of God forget to pursue revenge For albeit King Edward his Son enjoyed both a long and prosperous Reign yet his next Successor King Richard the second was in the like violent manner imprisoned deprived and put to death I will prosecute the successive revenge which hereof also ensued being a strange matter and worthy to be rung into the ears of all Ages King Henry the Fourth by whom King Richard was deposed did exercise the chiefest Acts of his Reign in executing those who conspired with him against King Richard His Son had his Vertue well seconded by Felicity during whose Reign by means of the Wars in France the humour against him was otherwise employed and spent but his next Successor King Henry the Sixth was in the very like manner deprived and together with his young Son Edward imprisoned and put to death by King Edward the Fourth This Edward died not without suspicion of poyson and after his death his two Sons were in like manner disinherited imprisoned and murthered by their cruel Unkle the Duke of Gloucester who being both a Tyrant and Usurper was justly encountred and slain by King Henry the Seventh in the field So infallible is the Law of Justice in revenging Cruelties and Wrongs not always observing the presence of times wherein they are done but often calling them into reckoning when the Offenders retain least memory of them Likewise the deposition of King Richard the Second was a tempestuous Rage neither led nor restrained by any Rules of Reason or of State not suddenly raised and at once but by very cunning and artificial degrees But examine his actions without distempred judgment and you will not condemn him to be exceeding either insufficient or evil weigh the Imputations that were objected against him and you shall find nothing either of any truth or of great moment Hollingshead writeth that he was most unthankfully used by his Subjects for although through the frailty of his youth he demeaned himself more dissolutely than was agreeable to the Royalty of his estate yet in no Kings days the Commons were in greater wealth the Nobility more honoured and the Clergy less wronged who notwithstanding in the evil-guided strength of their Will took head against him to their own headlong-destruction afterward partly during the Reign of King Henry his next Successor whose greatest Atchievements were against his own people but more especially in succeeding times when upon occasion of this disorder more English bloud was spent than was in all the forraign Wars which had been since the Conquest Three causes are commonly insinuated by you for which a King may be deposed Tyranny Insufficiency and Impiety But what Prince could hold his State what People their Quiet assured if this your Doctrine should take place How many good Princes doth Envy brand with one of these marks What action of State can be so ordered that either blind Ignorance or set Malice will not easily strain to one of these heads Every execution of Justice every demand of Tribute or Supply shall be claimed Tyranny every infortunate Event shall be exclaimed Insufficiency every kind of Religion shall by them of another Sect be proclaimed Impiety So dangerous it is to permit this high power to a heedless and headless Multitude who measure things not by Reason and Justice but either by Opinion which commonly is partial or else by Report which usually is full of uncertainties and errours the most part doing because others do all easie to become slavish to any mans ambitious attempt So dangerous it is to open our ears to every foolish Phaeton who undertaking to guide the Chariot of the Sun will soon cast the whole Earth into combustion You proceed that King Henry the Sixth was also deposed for defects in Government Let us yield a little to you that you may be deceived a little that you may be carried by your affections How can you excuse these open untruths wherein it cannot be but the Devil hath a finger You cannot be ignorant that the onely cause which drew the Family of York into Arms against King Henry was the Title which they had unto the Crown by vertue whereof it was first enacted That Rich. Duke of York should succeed King Henry after his death but for that he made unseasonable attempts he was declared by Parliament incapable of succession and afterwards slain at the Battel of Wakefield Then Edward his Son prosecuting the enterprize and having vanquished King Henry at the Battle of St. Albans obtained possession of the State caused King Henry to be deposed and himself to be proclaimed and Crowned King Afterward he was chased out of the Realm and by Act of Parliament both deprived and disabled from the Crown Lastly he returned again and deprived King Henry both from Government and from Life It is true that some defects were objected against King Henry but this was to estrange the hearts of the people from him The main cause of the War did proceed from the right of the one party and possession of the other The contrariety of the Acts of Parliament was caused by the alternative Victories of them both Your last example is of King Richard the Third of whom you write First that although he sinned in murthering his Nephews yet after their death he was lawful King Secondly that he was deposed by the Common-wealth who called out of France Henry Earl of Richmond to put him down Philosophers say that dreams do commonly arise by a reflection of the phansie upon some subject whereof we have meditated the day before It may be that your drowsie conceit was here cast into a dream of that whereon it had dozed in all this Chapter Or at the best that you are like unto those who have so often told a lie that they perswade themselves it is ture King Edward the fourth left other children besides those that were murthered the Duke of Clarence also who was elder Brother to King Richard left Issue