Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	king_n	law_n	prerogative_n	1,605	5	10.3114	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91303	The treachery and disloyalty of papists to their soveraignes, in doctrine and practise. Together with an exact parallel of the jurisdiction, power, and priviledges claimed and exercised by our popish Parliaments, prelates, Lords and Commons in former times, with those now claimed and practised by the present Parliament, Lords and Commons, which are here manifested to be farre more loyall, dutifull, moderate; more consistent with, lesse invasive on, and destructive to the Kings pretended soveraigne power and prerogative, then those of popish parliaments, and subjects. Wherein likewise the traiterous, antimonarchicall doctrines, practises and attempts of papists upon their soveraignes prerogatives, crownes, persons, with the dangerous consequences, effects, and designes, of their present illegall arming, and accesse to the Kings Army, and person by meanes of evill counsellours, are briefely discovered; ... It is ordered by the Committee for Printing that this treatise be forthwith printed and published, by Michael Sparke, senior. Januar. 13. 1642. John White.; Soveraigne power of parliaments and kingdomes. Part 1	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1643 (1643)	Wing P4108; Thomason E248_1; ESTC R203188	101,087	43

which these Acts disable the King who is so farre inferior to the Law that he cannot so much as delay the smallest proceedings of it in any Court or Session by his supreame power by any meanes whatsoever to effect in his meanest Courts much lesse then in the greatest from whence the subvertion of Lawes Libertie Iustice and the whole Realme would ensue If any therefore cavill at the All for the continuance of this Parliament till both houses shall agree to adjourne or dissolve it or at the Bill for Trienniall Parliaments which when they meete shall not be dissolved without their consents for 40. dayes space next after their first meeting Let them now learne that this is no Innovation nor encroachment on the Crowne but an ancient Priviledge of Parliament both claimed practised and resolved in times of Popery in an higher degree then now it is And thus you see how in these particulars the Popish Parliaments Prelates Lords and Commons in former times have claimed and exercised far greater Priviledges and Iurisdictions then this or any other P●orestant Parliament hath hitherto claimed or practised which I hope will for ever silence the clamourous tongues of all ill Counsellors Courtiers Royalists Malignants Papists and Cavaliers against the present Parliament of whose highest ye● moderate proceed●ngs themselves alone have beene the occasions and therefore of all others have least cause to complaine against them But to returne againe to the first grand Objection Thirdly I answer that the High Court of Parliament and whole kingdome which it represents may in divers respects be truely and properly 3. The Parliament and kingdome proved to be above the king sayd to be the Highest Soveraigne power of all others and above the King himselfe which because it may ●eeme a dangerous paradox and tends much to the vindication both of the Priviledges Honour and ●urisdictions of our High Court of Parliament now so much undervalued because not really knowne to most and to the justification of the proceedings in this present Parliament which many out of ignorance and malice so much declaime against both by Word and writing in a most licentious manner I shall take a little liberty to demonstrate the truth of it by such convincing reasons of Authorities as no rationall man I hope shall be able to contradict but must necessarily submit to First it is undeniable that See Cromptons jurisdiction of Courts Title Parliament Brooke Title Parliament Holinsh Description of England c. 8. p. 173. Chron. of Ireland p. 120 to 130. Sir Th. Smiths Cōmon-wealth of England l. 2. c. 1. 2. 3. Cowel and Minshew Tit. Parliament Camdens Brit. p. 177. the Court of Parliament hath a lawfull power to question all the Kings Pa●ents Charters Commissions Proclamations Grants Warrants Writs and Commitments whatsoever whether they be Legall yea to cancell or repeale them in case they be illegall mischeivous or onerous to the Subject not onely without but against the Kings consent and mandate to the contrary as appeares by infinite presidents in this and all former Parliaments the scourges of Monopolists Patentees and Projectors the Pests of the Commonwealth The like power have all other Courts of Iustice within the Kingdome in some degree when such Charters and Writs of the King are brought judicially before them because they are Courts of the Law to which the King and all his Actions are and must be subject Now that which can thus question cancell disanull revoke the Kings owne royall Charters Writs Commissions Patents c. though ratified with the great seale and regall power even against his will must certainely be a Soveraigne power and Authority which in point of Law and Iustice is fu●eriour to the King This is Bractons resolution l. 2. c. 16. f 34 a and Fletaes l. 1. c. 17. Where ●hey affirme the Law and Parliament to be above the King because they may censure judge and rescinde the Kings Acts and Charters legally and judicially even against his personall though not legall Will which ●s the Law Secondly It is unquestionably true that in all cases of difference betweene the King and all or any of his Subjects though they concerne the Kings Prerogative and the highest branches thereof the Parliament is the supremest and most proper judge and its resolution from which there is no appeale ●o any higher tribunall shall finally binde not onely all the subjects but the King himselfe notwithstanding his owne personall disassent This is manifest by the many late resolutions given in Parliament against sundry Patents Commissions Writs Charters Impositions Loanes Shipmoney i See 21. Iacob c. 3. Co. l. 8. f. 125. to 130. l. 10. f. 113. l. 11. f. 84. to 89. Fitz Brooke and Ash Tit. Charters Grant le Roy Comissions Habeas Corpus Bayle and the Iudges arguments against Ship-money Forrest-Bounds Marshall Law Pressing and ●illetting souldiers Imprisonment by speciall Command of the King or his Privie Counsell Tonnage and Poundage Knighthood and Taxes The Commission of Array and ●he like which obliege both King and Subject the King in receiving justice in such cases being subject ●o the Law as well as the meanest of his subjects as k Rex in justitia re● pienda minimo de ●egno suo comparatur minimus esse debet vel qua●i in judicio suscipiendo Bracton l. 1. c. 8. f. 5. b. l. 3 c 9. f. 107. Bracton truely avers against all Royalists mistakes Now that which can thus finally conclude and binde the King himselfe even volens nolens ●n cases of highest concernment entrenching farthest upon his Prerogative Royall must doubtlesse ●e the most Soveraigne power Superiour to the Kings And in this sence every Court of Justice whose just resolutions and every petty Jury whose upright verdicts obliege the King because war●anted by the Law which is paramont the King as Bracton m Lib. 1. c. 5. 17. Fleta n Cap. 9. to 15. Fortescus o Speech in Parliament 1609 King Iames p In his ●awes in Fox Acts Mon. Edit vol 1. p. 214. Edward the Conf●ssor yea and q Aristotle resolve may be truely sayd to be above the Kings ●erson which they binde but not above the Parliament which by its suparlative power may examine ●ll ſ 1 H. 7. 1. Br. parliament 92. Ash tab 65. 67. judgements and verdicts in other Courts by way of error or appeale and reverse them if there be ●●use when as the King in person cannot by law examine or reverse them but onely in his Courts ●f Iustice by his Iudges Thirdly Parliaments oft times doe and may as they see cause enlarge the Kings Prerogative and Royall ●ower in sundry particulars in which the King had no such jurisdiction before these Acts witnesse the ●tatute de Praerogativa Regis 25. H. 8. c. 19. 20 21. 26. H. 8. c. 1. 3. 31. H. 8. c. 8. 9. 34. 35. H. ● c. 23. 27 H. 8. c. 15. 28. H. 8. c.

