of this damned Thesis or Position then we are all presently fellows at Footbal and Over Milk will presently be as good as Swasey Cream and whatever gets uppermost will be King In the time of Edward the Second about 400 years since this separation of Soveraignty from the person of the King and manner of abstracting the Person of the King from his Office was found out by the Two Spencers the Father and the Son who to cover their Treason invented this damnable opinion that Homage and the Oath of Allegiance were rather by reason of the Kings Crown than his Person upon which as may be seen in C. 7. 11. a. b. were inferred these Execrable Consequences First If the King did not demean or behave himself well his Liege People were bound by their Oath to remove him Secondly Because the King might not be reformed by suit of Law that ought to be done by asperty Thirdly That his Liege People are bound to govern in aid and default of him All which detestable opinions were then condemned in two Parliaments the first was by an Act made in the time of Edward the Second called Exilium Hugonis De Spencer the Banishment of Hugh Spencer the last was by an Act made in the First year of Edward the Third the first Chapter Let all take notice that by the Laws of our Realm of England all Power Soveraignty Homage Allegiance and Subjection is commanded and required as properly due to the Natural Body of the King And that therefore it was said by Glanvil who was Chief Justice in the time of Henry the Second Dominus Rex nullum habere potest parem multo minus Superiorem Our Lord the King can have no Peer or Equal much less can he have any Superior within his Realms or Dominions And Bracton qui sub Henrico tertio viginti annos summi Justiciarii munere defunctus est that for Twenty years together was Chief Justice in the time of Henry the Third saith that Omnis quidem sub Rege ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub deo every Man is under the King and he is under none but God alone And Non potest Regi necessitatem aliquis imponere quod injuriam suam corrigat amendet cum superiorem non habeat nisi deum satis erit ei ad paenam quod Dominum expectet ultorem nor saith he can any Man put a necessity upon the King to correct and amend his injury unless he will himself since he hath no Superior but God it will be sufficient punishment for him to expect the Lord for his Avenger neither hath he hereby other Priviledge than what by God Himself is given to Kingly Majesty as may be seen in the 8th chap. of Ecclesiastes 2 3 and 4th verses I Counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God be not hasty to go out of his sight stand not in an Evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him and where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What doest thou Yet I observe that once heretofore the Miter may be said Sawcily to have Oretopped the Crown in the 20th year of King Henry the Eight we read in Mr. Howe 's Chronicle Fol. 541. that the Kings Marriage came on to be argued in open Court at the Black Fryers then the King and Queen were Summoned and Ascited to appear but there may be seen what the opinion of wise Men in those times was thereupon which was that it was a strange sight and the newest device that ever was read or heard of before in any Region Story or Chronicle a King and Queen to be constrained by Process compellatory to appear in any Court as Common Persons within their own Realm and Dominion to abide the Judgments and Decrees of their own Subjects being the Royal Diadem and Prerogative thereof However this was the less wonder then because the Pope did then send as Legate into England the Cardinal Campejus to debate the Controversie delegated to him and the Cardinal of York for the publication of the invalidity of the Kings first Marriage at the instance of the King himself as may be seen in Guicciardin's History Fol. 756. But as we may see in Stanf. 153. a. The King of England hath no Peer in his own Land Realm or Dominion and therefore he cannot be Judged or called to account for his Actions by his People Nay it may be there seen that Parliaments are Assembled for the profit of the King and his People and the People are Summoned thither by the Kings Writ ad consulendum c non ad consedendum solum multo minus ad supersedendum to consult of the certain difficult matters c. not only there to Sit together much less to Sit upon their Lord the King in Judgment CHAP. XIII Sheweth that no Action lyeth against the King but in place thereof Petition must be made unto him and that due circumstances observed the Subject shall have his remedy against the King by way of Petition as readily as one Subjct may recover against another Subject by way of Action in any of the Kings Courts for that all his Majesties Subordinate Officers are Sworn to do Justice between the King and his Subjects which if they do not they are Answerable for the injury not the King IT is said C. 11. 72. a. b. That the King being the Lieutenant of God solum hoc non potest facere quod non potest injuste facere which is agreeable to a Maxim in our Law that the King can do no wrong therefore as we may see in Mr. Stanford prer 72. b. In place of Action against the King for the dignity of his Person Petition must be made unto him in the Chancery or in Parliament for no Action did ever lie against the King at the Common Law but the party is driven to his Petition which is all the remedy the Subject hath when the King Seizeth his Lands or taketh away his Goods from him having no Title by order of his Laws so to do And this Petition is called a Petition of Right because of the Right the Subject hath against the King by the Order of his Laws to the thing he sueth for by Petition And it may be sued as well in the Parliament as out of the Parliament and if it be sued in the Parliament then it may be Enacted and passed as an Act of Parliament or else to be Ordered in like manner as a Petition that is sued out of Parliament And suit by Petition can be to none other than only to the King for no such suit shall be made to the Queen the Consort of the King or to the Lord Prince for these Personages have no such Prerogative Further plainly shewing and declaring the manner of suing by Petition and where and in what cases it lyeth and where not and that due circumstances observed by him
his Heirs 3 d. of the Pound for all Merchandizes imported or exported by them as is expressed more particularly in the said Charter which is to be found in the Office of the Chief Remembrancer in the Exchequer And this Charter of Ed. 1. in all Points was ratified and confirmed by Act of Parliament 27 Ed. 3. ca. 26 and this is the Original of Pettit Custom so called because this Pettit Custom for Forreign Commodities was accepted by the King when but a small quantity of such Forreign Wares was imported into England for in the time of Ed. 1. and after that in the time of Ed. 3. the native Commodities of England exported were of greater quantity and value by two parts of three at the least than the Forreign Merchandizes imported but now it is quite contrary for at this day the Outgate is less than the Ingate the Foreign Mercery and Grocery Wares c. imported are of far greater quantity and value than our Native Commodities exported 3. Prisage of Wines is also a Custom due by Prescription and parcel of the Ancient Inheritance of the Crown and that the King hath Inheritance in the Prisage of Wines appeareth by the Charters granted to the Citizens of London and to those of the cinque Ports to be discharged of Prisage in all Ports for ever See the Stat. of 1 H. 8. ca. 5. And the Duke of Ormond hath an Estate of Inheritance in the Prisage of Wines in the Kingdom of Ireland by grant of the King and this is the Nature Original and Difference of the Ancient duties payable for Merchandizes which are properly called Customs and are the Inheritance of the Crown 2. Subsedies also are duties payable for Merchandizes exported and imported but are granted by Act of Parliament Dyer 31 H. 8. 43. b. 1. Mar. Dyer 92. a. and are of three divers sorts according to the diversity of the Commodities and are called 1st Aides or Subsedies being granted out of the said Native Commodities to wit Wool Woolfells and Hides over and above the Ancient Custom aforesaid 2dly Tonnage granted out of Wines of all sorts over and above the Prizage and the said Custom of 2 s. on the Tun granted by the Charter of 31. Ed. 1. now called Butlerage 3dly Poundage granted out of all Commodities imported and exported except Wines and the staple Commodities aforesaid and payable by the Merchant strangers over and above the said Pettit Custom 1. These Aides or Subsedies were not of a certain quantity or continuance till to the time of Ed. 6. to which King in the first Parliament of his Reign was granted a Subsedy of 33 s. 4 d. of every Sack of Wool 33 s. 4 d. for every 240. Woolfells and 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. for every Last of Hides exported by Denizons for every Sack of Wooll exported by Aliens 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. and for every 240. Woolfells 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. and for every Last of Hides 3 l. 13 s. 4 d. And this Subsedy was granted to continue during the Life Natural of that King And after his demise or death all Kings and Queens except King Charles the First have had the like grants for Life 2. Tonnage which is a Subsedy out of Wines of all sorts was first granted by Parliament 5th R. 2. where 2 s. of every Tun of Wine to be imported into England was granted to the King for Two years and that was for Maintenance of a Fleet upon the Sea to suppress the Pyrates But after by Parliament 3. Ed. 4. Tonnage was granted to this King for Term of his Natural Life in this manner viz. 3 s. for every Tun of Wines and besides those 3 s. for every Tun of Sweet Wines 3 s. more see the Statute of 12th Ed. 4. ca. 3. And this Subsedy was after granted to H. 8. and Ed. 6th with this Addition in time of Ed. 6th that of every Awm of Rhenish Wine also 1 s. shall be paid and after the time of Ed. 6th this Subsedy of Tonnage was as of course Granted in England by several Acts of Parliament to Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and King James during their several Natural Lives 3. Poundage which is a Subsedy granted out of all Commodities exported and imported except Wines and the Ancient staple Wares as above and payable by all Merchants Denizons and Aliens is the 20th part of the value of Merchandizes to wit 12 d. of the Pound and was first Granted by Parliament in England 31. H. 6. during the Life of this King which Grant was immediately resumed But after that 3. Ed. 4. this Subsedy of Poundage was granted to the said King See the Stat. 12. Ed. 4. ca. 3. and after the same Subsedy was Granted to H. 8. during his Life and the same Grant was renewed to Ed. 6. Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and King James during their several Lives by several Acts of Parliament 3ly Imposts or Impositions are the Third kind of Duties payable for Merchandizes and are sometimes Rated and assessed by Parliament and then are in nature of Subsedies and are sometimes imposed by Prerogative Royal to support the necessary Charges of the Crown and then Nihil magis justum est quam quod necessarium est nothing is more just than what is necessary as an Ancient Senator of Rome was wont to say The Impost upon Wines in Ireland was first assessed by Parliaments and limitted to be paid for a certain time of Years which being expired that is now continued there by Prerogative of the King Davyes rep 12. a. It is to be observed from what hath been said that Anciently the Outgate was more than the Ingate and that since or of latter times it is otherwise that the Merchandizes imported do far surmount the value and quantity of our Native Commodities exported which caused the aforesaid Pettit and new Custom to exceed the said grand and Ancient Custom for by continuance of time all the Kings Dominions were much better Peopled and are more Populous at home and in all his Foreign Plantations of latter time acquired and by reason thereof our Lands and the Annual Rents thereof within the Kings said Dominions are much improved and likewise trade by Sea is also much improved as is easily made manifest by the great disproportion of the Rent reserved to be paid for the Customs by the Farmours thereof when last let to Farms and the Rent paid for the same to go no higher in the times of King James and Queen Elizabeth and that wise King Ed. 1. by his said Charter remitted Prizes and by Priviledges Granted to Aliens encouraged them to the more free Trade and Commerce and by consequence there was in after Ages the greater reason for an improvement of the Customs by the best usual and accustomed way of Granting Subsedies for the Lives of our Kings Successively one after another by Act of Parliament Seeing Subsedies themselves are no more than an Improvement in the Improvement of time of
