Maxim of Tyranny only to keep the Subject poor To which auri vis Arist l. 5. pol. c. 11. Annal. l. 11. c. 1. opes infensae saith Tacitus Nero never gave to any Favorite any great employment but he added Thou knowst what we want Let us take care Sueton in Neron ne quis quidquam habeat And it is a Proverb relating to the great Turk That where he has once trampl'd there neither grow Leaves nor Grass On the other side we find with what a torrent the Portugals bore down all before e'm to recover their ancient Laws and the Soveraignty of their lawful Princes from the servitude and oppression of the Spaniards insomuch that when the Duke of Braganca had once declar'd his mind the revolt was universal and with such a rapid motion that one single day determin'd the contention with little blood so swift and astonishing was the surprize Nor must we forget how impatiently this Nation bow'd under Usurpation how hainously they bore the exilement of his present Majesty and the loss of their ancient Liberties almost buryed in a most impious Tyranny not ceasing till they had recover'd both their Prince and their Laws to the unspeakable joy of the whole Kingdom In France the King is Absolute and Arbitrary His word is the Law He may thank Lewis the XI for laying the Foundations and Richlieu and Mazarine for perfecting the work However Olden T. 2. as it is brought about the Final cause of the French Government at present is the Grandeur of the Monarch for the support of which the welfare of the People is but trampled under Foot The King squeezes with his Exactions the great Lords and Gentry for their Rents till the Commonalty are reduc'd to utmost penury For which reason France is compar'd to a most flourishing plain that feeds innumerable Flocks of Sheep which are to be fleec'd when the Shepherd pleases He is never safer than when he is in War to keep his haughty Nobility from hatching mischief But his own Subjects being so cow'd and out of heart for Infantry he is forc'd to hire among his Neighbours and Skins the servile Peasant for their pay by that means dilating his Territories to the intolerable detriment of his enslav'd People Only they are happy because they know no better In Swedeland it is quite otherwise Olden T. 2. for there the King is bound to govern by the Laws of the Country which he has no power to alter without the consent of the People So that the Character of the Swedish Government is this That it aims more at the welfare of the Subject than the Interest of the Prince And therefore it is observed that no Commonalty in the World live more happy than they Which renders them stout defenders of their Country and formidable to the most formidable of their Neighbours The Danish Government regards the Common Interest of the People who are govern'd by the ancient Laws of the Country which the King is sworn to observe at his Coronation Therefore the People thrive and live in a plentiful and flourishing condition Whether the English imbib'd their love of Liberty from their ancient Ancestors the Danes is not material here to discuss Yet certainly no Nation under Heaven enjoys those Rights those Priviledges that uncontroul'd Propriety with more ample provision and careful circumspection of Law or a more equal ballance between the Prince and the Subject than the People of England which makes them jealous of their infringement sometimes even to excess For the Laws of England are made with the consent of the People themselves By which means they prevent the imposing any oppressive Burden upon their own Shoulders So that it may well be said that the safety and security of the English People their Lives their Liberties and peculiar Proprieties are as it were entrusted to the Guardianship and deposited in the keeping and defence of Laws and Constitutions of their own framing Not of yesterday but deriv'd from the provisions of distinct Legislators and Princes from the most ancient to these present times carefully deliberated and debated among the most eminent for Wisdom and Counsel in the Nation The want of Laws in the greatest part of those Governments already recited sufficiently declare how little the People have to trust to that are only govern'd by Will and Power On the other side those People who are govern'd by Kings not Tyrants are the most happy and those Kings approach nearest to the King of Kings who govern like Shepherds not like Wolves Which is the reason that David calls God himself the Shepherd of Israel Now then the Common good being the Rule and Quadran of good Government the better the Laws are and the more they tend to the Common good their ultimate end the better must that Government be in regard that where the Law is predominant the Common good can receive no injury and where the Common good is so secur'd there the People are safe in all things that concern their Civil welfare And in this appears the excellency of those Laws that mainly design the common Benefit that they resemble nearest the Laws of God whose Dispensations of Justice were the same to the Peasant as to the Prince And as it was most certainly a greater Prerogative of the Hebrew Kings above all other Kings and Monarchs whatsoever that they govern'd by the Law of God so does it not admit of much dispute whether the Monarchs of England may not claim a Prerogative of the same kind over all other Potentates by governing by a Law the nearest to Divine of any extant more justly far deserving the Title of most Christian Kings than they who glory only in commanding numerous swarms of Slaves But where the National Constitutions of a Kingdom have so interwoven and twisted the Interest of Prince and People that they are inseparable without detriment to both there the Laws are the safety of the Prince and the security of the People and as the ballance kept but duly even render's the Obligation and reciprocal relation between the one and the other indissoluble so it perpetuates their mutual happiness and tranquility Now the People claim their security by the Law from the equal distribution of Justice the preservation of their Freedom and Proprieties and protecting the publick Peace from Tumult and Disorder On the other side the Prince expects all due Obedience from the People in the execution of the Law and an exact condescension to his just Prerogatives without which his Authority lessens and grows into contempt The Laws of England ordain to these ends a limited Authority to the Prince and a consin'd freedom to the Subject thereby providing at one and the same time for the safety of the Prince and the security of the People For it is as equally dangerous and wicked for the People to deny the Prince his just Prerogatives as it is of ill consequence to deny the People their Freedoms
warranted by the National and Fundamental Laws of the Land We are then to believe that the Princes just Prerogatives and the Peoples safety are the common Good of this Nation and that their Lives and Fortunes equally depend upon those Provisions which the Law has so equally made for the security of the whole Body of the Commonweal of which the Soveraign Prince is the Head It is one of the Excellencies then of the English Laws that they provide for the Common good which is the end of all true Law For this is the general Axiom That the Reason and Substance of Law demands that every part should be fram'd for the Common Benefit Greg. Lop. in l. 9 â—â—t 1. part 1. which was the Condition that Alphonsus King of Spain requir'd also in his Laws And thus it is understood by the Interpreters of the Civil Law who affirm that the Law is a common Precept respecting the Benefit of all Aristotle observes that the chief end of a Commonweal is to live well and happily And therefore adds Ethied 4. c. 1. That the Laws are to be accommodated to the Commonweal not the Common-weal to the Laws In my opinion saith Plato the Law is made for Benefits sake In Dialog Hippias as intended by the Legislator to be the supream happiness of a Commonweal for the Law being taken away there is no well being in a City And in another place he shews at large that the end of Law is the common safety and felicity And Plutarch tells us In Problem tit 40. That Laws are then accompted good and wholsome when they procure the public Benefit Which is evident from the most sacred Laws of the Almighty For though they be ordain'd to the honour of God for that God cannot will any thing without himself nor operate but for himself yet in those Laws the great Monarch of Monarchs seeks not his own Benefit but the good and felicity of Mankind Suarez l. 1. c. 7. Which then also the Laws of Man most nearly imitate when they drive nearest to the same Perfection Therefore as Laws are impos'd upon a Community so are they to be fram'd for the good of that Community otherwise they are irregular For it is against all rectitude and justice to direct the Common good to private Interest or to make the whole relate to the part for the parts sake And therefore when the Law is fram'd for a public Society the good of that Society ought primarily and principally to be procur'd The same thing is apparent from the Order of small Causes For the end ought to be proportionate to the act its beginning and its virtual efficacy Now the Law is the common rule of moral actions and