the legallity anâ—… expedience of each circumstance which perhaps he 〈◊〉 not capable of perhaps reason of State will not peâ—… mit him to know it The House of Commons havâ—… a close Committee which shews their allowance oâ—… an implicit confidence in some cases yet are theâ—… but Proctors for the Commonalty whereas the Kinâ—… is a Possessor of Soveraignty But it is alleged thaâ—… of two evills the lesse is to be chosen it is better to disobeâ—… Man then God Rather of two evills neither is to bâ—… chosen but it is granted that when two evills arâ—… feared a Man should incline to the safer part Noâ—… if the Kings Command be certain and the other danger but doubtfull or disputable to disobey the certain command for feare of an uncertain or surmised evill is as Saint Austin saith of some Virgins who drowned themselves for feare of being defloured to fall into a certain crime for fear of an uncertain A third error in this distinction is to limit the Kings Authority to his Courts All Courts are not of the same Antiquity but some erected long after others as the Court of Requests Neither are all Justices of the same nature some were more eminent then others that were resident with the King as his Councell in points of Law these are now the Judges Others did justice abroad for the ease of the Subject as Iustices of Assise Iustices in Eire Iustices of Oier and Terminer Iustices of Peace The Barons of the Exchequer were anciently Peeres of the Realme and doe still continue their name but to exclude the King out of his Courts is worse a strange Paradox and against the grounds of our Laws The King alone and no other may and ought to doe justice if he alone were sufficient as he is bound by his Oath And again If our Lord the King be not sufficient himselfe to determine every cause that his labour may be the lighter by dividing the burden among more Persons he ought to choose of his own Kingdome wise Men and fearing God and of them to make Iustices These Justices have power by Deputation as Delegates to the King The Kings did use to sit personally in their Courts We reade of Henry the fourth and Henry the fift that they used every day for an houre after dinner to receive bills and and heare causes Edward the fourth sate ordinarily in the Kings Bench Richard the third one who knew well enough what belonged to his part did assume the Crown sitting in the same Court saying He would take the Honour there where the chiefest part of his duty did lye to minister the Laws And Henry the eight sate personally in Guild-Hall The Writs of Appearance did â—…un coram me vel Iusticiariis meis before me or my Justices Hence is the name of the Kings Bench and the teste of that Court is still teste meipso witnesse our selfe If the King be not learned in the Laws he may have learned Assistents as the Peeres have in Parliament A clear and rationall head is as requisite to the doing of Justice as the profound knowledge of Law It is a part of his Oath to doe to be kept in all his judgments Right Iustice in Mercy and Truth was this intended onely by Substitutes or by Substitutes not accountable to him for injustice we have sworne that he is supreme Governour in all causes over all Persons within his Dominions is it all one to be a Governour and to name Governours David exhorts be wise now therefore O yee Kings Moses requires that the King read in the booke of the Law all the dayes of his Life Quorsum perâ—…itio haec what needs all this expence of time if all must be done by Substitutes if he have no Authority out of his Courts nor in his Courts but by delegation When Moses by the advise of Iethro deputed subordinate Governours under him when Iehosophat placed Judges Citty by Citty throughout Iudah It was to ease themselves and the People not to disingage and exinanite themselves of Power It is requisite that His Majesty should be eased of lesser burthens that he may be conversant circa ardua Reipublicae about great affaires of State but so as not to divest his Person of his royall Authority in the least matters Where the King is there is the Court and where the Kings Authority is present in His Person or in his Delegates there is his Court of Justice The reason is plain then why the King may not controule his Courts because they are himselfe yet he may command a review and call his Justices to an account How the Observer will apply this to a Court where neither His Majesty is present in Person nor by his Delegates I doe not understand The fourth and last error is to tie the hands of the King absolutely to his Laws First in matters of Grace the King is above his Laws he may grant especiall Privileges by Charter to what Persons to what Corporations â—…e pleaseth of his abundant Grace and meere motion he may pardon all crimes committed against the Law of the Land and all penaltyes and irregularityes imposed by the same the perpetuall Custome of this Kingdome doth warrant it All wise men desire to live under such a Government where the Prince may with a good Conscience dispence with the rigour of the Laws As for those that are otherwise minded I wish them no other punishment then this that the paenall Laws may be executed on them strictly till they reforme their Judgements Secondly In the Acts of Regall Power and Justice His Majesty may goe besides or beyond the ordinary course of Law by his Prerogative New Laws for the most part especially when the King stands in need of Subsidies are an abatement of Royall Power The Soveraignty of a just Conquerer who comes in without pactions is absolute and bounded onely by the Laws of God of Nature and of Nations but after he hath confirmed old Laws and Customes or by his Charter granted new Liberties and Immunities to the collective Body of His Subjects or to any of them he hath so farr remitted of his own right and cannot in Conscience recede from it I say in Conscience for though humane Laws as they are humane cannot bind the Conscience of a Subject and therefore a fortiore not of a King who is the Law-giver yet by consequence and virtue of the Law of God which saith submit your selves to every ordinance of Man for the Lords sake and again Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe they doe bind or to speak more properly Gods Law doth bind the Conscience to the Observation of them This is that which Divines doe use to expresse thus That they have power to bind the Conscience in se sed non a se in themselves but not from themselves non ex authoritate Legislatoris sed ex aequitate Legis not from the authority of the Law-giver but from
obedient Subjects the Lords spirituall and temporall and Commons in Parliament assembled or thus We Your Majesties loving faithfull and obedient Subjects representing the three Estates of Your Realme of England c. except we should overmuch forget our Duties to Your Highnesse c. do most humbly beseech c. Here the three Estates of the Kingdom assembled in Parliament doe acknowledge their subjection and their duty do beseech Her Majesty Where by the way I desire to know of the Observer whether that of the three Estates were a Fundamentall Constitution of this Kingdom and who were the three Estates at this time and whether a third Estate have not been since excluded Howsoever we see they doe but rogore legem pray a Law the King enacts it and as he wills or takes time to advise so their Acts are binding or not binding They challenge no dispensative Power above the Law he doth In a word He is the Head not onely of the Hand or of the Foot but of the whole Body These things are so evident that all our Laws must be burned before this truth can be doubted of But to stop the Observers mouth for ever take an Authentick Testimony in the very case point blanck By divers old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared that this Realme of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the World governed by one Supreme Head and King having the Dignity and royall Estate of the Imperiall Crown of the same unto whom a Body Politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided into terms and by names of Spiritualty and Temporalty being bounden and owen next to God a naturall and humble obedience he being instituted and furnished by the goodnesse and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary whole and entire Power Preeminence Authority c. Now Sir observe first that not onely individuall Persons but the whole compacted Body Politicke of the Kingdome are not onely lesse then His Majesty but doe owe unto him a naturall and humble obedience how farr is this from that Majesty which you ascribe to the representative Body Secondly that the Spiritualty were ever an essentiall part of this Body Politick Thirdly that His Majesties Power is plenary Fourthly that he derives it not from inferiour compacts but from the goodnesse of God It is true were His Majesty as the Prince of Orange is or you would have him to be not a true Possessor of Soveraigne Power but a Keeper onely as the Roman Dictator or an arbitrary Proctor for the People your rule had some more shew of reason but against such evident light of truth to ground a contrary assertion derogatory to His Majesty upon the private authority of Bracton and Fleâ—… no Authentick Authors were a strange degree of weaknesse or wilfulnesse especially if we consider first upon what a trifling silly Homonomie it is grounded quia comites dicuntur quasi socii Reqis et qui habent socium habent Magistrum If he had called them the Kings Attendents or subordinate Governours of some certain Province or County as the Sheriffe Vice Comes was their Deputy there had been something reall in it Secondly if we consider that this assertion is as contrary to the Observers own grounds as it is to truth for what they Bracton and Fleta doe appropriate to the House of Lords curiae Comitum Baronum he attributes to the collective Body of the whole Kingdom or at the least to both Houses of Parliament that is farr from the Observers meaning and nothing to the purpose This