their own Wills and Pleasures There is no Government more resembling Heaven or more durable on Earth or that hath any certain principles but Monarchy and such a Monarchy that hath an actual visible military strength to support it self not only to protect the Good and Loyal but also to awe the Bad and Rebellious People The King represents God the Houses of Parliament the People And as in some sort is expressed before the King by his Writ gives the very essence and form to his Parliament being the production of his breath therefore Priviledges which are the consequences of the Form must necessarily flow from him Now would you know how to Elect Men Fearing God Honouring the King and such as will not meddle with those that are given to change Know aâ—d take notice that true Religion is the well tempered Mortar that buildeth up all Estates that there can be no true Religion where the word of God is wanting or not duly observed I have proved from and made it plain to you that the word of God condemneth and prohibiteth all mutinous Rebellious Actions whatsoever against the Magistrate either Supream or Subordinate And because there can be no surer sign of the ruine of a Kingdom than the contempt of Religion My Advice is to all that they would Conform but as to such that will not Conform nor be Reformed nor advised to joyn with us in the way Established by Law for the Service and Worship of God because they are either stubborn obstinate or wise in their own conceits and will not be informed such as these that are Dissenters from us in the better half of the Government that is to say in the Government of the Church I pray that as they absent themselves from us in the Divine Service and Worship of God so they would be pleased to absent and separate themselves from the publick meetings in their several Counties for the Choosing and Electing of Members to sit in Parliament for the future for as the Vessel savoureth of the same Liquor wherewith it was first seasoned so it is to be feared the mind of these Dissenters still retaineth those very qualities in their Elder Age wherein it was trained up in Youth However by their absence their misguided Consciences will be clear and the more Loyal and conformable Subjects by their so doing will be less offended and disturbed in their choise and Election of such as themselves that may better Comply than heretofore they did with his late Sacred Majesty in making and constituting such wholesome Laws and Provisions as may make for the security and preservation of our Protestant Religion which is confirmed by Scripture and History of Ancient Fathers in the Primitive Church to be agreeing in Doctrine and Discipline with the truly Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Christian Religion and Profession as it is now Established by Law in the Church of England CHAP. XIX Sheweth that the King of England is and always hath been Supream Head of the Church not the Pope FOR we are to know and understand that the King of England is in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal within these his Majesties Realms and Dominions Supream Head and Governour By the Ancient Law of the Realm the King hath power to visit reform and correct all Abuses and Enormities in the Church and by the Statutes made in the time of King Henry the Eighth the Crown was but remitted and restored to its Ancient jurisdiction which was Usurped by the Bishop of Rome Reges sacro oleo uncti spiritualis jurisdictionis sunt capaces Kings Anointed with Holy Oyl are capable of Spiritual Jurisdiction And 10. H. 7. 18. Rex est persona mixta cum sacerdote the King is said to be a Person mixt or participating with the Priest in the Priesthood Also the King shall have Tythes by the Common Law of which no Lay Person can be capable And the King by himself or by his Commissioners shall visit his free Chappels and Hospitals And by the Cannon Law Omnes Reges dicuntur Clerici and another Text thereof saith quod causa Spiritualis committi potest Principi laico All Kings are said to be Clarks and that however a Spiritual Cause may be determined by a Lay Prince as may be seen in Davyes rep 4. a. And although the proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts be in the Name of the Bishop yet they are the Courts and Law of the King as the Leet though it be holden in the Name of the Lord of the Manour yet it is the Court of the King C. 5. 1. part 39. b. The Canonists ascribe to the Pope Prerogative as to the Interpretation of Laws and granting of Dispensations but the jurisdiction that the Pope by Colour thereof claimed in England was a meer Usurpation to which the Kings of England as I shall presently shew you from time to time made opposition even to the time of King Henry the Eighth And the King of England not the Pope before the making the Statute of Faculties might de jure of right dispence with the Ecclesiastical Law for though that many of our Ecclesiastical were first devised in the Court of Rome yet being established and confirmed in this Realm by acceptance and usage they are now become English Laws and are no more to be reputed Romish Cannons and they are to be observed as the Laws of the Kingdom of England and not to be esteemed or reputed as Rules of the Pope Davyes rep 71 72. And the King is Supream Patron as King and not as in respect of the Supream Jurisdiction that the Realm by the Statute hath acknowledged in him Therefore a Resignation to the King of a Deanry is as good as if it had been made to the Bishop because that by the Common Law he is the Supream Head of the Church of England and the Deanry is void by it And the King shall be made privy and shall give his consent to every Appropriation where the Church is of the Patronage of another as well as where it is of his own Patronage Plowd 498 499. And it appeareth by Doctor and Student 124 125. That the Law hath appointed Six Months unto the Patron to present his Clark unto the Bishop but if the Patron do not present his Clark unto the Bishop within Six Months next after the Church shall become void then shall the Lapse incur to the Bishop and he shall present for the default of the Patron a Clark of his own choosing and his presentation is called Collation and if the Bishop or Ordinary surcease his time and shall not Collate within the Six Months then shall the Metropolitan the Archbishop of the Province Collate his Clark and if he do not Collate within other Six Months then shall the Kings Majesty not the Pope as Supream Ordinary of all the Benefices in England present his Clark to the Church And all the Archbishopricks and Bishopricks within the Realm of England are
of the Kings foundation and the Kings of England are the Founders of them all and they sit in Parliament and have the Names of the Lords of the Parliament non ratione Nobilitatis sed ratione Officii not by reason of their Nobility but by reason of their Office and in respect of their Ancient Barronies annexed to their dignities C. Inst 1. part 97. a. And in C. 5. 1. part Cawdreyes Case it may be seen That King Kenulphus by Charter in Parliament in the year of our Lord 755. Exempted the Abbot of Abingdon from Episcopal Jurisdiction and gave it him That amongst the Laws of Edward the Confessor it was Ordained that he should Govern the Kingdom and his People and above all the Holy Church not the Pope That William the Conqueror Appropriated Churches with Cure That King Henry the First presented to Abbeys as well by his Ecclesiastical as his Kingly Power That Henry the Third granted Prohibitions and in Issue of Loyalty of Marriage and general Bastardy the King wrote to the Bishop as his immediate Officer That in the time of Edward the Third the Temporalties of the Archbishop of York were lost during his Life for refusal of a Clark of the King by reason of a Provision of the Pope That by 25. Edw. the Third a Man might kill those that procured Provisions from Rome and those that executed them Also by 25. Edw. 3d. It was Enacted that the Pope shall not give Archbishopricks Bishopricks c. but that the King them shall give c. That by 16. Rihard the Second chap. 5th It is Enacted that because the King holdeth his Crown immediately under God they who purchase or pursue in the Court of Rome Translations Processes Excommunications Bulls Instruments c. and their Fautors and Councillors shall be out of the Protection of the King and Praemunire facias shall be awarded against them That 2. H. 4. 9. It is resolved that Collectors of the Pope by their Bulls have not any Jurisdiction here and that the Archbishops and Bishops are called the Spiritual Judges of the King And 11. H. 4. 37. it is said Papa non potest mutare leges Angliae that the Pope cannot change or alter the Laws of England That 2. Henry the Fourth chap. 3d. he that obtaineth from the Bishop of Rome to be exempt from regular Obedience is within the Case of a Praemunire That 6. H. 4. chap. 1. Forfeiture was imposed upon those who payed great sums to the Chamber of Rome That by 2. H. 5. chap. 1. The King not the Pope gave power to the Ordinary to enquire of the Foundation and Government of Hospitals and to correct c. That in 9. H. 6. 16. The King only can give License for the Foundation of a Corporation Spiritual not the Pope That 12th Edw. 4th 16. A Legate of the Pope was compelled to Swear that he would not attempt any thing against the Crown c. That in 2. Rich. 3. It is said that Excommunication or Judgment at Rome is of no force here That in First Henry the 7th 10th It is said that in time of King Henry the Sixth Humphry Duke of Glocester burnt the Letters of the Pope that were in Derogation ot the King and his Crown And 1. H. 7. 20. It is adjudged that the Pope may not grant Sanctuary And 25. Henry the 8. chap. 21. It is Enacted by the Statute forementioned of faculties that none shall make suit to Rome but that the Archbishop of Canterbury may grant to the King and his Subjects such Licenses Dispensations Grants Faculties Escripts Delegacies Instruments c. not repugnant to Holy Scripture as been used to be granted by the Pope yet it is to be noted that such Cannons Constitutions Ordinances Synods Provincials c. were provided to be in force which had been allowed by general Consent and Custom within the Realm not repugnant to Law or the Prerogative of the King and so by the same general Consent may be Corrected Enlarged Explained or Abrogated hence we may rest satisfied that for many Hundreds of years last past successively in the time of one King after another King when all our Ancestors were Papists and of that profession that yet the Government of the Church ever was inherent to the Imperial Crown of the Kings of England In the time of King Henry the Third the Usurped Jurisdiction of the Pope was elevated more high than ever before or since yet it may be observed that in the Ninth year of his Reign in the very first Chapter of the great Charter Entitled and Called The Confirmation of Liberties is mentioned First We have granted to God and by this our present Charter have confirmed for Us and Our Heirs for ever that the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable And by the Statute of 24. H. 8. chap. 12. by 24. Bishops and 29 Abbots it is recited that England is an Empire and that the King is the Head of the Body Politick consisting of the Temporalty and the Spiritualty impleet and furnished with full Power to render final Justice in all matters whatsoever as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal And that part of the said Body Politick called the Spiritualty hath been always thought sufficient and meet of it self without the intermeddling of any Forreign Pope or any exterior Person or Persons when any cause of the Law Divine happened to come in question or of Spiritual Learning to declare and determine all such doubts and to adminster all such Offices and Duties yet as the Spiritual Judges of and under the King as to their several Roomes Spiritual doth appertain And the Laws Temporal for Trial of Property of Lands and Goods and for the conservation of the Realm in Unity and Peace without Rapine or Spoil were and yet are Administred Adjudged and Executed by sundry Judges and Ministers of the other part of the Body Politick called the Temporalty And their Authorities and Jurisdictions do conjoyn together in the due Administration of Justice the one is a help to the other and both are a help to and in ease of the King the Head of this Body Politick here you have concisely and in few words discovered unto you the Ancient form of the Government of England both in Church and State and accordingly in Ancient times the Parliaments of England consisted only of the King the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal who were Anciently the Representatives of the whole Kingdom in Parliament Assembled under the Kings or Queens thereof but for some Hundreds of years last past a Writ hath been framed for the Election of Knigts c. to sit in Parliament and these Knights c. are to be chosen by the Freeholders in their several Counties CHAP. XX. As to the Kings Supremacy is shewed the difference between the Primitive and more modern times herein the Author adviseth all to be at Vnity within themselves and
those Loyal Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament in the 12th year of his late Sacred Majesty well knew that he must needs want the necessary supplies to maintain defend and uphold the Government as the late Vsurpers had to offend alter and destroy the same The Kings Charges are great as well for the security and safety of his own Royal Person as for the preservation of the publick Peace of his Realms and Dominions for the general good of the whole Community A few Yeomen of the Guard before the late times of Rebellion called Beef-eaters were not enough for to nor could rescue his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First from that impious Act execrable Murther and unparalel'd Treason against his Sacred Person and Life committed the 30th of January 1648. neither was nor could such a Guard have been sufficient to secure the late Vserpers so ridiculous was their Right to what they Vsurped from that time to the time of his late Majesties Restauration We see before how in Ancient times King Canutus was served so soon as he was I grant Politickly but how Wisely I know not perswaded to withdraw and disband his Guards it may be his Arms or Armies might be attended with many inconveniencies but the present Guards of our Soveraign Lord the King may be necessary to be continued if ever in this our present Age which hath been very changeable and one Plot or other hath been too much threatning alteration of the Government in Church and State and these Guards of his Sacred Majesty are not attended with any inconveniencies nor are chargeable to any but the King himself Sir Edw. Coke saith That the Kings Treasure is the sinews of War and the Honour and safety of the King in times of Peace that it is firmamentum belli ornamentum pacis It is so but I deny any War to be justifiable against the Lord our King within his Realms and Dominions and therefore every Rising and Force raised within the Realm is properly called a Rebellion improperly a War Nor do the Kings Laws Protect any Subject to trade get and gain a great Estate to the end to impower him to ascend the Throne and to stand in competition with or to distast the Person or the Government of our rightful Soveraign Lord the King but rather it is the bounden duty of all in general to Love Honour and obey their Lord the King and proportionably according to their Estates Qualities and Degrees to give Aides and Supplies to his necessities for the just defence and security of his Royal Person and the preservation of the Peace and quietness of him and all his People in all his Realms and Dominions We say quo ditior est quisque eo nobilior by so much as every Man is the more Rich by so much he is the more Noble by so much he is the better respected and the more Esteemed But I say Principem habere ditiorem confert ad dignitatem subditorum ditiores habere subditos confert ad nobillitatem principis to have the Richer Prince conduceth to the dignity of the Subjects and to have the Richer People conduceth to the dignity of the Prince Now all here last mentioned is to this end and purpose that all old Animosities Jealousies and Fears laid aside after his Gracious Majesty shall have convened his Parliament unto him be given quod defunctus Antecessor suus habuit what his deceased Ancestor had Believe the word and promise of his