gleaning out of Books writt'n purposely to help Devotion And if in likelyhood he have borrowd much more out of Prayer-books then out of Pastorals then are these painted Feathers that set him off so gay among the people to be thought few or none of them his own But if from his Divines he have borrow'd nothing nothing out of all the Magazin and the rheume of thir Mellifluous prayers and meditations let them who now mourn for him as for Tamuz them who howle in thir Pulpits and by thir howling declare themselvs right Wolves remember and consider in the midst of thir hideous faces when they doe onely not cutt thir flesh for him like those ruefull Preists whom Eliah mock'd that he who was once thir Ahab now thir Josiah though faining outwardly to reverence Churchmen yet heer hath so extremely set at nought both them and thir praying faculty that being at a loss himself what to pray in Captivity he consulted neither with the Liturgie nor with the Directory but neglecting the huge fardell of all thir honycomb devotions went directly where he doubted not to find better praying to his mind with Pammela in the Countesses Arcadia What greater argument of disgrace ignominy could have bin thrown with cunning upon the whole Clergy then that the King among all his Preistery and all those numberles volumes of thir theological distillations not meeting with one man or book of that coate that could befreind him with a prayer in Captivity was forc'd to robb Sr. Philip and his Captive Shepherdess of thir Heathen orisons to supply in any fashion his miserable indigence not of bread but of a single prayer to God I say therfore not of bread for that want may befall a good man and yet not make him totally miserable but he who wants a prayer to beseech God in his necessity t is unexpressible how poor he is farr poorer within himself then all his enemies can make him And the unfitness the undecency of that pittifull supply which he sought expresses yet furder the deepness of his poverty Thus much be said in generall to his prayers and in special to that Arcadian prayer us'd in his Captivity anough to undeceave us what esteeme wee are to set upon the rest For he certainly whose mind could serve him to seek a Christian prayer out of a Pagan Legend and assume it for his own might gather up the rest God knows from whence one perhaps out of the French Astraea another out of the Spanish Diana Amadis and Palmerin could hardly scape him Such a person we may be sure had it not in him to make a prayer of his own or at least would excuse himself the paines and cost of his invention so long as such sweet rapsodies of Heathenism and Knighterrantry could yeild him prayers How dishonourable then and how unworthy of a Christian King were these ignoble shifts to seem holy and to get a Saintship among the ignorant and wretched people to draw them by this deception worse then all his former injuries to go a whooring after him And how unhappy how forsook of grace and unbelovd of God that people who resolv to know no more of piety or of goodnes then to account him thir cheif Saint and Martyr whose bankrupt devotion came not honestly by his very prayers but having sharkd them from the mouth of a Heathen worshipper detestable to teach him prayers sould them to those that stood and honourd him next to the Messiah as his own heav'nly compositions in adversity for hopes no less vain and presumptuous and death at that time so imminent upon him then by these goodly reliques to be held a Saint and Martyr in opinion with the People And thus farr in the whole Chapter we have seen and consider'd and it cannot but be cleer to all men how and for what ends what concernments and necessities the late King was no way induc'd but every way constrain'd to call this last Parlament yet heer in his first prayer he trembles not to avouch as in the eares of God That he did it with an upright intention to his glory and his peoples good Of which dreadfull attestation how sincerely meant God to whom it was avow'd can onely judge and he hath judg'd already and hath writt'n his impartial Sentence in Characters legible to all Christ'ndom and besides hath taught us that there be som whom he hath giv'n over to delusion whose very mind and conscience is defil'd of whom Saint Paul to Titus makes mention II. Upon the Earle of Straffords Death THis next Chapter is a penitent confession of the King and the strangest if it be well weigh'd that ever was Auricular For hee repents heer of giving his consent though most unwillingly to the most seasonable and solemn peece of Justice that had bin don of many yeares in the Land But his sole conscience thought the contrary And thus was the welfare the safety and within a little the unanimous demand of three populous Nations to have attended stil on the singularity of one mans opi nionated conscience if men had bin always so tame and spiritless and had not unexpectedly found the grace to understand that if his conscience were so narrow and peculiar to it selfe it was not fitt