urged on one man confiding in his own singularity He might have known them to have been unanswerably refuted and kild before their birth But since he will have the Parliament so great practicians of Popish policy in respect of some infallibilitie which he saies and they never arrogated save onely a probability of lesse erring in that question betwixt his Majestie and themselves let me I say nakedly recite what the learned and yet unanswered Divine in this matter which the Animadversor so triumphs in hath urged against the Papists whom it most concerns so to leave the Reader to assume what shall seem most deducible to himself His words are these Chilling c. 2 p. 49. * He that would usurp an absolute tyranny and lordship over any people need not put himself to the trouble and difficulty of abrogating his Laws made to maintain the common liberty for he may frustrate their intent and compasse his design as well if he can get the power and authority to interpret them as he pleases and have his interpretations stand for laws I shall not need to recapitulate the condition of our Laws before the Parliament nor yet what interpretations they received Which interpretations were held so Authentique that they made the Law but a nose of wax to wring some times this way for Ship-money and for the lawfulnesse of it as to make the King likewise the sole Judge and redresser of all publike dangers sometimes another way for legall monopolies c. Let the world then judge who arrogate most infallibility or have more made use of Papists or Popish policy 3 The Observator saith that the Parliament deserted by the King in the whole Kingdoms distresse may relieve it and the King Here is asserted the publique Interest of State which can fall under no notion of any inferiour Court to examine But the Animadversor draws this consequence from thence That then every mans estate may be wrested from his propriety and possession Quà m urceus exit Here he doth most palpably discover the loosenesse of his Logick and cause and how little he holds to his premisses and state of the Controversie betwixt King and Parliament which I so oft noted before and shewed the case to be De jure publico and so politicall Commutative therefore and Distributive Justice being of inferior matters have their inferior Courts and the apparant letter of the Law to decide and power to actuate what is rightly decided But this controversie being De jure publico of a publike right it fals under the notion of another sort of Justice whereas particular proprieties and possessions fall under those two inferior sorts of Justice as hath been proved in the conclusion of the first Position which together with this shew the sandinesse and incoherence of the Animadversors consequence Here therefore we will onely note that even in a common distresse which is lesse then a publique without a Vote of Parliament or expecting any other dispensation of Right a particular propriety may be destroyed by a Community to preserve it self As when the Sea breaks in upon a County a bank may be made of and on this or that mans ground whether he please or no And when our Neighbour Vcalcyons house blazes frequently wee see some houses pluckt down where the fire actually broke not out lest it should consume the whole street And equitie before Poesie that in respect of the propinquitie of the danger we are supposed to be even in the danger it selfe and that the house so pluckt downe is not supposed so much to be dilapidated as burnt Tuns tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet But I wonder by what Act or Declaration the Parliament hath denyed a compensation to the sufferer in that kinde as the Question now stands If all men did not know that the Parliament hath so provided for the indemnity of those at Hull perhaps the Animadversor might have gained the credit of some modestie in averring That the Parliament upholds publike good with private misery With the like grace also and with sufficient confidence doth he tell us That if there be a great distresse in the Kingdome it is caused by the Parliaments claiming that power which cannot consist with the Royall estate of his Majestie T is prodigious to all honest understandings That the neare engagements of warre with the Scotts twice meerly upon misunderstandings That the designe of strangling the Parliament as soone as it was borne for proofe of which the Parliament presumes to have had too much sufficiency That having the bloudiest and true Papisticall warre in Ireland raysed against our Nation and that against the Parliament especially in the walls of whose house they have already endangered the a breach Jam perlucente ruinâ That even now among our selves we see some who with more alacrity are ready to employ themselves against that sacred Assembly than against those unchristian Rebells and yet that all this should be too little to evince the Realitie as the Animadversor saith of a distressed Kingdome and who is yet more transcendent That all this should be caused by the Parliament which aymes at nothing but the extirpation of the Parliament root and branch and of which some part of it viz. the Scotch troubles had being long before the Parliament had any and then I pray how could it be the cause of it How the King is head and we the body and how the King cannot be insulted over by having his Kingdome and Selfe preserved from ruine is proved at large by the Observer beyond the capacitie of any his animadversions Whether the people may revoke all they actually have transacted to their King is a Question very impertinently inserted by the Animadversor in respect of any thing that the Observator hath in the Parliaments case which is such That when the King shall have endeavoured his utmost he will finde that he shall not be able to preserve the Kingdome in extremitie of distresse without the assistance of the Kingdome it selfe However this the Observator denies that the people could make such a conveyance of power to their Kings as might prove destructive of humanitie So that much of the Animadvertors Divinitie might have been husbanded for an aptor occasion Neverthelsse St Paul in the 13. of the Romans tells us not what power is the highest but that that power which is the highest ought to be obeyed Againe St Paul speaks first of a few particular disperst men and those againe in a primitive condition who had no means to provide for their preservation Moreover it s very observable that St Paul in the 3. verse speaks of a Ruler as our Law speaks of our King viz. That he is not a terror to good but to evill workes The Law likewise saith The King can doe no injustice The interpretation of the one must square with the other and that must be according to the distinction of Fact and Right For according to Fact St