therefore the first principle of moral actions ought to be the first beginning of the Law For in Morals the End is the beginning of Operation and so the ultimate end is the first beginning of such Operations But common good and felicity is the ultimate end of a Commonweal therefore that also ought to be the beginning of the Law and therefore the Law ought to aim at the Common good This is illustrated by St. Austin who collecting a Consequence from the Relation of the part to the whole argues that a Master of a Family ought to take his pattern from the public Laws and so to govern his House as to be conformable and agreeable to the public Peace Therefore ought the public Laws to give a good Example of public Benefit and common Safety that Domestic Government may not be ruin'd by a bad President Suarez brings another reason from the Original of Law For that the ruling power which is in Men is either immediately from God as in spiritual Power or from men as in Power purely temporal But both ways Suarez l. 1. c. 7. such Authority is given for the public advantage of all in general For therefore are the Rulers of the Church call'd Pastors because it behoves them to lay down their Lives for their Sheep and Dispencers not Lords and Ministers not Primary causes and therefore they are oblig'd to be conformable to the Divine Intention in the use of such Authority Therefore also are the supream Magistrates call'd the Ministers of the Public as not being created for their own benefit but for the advantage of them from whom they derive their Power They are also call'd the Ministers of God and therefore ought to use the Power entrusted in their hands in imitation of the King of Kings who in his Government solely respects the common good of Mankind For which reason St. Basil makes this distinction between a Tyrant and a King that the one seeks his own proper advantages the other labours chiefly for the common good and benefit of all his Subjects not excluding himself as being the supream Member and consequently the first that ought to share in the publick and general Emolument The reason why so few People attain this summum bonum of Government appears by the ways of practizing Dominion already recited the want of a due poyse between Rule and Subjection For in the Arbitrary Eastern Monarchies the People are altogether Slaves and may be only said to live not to live with any comfort or enjoyment of themselves In the Elective Kingdom of Poland the Nobility carry such an unbridl'd sway that the King is but a Cypher a King and no King which subjects the Royal Soveraignty to such an insufferable Bondage that the Title is hardly worth the acceptance of an English Knight A King in subjection to many Kings And all this while the People live miserably under the Slavery of a many-headed Tyranny The Emperor is so overmaster'd by his Golden Bull and so hamper'd with Electors and Dyets that in the most emergent affairs the slowness of deliberation many times renders him useless to his Friends and his Authority cumbersome to himself So that he never moves but like a Clock when his weights are hung on Such clogs upon Soveraignty are frequently the ruine of great Atchievments Neither do the Laws of God any where enjoyn the Kings of Judah when they should make either War or Peace The Ephori were added as a check to the Lacedemonian Kings Which tho' it grieved the Wife of Theopompus who upbraided her Husband for suffering such an Eclipse of his Authority yet was not Theopompus of her mind who return'd her answer So much the greater by how much the more lasting And this Remedy saith Plutarch was invented by the Lacedaemonians to prevent the evil accidents and ruine that befell the Kings of the Messenians and Argines who lost all for obstinately refusing to condescend a little to the Grievances of the People Plut. in vit Lyc. The Romans were terribly pester'd about keeping the ballance even between the People and the supream Magistrate For after they had ingratefully thrown out the Regal Government which had laid the Foundations of all their Grandeur they
must thence conclude that the true End of all Laws are the Safety and Welfare of those Nations and the Peace and Tranquility of such Societies for which they are ordain'd Law being as it were the Distinction between the just and unjust deriv'd next to God from the most ancient Fountain of all things Nature to which all the Laws of Men that punish the bad and protect the good should tend as to their center of Light and Information And this was that which the Poets meant by all their Fables of the Golden Age which is describ'd by them to be a time when Men liv'd in Peace Plenty and Liberty without written Laws but by those Rules of Justice and Sincerity which Primitive Nature had planted in their minds when it was a pleasure to Rule with Mildness and Equity and without Care keeping just Dominion within her proper bounds and a happiness to obey without Disorder Tumult and Contention while Astrea her self held the Ballance of Authority and Subjection in an equal poise Which reverence of Law and Justice was not then committed to Parchment nor cut in Brass but imprinted in the Hearts of Men According to that of Virgil Neve ignorate Latimos Saturni Gentem haud vinclo neclegibus aequam Sponte sua veterisque Dei se more tenentem And Hesiod also describing the Golden Age says that they liv'd like the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. without care or fear For most certainly they who are constrain'd through fear of punishment to live according to the Integrity of written Laws not out of a spontaneous probity cannot be said to be good or virtuous Men seeing that they who forbear to commit evil through fear of punishment cannot be said to be really good but only not to be evil They are only said to be good Men who by the conduct of Nature and not to avoid the lash of Human provision against Vice bend their minds to practice Honesty Virtue and Justice And thus this Golden Age continu'd till Jupiter ambitious of Empire overturn'd this Harmonious Frame of Nature's Law and expell'd his Father from his Kingdom Tunc Jove sub Domino caedes vulnera semper Yibul l. 1. Tunc Lethi mille repente viae Which is no more than this that after the Golden Reign of Noah the Earth was fill'd with Iron Violence by Nimrod and his Successors Yet as Jupiter by his Example taught those that came after him to lay violent hands on Thrones and Scepters so may good and virtuous Princes be said to restore as it were so many Golden Ages at least within their own Dominions by making wholsom Laws for the benefit and security of the People For tho' the Tyranny of Jupiter chac'd Astrea from the World yet it is said and the Allegory may well hold that she left behind her as her Legacy that Primitive light of Nature and right Reason which they who follow closest may be accounted the nearest Restorers of the Primitive Purity and Innocence of Law and Justice And for this reason some will have the Golden Age to be no other than the Common Liberty of People in a Common-weal establish'd and secur'd by wholsom Constitutions where Hares with Hounds Sheep with Wolves converse together with freedom and safety under the protection of good Laws This is then the difference between the Primitive Ages of the World and those that succeed At first the Natural Inclination of Man to Good and his Aversion from Evil govern'd his Actions so exactly that there was no need of any other Law than that Law of Nature which was imprinted in his mind Afterwards when Ambition Pleasure and Profit had it cannot be said extinguish'd but only eclips'd that Light of Nature then Men resolv'd they would not see or understand what Law was until they saw it first put down in Writing and obedience thereto commanded under such and such Penalties So that before there were none at all now there was an absolute necessity of written Ordinances and Constitutions And indeed it was high time to set up Law and Government when Wrong and Injury did so infest the World that there was no security of Liberty and Property but what Law and good Government procur'd From which Men reap'd those vast Advantages and superlative Benefits that then they began to acknowledge the Sacred Original of Nature's Law as descending first from Heaven Therefore was Themis presently exalted to be a Goddess No less than the Wife of Jove himself and said to be the Mother of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Law Justice Hes â—â—â—og and Peace as Hesiod witnesses And Law or Eunomia is made the eldest Sister Pind. Ode 9. whom Pindarus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or servatricem as well knowing that the making and observance of Good Laws are the preservation of all Kingdoms without which they would soon fall to ruin He also adds the Epithite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in regard that good Laws bring both Honour and Glory as well to the Legislators as to the Observers In another place the same Author applauding Law entitles her the Queen of Cities And Homer speaking of Jupiter does not attribute to his Divinity the giving to Princes and Sovereign Rulers the Destructive Instruments of War and Bloodshed but his arming them with Laws and Justice And therefore it was the saying