in life all which had precedence of right before him And as for the second point tell me I pray you by what Parliament was King Richard deposed where did the States assemble when did they send for the Earl of Richmond to put him down by what Decree by what Messengers There is no answer to be made but one and that is to confess ingenuously that you say untrue and that it is your usual manner of deceiving to impute the act of a few unto all and to make every event of Arms to be a judicial proceeding of the Common-wealth For it is manifest that the Earl of Richmond had his first strength from the King of France and that after his descent into England more by half both of the Nobility and common people did stand for King Richard than stir against him You adjoyn for a special consideration that most excellent Princes succeeded these whom you affirm to be deposed I will not extenuate the excellency of any Prince but I
Duty That which you report also that Thomas Becket did write unto King Henry the Second importeth nothing else but an acknowledgment of Duty Remember said he the Confession which you made I cannot omit your description of the manner of the Coronation in England First you say the King is sworn then the Archbishop declareth to the people what he hath sworn and demandeth if they be content to submit themselves unto him under those conditions whereunto they consenting he putteth on the Royal Ornaments and then addeth the words of commission Stand and hold thy place and keep thy Oath And thus you have hammered out a formal Election supposing that you draw together the pieces of falshood so close that no man can perceive the sâ—am The truth is that King Henry the Fourth being not the nearest in Bloud to the inheritance of the Crown did countenance his violence with the election of the people not at his Coronation but in a Parliament that was holden before And therefore you do impudently abuse us first in joyning them together as one Act secondly by falsifying divers points in both lastly by insinuating that the same order was observed by other Kings The points which you falsifie are these The interrogation of the Archbishop to the people the absurd straining of these words Stand hold thy place to be a Commission the alleadging also out of Stow 1. That the Archbishop did read unto the people what the King was bound unto by Oath 2. That the Earl of Northumberland did shew a Ring unto the people that they might thereby see the Band whereby the King was bound unto them 3. That the King did pray that he might observe his promise In whiâ—h composition of Conceits you shew how active you are in counterfeiting any thing that may make to your purpose perswading your self that it is no fraud unto God to deceive the World in a lye for advantage King Edward the Fourth also because his Right was litigious and another was in possession of the Crown strengthened or rather countenanced his Title with the approbation of the People But where you write that at the Coronation of King Edward the Sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the consent and acceptation of the people was demanded First we have no cause to credit any thing that you say then although it be true yet not being done in Parliament it addeth no right unto the Prince but is onely a formality a circumstance onely of Ceremony and Order Hereupon you conclude that a King hath his authority by agreement and contract between him and the people insinuating thereby that he loseth the same if he either violate or neglect his word The contrary opinion that onely succession of Bloud maketh a King and that the consent of the people is nothing necessary you affirm to be absurd base and impious an unlearned fond and wicked assertion in flattery of Princes to the manifest ruine of Commonwealths and perverting of all Law Order and Reason I did always foresee that your impostumed stomach would belch forth some loathsome matter But whosoever shall compare this confident conclusion with the proofs that you have made he will rather judge you mad than unwise This bold blast upon grounds that are both foolish and false bewrayeth rather want than weakness of wits I am ashamed I should offer any further speech in so evident a truth but since I have undertaken to combate an Heresie since the matter is of so great consequence and import I purpose once again to give you a Gorge Learn then heavy-headed Cloisterer unable to manage these mysteries of State learn of me I say for I owe this duty to all Christians the Prophets the Apostles Christ himself hath taught us to be obedient to Princes though both Tyrants and Infidels This ought to stand with us for a thousand reasons to submit our selves to such Kings as it pleaseth God to send unto us without either judging or examining their qualities Their hearts are in Gods hand they do his service sometimes in preserving sometimes in punishing us they execute his judgment both ways in the same measure which he doth prescribe If they abuse any part of their power we do not excuse we do not extenuate it we do not exempt them from their punishment let them look unto it let them assuredly expect that God will dart his vengeance against them with a most stiff and dreadful arm In the mean season we must not oppose our selves otherwise than by humble suits and prayers acknowledging that those evils are always just for us to suffer which are many times unjust for them to do If we do otherwise if we break into tumult and disorder we resemble those Giants of whom the Poets write who making offer to scale the Skies and to pull Iupiter out of his Throne were overwhelmed in a moment with the Mountains which they had heaped together Believe it Cloisterer or ask any man who is both honest and wise and he will tell you It is a Rule in Reason a Tryal in Experience an Authority