in cogendis pecunus quotidianoque victu sequebantur Aubanus What things kings have granted And there be some things which our Kings have granted unto their Subjects and restrained themselves from their full right as the use of that power which makes new Lawes or repeales the old or layeth any taxe or summes of monies upon his Subjects without the consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament and it may be some other particulars which the Lawyers know better then I. And all these Priviledges of the Subjects are but limitations and restrictions of the Kings right made by themselves unto their people and therefore where the Law cannot be produced to confirme such and such Liberties and Priviledges granted unto them I say there the Kings power is absolute and the Subject ought not in such cases to determine any thing to the disadvantage of the King because all these Liberties that we have are injoyed by vertue of the Kings grant as you may see in the ratification of Magna Charta where the King saith We have granted and given all these Liberties 9. Hen 3. But I could never see it produced where the King granted unto his Subjects that they might force him and compell him with a strong hand by an Army of Souldiers to doe what they will or else to take away either his Crowne or his Life this Priviledge was never granted because this deprives the King of his supremacy and puts him in the condition of a Subject and would ever prove an occasion of rebellion when the people upon every discontent would take Armes against their King And therefore this present resistance is a meere usurpation of the Kings right a rebellion against his Lawes an High Treason against his person and a resistance of the ordinance of God which heape of deadly sinnes can bring none other fruit then damnation saith the Apostle CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto his people to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the Kings Oath at his Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have beene procured and repealed 2. 2. The Kings obligation to observe his grants WE are to consider how farre the King is obliged to observe his promise and to make good these Liberties and Priviledges unto his Subjects where I speake not how farre the fathers grant may oblige the sonne or the predecessor his successor Peter de lâ Primandas saith Laws annexed to the Crowne the Prince cannot so abrogate them but his Successor may disanull whatsoever he hath done in prejudice of them p. 597. who cannot be deprived of his right dominion by any act of his precedessors but for the rights of his dominion how farre precedent grants and the custome of their continuance with the desuetude and non-claime of his right may strengthen them unto the Subject and oblige the successors to observe them I leave it unto the Lawyers and Civilians to dispute but I am here to discusse how farre the King that hath promised and taken his oath to observe his Lawes and make good all priviledges granted to his Subjects is bound in conscience to keepe and observe them Touching which you must understand that these grants of immunities and favours are of three speciall kindes 1. Of grace 2. By fraud 3. Through feare For 1. The King that hath his full right 1. All grants of grace ought to be observed either by conquest or succession over his people to governe them as a most absolute Monarch and out of his meere grace and favour to sweeten the subjection of his people and to binde them with the greater love and affection to his obedience doth minuere sua jura restraine his absolute right bestow liberties upon his people and take his oath for their security that he will observe them is bound in all conscience to performe them and can never be freed from injustice before God and man if he transgresse them Quia volenti non fit injuria because they doe him no injury when he doth voluntarily either totally resigne or in some particularity diminish his owne right The true Law of free Monarchs p. 203. but after he hath thus firmely done it he can never justly goe from it and therefore King James saith that a King which governeth not by his Lawes can neither be accountable to God for his administration nor have a happy and established raigne because it cannot be but that the people seeing their King failing of his duty will be alwayes murmuring and defective in their fidelity And Yet the Kings breach of oath doth neither forfeit his right nor warrant their disloyalty because another mans sinne doth no way lessen mine offence and neither God nor the King granted this priviledge unto Subjects to rebell and take Armes against their Soveraigne when they pretend he hath broken his promise 2. Grants obtained through fraud which to be observed 2. When the King through the subtle perswasions of his people that pretend one thing and intend another shall be seduced to grant those things that are full of inconveniences as our King was over reached and no better then meerly cheated by the faction of this Parliament to grant the continuance of it till it should be dissolved with the consent of both Houses and the like Lawes that are procured by meere fraud that soonest over-reacheth the best meaning Kings I answer with the old Proverbe Caveat emptor he ought to have beene as wise to prevent them as they were subtle to circumvent him and therefore Josh 9.20 as Joshua being deceived by the Gibeonites could not alter his promise nor breake his league with them lest wrath should fall upon him so no more should any other King breake promise in the like case Psal 15.5 But you must observe that the Psalmist saith The good man which shall dwell in the Tabernacle of the Lord is he that sweareth unto his neighbour and disappointeth him not though it were to his owne hinderance marke though it were to his owne hinderance never so much Quicquid fit dolo malo annullat factum imponit poenam summa Angel he must performe it but what if he hath promised and sworne that which will be to the great dishonour of God to the hinderance of thousands of others and it may be to the ruine of a whole Kingdome which is a great deale more then his owne hinderance is a King bound or is any man else obliged to performe such a promise or to keepe such an oath to tell you mine owne judgement I thinke he ought not to performe it and our owne Law tels us what grants soever are obtained from the King under the broad Seale by fraud and deceit those grants are void in Law therefore seeing the act for the perpetuity of this Parliament was obtained dolo pessimo to the great dishonour of God and the ruine both of