of the Orator Demosthenes that Law was the Soul of a City seeing that as the natural Body of Man could not subsist without a Soul so without Law and Justice Cities and Kingdoms and all Politic Bodies were but as expiring slumbers which nothing can preserve from Politic Death And thus the Primitive Light of Nature and right Reason was in some measure recover'd from that neglect and oblivion which had overwhelm'd it For that this written Jus or Genus of written Law had the same Original with the spontaneous and harmonious Concord of the Golden Age. Seeing that if all Men at that time had been principl'd like their Legislators they might doubtless have liv'd in the same happy Estate and Condition as their first Fore-fathers By which Encomiums and high Applauses of Law and Government it appears that the End of all Law is in general the preservation of Mankind more particularly of all Publick Weals and Societies of Men. Among those that first made use of written Laws L. 6. are reck'ned the Locri Epizephirij as Strabo relates A flourishing People once in the farther part of Calabria in the Kingdom of Naples not far from the Promontory now call'd Punta di Saetta Pindarus gives them a high Commendation in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ode 10. Truth governs the City of Locri. So careful had Zaleucus their Legislator been to pick and cull the choicest of their Cretan Lacedemonian and Athenian Customs But Scripture of indisputable Authothority tells us that in the time of Moses the
of the Dauphinate La vie du Louis XI sufficiently demonstrated what his Friends and Subjects were to hope from him He govern'd always without Counsel most commonly without Justice without reason He thought it the height of Policy to forsake the Road of all his Predecessors and to leave nothing unassay'd whether good or evil to make himself redoubted His piercing but too fine and crafty Wit was the greatest Enemy of his own and the repose of France He chose rather to follow his own irregular Fancies then the prudent Laws of the Realm And he caus'd his Grandeur to consist in the Oppression of his People the undoing and debasing his Nobility and the advancement of the meanest and most indigent But when he grew near his end then the considerations of what he had done tormented him in so cruel a manner that he was afraid of every one that came near him grew jealous of his own Son and Daughter Comines and he that had invented Prisons and Fetters for others was now his own Prisoner in his Castle of Plessis fortify'd with a grate of Iron-Bars and planted with Watch-houses of Iron for his Guards So that it was impossible to hold a King in a streighter Prison then he held himself where he liv'd unseen of any because he would let none come at him His Physitian who had sworn to him he should not live eight days if he turn'd him away as he did his other Servants he so dreaded that he flatter'd him to obtain his Favour And to prolong his Life which he was so afraid to lose he superstitiously sent for a Hermit from the farthest Corner of Italy expecting great matters from his prayers In short says Comines From his Childhood to his Death he was in continual noise and trouble so that were his joyful days to be number'd they would be found but very few But when there was no hopes of life he sent for his Son and gave him other advice then he had follow'd himself to rule according to the Law to ease his People and reduce the Taxes to their former Establishment So that the Law is as much the security and safety of the Prince as of the People and the Observation of the Law is so far from being a servitude that it is a Royal Vertue For this is that which as it secures his outward felicity secures the Inward tranquility of his mind and raises him a Monument of lasting Fame and Veneration after death in the hearts of his Subjects from Generation to Generation And thus Lewis the XII sirnam'd the Just so dear to his People while He liv'd became so much the Darling of Posterity and his memory continu'd so sacred and so much reverenc'd even in the time of Thuanus that when any debate arose either in Council Parliaments or Courts of Judicature about the Miscarriages of the Government always the Raign of Lewis the XII was propos'd as the Pattern and Standard of the Reformation intended Thus the Law of England is the Security of the Prince and People The security of the Prince as being the security of his Prerogative which is a part of the Law and comprehended in it And so the security of the Prerogative becomes in course the security of the Peoples Liberty being both determin'd by the Law and Customs of the Land there being no other Prerogative nor any other Liberty of the Subject then what they allow So that there is nothing can injure the Law of England but wresting and misinterpretation nor can it well be wrested neither unless it be screw'd from the intent of Reason and Honesty Neither is it possible for any man to mis-interpret it without the Shipwrack of his Conscience upon the Rocks of specious pretence For misinterpretation mis-guides the Law to Evil which no man can think to be a vertuous Act whatever may be his aim in doing of it The Law of England imposes nothing but what is grounded upon the Maximes of what is just and honest in it self and is currant to all as bearing the Stamp of Right Reason and Divine Truth which They who mis-interpret counterfeit the Impression and utter the base Coyn of Falshood and Dissembl'd Pretence for Real Verity But when Dominion and Authority believing it self too rudely curb'd or Popular Liberty deeming it self too severely checkt seek to transcend the Limits of the Law then Interest and Faction create Sidings and Parties and invent wicked Names of Distinction and the whole Frame of Law is put into Disorder Nor does either party want Incendiaries who for their private Emoluments and Advantages kindle those Fires on Earth that shall torment 'em hereafter Whereas the strict observance of Command according to the Law and the due performance of Homage and Obedience according to the Injunctions of the same Law would keep all things right and nothing could shake the Prerogative and Safety of the Prince or the Liberty and Security of the Subject The greatest Happinesses that God bestows upon Mankind have all their Limits set The Sun is ty'd to his Diurnal and Annual Motions The Stars are fix'd within their proper Spheres and cannot stir beyond the Law of Nature The Seasons have their limits the Sea and Land have both their bounds Nay Vertue her self if she runs into Excess mounts or descends to some particular Vice And therefore good Government cannot take it ill if it be impal'd within the Laws of Order and Moderation Especially seeing that Justice it self whose Minister it is is restrain'd and limited in her Power The same considerations fasten the Ligaments of Obedience For the whole World is but one entire piece of Obedience to its Soveraign of which that only unruly part is Man himself We are bound to obey our lawful Supream not only as Subjects for the outward benefits of Peace and Protection but as Christians for the inward satisfaction of Conscience as being a part of our Christian Duty Neither is it less folly then Impiety to be disobedient to those that govern by good and wholsome Laws For thereby they destroy their own preservation Therefore it was one of the highest praises of the Lacedemonians that they knew when they had good and wholsome Laws and as well knew how to obey them And it was their constancy in adhering to their fundamental Laws and the reverence they bare to their Princes so strict in the Observance of them that so long preserv'd them their Reputation of being what they were the most renowned People of Greece To serve a Prince because we receive particular Benefits and Graces from his Authority is no Obedience but Self-Interest and consequently there is no assurance of their Fidelity which changes of an instant upon the hopes of a better Market Neither can that be said to be true Obedience which is only a submission out of fear of punishment For that is only Self-love and a natural propensity to ease and repose If it may not rather be said to be
