resolv'd by the Statute of the 25 Ed. 3. c. 4. where per legem terrae is expounded to be by due Process of the Law For thus the words run Whereas it is contained in the Great Charter c. that no Man shall be imprison'd c. It is accorded assented and stablish'd That no Man shall be taken by Petition or Suggestion to our Lord the King or his Council unless it be by Indictment or Presentment of his good and lawful People of the same Neighbourhood where such Deeds be done in due manner or by Process made by Writ Original at the Common Law Nor that none be outed of his Franchise or his Freehold unless he be duly brought in answer and forejudg'd of the same by the Course of the Law And if any thing be done against the same it shall be redress'd and holden for none Upon which words the Lord Cook observes that Process of Law is twofold By the Kings Writ or by due proceeding and Warrant either in Deed or in Law without Writ Which latter way of Proceeding is against Criminals where there is good Witness against the Offender And Evidence must proceed from persons of good Fame Credit and Honesty not from debauch'd malevolent and scandalous Informers And therefore the Law requires that they who grant any such Warrant have lawful Authority that the Warrant be lawful and under Hand and Seal that the Cause be specify'd in the Warrant and lastly that the intent of the Warrant be Legal for the safe Custody of the Party till he be deliver'd by due course of Law Which is plain from the Stile of our Habeas Corpus's Vt Justiciarii nostri visa causa fieri faciant quod de Jure secundum Legem Consuctudinem Regni Nostri Angliae foret faciendum In farther proof of which Exposition we sind it Enacted in the 27 of Ed. 3. c. 3. That no Man of what Estate or Condition that he be shall be put out of Land or Tenement nor taken nor imprison'd nor disherited nor put to death without being brought to answer by due Process of the Law Which last words expounding and fully answering the doubt upon per Legem terrae plainly evince the Law of the Land to be such that no Man ought to receive detriment either in Person or Estate before legal Trial and due proof of the Offence True it is that the Lord Cook brings an Instance of an Act of Parliament made in the face of this Fundamental Law of Magna Charta in the 11th year of Hen. 7. That as well Justices of Assize as Justices of the Peace without any finding or Presentment of Twelve Men upon a bare Information for the King before them made should have full Power and Authority by their discretions to hear and determine all Offences and Contempts committed or done against the form of any Statute in force and not repeal'd But the Fence of Common Justice being thus broken what ensu'd By this Act shaking the Fundamental Law of Magna Charta it is not credible saith He what Oppressions and Extortions to the Ruine of infinite numbers of People were committed by Empson and Dudley Therefore in th first year of Hen. 8. that Act was repeal'd and made void and the reason is given For that by force of the said Act many sinister crafty feigned and forg'd Informations had bin pursu'd against divers of of the Kings Subjects to their great Damage and wrongful vexation So that even Acts of Parliament themselves if they entrench upon the Subjects Liberty grounded upon the sacred meaning and intent of this Fundamental Law of Magna Charta are as liable to be put to death as any that offend against the justest Ordinances of the Realm Neither was this a thing that scap'd the consideration of former Princes And therefore to prevent so foul a miscarriage by the best means that could be It was Enacted at Westminster in the Third year of Ed. 1. That because all Elections ought to be free no Man should under grievous forfeiture by force malice or menaces disturb any to make free Election It being the ancient maxime of the Law Fiant Electiones Rite libere sine aliqua interruptione Let all Elections be due and Free By the 1 Hen. 5.1 it is ordained and Established That the Citizens and Burgesses of the Cities and Boroughs be chosen of Men Citizens and Burgesses Resiant and dwelling and free in the same Cities and Boroughs and no otherwise The like provision is also made by the 23 of Hen. 6. c 15. Nor was there less care taken to commit the charge of Elections to Men of Substance and Estate besides that all Sheriffs and Mayors and others concern'd are lyable to great Fines and Actions of the parties injur'd for undue Returns For it might be well thought that Persons of Credit and Reputation in the places of their Birth or long habitation and where their Fortunes lye will be more tender of the Common Good and welfare of their Friends Relations and Neighbours with whom they have daily Converse then Strangers creeping in at the back dores of vast Expence and