or Precinct to be holden there only and remove the Courts at Westminster to what place he pleaseth and adjourn the Terms as he sees cause this is book-book-Law 6. H. 7.9.6 Eli. Dier 226. But I pray what Law set up the new slaughter-house in England viz. the high Court of Justice Doubtlesse it was not the Kings Law and if not his Law it was no Law for England never heard of any other but the Kings Laws You have already heard that the King was before Parliaments that the King first instituted Parliaments not Parliaments the King that the House of Commons is but as it were of yesterday and that both Houses are nothing else but what the King made them Let us now see what the King did make them with what power this Idol the House of Commons is invested since they have nothing else to shew for what they are than the Kings Writ that being their Basis and only legal authority Take a view of the Writ The King to the Vicount or Sheriff Greeting WHereas by the advice and assent of our Counsell for certain arduous and urgent affairs concerning us the State and defence of our Kingdom of England and the Anglican Church We have ordained a certain Parliament of ours to be held at our City _____ the _____ day of _____ next ensuing and there to have conference and to treat with the Prelats Great-Men and Peers of our said Kingdom We command and strictly enjoyn you that making Proclamation at the next County Court after the receit of this our Writ to be holden the day and place aforesaid you cause two Knights girt with Swords the most fit and discreet of the County aforesaid and of every City of that County two Citizens of every Borough two Burgesses of the discreeter and most sufficient to be freely and indifferently chosen by them who shall be present at such Proclamation according to the Tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided and the names of the said Knights Cittizens and Burgesses so chosen to be inserted in certain Indentures to be then made between you and those that shall be present at such Election whether the parties so elected be present or absent and shall makâ— them to come at the said day and place so that the said Knights for themselves and for the County aforesaid and the Citizens and the Burgesses for themselves and the Cominalty of the said Cities and Burroughs may have severally from them full and sufficient power to do and to consent to those things which then by the favour of God shall there happen to be ordained by the Common Counsel of our said Kingdom concerning the businesse aforesaid So that the businesse may not by any means remain undone for want of such power or by reason of the improvident election of the aforesaid Knights Citizens and Burgesses But we will not in any case that you or any other Sheriff of our said Kingdome shall be eâ—ected And at the day and place aforesaid the said Election being made in a full County Court you shall certifie without delay to us in our Chancery under your Seal and the Seals of them which shall be present at that Election sending back unto us the other part of the Indenture aforesaid affiled to these presents together with the Writ Witnesse our self at Westminster This Writ is the foundation of the Parliament upon which the whole fabrick of their power and proceedings is grounded It is that which setteth up a Parliament Man and is the only Commission which distinguisheth him from another man for without that every man in the Kingdom hath equal right and authority to sit and vote in Parliament Now by Law no man ought to exceed his Commission Therefore if the Lords or Commons act beyond the bounds of their power limited in this Writ their only Commission they are transgressors and incur the punishment of Malefactors The Writ telleth you that both Houses are but as it were the production of the Privy Council for though the King ordaineth the Parliament yet it is by the advice and assent of his Council why then may not the Kings privy Council being prius tempore lay claim to the Soveraignty as well as his Common Council surely both have like right The Lords are only enabled by their call tâ— Conferr and Treat and that not without but with the King It is their Counsel to advise not their power to authorize which the King requireth For why had not the King ordained a certain Parliament to be and there to â—ave Conference and to treat with them they â—ad not come to give him Counsel and as they â—annot come but when the King commands them â—o neither can they chuse but come when the King â—oth command except the King excuse them â—nd being come they are but as Judge Jenkinsâ—ith â—ith Consiliarii non Praeceptores Counsellors â—or Commanders for to Counsel is not to Comâ—and They are only to advise not to controul â—r compel the King The Parliament is ordained â—y the â—ing as appeareth by the Writ only for â—ertain arduous and urgent affairs 1. Touching â—he King 2. The State of the Kingdom â— The defence of the Kingdom 4. The â—tate of the Church And 5. The â—efence of the same Church Though it â—e arduous yet not urgent occasion to destroy â—ingship To condemn the King to death and â—unishment is not touching the King but a Maleâ—ctor To kill the King is to destroy the kingdom â—ot to defend it and his death is the death of â—e Church and Religion O how have the Long â—arliament swarved from the true ends for â—hich Parliaments were ordained Indeed the Lords not as the upper House of â—arliament but as a distinct Court of the Kings Baâ—ns have power to reform erroneous judgeâ—ents given in the Kings Bench But there is first Petition of Right made to the King and his anâ—wer to it viz. Fiat Justitia The Court of Parliament is only the House of Lords where the King sitteth and they are his common-Counsel it belongs to them to receive all Petitions to advise his Majesty with their Counsel and to consent to what Laws the King shall make by their advice Not to speak of the qualities of the persons of the House of Commons being most of them to wit Citizens and Burgesses Tradesmen brought up in their Shops not in any University or Academy of Law and Learning and as fit to Govern and make Laws God wot as Cows are to dance The rest of them being Knights of Shires chosen commonly rather for their Mony than their Wit having greater wealth than head-pieces I pass from their education to the authority which the King vouchsafed to bestow upon them which is only what is contained in the Writ viz. facere consentire to do consent but to what Not unto such things which they shall ordain but unto such things which are ordained by the King and
with a sure foot Though King David was a man after Gods own heart yet could he not please the people for Absolom his own Son made a conspiracy against him and forced him to flye for his life But mark the end of this Traytor though the earth did not open her mouth and swallow him up yet the very Trees took vengeance and caught him up by the head so that he hung between heaven and earth as unworthy to go to heaven or to live upon the earth 11 Sam. 18.9 Then how dare these Pulpit Hunters blaspheme God and prophane his Word and Sanctuary so much as to preach that Rebellion is obedience nay a necessary duty commanded of God and a great means to carry on the work of Salvation inciting the people to cry out for justice accounting all things injustice unless that they have their wicked ends So Absolom did steal the hearts of the people who had controversies telling them that there was no man deputed of the King to hear them 11 Sam. 15.4 And Absolom said moreover O that I were made judge in the Land that every man which hath any sute or cause might come unto me and I would do them Justice A true Lecture of a Traytor for you shall never find Traytors without Law and Justice on their sides to colour their actions The King hath not deputed a man say they to distribute Justice He is popishly given and would bring into the Kingdome the popish Religion He infringeth your Charters breaketh the Laws and destroyeth your Rights and Liberties But O that we were made Judges in the Land how equally and impartially would we give justice to all men we would not take away your Charters nor encroach upon your Liberties The preservation of the Law and Religion is the only cause for which we take up arms But when with their charms and sorcery they have intoxicated the people got the hilt of the sword into their own hands and a power to do what they list then down goeth both Law and Religion and the King too like Jonas must be thrown down from the stern of Government to appease the tempest of the multitude And then and not untill then like the head of a Snail or a Tortoise out of it's shell not seen before doth appear their own cause and indeed the only cause for which they took up arms which is their own private interest and the destruction of the whole Kingdome with their own bodies and souls hereafter Hor. Suis ipsa Roma viribus ruit And Englands own Sword destroyeth poor England But let Traytors pretend what they will yet this is a Principle whose original is the Bible confirmed by our Saviour and the Apostles by all the Fathers of the Church and by all Christian people by all reason and Religion That Kings have the Supreme power over their people and consequently the people no power to resist them either to save their Laws Religion or for what other pretence soever For Rex si supra populum optimatesve agnoscat proprie non est Rex He cannot be a King which hath not the supreme authority and Soveraignty Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet It is God and the King to whom Soveraignty belongeth the people are their Vassals and not sharers in so high a dignity Our Saviour alone was both God and Man and it is a thing impossible for the people to be both king and Subject too at one time But why should I seek stars to light the noon day or press that with arguments to be true to them who with their oaths have confirmed it for a truth swearing I William Lenthal do utterly testify and declare in my conscience that the Kings Highness is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm and all other his Highness Dominions and Countries aswell in all spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or Causes as Temporal And that no forein Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Pre-eminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spâ—ritual within this Realm And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all forein Jurisdiction Powers Superiorities and Authorities and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear faith and true allegiance to the Kings Highnesse his heirs and lawfull Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Privileges Pre-eminences and authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highnesse his heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm So help me God and by the Contents of this Book What greater exemplification confirmation or demonstration of the kings Soveraignty can there be than this Sacred Oath of Supremacy For this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded saith Moses Num. 30.1 2. If a man Vow a Vow unto the Lord or swear an Oath to binde his soul with a bond he shall not break his word he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth And is there any English-man so impudently wicked and prophane as presumptuously to break Gods Commandement break his own vows and impiously turn perjured Traytor vix ipse tantum vix adhuc credo malum scarce I even I who have seen it with my own eyes can yet hardly believe so great a villany can be perpetrated Haec facere Jason potuit Could the betrothed do this Heu pietas Heu prisca fides Alas the antient piety Alas the fidelity of old time Debuit ferro obvium Offerre pectus I would have dyed first Quid non mortalia pectora cogis Auri sacra fames What doth not gold more sacred to them than their oathes compel mortals to atchieve Vid. 1. Eli. cap. 1. That the Kings power is above the Law is demonstrated by reason and proved by authority In the beginning were no Laws but the Kings will and pleasure Adams absolute power The King can do no wrong It is better and more profitable that one King than many Tyrants do what they lift with us The King hath no Judge but God That place in learned Bracton which Bradshaw and others used as an authority to kill the King explained and their damnable opinion and false Commentary upon him confuted The King is bound to observe Gods Law yet absolute King That God not the people instituteth kings and that the House of Commons which is but the tail of the Parliament nor any whole Parliament can have power over the king or disinherit him HAving made it evidently manifest that the King hath the supreme power and Soveraignty over the people I will now ascend a step higher and make it as manifest that he hath the supreme power and Soveraignty over the Laws as well as over the people Quidvis facere id est regem esse saith Salustius To do what one will is to be a King Cui quod libet licet Qui legibus solutus est Qui leges dat non accipit proiude qui omnes judicat a nemine
