AN APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE OF A FANATICK SHEWING That the KING of ENGLAND by the Fundamental Laws of it is as absolute and Independent a Monarch as any of the Kings mentioned in Scripture and consequently as free as any of them from any Humane Coactive Power to Punish Censure or Dethrone him Whereunto is added A Short view of the Laws both Foreign and Domestick against Seditious Conventicles By a Barrister at Law LONDON Printed by J. G. for John Walthoe at the Black-Lyon in Chancery-Lane overagainst Lincolns-Inn 1684. AN APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE OF A Fanatick c. SIR YOurs I have received wherein you are pleased to signify that you have shown the several Tracts which have been lately written and exposed to publick View in defence of the Doctrine of Non-resistance to some of your Neighbors who are much inclined to Fanaticism and they say upon perusal of them that though they should grant to our Church-men what they have endeavoured to prove out of Scripture Viz. The unlawfullness of Subjects taking up Arms against their Sovereign in what Case soever yet they fancy that the King of England is not such a King as the Scriptures mention It is say you an Evasion they much boast of whensoever they read any pieces of this nature What is all this to us who Live not under such a King as the Holy Scriptures makes mention of Well â—â—â—ing that this Evasion is the Diana they so much vaunt or I am resolved out of the Zeal and Love I bear my King and Country and for the prevention of another Rebellion having been sufficiently sensible of the dire and calamitous Effects of the former to set forth the excellent and sweet agreement which the Municipal Laws of this Realm have with the Laws of God in this particular affirming That the King of England is such a King as the Scriptures mention and that in a fourfold Respect In Respect 1. Of his Right to the Crown 2. Of his Authority and Power 3. Of his Charge and Duty 4. Of the Rendring of his Account 1st The King of England 's Right to the Crown is by Birth Descent or Hereditary Succession And this shall be apparanted in these four particularities First By that part of the Oath of Allegiance which is used in every Leet You shall swear that from this day forward Co. Lib. 7. Calvin's Case you shall be true and faithful to our Sovereign Lord King Charles and his Heirs which demonstrates the Descent And by the by I presume it will not be amiss to present to our Fanaticks the whole scope and aim of this Oath of Allegiance as it is expressed in the Laws and Constitutions of our King William the First Statuimus ut omnes Liberi Homines faedere Sacramento affirment quod intra extra universum Regnum Angliae quod olim vocabatur Regnum Britanniae Willielmo Regi Domino suo fideles esse volunt Terras Honores illius omni fidelitate ubique servare cum eo contra inimicos alienigenas defendere Lex 52. De fide obsequio erga Regem Add hereto another Constitution of the Conqueror whereby all subjects are commanded ut Jura Regia illaesa servare pro viribus Conentur Statuimus etiam firmiter praecipimus ut omnes Liberi homines totius Regni nostri praedicti sint fratres Conjurati ad Monarchiam nostram ad Regnum Nostrum pro viribus suis facultatibus contra inimicos pro posse suo defendendum viriliter servandum Pacem dignitatem Coronae nostrae integram observandam Lex 59. Both which Laws and many others enacted and granted by the Conqueror were observed and kept in the Reign of King Edward the Confessor Secondly For that we do our Ligeance to the King in his natural Capacity that is as he is Charles the Son and Heir apparent of King Charles the Glorious and Royal Martyr For Ligeance or Homage cannot be done to the King in his Politick capacity Coke Lib. 7. Calvin's Case for so the Body of the King is invisible If this be true Law as it is what shall we judge then of the new Coined distinction to make a difference betwixt the King and his Authority betwixt his Personal Will and his Royal and Authoritative Will to pursue the late Kings Person with a Cannon-Bullet at Edge-hill and to preserve his Authority at London or elsewhere I am sure 't is Evident by the 25. E. 3. C. 2. De proditionibus that it is High-Treason to compasse the Kings Death by which must be meant to endeavour his Personal