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city_n	king_n	place_n	time_n	5,799	4	3.2772	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42946	The character of Thomas Merkes, Bishop of Carlisle out of Bishop Godwin's Commentaries of the bishops of England, part 2, pag. 149 : together with his speech in the last Parliament of King Richard II, anno 1399, as it is recorded by Sir John Hayward in The first part of the life and reign of K. Henry IV, pag. 101.; De praesulibus Angliae commentarius. English. Selections	Godwin, Francis, 1562-1633.; Hayward, John, Sir, 1564?-1627. First part of the life and raigne of King Henrie the IIII.; Merke, Thomas, d. 1409. Speech in the last Parliament of King Richard II.	1689 (1689)	Wing G969; ESTC R23000	7,627	8

King of Assyria wasted all Palestine with Fire and Sword oppugned Ierusalem a long time and at last expugned it slew the King burnt the Temple took away the holy Vessels and Treasure the rest he permitted to the Cruelty and Spoil of his unmercifull Soldiers who defiled all places with Rape and Slaughter and ruinated to the ground that flourishing City After the glut of this bloudy Butchery the People which remained he led captive into Chaldaea and there erected his golden Image and commanded that they which refused to worship it should be cast into a fiery Fornace What Cruelty what Injustice what Impiety is comparable to this And yet God calleth Nebuchadnezzar his Servant and promiseth him Hire and Wages for his Service And the Prophets Ieremiah and Baruch did write unto the Iews to pray for the Life of him and of Balthasar his Son that their Days might be upon Earth as the Days of Heaven And Ezechiel with bitter terms abhorred the Disloyalty of Zedechiah because he revolted from Nebuchadnezzar whose Homager and Tributary he was What shall we say of Saul Did he not put all the Priests to Execution because one of them did relieve holy and harmless David Did he not violently persecute that his most faithful Servant and dutiful Son in Law During which Pursuit he fell twice into the power of David who did not only spare but also protect the King and reprove the 〈◊〉 Soldiers for their negligent Watch and was touched in Heart for cutting away the lap of his Garment and afterwards caused the Messenger to be slain who upon Request and for Pity had lent his Hand as he said to help forward the voluntary death of that sacred King. As for the contrary Examples as that of Iehu who slew Iehoram and Ahazia Kings of Israel and Iudah they were done by express Oracle and Revelation from God and are no more set down for our Imitation than the robbing of the Egyptians or any other particular and privileged Commandment but in the general Precept which all men must ordinarily follow not onely our Actions but our Speeches also and our very Thoughts are strictly charged with Duty and Obedience unto Princes whether they be good or evil The Law of God ordaineth that he which doth presumptuously against the Ruler of the People shall die and the Prophet David for biddeth to touch the Lord 's Anointed Thou shalt not saith the Lord rail upon the Iudges neither speak evil against the Ruler of the People And the Apostles do demand further that even our Thoughts and Souls be obedient to the higher Powers And lest any should imagine that they meant of good Princes only they speak generally of all and further to take away all doubt they make express mention of the Evil for the Power and Authority of wicked Princes is the Ordinance of God And therefore Christ told Pilate that the Power which he had was given him from above And the Prophet Esay calleth Cyrus being a prophane and heathen Prince the 〈◊〉 Anointed For God stirreth up the Spirit even of wicked Princes to do his Will and as Iehoshaphat said to his Rulers they execute not the Iudgment of Man but of the Lord in regard whereof David calleth them Gods because they have their Rule and Authority immediately from God which if they abuse they are not to be adjudged by their Subjects for no Power within their Dominion is superior to theirs but God reserveth them to the sorest Trial Horribly and suddenly saith the Wise Man will the Lord appear unto them and an hard Iudgment shall they have The Law of God commandeth that the Child should be put to death for any Contumely done unto the Parents 〈◊〉 what if 〈◊〉 Father be a Robber if a Murtherer if for all 〈◊〉 of Villanies odious and execrable both to God and Man Surely he deserveth the highest degree of Punishment and yet must not the Son 〈◊〉 up his Hand against him for no Offence is so great as to be punished by Parricide But our Country is dearer to us than our 〈◊〉 and the Prince is Pater patriae the Father of our Country and there fore more sacred and dear unto us than our Parents by Nature and must not be violated how imperious how impious soever he be Doth he command or demand our Persons or our Purses We must not shun for the one or shrink for the other for as 〈◊〉 saith Kings have Dominion over the Bodies and over the Cattle of their Subjects at their pleasure Doth he enjoyn those Actions 〈◊〉 are contrary to the Laws of