And it is the sweetnesse of the Bishops Lands which makes the Office of a Bishop so bitter and odious to our new States-men The Law would have them ejected from their ill gotten Fortune and Estates therefore they persecute the Law as their utter Enemy And say that they will have it no more coached in the City of London but carted in the Country amongst the Swains But they must likewise send the City with it into the Country otherwise the Body will dye when the Soul departeth and the City will perish when the Law and its Retinue bid it farewell As Histories both forein and domestique antient and modern and the whole Accademy of the Common Law so it is apparent by many Records and Judgements in Parliament And both the Lords and Commons in divers Acts of Parliament through many successions of Ages have declared that the King of England is Monarcha Imperator in regno suo a Monarch and Emperour in his Realm above all the people in his kingdom and inferiour to none on Earth but only the Almighty holding his Crown and Royal dignity immediately of God and of none else By the Statute of 28 H. 8. ca. 2. enacted in Ireland it is declared that the Kings of England are Lawful Kings and Emperours of the said Realm of England and of this Land of Ireland So by the Act of 16 R. 2. ca. 5. It is declared That the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to none other And what is the House of Commons a God if they are but men the Crown is not subject to them for the Statute telleth you it is in no Earthly subjection But perhaps they are Devils neither will that serve their turn for as it appeareth by the Act The Crown is immediately subject to God and to none other So by the Statute of 24 H. 8. cap. 12. it is declared Where by divers sundry old authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed That this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the World 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 God a natural and humble obedience he being also institute and furnished by the goodnesse and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary whole and entire power pre-eminence authority prerogative and Jurisdiction to render and yield justice and final determination to all manner of Folk and Subjects within his Realm and in aâ— causes matters and debates whatsoever Behold here and consider the Judgement of the whole people both Lords and Commons Who can contradict what they said None but the Antipodes of our Age who contradict all Truth Justice Law and Honesty I heard it affirmed that they were about to explode out of the new Testament the 13th Chapter of the Romans and other Texts in Scripture which commanded subjection to Kings Truly I believe they did not want knavery but only conveniency to effect it If the Bible had had but one Head off it had went as sure as the Kings In the Statute of 1 Eli. cap. 1. and in several other Acts of Parliamenâ— the Crown of England is called an Imperial Crown and the Parliament the Kings hâ—gh Court And that you may see that the Murtherers of Charls the Martyr pretended to want water when they were in the Sea read the Act of Parliament 1 Ia. cap. 1. wherein the Lords and Commons made this joyfull Recognition viz. Albeit We your Majesties loyal and faithfull Subjects of all Estates and Degrees with all possible and publick joy and acclamation by open proclamations within few hours after the decease of our late Soveraign Queen we declared with one full voice of tongue and heart your Majesty to be our only lawfull and rightfull Liege-Lord and Soveraign yet as we cannot do it too often or enough so it cannot be more fit than in this high Court of Parliament where the whole Kingdom in person or by Representatives is present upon the knees of our hearts to agnize our most constant faith obedience and loyalty to your Majesty and your Royal Progeny humbly beseeching it may be as a memorial to all Posterity recorded in Parliament and enacted by the same that we being bounden thereunto by the Laws of God and Man do recognize and acknowledg that immediately upon the death of Queen Elizabeth the imperial Crown of this Realm did by inherent birth-right and lawfull and undoubted succession descend and come to your Majesty and that by lawfull right and descent under one imperial Crown your Majesty is of England Scotland France and Ireland the most potent and mighty King and thereunto we most humbly and faithfully submit and oblige our selves our heirs and posterities for ever untill the last drop of our bloods be spent and beseech your Majesty to accept the same as the first fruits of our loyalty to your Majesty and Royal Progeny and Posterity for ever Which if your Majesty will adorn with your royal assent without which it neither can be compleat and perfect nor remain to all Posterity we shall adde this to the rest of your Majesties inestimable benefits But now Tiber runs backwards and the Moon giveth light unto the Sun the Servant ruleth the Master and the Peasant is mightier and greater than the King Nay in stead of walking on our feet as our fore-Fathers did we walk upon our heads and as for the old paths where is the good way we will not walk therein Our Ancestors have attested the Kings Soveraignity with their lives and sacred oaths but we attest the contrary so that if we of this age are not our Ancestors of all ages past were ignorant perjured fools Our Fathers as you see in the fore-going Statute did humbly submit and oblige themselves and us their heirs and Posterity to be constant and faithfull in subjection to the King and his Royal Progeny But we undutyfull to our Parents as well as Rebellious to our King oblige our selves and bind our souls with many sacred oaths to expell him from his Crown rob him of his Revenews and extirpate his Royal Progeny being constant and faithfull to nothing but our own lusts and ambition They would spend their bloods to maintain and defend the King but we spend both our bloods and Estates to offend and destroy him They esteemed their Act void and imperfect without the Royal assent But we esteem and vote the Royal assent void imperfect and uselesse But wherefore do I say we Lay the saddle on the right horse It was neither Lords nor Commons Parliament nor people who perpetrated all these villanies
with all Religions but be sure to lead the Van in the most prevalent it matters not whether it be true or false let them look to that who intend to obtain eternal advantages of it we look no further than to enjoy the temporal A Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush It is the greatest obstacle to generous actions not to personate that Religion which will serve ones purpose best be it Canonical or Apocrypha and doubtless that Religion which brings the greatest profit and largest incomes is the most sacred and most consonant to Scripture But why should I blur my paper with the Description of this deceitfull Parliament the Theory whereof is become practical almost in every City Let us therefore lament at the funeral of our Laws and Religion and throw one sprig of rosemary into the grave where all our Rights Libertyes are buried That Son giveth cause of suspition of his Legitimation who will not mourn at his Mothers death And surely he was never a true born Son of the Church or Law that will not shed a tear when they are both fell to ruin Some though very few good Eleazors amongst us have lost their heads and lives for our Laws and Religion And although I am not worthy to dye a Martyr for them Haud equidem tali me dignor honore Yet whilst I live it living tears shall fall from mine eyes for them For Qâ—is talia fan do Mrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Vlyssis Temperet a lacrymis Who what Puritan Independent Anabaptist Presbyterian Quaker c. Or Red-coat as bad though not worse than any of them can restrain his Adamantine heart from grief and his eyes from tears when he considers the deplorable conditions which they have brought upon our Kingdom Who as it now plainly appeareth had no other quarrel against King than because they were not Kings themselves nor no other reason against Episcopacy than because each of them was not a Bishop They could never yet produce any argument sufficient unless the sword to prove that King or Bishop was not Jure Divino And now behold what the sword hath brought them unto I remember Cadmus sowed the teeth of a Serpent which sprung up armed men who presently destroyed one the other I will not determine that the seed of these men came from a Serpent but sure I am they cannot deny themselves but that they destroy each the other like Cadmus his men They kick the Government of our Kingdom about from one to the other like a foot ball And it will be marvail if some of them do not break their shins a swell as their consciences before the game is ended They make the Government Proteus-like to turn into what shape they please a true Common-wealth indeed being common to so many Rivalls And as the unruly Quadrupedes whirried about the Chariot Phoebus their lawfull Soveraign being absent untill they had set the whole world on fire so it is to be doubted that these headstrong Bears having cast away the rains of true obedience will not leave to wurry us untill they have brought us to utter ruine O England England Hei mihi qualis erat quantum mutatus ab illo How is thy fame besmeared and thy honour laid in the dust Once the envy of the whole world for the glory of thy Laws and Religion now become a by-word and a laughing-stock to all Nations Venit summa dies ineluctabile tempus The Sentence is already past and the decree is gone forth and nothing can avert the wrath of an angry Deity Tantaene animis caelestibus irae Can the Almighty be so passionate We want a Moses and we want an Aaron to intercede and make an attonement for us We want a Jonah to preach repentance And we want the hearts of Nineveh to entertain it We have done worse than to touch the Lords annointed and have killed his Prophets all the day long We have not reverenced his Sanctuary But have made it a den of Theeves and Stable for Beasts not altogether so bad as our selves O God why hast thou cast us off for ever why doth thine anger smoak against the Sheep of thy pasture O deliver not the soul of thy Turtle Dove unto the multitude of the wicked Forget not the Congregation of thy poor for ever Fuimus Trâ—es fuit Ilium ingens Gloria Toucrorum Remember thy old mercy and remember our former estate For though now like People like Priest The Prophets lye and the People would have it so Yet like Bethlehem we have not heretofore been the least amongst the Princes of the World We have had those who have thought it Melius tondere qaam deglubere oves better to trimm us than to flea us and Melius servare unum quam occidere mille better to preserve one than kill a thousand Who have been Tardus ad vindictam ad benevolentiam velox slow to do evill and revenge but swift to do good and reconcile Loving Pax bello potior peace better than war and esteeming it Pro patria mori pulchrum honourable to dye for their Country Which they have done and all Law Religion Justice and Equity with them Cum uno paricidio junxerunt juris divini naturalis juris gentium omnium legum publicarum privatarumque eversionem reipublicae perturbationem libertatis populi oppressionem Senatus abolitionem nobilitatis exterminationem innocentium damnationem peculatum aerarii publici direptionem solennis conventionis infractionem perfidiam jurisjurandi violationem statuum omnium confusionem immo subversionem Tempora mutantur nos mutamur in illis Sal. Therefore let no man be offended if I attend the funeral and say something on the behalf of the deceased It is a Christian duty and none will account it superstition to give an Encomium at burialls where it is due unless those who account it superstition to deserve well themselves De mortuis nil nisi bonum We must say nothing but good of the dead Therefore behold the Monument in these insuing political Aphorisms The Monument of the Laws or Regal and Political Aphorisms whereby the Prerogative of the King and the just liberties of the People are set forth and authorized by the Law of God and the Law of the Land KIngs are Jure Divino by Divine right to be obeyed and not by violent force of subjects to be resisted although they act wickedly Prov. 8.15 By me Kings raign Dan. 2.21 He removeth Kings and setteth up Kings Prov. 16.10 A Divine Sentence is in the lips of the King Prov. 21.1 The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord. Job 34.18 Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly Prov. 24.21 Fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Eccl. 8.2 I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment Exod. 22.28 Thou shalt not speak evil of thy Prince