ruine because the Regal Authority never dies in England Oh Fanaticks take heed then for the future of New-coined distinctions take heed of the cunning Wiles and Sleights of the Jesuits There is no Wickedness but hath some excuse In that great Insurrection in Richard the Seconds time the Commons had a fair pretence Their Intent was as they said to abollish the Law of Velleinage and Servitude and to slay the Corrupt Judges And they took an Oath forsooth to be true to the King and Commons and that they would take nothing but what they paid for and they punished all Theft with death yet in the Parliament of 5. R. 2. N. 3 and 32. They were adjudged Traytors The Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth could in the Queens Name command the Country to follow them in Arms sometimes pretending the safety of Her Majesties Person in danger they said by Treasons in working And sometimes in case of Conscience for restoring their former Religion And in this Zeal they hasted to Durrham Minster where they tare the Bible and Communion Book and such other things as there were saith Stow in great Contempt Yet these were mere Rebels and Traytors Speed Lib. 9. Cap. 24. Wherefore examine search diligently into the Cause every thing is not as it seems All is not Gold that Glisters I beseech you to look before you leap into Rebellion that Sin of Witch-craft Thirdly It is expresly affirm'd in the Case of Calvin That the King holds the Kingdom of England by Birth-Right Inherent by Descent from the Blood-Royal Co. Lib. 7 Calvin's Cases whereupon Succession doth attend and therefore it is usually said To the King his Heirs and Successors wherein Heirs is first named and Successors attendant upon Heirs but the Title is by Descent By Queen Elizabeth's Death the Crown and Kingdom of England descended to King James and from him to King Charles the First and from him to the King that now is and they were fully and absolutely thereby Kings without any essential Ceremony or Act to be done Ex post facto And by the way how inseparable this Right of descent is from the next in Blood you may see in H. 4. who though he was also of the Blood-Royal and had the Crown resigned unto him from R. 2. and confirmed by Act of Parliament
erit injuria ipsius Domini Regis nec poterit ei necessitatem imponere quod illam corrigat emendet nisi velit cum superiorem non habeat nisi deum satis erit illi propaena quod deum expectet ultorem If the King who is bound to Administer Justice to his utmost power will not recall the wrong he did upon a false suggestion in this case he injures his Subjects but no body can force him to do Right because he hath supream Power he hath no superior but God only and it is sufficient that we shall have a day of hearing hereafter at a just Tribunal where he shall be punished for doing wrong and we amply requited for our patient suffering Gilbert de Thornton Chief Justice under Edward the First speaketh in the same manner Cum provisum sit Fleta Lib. 1. c. 17. N. 9. quod quilibet in sui juris prosequutione potius judicio quam viribus utatur oportet Laesos Regem adire ut ostensis sibi injuriis illatis Celerem justitiam petentibus faciat exhiberi qui si noluerit de seipso vel de alio â—x tunc deum expectent conquerentes ultorem Nemo enim de facto Regis praesumat disputaare nec contrafactum suum venire Stamford in his Exposition of the Kings Prerogative is of the same mind with Bracton and Thornton for he says That by the Common Law there lyeth no Action or Writ against the King but when he seizeth the Subjects Lands or Goods having no Title by order of Law so to do Petition is all the Remedy the Subject hath and this Petition is called a Petition of Right With our Lawyers do concurr two of our Parliaments which have declared that the King of England is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accountable to none but God and therefore no way obnoxious to any humane coercive Power Thomas de Walsingham mentions a Letter written to the Bishop of Rome in the name of the whole Kingdom from the Parliament held at Lincoln Anno Domini 1301 wherein are these words Scimus Pater Sanctissime notorium est a prima institutione Regni Angliae tam temporibus Britannorum quam Anglorum quod certum directum dominium ad Regem pertinuit neque Reges Angliae ex libera pre-eminentia