a Seneca de Cleme●●●a l. 1. as may winne their hearts and affections and not to straine their pretended Prerogatives beyond the bounds of Law this being a most certaine experimented rule which b Polit. l. 5. c. 10 11. p 367 368 See Polybius Hist l. 6. Aristotle the Prince of Politicians gives That there are two intestine causes most perilous and frequent of all others by which a kingdome is usually lost and subverted The first is if the Nobles and people dissent from the King himselfe The second if Kings will Reigne tyrannically and usurpe a greater domination or prerogative then the Lawes of their kingdomes give them Then he addes Verily a kingdome is preserved by contrary remedies specially by a moderate kinde and temperate forme of Government For by how much the c Deut. 17. 19 20. See Prov. 16. 12. c. 20. 28 c. 29. 4. 14. c. 25. 5. more moderate the King shall be and contented with smaller and fewer prerogatives by so much the more constant and longer-lasting shall his kingdome necessarily be For by this meanes it recedes farther from the domination of Tyrants and it comes nearer to the equability of manners and humanity of life and is lesse envyed by their Subjects which he proves by the notable speech and example of King Theopompus And indeed this is the principall policy which God himselfe hath prescribed a King to prolong his dayes in his kingdome he and his children after him to keepe all the words of this Law and those Statutes to doe them that ●s to governe himselfe and his Subjects onely by Law not power to doe justice and judgement avoid oppression and not to liftup his heart above his brethren as if they were his vassals and no● men or Christians of the same kinde and quality as himselfe is Wherefore I shall close up this with old Bractons resolution d Lib. 3. c. 9. f. 107. Fleta lib. 1. c. 17. Potestas itaque Regis juris est non injuriae Exercere igitur debet Rex potestatem Juris ●icut Dei vicarius Minister in terra quia illa potestas SOLIUS Dei est potestas autem injuriae Diaboli non Dei cujus horum operum fecerit Rex ejus Minister erit cujus opera fecerit Igitur dum facit justitiam vicarius est Regis aeterni minister autem Diaboli dum declinat ad injuriam * See Leges Edwardi Confessoris cap. 17. in Lambards Archaion f. 130. accordingly Dicitur enim Rex a bene regendo non a regnando quia Rex est dum bene regit Tyrannus dum populum sibi creditum violenta opprimit dominatione Temperet igitur potentiam suam per legem quae fraenum est potentiae quod secundum leges viva● quia hoc sanxit Lex humana quod leges suum ligent latore● alibi in eadem digna ●ox Majestate regnan●●s est legibus alligatum se Principem profiteri Item nihil t●m proprium est imperii quam legibus vivere Et majus imperio est legibus submittere Principatum merito debet retribuere legi quia Lex tribuit ei facit enim Lex quod ipse sit Rex Item cum non semper oporteat Regem esse arma●um armis sed legibus addiscat Rex sapientiam conservet justitiam All which is notably seconded by Judge Fortescue De Laudibus Legum Angliae c. 9. to 15. worthy any Princes serious perusall And thus doing neither he nor his Posterity need ●eare this Supreame Prerogative Power of Parliaments which hath ●aine dead and buryed for many ages Et pereat positum rubigine telum 11. All Papists e See p 2 3. the Authours there quoted Bishop Jewels View of a seditious Bull and of the Popes Supremacy Cassanaeus Catagloria mundi part 4. attribute farre more divine authority and Soveraigne Jurisdiction over Emperours Kings Princes Kingdomes Subjects to the Pope their Lord and God whom they make the Supreame Monarch of the World and all kingdomes in it and give him greater Authority to summon ratify and dissolve generall Councels then ever any Christian King or Emperour challenged or usurped yet those who maintaine these Paradoxes of the Popes Supremacy confesse f See John Whites Way sect 36. n. 30. 34 35. p. 102. 104 105. Surius Tom. 3. 4. that a generall Councell is above the Pope and may upon just cause not onely convent and censure him for his misdemeanours but likewise actually depose him and set up another in his stead as the Councels of Pisa Constans Basil which deposed foure Popes namely Gregory the 12. Benedict the 13. John the 23. and Eugenius the fourth the Councell of Chalcedon against Pope Leo the Councell of Sinuessa against Pope Marcellinus the sixth seventh and eighth generall Councels against Honorius the Councels of q Wormes and Brixia against Hildebrand the Councell of Pisa summond 1511. of purpose to depose Pope Julius for his perjury h See John Whites Way sect 36. n. 30 p. 102 and n. 34 35. p. 104 105. sundry Popish Writers acknowledge Now the Councell of Basil as I shewed * See p. 4. before defined That the whole Kingdome and Parliament hath as great a power over their Kings as a Councell hath over the Pope therefore by Papists verdicts it is above the King in point of Soveraigne power as a Councell is above the Pope which John Mariana De Rege Regis Instit lib. 1. c 3. to 10. professedly proves at large 12. That Court which may lawfully coniure question depose banish execute the Kings greatest Favorites Officers Judges yea Lord Protectors themselves the highest Peeres of the Realme notwithstanding such are said to be i Psal 82. 1 2. Exod. 22. 2● John 10. 34. Gods k Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4. Ordained of God Gods Ministers To l Prov. 8. 15. decree Judgement g Fox Acts Monuments vol. 1. p 231. 235. 879 to 890. 962. by God to be the higher powers c. in Scripture as well as Kings and that not onely with but against the Kings Good will must questionlesse be the highest power and Jurisdiction in the Realme else the King and their Authority might protect them against its Justice But the Parliament may lawfully censure question depose banish execute all or any of these not onely without but against the Kings consent witnesse the proceedings in Parliament against m Hoveden p. 702 703. 705 706. with Speed Holinshed Grafton Stow Matthew Paris Polychronicon Fabian William Longchamp Bishop of Ely Chiefe Justicia● Lord Chancellor and Vice-roy of England in Richard the first his Reigne during his absence in the Holy Land from which Offices he was by the Peeres and Commons deposed for his misd●meanours and oppressions n Walsingh Speed Holinsh Fabian in Edw. 2. Froyssards Chron. part 1. c. 12 13. Piers Gaveston and the two Hugh Spensers in Edward the seconds Reig●e oft banished

Parliament Protestants Protestant Religion Lawes and Liberties of the Subject are like ●o receive from this Popish Army the late Gunpouder Treason the Spanish Armado the English and French booke of Martyrs the present proceedings in Ireland Yorkeshire and elsewhere will resolve without dispute And what peace and safetiè the Kingdome may expect in Church or State whiles Popery and Papists have any armed power or being among us f In his Sermon there Mar. 24. 1615. p. 43 44. Doctor John White hath long since proclaymed at Pauls Crosse and now we feele it by experience in these words Papistry can stand neither with peace nor piety the State therefore that would have these things hath just cause to suppresse it Touching our peace it bath not beene violated in our State these many yeares but by them nor scarce in any Christian State since Charles the great his time but the Pope and his ministers have had a hand in it All that these ill advisers to colour their close g See Plaine English designe of reestablishing Popery principally intended can alledge Obj. Crimination 1. for arming Papists against Law is That the Parliament hath traytorously invaded the Kings Prerogatives in a high degree claymed a power and jurisdiction above his Majesty in sundry particulars and ●surped ●o its selfe a more exorbitant unlimited arbitrary authority in making Lawes imposing taxes c. then any Parliaments challenged in former ages to represse which insolencies and reduce the Parliament to its due limits his Majestie is now necessited to raise an Army and pray in avde of Papists who in former ages have beene more moderate in their Parliaments and are like to prove most cordiall in this service To answer which pretence more fully though it be for the maine of it most palpably false yet by way of admission onely I shall suppose it true and with all possible brevitie manifest That Parliaments Prelates Peeres and Commons in times of Popery have both claimed and exercised farre greater authority over our Kings and their Prerogatives then this or any other Protestant Parliament hath done Wherefore Papists of ●ll others have least cause to taxe the Parliaments proceedings and those ill Counsellors small reason to im●loy Answ or trust Papists in this service To descend to some particular heads of complaint involved in this generall First it is objected that the Parliament and some of its h The observations A suller answer to Doctor Ferne with others Advocates with its approbation affirme that ●e Parliament being the representative body of the whole Kingdome is in some respects of greater power and authoritie ●hen the King who though he be singulis major yet he is universis minor which is contrary to the oath of supremacy wherein every Subject * 1 Eliz. ch 2. doth utterly testifie and declare in his conscience that the Kings highnesse is THE ONELY SVPREAME GOVERNOVR of this Realme c. as well in all spirituall or Ecclesiasticall causes as Temporall ●nd a kind of unkinging his Majestie no wayes to be indured To which I answer first that if this Doctrine be either Traytorous or Hereticall the Papists were the first broa●hers of it long agoe For Hen. de Bracton a famous English Lawyer who writ in King Henry the third his ●eigne lib. 2. cap. 16. f. 34. a. resolves thus i Rex habet superiorem Deum c. Item legem per quam factus est Rex-Item Curiam s●●● viz. Comites et Barones quia Comites dicuntur quasi socis Regis qui habet socium habet m●●istrum Et ideo si Rex fuerit sine fran● i fine lege DEBENTEI