people So Arnisaeus saith Arnisaeus de jure Majest l. 2. c. 1. p. 214. Majestatis potestas omnis consistit vel in defendenda repub vel in regenda all the power of royalty consisteth either in defending or in governing the Common wealth according as Homer describeth a perfect King Homer Iliad γ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so you see the two principall parts of the Kings government are the Offices 1. Of a Captaine in the time of Warre 1. Ducis in bello gerendo 2. Iudicis in jure reddendo 1. Part. In the time of Warre Ordo ille naturalis mortalium paci accommodatus hoc poscit ut suscipiendi belli autoritas atque consilium apud principes sit Aug. cont Faust l 22. Arnis l. 2. c. 5. p. 345. Plato de legib lib. 2. Arnisaus lib. 2. cap. 5. p. 345. Luc. 14.31 Vers 32. 2. Of a Judge in the time of Peace 1. Then it is the proper right of the King and of none but the King or he that hath the regall and supreme power to make warre and to conclude peace for Plato in his Common-wealth ordained that Si quis pacem vel bellum secerit cum aliquibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Julian Law adjudgeth him guilty of High Treason Qui injussu principis bellum gesserit delectúmve habuerit exercitum vel comparaverit that either maketh Warre or raiseth an Army without his Kings command And to this part of the regall government which consisteth in the Militia in Armes for the defence of the Kingdome pertaineth 1. The proclaiming of Warre which our Saviour properly ascribeth unto the right of Kings when he saith not what State or Common-wealth but What King going to warre with another King c 2. The concluding of Peace which our Saviour ascribeth also unto the King in the same place 3. The making of leagues and confederacies with other forraigne States Aristot polit l. 7. c. 8. 4. The sending and receiving of Ambassadors 5. To raise Armes and the like which the Lawes of God and of all Nations justifie to be the proper right of Kings Arnis l. 2. c. 1. and to belong onely unto the supreame Majestie Judges 11.11 But then you will say did not the Judges Moses Joshua Gedion Jephta Barac Sampson and the rest make warre and yet they were no Kings Why then may not the Nobles make warre as well as Kings I answer that they doe indeed make warre and a miserable wretched warre but I speake of a just warre and so I say that none but the King or he that hath the Kings power can doe it for though the Judges assumed not the name of Kings nor Captaines sed à potiore parte vocati sunt judices but from the sweetest part of the royall government were termed Judges yet they had the full power ducendi judicandi populum both of warre and peace saith Sigonius and so the men of Gilead said unto Jephthe veni esto princeps noster and they made him their head by an inviolable covenant Deut. 33.5 And of Moses it is plainly said He was King in Jesurun and when there was no Judge it is said there was no King in Israel Judges 17.6.18.1.19.1 for I stand not about words when some were called Kings for the honour of the people and yet had no more power then Subjects as the Kings of Sparta and others had not the name of Kings and yet had the full power of Kings as the Dictator and the Emperour and the great Duke of Muscovie and the like But when a warre is undertaken by any Prince how shall we know which party is in the right for to make an unjust warre cannot be said to be the right of any King yet as the Poët saith Lucan lib. 1. Quis justius induit arma Scire nefas summo se judice quisque tuetur Every one pretends his cause is just he fights for God for the truth of the Gospell the faith of Christ and the liberty and Lawes of his Countrey how then shall those poore men that hazard their lives and their fortunes yea and soules too if they warre on the wrong side understand the truth of this great doubtfull and dangerous point I answer all the Divines that I reade of speaking of warre Dambo ◠d in praxi criminal cap. 82. doe concurre with what Dumbauderius writeth of this point that there must be foure properties of a just warre 1. A just cause Foure properties of a just Warre 2. A right intention 3. Meet Members 4. The Kings authority Sine qua est laesa Majestas without which authority the Warriours are all Traytors And I would to God our Rebels would lay their hands upon their hearts and seriously examine these foure points in this present Warre 1. What cause have they to take Armes against their King 1. A just causes and to kill and murder so many thousands of their owne Brethren they will answer that they doe it for the defence of their Liberty Lawes and Religion but how truly let God himselfe be the Judge for His Majestie hath promised and protested they shall enjoy all these fully and freely without any manner of diminution and we know that never any rebellion was raised but these very causes were still pretended And therefore 2. Consider with what intent they doe all this 2. A right intention and I doubt not but you shall finde foule weeds under this faire cloake for under the shadow of liberty and property they tooke the liberty to rob all the Kings loyall Subjects that they could reach of all or most of their estates and to keepe them fast in prison because they would not consent to their lawlesse liberty and to be Rebels with them against their conscience And under the pretence of Lawes they aymed not to have the old Lawes well kept which was never denyed them but to have such new ones made as might quite rob the King of all his rights and transferre the same unto themselves and their friends so he should be like the King of Sparta a royall slave What Lawes and Religion the Rebels would faine hav◠and they should be like the Ephori ruling and commanding Subjects And for the religion you may know by their new Synod which are a Synod not of Saints but of Rebels what religion they would faine have not that which was profest in Q. Elizabeths times that was established by the Lawes justified by the paines and confirmed by the bloud of so many worthy men and faithfull Martyrs but a new religion first hatched in Amsterdam then nourished in New England and now to be transplanted into this Kingdome 3. Meete Members 3. Who are the persons that are imployed in this warre he first of all that is the more disloyall because he was a person of honour that had so much honour conferred upon him by His
