resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Rom. 13.2 I pitty them therefore and wish charitably their convertion I do not Condemn yet can do no less than shew them their Peril Ignorance of the Law excuseth not but it be invincible that is to say they have done that in them is to know the truth as to counsel with Learned Men and to ask them what the Law is in that behalf and if they answer them that they may do this or that Lawfully however they may thereby be excused in Conscience yet in Mans Law saith St. Jermin Dr. and Stud. 46. a. they are not thereby discharged but they that have taken upon them to have knowledg of the Law be not excuse by ignorance of the Law nay no more are they that have a Willful Ignorance and that would rather be Ignorant than to know the Truth and therefore will not dispose themselves to be informed or to ask any Counsel in it and if it be a thing that is against the Law of God or the Law of reason as the matter of Obedience to the Magistrate Supream and Subordinate is no Man shall be excused by Ignorance And the same Author Fol. 146 148. saith that Ignorance in the Law though it be invincible doth not excuse as to the Law for every Man is bound at his Peril to take knowledg what the Law of the Realm is as well the Law made by Statute as by the Common Law giving for reason that there is no Statute made in this Realm but by the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of all the Commons that is to say by the Knights of the Shire Citizens and Burgesses that be choson by Assent of Commons and every Statute there made is of as strong Effect in the Law as if all the Commons were there present personally at the making thereof and so since all were makers of the Statute the Law presumeth that all have knowledg of that that they make and are bound at their Perils to take knowledge of the Statute that they make and so be all that come after them And Mr. Plowden Fol. 343. a. saith that Ignorance of the Law is not to be presumed to be in a Subject and that therefore Ignorance of the Law shall excuse none Therefore let all of the Sects aforesaid who through Curiosity affectation of Novelties want of better Education in their Youths or that they will not yet suffer themselves to be weaned from the good Old Cause as it was called in the late times of Rebellion let them all make hast to come over and joyn with us in the same way and Worship of God and let them be more careful how they are for the future Factious stirrers of Sedition and disturbers of the Publick Peace All of all sorts have had ample proof of his late Sacred Majesties gracious Favour Mercy and Amnesty since his coming yet some good Old Cause Men none will deny but Walcot and Rumbald were such and others of Wicked and Traiterous principles lately contrived and Plotted Barbarously to Murder his late Gracious Majesty and his dear Royal Brother since our Lord the King and then the most Illustrious P. J. D. of York and instead of the best Government in the whole Christian World to have introduced a Hexarchy or a Government by Six whether joyntly or separately is not much material to enquire All persons in general within the Three Kingdoms are infinitely bound to praise God for the preservation of the Lives of his late Sacred Majesty and his dear Royal Brother our Soveraign Lord and for the timely discovery of their Wicked and Hellish designs and Machinations that threatned not only the alteration of the Government in Church and State but also then was by designed and forethought malice purposed and intended the expence of the Royal and all Loyal Blood And God give us all Grace to be thankful some only that were to have been the Malitious Authors and instigators of its Effusion have therefore suffered according to Law and their Wicked and Willful Obstinacy hath been corrected by the Magistrate and by Gods great Goodness and infinite Mercy his late Sacred Majesty his dear Royal Brother now King James the Second and the publick Peace of all the Three Kingdoms are preserved in peace and safety and under his Sacred Majesty as under a goodly Cedar Tree of full growth irremovable not to be otherwise or other where set planted or supplanted all his Subjects sit secure and are protected CHAP. XII Sheweth that all Subjects owe true Ligeance to their Soveraign though they never were or ever shall be Sworn to the same and is shewed the diversity between Enemies and Rebels then all are advised from Rebellion and is shewed that the King hath no Peer and therefore cannot be judged by his Subjects for his Actions ILlaesa sit Majestas Regis let the Majesty of our King hereafter be free from all hurt and injury either in our thoughts words or deeds And since you have heard not only cui sed quomodo debetur Ligeantia not only to whom but also in what manner your Ligeance is due unto the Natural Body of our Lord the King which is always at all times and in all places accompanied with the Body Politick and