his Authority should be so ample and Universall over others For certainly a privat conscience sorts not with a public Calling but declares that Person rather meant by nature for a private fortune And this also we may take for truth that hee whose conscience thinks it sin to put to death a capital Offendor will as oft think it meritorious to kill a righteous Person But let us heare what the sin was that lay so sore upon him and as one of his Prayers giv'n to Dr. Juxton testifies to the very day of his death it was his signing the Bill of Straffords execution a man whom all men look'd upon as one of the boldest and most impetuous instruments that the King had to advance any violent or illegal designe He had rul'd Ireland and som parts of England in an Arbitrary manner had indeavour'd to subvert Fnndamental Lawes to subvert Parlaments and to incense the King against them he had also endeavor'd to make Hostility between England and Scotland He had counceld the King to call over that Irish Army of Papists which he had cunningly rais'd to reduce England as appear'd by good Testimony then present at the Consultation For which and many other crimes alledg'd and prov'd against him in 28 Articles he was condemnd of high Treason by the Parlament The Commons by farr the greater number cast him the Lords after they had bin satisfi'd in a full discours by the Kings Sollicitor and the opinions of many Judges deliver'd in thir House agreed likewise to the Sentence of Treason The People universally cri'd out for Justice None were his Friends but Coutiers and Clergimen the worst at that time and most corrupted sort of men and Court Ladies not
them to pacifie the Kings mind whom they perceav'd by this meanes quite alienated in the mean while not imagining that this after act should be retorted on them to tie up Justice for the time to come upon like occasion whether this were made a precedent or not no more then the want of such a precedent if it had bin wanting had bin available to hinder this But how likely is it that this after act argu'd in the Parlament thir least repenting for the death of Strafford when it argu'd so little in the King himself who notwithstanding this after act which had his own hand and concurrence if not his own instigation within the same yeare accus'd of high Treason no less then six Members at once for the same pretended crimes which his conscience would not yeeld to think treasonable in the Earle So that this his suttle Argument to fast'n a repenting and by that means a guiltiness of Straffords death upon the Parlament concludes upon his own head and shews us plainly that either nothing in his judgment was Treason against the Common-wealth but onely against the Kings Person a tyrannical Principle or that his conscience was a perverse and prevaricating conscience to scruple that the Common-wealth should punish for treasonous in one eminent offender that w ch he himself sought so vehemently to have punisht in six guiltless persons If this were that touch of conscience which he bore with greater regrett then for any sin committed in his life whether it were that proditory Aid sent to Rochel and Religion abroad or that prodigality of shedding blood at home to a million of his Subjects lives not valu'd in comparison of one Strafford we may consider yet at last what true sense and feeling could be in that conscience and what fitness to be the maister conscience of three Kingdoms But the reason why he labours that wee should take notice of so much tenderness and regrett in his soule for having any hand in Straffords death is worth the marking ere we conclude He hop'd it would be someevidence before God and Man to all posteritie that he was farr from bearing that vast load and guilt of blood layd upon him by others Which hath the likeness of a suttle dissimulation bewailing the blood of one man his commodious Instrument put to death most justly though by him unwillingly that we might think him too tender to shed willingly the blood of those thousands whom he counted Rebels And thus by dipping voluntarily his fingers end yet with shew of great remorse in the blood of Strafford wherof all men cleer him he thinks to scape that Sea of innocent blood wherein his own guilt inevitably hath plung'd him all over And we may well perceave to what easie satisfactions and purgations he had inur'd his secret conscience who thaught by such weak policies and ostentations as these to gaine beleif and absolution from understanding Men. III. Upon his going to the House of Commons COncerning his unexcusable and hostile march from the Court to the House of Commons there needs not much be said For he confesses it to be an act which most men whom he calls his enemies cry'd shame upon indifferent men grew jealous of and fearfull and many of his Friends resented as a motion rising rather from passion then reason He himself in one of his Answers to both Houses made profession to be convinc'd that it was a plaine breach of thir Privilege Yet heer like a