Purchase to gratifie their own Ambition Which sort of Ambitus by the Culpurnian Law among the Romans was punish'd by heavy Fine on the Canvasser beside that he was afterwards render'd uncapable of being Elected into a Senators place And the same Law was also after that ratify'd by the Senate in the Consulship of Tullius and Antonius And by the Tullian Law the Commonalty themselves offending in that point were also most severely punish'd beside that the Canvassers were to suffer ten years Exilement And thus we may see how vigilant even our Princes themselves have bin to set strong Watch and Ward about the Election of our Law-makers and Preservers But if needy Corporations will sell their Rights and surrender the Fortress of wholsome Statutes to Philip of Macedon's laden Mules they must not blame the steady Ordinances of the Realm and the just Provisions of their most Noble Princes but their own Edomite Hunger after the Amiable Pottage There is a second Question which may be propounded by some Where the Remedy lies if a Man be wrong'd or injur'd contrary to the Law of the Land To which the Lord Cook himself replies That every Act of Parliament made against any Injury Mischief or Grievance either expresly or impliedly give a remedy to the party wrong'd which also is done by many Chapters of the Great Charter and therefore he may have an Action grounded upon the Charter it self And that moreover it is provided by the 36 Ed. 3. That if any Man feeleth himself griev'd contrary to any Article in any Statute he shall have his present Redress in Chancery that is by Original Writ by force of the said Articles and Statutes That Nation would enjoy a most perfect Happiness indeed that were not sometimes liable to the incroaching Distempers and Corruptions of a sickly Government The most healthy person
warranted by the National and Fundamental Laws of the Land We are then to believe that the Princes just Prerogatives and the Peoples safety are the common Good of this Nation and that their Lives and Fortunes equally depend upon those Provisions which the Law has so equally made for the security of the whole Body of the Commonweal of which the Soveraign Prince is the Head It is one of the Excellencies then of the English Laws that they provide for the Common good which is the end of all true Law For this is the general Axiom That the Reason and Substance of Law demands that every part should be fram'd for the Common Benefit Greg. Lop. in l. 9 â—â—t 1. part 1. which was the Condition that Alphonsus King of Spain requir'd also in his Laws And thus it is understood by the Interpreters of the Civil Law who affirm that the Law is a common Precept respecting the Benefit of all Aristotle observes that the chief end of a Commonweal is to live well and happily And therefore adds Ethied 4. c. 1. That the Laws are to be accommodated to the Commonweal not the Common-weal to the Laws In my opinion saith Plato the Law is made for Benefits sake In Dialog Hippias as intended by the Legislator to be the supream happiness of a Commonweal for the Law being taken away there is no well being in a City And in another place he shews at large that the end of Law is the common safety and felicity And Plutarch tells us In Problem tit 40. That Laws are then accompted good and wholsome when they procure the public Benefit Which is evident from the most sacred Laws of the Almighty For though they be ordain'd to the honour of God for that God cannot will any thing without himself nor operate but for himself yet in those Laws the great Monarch of Monarchs seeks not his own Benefit but the good and felicity of Mankind Suarez l. 1. c. 7. Which then also the Laws of Man most nearly imitate when they drive nearest to the same Perfection Therefore as Laws are impos'd upon a Community so are they to be fram'd for the good of that Community otherwise they are irregular For it is against all rectitude and justice to direct the Common good to private Interest or to make the whole relate to the part for the parts sake And therefore when the Law is fram'd for a public Society the good of that Society ought primarily and principally to be procur'd The same thing is apparent from the Order of small Causes For the end ought to be proportionate to the act its beginning and its virtual efficacy Now the Law is the common rule of moral actions and therefore the first principle of moral actions ought to be the first beginning of the Law For in Morals the End is the beginning of Operation and so the ultimate end is the first beginning of such Operations But common good and felicity is the ultimate end of a Commonweal therefore that also ought to be the beginning of the Law and therefore the Law ought to aim at the Common good This is illustrated by St. Austin who collecting a Consequence from