and not of their Lay Counsellors how our late Canons came to be annulled c. Pag. 72 CHAP. IX Sheweth a full answer to foure speciall Objections that are made against the Civill jurisdictions of Ecclesiasticall persons their abilities to discharge these offices and desire to benefit the Common-wealth why some Councels inhibited these offices unto Bishops c. Pag. 86 CHAP. X. Sheweth that it is the Kings right to grant Dispensations for Pluralities and Non-residency what Dispensation is reasons for it to tolerate divers Sects or sorts of Religions the foure speciall sorts of false Professors S. Augustines reasons for the toleration of the Jewes toleration of Papists and of Puritans and which of them deserve best to be tolerated among the Protestants and how any Sect is to be tolerated Pag. 101 CHAP. XI Sheweth where the Protestants Papists and Puritans do place Soveraignty who first taught the deposing of Kings the Puritans tenet worse then the Jesuites Kings authority immediately from God the twofold royalty in a King the words of the Apostle vindicated from false glosses c. Pag. 116 CHAP. XII Sheweth the assistants of Kings in their government to whom the choyce of inferiour Magistrates belongeth the power of the subordinate officers neither Peeres nor Parliament can have supremacy the Sectaries chiefest argument out of Bracton answered our Lawes prove all Soveraignty to be in the King Pag. 127 § The two chiefest parts of the regall government the foure properties of a just warre and how the Parliamentary faction transgresse in every property Pag. 134 CHAP. XIII Sheweth how the first government of Kings was arbitrary the places of Moses Deut. 17. and of Samuel 1. Sam. 8. discussed whether Ahab offended in desiring Naboths Vineyard and wherein why absolute power was granted unto Kings and how the diversities of government came up Pag. 142 § The extent of the grants of Kings what they may and what they may not grant what our Kings have not granted in seven speciall prerogatives and what they have granâ—â—◠〈…〉 Pag. â—47 CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto his people to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the Kings Oath at his Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have beene procured and repealed Pag. 155 § Certaine quaeres discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the prayse of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly Pag. 163 CHAP. XV. Sheweth the honour due to the King 1. Feare 2. An high esteem of our King how highly the Heathens esteemed of their Kings the Marriage of obedience and authority the Rebellion of the Nobility how haynous 3. Obedience fourefold divers kindes of Monarchs and how an absolute Monarch may limit himselfe Pag. 169 CHAP. XVI Sheweth the answer to some objections against the obeying of our Soveraigne Magistrate all actions of three kindes how our consciences may be reformed of our passive obedience to the Magistrates and of the Kings concessions how to be taken Pag. 181 CHAP. XVII Sheweth how tribute is due to the King for six speciall reasons to be paid the condition of a lawfull tribute that we should not be niggards to assist the King that we should defend the Kings Person the wealth and pride of London the cause of all the miseries of this Kingdome and how we ought to pray for our King Pag. 190 CHAP. XVIII The persons that ought to honour the King and the recapitulation of 21 wickednesses of the Rebels and the faction of the pretended Parliament Pag. 203 CHAP. XIX Sheweth how the Rebellious faction have transgressed all the ten Commandements of the Law and the new Commandement of the Gospell how they have committed the seven deadly sinnes and the foure crying sinnes and the three most destructive sinnes to the soule of man and how their Ordinances are made against all Lawes equity and conscience Pag. 212 CHAP. XX. Sheweth how the rebellious Faction forswore themselves what trust is to be given to them how we may recover our peace and prosperity how they have unking'd the Lords Annointed and for whom they have exchanged him and the conclusion of the whole Pag. 223 The Rights of Kings both in CHURCH and STATE And The Wickednesses of this pretended PARLIAMENT manifested and proved CHAP. I. Sheweth who are the fittest to set down the Rights which God granted unto Kings what causeth men to rebell the parts considerable in S. Peter's words 1 Pet. 2.17 in fine How Kings honoured the Clergie the faire but most false pretences of the refractary Faction what they chiefly aime at and their malice to Episcopacie and Royaltie IT was not unwisely said by Ocham that great Schoolman to a great Emperour which M. Luther said also to the Duke of Saxonie Tu protege me gladio ego defendam te calamo Guliel Ocham Ludov. 