declared to have been fortified by sundry Laws and Ordinances made in former Parliaments k Ibid. and such as hath been since confirmed by a solemn Oath taken and to be taken by most of the Subjects of this Kingdom Which Oath consisting of two parts the one Declaratory and the other Promissory in the Declaratory part the man thus taketh it doth declare and testifie in his conscience that the Kings Highness is the only supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Dominions and Countries aswell in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal c. l 1 Eliz. c. 1. And in the Promissooy part they make Oath and swear that to their power they will assist and defend all Jurisdictions Privileges Preheminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs and Succcesseors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm Put all which hath been said together and it will appear that if to have merum imperium a full and absolute command and all the jura majestatis which belong to Soveraignty if to be so supreme as to hold immediatly of God to have all persons under him none but God above him if to have all authority and jurisdiction to be vested in him and proceeding from him and the material sword at his sole disposal for the correcting of offenders and the well ordering of his people if to have whole and entire power of rendring justice and final determination of all causes to all manner of Subjects us also to interpret and dispence with Laws and all this ratified and confirmed unto him by the solemn Oath of his Subjects in the Court of Parliament be enough to make an absolute Monarch the Kings of England are more absolute Monarchs than either of their Neighbours of France or Spain 8. If any thing may be said to detract from this it is the new devise so much pressed of late of placing the chief Soveraignty or some part thereof in the two Houses of Parliament concerning which Mr. Prynne published a discourse entituled The supreme power of Parliaments and Kingdoms and others in their Pamphlets upon that Argument have made the Parliament so absolute and the King so limited that of the two the Members of the Houses are the greater Monarchs But this is but a new devise not heard of in our former Monuments Records of Law nor proved or to be proved indeed by any other Medium than the Rebellions of Cade Tiler Straw Kett Mackerell and the rest of that rascall rabble m Prynnes book of Parl. c. pâ— 3. or the seditious Parliaments in the time of K. Henry the 3d. King Edward the 2d and King Richard the 2d when civil war and faction carried all before it For neither have the Houses or either of them enjoyed such Soveraignty de facto in times well setled and Parliaments lawfully assembled nor ever could pretend to the same de jure Or if they did as many have been apt enough to raise false pretences it would much trouble them to determine whether this Soveraignty be conferred upon them by the King or the people whether it be in either of the Houses severally or in both united If they can challenge this pretended Soveraignty in neither of these capacities nor by none of these Titles it may be warrantably concluded that there is no such Soveraignty as they do pretend to And first there is no part nor branch of Soveraignty conferred upon them by the King The writs of Summons which the Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled at Oxon. 1643. doth most truly call the foundation of all power in Parliament n Declaration of the Treaty p. 15. tell us no such matter The writ directed to the Lords doth enable them only to confer and treat with one another consilium vestrum impendere and to advise the King in such weighty matters as concern the safety of the Kingdom But they are only to advise not compell the King to counsell him but not controll him and to advise and counsel are no marks of Soveraignty but rather works of service and subordination Nor can they come to give this Counsel without he invite them and being invited by his writ cannot choose but come except he excuse them which are sure notes of duty and subjection but very sory signs of power and soveraignty 'T is true that being come together they may and sometimes do on a writ of Error examin and reverse or affirm such judgements as have been given in the Kings Bench and from their sentence in the case there is no appeal but only to the whole body of that Court the King and both the Houses the Head and Members o Case of our Affairs p. 7 8. But this they do not as the upper house of Parliament but as the distinct court of the Kings Barons of Parliament of a particular and ministerial jurisdiction to some intents and purposes and to some alone which though it doth invest them with a power of judicature confers not any thing upon them which belongs to Soveraignty Then for the Commons all which the writ doth call them to is facere consentire to do and consent unto such things which are ordained by the Lords and Common Counsel of the Kingdom of England and sure conformity and consent which is all the writ requireth from them are no marks of Soveraignty nor can an Argument be drawn from thence by the subtillest Sophister to shew that they are called to be partakers of the Soveraign power or that the King intends to denude himself of any branch or leaf thereof to hide their nakednesse And being met together in a body collective they are so far from having any share in Soveraignty that they cannot properly be called a Court of Judicature as neither having any power to minister an Oath p Id. p. 9. or to imprison any body except it be some of their own Members if they see occasion which are things incident to all Courts of Justice and to every Steward of a Leet insomuch that the House of Coâ—mons is compared by some â—and not incongruosly unto the Grand Inquest at a general Sessions q Review of the Observat p. 22. whose principal work it is to receive bils and prepare businesses and make them fit and ready for my Lords the Judges Nay so far were they heretofore from the thoughts of Soveraignty that they were lyable to sutes and punishments for things done in Parliament though only to the prejudice of a private Subject untill King Henry 8. most graciously passed a Law for their indemnity For whereas Richard Strode one of the company of Tinners in the County of Cornwall being a Member of the Commons House had spoken somwhat to the prejudice of that Society and contrary to the Ordinances of the Stanneries at his return into the Country â—e was arested fined imprisoned Complaint whereof being
