excepting the King himselfe and they say that it were better for them to renounce their Baptisme then to forsake their Covenant which they believe will be more advantageous to the Kingdome then all the Priviledges that are granted in Magna Chartae or the Statutes that have beene made ever since 14. They jeered at the Kings Proclamations trampled his Declarations under feet and incountred the same with rebellious Protestations 15. They perswade the people to give no eare to any discourse of Accommodation or conclusion for any peace To what they lâ—ken the Kings pardons and say that the King is not to be trusted that he will performe no promise that he maketh either in his Proclamations or Declarations and therefore that the Kings Pardons may be likened to a buckler of glasse or a staffe of reede on which there is no trust no committing themselves to the defence of any such pardon So we may say with the Poet Nos juvat alma quies gens haec fern bella minatur Et quoties pacem poscimus arma crepat 16. They teach the Doctrine of coercion dedignifying degrading and decapitating of Kings Whence they learned their Divinity when they deeme them unworthy of that dignity and their arguments and reasons they collect and produce out of Dolman Bellarm. Suarez and the Magazine of the most rigid Jesuites 17. They have so barbarously so irreverently and so prophanely abused our Service-Booke that it would loath your eares to heare and transcend modesty to tell you how they have dealt with it and they threatned that if the Ministers would read it they should never read booke againe 18. They doe agree with the worst of Papists the Jesuites in a great many of the worst points of doctrine that they teach How contrary to Christs doctrine Matth. 13.29 they would â—oâ—â— out â—ll Papists and yet being not well able to understand their tenets they hate Papists so much that they would root them out of their very being they would destroy all the Irish that are Papists and drive all Papists out of England out of the world that the name of Papists should be no more in remembrance and contrary to all reason divinity and humanity they would force and compell every man to professe the religion that they are of though some of them as their independents as farre on the other side would have every man to have liberty to professe what religion himselfe liketh best 19. They have most ingratefully and disloyally injured a most loving wife and their owne most gracious Queene for shewing Her love How they have wronged the Queene the Nobility Clergy Gentry and Commons of this Land and discharging Her duty to Her husband They have imprisoned and barbarously used some of the Nobility most of the Clergy and abundance of the Gentry and others of the best account of the common Subjects of this Kingdome they have plundered and robbed many thousands of men they have killed and murdered as many they have made our Cities dens of theeves our Churches prisons and all the Land Acheldama's fields of bloud they multiplyed the number of Widowes Orphanes and Theeves without number throughout the Land and they filled the whole Kingdome with miseries lamentations and woes and they have done so many mischiefes as if I should set them all downe would fill up another volume And 20. As if all this were not enough to fill up the measure of their iniquity How they laboured to call in the Scots they spared neither paines nor cost to call in the Scots to assist them to perpetuate the warre to fill our Kingdome with strangers and to make our calamities everlasting so they fell from evill to worse from discontent to schisme from schisme to open rebellion and their rebellion more wicked then any rebels that we can reade of in any Historie which is the just judgement of God upon them that they which rebelliously runne out of the communion of Gods Church should most desperately runne out of their owne wits and refusing to be guarded by the heavenly Angels should give themselves to be guided by the infernall Devils which made a merrie fellow at the enumeration of their abhominable and indeed innumerable wickednesses to say Hell was never better then it is now The speech of a merrie companion because he thought the Devils were all in London or otherwise it were impossible that the Citizens which have received so many gracious offers of pardons from His Majestie and promises of other favours should still continue so wicked as they are so gulled and seduced by this Parliament faction that non suadebis etiamsi persuaseris because as S. Augustine saith impia mens nolit intellectum and they love to cozen and cheat their owne soules by new painting these old sinnes and calling their faction faith their madnesse zeale and their horrid rebellion fighting for religion but as the Poet saith Non tanti est civilia bella movere Whatsoever pretences move them to it this remedy will increase their miseries for if God be no more mercifull to us then their sin deserves it may end here in an universall destruction and hereafter in their eternall damnation for doth not all the world see how God scourgeth us with the rod of our owne furious madnesse 2. Chron. 20.23 and like as it befell the Ammonites and Moabites that fighting against the Israelites did helpe to destroy one another so we striving not against Israel but as we pretend both against the Edomites against falshood do utterly destroy our selves Exemploque pari ruit Anglica turba suoque Marte cadunt coesi per mutua vulnera fratres And we that did keepe our enemies in awe shall be now destroyed by the sonnes of our owne mother but I confesse our Land abounds with sinnes and our sinnes have justly deserved this heavy punishment to light upon us yet I beseech our God to chastise us with his owne hands and let us not fall under the swords of the uncircumcised Philistines that are a people much more wicked then our selves and if he will let our soules live we shall praise his name 21. When they had most fraudulently gotten His Majestie to passe an Act which though really intended yet to many men seemes a very strange Act to referre the managing of the affaires of Ireland to the Parliament of England How they intended to get all Ireland to themselves then they tooke that course to root out all the Papists Irish English Brittish and indeed all the inhabitants of Ireland except their own brotherhood for they could have soone discried the marke of the beast in all the rest which they thought would be most effectuall to further their designe and to bring the whole Kingdome of Ireland to be inherited by their owne faction that is to sell all the lands of the Rebels to themselves for they knew none else would buy it at that time in that manner