the Relation of the part to the whole argues that a Master of a Family ought to take his pattern from the public Laws and so to govern his House as to be conformable and agreeable to the public Peace Therefore ought the public Laws to give a good Example of public Benefit and common Safety that Domestic Government may not be ruin'd by a bad President Suarez brings another reason from the Original of Law For that the ruling power which is in Men is either immediately from God as in spiritual Power or from men as in Power purely temporal But both ways Suarez l. 1. c. 7. such Authority is given for the public advantage of all in general For therefore are the Rulers of the Church call'd Pastors because it behoves them to lay down their Lives for their Sheep and Dispencers not Lords and Ministers not Primary causes and therefore they are oblig'd to be conformable to the Divine Intention in the use of such Authority Therefore also are the supream Magistrates call'd the Ministers of the Public as not being created for their own benefit but for the advantage of them from whom they derive their Power They are also call'd the Ministers of God and therefore ought to use the Power entrusted in their hands in imitation of the King of Kings who in his Government solely respects the common good of Mankind For which reason St. Basil makes this distinction between a Tyrant and a King that the one seeks his own proper advantages the other labours chiefly for the common good and benefit of all his Subjects not excluding himself as being the supream Member and consequently the first that ought to share in the publick and general Emolument The reason why so few People attain this summum bonum of Government appears by the ways of practizing Dominion already recited the want of a due poyse between Rule and Subjection For in the Arbitrary Eastern Monarchies the People are altogether Slaves and may be only said to live not to live with any comfort or enjoyment of themselves In the Elective Kingdom of Poland the Nobility carry such an unbridl'd sway that the King is but a Cypher a King and no King which subjects the Royal Soveraignty to such an insufferable Bondage that the Title is hardly worth the acceptance of an English Knight A King in subjection to many Kings And all this while the People live miserably under the Slavery of a many-headed Tyranny The Emperor is so overmaster'd by his Golden Bull and so hamper'd with Electors and Dyets that in the most emergent affairs the slowness of deliberation many times renders him useless to his Friends and his Authority cumbersome to himself So that he never moves but like a Clock when his weights are hung on Such clogs upon Soveraignty are frequently the ruine of great Atchievments Neither do the Laws of God any where enjoyn the Kings of Judah when they should make either War or Peace The Ephori were added as a check to the Lacedemonian Kings Which tho' it grieved the Wife of Theopompus who upbraided her Husband for suffering such an Eclipse of his Authority yet was not Theopompus of her mind who return'd her answer So much the greater by how much the more lasting And this Remedy saith Plutarch was invented by the Lacedaemonians to prevent the evil accidents and ruine that befell the Kings of the Messenians and Argines who lost all for obstinately refusing to condescend a little to the Grievances of the People Plut. in vit Lyc. The Romans were terribly pester'd about keeping the ballance even between the People and the supream Magistrate For after they had ingratefully thrown out the Regal Government which had laid the Foundations of all their Grandeur they
betook themselves to their Annual Consuls but when the Nobility had engross'd that Office to themselves the Plebeians began to wince at their Oppression and departing to Mount Aventino threatned the Roman Nobility to forsake the City unless they releas'd them of their Burthens Thereupon the Tribunes of the People were invented to be Protectors of the Commons for I omit the Consular Pretors and Decemvirs as of no continuance but their Power was over-large and they rastl'd with Authority at too high a rate Sometimes the Tribunes saith Tacitus were mutinous and head-strong sometimes the Consuls prevail'd whence Civil bloodshed and slaughter even in the heart of the City Till at length Marius one of the meanest rank of Plebeians and Sylla the most cruel of the Nobility turn'd the Roman Liberty vanquish'd at length by both their Arms into Arbitrary Dominion After which no other Contests but those of Ambition So that it is apparent that the Romans lost their Liberty for want of the Tribunes prudent management of the Ballance which was put into their hands whereas the Ephori knew the Limits of their own Authority as well as the Bounds of that Power to which they