FRAENVM IMTONERE c. But the King hath a SVPERIOVR to wil God Also the Law by ●hich he is made a King likewise his Court namely the Earles and Barons because they are called Comites as being ●e Kings fellowes or companions and he who hath a fellow or associate hath a Master and therefore if the King shall ●e without a bridle that is without Law they OVGHT to impose a bridle on him unlesse they themselves with the King ●all be without bridle and then the Subjects shall ery out and say O Lord Jesus Christ doe thou bind their jawes with it and bridle c. A cleare resolution That the Law with the Earles and Barons assembled in Parliament are ●bove the King and ought to bridle him when he exorbitates from the Law which he also seconds in some sort ●b 3. cap. 9. f. 107. This Doctrine was so authenticke in those dayes and after times that in the great Councell of Basil Anno 143● when this mighty question was debated whether a Pope were above a generall Councell or a Councell above him such a Councell was at last resolved to be above the Pope upon this reason among others k Fox Acts Monume Edit 1641. Vol. 2 p. 879 880. Aeneas Sylvius de gestis concilii Basiliensis Surius concil Tom. 4. The Pope is in the Church as a King is in his Kingdome and for a King to be of more authority then his Kingdome it were too absurd Ergo Neither ought the Pope to be above the Church In every well ordered Kingdome it ought specially to be desired that the whole Realme should be of more authority then the King which if it happened contrary were not to be called a Kingdome but a Tyranny And like as oftentimes Kings which doe wickedly governe the Common-wealth and expresse cruelty are deprived of ●heir Kingdomes even so it is not to bee doubted but that the Bishop of Rome may be deposed by the Church that is to say by the generall Councell At the beginning as * Lib. 2. Cicero in his Offices saith it is certaine there was a time when as the people lived without Kings But afterwards when Lands and possessions began to be divided according to the Custome of every Nation then were Kings ordained for no other causes but onely to execute justice for when at the beginning the common people were oppressed by rich and mighty men they ran by and by to some good and vertuous man which should defend the poore from injury and ordaine Lawes whereby the rich and poore might dwell together But when as yet under the rule of Kings the poore were oftentime● oppressed Lawes were ordained and instituted the which should judge neither for hatred nor favour and give like eare unto the poore as rich whereby wee understand and know not onely the people but also the King to be subject to the Law For if wee doe see a King to contemne and dispise the Lawes violently rob and spoyle his Subjects d●flower Virgins dishonest Matrons and doe all things licentiously and temerariously doe not the Nobles of the Kingdome Assemble together deposing him from his Kingdome set up another in his place which shall sweare to rule and governe uprightly and be obedient unto the Lawes Verily as reason doth perswade even so

and strength of the kingdome in their hands which they insolently abused to the great hazard ●f the whole estate for that they made no conscience of an Oath Law Justice or the Churches censures Therefore we 〈…〉 King speake these things faithfully unto you in the presence of God and man and doe counsell beseech and adm●nish ●ou to remove such a Councell from about you and as it is the usage in other Realmes governe yours by the faith●ull and sworne children thereof To which the King in briefe answered That he could not suddainely put off h●● Councell and therefore prayed a short respite Nothing ●ad hither to preserved the King more Then that he could ●ithout griefe forgo● any favorities if he were nearely pressed the contrary quality whereof hath beene the cause of ●i●all desolation to so many Princes For though choyce of Counsellours ought to be free yet by common in●endment they should be good or how ever they are or are not it is madnesse to hazard a Crowne or lose the love ●f a whole Nation rather then to relinquish or diminish a particular dependance for which the publique must not be ●azarded nor subverted The King therefore in this point not infortunate commands Bishop Peter from his Court to keepe residence at his Cure without once medling in State affaires removes all his evill Counsellors derives them of their Offices and puts good men in their places and commands all Poictovians and Foraine forces to de●art the Realme receives all his Nobles into favour restoring them to their lost Offices Lands Castles admits them 〈…〉 to his Court and Councell puts all his ill Counsellours and Delinquent Officers to their legall trials and fines And ●r Peter Rivales his Treasurer he was so vehemently inc●nsed against him for his ill Counsell that he sware 〈…〉 would plucke out his eyes were it not for reverence of his holy Orders And at his Arraignment at Westminster 〈…〉 e King sitting in person with his Justices upon the Bench and shooting Rivales through with an angry eye ●ake thus to him O ihou Traytor by thy wicked advise I was drawne to set my Seale to those treacherous Letters ●r the destruction of the Earle Marshall the contents whereof were to me unknowne and by thine and such like Coun 〈…〉 ll I banished my naturall Subjects and turned their mindes and hearts from me By thy bad counsell and thy com 〈…〉 lices I was moved to make warre upon them to my irreparable losse and the dishonour of my Realme in which ●n●rprise I wasted my Treas●re and lost many worthy persons together with much of my Royall respect Therefore I 〈…〉 act of thee an account and thou shall be carryed to the Tower of London to deliberate till I am satisfied And 〈…〉 us were these civill warres and differences reconciled ill Counsellors removed enormities reformed De 〈…〉 nquents punished not without reducing store of coyne to the King and peace established in the King●ome Which History I have more largely recited because most of its passages are Paralell to the Kings 〈…〉 d his evill Counsellors present proccedings on the one hand and to the Parliaments in some sort on the o 〈…〉 er hand in the premises and I doubt not but they will prove parallels in the conclusion to the terrour of 〈…〉 ill Councellours and Cavalieres the just punishment of Delinquents all good Subjects joy and content●ent and the reestablishment of our peace in truth and righteousnesse To end the point proposed * Walsingh Hist● p. 84. 44. Ypod. Neust p. 101 Anno Dom. 1315. King Edward the second by his Writ summoned a Par 〈…〉 ment at London But many of the Lords refused to come pretending causes and impediments by which their ab 〈…〉 nce might well be excused and so this Parliament tooke no effect and nothing was done therein In this Parti 〈…〉 lar then Popish Prelates Lords and Commons have exceeded Protestants in this or any other Parlia●ent Fifthly Popish Parliaments Prelates Lords and Subjects have by Force of Armes compelled their Kings to grant and confirme their Lawes Liberties Charters Priviledges with their Seales Oathes Proclamations the Popes Buls Prelates Excommunications and to passe confirme or repeale Acts of Parliament against their wills Thus the Barons Prelates a●d Commons by open warre and Armes enforced both a Mat. Pa. An. 1214 1215. p. 240 to 256. Mat. West Walsingham Ypodig Neu. An. 1214 1215 Fabi. Caxton Hol. Graf Daniel in the life of K. John Hen. 3. Sp. Hist p. 578. to 637. King John and King Henry the third to confirme Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta both in and out of Parliament sundry times with their hands Seales Oathes Proclamations and their Bishops Excommunications taking ● solemne Oath one after another at Saint Edmonds upon the High Altar An. 1214. That if King John should refuse to grant these Lawes and Liberties they would wage warre against him so long and withdraw themselves fro● their Allegiance to him untill he should confirme to them by a Charter ratified with his Seale all things which th●● required And that if the King should afterwards peradventure recede from his owne Oath as they verily beleev●● he would by reason of his double dealing they would forthwith by seizing on his Castles compell him to give satisfaction Which they accordingly performed as our Histories at large relate Yea when they had enforce● King b Matth. Par. p. 252. Sp. Holinsh accordingly John thus to ratifie these Charters for the better maintenance of them they elected 25. Barons ●● be the Conservators of their Priviledges who by the Kings appointment though much against his liking ● afterwards appeared tooke an Oath upon their Soules that with all diligence they would observe thes● Charters Regem cogerent and would COMPELL THE KING if he should chance to repent to observe them All the rest of the Lords and Barons then likewise taking another Oath to obe● the commands of the 25. Barons After this c Matth. Paris An. 1258. p. 9. 940 941. Matth. West 1258. Sp. p. 635. Hol. Graft Dani. Polychron An. Dom. 1258. King Henry the third summoned a Parliament at Oxford whither the Lord came armed with great Troopes of men for feare of the Poictovines to prevent treachery and civill warres a●● the Kings bringing in of Foraine force against his naturall Subjects to which end they caused the Sea Ports ●● be shut up and guarded The Parliament being begun the Lords propounded sundry Articles to the King which they had immutably resolved on to which they required his assent The chiefe points whereof we●● these That the King should firmely keepe and conserve the Charter and Liberties of England which King John ● Father made granted and ratified with an Oath and which himselfe had so often granted and sworne to maintai● inviolable and caused all the infringers ofit to be horribly excommunicated by all the Bishops of England in h● owne