Regiae dignitatis Consuetudine cunctis temporibus observata coram aliquo Judice Ecclesiastico velseculari responderunt aut respondere debebant We know most holy Father and it is manifest from the very beginning of the Kingdom of England as well in the time of the Brittains as of the Angles that the certain and direct dominion hath belonged unto the King neither have the Kings of England by reason of the undoubted preheminence of the Royal Dignity and Custom observed in all Ages answered or ought to answer before any Judge Ecclefiastical or Civil The other Parliament was held at Westminster in the Reign of the King that now is whereat the Lords and Commons have declared 12. Car. 2. c. 30. That by the undoubted and Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom neither the Peers of this Realm nor the Commons nor both together in Parliament nor the People collectively or representatively nor any other persons whatsover ever had have hath or ought to have any coercive Power over the persons of the Kings of England You see Sir that though there be Laws to guide and direct our Princes yet if they chance to forget themselves so much as to violate and break through them there is no Law whereby Subjects may resist and punish them their Ministers and Instruments are ever accountable but as to themselves it is a known Maxime among our Lawyers That they can do no wrong But after all that has been said there are some Hunt-Scrap Lawyers and Polititians ready to raise such objections as these following From whom the King receiveth his power Object 1. to them he is accountable but from the people the King receiveth his power as Fortescue delivers Cap. 13. Ad tutelam Legis subditorum ac eorum Corporum Bonorum Rex erectus hanc potestatem a populo estluxam ipse habet A King is ordained for the defence of the Law of his Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods whereunto he receiveth Power of his People Therefore to his People the King is accountable If the Makers of this Objection did rightly set down the words of Fortescue Solution they might easily Answer themselves for it is not barely Rex a King but Rex hujusmodi such a King meaning a King whose Government is meerly Politick But the Government of England is not meerly Politick nor meerly Regal but mixt partly regal and partly politick as Fortescue saith presently after Regnum Angliae ex Bruti Comitiva Trojanorum in dominium politicum Regale prorupit The King of England out of Brutus his retinue of the Trojans first grew into a Politick and Regal Dominion And in the Ninth Chapter Rex Angliae principatu nedum regali politico suo populo Dominatur The King of England Governeth his People by Dominion notonly Regal but also Politick How it is Regal and how Politick doth plainly appear by what hath been before spoken for in regard all Power and Authority is derived from him and he holds his Kingdom and there withal his Power from God only it must needs be that his Government is Regal and in regard he is tyed to the observance of the Laws of his Kingdom whereby Potestas Regia Lege politica cohibetur Fortescue Cap. 9. The Power Regal is restrained by a Law Politick it must needs follow that this Government is Politick So that in reference to his Power he is a Regal King in reference to his Duty he is a Politick King The Objection therefore being grounded upon Fortescues words of a Kingdom meerly Politick does not concern our Kingdom He who is under the Law Object 2. may be called to account for his Actions but the King is under the Law Bracton says Ipse Rex non debet esse sub homine Lib. 1. c. 8. N. 5. sed sub Deo sub Lege Quia Lex facit Regem The King himself ought not to be under man but under God and under the Law because the Law makes the King In Answer to this Objection Sulution we must call to mind that there is a two fold Power in the Law a Directing Power and a Correcting-Power In respect of the former the King is under the Law That is to say the Law is the Line and Rule whereby the Will of the King is guided and directed and in this sence Bracton spake In respect of the later the King is not under the Law For how can we possibly conceive that he who giveth Life to the Law should by the Law offer force unto himself and compel himself for as with the Grammarians the Imperative-Mood hath no first Person so with the Civilians D.