Catachresticall and extravigant expression with the amphibologicall ground of it is either confuted or expounded by the Authors themselves as saying the King hath no Peere therefore no Companion that he is Vicarius Dei Gods Vicegerent that he is not sub homina under Man And if the words have any graine of truth in them they must be undestood not of an Authorative but onely of a Consultive Power to advise him or at the most approbative to give their assent to Laws propounded he having limited himselfe to make no Laws without them So we may say a Mans promise is his Master as if a man should say that the Judges in the House of Peers who have no Votes but are meere assistents yet in determining controversies in point of Law are in some sort superiour to the Lords not in Power which they have none but in skill and respect of that dependence which the Lords may have upon their Judgement and integrity Neither will your logicall Axiom quicquid efficit â—…ale est magis tale helpe you any thing at all for first your quicquid efficit must be quando efficit If a cause have sufficient vigour and efficacy at such time as â—…he effect is produced it is not necessary that it should â—…eteine it for ever after or that the People should reâ—…ein that power which they have divested themselves of by election of another To take your case at the â—…est they have put the staffe out of their own hands and cannot without Rebellion and sinne against God â—…doe what they have done Secondly for your magic tale there is a caution in this Canon that the same quality must be both in the cause and in the effect which yet is not alwayes not in this very case it must be in causes totall essentiall and univocall such as this is not The Sun is the cause of heat yet it is not hot it selfe Sol homo generant hominem viventem yet the Sun lives not If two Litigants consent to license a third Person to name another for Arbitrator between them he may elect a Judge not be a Judge Yet I shall not deny you any truth when and where the antecedent consent of free societies not preingaged doth instrumentally conferr and convey or rather applie power and authority into the hands of one or more they may limit it to what terme they please by what covenants they please to what conditions they please at such time as they make their election yet Covenants and Conditions differ much which you seem to confound breach of Covenant will not forfeit a Lease much lesse an Empire I have seen many Covenants between Kings and their People sometimes of Debt and many times of Grace but I doe not remember that ever I read any Conditions but with some old elective Kings of Arragon if they were Kings long since antiquated and one onely King of Polonia You adde and truely that there ought to be no dissolution of Soveraignty but by the same power by which it had its Constitution wherein God had his share at least but this will not serve your turn if you dare speak out plainly tell us when a King is constituted by right of Conquest and long Succession yea or by the election of a free people without any condition of forfeiture or power of revocation reserved as the Capuans gave themselves to the
did not fight more nâ—…bly for their free Customes and Laws of which the Conquerer and his Successors had in part disinherited them by violence and perjury then they which put them to such conflicts for it seems unnaturall to me that any Nation should be bound to contribute its own inherent puissance meerely to abet Tyranny and support Slavery and to make that which is more excellent a prey to that which is of lesse worth And questionlesse a native Prince if meere force be right may disfranchise His Subject as well as a Stranger if he can frame a sufficient party and yet we see that this was the foolish Sinne of Rehoboam who having deserted and rejected out of an intollerable Insolence the Strength of ten Tribes ridiculously soughâ—… to reduce them againe with the Strength of two Answer This Author intends not to halt on one side onely in this Discourse qui sâ—…mel verecundiae limites transiverit guavitâ—… 〈◊〉 esse oportet First That just Conquest in a lawfull Warr acquireth good right of Dominion as well as Possession is so consonant to the universall Opinion and Practise of all Nations yea to â—…he infallible and undoubted Testimony of holy Scriptures that he that denyes it may as well affirme Nil intra est â—…leam nil extra est in nuâ—…e durum Force is not meere Force where Justice goes hand in hand â—…ith it Omnia dat qui justa negat Neither is this to alter the course of Nature or frustrate the â—…enour of Law but it selfe is the Law of Nature and of Nations Secondly Thaâ—… Subjects who have not the power of the Sword committed to them after a long time of Obedience and lawfull Succession after Oaths of Allegiance may use force to recover their former Liberty or raise Aâ—…ms to change the Laws established is without all â—…ontradiction boâ—…h false and Rebelliouâ—… They tâ—…at are overcome saith Iosephus most truely and have long obeyed if they seek to shake off the yoke they doâ—… the part of desperate Men not of Lovers of Liberty Surely if any Liberty might warrant such Foâ—…ce it is the Liberty of Religion but Christ never planted his Religion in blood He cooled his Discâ—…ples heat with a sharpe Redargution yee know not of what spirit yee are of It is better â—…o dye innocent then live nocent as the Thebaean Legion all Christans of approved valour answered the bloody Emperour Maximian Cognosce Imperator know O Emperour that we are all Christians we submit our Bodies to thy Power but our free Soules fly to our Saviour neither our known Courage nor Desperation it selfe hath armed us against thee because we had rather dye innâ—…cent then live guilty thou shalt find our Hands empty of Weapons but our Brests aâ—…med with the Catholick Faith So having power to resist yet they suffered themselves to be cut all in pieces The Observer is still harping upon Tyranny and slavery to little purpose he is not presently a Tyrant who hath more Power then Nature did commâ—… to him nor he a Slâ—…ve who hath subjected himselfe to the Dominion of another That which is done to gain Protection or Sustenance or to avoide the evills of Sedition or to performe a lawfull Ingagement is not meerely done to abet Tyranny and support Slavery Thirdly to the Observers instance of our Ancestours in the Barons Warrs I know not whether Warrs he intends the former or the latter or both This is certain no party gained by them They pâ—…oved fatall and destructive sometimes to the King sometimes to the Barons sometimes to both and evermore to the People And howsoever the name of free Customs and Laws was mae use of as a plausible pretence yet it is evident that Envy Reâ—…enge Coveteousnesse Ambition Lust Jealousie did all act their severall parts in them And if there were any as I doubt not there were many who did solely and sincerely aime at the publicke good yet it cannot be denyed there was too much stiffenesse and animosity on both sideâ—… a little yielding and bending is better then breaking outright and more especially Conscience requires it of them who are Subjects and of them who contend for an alteration Pliny relates a Story of two Goats that met in the midst of a narrow planke over a swift current there was no room for one to pâ—…sse by another neither could turn backward they could not fight it ouâ—… for the way but with certain perill of droâ—…ning them both that which onely remained was that the one couching on the planke made a Bridge for the other to goe over and so both were saved But the Subject is so direfull and tragicall and the remembrance of those times so odious to all good Men that I passe by it as â—…ot much materiall to the Question in hand Both Parties are dead and have made their accounts to God and know long since whether they did well or ill neither can their example either justifie or condemne our actions It is probable there were some Shebahs Trumpetters of Sedition in those dayes as this Author proves himselfe now yet none so apt as these Catalines to cry out against Incendiarâ—…es It is a good wish of Saraviah that such seditious Authors might ever be placed in the front of the battle Yet thus farre the Authors ingenuity doth lead him to distinguish the Barons then from His Majesties Opposites now The Barons then fought for their Laws not to change the Laws and alter the Government both in Church and Common-wealth which was the very case of the Lincolnshire Yorkeshire and Northren Rebells in the Dayes of Henry the eight and Queene Elizabeth I wish none of His Majesties Subjects were involved in it at this present Fourthly whereas he urgeth that a native Prince may disfranchise His Subjects by Force if He can make a Party as well as Strangers either he intends that he may doe it de facto that is true so may a Thiefe take away an honest mans purse or else that he may doe it de jure lawfully and conscionably that is most untrue There is a vast difference betwixt a just Warre and an unjust Oppression His instance of Rehoboam is quite beside the Cushion his error was threatning and indiscretion the fault they found was with Solomon thy Father hath made our yoke grievous And yet it is most certain they never had so gracious so happy a Reigne as Solomons was for Peace Plenty who made Silver as plentifull as stones and Cedars as Sicamores in Ierusalem So unthankfull we are naturally so soone troubled with triviall matters as Haman was and like flyes feed upon sores leaving the whole Body which is â—…ound This is sure that against Rehoboam was a meditated Rebellion witnesse the place chosen Shechem in the midst of the Faction witnesse their Prolocutor Ieroboam a seditious Fugitive and ungratefull Servant of Solomons by whom he had been preferred they sent for him out of AEgipt And howsoever the
