entertained only by the sons of men by secular Lords and Gentlemen and the Spiritual Lords the Servants of God and messengers of Heaven must have nothing to do with her not because they are not as well able as any other to do justice but because the others cannot endure to let them see it for fear they should hinder their injustice and therefore justice and judgment are like to speed well on earth when their chiefest friends are banished from them and it may be worldlings oppressours or most ignorant youths rather than any just understanders of their natures must be their Judges 2. Hereby they are made unable to defend themselves or their calling 2. Made unable to defend themselves from any wrong their respect was little enough before and their indignities were great enough and yet now we are exposed to far greater miseries and to 〈◊〉 injuries when a Bishop hath not so much Authority as a Constable â—â— withstand his greatest affronts But hoc Ithacus est this is that which the Devil and his great Atreides's his prime Champions to enlarge his Kingdom would fain have our Souls to remain among Lions and all the means or defence to be taken from us our enemies to be our Judges and our selves to be murdered with our own weapons In the time of Popery there were many Laws de immunitate Clericorum whereby we were so protected that the greatest Prince could not oppress us as you may find in the Reign of King John and almost in all our Histories and when we renounced the Pope
rise against his Magistrate but he should rather patiently suffer any evil then any way strike again and rather endure any inconveniences and discommodities then any ways obey those ungodly commands 2. The Prince his government may be evil when he doth or commandeth any thing against the publique justice of which kind are the exaction of our goods or the vexation of our bodies and in these kinds of injuries Bâ—entius in respon ad artic rustâ—corum the subject ought rather then in the former to be obedient to his Magistrate for if he steps forth to arms God hath pronounced of such men He that smiteth with the sword shall perish with the sword Cranmer Arch Bishop of Canterbury together with the rest of the Bishops and most famous Divines of this Kingdom saith If Princes shall do any thing contrary to their duties God hath not appointed any superiour Judge over them in this world but they are to render their account to God which hath reserved their judgement to himself alone and therefore it is not lawful for any subjects how wicked soever their Princes shall Cranmer in lib. de Christiâ—ni hominis institutis be to take arms or raise sedition against them but they are to powre forth their prayers to God in whose hand Kings hearts are that he would inlighten them with his spirit whereby they might rightly to the glory of God use that sword which he hath delivered unto them Gulielmus Tindal a godly Martyr of Christ when Cardinal Lanio's sonne did lead the Lambs of Christ by troops unto the slaughter doth then describe the duty of subjects according to the strait rule of the Gospel saying David spared Saul and if he had killed him he had sinned against God for in every Kingdom the King which hath no superiour judgeth of all things and therefore he that indeavoureth or intendeth any mischief or calamity against the Prince that is a Tyrant or a Persecutor or whosoever with a froward hand doth but touch the Lords annointed he is a rebel against God and resisteth the ordinance of God as often as a private man sinneth he is held obâ—oxious to his King that can punish him for his offence but when the King offendeth he ought to be reserved to the divine examination and vengeance of God and as it is Tindal l. de Christiani hâ—minis obedient not lawful upon any pretence to resist the King so it is not lawful to rise up against the Kings Officer or Magistrate that is sent by the King for the execution of those things which are commanded by the King for as our Saviour saith He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And as he saith unto Saul when he persecuted the servants of Christ Saul Acts 9. 4. Saul why persecutest thou me when as he was then in Heaven farre above the reach of Saul yet because there is such a mystical union betwixt Christ and his Church the head and members as is betwixt man and wife no man can be said to injure the one but he must wrong the other so whosoever resisteth the Kings Lievtenant Deputy or any other Magistrate or Officer that he sendeth with Commission to execute his commands resisteth the King himself and all the indignities that are offered to the Kings Embassadour or servant that he thus sendeth are deemed as indignities offered to the King himself as we see the base usage of David's servants by King Hanun David revenged as an abuse 2 Sam. 10. offered unto himself because the Kings person cannot be in all places where justice and judgement and many other offices