were appointed as Assistants and Moderators Nor is this Equilibrium in Government an airy Notion or Idea It may easily be found in the moderation of our own Laws wherein there is that veneration of Just Prerogative and that care of the Peoples Rights and Liberties that did not sometimes Popular Affectation sometimes the Ambition of evil Ministry shog the Beam it would be a difficult thing for Soveraignty to find an occasion to complain or subjection to murmur And for this excellency of our Laws we are chiefly beholding to the prudence and moderation of our own Princes Two such Celestial Virtues that of the whole Succession of Roman Emperors they render'd only Vespasian his Son Titus and Antoninus Pius the most Illustrious Monuments of the Imperial Dignity Neither is good Government any other thing than Justice by another name which is always pictur'd with an even Ballance in her hand And that high Character sounds like somewhat immortal given of Hiero King of Sicily that he was justus in negotio in imperio moderatus Of whom Livy also reports Justin l. 23 c. 24. that he would have made the Romans his Heirs that he might leave the Syracusans in the same Liberty which for fifty years he had maintain'd among them l. 24. c. 4. In all which time his Subjects had not beheld him nor his Son Gelo aut vestis habitu Justin l. 7. c. 6.16 aut alio ullo insigni differentes And it is reckon'd among the Elogies of Philip of Macedon that he was not only moderatus verum etiam mitis adversos victos It is farther said of Valerius Poblicola that when he was advanc'd to the highest degree of Roman Honour he lessen'd his own Authority by degrees that the Law of the whole City might appear more free To which we may add the saying of Theopompus a King himself who being ask'd by his Intimate which was the most severe method for a Prince to preserve his Dignity made answer If he made his Friends sharers of his Prerogative and Authority and took care that no injury were done to his Subjects Nor can any thing more brightly illustrate the moderation of ancient Legislators than the Laws themselves which they have left behind so easie and gentle so tender of Life and Limb so indulgent to reputation so strict in the preservation of Liberty and Propriety so equal to the highest to the lowest to the most wealthy and the poorest that if they fail of their aim the Common good and welfare of All 't is when they fall into the hands of bad interpretation and such as wrest their sincere and just intention Which creates no little astonishment in the brests of many judicious men that the Remedy of their strictness should be so highly advanc'd which frequently proves worse than the Disease and proves oft-times more fatal both to Purse and Person than the most grievous sentence that lies in their Power to pronounce The main blot in the fair Scutcheon of our English Constitutions Tho' there may sometimes happen another misfortune to their Noble Characters when Ecclesiastical jealousie seeks to gall the People with spiritual Impositions or Temporal for the sake of spiritual Interest by which means the Yoke of Christ by himself asserted to be light and easie is made like Rehoboams little Finger thicker than the Loyns of humane Sanction Pulton the Laborious Collector of all the Fundamental Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom highly extols them beyond the Constitutions of the Roman Emperours and of all other Nations And before him the Great and Learned Fortescue was also of the same Judgment who prefers the Law of England far beyond the Civil Edicts But above all nothing commends it more than that it preserves the Rights and Liberties of the Subject inviolable and is of that nature that as the same Fortescue affirms the Prince himself cannot change them without the Consent of his Subjects Delaud Leg. Ang. c. 9. nor charge them with strange Impositions against their wills For which reason the People frankly and freely enjoy and occupy their own Goods being rul'd by such Laws as they desire Therefore saith he rejoyce O Soveraign Prince and be glad that the Law of your Realm wherein you shall succeed is such For it shall procure to you and your People no small security and comfort With such Laws should all mankind have bin govern'd if in Paradise they had not transgress'd With such Laws was the Synagogue rul'd while it serv'd under God only as King who adopted the same to him for a peculiar Kingdom Concluding with a short Memorandum of the wealthy and flourishing Condition of the Jews under their good Kings and the Misery and Captivity that attended wilful and Arbitrary Idolatry St. Austins Definition of a People may be rightly apply'd to the English Nation De civit Dei l. 19 A People saith he is a multitude of Men associated by the consent of the Law and Communion