non usu valet argumentum But they all unanimously resolve and report the contrary Reader I Would not have thee imagine as some men through malice or ignorance do most impudently assert that when we say The King is absolute and above the Law that thereby is intended that the King is freed from and hath power to act against Gods Laws when he pleaseth No this is but their false glosse and interpretation For non est potentia nisi ad bonum hability and power is not but to good There is no power but what is from God and therefore no mortal man can have a power to act against God To sin and break Gods commandements is impotency and weakness no power For the Angels which are established in glory do far excel men in power yet they cannot sin The Law of God is above the King and he is bound to God to keep it yet neverthelesse he is an absolute King over men because God hath given him the Supreme power over them and hath given no power to men to correct him if he transgresse But God only whose Law only he can transgresse can call the King to an account Hoc unum Rex potest facere quod non potest injuste agere the King only is able not to do unjustly is a rule in Commonlaw and the reason is because the people do not give Laws to the King but the King only giveth Laws to the people as all our Statutes and Perpetual experience hath taught us Therefore how can the King offend against the Laws of the people or be obnoxious to them when they never gave him any Laws to keep or transgresse and then how can the people punish him who never offended their Laws Therefore the King must needs be absolute over the people and only bound to God not to the people to keep those Laws which God not the people gave him and as God is above the Laws and may alter them at his pleasure which he gave and set over the king so is the King above and may alter at his pleasure those laws which at his pleasure he gave set over the people still observing that he is free from all Laws quo ad coactionem in respect of any coaction from the people but not quo ad obligationem in respect of obedience to God by his obligation Therfore well might Solomon counsel us to keep the Kings commandement saying Eccles 8.2 I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandement and that in regard of the Oath of God Be not hasty to go out of his sight stand not in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever he pleaseth Where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dâ—st thou These words are the words of God which King Solomon did speak by infusion of the Spirit In which you may see that the King doth what he pleaseth And we are commanded not to stand in an evil thing that is according to Iunius and Tremel translation perturbatione rebellione quae tibi malum allatura esset ageret tecum arbitratu suo sive jure sive injuria We must not murmur and rebel against the King though he deal with us unjustly He may be just when we think he is unjust The Kings heart is in the hands of God the searcher of all hearts as the Rivers of Water not in the hands of the people Therefore God not the people can turn it whether soever he will Prov. 21.1 King David was filius Dei non populi The Son of God not of the People Psalm 89.26 It was God who made him higher than the Kings of the Earth verse 27. not the People He was neither chosen of the People nor exalted of the People For I have exalted one chosen out of the people saith God verse 19. The exaltation was Gods and the choice not of but out of the people For I have found David my Servant with my holy oil have I anointed him saith God verse 20 Kings are the Children of the most high not of the people Psalm 82. Therefore who can say unto the King what dost thou If the people of England have power to depose and make Kings Why are they usurpers who by the power of the people destroy the lawfull King as did Richard the third and by the consent of the people established himself in the Government They are Kings de facto but not de jure as all our Books agree For the people have not the Soveraignty but the King Surely the people of England thought so when by act of Parliament they ordained that none should be capable to sit in Parliament before they had Sworn it vide 1 Eliz. 1.5 Eliz. 1.1 Jac. 1. And I am sure that the breaking of the Oath can give the Parliament no new Authority It is declared by the Lords and Commons in full Parliament rot Par. 42 E. 3. nu 7. Lex consuetudo Parliamenti 4 Inst 14. upon demand made of them on the behalf of the King that they could not assent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the disherison of the King and his Crown whereunto they were Sworn And it is strange to think that the House of Commons which is but the tail of a Parliament should have that power which both Lords and Commons had not But since there can be no Parliament without the King 4 Inst 1 2.341.356 We may conclude that these men being Traytors Rebels and Tyrants will take upon them to do any thing Defensive War against the King is illegal or the Great question made by Rebels with honest men no question Whether the people for any cause though the King act most wickedly may take up arms against their Soveraign or any other way by force or craft call him in question for his actions Resolved and proved by the Law of God the Law of Nations the Law of Nature the Laws of the Realm by the rules of all Honesty Equity Conscience Religion and Piety by the Example and Doctrine of our Saviour Christ all the Prophets Apostles Fathers of the Church and all pious Saints and holy Martyrs That the peoplâ— can have no cause either for Religion or Laws or what thing soever to levy War against the King much lesse to murther him proved in Adam The manner of the Government of the King Gods Steward and Stewart when he cometh described The Bishops Lords Prayer and Common Prayer Book must then be restored with their excellencies now abused He will lay down his life before he will betray his trust and give his account to any but God as did our last great Stewart his Father The blessednesse of the people when the King shall come and rule over them declared his Majesty The Christians duty towards their King laid open and warranted by the Death and Sufferings of Christ and multitudes oâ— Christians The madnesse of the people in casting oâ— the Government of a gracious King and submitting
nisi qui se pronunciavit esse justitiam If any of us offend the King thou mayest correct us but if thou shalt exceed who shall correct thee we may speak unto thee and if thou wilt thou mayest hear us But if thou wilt not none can condemn thee but he who is Justice it self Therefore every one should endeavour to be that true obedient described by St. Bernard Verus Obediens non attendit quale sit quod praecipitur hoc solo contentus quia praecipitur He that is truly obedient regardeth not what is commanded being content only with this that it is commanded We should be as diligent to obey and preserve our King as the apple our eye and take asmuch delight in him as we do in the light for he is worth ten thousand of us Therefore the Israelites would not let David their King adventure himself in the war against his rebellious Son and their reason was Thou art worth ten thousand of us so in the war against the Philistines They swear Thou shalt no more go out with us because they esteemed him as the light of the Kingdom and say 2 Sam. 18.31 That thou quench not the light of Israel if he should miscarry they accounted themselves to be but in darkeness And if we were true Israelites indeed in whom there was no guile we should have the same estimation of our dread Soveraign nulli pietate secundus who is a second David But suppose he was as he is not a Tyrant were it not better for us to serve one hard yet honourable Master than a hundred domineering yet base â—red Tyrants Si pereo manibus hominum periisse juâ—abit If we must be killed and made slaves of let the King who is our superiour do it and not our servants who have no greater pedigree than anâ—ient servants and no other cause of their promotion than their wickedness Praestat timere unum â—uam multos It is better to fear one than many Better one woolf than many to put our lives in continual hazard It is a Maxime in Law that the King shall have the estates and protection of their persons who are non compos mentis Ideots c. May not the King then justly and with good title by this rule challenge both our estates and our persons Surely he may for if we were not worse than mad men and fools we should never expel a gracious and merciful Soveraign and subject our selves to a company of the Lord knows what A monster without head or tayl more wonderful than Chimaera they would and they would not they themselves cannot tell what to make of themselves neither can any man tell where to have them like empty clouds and foggy mists they are blown about with every winde But it is to be feared that the Devil will catch them at the long run who now drink bloud like sponges and only know how to be wicked oppressing both Law and Religion Did the King demand Ship-mony as by the Law in extraordinary cases he might and was he condemned and vilifyed as unjust and a breaker of the peoples liberty What are they then who against all Law and Equity take away all that we have only to satisfy their own ambitions Atheistical appetites and to maintain themselves in their most wicked devillish and incomparable villanies Did the King demand five treacherous Members of the Parliament whom the Law would have condemned guilty of high Treason And was he adjudged an Enemy to Parliaments and an Infringer of their freedoms What are they then to be adjudged who do what they list hang or draw our Members and persons and play with Parliaments as Children do with Rattles or as Butchers their slaughtering axes throw them away when they have done with them and dismount and thrust out that * what do you call it * Quondam Parl. which first gave them their being O viperous brood who destroy that viper which ingendred them But since by the Law of the Land Mad men shall not be punished for committing of Felony or Murther Lest we being mad-men and fools as I have said before should murther our King and think to excuse our selves by pleading non compos mentis Let me tell you that though one that is not of his right mind shall not be punished if he commit Felony Murther petite Treason c. Yet if he kill or offer to kill the King it is high Treason and he shall suffer punishment as other Traytors ought to do let Cook the Oracle of the Law give the reason li. 4. fo 124. Car le Roy Est Caput salus Reipublicae a Capite bona valetudo transit in omnes pur cest cause lour persons sont cy sacred que nul doit a eux offer violence mes il est Reus criminis laesae Majestatis pereat unus ne pereant omnes For the King is the head saith he health of the Commonwealth upon whom the safety of all doth depend and for this cause the Kings person is so sacred that no man can offer violence to the King but he is guilty of high Treason for which he shall die For it is better that one perish than all And since it lyeth in my way this will I speak for the credit of the Common laws of our Realm That though the Law of God the Civil Law and all other Laws do as it were strive to excel each other in maintaining and defending the Prerogative of Kings yet doth not our Common Law which is founded on the Law of God come behind any of them For I should want words to expresse and Paper to contain the many privileges and just immunities which the Law giveth its Soveraign the King and if the Judges had been as just to execute the Law as Dunn the Hangman is The head and feet had still injoyed their proper Functions and there would as there ought still have been a difference betwixt the Servant and the Master the Subject and the Soveraign But silent leges inter arma our law-books like broken Vessels are laid aside and our Laws like Cobwebs are not taken notice of except it be to wipe sweep them away that the Corruption of one thing is the perfection of another is a rule in Philosophy And do not the Sophistical Philosophers of our times prove and approve this rule by practice who perfect themselves by the ruine of the Laws The Sword is their pruning-hook by which they lop others to make themselves grow the better they bait all their designs with Liberty and Rellgion and so catch the people into Hell when they think to go to Heaven The principal end of Government is the advancement of Godâ— honour but these men make the safety of the people the sole and only end of Government only that they might murther their King the Shepheard make a prey of the sheep his subjects and so feed the cruel appetite of themselves the