yet upon his Death-Bed he acknowledged he had no right thereunto as Speed tells us Lib. 9. C 14. Add to this acknowledgment the words of Sir Edward Coke The Dignity Royal saies he Co. Lib. 12. F. 28. is an Inherent inseparable to the Royal Blood of the King and descendable to the next of Blood of the King and cannot be transferred to another Lastly By all the Judges 1. Jacobi at the Arraignment of Watson and Clerk Two Seminary Priests it was resolved That immediately by descent His Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King without the Ceremony of Coronation which was but a Royal Ornament and external Solemnization of the Descent This is plainly illustrated by several precedents taken out of our Histories King H. 6. was not Crowned till the 9th year of his Reign Speed lib. 9. c. 16. yet divers were attainted of Treason before that time which could not have been had he not been King So Queen Mary Reigned Three Months before she was Crowned in which space the Duke of Northumberland and others were Condemned and Executed for Treason which they had committed before she was proclaimed Queen So King Edward 1. was in Palestina when his Father died and in his absence the Nobility and Prelates of the Realm assembled at London and did acknowledge him for their King In his return homeward he did Homage to the French King for the Lands which he held of him in France He also repressed certain Rebels of Gascoin amongst whom Gasco of Bierne Appealed to the Court of the French King where our King Edward had Judgement That Gasco had perpetrated Treason and thereupon he was delivered to the pleasure of King Edward Walsingham in Edw. 1. And all this happened before his Coronation which was a Year and Nine Months after he began to Reign Besides we know that so soon as the King departeth out of this Life His Successor is forthwith proclaimed all Writs go forthwith in his name all Courts of Justice exercised and all Offices are held by his Royal Authority all States all Persons are obliged to bear him Allegiance Which things plainly demonstrate that the King hath his Kingdom by descent and stays not to be made King by the People at his Coronation Indeed the people are at that time asked their Consent not that they have power to deny but that the King having their Consent may with greater Security and Confidence rely on his people Fides vestra Conftantia says King Alexander ut Regem me esse Credam Curtius lib. 5. facit Ferrum tuetur Principem melius fides Seneca Thus you see That the King of England 's Right to his Emperial Crown is by Birth Descent or Hereditary Succession As to the Second Respect it is evident That the Power of the King of England is by the Fundamental Laws of the Land as Great and Royal as that which our Divines have proved out of the Scriptures to belong unto the Kings of Juda and Israel For 1. He has vested in his Royal person the power of making Laws The Royal Power set fâ—rth in Scripture By it War proclaimed 2 Chr. 13.4 By it Peace concluded 1 Kings 15.19 By it the people assembled and dismissed Joshua 24.1 and 28. 1 Kings 8.1 and 66. By it a Law is made By a Law repealed 1 Sam. 14.24 34. By it Offenders are pardoned 2 Sam. 14.21 By it all Officers are chosen as well Ecclesiastical as Civil 1 Chr. 26.32 Gen. 41.33 34 41. Exod. 18.25 26. 2 Sam. 23.23 1 Kings 4.3 to 20. 2 Chron. 17.7 8. Nehemiah 5.14 15. Hester 3 1â— Dan. 2.43 49. By it all Arms and Fortifications are disposed 2 Sam 8.14 1 Kings 9.15 17 18 19 and Chap. 26.9 to 16. Nehem. 7.1 2 3. the Authority Legislative being a peculiar and incommunicable priviledge of the Supreme Power so that the Office of the Two Houses of Parliament in this affair is only Consultive or Preparative but the Character of the Power rests in the final Sanction which is in the Kâ—â—g of England 2. To him belongs the power oâ— Life and Death He hath the Sword of Justice to punish them that transgress his Laws and endeavour to cause Sedition 'T is he that can remit the severities of the Penal Laws by pardoning both the smaller Breaches of them and more Capital Offences which he might most justly punish Bracton Lib. 1. c. 9. N. 3. Lib. 3. c. 8. N. 4. lib. 3. c. 14. N. 18. Fleta lib. 1. c. 16. N. 3 Sir Thomas Smith de Rep. Angl. lib. 2. c. 4. Lambard inter Leges Edovardi F. 143.9 E. 4.2 a. 27. H. 8. c. 24. 