of publick Benefit Which as it is most certainly true of the English Nation so may it farther be said that this same Body of Men thus Incorporated within this Island has from the first beginning had that peculiar Felicity never to have had any other Head but what wore a Royal Diadem And these Laws which are the Guard and Muniments of the Common Good may be said to have bin compil'd by a grand Sanhedrim of Soveraign Potentates West Saxon Danish Northumbrian Mercian Ina Ethelwolph Cednulph Alfred Athelstan Edwin and Canute every one throwing the Royal Contributions of his particular Cares and Studies into the publick Treasury of the Common Good which being the Act and Deed of Soveraignty it self it cannot be thought that Regal Power was regardless of its just Prerogative or that Edward the Confessor would have
in the World may sometimes need a little Physie and the most temperate and sane may sometimes disorder the frame of their Health by their own Excesses But it is rarely known that such accidental Commotions of the blood prove mortal as meeting with those timely Applications which soon restore and settle all again Thus the Epidemic Fever of Dudley and Empsons Prosecutions infected for a while the Veins of the whole Nation but the Healthy Constitution of the Kingdom foon threw it off and it was cur'd with a little Blood-letting The Proceedings Censures and Decrees of the Star-Chamber were for some time in the very words of the Act an Intolerable Burthen to the Subject and lookt upon as a means to introduce Arbitrary Power and Government Even the Privy Council it self was tax'd with determining of the Estates and Liberties of the Subject contrary to the Law of the Land Therefore was the Power of the Star-Chamber by that Act absolutely and clearly dissolv'd taken away and determin'd And that not only for the general reasons already recited but upon the rehearsal of the Grand Charter and the several Confirmations of it from time to time First because the Judges of that Court had undertaken to punish where the Law did not warrant to make Decrees for things having no such Authority and to inflict heavier punishments then by Law were warrantable and secondly for that all matters examinable and determinable before the said Judges might have their proper remedy and redress and thâ—ir due punishment and correction by the Common Law of the Land and in the ordinary Course of Justice elsewhere And with this same Court fell also several other Jurisdictions of the same Nature Then for the Regulation of the Council it was enacted that neither the Prince or his Council had or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power or Authority by English Bill Petition Articles Libell or by any other Arbitrary way whatever to examine or draw into question determine or dispose of the Lands Tenements Hereditaments Goods or Chattels of any of the Subjects of this Kingdom but that the same ought to be try'd and determin'd in the ordinary Courts of Justice and by the ordinary Course of the Law And thus the Grievances of a well constituted Nation at one time or other have still their mortal Periods and are forc'd to flie from the stern and awful Countenance of Fundamental Law For Law has Heav'n on her side which Injustice and Oppression cannot pretend to For where Laws are grounded upon the firm Basis of Divine Reason the violation of Humane Constitution is the violation of Heavenly Justice Against which for Cruelty and Oppression to make a kind of a Titanic War proves as fatal in the end as the Insurrection of those Gyants against Heav'n it self Leges dormiunt non moriuntur The Laws may sleep but never dye The locks of the Law may be cut off but they will grow again and then she rouzes up her self more vigorously and with new recover'd strength shaking off the feeble bands of Violence nere ceases till she has brought Illegal Force and Arbitrary prosecution upon their Knees Nor fares it better with those who to enrich and raise their own Families advise the infringement of Fundamental Law and moderate Rule Who for the sake of Temporary Splendour and Command care not tho they drive the Chariot Wheels of their Ambition over the Necks of undone Millions And thus we may behold in History even where Tyranny it self controuls an Ibrahim Bassa with all his tickling flattery dragg'd to the block to attone the oppression of the Incens'd Multitude with the loss of his Criminal Head Our own story brings us forth the Great Justiciary of England Hubert de Burgo once a Patriot and lover of his Country but at length beguil'd by the Advantages of Honour and Preferment for Caressing the humour of a young Prince and instructing him which way to avoid this very Charter granted by his Father and by himself in his Nonage confirm'd for which he was advanc'd to the