ADVICE TO THE COMMONS Within all His MAJESTIES Realms and Dominions Written By Jacob Bury Esq An old Indigent Officer for the County of Bedford as a Captain of Horse in the Royal Army of King Charles the First Containing the perfect Harmony Consent and Agreement between Divinity and Law in defence of the Government Established by Law in Church and State And that Kingly Government is by Divine Right Nihil dictum nec scriptum est quod non dictum scriptum prius LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Jun. for Richard Northcott adjoyning to St. Peters Alley in Cornhill and at the Marriner and Anchor on Fishstreet hill near London-Bridg 1685. To the Right Honourable Robert Earl of Ailesbury and Elgin Vicount Bruce of Ampthill Baron Bruce of Wharlton Skelton and Kinloss Lord of the Honour of Ampthill High Steward of Leicester Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the Counties of Bedford Huntington and Cambridge and one of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council c. Right Honourable HAving received some kindness from your Lordship as also from the rest of His Majesties Commissioners of the Peace for the County of Bedford whereof and wherein your Honour is deservedly for your known and well approved Loyalty Summus procerum proximus à Rege the Chiefest of the Governours and the very next under and after the King therefore I thought my self obliged to shew my thankfulness by doing something that might tend to the good of the whole Community In order thereunto I was principally moved to Write this small ensuing Treatise wherein is contained chiefly The perfect Harmony Consent and Agreement between Divinity and Law in Defence of the Government by Law established in Church and State and is plainly demonstrated That Kingly Government is by Divine Right And now my Lord I most humbly beg your Pardon that I presume to prefix your great Name before this Discourse But since there is nothing therein but what hath its Weight and Warrant from the Holy Scriptures or our Authentick undeniable and well approved of Books of Law I cannot but hope your kind Approbation and Acceptance and am very well pleased I have the occasion offered me to let your Honour know how much I am My Lord Your most Humble and very Obedient Servant Jacob Bury THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader THis small ensuing Treatise Entituled Advice to the Commons within all His Majesties Realms and Dominions are confessed to be but the Gleanings of an Old Indigent Officer of the Royal Army of King Charles the First gathered from the vintage or the larger and more Fruitful Fields of such Authentick Books of Law c. as are cited by the Author for his Vouchers It was Written in time a little before and is Published in short time after the Demise or Death of the Natural Body of our late most Gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles the Second who to his Glory and Honour in all after Ages to come will be Chronicled Miraculously to have excelled all his Royal Ancestors in Mercy and Amnesty to all his Subjects whatsoever that survive him by whose Prudent Governance and Wise Management of all Publick Affairs the Publick Peace of these Kingdoms was to a Miracle preserved ever since his long expected and for good reasons much wished for Restauration Now blessed be God for it his rightful Successor whom God long preserve hath declared and promised that as he is by Right of Bloud and Act in Law next and immediately to succeed his said dear Royal Brother in the Station God hath placed him that is to say in the Governance of these his Realms and Dominions as our Soveraign Lord and King so he shall always imitate his Predecessor in Clemency and Mercy to his Subjects that however he hath before by Wicked and foul Mouthed Detraction been misreported to have been for Arbitrary Government that he always shall and will do his utmost endeavours for the defence and preservation of the Government as it is Established by Law in Church and State that he will invade no Mans property c. Now seeing that it hath pleased God to take to himself from us our late Gracious Soveraign let us all rest contented and fully satisfied that we have wofully experienced the Mouths of Slanderors to have been always apt to call all things into question but that always also they have been unready to approve of any thing tending to the publick Peace and welfare of the whole Community Therefore believe the Word and gracious Promise of his Sacred Majesty believe not every Idle report neither be moved by vain suggestions least through light trust thou bring thy self into danger and which is more bad be counted a fool Let us all believe that none sprung from the Loyns of King James the First will ever alter the Protestant Religion or the Government Established by Law in Church and State Remember there was this Plea allowed in bar of an Action brought in the late times of Rebellion for that the Plantiff had not taken the ingagement to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth without King or House