rott'n building newly trimm'd over he represents it speciously and fraudulently to impose upon the simple Reader and seeks by smooth and supple words not heer only but through his whole Book to make som beneficial use or other ev'n of his worst miscarriages These Men saith he meaning his Friends knew not the just motives and pregnant grounds with which I thought my selfe furnish'd to wit against the five Members whom hee came to dragg out of the House His best Friends indeed knew not nor could ever know his motives to such a riotous act and had he himself known any just grounds he was not ignorant how much it might have tended to his justifying had he nam'd them in this place and not conceal'd them But suppose them real suppose them known what was this to that violation and dishonor put upon the whole House whose very dore forcibly kept op'n and all the passages neer it he besett with Swords and Pistols cockt and menac'd in the hands of about three hunderd Swaggerers and Ruffians who but expected nay audibly call'd for the word of onset to beginn a slaughter He had discover'd as he thought unlawfull correspondencies which they had vs'd and ingagements to imbroile his Kingdomes and remembers not his own unlawfull correspondencies and conspiracies with the Irish Army of Papists with the French to land at Portsmouth and his tampering both with the English and the Scotch Army to come up against the Parlament the least of which attempts by whomsoever was no less then manifest Treason against the Common-wealth If to demand Justice on the five Members were his Plea for that which they with more reason might have demanded Justice upon him I use his own Argument there needed not so rough assistance If hee had resolv'd to bear that repulse with patience which his Queen by her words to him at his return little thought he would have done wherfore did he provide against it with such an armed and unusual force But his heart serv'd him not to undergoe the hazzard that such a desperate scuffle would have brought him to But wherfore did he goe at all it behooving him to know there were two Statutes that declar'd he ought first to have acquainted the Parlament who were the Accusers which he refus'd to doe though still professing to govern by Law and still justifying his attempts against Law And when he saw it was not permitted him to attaint them but by a faire tryal as was offerd him from time to time for want of just matter which yet never came to light he let the business fall of his own accord and all those pregnancies and just motives came to just nothing He had no temptation of displeasure or revenge against those men None but what he thirsted to execute upon them for the constant opposition which they made against his tyrannous proceedings and the love and reputation which they therfore had among the People but most immediatly for that they were suppos'd the chief by whose activity those 12. protesting Bishops were but a week before committed to the Tower He mist but little to have produc'd Writings under some mens own hands But yet he mist though thir Chambers Trunks and Studies were seal'd up and search'd yet not found guilty Providence would not have it so Good Providence that curbs the raging of proud Monarchs as well as of madd multitudes Yet he wanted not such probabilities for his pregnant is come now to probable as were sufficient to raise jealousies
forbidd the Law or disarm justice from having legal power against any King No other supreme Magistrate in what kind of Government soever laies claim to any such enormous Privilege wherfore then should any King who is but one kind of Magistrat and set over the people for no other end then they Next in order of time to the Laws of Moses are those of Christ who declares professedly his judicature to be spiritual abstract from Civil managements and therfore leaves all Nations to thir own particular Lawes and way of Government Yet because the Church hath a kind of Jurisdiction within her own bounds and that also though in process of time much corrupted and plainly turn'd into a corporal judicature yet much approv'd by this King it will be firm anough and valid against him if subjects by the Laws of Church also be invested with a power of judicature both without and against thir King though pretending and by them acknowledg'd next and immediatly under Christ supreme head and Governour Theodosius one of the best Christian Emperours having made a slaughter of the Thessalonians for sedition but too cruelly was excommunicated to his face by Saint Ambrose who was his subject and excommunion is the utmost of Ecclesiastical Judicature a spiritual putting to death But this yee will say was onely an example Read then the Story and it will appeare both that Ambrose avouch'd it for the Law of God and Theodosius confess'd it of his own accord to be so and that the Law of God was not to be made voyd in him for any reverence to his Imperial power From hence not to be tedious I shall pass into our own Land of