hath such a consent once granted were sufficient to binde the People that it cannot ever be lawfull for them by a major part of them comming in with their Nolumus hunc regnare super nos to deprive him of that right But surely they would never make so absolute a grant of their power to Princes as to devest themselves of it Good Sir shew me that proviso in their grant But it seemes to you unnaturall they should I doe not wonder it should seeme so to you who make it agreeable to the Clearest beames of humane reason and the strongest inclinations of nature and by consequence as you would perswade the world justifiable For every private man to defend himselfe by force if assaulted though by the force of Magistrate or his owne Father and though hee bee not without all confidence by flight c. I wish whilest you have such recourse to nature you would not forget Christianity which teaches subjection and obedience and gives no liberty either to privat men or the maior part of the communalty of resistance but saith they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And if the Observator be a Gentleman he should tender how he hath recourse to nature in point of right least he give occasion to some Wat Tyler's Chaplaine to preach againe upon that text When Adam dolue and Eve span Who was then a Gentleman He may find a goodly Sermon upon the text set downe by Iohn Stow in Richard the second and such Doctrine delivered upon it the use of which would shake his title to his inheritance and the name of Gentleman POSITION IV. That no Member of the Parliament ought to be troubled for Treason c. without leave OBSERVATOVR This is intended of suspitions onely and when leave may seasonably bee had And when competent accusers appeare not in the impeachment ANMADVERSION IV. HIs Majesty hath said so much of this and so little of it hath beene answered or indeed is answerable that I shall not need to say muach Onely I observe the modesty of this Observatour that he doth not absolutely say they are not to be troubled for those crimes but not upon suspition onely c. I know not what he may call suspitions but I beleeve the best evidences may easily be held for bare suspitions if they may not have liberty to speake out and that they cannot have unlesse the accuser be first in safe custody and brought to triall where they may legally be produced And I beleeve few wise men will thinke it reasonable that the grounds of suspition of Treason should encessarily be opened before triall POSITION V. THat the Soveraigne Power resides in both Houses of Parliament The King having no negative Voyce OBSERVATOVR This power is not claimed as ordinary nor to any purpose but to save the Kingdome from ruine and in case where the Kingdome is so seduced as that he prefers dangerous men and persecutes his loyall Subjects ANIMADVERSION V. HIs Majesty infers upon this Position That himselfe must be Subject to their Commands This sounds but harshly in the eares of loyall Subjects That any posture wherein they can be put can raise Subjects to a capacity of Soveraignty and reduce their Soveraigne to become their Subject But he comforts us here and tels us this power is not claimed as ordinary nor to any purpose c. This is but poore comfort it is not but it may be in good time if they please He doth not say they shall not hereafter or cannot claime it as ordinary and to other purposes then that he names So that there may be other causes that may make them claime this power as well as this But indeed they need no more if it be in their power to declare that to be the case of the King and Kingdome when they please But they will never doe it but where there is a just cause for it and the truth leades them to it Truely I beleeve honourably of the Iustine and Wisedome of Parliaments but I do beleeve that they are not either infallible or that they cannot possibly doe amisse And the Observatour must bring better arguments and I feare he cannot bring so good to make me beleeve otherwise then ever yet were brought for the infallibility of a generall Councell But I have said enough for the present of the residence of Soveraign power in the Parliament and the ground of their claime to it by the vertue of representation in my third Animadversion J shall here onely give the Reader a briefe glosse upon the language here used by the Observatour To save the Kingdome from ruine that is from Monrachy or being goverued by the King The King is seduced that is he is perswaded by his owne understanding and other evill Counsellours not to part with Soveraignty nor to become a Subject to his Subjects He prefers dangerous men that is such as would have him still to be their King prosecutes his loyall Subjects that is such as would rule him and the people at their pleasure POSITION VI. THat the levying of forces against the personall commands of the King though accompanied with his presence is not levying of warre against the King but warre against his authority not Person is warre against the King OBSERVATOVR If this were not so The Parliament seeing a seduced King ruinating himselfe and the Kingdome could not save both but stand and looke on ANIMADVERSION VI. I Thought this Position so strangly Paradoxall and so apparently contrary to reason and common sense that no man would have appeared in defence of it Yet this Observator never blushes nor blinkes at it but affirmes it stoutly But for all that I shall beleeve very slowly That the Kings person can at any time bee without his Authority Or that they may destroy the Kings Person to preserve the King My Faith is not strong enough to beleeve these sublime points and mysteries of State