Gracious Soveraign he beginneth his Reign with Clemency and Mercy to all his Subjects and will certainly be so far from invading your Properties that having what was thought needful for his late Royal and Dear Brother nay I say the Richer you make him the more he will be respected at home the more safe he and all his People will be and the more he will certainly be feared and dreaded abroad But least with the Foolish Architect I make the Porch too big for the House I say no more only recommend to you the reading of this ensuing Treatise which was written for the confirmation only of the more knowing and Loyal and for the information of the more Ignorant and therefore less Loyal Subjects So I commit every Man to Gods protection and rest Every Mans well Wisher J. B. The Contents CHAP. I. SHeweth how things stood at the latter end of King James the First and something is said of the High Court of Parliament p. 1. CHAP. II. Sheweth how King Charles the First found things at his first coming to these Crowns and there is also said something as to the learning of the Customs the chief Maintenance of the Crown in his time p. 4. CHAP. III. Sheweth how the late Rebellion broke out and sâ—mething is said of the great Advantages the Rebels had with what Advantages only the Loyal Party had p. 12. CHAP. IV. Sheweth how the King the Loyal party and the Law suffered Violence p. 14. CHAP. V. Sheweth about what time the Kings Writs were first framed for the induction of the Commons into the Parliaments of England p. 16. CHAP. VI. Sheweth the difference between Parliamentary Priviledges and the Prerogatives of the King and sheweth how at the first Kingly Goverment was constituted by God himself and that by Gods Law also the Legislative Power and the Power of the Militia was given to the King and that in these highest Points of the Kings Prerogative the Law of England is agreeing with the Law of God and that God is vindex sui Ordinis the avenger of his own Ordinance p. 18. CHAP. VII Sheweth that vindictive Justice is also derived from God to the King as supream and that all Subordinate Officers derive their Jurisdiction from the King and through his Mediation from God also and that herein the Law of England is also agreeing with the Law of God p. 23. CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Subjects of England are bound by their bond of Allegiance to serve the King only in his Wars and that the King is the Fountain of Honour and by way of Induction to the same something is said of a Countee Palatine Davids worthies and good old Barzillai the Gileadite p. 25. CHAP. IX Herein you have a Subject defined you have Ligeance defined and is shewed that the King hath two Capacities the one Natural and the other Politick and that the Body Politick cannot be separated from the Body Natural that Ligeance is due to the Natural Body of the King that the Kingdom of England admits of no interregnum and that the Disherison of the Right Heir of a Kingdom is wont to be the beginning of Civil Wars p. 29. CHAP. X. Herein you have an Heir defined and divided and is shewed that the Right Heir of the Crown ought not nor can Lawfully be Disinherited that a Bastard ought not nor can be Heir to to the Crown and further something is said to the late Bill for the Exclusion of the late most
Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now our Soveraign Lord King James the Second p. 31. CHAP. XI Sheweth that Ignorance of the Law will excuse none and that therefore all Dissenters to the Government in Church and State are advised to Conformity p. 36. CHAP. XII Sheweth that all Subjects owe true Ligeance to their Soveraign though they never were or ever shall be Sworn to the same and is shewed the diversity between Enemies and Rebels then all are advised from Rebellion and is shewed that the King hath no Peer and therefore cannot be judged by his Subjects for his Actions p. 38. CHAP. XIII Sheweth that no Action lyeth against the King but in place thereof Petition must be made unto him and that due circumstances observed the Subject shall have his remedy against the King by way of Petition as readily as one Subject may recover against another Subject by way of Action in any of the Kings Courts for that all his Majesties Subordinate Officers are Sworn to do Justice between the King and his Subjects which if they do not they are Answerable for the injury not the King p. 41. CHAP. XIV Sheweth what inconveniencies happen in the Realm of France through Regal Government alone with the Commodities that proceed of the joynt Government Politick and Regal in the Realm of England And all the Community are herein disswaded by mutinous and Rebellious practises to Disinfranchise themselves p. 43. CHAP. XV. Sheweth how tender this Government Politick and Regal conjoyned is of the safety of the Kings Person and of all his Royal Rights and Prerogatives And that our Law doth not reject Women or Infants in the high point of the Descent of the Crown and that our King holdeth immediately of God to himself and acknowledgeth no Prince on Earth his Superior p. 46. CHAP. XVI Sheweth that all Vnlawful Assemblies or Meetings for the Plotting of harm to the King or the Alteration of the Government are Vnlawful and further sheweth what Misprision of Treason is and that it is the Duty of every good Subject presently to discover Treason p. 49. CHAP. XVII Sheweth that all Writs Process Executions and Commandments are and ought to be in the Kings Name only p. 51. CHAP. XVIII All Freeholders are advised as to what manner of Persons they are or ought to Choose for future Parliaments p. 52. CHAP. XIX Sheweth that the King of England is and always hath been Supream Head of the Church not the Pope p. 55. CHAP. XX. As to the Kings Supremacy is shewed the difference between the Primitive and more modern times herein the Author adviseth all to be at Vnity within themselves and since we are restored to our Ancient Government to give to our Soveraign Lord the King his Dues and desires all to joyn with him in the conclusive Prayer for the Morning Service in our Church Liturgy for the King p. 58. ADVICE TO THE Commons of England c. CHAP. I. Sheweth how things stood at the latter end of King James the First and something is said of the High Court of Parliament AS Noah rendred in the Word of God Gen. 6. and 9. ver to be a just and perfect Man and one that walked with God and that with his Family after the great deluge survived the whole World is fictitiously said to have had two Faces the one looking backward the other forward the one looking upon the World before the Flood the other on the World after the Flood so an old indigent Officer of the Kings Majesties Army King Charles the First of ever Blessed Memory may not improperly be said to have two Faces the one looking backward the other forward the one looking on this Kingdom of England before the late Civil War the other on the same since the said War Taking leave to look backward and to examine how and in what state of Affairs things stood in the latter end of the Reign of King James the First and how the said King Charles the First found things upon the demise of the Kingdom to him upon the death of the natural Body of His said Royal Ancestor I collect out of what I have read long since that about the Ninteenth year of the Reign of the said King James the First in a Speech to his House of Peers he expressed himself that he intended not to derogate from or Infringe any of the Liberties or Priveledges of their House but rather to fortifie and strengthen them for never any King had done so much for the Nobility of England as he had done and ever would be ready to do and whatever he should say or deliver to them as his thought yet when he had said what he thought he would afterwards freely leave the judgment thereof wholly to their House he knew they would do nothing but what the like had been done before and prayed them not to be jealous that he would abridg them of any thing that had been used for whatsoever Presidents in good times of Government could warrant he would allow acknowledging them to be the Supreme Court of Justice wherein he was ever present by Representation But his said Sacred Majesty then inferred that the Priviledges of the Commons which they claimed to be their natural Birthrights were but the favours of former Kings Against which the Commons then protested That the Liberties c. o◠Parliament are the Ancient and undoubted Birthright and Inheritance of the Subjects of England that the urgent Affairs concerning the Kings State and defence of the Realm and the Church of England and the Maintenance and making of Laws and redress of Mischiefs within the Realm are proper matter for Debate in Parliament and that this Debate ought to be free c. And no Member to be Imprisoned other than by censure of the House it self for debating Parliament business and if any Member is complained of for any thing done or said in Parliament the same is to be shewed the King by assent of the Commons before the King is to give credence to any private Information In Counsel afterwards this King expressed that he never meant to deny the House of Commons any Lawful Priviledge they had enjoyed by any Law or Statute by Custom or uncontrolled and lawful President In the Protestation some words viz. arduis Regni are cunningly mentioned but the word quibusdam which restraineth the generality to such particular Cases as his Majesty pleaseth to consult with them upon was purposely omitted Now as to what he is pleased to consult with them upon it is Customary for the King at the first opening of every Parliament in a short Speech to declare to the Three Estates the certain Occasions urged him to convene them on which or the particular Heads thereof the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England for the time being more Copiously enlargeth observing those measures the King his Master prescribeth him thô in fewer words for non-observance whereof and for
the Subjects to which the late Kings answer was That he willed that right be done according to the Laws and Customs of the Realm and that the Statutes be put in due Execution that his Subjects may have no cause to complain of any Wrong or Oppressions contrary to their just Rights and Liberties to the Preservation whereof he held himself in Conscience as well obliged as of his Prerogative But this answer not giving satisfaction he was again Petitioned unto that he would give a full and satisfactory answer to their Petion in full Parliament whereupon the late King in Person after their Petition was read by the Clerk of the Crown the Kings answer thereunto was read by the Clerk of the Parliament in these words Soit droit fait come est desire Let right be done as is desired And on the last day of the Session of that Parliament he declared his dislike of a Remonstrance given him by the House of Commons and since he was certainly informed of a second Remonstrance was preparing to take away his profit of Tonnage and Poundage alledging that he had given away his right thereunto by his Answer to their Petition that therefore he was forced to put an end to that Session before he meant it being unwilling to receive any more Remonstrances to which he must give a harsh answer And as for Tonnage and Poundage it was a thing he could not want and never meant by him to be granted As single Persons usually quarrel before they fight so now began there to be a kind of Logomachy a contention in Words Speeches Remonstrances and Declarations began to be cryed up and down the Streets all which in time after ushered in the late War It will be material for a plainer discovery of the injury intended to his said most excellent Majesty in the said second Remonstrance to take away his Profit of Tonnage and Poundage to speak something for the explanation of this learning of the Customs from our Books of Law from which it is observable That the Duties payable to the King out of Merchandizes exported or imported are of three kinds 1. Customs 2. Subsidies 3. Imposts or Impositions all which admit of these Definitions and Divisions 1. Customs are Duties certain and perpetual payable to the King as the Inheritance of his Crown for Merchandizes imported and exported to and from parts over and beyond the Seas from one Realm to another Realm These Duties called Customs are divided into three kinds 1. Magna antiqua Custuma 2. Parva nova Custuma 3. Prisage and Butlerage and in all these the Crown hath a certain and perpetual Inheritance 1. The great and ancient Custome is payable out of native or homebred Commodities of three sorts to wit Wool Woollfells and Hides and is in certainty 6 s. 8 d. for a Sack of Wool for 300. of Woolfells 6 s. 8 d. for a Last of Hides 13 s. 4. d. 1 f. And every Sack of Wool containeth 26 Stone and every Stone 14 Pounds And the Last of Hides is 20 Dickar and every Dickar is 10 Hides this is the Ancient Custom payable by every Merchant Denizon for the exportation of the Commodities aforesaid but the Merchant Strangers payed a third part more for remission of Prizes and other Priviledges to them granted by the Charter of 31. Ed. 1. Dyer 1 Eliz. 165. b. 1. 2. The new and pettit Custom is 3 d. of the Pound payable by Merchant Strangers only for all Commodities by them imported and exported as is expressed in the said Charter of 31. Ed. 1. 3. Prisage is a Custom taken of Wines of all sorts and is in certainty 2 Tuns of Wine out of every Ship laden with 20 Tun or more the one Tun to be taken before the Mast of the Ship and the other behind the Mast and because that this Custom is part of the Merchandizes imported and taken in specie it is called Prizeage and this Custom of Prizeage was payable in England by all Merchants Denizons and Aliens before the said Charter of 31 Ed. 1. for which the King remitted to all Merchant strangers all Prizes And in the same Charter it is expressed that in consideration thereof the Merchants strangers had granted to pay to the King and his Heirs by name of Custom 2 s. of every Tun of Wine that they shall bring or cause to be brought into the Kingdom c. which Custom of 2 s. of the Tun is now in England called Buttlerage and payable there by all Merchant strangers See the Stat. de Extra ad Scaccar 15th Ed. 2. And this is the nature of these several Duties for the Original of these Customs 1. The said Ancient and grand Custom is parcel of the Ancient Inheritance of the Crown and as Ancient as the Crown it self Inhaeret sceptro and is due of common Right and by Prescription and not by grant or benevolence of Merchants or by Act of Parliament Dyer 1. Eliz. 165. b. But because that every thing that is due of common Right and by Prescription ought to have a reasonable cause of beginning it is to be Noted and Observed that this Custom was payed to the Crown for four principle Causes and Reasons 1. For the better knowledg of such as depart the Realm and of what Commodities are carried out of the Realm See Dyer 165. b. and the Statute of 18. Ed. 3. ca. 3. 2. For the Interest that the King hath in the Sea and in the Braches and Arms of it 22. Ass Pl. 93.15 Eliz. Dyer 326. b. the Sea is of the Ligeance of the King as of his Crown and is his proper Inheritance Davyes rep 56. a. 3. Because the King is Guardian of all the Ports and Havens of the Realm which are Ostia or januae Regni and the King is Custos totius Regni 4. For Waftage and Protection of Merchants upon the Sea against the Enemies of the Realm and against Pirates who are the common Enemies of all Nations 2. The Pettit and new Custom payable by Merchant strangers only had its beginning in the time of Ed. 1. for before this time the duties payable by Merchant strangers for all Commodities imported except Wines and for all native Commodities exported except the said staple wares of Wool Woolfells and Hides were uncertain For the King by his Prerogative took to his use and at his own price so many and such portions of their Merchandizes as he had need of by name of Prizes which were always uncertain But King Ed. 1. by his said Charter dated the 1 of Febr. in the 31 year of his Reign in favour of Merchant strangers and to invite and occasion their Commerce and Trade remitted to them all Prizes and granted to them divers other Priviledges In consideration whereof all and singular the said Merchant strangers for themselves and others of the same parts with them and every of them beyond the Seas unanimously agreed to pay to the King and