of the people that all are equally invested with that sacred Majesty wherewith he hath apparelled the most lawful powers I shall proceed no further in this present business till I have made some proof of that which is said before Not that I mean to spend my time in the proof of this that a wicked King is one of Gods curses on the earth for besides that there is none who gainsay the same we should say no more in this of Kings then of the Theef that steals thy goods or the Adulterer that defiles thy marriage bed or the Murderer that seeks thy life all which are reckoned for Gods curses in the holy Scripture The point we purpose to make proof of goeth not down so easily that is to say That in the vilest men and most unworthy of all honour if they be once advanced to the publick government there doth reside that excellent and divine authoritie which God hath given in holy Scripture to those who are the Ministers of his heavenly justice who therefore are to be reverenced by the subject for as much as doth concern them in the way of their publick duties with as much honour and obedience as they would reverence the best King were he given unto them And first the reader must take notice of the especial Act and Providence of Almighty God SECT 26. not without cause so oft remembred in the Scriptures in disposing Kingdoms and setting up such Kings as to him seems best Dan. 2. 21 37. The Lord saith Daniel changeth the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings And in another place That the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of men and giveth them to whomsoever he will Which kinde of sentences as they are very frequent in the Scriptures so is that prophesie most plentiful and abundant in them No man is ignorant that Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed Hierusalem was a great spoiler and oppressor yet the Lord tells us by Ezechiel that he had given unto him the land of Egypt for the good service he had done in laying it wast on his commandement And Daniel said unto him thus Dan. 2. 37. Thou O King art a King of Kings for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom power and strength and glory And wheresoever the children of men dwell the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven hath he given into thy hand and hath made thee Ruler over them all Again to Belshazzer his son Dan 5. 18. The most high God gave unto Nebuchadnezzar thy father a Kingdom and majesty and glory and honour and for the majesty that he gave him all people nations and languages trembled and feared before him Now when we hear that Kings are placed over us by God let us be pleased to call to minde those several precepts to fear and honour them which God hath given us in his Book holding the vilest Tyrant in as high account as God hath graciously vouchsafed to estate him in When Samuel told the people of the house of Israel what they should suffer from their King he expressed it thus 1 Sam. 8. 11. This will be the manner of the King which shall reign over you he will take your sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and some shall râ—n before his Chariots And he will appoint him Captains over thousands and Captains over fifties and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments of war and instruments of his Chariots And he will take your daughters to be his Confectionaries and to be Coâ—ks and to be Bakers And he will take your fields and your Vineyards and your Olive-yards even the best of them and give them to his servants And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your Vineyards and give to his Officers and to his Servants And he will take your menâ—servants and your maid-servants and your goodliest young men and your Asses and put them to his work He will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his Servants Assuredly their Kings could not do this lawfully whom God had otherwise instructed in the Book of the Law but it is therefore called Jus Regis the right of Kings upon the subject which of necessitie the Subjects were to submit unto and not to make the least resistance As if the Prophet had thus said So far shall the licentiousness of your Kings extend it self which you shall have no power to restrain or remedie to whom there shall be nothing left but to receive the intimation of their pleasures and fulfil the same But most remarkable is that place in the Prophet Jeremie SECT 27. which though it be somewhat of the longest I wil here put down because it doth so plainly state the present question Jer. 27. 6. I have made the earth saith the Lord the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great power and by my out-stretched Arm and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon my servant and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him And all Nations shall serve him and his son and his sons son until the very time of his land come And it shall come to pass that the Nation and Kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and that will not put their neck under the yâ—ke of the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence Wherefore serve the King of Babylon and live We see by this how great a measure of obedience was required by God towards that fierce and cruel Tyrant only because he was advanced to the Kingly throne and did by consequence participate of that Regal majesty which is not to be violated without grievous sin Let us therefore have this always in our minde and before our eyes that by the same decree of God on which the power of Kings is constituted the very wickedest Princes are established and let not such seditious thoughts be admitted by us that is to say that we must deal with Kings no otherwise then they do deserve and that it is no right nor reason that we should shew our selves obedient subjects unto him who doth not mutually perform the duty of a King to us 4. It is a poor objection which some men have made SECT 28. viz. that that command was only proper to the Israelites for mark upon what grounds the command was given I have given saith he the Kingdom unto Nebuchadnezzar wherefore serve him and ye shall live and thereupon it needs must follow that upon whomsoever God bestows a Kingdom to whom we must address our servrce and that assoon as God hath raised any
pressed the points before delivered unto the conscience of the subject and utterly disabled them from lifting up their hands against the Supreme Magistrate or any occasion whatsoever he shews them how to help themselves and what course to take for the asserting of their liberties and the recovery of their rights if the Prince invade them by telling them that all he spake before was of private persons c Sect. 31. but that if there were any popular Officers such as the Ephori of Sparta the Tribunes of Rome the Demarchi of Athens ordained for the restraint of Kings and Supreme Governors it never was his meaning to include them in it And such power he doth suppose to be in the three Estates of every Kingdom when they are solemnly assembled whom he condemns as guiltie of perfidious dissimulation and the betrayers of the Subjects liberties whereof they are the proper and appointed Guardâ—ans if they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or want only insult on the Common people This is the gap through which rebellions and seditions have found so plausible a passage in the Christian world to the dethroning of some Kings and Princes the death of others For through this gap broke in those dangerous and seditious doctrines that the inferiour Magistrates are ordained by God and not appointed by the King or the Supreme Powers that being so ordained by God they are by him inabled to compel the King to rule according unto justice and the laws established that if the King be refractary and and unreclaimable they are to call him to account and to provide for the safety of the Common-wealth by all ways and means which may conduce unto the preservation of it and finally which is the darling doctrine of these later times that there is a mixture in all Governments and that the three Estates conveened in Parliament or by what other name so ever we do call their meeting are not subordinate to the King but co-ordinate with him and have not only a supplemental power to supply what is defective in him but a coercive also to restrain his Actions a corrective too to reform his Errors But this I give you now in the generals only hereafter you shall see it more particularly and every Author cited in his own words for the proof hereof Many of which as they did live in CALVINS time and by their writings gave great scandal to all soveraign Princes but more as to the progress of the Reformation so could not CALVIN choose but be made acquainted with the effects and consequences of his dangerous principles Which since he