JVRA MAJESTATIS THE RIGHTS OF KINGS BOTH In CHVRCH and STATE 1. Granted by God 2. Violated by the Rebels 3. Vindicated by the Truth AND The wickednesses of the Faction of this pretended PARLIAMENT at VVestminster 1. Manifested by their Actions 1. Perjury 2. Rebellion 3. Oppression 4. Murder 5. Robberie 6. Sacriledge and the like 2. Proved by their Ordinances 1. Against Law 2. Against Equity 3. Against Conscience PUBLISHED 1. To the eternall honour of our just God 2. The indeleble shame of the wicked Rebels And 3. To procure the happy peace of this distressed Land Which many feare we shall never obtaine untill 1. The Rebels be destroyed or reduced to the obedience of our King And 2. The breaches of the Church be repaired 1. By the restauration of Gods now much prophaned service And 2. The reparation of the many injuries done to Christ his now dis-esteemed servants By GRYFFITH WILLIAMS Lord Bishop of OSSORY Impij homines qui dum volunt esse mali nolunt esse veritatem qua condemnantur mali Augustinus Printed at Oxford Ann. Dom. 1644. Carolus D G Mag Brittaniae Fra et Hiberniae Rex â—â—r TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTIE Most gracious Soveraigne WIth no small paines and the more for want of my books and of any setled place being multùm terris jactatus alto frighted out of mine house and tost betwixt two distracted Kingdomes I have collected out of the sacred Scripture explained by the ancient Fathers and the best Writers of Gods Church these few Rights our of many that God and nature and Nations and the Lawes of this Land have fully and undeniably granted unto our Sveraigne Kings My witnesse is in Heaven that as my conscience directed me without any squint aspect so I have with all sincerity and freely traced and expressed the truth as I shall answer to the contrary at the dreadfull judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore with all fervency I humbly supplicate the divine Majestie still to assist Your Highnesse that as in Your lowest ebbe You have put on righteousnesse as a breast-plate and with an heroick resolution withstood the proudest waves of the raging Seas and the violent attempts of so many imaginary Kings so now in Your acquired strength You may still ride on with Your honour and for the glory of God the preservation of Christ his Church and the happinesse of this Kingdom not for the greatest storme that can be threatned suffer these Rights to be snatched away nor Your Crowne to be throwne to the dust nor the sword that God hath given You to be wrested out of Your hand by these uncircumcised Philistines these ungracious rebels and the vessels of Gods wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlesse they do most speedily repent for if the unrighteous will be unrighteous still and our wickednesse provoke God to bring our Land to desolation Your Majestie standing in the truth and for the right for the honour of God and the Church of his Sonne is absolved from all blame and all the bloud that shall be spilt and the oppressions insolencies and abhominations that are perpetrated shall be required at the hands and revenged upon the heads of these detested rebels You are and ought in the truth of cases of conscience to be informed by Your Divines and I am confident that herein they will all subscribe that God will undoubtedly assist You and arise in his good time to maintaine his owne cause and by this warre that is so undutifully so unjustly made against Your Majestie so Giant like fought against Heaven to overthrow the true Church You shall be glorious like King David that was a man of warre whose deare sonne raised a dangerous rebellion against him and in whose reigne so much bloud was spilt and yet notwithstanding these distempers in his Dominion he was a man according to Gods owne heart especially because that from α to ω * As in the beginning by reducing the Arke from the Philistines throughout the midst by setling the service of the Tabernacle in the ending by his resolution to build and leaving such a treasure for the erecting of the Temple the beginning of his raigne to the end of his life his chiefest endeavour was to promote the service and protect the servants of the Tabernacle the Ministers of Gods Church God Almighty so continue Your Majestie blesse You and protect You in all Your wayes Your vertuous pious Queene and all Your royall Progenie Which is the daily prayer of The most faithfull to Your Majestie GRYFFITH OSSORY The Contents of the severall Chapters contained in this TREATISE CHAP. I. Sheweth who are the fittest to set downe the Rights which God granted unto Kings what causeth men to rebell the parts considerable in S. Peter's words 1. Pet. 2.17 in fine How Kings honoured the Clergy the faire but most false pretences of the refractary Faction what they chiefely ayme at and their malice to Episcopacie and Royaltie Pag. 1 CHAP. II. Sheweth what Kings are to be honoured the institution of Kings to be immediately from God the first Kings the three chiefest rights to Kingdomes the best of the three rights how Kings came to be elected and how contrary to the opinion of Master Selden Aristocracie and Democracie issued out of