the Ancient Customs of common Right and by Prescription belonging to the King his Heirs and Successors and that we may Collect from what is aforesaid that if not so granted they may and have been imposed by Prerogative Royal for the Four principal Causes and Reasons aforesaid and to support the necessary Charges of the Crown The Words of the King when he Passeth the Bill of Subsedies are observable which are these Le Roy remercye ses Loyal Subjects accept lour benevolence aussi ainsy le veult The King thanks his Loyal Subjects accepts of their good will and also will have it which last Words make the Act of Subsedy a Law and so binds every Man to the payment of it insomuch that the Two Houses of Parliament joint or separate cannot impose a Penny upon the Subject without the King nor can the Freeholders whom they serve invest any such power in them But for the Soveraign Prince himself there are many Examples Old and New how he hath not only raised pecuniary summs in specie but layed Impositions upon Commodities by meer Royal Authority I shall instance only in Two viz. in Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the first laid an Imposition upon Cloth and Gascon Wines the other upon sweet Wines and Alloms without Parliament Therefore those Parliaments of the First and Third years of King Charles the First and the Members of the same that so highly insisted upon their Priviledges their meun and tuum Liberties c. and that would have been unwilling to have abated one of their Tennants of any their Manours or Farms a small matter of their Rents though it may be credited for truth that Twenty Acres of their Lands then let at 20 l. per ann might in the time of Ed. 1. be let for 20 s. per ann were very injurious to the said King in that they contrary to their bounden Duty neglected to Grant to him the usually Granted and Passed Act for Tonnage and Poundage being the chief Maintenance of the Crown in his time The first Parliaments of King Charles the First being Dissolved in a short time after by Order of the said King and Council the then Farmors of the Customs were Commanded to receive the Customs and all Duties payable for the same as in the time of his Royal Ancestor King James the First and the first Seventeen years of the said King Charles the First were times of great Plenty then Trade was great and good and the Farmors of the Customs did very much augment their Estates insomuch that none of them did refuse to Obey the said Order But in time next subsequent they were all great Sufferers for the fatal Parliament called in Noverber 1640. wanted Money for the work they had cut out and after they had Sat a few Months they questioned the Farmers for Intermeddling Farming and Receiving the Customs and Imposts contrary as they said to Law contrary to a Declaration and Vote 3o. Car. and contrary to the Liberty of the Subject they being Threatned and Timorous thô there was no Law to prohibit the Receipt for Farming of the Customs nor any Vote Passed 3o. Car. primi against it suddenly submitted to a Composition of 165000 l. and whilst or a small time before these things were agitating the Farmers contracted for a new Farm of the Customs with his late Majesty for Four years from Christmass 1640. and Lady day 1641. upon the which Farm and the Assignments of the Rents for the same the Sum of 200000 l. was Advanced for his said Majesty King Charles the First by which the said King had made some provisions for War which the said pretended Parliament recovered and made great use of against himself and the next day the said Composition was reported the Contract for the new Farm was Voted Void the Assignments upon the Rents were made Null instead of Farmers many of them were made Commissioners and the said Parliament resolving not to spare this Revenue Commanded them non obstante the Law lately passed by themselves to run into the same Crime for which they had lately Punished them to receive the Customs which with the said Composition paid by them in the space of Two Months was made use of to raise and pay the pretended Parliaments Army which said great Sums of 165000 l. and 200000 l. which the said Farmers may be said to have been Fined and to have advanced for his said Majesty King Charles the First reduced all of them to low Estates and some of them were Prisoners for near Twenty years before his late Majesties most happy Restauration who afterwards in the 16th year of his Reign was graciously pleased to take into Consideration the great sufferings of the said old unhappy Farmers of his late Majesties Customs and out of his special Grace and Favour by his Letters Pattents under the Great Seal of England and by Privy Seal and Tallyes thereupon Struck Leavyed and Allowed of Granted unto Sir John Jacob and other the said Farmers 200000 l. for the discharging and satisfying of the rest and residue of the great Debts by them Contracted for his said Majesty King Charles the First and for their reimbursement and satisfaction of such Sums of Money as they had lent to or paid for the said King Charles the First to be Received and Deducted by them out of their Rents payable to his late Majesty out of the Farm of the Customs then or lately before made to Sir John Wolstenholme Sir John Jacob Sir Nicholas Crisp and Sir John Shaw in Five years being the Term of their then said Farm which they or some others of them or on their behalfs accordingly Received and Disposed of in payment and satissatisfaction of the said Debts which if his late Majesty had not been pleased to do the said Farmers and many of their Creditors also had been utterly Ruined and undone CHAP. III. Sheweth how the late Rebellion broke out and something is said of the great Advantages the Rebels had with what Advantages only the Loyal Party had NOW in time King Charles the First had lately left White-hall because of the rude Insolency of Tumults backed and abetted by those intended nothing less than confusion upon Church and State nothing in the World had more of horrour than these Tumults Enormous and Detestable were their outrages and no means could take place for their Suppression so that to Redeem his Royal Person and Conscience from violence the said King withdrew himself hoping thereby to give time both for the Ebbing of their Tumultuous fury and others their Abettors regaining some degrees of modesty and more sober sense But it is a thing Common to Men High and Low Noble and Ignoble of all Qualities and Conditions whatsoever that when their Adversities approach they lose chiefly that Reason and Wisdom with the which they might have hindred or avoided the ills that happen and it is common to Men and Kingdoms that draw towards their destinies that when
Laiety by Sequestrations Decimations and otherwise ensued whereof we of the Loyal Party were not only Witnesses and Spectators but therein we were fellow Sufferers Now the Writs of the King suffered Violence of which Mr. Fitzherbert in his Preface to his Natura Brevium saith that they be the Foundations whereupon the whole Law doth depend of the which Writs and Processes as be appointed in the Law it is said in St. Jermin in his Book Written by way of Dialogue called Doctor and Student Fol. 64. a. That the King as Sovereign and Fountain of the Law is bounden of Justice to Grant them to every Person that will Complain be his Surmise true or false Yet in stead of Carolus Secundus Dei Gratia c. Vicecomiti c. was used The Keepers of the Liberties of England by Authority of Parliament To the Sheriff of c. But those who had built this Babel by their Divisions and Jealousies one had of another were in time brought to strange Confusions The Writs were to run no longer in the Name of the Keepers c. But all Writs and Process were issued forth in the Name of Oliver their General The Independent though the Younger now prevailed against the Presbyterian the Elder Brother whath the Elder had hunted after the Younger now catched for himself And now also it may be observed that a House of Commons singly Assumed to themselves the Title of and were stiled the Parliament of England though his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First had before truely told them in his Speech to them 3. Car. that none of the Houses of Parliament joint or Separate had any Power either to Make or Declare a Law without his Consent CHAP. V. Sheweth about what time the Kings Writs were first framed for the induction of the Commons into the Parliaments of England FRom the Norman Conquest untill some time in the Reign of H. 3. Parliaments were holden by the King and his Barons Spiritual and Temporal in whose days it is thought the Kings Writ for Election of Kinghts c. was first framed and that the Commons were reduced to a House by the Advice of the Bishops to the King in the heat of the Barons Wars It was thought expedient then to frame a Writ for their Induction that they might allay and lessen the Pride and Power of the Peers who had waged War so many years against the Crown However least they should arrogate too much Authority to themselves they never could so much as exhibit an Oath nor impose a Fine or inflict Punishment upon any but their own Members until the time of the late Usurpers when they were grown to that height of Impudence that the King himself and Lords Spiritual and Temporal were Excluded by them of whom as well before the Norman Conquest as since the Ancient Parliaments of England consisted only without them For it is true the People were wrought under by the Sword of the first William and his followers to a Subjected Vassallage Division and Power had Mastered them none of their old Nobility and Heads were left either of Credit or Fortunes what he Detained not in Providence as the Demeans of the Crown or reserved in Piety as for the Maintenance of the Church he parted and divided amongst those Strangers that Sailed along with him in the same Bark of his Adventure leaving the Natives for the most part as may be seen by his Survey called Domesday Book now in the Exchequor in no better a condition than Villenage To supply his Occasions of Men Money or Provisions he Ordered that all those who injoyed any fruit of his Conquest should hold their Lands proportionably by so many Knights Fees of the Crown And permitted them to Enfeofle their followers with such parts as they pleased of their own Portions which to ease their charge they did in his and his Sons time This course provided him the Body of his War the Money and Provision was by Hidage Assessed on the Common People at and with the consent of their Lords who held in all their Seigniories such right of Royalty that to their vassals as Paris saith they were quot domini tot Tyranni and in time provided to the Kings so great a Curb and restraint of Power that nothing fell into the Care of Majesty after more than to retrench the force of Aristocracy that was like in time to strangle the Monarchy Though others foresaw the Mischief betimes yet none attempted the remedy until King John whose overhasty undertakings brought in the mentioned broiles of the Barrons Wars there needed not before this Care to Advise with the Commons in any Parliamentary or Publick Assemblies when every Man in England by Tenure held himself to his great Lords Will whose Presence was ever required in their Parliaments and in whose Assents his dependant Tennants consent was ever included from what is aforesaid the Commons of England or rather they whom the Commons shall Elect to future Parliaments and are properly said in Parliament Assembled to be the Representatives of all the Commons of England may take notice that Anciently was in use only one Writ of Summons to Parliament by which the King Summoned the Lords Spiritual and Temporal separately to come to his Parliament at a certain Day and Place appointed in the Kings Writ And of latter times with the reasons for the one and the other there hath been an Additional Writ framed which is sent to every Sheriff of England and Wales for Election of Kinghts c. for the Parliament in the Kings Name and when sent it is called the Kings Writ and is directed to his Subordinate Officer the Kings Sheriff For the truth is the King by his Writ giveth the very Essence and Form to the Parliament which is to be Summoned when he pleaseth to be Adjourned Prorogued and Dissolved when he pleaseth And in all good times of Government before and since the Conquest it was ever in the Kings power and was and is his Priviledge Royal Prerogative and Regality to Grant or Deny such Petitions as he pleaseth and all Acts of former times and some of latter time were and are in form of Petitions CHAP. VI. Sheweth the difference between Parliamentary Priviledges and the Priviledges of the King and sheweth how at first Kingly Government was constituted by God himself and that by Gods Law also the Legislative Power and the Power of the Militia was given to the King and that in these highest Points of the Kings Prerogative the Law of England is agreeing with the Law of God and that God is vindex sui Ordinis the avenger of his own Ordinance THE Speaker uf the House of Commons on the first day of every Parliament is usually Presented to the King and in the Name of the Commons of England he humbly Prays his Majesty would be Graciously Pleased to Grant them their Liberties and Priviledges which is a strong Argument that their Priviledge their