and actions are necessarily to be done throughout the latitude of his Dominions but his Whatsoever is done to any Messenger is deemed as done to him that sent him power and his authority deputed to those his servants and officers that he sendeth are as the lively representatives of the King in every part of his Kingdome and whatsoever favour payment neglect or abuse is shewed unto any of them the same in all Nations is accounted and therefore punished or rewarded as a service done unto the King himself as our Saviour when but the Tole gatherer came for the Tribute-mony saith Give unto Caesar what belongeth unto Caesar And therefore it is but an idle simple most foolish and frivolous distinction of men to deceive children and fools to say They love and honour their King and they fight not against their King but against such and such whom notwithstanding they know to be the Kings chiefest officers and to be sent with the Kings Power Commission and Authority to do thâ—se things that they do This is such a foppery that I know not what to say to undeceive those that are so desirous to be deceived when the Devill * Saint Paul saith God sâ—ndeth them strong delusions 2. Thess 2. 11. But what God sendeth justly as the punisher of their sin the Devil sendeth maliciously as the guider of them to Hell Barnesius in Tract de humanis Constitut which knoweth how near their destruction hangeth over their heads sends them strong delusions that they should so easily and so sillily believe suâ—h palpable lyes as to make them think they love him dearly whom they murder most barbarously Barnesius a very godly and learned man treating of the same Argument saith in a manner the same thing That the servants of Christ rather then either commit any evil or resist any Magistrate ought patiently to suffer the losse of their goods and the tearing of their members nay the Christian after the example of his Master Christ ought to suffer the bitterest death for truth and righteousnesse sake and therefore saith he whosoever shall rebell under pretence of Religion aeternae damnationis reâ—s â—rit he shall be found guilty of eternall damnation Master Dod saith that where the Prince commandeth a lawful act Master Dod upon the Commandements the subjects must obey and if he injoynes unlawful commands we must not rebell but we must be content to bear any punishment that shall be laid upon us even unto death it self and we should suffer our punishment without grudging even in heart and this he presseth by the example of the Three Children and of Daniel that was a mighty man and of very great power in Babylon yet never went about to gather any power against his King though it were in his own defence Master Byfield expounding the words of Saint Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Master Byfield upon 1 Pet. 2. 13. as to the Supreme saith This should confirm every good subject to acknowledge and maintain the Kings Supremacy and willingly to bind himself thereto by oath for the Oath of Supremacy is the bond of this subjection and this oath men must take without equivocation mentall evasion or secret reservation yea it should bind in them the same resolution that
one can neither stand nor fall without the other as it is fully and truly shewed in the Grand Rebellion therefore as Caligula wished that the people of Rome had but one neck that so he might dispatch them all uno iâ—tu with one stroke So these men would overthrow both Government and destroy both King and Priest both Church and State at one time with one clap with one thunder-bolt And so they should be famous indeed though it were but like the â—ame of Herostratus that burnt the Temple of Diana or of Raviliac that killed the King of France of Nero that destroyed his nâ—other or Oedipus that murdered his own father for a man may be as notoriously famous for transcendent villanies and nefarious impieties as another is for his rare vertues and super-eminent deeds of piety As in History Thersites is as well known for his base Cowardice as Achilles for his heroick Valour And in the Scripture Judas for his Treachâ—ry is as notoriously known as Saint Peter for his Fidelity Therefore these men go on with this great Design and to effect the same I find that they aimed at these two special things 1. To take away all the lets and impediments that might hinder them They aimed at two things 2. To secure unto themselves all the helps and furtherances that might advantage them For 1. As a Vineyard that is well hedged or a City strongly senced with walls 1. To remove the impediments of 〈◊〉 design and bulwarks cannot easily be laid wast and spoiled before these defences be destroyed so the wilde Boars cannot devour the grapes of God's Church and swallow down the Revenues of her Governours and the Rebels cannot pull the Sword out of their Soveraigns hand and lay his Crown down in the dust so long as the means of their preservations are intire