But these men with their practice most wickedly affirm it King Henry the 7 â— h and many Burgesses and Knights of the Counties being first attainted by Act of Parliament of high Treason against Richard the 3d. The question was in H. the 7 ths Parliament How this Act of Attainder should be reversed and made void It was resolved by all the Judges That those Knights and Burgesses which were attainted should not sit in the House when the Act of Attainder was to â—e reversed But when that Act was reversed then they might come again and sit in Parliament But as for the King it was unanimously agreed and resolved by all the said Judges that ipso facto when he took upon him to be King that he was a person able and discharged of the Attainder for said they the King hath power in himself to enable himself without a Parliament And an Act for the reversal of the Attainder is not at all necessary See 1 H. 7.4 Com. 238. Parliament B. 37. and 105. In which case you may see the power of a King of a King that was attainted of the greatest offence viz. High Treason Here likewise you may view the power of a Parliament of a Parliament who had asmuch right to dethrone their King as ever the long Parliament or any other had Here likewise you may hear the voyce of the Law of the Common law not since repealed by any subsequent Statute But as it was then so it ought to be now the Resolution of all the Judges in England That the King hath power to take pardon and ought not to crave pardon of the people for his offences The Crown once gained taketh away all defect is the Sentence of the Law and an Adage amongst all honest Lawyers If the people had the Supreme power why was not the Attainder of the King in this precedent case reversed by Act of Parliament as were the Attainders of the other Members If the King be but an Officer of trust deputed by the people and receiveth his power from them Why was not the King in this case freed from his offence by the people What would they entrust a person attainted of so great an offence as high Treason with the highest place in the Common-wealth And yet not permit others guilty and attainted of the same offence not so much as to fit and Act as Members of the Parliament without they were first purged of their offence It doth not stand with reason that the highest Offender should exercise the highest office And doubtless if the people had had power the Parliament would have cleared King H. the 7th from his crime before he should have Officiated his Office of Kingship But that Parliament well knew that the feet were not higher than the head and that the Inferiour Members could not impose Laws on the King their Soveraign They knew with Bracton that the King Parem non habet in Regno suo had not in his Kingdom any single man or the people his equal Therefore since it is the Law of the land Magna Charta 29. That no mâ—n shall be judged but by his Peers and being the King hath no Peer or Peers in his Dominions They resolved not to judge their King nor to commit so great a vanity as to reverse the Attainder For can a King be attainted or can the people who have no authority but what they have from him have authority to correct and revise their King O foolish imagination Horac Caelo tonantem credidimus Jovem Regnare praesens Divus habebitur Augustus adjectis Britaunis Imperio Jove governs Heaven with his Nod King Charles he is the earthly God Great Britain being his lawfull Inheritance Our King Augustus high and mighty Solus Princeps qui est Monarcha Imperator in Regno suo Davis Irish Rep. fo 60. Our only Prince who is both Monarch and Emperor in his kingdom hath only authority and the only right to govern the Britains who though long since have been accounted Rigidi hospitibus feri rigid and cruel to strangers yet that they should ever so much degenerate as to be rigid and cruel to their own natural King and kill their natural Soveraign is such a wonder and murther that never entred into the thoughts of former ages and will be a bugbear and scar-crow to all succeeding generations for by robbing their King of his Crown and Life they have robbed the Turk of his cruelty Judas of his treachery and all the Devils of their malicious wickedness For the Turks cruelty Judas his perfidious treachery and the Devils malicious villanies do all conjoyn to make up and center in an English Rebel one of those beasts who like the Enemies of King David Psal 102.8 Have sworn together against their King are mad upon him and revile him all the day long Yet that they may seem religious even when they commit Sacrilege they like the Devil when he tempted our Saviour taking him up into an exceeding high mountain and shewing him all the kingdoms in the world and the glory of them saying unto him All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Mat. 4.9 will promise fairly and as if they were resolved diametrically to oppose St. Peters Doctrin who commands them 1 Pet. 2.16 Not to use liberty for a cloak of maliciousness they use the liberty of the people as a Wolf doth the Lambs skin to destroy poor Lambs as the only cloak and cover for all their malicious wicked prodigious and damnable actions For if you ask them for what cause did they murder the King Their answer is for the liberty of the people For what cause do they make themselves Governours and Lords and Masters over all that we have For the liberty of the people For what cause do they subvert the Laws expell and throw down the orderly and holy Clergie and all Religion with them For the liberty of the people For what cause do they enslave the whole Nation For the liberty of the people Nay these men are so well furnished with godly pretences and wicked intentions that even whilst they cut the peoples throats they make them believe they give them a blessing And as the man who swore that the Coat of the true owner was another mans only because he might have the use of it himself So these men have the impudence to swear though not without perjury that the Supreme power is in the people only because they might throw down our royal Government with all goodnesse with it and use that Supreme power themselves which they protest is in the people O delusive Mountebanks Was there ever such a jugling deceit acted by any Jugglers or Quacksalvers in the world Surely there was not And did not every one nay they themselves very well know the truth of what I have said I might easily make it clear and evident even to the blind with multitudes of Examples For
all men an enemy to every honest man and every honest man an enemy to him a monster more hideous than ever the Poets could feign and more noysome and destructive to humane kind than any beast the world ever bred a Devil in humane shape If you do not yet conceive his nature I will give you a further description of him A Tyrant without a Title who indeed is most properly called a Tyrant is he who levieth war against his King killeth him and takes the Government upon himself or who of his own authority against the will of the people without election or right of succession neither by lot by will by gift by just war nor speciall calling of God doth take upon him the Soveraignty Take notice Reader by he way That the Subject can have no just war against his King A forein Prince may have a just cause to levy war and if he conquer his Title is good and just by the Law of Conquest So if ones own natural Prince be kept out of his Country by the Rebellion of his Subjects and he afterwards come with a forein Army nay with fire and sword as we say that is putting all to the sword who resisted him and burning up all that they have yet if he subdue the Traytors he is no Tyrant But if any man without any right or title usurpeth the Government and aspireth unto the Soveraignty though afterwards he squareth his life according to the rules of moral honesty and liveth as one may say according to the Lawes Yet notwithstanding he is a Tyrant for all this A Thief when he hath taken a mans purse from him will in company stand upon his Terms of honesty as much if not more than an honester man Yet this after sanctity will not purge a Tyrant from his former sin He must restore home that which he wrongfully and unjustly keepeth before he can be a true penitent and nothing but true Repentance can wash away the guilt of former sins Therefore Equo ne credite Teucri trust him no further than you can see him before he hath cast off the unlawfull robes of Soveraignty and put on the honest habit of a true Subject Eor Latet anguis in berba Let his outside be never so Religious he is a knave in his heart his pretentions and his intentions are seldome of affinity But may any private hand stick this wild boar may any publick or private man stab or otherwise destroy this Tyrant before he be tried according to the Common course of the Law Grounding upon the Law of God the Law of Nations the Law of Nature and the Common Law of the Realm I give judgement against him that as a stroyer of humane kind and society every man may lay violent hands on him and execute him For which according to the Laws and writings of antient Fathers he deserveth perpetual honour propounding to every one who should kill such a Tyrant most ample rewards viz. honourable Titles of Nobility and prowesse arms statues Crowns and the goods of the Tyrant as to the true deliverer of his Countrey By the Law of God Whosoeuer sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed Gen. 9.6 And what Tyrant ever was there who did not shed mans blood Nay by the Law of God That man who will do presumptuously and not hearken to the law is to be cut off that the evil may be put away from the Land Deut. 17.12 Exod. 21.14 All the Civil Lawyers do unanimously give judgement against him and esteem that man as one who doth God and his Countrey good service who shall rid the world of this viper By the law of nature every man is obliged to preserve himself And what better means can he use for his preservation than to destroy this elf this Wolf amongst men For who can say any thing is his own who can say his life his goods or estate is secure so long as a Tyrant reigneth By the Common Law of the Realm if any one set upon me to rob or take anie thing away from me I may lawfullie pistol him stab him or otherwise destroy him and by the same reason and law for ubi eadem ratio ibi idem jus I may destroy a Tyrant for the onely difference betwixt a common highway man or Burglar and he is their strength and might the one is a little thief the other a great one As when Diomedes a pirate was taken and brought before Alexander saith he Ego quia uno navigiâ— latrocinior aâ—cusor pirata tu quia ingenti classe id agis vocaris imperator si solus captivus esses latro cris st mihi ad nutum populi famulentur vocarer Imperator I because I rob with one poor ship am accused as a Pirate thou because thou robbest with a great Navie art called an Emperor If I had as great and strong a companie of robbers with me as thou hast and thou wast alone and a Captive as I am then thou wouldest be the thief and I the Emperor So may every common thief high-way man cutpurse or Burglar say to the Tyrant when he is brought before him For mutato nomine Fahula de te narratur When the Tyrant murthereth any honest man and taketh away his estate he pretends it is for the safety and good of the Common-wealth calling him Traytor to the State So it is for the safety of a thief to kill the man he intendeth to rob But the Tyrant he dazles mens eyes with new invented names for his magna latrocinia his great thefts having nothing honest in them but the very names For when he exerciseth his robberies and sendeth some of his messengers who are indeed no better than thieves to rob men that he calleth Excise So when he setteth upon the whole Nation he compelleth them to make a purse for him that he calleth Taxes And this kind of thievery is so much the more remarkable because he maketh the owners like fools gather the monies for him themselves Nay such is the stupidity of these Dromedaries that if they have scarce monie enough to buy themselves bread or to pay their Landlord his just Rents yet they will trot about to gather monies for this Tyrant their common enemie before they will lift up a hand against him They will let their Churches drop down for want of repair and Law and Religion and all fall to the ground before they will let the Tyrant misse of a farthing of his demands Tanta est insania mundi So great is the madnesse of men And the reason why the Law alloweth every man to kill a Tyrant and take that vengeance which in other cases is reserved to God and the Magistrate is because there is no other remedy and Gods Lawes cannot be otherwise executed for the Tyrant maketh himself above all law possesseth himself of all Forts strong Holds Garisons and the Magazine of all Armour so that by the greatnesse of his villanies