to deliver Piers into their hands or drive him from his company out of England as being perswaded ●hile that King-●ane breathed peace could never be maintained in the Realme nor the King abound in treasure nor the Queene enjoy his love But the wilfull King preferring the dearenesse of one stranger before the love of the ●hole Realme would no● condiscend Whereupon the Lords thus contemned and deluded presently raise ●n Army and march with all speed towards Newcastle not to offer injury or molesta●●on to the King writes ●alsingham the case and purpose of the present Parliaments Army but that they might apprehend Piers him●elfe and judge him according to the Lawes enacted Which when the King heard he fled together with Piers like a proscribed and banished man to Tynemouth and from thence to Scarborough Castle Where Piers was forced to yeeld himselfe upon condition to speake but once more with the King And then carryed to Warwicke Castle where he had his head strucke off at the command and in the presence of the Earles of Lan●aster Warwicke and Hereford as one who had beene a subverter of the Lawes and an open Traytor to the Kingdome and that without any judiciall proceedings or triall of his Peeres though an Earle and so deare a Favourite of the Kings Which bred a lasting ha●red betweene the King and his Nobles Who being afterwards charged by the King in Parliament with their contempt against him in the spoiles committed by them at Newcastle and wick●dly killing Piers They stoutly answered That they had not offended in any point but deserved his royall favour ●or that they had not gathered force against him but against the publike enemy of the Realme And then obtained an Act ●f Pardon that no man should be questioned for Gavestons returne or death printed in old g T●tles Magn● Charta part 2. f. 50 to 57. Magna Charta Not long ●fter this unfortunate King doting upon the two h Wal●ing Hist p. 90. to ●10 ypodig Neust p. 105. to 111 Speed Hist p. 674. to 683. See Fabi●n Holm Graf Tho●●●de ●● More Higd●● Caxton in his life Spencers as much as ever he did on Gaveston to whom they ●ucceeded not onely in pride rapine oppression and intolerable insolencies but even in height of familiarity and power with the King So as they ruled and lead the King as they pleased in so much that no Earle Baron or Bishop was able to dispatch any thing in Court without their advise and favour which made them generally envied of all because they domineered over all The Lords and Barons hereupon confederated together to live and die for ju●tice and to their power to destroy the Traytors of the Realme especially the two Spencers And meeting together with ●heir forces at Sbirborne Thomas of Lancaster being their Captain they took an oath to prosecure their designe to ●he division of soule body Then they spoyled these Spencers their friends goods take their Castles by vio●ence waste their Manors through malice slay their servants utterly omitting the usuall wayes of Law equitie following the impetuousnes of their minds they march on to S. Albans with Ensignes displayed sent solemn messengers to the King then at London commanding him not only to rid his Court but kingdome too of the Traytors of ●he Realme the Spencers condemned in many Articles which they had framed against them by the commonalty of the Realme if he loved the peace of the Kingdome And they further required the King to grant letters Patents of indemnity to themselves and all such as had bore armes in their company that they should not be punished by the King or any other for their for epast or present trangressions The King denyed both these demands at first as unjust and illegall swearing that he would not violate his Coronation Oath in granting such a pardon to contempiu●us Delinquents Whereupon running to their armes they marched up to London entred the Citie and to avoyd dange● the King through the Queenes and others mediation condescended to their desires passing an Act for th● Spensers banishment and the Barons indemnities which you may reade in ancient Part 2. ● 50. Magna Chartaes Upo● this the Barons departed neither merry nor secure despairing of the Kings Benevolence which made them goe alwayes armed and to retire to safe places The King soone after recalling the Spensers reversed the sentence against them as erronious gathers an Army encounters and defeats the Barons and puts many of them to deat● by these Spencers procurements who not content with their blood procured also the confiscation of their goods a●●●nheritances Whereupon getting into greater favour and power then before puffed up with their good successe and new honours they discontented not onely the Nobles but Queene too who going over into Fran● with her sonne the Prince whose lives these favorites attempted She raysed an Army beyond the Seas and returning with it into England most of the Lords and Commons resorted to her and fell off from the King● who being destitu●e of friends and meanes demanded assistance of the Cirie of London whose answer was That they would honour with all dutie the King the Queene and Prince but would shut their gates against Foreine● and Traytors to the Realme and with all their power withstand them And under the name of John of Eltham th● Kings second sonne whom they proclaymed Custos of the Citie and of the Land they got the Tower ●● London into their possession placing and displacing the Garrison and Officers therein as they pleased Th● King hereupon after he had commanded all men to destroy and kill the Queenes partakers none excepted but her self ●●er sonne and the Earle of Kent and that none upon paine of death and losse of all that they might lose should ayde ●● assist them and that he should have a 1000. l. who did bring the Lord Mortimers head flies to Bristol in the Castle whereof the elder Spenser was taken by the Queenes Forces and without any formall tryall cruelly cut ●● alive and quartered being first at the clamours of the people drawne and hanged in his proper armour upon the common Gallowes without the Citie After which the King forsaken of all his Subjects flies into Wales for shelter wher● he was taken prisoner and then by his Lords and Parliament forced to resigne his Crowne to his sonne confessing That for his many sins he was fallen into this calamitie and therefore had the lesse cause to take it grievously That ●● much sorrowed for this that the people of the kingdome were so exasperated against him that they should utterly abh●● his any longer rule and Soveraignty and therefore be besought all there present to forgive and spare him being so afflicte● Soone after he was murthered in Barkly Castle And so the sicknesse and wounds which the Commonwealth sustaine● by his ill raigne upon the ch●●ge of her Physician recovered not onely health and strength

first by the Ancient Treatise Of the manner of holding Parliaments in England which informes us That the first day of the Parliament publike Proclamations ought to be made in the City or Town where the Parliament is kept That all those who would deliver Petitions or Bills to the Parliament should deliver them in a certaine time That the Parliament should not depart so long as any Petition made thereto ●angeth undiscussed or undecided or at the least to which there is not made a determinate answer the Kings Majestie being desirous of his grace and favour to give the ●ubject redresse of any injurie not to suffer his people to goe unsatisfied Hence departing of the Parliament OVGHT TO BE in such manner First IT OVGHT TO BE demaunded yea and publikely proclaimed in the Parliament and within ●he Pallace of the Parliament whether there be any that hath delivered a ●etition to the Parliament and ●ath not received answer thereto If there he none such it i● supposed that every one is satisfied or else answered unto at the least So farre forth as by Law it may be And then all may depart Hence it wa● that in 21. R. 2. c. 16. 17. 18. 19. divers Petitions not read nor answered in Parliament by reason of ● See Wal●ingham Mat. Paris Fabian Holinshed Grafton Martyn Speed in their lives shortnesse of time and not determined sitting the Parliament were by speciall Acts of Parliament referred to divers Lords and Commons to examine answer and plainely determine all matters contained in the said Petitions as they should thinke best by their good advise and discretion even out of Parliament which they heard and determined accordingly and made binding Acts thereupon as appeares by the statutes themselves This Doctrine was very well knowne to King Iohn Henry the 3. Edward the 2. Richard the 2. Henry the 6. and Edward the 4. the Parliaments which opposed and deposed most of them sitting and continuing sitting both before and after their deposing sore against their wills as the fore-remembred histories manifest else no doubt they would have broken up all these Parliaments at their pleasure and never permitted such Acts Iudgements to passe against themselves Favorites ill Counsellours pretended Prerogatives had they lawfull power to dissolve them summoned in their names or the Parliaments actually determined by their depositions or resignations as we finde they did not and none ever yet held they did King Richard the 2 fearing the losse of his Crowne or some restraints by Lawes in the 11. yeare of his raigne proposed this question among others to his Iudges at Nottingham Castle which for ought I finde was never doubted before b See 21 R. 2. c. 12. Whether the King whensoever pleaseth him might dissolve the Parli●ment and command his Lords and Commons to depar● from thence or not Whereunto it was of one minde answered that he may and if any would proceede in c Wal●ingham Holinshed Fabian Graft Speed in 11. R. 2. the Statuts at large that yeare the Parliament against the Kings will he is to be punished as a Traytor For which opinion and others some of these Iudges and Lawyers as Trysi●ian Blake were condemned of high Treason the next Parliament 11. R. 2. drawne upon a hurdle to Tyburne and there executed as Traytors to the King and Commonwealth others of them who delivered their opinions rather out of feare of death and bodily tortures then malice were yet condemned as Traytors and banished the Kingdome onely their lives were spared True it is that the packed and over-●wed Parliament of 21. R. 2. terrified by the Kings unruly great guard of Cheshire Archers fore-mentioned 21. R. 2. c. 12. being specially interrogated by the Ki●g how they thought of these answeres of the Iudges sayd That they thought they gave their answeres duely and faithfully as good and lawfull l●ige people of the King ought to doe But yet the Parliament of 1 H. 4. c. 3. 