never did retract upon the sight of those seditious Pamphlets and worse then those those bloudie tumults and rebellions which ensued upon it but let it stand unaltered to his dying day is a cleer argument to me that this passage fell not from his pen by chance but was laid of purpose as a Stumbling-block in the Subjects way to make him fall in the performance of his Christian duty both to God and man For though the Book of Institutions had been often printed in his life time and received many alterations and additions as being enlarged from a small Octavo of not above 29 sheets to a large folio of 160 yet this particular passage still remained unchanged and hath continued as it is from the first Edition of it which was in the year 1536. not long after his first coming to Geneva 10. But to proceed in our design What fruits these dangerous doctrines have produced amongst us we have seen too plainly and we may see as plainly if we be not blinde through what gap these doctrines entred on what foundation they were built and unto whose authoritie we stand indebted for all those miseries and calamities which are fallen upon us Yet to say truth the man desired to be concealed and not reputed for the Author of such strange conclusions which have resulted from his principles and therefore laies it down with great art and caution Si qui and Fortè and ut nunc res habent that is to say Perhaps and as the world now goes and if there be such Officers as have been formerly are the three disguises which he hath masked himself and the point withall that he might pass away unseen And if there be such Officers as perhaps there are or that the world goes here as it did at Sparta or in the States of Rome and Athens as perhaps it doth or that the three Estates of each several Kingdom have the same authoritie in them as the Ephori the Demarchi and the Tribunes had as perhaps they have the Subject is no doubt in a good condition as good a man as the best Monarch of them all But if the Ephori the Demarchi and the Tribunes were not appointed at the first for the restiaint and regulating of the Supreme Powers as indeed they were not and if the three Estates in each several Kingdom have not that authoritie which the Ephori and the Tribunes did in fine usurp and the Demarchi are supposed to have as indeed they have not perhaps and peradventure will not serve the turn The subject stands upon no better grounds then before he did Therefore to take away this stumbling-block and remove this rub I shall propose and prove these three points ensuing 1. That the Ephori the Demarchi and the Roman Tribunes were not instituted at the first for those ends and purposes which are supposed by the Author 2. If they were instituted for those ends yet the illation thereupon would be weak and childish as it relates to Kings and Kingdoms And 3. That the three Estates in each several Kingdom without all peradventures have no such authoritie as the Author dreams of and therefore of no power to controul their King Which if I clearly prove as I hope I shall I doubt not but to leave the cause in a better condition then I found it And in the proof of these the first point especially if it be thought that I insist longer then I needed on the condition of the Spartan Ephori the Roman Tribunes and the Demarchi of Athens and spend more cost upon it then the thing is worth I must intreat the Reader to excuse me in it I must first lay my grounds and make sure work there before I go about my building And being my design relates particularly to the information and instruction of the English Subject I could not make my way unto it but by a discoverie of the means and Artifices by which some petit popular Officers attained unto so great a masterie in the game of Government as to give the Check unto their Kings Which being premised once for all I now proced unto the proof of the points proposed and having proved these points I shall make an end Haec tria cum docuero perorabo in the Orators language CHAP. II. Of the Authority of Ephori in the State of
be imputed to the three Estates convened in Parliament or to any power or Act of theirs but only praefervido Scotorum ingenio z Rivet cont tenuit as one pleads it for them unto the natural disposition of that fierce and head-strong people yet easilier made subject unto rule and government The three Estates assembled in the Court of Parliament when in the judgement of our Author they are most fit to undertake the business have for the most part had no hand in those desperate courses 7. And now at last we ate come to England where since we came no sooner we will stay the longer and here we shall behold the King established in an absolute Monarchy from whom the meeting of the three Estates in Parliament detracteth nothing of his power and authority Royal. Bodin as great a Politick as any of his time in the Realm of France hath ranked our Kings amongst the absolute Monarch of these Western parts a Bodin de Rep. l. 1. c. 8. And Camden as renowned an Antiquary as any of the Age he lived in hath told us of the King of England supremam potestatem merum imperium habere b Camden in Britan. descript that he hath supreme power and absolute command in his dominions and that he neither holds his Crown in vassallage nor receiveth his investisture of any other nor acknowledgeth any Superiour but God alone To prove this last he cites these memorable words from Bracton an old English Lawyer omnis quidem sub Rege ipse sub nullo sed tantum sub deo that every man is under the King but the King under none saving only God But Bracton tells us more than this and affirms expresly that the King hath supreme power and jurisdiction over all causes and persons in this his Majesties Realm of England that all jurisdictions are vested in him and are issued from him and that he hath jus gladii or the right of the sword for the better governance of his people This is the substance of his words but the words are these c Bracton de leg Aâ—gl l. 2. c. 24. Sciendum est saith he quod ipse dominus Rex ordinariam habet jurisdictionem dignitatem potestatem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt Habet enim omnia jura in manu sua quae ad coronam laicalem pertinent potestatem materialem gladium qui pertinet ad Regni gubernandum c. He addes yet surther Habet item in potestate sua leges constitutiones d Id. l. 2. c. 16. that the Laws and constitutions of the Realm are in the power of the King by which words whether he meaneth that the Legislative power is in the King and whether the Legislative power be in him and in him alone we shall see anon But sure I am that he ascribes unto the King the power of interpreting the Law in all doubtfull cases in dubiis obscuris domini Regis expectanda interpretatio voluntas which is plain enough For though he speaketh only de chartis Regiis factis Regum of the Kings deeds and charters only as the words seem to import yet considering the times in which he lived being Chief Justice in the time of King Henry the 3d. wherein there was but little written Law more than what was comprehended in the Kings Grants and Charters he may be understood of all Laws whatever And so much is collected out of Bractons words by the L. Chancellor Egerton of whom it may be said without envy that he was as grave and learned a Lawyer as ever sat upon that Bench. Who gathereth out of Bracton that all cases not determined for want of foresight are in the King to whom belongs the right of interpretation not in plain and evident cases but only in new questions and emergent doubts and that the King hath as much right by the constitutions of this Kingdom as the Civil law gave the Roman Emperors where it is said Rex solus