4. do you defend me with your Sword and I will maintain your right with my pen for God hath committed the Sword into the hand of the King and his hand which beareth not the Sword in vain knoweth how to use Rom. 13. v. 4. the Sword better than the Preacher and the King may better make good his Rights by the Sword than by the pen which having once blotted his papers with mistakes and concessions more than due though they should be never so small if granted further than the truth would permit as I feare some have done in some particulars yet they cannot so easily be scraped away by the sharpest sword and God ordered the divine tongue and learned Scribe to be the pennes of a ready Writer and thereby to display the duties and to justifie the Rights of Kings and if they faile in either part the King needeth neither to performe what undue Offices they impose upon him The Divine best to s t down the Righ s of k ngs nor to let passe those just honours they omit to yield unto him but he may justly claime his due Rights and either retaine them or regain them by his Sword which the Scribe either wilfully omitted or ignorantly neglected to ascribe unto him or else maliciously endeavoured as the most impudent and rebellious Sectaries of our time have most virulently done to abstract them from him And seeing the Crown is set upon the head of every Christian King and the Scepter of government is put into his hand by a threefold Law 1. Of Nature that is common to all 2. Of the Nation that he ruleth over 3. Of God that is over all As Every Christian king established by a threefold Law 1. Nature teaching every King to governe his People according to the common rules of honesty and justice 2. The politique constitution of every severall State and particular Kingdome shewing how they would have their government to be administred Psal
Ariamirus Wambanus Richaredus and divers other Kings of Spaine did in like manner And Charlemaine who approved not the decisions of the Greekish Synod wrote a booke against the same * Intituled A Treatise of Charlemaigne against the Greekish Synod touching Images whereby the King maintained himselfe in possession to make Lawes for the Church saith Iohannes Beda of which Lawes there are many in a booke called The capitulary Decrees of Charles the Great who as Pepin his predecessor had done in the Citie of Bourges so did he also assemble many Councels in divers places of his Kingdomes as at Mayens at Tours at Reines at Chaalons at Arles and the sixt most famous of all at Francfort where himselfe was present in person and condemned the errour of Felician and so other Kings of France and the Kings of our owne Kingdome of England both before and after the Conquest as Master Fox plentifully recordeth did make many Lawes and Constitutions for the government of Gods Church But as Dioclesian The saying of Dioclesian that was neither the best nor the happiest governour said most truly of the civill government that there was nothing harder then to rule well * That is to rule the Common-wealth so it is much harder to governe the Church of Christ therefore as there cannot be an argument of greater wisedome in a Prince nor any thing of greater safety and felicity to the Common-wealth then for him to make choice of a wise Councell to assist him in his most weighty affaires Tacitus Annal. lib. 12. saith Cornelius Tacitus So all religious Kings must do the like in the government of the Church and the making of their Lawes for that government for God out of his great mercy to them and no lesse desire to have his people religiously governed left such men to be their supporters their helpers and advicers in the performance of these duties and I pray you whom did Kings choose for this businesse but whom God had ordained for that purpose for you may observe that although those Christian Kings and Emperours made their Laws as having the supremacy and the chiefest care of Gods religion committed by God into their hands yet they did never make them that ever I could reade with the advice counsell or direction of any of their Peeres or Lay Subjects but as David had Nathan and Gad The good Kings and Emperours made their Lavves for the government of the Church onely by the advice of their Clergy Nebuchadnezzar had Daniel and the rest of the Jewish Kings and Heathens had their Prophets onely and Priests to direct them in all matters of religion so those Christian Kings and Princes tooke their Bishops and their Clergie onely to be their counsellors and directors in all Church causes as it appeareth out of all the fore-cited Authors and all the Histories that doe write thereof and Justinian published this Law that when any Ecclesiasticall cause or matter was moved his Lay officers should not intermeddle with it A good Law of Iustinian but should suffer the Bishops to end the same according to the Canons the words are Si Ecclesiasticum negotium sit nullam communionem habento civiles magistratus cum ea disceptatione Constit 123. sed religiosissimi Episcopi secundum sacros canones negotio finem imponunto For the good Emperours knew full well that the Lay Senate neither understood what to determine in the points of faith and the government of Christ's Church nor was ever willing to doe any great good or any speciall favour unto the Shepherds of Christ's flocke and the teachers of the true religion because the Sonne of God had fore-told it that the world should hate us John 15.19 that secular men and Lay Senators should commonly oppose crosse and shew all the spite they can unto the Clergy of whom our Saviour saith Matth. 