confirmed by the best That Rebellion produceth more horrible effects than either the tyranny or insufficiency of any Prince An Answer to the sixth Chapter whereof the title is What is due to onely Succession by Birth and what interest or right an Heir apparent hath to the Crown before he is crowned or admitted by the Commonwealth and how justly he may be put back if he hath not the parts requisite YOu begin after your manner with a carreer against Billay but because both I have not seen what he hath written and dare not credit what you report I will not set in foot between you In breaking from this you prefer Succession of Princes before free Election as well for other respects as for the pre-eminence of Ancestry in birth which is so much priviledged in the Scripture and yet not made so inviolable you say but upon just causes it might be inverted as it appeareth by the examples of Iacob Iudah and Solomon And this liberty you hold to be the principal remedy for such inconveniencies as do ensue of the course of Succession as if the next in birth be unable or pernicious to govern in which cases if he be not capable of directions and counsels you affirm that the remedy is to remove him And so you make Succession and Election the one to be a preservative to the other supposing that the difficulties of both are taken away First if ordinarily Succession taketh place then if upon occasion we give allowance to Election For the Prerogative of Birth as also for the special choice which God hath often made of the youngest I will remit my self to that which I have written before At once in those particular actions which God hath either done or by express Oracle commanded contrary to the general Laws which he hath given us as in the Robbery of the Egyptians the extirpation of the Amalekites
hath dependency upon the People I have sufficiently encountred before And if your Consequence were true That whosoever is Judge of a thing is Judge also without controllment of the Cause if this were as agreeable to all Laws as you seem to believe then were all Judgments arbitrary then could no Appeal be interposed for giving Sentence without just Cause then were it false which Panormitan writeth that a false Cause expressed in a Sentence maketh it void What shall I say What do you think Do you think that these fat Drops of a greasie Brain can bring the Tenure of a Crown to the Will of the People What are you who endeavour thus boldly to abuse both our Judgment and Conscience Are you Religious Are you of Civil either Nature or Education who under the name of Civilian do open the way to all manner of Deceits Perjuries Tumults and Treasons What are you For you shew your self more prophane than Infidels more barbarous than Canibals Tartarians Moors and Mammelucks who though they please themselves in nothing more than Hatred and Contempt yet do they both love and honour their Kings I see what you are the very true Follower of the Anabaptists in Germany who openly professed That they must ruinate the State of Kings And who can assure us for your corrupt Dealings make all Suspicions credible that you do not also follow them both in Desire and Hope to embrace the Monarchy of the whole World The difference between you is this They pretended Revelation for then Warrant you work by deceitful shew of Reason by falsly either alledging or wresting or corrupting both Humane and Divine Authority In what miserable condition should Princes live if their State depended upon the Pleasure of the People in whom Company taketh away Shame and every Man may lay the Fault on his Fellow How could they command Who would obey What could they safely either do or omit Who knows a People that knoweth not that sudden Opinion maketh them hope which if it be not presently answered they fall into Hate chusing and refusing erecting and overthrowing as every Wind of Passion doth puff What steddiness in their Will or Desire which having so many Circles of Imagination can never be enclosed in one Point And whereas you write That God always approveth the Will and Judgment of the People as being properly the Judge of the whole Business and that every particular Man must simply submit himself thereunto without further inquisition although at divers times they determine Contraries as they did between the Houses of Lancaster and York because we must presume they were led by different Respects You seem not obscurely to erect thereby another privileged Power upon Earth which cannot err which doth not deceive But it may be some honest-minded Man will say That howsoever you write your meaning was otherwise You write also afterward That in two Cases every Private Man is bound to resist the Judgment of the whole People to the uttermost extent of his Ability Well then let us take you for a Man whose Sayings disagree both from your Meaning and between themselves let us consider what are your two Exceptions The first is when the Matter is carried not by way of orderly Judgment but by particular Faction of Private Men who will make offer to determine the Cause without Authority of the Realm committed unto them But this Exception is so large that it devoureth the whole Rule for in Actions of this quality the Original is always by Faction the Accomplishment by Force or at least by Fear howsoever they are sometimes countenanced with Authority of the State So Sylla having brought his Legions within the Walls of Rome obtained the Law Valeria to be published whereby he was created Dictator for twenty four Years by means of which Force Cicero affirmeth that it was no Law Likewise Lawrence Medices having an Army within Florence caused or rather constrained the Citizens to elect him Duke When Henry the Fourth was chosen King he held Forty thousand Men in Arms. And this is most evident by your own Example of four contrary Acts of