dictate so to him he might truely say that he was bound to doe it both by His Oath and his Office Yet his Grand-Father Edward the third revoked a Statute because it waâ—… prejudiciall to the rights of his Crown and was made without his free consent Observer That which results from hence is if our Kings receive all Royalty from the People and for the behoofe of the People and that by a speciall trust of safety and Liberty expresly by the people limited and by their own grants and Oaths ratified then â—…ur Kings cannot bâ—… said to have so inconditionate and high a propriety in all our Lifes Libertyes and Possessions or in any thing else to the Crown apperteining as we have in their dignity or in our selves and indeed if they had they were â—…ot born for the People but meerely for themselveâ—… neither were it lawfull or naturall for them to expose their Lifes and Fortunes for their Country as they have been bound hitherto to doe according to that of our Saviour Bonus Pastor ponit vitam pro oâ—…ibus Answer Ex his praemissis necessario sequitur collusio All your main Pillars are broken reeds and your Building must needs fall For our Kings doe not receive all Royalty from the People nor onely for the behoofe of the People but partly for the People partly for themselves and theirs and principally for Gods glory Those conditionate reservations and limitationâ—… which you fancy are but your own drowsy dreames neither doth His Majesties Charter nor can His Oath extend to any such fictitious privilege as you devise The propriety which His Majesty hath in our Lifes Libertyes and Estates is of publicke Dominion not of private Possession His interest in things apperteining to the Crown is both of Dominion and Possâ—…ssion the right which we have in him is not a right of Dominion over him but a right of Protection from him and under him and this very right of Protection which he owes to us and we may expect from him shews clearely that he is born in 〈◊〉 for his People and is a sufficient ground for him to expose his Life and Fortunes to the extremest perills for his Country The Authours inference that it is not lawfull or naturall according to these grounds is a silly and ridiculous collection not unlike unto his similitude from the Shepheard whom all men know to have an absolute and inconditionate Dominion over his Sheep yet is he bound to expose his Life for them Observer But now of Parliaments Parliaments have the same efficient cause as Monarchies if not higher For in truth the whole Kingdome is not so properly the Authour as the essence it selfe of Parliaments and by the former Rule it is magis tale because we see ipsum quid quod efficit tale And it is I think beyond all Controversy that God and the Law operate as the same causes both in Kings and Parliaments for God favours both and the Law establishes both and the act of Men still concurres in the sustentation of both And not to stay longer on this Parliaments have also the same finall â—…use as Monarchyes if not greater for indeed publicke Safety and Liberty could not be so effectually provided for by Monarchs till Parliaments were constituted for supplying of all defects in that Government Answer The Observer having shewed his teeth to Monarchs now he comes to fawn upon Parliaments the Italians have a proverbe He that speakes me fairer then he useth to doe either hath deceived me or he would deceive me Queen Elizabeth is now a Saint with our Schismaticall Mar-Prelates but when she was alive those rayling Rabshekehs did match her with Ahab and Ieroboam now their tongues are silver Trumpets to sound out the praises of Parliaments it is not long since they reviled them as fast calling them Courts without Conscience or Equity God blesse Parliaments and grant they may doe nothing unworthy of themselves or of their name which was Senatus Sapientum The commendation of bad men was the just ground of a wise mans fear But let us examine the parculars Parliaments you say have the same efficient cause as Monarchyes if not higher it seemes you are not resolved whether Higher How should that be unlesse you have devised some Hierarchy of Angells in Heaven to overtoppe God as you have found out a Court Paramount over his Vicegerent in Earth But you build upon your old sandy Foundation that all Kings derive their power from the People I must once more tell you the Monarchy of this Kingdome is not from the People as the efficient but from the King of Kings The onely Argument which I have seen pressed with any shew of probability which yet the Observer hath not met with is this That upon deficiency of the Royall Line the Dominion escheats to the People as the Lord Paramount A meere mistake they might even as well say that because the Wife upon the death of her Husband is loosed from her former obligation and is free either to continue a Widdow or to elect a new Husband that therefore her Husband in his Life time did derive his Dominion from Her and that by his Death Dominion did escheat to Her as to the Lady Paramount yet if all this were admitted it proves but a respective Equallity Yes you adde that the Parliament is the very essence of the Kingdome that is to say the cause of the King and therefore by your Lesbian Rule of quod efficit tale it is in it selfe more worthy and more powerfull Though the Rule be nothing to the purpose yet I will admit it and joyne issue with the Observer whether the King or the Parliament be the cause of the other let that be more worthy That the King is the cause of the Parliament is as evident as the Noon-day light He calls them He dissolves them they are His Councell by virtue of His writ they doe otherwise they cannot sit That the Parliament should be the cause of the King is as impossible as it is for Shem to be Noahs Father How many Kings in the World have never known Parliament neither the name nor the thing Thus the Observer In the infancy of the World most Nations did choose rather to submit themselves to the discretion of their Lords then to relye upon any Limits And litle after yet long it was ere the bounds and conditions of Supreme Lords were so wisely determined 〈◊〉 quietly conserved as now they are It is apparent then Kings were before Parliaments even in time Ouâ—… Freâ—…ch Authours doe affirme that their Kingdomâ—… was governed for many Ages by Kings without Parliaments happily and prosperously Phillip the fairâ—… was the first Erecter of their Parliaments of Paris and Mountpelliers As for ours in England will you heaâ—… Master Stow our Annalist thus he in the sixteenth of Henry the first in the name of our Historiographers not as his own private opinion This doe theâ—… Historiographers
Wealth Peace and Godlinesse but also to promote their Good But this Protection must be according to Law this Promotion according to Law Now if a good King at seasonable and opportune times so it may not be like the borrowing of a shaft for the Hatchet to cut down the great Oake nor like the plucking off one or more feathers out of the Eagles wings wherewith to feather an arrow to pierce through that King of Birds shall freely according to the dictates of his own Reason part with any of those Jewells which do adorn his Royall Diadem for the behoofe of his Subjects it is an act of Grace not onely to individuall Persons but to the collected Body of his People so both Houses have acknowledged it yet you say it is meere duty that both Honour and Justice do challenge it from him It is a strange and unheard of piece of Justice and Duty which is without and beyond all Law You say the word Grace sounds better in the Peoples mouth then in His O Partiallity how dost thou blind mens eyes The Observer sees that Grace sounds ill in the Kings mouth and yet he doth not or will not see how ill duty and meere duty sounds in his own mouth being a Subject towards his Soveraigne The truth is it is most civill for Receivers to relate benefits sufficit unus huit operi si vis me loqui ipse tace But where the Receivers forget themselves yea deny the favours received as this Observer doth it is very comely for the Bestowers to supply their defect Next to your taking away of Ship-Money Star-chamber High Commission c. It is an easy thing to take away but difficult to build up both in nature and in respect of mens minds which commonly agree sooner in the destructive part then in the constructive All the danger is either in exceeding the golden mean by falling from one extreme to another or in taking that away which by correcting and good ordering skill might have been of great use to the Body Politick We are glad to be eased of our former Burthens yet we wish with all our hearts that our present ease may not produce greater mischiefes that in true reall necessities and suddaine dangerous Exigences the Common-wealth may not be left without a speedy Remedy That if the Laws have not sufficiently provided for the suppressing of riots and tumultuous disorders in great men yet the ordinary Subject may nor be left without a Sanctuary whither to fly from oppression That in this inundation of Sects which doe extremely deforme our Church and disturbe the Common-wealth there may be a proper and sure Remedy provided before it be too late and we be forced in vaine to digge up Antigonus again out of his Grave As for the taking away of Bishops Votes at this time I doe not doubt but that great Councell of the Kingdom had reasons for it and may have other Reasons when it pleaseth God to restore them again There is much difference betwixt a coercive and a Consultive Power No Nation yet that ever I read of did exclude their Religious from their Consultations To make a Law perfectly good Piety must concurre and who shall judge what iâ—… piouâ—… shall they first be excluded from all other Professions and then from their owne Brittish Bishop have been of noâ—…e in great Councells Forrein and Domestique these one thousand four hundred and thirty years It is your own Rule quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari debet All other Professions in the Kingdome are capable â—…oth of electing and being elected but for this I doe submit and leave it to