4. repealed this Parliament of 21. R. 2. with all its circumstances and dependents revived the Parliament of 11 R. 2. with the judgements and proceedings given against these treacherous temporising Iudges as a thing made for the great honour and common profit of the Realme Besides the e Cooke 9. Rept f. 1. in the Epistle 4. E. 3. c. 14. ●6 E. 3. c. 10. Statutes of King Alfred and Edward the 3. which enact that a Parliament shall be holden once every yeare and oftner if neede be for redresse of mischiefes and grievances which dayly happen strongly intimate that if a Parliament ought in Law to be called as often as need is of purpose to redresse the Subjects grievances and mischiefes then it ought not in point of Law to be dissolved till these greivances and mischiefes f Magna Charta 1556. part 2. f. 164. be redressed else the sommoning of it would be to no purpose and bring a great trouble and charge to the whole kingdome without any benefit at all Moreover the King by his Oath is bound to doe equall justice and right to all his Subjects in all his Courts of justice In Magna Charta c. 29. he makes this Portestation We shall deny nor deferre to no man either Iustice or right and by sundry other g 18. E. 3. Stat. 3. 20 E 3. c. ● Acts all the Kings Iudges are sworne and commanded to doe even Law and execution of right to all his subjects rich or poore without having regard to any person and without letting or delaying to doe right for any Letters Writs or Commandements that shall come to them from the King or any others and shall doe nothing by vertue of them but goe forth to doe the Law and hold their Courts and Processes where the Pleas and matters be depending before them notwithstanding a● if no such Letters Writs or Commandements were come unto you The makers therefore of these O●thes and Lawes in dayes of Popery and the Parliaments of 2. E. 3. c. 8 14. E. 3. c. 14. 1. R. 2. c. 2. which Enact That it shall not be commanded by the great seale or little seale to delay or disturbe common right and though such commandments doe come the Iustices shall not therefore leave to doe right in ANY POINT that Iustice and right be indifferently ministred to every of the Kings Subjects did certainely beleeve that the King neither by his great nor privie seal nor by Writ or Letter could without just or lawfull cause assigned prorogue or adjourne the Te●me or sitting of any Courts of Iustice much lesse prorogue or dissolve his highest Court and grand Counsell of the Realme the Parliament or disable them to fit to redresse the Kingdomes and subjects severall grievances or secure the Realme from danger Which if he might lawfully doe at his pleasure without the Houses joynt assents there would necessarily follow not onely a deferring and deniall but likewise a fayler of Iustice in the highest Court or Session

2. c. 16. f. 24. That a King is created and elected by whom but by his kingdome to this purpose to doe justice unto all That a king cannot doe any thing else in earth seeing be is Gods Minister and Vicar ni●●id solum quod de jure a Luk. 2. 22. 23. 24. ●otest but that onely which he can doe by Law That God the Law and his Court to wit the Earles ●nd Barons in Parliament are above the King and ought to bridle him and are thence called c Comites vi● quia a Comitatu ●ive a societate nomen sumpserunt qui etiam dic● possunt Consules a consulendo Reges enim tales si●● associant ad consulendum regendum populum Dei. ordina●tes eos in magna potestate honore nomine c. Idem l. ● c. 8. f. 5. 6. Co●ites because they are the Kings Companions Fleta an Ancient Law-booke written in King Edward ●he third his raigne lib. 3. c. 3. and 17. useth the selfe same words that Bracton doth and concludes ●hat the King hath a Superior to wit God and the Law by which be is made a Ki●g and his Court of Earles ●nd Barons to wit the Parliament d De Laudibus Legum Argliae c. 9. to 15. Fortescue a great Lawyer Chauncellor to King Henry the 6. ●roves at large That the King is not above but under the Law that be cannot alter the Law of Ergland ●or ●ay any Taxes at all on his Subiects but by Parliament That all lawfull Kings and Kingdomes were at ●●rst created and erected onely by the unanimous free assent of the people that the kingdome of England is a Po●cie or Aristocraticall mixt Government not an absolute royall Soveraignety That the e Hanc potestatem â pop●lo effluxam ipse habet c. p. 25. King hath his ●●yall power DERIVED TO HIM FROM THE PEOPLE whereby it is unlawfull for him to ●le his people by any other power which he prosecutes in sundry chapters too tedious to transcribe ●nd in one word f Chap. 8. vol. ● pag. 173. Raphael Holinshed Iohn Vowell and others in their Description of England ●rinted Cum Privilegio resolve thus of the Parliaments power This House hath the most high and ●bsolute power of the Realme for thereby kings and mighty Princes have from time to time beene ●eposed from their thrones and Lawes are enacted and abrogated Offenders of all sorts punished and cor●pted Religion either disanulled or reformed It is THE HEAD AND BODY OF ALL THE ●EALME and the place where every particular man is intended to be present if not by himselfe yet by ●s Advocate and Attorney For this cause any thing that is there enacted is not to be withstood but obeyed ●● all men without contradiction or grudge and to be short all that ever the people of Rome might doe ei●●er Centuriatis Comitiis or Tribunitiis the same is and may be done by the Authority of Parliament Now the Romans in their assemblies had power to enact binding Lawes to create and elect ●●eir Kings and Emperours and likewise to judge censure and depose them to create and elect all kindes ●● Officers and to * See Bodine l. 2. c 5. l. ● c. 10 Eutropius and Grimston in the life of Nero Maximinius Heliogabalits and others Livy Rom. Hist l. 1. ●● change the very forme of their State and Government as I shall hereafter manifest Therefore by these Authors resolution the Parliament hath an absolute power to doe the like when ●hey see just cause Sir Thomas Smith one of the Principall Secretaries of State to King Edward the 6. ●nd Queene Elizabeth and a Doctor of Law in his Common-wealth of England l. 2. c. 1. in the old but ●● in the last Edition hath the same words in effect with Holinshead and addes that the Parliament gi●eth forme of Succession to the Crowne c. Our kings royall power being then originally derived to ●hem conferred on them by the peoples and kingdomes common consents in Parliament and all their ●ew additionall Prerogatives too as the premises evidence it cannot be denied but that the whole ●ingdome and Parliament are really in this sence above him and the most Soveraigne prime power ●●om whence all other powers were and are derived See Fortescue c. 9. to 15. Fourthly This is undeniable because the whole kingdome in Parliament may not onely aug●ent but likewise * abridge allay abolish and resume some branches of the Kings royall power and ●●erogative if there be just cause as when it becomes onorous mischievous and dangerous to the Sub●ects inconvenient to or inconsistent with the kingdomes peoples welfare peace safety Liberty or ●he Lawes this is most apparant by Magna Charta Charta de Forresta Statutum de Prerogativa Regis De Tall●gio non-concedendo 1. E. 3. c. 6 7. 2. E. 3. c. 2. 8. 3. E. 1. c. 35. 9. E. 3. c. 12. 5. E 3. c. ● 10. E. 3. c. 2. 3 14. E 3. c. 1. 14. 18. E. 3. c. 8. 25 E. 3. c. 4. Stat. 3. c. 1 2. Stat. 5. c. 8. 11. 36. E. 3 c. 10. ● 7. E. 3. c. 18. 42. E. 3. c. 3. 10. R. 2. c. ● 11. R. 2. c. 1. to 7. 1. R. 3. c. 2. 4. H. 4. c 13. 21. Jac. c. 2. 3. 24. 7. H. 8 c. 3 ●he Petition of Right 3. Caroli most Statuts against Purveyens Pardons Protections the Acts made this Parliament against Ship-money Knight-hood Forrest-bounds Pressing of Souldiers the Star-Chamber High-Commission the Trienniall Parliament the Continuance of this Parliament whiles they please with g See the Arguments against Ship-money and Impositions and the Declarations against the Commission of Aray sun●ry other Acts which restraine abridge repeale and resume divers reall and pretended branches of the ●ings royall Prerogative because they proved grievous and mischievous to the people and dangeous and pernicious to the kingdome This then answers that irrationall groundlesse position of Doctor Ferne That h Resolving of Conscience Sect 4. 5. the Subjects neither lawfully may nor ought in any case to resume al or any part of that Regall power wherewith they have once invested their Kings by common consent Which as it is contrary ●o that received principle of nature and reason Eodem modo quo quid constituitur dissolvitur That ●ll Governments created by mens consents may be altered diminished or repealed by their consents ●● i See Ioshua Iudges Samuel Kings Chron. Daniel throughout ●saiah Ieremy Ezickiel in sundry chap. sundry Presidents and Prophesies in Scripture concerning the alterations the Subversions and Dimi●utions of kings and kingdomes to the constant practise of k See Sleidan de 4. or Imperiis Mat. West Livy Iustin Opmerus Purchas Chronicon ●hronicorum and all generall Histories all Realmes and States whatsoever from ●dam till this instant who have undergone many strange alteratians eclipses diminutions yea Pe●●ods of Government to the Resolution of l Polit. l.