Parliament which at divers times were made during the Contention between the Families of Lancaster and York not upon different Reasons as with little reason you affirm but upon different Success of either Side In Matters of this moment the orderly Course of Proceeding is onely by Parliament The Parliament must be summoned by the King 's Writ and no Act thereof hath Life but by express Consent of the King If this Form had always been observed neither our Kings should have been deposed nor the next Successors excluded nor the Title of the Crown entangled to the inestimable both weakning and waste of all the Realm Your second Exception is When such a Man is preferred to the Crown by whom God is manifestly offended and the Realm prejudiced or endangered In which Case you say every Man with a free and uncontrolled Conscience may resist what he can It was even here I looked for you Your broyling Spirits do nothing else but fling Firebrands and heap on Wood to set Kingdoms in Combustion What Rebellion what Revolt hath ever been made but under some of these Pretences What Princes Actions either by malicious or ignorant Interpretation may not easily be drawn to one of these Heads You are a Nursery of War in the Commonwealth a Seminary of Schism and Division in the Church In sum All your Actions all your Thoughts are barbarous and bloody You write much of Right and Justice but you measure the Right and Justice of a Cause by the Advantage of your own Affairs You speak as having a tender sense of the Glory of God but you stretch out your Throat with high Words of Contradiction against him You make shew of Care to preserve the State but you are like the Ivy which seemeth outwardly both to embrace and adorn the Wall whereinto inwardly it doth both eat and undermine For what Means either more ready or forcible to overthrow a State than Faction and intestine Quarrels And what other Milk do you yield What are your Opinions what your Exhortations but either to set or to hold up Sedition and Bloodshed St. Paul teacheth us not to resist higher Powers although both cruel and prophane you teach us to resist them what we can The Apostle is followed of all the Ancient Fathers of the Church you are followed of those onely who follow the Anabaptists For my part I had rather err with the Apostle in this Opposition than hold Truth with you But I will speak more moderately in a Subject of such a nature I will not say then That I had rather err but That I shall less fear to err in not resisting with the Apostle than in resisting with you New Counsels are always more plausible than safe After you have plaid the Suffenus with your self in setting the Garland upon your own Head and making
about to please men If I should please men I were not then the servant of Christ. I will give you an example of another time Nebuchadnezzer King of Assyria wasted all Palestina took Hierusalem slew the King burnt the Temple took away the holy Vessels and Treasure the residue he permitted to the cruelty and syoyl of his unmerciful Souldiers who defiled all places with rape ruine and blood After the glut of this butchery the people which remained he led captive into Chaldaea and there commanded that whosoever refused to worship his golden Image should be cast into a fiery furnace What cruelty what impiety is comparable to this and yet the Prophets Ieremiah and Baruch did write to those captive Jews to pray for the prosperity and life of him and of Baltazar his Son that their days might be upon Earth as the days of Heaven and Ezekiel both blameth and threatneth Zedechia for his disloyalty in revolting from Nebuchadnezzar whose homager and tributary he was What answer will you make to this example I am wisely busied to cast forth this question what answer can you make which your own knowledge will not convince Many other places there are in holy Scripture whereby not onely our actions are tied to obedience He that doth presumptuously against the Ruler of the people shall die but also our words Thou shalt not speak evil against the Ruler of the people yea our secret thoughts Detract not from the King no not in thy thought for the fowls of the air shall carry thy voice The reason hereof is not obscure Because Princes are the immediate Ministers of God and therefore he called Nebuchadnezzar his servant and promised him also hire and wages for the service which he did And the Prophet Esay calleth Cyrus a prophane and heathen King the Lords Anointed For as Solomon saith The Hearts of Kings are in the hands of the Lord and he stirreth up the spirit even of wicked Princes to do his will and as Iehoshaphat said to his Rulers they execute not the will of man but of the Lord. In regard hereof David calleth them Gods whereof Plato also had some sense when he said A King is instead of God And if they do abuse their Power they are not to be judged by their Subjects as being both inferiour and naked of Authority because all Jurisdiction within their Realm is derived from them which their presence onely doth silence and suspend but God reserveth them to the sorest tryal Horribly and suddainly saith the wise man will the Lord appear unto them and a hard judgment shall they have You Jesuits do yield a blindfold obedience to your Superiours not once examining either what he is or what he doth Command and although the Pope should swerve from Justice yet by the Canons men are bound to perform obedience unto him and God only may â—udge his doings and may a King the Lords Lieutenant the Lords Anointed in the view of his Subjects nay by the hands of his Subjects be cast out of State May he as was Actaeon be chased and worried by his own hounds Will you make him of worse condition than the Lord of a Mannor than a Parish-Priest than a poor Schoolmaster who cannot be removed by those that are under their authority and charge