are altogether to be laid aside who tells us of the Simplicity and Virtues of the first Ages of the World and that the most ancient of Mortals co-habited without inordinate Desires free from Villany and Impiety and so not under fear of Punishment or Coertion and that there was no need of reward when every one voluntarily pursu'd the Tracts of Virtue and void of all extravagant Desires requir'd no restraint of their Excesses These were only florid Conjectures For it is apparent from authentic History that Violence and Treachery enter'd the World when there was yet but the small number of Four and of them the one that slew and the other that was slain Of which the Tyranny and Cruelty of Lamech being no less an immediately ensuing Instance they both afford an emergent Evidence that they were not ignorant of the Enormity of the Facts they had committed as convicting themselves by that Law of Nature which inwardly upbraided them for having so highly transgress'd So though in part it might be true that Luxuriant Dominion and Injurious Violence when just Equality and Modesty grew out of date inforc'd the necessity of Laws yet does it not appear that the World was so long ignorant of Mischief as to merit those Encomiums of Ethnic Fancy But though the Apprehension of a Law commanding Good and restraining Evil and a deep fence of Punishment incurr'd by the breach of that Law were imprinted thus in our first Progenitours yet we do not hear in all the Thousand six hundred fifty six Years for I omit the fabulous Calculations of the Egyptians before the Flood that ever any one attempted to erect a Sovereignty or to assemble the confused Multitude under any settl'd Constitutions Although there be who affirm Dresserus among the rest that Cain Erected a Peculiar Kingdom and a Religion of his own which well he could not do without prescribing Rules and Institutions proper to his Government After the Flood no longer than a Hundred sixty one Years so ancient is Kingly Government most certain it is that Nimrod assum'd to himself Imperial Dignity and Dominion as being the first Founder of the Assyrian Monarchy In whose Raign also Ashur went out of Shinar and built several Cities wherein it cannot be thought Men liv'd without the Tyes and Bands of Political Government Nimrod having led the way we read of many others in many other places as Amraphel Kedorlaomer Tidal King of Nations and therest all mention'd together And now Particular Laws and Customs apparently discover'd themselves Abraham gives the Tenth of his Booty to Melchisedech and the reseu'd Kings voluntarily resign him the share of the Spoyl which he had won in Battel Leagues were made for mutual defence and under variety of Governments every one held their Native Rights and Customs so dear that as the first War we read of in the World was made to subdue the next was a revolt to recover lost Liberty and to throw off the Yoak of Arbitrary Dominion Now the same Law that restrain'd Injury and Wrong asserted Right and Property or lawful and peculiar Possession of the Assistances and Conveniences of Living And this was also taught to Man by Nature For at the same time that the Breath of Life was infus'd into him was also bequeath'd him that light of Nature that gave him not only Reason but right Reason and consequently the true Grounds and Foundations of Law Therefore it was that Cain and Abel betook themselves to different Occupations to the end they might the better understand what belong'd of right to each other it being but reason that they should both enjoy the advantages and emoluments of their different Labours Thus Adam was the first that Planted Cain the first that dealt in Pasturage and Abel the first that follow'd Agriculture Who as the World encreas'd made a disposition of right to others according as they saw convenient And it was but rational for them that were thus invested in possession to establish the right of their peculiar Claims and Properties upon the Divisions and Bequests of them that were Lords of All. After them were born the Inventers of Arts and Handicraft Trades From whom 't is very improbable to think 't was then lawful to rifle their Inventions without Exchange or the plenary satisfaction of one Commodity for another These things were well observ'd by Seth the third Son of Adam 235 Years after the Creation in the hundred and fifth Year of his Age by which time as the World was vastly stor'd with People so had they as greatly encreas'd their Proportions of Stock and Substance and improv'd their Allotments and Inheritances of Land And therefore he began to deem it now high time to think of Framing Laws and Ordinances for the better Government of so numerous a Common-Weal And this fell out to be in the Year that his Son Enoch was born at what time as the Text records Men first began to call upon the Name of the Lord. For that then it was that Seth first introduced the Practice of Religion or the Awe of Divinity and made Laws and Constitutions for the safety and security of Right and Property and to prevent those disorders and disturbances of common Tranquillity of which it may be well conjectur'd he was not a little fearful from the bad Examples of Cain and Lamech So that although Cain and his Off-spring that totally perish'd in the Deluge were the first that broke the Law of Nature Yet Seth by another Line another Son of Adam begot by him after his own Image and Likeness that is to say Prudent Good and Virtuous as he was whose Race re-peopl'd the drown'd World and continues to this day He it was that made this Light of Nature burn more clearly by bringing Religion into Form of Worship and Law into Precept and Practice And it may not vainly otherwise be thought but that under that same Form of Worship and under those Laws Men in all respects continu'd obedient and conformable while Adam liv'd that is till within seven hundred and seven years before the Flood so great a veneration they might have for him that was so well known to be the surviving Original of all Humane Race However it were this remains unquestionable that the general Corruption and Impiety of Mankind occasion'd the Wrath of the Omnipotent Creator and that thereupon he sent the Deluge to destroy from the Earth that numerous Succession which had so highly offended him Of this the reason assign'd in general was that already mention'd a total Defection of all the Sons of Men from God which had infected every thought of their hearts All the Precepts of Religion and Nature all that good Order which Seth had settl'd in the World was at length utterly ranvers'd Liberty and Property was invaded and the Repose and Peace of Common Society spurn'd and trampl'd on by Potent Cruelty and Domineering Injustice And all this seems to be included under the particular reason of Divine
this same Ninus Justin seems to attribute what Scripture imputes to Nimrod For first he asserts that Kingly Government was the most ancient in the World l. 1. c. 1. deleg 3. Principio rerum saith he gentium nationumque Imperium penes reges erat Conformable to that of Cicero Omnes antiquae gentes regibus quondam paruerunt Confirm'd by that of Salust Sal. l. 1. Initio reges diversi nam in terris nomen Imperii id primum fuit Then he also pretends to tell us the Manners and Customs of those Times preceding Ninus That the People were restrain'd by no Laws but that the Determinations of Princes were obey'd as such That it was the Custom to Defend not to Enlarge their Empires But that Ninus was the first who made War upon his Neighbours and by subduing People unskilful in making resistance extended the Limits of his Dominions and violated the former Justice and Moderation of regal Power In all which it cannot be said that Justin was any where mistaken but only in the Person of Ninus For that the Antiquity of Kingly Government is unquestionable and that so highly commended equality of Temper between Prince and People by him suggested before the Birth of Nimrod is not at all improbable However Scripture and Justin with others agree all in this that there was a Law in the World from the beginning tho' only of Reason and Nature so long as Men obey'd in Quiet and Repose and Princes Rul'd with Justice and Prudent Equity On the other side when Men were depriv'd of that Primitive Safety and Tranquility Law ceas'd giving way to War and Publick Devastation Which Cessation of Law began in the time of Nimrod and not of Ninus And certainly tho' the Nature of Man be in part corrupt yet there are those Seeds of Virtue and Divine Reason still remaining in his Soul which will not suffer him to deny but that the real distinctions between Good and Evil are Members of that True Reason and Divine Knowledge which were at first infus'd into him Cicero De leg l. 1. by a light more than Human labours hard to make this out that the Foundations of Law and Justice are fix'd in Man by Nature and in that reason with which Man is naturally endu'd to difference Right from Wrong Justice from Injustice and Evil from Good Seeing that Men are in the first place furnish'd and adorn'd with heavenly Gifts Next because there is but one consentaneous and common Method of Mens living one among another And in the third place by reason that all Men are oblig'd and bound one to another as well by a certain natural Indulgence and kindness one toward the other as by the Tye of the Law Which being granted to be absolutely true how is it possible to separate Law and Right from Nature And indeed should it be otherwise it would fall out unhappily for the preserving the Strength and Unity of a Nation or the People in their right Senses Seeing that no Laws ought to be propounded but such as are approv'd by those who believe all things just and honest to be desirable for their own sakes and that nothing was to be reck'ned in the number of good things but what was laudable in it self Again if only Fear of Punishment and not Nature were the only reason that deterr'd Men from Acts of Impiety and Injustice no Man could be properly said to be unjust but the wicked were rather to be accounted inconsiderate and imprudent Or if advantage and profit were the only Motives to do well then were Men to be accounted rather subtil cunning than naturally and intrinsically just Consequently the Law tho' never so strict has no effectual or valuable tye upon such persons and the security