of Lords Take into consideration also what the Impression and Charecter of the Money Coined at Oxford was in these times and also consider what was the Impression and Charecter of the Money then Coined by the late Vsurpers these matters duly considered will without further Arguments demonstrate what the good Old Cause Men aimed at certainly they aimed at nothing less than the alteration of the Government both in Church and State and in order thereunto it may be said that at the last they Fought neither against great nor small but only against King Charles the First the blessed Martyr of ever blessed Memory Now though it be in these his Majsties Realms and Dominions suffered to every one by Lawful ways and means to desire to aspire to a better private Fortune yet withal it is an Office just in all inferior degrees to bear without grudging the Ordinance and Sentence of their Lot otherwise there would be confusion of all Imperies and Governments if it were suffered to every one to aspire to such liberty as he lusteth after beyond the quality State and condition of a Subject wherein God hath placed him The late Plots proceeded as it were by the publick consent of the Dissenters to the present Government and by incitation of certain Seditious Heads who by their rashness are wont to draw the Commons into commotion that by Poverty are assured they can lose nothing and by their Nature are always desirous of Innovation and being easily filled with vain errors and false perswasions are moved at the appetite of any that will provoke them and be their leaders as the Waves of the Sea are carried and hurried hither and thither with the blasts of the Wind. Therefore every Law was made at the first to no other end but to bridle such as would live without Reason and Law and
Laiety by Sequestrations Decimations and otherwise ensued whereof we of the Loyal Party were not only Witnesses and Spectators but therein we were fellow Sufferers Now the Writs of the King suffered Violence of which Mr. Fitzherbert in his Preface to his Natura Brevium saith that they be the Foundations whereupon the whole Law doth depend of the which Writs and Processes as be appointed in the Law it is said in St. Jermin in his Book Written by way of Dialogue called Doctor and Student Fol. 64. a. That the King as Sovereign and Fountain of the Law is bounden of Justice to Grant them to every Person that will Complain be his Surmise true or false Yet in stead of Carolus Secundus Dei Gratia c. Vicecomiti c. was used The Keepers of the Liberties of England by Authority of Parliament To the Sheriff of c. But those who had built this Babel by their Divisions and Jealousies one had of another were in time brought to strange Confusions The Writs were to run no longer in the Name of the Keepers c. But all Writs and Process were issued forth in the Name of Oliver their General The Independent though the Younger now prevailed against the Presbyterian the Elder Brother whath the Elder had hunted after the Younger now catched for himself And now also it may be observed that a House of Commons singly Assumed to themselves the Title of and were stiled the Parliament of England though his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First had before truely told them in his Speech to them 3. Car. that none of the Houses of Parliament joint or Separate had any Power either to Make or Declare a Law without his Consent CHAP. V. Sheweth about what time the Kings Writs were first framed for the induction of the Commons into the Parliaments of England FRom the Norman Conquest untill some time in the Reign of H. 3. Parliaments were holden by the King and his Barons Spiritual and Temporal in whose days it is thought the Kings Writ for Election of Kinghts c. was first framed and that the Commons were reduced to a House by the Advice of the Bishops to the King in the heat of the Barons Wars It was thought expedient then to frame a Writ for their Induction that they might allay and lessen the Pride and Power of the Peers who had waged War so many years against the Crown However least they should arrogate too much Authority to themselves they never could so much as exhibit an Oath nor impose a Fine or inflict Punishment upon any but their own Members until the time of the late Usurpers when they were grown to that height of Impudence that the King himself and Lords Spiritual and Temporal were Excluded by them of whom as well before the Norman Conquest as since the Ancient Parliaments of England consisted only without them For it is true the People were wrought under by the Sword of the first William and his followers to a Subjected Vassallage Division and Power had Mastered them none of their old Nobility and Heads were left either of Credit or Fortunes what he Detained not in Providence as the Demeans of the Crown or reserved in Piety as for the Maintenance of the Church he parted and divided amongst those Strangers that Sailed along with him in the same Bark of his Adventure leaving the Natives for the most part as may be seen by his Survey called