cannot be disjoyned or separated from the same you are likewise to understand that this Ligeance doth not begin by the Oath in the Leet or elsewhere and that the Swearing in the Leet or elsewhere maketh no denization For all Subjects owe true Ligeance to their Soveraign though they never yet were nor ever shall be Sworn in the Leet only that the King may have an account of his Peoples Frank pledg for their due Obedience and Subjection within the Precinct of every Leet the Municipal Laws of this Realm have prescribed the Order and Form of this Oath of Allegiance to be administred at or in the Leet All Subjects are Born under this Natural Ligeance Aliens and Strangers only are properly said to be amici or inimici to be in League with us or to be Enemies to us Hostes sunt qui nobis vel quibus nos bella decernimus ceteri proditores praedones c. They are Enemies against whom our King Proclaimeth War or who Proclaim War against our King all others are Traitors Rebells Thieves and Robbers A Rebel is to be Indicted but an Enemy is to be put to death by Marshal-Law Now as outward Peace is a great Blessing yet is it as far inferior to Peace within as Civil Wars are more cruel and unnatural than Wars abroad for avoidance whereof let all in general refuse so much as to harbour in their thoughts that detestable and long since exploded opinion that levying of War against the Command of the King though his person be present is no levying of War against the King but the levying of War against his Politick Person and Laws that is the only levying War against the King Admit
ADVICE TO THE COMMONS Within all His MAJESTIES Realms and Dominions Written By Jacob Bury Esq An old Indigent Officer for the County of Bedford as a Captain of Horse in the Royal Army of King Charles the First Containing the perfect Harmony Consent and Agreement between Divinity and Law in defence of the Government Established by Law in Church and State And that Kingly Government is by Divine Right Nihil dictum nec scriptum est quod non dictum scriptum prius LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Jun. for Richard Northcott adjoyning to St. Peters Alley in Cornhill and at the Marriner and Anchor on Fishstreet hill near London-Bridg 1685. To the Right Honourable Robert Earl of Ailesbury and Elgin Vicount Bruce of Ampthill Baron Bruce of Wharlton Skelton and Kinloss Lord of the Honour of Ampthill High Steward of Leicester Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the Counties of Bedford Huntington and Cambridge and one of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council c. Right Honourable HAving received some kindness from your Lordship as also from the rest of His Majesties Commissioners of the Peace for the County of Bedford whereof and wherein your Honour is deservedly for your known and well approved Loyalty Summus procerum proximus à Rege the Chiefest of the Governours and the very next under and after the King therefore I thought my self obliged to shew my thankfulness by doing something that might tend to the good of the whole Community In order thereunto I was principally moved to Write this small ensuing Treatise wherein is contained chiefly The perfect Harmony Consent and Agreement between Divinity and Law in Defence of the Government by Law established in Church and State and is plainly demonstrated That Kingly Government is by Divine Right And now my Lord I most humbly beg your Pardon that I presume to prefix your great Name before this Discourse But since there is nothing therein but what hath its Weight and Warrant from the Holy Scriptures or our Authentick undeniable and well approved of Books of Law I cannot but hope your kind Approbation and Acceptance and am very well pleased I have the occasion offered me to let your Honour know how much I am My Lord Your most Humble and very Obedient Servant Jacob Bury THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader THis small ensuing Treatise Entituled Advice to the Commons within all His Majesties Realms and Dominions are confessed to be but the Gleanings of an Old Indigent Officer of the Royal Army of King Charles the First gathered from the vintage or the larger and more Fruitful Fields of such Authentick Books of Law c. as are cited by the Author for his Vouchers It was Written in time a little before and is Published in short time after the Demise or Death of the Natural Body of our late most Gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles the Second who to his Glory and Honour in all after Ages to come will be Chronicled Miraculously to have excelled all his Royal Ancestors in Mercy and Amnesty to all his Subjects whatsoever that survive him by whose Prudent Governance and Wise Management of all Publick Affairs the Publick Peace of these Kingdoms was to a Miracle preserved ever since his long expected and for good reasons much wished for Restauration Now blessed be God for it his rightful Successor whom God long