time to discover what is good for the Kingdome Observer This directs us then to the transcendent achme of all Politicks to the Pâ—…ramount Law which shall give Law to all Humane Laws whatsoever and that is salus Populi The Law of Prerogative it selfe is subservient to this Law and were it not conducing thereunto it were not necessary nor expedient Answer If this Author could commit the Law of Prerogative and this Supreme Law of salus Populi together as opposite one to another he had said something but he cannot see Wood for Trees the same transcendent achme which he magnifies is the Law of Prerogative it selfe because a generall Law cannot take notice of the equity of all particular circumstances nor of the necessity of all particular Occurrences therefore the supreme Prince is trusted with this Power Paramount That which the Law of Nature warrants in a private Man as in a scathfire to pull down a Neighbours House to prevent the burning of a Citty to cast another mans corne overboord in a Tempest to defend himselfe from Thiefes in cases where he cannot have recoarse to the Magistrate or the suddainesse of the Danger will admit no formall Proceeding in Law So publicke necessity doth justifie the like Actions in a King where the exigence of the State is appâ—…tant If this Power be at any time misimployed if this Trust be violated yet the abuse of a thing cannot take away the use and lawfull and necessary right which is grounded upon the universall and perpetuall Law of salus Populi which comprehends the good of the Soveraigne as well as of the Subject But it is now grown into fashion for Subjects without Authority Equity or Necessity to urge this Law upon all occasions Salus Populi is like the Foxe in AEsops Fables it is in at every end Mens Persons are imprisoned their Houses plundered there Lands sequestred their Rights violated without the Judgement of their Peeres contrary to the known Law contrary to the great Charter and nothing pretended for this but the Law Paramount Truely Sir if this be salus Populi uâ—…a salus sanis nullam sperare salutem A remote Jealousie or Suppofition is no good ground for the exercise of this Law as to pull down another Mans House for fear of a Scathfire to come God knows how or when perhaps foretold in a Prognostication The Dangers must be very visible before this Rule take place not taken upon Trust or an implicit Faith like Seoggins fiery Draggons in the aire All true Englishmen will desire to be governed by their known Laws and nor to hear too often of this Paramount Law the application or misapplication whereof hath been the cause of the past and present Distempers of this Kingdom Extraordinary Remedyes like hot Waters may helpe at a Pang but being too often used spoyle the Stomack Observer Neither can the Right of Conquest be pleaded to acquit Princes of that which is due to the People as the Authours and ends of all Power for meere Force cannot altar the course of Nature or frustrate the tenour of the Law and if it could there were more reason why the People might justifie force to regaine due Liberty then the Prince might to subvert the same And it is a shamefull Stupidity in any Man to think that our Ancestors
you doe not this you have made us a very long discourse to little purpose Your Argument consists of a Proposition and an Assumtion The Proposition is this All Laws and lawfull Customs are confirmed to the Subject by Magna Charta and His Majesties Oath for observation thereof Your Assumtion stands thus But to have nothing necessary denyed us is a lawfull Custome a Parliamentary Right and Privilege you amplifie your Proposition as the blind Senatour commended the fish at dextra jacebat piscis It is your assumtion Sir which is denyed bend your selfe the other way and shew us in what particular words of Magna Charta or any other Charter or any Statute this Privilege is comprehended or by what prescription or president it may be proved if you can doe none of these sitte down and hold your peace for ever The Charter of Nature will be in danger to be torn in pieces if you stretch it to this also To be denyed nothing 〈◊〉 is a Privilege indeed as good as Foâ—…natus his purse or as that old Law which one found ouâ—… for the King of Persia that he might doe what he would But you limit it he ought to deny them nothing which is necessary what necessity doe yoâ—… meane a simple and absolute necessity that hath no Law indeed or a necessity onely of convenience 〈◊〉 but conveniences are often attended with greater inconveniences A cup of cold Water to one who 〈◊〉 a feverish distempâ—…r is convenient to assâ—…ge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sent thirst but pernicious to the future habit 〈◊〉 of his body Many things may produce prâ—…sent 〈◊〉 yet prove destructive to a State in their consequents These things therefore must be carefully ballanced and by whom will you be your own Judge or will â—…ou permit His Majesty to follow the Dictate of his own reason so it is meet and just if you will have him supersede from his own Right Lay your hand upon your heart if you have any Tenents who hold of you in Knight-service and they shall desire to have their tenure changed to free Soccage as being more convenient conducible for them â—…re you bound to condiscend It is well known to all this Kingdome that the Kings thereof have ever had a negative voice otherwise they had lesse power then a Master of a College or a Major of a Corporation That no Act is binding to the Subject without the Royall Assent That to say the King will advise was evermore a sufficient stop to any Bill Yet the ground of this bold demand is but the Authors conceit We conceive it to be one Parliamentary right and his reasons are such as may make a shew but want weight to beget a very conceit The former is that new Laws and old being of the same necessity the publike trâ—… must equally extend to both How often must he be told that the publicke trust is onely a trust of dependence which begets no such Obligation as he conceits Offices of inheritance are rather maâ—…ters that â—…ound in interest then in confidence Neither is there neither can there be the same necesity of observing 〈◊〉 old Law to which a King is bound both by His â—…ter and by His Oath and of a new Law to â—…hich he hath not given his Royall Assent If Magâ—… Charta did extend to this it were Charta maximâ—… the greatest Charter 〈◊〉 ever was granted If the Kings Oath did extend to this it were an unlawfull Oath and not binding To sweare to confirme all Laws that should be presented to him though contrary to the Rule of Justice contrary to the Dictate of his own reason Among so many improbable suppositions give leave to the other party to make one The Author is not infallible nor any Society of Men whatsoever Put the case a Law should be presented for introducing or 〈◊〉 of Socinianisme or Anabaptisme or the new upstart independencâ—… is His Majesty bound to give his Assent Surelâ—… no Not to assume his just power of Supremacy as your late new Masters confesse were damnable sinne His other Reason is this it kills not whether the word eligerit he should say elegerit in the Kings Oath be in the future tense or in the perfect tense whether he sweares to all such Customes as the People have chosen or shall choose for it shews that the Peoples election was the ground of anciâ—… Laws and that ought to be of as great moment noâ—… as ever It is a rare dexterity which the Observeâ—… hath with Midas to turn all he toucheth into Gold whatsoever he finds is to his purpose past or â—…o come all is one but he would deceive us or deceives himselfe for the Peoples election never was nor now is the sole cause of a Law or binding Custome but the Peoples election was the Sociall or Subordinate Cause and the Royall Assent concurring with iâ—… they were ever joyntly the adaequate ground of 〈◊〉 and still are of the same moment that they weâ—… joyntly and severally which the Observer mighâ—… have discovered with halfe an eye But because His Majesties oath at his Coronation is so much insisted upon as obliging him to passe all Bills that are tendred unto him by His Parliament it will not be amisse to take this into further consideration which I shall doe with all due Submission First It must be acknowledged by all Men that the King of England in the eye of the Law never dyes Watson and Clarke two Priestâ—… 〈◊〉 that they could not be guilty of Treason because King Iames was not crowned The Resolution was that the Coronation was but a Ceremony to declare the King to the People so they were adjudged Traytours The like measure in the like case suffered the Duke of Northumberland in Queen Maryes daâ—…es onely with this difference Watsons and Clarks Treason was before the Coronation but the Dukes before the very Proclamation Coâ—…sensus expressuâ—… per verba de presenti facit matrimonium a contract in words of the present tense is a true Marriage and indissolvable and yet for Solemnity sake when the partyes come to receive the Benediction of the Church The Minister though he knew of the contâ—…act yet he askes wilt thou have this Woman to thy Wedded Wife There is no duty which our Kings do not receive as Oaths of Fealty of Allegiance no Acts of Royall Power which they doe not exercise as amply before their Coronation as after And therefore M. Dolman otherwise Parsons the Jesuit from whom these Men have borrowed all their grounds erred most pittifully in this as he did in many other of your Tenets that a King is no more a King before his Coronation then a Major of a Corporation is a true Major after his Election before he have taken his Oath To thinke a few scattered People assembled without any procuration have the power of the Commonalty of England is an Error fitter to be laught at then to be confuted Secondly the words of the