quick into the Pit Absalom for Rebelling against his Patriarcha his Father and King as one that deserved no Favour either from God in Heaven or his Deputy on Earth was hung up between Heaven and Earth as unworthy of either and was Strangled by the Hair of his own Head the Flag of his Ambition was made the Instrument of his Execution So that God himself may be said to be vindex sui ordinis the avenger of his own Ordinance CHAP. VII Sheweth that vindictive Justice is also derived from God to the King as Supream and that all Subordinate Officers derive their Jurisdiction from the King and through his Mediation from God also and that herein the Law of England is also agreeing with the Law of God NAY it is said Vengeance is mine and I will repay it saith the Lord and it is the very Ground and Foundation of all Order and Government that it is so for otherwise as Men do Multiply and Increase natural Love doth decrease and the Mightiest as so many Bulls in the Herd would be most mischievous to the Weaker and would be always quarrelling about Limits and Rivers from whence came the words Lis and Rivales And therefore this vindictive Justice is derived also from God himself to his Vicegerent on Earth the King as St. Peter saith where before cited for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well So that Magistrates are of two sorts Supream and Subordinate Subjection is due to both to the King as Supream and to the subordinate such as are Judges Justices such as are missi Commissioned Officers and sent by him that is the King for as he hath his Authority immediately from God so they have theirs from him and through his Mediation from God also As God hath confirmed the Kings Supremacy so hath he also ratified his Subordinate Officers deputation as may be seen Exodus 18.18 where we have Jethro the Father in Law counselling Moses his Son in Law about the Prerequisite qualifications who they should be and the business of Judges what they must do but neither of these without Gods approbation and therefore by Moses followed then and by all Kings observed ever since they were to be able Men such as feared God Men of truth hating Covetousness such as these were to be placed over the People to Judge them at all seasons Hence it is that Bracton cited by Stanford 54 55. saith Dominus Rex habâ—t Ordinariam jurisdictionem dignitatem potestatem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt habet enim omnia jura in manu suâ— c. Our Lord the King hath the Supream Jurisdiction Dignity and Power over all the People that are within his Realm he is said to have all the Laws in his hand which belong to the Crown he hath also the Material Sword which extends to the Government of the Realm in War he is also said to have Justice and Judgment which are of his Jurisdiction as within his Jurisdiction only as he is the Minister and Vicar of God and is to distribute to every one what is his He hath also in him quae sunt pacis the Powers which are of or belong to the preservation of Peace that the People with the Governance of whom God hath intrusted him may live quietly and safely in Peace that one may not Beat Wound or evil Intreat another that one may not by Force and Robbery Steal or bear away that is another Mans or one may not Maim or Kill another He hath also Punishment in his Power that he may Punish and Correct Offenders c. However for the King in Person to Arrest or Commit a Man or do any Offices of Justice is indignum rege is beneath the King Mercy and Honour flow immediately from the King Judgment and Justice are his too but these flow from his Ministers And therefore least there should be a failer of Justice and because the King himself in Person may not be Judge or sit in Judgment in Treason or Fellony because he is one of the Parties to the Judgment he may therefore commit his Authority to another who is to be Judge between him and the Offender And therefore Expedit rei publicae ut Magistratus constituatur and to this purpose Eligere debet Rex de regno suo viros sapientes timâ—ntes deum c. ex illis constituere justiciarios c. Therefore it was thought expedient for the general good of all that Magistracy should be Constituted and settled And in this work of Constituting Magistrates the King as it is said Exod. 18.22 in his own ease and that they might help to bear the burthen with him is to Elect and Choose out of the Kingdom wise Men Men fearing God regarding the Truth hating Covetousness and of such to make and create Judges Justices Sheriffs and other his Ministers and Bayliffs to whom are referred all matters of Controversie relating either to real oâ— personal Actions setting forth perspicuously and more fully all the prerequisite good properties he ought to have and to be indued with all to whom the King shall commit the Office of a Judge Justice c. Et sic concordat lex divina non aliquantulùm sed quamplurimùm cum humanâ And so the Law of God is not somewhat or a very little but very much agreeing with the Law of England especially in these matters relating to the Royal Priviledges and Rights of the Crown Now these Royal Rights and Jurisdictions may not be Transferred to Persons or Tenements or possessed by any private Person nisi hoc datam fit ei de super unless it be given him from above that is to say from the King Now delegatus dicitur cui causa demittitur terminanda vel exequenda vices delegantis reprsentans in Jurisdictione nihil proprium habens he is said to be a delegate to whom Authority is committed to Handle and Determine Matters being the Representative of him that Delegates him and yet he hath no propriety in the Jurisdiction nor can properly call it his own So it is with Judges Justices the Judgments and the Courts they are called the Kings Judges the Kings Justices the Kings Judgments and the Courts of our Lord the King So that Jurisdictio delegata non delegari potest quin potestas Ordinaria remaneat cum ipso Rege this Jurisdiction delegated cannot be delegated but still the Supream Power must remain with the King himself CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Subjects of England are bound by their bond of Allegiance to serve the King only in his Wars and that the King is the Fountain of Honour and by way of Induction to the same something is said of a Countee Palatine Davids worthies and good old Barzillai the Gileadite IN our Books we read of a Countee Palatine to have divers Royal Franchizes and Priviledges which were not Granted to other Earls and that the Doctors of the Imperial
Law hold Quod solus Princeps qui est Monarcha Imperator in Regno suo ex plenitudine potestatis potest creare Comitem Palatinum according to which Rule the King of England may well Create a Countee Palatine for he is Monarcha Imperator in Regno suo as is apparent by many Records and Judgments in Parliament Here we may observe by the way that when once the King was Invested with Royal Authority that his workings in his Sphear were Honoured with the Name of Creation he was said to Create as we may say in our own Phrase Men that are Advanced by the King to some Title of Nobility or Office of State are commonly said by him to be Created and that the Stile of their Pattents is not only facimus but creamus that as in Scripture Kings are Named Gods I have said ye are Gods So they may in their Sphear do something resembling the Power of God And every Countee Palatine Created by the King of England is Lord of a whole County and hath in it Jura Regalia which are consisting in Two principal Points 1st In Royal Jurisdiction by reason whereof he hath all the High Courts and Officers of Justice the King hath And 2ly In Royal Seigniory by reason whereof he hath all the Royal Services and Escheats that the King hath And therefore this County is meerly disjoin'd and as it were Seperated from the Crown as is said in the Case of the Dutchy Plow 215. b. so that no Writ of the King runneth there unless it be Observe a Writ of Error which being the last Resort and Appeal is only excepted out of all their Charters 15. Eliz. Dyer 321. and 345. and 34. H. 6. 42. and as to Royal Escheates the Countee Palatine hath the Escheates of Treasons that the King by his Prerogative shall have of Lands holden of all other Lords but that is to be understood of Treasons which were so at the time when the Countee Palatine was first Erected and not of new Treasons by Act of Parliament afterwards 12. Eliz. Dyer 288. b. 289. a. and this comes Palatinus was so called à comitando vel sequendo principem and the Persons advanced to this Name or Title of Honour were summi proceres à Rege proximi he was to be a Chief Officer and Counsellor in the Pallace of the King and it is said he was not only to be a Companion of the Person of the King but he is to be comes curarum also he is par extans curis solo diademete dispar and is to Sink and Swim at all times and seasons with his Lord the King though it be in troubled Waters So that the King is and ever was the fountain of Honour for as it belongeth only to the King of England to Make or Coin Money and that no other person can do the same without special leave or Commandment of the King and if any presume of his own head to Coin Money it is Treason And as he only hath the Priviledge to Coin Money so he hath the same Prerogative to give a vallew to base Metal by his Impression or Character as he hath to give a higher Esteem to a mean Person by imparting the Character of Honour to him sic fiet viro quem Rex honorare desiderat Davyes rep 19. a. 25. a. yet the Countees Palatine are to take notice what is said also in Davyes rep 66. b. Comites Palatii regalem habent potestatem in omnibus salvo dominio Domino Regi sicut Principi Countees Palatine have Kingly Power in all things excepted always nevertheless Lordship Dominion and the Power to Rule over them and their Counties to the Lord the King as their Prince and Soveraign And they and all the Nobility either of the more Ancient or the latter impression are to know that no Lord can be Ancienter than the King for all was of him and came from him at the beginning Stanf. prer 10th a. and we have a saying in our Books that honor est in honorante non in honorato that Honour is in him that doth the Honour not in him that is Honoured and amongst many reasons might be given for the same I shall only presume to mention one which is that Persons of Honour should so behave themselves to all Men that they should not give the least occasion to any Man to think much less to speak Dishonourably of them In the 2d Book of Samuel 23d chap. we have a Catalogue of Davids Worthies of whom some were more mighty and had done more signal Services than others of them and therefore were more Honourable than the others so we may also see in the same Book of Samuel in the 17th and 19th chapters That Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim that when the Armies of Israel and Absalom were pitched in the Land of Gilead had relieved David and his People with him with all manner of Forrage Beds Basons Earthen Vessels Wheat Barley Flower parched Corn Beans Lentils parched Pulse Honey Butter Sheep and Cheese of Kine that David and the People with him might Eat and refresh themselves for there it is said the People were hungry and weary and thirsty in the Wilderness in the 18th chap. we have the Relation of the Defeat of Absaloms Army and his death in the 19th chap. we have King David saying unto Barzillai come thou over Jordan with me and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem Barzillai was to have been made Comes Palatinus was to be taken into the Kings own Family and to feed with the King at his own Table But the good old Man being very Aged excused the matter saying Thy Servant will go a little way over Jordan with the King and why should the King recompence it me with such a reward Let thy Servant I pray thee turn back again that c. But behold my Son thy Servant Chimham let him go over with my Lord the King and the King answered Chimham shall go over with me and I will do to him that shall seem good unto thee and whatsoever thou shalt require of me that will I do for thee and all the People went over Jordan And when the King was come over the King kissed Barzillai and Blessed him and he returned to his own place Hence may be inferred that the King hath not only paenam Punishment but also praemium Reward in his Power and so he is set over us not only for the punishment of them that do evil but also for the praise and reward of them that do well And as if for the Life only of King David to have created Chimham Comitem Pallacii sui or Pallainum had not been a reward suitable to the Merits of good old Barzillai in the First Book of Kings the 2d chap. and the 7th verse we may see That when the days of David drew nigh that he should die and that he gave several things in charge to Solomon his Son