preserve hath declared and promised that as he is by Right of Bloud and Act in Law next and immediately to succeed his said dear Royal Brother in the Station God hath placed him that is to say in the Governance of these his Realms and Dominions as our Soveraign Lord and King so he shall always imitate his Predecessor in Clemency and Mercy to his Subjects that however he hath before by Wicked and foul Mouthed Detraction been misreported to have been for Arbitrary Government that he always shall and will do his utmost endeavours for the defence and preservation of the Government as it is Established by Law in Church and State that he will invade no Mans property c. Now seeing that it hath pleased God to take to himself from us our late Gracious Soveraign let us all rest contented and fully satisfied that we have wofully experienced the Mouths of Slanderors to have been always apt to call all things into question but that always also they have been unready to approve of any thing tending to the publick Peace and welfare of the whole Community Therefore believe the Word and gracious Promise of his Sacred Majesty believe not every Idle report neither be moved by vain suggestions least through light trust thou bring thy self into danger and which is more bad be counted a fool Let us all believe that none sprung from the Loyns of King James the First will ever alter the Protestant Religion or the Government Established by Law in Church and State Remember there was this Plea allowed in bar of an Action brought in the late times of Rebellion for that the Plantiff had not taken the ingagement to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth without King or House of Lords Take into consideration also what the Impression and Charecter of the Money Coined at Oxford was in these times and also consider what was the Impression and Charecter of the Money then Coined by the late Vsurpers these matters duly considered will without further Arguments demonstrate what the good Old Cause Men aimed at certainly they aimed at nothing less than the alteration of the Government both in Church and State and in order thereunto it may be said that at the last they Fought neither against great nor small but only against King Charles the First the blessed Martyr of ever blessed Memory Now though it be in these his Majsties Realms and Dominions suffered to every one by Lawful ways and means to desire to aspire to a better private Fortune yet withal it is an Office just in all inferior degrees to bear without grudging the Ordinance and Sentence of their Lot otherwise there would be confusion of all Imperies and Governments if it were suffered to every one to aspire to such liberty as he lusteth after beyond the quality State and condition of a Subject wherein God hath placed him The late Plots proceeded as it were by the publick consent of the Dissenters to the present Government and by incitation of certain Seditious Heads who by their rashness are wont to draw the Commons into commotion that by Poverty are assured they can lose nothing and by their Nature are always desirous of Innovation and being easily filled with vain errors and false perswasions are moved at the appetite of any that will provoke them and be their leaders as the Waves of the Sea are carried and hurried hither and thither with the blasts of the Wind. Therefore every Law was made at the first to no other end but to bridle such as would live without Reason and Law and
pretended Birthright and Inheritance floweth only from the Kings Primitive Grace and Favour and that they would not pray that de Gratiâ of Grace if they had any Colour to claim the same de Jure of Right And the renewing of this Petition every Parliament proves the Grant to be but Temporary But the late Usurpers pretended they had Priviledge granted to them to sit by the Mentioned Act of Continuance c. And therefore all fair Offers from his said Majesty for Publick Good and for the Preservation of the Government in Church and State were afterwards interpreted a Breach of Priviledge Though the soundest Lawyers of that time were of Opinion that the said Act of Continuance was Void in it self in regard that what Grants or Concessions soever the King makes the Law presupposeth they are always with this Provisoe Salvo jure regio salvo jure Coronae In the 20th of Rich. the Second it may be seen in Mr. Howe 's Chronicle that a Parliament holden at Westminster was Ordained to endure Forty eight days but it was Abridged for the King would not tarry there more than Five days wherein he declared the things pertaining to the Realm especially such Matters as touched himself c. One property of every good Law of Man is that the Maker exceed not his Authority which certainly they did that framed that Bill for the Act of Continuance c. And Coke 10th rep 57. b. it is agreed that Parliamentum testamentum arbitramentum are to be construed according to the intention of the Makers the said