I shall subscribe thus farre That warre against the Kings Authority though in the absence of his Person is warre against the King But that the King and his person should be in two places will never I feare downe with me But however I le see his reason What 's that Why else the Parliament seeing a seduced King running himselfe and his Kingdome could not save both but must stand and looke on Surely this reason is full of waight and ready to burst it is big with probability I supose the Reader understands his language heere by my former glosse But if wee should take the words as they sound the reason would seeme as strange as that which is brought to confirme The King running himselfe and his Kingdome a mad King or an Ideot hee meanes and then 't was fit the Parliament appointed him a gardian Ruining himselfe and his Kingdome Is it possible That the King should ruine himselfe and his Kingdome What The King alone Is he alone able to doe it without the people It
Pauls Ruler may be a torror to good and a cherishing to evill workes but by Right he ought not to be so Our Law sayth Our King rather ought not in Right than that de Facto he cannot doe injustice For we know there have been both unjust Kings and ill Rulers But least there should be such Scripture it selfe as well as our Parliament doth endeavour to binde them from exercising ill As Deut. 17. ver 18 19 20. The King shall have a booke to learne to keepe the Law and to doe according to it least his heart be lifted up above his brethren And Ezech. 46.18 The Prince may not take of the peoples inheritance by oppression and thrust them out of it but shal be content with his own possession least other men be scattered from their possessions Wherein then hath the Parliament denyed the King that due which St Paul allowes his Ruler Who he saith as is very observable through the whole Chapter that he may be a Minister to us onely for good And to keepe the Parliament even with St Paul What else doth it hazard it selfe for but for refusing to favour the King in an uncircumscribed power of doing ill Which facultie he vindicates to himselfe irrestrainably And that by vertue of some Right and enlargement of Law and Religion even to doe all manner of ill if so be he shall ever be pleased so to doe Moreover St Paul hath not nor could any where repeale the lawes of nature so that if the Parliament in its case hath neither declin'd them nor our own Originall Contracts nor the present interest of State nor St Paul Then I hope it hath kept it selfe consonantly to Law and Religion Out of all this with what followes in the sixth Position wee may easily answer to the Animadversors Objection of Resistance For out of those premisses it appeares That in the King there are two things onely First His Person Secondly His office authoritie or as St Paul calls it his Power For his person we hold it alwayes inviolable For his power or office because St Paul sayth it respects us onely for good us very reasonable that we apply our selves in obedience to that for our owne sakes as well as for his But the Court Parasites they are not content with this distribution but adde to the person and power or office of a Prince that which they call The will or pleasure of a Prince or rather they marry the power or office of a Prince to his Will And so by that subtill conjunction they proving them all one Quia omnis potestas est voluntatis then they aske us the Question Whether we are not equally bound to obey the one in all latitudes as well as the other As if we had contracted for the evill as well as the good and that as it should seem best to the Prince we contracted with But to that we clearlier answer That because the will lies under an indifferency of commanding the ill as well as the good we may lawfully embrace that part and power onely of his will which is to good as St Paul saith which indeed is the very essence of his power and makes him a King and we may reject the other which makes him a bloudy Tyrant Yet not so as to violate his person in any case no more than David would King Saul but preservatively to thrust as farre from us as we are able all other bloud-suckers who are forward to execute on us his ruining commands because in such a case he contracts his own ruine as well as ours and is supposed to be in a distemper and in stead of a wholesome potion to call for poyson which I thinke no good or honest Physitian would obey but rather resist those that would obey him Wherefore in these considerations it is not here as the Animadversor saith of the Parliament Nolumus hunc regnare super nos but Nolumus hos destruere nos But of this in the sixth Position And for this hath been asserted I know I quote our owne Gracious Prince who hath been pleased thus to indoctrinate us in his severall Protestations of venturing his own life to preserve us in the fruition of our due liberties of Subjects which we are sure we cannot enjoy from him if by that Protestation he intended to force upon us a duty and allegiance of embracing all those tormentors whom he should send to us at any time on any occasion lawfull or not lawfull to spoyle us either of our lives or subsistance If so be so much evill should possibly hereafter enter into his Majesties sacred thoughts and will Of which therefore seeing there is never a knowne Law of the Land and that it hath no analogie with the true Protestant Religion and our own just liberties of Subjects we will presume that his Majestie abhorres the thought of chaining us to such a slavery for his own part both in Fact Right though alas he cannot promise us that all his Successors shall do the like Wherefore the Animadversor doth plainly abuse his Majestie in this Argument doth desperately corrupt his present cause Thus we see what evils we may thrust from us and how we are bound to preserve the Kings power or office together with his person as much as our own But the Animadversor together with his Tribe preach another kinde of doctrine from whence they know how to raise better uses for their ends than the King can doe any And that is That instead of opposing the worst of those evills which a Kings bare pleasure may be that we should suffer by the hands of other persons that we should