And therefore Sir John Davis in his preface confidently averreth that the Common-law doth excel all other laws in upholding a free Monarchy which is the most excellent form of Government exalting the Prerogative royal and being tender and watchful to preserve it and yet maintaining all the Ingenuous liberty of the Subject Nay so carefull is the law of the Kings Soveraignty that in all cases from the highest to the lowest it demonstrateth the Kings supreme power and dignity The law will not permit any Subject to come so near the King as to be jointenant with him for if Lands are given to the King and a subject or if there be two Jointenants and the Crown descend to one of them the Jointure is severed and they are Tenants in Common for no Subject is equal with the King Co. Lit. 190. Plowd Com. in Seig. Barkleys Case Nay rather than the Suâ—â—ect shall be equal with the King in any thing he shall lose all for the King being Tenant in Common of entier Chattel personal he shall have the whole as if an Obligation be made to two or two possessed of an horse and one is attainted the King shall have the whole duty of the Obligation and the horse 13 El. pl. 322. Finch 178. To instance all particular cases is endlesse and impossible all land is holden of the King immediately or by means himself not having any higher upon earth of whom to hold 50 Ass pl. 1. 18 Eli. Pl. 498. For it would be against Common right and reason that the King should hold of any or do service to any of his subjects saith Cook lib. 8.118 Because he hath no Superior but God almighty Cook Lit. 1. Escheats of all Cities appertaineth unto the King all mines of Gold and silver or wherein the gold and silver is of the greater value appertain unto the King 8 E. 3. Escheat 12. 1 El. Plo. 314. The King is Anima legis he governeth and defendeth the law all Writs and Processe run in his name and receive authority onely from him and all persons have their power from him and by his Writ Patent or Commission The King hath the sole Government of his subjects The body Politick and the natural body of the King make one body and not diverse and are inseparable and indivisible Plo. 234 242.213 lib. 7.12 Rex tuetur legem lex tuâ—tur jus We muâ— be for God and the King because by his laws we are protected and it is a miserable case to be out of the Kings Protection Co. Lit. 129. All Jurisdictions and the punishment of all offenders against the Laws belongs to the King And Treasons Felonies and other Pleas of the Crown are propriae causae regis For why The King is viva Lex a living Law who only hath power to give Laws and therefore he only ought to punish those who break them Not the Parliament as it is called viz. the two Houses or either of them singly because they without the King can make no Law and therefore they are murtherers because they have put to death many worthy Innocents having no other Law but their own wicked wills And for my part if any one should tell me that the Law of England is nothing but the will of the King I could not disprove him for what are the great volumes of our Statutes but the Monuments and Repertory of the Kings will What is the reason that it is a Law that the King cannot make new or alter old Laws but in Parliament with the consent of his Lords and Commons Because the King was pleased to will it so for it was not so from the beginning The King was long before Parliaments and therefore did most certainly make Laws without them What is an Act of Parliament but the will of the King Nay what is Magna Charta but a Roy le veilt All our Rights and Liberties we enioy are by the gracious concessions of our Soveraign Lord the King who esteemeth our good and freedom his best praerogative and happinesse Omnium domos illius vigilia defendit omnium otium illius labor omnium delitias illius industria omnium vacationem illius occupatio The King by his watch and diligent care doth defend and keep every mans house in safety his labour doth maintain and defend every mans rest and quiet his diligence doth preserve and defend every private mans pleasure and delight his businesse doth maintain and defend every mans leasure So that as Manwood hath it even as the head of a natural body doth continually watch and with a provident care still ook about for the safety and preservation of every member of the same body Even so the King being the head of the body of the Commonweal doth not only continually carry a watchful eye for the preservation of peace and quietnesse at home amongst his own Subjects but also to preserve and keep them in peace and quietnesse from any forein invasion Therefore if the Rebells since the murther of our gracious King Charles the first have taken the freeborn Subjects of this Nation and imprisoned them like Slaves without any just cause or due processe of Law If they have violently driven us from our Lands and Livelyhoods possessing themselves of them and taken away our free Customs and Liberties If they have unjustly deprived us of the benefit of the Law banished us out of our Country and destroyed us with their high Courts of Injustice without the verdict of our equalls contrary to the Law of the Land if they have delayed Justice and Right denyed it to all men and granted it to no man but to those who would buy it Blesse God for Charles the first and pray for the restauration of Charles the second Praise God for their noble Praedecessours who have been our Nursing Fathers and their Queens our nursing Mothers who have willed and enacted Magna Charta ca. 29. Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur aut dissisietur de libero tenemento suo vel libertatibus vel liberis consuetudinibus suis aut utlagagetur aut exuletur aut aliquo modo destruatur nec super ibimus nec super eum mittemus nisi per legale judicium parium suorum vel per legem terrae nulli vendemus nulli negabimus aut differemus justitiam vel rectum That no man should be arrested imprisoned disseised of his Free-hold of his Liberties or free customes or out-lawed bâ—nished or otherwise destroyed but by the verdict of his equals and the Law of the Land neither should Law and Justice be delayed sold or denyed to any man but the King in judgment of Law is present in all his Courts of Justice repeating these words We will sell deny nor delay Justice and right to no man Inst 2.55 O Magnificent blessed and golden Oration It proceeded from the lips of Kings and we shall never hear such Doctrine preached again in any of our Courts of Justice untill our King be
restored to his own and sit Judge amongst us It was King Charles the first who granted that the burthen of excise should not be laid on the shoulders of his Subjects but the Rebels with their intollerable and monstrous Excises new found impositions and other unspeakable grievances have beggered the Subjects and undone the whole Kingdome both in their Estates and Reputation To be short whatsoever they voted unlawfull for the King to do they have done that and ten thousand times worse so that though we want not bodies to feel the miseries which they have brought upon us yet we want tongues to expresse the wofulnesse of our Condition and the incomparable wickedness of these Traytors And what greater pretence have they had for their actions than to say that the King was not the Supreme Governour over his Subjects A contradiction in it self but we will proceed further to manifest their error Sir Thomas Smith in his common-wealth of England saith cap. 9. By old and antient Histories that I have read I do not understand that our Nation hath used any other general Authority in this Realm neither Aristocratical nor Democratical out only the royal Kingly Majesty who held of God to himself by his Sword his People Crown acknowledging no Prince on Earth his Superiour and so it is kept holden at this day which truth is sufficiently warranted in our Law-Books The state of our Kingdome saith Sir Edward Cook li. 4. Ep. ad lectorem is Monarchical from the beginning by right of inheritance hath been successive which is the most absolute and perfect form of Government excluding Interregnum and with it infinite inconveniences the Maxim of the common Law being Regem Angliae nunquam mori That the King of England never dyeth then doubtlesse the Rebels could not by Law mortifie both the natural and politique capacity of the King And in Calvins case li. 7. The weightiest case that ever was argued in any Court than which case according to my Lord Cokes observation never any case was adjudged with greater concordance and lesse variety of opinions and that which never fell out in any doubtfull case no one opinion in all our books is against that judgment In this case it was resolved amongst other things Fo. 4. c. 1. That the People of England c. were the Subjects of the King viz. their Soveraign liege Lord King James 2. That Ligeance or obedience of the Subject to the Soveraign is due by the Law of Nature 3. That this Law of Nature is part of the Laws of England 4. That the Law of Nature was before any judicial or municipal Law in the world 5. That the Law of Nature is immutable and cannot be changed From which resolutions we may conclude that the Subjects of the King of England unlesse they like God Almighty could alter the Law of Nature They could not alter their obedience and subjection to their Soveraign Lord King Charles For if by the Law of Nature obedience from them was due to the natural body as I shall further prove of King Charles and if the Law of Nature is immutable as most certainly it is Bracton lib. 1 ca. 5. D. Stu. ca. 5. 6. then could not they have any cause whatsoever as altering their Religion banishing or killing of them a sufficient ground for them to take up arms against him and put him to death For by this they go about to change the Law of Nature which is impossible for mortals to do But say some by the Law of Nature we may defend our selves and therefore leavy war against the King for our own defence I answer that by the Law of Nature we are bound to defend our selves yet must we use no unlawfull means for our defence for the Subjects to levy war against their Soveraign is forbidden both by the Laws of God and Nature Therefore vain and foolish is that excuse as well as all others which the Rebels make use of to defend their Rebellion Ligeance is a true and faithfull obedience of the Subject due to his Soveraign It is an obligation upon all Subjects to take part with their Liege Lord against all men living to aid and assist him with their bodies and minds with their advice and power not toft li up their arms against him nor to support in any way those who oppose him This ligeance and obedience is an incident inseparable to every Subject of England and in our Law-books and many Acts of Parliament as in 34 H. 8. cap. 1. 35 H. 8. cap. 3 c. The King is called the liege Lord of his Subjects and the people his liege subjects Every Subject of England taketh the Oath of ligeance which is only due unto the King yet doth not the ligeance of the Subject to the King begin at the taking of this Oath at the Leet For as it was resolved in Calvins Case so soon as the Subject is born he oweth by birth-right ligeance and obedience to his Soveraign Lord the King Because ligeance faith and obedience of the Subject to the Soveraign was by the Law of Nature written with the Finger of God in the Heart of Man before any municipal or judicial Laws were made 1. For that Moses was the first Reporter or writer of Law in the World yet government and subjection was long before Moses 2. For that it had been in vain to have prescribed laws to any but to such as ought obedience faith and ligeance before in respect whereof they were bound to obey and observe them Frustra enim feruntur leges nisi subditis obedientibus You may read likewise in Calvins Case That the King of England hath his title to the Crown by inherent birth-right by descent from the blood royal from God Nature and the Law and therefore not by way of trust from the two Houses of Parliament or from the People Neither is his Coronation any part of his Title but only an ornament and solemniation of the royal descent For it was then resolved that the title of King James was by dessent and that by Queen Elizabeths death the Crown and Kingdom of England descended to his Majesty and he was fully and absolutely thereby King without any essential ceremony or act to be done Ex post facto So in the first year of the same Kings reign before his Majesties Coronation Watson and Clarke seminary Priests and others were of opinion that his Majesty was no compleat and absolute King before his Coronation but that Coronation did adde perfection to the descent and therefore observe saith my Lord Cook their damnable and damned consequent that they by strength and power might before his Coronation take him and his royal Issue into their possession keep him prisoner in the Tower remove such Counsellors and great Officers as pleased them and constitute others in their places c. and that these and others of like nature could not be treason against