c. 16. and confirmed unto him by Act of Parliament yet upon his death-bed confessed he had no right thereunto as Speed writeth 4. Because it was determined by all the Judges at the Arraignment Reason 4 of Watson and Clerke 1. Jacobs that immediately by descent his Majestie was compleatly and absolutely King without the Ceremony of Coronation which was but a royall ornament and outward solemnization of the descent And it is illustrated by Hen. 6. Speed l. 9. c. 16. that was not crowned till the ninth yeare of his reigne and yet divers were attainted of High Treason before that time which could not have beene done had he not beene King And we know that upon the death of any of our Kings The right heire to the Kingdome is King before he is crowned his Successor iâ— immediately proclaimed King to shew that he hath his Kingdome by descent and not by the people at his Coronation whose consent is then asked Why the peoples consent is asked not because they have any power to deny their consent or refuse him for their King but that the King having their assent may with greater security and confidence rely upon their loyalty Respect 2 2. As the Kings of Israel had full power and authority to make warre and conclude peace to call the greatest Assemblies as Moses Joshua David Iehosaphat and the rest of the Kings did to place and displace the greatest Officers of State as Solomon placed Abiathar in Sadoc's roome 2. Chron 19.11 and Iehosaphat appointed Amariah and Zebadiah rulers of the greatest affaires and had all the Militia of the Kingdome in their hands The absolute authority of the Kings of England Coke 7. rep fol 25. 6. Pâ—lyd Virgil. lib. 11. Speed Stâ—w c. so the Kings of England have the like for 1. He onely can lawfully proclaime warre as I shewed before and he onely can conclude peace 2. There is no Assembly that can lawfully meet but by his Authority and as the Parliament was first devised and instituted by the King as all our Historians write in the life of Hen. 1. so they cannot meet but by the Kings Writ 3. All Lawes Customes and Franchises are granted and confirmed unto the people by the King Rot. Claus 1. R. 2. n. 44. Smith de repub Angl. l. 2. c. 4. c. 5. 4. All the Officers of the Realme whether Spirituall or Temporall are chosen and established by him as the highest immediately by himselfe and the inferiour by an authority derived from him The absurdities of them that deny the Militia to the King 5. He hath the sole power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts and strong Holds and all the Ports Havens and all other parts of the Militia of this Kingdome or otherwise it would follow that the King had power to proclaime warre but not to be able to maintaine it and that he is bound to defend his Subjects but is denied the meanes to protect them which is such an absurdity as cannot be answered by all the House of Commons 6. The Kings of Israel were unto their people their honour their Soveraignes their life and the very breath of their nostrils as themselves acknowledge and so the Kings of England are the life the head and the authority of all things that be done in the Realme of England Smith de Repub. l. 2. Cambden Britan p. 132. supremam potestatem merum imperium apud nos habentes nec in Imperii clientelâ sunt nec investituram ab alio accipientes nec praeter Deum superiorem agnoscentes and their Subjects are bound by oath to maintaine the Kings Soveraignty in all causes and over all persons as well Ecclesiasticall as Civill and that not onely as they are singularly considered but over all collectively represented in the body politique for by sundry divers old authentique Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realme of England is an Empire and so hath beene accepted in the world In the Pâ—eface to a Staâ— 24. Hen. 8. c. 12. governed by one supreame Head and King having the dignity and royall estate of the Imperiall Crowne of the same unto whom a body politique compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in termes and by names of spiritualty and temporalty have beene bounden and owen to beare next to God a naturall and humble obedience 3. As the duty of every one of the Kings of Israel was to be Respect 3 Custos utriusque tabulae to keepe the Law of God and to have a speciall care of his Religion and then to doe justice and judgement according to the Law of nature and to observe all the judiciall Lawes of that Kingdome so are the Kings of England obliged to discharge the same duties 1. To have the chiefest care to defend the faith of Christ The duty of the Kings of England and to preserve the honour of Gods Church as I shewed before 2. To maintaine common right according to the rules and dictates of nature And 3. To see the particular Lawes and Statutes of his owne Kingdome well observed amongst his people To all which the King is bound not onely virtute officii in respect of his office but also vinculo juramenti in respect of his oath which enjoyneth him to guide his actions not according to the desires of an unbridled will but according to the tyes of these established Lawes neither doe our Divines give any further liberty to any King but if he failes in these he doth offend in his duty 4. As the Kings of Israel were accountable for their actions Respect 4 unto none but onely unto God and therefore King David after he had committed both murder and adultery saith unto God Psal 51.4 Tibi soli peccavi as if he had said none can call me to any account for what I have done but thou alone and we never read that either the people did call or that the Prophets perswaded them to call any of their most idolatrous tyrannicall or wicked Kings to any account for their idolatrie The kings of England accountable for their actions onely to God tyrannie or wickednesse even so the Kings of England are accountable to none but to God 1. Because they have their Crowne immediately from God Reason 1 who first gave it to the Conquerour through his sword and since to the succeding Kings Smith de repub l. 1. c. 9. by the ordinary meanes of hereditary succession Reason 2 2. Because the oath which he takes at his Coronation binds him onely before God who alone can both judge him and punish him if he forgets it Reason 3 3. Because there is neither condition promise or limitation either in that Oath or in any other Covenant or compact that the King makes with the people either at his Coronation or at any other time that he should be accomptable or that they should question
and censure him for any thing that he should doe Reason 4 4. Because the testimony of many famous Lawyers justifie the same truth for Bracton saith if the King refuse to do what is just satis erit ei ad paenam quòd Dominum expectet ultonem the Lord will be his avenger which will be punishment enough for him Bracton fol 34. a. b. apud Lincol anno 1301. but of the Kings grants and actions nec privatae personae nec justiciarii debent disputare And Walsingham maketh mention of a Letter written from the Parliament to the Bishop of Rome wherein they say that certum directum Dominium à prima institutione regni Angliae ad Regem pertinuit the certaine and direct Dominion of this Kingdome from the very first institution thereof hath belonged unto the King who by reason of the arbitrary or free preeminence of the royall dignity and custome observed in all ages Ex liberâ praeminentiâ ought not to answer before any Judge either Ecclesiasticall or Secular Ergo neither before the Pope nor Parliament nor Presbyterie 5. Because the constant custome and practice of this Kingdome Reason 5 was ever such that no Parliament at any time sought to censure their King and either to depose him or to punish him for any of all his actions save onely those that were called in the troublesome and irregular times of our unfortunate Princes No legitimate and just Parliament did ever question the Kings of England for their actions and were swayed by those that were the heads of the most powerfull Faction to conclude most horrid and unjustifiable Acts to the very shame of their judiciall authorities as those factious Parliaments in the