amongst the rest he gave him a special charge to shew kindness not unto Chimham only but unto all the Sons of Barzillai the Gileadite charging him that he let them be of those that Eat at his Table rendring this for reason for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom thy Brother Absit be it far from me I do not mention this matter as if I would thence infer that King David was obliged to have done this Honour to Barzillai and his Sons No! Cujus est dare ejus est disponere he that hath the power to give Honour or Reward hath also the disposing power to give to whom what and when he pleaseth and the very words of Barzillai and why should the King recompence it me with such a reward manifest that good old Barzillai thought it his bounden Duty to do what he had done And as appears by the preamble of the Statute of 11th H. 7th ca. 1. Every Subject of this Realm of England by Duty of Allegiance is bound to serve his Prince and Soveraign Lotd in his Wars for the defence of him and the Land against every Rebellion Power and Might reared against him and with him to enter and abide in service in Battel And Sir Edward Coke also in the 7th parr of his Reports Fol. 7. b. 8. a. saith that all Subjects are bound to go with the King in War infra extra regnum both within and without the Kingdom CHAP. IX Herein you have a Subject defined you have Ligeance defined and is shewed that the King hath two Capacities the one Natural and the other Politick that the body Politick cannot be separated from the Body Natural that Ligeance is due to the Natural Body of the King that the Kingdom of England admits of no interregnum and that the Disherison of the Right Heir of a Kingdom is wont to be the beginning of Civil Wars NOW whosoever is born under a natural Ligeance due by the Law of Nature is a Subject And it is neither caelum Heaven nor solum the Soil that makes the Subject but Ligeance which is of as large extent and Latitude as the Royal Power and Protection of the King is which Allegiance or Ligeance is a true and faithful Obedience of the Subject due to his Soveraign and is or ought to be an incident inseperable to every Subject because Ligeantia est vinculum fidei the bond of Faith est quasi Legis essentia est ligamentum quasi ligatio mentium quia sicut ligamentum est connexio articulorum juncturarum c. As the Ligatures or Strings do knit together all the Joints of all the parts of the Body so doth this Ligeance joyn together the Soveraign and all his Subjects quasi uno ligamine as in one knot or tye In some Acts of Parliament Subjects are called Leige Subjects or Leige People and again in some Acts of Parliament the King is called Leige Lord of his Subjects so that I may further say Ligeantia est quid quodamodo reciprocum a certain Reciprocal thing hence it is we say Protectio Regis tiahit subjectionem subditi subjectio subditi trahit protectionem Regis The Protection of the King doth draw or attract the Subjection of the Subject and the Subjection of the Subject doth draw or attract to it the Protection of the King So that this Ligeance is the mutual Bond and Obligation between the King and his Subjects whereby Subjects are called his Leige Subjects because they are bound to Obey and Serve him as well in times of War as in times of Peace and he is called their Leige Lord because he is to maintain them in their just Rights and Liberties by the power of the Sword times of War and by the Legislative power to defend them in times of Peace from Injuries and Oppressions Now the King is said to have Two Capacities one Natural the other Politick one framed of God the other by the Policy of Man one subject to Infirmities the other not And the Estate Royal or Politick doth not confound the capacity of his Body Natural but their Capacities remain distinctly as in other Persons that have double capacity as a Bishop or a Dean c. Plow 234. a. and the Body Politick of the King may not be disjoyned or separated from his Body Natural Plow 230. a. 242. b. So that when the King is Sworn to his Subjects as he is at his Coronation he taketh Oath in his Natural Person for the Politick Body is immortal and invisible nay the Politick Body hath no Soul for as is aforesaid it is framed by the Policy of Man and therefore the King cannot be said to Swear in his Politick Capacity In likewise when at the Assizes by the Judge of the Goal delivery at the Sessions of the Peace by the Justices or the Commissioners of the Peace when at or in the Leet by the Steward there the Subject is or shall be Sworn to the King to bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors then the Subject is Sworn to bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Natural Body of the King And accordingly in all Indictments of Treason when any intend or compass mortem destructionem Domini Regis which must needs be intended and understood to be of his Natural Body for his Politick Body is Immortal and not subject to Death the Indictment always concludeth with contra Ligeantiae suae debitum contrary to the Duty of their Allegiance and therefore Ligeance is due to the Natural Body of the King And Sir Edward Coke says this Ligeance or Faith of the Subject is proprium quarto modo to the King a degree beyond the Grammarians Superlative omni soli semper to every King to the King alone and always to the King And it will be material and not contrary to Sir Edward Cokes meaning to add these words de jure to every of his omni soli semper And so Ligeance will be due as it is to every King that is so de jure of Right to him alone that is so and always to him that is King de jure of Right Thereby every King de facto and Usurper will be excluded and the greater safety will be secured to the King and to the Subject too for the Disherison of the Right Heir of a Kingdom is always wont to be the beginning of Civil Wars But however Sir Edward Coke omitted those words de jure yet his meaning was without question the same as if those words had been added because C. 7. 10. b. he saith that the King holdeth the Realm of England by Birthright upon which Succession is ever attendant and in the same place he saith that the King in individuo moritur but not in genere which is as much as to so say that the Natural Body of the King is subject to Death but the body Politick of the King dyeth not And therefore
the Death of the Natural Body of the King is called Plow 234. a. the Demise of the King because that thereby he Demiseth the Realm to another and the Body Politick is transferred from one Body Natural immediately to another Body Natural that Right hath and that because our Realm doth not admit of any Interregnum Hence it was that in the year of our Lord 1660. at the very instant of his late Sacred Majesties most happy Restauration all Charters and Writings whatsoever were Written Reputed and Esteemed to be made in the Twelfth year of his Reign though that from 1648. to that time he was injuriously and wickedly Deprived Robbed and kept out from his Inheritance of all his Regal Rights of the Crown whereof he was the undoubted right Heir by the late Usurpers CHAP. X. Herein you have an Heir defined and divided and is shewed that the Right Heir of the Crown ought not nor can lawfully be Disinherited that a Bastard ought not nor can be Heir to the Crown and further something is said to the late Bill for the Exclusion of the late most Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now our Soveraign Lord King James the Second NOW Sir Edward Coke in the First part of his Institutes Fol. 7. b. saith that in the Legal understanding of the Common Law he is said to be haeres an Heir that is ex justis nuptiis procreatus for haeres legittimus est quem nuptiae demonstrant and is he to whom Lands Tenements or hereditaments by the Act of God and right of Blood do descend of some Estate of Inheritance for solus deus haeredem facere potest non homo God alone can make an Heir not Man And Heirs are either Lineal who ever shall first Inherit or Collateral who are to Inherit for want of Lineal Lineal descent is conveyed downwards in the right Line as from the Grandfather to the Father from the Father to the Son c. Collateral descent is derived from the side of the Lineal as Grandfathers Brother Fathers Brother c. Now in Mr. Swinb 5th part Fol. 289. he that hath Issue Natural but not Lawful is said to die without Issue and in such Case the Fathers Brother shall Inherit and not the Issue Natural of the Father for such Issue Natural in our Law is said to be nullius filius no Mans Son whence may be Inferred that no Mans Son shall Inherit no Mans Land much less a Crown And in the 23d chap. of Deuteron the 2d verse is said a Bastard shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord even to his Tenth generation shall he not enter into the Congregation of the Lord. And 10. H. 7. 18. it is said that Rex est persona mixta cum sacerdote quia tam Ecclesiasticam quam temporalem habet jurisdictionem The King is a person mixt or participating with the Priest in the Priesthood because he is said to have Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as well as Temporal And Sir John Fortescue Fol. 95. a. b. saith that it is convenient that Mans Law in the benefit of Succession should cut them short whom the Church judgeth unworthy to be received into Holy Orders yea whom Holy Scripture judgeth as touching their Birthright inferior to the Legitimate or Lawfully Begotten as we read in the 25th chap. of Gen. 5 and 6th verses Abraham gave all his Inheritance to his Son Isaac and to the Sons of his Concubines he gave Gifts And again in Mr. Swinb part 5th Fol. 17. is said A King may ex plenitudine potestatis make his unlawful Issue capable of whatsoever by Will deviseable he doth give or bequeath unto him But Mr. Plowden saith 247. a. b. It is an evil or unlawful thing to Disinherit the Right Heir And Mr. Swinb in his 2d part Fol. 118. saith that by the Civil Canon and Common Laws also of this Realm of England It is unlawful for a King to give away his Kingdom from his Lawful Heirs However we had lately a House of Commons or rather a Major part of them that had framed a Bill for the Excluding and Disabling the then most Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now King James the Second for ever from Possessing Having Holding Inheriting and Enjoying of the Imperial Crowns of this Realm and Kingdoms It was a Presumptuous Bill for the Excluding of the Presumptive Heir of these Crowns However it was refused by the Lords House and so could not be offered to his late Majesty for his Royal Assent to make it a Law Have me excused for saying it was a Presumptuous Bill Matters of that nature have been in times past esteemed so in 35o. Eliz. Mr. Peter Wentworth and Sir Henry Bromley delivered a Petition to the Lord Keeper desiring the Lords of the Upper House to be suppliants with them of the Lower House unto her Majesty for entailing the Succession of the Crown whereof a Bill was ready drawn the Queen was highly displeased herewith and charged her Council to call the Parties before them so Sir Thomas Heneage was sent to fetch them they were first commanded to forbear going to the House and not to go out of their several Lodgings afterwards they were called before the Lord Treasurer the Lord Buckhurst and Sir Thomas Heneage Wentworth was Committed to the Tower Bromley to the Fleet together with Mr. Stevens as also Mr. Welch Knight for Worcester-shire and yet it was then thought no Breach of Priviledge They that meddle with this matter of the Succession to the Crown do not only trench upon the Power and Priviledge of Almighty God who as the Prophet Daniel tells us in his 4th chap. is the most High that Ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will but also we have found by woful experience that they Praevaricate with the King himself for in the very word King is included all Succession so that where a Guift is made to the King a Fee-simple passeth without the words either of Heirs or Successors or both as may be seen C. Inst. 1. part 9. b. and in the same Book Fol. 22. b. is said a Man cannot have an Heir during his Life for non est haeres viventis And Mr. Plowden 45. b. saith no Heir hath Right or Title till after the Death of his Ancestor that hath the Inheritance be the Heir either Lineal or Collateral and not in his Life and this is because let all the provision imaginable by Man nay by a Parliament be appointed yet the same by the death of the Presumptive Heir or Heir apparent in the Life time of the Ancestor by the Act of God not otherwise may and can be disappointed And Anciently and now also as in C. 8. 28. it is held That Princeps coruscat radiis Regis censetur una persona cum Rege the Prince is enlightned and made splendid by the shining brightness of the King and is esteemed to be one and the same Person with the
that sueth by Petition he may afterwards enterplede with the King and if cause be for the same the Subject shall have right done him and shall have restitution of that he sueth for by Petition as readily as one Subject may recover against another Subject in any of the Kings Courts For the King of England hath all Subordinate Offices in him to grant but none in him to use himself and all his Subordinate Officers Ministers of State and such as do occupy Judicial places and others even from those of his Majesties Privy Counsel to the Petty Constable at their admittance to their Offices are Sworn by meet Forms of Religious Attestations or Oaths for their just and upright Execution of the same between the King and his Subjects meaning thereby not only to set God before their Eyes whom by such Oath they call to Witness of their promise and call upon for revenge of their falshood but also they are thereby threatned with temporal peins provided by the Policy of Christian Laws against corrupt dealings and thereby their minds are strengthened and they are Armed with Courage against the force of humane affections which otherwise might allure or draw them to partiallity and out of the way of right Judgment and Justice And the King as is said Plow 231. b. neither gives nor takes but by matter of Record and therefore Livery of Seizin being matter in Deed the King ought not to do it for he ought to have a Record for his Acts therefore the King shall neither make Livery nor take by Livery and a Subject may not give Lands to the King by Act Executed in his Life time if not that it be by Deed Enrolled or other matter of Record So that seeing the King must have a Record for his Acts and that the same are had and obtained by his Subordinate Officers if any thing be done in prejudice of the Subject his Officers are answerable for the same not the King And also C. 11. 