judicat de causa a jure non definita e Case of the Post-nati p. 107 108. And though the Kings make not any Laws without the counsel and consent of his Lords and Commons whereof we shall speak more in the following Section yet in such cases where the Laws do provide no remedy and in such matters as concern the politick administration of his Kingdoms he may and doth take order by his Proclamations He also hath authority by his Prerogative Royal to dispense with the rigour of the Laws and sometimes to pass by a Statute with a non obstante as in the Statute 1 Henr. 4. cap. 6. touching the value to be specified of such lands offices or annuities c as by the King are granted in his Letters patents But these will better come within the compasse of those jura Majestatis or rights of Soveraignty which our Lawyers call sacra individua f Camden in Bâ—it sacred by reason they are not to be pryed into with irreverent eyes and individual or inseparable because they cannot be communicated unto any other Of which kind are the levying of Arms g Case of our Assairs p. 3. suppressing of tumults and rebellions providing for the present safety of his Kingdom against sudden dangers convoking of Parliaments and dissolving them making of Peers granting liberty of sending Burgesses to Towns and Cities treating with forein States making war leagues and peace granting safe conduct and protection indenizing giving of honor rewarding pardoning coyning printing and the like to these But what need these particulars have been looked into to prove the absoluteness and soveraignty of the Kings of England when the whole body of the Realm hath affirmed the same and solemnly declared it in their Acts of Parliament In one of which is affirmed h 16 Rich. 2. c. 5. that the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediatly to God in all things touching the regality of the said Crown and to none other And in another Act that the Realm of England is an Empire governed by one supreme head and King having the Dignity and Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a Body politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of Spiritualty and Temporalty been bounden and ought to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience i 24 Henr. 8. c. 12. And more than so that the King being the supreme head of this Body Politick is instituted and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary whole and entire power preheminence authority prerogative and jurisdiction to render and yield justice and final determination to all manner of Subjects within this Realm and in all causes whatsoever Nor was this any new Opinion invented only to comply with the Princes humour but such as is
versari The States saith he of England have a kind of authority but all the rights of Soveraignty and command in chief are at the will and pleasure of the Prince alone 12. And to say truth although the Lords Commons met in Parliament are of great authority especially as they have improved it in these later times yet were they never of such power but that the Kings have for the most part over-ruled them made them pliant conformable to their own desires and this not only by themselves but sometimes also by their Judges by their counsel often For such was the great care and wisdom of our former Kings as not to venture single on that numerous body of the two Houses of Parliament whereby the Soveraignty might be so easily overmatched but to take with them for Assistants as well the Lords of their Privy Counsel with whom they might advise in matters which concerned them in their Soveraign rights as their learned Counsel as they call them consisting of the Judges and most eminent Lawyers from whom they might receive instruction as the case required and neither do nor suffer wrong in point of Law and by both these as well as by the power and awe of their personal presence have they not only regulated but restrained their Parliaments And this is easily demonstrable by continual practice For in the Statute of Bigamie made in the fourth k 4 Ed. 1. year of King Edward 1. it is said expreâ—ly that in the presence of certain reverend Fathers Bishops of England and others of the Kings Counsel the Constitutions under-written were recited and after published before the King his Couusel forasmuch as all the Kings Counsel as well Justices as others did agree that they should be put in writing and observed In the Articuli super Chartas when the Great Charter was confirmed at the request of the Prelates Earls and Barons l 28 Ed. 1. c. 2. we find these two clauses the one in the beginning thus Nevertheless the King and his Counsel do not intend by reason of this Statâ—te to diminish the Kings right m Ibid. c. 20. c. The other in the close of all in these following words And notwithstanding all these things mentioned or any part of them both the King and his Counsel and all they which were present at the making of this Ordinance do will and intend that the right and prerogative of his Crown shall be saved in all things In the 27th of King Edward the 3d. n 27 Ed. 3. The Commons presenting a Petition to the King which the Kings Counsel did mislike were content thereupon to mend and explain their Petition the form of which Petition is in these words following To their most redoubted Soveraign Lord the King praying the Commons that whereas they have prayed him to be discharged of all manner of Articles of the Lyre c. which Petition seemeth to his Counsel to be prejudicial unto him and in disherison of his Crown if it were so generally granted his said Commons not willing nor desiring to demand things of him which should fall in disherison of him or of his Crown perpetually as of Escheats c. but of trespasses misprisions negligences and ignorances c. In the 13 of the reign of King Richard the 2d when the Commons did pray that upon pain of forfeiture the Chancellor or Counsel of the King should not after the end of the Parliament make any Ordinance against the Common law o 13 Rich. 2. the King by the advise of his Counsel answered Let it be used as it hath been used before this time so as the Regality of the King be saved for the King will save his Regalities as his Predecessors have done In the 4th year of King Henry 4. p 4 Hen. 4. when the Commons complained against Sub-poenae's and other writs grounded upon false suggestions the King upon the same advise returned this answer that he would give in charge to his Officers that they should abstain more than before time they had to send for his Subjects in that manner But yet saith he it is not our intention that our Officers shall so abstain that they may not send for our Subjects in matters and causes necessary as it hath been used in the time of our good Progenitors Finally not to bring forth more particulars in a case so clear it was the constant custome in all Parliaments till the Reign of King Henry 5. q Henr. 5 that when any Bill had passed both houses and was presented to the King for his Royal Assent the King by the advise of his Privy Counsel or his Counsel learned in the Laws or sometimes of both did use to crosse ouâ— and obliterate as much or as little of it as he pleased to leave out what he liked not and confirmed the rest that only which the King confirmed being held for Law And though in the succeeding times the Kings did graciously vouchsafe to pass the whole Bill in that form which the Houses gave it or to reject it wholly as they saw occasion yet still the Privy Counsel and the Judges and the Counsel learned in the Laws have and enjoy their place in the House of Peers aswell for preservation of the Kings rights and Royalties as for direction to the Lords in a point of