highest Dignity in the Kingdom and made Earl of Kent not only degraded of his Honour not only stripp'd of all his Wealth which he had so unduly obtain'd but which wat more he saw himself a forlorn sufferer under the heavy Indignation of that Prince to whom he had so officiously devoted his Illegal Industry We may also in the progress of the same Story read the Tragical Exits of the Potent and Opulent Spencers Father and Son for giving rash and evil Counsel to their Soveraign against the Form of the Grand Charter So hard a matter it is for the most powerful and politic Champions of Illegality and Oppression to wrastle with the Fundamental Law of this Nation without a dismal fall According to that of Pindar for this is not novel but ancient Experience Isthm Ode 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Most bitter is the end which attends the sweets of Injustice And therefore Thuanus reflecting upon the Calamity of Ibrahim Bassa before-mention'd A most remarkable example saith he to those who for the sake of one person whose favour they have won by most unseemly and pernicious Devotion trample under Foot the general Hatred of all others whereas they ought rather to imitate those persons who being advanc'd to highest preferments so behav'd themselves in the discharge of their Trusts Thuan. l. 96. that they may be always ready to part with their preferments and not be afraid to retire to a private life if it be their Fortune to be remov'd Otherwise it many times falls out that they are left to the free revenge of all whom they have offended or else with the great regret of the Prince himself are hurry'd away to open punishment for the satisfaction of Popular indignation Even Princes themselves have labour'd under the evil consequences that have attended the Injuries which they have done to the fundamental Constitutions of their own Realms which has only serv'd to render their Lives and all their Glory troublesome vexacious and full of perplexity and to deprive them of that quiet and tranquility which makes the Enjoyment of Life sweet Lewis the XI as Comines his own Servant records was the first to use his own words who at his own pleasure levy'd mony upon the People without their consent And to gain the consent of the Nobility so to do within their own Jurisdictions promis'd them Annual Pensions Certainly saith the Historian he gave so great a wound to France that it will not easily be cur'd For none of the former Kings so afflicted France as he did but more especially by subverting the Authority of their Parliaments And is therefore said to have bin the first of the French Monarchs that freed his Successors hors de Page out of Guardianship Of this Prince Mezeray gives this accompt The Conduct which Lewis while he was yet but Dolphin observ'd in all his Actions particularly toward his own Father and Subjects
Slavery For submission out of fear denotes compulsion and compulsion is a mark of servitude and vassalage rather then of real Homage and Obedience But the Fidelity and Obedience of a true Subject proceeds from the obligation of Conscience and is the same Tye to his Prince by which the Prince is bound to God Himself by Conscience to do Acts of Justice and Mercy as being the Vice-Pastor of the People of God and the Vice-gerent of the King of Peace and Justice Nay he is the living Image of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how comes that to be The Light of Nature tells us shining even among the Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that having obtain'd a Kingdom he is to shew himself most worthy of so supream a Dignity Which high deserving Excellence then most radiantly displays it self in Majesty when it appears array'd with the Beams of Divine Attributes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to bodily substance a King is like another Man but in the power of his Dignity he is like to God who is above all So that when the Authority of a King is like the Authority of God and Righteous and true are all his ways there to refuse Obedience to the King is the same impiety as to refuse Obedience to God himself However it is not to be imagin'd that so much strictness can be expected from Mortality the resemblance is enough to fix our Veneration Therefore all Princes are by the Psalmist stil'd Gods tho he is very severe against those that deviate from the Resemblance of the Heavenly Prototype Niloxenus also the Wise Man being ask'd what was the most profitable and useful Thing in the World answer'd a King as most resembling God in his works of Justice and Mercy and to whom therefore the People by Conscience are bound with all humility to pay the Tribute of Homage and Obedience And for this reason all persons of what Quality Condition or Sex soever tho they never took the Oath of