Monarchie Pag. 12 CHAP. III. Sheweth the Monarchicall Government to be the best forme the first Government that ever was agreeable to Nature wherein God founded it consonant to Gods owne Government the most universally received throughout the world the immediate and proper Ordinance of God c. Pag. 20 CHAP. IV. Sheweth what we should not do and what we should do for the King the Rebels transgressing in all those how the Israelites honoured their persecuting King in Egypt how they behaved themselves under Artaxerxes Ahashuerus and under all their own Kings of Israel c. Pag. 29 CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto Heathen and wicked Kings how he carried himselfe before Pilate and how all the good Primitive Christians behaved themselves towards their Heathen persecuting Emperours Pag. 41 CHAP. VI. Sheweth the two chiefest duties of all Christian Kings to whom the charge and preservation of Religion is committed three severall opinions the strange speeches of the Disciplinarians against Kings are shewed and Viretus his scandalous reasons are answered the double service of all Christian Kings and how the Heathen Kings and Emperours had the charge of Religion Pag. 48 CHAP. VII Sheweth the three things necessary for all Kings that would preserve true Religion how the King may attaine to the knowledge of things that pertaine to Religion by His Bishops and Chaplains and the calling of Synods c. Pag. 62 CHAP. VIII Sheweth it is the right of Kings to make Ecclesiasticall Lawes and Canons proved by many authorities and examples that the good Kings and Emperours made such Lawes by the advice of their Bishops and Clergy
destruction of the Common-wealth As the neglect thereof brought ignorance unto the Church and ruine to the Romane Empire for as in Augustus time learning flourished and in Constantines time piety was much embraced because these Emperours were such themselves so when the Kings whose examples most men are apt to follow either busied with secular affaires or neglecting to understand the truth of things and the state of the Church do leave this care unto others then others imitating their neglect doe rule all things with great corruption and as little truth whereby errours and blindnesse will over-spread the Church and pride covetousnesse and ambition will replenish the Common-wealth and these vices like the tares that grow up in Gods field to suffocate the pure Wheat will at last choake up all vertue and piety both in Church and State Therefore to prevent this mischiefe the King on whom God hath laid the care of these things ought himselfe what he can to learne and find out the true state of things and because it is far unbefitting the honour and inconsistent with the charge of great Princes whose other affaires will not permit them to be alwayes poring at their bookes as if they were such critiques as intended to exceed all others in the theorick learning like Archimedes that was in his studie drawing forth his Mathematicall figures when the Citie was sackt and his enemies pulling down the house about his eares How Kings may attaine unto the knowledge of religion and understand the state of the Church and how to governe the same therefore it is wisedome in them to imitate the discreet examples of other wise Kings and religious Emperours in following the meanes that God hath left and using the power and authority that he hath given them to attaine unto more knowledge and to be better instructed in any religious matter then themselves could possibly attaine unto by their owne greatest studie and that is 1. To call able Clergy-men about them 1. As Alexander had his Aristotle ready to informe him in any Philosophicall doubt and Augustus his prime Orators Poëts and Historians to instruct him in all affaires so God hath granted this power unto his Kings to call those Bishops and command such Chaplaines to reside about them as shall be able to informe them in any truth of Divinity and so direct them in the best forme of government of Gods Church and these Chaplaines should be well approved both for their learning and their honesty for to be learned without honesty as many are is to be witty to doe evill which is most pernitious and doth often times make a private gaine by a publique losse or an advantage to themselves by the detriment of the Church and to be honest without knowledge How they should be qualified or to have knowledge without experience especially in such places of eminencie and for the affaires of importance may be as dangerous when their want of skill may counsell to doe matters of much hurt but when both are met together in one person that man is a fit Subject to doe good service both to God and the King and the King may be assured there cannot be a better furtherance to assist him for the well ordering of Gods Church then the grave advice directions of such instruments as it appeareth by that memorable example of King Ioas left to be remembred by all Kings who whilest the wise and religious Priest Jehoiada assisted and directed him had all things successefull and happy to his whole Kingdome but after Jehoiada's death 2. Reg. 12.1 the King destitute of such a Chaplaine to attend and such a Priest to counsell him all things came speedily to great ruine Therefore I dare boldly avouch it they are enemies unto Kings and the underminers of Gods Church and such instruments as I am not able to expresse their wickednesse that would exclude such Jehoiada's from the Kings counsell for was not Saul a wicked King and Ahab little better yet Saul would have Samuel to direct him though he followed not his direction and Ahab would aske counsell of Micaiah though he rejected the same to his owne destruction and King David 1. Reg. 22.16 though never so wise and so great a