Law if any case of difficulty be brought before them on which occasions the Lords are to demand the opinion of the Judges and upon their opinions to ground their Iudgement As for example In the Parliament 28 of Hen. 6. The Commons made sure that VVilliam de la Pole Duke of Suffolk should be committed to Prison for many treasons and other crimes r 28 Hen. 6 and thereupon the Lords demanded the opinion of the Judges whether he should be committed to Prison or not whose Answer was that he ought not to be committed in regard the Commons had not charged him with any particular offence but with generals only which opinion was allowed and followed In another Parliament of the said King held by Prorogation one Thomas Thorpe the Speaker of the House of Commons was in the Prorogation-time condemned in 1000 l. dammages upon an Action of Trespass at the sute of Richard Duke of York and was committed to Prison for execution of the same The parliament being reassembled the Commons made suâ—e to the King and Lords to have their Speaker delivered to them according to the privilege of Parliaments t The privilege of the Barons p. 15. the Lords demanded the opinion of the Judges in it and upon their Answer did conclude that the Speaker should still remain in Prison according to Law notwithstanding the privilege of Parliament and according to this resolution the Commons were commanded in the Kings name to choose one Tho Carleton for their Speaker which was done accordingly Other examples of this kind are exceeding obvious and for numbers infinite yet neither more
THE STUMBLING-BLOCK OF Disobedience and Rebellion Cunningly laid by Calvin in the Subjects way Discovered Censured and Removed By P. H. ROM 14. 13. Offendiculum fratri tuo ne ponas Let no man put a Stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way 1 SAM 24. 6. And David said to his men The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Seile over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1658. THE PREFACE IT will appear to any who shal read this Treatise that it was written in the times of Monarchical Government but in the later and declining times thereof when the change of that Government was in agitation and in part effected In which respect I doubt not but the publishing of this Discourse at this present time may seem unseasonable unto some and yet it may be thought by others to come out seasonably enough for these following reasons 1. To give warning to all those that are in Supreme Authority to have a care unto themselves and not to suffer any Popular and Tribunitian Spirits to grow amongst them who grounding upon Calvins Doctrine both may and will upon occasion create new disturbances 2. To preserve the Dignity of the Supreme Power in what Person soever it be placed and fix his Person in his own proper Orb the Primum Mobile of Government brought down of late to be but one of the three Estates and move in the same Planetary Sphere with the other two 3. To keep on foot the claim and Title of the Clergy unto the Reputation Rights and Priviledges of the Third Estate which doth of right belong unto them and which the Clergy have antiently enjoyed in all and to this day in most Christian Kingdoms 4. To shew unto the world on whose authority the Presbyterians built their damnable Doctrine not only of curbing and restraining the power of Princes but also of deposing them from their Regal Dignity whensoever they shall please to pretend cause for it For when the Scotch Commissioners were commanded by Queen Elizabeth to give a reason of their proceedings against their Queen whom not long before they had deposed from the Regal Throne they justified themselves by those words of Calvin which I have chosen for the Argument of this Discourse By the authority of Calvin as my Author hath it they endeavoured to prove that the Popular Magistrates are appointed and made to moderate and keep in order the excess and unruliness of Kings and that it is lawful for them to put the Kings that be evill and wicked into prison and also to deprive them of their Kingdoms If these reasons shall not prove the seasonableness of this Adventure I am the more to be condemned for my indiscretion the shame whereof I must endure as well as I can This being said in order to my justification I must add somewhat of the Book or Discourse it self in which the canvassing and confuting of Calvins Grounds about the Ephori of Sparta the Tribunes of Rome and the Demarchi of Athens hath forced me upon many Quotations both Greek and Latine which to the learned Reader will appear neither strange nor difficult And for the sake of the unlearned which are not so well verst and studyed in forein Languages I have kept my self to the direction of St. Paul not speaking any where in a strange tongue without an Interpreter the sense of every such Quotation being either declared before or delivered after it Lastly whereas the Name of Appius Claudius doth many times occur in the History of the Roman Tribunes it is not always to be understood of the same Man but of diverse men of the same Name in their several Ages as the name of Caesar in the New Testament signifieth not one man but three that is to say the Emperor Tiberius in the Gospels Claudius in the Book of the Acts and that most bloudy Tyrant Nero in the Epistle to the Philippians Which being premised I shall no longer keep the Reader in Portch or Entrance but let him take a view of the House it self the several Rooms Materials and Furniture of it long Prefaces to no long Discourses being like the Gates of Mindum amongst the Antients which were too great and large for so small a City The Argument occasion of this following Treatise Joh. Calvini Institution Lib. 4. cap. 20. sect 31. NEque enim si ultio Domini est effrenatae dominationis correctio ideo protinus demandatam nobis arbitremur quibus nullum aliud quam parendi patiendi datum est Mandatum De privatis hominibus semper loquor Nam siqui nunc sint Populares Magistratus ad moderandum Regum libidinem constituti quales olim erant qui Lacedaemoniis Regibuâ— oppositi erant Ephori aut Romanis Consulibus Tribuni Plebis aut Atheniensium Senatui Demarchi qua etiam forte potestate ut nunc res habent funguntur in singulis Regnis tres Ordines cum primarios Conventus peragunt adeo illos ferocienti Regum licentiae pro officio intercedere non veto ut si Regibus impotenter grâ—ssantibus humili plebeculae insultantibus conniveant eorum dissimulationem nefaria perfidia non carere affirmem qua populi libertatem cujus se Dei ordinatione tutores positos norunt fraudulenter produnt NOr may we think because the punishment of licentious Princes doth belong to God that presently this power is devolved on us to whom no other warrant hath been given by God but only to obey and suffer But still I must be understood of private persons For if there be now any popular Officers ordained to moderate the licentiousness of Kings such as were the Ephori set up of old against the Kings of Sparta the Tribunes of the people against the Roman Consuls and the Demarchi against the Athenian Senate and with w ch power perhaps as the world now goes the three Estates are seized in each several Kingdom when they are solemnly assembled so far am I from hindring them to put restraints upon the exorbitant power of Kings as their Office bindes them that I conceive them rather to be guilty of a perfidious dissimulation if they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insult on the common people in that they treacherously betray the Subjects Liberties of which they knew they were made Guardians by Gods own Ordinance Syllabus Capitum CHAP. I. The Doctrine of Obedience laid down by Calvin and of the Popular Officers supposed by him whereby he overthroweth that Doctrine I THe purpose and design of the work in hand II The Doctrine of Obedience unto Kings and Princes soundly and piously laid down by CALVIN III And that not only to the good and gratious but even to cruel Princes and ungodly Tyrants IV With Answer unto such Objections as are made