10.16 Behold I send you forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sheepe in the midst of wolves Whence this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great distance between their dispositions being observed it grew into a Proverb that Laici semper infesti sunt Clericis How the Laity love the Clergie And Doctor Meriton in a Sermon before King James observed this as one of the good favours the Clergie of England found from our Parliaments since the reformation when many men first began to be translated from the seat of the scornefull to sit in Moses chaire A very memorable act Anno 39. Eliz. cap. 4. and to prescribe Lawes for Christ his Spouse to make an Act that all wandering beggars after their correction by the Constable should be brought to the Minister of the Parish to have their names registred in a booke and the Constable used to give to the Minister 2d for his paines for every one so registred but if he refused or neglected to doe it the Statute saith he should be punished 5 for every one that should be so omitted where besides the honourable office I will not say to make the Minister of Christ a Bedle of the beggars but a Register of the vagrants you see the punishment of one neglect amounteth to the reward of thirty labours therefore all the Christian Emperours and the wisest Kings considering this great charge that God had laid upon them to make wholesome Lawes and Constitutions for the government of his Church and seeing the inclinations of the Laity would never permit any of these Lay Elders and the Citizens of the world to usurpe this authority to be the composers contrivers or assistants in concluding of any Ecclesiasticall Law That the Laity should have no interest in making Lawes for the Church untill the fences of Gods vineyard were pulled downe and the wilde Boare out of the forrest the audacious presumption of the unruly Commonalty ventured either to governe the Church or to subdue their Prince since which incroachment upon the rights of Kings it hath never succeeded well with the Church of Christ and I dare boldly say it fidenter quia fideliter and the more boldly because most truly the more authority they shall gaine herein the lesse glory shall Christ have from the service of his Church and therefore Be wise ô ye Kings And consider how any new Canons are to be made by our Statute 25. Hen. 8. Ob. Ob. But then it may be demanded if this be so that the Laity hath no right in making Lawes and Decrees for the government of Gods Church but that it belongs wholly unto the King to doe it with the advice of his Bishops and the rest of his Clergy then how came the Parliament to annull those Canons that were so made by the King and Clergy because they had no vote nor consent in confirming of them Sol. Sol. Truely I cannot answer to this Objection unlesse I should tell you what the Poet saith Dum furor in cursu currenti cede furori Difficiles aditus impetus omnis
is not absurd nunquam mori regem that the King never dieth for assoone as ever the one parteth with this life the other immediately without expecting the consem either of Peeres or people doth by a just and plenary right succeed not onely as his fathers heire but as the lawfull governour of the people and as the Lord of the whole Kingdome not by any option of any men but by the condition of his birth and the donation of his God and therefore the resignation of the crowne by King John unto the Pope was but a fiction that could inferre no diminution of the right of his successor because no King can give away this right from him Tâ—ings that the King should not grant whom God hath designed for it And there be some things which no Christian King should grant away as any of those things that being granted may prejudice the Church of God and depresse the glory of the Gospell of Iesus Christ as the giving way for the diminution of the just revenues of the Church the prophanation of things consecrated to Gods service and the suppression of any of the divine callings of the Gospell which are Bishops Preists and Deacons because all Kings are bound to honour God and to hinder all those things whereby he is dishonoured either in respect of things persons or places And there be some things which the Kings of this realme have never granted away Things that Kings have not granted away but have still retained them in their owne hands as inviolable prerogatives and characteristicall Symboles and Properties of their Supremacy and the relicks of their pristine right as in the time of peace those two speciall parts of the government of the Common-wealth which doe consist 1. About the Lawes 1. About the Lawes 2. About the Magistrates The 1. whereof saith Arnisaeus containeth these particulars that is to make Lawes to create Nobility and give titles of dignity to legitimate the ill begotten to grant Priviledges to restore Offenders to their lost repute to pardon the transgressors and the like 1. Ius legislatiâ— vum Iohan. Beda pag. 25. 1. Then it is the right of the King jura dare to give Lawes unto his people for though as I said before the Subjects in Parliament may treat of Lawes and intreat the King to approve of them that they propose unto him yet they are no Lawes and carry with them no binding force till the King gives his consent and therefore out of Parliament The power of making Lawes is in the king you see the Kings Proclamation hath vim et vigorem legis the full force and strength of a law to shew unto us that the power of making lawes was never yeilded out of the Kings hands The case of our affaires pag. 11. Stat. West 1.3 E. 1.3 6. 42. Stat. ef Merch. 