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
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
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