his Majesty before he was crowned King But it was clearly resolved by all the Judges of England that presently by the descent his Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King without any essential ceremony or act to be done Ex post facto and that Coronation was but a royal ornament and outward solemniation of the descent And this evidently appeareth by infinite Presidents and book cases where such execrable opinions have been no sooner hatched than destroyed and if the Judges of our age had been so honest as to have cropped in the bud such like opinions broached by the Rebells Charls the first had still been our King and we a flourishing and happy Kingdom Although the King of England hath two Capacities the one by Nature the other by Policy yet ligeance is due to the King in his natural capacity and his natural and politick body make but one indivisible body Plo. 213. The Oath of Alligeance is made to the natural person of the King so is the Oath of Supremacy and all Inditements of Treason when any do intend or compasse mort◠et destructionem Domini Regis the death and destruction of the Lord our King which must needs be understood of his natural body for his politick body is immortal and not subject to death the Inditement concludeth contra ligeantiae suae debitum ergo the ligeance is due to the natural body vid. Fitt Justice of Peace 53. Plo. Com. 384. in the Earl of Leicesters case It is true that the King in genere dyeth not but no question in individuo he dyeth as for example Charls the first dyed yet the King is not dead because Charls the second whom God preserve is still alive For by the Laws of England there can be no interregnum within the same lib. 7.11 And to affirm as the Traytors now do that the Kings power is separable from his person is high Treason by the Law of the Land hear the Oracle of the Law tell you so lib. 7.11 In the Reign saith he of Edward the second the Spencers the Father and the Son to cover the Treason hatched in their hearts invented this damnable and damned opinion that Homage and Oath of Ligeance was more by reason of the Kings Crown that is of his politick capacity than by reason of the person of the King upon which opinion they inferred execrable and detestable consequents 1. If the King do not demean himself by reason in the right of his Crown his Lieges are bound by Oath to remove the King 2. Seeing that the King could not be reformed by Sute of Law that ought to be done by aspertee that is by force 3. That his Lieges be bound to Govern in aid of him and in default of him All which were condemned by two Parliaments one in the Reign of E. 2. called exilium Hugonis le Spencer and the other in Anno 1 E. 3. cap. 1. If the opinions of the Spencers were so wicked and detestable what then are the actions of the Rebells of our age who have put in practice what was but intended by the Spencers and that they might reform the King according to their minds cut off his head because he was a headhigher than they O Monstrous Reformers Did I not know that the Euthusiasts of our times do by their diabolical interpretations subvert even the Holy word of the Almighty making themselves absolute Kings over the Scripture to do what they please with it though they will not permit their King to have Soveraignty over themselves his Vassals And like the raging torrent of the foaming flouds which running down the lofty Hills demolisheth and carrieth away all opposites in its roaring Streams or as the violent fury of a Masterless headstrong multitude who hew down Kings as well as Royal Subjects in their tempestuous fury so these men set upon the Bible and stretch every Text of Scripture to their own meaning although there is as great a distance between their meaning and the Scripture as there was betwixt the Glutton in Hell and Lazarus in Abrahams Bosom in Heaven else should I wonder how they could seem to make the very Letter of the Law speak against the very Letter and like the Philosophers stone which turneth all things into Gold so the tongues of these men turn the sense of all the Lawbooks into their golden meaning and cite those books as authorities on their sides which are so contrary and opposite against them as if they had been purposely prepared to encounter and confute them For where is the Kings Soveraignty more fully demonstrated and evidenced than in Reverend Bracton and what book so much abūsed as his For lib. 2. cap. 24. speaking of Liberties and who had power to give them Quis saith he who hath power he answereth that the King hath For Sciendum quòd ipse dominus Rex qui ordinariam habet jurtsdictionem et dignitatem et potestatem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt habet enim omnia jura in manu sua quae ad coronam et laicalem pertinent potestatem materialem gladium qui pertinet ad regni gubernaculum habet etiam justitiam et judicium quae sunt jurisdictiones ut ex jurisdictione suae sicut dei minister vicarius tribuat unicuique quod suum fuerit Habet enim ea quae sunt pacis ut populus sibi traditus in pace sileat quiescat ne quis alterum verberet vulneret vel male tractet ne quis alienam rem per vim roberiam auferat vel asportet ne quis hominem Mahemiet vel occidat Habet enim coercionem ut delinquentes puniat coerceat Item habet in potestate sua leges constitutiones assisas in regno suo provisas et approbatas et juratas ipse in propria persona observet et subditis suis faciat observari nihil enim prodest jura condere nisi sit qui jura tueatur Habet igitur Rex hujusmodi jura five jurisdictiones in manu sua And again in the same Chapter ea quae jurisdictionis funt pacis ea quae sunt justitiae paci annexae ad nullum pertinent nisi ad coronam dignitatem regiam nec a Corona separari poterunt cum faciant ipsam Coronam The sum of which in English is this the King hath supreme power in all civil causes the Law floweth solely from him he is super omnes above all men in his Kingdom all jurisdictions are in him The material Sword of right belongs to him and whatsoever conduces to peace that the people committed to his charge may live peaceably and quietly The power of holding Assizes is derived from him and of punishing Delinquents for it would be in vain to Enact Laws if there was not some body enabled to protect us by defending them c. And the same Author saith lib. 2. ca. 9. Potentia vero omnes sibi subitos praecellere parem autem habere
non debet nec multo fortiùs superiorem and a little after in the same Chapter Exercere Rex debet potestatem juris sicùt dei vicarius in terra et minister quia ea potestas solius Dei est The King doth excell all his Subjects in power He hath no Equal much lesse a Superiour because his power is from God only he is Gods Vicar Therefore not the Peoples And again li. 1. ca. 8. Item in temporalibus sunt Imperatores Reges et Principes in hiis quae pertinent ad regnum et sub eis Duces Comites Barones magnates sive Vavasores et Milites et etiam liberi et villani et diversae Potestates sub rege constitutae And a little after sunt etiam sub Rege liberi homines et servi ejus Potestati Subjecti Et omnis quidem sub eo et ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Parem autem non habet in regno suo quia sic amitteret praeceptum cum par in partem non habeat imperium Item nec multo fortius superiorem nec potentiorem habere debet quia sic esset inferior sibi subjectis et inferiores pares esse non possunt potentioribus ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub Homine sed sub Deo et sub Lege quia Lex facit Regem Dukes Earls Baronets Knights the Worthies of the Land Free-Men and Villains all are under the King and the King under none but God He hath no Peer in his Realm because then he would lose his command for amongst Equals there can be no Empire therefore much lesse hath he any Superiour or more powerfull than himself because then he would be inferiour to his Subjects and Inferiours as the Subjects are cannot be equal with the more powerfull as the King is But the King ought not to be under man but under God and the Law because the Law makes him King But what if the King should swerve from the Rules of the Law destroy his Subjects and their Estates without a cause May the Subjects take up arms against their Soveraign and compell him by force to do that which they cannot perswade him to by fair meams No saith Bracton li. 1. ca. 8. Si autem ab eo petatur cum breve non currat contra ipsum locus erit supplicationi quòd factum suum corrigat et emendet quod quidem si non fecerit satis sufficit ei ad paenam quod dominum expectet ultorem Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare multo fortius contra factum suum-venire No Enditement of high Treason c. lieth against the King our only remedy is to Petition his sacred Majesty but if he will not hearken to our just and reasonrble requests satis sufficit Nay his punishment is more than enough for he must render an account one day to him who judgeth righteously who will give us all a hearing the Beggar as well as the King But let not men in the mean time presume to question the deeds of the King much lesse Rebel against him and undoe by force what the King shall do though not according to right And that you may know that Bracton fully meant that the Subjects ought not to rise against the King though he acted unjustly He repeats his mind in other places li. 5. Tract 3. de defaltis cap. 3.3 where he puts the case that if the King should do injury and will not suffer the Law but his will to take place Quo casu cum dominus Rex super hoc fuerit interpellatus in eadem perstiterit voluntate quod velit tenentem esse defensum injuria cum teneatur justitiam totis viribus defensare ex tunc erit injuria ipsius domini Regis nec poterit ei necessitatem aliquis imponere quòd iâ—laâ— corrigat et emendet nisi velit cum superiorem non habeat nisi deum et satis erit illi pro paena quòd deum expectat ultorem If the King who is bound to administer justice to his utmost power being Petitioned will not recall and amend the wrong he did he injures his Subjects but no body can force him to do right because he hath the Supreme power he hath no Superiour but God and it is punishment enough for him to expect that God to whom vengeance only belongeth will take vengeance on him To every point which I have cited out of Bracton doth Fleta unanimously agree What man then so impudently wicked What hand so wilfully audacious what pen can there be so repugnant and contradictory to all truth as to affirm and publish to the world that Bracton writeth and is so to be understood viz. That the people have the Soverainty over the King and may call him in question for his actions so punish him for his offences O Traytor to the King and Sycophant of Bracton Mr. Willian Prynne of Lincolns-Inne is the man who with his Hand and Pen I cannot say Heart hath promulged this false Doctrine to the World in his Book called The Soveraign Power of Parliaments and Kingdoms Wherein according to Mr. Sandersons expression in his History of King Charls the 1st fo 117. Prynne pretends to overthrow all Scripture proofs against killing Kings and Princes For my part I bear not the least grudge or animosity to the mans person But his book is such a rapsody of nonsense a bundle of Rebellion and Treason a Pamplet so Seditious Pernicious Sophistical Jesuitical Trayterous and Scurrulous that I want Mr. Prynnes Epithites to give his own book its deserved Odium Wherein as Mr. Fuller in his Church History lib. 11. fol. 152. well observeth he delighteth more to be numerous with many than ponderous with select quotations which maketh his Books to swell with the losse of tentimes of the Reader sometimes of the Printer and his pen generally querulous hath more of the Plantiff than of the Defendant therein I mention Mr. Prynne and his book here only to put him in mind of the wrong which he hath done both to our Soveraign the King and the whole Kingdom He being the greatest if not the only Champion who rook upon him to vindicate and applaud those treacherous damnable and rebellious proceedings and unchristian inhumane and unnatural Warr against the King of that Monster called the Long Parliament whom now he laboureth as much to vilifye as he did then to promote O Trayterous Offspring which killeth his Mother only because she will not give him suck If he repent why doth he not write a book of retractations If he looketh upon his book intituled The lawfulnesse of the Parliaments necessary defensive War both in point of Law and Conscience I am sure he will have cause enough to repent of his writing if he hath any Law or Conscience in him And he hath no way better to redeem his credit than by a publique Confession God may pardon him and the King may pardon him if
