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A93631
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A speech spoken by the Bishop of Carlisle in the House of Lords; with some observations upon it.
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Merke, Thomas, d. 1409.; England. Parliament. House of Lords.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing S4868A; ESTC R25961
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3,256
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2
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A SPEECH SPOKEN BY The Bishop of Carlisle IN The House of LORDS WITH Some OBSERVATIONS upon it My Lords THE Matter now propounded is of marvellous Weight and Consequence wherein are two Points chiefly to be considered The First Whether King Richard be sufficiently put out of His Throne The Second Whether the Duke of Lancaster be lawfully taken in For the First how can that be sufficiently done when there is no Power sufficient to do it The Parliament cannot for of the Parliament the King is the Head and can the Body put down the Head You will say but the Head may bow it self down and so may the King resign It is true but what force is in that which is done by force and who knows not that King Richard's Resignation was no other But should we suppose he was sufficiently out yet how comes the Duke of Lancaster to be lawfully in If you say by Conquest you speak Treason for what Conquest without Arms and can a Subject lawfully take Arms against his lawful Sovereign and not be Treason No if you say by Election of the State you speak not Reason for what Power has the State to elect while any is living that has right to succeed but such a Successor is not the the Duke of Lancaster c. Silent leges inter Arma What disputing of Titles against the present stream of Power But however it is exâ—reme injustice that King Richard should be condemned without being heard or once allow'd to make his defence And now my Lords I have spoken this at this time that you may consider of it before it is too late for as yet it is in your power to undo that justly which you have unjustly done This Speech was uttered in the Lords House in Parliament in the beginning of Henry the Fourth's time who was the first of the Line of Lancaster that usurped this Crown of England And it was hoped by all good Men that have any regard to a fair Reputation in this World or that believe there will be a Day of reckoning in the World to come that we should never have seen such lewd and villanous Actions repeated in our Age as to make the fore going Speech so necssary to be perused and examined again in these our Days but since the contrary is too apparent it will behove every Person of this Nation seriously to consider of these two things first Whether the sustance and matter contained in this Speech be true honest and just or no and if it be resolved in the Affirmative then secondly Whether in honest Policy and Prudence we ought to follow this advice for the securing the publick quiet and peace of this Nation As to the former point a Word or two shall be only said not so much to inform as to put People in remembrance upon these following Heads what the Word of God obligeth us to in this matter what the Doctrines of the Church of England teach and lastly what the known Laws and Statutes of this Realm declare in this business upon every of these Heads multitudes of Quotations might easily be produced but one or two upon each shall suffice As to the first the Scripture says in express terms That Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft now consider in what words could God Almighty shew a higher Detestation of this damnable sin of Rebellion than by this Similitude for as the Compact made BETWEEN THE DEVIL and the Witch is a Combination to abdicate and desert God and to dethrone him of the Sovereign Power that he by natural Right of Creation has over his Creatures so Rebellion says this unerring holy Spirit is as this sin of Witchcraft which designs to dethrone God's Vicegerent our lawful King whom he has placed over us If this be the Word of God how can any Person be so impudent as to say that Rebellion is not a damning Sin and since we know also that Lucifer was the first Rebel As to the second Head most English-men do communicate in the Church of England or to qualifie them have communicated therein and thereby are Members thereof Now surely every good Christian must believe that Church to be the best and most conformable to the Word of God that he voluntary communicates in and is a Member of If she is the best Church in our belief then we do also believe her Doctrines to be true and agreeable to God's Word for if any of her Doctrines be false in our Opinion then we cannot believe her to be the best Church and so must renounce her Communion and seek some other Now our Church of England does abhor that damnable Doctrine of the Jesuits own Invention viz. That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or upon pretence of Religion may fight against and depose their lawful Sovereign Now I dare affirm not any ten of their other Tenets has made them so hateful to all good Men as this pernicious one now shall we abhor them so exceedingly for this deposing Doctrine and yet practice the same our selves then certainly we must for the future either hate our selves or else take those Jesuits and embrace them in our bosoms for we are and must be accounted the Disciples and Followers of those Masters whose Rules and Precepts we put in practice And if any body doubts whether the Church of England declares Rebellion against their lawful Prince to be a damning Sin upon any account whatsoever nay tho they be evil Princes let him read her Homily against Rebellion which consists of six parts all which are full and express in this matter Now let us see what the Statutes of this Realm declare the antient and present Law to be as what is Rebellion which is so great a Sin by the express Word of God. The famous Statute of the 25th Edw. 3. Cap. 2. says expresly thus If any Man do levy War against our Lord the King in his Realm or be adherent to the King's Enemies in his Realm giving them Aid and Comfort in the Realm or elsewhere are guilty of High Treason And sure they that came to take the King's Crown are his Enemies with a witness as the Duke of Lancaster did against whom this Speech is directed So now 't is very plain that as Rebellion is a damnable Sin so our Law shews what Rebellion is Then let us examin whether by our Laws we may in any case Rebel or take up Arms against our Prince and for this peruse the Statute of 13 Car. 2. Cap. 1. which obligeth all Persons in Corporations to take this following Oath I A. B. do declare and believe that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that I do abhor that traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissioned by him So help me God. Now though the obligation to take this Oath is not universal upon every Subject yet the substance and matter of it is undoubted Law viz. That it is a traiterous position upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against our Prince or those commissioned by him If this be undoubtedly the Law as it is let us act according to the Law who have been so angry with others because they did contrary to Law and thâ—â— Maxim has been allowed in all Ages to be true that it is a presumption in any Person or in any number of private Men to think themselves wiser than the Law. And now let it be maturely considered whether it had not been well for this Kingdom if the Advice given in this Speech had been followed for who is ignorant that knows any thing of our History of the many thousand Lives that were lost in the bloody dispute for the Crown between the Houses of York and Lancaster more English Blood was spent in this unnatural War than in twice Conquering the Kingdom of France they that compute the least say it cost above one Hundred Thousand Lives Ah! How dismal a Scene does this represent to our view that have any true and sober Love for our native Country and Country-men and how likely we are to come to the same pass again of one Brother killing the other and the Son his Father let every Man of sense be judg If we neglect the opportunity we now have to re-settle us again upon the foundations of our known Laws our Children nay our Childrens Children may be bound to curse our head-strong Humor that made us so like the deaf Adder as to stop our Ears to the voice of the Charmer that is the word of God and the Laws of our Land. I shall only remark this one thing to all sober English Men That there is not one Instance in all our History of almost these Thousand Years last past that that Family which were known to have the Right of the Crown by lawful descent were ever deprived of it totally It is true that Force and nominal Acts of Parliament made by Kings de facto have deposed particular Persons that had the lawful Right to the Crown but yet always Right overcame Might at the last and Peace was never firmly settled until the right Heir repossessed the Throne FINIS