times of Hen. 3. King John Rich. 2. and Hen. 4. and others whose acts in the judgement of all good authors are not to be drawne into examples when as they deposed their King for those pretended faults whereof not the worst of them but is fairely answered and all 33 of them proved to be no way sufficient to depose him by that excellent Civilian Heningus Arnisaeus Heningus c. 4. p. 93. And therefore seeing the institution of our Kings is not onely by Gods Law but also by our owne Lawes Customes and practice thus agreeable to the Scripture Kings they ought to be as sacred and as inviolable to us as the Kings of Israel were to the Jewes and as reverently honoured and obeyed by us as both the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul advise us to honour and obey the King CHAP. V. Sheweth how the Heathens honoured their Kings how Christ exhibited all due honour unto Heathen and wicked Kings how he carried himselfe before Pilate and how all the good Primitive Christians behaved themselves towards their Heathen persecuting Emperours 2. The Heathens Persa quidem olim aliquid coeleste atque divinum in regilus inesse statuebant Osor de Instit regis l. 4. p. 106. 2. WE finde that not onely the Jewes that were the people of God a royall Priesthood that had the Oracles of God and therefore no wonder that they were so conformable in their obedience to the will of God but the Gentiles also that knew not God knew this by the light of nature that they were bound to yeild all honour unto their Kings For Quintus Curtius tells us that the Persians had such a divine estimation and love unto their King that Alexander could not perswade them either for feare or reward to tell him where their King was gone or to reveale any of his intentions or to doe any other thing that might any wayes prejudice the life Justin l. 4. or the affaires of their King And Justin tells us that the Sicilians did beare so great a respect unto the last Will and Testament of Anaxilaus their deceased King that they disdained not to obey a slave whom he had appointed Regent during the minority of his sonne Herodet l. 8. And Herodotus saith that when Xerxes fled from Greece in a vessell that was so full of men of warre What great respect men in former times did beare unto their kings that it was impossible for him to be saved without casting some part of them into the Sea he said unto them O ye men of Persia let some among you testifie that he hath care of his King whose safety is in your disposition then the Nobility which accompanied him having adored him did cast themselves into the Sea till the vessell was unburthened and the King preserved And I feare these Pagans will rise in judgement to condemne our Nobility that seeke the destruction of their King And the Macedonians had such a reverent opinion of their King that being foyled in warre before they returned againe to the battaile they fetched their cradle wherein their young King lay and set him in the midst of the Campe as supposing that their former misfortune proceeded Justin l. 7. because they neglected to take with them the good augure of their Kings presence And Boemus Aubanus speaking of the Egyptian Kings saith that they have so much good will and love from all men Aubanus de Africa l 1. p. 39. Reges divinos Iove genitos à Iove nutritos Homerus â—esiâ—dus appellarunt ut non solùm sacerdotibus sed etiam singulis Aegyptiis major regis quà m uxorum filiorúmque aut aliorum principum salutis inesset cura that not onely the Priests but also all the Egyptians have a greater care of the safety of their King then of their wives or children or any other Princes of the Land And the same Author describing the manner how the Tartars create their King saith the Princes Dukes Barons and all the people meet then they place him that is to be their King on a Throne of gold and prostrating themselves upon the ground they cry with an unanimous and loud voyce Rogamus volumus praecipimus ut domineris nobis We entreat you and beseech you to raigne over us and he answereth if you would have this of me it is necessary that you should be obedient to doe whatsoever I shall command you when I call you to come whethersoever I shall send you to goe whomsoever I shall command you to kill to do it immediately without feare and to commit the whole Kingdome into my hands then they doe all answer we are willing to doe all this And then he saith againe therefore from hence-forth oris mei sermo gladius meus erit the word of my mouth shall be the sword of my power then all the people doe applaud him And a little after he saith in ejus manibus seu potestate omnia sunt Aubanus l. 2. p. 141. all things are in his hands and power no man dare say this is mine or that is his no one man may dwell in any part of the Land but in that which is assigned unto him by the King Nomini licet imperatoris
Ariamirus Wambanus Richaredus and divers other Kings of Spaine did in like manner And Charlemaine who approved not the decisions of the Greekish Synod wrote a booke against the same * Intituled A Treatise of Charlemaigne against the Greekish Synod touching Images whereby the King maintained himselfe in possession to make Lawes for the Church saith Iohannes Beda of which Lawes there are many in a booke called The capitulary Decrees of Charles the Great who as Pepin his predecessor had done in the Citie of Bourges so did he also assemble many Councels in divers places of his Kingdomes as at Mayens at Tours at Reines at Chaalons at Arles and the sixt most famous of all at Francfort where himselfe was present in person and condemned the errour of Felician and so other Kings of France and the Kings of our owne Kingdome of England both before and after the Conquest as Master Fox plentifully recordeth did make many Lawes and Constitutions for the government of Gods Church But as Dioclesian The saying of Dioclesian that was neither the best nor the happiest governour said most truly of the civill government that there was nothing harder then to rule well * That is to rule the Common-wealth so it is much harder to governe the Church of Christ therefore as there cannot be an argument of greater wisedome in a Prince nor any thing of greater safety and felicity to the Common-wealth then for him to make choice of a wise Councell to assist him in his most weighty affaires Tacitus Annal. lib. 12. saith Cornelius Tacitus So all religious Kings must do the like in the government of the Church and the making of their Lawes for that government for God out of his great mercy to them and no lesse desire to have his people religiously governed left such men to be their supporters their helpers and advicers in the performance of these duties and I pray you whom did Kings choose for this businesse but whom God had ordained for that purpose for you may observe that although those Christian Kings and Emperours made their Laws as having the supremacy and the chiefest care of Gods religion committed by God into their hands yet they did never make them that ever I could reade with the advice counsell or direction of any of their Peeres or Lay Subjects but as David had Nathan and Gad The good Kings and Emperours made their Lavves for the government of the Church onely by the advice of their Clergy Nebuchadnezzar had Daniel and the rest of the Jewish Kings and Heathens had their Prophets onely and Priests to direct them in all matters of religion so