Oath which beares markes enough in it selfe of the time when it was made are not to be pressed further then Custome and practice the best Interpreters of the Law doe warrant otherwise the Words quas vulgus elegerit cannot without much forcing be applied to the Parliament But admit the word vulgus might be drawn with some violence to signifie the House of Coâ—…ons by virtue of their representation yet hoâ—… have the House of Lords lost their interest if the King be boâ—…nd to confirme whatsoever the House of Commons shall present Thirdly it cannot be denyed that if the King 〈◊〉 bound by a lawfull Oâ—…th to passe all Bâ—…lls it is not the form of denying it but the not doing it which makes the pâ—…rjury Therefore the form of the Kingâ—… answer Le Roy Savisera canâ—… excuse the perjury in not doing Neâ—…her doth it prove that the King had no power to deny but that â—…e is tender of a flat dâ—…nyall and attributes so much to the judgement of His great Councell that he will take further advice This would be strange Doctrin indeed incredible that all the Kings of England who have given this answer have been forsworn and neither Parliament nor Convocation to take notice of it in so many Ages nor in the nâ—…t succeeding Parliament after so long advise to câ—…l for a further answer Fourthly it is confessed that in Acts of Graâ—… the King is not bound to assent it is well â—…f he have not been restreined of this Right That in all Acts where His Majesty is to depâ—…rt from the particular Right and Interest of His Crown he is not obliged to assent and was not that of the Militia such a case Lastly that though he be bound by oath to consent yet if he doe not consent they are not binding Laws to the Subject Thus farre-well But then comes a handfull of Gourds that poisons the pottage except in cases of necessiâ—… Give to any person oâ—… Socieâ—…y a Legislative power without the King in case of necessity permit them withall to be sole Judges of necessity when it is how long it lasts and it is more then probâ—…ble the necessity will not determine till they have their own desires which is the same in effect as if they had a Legislative Power Necessity excuseth whatsoever it doth but first the necessity must be evident there needs no such great stirre who shall be Judge of necessity when it comes indeed it will shew it selfe when extreme necessity is disputable it is a signe it is not reall Secondly the Agent must be proper otherwise it cuts in â—…under the very sinews of Government to make two Supremes in a Society and to subject the People to contrary commands If the Trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare him selfe to Battell There can be no necessity so pernicious as this very Remedy Fifthly the great variety of Forms and presidents seems to prove that one precise form is not simply necessary and the words adjiciantur quae justa â—…erint and King Henry the eights enterlining it with his own hand do prove that it is arbitrary at least in part To interline it to interline it with his own hand to leave it so interlined upon Record O stange If this clause had been of such consequence we should have heard of some question about it eitâ—…er then or in some succeeding Parliament but we find a deep silence Thomas 〈◊〉 Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in Parliament chargeth Henry the fourth with his Oath which he did voluntarily make But to the forms First the Oath which King Iames and King Charles did take runns thus Sir will you to grant to hold and keep the Lawes and rightfull Customes which the Commonalty of this Kingdom have Here is neither have chosen nor shall choose The Oath of Edward the sixth was this Doe you grant to make no new Laws but such aâ—… shall be to the Honour and glory of God and to the good of the Common-â—…lth and tâ—…at the same shall be made by the consent of your People as hath been accustomed Here is â—…o â—…gerit still yet â—…is Age freed him from the very thught of improving His Prerogative King Henry the eight corrected the form then presented to Hiâ—… thus And affirme them which the Nobles and Peâ—…ple have chosen with my consent Here is have chosen aâ—…d the Kings Consent added to boote Doctor Cowâ—… in his Interpreter recites the Kings Oath out of tâ—… old abridgement of Statuâ—…es set out in Henry tâ—… eights Dayes much different from this as that the King should keep all the Lands Honours c. of the â—…rown whole without diminution and reassume those whâ—…h had been made away And this clause in questin runnes thus He shall grant to hold the Laws and Customs of the Realme and to his Power keep them aâ—…d affirme them which the Folke and People have made â—…nd chosen and this seems to have been the Oath of His Predecessors But perhaps if we looke up higheâ—… we shall find a perfect agreement in thiâ—… point Our next step must be to Henry the fourth and Richard the second a Tragicall Time when the State run contrary waves like a whirligigge fiâ—…ter for the honour of the Nation to be buried in oblivion then drawn into president But this Oath being no Innovation it may serve well enough Yet the Oaths of these two Kings do not agree so exactly as to settle a certain forme as to instance onely in the clause in question Henry the â—…ourths Oath runs thus concedis justas Leges constudines esse tenendas promittis pro te eas esse proâ—…gendas ad honorem Dei corroboraâ—…d quas vulgus â—…gerit which last word signifies indifferently either â—…ave chosen or shall choose Neither doth the Reâ—…ord say that this was the very 〈◊〉 taken by Henry â—…e fourth but that it was the usuall forâ—… taken by â—…e Kings of England and twice by Richard the â—…econd and for proof of what it saith referres us â—…o the Registers of the Arch-Bishops or Bishops proâ—…t in libris pontiâ—…calium Archiepisâ—… et Episc. plenius â—…ontinetur This prout is a clear evidence that this preâ—…se Form had no ground in Statute or in Common â—…aw but was a Pontificall rite The Oath of Riâ—…hard the second related in the close Rolls of the first Year of his Raigne even in this very clause differs â—…n two materiall things one is that to justas Leges Consuetudines there is added Ecclesiae the other is that to elegerit is added juste rationabiliter which the People have chosen or shall choose justly and reasonably which limitation if the Oath look forward to future Laws must of necessity be either expressed or understood otherwise the Oath is unlawfull and doth not bind jusjurandum non debet esse vinculum iniquitatis Here also the word elegerit is doubtfull whether past or future If it be urged that to corroborate must de understood
jure but de facto he may which is the drowsiâ—…st dreaming devise that â—…ver dropped from any Manâ—… pen in his right Witts Iudas or the Devill himselfe can doe no wrong de jure unlesse both 〈◊〉 of a contradiction can be true A fair Privilege to give a Prince which a high way Thiefe may challenge It may with more probabillity be expounded thus That the King is to discharge the publick Affâ—…ires of the Kingdome not by himselfe but by His Officerâ—… and Ministers therefore if any thing be amisse or unjust they are faulty they are accouncountable for it not He. But there seems to be something more in this principle then thus For first 〈◊〉 the same reason a man might say the King can doe no right if he can doe nothing by himselfe he â—…s not capable of such thanks as Tertullâ—… gave to â—…elix Secondly it would be very strange that a King should be excluded from the personall discharge of all manner of dutyes belonging to his high calling â—…nd might occasion the renewing of the Womans complaint against Philip of Mâ—…edon why then art â—…hou King this were to make His Majesty anoâ—…er Childerick one of the old Ciphers or titulary Kings of France and put all the power into the hands of a Major of the Pallace or a Marshall or some other Subjects What is it then there â—…ust be something more in this old Maxime of â—…ur Law that The King can doe no wrong And it â—…s thiâ—… doubtlesse that in the intendment of Law his Person is sacred he is freed from all defects as though he be a Minoâ—… or an Infant yet in the eye of â—…he Law he is alwayes of full age he owes account of his doings to God alone the Law hath no coercive power over him This is that which Samuel cals The Law of the Kingdom not to shew what a King may lawfully doe but what a Subject ought to bear from a lawfull King To the alone have I sinned said David he had trespassed against Uriah and Bathsheba yet he saith to thee onely have I sinned quia Râ—…x erat because he was a King and accountable to none but God as Clemens Alexandrinus Arnoâ—…ius Saint Ierome Saint Ambrose Venerable Bede Euthymius and sundry others do all affirme upon this one place and Gregory of Towers Si quis de nobis If anyone of us O King doe passe the bounds of justice you have power to correct him but if you exceed your limits who shall chastise you We may speake to you if you list not hearken who can condemne you but that great God who hath pronounced himselfe to be Righteousnesse And even Antoninus whom the Observer so much commends for a renowned and moderate Prince yet is positive in this Solus Deus Iudex Principis esse potest God alone can be Judge of a Soveraigne Prince In the Parliament at Lincolne under Edward the first the Lords and Commons unanimously affirme the same with a wonder that any Man should conceive otherwise That the King of England neither hath answered nor ought to answer for his Right before any Iudge Ecclesiasticall or Secular ex praeeminentia status sui by reason of the preheminence of His Regall Dignity and Custome at all times inviolably observed To try Princes and to doe justice Some man would desire to know how farre this Justice may be extended whether peradventure to depose them and dethrone them to exalt them depresse them Constituere destituere construere destruere fingere diffingere But for this they must expect an Answer from the Observer by the next post when he sees how the people will dance after his pipe and whether his misled Partners will goe along the whole journy or leave his Company in the mid way when he