there is Ultimum Potentiae so in the politick body when the King and the Lords Spititual and temporal Knights Citizens and Burgesses are all by the Kings command assembled and joyned together under the head the King in consultation for the Common good of the whole Realm there is Ultimum Sapientiae But it was never known in any age that the Members without the head had either power or wisdom and it would be prodigious if our age should produce such a Monster No man can tell the contrary but that our Realm of England hath been Governed by Kings ever since the Creation of the World clear it is by all Historians that ever since we heard of any Government in England it hath been a Royal State and although our Governours have been often changed yet our Government was never turned out of the regal road it is as easy to pull the Sun out of the Firmament and make the Stars to rule the day as it is to abolish Monarchy and establish Aristocracy or Democracy in our Kingdom For that which is bred in the bone will never out of the flesh As Monarchy is the most divine and most natural kind of Government so it is most natural to and esteemed most divine by all true born English men For such is the Courage and so great is the Loftiness of English Spirits that they disdain to be ruled by any but by his sacred Majesty our Soveraign Lord the King For as it was long before King William the Conquerour so did our Government continue still without interruption a Royal Monarchy until the chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders as they call them of the People to wit Presbiterians Independents Anabaptists Jesuits c. assembled together and consulted that they might take Charles the first whose undeserved sufferings have made him immortal on Earth as well as in Heaven by subtilty and kill him But they said let us not kill him suddenly and openly lest there be an uproar among the people night time is the only day for wickedness The Gunpowder Treason was hatched in darknesse and these Godly Villains thought that the best way to catch their prey was to beat on the dark side of the hedge They cut the Throat of Religion when they seemed to lay a plaister and they murthered their Soveraign when they swore they intended nothing but to make him a Glorious King Then entred Satan into Judas surnamed the House of Commons being one of the two Houses of Parliament And these Judasses went their way and communed with the chief Priests and Captains how they might betray him unto them And they were glad and covenanted to give them mony who then promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude And since the innocent Birds are oftentimes easier catcht with silent and gentle snares than roaring Guns at first these Judasses thought to betray their Master with kisses courting his Majesty with high-flying Complements of Obedience and that they might make him believe them to be what indeed they were not they made many Oathes Protestations Vows and Covenants that they were his Graces most dutyful Subjects and desired to live no longer than to do his Majesty service But it seems they did but play the Fox speak fair only to get their prey for by these sophistical insinuations they charmed his Majesty and wrested from him divers marks of his Soveraignty they were intrusted with the Navy obteined a Triennial Parliament were acquitted of Ship-mony and other impositions and at length made themselves perpetual for his Majesty passed an Act not to Dissolve them without their consent So that they now wanted nothing but his Majesties life which to obtain they procured by their wickedness the Earl of Strafford's head to be cut off and many other Nobles which stood in their way which props being removed they thought they might with more ease pull down the Soveraignty of the King that these Negroes might make themselves compleat Devils they got the head of the Earl of Strafford others cutoff for committing Treason against the King whose head they afterwards intended to cut off for committing treason against them O incomparable villany What they made a capital offence in others they esteemed more than a Cardinal virtue in themselves It was High Treason in others to think to do the King any harm but it was a high piece of Godlinesse in them to cut off his head The Earl of Strafford must dye as a Traitour because they said he intended to levy warre against the Kings will But these Saints raised Armies to fight against his Majesties own person Levied warre against the King and Kingdome murthered the King and destroyed the whole Realm Yet forsooth they must be canonized as the only true servants of Jesus Christ and all those who speak against them they kill and massacre as if they had committed Treason and Blasphemy against the Almighty Nay the great offence against the Holy Ghost they esteem more pardonable than the least against them And as it now plainly appeareth to the world all their oaths vowes and protestations of obedience to the King and performing of their duty towards him were but preparations for their great wickednesse of murthering the King For as the Gunner when he laboureth to kill the innocent bird walketh gently and treadeth softly holding down his gun as if it was the least of his thoughts to shoot when he mindeth nothing more or as the greedy Huntsman stealeth upon the Hare or Deer looking another way untill he is gotten close by and then letteth out his bloudy hounds to take and kill his prey So these Vipers more wise than Serpents only to do mischief did steal upon the King and undermined him by cutting off his Nobles whom they knew would be true and trusty servants to him and then when they thought they had him within their reach They let fly their doggs the bloudy souldiers for this Judas the House of Commons then having received a band of men and officers from the chief Priests and Pharisees John 18.3 who first set them on work came forth with a great multitude with swords and staves Matth. 26.47 48. to take and kill their Soveraign Now they that betrayed him gave the souldiers a sign saying Whomsoever we have sworn to be the only supreme Governour in all causes and over all persons That same is he hold him fast In that same time said the King to the Multitude Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me I sate daily with you in the Parliament House making many good lawes and ye laid no hold on me But all this was done that their wickednesse might be fulfilled John 18.12 Then the band and the Captain and the Officers of these Jews took the King and led him away to their Council and contrary to all legal proceedings and
the due course of Law smote the Shepherd and so the sheep of the Protestant flock were all scattered abroad Bradshaw indeed that Pontius Pilate pressed the King very earnestly and by subtil and crafty inventions thought to have wrought upon the King to have submitted to their summa injuria their Arbitrary High Court of Injustice and pleaded So that his Example might have been urged as an irrefragable precedent against the lives and liberties of the whole Kingdome and that after ages might cite King Charles his case as an authority to kill Kings But the King foreseeing their delusive and abominable intentions rather than he would betray the lives and liberty of his free born subjects to the Arbitrary Lusts of these Tyrants told them of the great wickednesse they were about and shewed to his people how these Traitours endeavoured to inslave the whole Realm and so patiently suffered himself to be murdered dying a most true Martyr both for our Lawes and Religion but for plea he said nothing So Bradshaw more wicked than Pilate for instead of washing his hands he impudently bathed them in his Masters innocent blood gave the sentence of their wicked wills against him and delivered him over to the blood-thirsty to be crucified who spit upon him threw Tobacco pipes at him mocked him cryed out Away with him away with him Crucifie him Crucifie him cut off his Head with their wicked Engines and then cast lots for his Garments and Estate giving each Souldier a part But instead of writing over his head This is Charles the King of the Jews his true Title or rather the King of the Devils they writ over his head Exit Tyrannus Regum ultimus anno libertatis Angliae restitutae primo although in truth the best of Kings then went out and the greatest Tyranny under the Heavens then entred into our England comming far short of the Jews in all that is good but exceeding them in all wickednesse treachery perfidiousness and villany Now all this impious Council sought false witnesse against the King to put him to death but found none Therefore that they might do nothing without wickedness but proceed in all their Actions contrary almost to the very colour of Justice and make themselves the greatest and most illegal Tyrants that ever the world heard of they made themselves both Judges Jury Witness Party and Accuser in their own quarrel against the King For whereas by the Laws of the Land our gracious King alwayes made the Judges of the Land Arbitrators between his Subjects and himself in all cases from the lowest offence and trespass to the highest offence Crimen laesae Majestatis High Treason This Amalekite the House of Commons made part of themselves the Judges of the King who had committed the greatest Treason against the King and by the Laws of the Land deserved rather to hang at Tyburn than sit in the Chair of Justice likewise they made the Souldiers his Judges who professed themselves to be the Kings inveterate Enemies by their Remonstrances and Speeches and that they desired nothing more than his Blood and Life fought against him with their Guns and Swords Yet forsooth of this Hotchpotch of Traytors was their high Court of Justice made up Most of them being Collonels of the Army and other Souldiers who fought against him abroad and others Parliament men who conspired his ruine at home By the Laws of the Land it is a just exception to any Jury man who is to try the basest or poorest Felon and a legal challenge for which he must be withdrawn That he is a professed Enemy and Prosecutor who seeks his life and therefore no lawful nor indifferent tryer of him for it yet these bloody Butchers who professed themselves to be the Kings greatest Enemies and Prosecutors seeking after nothing so eagerly as the Kings life were both the Judges and Jury-men too to try the King Perjured O. Cromwell who then intended and afterwards effected to have the supreme power over these three Kingdoms was one of the Tryers to judge whether the King or himself with the rest of his brethren in iniquity deserved death and whether the King and his Royal Progeny ought not to be distroyed and Oliver and his stinking stock take possession O unparraleld lump of impiousness Aliquis non debet esse Judex in propria causà It is a Maxim in Law that no man ought to be Judge in his own cause Yet these villains made themselves the only Judge whether they committed Treason against the King or the King against them Nemo tenetur prodere seipsum No man is bound to accuse himself and it would have been a wonder indeed if these Rebels should have spoke the truth and said that they had committed high Treason against the King Therefore for fear the Law should punish them according to their deserts they thought good to prevent that mischief punish the King as they pleased according to their lusts And that they might make themselves the greatest Tyrants and the people the basest Slaves in the world they took upon them the Governing power which by Law only belongeth to the King 2. The Legislative power which likewise belongeth to the King with the concurrence of the upper and Lower House And 3. The Judicative power which belongeth to the Judges who are known Expositors and Dispencers of Law and Justice in all Causes brought before them So that these Trayterous Tyrants by their boundless and arbitrary wills put us to death when they please for what cause they please and take away our Estates when they see occasion And yet they have the impudence to tell us and many the sottishness to believe that the Parliament having the Supreme power doth all these villanies by Law O Abominable How these Tyrants mock the people with the name of a Parliament the Parliament consisteth of the King the head and about 600 of his Subjects and there were not above 50 or 60 of the Parliament who caused the King to be murthered and ruined his people yet these Schismaticks call themselves a Parliament and so having nothing good but their name Tyrannize over us They may as well say that the parings of the nailes of the toes are the whole man and have the power of all the other members as say that they are the Parliament or have any lawfull power they being nothing but the dregs and lees of the inferiour House from whom we must never expect any thing pleasing to any honest mans palate If the Parliament had power to depose the King yet what power can these few Gaol-Birds have who are scarce the tenth part of the Parliament and no Representatives of the People but only of their own Devilish ambitions By what authority do these Ignes fatui abolish Kingship and the House of Lords as dangedangerous and useless which all our Ancestors have found most profitable and glorious for our Kingdom These Currs have several times been kicked out of