those Christian Kings and Princes tooke their Bishops and their Clergie onely to be their counsellors and directors in all Church causes as it appeareth out of all the fore-cited Authors and all the Histories that doe write thereof and Justinian published this Law that when any Ecclesiasticall cause or matter was moved his Lay officers should not intermeddle with it A good Law of Iustinian but should suffer the Bishops to end the same according to the Canons the words are Si Ecclesiasticum negotium sit nullam communionem habento civiles magistratus cum ea disceptatione Constit 123. sed religiosissimi Episcopi secundum sacros canones negotio finem imponunto For the good Emperours knew full well that the Lay Senate neither understood what to determine in the points of faith and the government of Christ's Church nor was ever willing to doe any great good or any speciall favour unto the Shepherds of Christ's flocke and the teachers of the true religion because the Sonne of God had fore-told it that the world should hate us John 15.19 that secular men and Lay Senators should commonly oppose crosse and shew all the spite they can unto the Clergy of whom our Saviour saith Matth. 10.16 Behold I send you forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sheepe in the midst of wolves Whence this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great distance between their dispositions being observed it grew into a Proverb that Laici semper infesti sunt Clericis How the Laity love the Clergie And Doctor Meriton in a Sermon before King James observed this as one of the good favours the Clergie of England found from our Parliaments since the reformation when many men first began to be translated from the seat of the scornefull to sit in Moses chaire A very memorable act Anno 39. Eliz. cap. 4. and to prescribe Lawes for Christ his Spouse to make an Act that all wandering beggars after their correction by the Constable should be brought to the Minister of the Parish to have their names registred in a booke and the Constable used to give to the Minister 2d for his paines for every one so registred but if he refused or neglected to doe it the Statute saith he should be punished 5 for every one that should be so omitted where besides the honourable office I will not say to make the Minister of Christ a Bedle of the beggars but a Register of the vagrants you see the punishment of one neglect amounteth to the reward of thirty labours therefore all the Christian Emperours and the wisest Kings considering this great charge that God had laid upon them to make wholesome Lawes and Constitutions for the government of his Church and seeing the inclinations of the Laity would never permit any of these Lay Elders and the Citizens of the world to usurpe this authority to be the composers contrivers or assistants in concluding of any Ecclesiasticall Law That the Laity should have no interest in making Lawes for the Church untill the fences of Gods vineyard were pulled downe and the wilde Boare out of the forrest the audacious presumption of the unruly Commonalty ventured either to governe the Church or to subdue their Prince since which incroachment upon the rights of Kings it hath never succeeded well with the Church of Christ and I dare boldly say it fidenter quia fideliter and the more boldly because most truly the more authority they shall gaine herein the lesse glory shall Christ have from the service of his Church and therefore Be wise ô ye Kings And consider how any new Canons are to be made by our Statute 25. Hen. 8. Ob. Ob. But then it may be demanded if this be so that the Laity hath no right in making Lawes and Decrees for the government of Gods Church but that it belongs wholly unto the King to doe it with the advice of his Bishops and the rest of his Clergy then how came the Parliament to annull those Canons that were so made by the King and Clergy because they had no vote nor consent in confirming of them Sol. Sol. Truely I cannot answer to this Objection unlesse I should tell you what the Poet saith Dum furor in cursu currenti cede furori Difficiles aditus impetus omnis
forcing the King not a word of superiority nor yet simply of equality and therefore I must say hoc argumentum nihil adrhombum these do abuse every author 3. That neither â—eeres nor Parliament are co-ordinate with the King 3. If their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I speake not of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their naturall strength and power but of their right and authority be co-ordinate and equall with the Kings authority then whether given by God which they cannot prove or by the people there must be duo summa imperia two supreme powers which the Philosophers say cannot be Omnésque Philosophi jurisconsulit ponunt summum in eo terum genere quod dividi non possit Lactant. l. 1. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marc. 3.24 nam quod summum est unum est from whence they prove the unity of the God-head that there can be but one God and if this supreme power be divided betwixt King and Parliament you know what the Poët saith Omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit Or you may remember what our Saviour saith If a Kingdome be divided against it selfe it cannot stand and therefore when Tiberius out of his wonted subtilty desired the Senate to appoint a colleague and partner with him for the better administration of the Empire Asinius Gallus that was desirous enough of their Pristine liberty yet understanding well with what minde the subtle foxe spake onely to descry his ill willers after some jests answered seriously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that government must not be divided because you can never have any happinesse where the power is equally divided in two parts when according to the well knowne axiome to every one Par in parem non habet potestatem The Case of our Affaires p. 19 20. But to make the matter cleare and to shew that the Soveraignty is inseperably inherent in the person of His Majestie we have the whole current of our very Acts of Parliament acknowledging it in these very termes Our Soveraigne Lord the King The Lawes of our Land acknowledge all Soveraignty in the King and the Parliament 25. Hen. 8. saith this your Graces Realme recognizing no superiour under God but your Grace c. And the Parliament 16. Rich. 2.5 affirmeth the Crowne of England to have beene so free at all times that it hath beene in no earthly subjection but immediately to God in all things touching the regality of the said Crowne and to none other And in the 2â— of Hen. 5. the Parliament declareth that it belongeth to the Kings regality to grant or deny what Petitions in Parliament he pleaseth and so indeed whatsoever authority is in the constant practice of the Kingdome or in the knowne and published Lawes and Statutes it concludeth the Soveraignty to be fixed in the King and all the Subjects virtually united in the representative body of the Parliament to be obliged in obedience and allegeance to the individuall person of the King and I doubt not but our learned Lawyers can finde much more proofe then I doe out of their Law to this purpose And therefore seeing divers supreme powers are not compatible in one State nor allowable in our State the conceit of a mixed Monarchie is but a fopperie to prove the distribution of the supreme power into two sorts