expected from it is in a manner rendred void to all Civil Society and Co-habitation For what will not persons so principled adventure to act in the dark when they are out of the danger of Witnesses and by that means freed from the fear of a Judge The Gyants of the old World had forgotten Nature when they acted only by the sway of Arbitrary Will and Pleasure For Nature proposes but one Law for the preservation of Mankind that is the right Method of commanding and restraining upon the solid knowledge of Natures Good and Evil. Which they who understand not or at least neglect and scorn must of necessity be unjust And such were they who by neglecting Natures good and evil ranvers'd the Laws of Human preservation and ruin'd not only themselves but all the Earth besides Nor was it any Opinion or singular Judgment of their own that could make their Actions just seeing that all Virtue is inherent in Nature and cannot be separated from it Only Men may be so wicked as to despise Nature and cry up that for good and honest which is not so in it self Not considering that what ever is vertually good must of necessity include within it self that which is without all contradiction to be valu'd and esteem'd And thus in all Governments that pretend to right reason tho' Circumstantial Laws may differ yet the Law of Nature is immoveable throughout all Nations Otherwise should one Nation think it lawful to Kill another to Rifle and Steal or another believe Perjury no Crime not only Publick Commerce between Nation and Nation but Private Dealing betwixt Man and Man would be at an end Nor that Men were instructed of the Mischief of these things by the Conveniencies of peaceable Living one among another but by the Dictates of Nature and Impressions of right Reason Cicero goes yet a little farther affirming That it was the Opinion of the wisest of the Ancients That Law was never the Invention of Humane Wit but something Eternal that govern'd the Vniversal World by the wise Conduct of Command and Prohibition Which supream and ultimate Law was the Mind or Omniscience of the Deity enjoyning or forbidding all things according to reason Wherefore that Law which Heaven imparted to Mankind is rightly to be extoll'd as being the reason and intelligence of a wise Man proper to controul and deter Which Power was not only elder than the Age of People or Cities but co-eternal with God that rules and governs both Heaven and Earth for that neither can the Divine Intelligence be without reason neither is it possible but that such reason should be incapable to determin what was good and what evil So that had there been no Law against those who first were guilty of Murder Envy or Malice or any other sort of destructive Violence this Law would have condemn'd them as it did in Cain In regard that same reason proceeded from the Divine Light of Nature perswading Men to do well and disswading them from evil which did not then begin to be a Law when it first came to be written but when it first had a being that is from Eternity Which being the Original of all upright and just Law we
still the same they can be guarded by no better security then what has hitherto preserv'd them as upon which the Salvation of the Princes Soul and the Exaltation of the Church depend and all redounding to the Honour of God Neither could Time it self dissolve this Charter as being granted to all the Freemen of the Kingdom to be held and enjoy'd in the Kingdom for ever But what those Liberties were and what the Amendments were is better seen by the Charter it self in regard that what was good by Amendment was on the contrary evil and unjust in practice No Man may be taken or imprison'd or disseis'd of his Free Tenement his Liberties or Free Customs or be Outlaw'd or Exil'd or any way destroy'd nor will we enter upon his Possession Nec super eum ibimus nec super eum mittemus nor Commit him so Selden renders the last words but by the Loyal Judgment of his Peers or Men of his Condition or by the Law of the Land By this Paragraph of the Charter it is plainly to be made out that the Estates and Liberties of the English Subjects are desended and guarded as well by the Law of Nature as by the Law of the Land as having embody'd those Principles of Morality which most conduce to Publick Honesty which is the Common Security All which are muster'd up under that General Head of Alterine feceris quod tibi fieri non vis Which being the Law of Nature is also the Will of God who is the Author of Nature So that as God can command nothing but what is purely honest and just no more can the Law of Nature Now that the Materia prima of this Law is the same with that of the Law of Nature is apparent from hence that it enjoyns necessary Honesty and forbids the Evil contrary to it To clear the point a little farther This Paragraph contains nine Branches relating to the Liberty of Person the security of Property and Possession and the general execution of Justice 1. No Freeman may be taken or imprison'd That is as the Lord Chief Justice Cooke expounds it No Man shall be restrain'd of his Liberty by Petition or Suggestion to the King or his Council but by Indictment or Presentment of good and lawful Men where such deeds be done For Liberty is the power of living at pleasure And no Man lives as he pleases who is not permitted to enjoy that repose and tranquility both of Mind and Body which he proposes to himself Which Liberty was given him by Nature and in some measure granted even to the wild Beasts themselves And therefore to deprive him of the Power of himself is to deprive him of the gift of Nature to which there is nothing that he can have more Right until he forfeit it back to the Law by transgressing it And that it is the gift of Nature is evident from that Love of Liberty which Nature has infus'd even into all the particular Members of the Creation The Elements themselves disdain the Curb of Servitude Imprison'd Fire when it gets loose revenges it self with greater fury The fetter'd Ocean foames and roares at his Confinement The Winds against their will detain'd in the Earth's bowels put the Earth into most violent Convulsions We see how impatiently young Horses brook their Imperious Curbs and how the little Birds at first bewail the Captivity of the Cage Liberty is one of the chiefest Felicities Man has to boast of that he is by Nature Lord of himself and has only Reason to be his Governour Nor does the Law require slavish Subjection from him but natural and necessary Obedience which is therefore so far from being oppressive that it becomes delightful to him because he finds thereby his Liberty preserv'd For these reasons every Man that enjoys his Liberty is said to be the treasurer of a most inestimable Jewel the Priviledge of Nature and his Birthright which they who ravish from him by violence and against the Law of Nature despoil him of the Benefit of Heaven and reduce him to the slavish condition of Beasts as if he were only made for the use of Tyrannizing Power Therefore says this Law let No man be restrain'd of his Liberty or imprison'd but by the Law I omit the fatal Consequences of endangering the Liberty of a People enur'd to Priviledge and Freedom the love of which to them is so excessive that accounting nothing dearer to them in this World they prostrate Life Estate and all at the feet of its Preservation On the other side Popular Licence is with all the severity imaginable to be restrain'd for that unhinges publick Safety and makes an Inundation upon the true Justice of Government Then which nothing can be more pernicious to the Publick Security and the Common Good of Prince and People 2. Let no man be disseis'd or dispossess'd of his Freehold that is of his Lands Livelyhood Liberties or free Customs as belong to him by his free Birth-right And this also depends upon the Law of Nature For no sooner was the World Created but immediately appear'd Propriety Abel was a Keeper of Sheep and Cain a Tiller of the DGround And therefore was Man endu'd by Nature with Industry to advance his Estate to the end he might not only live but live comfortably upon what by his Labour he enjoy'd Which being obtain'd by his own industry and pains Nature instill'd that Moral Principle among Men that it was but just that every man should quietly and peaceably enjoy what he had got by his Labour and the sweat of his Brows And this is evident from the Law of Inheritance the Institution of God himself For if by the Law of Nature he had not power to possess and keep he could not have power to dispose But the undeniable Power of disposition confirms the right of Property and Possession So that for a Man to be despoyl'd of the fruits of his Labour or of the Inheritance of his Ancestors is against the Law of God and Nature Thou shalt eat of the Labour of thy hand happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee and He that gathereth by Labour shall encrease This was the Establishment of Property by two of the best of Kings by the dictate of God himself And therefore for Tyranny to waste the Labours of the Subject profusely upon illegal Innovasions and unnecessary Pomp and Riot is a piece of Injustice of the highest Nature And therefore this Law grounded upon the Law of God and Nature takes especial care to secure the Property of the Subject from Exorbitancy and Oppression Not that hereby the Laws of legal Tributes are any way contradicted For they are impos'd upon the People and given to the Prince as a publick Person for the Common Good of which the support of his Dignity is a part And generally in England they are given with the Subjects consent And this is also warranted by Scripture For this reason you pay