God We must neither wholly obey nor violently resist but with a constant Courage submit our selves to all manner of 〈◊〉 and shew our Subjection by enduring and not performing Yea the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Heresie to hold that a Prince may be slain or deposed by his Subjects for any Disorder or Default either in Life or else in Government there will be Faults so long as there are Men And as we endure with patience a barren Year if it happen and unseasonable Weather and such other Defects of Nature so must we tolerate 〈◊〉 Imperfections of Rulers and quietly expect either Reformation or else a Change. But alas good King Richard What such Cruelty what such Impi ty hath he ever committed Examine rightly those Imputations 〈◊〉 are laid against him without any false Circumstance of Aggrava 〈◊〉 and you shall find nothing objected either of any truth or of great moment It may be that many Errors and Oversights have escaped him yet none so grievous to be termed Tyranny as proceeding rather from unexperienc'd Ignorance or corrupt Council than from any natural and wilful Malice Oh how shall the World be pester'd with Tyrants if Subjects may rebel upon every pretence of Tyranny How many good Princes shall daily be suppressed by those by whom they ought to be supported If they levy a Subsidy or any other Taxation it shall be claimed Oppression If they put any to death for traiterous Attempts against their Persons it shall be 〈◊〉 aimed Cruelty If they do any thing against the Lust and Liking of the People it shall be proclaimed Tyranny But 〈◊〉 it be that without Authority in us or Desert in him King Richard must be deposed yet what Right had the Duke of Lancaster to the Crown or what reason have we without his Right to give it to him If he make Title as Heir unto King Richard then must he yet stay until King Richard's death for no Man can succeed as Heir to one that liveth But it is well known to all Men who are not either wilfully blind or grosly ignorant that there are some now 〈◊〉 lineally descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence whose Off 〈◊〉 was by Iudgment of the high Court of Parliament holthe 8th Year of the Reign of

The Character of Thomas Merkes Bishop of Carlisle out of Bishop Godwin's Commentaries of the Bishops of England Part 2. pag. 149. Together with his Speech in the last Parliament of King Richard II. Anno 1399. as it is recorded by Sir Iohn Hayward in the first Part of the Life and Reign of K. Henry IV. pag. 101. Printed at London by Iohn Wolf Anno 1599. The CHARACTER THomas Merkes a Monk of Westminster was made Bishop of Carlisle by the Pope at the Request of King Richard II. Anno 1397. against the liking of the Chapter and consecrated the same Year who being entred upon his Charge shewed himself not unworthy of his Office For besides that he is commended for his Learning and his no small Prudence he is celebrated and that not undeservedly in the first place for his singular Faith and Constancy towards his Patron K. Richard as likewise for his famous Magnanimity that without any Fear he boldly professed his Loyalty not without great and manifest Danger when he might honestly have held his peace and ought to have done so if he had regarded onely his own safety There were some of the Nobles who did not desert the Cause of that unfortunate Prince till he was Prisoner to his Rival Henry Duke of Lancaster But this Prelate despising the danger that hung over himself would not desert the King even when he had some while before deserted himself but durst manfully defend the King and his Cause when he had lost his Power and Interest and when he certainly might conclude that no sort of Benefit could redound to the King but Ruine might befall himself thereby At that very time when the mad multitude always excessive in their Passions not content to have deposed King Richard and placed Henry of Lancaster their Darling in his Throne but with their Clamours seemed to extort from the Parliament that they might deal yet more severely with the King and there were not wanting some in the Parliament it self who cast out dark and ambiguous Speeches of putting him to death this Bishop then was not affraid to pronounce That there were none there present who had right to proceed to Iudgment against the King 〈◊〉 as their lawfull Prince they had obeyed twenty two Years Some few Heads of this Speech being onely related by Bishop Godwin the whole is therefore without any alteration Spelling excepted here printed from Sr. Iohn Hayward's Book When the Inheritance of the Crown was settled on K. Henry and his Line it was moved in Parliament what should be done with King Richard In answer to which the Bishop of Carlisle declared as followeth The SPEECH THis Question right honourable Lords concerneth a matter of great consequence and Weight the 〈◊〉 whereof will assuredly procure either safe Quiet or dangerous 〈◊〉 both to our particular Consciences and also to the common State Theresore before you resolve upon it I pray you call to your considerations these two things First Whether King Richard be sufficiently deposed or