Domesday Book now in the Exchequor in no better a condition than Villenage To supply his Occasions of Men Money or Provisions he Ordered that all those who injoyed any fruit of his Conquest should hold their Lands proportionably by so many Knights Fees of the Crown And permitted them to Enfeofle their followers with such parts as they pleased of their own Portions which to ease their charge they did in his and his Sons time This course provided him the Body of his War the Money and Provision was by Hidage Assessed on the Common People at and with the consent of their Lords who held in all their Seigniories such right of Royalty that to their vassals as Paris saith they were quot domini tot Tyranni and in time provided to the Kings so great a Curb and restraint of Power that nothing fell into the Care of Majesty after more than to retrench the force of Aristocracy that was like in time to strangle the Monarchy Though others foresaw the Mischief betimes yet none attempted the remedy until King John whose overhasty undertakings brought in the mentioned broiles of the Barrons Wars there needed not before this Care to Advise with the Commons in any Parliamentary or Publick Assemblies when every Man in England by Tenure held himself to his great Lords Will whose Presence was ever required in their Parliaments and in whose Assents his dependant Tennants consent was ever included from what is aforesaid the Commons of England or rather they whom the Commons shall Elect to future Parliaments and are properly said in Parliament Assembled to be the Representatives of all the Commons of England may take notice that Anciently was in use only one Writ of Summons to Parliament by which the King Summoned the Lords Spiritual and Temporal separately to come to his Parliament at a certain Day and Place appointed in the Kings Writ And of latter times with the reasons for the one and the other there hath been an Additional Writ framed which is sent to every Sheriff of England and Wales for Election of Kinghts c. for the Parliament in the Kings Name and when sent it is called the Kings Writ and is directed to his Subordinate Officer the Kings Sheriff For the truth is the King by his Writ giveth the very Essence and Form to the Parliament which is to be Summoned when he pleaseth to be Adjourned Prorogued and Dissolved when he pleaseth And in all good times of Government before and since the Conquest it was ever in the Kings power and was and is his Priviledge Royal Prerogative and Regality to Grant or Deny such Petitions as he pleaseth and all Acts of former times and some of latter time were and are in form of Petitions CHAP. VI. Sheweth the difference between Parliamentary Priviledges and the Priviledges of the King and sheweth how at first Kingly Government was constituted by God himself and that by Gods Law also the Legislative Power and the Power of the Militia was given to the King and that in these highest Points of the Kings Prerogative the Law of England is agreeing with the Law of God and that God is vindex sui Ordinis the avenger of his own Ordinance THE Speaker uf the House of Commons on the first day of every Parliament is usually Presented to the King and in the Name of the Commons of England he humbly Prays his Majesty would be Graciously Pleased to Grant them their Liberties and Priviledges which is a strong Argument that their Priviledge their
kind of pilling And the King there suffereth no Man to Eat Salt within his Kingdom except he buyeth it of the King at such price as it pleaseth him to Assess and if any poor Man had rather Eat his Meat fresh than to buy Salt so excessively dear he is immediately compelled to buy so much of the Kings Salt at the Kings price as shall suffice so many Persons as he keepeth in his House Moreover all the Inhabitants of that Realm give yearly to the King the Fourth part of all the Wines that their Grounds beareth and every Vintner the Fourth Penny of the price of the Wines that he selleth And besides all this every Village and Borough payeth yearly to the King great Summs of Money assessed upon them for the Wages of Men at Arms so that the charges of the Kings Army which is ever very great is maintained by the poor People of the Villages Boroughs and Towns of the Realm and these things not considered other exceeding great Tallages are yearly Assessed upon every Village of the same Realm to the Kings use whereof they are no year released And the People being with these and divers other calamities plagued and oppressed do live in great misery and thraldom for there the Princes pleasure standeth in force of a Law so that by reason thereof their Kings at their pleasure change Laws make new Laws Execute Punishments burden their Subjects with charges and also when and as themselves list they do determine controversies of Suitors as pleaseth them I have shewed you here out of Sir John Fortescues Book De laudibus legum Angliae For every sober Man would judge me or any other a Mad-man that should Write of Matters of this nature without good and warrantable Authority