and not removed Therefore these men endeavour to eradicate all the impediments of their Design And they saw four great Blocks that were as four mighty Mountains which their great Faith their publick faith being not yet conceived must remove before they could plant their new Church and subvert the old Government of this Kingdom and those were 1. The Earl of Straffords Head 2. The free judgement of the Judges Four impediments of their Design 3. The power of dissolving the Parliament 4. The Bishops votes in the House of the Lords For as the heavenly Angels could do nothing against Sodom while righteous Lot was in it so these earthly angels the messengers of Abaddon can never effect their ends to overthrow the Church and State to make them as Sodom full of all impurity and villany until these four main stops be taken away And therefore CHAP. II. Sheweth the eager prosecution of our Sectaries to take off the Earl of Straffords head How he answered for himself The Bishops right of voting in his cause His excellent vertues and his death 1. THey get Master Pym the grand father of all the purer sort and a 1. Impediment fit instrument for this Design in the name of the House of Commons and thereby of all the Commonalâ—y of England to charge Thomas Earl The Earl his Charge of Strafford of High-Treason A high charge indeed and yet no lesse a crime could serve the turn to turn him out of their way because nothing else could subdue that spirit by which he was so well able to discover the plots and to frustrate the practices of all the faction of Sectaries for as the Jews were no wayes sufficient to answer Saint Stephen's arguments but only with stones so these men saw themselves unable to confute his reasons and to subdue his power but only by putting him to death and cutting off his head for that fault which Pym alleadged he had committed But then I demand How this great charge of High Treason shall be made good against him It is answered That England Scotland and Ireland and every corner How sought to be proved of these three Kingdoms must be searched and all discontented persons that had at any time any Sentence though never so justly pronounced against them by him that was so great a Judge yet conceited to be otherwise by themselves must now be incouraged countenanced by the faction and most likely by this grand Accuser to say all that they know and perhaps more than was true against him for what will not envy and malice say or what beast will not trample upon the Lion when they see him grovelling and gasping for life in an unevitable pit and it may be compassed with so many mastiff dogs I mean his enemies and discontented witnesses as were able to tear more than one Lion all to pieces So by this means they are enabled to frame near thirty Articles against him ut cum non prosiâ—t singula multa juvent that the number might amazâ— the people and think him a strange creature that was so full of heynous offences and so compassed with transgressions But Si satis accusasse quis innocens If accusations were sufficient to create offenders not a righteous man could escape on earth therefore the Law condemneth no man before he be heard what he can answer for himself And The Earl his Answer the Earl of Strafford coming to his Answer made all things so clear in the Judgement of the common-hearers and answered to every Article so wâ—ll that his enemies being Judges they much applauded his abilities and admired at his Dexterity whereby he had so finely united those Gordian knots that were so fouly contrived against him and as his friends conceived had fairly escaped all those iron-nets which his adversaries had so cunningly laid and my popular country-man with the rest of the more learned Lawyers had so vehemently prosecuted to insnare him in the links and traps of guiltiness and in brief the Lords who as yet were unpoisoned by the leavened subtilty of this bitter Faction could find not any one of all those Articles to be Treason by any Law that was yet established in this Land sic te servavit Apollo So God delivered him as he thought and his friends hoped out of all these troubles Yet as a rivulet stopped will at last prove the more violent viresque acquirit The nature of malice ibidem and recollect a greater strength in the same place so rage and malice hindered of their revengeful desires will turn to be the more implacable Quia malitia eorum excâ—cavit eos Because the malice of men bewitcheth them and hath no end till it makes an end of its hated foe therefore those men that hated and maligned the Earl like the Jews that because their tongues could make no reply to the just defence of the holy Martyr gnashed upon him with their teeth and stopping their ears ran upon Acts 7. 51. him with one accord all at once because they had no Law nor learning to make those Articles Treason they say with the Poet Hac