2 3 4 5. Plato de Republica Bodius Common wealth The Repub of ●undry Nations Aristotle and al other Polititions who hold all formes of Government changeable and revocable without any injustice if necess●ry or convenient So likewise ●o the very end for which kings haveregall power as well as other Governours and Governments were ordained to wit their kingdomes peoples m Rom. 14. 1 to 6. 1 Pet. 2. 13. 14. 2 Sam. 5. 12. Aristotle Pol. l. 3. 4. 5. Caelius Rhodig l 8. c. 1. Bracton l. 3. c. 9. f. 107. welfare safety peace protection c. Salus p●puli being not onely that Suprema Lex but principall end for which all royall power was institute● by God and man and to which they must submit in case it become in compatible or cannot consist together without dammage or danger to the publike safety what therefore that learned Father Augustine Bishop of Hippo long since resolved touching the now much contested for Lordly State of Episcopacie which he and neere 300. African Bishops more were then ready to lay downe for the Churches peace I may fitly apply to the now over much contended for supposed royall Prerogatives of kings to effect Peace in the State in these times of uncivill military that I say not bloody dissentions raised about them betweene king and Parliament An vero c. n Augustinus de Geftis cune Emerita Donatist Epis Tom. 7. pars 1. p. 782. 783. What verily did ou● Redeemer descend from heaven into humane members that we might he his members and shall we le●t his very members be rent in pieces with cruell division feare to descend out of our thrones we are ordained BP ● fo● Christian peoples ●ake what therfore may profit them for Christian peace that let us do with our Bishoprickes Quod autem sum propter te sim si tibi prodest non sim si tibi obest What I-am I may be for thee if it profit thee I may not be if it be hurtfull to thee If we be profitable servants why do we envie the● eternall gaines of our Lord for our tempot all sublimities or Prerogatives Our Episcopall dignity will o See all Acts of Repeale and others which alter the common Law See Smiths Common-wealth l. 2. c. 2. 3. be more fruitfull to us if it shall more unite the flock of Christ then disperse it if retained If when I will retain my Bishoprick I disperse the ●lock of Christ how is the dammage of the flock the honour o● the sheapheard c. Old statute Lawes yea and the common Law of England may be and oft are repealed and altered by Parliaments though above the king and his Prerogative when they become mischieuous ●● inconvenient therefore any branches of the kings Prerogative inferiour to these Lawes when they prove grievous or dangerous to the subjects It is the kings own professed Maxime in full Parliamen p At the end of the Petition of Right 3. Caroli Printed and inrolled by his speciall command in all his Courts That the Kings Prerogative is but to defend the Peoples Liberties when therefore it either invades or subver● them it may justly it must necessarily be restrained diminished or resumed by the Parliament from whose assent or grant it first proceeded The Emperour q See Eutropius Sabellicus Grimston Speed others of his life Otho the first and our king Richard the second as r Speeds History p. 757. some imagine voluntary resigned relinquished their Crownes to their immortall honour to prevent the effusion of their Subiects blood by civill warres and settle peace within thei● Realmes and shall not other kings then most joyfully part with some Punctilioes of their reall o● branches of their supposed Prerogatives for the selfesame ends if their Parliaments see good cause to resume them and of right may doe it Fifthly The king though he be the chiefe and principall yet he is onely one member of the Parliament and kingdome the least because but one person though the highest branch the Lords and Commons not elected by but assigned Counsellors to the king by the kingdome and people being the greatest and most considerable part as representing the intire body of the kingdome Now common reason Law and experience manifests t See Br. Tit. Corporations that the whole or greatest part in all politique or naturall Bodies is of greater power Jurisdiction then any one particular member Thus in all our t Corporations the Court of Aldermen and Common Councell is of greater power then the Major though the chiefe Officer the Chapter of greater authority then the Deane the Deane and Chapter then the s Keckerman Systema Logic. l. 1. c. 22. BPP the whole Bench then the Lord chiefe Justice the whole Counsell then the President the whole Parliament then either of the Houses and by like reason then the king especially since one of the three Estates is lesser then the three Estates together who in Parliament by the fundamentall Constitions of the Realme are not v See the fuller answer to Dr. Ferne. p. 2. 3. Subordinate but Coordinate parts of the same great Common-Councell of the kingdome It is Aristotles expresse determination x Quod eorum qui rempublicam gerunt majori parti placue●it id est ratum ac ●●mum Arist Polit. l. 4. c. 8. l. 3. that in an Oligarchie Aristocrasie and Democrasie whatsoever seemes good to the Major part of the Governours of the Common-wealth that is ratified and that it is unfit the part should be above the whole And in all Courts of Iustice Corporations and Elections y Br. Corporations 34. 8. H. 6. c. 7. the major part have alwayes had the greatest sway and constantly over-ruled the lesse though it be but by one casting voyce as is evident to all in the Elections of Knights and Burgesses of and votes in the Parliament in which the z 14. H. 8. f. 3. b. King Lords and Commons by the Common Law make up but one intire Corporation since then even in Parliament it selfe the Major part over swayes the rest yea the king himselfe who hath no absolute negative voyce but onely in refusing to passe some kinde of Bills not all of which more hereafter doubtlesse the whole or Major part of the Parliament which in Law is the whole is above the king the chiefe member of it Which consideration together with the Statutes of 5. R. 2. Stat. 2. c 4. 6. H. 8. c. 16. Enacting That none elected to be in any Parliament shall depart or absent himself from the same Parliament till it be fully ended or proroged without speciall license of the Speaker of the Commons to be entred of record in the jornall Booke under paine of amercement losse of wages and other punishment nor * See the manner of holding Parliaments in England newly Printed London 1641 and Dyer f. 60. 2. any member of the upper House without that

houses license under paine a Major Pars est totum Brookes Corporations 34. Smiths Common-wealth of England l. 2. c. 3. ●f inditement imprisonment or fine as appeares by the Bishop of Winchesters case 3. E. 3. 19. Fitz. ●orone 161. and Stamford l. 3 c. 1. f. 153 compleatly answers that fond cavill of the Malignants ●nd Royalists against this Parliament that the king and many of the other members have wilfully ●bsented themselves from the House of purpose to dissolve it if they could notwithstanding the late ●peciall Act made by their joyntconsents for its continuance Ergo this unlawfull Action of theirs to effect this pernicious designe must nullifie or at least invalid in their new non-sence Law and ●ogicke the lawfull proceedings of those worthy faithfull members who continue in it to preserve ●oth Parliament Kingdome Religion Lawes Liberties from ruine and dissolution If these ab●ent members be the greater number why doe they not come and over-vote the rest in the House in peaceable legall usuall Parliamentary way rather then challenge them into the field in a military ●legall unusuall bloody manner unheard of in former ages If the lesser party then present or ab●ent the Major part must over-rule them volensnolens as it hath ever used unlesse they will be wil●●ller I cannot say wiser then all their predecessors put together As for his Majesties absence from Parliament by the pernicious advise of Evill Counsellors so Object ●uch insisted on by Malignants I answer 1. That it was without any just cause given by the Parliament Secondly It was much Answ ●gainst their wills who have a See their Messages and petitions to the king to this purpose oft importuned petitioned and used all possible meanes to procure ●is returne 3. His absence was procured and is yet continued by those alone who most unjustly ●axe the Parliament for it and would take advantage of this their owne wrong Fourthly though ●e be personally absent as a man yet he is still Legally present in Parliament called the kings pre●ence as he is a king as he is in al other his Courts of Iustice where all proceedings are entred b See Camdens Brit. p. 163. which stiles the Parliament the kings presence The Register of Writs Old New Natura Brevium old and new book of Entries Cookes Institures on Littleton f. 71. 