The Law of God commandeth that the child should die for any contumely done unto the Parents But what if the Father be a Robber if a Murtherer if for all excess of villanies odious and execrable both to God and Man Surely he deserveth the highest degree of punishment and yet must not the Son lift up his hand against him For as Quintilian saith No offence is so great as to be punished by parricide But our Country is dearer to us than our selves and the Prince is the Father of our Country whose Authority as Baldus noteth 〈◊〉 greater than of Parents and therefore he must not be violated how impious how imperious soever he be If he commandeth those things that are lawful we must manifest our obedience by ready performing If he enjoyn us those actions that are evil we must shew our subjection by patient enduring It is God onely who seateth Kings in their State it is he only who may remove them The Lord will set a wise King over the people which he loveth as himself doth testifie And again For the sins of the land the Kings are changed Aâ— therefore we endure with patience unseasonable weather unfruitful years and other like punishments of God so must we tolerate the imperfections of Princes and quietly expect either reformation or else a change This was the Doctrine of the ancient Christians even against their most mortal persecutors Tertullian saith For what war are we not both serviceable and ready although unequal in number who do so willingly endure to be slain neither want we strength of number but God forbid that Religion should be maintained with humane fire From him also St. Cyprian a most studious reader of Tertullian as St. Hierom noteth in like manner writeth Although our people be exceeding copious yet it doth not revenge it self against violence it suffereth St. Augustin saith It is a general paction of humane society to obey Kings Which sentence is assumed into the body of the Canon-Law In a word the current of the ancient Fathers is in this point concurrent insomuch as among them all there is not one found not any one one is a small number and yet I say confidently again there is not any one who hath let fall so loose a speech as may be strained to a contrary sense How then are you of late become both so active and resolute to cut in sunder the reins of Obedience the very sinews of Government and Order Whence had Benedâ—tto Palmio a Jesuit his Warrant to incite William Parry to undertake the parricide of our Queen whence did Annibal Codretto another Jesuit assure him that the true Church made no question but that the fact was lawful Whence did Guignard a Jesuit term the Butchery of Henry late King of France an heroical act and a gift of the Holy Ghost Whence did he write of the King who now there reigneth If without Arms he cannot be deposed let men take Arms against him if by War it cannot be accomplished let him be murthered Whence did Ambrose Verade Rector of the Colledge of the Jesuits in Paris animate Barriers as he confessed to sheath his Knife in the Kings breast assuring him by the living God that he could not execute any act more meritorious Whence did the Commenter upon the Epitome of Confessions otherwise the seventh book of Decretals commend all the Jesuits in these terms They set upon Tyrants they pull the Cockle out of the Lords field It is a Rule in Nature that one contrary is manifested by
hold it more worthy to be considered that these disorders spent England a sea of bloud In the end you conclude that all these deprivations of Princes were lawful Nay by your favour if you sweat out your brains you shall never evince that a fact is lawful because it is done Yes you say for otherwise two great inconveniences would follow One that the acts of those that were put in their place should be void and unjust The other that none who now pretend to these Crowns could have any Title for that they descended from them who succeeded those that were deprived You deserve now to be basted with words well steeped in Vinegar and Salt but I will be more charitable unto you and leave bad speeches to black mouths For the first the possession of the Crown purgeth all defects and maketh good the acts of him that is in Authority although he wanteth both capacity and right And this doth Vlpian expresly determine upon respect as he saith to the common good For the other point the Successors of an Usurper by course and compass of time may prescribe a right if they who have received wrong discontinue both pursuit and claim Panormitaneâ— saith Successor in Dignitate potest praescribere non abstante vitio sui Praedecessoris A Successor in Dignity may prescribe notwithstanding the fault of his Predecessor Otherwise causes of War should be immortal and Titles perpetually remain uncertain Now then for summary collection of all that you have said your Protestations are good your Proofs light and loose your Conclusions both dangerous and false The first doth savour of God the second of Man the third of the Devil An Answer to the fourth Chapter which beareth title Wherein consisteth principally the lawfulness of proceeding against Princes which in the former Chapter is mentioned What interest Princes have in their Subjects goods or lives How Oaths do bind or may be broken of Subjects towards their Princes and finally the difference between a good King and a Tyrant HEre you close with Bellaie upon two points First whether a King is subject to any Law Secondly whether all Temporalities are in propriety the King's But because these questions do little pertain to our principal Controversie I will not make any stay upon them it sufficeth that we may say with Seneca Omnia Rex imperio possidel singuli domino The King hath Empire every man his particular propriety in all things After this you proceed further to make ood that the Princes before-mentioned were