the Papists in Ireland and to get that Act to purchase all the Lands of the Rebels had tasted too much of this bitter root of such destructive Doctrine whereby you see how the Religion of these men robbes us of our Estates keeps no faith with us and takes away our lives 7. Though among the works of God every flower cannot be a Lilly 7. They would have a party among all men both in Church and Common-wealth Gal. 5 6. Câ—l 3. 11. every beast cannot be a Lyon every bird cannot be an Eagle and every Planet cannot be a Phoebus yet in the School of these men this is the doctrine of their to be new erected Church that with God there is no respect of persons and neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but whether they be bond or free masters or servants Jew or Gentile Barbarian Scythian a country-Clown or a Court Gallant rich or poor it is all one with God because these Titles of Honour Kings Lords Knights and Gentlemen are no entities of Gods making but the creatures of mans invention to puffe him up with pride and not to bring him unto God and therefore though for the bringing of their great good work to passe they are yet contented to make the Earl of Essex their General and Warwick their Admiral and so Pym and Hampden great Officers of Stateâ— yet when the work is done their Plot perfected and their Government established then you shall find that As now they will eradicate Episcopacie and make all our Clergie equall as if all had equally but one talent and no no man worthier than another so then there should be neither King Lord Knight nor Gentleman but a parity of degrees among all these holy brethren And to give us a taste of what they mean as the Lords concurrence with them inabled them to devour the Kings poweâ— so they have since with great justice prevailed with the House of Commons to swallow up the Lords power and have most fairly invaded their priviledge when they questioned particular Members * As my Lord Duke and my Lord Digbie 8. They would have no man to pray for temporal things Matth. 33 34. Matth 6. 1â— 9. Not to say the Lords Prayer 10. Not to say God Speed you 2 John 10. 11 12 Not to pray for the Malignants 1 John 5. 16. for words spoken in that House and then the whole House when they brought up and countenanced a mutinous and seditious Petition which demanded the Names of those Lords that consented not with the House of Commons in those things which that House had twice denied 8. Because our Saviour saith Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all these things that is meat drink and cloathes and all other earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be cast unto you and again Be not carefull for to morrow they teach their Proselytes that they ought not to pray by any means for any of these things whereas Christ biddeth us to say Give us this day our daily Bread 9. They cannot endure to say the Lords Prayer for that 's a Popish superstition but their Prayers must be all tautologies and a circular repetition of their own indigested inventions 10. You must not say God speed you to any neighbour or any traveller lest he intends some evill work and then you shall be partaker of his sin 11. They will not allow any of their Disciples to pray for any of the Reprobates and therefore they do exceedingly blame us and tear our Liturgie because we say That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men 12. Because Christ saith Call no man father on earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven the child must not call him that begat him and nurseth him his father nor kneel unto him to ask him blessing nor perform many other such duties which the Lord requireth and the Church instructeth her children to do to this very day and this foolish Doctrine of calling no man Father no man master or Lord and the like in their sense because they understand not the divine meaning of our Saviour's words hath been the cause of such undutifulnesse and untowardnesse such contempts of superiours and such rebellions to Authority as is beyond expression when as by their disloyalty being thus bred up in them from their cradle they first despise their father then their Teachers then their King and then God himself CHAP. IX Sheweth three other speciall points of Doctrine which the Brownists and Anabaptists of this Kingdom do teach 13. BEcause they can find no Text in Scripture when as the Alcoran is not so impudently hellish as to justifie the action for to warrant men to absolve our consciences from any Oaths that we have voluntarily taken for the performance of any businesse I cannot say that they do professedly teach but I do hear they do usually practise this most damnable sin as that Master Marshall and Master Case did absolve the Souldiers taken at Brainceford from their Oath which they took never to bear Arms against his Majesty which is a sin destructive both to body and soul when their Perjury added to their Treason makes them two-fold more the children of hell than they were before and if they be taken again they can expect nothing but their just deserved death and therefore I do admire that any man can challenge the name of a Divine which doth either preach or practise a point so devilish 14. Because Saint Paul saith These hands have ministred to my necessities 14. They think sacriledge to be no sin Acts 20. 