90. b. an Officer or Minister of the King may do nothing in disadvantage of the King nor of the Subject by reason Publick Officers are at their admittance to their Publick Offices and Imployments Sworn Well and Lawfully to serve the Lord the King and his People and that Lawfully they shall Counsel the King in his business and that they shall not Counsel nor Assent to any thing which shall turn him in dammage or disherison by any manner way or colour and that they shall do equal Law and Execution of right to all his Subjects Rich and Poor without having regard to any Person as may be seen in Mr. Pulton's Statutes at large 18th Edward the Third in the Oath of the Justices and the Oaths of the Clerks of the Chancery c. And Stanford 59. a. The King is said to be alwaies present in Court and if the Parties in pleading or any Jury in their Verdict disclose matter that entitleth the King and the Court shall adjudge for the King though that he is not any of the Parties to the Action CHAP. XIV Sheweth what inconveniencies happen in the Realm of France through Regal Government alone with the Commodities that proceed of the joynt Government Politick and Regal in the Realm of England And all the Community are herein disswaded by mutinous and Rebellious practises to Disinfranchise themselves IN Sir John Davyes rep Fol. 40. b. it is said that the Kings of England have always claimed and had within their Dominions a Monarchy Royal and not a Monarchy Seignioral or Tyranny and that under a Monarchy Royal the Subjects are Freemen and have property in their Goods and Freehold and Inheritance in their Lands but under a Monarchy Seignioral or Tyranny they are all as Villains or Slaves and are Proprietors of nothing but at the will of their Grand Seignior or Tyrant as in Turkey and Moscovy But Sir John Fortescue Fol. 25 c. saith That the King of England cannot alter or change the Laws of his Realm at his pleasure for that he Governeth his People not by power only Royal but also Politick and such King Ruling by Power Royal and Politick can neither change Laws without the consent of his Subjects nor yet charge them with strange impositions against their Wills so that to Rule the People by Government Politick is no Yoak not only to the Subject but to the King himself accordingly within the Realm of England no Man Sojourneth in another Mans House without the love and leave of the good Man of the same House saving in Common Inns where before his departure he shall satisfie and pay for all his charges there neither shall he escape unpunished whosoever he be that taketh another Mans Goods without the good will of the owner thereof nether is it unlawful for any Man to provide and store himself of Salt and other Merchandizes and Wares at his own will and pleasure or any Man that selleth the same neither doth the King take away any of his Subjects Goods without due satisfaction for the same neither doth the King by himself or his Servants and Officers leavy upon his Subjects Tallages Subsedies or any other burdens or alter their Laws without the express consent and agreement of the whole Realm in his Parliament So that every Inhabitant of the Realm useth and enjoyeth at his pleasure all the Fruits that his Land or Cattle beareth with all the Profits and Commodities which by his own Travel or by the Labour of others he gaineth by Land or by Water not hindered by the injury or wrong detainment of any Man but that he shall be allowed reasonable recompence So that the People of England are plentifully furnished with all things that are requisite to the accomplishment of a quiet and wealthy life according to their Estates and Degrees neither are they sued in the Law nor are Arrested or Impleaded for their Moveables or Possessions or Arraigned of any offence Criminal but only before ordinary Judges where by the Laws of the Land they are justly intreated And these are the Fruits which Government Politick and Regal conjoyned doth bear and bring forth But in the Realm of France where the People are Governed by Regal Power alone the Villages and Towns are pestered with the Kings Men at Arms and their Horses so that it is hard in any of the great Towns there to get any Lodging which Men at Arms though they continue in one Village a Month or Two do not nor will pay any thing at all for their own charges or for the charges of their Horses and when they have spent all the Victuals Fuel and Horse-meat in one Town then they go to another Town wasting the same in the like manner not paying one Penny for any necessaries and thus are all the Villages and Unwalled Towns of the Land used so that there is not the least Village there free from this miserable Calamity but that it is Once or Twice every year beggered by this
kind of pilling And the King there suffereth no Man to Eat Salt within his Kingdom except he buyeth it of the King at such price as it pleaseth him to Assess and if any poor Man had rather Eat his Meat fresh than to buy Salt so excessively dear he is immediately compelled to buy so much of the Kings Salt at the Kings price as shall suffice so many Persons as he keepeth in his House Moreover all the Inhabitants of that Realm give yearly to the King the Fourth part of all the Wines that their Grounds beareth and every Vintner the Fourth Penny of the price of the Wines that he selleth And besides all this every Village and Borough payeth yearly to the King great Summs of Money assessed upon them for the Wages of Men at Arms so that the charges of the Kings Army which is ever very great is maintained by the poor People of the Villages Boroughs and Towns of the Realm and these things not considered other exceeding great Tallages are yearly Assessed upon every Village of the same Realm to the Kings use whereof they are no year released And the People being with these and divers other calamities plagued and oppressed do live in great misery and thraldom for there the Princes pleasure standeth in force of a Law so that by reason thereof their Kings at their pleasure change Laws make new Laws Execute Punishments burden their Subjects with charges and also when and as themselves list they do determine controversies of Suitors as pleaseth them I have shewed you here out of Sir John Fortescues Book De laudibus legum Angliae For every sober Man would judge me or any other a Mad-man that should Write of Matters of this nature without good and warrantable Authority for that is Written what inconveniencies happen in the Realm of France through Regal Government alone with the Commodities that proceed of the joynt Government Politick and Regal in the Realm of England that being hence instructed with the experience of both Laws we may the better by their effects Judg whether of them we ought rather to choose for that Opposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt contraries laid together do the more perfectly appear It is and hath been held to be one of the principles of Policy in France to keep the Peasan which is the Gross of the People still indigent and poor because they are of such a volatil instable Nature that if they were Rich and Fed high Wealth and Wantonness would make them ever and anon to be kicking against Government and crying out for a change The Old Cavalier now again takes leave to look Backward and to put this Question to all the Commons of England for it is only to them he directs this his Discourse he may be taken notice of not to have presumed to take upon him to Advise the King or any of his several Counsels whether all the People of England comprehended under the notion of the Community or stile or name of the Commons of England have not been for Threescore years last past and upward of as volatil and instable a Nature as ever the Gross of the People of France are were or possibly could or can be I must Answer in the Affirmative that the People of England in this latter Age have been very changeable always endeavouring to promote alteration in Church and State and so in the late times of Rebellion they changed Peace for War and consequently all the miseries and sad effects thereof were laid open to their Eyes their Goods were spoiled their Children Slain their Wives and Daughters Ravished their Cattle driven away and themselves made miserable spectators to behold their own unhappiness and though what by destiny was decreed Man could not prevent his late Sacred Majesty was Miraculously restored to his Realms and Dominions yet still by reason of variety of Opinions lodging in various particular individual Persons Breasts differing amongst themselves the subvertion and alteration of the Government none will deny hath again been menaced and threatned and a person Good-enough for so Wicked an undertaking was imployed with Letters Legations and Messages to invite and desire the Aid and Assistance of our dear Brethren the Scots Ayming again to have subdued all to their own Will and Power under the Old disguises of Holy Combinations in the same manner as heretofore by Solemn League and Covenant or otherwise howsoever But my good Brethren of all the Community within all his Majesties Realms and Dominions seeing that as free born Subjects by Birthright we are Entitled to all those Fruits and Priviledges Government Regal and Politick conjoyned beareth let us take care for the future that by Mutinous Disobedient and Rebellious practises we do not Frenchifie and Disinfranchise our selves knowing that he that is free and voluntarily runneth into Fetters is a Fool and whosoever becometh Captive without constraint may be thought either willful or witless CHAP. XV. Sheweth how tender this Government Politick and Regal conjoyned is of the safety of the Kings Person and of all his Royal Rights and Prerogatives And that our Law doth not reject Women or Infants in the high point of the Descent of the Crown and that our King holdeth immediately of God to himself and acknowledgeth no Prince on Earth his Superior NOW as Government Politick and Regal conjoined is tender of the preservation of the just Rights of the Communalty and this Communalty without a head can in no wise be said to be corporate so in likewise we are to understand it is as tender and curious in the preservation of the Royal Rights Priviledges and Jurisdictions and Prerogatives of the Chief Head and Supream Ruler of this Body Mystical which is the King or Queen of these Kingdoms For in this high point of Descent of the Crown Our Law doth not reject Women tho Women are commonly said to be such whom Nature hath made to keep home to nourish their Family and Children and do not meddle with matters abroad nor are to bear Office in a City or Common-wealth no more than Children and Infants yet in such Cases wherein the Authority is annexed to the Bloud and Progeny as in the Descent of the Crown there the Bloud is respected not the Age nor the Sex and such a one is called an absolute Queen which hath the Name not by being Married to a King but by being the true right and next Successor in the Dignity and upon whom by Right of Bloud that Title is descended These I say have the same Authority though they be Women of Children in these our Kingdoms Realms or Dominions as they should have had if they had been Men of full Age. For the Right and Honour of the Bloud and the Quietness and Surety of the Realm is more to be considered than either the tender Age as yet impotent to Rule or the Sex not accustomed otherwise to intermeddle with Publick Affairs being always by common intendment
understood that such personages never do lack the Counsel of such Grave and Discreet Men as be able to supply all other defects Now we are to understand that our Nation hath not used any other general Authority neither Aristocratical nor Democratical but only the Imperial Monarchy or the Royal and Kingly Majesty which Anciently and at the very First as in the time of the Heptarchy was divided to many and sundry Kings each absolutely Reigning in his Country none under Subjection of other till observe by Fighting one with the other the Overcomed always falling to the Augmentation of the Vanquisher and Overcomer at last the Realm of England grew into one Monarchy neither one of these Kings neither he who first or at the last had all took any investiture at the Hands of the Emperor of Rome or of any other Superior or Forreign Prince but as may be seen in the Statute of 16th Rich. the Second chap. 5th held immediately of God to himself acknowledging no Prince on Earth his Superior and so we are to take notice it is kept and holden at this day and we may see that by a Statute made in the 13th Car. 2 di ca. 1. That if any during the Life of the King Majesty shall within the Realm or without Compass or Intend the Death or Bodily Harm Imprisonment or Restraint of the Person of the King or to Depose him from the Kingly Name of the Imperial Crowns of his Realms or Levy Wars against him or stir up any Forreigner to a Forcible Invasion and such compassings shall express by Printing Writing Preaching or Malitious and Advised Speeches and be Convicted thereof upon the Oath of Two credible Witnesses every Person so Offending shall be Adjudged to be Traitors and shall lose and forfeit as in Case of High Treason And by the same Act it is provided amongst other things That if any shall affirm the King to be an Heretick or a Papist or that he intends to introduce Popery or shall Maliciously and Advisedly by Writing Printing Preaching or other Speeches Publish or Declare any word or other thing or things to stir up the People to hatred or dislike of the Person of his Majesty or Government every such Person thereof convicted are thereby made uncapable of any Office or Imployment in Church and State and are made lyable to such Further punishments as by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm are to be inflicted in such Cases take notice this Act was made presently after his late Majesties most happy Restauration when again the Major part if not all then Living of the Secluded Members in the late pretended Parliament without King or House of Lords were again chosen by the Freeholders of their several Counties to come to this long expected and much wished for Free Parliament It would then have made a true English-man smile to see Old Esq Prynne trudge through Westminster-hall to the House of Commons with his Basket not Silver Hilt Sword by his Side time was then come that his Eyes were opened and as a principal Member of that Parliament he was one of the Framers of that Bill for the forementioned Act wherein it is further-provided that if any Person or Persons shall Maliciously and Advisedly by Writing Printing Preaching or Speaking Declare or Affirm that the Parliament began at Westminster November 3. 1640. is not Dissolved nor Determined or that it ought to be in being Or that there lies any Obligation upon him or any other Person from the Oath Covenant or Engagement to endeavour a change of Government or that both or either Houses of Parliament have a Legislative Power without the King or words to the same effect Every Person so Offending shall incur the danger and penalty of Praemunire whereof mention is made in the before mentioned Statute of 16th Rich. the Second I have made mention of this latter clause in the said Act the more especially because thereby all Interregna Kings de facto wicked and injurious Usurpers are Excluded and the Body Natural and Politick of our Lawful King are so conjoined and closed together that I hope in God for the future it shall not lye in the Power of the People by Rising in Rebellion against their Rightful Soveraign Lord to make any Separation of the Soveraignty from the Person of our Lord the King or to abstract the Person of our King from his Office to the Ruin Alteration or Subvertion again of his Majesties Realms and Dominions And I have mentioned the former Clauses to give you to understand what care hath been made for the Security and Preservation of his Majesties Royal Person and Government ask it is freed and secured thereby from all Restraint Bodily Harm or violence whatsoever by wicked Words or Deeds CHAP. XVI Sheweth that all Vnlawful Assemblies or Meetings for the Plotting of harm to the King or the Alteration of the Government are Vnlawful and further sheweth what Misprision of Treason is and that it is the Duty of every good Subject presently to discover Treason NOW we are to know how that we are forbid also by sundry Laws in force to Congregate and Associate our selves to Unlawful Assemblies or Meetings in Coffee-houses or elsewhere where any discontented seduced wicked Persons shall Assemble themselves together to Plot or Contrive Bodily harm to the King or the Alteration of the Government If it shall be the hard mishap of any Loyal and well affected Christian Person to chance to be in such evil Company let him learn of Mordecai the Jew his Duty therein as we may see in the second chap. of the Book of Esther the 21 22 23. verses while Mordecai sat in the Kings Gate Two of the Kings Chamberlaines Bigthana and Teresh of those which kept the Door were wroth and sought to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus and the thing was known to Mordecai who told it unto Esther the Queen and Esther certified the King thereof in Mordecai's Name and when inquisition was made of the matter it was found out therefore they were both Hanged on a Tree and it was Written in the Book of the Chronicles before the King And Ahasuerus afterwards reading in the Chronicles of the good service done by Mordechai took care for his reward as may be seen in the sixth chap. of the said Book of Esther And we may see in Stanf. 37. b. when one knoweth that another hath done Treason or Fellony and he will not him discover to the King or his Counsel or to some Magistrate but concealeth his Offence that is Misprision which Offence Bracton placeth amongst the Offences of Treason because he was of opinion that concealment beyond a certain time shall make it amount rather to Treason than to Misprision for that purpose he saith Statim sine aliquo intervallo c. that presently and without any stop pause or giving over for a time he ought to go to the King himself if he may or otherwise to some of his