King certainly intended not thereby to Exclude himself because by the Laws of our Land it cannot properly be said a Parliament unless it be consisting of King Lords and Commons And if Kingly Government be constituted by Divine Right then St. Jermyn tells us that Customs and Statutes are void that are against the Law of God and so that Act was null in its own Nature at the very first and the proposal of it was Treason in a high degree Parliamentary Priviledges are but Temporary and are not in them till asked by their Speaker Precario and granted by their Sovereign But Mr. Plowden Fol. 322. b. saith that every Prerogative of the King containeth in it self a Prescription for it resteth in usage And Fol. 319. b. and 322. a. he saith that the Prerogative of the King may not be said to be torcius that is consonant to reason and hath been used from time to time in the time of one King after another for the Law is not known if not by usage and usage proveth that it is Law And Fol. 322. a. and 323. he saith all the Prerogatives mentioned in the Statute of Prerogativa Regis made in 17o. Ed. 2 di were in the King by the Common Law before the said Statute and many others and Fol. 318. a. he saith It is a commendable thing for the King to abstain from the extremity of his Prerogative of his special grace in benefit of his Subjects but withall saith that the Law doth not force him so to do And Sir Ed. Coke in the First part of his Institutes Fol. 90. b. saith that Praerogativa is derived of prae id est ante and rogare that is to ask or Demand before hand whereof cometh Prerogativa and is denominated of the most excellent part because though an Act hath passed both the Houses of the Lords and Commons in Parliament yet before it be a Law the Royal Assent must be asked or Demanded and Obtained Bracton li. jo calleth it libertatem in another place privilegium Regis Britton Fol. 27. calleth it droit le Roy the Right of the King the Register of the Writs calleth it jus regium Coronae the Royal or Regal Right of the Crown And Mr. Stanford in Praerog Fol. 5. a. b. saith Praerogativa is as much to say as a Priviledge or Preeminence that one person hath before another which as it is tolerable in some so it is most to be permitted and allowed in a Prince or Soveraign Governour of a Realm for besides that he is the most worthyest or excellent Part or Member of the body of the Commonwealth so is he also through his good Governance the preserver nourisher and defender of all the People being the rest of the same body for which cause the Laws do attribute unto him all Honour Dignity Prerogative and Preeminence It is said Coke 7. 10. b. and 11. a. That the King is an absolute Prince before his Coronation which is but a Royal Ceremony Ornament and Solemnization of the Royal Descent but no part of the Title and that Rex non est Rex quia Coronatur sed Coronatur quia est Rex The King is not a King hecause he is Crowned but he is Crowned because he is a King And Coke 11.72 a. The King is said to be sponsus Regni and per annulum by a Ring is said to be espoused to the Realm at his Coronation which is a great Mark of Soveraignty and Power in the King over his People for admit the King to be sponsus the Bridegroom or new Married Man and the Realm to be sponsa the Bride or new Married Woman at this Solemnity of his Coronation every Woman is sub potestate viri sui under the Power of ber Husband ipse dominabitur ejus and he shall Rule or Reign over her by Gods Law Gen. 3.16 and our Law doth not estrange the Husband of any Interest Prerogative or thing that the Wife hath at the time of the intermarriâ—ge or after But as in all Rebellions so in the late time of Rebellion the Woman wore the Breeches as is easily proved by the Money Coined in those times Also in Coke 7. 10. b. The King is said to be pater patriae the Father of his Country which is another Mark of his Soveraignty and Supream Power for at the beginning of Kingdoms when all the World consisted of a few Housholds the Elder or Father of the Family exercised Authority over his Meyney and did distribute reward or punishment amongst them after his own discretion all which aforesaid is agreeing with what the Poet saith Jura dant singuli natis uxoribus every single individual Person gives Laws to his Wife and Children This was patria potestas Fatherly power the fountain of Regia potestas Kingly power and so Regia potestas is lege Naturae non arbitrio populi and so Kingly Authority is by the Law of Nature not by the Will Power or Arbitrement of the People leges Naturae perfectissimae sunt immutabilâ—s and the Laws of Nature are the most perfect and not to be Altered or Changed No sooner was there a Houshold but there was a Soveraign All regal Authority was then included in the Office of Father And therefore God Almighty in giving the Fifth Commandment called the Crown Commandment Honour thy Father and thy Mother intended the Duty belonging to all Magistrates Afterwards