34. 1 Thes 2. 9. 1 Cor. 1. 12. and to them that were with me and again Labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the Gospel of God and because the rest of the Apostles and Disciples were Fishermen Tradesmen or professours of some Science either liberal or mechanick as Saint Luke was a Physician Joseph a Carpenter and the like who did live by their manual crafts and were chargeable to none of their people but sought them and not theirs to win their souls to God and not their monies unto themselves therefore they think it no robbery to take away all the revenues of the Church nor sacriledge to rob the Clergy of all the means they have because they should either labour for their livings as the Apostles did or live upon the peoples Almes as many poor Ministers do to the utter undoing of many souls in many distressed and most miserable Churches But because this revenue of the Church and the Lands of the Bishops is that golden Wedge and the brave Babylonish garment which the Anabaptistical Achans of our time do most of all thirst after in this their pretended holy Reformation I must here sistere gradum stay awhile and let you know 1. That the taking away of any Lands or goods given and
they have made Which are all said to be exceedingly abused by them for 1. Against the King 2. Against the Subjects 3. Against the Law 1. Against the King it is registred to Posterity that they have proceeded besides many other things in all these particulars 1. They possesse all the Kings Houses Towns and Castles but what 1. Their proceedings against the King 1. Wrong Matâ—h â— 20. he gets by the strength of his sword and detain them from him so that we may say with our Saviour The Foxes have holes and the fowles of the air have nests but the King of England hath not an house allowed him by the Houses of Parliament wherein to put his head and they take not onely his Houses but also his rents and revenues and as I understood when I was in Oxford his very clothes and provision for his Table that seeing they could not take away his life by the sword they might murder him with cold or famin when he should not have the subsistâ—nce if they could hinder him to maintain life and soul together which is the shame of all shame and able to make any other men odious to all the The complaint to the House of Commons Pag. 19. world thus maliciously and barbarously to deal with their own most gracious King neither doth their malice here end but they with-hold the Rents of the Queen and seize upon the Revenues of our Prince which I assure them my Countrey-men takes in great scorn and I believe will right it with their lives or this Parliament-Faction shall redeem their errours with no small repentance when as we find no Prince of Wales was ever suffered by his Subjects to have such indignities offered him by the greatest Peers of England And here I cannot omit what Alderman Garraway saith of the reproach of Master Pym touching the maintaining of the Kings other Children which he professeth made his heart to rise and hoped it did so to many more Is our good King fallen so low that his Children must be kept Alderman Garraway his Speech for him It is worth our inquiry Who brought him to that condition We hear him complain that all his own Revenue is seized and taken from him Is not his Exchequer Court of Wards and Mint here his Customes too are worth somewhat and are his Children kept upon Alms How shall We and our Children prosper if this be not remedied And I pray God these things rise not up in judgement against them and this Nation but hereby they intended to verifie that disloyal Speech which One of them uttered in a Tavern and God will avert it from his Servant That they would make the King as poor as Job unlâ—sse he did comply Sober Sadnesse pag. 22. 2. Wrong with them 2. If any man which they like not attendâ— the Kings Person though he be his sworn servant or assist him in his just defence which he is bound to do by the Law of God and man yet he is presently voted and condemned for a Malâ—gnant Popish dis-affected evill Counsellour and an enemy to the State and that is enough if he be catched to have him spoyled and imprisoned at their pleasure nay my self was told by some of that Faction that because I went to see the King I should be plundered and imprisoned iâ— I were taken 3. Though they do solemnly professe that his Majesties personal safety 3 Wrong The Petition to his Majesty the 16. of July 1642. and his royaâ— honour and greatnesse are much dearer unto them then their own lives and fortunes which they do most heartily dedicate and shall