6 Co●am Rege though the king never yet sate personally in either of them as he hath oft times done in his Parliament for the continuance whereof he hath passed such an Act as will inseperably tye his ●oyall presence to it though his Cavaliers about him should by force withdraw his person from it ●ot onely as farre as Yorke but the remotest Indies yea he must first cease to be king of England ere ●e can be legally absent from his Parliament of England This his wilfull personall absence from ●is greatest Counsell which desires and needes it is as many conceive an Act of the highest in justice ●hat ever any Prince could offer to his Parliament worse then a ● King 12. 2 Chron. 18. Reh●boams forsaking the counsell ●f his ancient Sages to follow the hare braind advise of his young Cavaleers for though he follow●d not their ancient prudent counsell yet he withdrew not himselfe from them as his Majestie ●oth now sever himselfe from his Parliament not onely without but against all prefidents of his ●oyall predecessors except king b Richard the second who once absented himselfe from his Parlia●ent above 40. dayes yet then returned to it upon better advise and the very common custome and ●aw of the Land which he is obliged by his Coronation oath and many late protestations added ●o it constantly to maintaine This appeares most clearely by the ancient Treatise of the man●er of holding of Parliaments in England both before and since the conquest * See Minshes Dictionary Title Parliament f. 526. tende●ed to and ap●roved by the Conquerone himselfe newly printed 1641 which in the Section touching the kings ●bsence from Parliament resolves thus The king is BOVND by all meanes possible TO BE PRESENT AT THE PARLIAMENT unlesse he be detained or let therefrom by bodily ●icknesse and then he may keepe his chamber yet so as he lye not without the Manour or Towne ●t the least where the Parliament is held and then he ought to send for 12. persons of the grea●est t Grafton p. 348. 349. 350. and best of them that are sommoned to the Parliament that is 2. Bishops 2. Earles 2 Ba●ons 2. Knights of the shire 2 Burgesses and 2. Citizens to looke upon his person to testifie and ●itnesse his estate and give A uthority to the Arch-bishop of the place the Steward of England ●nd chiefe justice that they joyntly and severally should begin the Parliament and continue the same ●● his name expresse mention being made in that commission of the * Note this cause of his absence there ●hich ought to suffice The reason is because there was wont to be a cry and murmure in the Par●iament for the kings absence because his absence is hurtfull and dangerous to the whole commo●alty of the Parliament neither indeede OVGHT OR MAY HE BE ABSENT BUT ONE●Y IN THE CASE AFORESAYD And whereas Malignants clamour that most of the ●ords are absent as well as the king and therefore this can be no lawfull Parliament The same ●uthor will in forme them that if the Lords be once sommoned to Parliament and then appeare ●ot or absent themselves the king may hold the Parliament with the commonalty and commons ●f the kingdome every of which hath a greater voyce in Parliament then the greatest Earle in Eng●●nd because he represents a whole county towne or city the other himselfe alone without Bishops ●arles or Barons because in times past before there was either Bishop Earle or Baron yet even ●hen kings kept their Parliaments but on the contrary no Parliament can be kept by the king and ●eeres if all the Commons for the kings misgovernment or such like cause should absent them●●lves This is the judgement of r In Holinsheads Chronicle of Ireland f. 127. 128. Master John Vowel too who writes in this manner Yet ne●●rthelesse if the king in due order have sommones all his Lords and Barons and they will not come or if they come they will not yet appeare or if they come and appeare yet will not doe or yeeld ●● any thing then the king with the consent of his Commons may ordain establish any acts or Lawe● which are as good sufficient and effectuall as if the Lords had given their consents But on th● contrary if the Commons be sommoned and will not come or comming will not appeare or appe●ring will not consent to doe any thing alleaging some just weighty and great cause the King in thes● cases d Cromptons Iurisdiction of Courts f. 8. 4. H. 7. 18. 7. H. 7. 14. 11. H. 7. 27. Parliament

belongeth to a King for hasty rashnesse bringeth all things to ruine according to the saying of th● Gospell Every Kingdome divided in it selfe shall be brought to desolation Master o Vol. 1. p. 214. Fox informes us that William the Conquerour through the peoples clamour promised to confirme this King Edwards Lawes but the most part of them he omitted contrary to his Oath at his Coronation Indeede I finde not that the Conqueror tooke this Oath when he was crowned but I reade in * History p. 440. 441. Speed and others that William the Conquerour abrogating for the most part the ancient Lawes of the Land and introducing ne● hard Lawes of his owne written in the Norman tongue which the people understood not and th● Iudges wrested at their pleasures to the forfeiture of Goods Lands Life hereupon the Nobility and Natives seeking to cast off these snares and fetters of his Lawes set up Edgar Athelin for the● Generall once againe and ●ell into a new conspiracie raising great forces and resolving to make th● sword their Iudge The King hereupon by Lanfrankes advise who as Re●oboams sages gave him counsell somewhat to beare with their abuses rather then to hazard the ruine of all in fight appointed a meeting at Berkham●teed Anno 1172. where the King entring parly with the English Nobility did so farre winde himselfe into their good opinions that they all forthwith layd downe their weapons And he for his part fearing to lose the Crowne with shame which he had gotten with effusion ●f so much blood gave his Oath upon the holy Evangelists and the reliques of Saint Albane the Martyr the same being ministred to him by Abbot Fredericke swearing to observe and inviolably to ●●epe the ancient Lawes of this Land and most especially those compiled by King Edward the Confessor ●hough as the event soone shewed he little meant to doe as he promised Peace thus established ●is conference ended and the Kings oath received the English Armies disband themselves as drea●ing Note this they had now good fortune by the foote and hoping the greatest stormes of their dangers were ●a●t which presently proved but a vaine surmise For king William having compounded with the ●anes began extreamely to hate the English Nobles and with full resolution of their destruction ●●ddenly set upon them apart which he durst not attempt when they were united so that * See H●ntindon Hist l. 7. p. 369. Mat. Paris Hist p. 6. s●aying ●ny imprisoning others and persecuting all of them with fire and sword well was he that could ●e first ●●ne Such little faith or assurance is there in the solemne Oathes and Protestations of Kings to ●●eir Subjects which are seldome really performed and intended onely as snares to intrap them if ●●ey confide and rely upon them without any better security The forme of the kings Coronation ●er since Edward the a hath beene this and is thus administred p Magna Charta Printed Cum Privilegio London 1558. part 2. f. 16●● Iudamentum Regis quando corona●u● Remonstrance Nov 2. p. 25. to 38. The Metropolitan or Bishop ●●at is to Crowne the King with a meane and distinct voyce shall interrogate him if he will confirme with an ●ath the Lawes and customes granted to the people of England by ancient just and devout kings towards ●od to the samepeople and especially the Lawes and Customes and Liberties granted by glorious King Edward to the Clergie and People And IF HE SHALL PROMISE that he will assent to all these ●et the Metropolitan or Bishop expound to him what things he shall sweare saying thus Thou shalt ●epe to the Church of God to the Clergie and people Peace intirely and concord in God according to thy ●●wer The king shall answer I will keepe it Thou shalt cause to be done in all thy judgements equall ●dright justice and discretion in mercy and verity according to thy power He shall answer I will doe it ●●ou grantest just Lawes and Customes to be kept and thou dost promise that those Lawes shall be protected ●d confirmed by thee to the honour of God QUAS VULGUS ELEGERIT which the people shall ●se according to thy power He shall answer I doe gra●t and promise And there may be added to ●e foresayd Interrogations what other things shall be just All things being pronounced he shall confirme that he will observe all things with an oath upon the Altar presently taken before all There ●ath beene a late unhappie difference raised betweene the q See the Parliaments Remonstrance of the 26. of May. p. 9. His Majesties Answer thereto p. 16. 