lawfully deposed and that by all Law both Divine and Humane Natural National and Positive Your cause is so bad that you have need to set a bold countenance upon it But what Divine Laws do you alleadge You have largely before declared you say that God doth approve the form of Government which every Commonwealth doth choose as also the Conditions and Statutes which it doth appoint unto her Prince I must now take you for a natural lyar when you will not forbear to belye your self you never proved any such matter and the contrary is evident that sometimes entire Governments often Customs and Statutes of State and very commonly accidental actions are so unnatural and unjust that otherwise than for a punishment and curse we cannot say that God doth approve them We have often heard that the Church cannot erre in matters of Faith but that in matter of Government a Common-wealth cannot erre it was never I assure my self published before But let us suppose supposal is free that God alloweth that form of Government which every Commonwealth doth choose Doth it therefore follow that by all Divine Laws Princes may be deposed by their Subjects These broken pieces will never be squared to form strong argument But wherefore do not you produce the Divine Canons of Scripture Surely they abhor to speak one word in your behalf yea they do give express sentence against you as I have shewed before Well let this pass among your least escapes in making God either the Author or Aider of Rebellion you alleadge no other Humane Law but that Princes are subject to Law and Order I will not deny but there is a duty for Princes to perform But how prove you that their Subjects have power to depose them if they fail In this manner As the Common-wealth gave them their Authority for the common good so it may also take the same away if they abuse it But I have manifested before both that the people may so grant away their Authority that they cannot resume it and also that few Princes in the world hold their State by grant of the people I will never hereafter esteem a mans valour by his voice Your brave boast of all Laws Divine Humane Natural National and Positive is dissolved into smoak You busie your self as the Poets write of Morpheus in presenting shadows to men asleep But the chiefest reason you say the very ground foundation of all Soft What reason what ground if you have already made proof by all Laws Humane and Divine Natural National and Positive what better reason what surer ground will you bring Tush these interruptions The chiefest reason you say the very ground and foundation of all is that the Commonwealth is superiour to the Prince and that the Authority which the Prince hath is not absolute but by the way of mandate and commission from the Common-wealth This is that which I expected all this time you have hitherto approached by stealing steps you are now come close to the wall do but mount into credit and the fort is your own You affirmed at the first that Princs might be deposed for disability then for misgovernment now upon pleasure and at will For they who have given authority by commission do always retain more than they grant and are not excluded either from Commanding or Judging by way of prevention concurrence or evocation even in those cases which they have given in charge The reason is declared by Vlpian Because he to whom Iurisdiction is committed representeth his person who gave commission and not his own Hereupon Alexander Panormitane Innocentius and Felinus do affirm that they may cast their Commissioners out of power when they please because as Paulus saith a man can judge no longer when he forbiddeth who gave authority Further all States take denomination from that part wherein the supreme power is setled as if it be in one Prince it is called a Monarchy if in many of highest rank then it is an Aristocracy if in the people then a Democracy Whereupon it followeth if the people are superiour to the Prince if the Prince hath no power but by commission from them that then all Estates are popular for we are not so much to respect who doth execute this high Power of State as from whom immediately it is derived Hereto let us add that which you have said in another place that
attempts So dangerous it is upon any pretence to put by the next in Succession to the Crown This Henry the first left but one Daughter and by her a young Son named Henry to whom he appointed the Succession of the Realm and took an Oath of all the Bishops and likewise of the Nobility to remain faithful unto them after his decease Yet you write that because Stephen Son of Adela Sister to King Henry was thought by the States more fit to govern he was by them admitted to the Crown In which assertion you cannot be deceived you do not err but your passion doth pull you from your own Knowledge and Judgement Polydore writeth that he possessed the Kingdom contrary to his Oath for which cause the minds of all men were exceedingly moved some did abhor and detest the impiety others and those very few unmindfull of Perjury did more boldly then honestly allow it and followed his part Further he saith that he was crowned at Westminster in an assembly of those Noble Men who were his Friends Nubrigensis affirmeth that violating his Oath he invaded the Kingdom William Malmesbury who lived in King Stephen's time saith that he was the first of all Lay-men next the King of Scots who had made Oath to the Empresse Maud and that he was Crowned three Bishops being present of whom one was his Brother no Abbot and a very few of the Nobility Henry Huntington who lived also in the same time saith that by force and impudence tempting God he invaded the Crown Afterward he reporteth that being desirous to have his Son Eustace Crowned King with him the Bishops withstood it upon Commandement from the Pope because he