of governours equally indued with the same power because the supreme power being but one must be placed in one sort of governours either in one numericall man as it is in Monarchie or in one specificall kinde of men as the optimates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in Aristocracie or in the people as in Democracie but if by a mixed Monarchie you meane that this supreme power is not simply absolute quoad omnia but a government limited and regulated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we will not much quarrell with our Sectaries because His Majestie hath promised and we are sure he will performe it to governe his people according to the Lawes of this Land They deserve not to live in thâ— Kingdome that diminish the supremacy of the King And therefore they that would rob the King of this right and give any part of his supreme power to the Parliament or to any of all his inferiour Magistrates deserve as well to be expelled the Kingdome as Plato would have Homer to be banished for bringing in the Gods fighting and disagreeing among themselves when as Ovid out of him saith Jupiter in Trojam pro Troja stabat Apollo Because as the Civilians say Naturale vitium est negligi quod communiter possidetur utque se nihil habere putet qui totum non habeat fuam partem corrumpi patiatur dum invidet alienae and therefore the same Homer treating of our humane government Nec multos regnare bonum rex unicus esto Arist Metaph. lib. 12. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Aristotle doth so infinitely commend where he disputeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so doth Plato and all the wise Philosophers that followed after Statius Thebaid lib. 1. because as the Poët saith Summo dulcius unum Stare loco sociisque comes discordia regnis And as our owne most lamentable experience sheweth what abundance of miseries happened unto our selves by this renting of the Kings power and placing it in the hands of the Parliament and his owne inferiour officers and as those sad Tragedies of Etheocles and Polynices Numitor and Amulius Romulus and Remus Antoninus and Geta and almost infinite more do make it manifest to all the world §. The two chiefest parts of the regall governement the foure properties of a just warre and how the Parliamentary faction transgresse in every property 4. The chiefest parts of the Regall governement which are two 4. HAving spoken of those assistants that should further and not hinder the King in the Common-wealth it resteth that I should now speake of the chiefest parts of this government when Moses killed the Egyptian that wronged the Israelite and the next day said unto the Hebrew that did injure his fellow Exod. 2.14 Wherefore smitest thou him the oppressour answered Who made thee a Prince and a Judge over us 1. Sam. 8.20 and the people say unto Samuel we will have a King over us that our King may judge us and goe out before us and fight our battailes 2. Sam. 5.2 Out of which two places we finde two speciall parts of the Kings government 1. Principatum bellorum the charge of the warres Sigon l. 7. c. 1. in respect whereof the Kings were called Captaines as the Lord said unto Samuel concerning Saul Vnges eum ducem 1. Sam. 9.16 thou shalt annoint him to be Captaine over my people Israel 2. Curam judiciorum the care of all judgements in respect whereof David and Solomon 1. Reg. 3.9 Psal 72.2 and the other Kings are said to judge the
Majestie and so much trust reposed in him and would notwithstanding prove so unthankfull as to kick with his heeles against his Master and so follow whom you know passibus aequis whose example any other man that were not robb'd of his understanding would make a remora to retaine him from rebellion and what are the other heads but a company either of poore needy Who the Rebells are and what manner of persons they be and meane condition'd Lords and Gentlemen or discontented Peeres that are misled or such factious Sectaries whose blind zeale and furious malice are able to hurry them headlong to perpetrate any mischeife for their Captaines and their Officers I beleeve they fight neither for the Anabaptists creed nor against the Roman faith nor to overthrow our Protestant Church but for their pay for which though they cannot be justified to take their hire for such ill service to rebell against their King and to murder their innocent brethren Yet are they not so bad as their grand Masters and for their common Souldiers I assure my selfe many of them fight against their wills many seduced by their false Prophets others inticed by their factious Masters and most of them compelled to kill their brethren against their wills and therefore in some places though their number trebled the Kings yet they had rather run away then fight and what a miserable and deplorable case is this when so many poore soules shall be driven unto the Devill by Preachers and Parliament against their wills 4. The supreme authority 4. If you consider qua authoritate by what authority they wage this warre they will answer by the Authority of Parliament and that is just none at all because the Parliament hath not the supreme authority without which the warre is not publique nor can it be justified for a warre is then justifiable when there is no legall way to end the controversie by prohibiting farther appeales which cannot be but onely betwixt independent States and severall Princes Albericus Gentilis de jure belli l 1. c. 2. that have the supreme power in their owne hands and are not liable to the censure of any Court which power the Parliament cannot challenge because they are or should be the Kings lawfull Subjects and therefore cannot be his lawfull enemies but they will say Master Goodwin Burroughes and all the rest of our good men zealous brethren Subjects can never make a lawfull warre against their king and powerfull Preachers doe continually cry out in our eares it is bellum sanctum a most just and holy warre a warre for the Gospell and for our Lawes and Liberties wherein whosoever dies he shall he crowned a Martyr I answer that for their reward they shall be indeed as Saint Augustine saith of the like Martyres stultae Philosophiae when every one of them may be indicted at the barre of Gods justice for a felo de se a Malefactor guilty of his owne untimely death Res dura ac plena pericli est regale occidisse genus and for their good Orators that perswade them to this wickednesse I pray you consider well what they are men of no worth rebellious against the Church rebells against the King factious Schismatiques of no faith of no learning In what condition their Preachers are and of what worth that have already forfeited their estates if they have any and their lives unto the Kingâ— and will any man that is wise hazard his estate his life and his soule to follow the perswasions of these men my life is as deere to mee as the Earle of Essex his head is to him and my soule deerer and I dare ingage them both that if all the Doctors in both Universities and all the Divines within the Kingdome of England were gathered together to give their judgement of this warre there could not be found one of ten it may be as I beleeve not one of twenty that durst upon his conscience say this warre is lawfull upon the Parliament side It is contrary to the doctrine of all the Protestant Church for Subjects to resist their king for though these Locusts that is the