to the number of the Spartan Ephori which they called Tribunes of the people of which Sicinius and Junius Brutus must be two at least We may be sure they took not all this pains for nothing 3 And yet all this was nothing if they got not more The Articles and Conditions which they had agreed on had bound them too precisely to their good behaviour and if they did not break those bonds they were Prisoners still But first they must be fortified with some special priviledges to keep their persons out of danger that they might boldly venture upon any project without fear of law and put themselves into such condition that whatsoever wrongs they did they would not be called to an accompt To that end Brutus taking his opportunitie whilest the heats were up and the Senate in a disposition to deny them nothing causeth a law to be propounded obtained for the perpetual indemnitie of the Tribunes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for declaring of their Office to be sacred and inviolable n Dâ—oâ—ys Halicarn l. 6. The substance of the law was to this effect That no man should compell the Tribunes to doe any thing against their wills nor beat or cause them to be beaten nor kill or cause them to be killed if any should presume to do the contrarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was to be pursued as an execrable person and his goods confiscate and whosoever slew him should escape unpunished and do a meritorious service to the Common-wealth A Priviledge which they found good use of in the times succeeding and made it serve their turns upon all occasions Martius complained of them in the Senate for disobedience to the Consuls and an intent to bring an Anarchie upon the State o Plutarh in Coriolano they vote this for a breach of priviledge and nothing but his death or banishment will give them satisfaction for it Apptus being Consul sends his Lictor to lay hands upon them for raising tumults in the City p Livie hist Rom. lib. 2. this is another breach of priviledge and he shall answer for it when his year was out Caeso Quintius like a noble Patriot joyns with the Consuls and the Senate to oppress their insolencies when neither law nor reason would prevail upon them this also is a breach of priviledge and his life shall pay for it q Id. l. 3. But to proceed having obtained this law for their own securitie their next work was to break or pass by those laws by which the State was governed in all times before and which themselves had yeelded to at their first creation It was the practise of the City from the first fnundation and a continual custom hath the force of law to give such respect unto the Senate that the people did not vote nor determine any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r Dionys Halicarnass l. 7. which the Senate had not first debated and resolved upon This though no breach of priviledge was a main impediment to the advancing of those projects which they had in hand and therefore fit to be removed as removed it was and so a way made open unto that confusion which did expose the State to so many changes that it was never constant to one form of government Which being obtained the next thing to be brought about was to bring the election of the Tribunes into the hands of the people who had before the least part in it that so depending mutually upon one another they might co-operate together to destroy the State and bring it absolutely under the command of the common people For at the first according to the Articles of the Institution the Tribunes were to be elected in Comitiis Centuriatis as before was said where none but men of years and substance such as were of the Liverie as we speak in England had the right of Suffrage By means whereof the Patricians had a very great stroke in the Elections Et per Clientum suffragia creandi quos vellent potestatem s 〈◊〉 hist and by the voyces of their Clients or dependents set up whom they listed They must no longer hold this power The Tribunes were the creatures of the Common people and must be made by none but them A law must therefore be propounded to put the Election wholly into the hands of the people and to transact the same in Comitiis Tributis where no Patrician was to vote but all things carried by the voyces of the rascal Rabble Which though it caused much heat and no small ado yet it was carried at the last Appius complaining openly as his custom was Rempub. per metum prodi that the Senate did destroy the Common-wealth by their want of courage And whereas at the first they had so much modestie as not to come into the Senate t Valer. Maxim lib. 2. c. 2. Sed positis subselliis ante fores decreta Patrum examinare but to sit without upon some benches whilest they examined the decrees which had passed the house they challenge now a place though no vote in Senate t and had free ingress and egress when they would themselves 4 But their main business was to pull down the Nobles and make them of no more esteem then the common sort And upon this they set their strength and made it the first hansel of their new authoritie Martius had spoke some words in Senate which displeased the Tribunes and they incense the people to revenge the injury who promising to assist them in their undertakings an Officer is forthwith sent to apprehend him This caused the Patricians whom the cause concerned to stand close together and to oppose this strange incroachment and generally to affirm as most true it was that when they yeelded to the setting up of this new authority there was no power given them by the Senate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u Dionys Halicarn l. 7. but only to preserve the Commons from unjust oppressions The like did Martius plead in his own behalf as we finde in Livie auxilii non poenae jus datum illi potestati plebisque non patrum Tribunos esse x Livie hist lib. 2. that they were trusted with a power to help the Commons but with none to punish and were not Tribunes of the Lords but of the people And so much also was affirmed in the open Senate that the authority of the Tribunes was at first ordained not to offend or grieve the Senate but that the Commons might not suffer any grievance by it and that they did not use their power according to such limitations as were first agreed on and as of right they ought to use it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y Dionys Halicarn l. 7. but to the ruine and destruction of the Lawes established Enough of conscience to have staved them from the prosecution but that they had it in design and resolved to carry it For Brutus had before given out and