3. He only may Proclaim War and he solely can establish Peace among his people Co. Lib. 7. Calvin's Case F. 256. Smith's Common wealth Lib. 2. c. 4. 19. E. 46. Co. 4. Just f. 152. 2. H. 5. cap. 2. 4. There is no Lawful Assembly Meeting or Court but by Authority from him Yea the High Court of Parliament was at first devised framed and instituted by him Polyd. Virg. Lib. 11. Speed Stow Martin Baker and many others in the Life of H. 1. 5. By him all the Officers of the Realm whether Temporal or Ecclesiastical are chosen and established the Chief and Highest by himself immediately and mediately the Inferiour Officers by Authority from him Sir Thomas Smith Lib. 2. Cap. 4 5. Bracton Lib. 2. c. 24. Mirror c. 4. Sect. 2 4. Fleta Lib. 1. c. 17.12 H. 7.17 b. Co. Lib. 12. Case of Conspiracy f. 25.27 H. 8. c. 24. 6. By him all Liberties Franchises and Customs are granted and confirmed to the people Bracton Lib. 2. c. 24. N. 2. Cowells Just 1 2 5. Dyer 44. b. Co. Lib. 11.87 Case of Monopolies 7. He hath the sole Power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts and strong Holds and all the Ports and Havens and generally all the Militia of the Kingdom Co. Litt. 5. a. Co. 2. Just 30.13 Car. 2. c. 6.14 Car. 2. c. 3. Co. 3. Just 160 83. Co. Lib. 12. The Case of the Kings Prerogative in Salt-Peter In short The Prince is the Life the Head and Authority of all Things that be done in the Realm of England Smith Lib. 2. c. 4. Cambden in his Britania of the King of England Supreman potestatem merum Imperium apud nos habet Nec in Imperii Clientela est nec Investituram ab alio accipit nec preter Deum supremum agnoscit He hath Soveraign Power and Absolute Command among us neither holdeth he his Empire in Vassallage nor receiveth the Investiture or Enstalling from another nor yet acknowledgeth any Superiour but God Almighty above Bracton That Wrote in the Reign of H. 3. says thus Lib. 1. c. 8. N. 5. Sunt etiam sub Rege Liberi Homines servi ejus potestati subjecti omnis quidem sub eo ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo And in another place after says he
Rex habet Jurisdictionem supra omnes Lib. 4. c. 24. N. 1. qui in Regno suo sunt King H. 8. upon a Contest touching an Ecclesiastical Immunity uttered these very words Doct. Burnet's Hist of the Reformation Lib. 1. part 1. f. 17. By the permission and Ordinance of God we are King of England and the Kings of England in times past had never any superiour but God only Therefore know you well that we will maintain the Right of our Crown and of our Temporal Jurisdiction as well in this as in all other Points in as ample manner as any of our Progenitors have done before our time Add hereunto That this Soveraignty and Supremacy appertaining to our Kings and to the Emperial Grown of England is asserted not only by our Books of Law but likewise those Statutes that have been Enacted by our Princes and Nobles in Parliament do affirm the same witness 16. R. 2. C. 5.24 H. 8. c. 12.25 H. 8. c. 21 22 1 Eliz c. 1. 1. Jac. c. 1. All which Statutes you may peruse at your own leisure Now I would fain know of any Popeling or Fanatick what greater or more Royal Power can any Prince of Juda or Israel claim than is here by our Laws acknowledged to be in the King of England The Third Respect in his Charge and Duty which consists in the observance of the Law of God the Law of Nature and the Laws of this Realm To observe the Law of God He is bound as a Christian to observe the Law of Nature he is obliged as a Man to observe the Laws of his Realm he is bound as a King Nor is he only bound vinculo Offieii as he is a King tho' this is a strict tye considering to whom he must one day render an Accompt of his Stewardship but he is also bound Vinculo Juramenti by an Oath taken at his Coronation The effect whereof is this Of the Oath at the Coronation see Flesa Lib. 1. c. 17. N. 12 13 14 c. To keep confirm and defend all Laws Customs and Freedoms granted by his Predecessors to the Clergy or People to preserve Peace and Concord and cause equal and right Justice to be done according to his Power Whence it is very evident that the King hath his Duty enjoyned him and ought not to make his Will the Rule of his Actions Temperent igitur says Fleta Lib. 1. c. 17. N. 11. Reges potentiam suam per Legem quae frenum est