in the World may sometimes need a little Physie and the most temperate and sane may sometimes disorder the frame of their Health by their own Excesses But it is rarely known that such accidental Commotions of the blood prove mortal as meeting with those timely Applications which soon restore and settle all again Thus the Epidemic Fever of Dudley and Empsons Prosecutions infected for a while the Veins of the whole Nation but the Healthy Constitution of the Kingdom foon threw it off and it was cur'd with a little Blood-letting The Proceedings Censures and Decrees of the Star-Chamber were for some time in the very words of the Act an Intolerable Burthen to the Subject and lookt upon as a means to introduce Arbitrary Power and Government Even the Privy Council it self was tax'd with determining of the Estates and Liberties of the Subject contrary to the Law of the Land Therefore was the Power of the Star-Chamber by that Act absolutely and clearly dissolv'd taken away and determin'd And that not only for the general reasons already recited but upon the rehearsal of the Grand Charter and the several Confirmations of it from time to time First because the Judges of that Court had undertaken to punish where the Law did not warrant to make Decrees for things having no such Authority and to inflict heavier punishments then by Law were warrantable and secondly for that all matters examinable and determinable before the said Judges might have their proper remedy and redress and thâ—ir due punishment and correction by the Common Law of the Land and in the ordinary Course of Justice elsewhere And with this same Court fell also several other Jurisdictions of the same Nature Then for the Regulation of the Council it was enacted that neither the Prince or his Council had or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power or Authority by English Bill Petition Articles Libell or by any other Arbitrary way whatever to examine or draw into question determine or dispose of the Lands Tenements Hereditaments Goods or Chattels of any of the Subjects of this Kingdom but that the same ought to be try'd and determin'd in the ordinary Courts of Justice and by the ordinary Course of the Law And thus the Grievances of a well constituted Nation at one time or other have still their mortal Periods and are forc'd to flie from the stern and awful Countenance of Fundamental Law For Law has Heav'n on her side which Injustice and Oppression cannot pretend to For where Laws are grounded upon the firm Basis of Divine Reason the violation of Humane Constitution is the violation of Heavenly Justice Against which for Cruelty and Oppression to make a kind of a Titanic War proves as fatal in the end as the Insurrection of those Gyants against Heav'n it self Leges dormiunt non moriuntur The Laws may sleep but never dye The locks of the Law may be cut off but they will grow again and then she rouzes up her self more vigorously and with new recover'd strength shaking off the feeble bands of Violence nere ceases till she has brought Illegal Force and Arbitrary prosecution upon their Knees Nor fares it better with those who to enrich and raise their own Families advise the infringement of Fundamental Law and moderate Rule Who for the sake of Temporary Splendour and Command care not tho they drive the Chariot Wheels of their Ambition over the Necks of undone Millions And thus we may behold in History even where Tyranny it self controuls an Ibrahim Bassa with all his tickling flattery dragg'd to the block to attone the oppression of the Incens'd Multitude with the loss of his Criminal Head Our own story brings us forth the Great Justiciary of England Hubert de Burgo once a Patriot and lover of his Country but at length beguil'd by the Advantages of Honour and Preferment for Caressing the humour of a young Prince and instructing him which way to avoid this very Charter granted by his Father and by himself in his Nonage confirm'd for which he was advanc'd to the highest Dignity in the Kingdom and made Earl of Kent not only degraded of his Honour not only stripp'd of all his Wealth which he had so unduly obtain'd but which wat more he saw himself a forlorn sufferer under the heavy Indignation of that Prince to whom he had so officiously devoted his Illegal Industry We may also in the progress of the same Story read the Tragical Exits of the Potent and Opulent Spencers Father and Son for giving rash and evil Counsel to their Soveraign against the Form of the Grand Charter So hard a matter it is for the most powerful and politic Champions of Illegality and Oppression to wrastle with the Fundamental Law of this Nation without a dismal fall According to that of Pindar for this is not novel but ancient Experience Isthm Ode 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Most bitter is the end which attends the sweets of Injustice And therefore Thuanus reflecting upon the Calamity of Ibrahim Bassa before-mention'd A most remarkable example saith he to those who for the sake of one person whose favour they have won by most unseemly and pernicious Devotion trample under Foot the general Hatred of all others whereas they ought rather to imitate those persons who being advanc'd to highest preferments so behav'd themselves in the discharge of their Trusts Thuan. l. 96. that they may be always ready to part with their preferments and not be afraid to retire to a private life if it be their Fortune to be remov'd Otherwise it many times falls out that they are left to the free revenge of all whom they have offended or else with the great regret of the Prince himself are hurry'd away to open punishment for the satisfaction of Popular indignation Even Princes themselves have labour'd under the evil consequences that have attended the Injuries which they have done to the fundamental Constitutions of their own Realms which has only serv'd to render their Lives and all their Glory troublesome vexacious and full of perplexity and to deprive them of that quiet and tranquility which makes the Enjoyment of Life sweet Lewis the XI as Comines his own Servant records was the first to use his own words who at his own pleasure levy'd mony upon the People without their consent And to gain the consent of the Nobility so to do within their own Jurisdictions promis'd them Annual Pensions Certainly saith the Historian he gave so great a wound to France that it will not easily be cur'd For none of the former Kings so afflicted France as he did but more especially by subverting the Authority of their Parliaments And is therefore said to have bin the first of the French Monarchs that freed his Successors hors de Page out of Guardianship Of this Prince Mezeray gives this accompt The Conduct which Lewis while he was yet but Dolphin observ'd in all his Actions particularly toward his own Father and Subjects
Slavery For submission out of fear denotes compulsion and compulsion is a mark of servitude and vassalage rather then of real Homage and Obedience But the Fidelity and Obedience of a true Subject proceeds from the obligation of Conscience and is the same Tye to his Prince by which the Prince is bound to God Himself by Conscience to do Acts of Justice and Mercy as being the Vice-Pastor of the People of God and the Vice-gerent of the King of Peace and Justice Nay he is the living Image of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how comes that to be The Light of Nature tells us shining even among the Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that having obtain'd a Kingdom he is to shew himself most worthy of so supream a Dignity Which high deserving Excellence then most radiantly displays it self in Majesty when it appears array'd with the Beams of Divine Attributes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to bodily substance a King is like another Man but in the power of his Dignity he is like to God who is above all So that when the Authority of a King is like the Authority of God and Righteous and true are all his ways there to refuse Obedience to the King is the same impiety as to refuse Obedience to God himself However it is not to be imagin'd that so much strictness can be expected from Mortality the resemblance is enough to fix our Veneration Therefore all Princes are by the Psalmist stil'd Gods tho he is very severe against those that deviate from the Resemblance of the Heavenly Prototype Niloxenus also the Wise Man being ask'd what was the most profitable and useful Thing in the World answer'd a King as most resembling God in his works of Justice and Mercy and to whom therefore the People by Conscience are bound with all humility to pay the Tribute of Homage and Obedience And for this reason all persons of what Quality Condition or Sex soever tho they never took the Oath of Allegiance are as firmly bound by it as if they had taken it as being written by the Finger of the Law in the hearts of every