Prophet and Josias and Ezechias and all the rest of the good Kings had alwayes the Priests and the men of God to be their Counsellors and followed their directions especially in Church causes as the oracles of God Mar. 6.20 so wicked Herod disdained not to heare John the Baptist and to be reformed by him in many things and happy had he beene had he done it in all things And if you reade Eusebius which is called Pamphilus for the great love he bare to that his noble Patron and Socrates and the rest of the Ecclesiasticall Historians or the Histories of our owne Land you shall finde that the best Kings and greatest Emperours had the best Divines and the most reverend Bishops to be their chiefest Counsellors and to be imployed by them in their weightiest affaires How then hath the Devill now prevailed to exclude them from all Counsels and as much as in him lyeth from the sight of Princes when he makes it a suspicion of much evill if they do but talke together How hath he bewitched the Nobility to yeild to be deprived of their Chaplaines Is it not to keepe them that have not time to studie and to find out truth themselves still in the ignorance of things and to none other end then to overthrow the true religion and to bring Kings and Princes to confusion 2. When the King seeth cause 2. To call Synods to discusse and conclude the harder things God hath given him power and authority to call Synods and Councels and to assemble the best men the most moderate and most learned to determine of those things together which a fewer number could not so well or at least not so authoritatively conclude upon for so Constantine the Great called the great Councell of Nice to suppresse the Heresie of Arius Theodosius called the Councell of Ephesus in the case of Nestorius Valentinian and Martian called the Councell of Calcedon against Eutyches Justinian called the Councell of Constantinople against Severus that renewed the Heresie of Eutyches Constantine the Fifth called the sixth Synod against the Monothelites and so did many others in the like cases God having fully granted this right and authority unto them for their better information in any point of religion and the governement of the Church And therefore they that deny this power unto Kings or assume this authority unto themselves whether Popes or Parliament out of the Kings hand they may as well take his eyes out of his head because this is one of the best helpes that God hath left unto Kings to assist and direct them in the chiefest part of their royall government The unparallel'd presumption of the Faction to call a Synod without
their due honour and made all equall all as base as Jeroboams Priests will be apt enough to blow up this conceit and to put it into the Creed of all the vulgar that God made us all equall and to be Lords is but to be tyrants over their Brethen and the Presbytery whose pride could not obey the authority of their Bishops will not abide the superiority of any Lords but if they cannot Lord it themselves will be sure to take away the Lordship from all others And therefore if the Nobility be not wiser then to lay our honours in the dust as I see some about His Majestie that would faine be the Priests to bury it which meere policie though they wanted piety should prohibit they shall finde that Jam tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet Virgil. Aeneiâ— l. 1. When our Cottages are burnt their next Pallaces shall not escape the fire but through our sides their Honours shall be killed and buried without honour 3. Jus legitimandi 3. Ius legitimandi the right of legitimation belongs unto the King without which legitimation the Lawyers tell us that as the world now standeth a mighty emolument would happen unto the Crowne if the King granted not this grace to them that want it 4. Jus appellationes recipiendi 4. Ius appellationes recipiendi the right of taking notice of causes and of judging the same by the last appeale definitively doth alwayes belong to the supreme Majestie because that as Saint Paul appealed unto Caesar Act. 25.11 so the last appeale is to the highest Soveraigne from whom there lyeth none appeale but onely to him that shall judge all the Judges of the earth 5. Honores restituendi 5. Jus restituendi in integrum the right to restore men attainted or banished or condemned to death unto their Country wealth and honour is likewise a part of the royall right So Osorius saith Osorius de rebuâ— Imman p. 6. that Immanuel King of Portugall restored James sonne of Fernandus and his brother Dionysius and others unto their forfeited honours and so not onely the Scripture sheweth how David pardoned Absolon and Shimei 1. Reg. 2.26 two wicked Rebels and Solomon pardoned Abiathar that were all worthy of death Veniam criminosis indulgere but also Saint Augustine speaking of other Kings and Emperours saith judicibus statuendum est ne liceat in reum datam sententiam revocare the Judges may not pardon a man condemned to death numquid ipse Imperator sub hac lege erit but shall not the Emperour or King pardon him are they likewise under this Law of restraint by no meanes Nam ipsi soli licet revocare sententiam reum mortis absolvere ipsi ignoscere for he and he alone that is the Emperour or King may revoke the sentence and absolve him that is guilty of death And so our King according to this his undenyable right Our Kings unparalâ—ll'd clemency and prety towards the Rebels hath most graciously and not seldome offered his pardon unto these intolerable Rebels a pardon not to be parallel'd in any Historie nor to be beleeved unlesse we had seene it that a man could be so farre inclined to clemency and mercy as to remit such transcendent impiety which will render them the more odious both to God and man and their names the more