Secretaries of State or some Magistrate and to discover the whole matter in orderly manner that he ought not to stay Two days or nights in one place before he sees the King nor to be let or hindred by any business though never so urgent quia vix ei permittitur ut retrospiciat because the Law giveth him not so much time as to look back in some Cases as we must render an account for every idle word so must we likewise in this case for our idle silence for in such a Case as this where any knoweth of any Conspiracy against his King or Country he is bound by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm presently to discover it for as Fire in its beginning whilst it is but small is more easily quenched than it is afterwards when by some continuance it hath gathered strength so the beginning of Rebellious contrivances being known and discovered with more ease the sad events and evil consequences thereof are nipped in the Bud and are smothered hindred and prevented therefore as to this Evil or rather Devil of Rebellion all are to be advised by the Poet who saith Principiis obsta sero medicina paratur Cum mala per longas invaluere moras CHAP. XVII Sheweth that all Writs Process Executions and Commandments are and ought to be in the Kings Name only NOW I shall acquaint you further that all Writs Executions and Commandments are done in the Kings Name Nay we do say in England the Life and Member of the Kings Subject are the Kings only that is to say no Man hath hault or moyenne Justice but the King nor can hold plea thereof Hence it is that those Pleas which touch the Life or Mutilation of Man be called Pleas of the Crown nor can be done in the Name of any inferior Person than he or she that holdeth the Crown of England And all Enditements Presentments and Processes relating to the Sessions of the Peace begin with Juratores presentant pro Domino Rege quod I. S. de c. or Inquiratur pro Domino Rege si A. B. de c. And every warrant from a Justice of the Peace upon all occasions whatsoever directed to the Constable begin with these or such like words these are in his Majesties Name to Will and Require you forthwith c. If any Process Summons Invitation or Commandment come to you in Parliament time or out of Parliament time in any other Habit Dress or Name whatsoever Be you assured such Coin is counterfeit and not currant within his Majesties Realms and Domions but are deceitful and delusory and may not improperly be likened to the Melody of Syrens who Sing not to stir up Mirth but to allure unto danger and mishaps CHAP. XVIII All Freeholders are advised as to what manner of Persons they are or ought to Choose for future Parliaments I Remember I made mention of the Secluded Members in the late times of Rebellion These were they with whom Treason had no place because with them Obedience to their Soveraign Lord the King and his Laws Ecclesiastical and Temporal bore sway and held Principallity some of whom when the confluence and Clamours of the Tumults in those times passed all boundaries of Laws and Reverence to Authority by the rude and unseemly deportments both in contemptuous words and actions of the vulgar and that no means prevailed for their suppression withdrew themselves with his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First for the security of their Persons from Violence others of when the Lords were Excluded and the House of Commons was purged by the Military power to a Rump Parliament for rotten Members as they then termed them were cast out and all of them that were afterwards living were again chosen for Parliament-men upon his late Majesties most miraculous and happy Restauration Many of them held their King and Country and the Government thereof so dear that in defence thereof they feared not to hazard their lives and Fortunes Such as these were Men Fearing God Honouring their King and abhorring to meddle or joyn with those that are given to change I advise every Freeholder who hath a voice in the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses should Chose and Elect to sit in Parliament for the future when his Majesty shall be pleased to Issue forth his Royal Writs for the same If you know of any that have offended grievously in former Parliaments Elect them not again upon an expected repentance All jealousies and fears laid aside Elect such as are Men of good Fortunes not such as have their fortunes to make such as are Wise and prudent Men in the management of their own private Affairs at home and in their several Countries make a right and good use of those benefits which God hath put into their hands for their succouring of others their poor Tennants and Neighbours whose vertue is yet altogether joyned with that Justice that is prudently guided with Moderation and reason for they that know well how to manage their own private Affairs when called thereto will in all probability as carefully contribute their prudent and hearty endeavours for the preservation of the Publick Peace and welfare of the whole Community Let not Elections be carryed on as heretofore with partiality and popular heat let the Gravity and discretion of the more sober and better educated Gentry allay and fix the Commons to a due temperament guiding some Mens well meaning Zeal by such Rules of Moderation as are best both to preserve and restore the health and welfare of all States and Kingdoms Every Freeholder ought to know and well to consider with what power he trusts those whom he chooseth in regard the Power of the House of Commons is derived from that trust and the Kings Writ directed to the Sheriff gives Authority to the Freeholders to make their Elections in which is expressed not only the Sheriffs Duty in point of Summoning but the Writ also contains the Duty and Power of such Knights and Burgesses as shall be Elected and such as shall be Elected are to know that as a Body Natural cannot do any perfect Act if it be dismembred viz. if the Head be in one place and the Body in another place and so of the rest of the Members of a Body Natural so it is in like wise of the Parliament which may be said by the Power of the King to be made corporate or the highest Court aggregate and consisting of the King or Queen of England the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in Parliament Assembled the Members whereof are or ought to know that they are Capitulariter or rather sub uno capite congregati Chapterwise or rather Assembled under one Head which is the King or Queen thereof who have the only Power Priviledge and Prerogative not only of Summoning but also of Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving of the Parliament as alsh of Passing or not Passing any Bills whatsoever framed for Acts at
pretended Birthright and Inheritance floweth only from the Kings Primitive Grace and Favour and that they would not pray that de Gratiâ of Grace if they had any Colour to claim the same de Jure of Right And the renewing of this Petition every Parliament proves the Grant to be but Temporary But the late Usurpers pretended they had Priviledge granted to them to sit by the Mentioned Act of Continuance c. And therefore all fair Offers from his said Majesty for Publick Good and for the Preservation of the Government in Church and State were afterwards interpreted a Breach of Priviledge Though the soundest Lawyers of that time were of Opinion that the said Act of Continuance was Void in it self in regard that what Grants or Concessions soever the King makes the Law presupposeth they are always with this Provisoe Salvo jure regio salvo jure Coronae In the 20th of Rich. the Second it may be seen in Mr. Howe 's Chronicle that a Parliament holden at Westminster was Ordained to endure Forty eight days but it was Abridged for the King would not tarry there more than Five days wherein he declared the things pertaining to the Realm especially such Matters as touched himself c. One property of every good Law of Man is that the Maker exceed not his Authority which certainly they did that framed that Bill for the Act of Continuance c. And Coke 10th rep 57. b. it is agreed that Parliamentum testamentum arbitramentum are to be construed according to the intention of the Makers the said King certainly intended not thereby to Exclude himself because by the Laws of our Land it cannot properly be said a Parliament unless it be consisting of King Lords and Commons And if Kingly Government be constituted by Divine Right then St. Jermyn tells us that Customs and Statutes are void that are against the Law of God and so that Act was null in its own Nature at the very first and the proposal of it was Treason in a high degree Parliamentary Priviledges are but Temporary and are not in them till asked by their Speaker Precario and granted by their Sovereign But Mr. Plowden Fol. 322. b. saith that every Prerogative of the King containeth in it self a Prescription for it resteth in usage And Fol. 319. b. and 322. a. he saith that the Prerogative of the King may not be said to be torcius that is consonant to reason and hath been used from time to time in the time of one King after another for the Law is not known if not by usage and usage proveth that it is Law And Fol. 322. a. and 323. he saith all the Prerogatives mentioned in the Statute of Prerogativa Regis made in 17o. Ed. 2 di were in the King by the Common Law before the said Statute and many others and Fol. 318. a. he saith It is a commendable thing for the King to abstain from the extremity of his Prerogative of his special grace in benefit of his Subjects but withall saith that the Law doth not force him so to do And Sir Ed. Coke in the First part of his Institutes Fol. 90. b. saith that Praerogativa is derived of prae id est ante and rogare that is to ask or Demand before hand whereof cometh Prerogativa and is denominated of the most excellent part because though an Act hath passed both the Houses of the Lords and Commons in Parliament yet before it be a Law the Royal Assent must be asked or Demanded and Obtained Bracton li. jo calleth it libertatem in another place privilegium Regis Britton Fol. 27. calleth it droit le Roy the Right of the King the Register of the Writs calleth it jus regium Coronae the Royal or Regal Right of the Crown And Mr. Stanford in Praerog Fol. 5. a. b. saith Praerogativa is as much to say as a Priviledge or Preeminence that one person hath before another which as it is tolerable in some so it is most to be permitted and allowed in a Prince or Soveraign Governour of a Realm for besides that he is the most worthyest or excellent Part or Member of the body of the Commonwealth so is he also through his good Governance the preserver nourisher and defender of all the People being the rest of the same body for which cause the Laws do attribute unto him all Honour Dignity Prerogative and Preeminence It is said Coke 7. 10. b. and 11. a. That the King is an absolute Prince before his Coronation which is but a Royal Ceremony Ornament and Solemnization of the Royal Descent but no part of the Title and that Rex non est Rex quia Coronatur sed Coronatur quia est Rex The King is not a King hecause he is Crowned but he is Crowned because he is a King And Coke 11.72 a. The King is said to be sponsus Regni and per annulum by a Ring is said to be espoused to the Realm at his Coronation which is a great Mark of Soveraignty and Power in the King over his People for admit the King to be sponsus the Bridegroom or new Married Man and the Realm to be sponsa the Bride or new Married Woman at this Solemnity of his Coronation every Woman is sub potestate viri sui under the Power of ber Husband ipse dominabitur ejus and he shall Rule or Reign over her by Gods Law Gen. 3.16 and our Law doth not estrange the Husband of any Interest Prerogative or thing that the Wife hath at the time of the intermarriâ—ge or after But as in all Rebellions so in the late time of Rebellion the Woman wore the Breeches as is easily proved by the Money Coined in those times Also in Coke 7. 10. b. The King is said to be pater patriae the Father of his Country which is another Mark of his Soveraignty and Supream Power for at the beginning of Kingdoms when all the World consisted of a few Housholds the Elder or Father of the Family exercised Authority over his Meyney and did distribute reward or punishment amongst them after his own discretion all which aforesaid is agreeing with what the Poet saith Jura dant singuli natis uxoribus every single individual Person gives Laws to his Wife and Children This was patria potestas Fatherly power the fountain of Regia potestas Kingly power and so Regia potestas is lege Naturae non arbitrio populi and so Kingly Authority is by the Law of Nature not by the Will Power or Arbitrement of the People leges Naturae perfectissimae sunt immutabilâ—s and the Laws of Nature are the most perfect and not to be Altered or Changed No sooner was there a Houshold but there was a Soveraign All regal Authority was then included in the Office of Father And therefore God Almighty in giving the Fifth Commandment called the Crown Commandment Honour thy Father and thy Mother intended the Duty belonging to all Magistrates Afterwards