13. E. 1. Westm 3.18 E. 1.1 Stat. of Waste 20. E. 1. of appeale 28. E. 1.1 E. 2.1 and all the titles and acts of our Parliaments nor can it indeed be parted with except be part with His Majestie and Soveraignty for the limiting of his owne power by his voluntary concession of such favours unto his people not to make any Lawes without their consent doth no way diminish his Soveraignty or lessen his owne right and authority but as a man that yeildeth himselfe to be bound by some others hath the use of his strength taken from him but none of his naturall strength it selfe is lessened and much lesse is any part of it transferred to them that bound him but that whensoever his bonds are loosened he can worke againe by vertue of his owne naturall strength and not by any received strength from his loosers so the naturall right and interest of the Soveraignty being solely in the King and the Peeres and Commons by the Kings voluntary concession being onely interessed in the office of restraining his power for the more regular working of the true legitimate Soveraignty it cannot be denied but in whatsoever the Peeres and Commons doe remit the restraint by yeilding their consent to the point proposed the King worketh and acteth therein absolutely by the power of his owne inherent Soveraignty and all acts and lawes so passing doe virtually proceed from the King How the same acts may be said to be the acts of the king and of the Parliament as from the true and proper efficient author thereof and may notwithstanding be said to be the acts of the whole Court because the three estates contribute their power of remitting the restraint and yeilding their assent as well as the King useth his unrestrained power And therefore Suarez saith that as condere legem unus est ex praecipuâ—s actibus gubernationis reipublicae ita praecipuam superiorem requirit potestatem Suarez l. 1. c. 8. n. 8. to make Lawes is one of the cheifest acts of the government of a Common-wealth so it requireth the cheifest and supremest power and authority quae quidem potestas legislativa primariò in Deo est which legislative power is primarily in God and is communicated unto Kings saith he per quandam participationem according to the saying of the wise man Sapâ— 6. Heare O ye Kings because power is given unto you of the Lord. Aug. in Iohan. tract 6. And Saint Augustine calleth Jura humana jura imperatoruÌ„ quia ipsa jura humana per imperatores all humane laws are the lawes of Emperors or Kings because they are made by them and the Holy Ghost speaking of the Kings of Judah saith Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law giver from betweene his feete to teach us that whosoever swayeth the Scepter hath the right to be the Law-maker which is one of the prime prerogatives of Soveraignty 2. Ius nobilitandi 2. Jus nobilitandi the right of appointing the principall Officers of State to cry up any of all His Subjects whom the King will honour as Pharaoh did Ioseph and Ahasuerus did Haman and Mordecai and to give them titles of honour per codicillos honorarios aut per diplomata sua as to make Dukes Marquesses Barons Knights c. doth belong onely unto the King that hath onely the supreme Majestie But if the Dukes Earles It is the Doctrine of the Anabaptists and Puritans that there should be no Degrees of Schooles nor titles of honour among men and Barons be so plyable to the Puritan faction to put downe the spirituall Lords I doubt that e're long the King shall have but few Nobility when not onely the Mechanicks and Rusticks will all cry out against this Lordlinesse and say as they did in the rebellion of Jacke Cade and Wat Tyler When Adam delv'd and Eve span Who was then the Gentleman And why should we now indure so many titles of vanity and so many vaine honours to vapour it over us but the Puritan Clergy also seeing themselves deprived of
have decreed the said Statute to bee void c. So I hope our Earles and Barons and the rest will be so wise and so just both to the King and to the Church that seeing this Statute proceeded not of the Kings free will as I beleeve their owne conscience knoweth and doe presume His Majestie will acknowledge they likewise will consent that the King may make it void againe §. Certaine quaeres discussed but not resolved the end for which God ordained Kings the prayse of a just rule Kings ought to be more just then all others in three respects and what should most especially move them to rule their people justly ANd here I must further crave leave to be resolved in certaine Quaeres and doubts wherein I would very gladly be satisfied for seeing as I told you before there are some rights of royalty which are inseperabilia à majestate which the King ought not and which indeed he cannot grant away as there be some things which he may forgoe though he need not I demand 1. Whether any positive Act Statute or Law that is either Quare 1 ex diametro or ex obliquo either directly or by consequent or any other way contradictory or transgressive to the Law of God ought to be kept and observed wherein I believe and constantly maintaine that it ought not and I say further that by the Word of God not any Lay men be they never so noble never so learned and never so many but the Clergy be they never so poore and never so much dis-esteemed ought to be the resolvers of this point what is repugnant and what consonant to the Law of God Malach. 2.7 because the Priests lips must preserve knowledge and the people must seeke the Law at his mouth therefore it may be conceived no Statute can be rightly made that is not assented to and approved as all our former Statutes were by the Bishops that are the chiefest of the Clergy to be no wayes contrary to the Law of God 2. Whether the King that is an absolute Monarch to whom Quare 2 God hath committed the charge and government of his people can without offence to God change this forme of government from a Monarchicall to an Aristocraticall or a Democraticall forme of government which may be believed he cannot because though as I shewed out of Saint Augustine the worser forme invented by man may lawfully be changed into a better yet the best which is onely and primarily ordained by God cannot be changed into a worser without offence Quare 3 3. Whether the King can passe away that power authority and right which God hath given him and without