I say simply betake our selves to flight leaving all that we have in this world but our lives to the Kings disposall and to be transferred to those whom he shall thinke better worthy of them than our selves But in the Parliaments case it hath been observed that as it is impossible in a manner for a whole Kingdome to flie so surely cannot that be required of it This ease is not as Davids a particular mans was who being in the right yet in danger fled indeed but it was from one place to stand better on his guard in another 4 No Member of Parliament ought to be troubled for Treason upon suspition onely especially I say in such a case whereof not onely the whole House but the whole Kingdome knowes it selfe to be a like culpable And that the accused were in safe custody is not to be doubted of by the Animadversor if the engagement of a whole Kingdome can give securitie which is sufficient enough for five men for ought the Amimadversor hath to the contrary 5. Because the Parliament to save a whole Kingdome once from ruine hath used some power which is communicable to a whole Kingdom in such an extraordinary case Therefore it may saith the Animadversor usurpe it in ordinary cases because it may declare the danger what it will at pleasure
and it is not infallible As this consequence of the Animadversor is the same with that of the third Position so may the answer of that be applyed to this to which I shall refer the Reader This onely will I adde That there is no need to create an Infallibilitie in the Parliament to discerne matters of Fact within every mans cognizance but to afford it onely a probabilitie of lesse erring or being lesse deceived rather than a particular Individuall And that it 's common interest joyned with its indirectnesse and integritie of which the extraordinary exact choosing of the Members at the beginning it is an extraordinary proofe may be a forcible Improbabilitie of its ever usurping such a power in ordinary cases which as it cannot be serviceable any way to us because ordinary cases have their most convenient courses certainly regulated so can it not be but extreamly dangerous to themselves alone and no wayes advantageous Because in such cases we participate all of us of the like conveniences This Position the Animadversor is pleased to conclude with a Ridle That the ruine which the Parliament intends to save the Kingdome from is to save it from Monarchy Risum teneatis amici Are we so overgrowne with that government which our Lawes are lockt and cabenetted in in such manner that the wounding of the one is the bleeding of the other Or is it true which the Bishops have so long pulpited at Court that the raising of their power must be the Ecclipse of the other although we know and all the world with us That Monarchy was of a more extended latitude and absolutenesse before Christianity was profest by any Monarch than ever it was since Or more coherently to the Animadversors owne words Can there be no abuses or Cobwebs in Church or Common-wealth but they must needs be spun out of the bowells of Monarchy so that the reforming and sweeping away of the one must needs be the sweeping away of the other For our own parts we will not make them so much Sonne and Father although the Animadversor be pleased to doe his Majestie this good service What then the too too true ruine of the Kingdome is conceived to be is set downe in the third Position And what Connexion there is in making Monarchy the same with that let the refined'st and the rudest Logick collect 6.7 Whether levying of Forces against the personall Commands of the King though accompanied with his presence be to war against the King is largely discourst by the Observator beyond any force of reason which the Animadversor hath used to enforce the contrary His Majestie acknowledged much of this to the Scotts whose preparations were in all respects like ours and which his Majestie found to be Non tam contra quam praeter authoritatem Regis after he had prest the Animadversors arguments as warmely as now he doth against other of his good Subjects though yet suffering under the great calamitie of his Royall displeasure But to say little of that which is so notorious to us all of this Kingdome Let us looke over to France and there we may see those who were as much Protestants as we that levied armes against their Kings commands accompanied with his presence and yet our King never thought them the worse Christians or Subjects for that and therefore made himselfe a partizan with them in their very cause so clearely was the piety and lawfulnesse of such an act at that time reconciled to his Majesties conscience and understanding All which the Animadversor must needs confesse unlesse he will owne the present Declarations of the Rochelers who with execrations of us say upon the event of their warre that the Duke of Buckingham's designe was to destroy and eate them up and that they had preserved their liberties and Religion from any adulterate mixture of Popery had they never seene him But according to the Animadversor It is impossible a King should ruine his Kingdome because he shall alwayes have the Major part with him But moderne miseries shew us the contrary witnesse the neare depopulated Principalities of Germany But to answer the Argument with like reason I say that after a King shall have destroyed the Minor part of his Kingdome with his Major why may he not then by some differences in the Major part be a cause even to bring that to destruction too But without supposing such a Fate why may he not Nero-like for pleasure sake desire that all the heads of the Major part stood but upon one necke that so he might chop them off at a blow Seing then such a King may ruine his Kingdom by lamentable distresses depopulations and if a Parliament hath the power to hinder it it doth that which it is bound to doe and which is neither against the person or genuine authoritie of the King unlesse we can apprehend a Kings authoritie without a Kingdome which is the object it extends to and acts in and which we have proved he may destroy and with out which the Animadversor must needs reduce such a King to a barer Title than he said our Parliament would reduce our King to FINIS