took upon him the Kingdom against his Oath Roger Hoveden writeth that he invaded the Crown in manner of a tempest This is the report of those Writers who came nearest both to the time and truth of this action whom other Authors do likewise follow Polydore and after him Hollingshead do write that he took upon him the Crown partly upon confidence in the power of Theobald his Brother Earl of Blois and partly by the aid of Henry his other Brother Bishop of Winchester Walsingham adaddeth that Hugh Bigot who had been King Henries Steward took an Oath before the Archbishop of Canterbury that King Henry at his death appointed Stephen to be his Successour Whereupon the Archbishop and a few others were over-lightly led like men blinded with security and of little foresight never considering of dangers until the means of remedy were past You write that they thought they might have done this with a good conscience for the good of the Realm But what good conscience could they have in defiling their faith Such consciences you endeavour to frame in all men to break an oath with as great facility as a Squirrell can crack a Nut. What good also did ensue unto the Realm The Nobility were set into factions the common people into division and disorder and as in Wars where discipline is at large there insolencies are infinite so in this confusion of the State there was no action which tended not to the ruin thereof the Lives and Goods of Men remaining in continual pillage Polydore saith Matrons were violated Virgins ravished Churches spoiled Towns and Villages rased much Cattle destroyed innumerable Men slain Into this miserable face of extremities the Realm did fall and into the same again you strive to reduce it But you say that for the ending of these Mischiefs the States in a Parliament at Wallingford made an Agreement that Stephen should be King during his life and that Henry and his Off-spring should succeed after his death A man would think you had a mint of Fables there is no History which you handle but you defile it with apish untruths All our Histories agree that King Stephen unable to range things into better form did adopt Henry to be his Successor The second Huntington saith that this agreement was mediated by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester who repented him of the furtherance he gave to the advancement of King Stephen when he saw what Miseries did thereupon ensue The like doth Hoveden report and Holingshead setteth down the form of the Charter of agreement between them whereby it is evident that it was a transaction between them two and no compulsory act or authority of the State I deny not but some Authors affirm that the King assembled the Nobility but neither were they the States of the Realm neither were they assembled to any other end but to swear Fealty unto Henry saving the King's Honour so long as he should live After the death of King Richard the first you affirm that the Succession was again broken for that Iohn Brother to King Richard was admitted by the States and Arthur Duke of Britain Son to Geoffry Elder brother unto Iohn was against the ordinary course of Succession excluded Well Sir I arrest your word remember this I pray you for I will put you in mind thereof in another place That which here you affirm to be against the ordinary course of Succession you bring in another place for proof that the Uncle hath right before the Nephew You do wildy waver in variety of Opinion speaking flat contrary according as the Ague of your passion is either in fit or intermission The History of King Iohn standeth thus King Richard the first dying without issue left behind him a Brother named Iohn and a Nepew called Arthur Son of Geoffry who was Elder Brother unto Iohn This Arthur was appointed by King Richard to succeed in his Estate as Polydore writeth Nubrigensis saith that he should have been established by consent of the Nobility if the Britains had not been so foolishly either suspicious or fond that when King Richard sent for him they refused to commit him into his Uncles hands But after the death of King Richard his Brother Iohn seized upon his Treasure in Normandy came over into England and in an Assembly only of the Nobility was crowned King Of these many he won with such liberal Protestations and Promises as men careless of their word are wont to bestow others were abused by the persuasions of Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury and a few others saith Polydore not well advised Nic. Trivet saith that Iohn pretended for his Title not the election of the People but propinquity of Blood and the testament of King Richard The same also is affirmed by Walsingham And this is the Question between the Uncle and the Nephew of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter But Polydore saith That divers Noble-men did account this to be a fraudulent Injustice and thereupon did ominate those Evils which afterward did ensue And when the Archbishop was charged That under colour of Reason partly subborned and partly weak he had beene