German Scottish and the English Puritane agreeing with the Romane Jesuite ever since the reformation harped upon this string and retained this serpentine poison within their bosome still spitting it forth against all States as you may see by their bookes Yet I must tell you plainely this doctrine of Subjects taking up armes against their lawfull King is point blanke and directly against the received doctrine of the Church of England and against the tenet of all true Protestants Paraeus in Rom. 13. Boucher l. 2. c. 2. Keckerm Syst pol. c. 32 â—un Brut. q. 2. p. 56. Bellar. de lâ—â—c c. 6 Suar. dâ—f fid cathol c. 3. and therefore Andreas Rivetus Professor at Leyden writing against a Jesuite that cast this aspersion upon the Protestants that they jumpe with them in this doctrine of warring against and deposing Kings saith that no Protestant doth maintaine that damnable doctrine and that rashnesse of Knox and Buchanan is to be ascribed praefervido Scotorum ingenio ad audendum prompto Juell and Bilson and all the Doctors of our Church are of the same minde and Lichfield saith no Orthodox father did by word or writing teach any resistance for the space of a thousand yeares and Doctor Feild saith â—ichfield l. 4. c â—9 § 19 â—ield l. 5. c. 30 that all the worthy fathers and Bishops of the Church perswaded themselves that they owed all duty unto their Kings though they were Heretiques and Infidells and the Homilies of the Church of England allowed by authority do plainely and peremptorily condemne all Subjects warring against their King for Rebells and Traitors that doe resist the ordinance of God and procure unto themselves damnation and truly I beleeve most of their own consciences tell them so they that think otherwise I would have them to consider that if they were at a banquet where twenty should averre such a dish to be full of poyson for every one that would warrant it good would'st thou venture to eate it and hazard thy life in such a case O then consider what it is to hazard thy soule upon the like termes So you see the justnesse of the warre on the Parliament side But 1. On the Kings side it cannot be denied but his cause is most just for his owne defence for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion that is established by our Lawes and for the rights of the Church and the just liberties and property of all his loyall Subjects this he testifieth in all his Declarations and this we know in our owne consciences to be true and therefore 2. As His Majestie professeth so we beleeve him that he never intended otherwise by this warre but to protect us and our Religion and to maintaine his owne just and unquestionable rights which these Rebells would
their due honour and made all equall all as base as Jeroboams Priests will be apt enough to blow up this conceit and to put it into the Creed of all the vulgar that God made us all equall and to be Lords is but to be tyrants over their Brethen and the Presbytery whose pride could not obey the authority of their Bishops will not abide the superiority of any Lords but if they cannot Lord it themselves will be sure to take away the Lordship from all others And therefore if the Nobility be not wiser then to lay our honours in the dust as I see some about His Majestie that would faine be the Priests to bury it which meere policie though they wanted piety should prohibit they shall finde that Jam tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet Virgil. Aeneiâ— l. 1. When our Cottages are burnt their next Pallaces shall not escape the fire but through our sides their Honours shall be killed and buried without honour 3. Jus legitimandi 3. Ius legitimandi the right of legitimation belongs unto the King without which legitimation the Lawyers tell us that as the world now standeth a mighty emolument would happen unto the Crowne if the King granted not this grace to them that want it 4. Jus appellationes recipiendi 4. Ius appellationes recipiendi the right of taking notice of causes and of judging the same by the last appeale definitively doth alwayes belong to the supreme Majestie because that as Saint Paul appealed unto Caesar Act. 25.11 so the last appeale is to the highest Soveraigne from whom there lyeth none appeale but onely to him that shall judge all the Judges of the earth 5. Honores restituendi 5. Jus restituendi in integrum the right to restore men attainted or banished or condemned to death unto their Country wealth and honour is likewise a part of the royall right So Osorius saith Osorius de rebuâ— Imman p. 6. that Immanuel King of Portugall restored James sonne of Fernandus and his brother Dionysius and others unto their forfeited honours and so not onely the Scripture sheweth how David pardoned Absolon and Shimei 1. Reg. 2.26 two wicked Rebels and Solomon pardoned Abiathar that were all worthy of death Veniam criminosis indulgere but also Saint Augustine speaking of other Kings and Emperours saith judicibus statuendum est ne liceat in reum datam sententiam revocare the Judges may not pardon a man condemned to death numquid ipse Imperator sub hac lege erit but shall not the Emperour or King pardon him are they likewise under this Law of restraint by no meanes Nam ipsi soli licet revocare sententiam reum mortis absolvere ipsi ignoscere for he and he alone that is the Emperour or King may revoke the sentence and absolve him that is guilty of death And so our King according to this his undenyable right Our Kings unparalâ—ll'd clemency and prety towards the Rebels hath most graciously and not seldome offered his pardon unto these intolerable Rebels a pardon not to be parallel'd in any Historie nor to be beleeved unlesse we had seene it that a man could be so farre inclined to clemency and mercy as to remit such transcendent impiety which will render them the more odious both to God and man and their names the more infamous to all posterity that after they had filled themselves with all kinde of wickednesse with incredible transgressions they should be found contemners of so favourable a pardon But though it be the Kings right to pardon faults and to restore offenders yet herein all Princes should take great heed especially when they have power to take revenge for sometimes the sinners may be like the sonnes of Zervia 2. Sam. 3.39 too strong for David how they pardon those great crimes that are committed to the dishonour of God and doe so farre provoke him to anger as to plague both the doers and the sufferers of them because that although they be soluti legibus suis not bound to their owne Lawes Arnisaus l. 11 c. 3. pag 69. yet they are not soluti ratione praeceptis divinis but they are bound to observe Gods Lawes and to punish the transgressors of his Commandements or if they doe not when they can doe it they shall render a strict account to God for all their omissions as they may see it in the example of King Saul 1. Sam. 15.9 6. Jus convocandi the right of calling Synods Parliaments 6. Jus convocandi Synodos Parliamenta c. Dyets and the like were the rights of the Kings of Israel and are the just Prerogatives of the Kings of England howsoever this faction of the Parliament hath sought to wrest it as they do all other rights out of the Kings hands by their presumption to call their Schismaticall Synod to which they have no more colour of right then to call a Parliament 7. Jus excudendi the right of coyning money 7. Ius monetas excudendi to give it value to stampe his armes or his image upon it as our Saviour saith Whose Image and superscription is this Matth. 