infamous to all posterity that after they had filled themselves with all kinde of wickednesse with incredible transgressions they should be found contemners of so favourable a pardon But though it be the Kings right to pardon faults and to restore offenders yet herein all Princes should take great heed especially when they have power to take revenge for sometimes the sinners may be like the sonnes of Zervia 2. Sam. 3.39 too strong for David how they pardon those great crimes that are committed to the dishonour of God and doe so farre provoke him to anger as to plague both the doers and the sufferers of them because that although they be soluti legibus suis not bound to their owne Lawes Arnisaus l. 11 c. 3. pag 69. yet they are not soluti ratione praeceptis divinis but they are bound to observe Gods Lawes and to punish the transgressors of his Commandements or if they doe not when they can doe it they shall render a strict account to God for all their omissions as they may see it in the example of King Saul 1. Sam. 15.9 6. Jus convocandi the right of calling Synods Parliaments 6. Jus convocandi Synodos Parliamenta c. Dyets and the like were the rights of the Kings of Israel and are the just Prerogatives of the Kings of England howsoever this faction of the Parliament hath sought to wrest it as they do all other rights out of the Kings hands by their presumption to call their Schismaticall Synod to which they have no more colour of right then to call a Parliament 7. Jus excudendi the right of coyning money 7. Ius monetas excudendi to give it value to stampe his armes or his image upon it as our Saviour saith Whose Image and superscription is this Matth. 22.20 and they say to him Caesars is the proper right of Caesar the prerogative of the King The second sort of the Kings right is circa magistratus 2. About the Magistrates and containeth jurisdiction rule creation of officers appointing of circuits provinces judgements censures institution of Schooles and Colledges collation of dignities receiving of fidelities and abundance more whereof I intend not to speake at this time but referre my Reader to Arnisaeus Arnis l 2. c. 2. de jure Majestatis if he desires to be informed of these particulars And as these and the like are jura Regalia the rights of Majestie in the time of peace so when peace cannot continue it doth properly belong unto the King and to none else but to him that hath the Soveraignty whose right it is alone to make warre either to succour his allyes or to revenge great injuries or for any the like just causes and as he seeth cause to conclude Peace to send Ambassadors to negotiate with forreigne States and the like are the rights of Kings and the indeleble characters of Soveraignty which whosoever violateth and endeavoureth to purloine them from the King doth with Prometheus steale fire from Heaven which the Gods would not suffer as the Poets faigne to goe unrevenged And these things so farre as I can finde the King never parted with them unto his Subjects and therefore whosoever pretendeth to an inderived power to doe any of these and exempteth himselfe from the Kings right herein â—oh Beda p. 26. resisteth the ordinance of God and is guilty of High-Treason what pretext soever he brings saith the Advocate of Paris Ita etiam reges Egypti quibus voluntas pro lege est legum tamen instituta
prevented without the concessions of such unspeakable disadvantages as a man gives away his sword when he seeth his life in danger if he deliver it not Therefore the premisses considered 5. The Quaere is whether any King should be bound and obliged Quaere 5 to observe such grants and make good such Acts In all these Quaries I conclude nothing whatsoever I believe as are thus fraudulently obtained or forcibly wrested from him and are thus contradictory to Gods will thus prejudiciall to the power of government and thus destructive to his Subjects which for the fore-said reasons is by many men believed he is not but as this right was unduly procured from him so when God inableth him he may justly acquire it and re-assume it without any offence to God or the least reluctancie to his owne conscience And if this Act that hath passed in our Parliament makes it immediately to be no Parliament * As I know not whether it doth or noâ— neither will I determine it as being now another forme of government which the Divines hold ought not to be effected then certainly all Acts that passed since are no Acts but are void and invalid of themselves Or be it granted that the Act for the perpetuity of Parliament doth not annull the Parliament yet it is doubted by many whether the Parliament may not themselves without the Kings pronouncing it void or dissolved make it no Parliament when of Counsellors for the King Quid prodest tibi nomen usurpare altonum vocari quod â—on ei they become Traytors unto the King and of Patriots that should protect the Common-wealth they become Parricides and Catilines unto the same because these duties being as the soule the life and the end of Parliaments when these are changed to be the bane and death of King and Kingdome it is doubted how it can be a Parliament any more then a dead carkasse that is deprived of his soule can be said to be a man for the circumstances and ceremonies of times places and the like are not essentialia Parliamenti but as accidentia quae possunt adesse abesse sine interitu subjecti and may be ad benè esse but are as Punctillio's in respect of the end and essence of a Parliament And therefore as God promiseth infallibly to doe a thing for example Psal 89.34 1. Sam. 2.30 that He will not faile David his seed shall endure for ever and of Eli he said indeed that his house and the house of his father should walke before him for ever yet this unchangeable God