no. Secondly Whether King Henry be with good Iustice or Iudgment chosen in his place For the 〈◊〉 point we are first to examine Whether a King being lawfully and fully instituted by any just Title 〈◊〉 upon imputation either of Negligence or of Tyranny be deposed by his Subjects Secondly What King Richard hath omitted in the one or 〈◊〉 in the other for which 〈◊〉 should deserve so heavy Iudgment I will not speak what may be done in a popular State or in a consular in which although one beareth the name and honour of a Prince yet he hath not supreme power of Majesty but in the one the People have the highest Empire in the other the Nobility and chief Men of Estate in neither the Prince Of the first sort was the Commonwealth of the Lacedemonians who after the Form of Government which Lycurgus framed oftentimes fined oftentimes fettered their Kings and sometimes condemned them to death Such were also in Caesar's time the petty Kings of every City in France who were many times arraigned upon Life and Death and as Ambicrix Prince of the Leodienses confessed had no greater Power over the People than the People had over them Of the second condition were the Roman Emperours at the first of whom some namely Nero and Maximinus were openly 〈◊〉 others were suddenly surprized by Iudgment and Authority of the Senate and such are now the Emperours of Germany whom the other Princes by their Aristocratical Power do not only restrain but sometimes also remove from their imperial State. Such are also the Kings of Denmark and Sweveland who are many times by the Nobility 〈◊〉 either into Prison or Exile Such likewise are the Dukes of Venice and of some other sree States in Italy and the chiefest cause for which Lewis Earl os Flanders was lately expelled from his place was for drawing to himself cognisance in matters of Life and Death which high Power never pertained to his Dignity In these and such like Governments the Prince hath not 〈◊〉 Rights but is himself subject to that Power which is greater than his whether it be in the Nobility or in the common People But if the Sovereign Majesty be in the Prince as it was in the three first Empires and in the Kingdoms of Iudaea and Israel and now is in the Kingdoms of England France Spain Scotland Moscovia Turkey Tartaria Persia Ethiopia and almost all the Kingdoms of Asia and Africk although for his 〈◊〉 he be unprofitable to the Subjects yea hurtfull yea intolerable yet can they lawfully neither harm his Person nor hazard his Power whether by Iudgment or else by Force for neither one nor all Magistrates have any authority over the Prince from whom all Authority is derived and whose onely Presence doth silence and 〈◊〉 all inferiour Iurisdiction and Power As for Force what Subject can attempt or assist or counsel or conceal Violence against his Prince and not incurr the high and 〈◊〉 Crime of Treason It is a common Saying Thought is free Free indeed from punishment of secular Laws except by Word or Deed it break forth into Action Yet the secret Thoughts against the 〈◊〉 Majesty of a Prince without attempt without endeavour have been adjudged worthy of death and some who in auricular Confession have discovered their treacherous Devices against the Person of their Prince have afterwards been executed for the same All Laws do exempt a Mad-man from punishment because their Actions are not governed by their Will and Purpose and the Will of Man being set aside all his doings are indifferent neither can the Body offend without a corrupt or erroneous Mind yet if a Mad-man draw his Sword upon his King it hath heen adjudged to deserve death And lest any man should surmise that Princes for the maintenance of their own Safety and Sovereignty are the onely Authours of these Iudgments let us a little consider the Patterns and Precepts of holy Scripture Nebuchadnezzar

King Richard declared next Successor to the Crown in case King Richard should die without Issue 〈◊〉 the Title from Edmond Crouchback I will pass it over seeing the Authors thereof are become ashamed of so absurd Abuse both of their own Knowledge and our Credulity and therefore all the Claim is now made by Right of Conquest by the Cession and Grant of King Richard and by the general Consent of all the People It is a bad Wool that can take no Colour But what Conquest can a 〈◊〉 pretend against his Sovereign where the War is Insurrection and the Victory high and heignous Treason As for the Resignation which King Richard made being a pent Prisoner for the same cause it is an Act exacted by force and therefore of no force and validity to bind him and seeing that by the Laws of this Land the King alone cannot alienate the ancient Iewels and Ornaments 〈◊〉 to the Crown surely he cannot give away the Crown it 〈◊〉 and therewithal the Kingdom Neither have we any Custom that the People at pleasure should elect their King but they are always bound unto him who by Right of Blood is right Successor much less can they confirm and make good that Title which is before by Violence usurped for nothing can then be freely done when Liberty is once restrained by Fear So did Scilla by terrour of his