one and the taking it is but an outward Declaration of the Act it self For as it is proprium Imperiis imperare per leges So is it proprium Subjectionis obedientiam praestare per leges Which is no more then the reciprocal Stipulation of God himself with his Creature Man I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt therefore thou shalt have no other Gods but me I am the Lord thy God c. therefore obey my Commandments And it is remarkable that God always expostulates with his People for their Ingratitude for signal benefits receiv'd before he punish them for disobedience Now there is one prevailing Lure that draws Men into the Snare of Disobedience and that is call'd pretence of Religion which falling into the management of Crafty Heads proves the pernicious Coverture of Rebellious and Trayterous designs and therefore one of the greatest Enemies of Law and Government in this World It ought to be mark'd for destruction as Cain was for his preservation For it is a hard matter to discover it so exactly do the Incendiaries and Promoters of Sedition paint and dress their false Plantagenets and Pseudo-Mustapha's in resemblance of the real Portraiture Especially when they come to be fucuss'd and periwigg'd by the Skilful hands of Spiritual Ambition for the support of Ecclesiastical Pomp and Superstition It is nefarious any where but never proves worse then when it ascends the Pulpit From whence it ought to be exterminated with all the care imaginable there being nothing more fatal to all good Government then to foster it in the Bosom of Interest Which sully'd the Encomium of Ferdinand of Arragon a most prudent and happy Prince in whom says the Historian there was nothing to be desir'd but that Integrity with which he us'd to cloak his ambition and immoderate desire of enlarging his Dominions under the pretence of Religion Thuan. l. 1. Nor need there any farther Examples of the mischiefs of dissembl'd Piety then those which so lately imbru'd their hands in the bowels of this Nation However the truest touch-stone of feigned Zeal and counterfeit Religion is the Fundamental Law of the Land which being grounded as hath bin already made out upon the Law of God and Nature nothing of true Zeal nothing of sincere Religion nothing of Conscience will adventure to violate or disturb No real Christian Subject no person of Conscience no man professing the true grounds of Religion will deny his Prince the least tittle of his lawful Rights or refuse him the least Mite of his Legal Tributes or whisper the least undecent Murmur against his just proceedings according to the Fundamental Law of the Land which if true Prerogative it self cannot pretend against much less are the Encroachments upon it of dissembl'd Piety and masqueraded Zeal to be endur'd So that whatever pretence of Religion impugnes the Fundamental Law of the Land the pretence is unjust and irreligious and such pretences are to be grappl'd with as the intending Introducers of Confusion and Subversion Not that this extends to the inforcement of Obedience to any unjust Law which the self-Self-ends of Interest may produce For according to the Sentence of all the Grand Casuists now in Fame and of Suarez among the rest an unjust Law is no Law L. 3. de leg c. 19. and therefore lays no obligation upon the Conscience or Moral Obedience of the People but is rather to be peremptorily refus'd Now whither any Law be unjust or no is to be decided by Magna Charta for that all Laws made contrary to That are by other Fundamental Laws of the Realm adjudg'd to be void and of no effect And thus the Great Charter becomes the Judge of True Religion as well as True Law For True Law commands nothing but what is just and consonant to true Religion But an unjust Law is ex parte materiae unjust as commanding that which is dishonest and Irreligious of which only the pretence of Religion will adventure to be the Patron and which they who wrest the favour of the Law to protect can never be accompted Men of Religion or Piety And therefore the vigorous defenders of pretended Religion cannot be too severely censur'd as being breakers of the Law For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wicked Orator pollutes the Laws defending Falshood by Fallacy and Imposture by deceitful Argument Which tho they have their successes for a time yet no sooner comes the Storm of Reformation but they dash to pieces against the Rock of Fundamental Law Against which all the Cabals and Combinations of Policy and pretence of Religion have not yet been able to prevail Even the most Potent and Arbitrary Usurpation that ever hamper'd this Kingdom and the most powerfully defended in all it 's specious Pretences tam
bin so chary of them to collect and reduce them into one Body and leave them as a sacred Relieque to the prejudice of his Successors And from thence our Fundamental Laws derive their illustrious Descent and may therefore justly claim the Title of High-born contriv'd by Soveraign Princes as well for their own safety as the Peoples security Which being at length made publick with the unanimous consent and approbation of the Peoples Suffragans there was nothing binding to the Prince but what Princes had already condescended to and nothing impos'd upon the People but what themselves thought necessary and convenient To come to particulars first in reference to the safety of the Prince those good and famous Monarchs of our own gave ample testimonies that they were not ignorant what procures the Honour and Esteem what the ill will of the Subject And therefore in the first place none were more devout according to the knowledge of those times none greater observers and setlers of Religion and none more bountiful enlargers of the Churches Priviledges And in regard the next Applause belongs to them who best provide for the Civil Government therefore they took care to make good Laws that by them they might govern well For as they have justly merited immortal Honours who have bin the Establishers of Religion and good Government so none have clouded their Memories with greater infamy then the Contemners of Religion the Subverters of establish'd Government and Oppressors of the People For it is but the Counterfeit Glitter and Delusion of false Honour that captivates the Ambitious and enslaves them to the desire of enslaving others and mounts their unruly passions rather to an affectation of upbraided Tyranny then renowned and God-like Kingship And yet there is that shame of ignominy and that eager thirst after what is most praise-worthy among Men that the worst of Tyrants would sooner be accompted Agesilaus's Timoleon's and Dio's then Nabis's Phalaris's and Dionysius's Nor shall we find that Timoleon and the rest had less Authority in their several Dominions then Phalaris or Dionysius but this is certain they liv'd in much more safety and security If we consider the difference between those Roman Emperors and virtuous Princes that rul'd according to Law and those that took a contrary course Story is full of the never dying Encomiums of Nerva Trajan Adrian Antoninus Pius and Marcus Antoninus who needed not the Guard of Praetorian Bands nor the Defence of armed Legions to secure them as being sufficiently defended by their own Justice and Moderation the Affection of the People and Love of the Senate whereas all the Power of the Roman Empire could not save Caligula Nero Vitellius and those others like themselves from those mortal Enemies which their own depraved Lusts and Tyranny rais'd to their destruction the most abandon'd of Men at their Falls Which was the reason that of twenty six Emperors from Caesar to Maximus sixteen came to untimely and unfortunate Ends. Land-marks sufficiently visible whereby to discover the happy Road of Honour and Security from the Sands and Shelves of Reproach and timorous Anxiety It is a pleasure to dwell in History under the Raigns of those virtuous Emperors which give us a full view of Princes safe and secure in the midst of their secure and faithful Subjects the World flourish'd in Peace and Justice the Senate enjoy'd their Authority the Magistrates their due Honours the People grew Rich and Wealthy Virtue and Nobility was exalted and fear only possess'd the Gates of the Enemy Reverence Obedience and the Peoples Hearts were the Princes satisfaction Freedom and Security the People's On the other side under the Lawless Raign of Will and Tyranny behold the World all in dismal Combustion there War and Bloodshed here Tumult and Sedition Cities dis-peopled Rapes and Adulteries Triumphant Guards doubl'd the Prince in perpetual Fears and Jealousies in continual disquiet and distrust the People mad and raging and unruly as the inundations of the unfetter'd Ocean and in a word nothing but disorder and confusion till the gaping Jaws of Ruine swallow All. And therefore it is recorded of Numa Plut. in vit Num. so highly eminent for his Justice and Affection to his People that during all his Raign there was neither War nor Sedition nor so much as the least commotion that tended to a Tumult Which was the reason of Plato's assertion That it was impossible to move the Throne of that Prince in whom a Philosophers mind and Regal Supremacy met together On the contrary it is said of Tiberius Non Fortuna Tacit. Annal l. 6. c. 