his Leiges Remember what was said before touching the writ of Summons in the said Kings time From this time till the last Parliament of King Charles there is no Kings reign of which we have not many though not all the Acts of Parliament still in print amongst us Nor is there any Act of Parliament in the printed Books to the enacting of the which the Bishops approbation and consent is not plainly specified either in the general Proeme set before the Acts or in the body of the Act it themself as by the books themselves doth at at large appear And to this kind of proof may be further added the form and manner of the writ by which the Prelates in all times have been called to Parliament being the very same verbatim with that which is directed to the temporal Barons save that the Spiritual Lords are commanded to attend the service in fide dilectione the temporal in fide homagio and of late times in fide ligeantia A form or copy of which summons as antient as King Johns time is still preserved upon Record directed nominatim to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury r V. Titles of hon pt 2. c. 5. and then a scriptum est similiter to the residue of the Bishops Abbats Earls and Barons Then adde the Privilege of Parliament for themselves and their servants during the time of the Sessions the liberty to kill and take one or two of the Kings Deer as they pass by any of his Forests in coming to the Parliament upon his commandement s Charta de Foresta cap. their enjoying of the same immunities which are and have been heretofore enjoyed by the Temporal Barons t Cambden in Britannia and tell me if the Bishops did not sit in Parliament by as good a title and have not sate there longer by some hundreds of years in their Predecessours as or than any of the Temporal Lords do sit or have sat there in their Progenitours and therefore certainly essential fundamental parts of the Court of Parliament 8. But against this it is objected first that some Acts have passed in Parliament to which the Prelates did not vote nor could be present in the House when the Bill was passed as in the sentencing to death or mutilation of a guilty person as doth appear both by the laws constitutions recognized at Clarendon and the following practice This hath been touched on before we told you then that this restraint was laid upon them not by the Common law of England or any Act or Ordinance of the House of Peers by which they were disabled to attend that service It was their own voluntary Act none compelled them to it but only out of a conformity to some former Canons ad sanctorum Canonum instituta x Antiqu. Brit. in Gul. Courtney as their own words are by which it was not lawfull for the Clergy men to be either Judges or Assessors in causa Sanguinis y Constitut Othobon fol. 45. And yet they took such care to preserve their Interests that they did not only give their Proxies for the representing of their persons but did put up their Protestation with a salvo jure for the preserving of their rights for the time to come jure Paritatis interessendi in dicto Parliamento z Antiqu. Britan. in Gul. Courtney quoad omnia singula ibi excercenda in omnibus semper salvo as the manner was Examples of the which are as full and frequent as their withdrawing themselves on the said occasions But then the main objection is that as some Acts have passed in Parliament absentibus Praelatis when the Bishops did absent themselves of their own accord so many things have been transacted in the Parliament excluso Clero when the Clergy have been excluded or put out of the House by some Act or Ordinance A precedent for this hath been found and published by such as envied that poor remnant of the Churches honour though possibly they will find themselves deceived in their greatest hope and that the evidence will not serve to evince the cause The Author of the Pamphlet entituled The Prerogative and practice of Parliaments first laying down his Tenet that many good Acts of Parliament may be made though the Arch-bishops and Bishops should not consent unto them a Printed at London 1628. p. 37. which is a point no man doubts of considering how easily their negative may be over-ruled by the far greater number in the House of Peers adds that at a Parliament holden at S. Edmundsbury 1196 in the reign of Ed 1. a Statute was made by the King the Barons and the Commons Excluso Clero for the proof herof refers us unto Bishop Jewell Now Bishop Jewell saith indeed that in a Parliament solemnly holden at St. Edmunsbury by King Edward 1. Anno 1296. the Arch-bishops and Bishops were quite shut forth and yet the Parliament held on and good and wholsome laws were there enacted the departing or absence of the Lords Spiritual notwithstanding b Defence of the Apolog. pt 6. c. 2. §. 1. In the Records whereof it is written thus Habito Rex cum Baronibus suis Parliamento Clero excluso statutum est c. the King keeping the Parliament with his Barons the Clergy that is to say the Arch-bishops and Bishops being shut forth it was enacted c. Wherein who doth not see if he hath any eyes that by this reason if the proof be good many good Acts of Parllament may be made though the Commons either out of absence or opposition should not consent unto them of whose consent unto that Statute whatsoever it was there is as little to be found in that Record as the concurrence of the Bishops But for Answer unto so much of this Record so often spoke of and applauded as concerns the Bishops we say that this if truly senced as I think it be not was the particular act of an angry and offended King against his Clergy not to be drawn into example as a proof or Argument against a most clear known and undoubted right The case stood thus A Constitution had been made by Boniface the 8th Ne aliqua collecta ex ecclesiasticis proventibus Regi aut cuivis alii Principi concedatur c Matth. Westm in Edw. 1. that Clergy men should not pay any tax or tallage unto Kings or Princes out of their Spiritual preferments without the leave of the Pope under pretence whereof the Clergy at this Parliament at S. Edmundsbury refused to be contributory to the Kings occasions when the Lay-Members of the House had been forwards in it The King being herewith much offended gives them a further day to confider of it adjourning the Parliament to London there to begin on the morrow after S. Hilaries day and in the mean time commanded all their Barns to be fast sealed up The day being come and the Clergy still
between St. Peter and St. Paul by which last the Supreme Powers whatsoever they be are called the Ordinance of God The Powers saith that Apostle are ordained of God and therefore he that resisteth the Powers resisteth the Ordinance of God Upon which words Deodate gives this Glosse or Comment That the supreme Powers are called the Ordinance of God because God is the Author of this Order in the world and all those who attain to these Dignities do so either by his manifest will and approbation when the means are lawfull or by his secret Providence by meer permission or toleration when they are unlawfull Now it is fitting that man should approve and tolerate that which God approves and tolerates But thirdly I conceive that those words in the Greek Text of St. Peter viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not so properly translated as they might have been and as the same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are rendred by the same Translators somewhat more neer to the Original in another place For in the 8. chapt to the Romans vers 22. we finde them rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the whole Creation and why not rather every Creature as both our old Translation and the Rhemists read it conform to omnis Creatura in the vulgar Latine which had they done and kept themselves more near to the Greek Original in St. Peters Text they either would have rendred it by every humane Creature as the Rhemists do or rather by all Men or by all Man-kinde as the words import And then the meaning will be this that the Jewes living scattered and disperst in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia and other Provinces of the Empire were to have their conversation so meek and lowly for fear of giving scandal to the Gentiles amongst whom they lived as to submit themselves to all Man-kinde or rather to every Man unto every humane Creature as the Rhemists read it that was in Authority above whether it