hath sufficient strength then it is time and not before to declare himselfe Till then he will be a good child and follow Saint Pauls advice in part Stoppage is no payment in our Law Suppose the Prince faileâ—…â—…n his duty are the Subjects therefore free from that â—…bligation which is imposed upon them by the Law of God and Nature When His Majesty objects â—…hat a deposition is threatned at least intimâ—…ted what doth the Observer answer he doth not disclaime the power but onely deny the fact Thus he saith It may truely be denied that ever free Parliament did truely consent to the dethroning of any King of England for that Act whereby Richard the second was dethroned was rather the Act of Henry the fourth and His victorious Army then of the whole Kingdome Marke these words that any free Parliament So it seemes that some Parliaments are not free And again did truely consent there may be much in that word also First whether they who are overawed with power of unruly Mermidons may be said to consent truely and ex animo Secondly whether they who consent meerely for hope of impunity to escape questioning for their former oppressions and extortions may be said to consent truely Thirdly whether they who consent out of hope to divide the spoyle may be said to consent truely Fourthly whereas by the Law of Nations the rights and voices of Absentees do devolve to those that are present if they be driven away by a just and probable fear whether they may be said to consent truely Lastly they that follow the Collier in his Creed by an an implicit Faith without discussion resolving themselves into the Authority of a Committee or some noted Members may they be said to consent truely That which followes of Henry the fourth and his victorious Army shews the Observer to be as great an Heritick in â—…olicy as Machiavell himselfe he 〈◊〉 better have said the Usurper and his rebellious Aâ—…my For a Subject â—…o raise Aâ—… against his Soveraigne to dethrone him as Bullenbrooke did and bâ—… violence to snatch the Crown to him selfe in prejuâ—… of the right Heireâ—… is Treason confessed by all men His acquisition is meere usurpation for any Persoâ—… or Society of Men to joyn with him or to confirmâ—… him is to be partakers of his sin But Gods judgemenâ—… pursue such disloyall Subjects and their posterity as it did them The greatest Contrivers and Actors in that Rebellion for a just Reward of their Treason did first feele the edge of Henryes victorious Sword and after them Henries Posterity and the whole English Nation smâ—…rted for Richards blood It is oâ—…served that all the Conspirators against Iulius Caesar perished within three yeares some by judgement of Law others by Ship-wracke upon the Sea others by battail under the sword of their conquering Enemyes others with the fame boâ—…k in wherewith they had stabbed their Emperour one way or other vengeance o ertooke them every Man What others say of Richards resignation is as weake which was done by duresse and imprisonment or at the best for fear of imminent Mischief To conclude this Section God and the Law operate both in Kings and Parliaments but
is Diametrally opposite to the Law of God and of Nations The Observer deales in this just as if he had a Kinsman died testate and he should sue for a part of his goods and neither allege the Will nor Codicill not Custome of the Country but the Law of Nature onely for a Legacy Next the Observer raiseth a new Argument out of His Majestyes words A temporary Power ought not to be greater then that which is lasting This is first to make Draggons and then to kill them or as Boyes first make bubbles in a shell and then blow them away without difficulty The Sinewes and Strength of His Majestyes Argument did lye in the words to Him and to His Heires and not in the word above but if he will put the word above to the tryall if he reduce it into right Form it is above his answer To give a power above His Majesty sufficient to censure His Majesty to a Body dissolvable at His Majestyes pleasure is absurd and ridiculous as if the King should delegate Judges to examine and sentence the Observers seditious passages in this Treatise and yet withall give power to the Observer to disjustice them at his pleasure in such a case he need not much fear the Sentence The Observer pleads two things in answer to his own shadow First that then the Romans had done unpolitickly to give greater power to a Temporary Dictator then to the ordinary Consulls Secondly that it was very prosperous to them sometimes to change the Form of Government neither alwayes living under circumscribed Consulls nor under uncircumsâ—…ibed Dictators We see what his Teeth water at he would have His Majesty a circumscribed Consull and gain an Arbitrary Dictatorian Power to himselfe and some other of his Friends But in the meane time he forgets himselfe very farre in his History for first the power of the Dictator and of the Consulls was â—…ot consistent together but the power of the King and the Parliament is consistent Secondly the change of Government was so farre from being prosperous â—…o the Romans that every change brought that State even to Deaths doore To instance onely in the exâ—…ulsion of their Kings as most to the purpose How â—…ear was that Citty to utter Ruine which owes its subsistence to the valour of a single Man Horatius Coâ—…les if he had not after an incredible manner held a whole Army play upon a Bridge they had payed for their new fanglednesse with the sacking of their Citty Thirdly the choosing of a Dictator was not a change of their Government but a branch of it a piece reserved for extremest perills their last Anchor and Refuge either against Forre in Enemyes or the Domestick Seditions of the Patricii and Plebei and is so farr from yeelding an Argument against Kings that in the judgement of that Politick Nation it shewes the advantage of Monarchy above all other Formes of Government The Observer still continues His Majestyes Objection To make the Parliament more then Counsellers is to make them His Commanders and Controllers To which he answers To consent is more then to counsell and yet not alwayes so much as to command for in inferiour Courts the Iudges are so Counsellours for the King that he may not countermand their judgement yet it were a harsh thing to say that therefore they are His Controllers much more in Parliament where the Lords and Commons represent the whole Kingdome If there were no other Arguments to prove the Superiority of Parliament above the other Courts then this that it represents the Kingdome as they doe the King it would get little advantage by it To consent is more then to counsell and yet not alwayes so much as to command True not alwayes but to couâ—…sell so â—…s the pâ—…ty counselled hath no Liberty left of dissenting is alwayes either as much as to command or more a man may command and goe without but here is onely advise and yet they must not goe without What a stirre is here about consent If he understâ—…nd consenâ—… in no other notion then Laws and lawfull Customes doe allow it is readily yeelded but makes nothing to his purpose One said of Aristotle that he writ waking but Plato dreaming The one had his eyes open and considered Men as they were indeed the other as he would have them to be but if ever Man writt dreaming it was this Observer his notes may serve rather for the Meridian of new England then old England and of Eutopia rather then them both He calls the Judges the Kings Counsellers as if they were not also his Delegates Deputies and Comissioners what they doe is in His name and His Act yet if they swerve from justice he may grant a review and call them to account for any misdemeanour by them committed in the excercise of their places and this either in Parliament or out of Parliament But the inference hence That because the Parliament may take an account of what is done by His Majesty in His inferiour Courts therefore much more of what is done by him without the Authority of any Court seemes very weake It is one thing to take an account of Himselfe another to take an account of His Commissioners His Majesty hath communicated a part of his judiciary power to his Judges but â—…ot the Flowers of his Crown nor his intire preroâ—…ative whereof this is a principall 〈◊〉 to be free from all account in point of â—…ustice except to Goâ—… and His own Conscience The last exception is That the King makes the Parliament without his consent A livelesse convention without all virtue and power saying that the very name of Parliament is not duâ—… unto them Which Allegation saith the Observer at one blow confounds all Parliaments and subjects us to as unbounden a Regiment of the Kings meere Will as any Nation under Heaven ever suffered under For by the same Reason that the Kings dissertion of them makes Parliaments virtuelesse and void Courts He may make other Courts voide likewise Here is a great cry for a little Wooll if he proves not what he aimes at yet one thing he proves sufficiently that himselfe is one of the greatest Calumniators in the World in such grosse manner â—…o slander the Footsteps of Gods Anointed Agnosâ—…as primogenitum Sathanae Where did ever the King say that Parliaments without his presence are virtuelesse and void Courts but he denieth them the name of Parliaments which is all one yes if a Goose and a Feather be all one The name Parliament with us signifies most properly the Parâ—…y of the King and his People in a secondary sense it signifies a Parly of the Subjects among themselves neither of these virtuelesse but the one more vigorous then the other So the Body is sometimes contradistinguished to the Soule and includes both Head and Members sometimes it is contradistinguished to the Head and includes the Members onely It is one thing to be 〈◊〉 True Parliament and another to be