which he cannot governe and protect his people that God hath committed under his charge wherein it may be conceived he cannot because God must discharge him from the charge that he imposed upon him before he can be freed and excused from it but as the Bishop on whom the Lord hath laid the charge of soules cannot lay aside this charge when he pleaseth so no more can the King lay aside the charge of the government nor part with that power and right * Otherwise then by substitution Rege absente durante beneplacito or quamdiu se benè gesserâ—nt sub stituti whereby he is inabled to governe them and without which he cannot governe them untill God that laid this charge upon him and gave him full power and authority to doe it by some undenyable dispensation gives him his Writ of ease to discharge him 4. Whether such an Act or Statute which disinableth any King to dissolve his Dyet Councell Assembly or Parliament Quare 4 and inableth some subtle faction of his Subjects in some sort to countermand their King be not derogatory to the inseperable right of Majestie destructive to the power of government and prejudiciall to all the loyall Subjects and therefore void of it selfe The Act for the indissolubility of any Parliament beleeved by many to be of it selfe void and not to be observed because such an act ought not to have beene concluded wherein I leave the resolution to be determined by the Judges and the Bishops of this Land and I will onely crave leave to set downe what may be thought herein viz. that such an Act or Statute is clearely and absolutely void Reason 1 1. Because that hereby the King may be said after a sort and in some kinde to change the fundamentall constitution and government of his Kingdome from an absolute Monarchie to another species and forme of government either Aristocraticall or Democraticall or some other forme emergent out of all these such as we know not how to terme it and such as was never knowne from the beginning of the world a mixture indeed which I told you before no absolute King can be thought to doe without offence unlesse he can prove his licence from God to doe the same 2. Because that hereby he may be said to denude himselfe of Reason 2 his right and by depriving himselfe of this power to disinable himselfe to discharge that duty which God doth necessarily require at his hands that is to governe his people by protecting the innocent and punishing the wrong doer and when God shall call the King to an account why he did not thus governe his people and defend those poore Subjects that were loyall and faithfull both to God and their King according to the charge that he laid upon him and the right and power which he gave him to discharge it It may be feared it will be no sufficient answer for any King to say but I have so laid away that power and parted with that right unto my Lords and Commons that I could not doe it for it may be asked where doth God require him or when did he authorize him to divest himselfe of that authority wherewith he indued him how then can he doe it to the undoing of many people without an assured leave from God therefore as that Act which was made unrepealable was adjudged no Act but immediately void because it was destructive to the very power of Parliament * Which may repeale their owne Acts but not destroy their just power nor themselves as it seemes the the Act of excluding the Bishops doth and takes away as it were the soule of the Parliament and if any act should be made to destroy common right or to hinder the publique service of God or to disinable the right heire to injoy the Crowne or the like those Acts are void of themselves so any Statute that disinableth the Kings government must needs be void ipso facto as I have partly shewed in my Discovery of Mysteries p. 32. 3. Because it may be believed no King would ever grant such an Act unlesse he were either subtilly deceived and seduced or forcibly compelled thereunto for feare of some inavoidable extremity which according to all outward appearance Reason 3 could not otherwise be
verba mutare nemini latae ab illo sententiae qualicunque modo contraire and no man dares alter the Kings words nor gain-say his sentence whatsoever it is And we reade that the Turke is as absolute in his Dominions and as readily obeyed in his commands as the Tartar and yet these Subjects learne this duty of honour and obedience unto their Kings onely by the light of nature and if grace and the Gospell hath made us free from this slavish subjection should we not be thankefull unto our God and be contented with that liberty which he hath given us but because we have so much we will have more * And as the Poët saith Like Subjects arm'd the more their Princes gave They this advantage tooke the more to crave Lucan lib. 1. and seeing God hath delivered us from the rage of tyrannous Kings we will free our selves from all government and disobey the commands of the most clement Princes We may remember the fable of the Frogs when they prayed unto Jupiter to have a King and what was the successe thereof omnia dat qui justa negat and he that undutifully denyeth his due obedience may unwillingly be forced to undue subjection as the Israelites not contented with just Samuel shall be put under an unjust Saul So God may justly deale with us for our injustice towards our King to deny that honour unto him which God commanded to be given and the very Heathens have not detained from their Kings But 3. Christians 3. Lest with Saint Paul we should be blamed though unjustly for bringing the uncircumcised Greeks into the Temple for alleadging the disorderly practice of blinde Heathens to be a patterne for these zealous Christians which thing notwithstanding our Saviour did when he preferred Sodome and Gomorrah before Capernaum Matth. 