most willingly imploy for the support and maintenance thereof yet for all this hearty Protestation they had at that very time as the King most accurately observeth in his Answer directed the Earl of Warwick to assist Sir John Hotham against him appointed their Generals and as Alâ—erman Non turpe est ab â—o vinâ—i qâ—em vincere est nefas neque et inhonestâ— aliquem submitâ—â— quem Deus super omnes extulit Dictum Armenii Pompeii Garraway testifieth raised ten thousand armed men out of London and the Neighbour-Countries before the King had seven hundred and afterwards though the King sent from Nottingham a gracious Message and sollicitation for Peace yet they supposing this proceeded from a dâ—ffidence of his own strength or being too confident of their own force sleâ—ghted the Kings Grace and most barbarously proceeded in the most hostile manner waged warre and gave battail against the Kings Army where they knew he was in his own Person and as one of their Preachers taught the Sunday before the Battail that they might with a good conscience as well kill the King horresco dicere as any other man so according to Captain Blagues directions as Judas taught the High-Priests servants we know what Troops and Regiments were most aimed at whereas they do most ridiculously say they have for the defence of his person sent many a Cannon-bullet about his eares which he did with that Kingly courage and Heroick magnanimity yeâ— and that Christian resolution and dependance on Gods assistance pass through that it shall be recorded to his everlasting honour and their indelible shame and reproach so long as the world endureth 4. They have most Disloyally and Traiterously spoken both privately 4 Wrong and publickly such things against his Majesty as would make the very Heathens tear them in pieces that should say the like of their Tyrannous Kings and such as I could not believe they proceeded from the mouth of a Christian against so Christian a King but that I find most of them were publickly uttered made known unto his Majesty and related by Sober sadness p. 3. â—he Viewer p. 4. His Majesties Declaration â—â—â—ssel in the supplement to Daniels History himself and those that were Ear-witnesses thereof as Horresco reserens that he was not worthy to be our King not fit to live that he was The Traitor that the Prince would govern better and that they dealt fairly with him they did not depose him as their fore-fathers had deposed Richard the second whom all the World knoweth to be most Traiterously Murdered and the whole progress of that Act whereby he was deposed is nothing else but the Scandal of that Parliament and an horrid treason upon the fairest relation of any Chronicle and the good Bishop of Carlile was not then affraid in open house to tell the Lords so to their faces and I would our Parliament men would read his Speech 5. They command their own Orders Ordinances and Declarations to 5. Wrong be Printed Cum privilegio and to be published in Publick throughout the whole Kingdom and they are not a little punished that neglect it and whatsoever Mâ—ssage Answer Declaration or Proclamation cometh from the King to inform his Subjects of the Truth of things and to undeceive his much seduced people they streightly forbid those to be
the gift or annull that Priviledge without the leave and consent of God that was the principal party in the concession as it appeareth in the example of Ananias and is confirmed by all Casuists 2. The other part of the oath is made to the Clergy in particular and so The second part of the oath Clericis Ecclesiasticis D. p. 165. also with their consent some things I confess may perhaps be revoked but without their consent not any thing can be altered in my understanding without injustice for with what equity can the Laity vote away the rights of the Clergy when the Clergy do absolutely deny their assent just as if the Clergy should give away the lands of the Laity or as if I had lent the king ten thousand pounds upon the publique assurance of King and both Houses to be repaid again and they without mine assent shall vote the remission of this debt for some great benefit that they conceive redounding to the Common-Wealth by which vote The party to whom the bond is made must release the bonds I should beleive my selfe to be no better then meerely cheated or as if the Parliament without the assent of the Londoners should pass an act that all the money which they lent should be remitted for the releiving of the State I doubt not but they would conclude that act very unjust and so is this act against the Bishops because the Kings obligation to a particular body personall or politique cannot be dispensed with by the representative Kingdome without the releasement of that body to whom the King is obliged For I find that all the Casuists will tell you that juramentum promissorium ita obligat ut invito creditore non potest in melius commutari quia aliter