Allegiance are as firmly bound by it as if they had taken it as being written by the Finger of the Law in the hearts of every one and the taking it is but an outward Declaration of the Act it self For as it is proprium Imperiis imperare per leges So is it proprium Subjectionis obedientiam praestare per leges Which is no more then the reciprocal Stipulation of God himself with his Creature Man I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt therefore thou shalt have no other Gods but me I am the Lord thy God c. therefore obey my Commandments And it is remarkable that God always expostulates with his People for their Ingratitude for signal benefits receiv'd before he punish them for disobedience Now there is one prevailing Lure that draws Men into the Snare of Disobedience and that is call'd pretence of Religion which falling into the management of Crafty Heads proves the pernicious Coverture of Rebellious and Trayterous designs and therefore one of the greatest Enemies of Law and Government in this World It ought to be mark'd for destruction as Cain was for his preservation For it is a hard matter to discover it so exactly do the Incendiaries and Promoters of Sedition paint and dress their false Plantagenets and Pseudo-Mustapha's in resemblance of the real Portraiture Especially when they come to be fucuss'd and periwigg'd by the Skilful hands of Spiritual Ambition for the support of Ecclesiastical Pomp and Superstition It is nefarious any where but never proves worse then when it ascends the Pulpit From whence it ought to be exterminated with all the care imaginable there being nothing more fatal to all good Government then to foster it in the Bosom of Interest Which sully'd the Encomium of Ferdinand of Arragon a most prudent and happy Prince in whom says the Historian there was nothing to be desir'd but that Integrity with which he us'd to cloak his ambition and immoderate desire of enlarging his Dominions under the pretence of Religion Thuan. l. 1. Nor need there any farther Examples of the mischiefs of dissembl'd Piety then those which so lately imbru'd their hands in the bowels of this Nation However the truest touch-stone of feigned Zeal and counterfeit Religion is the Fundamental Law of the Land which being grounded as hath bin already made out upon the Law of God and Nature nothing of true Zeal nothing of sincere Religion nothing of Conscience will adventure to violate or disturb No real Christian Subject no person of Conscience no man professing the true grounds of Religion will deny his Prince the least tittle of his lawful Rights or refuse him the least Mite of his Legal Tributes or whisper the least undecent Murmur against his just proceedings according to the Fundamental Law of the Land which if true Prerogative it self cannot pretend against much less are the Encroachments upon it of dissembl'd Piety and masqueraded Zeal to be endur'd So that whatever pretence of Religion impugnes the Fundamental Law of the Land the pretence is unjust and irreligious and such pretences are to be grappl'd with as the intending Introducers of Confusion and Subversion Not that this extends to the inforcement of Obedience to any unjust Law which the Self-ends of Interest may produce For according to the Sentence of all the Grand Casuists now in Fame and of Suarez among the rest an unjust Law is no Law L. 3. de leg c. 19. and therefore lays no obligation upon the Conscience or Moral Obedience of the People but is rather to be peremptorily refus'd Now whither any Law be unjust or no is to be decided by Magna Charta for that all Laws made contrary to That are by other Fundamental Laws of the Realm adjudg'd to be void and of no effect And thus the Great Charter becomes the Judge of True Religion as well as True Law For True Law commands nothing but what is just and consonant to true Religion But an unjust Law is ex parte materiae unjust as commanding that which is dishonest and Irreligious of which only the pretence of Religion will adventure to be the Patron and which they who wrest the favour of the Law to protect can never be accompted Men of Religion or Piety And therefore the vigorous defenders of pretended Religion cannot be too severely censur'd as being breakers of the Law For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wicked Orator pollutes the Laws defending Falshood by Fallacy and Imposture by deceitful Argument Which tho they have their successes for a time yet no sooner comes the Storm of Reformation but they dash to pieces against the Rock of Fundamental Law Against which all the Cabals and Combinations of Policy and pretence of Religion have not yet been able to prevail Even the most Potent and Arbitrary Usurpation that ever hamper'd this Kingdom and the most powerfully defended in all it 's specious Pretences tam