when the change is wrought in David or his seed or in Eli his house David doth immediately say Thou hast abhorred and forsaken thine Annointed Psal 89 37. and art displeased at him and of his promise to Eli God saith in the same place now be it farre from me 1. Sam. 2.30 so it may be conceived that when any Parliament changeth its nature faileth in its very being and of a preservative becomes a poyson both to the King and Kingdome I should never acknowledge Iudas after he betrayed his master and resolved to persist in his wickednesse to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ no more then I should take the Temple of Ierusalem to be the house of God so long as it continued the den of theeves the King and Kingdome may then without any change in themselves or failing of their former promises justly say they are no Parliament but as the Romans said unto a worthy Patriot that had formerly saved them from the Senones and at last became an enemie to the State We did honour thee as our deliverer when thou didest save us from the Senones sed jam nobis es quasi unus ex Senonibus so may we say of any Parliament that turnes to be the destruction of a Common-wealth that it is but a shadow and no substance a den of theeves and no Parliament of Counsellors And I assure my selfe much more may be spoken and many inanswerable arguments may be produced to confirme this to be most true so I have set downe what I conceive to be true about the Kings grants and concessions unto his people and his obligations to observe them And if His Majestie whom I unfainedly love and heartily honour and in whose service as I have most willingly spent my slender fortunes so I shall as readily hazard my dearest life be offended with me for setting downe any of these things that my conscience tels me to be true and needfull to be knowne and my duty to declare them I must answer in all humility and with all reverence that remembring what Lucian saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many men shunning the smoake fell into the fire and that Job saith Timentes pruinam opprimentur à nive which S. Gregory moralizeth of them that fearing the frost of mans anger which they may tread under foot shall be overwhelmed with the snow of Gods vengeance that fals from Heaven and cannot be avoided I had rather suffer the anger of any mortall man then endure the wrath of the great God for now I have freed my soule let what will come of my body I will feare God and honour my King 5. 5. The end for which God ordained Kings We are to consider the end for which God ordained the King to rule and governe his people and that is to preserve justice and to maintaine peace throughout all the parts of his dominions for as the Subjects may neither murmure not resist their Soveraigne at any time for any cause so the King must not doe any wrong or injustice to his meanest Subject neither doe we presse the obedience of the Subjects to give licence unto the King to use them as he listeth but we tell Kings their duties as well as we doe to the Subjects and that is to doe justice unto the afflicted and to execute true judgement among all his people Psal 82.3 Zâ—char 7.9 for as Plato saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all men cry out with one mouth how beautifull a thing is temperance and righteousnesse Cicero calleth her the Lady and Mistresse of all vertues and Pindarus saith Cicero offic l. 3. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a golden eye and a golden countenance are allwayes to be seene in the face of justice and that Jupiter Soter dwelleth together with Themis whereby he would give us to understand regem servatorem esse iustum â—indar apud Athan Cl. Alexand Strom. l. 5. that a King must preserve his people by justice as Clemens Alexand. expoundeth it because as Theognis pag. 431. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justice is that vertue which comprehends all vertues in it selfe and therefore Solomon saith that the Kings throne is established by righteousnesse Prov. 16.12 and justice exalteth a Nation making it to flourish famous injustice destroyeth the people when a Kingdome is translated from nation to nation because of
in cogendis pecunus quotidianoque victu sequebantur Aubanus What things kings have granted And there be some things which our Kings have granted unto their Subjects and restrained themselves from their full right as the use of that power which makes new Lawes or repeales the old or layeth any taxe or summes of monies upon his Subjects without the consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament and it may be some other particulars which the Lawyers know better then I. And all these Priviledges of the Subjects are but limitations and restrictions of the Kings right made by themselves unto their people and therefore where the Law cannot be produced to confirme such and such Liberties and Priviledges granted unto them I say there the Kings power is absolute and the Subject ought not in such cases to determine any thing to the disadvantage of the King because all these Liberties that we have are injoyed by vertue of the Kings grant as you may see in the ratification of Magna Charta where the King saith We have granted and given all these Liberties 9. Hen 3. But I could never see it produced where the King granted unto his Subjects that they might force him and compell him with a strong hand by an Army of Souldiers to doe what they will or else to take away either his Crowne or his Life this Priviledge was never granted because this deprives the King of his supremacy and puts him in the condition of a Subject and would ever prove an occasion of rebellion when the people upon every discontent would take Armes against their King And therefore this present resistance is a meere usurpation of the Kings right a rebellion against his Lawes an High Treason against his person and a resistance of the ordinance of God which heape of deadly sinnes can bring none other fruit then damnation saith the Apostle CHAP. XIV Sheweth the Kings grants unto his people to be of three sorts Which ought to be observed the Act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament discussed the Kings Oath at his Coronation how it obligeth him and how Statutes have beene procured and repealed 2. 