justitia veritas non servarentur inter homines and it is their common tenet that it Suarez de jurameâ—to promiss l. 2. c. 12. n. 14. cannot be dispensed with quia per promissum acquiritur jus ei cui fit promissio utilitas â—nius non sufficit ut alter suo jure privetur the benefit of others must not deprive me of my right This point is so cleare that neither Scholer nor any man of reason or conscience will deny it Therefore to perswade the king that is bound by his oath to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Church and Clergy to cast out the Bishops out of their rights or to take away their Lands without their own consent whom the king by his oath hath obliged himself to protect I cannot see how they can do it without great iniquity or His Majesty consent to it and be innocent when he is fully informed of the Rights of his Clergy whereas otherwise the most religious Prince may be subject to mistakings and so nesciently admit that which willingly he would never have granted And if they can not perswade him to do this without iniquity how dare they goe about to force and compell him against conscience to commit this and such other horrible impiety but I assure my self that God who hath blessed our king and preserved him hitherto without blame as being forced to what he did or not throughly understanding what was our right the Bishops being imprisoned and not suffered to informe him nor to answer for themselves will still arme His Majesty with that resolution as shall never yeild to their impetuousnesse to transcend the limits of his own most upright conscience Yet still it is urged they were excluded by act of Parliament therefore their Ob. exclusion cannot be unjust as being done by the wisdome of the whole State and the king should not desire it to be altered I answer that all Parliaments are not alwayes guided by an unerring spirit Sol. but were many times swayed by the heads of the most powerfull faction which The case of our affaiâ—s p. 17. How powerfull factions have procured Parliaments to doe most unjust things Turba tremens sequitur fortunam ut semper odit damnaâ—os Juven Saâ—â—ra 10. When Kings were most powerfull they could get the Parliaments to yeeld to what Statutes they thought best when the Lords or faction were most powerful they forced their Kings to make what Statutes they liked best are instances rather of their unsteady weaknesse then of their just power when forsaking the guidance of their lawfull head they suffered themselves to be led by popular pretenders as when Canutus prevailed by his armes he could have a Parliament to resolve that his title to the Crown was the best when Hen. 4. had an army of 60000 men he could have a Parliament to depose Rich. 2. and confer the Crown upon himself when Edw. Duke of Yorke grew powerfull he could have a Parliament to determine the reigne of Hen. 6. and leave him only the name of king for his life but give the very Kingdome unto the Duke under the names of Protector and Regent and then he could procure the Parliament to declare that Hen. 4. Hen. 5. and Hen. 6 were but kings de facto non de jure so Rich. the 3. as meere an Usurper as any could notwithstanding procure a Parliament to declare him a lawfull king and Hen. 7. could procure the forementioned acts that were made in favour of Edw. 4. and Rich. 3. to be annulled and Hen. 8. could have a Parliament to justifie and authorize his divorces and Queen Elizab. could have a Parliament to make it high treason for â— any man to say that the Queen could not by Act of Parliament bind and dispose the rights and titles which any person whatsoever might have unto the Crown when as we know it was adjudged in Hen. 7. that no Act of Parliament nor yet an Attainâ—er by Parliament can disable the right heire to the Crown because the descent of the Crown upon him purges all disabilityes whatsoever and makes him every way capable thereof Thus as the Parliaments when they were most prevalent caused their kings unwillingly to yeeld many things against right so the kings growing most powerfull prevailed to work the Parliament to consent to very unjust conclusions and therefore it is inconsequent to say this exclusion must be just because it is past by an Act of Parliament And therefore as in the 15. yeare of Edw. 3. the king being unwillingly The case of our affaires p. 20. drawn to consent to certain Articles prejudiciall to the Crown and to promise to seale the Statute thereupon made lest otherwise his affairs in hand might have been ruinated which we conceive to be just in like manner now the king very unwillingly drawn to passe this Act for the exclusion of the Clergy which is most prejudiciall both to the Crown and the Church and a mighty dishonour unto God himself lest otherwise more mischiefe might have followed when he hoped that this would have appeased the fury of that prevalent faction which now the kingdome seeth it did not Another Statute