for that is Written what inconveniencies happen in the Realm of France through Regal Government alone with the Commodities that proceed of the joynt Government Politick and Regal in the Realm of England that being hence instructed with the experience of both Laws we may the better by their effects Judg whether of them we ought rather to choose for that Opposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt contraries laid together do the more perfectly appear It is and hath been held to be one of the principles of Policy in France to keep the Peasan which is the Gross of the People still indigent and poor because they are of such a volatil instable Nature that if they were Rich and Fed high Wealth and Wantonness would make them ever and anon to be kicking against Government and crying out for a change The Old Cavalier now again takes leave to look Backward and to put this Question to all the Commons of England for it is only to them he directs this his Discourse he may be taken notice of not to have presumed to take upon him to Advise the King or any of his several Counsels whether all the People of England comprehended under the notion of the Community or stile or name of the Commons of England have not been for Threescore years last past and upward of as volatil and instable a Nature as ever the Gross of the People of France are were or possibly could or can be I must Answer in the Affirmative that the People of England in this latter Age have been very changeable always endeavouring to promote alteration in Church and State and so in the late times of Rebellion they changed Peace for War and consequently all the miseries and sad effects thereof were laid open to their Eyes their Goods were spoiled their Children Slain their Wives and Daughters Ravished their Cattle driven away and themselves made miserable spectators to behold their own unhappiness and though what by destiny was decreed Man could not prevent his late Sacred Majesty was Miraculously restored to his Realms and Dominions yet still by reason of variety of Opinions lodging in various particular individual Persons Breasts differing amongst themselves the subvertion and alteration of the Government none will deny hath again been menaced and threatned and a person Good-enough for so Wicked an undertaking was imployed with Letters Legations and Messages to invite and desire the Aid and Assistance of our dear Brethren the Scots Ayming again to have subdued all to their own Will and Power under the Old disguises of Holy Combinations in the same manner as heretofore by Solemn League and Covenant or otherwise howsoever But my good Brethren of all the Community within all his Majesties Realms and Dominions seeing that as free born Subjects by Birthright we are Entitled to all those Fruits and Priviledges Government Regal and Politick conjoyned beareth let us take care for the future that by Mutinous Disobedient and Rebellious practises we do not Frenchifie and Disinfranchise our selves knowing that he that is free and voluntarily runneth into Fetters is a Fool and whosoever becometh Captive without constraint may be thought either willful or witless CHAP. XV. Sheweth how tender this Government Politick and Regal conjoyned is of the safety of the Kings Person and of all his Royal Rights and Prerogatives And that our Law doth not reject Women or Infants in the high point of the Descent of the Crown and that our King holdeth immediately of God to himself and acknowledgeth no Prince on Earth his Superior NOW as Government Politick and Regal conjoined is tender of the preservation of the just Rights of the Communalty and this Communalty without a head can in no wise be said to be corporate so in likewise we are to understand it is as tender and curious in the preservation of the Royal Rights Priviledges and Jurisdictions and Prerogatives of the Chief Head and Supream Ruler of this Body Mystical which is the King or Queen of these Kingdoms For in this high point of Descent of the Crown Our Law doth not reject Women tho Women are commonly said to be such whom Nature hath made to keep home to nourish their Family and Children and do not meddle with matters abroad nor are to bear Office in a City or Common-wealth no more than Children and Infants yet in such Cases wherein the Authority is annexed to the Bloud and Progeny as in the Descent of the Crown there the Bloud is respected not the Age nor the Sex and such a one is called an absolute Queen which hath the Name not by being Married to a King but by being the true right and next Successor in the Dignity and upon whom by Right of Bloud that Title is descended These I say have the same Authority though they be Women of Children in these our Kingdoms Realms or Dominions as they should have had if they had been Men of full Age. For the Right and Honour of the Bloud and the Quietness and Surety of the Realm is more to be considered than either the tender Age as yet impotent to Rule or the Sex not accustomed otherwise to intermeddle with Publick Affairs being always by common intendment