11.21 yea Tyrus and Sydon before Corazin and Bethsaida we cannot want the example of good Christians and a multitude of most holy Martyrs to shame the practice of these prophane hypocrites For 1. Christ hâ—mselfe exhibited all duâ— honour unto wicked Kings 1. Christ himselfe the author and the finisher of our faith never left any plainer marke of his religion then to propagate the fame by patience as on the other side there cannot be a more suspicious signe of a false religion then to inlarge it and protect it by violence and therefore when the Inhabitants of a certaine Samaritane village refused to admit Christ and his Disciples into their Towne Luke 9.54 and so renounced him and his religion James and John two principall members of his Court remembring what Elias did in the like case 1. Reg. 18. 2. Reg. 1. asked if they should not command fire to consume them as Elias did that is if they should not use their best endeavours and be confident of Gods assistance to destroy those prophane rejecters of Christ and refusers of his religion Our Saviour though ever meeke yet now moved at this their unchristian thought rebuked them with that sharpnesse as he did Saint Peter when he committed the like errour Matth. 16.23 and said You know not what manner of spirit you are of as if he had said you understand not the difference betwixt the profession of Elias and my religion for he was such a zelot that jure zelotarum and the extraordinary instinct of Gods Spirit that was in him might at that time when the Jewes were governed by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Josephus saith and God presiding as it were their King amongst them and interposing rules by his Oracles and other particular directions that should oblige and warrant them as well as their standing Law doe this or the like act though not authorized by any ordinary Law and those actions thus performed are as just and as legall as any other that proceed legally from the authority of the supreame Magistrate but that dispensation of the Prophets is now ended and the profession of my Disciples must be farre otherwise for I doe not authorize my servants to pretend to the spirit of Elias or to doe as Phineas and others extraordinary men among the Jewes have done but they must learne of me to be meeke and lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 and rather to suffer wrong of others then to offer the least injury unto their meanest neighbour much lesse to resist their supreame Magistrate And when Christ was apprehended How Christ carried himselfe before Pilate and the High-Priests not by any legall power of the supreme Magistrate but by the rude servants of the High Priests and Saint Peter as zealous for his Master as our Zealots are for their Religion drew his sword and smote off Malchus eate a most justifiable and commendable act a man would thinke to defend Christ and in him all Christianity our Saviour bids him put up his sword and he addes a reason most considerable to all Christians for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword that is all they that without lawfull authority take the sword to defend me and my religion with the sword they deserve to suffer by the sword and it is very well observed by the Author Pag. 6. of resisting the lawfull Magistrate upon colour of religion that the two parallel places quoted in the margent of our Bibles are very pertinent to this purpose for that Law concerning the effusion of bloud Gen. 9.6 being not any prohibition to the legall cutting off of Malefactors is notwithstanding urged against S. Peter to shew that his shedding of bloud in defence of religion was altogether illegall and prohibited by that Law and the other place where immediately after these words Revel 13.10 He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword the Holy Ghost adjoyneth here is the patience and the faith of the Saints doth most clearely shew that all forcible resistance is inconsistent with the religion of the Saints because their faith must be ever accompanied with their patience and it is contrary to their profession to save themselves by any violent opposition of them that have the lawfull authority But that example which is unparallel'd is the suffering of Christ under Pontius Pilate for the whole course of their proceeding against Christ was illegall when as no Law can be found to justifie the delivering up of an innocent person to the will of his accusers John 19.16 as Pilate did our Saviour Christ and our Saviour had ability and strength enough to have defended himselfe for he might have commanded more then 12 Legions of Angels to assist him yet our Saviour acknowledging the legall power of Pilate to proceed against him John 19.11 that it was given him from above makes no resistance either to maintaine his doctrine or to preserve his life but in all things submits himselfe to their illegall proceedings and gives unto the Magistrates all the honour that was due unto their places and you know the rule