2. The Kings obligation to observe his grants WE are to consider how farre the King is obliged to observe his promise and to make good these Liberties and Priviledges unto his Subjects where I speake not how farre the fathers grant may oblige the sonne or the predecessor his successor Peter de lâ Primandas saith Laws annexed to the Crowne the Prince cannot so abrogate them but his Successor may disanull whatsoever he hath done in prejudice of them p. 597. who cannot be deprived of his right dominion by any act of his precedessors but for the rights of his dominion how farre precedent grants and the custome of their continuance with the desuetude and non-claime of his right may strengthen them unto the Subject and oblige the successors to observe them I leave it unto the Lawyers and Civilians to dispute but I am here to discusse how farre the King that hath promised and taken his oath to observe his Lawes and make good all priviledges granted to his Subjects is bound in conscience to keepe and observe them Touching which you must understand that these grants of immunities and favours are of three speciall kindes 1. Of grace 2. By fraud 3. Through feare For 1. The King that hath his full right 1. All grants of grace ought to be observed either by conquest or succession over his people to governe them as a most absolute Monarch and out of his meere grace and favour to sweeten the subjection of his people and to binde them with the greater love and affection to his obedience doth minuere sua jura restraine his absolute right bestow liberties upon his people and take his oath for their security that he will observe them is bound in all conscience to performe them and can never be freed from injustice before God and man if he transgresse them Quia volenti non fit injuria because they doe him no injury when he doth voluntarily either totally resigne or in some particularity diminish his owne right The true Law of free Monarchs p. 203. but after he hath thus firmely done it he can never justly goe from it and therefore King James saith that a King which governeth not by his Lawes can neither be accountable to God for his administration nor have a happy and established raigne because it cannot be but that the people seeing their King failing of his duty will be alwayes murmuring and defective in their fidelity And Yet the Kings breach of oath doth neither forfeit his right nor warrant their disloyalty because another mans sinne doth no way lessen mine offence and neither God nor the King granted this priviledge unto Subjects to rebell and take Armes against their Soveraigne when they pretend he hath broken his promise 2. Grants obtained through fraud which to be observed 2. When the King through the subtle perswasions of his people that pretend one thing and intend another shall be seduced to grant those things that are full of inconveniences as our King was over reached and no better then meerly cheated by the faction of this Parliament to grant the continuance of it till it should be dissolved with the consent of both Houses and the like Lawes that are procured by meere fraud that soonest over-reacheth the best meaning Kings I answer with the old Proverbe Caveat emptor he ought to have beene as wise to prevent them as they were subtle to circumvent him and therefore Josh 9.20 as Joshua being deceived by the Gibeonites could not alter his promise nor breake his league with them lest wrath should fall upon him so no more should any other King breake promise in the like case Psal 15.5 But you must observe that the Psalmist saith The good man which shall dwell in the Tabernacle of the Lord is he that sweareth unto his neighbour and disappointeth him not though it were to his owne hinderance marke though it were to his owne hinderance never so much Quicquid fit dolo malo annullat factum imponit poenam summa Angel he must performe it but what if he hath promised and sworne that which will be to the great dishonour of God to the hinderance of thousands of others and it may be to the ruine of a whole Kingdome which is a great deale more then his owne hinderance is a King bound or is any man else obliged to performe such a promise or to keepe such an oath to tell you mine owne judgement I thinke he ought not to performe it and our owne Law tels us what grants soever are obtained from the King under the broad Seale by fraud and deceit those grants are void in Law therefore seeing the act for the perpetuity of this Parliament was obtained dolo pessimo to the great dishonour of God and the ruine both of