Britain and shew that Subjects heer have exercis'd the utmost of spirituall Judicature and more then spirituall against thir Kings his Predecessors Vortiger for committing incest with his daughter was by Saint German at that time his subject cursd and condemnd in a Brittish Counsel about the yeare 448 and thereupon soon after was depos'd Mauricus a King in Wales for breach of Oath and the murder of Cynetus was excomunicated and curst with all his offspring by Oudoceus Bishop of Landaff in full Synod about the yeare 560 and not restor'd till he had repented Morcant another King in Wales having slain Frioc his Uncle was faine to come in Person and receave judgement from the same Bishop and his Clergie who upon his penitence acquitted him for no other cause then lest the Kingdom should be destitute of a Successour in the Royal Line These examples are of the Primitive Brittish and Episcopal Church long ere they had any commerce or communion with the Church of Rome What power afterward of deposing Kings and so consequently of putting them to death was assum'd and practis'd by the Canon Law I omitt as a thing generally known Certainly if whole Councels of the Romish Church have in the midst of their dimness discern'd so much of Truth as to decree at Constance and at Basil and many of them to avouch at Trent also that a Councel is above the Pope and may judge him though by them not deni'd to be the Vicar of Christ we in our clearer light may be asham'd not to discern furder that a Parlament is by all equity and right above a King and may judge him whose reasons and pretensions to hold of God onely as his immediat Vicegerent we know how farr fetch'd they are and insufficient As for the Laws of man it would ask a Volume to repeat all that might be cited in this point against him from all Antiquity In Greece Orestes the Son of Agamemnon and by succession King of Argos was in that Countrey judg'd and condemn'd to death for killing his Mother whence escaping he was judg'd againe though a Stranger before the great Counsel of Areopagus in Athens And this memorable act of Judicature was the first that brought the Justice of that grave Senat into fame and high estimation over all Greece for many ages after And in the same Citty Tyrants were to undergoe Legal sentence by the Laws of Solon The Kings of Sparta though descended lineally from Hercules esteem'd a God among them were oft'n judg'd and somtimes put to death by the most just and renowned Laws of Lycurgus who though a King thought it most unequal to bind his Subjects by any Law to which he bound not himself In Rome the Laws made by Valerius Publicola soon after the expelling of Tarquin and his race expell'd without a writt'n Law the Law beeing afterward writt'n and what the Senat decreed against Nero that he should be judg'd and punish'd according to the Laws of thir Ancestors and what in like manner was decreed against other Emperours is vulgarly known as it was known to those heathen and found just by nature ere any Law mentiond it And that the Christian Civil Law warrants like power of Judicature to Subjects against Tyrants is writt'n clearly by the best and famousest Civilians For if it was decreed by Theodosius and stands yet firme in the Code of Justinian that the Law is above the Emperour then certainly the Emperour being under Law the Law may judge him and if judge him may punish him proving tyrannous how els is the Law above him or to what purpose These are necessary deductions and therafter hath bin don in all Ages and Kingdoms oftner then to be heer recited But what need we any furder search after the Law of other Lands for that which is so fully and so plainly set down lawfull in our own Where ancient Books tell us Bracton Fleta and others that the King is under Law and inferiour to his Court of Parlament that although his place to doe Justice be highest yet that he stands as liable to receave Justice as the meanest of his Kingdom Nay Alfred the most worthy King and by som accounted first abolute Monarch of the Saxons heer so ordain'd as is cited out of an ancient Law Book call'd the Mirror in Rights of the Kingdom p. 31. where it is complain'd on As the sovran abuse of all that the King should be deem'd above the Law whereas he ought be subject to it by his Oath Of which Oath anciently it was the last clause that the King should be as liable and obedient to suffer right as others of his people And indeed it were but fond and sensless that the King should be accountable to every petty suit in lesser Courts as we all know he was and not be subject to the Judicature of Parlament in the main matters of our common safety or destruction that he should be answerable in the ordinary cours of Law for any wrong don to a privat Person and not answerable in Court of Parlament for destroying the whole Kingdom By all this and much more that might be added as in an argument overcopious rather then barren we see it manifest that all Laws both of God and Man are made without exemption of any person