6. non Solitudines prolegebant quin Tormenta pectoris suasque ipse paenas fateretur Therefore saith Cicero Fear is an ill preserver of Diuturnity but love and respect is faithful and to Perpetuity And from hence it was that when the Poets represented in the person of Jove a wise and virtuous Prince they brought him in attended by Obedience and Equity but when they make him a Tyrant they associate with him Injury and Fear And Juvenal setting forth the unsafe Condition of Arbitrary Pomp and the perillous Estate of Tyranny goes a great way in two lines Ad generum Cereris Sat. 10.112 sine caede vulnere pauâ—â— Descendunt Reges sicca morte Tyrannâ—â— Reges being there taken abusive in the same sense with Tyranni But the words and sentence of a King are of greater force Therefore let us hear the determination of Ferdinand of Arragon â—â—uan l. â— 4. who marry'd Isabella of Castilâ— It was a part of the Arragonian Constitutions at that time that if the King went about to violate the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom it might be lawful for the Nobility to create another in his room This seem'd very severe to the Castilians and therefore they advis'd Ferdinand to abolish that Law as prejudicial to Royal Dignity But Ferdinand reply'd That he was bound by the sacred Oath which he had taken from doing any such thing Besides that he was of Opinion that the safety of a King and Kingdom was secur'd by the equal poise of Power and that if at any time it happen'd that the Power of the one out-hallanc'd the other that without doubt the ruine of the one or the other would ensue And it is recorded of Augustus Caesar That when he listen'd to the Advice of his Wife Julia and govern'd by the Law Dio in vit August that he was from thenceforth free from Conspiracies and that the People and Senate were always after that faithful and obedient to him Which was also Escovedo's Counsel to John of Austria Governour of the Spanish Netherlands telling him withal that he could never be safe among those who were not safe from his own Ministers for that Security was to be obtain'd by mutual Security Sâ—ada l. 9. circa princip And indeed the Kingly Office made and ordain'd for the defence of the Law of the Subjects Fortes
Cur. de Laud. leg Angl. c. â—â— their Bodies and Goods to which end a Prince receives Power of his People so that he cannot govern his People by any other Law is of that vast and high importance to the preservation of Mankind especially consider'd according to those Appellations which are given to virtuous Princes for the reasons aforesaid that nothing in the World ought more to oblige the Subject to the perfect awe and reverence of it as well for their own as the Princes sake Which awe and reverence while it continues towards the Dignity it is impossible but that the Person must be secure and safe in all respects For while Princes govern by the Fundamental Laws of Justice and Equity they are not only impal'd with the defence of a Loyal People but under the promis'd Protection of God himself Their Justice and Moderation demands both Honour and Veneration their Vigilancy Obedience and Loyalty In this respect all Virtuous Princes that seek the prosperity and felicity of the People under their charges are call'd by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shepherds of the People And certainly it would be the highest Iniquity imaginable for the Sheep to rebel or murmur against a Shepherd that sought nothing more then the common welfare of them all and never shear'd them but when the Tribute of their Fleeces was justly due For which reason Pindarus calls the Royal Dignity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Honour given to Princes for nourishing and cherishing the People He also calls Apollo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Olymph Ode 6. and Acastus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inspectors Overseers or Guardians of Delos Nemeor Ode 5. and the Magnetes denoting the cares and continual watchings that attend upon true Kingly Government which is also the Character given of it by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And for these reasons is Royal Soveraignty the highest Dignity among mortal men For the Title of Emperour is only a nominal no real difference Wherefore Pindarus speaking of Jamus the Ancestor of Agesias that he was as great as Man could be Some saith he are more eminent then others but he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had attain'd to the utmost extent of Honour as being in the number of Kings It was the publick Benefit which Men receiv'd by the Glorious Actions of the Ancient Hero's that made them ascribe Divine Honours to their deceased persons And the same Virtues in all just and virtuous Princes produce the same Effects of Veneration and Reverence Obedience and Loyalty in all good Subjects A King thus arm'd with his own Virtues and for their sakes with the Hearts and Affections of his People may justly warrant that Axiom of the King of the Argines in Aeschylus In Trag. Hâ—ertides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Awe and Terrour of Princes is hardly to be imagin'd And yet he was none of those that lawlesly controul'd for presently after saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will perswade the Common Good From all that has bin said it plainly appears wherein the true and diuturnal security and repose of a Soveraign Prince mainly and principally consist In which particular the Laws of England cannot be said to have bin any way defective as having extended their power all along to their own satisfaction rather have they bin so tender of it that they would not suffer the Pope to make his Ecclesiastical â—â—â—â—oachments upon it even in the most flourishing Estate of Papal Usurpotical Which was never admitted in England but only when the Desertion of his Barons expos'd King John to the Exorbitancy of Papal Triumph To deseend to the cause and primum mobile of the Subjects security none can be found more apparent then good Laws including Justice and Freedom And he that is the Soveraign of a People so govern'd may be rightly said to be as Agamemmon is frequently stil'd by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King of Men. Which cannot be thought to be where Arbitrary Will only controuls a multitude of Slaves Therefore says the famous Pindar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The foundation of Cities is firm Justice and Peace accomplish'd with her Virtues the Dispencers of Riches to Men the Golden Daughters of considerate Thenis Olymp. Ode 13. And praising the City of Opus the Metropolis of the Locrians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Themis and her Sisters good Government the preserver of Common Weals took into their protection And in another place extolling the City of Aetna for its freedom which is the other main happiness of a Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To whom meaning his Son Hiero gave that City which he had built and endow'd with Divine Liberty according to the Standard of the Laconic Laws Taking an occasion to commend the Constitutions the Aetnean Commonweal from the Excellency of its Government founded in Justice and Liberty after the example of Lacedaemon then accompted the most exact Form of Dominion in the World and therefore by the Poet stil'd the Standard of all other Governments Certainly the Government of England cannot be thought to stand upon a slight Foundation that has stood so long upon the single Basis of her own Laws And it is observable that then England first began to flourish when the Laws being reduc'd into one Body were under the execution and care of one Universal Monarch Nor could the Breach of Norman Conquest hinder the Chasin of long enjoy'd Liberty from uniting again and closing it self more firmly with the Cement of its former Constitutions calculated by so many Kings of this Island for the Meridian of English Freedom To come to particulars the Statutes are made not only by the Princes pleasure but also by the Assent of the whole Realm so that of necessity they must procure the Wealth of the People and in no wise tend to their hindrance and it cannot be thought but that they are replenish'd with much prudence and wisdom seeing that they are ordain'd not by the Providence and Deliberation of one Man alone but of more then five hundred chosen persons And here now in the distribution of Justice between Man and Man the Excellency of the English above the Civil Laws is manifest from hence that the Issue of the Plea is not try'd by the Deposition of two Witnesses only according to the proceedings of the Civil Law but the Truth of the matter must appear evident to the Judge by the Oaths of Twelve men Neighbours to the place For that Man may well be thought to be the Master of little Cunning or Industry that cannot find two persons who either for fear for love or profit will not be ready to contradict the Truth Nor is it so easie a thing to disprove the affirmative or to expose the wicked Lives and Conversations of persons altogether unknown The second Excellency of the English Laws derives it self from the Equitable proceeding or at least intention of the Law in the Election and Swearing of Jurors Who