Church and State when their pretence was very good though the goodnesse of his Majestie in the tendernesse of his conscience was still loath to allow himselfe the liberty to dissolve it untill he had other juster and more cleare causes to pronounce it no Parliament as the abusing of his grant to the raising of an Army and the upholding of a Rebellion against their Soveraigne yet I believe he might safely have done it long agone without the least violation of Gods Law when their evill intentions were openly discovered by those Armies which they raised For I doubt not to affirme it with the Author of The sacred Prerogative of Christian Kings p. 144. if any good Prince or his royall Ancestors have beene cheated out of their sacred right by fraud or force he may at the fittest opportunity when God in his wise providence offereth the occasion resume it especially when the Subjects do abuse the Kings concessions to the dammage of Soveraignty so that it redounds also to the prejudice either of the Church or Common-wealth 3. When the King through feare 3. Grants gotten by force not to be observed not such as the Parliaments feare is who were afraid where no feare was and were frighted with dreames and causelesse jealousies but that feare which is reall and not little but such as may fall in fortem constantem virum doth passe any Law especially that is prejudiciall to the Church and injurious to many of his Subjects I say that when he shall be freed from that feare he is not onely freed from the obligation of that Law but he is also obliged to doe his uttermost endeavour to annull the same it is true that his feare may justly free him from all blame at the passing of it as the feare of the thiefe may cleare me from all fault in delivering my purse unto him because these are no voluntary acts and all acts are adjudged good or evill according to the disposition of the will the same being like the golden bridle that Minerva was said to put upon Pegasus to guide him and to turne him as she pleased The will must never consent to forced acts that are unlawfull His Majesties answer to the Petition of the Lords and Commons 16. Iuliâ— p. 8. but when his feare is past and God hath delivered him from the insurrection of wicked doers if his will gives consent to what before he did unwilling who can free the greatest Monarch from this fault Therefore His Majestie confessing which we that saw the whole proceedings of those tumultuous routs that affrighted all the good Protestants and the Loyall Subjects doe know that it could not be otherwise that he was driven out of London for feare of his life I conclude that the act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament being past after his flight out of London can be no free nor just nor lawfull act and the King when he is more fully informed of many particulars about this act that is so preiudiciall to the Church of Christ and so injurious to all his servants the Clergy whose rights and priviledges the King promised and sware at His Coronation to maintaine Ob. cannot continue it in my judgement and be innocent Pag 31. But this is answered by the answerer to Doctor Ferne that he is no more bound to defend the rights of the Clergy by his oath then the rest of the lawes formerly enacted whereof any may be abrogated without perjury when they are desired to be annulled by the Kingdome Sol. His Majesties answer to the remonstrance or declaration of the Lords and Commons 26. of May. 1642. To which I say that as His Majestie confesseth there are two speciall questions demanded of the King at his Coronation 1 Sir Will you grant and keepe and by your oath confirme to the people of England the lawes and customes to them granted by the Kings of England your lawfull and religious predecessors And the King answereth I grant and promise to keepe them 2. After such questions as concerne all the commonalty of this Kingdome both Clergy and Laity as they are his Subjects one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the King before the people with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonicall priviledges and due law and iustice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in His Kingdome ought to be the protector and defendor of the Bishops and the Churches under their government And the King answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintaine to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonicall Priviledges and due law and justice and that I will be your protector and defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in His Kingdome in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government Then the King laying his hand upon the booke saith The Kings oath at His Coronation two fold the things which I have before promised I shall performe and keepe so helpe mee God and the contents of this Booke Where I beseech all men to observe that here is a two fold promise and so a two fold oath 1. The one to all the Commonalty and people of England The frst part of the oath Populo Anglicano Vide D. p. 165. Clergy and Laity and so whatsoever he promiseth may by the consent of the parties to whom the right was transferred be remitted and altered by the representative body in Parliament quia volenti non fit injuria and the rule holds good quibus modis contrabitur contractus iisdem dissolvitur and therefore as any compact or contract is made good and binding so it may be made void and dissolved mutuo contrahentium assensu by the mutuall assent of both parties that is any compact where God hath not a speciall interest in the contract as he hath in the conjugall contract betwixt man and wife and the politicke covenant betwixt the King and His Subjects Contracts wherein God is interessed can not be dissolved without God which therefore cannot be dissolved by the consent of the parties untill God who hath the cheifest hand in the contract gives his assent to the dissolution and so when things are dedicated for the service of God or Priviledges granted for his honour neither donor nor receiver can alienate the gift or annull that Priviledge without the leave and consent of God that was the principall party in the concession as it appeareth in the example of Ananias and is confirmed by all Casuists 2. The other part of the oath is made to the Clergy in particular and so also with their consent The second part of â—he oath Clericis Ecclesiasticis D. p. 165. some things I confesse may perhaps