were unto the Emperor himself as their supreme Lord or to such Legats Prefects and Procurators as were appointed by him for the government of those several Provinces to the end that they may punish the evil-doers and incourage such as did well living comformably to the Lawes by which they were governed Small comfort in this Text as in any of the rest before for those popular Officers which Calvin makes the Overseers of the soveraign Prince and Guardians of the Liberties of the common people If then there be no Text of Scripture no warrant from the word of God by which the popular Officers which Calvin dreams of are made the Keepers of the Liberties of the Common people or vested with the power of opposing Kings and soveraign Princes as often as they wantonly insult upon the people or wilfully infringe their Priviledges I would fain learn how they should come to know that they are vested with such power or trusted with the defence of the Subjects Liberties cujus se Dei ordinatione Tutores positos esse norunt as Calvin plainly saies they do If they pretend to know it by inspiration such inspiration cannot be known to any but themselves alone neither the Prince or people whom it most concerneth can take notice of it Nor can they well assure themselves whether such inspirations come from God or the Devil the Devil many times insnaring proud ambitious and vain-glorious Men by such strange Delusions If they pretend to know it by the Dictate of their private Spirit the great Diana of Calvin and his followers in expounding Scripture we are but in the same uncertainties as we were before And who can tell whether the private Spirit they pretend unto and do so much brag of 1 King 22. 22. may not be such a lying Spirit as was put into the mouthes of the Prophets when Ahab was to be seduced to his own destruction Adeo Argumenta ex absurdo petita ineptos habent exitus as Lactantius notes it All I have now to add is to shew the difference between Calvin and his followers in the propounding of this Doctrine delivered by Calvin in few words but Magisterially enough and with no other Authority then his ipse dixit enlarged by David Paraeus in his Comment on the 13. chapter to the Romans into divers branches and many endevours used by him as by the rest of Calvins followers to finde out Arguments and instances out of several Authors to make good the cause For which though Calvin scap'd the fire yet Paraeus could not Ille Crucem pretium sceleris tulit hic Diadema For so it hapned that one Mr. Knight of Brodegates now Pembroke Colledge in Oxford had preach'd up the Authority of these popular officers in a Sermon before the University about the beginning of the year 1622. for which being presently transmitted to the King and Councel he there ingenuously confessed that he had borrowed both his Doctrine and his proofs and instances from the Book of Paraeus above mentioned Notice whereof being given to the University the whole Doctrine of Paraeus as to that particular was drawn into several Propositions which in a full and frequent Convocation held on the 25. of June 1622. were severally condemned to be erroneous scandalous and destructive of Monarchical Government Upon which Sentence or determination the King gave order that as many of those books as could be gotten should solemnly and publickly be burnt in each of the Universities and St. Pauls Church-yard which was done accordingly An accident much complained of by the Puritan party for a long time after who looked upon it as the funeral pile of their Hopes and Projects till by degrees they got fresh courage carrying on their designs more secretly by consequence more dangerously then before they did The terrible effects whereof we have seen and felt in our late Civil Wars and present confusions But it is time to close this point and come to a conclusion of the whole Discourse there be no other Objections that I know of but what are easily reduced unto those before or not worth the Answering 15. Thus have we took a brief Survey of those insinuations grounds or Principles call them what you will which CALVIN hath laid down in his Book of Institutions for the incouragement of the Subjects to rebellious courses and putting them in Arms against their Soveraign either in case of Tyrannie Licentiousness or Mal-administration of what sort soever by which the Subjects may pretend that they are oppressed either in point of liberty or in point of property And we have shewn upon what false and weak foundations he hath raised his building how much he hath mistook or abused his Authors but how much more he hath betrayed and abused his Readers For we have clearly proved and directly manifested out of the best Records and Monuments of the former times that the Ephori were not instituted in the State of Sparta to oppose the Kings nor the Tribunes in the State of Rome to oppose the Consuls nor the Demarchi in the Common-wealth of Athens to oppose the Senate or if they were that this could no way serve to advance his purpose of setting up such popular Officers in the Kingdoms of Christendom those Officers being only found in Aristocraties or Democraties but never heard or dreampt of in a Monarchical Government And we have shewn both who they are which constitute the three Estates in all Christian Kingdoms and that there is no Christian Kingdom in which the three Estates convened in Parliament or by what other name soever they do call them have any authority either to regulate the person of the Soveraign Prince or restrain his power in case he be a Soveraign Prince and not meerly titular and conditional and that it is not to be found in Holy Scripture that they are or were ordained by God to be the Patrons and Protectors of the Common people and therefore chargeable with no lesse a crime than a most perfidious Dissimulation should they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or want only abuse that power which the Lord hath given them to the oppression of their Subjects In which last points touching the designation of the three Estates and the authority pretended to be vested in them I have carried a more particular eye on this Kingdom of England where those pernicious Principles and insinuations which our Author gives us have been too readily imbraced and too eagerly pursued by those of his party and opinion If herein I have done any service to Supreme Authority my Countrey and some misguided Zelots of it I shall have reason to rejoyce in my undertaking If not posterity shall not say that Calvins memory was so sacred with me and his name so venerable as rather to suffer such a Stumbling-block to be laid in the Subjects way without being censured and removed than either his authority should be brought in question or any of his Dictates to a legal tryal Having been purchased by the Lord at so dear a price we are to be no longer the Servants of men or to have the truth of God with respect of persons I have God to be my Father and the Church my Mother and therefore have not only pleaded the Cause of Kings and Supreme Magistrates who are the Deputies of God but added somewhat in behalf of the Church of England whose Rights and priviledges I have pleaded to my best abilities The issue and success I refer to him by whom Kings do reign and who appointed Kings and other Supreme Magistrates to be nursing Fathers to his Church that as they do receive authority and power from the hands of God so they may use the same in the protection and defence of the Church of God and God even their own God will give them his Blessing and save them from the striving of unruly people whose mouth speaketh proud words and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity FINIS