States come to have peace a while then let them take heed of falling in pieces The condition of the English Subject when it was at the worst under King Charles before these unhappy broiles was much more secure and free from excises and other burdens and impositions then our Neighbours the Netherlanders under their States If His Majesty should use such an Arbitrary Power as they doe it would smart indeed I wonder the Observer is not ashamed to instance in Hanniball he knows the Factions of Hanno and Hannibal did ruine themselves and Carthage whereas if Hannibal had been independent Rome had run that fortune which Carthage did How near was Scipioes Conquest of Affricke to be disapointed by the groundlesse suggestions of his Adversaryes in the Roman Senate When he had redeemed that Citty from ruine how was he rewarded Sleighted called to the Barre by a factious Plebeian and in effect banished from that Citty whereof he had been in a kind a second Romulus or Founder but if he had been independent he had been a nobler gallanter Scipio then he was And if Caesars Dictatorship had not preserved him from the like snuffles he might have tasted of the same sawce that Scipio did and many others It is true he was butchered by some of the Observers Sect a Rebell is a civill Schismatick and a Schismatick an Ecclesiasticall Rebell the one is togata the other is armata seditio and some of them as notoriously obliged as Servants could be to a Master but revenge pursued them at the heeles as it did Korah and his Rebellious Crew Zimri Absalom Adonijah Achitophel Iudas c. Frost and falshood have alwayes a foule ending Neither is it true altogether That Parliaments are so late an invention What was the Mickle Synod here but a Parliament what were the Roman Senates and Comitia but Parliaments what were the Graecian Assemblies Amphictionian Achaian Boetian Pan-AEtolian but Parliaments what other was that then a Parliament Moses commanded us a Law even the inheritance of the Congregation of Jacob. And he was King in Jesurum when the Heads of the People and Tribes of Israell were gathered together Here is the King and both Houses with a legislative power Non de possessione sed de terminis est contentio the difference is not about the being of Parliaments but the bounds of Parliamentary Power As Parliaments in this latitude of signification have been both very ancient and very common so if he take the name strictly according to the present constitution of our Parliament he will not find it so very ancient here at home nor a Policy common to us with many Nations yea if the parts of the comparison be precisely urged with none not so much as our Neighbour Nation I pray God it be not some Mens aime to reduce our setled Form to a conformity with some forrein Exemplars But if it be understood to have such a fulnesse of power as he pretends according to his late found out art to regulate the moliminous body of the People it is neither ancient nor common nor ours He may seek such presidents in republicks but shall never find so much as one of them in any true Monarchy under Heaven I honour Parliaments as truely as the Observer yet not so as to make the name of Parliament a Medâ—…saes head to transform reasonable Men into stones I acknowledge that a compleat Parliament is that Panchreston or Soveraigne salve for all the Sores of the Common-wealth I doe admire the presumption of this Observer that dare find holes and defects in the very constitution of the Government by King and Parliament which he should rather adore at a distance as if he were of the posterity of Iack Cade who called himselfe Iohn Aâ—…ead all It is lâ—…wfull for these Men onely to cry out against innovations whilest themselveâ—… labour with might and maine to change and innovate the whole framâ—… of Government both in Church and 〈◊〉 We reade of Philip of Macedâ—…n that he gâ—…thered all the naughty seditiouâ—… fellowes in his Kingâ—…ome together and put theâ—…â—…ll into 〈◊〉 Câ—…y by themsâ—…lves which he called 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 Cheâ—…er I wish King Charles would doe the like if a Citty would contein them and make the Observer the head of the Corporation where he might molde his Governmâ—…nt according to hiâ—… prâ—…vate conceit And yet it cannot be denyed but the greatest and most eminent Councells in the World mâ—…y be either made or wrought by their Major Part to serve private endâ—… I omit the Lay Parliament 1404 and Sir Henry Wottons younge Parliament 18. Iacobi our Historians tell us of a Mad Parliament 1258 and the Parliament of Bâ—…tts or Bâ—…ttownes 1426 a kind of Weapon fitter for Cavâ—…leers then peaceable Assemblyes The Statuâ—…es of Oxford were confirmed by the Parliament at Weâ—…minster 1259 and ratified by a course against the breakers of them shortly after the King and Prince were both taken Prisoners yet in the Parliament following at Winchester 1255 all the said Acts were rescinded and disâ—…nulled and the King cryed quittance with his Adversaryes In the raigne of Edward the second after the Battell at Burton we see how the tydes of the Parliament were turned untill the comming of Qâ—…een Izabell and then the Floods grew higher then ever In the dayes of Richard the second how did the Parliamentâ—… change their Sanctions as the Câ—…maelion her colours or as Platina writeth of the Popes after Stephen had taken up the body of Formosus out of his grave It became an usual thing for the Successors either to infringe or altogether to abrogate the Acts of their Predecessors The Parliaments of 1386. and 1388. were contradicted and revoked by the subsequent Parliaments of 1397. and 1398 and these again condemned and disanulled by the two following Parliaments in 1399. and 1400 yea though the Lords were sworn to the inviolable observance of that of 1397 and Henry Bullenbrooke who was a great Stickler for the King in that Parliament of 1397. against the Appealants yet in that of 1399 was elected King by the Trayterous deposition of Richard and the unjust preterition of the right Heires Parliaments are sublunary Courts and mutable as well as all other Societyes If we descend a little lower to the times of Henry the sixt we shall find Richard Duke of Yorke declared the Lord Protector in Parliament yet without Title to the Crown in 1455. Shortly after we find both him and his Adherents by Parliament likewise attainted of High Treason in 1459. The yeare following 1460 he was again by Parliament declared not only Lord Protector but also Prince of Wales and right Heire to the Crown and all Acts to the contrary made voide and the Lords sweare to the observance thereof It rests not here the very next year 1461. his Sonne Edward the fourth not contented to be an Heire in reversion assumes the Imperiall Diadem and in Parliament is received actuall King The end is
not yet ten yeares after this 1471 King Henry is admitted King by Parliament again and King Edward attainted of High Treason declared an Usurper and the Crown intailed upon King Henry and his Heires Males and for want of such issue to George of Clarence and his Heires But this lasted but a while disinherited Edward and Clarence are reconciled and the very next Yeare Edward is Crowned again and received King in Parliament You see here Signa pares aquilas peila minantia peilis Parliaments against Parliaments and this in that very question which you say is properly to be judged by Parliament who is the right King When the election is not of a particular person and his Heires but of a Person and his Family so as the People have liberty to elect whom they please of that stock as it was long since in Scotland till it was rescinded by Act of Parliament to take away those storms of discord and Faction which it raised The Parliament was the most proper Judge who should succeed but where the Crown is hereditary there needs little question of the right Heire which for the most part every Country Man knows as well as the great Councell of the Kingdome How easily were Queens raised and deposed in Henry the eights time by Authority of Parliament Adde to this with what facillity Religion was reformed in part by Henry the eight more by Edward the sixt altered by Queeen Mary restored again by Queen Elizabeth all this by Authority of Parliament within the compasse of a few yeares and it will evidently appear out of all that hath been said that Parliaments are not excepted from the defects of all humane Societyes Nescience Ignorance Feare Hope Favour Envy Selfe-love and the like That they may erre both in matters of Fact and in point of Right That it is the incommunicable property of God alone to be the same Yesterday to Day and for Ever That though we owe a tender respect to Parliaments yet we may not follow their directions as infallible nor resolve our reason into their meere Authority as if their sole advice or command were a sufficient ground for our actions which is the maine scope which this Iehu our Observer doth so furiously drive at in all his writings That no evill is to be presumed of the representative Body of the Kingdom And so farre he is right it ought not indeed to be presumed without proofe But he goes further that it may not be supposed or admitted It is of dangerous consequence to suppose that Parliaments will do any injustice it looseth one of the firmest sinews of Law to admit it But such Communities can have no private ends What had the Shechemites by the suggestion of a worthy Member of their Citty Or the Brethren of Ioseph If any Man boggle at it may he not be overvoted or overawed as Reuben was What ends had the Romans when they made that arbitriment quod in medio est populo Romano adjudicetur What had the whole Citty of Ephesâ—… being perswaded by Demetrius and his Craftsmen that there was a strange plot against Diana The High Priests and Scribes and Elders and if you adde to these Pilate Iudas the Souldiers and the Divell all had their private ends The High Priests and Elders to satisfy their envy Pilate to keep his place Iudas to get the thirty pieceâ—… the Souldiers for Christs Garments yet all these concurred in a generall designe to take away Câ—…rist Which shews us thus much