are called of God to be Kings as his Vicegerents they have power to look to and have a care of the Church that the word be preached and the Sacraments administred by fit persons and in a right manner else how should Kings be Nursing Fathers to the Church had they not a Fatherly power over it Therefore many Acts of Parliament in several Kings Reigns and the whole Current of Law Books resolve and affirm the King to be head and have Supreme Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical causes In the first year of Edward the sixth a Statute was made That all Authority and Jurisdiction both Spiritual and Temporal is derived from the King So in the Reign of Edward the Confessor was this Law ca. 17. The King who is the Vicar of the highest King is ordained to this end that he should Govern and Rule the Kingdom and People of the Land and above all things the Holy Church and that he defend the same from wrong doers and destroy and root out workers of mischief But since Reverend Coke in the fifth part of his Reports De jure Regis Ecclesiastico hath with luculent examples and impregnable lawes made it so clear that no man can gainsay it that the King ought and the Kings of England ever since before the Conquest until the Reign of Queen Elizabeth at which time he writ have had the supreme power and jurisdiction in all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical causes I referre you to his Book only reciting part of his conclusion viz. Thus hath it appeared as well by the antient Common Lawes of this Realm by the Resolutions and Judgments of the Judges and Sages of the Lawes of England in all succession of ages as by authority of many Acts of Parliament antient and of later times that the Kingdome of England is an absolute Monarchy and that the King is the only supreme Governour as well over Ecclesiastical persons and in Ecclesiastical causes as temporal within this Realm And in another places fo 8. he saith And therefore by the antient Lawes of this Realm this Kingdome of England is an absolute Empire and Monarchy consisting of one head which is the King and of a body politick compact and compounded of many and almost infinite several and yet well agreeing Members All which the law divideth into two several parts that is to say the Clergy and the Laity both of them next and immediately under God subject and obedient to the head Also the Kingly head of this politick body is instituted and furnished with plenary and intire power prerogative and jurisdiction to render justice and right to every part and member of this body of what estate degree or calling soever in all causes Ecclesiastical or Temporal otherwise he should not be a head of the whole body Now he that looketh upon these Authorities and yet saith that the King is not above both Parliament and people nor hath soveraign power over them will likewise look upon the sun in the Heavens and yet say that it is not above but below the earth and when he is in the midst of the sea say that there are no waters in the world If then the King hath the supreme power over Parliament and people as most certainly he hath how then could the Parliament or people much lesse sixty of them question or judge their King For no man can deny but that the greater power ought to correct and judge the lesser not the lesser the greater How could they did I say Why vi armis by violence and injury not by law So may I go and murther the King of Spain or the King of France and then tell them that their people have the supreme power over them The case is all one only these Rebels murthered their natural Father and King to whom nature and the Lawes of God and man had made them subjects but I should murther a forein King whom I ought not to touch he being the Lords annointed It is easie to prove the Soveraignty of the Kings of England by their Stiles unlesse our anti-monarchical Statists will say they nick named themselves Their several stiles since the Conquest you may see in the first part of my Lord Coke's Institutes Fo. 27. Therefore I will not trouble you with a recital of them as for the styles before the Conquest take one for all which you may find in the Preface of Co. li. 4. and in Davis his Irish reports Fo. 60. In a Charter made by Edgar one of the Saxon Monarchs of England before the Danish Kings viz. Altitonantis dei largiflua clementia qui est Rex Regum dominus dominantium Ego Edgarus Anglorum Basileus omniumque rerum Insularum Oceani quae Britanniam circumjacent cunctarumque Nationum quae infra eam includuntuâ— Imperator et dominus Gratias ago ipsi Deo omnipotenti Regi meo qui meum imperium sic ampliavit exaltavit super Regum patrum meorum Qui licet Monarchiam totius Angliae adepti sunt a tempore Athelstani qui primus Regum Anglorum omnes Nationes quae Britanniam incolunt sibi armis subegit nullus tamen eorum ultra fines imperium suum dilatare agressus est mihi tamen concessit propitia Divinitas cum Anglorum imperio omnia regna Insularum Oceani cum suis ferocissimis regibus usque Norvegiam maximamque partem Hiberniae cum sua nobilissima Civitate de Dublina Anglorum regno subjugare quos etiam omnes meis imperiis colla subdare dei favente gratia coegi By which you may observe the first Conquest of Ireland and that the Kings of England are Emperours and Monarchs in their Kingdom constituted only by God the King of Kings and Lord of Lords not by the people And so did many other Kings of England stile themselves as for example Etheldredus totius Albionis Dei Providentia Imperator and Edredus Magnae Britanniae Monarcha c. But that our preposterous Commonwealths men might make themselves most ridiculous as well as impious in all things they would argue the King out of his Militia and have him to be their Defender yet they would take away his sword from him O Childish foppery What a Warriour without arms a General without souldiers why not aâ— well a Speaker without a mouth such Drollerâ— was never heard of in the world until the Infatuation of these infandous Republicans hatcht it Nay but there shall be a King over us cryed the Israelites that we also might be like all the Nations and that our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our battels 1 Sam. 8.19 Anâ— what should he fight without the Militia should the King be over the people judge them and go out before them to battel yet ought the people tâ— have power to array arm and muster the souldierâ— at their pleasure ought they to appoint whaâ— Officers and Commanders they thought fit surely no For he will saith Samuel verse 12.
Kings gracious Concessions each Member of the house of Commons ought to be respectively elected out of the Shires or Counties Cities or Boroughs by the Kings Writ ex debito Justitiae Now would it not strike a man with admiration and make his hair stand an end to hear that the House of Commons should claim the Legislative power and protest to the world that they were greater in authority and Majesty than the King who raised them from nothing surely 't is but a dream which troubled the head a while with strange Chimaeras and then vanish'd it is but a Phantasm which fanatick distempers raised in lunatick brains and so perish'd after ages will account it but an Ovids Metamorphosis or as a Fable told more for mirth and novelty than for any truth or reality for why are the pots greater than the Potter or doth he who ought for to obey give Laws to him whose right it is to command The King sayeth to the House of Commons come and they come and he sayeth to them go and they go whatsoever the King commands that they cannot chuse by Law but do Nay the Lords their Masters are but the Kings Servants the King is the head and they are but the servile Members it is the property of the Head not of the Members to command the inferiour Members are all at the will and nod of the Head the feet run the hands work and the whole body moveth at the pleasure of the head but without the head the whole body is but a dead trunck and neither hands nor feet have power to move so the Members of the Parliament without the King their head have not power to sit much less to Act there is no body without a head nor no Parliament without a King they cannot move nor convene together without his Royal Summons neither can they dissolve themselves being convened without his command the King assembles adjourns prorogues and dissolves the Parliament by Law at his pleasure and therfore it is called in our Statutes and Law-bookes Parliamentum Regis Curia Regis et Concilium Regis and the Acts of Parliament are called the Kings Laws and why not the Kings Laws doth not he make them The whole body and volumes of the Statutes proclaim the King the sole Legislator What is Magna Charta but the Kings will and gift The very beginning of it will tell you 't is no more viz. Henry by the grace of God c. Know ye that we of our meer and free will have given these Liberties In the self same style runs Charta de foresta In the Statute of escheates made at Lincoln 29 Edw. 1. are these words At the Parliament of our Soveraign Lord the King by his Council it was agreed and also commanded by the King himself That c. The Statute of Marlebridg 52 H. 3. runs thus The King hath made these Acts Ordinances and Statutes which he willeth to be observtd of all his Subjects high and low 3. Edwardi primi The title of the Statute is These are the Acts of King Edward and afterwards it followeth The King hath ordained these Acts And the first Chapter begins The King forbiddeth and commandeth That c. 6. Edw. 1 It is said Our Soveraign Lord the King hath established the Acts commanding they be observed within this Realm And in the 14 Chap. the words are The King of his special grace granteth That c. The Statute of Quo Warranto saith Our Lord the King at his Parliament of his special Grace and for affection which he beareth to his Prelats Earls and Barons and others hath granted that they who have liberties by prescription shall enjoy them 1. Ed. 3. To the honour of God and of holy Church and to the redresse of the oppression of the people our Soveraign Lord the King c. At the request of the Commonalty of his Realm by their Petition made before him and his Counsel in the Parliament by the assent of the Prelats Earls Barons and other great men assembled in the said Parliament hath granted for him and his heirs c. But wherfore evidences to prove that which no man can deny The styles of the Statutes and Acts printed to the 1 H. 7 are either The King willeth the King commandeth the King provideth the King grants the King ordains at his Parliament or the King ordaineth by the advice of his Prelats and Barons and at the humble Petition of the Commons c. But in Henry 7 his time the style altered and hath sithence continued thus It is ordained by the Kings Majesty and the Lords spiritual and temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled And why do the Lords and Commons ordain Is it not only because the King doth It is so they do because the King doth which only denotateth their assent for the Kings Majesty giveth life to all as the Soul to the Body for did ever the Lords or Commons make an Act without the King Never they cannot the Lords advise the Commons consent but the King makes the Law their Bills are but inanimate scriblings untill the King breaths into their nostrils the breath of life and so that which was but mould before becometh a Law which ruleth living Souls and as Sr. Edward Coke observeth In antient times all Acts of Parliament were in form of Petitions which the King answered at his pleasure now if it be the duty of the Parliament to Petition and in the power of the King to receive or reject their Petitions at his will judg you who hath the supreme power Neither doth the King only make the Laws but he executeth them too for all executions which are the life of the Law receive their force and vigour from the King Car la ley le roy et les briefes le Roy Sont les choses per que home est Protect et ayde saith our Father Littleton Sect. 199. There be three things whereby every Subject is protected Rex Lex rescripta Regis The King commandeth his commands are our Laws and those Laws are executed only by the Kings Writs and Precepts and although the King Moses-like deputeth subaltern Judges to ease himself of some part of the burthen of administring Justice yet what they Judge are the Kings Judgments the Law is the rule but it is mute the King judgeth by his Judges and they judging are the Kings speaking Law The Judges are Lex loquens the Kings mouth the Commons are his eys and the Lords his ears but the Kings head is Viva Lex the fountain of Justice to whom God hath given his Judgments and we have none but what the King Gods Vicar giveth to us and why not the Kings judgments Quod quisque facit per alterum facit per se The Kings Patent makes the Judges the power of pardoning offences only belongeth to the King He may grant conusance of all pleas at his pleasure within any County