the occasion of all those Mischiefs Polydore saith That he was both grieved and ashamed at nothing more Rog. Wenden affirmeth That he excused himselfe that he did it upon Oracles and by the gift of Prophesie King Iohn having locked himself into the Saddle of state made one wrong which he had done to be the cause of a greater wrong by murthering his Nephew Arthur Duke of Britan whose inheritance he did unjustly usurp For this fact the French King deprived him of all the Lands which he held in Fee of the Crown of France and prosecuted the Sentence to effect After this as men are easily imboldened against an Usurper when once he declineth either in Reputation or in State divers of the Nobility especially they of the North confederated against him but being neither able to endure his war nor willing to repose trust in his peace they contracted with Lewes the French Kings son to take upon him to be their King And so it often happeneth in civil contentions that they who are weakest do run with a naturall rashnesse to call in a third Lewes being arrived upon the coast of Kent the Nobilitie of that faction came and sware allegiance unto him The Londoners also many upon an ordinary desire to have new Kings others for fear and some for company joyned to the revolt Hereof a lamentable presence of all miseries did arise whereby as well the Liberty as the Dignity of the Realm were brought to a near and narrow jump The poor people naked both of help and hope stood at the curtesie and pleasure of the men of arms the liberty of war making all things lawfull to the fury of the strongest The Nobility feeling much and fearing more the insolency of the French Nation who as Vicount Melin a Nobleman of France confessed at his death had sworn the extirpation of all the Noble Bloud in the Realm began to devise how they might returne into the allegiance of King Iohn in so much as a little before his death Letters were brought unto him from certain of his Barons to the number of forty who desire to be received again into his peace But after his death which happily did happen within five moneths after the arrivall of the French both their hatred and their feare being at an end they were all as ready to cast out Lewes as they had been rash to call him in This History you corrupt with verie many odious untruths which are more harsh to a well-tuned ear then the crashing of teeth or the grating of copper As namely in affirming that Arthur was excluded and Iohn crowned King by the States of the Realm that God did more defend this act of the Common-wealth then the just Title of Arthur that by the same States King Iohn was rejected Prince Henry his son deprived and Lewes of France chosen to be King that the same States recalled their sentence against Prince Henry disannulling their Oath and Allegiance made unto Lewes A shameless tongue governed by a deceitful mind can easily call Faction the Common-wealth Rebellion a just and judicial Proceeding open and often Perjury an orderly revoking of a Sentence Gods secret Judgment in permitting Injustice to prevail a plain defence and allowance thereof Of the division of the Houses of Lancaster and York it is but little that you write whereto I have fully answered before you do wisely to give a light touch to this Example it is so hot that it will scald your throat King Henry the fourth more carried by cursed ambition then either by necessity or right laid an unjust gripe upon the Realm which afterward he did beautifie with the counterfeit Titles of Conquest and Election So violent are the desires of Princes to imbrace streined Titles by which they may disturb the States of other not remembring that Right may be trodden down but not trodden out having her secret both means to support and seasons to revive her For although the lawful Successor did warily strike sail to the Tempest because neither the time running nor the Opportunity present which are the Guiders of Actions did consent as then to enter into enterprise yet so soon as one hair of occasion was offered his progeny did set up a most doubtful war wherein thirteen Battels were executed by English-men only and above fourescore Princes of the Royal Blood slain Lo now the smiling success of these usurpations lo what a dear purchase of repentance they did cause Were it not that passion doth blind men not only in desire but in hope they might suffice to make us advised to keep rather the known and beaten way with safety then upon every giddy and brainless warrant to engulph our selves in those Passages wherein so many have peristed before us It belongeth to wise men to avoid mischiefs and it is the reward of fools to lament them Go too then conclude if you please that the people are not bound to admit him to the Crown who is the next Successor by propinquity of blood but rather to weigh whether it is like that he will perform his charge or no. Conclude this I say to be your Opinion and that it seemeth to you to be conform to all Reason Law Religion Piety Wisdom and Policy and to the Custom of all Common-wealths in the World and I will assuredly conclude against you that you prate without either warrant or weight An Answer to the Ninth Chapter which beareth this Title What are the Principal Points which a Commonwealth ought to respect in Admitting or Excluding any Prince wherein is handled largely also of the Diversity of Religions and other such Causes IN this Passage you handle what Cause is sufficient either to keep in or to cast out of State the next in Blood In which Question you determine That God doth allow for a just and sufficient Cause the Will and Judgment of the People Your Reason is For that they are Judge of the Thing it self and therefore they are the Judge also of the Cause Your Antecedent you prove first For that it is in their own Affair secondly For that it is in a Matter that hath its whole Beginning Continuance and Substance from them alone Your Consequence you prove by a whole lump of Law in alledging the entire Body of the Civil and Canon Law assisted also with great Reason Diogenes said of a certain Tumbler That he never saw Man take more pains to break his Neck In like sort we may say of you It is hard to find a Man that hath more busied his Wits to overthrow the Opinion of his Wisdom For the first Proof of your Antecedent is not onely of no force for you but strong against you because no Man is a competent Judge in his own Cause no Man can be both Party and Judge Whereto I will add That no Inferiour hath Jurisdiction over the Superiour much less the Subject against the Sovereign Your second Proof That all the Power of a King