22.20 and they say to him Caesars is the proper right of Caesar the prerogative of the King The second sort of the Kings right is circa magistratus 2. About the Magistrates and containeth jurisdiction rule creation of officers appointing of circuits provinces judgements censures institution of Schooles and Colledges collation of dignities receiving of fidelities and abundance more whereof I intend not to speake at this time but referre my Reader to Arnisaeus Arnis l 2. c. 2. de jure Majestatis if he desires to be informed of these particulars And as these and the like are jura Regalia the rights of Majestie in the time of peace so when peace cannot continue it doth properly belong unto the King and to none else but to him that hath the Soveraignty whose right it is alone to make warre either to succour his allyes or to revenge great injuries or for any the like just causes and as he seeth cause to conclude Peace to send Ambassadors to negotiate with forreigne States and the like are the rights of Kings and the indeleble characters of Soveraignty which whosoever violateth and endeavoureth to purloine them from the King doth with Prometheus steale fire from Heaven which the Gods would not suffer as the Poets faigne to goe unrevenged And these things so farre as I can finde the King never parted with them unto his Subjects and therefore whosoever pretendeth to an inderived power to doe any of these and exempteth himselfe from the Kings right herein â—oh Beda p. 26. resisteth the ordinance of God and is guilty of High-Treason what pretext soever he brings saith the Advocate of Paris Ita etiam reges Egypti quibus voluntas pro lege est legum tamen instituta
Church and State when their pretence was very good though the goodnesse of his Majestie in the tendernesse of his conscience was still loath to allow himselfe the liberty to dissolve it untill he had other juster and more cleare causes to pronounce it no Parliament as the abusing of his grant to the raising of an Army and the upholding of a Rebellion against their Soveraigne yet I believe he might safely have done it long agone without the least violation of Gods Law when their evill intentions were openly discovered by those Armies which they raised For I doubt not to affirme it with the Author of The sacred Prerogative of Christian Kings p. 144. if any good Prince or his royall Ancestors have beene cheated out of their sacred right by fraud or force he may at the fittest opportunity when God in his wise providence offereth the occasion resume it especially when the Subjects do abuse the Kings concessions to the dammage of Soveraignty so that it redounds also to the prejudice either of the Church or Common-wealth 3. When the King through feare 3. Grants gotten by force not to be observed not such as the Parliaments feare is who were afraid where no feare was and were frighted with dreames and causelesse jealousies but that feare which is reall and not little but such as may fall in fortem constantem virum doth passe any Law especially that is prejudiciall to the Church and injurious to many of his Subjects I say that when he shall be freed from that feare he is not onely freed from the obligation of that Law but he is also obliged to doe his uttermost endeavour to annull the same it is true that his feare may justly free him from all blame at the passing of it as the feare of the thiefe may cleare me from all fault in delivering my purse unto him because these are no voluntary acts and all acts are adjudged good or evill according to the disposition of the will the same being like the golden bridle that Minerva was said to put upon Pegasus to guide him and to turne him as she pleased The will must never consent to forced acts that are unlawfull His Majesties answer to the Petition of the Lords and Commons 16. Iuliâ— p. 8. but when his feare is past and God hath delivered him from the insurrection of wicked doers if his will gives consent to what before he did unwilling who can free the greatest Monarch from this fault Therefore His Majestie confessing which we that saw the whole proceedings of those tumultuous routs that affrighted all the good Protestants and the Loyall Subjects doe know that it could not be otherwise that he was driven out of London for feare of his life I conclude that the act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament being past after his flight out of London can be no free nor just nor lawfull act and the King when he is more fully informed of many particulars about this act that is so preiudiciall to the Church of Christ and so injurious to all his servants the Clergy whose rights and priviledges the King promised and sware at His Coronation to maintaine Ob. cannot continue it in my judgement and be innocent Pag 31. But this is answered by the answerer to Doctor Ferne that he is no more bound to defend the rights of the Clergy by his oath then the rest of the lawes formerly enacted whereof any may be abrogated without perjury when they are desired to be annulled by the Kingdome Sol. His Majesties answer to the remonstrance or declaration of the Lords and Commons 26. of May. 1642. To which I say that as His Majestie confesseth there are two speciall questions demanded of the King at his Coronation 1 Sir Will you grant and keepe and by your oath confirme to the people of England the lawes and customes to them granted by the Kings of England your lawfull and religious predecessors And the King answereth I grant and promise to keepe them 2. After such questions as concerne all the commonalty of this Kingdome both Clergy and Laity as they are his Subjects one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the King before the people with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonicall priviledges and due law and iustice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in His Kingdome ought to be the protector and defendor of the Bishops and the Churches under their government And the King answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintaine to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonicall Priviledges and due law and justice and that I will be your protector and defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in His Kingdome in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government Then the King laying his hand upon the booke saith The Kings oath at His Coronation two fold the things which I have before promised I shall performe and keepe so helpe mee God and the contents of this Booke Where I beseech all men to observe that here is a two fold promise and so a two fold oath 1. The one to all the Commonalty and people of England The frst part of the oath Populo Anglicano Vide D. p. 165. Clergy and Laity and so whatsoever he promiseth may by the consent of the parties to whom the right was transferred be remitted and altered by the representative body in Parliament quia volenti non fit injuria and the rule holds good quibus modis contrabitur contractus iisdem dissolvitur and therefore as any compact or contract is made good and binding so it may be made void and dissolved mutuo contrahentium assensu by the mutuall assent of both parties that is any compact where God hath not a speciall interest in the contract as he hath in the conjugall contract betwixt man and wife and the politicke covenant betwixt the King and His Subjects Contracts wherein God is interessed can not be dissolved without God which therefore cannot be dissolved by the consent of the parties untill God who hath the cheifest hand in the contract gives his assent to the dissolution and so when things are dedicated for the service of God or Priviledges granted for his honour neither donor nor receiver can alienate the gift or annull that Priviledge without the leave and consent of God that was the principall party in the concession as it appeareth in the example of Ananias and is confirmed by all Casuists 2. The other part of the oath is made to the Clergy in particular and so also with their consent The second part of â—he oath Clericis Ecclesiasticis D. p. 165. some things I confesse may perhaps