Parliament they being the first of the three Estates of this Kingdome to take away not some but all the Kings rights out of his hands and to make him no King indeed to take away all our goods our liberties and our lives at their pleasure and then to assure the Devill they would be faithfull unto him Holland and Bedford show'd what trust is to be given them which were thus faithlesse unto God to sweare againe and make a solemne Covenant with Hell they would never repent them of their wickednesse but continue constant in his service till they have rooted out whom they deemed to be Malignants though the King who is wise as the Angell of God that hath the Kings heart in his hand and turneth it like the rivers of waters Proverb 21.1 where he pleaseth knoweth best what to doe as God directeth him yet for mine owne part No trust to be given to lyers and perjurers 2 Sam. 20.20 16. either in peace or warre I would never trust such faithlesse perjured creatures for a straw and seeing that to spare transcendent wickednesse is to increase wickednesse and to incourage others to the like Rebellion upon the like hope of pardon if they fayled of their intention if our great Metropolis of London partake not rather of the wise spirit of the men of Abel then of the obstinacy of the men of Gibeâ—h and deliver not unto the King the chiefe of those rebells that rose up against him I feare that Gods wrath will not be turned away Judg. 20. but his hand will be stretched out still untill he hath fulfilled his determined visitation upon this Land and consummated all with their deplorable destruction How the King desired the good of the Rebels even as he did those obstinate men of Gibeah and Benjamin for though the King beyond the clemency of a man and the expectation of any rebell hath most christianly laboured that they would accept of their pardon and save themselves and their posterity yet their wickednesse being so exceeding great beyond all that I can finde in any history rebellion it selfe being like the sinne of witchcraft the rebellion of Christians farre worse and a rebellion against a most christian pious Prince worst of all and such a rebellion ingendered by pride fostered by lyes augmented by perjury continued by cruelty refusing all clemencie The unspeakeable greatnesse of their sins despising all piety and contemning God their Saviour when they make him with reverence be it spoken which is so irreverently done by them the very pack-horse to beare all their wickednesse being a degree beyond all degrees of comparison hath so provoked the wrath of God against this Nation that I feare his justice will not suffer their hearts that can not repent to accept and imbrace their owne happinesse till they be purged with the floods of repentant teares or destroyed with the streames of Gods fearfull vengeance which I heartily beseech Almighty God may by the grace of Christ working true repentance in them for themselves and reducing them to the right way be averted from them And the best way that I conceive to avert it to appease Gods wrath and to turne away his judgements from us is Hâ—w we may recover the peace and prosper ty of this land to returne back the same way as we proceeded hitherto to make up the breaches of the Church to restore the Liturgie and the service of our God to its former purity to repeale that Act which is made to the prejudice of the Bishops and Servants of God that they may be reduced to their pristine dignity to recall all Ordinances that are made contrary to Law and derogatory to the Kings right and to be heartily sorry that these unjust Acts and Ordinances were ever done and more sorry that they were not sooner undone and then God will turne his face towards us he will heale the bleeding wounds of our land and he will powre downe his benefits upon us but till we doe these things I doe assure my selfe and I beleeve you shall find it that his wrath shall not be turned away but his hand will be stretched out still and still untill we either doe these things or be destroyed for not doing them Thus it is manifest to all the World that as it was often spoken by our sharpe and eagle sighted Soveraigne King Iames his speech made true by the Rebels King James of ever blessed memory no Bishop no King so now I hope the dull-eyd owle that lodgeth in the desart seeth it verifyed by this Parliament for they had no sooner got out the Bishops but presently they laid violent hands upon the Crowne seized upon the Kings Castles shut him out of all his Townes dispossest him of his owne houses tooke away all his ships detayned all his revenues vilified all his Declarations nullified his Proclamations How the Rebells have unkingd our King hindered his Commmissions imprisoned his faithfull Subjects killed his servants and at Edge-hill and Newbury did all that ever they could to take away his life and now by their last great ordinance for their counterfeit Seale they pronounce all honours pardons grants commissions and whatsoever els His Majestie passeth under his Seale to be invalid void and of none effect and if this be not to make King Charles no King I know not what it is to be a King so they have unkingd him sine strepitu and as the Prophet saith they have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not but whom have they made Kings even themselves who in one word Hos â— 4 doe and have now exercised all or most of the regall power and their Ordinances shall be as firme as any Statutes and what are they that have thus dis-robed King Charles and exalted themselves like the Pope as if they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What kings they would have to rule us the great Antichrist above all that are called Gods truly none other then king Pym king Say king Faction or to say the truth most truly and to call a spade a spade king perjurers king murderers king traytors * Which S. Peter never bade us honour and I am sorry that I should joyne so high an office so sacred a thing as King to such wicked persons as I have shewed them to be And what a royall exchange would the Rebells of this kingdome make just such as the Israelites made The Rebels brave exchange when they turned their glory into the similitude of a Calfe that eateth hay and sayd these be thy Gods ô Israel Psal 146.20 which brought thee out of the land of Aegypt for now after they have changed their lawfull King for unlawfull Tyrants Judg. 9.15 and taken Jothams bramble for the cedar of Lebanon the Devills instruments for Gods annointed they may justly say these be thy Kings ô Londoners ô Rebells that brought