Legions obtain the Law 〈◊〉 Velleia to be made whereby he was created Dictator for fourscore Years And by like impression of Fear Caesar caused the Law Servia to be promulged by which he was made perpetual Dictator but both these Laws were afterward adjudged void As for the deposing of King Edward II it is no more to be urged than the poisoning of King Iohn or the murthering of any other good and lawful Prince we must live according to Laws and not to Examples and yet the Kingdom was not then taken from the lawful Successor But if we look back to Times lately past we shall find these Titles were more strong in King Stephen than they are in the Duke of Lancaster for King Henry I being at large 〈◊〉 neither restrained in Body nor 〈◊〉 in Mind had appointed him to succeed as it was upon good Credit certainly assirmed The People assented to this Designment and thereupon without Fear and without Force he was apointed King 〈◊〉 obtained full Possession of the Realm Yet Henry Son of the Ear● of Anjou having a nearer Right by his Mother to the Crown notwithstanding his Father was a Stranger and himself 〈◊〉 beyond the Seas raised such rough Wars upon King Stephen that there was no end of spoiling the Goods and spilling the Blood of the unhappy People besides the Ruins and Deformities of many Cities and Holds until his lawful Inheritance was to him assured It terrifieth me to remember how many flourishing Empires and 〈◊〉 have been by means of such Contentions either torn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with detestine Division or subdued to Foreign Princes 〈◊〉 pretence of Assistance and Aid And I need not 〈◊〉 how 〈◊〉 this Realm hath heretofore been shaken with these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet neither the Examples of other Countries 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of our own are sufficient to make us to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O English-men worse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after our own Harms No 〈◊〉 have more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 none less Quiet at home in other Countries the Sword of Invasion hath been shaken against us in our own Land the Fire of Insurrection hath been kindled among us and what are these Innovasions but Whet-stones to sharpen the one and Bellows to blow up the other Certainly I fear that the same will happen unto us which AEsop 〈◊〉 to have been fallen unto the Frogs who being desirous to have a King a Beam was given unto them the first Fall whereof did Put them in some fear but when they saw it lie still in the Stream they insulted thereon with great Contempt and desired a King of quicker Courage Then was sent unto them a Stork which stalking among them with stately Steps continually devoured them The Mildness of King Richard hath bred in us this Scorn interpreting it to be Cowardice and dulness of Nature the next Heir is 〈◊〉 rejected I will not say that with greater Courage we shall find greater Cruelty but if either of these shall hereafter be able to 〈◊〉 up their Side and bring the matter to trial by Arms I do 〈◊〉 say that which Part soever shall carry the Fortune of the Field the People both ways must go to wrack And thus I have declared my Mind concerning this Question in more Words than your Wisdom yet fewer than the weight of the Cause doth require and do boldly conclude that we have neither Power nor Policy either to depose King Richard or to elect Duke Henry in 〈◊〉 place that King Richard remaineth still our Sovereign Prince and therefore it is not lawful for us to give Iudgment upon him That the Duke whom you call King hath more offended against the King and the Realm than the King hath done either against him or us for being banished the Realm for ten Years by the King and his Council amongst whom his own Father was chief and sworn not to returnn without special License he hath not only violated his Oath but with 〈◊〉 Arms disturbed the Quiet of the Land and dispossessed the King from his Royal Estate and now demandeth Iudgment against his Person without Offence proved or Defence heard If this Injury and this Perjury doth nothing move us yet let both our private and common Dangers somewhat withdraw us from these violent Proceedings FINIS Tranquil in Calig Tacitus in 〈◊〉 Ier 25. 9. Ier. 29. 7. Baruc. 1. 11. Ezek. 12. 18. So did Domitian put to death Epaphroditus Nero's Libertine because he helped Nero although in love to kill himself So did Severus kill all the killers of Pertinax his Predecessour and like wise Vitellius did put to death all the 〈◊〉 of Galba Theophilus Emperour of Grecia caused all those to be 〈◊〉 who had made his Father Emperour by killing Leo Armenius And Alexander the Great put to cruel Execution those that had 〈◊〉 Darius his mighty and mortal Enemy Deut. 17. 12. Psal. 105. 15 Exod. 22. 28. Act. 23. 5. Rom. 13. 1 13. 〈◊〉 3 1. 1 〈◊〉 2. 13 14 17. 1 〈◊〉 2. 2. Rom. 13 2 Iob. 19 〈◊〉 Isa. 45 1. 2 〈◊〉 36 22. 19 6. Psal. 28. Sap. 6. Quin. in declam Cic. offic lib. 1 〈◊〉 9 37. Alphons a c●st in lib. de haeresi in verb. Tyrannus Dominic Soto 1. 5. de just jur ● 1 artic 3.