17. and the Parliaments Reply Nou. 2. p. 2● to 38. king and Parliament about the word ELEGERIT the Parliament affirming the word to signifie shall chuse according to sundry written ●oles and Printed Coppies in Latin and French the King on the contrary affirming it should be ●●th chosen But he that observes the words of the ancient Oathes Populo tibi commisso rectam ●●liciam exercebis malas leges iniquas consuetudines si aliquae fuererint in Regno tuo delebis bonas servabis all in the future tence and the verbes servabis Facies fier● protegendas cor●oborandas in ●e former and same clauses of the Oath now used all of them in the future with the whole Scope ●tent and purport of this part of the Oath must necessarily grant shall chuse to be the true rea●ng and that it referres to the confirmation of * Iudge Huttons Argument against Ship-money p. 32. determines so future Lawes to be afterwards made in Parliament not those onely in being when the Oath was administred else kings should not be obliged by their ●athes to keepe any Lawes made after their Coronations by their owne assents but onely those ●●eir Predecessors assented to not themselves which were most absurd to affirme From these severall Oathes and Passages the usuall forme of the Nobles proclaiming such and ●●ch Kings of England with other r Page 4. ●● forecited Histories it is apparant First that Popish Parliaments Peeres and Subjects have deemed the Crowne of England not meerely successive and he●dita●y though it hath usually gone by descent but arbitray and elective when they saw cause ma● of our kings comming to the Crowne without just hereditarie Title by the Kingdomes Peeres ●d peoples free election onely confirmed by a subsequent Act of Parliament which was then re●●ted a sufficient Right by vertue whereof they then reigned and were obeyed as lawfull kings ●d were then and yet so acknowledged to be their Right by Election of their Subjects being seldome or never adjudged an illegall usurpation in any Parliaments whence the statute of 1 E. 4. c. 1. ● d ● E. 4. ● 2. declare king Henry the 4. 5. and 6. to be successively kings of England indeed and not right yet not usurpers because they came in by Parliament Onely Richard the third who treacherously murthered Edward the 5. his

the Crowne of England ● the next and onely heire of the blood Royall to whom of right it descended which Dolman the Priest and so● Jesuites opposed in Printed seditious Bookes So the z ● Mariae Parl. 2. c. 2. Articles of Queene Maries marriage with K● Philip were limited appointed and ratified by Parliament And the Imperiall Ecclesiasticall Ju●diction usurped by the Pope and Prelates hath likewise by a 25 H. 8. c. 19. 21. 26 H. 8 c. 1. 3. 27 H. 8. c. 10. 28 H. 8. c. p. 16. 32 H. 8. c. 22. 24. 29. 31 H. 8. c. 10. 14. 3● H. 8. c. 29. 34 35 H. 8. c. 17. 19. 35 H. 8. c. 1. 3. 1 Eli. c. 1. 1 E. 6. c. 2. 1 Mariae c. 1. Parl. 2. c. 1. 8 El. c. 1. sund●y Statutes beene restored and united to ●● Crowne and the Title of Supreame head and Supreame Governour in all causes and over all persons Spiri● all Ecclesiasticall and Temporall seiled upon our Kings and Queenes Who during their minori●ies have ●● Guardians and Protectors appointed to them by b Walsingham Hist Angl. H. 5. p. 458. Speed p. 1 108. 28 H. 8. c. 7. 17. 1 E. 6. c. 11. Hals Chronicle 1 H. 6 Parliament to summen Parliaments assent to ●ils and ex●cute all royall Jurisdiction in their names and steads And a● the Title and Right to the Crowne of Englan● and the Jurisdiction thereof hath thus from time to time beene decided and setled in and by our Parli●ments so hath the Title and Jurisdiction of the Crowne of Scotland beene c Hist Angl. p 16. to 26. 31. to 33 42. 46. to 56. See Holin Grafton Stow Speed in the life of Edward the first ●podigma Neust p. 72. to 96. frequently discussed a● setled in our Parliaments upon appeales made to them by the Kings of Scotland and their Corrivals to that Crow●● Witnesse the famous case and competition for that Crown long agitated and resolved in Parliament betweene ●● King of Norway Bailliol and Bruce to omit others in the Reigne of King Edward the first And ●●● King Edwards title to the Crowne of Scotland declared and resolved by our Parliament here All which ●● Recorded at large by Thomas Walsing●am in the life of King Edward the first and in the Parliame●● Rols and Pleas of his Raigne with d 1 Jac. 1. sundry other instances of this nature frequent in our Historian ● wh●ch for brevity I pretermit It is a e 35 H. 8 c 1 cleare case without dispute that if the King should dye without any Heire the Crowne wou● ofcheate to the whole Kingdome and Parliament who might dispose of it in such a case to what pers●● they pleased or quite change that forme of government if they saw good cause no particular kin● of rule being so simply necessary by any divine right or Law to any state or Kingdome but that as it was ● first instituted so it may in such a case be changed by the whole Kingdomes generall consent upon suff●cient grounds This appeares by the case of * Elondus Decad 2. l. 2. Regin l. 2. An. 800 Bi●●op Bilson of Christ an Su●jection c. part 3. p. 423. Charles the grosse who being deposed from the Empire a●● his Kingdomes for a mad man and dying without any Heire the Kingdomes which before were subject ●● him Destitute of a right Heire began to fall in sunder on every side and to choose Kings of themselves of an●ther Family France elected Charles a childe sirnamed Simple for their King and after his simplic●ty displeased them they Crowned Otho Sonne of Robert Duke of Saxony in his place At the same tim● the people of Italy meaning to have a King of their owne could not agree on the matter but some cho● Beringarius others Guido and so had two Kings in Italy both calling and bearing themselves as Emp●rours And the Germanes elected Arnolph Duke of Bavaria for their Emperour Thus * Zonas Annal. Tom. 3. f. 1 26. Grimstons Imperiall History p. 303. Zeno the Emperour dying without any Heire that might succeed him Anastasiu● a man of great reputation yet of no No●● Family was chosen his Successor by the Senate and Legions The like we read of divers other Emperou● de●easing without Heire of some of our Saxon and British Kings before the Conquest and of othe● in other Kingdomes where the Crowne hath beene translated from one family to another by the Kingdomes consent for want of Heires Yea Bishop Bilson 1 The true difference betweene Christian Subjectio● and unchristian Rebellion part 3. p. 418. to 422. himselfe though a great Royalist po●●tively affirmes That if a King or right H●ire to any Crowne be borne or becomes a naturall Foole or star●mad or run besides himselfe so that he is not able to governe himselfe much lesse his Realme in these ●● cases ANY REALME BY PUBLICKE CONSENT and ADVICE MA● CHUSE ANOTHER KING for what should he doe with a royall Office or by what d●vine or humane right can he enjoy a Crowne who is utterly unable to manage it Upon this groun● 2 See the generall History of France in his life Sabellicus Ennead 8. l. 8. ● 245 N●ucl●rus vol. 3. gen 20. Blondus Decad. 1. l. ●● Aventinus l. 3. p. 293. to 300. Gaguinus l. 3. in Carolo. M●rt Herman Sche●● Chron. Aetas 6 f. 185. King Childericke was deposed by his French and German Subjects generall consents because he was ● ●e a Sot a Beast unable to governe his Kingdome and Pepin of another race elected and crowned King in ●stead which act by Pope Zacharies resolution was adjudged both just and lawfull even in point of ●science before it was put in execution So 3 Go●fredus Viterbiensis Chro. pars ●● col 468 Regino l. 3. An. 887. H. Mutius Germ. Chr. l. 12 Grimstons Imperial History p. 404. Charles the third the last Emperour of Pipins race ●● deposed from the Empire by the Princes Dukes and Governours of the Provinces of Germany and ●●ce for that he became foolish and unfit to governe being bereaved of his senses and by common consent ●●olph was elected Emperour in his stead Thus 4 Euagrius Eccl. hist l. 5. c. 11. 13 Zonaras Annal. Tom. 3. f. 150 151. Eutropius l 16. p. 211. Justinus the second falling into a frensie and madnesse ●hat he had no sense nor understanding of any thing that was done was removed and Tiberius placed ●he Empire at his Coronation Justinus used this notable speech Let not the glory of these Imperiall ●●es leade thee into errour neither be thou de ceived with the glorious shew of such things as are subject unto the ●●s wherewith I my selfe now al●s being snared have brought my selfe foolishly into grievous torments ●refore in governing the Empire with great moderation and mildnesse of spirit redresse what is amisse and cor● what I have leudly committed And pointing at his ill Counsellours with