not to Princes unlesse they will stain their names for as Apollonius saith that gold which is taken by Tyranny is farre baser then any iron because it is wetted with the teares of the poor Subjects and therefore Peter de la Primauday saith they are unworthy of the title of Prince that lending their eares to such as invent new wayes to get monies from their Subiects and having against all humanity Pet. de la primauday cap. 60. p. 670. spoyled them of their goods do either miserably consume them upon their pleasures or prodigally bestow them upon undeserving flatterers that fat themselves by the overthrow of others And therefore it behoveth all Kings to consider that all mens goods are theirs only quoad tuitionem defentionem and their Subjects quoad possessionem proprietatem as you may see Gen. 47.46 where Ioseph bought all the Land of the Egyptians for King Pharaoh and then let it them againe in Fee farme to give the King the fift part of the fruit of it and as you may conclude it from the eight Commandement which saith as well to the King as to the Subject thou shalt not steale for if all be his he cannot be said to steale it and if this precept concernes not Kings then have they but nine Commandements and therefore be wise ô ye Kings and remember what Saint Augustine saith remota justitia quid sunt Regna nisi Latrocinia for though you may iustly demand Tribute and Taxes yet you must have iust occasions to use them and you must take but a iust proportion or else they may come uniustly unto you But who shall be the Judges of the Kings iust occasions in many Kingdoms his conscience as the Roman consuls imposed what taxes they thought meet upon the Provinces they subdued so Marc. Antonius being in Asia doubled their Taxe and laid a second charge upon the People which was very unreasonable The saying of Hebreas to M. Antonius as Hebreas told him saying if thou wilt have power to lay upon us two taxes in one yeare thou must have also power to give us two Summers and two Autumnes two Harvests and two Vintages and yet if our King doe thus unreasonably taxe us with more then we are able to beare we may reason with him Kings herein not to be resisted as Hebreas did with M. Antony refell his arguments and repell his oppressions according to the course of Law but we may not in any case with the Sword make any resistance either actuall or habituall against him Reason 1 1. Because God hath not made us Judges of the Kings occasions and we know not his necessities and therefore we cannot determine what is Iust and uniust Reason 2 2. Were it granted that the superior demanded without right yet the inferior not only may rightly render it without offence unto his conscience but also ought to pay it without resistance unto the Magistrate for if the Iewes were not free and the Romans had no right to demand Tribute of them yet by our Saviours question unto S. Peter and his replication unto the Apostles answer it is apparent that our Saviour was most free and was no way bound to pay any thing unto the Romans not only quà deus as Hesselius saith but also as he was a man Hesselius in Matth. 18. Barrad 10 2. l. 10. c. 32. p. 718. as Barradius more truly proveth yet lest he should offend them as he saith tributum solvit quia voluit he doth most willingly discharge it to teach us that we may and ought iustly and without any scruple of conscience pay that which may be uniustly demanded and the best Authors that I have read are of the same judgement Greg. Tholos l. 26. de repub c 5. n. 25. we have no other remedy but to cry to God who can iudge them for their iniustice non caret modis quibus possit quando voluerit huiusmodi principes tollere vel emendare But though in most of the Easterne Countries the Kings imposed upon their Subjects what taxes and tributes pleased themselves as Augustus taxed all the world as much as he would at his own pleasure Osor de rebus Emanuel l. 12. p. 386. and Charles the fifth saith Osorius praeter pecunias quibus illum hispani juverant immania tributa populis imperavit besides those monyes wherewith the Spaniards assisted him laid most heavy taxes upon the people which is indeed a branch of the absolute right of Kings and was originally practised by most of them yet here with us our Kings out of grace and favour unto their people What the Kings of England promised to their Subjects granted such a priviledge unto their Subjects and divested themselves of this right to lay no impositions or taxes upon their Subjects without the consent of their three States convened in the two Houses of Parliament and this Princely concession being truly observed may procure a great deale of love and peace unto the King and as much tranquillity and happinesse unto the people Neither doe I think that he loves his King but am sure that he hates his Countrey that would perswade him for all the wealth of the Kingdome to violate his owne grant and faith herein but as our Kings granted this favour to impose no taxes without the consent of his Parliament so his Parliament in all duty ought alwayes with all thankfulnesse to acknowledge this speciall grace and in requitall thereof most fully to supply his wants and support his necessities That we should not be niggâ—rds to assist our King whensoever he acquaints them therewith And therefore we ought not to be like those hide-bound Sectaries and close-fisted Puritans and Brownists that are so miserably covetous and extreame niggards that when the King makes knowne his wants and demands his due for it is still his due though he granted not to cesse it without their consent for his royall supportation and the safety of his Kingdome they will find a hundred excuses to deny him but never a penny to give him out of all their wealth and this is the cause of our misery and may prove as fatall to us as it hath been to the Constantinopolitans whose churlishnesse and niggardlinesse towards their Emperour was the chiefest cause of the losse of that great Empire and to make the Turke sit in Christ his Chaire to have Mahomet adored where the Gospell was formerly published How Constant was lost what the Turke then said by as many famous Fathers as now England hath Preachers for the Emperour foreseeing the Siege made many motions for contributions towards the repairing of the walles and continue the military charge but the Subjects drew back and pleaded want untill it was too late and the City lost for though the enemy having a long time besieged it was intended to give over the Siege and to be gone yet tydings and intelligence being given him that