That a Community may have private ends yea and contrary ends all teâ—…ding to mischief though upon contrary grounds and yet all agree well enough so long as they keep themselves in a negative or destructive way I intend these instances no further then to shew the weaknesse of the Observers grounds Parliaments are more venerable yet till this corruptible have put on incorruption private ends will seek to crowde into the best Societyes When a Bill was tendred to Richard the second to take away the temporalties of the Clergy there was old sharing And Thomas Walsingham saith he himselfe did heare one of the Knights sweare deeply that he would have a thousand marks by year out of the Abby of Saint Albons The very like Bill was put up to King Henry the fowerth with this motive or addition That those temporall Possessions would suffice to find an hundred and fifty Earles fifteen hundred Knights six thousand and two hundred Esquires and an hundred Hospitalls more then there was in the Kingdome it had been a great oversight if they had not stuck down a few feathers Do you not see private ends in those dayes but even then they found themselves mistaken in their accounts And now when the Lord Verulam and sundry others of our most eminent Countrymen have acknowledged I have heard the very same froâ—… Sir Edâ—… Sands that all the Parliamentâ—… since the 27. and 31. of King Henry the eight seem in some sort â—…o stand obnoxious and obliged to God in Conscieâ—… to 〈◊〉 somewhat for the Church to reduce the Patrimony thereof to a competency Now I say when the Temporaltyes of the Clergy are so inconsiderable in comparison of the Honour of the Nation and the Order of the Church and so unable to satisfy the appetite and expectation of 〈◊〉 in so much as I dare speak it confidently that all the Temporaltyes of the Arch-Bishops Bishops Deanes Arch-Deacons Deanes and Chapâ—…ers Prebenâ—… Petty Canons Vicars Chorall which are recited in folio to make a shew and of all the Ecclesiasticall Dignitaâ—…yes and Corporationâ—… whatsoever let them take Masters of Hospitalls in to booâ—… except the two Universityes and 〈◊〉 of Benefices with cure do not all amount in penny rent to the Revenues of some two Earles Such a proposition seems now to be much more unseasonable then it was then yet even then the Bill was commanded by the King to be cancelled I confesse the true and uttermost value may be double or triple to this but what is redundant above the rent is in the hands of the Gentry and Commons who will think much to lose either their Interest or Tenent-right I confesse likewise that besides their Temporaltyes they have Spiritualtyes consisting of Tithes and Oblations but to think of taking these away also will highly displease their Leaders of the old Edition Heare the humble 〈◊〉 It is the duty of the Commonwealth to convert those things which by their foundation were meant to the service of God to that very use that Reformation be not rather thought a baite to feed our bellyes then to proceed of godly zeal He calls it a plaine mockery of God a scorn of Godlinesse the most Divellish Policy in the World that upon pretence to further Gods Service Men should rob and ransack the Church To the same purpose Mr. Cartwright This is our meaning not that these goods should be turned from the Possession of the Church to the filling
of the bottomlesse sacks of their greedy appetites who gape after this prey and would thereby to their perpetall shame purchase to themselves a field of blood After he calls them Cormorants and protests against it as plaine Sacrilege A supply from hence As it is Sacrilegious in the opinion of their greatest Reformers so it would be inconsiderable either to inrich the Crown or to disingage the Kingdom or to satisfy the appetites or private ends of necessitous Persons Observer Having now premised these things I come to the maine difficulties lying at this time in dispute before us c. Answer We have now done with all the Observers grounds The remainder of his Treatise is either a repetition of the same matter in a new and diverse dresse as the Hoast of Chalcis served Titus Flaminius when he gave him severall services of a tame Hogge and yet by Cookery made him believe he fed upon choise variety of Venison Faire fall a good Cooke or else it is but superstructions builded upon the former Grounds which the foundations being substracted remain as Castles in the aire ready to fall of themselves without any further battery or else it is matter of fact which howsoever it be disguised by fictions in this feculent Age when the Father of lyes is let loose yet it is well enough known to the greater and better part of the Kingdome Such is the question of the Militia so often iterated by the Observer both in point of right and in point of fact such is the case of the impeached Members and that of the Tumults and Commotions at London and Westminster and that of those infamous Libells and invectives against his Majestyes Government both out of the Pulpit and Presse if not with incouragement yet without any restraint and some of them not onely against his Government but against Monarchicall Government in generall as this very Treatise of the Observers Concerning the first His Majesty hath set forth an expresse Declaration of the first of Iuly yet unanswered to say more in this were to bring Owles to Athens Concerning the latter His Majesty passing by ordinary and misled Persons chargeth the Heads and Contrivers of these Distractions and Libellous Invectives in his Declations of the 12 of August c. so as it seemes needlesse to take any further notice of them Such others are that of the Scotch Army and the surprising of Newcastle and the Earle of Straffords case whereas the Observer knows well enough that for the two former there is an Act of Oblivion and for the latter a proviso that it shall not be drawne into president which in effect is as much He cannot choose but know that otherwise something might be said in these cases which perhaps would trouble him to untwist To insult over one that hath his hands tyed or to brave one who iâ—… bound to the peace argues a degenerous Adversary Therefore to omit these and the like and to insist upon such onely as afford us either new matter or have more weigâ—…t of Reason added to them Whereof the principall without comparison is the businesse oâ—… Hull or Sâ—…r Iohn Hotham which runs so much in the Observâ—…s mind that he falls upon it nine or ten times in thiâ—… little Treatise and after he professeth to have done with it pag. 30 yet he relapseth into it again thriâ—… in the 33. 35. and 43. pages I shall not omit any thing that hath the least scruple of weight or moment to advantage Sir Iohn Hothams cause First it is confessed bâ—… the Observer That to possesse a Towne and shut the gâ—…es against the King is Treason A liberall concessioâ—…â—…e had an hard forehead that should deny it To dâ—…in one of the Kings ships or Castles onely withâ—…t danger to His Person is Treason what is it then â—…rst to inâ—…rude forcibly and then to detein injuriouslâ—… not a Pinnace or little Tower but one of the priâ—… Ports and Strengths of the Kingdom and in it tâ—… Kings whole Magazine or provision of Warre aâ—… to raise His Majestyes own Subjects to keep it with Muskeâ—…s bent against His Royall Brest They haâ—… need to be very saving Circumstances that can alteâ—… the nature of such an act or have virtue to transubstantiate Cataline into Camillus and change Treason into Loyalty Who made the Observer a Distinguisher where the Law doth not distinguish But let us view his Reasons without prejudice Three things are alledged first the circumstances of the action Secondly the intention of the Actors Thirdly the Authority of the Commanders For the first he saith The King was meerely denyed entrance for the time his generall Right was not denyed I doe easily beleeve that Sir Iohn meant not to hold Hull for ever If he did he is not such a Child to say so When the Lord Gray and his Complices had plotted to surprise the Tower or Dover Castle and to possesse themselves of the Persons of King Iames his Councell it was not their designe to hold those Forts or detein them Prisoners for ever but untill they had gained their own conditions which were the alteration of Religion and the distribution of the great Offices of the Kingdome among themselves yet it was never the lesse adjudged Treason and they condemned for it He addes No defying language was given to the King No more did Iudas give the King of Kings when he cryed Hail Master kissed him The Prophet complaineth of some that the words of their mouthâ—… were softer then butter but Warre was in their hearts It was as true as tarta censure which Iohannes Capocius a noble Romane gave of Innocent the third who did privately blow the coales betwixt Otho and Frederick O Holy Father your words are the words of God peaceable pious buâ—… your deeds are the deeds of the Devill He proceeds No act of violence was used though the King for diverse houres together did stand within musket shot and did use tâ—…rms of defyance and this makes the act meerely defensive oâ—… rather passive Passive how can that be notwithstanding the intrusion of Sir Iohn the King is still the Possessor and the deteining is forcible in the eye of the Law This very plea argues a rotten and a trayterous heart To kill an innocent and an anoynted King in the sight of the Sun requires an height of impiety a longer preparation of Partners and instruments fleshed in Blood and Mischiefe He that should have commanded such a shot had need to have given his charge in ambiguous terms as Edvardum occidere nolite timere bonum est or otherwise might have been thrown over the walls for his Labour If such a shot had fayled it had been destructive to the Actor and all his Partakers if it had taken it would have made them stinke in the 〈◊〉 of all good Men but for my part I doe not beleeve there was any such intention Howsoever we have been told that in the place