Potentiae quod secundum Leges vivant quia hoc sanxit Lex humana quod Leges suum ligent Latorem alibi digna vox ex Majestate Regnantis est Legibus alligatnm se principem profiteri praeterea nihil tam proprium imperio quam Legibus vivere majus est Imperio Legibus submittere Principatum The fourth and last Respect is in the rendring of his Account For as the King 's mentioned in Scripture were not so the King of England is not accountable for his Actions to any but God alone First Because the King of England hath not his Crown from any but God alone Not only Holy (o) Prov. 8.15 Rom. 13.2 Psalm 82.8 John 19.11 Psal 62.11 Scripture but the writings of Heathens have declared that in Soveraign Princes there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something divine above the reach of man which cannot be derived from them and therefore they are descended more immediately from the gods and more particularly depending on them Kings are from Jupiter says Callimachus and nothing ever descended more sacred from him And Homer◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ab Jove summus Honos Omnis provectus maxime Regius ad divinitatis munera referendus est Says Vitigis apud Cassiodorum Mâ—terent apud Tacitum lib. 6. Tibi summum Rerum Judicium dii dedere nobis obsequii gloria relicta est no Law could punish nor any call Kings to account but the gods who as they gave them the highest Empire here so did they leave their Subjects nothing but the Glory of obeying But it may be said by our Fanaticks how can the Kings Power be thought to be only and immediately from God when it is derived to him by ordinary means of Hereditary Succession It is answered That Election Succession and Lawful Conquest are Titles whereby Princes receive their Authority they are not the Original and immediate Fountain of this Authority Heat Moysture Cold Dryness and our Temper arising from them whilst we are miraculously fashioned in our Mothers Womb are preparations whereby our Bodies are made fit Receptacles for our Souls but the Creator of our Souls is God So Princes have just claim to their Soveraign Power by the titles of Succession and Conquest but the Prime Author of their Power is God Cujus jussu says Irenaeus nascuntur homines ejus jussu Constituuntur Principes By whose appointment they are born Men and made reasonable Creatures by his appointment are they made Princes And as they receive their Power only from God so for the good or evil Administration thereof they are accountable only unto God as unto their Superior and not unto any mortal Creature God only maketh them Kings and only can unmake them and deject them from their Thrones according to the Rule of Law Ejusdem est destituere cujus instituere Secondly The Oath that the King takes at his Coronation binds him only before God for there is no Condition Promise or Limitation whereby he is made Accountable to his People Thirdly By the suffrage and Testimony of our Lawyers it appears that the King of England is unaccountable to any humane Power on Earth And we begin with Bracton who tells us that we have no Legal Remedy we can only humbly Petition His Sacred Majesty Locus erit Supplicationi quod factum suum corrigat Lib. 1. cap. 8. N. 5. emendet Quod quidemsi non fecerit satis sufficit ei ad praenam quod dominum expectet ultorem Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare multo fortius Contra factum suam venire If he will not hearken to our just and reasonable desires satis sufficit his punishment is more than enough for he must render an account to him that judgeth Righteously Let not men presume to question his deeds much less to undo by force what he shall do though not according to Right That our Fanaticks may not think this dropt from our Bracton unwariily he repeats it in other places and Lib. 5. Tract 3. De defaltis Cap. 3. N. 3. He puts the Case that the King should do injury and a Plea is brought against him in whose behalf he did it the King being Petitioned and Persisting and he rules it thus Quo casu cum dominus Rex super hoc fuerit interpellatus in eadem perstiterit voluntate quod vellet tenentem esse defensum injuria cum teneatur justitiam totis viribus defensare ex tunc
4.8.51 d. 36.1.13 d. 24.1.7 8. neque imperare sibi neque se prohibere quisquam potest no man can Command or forbid himself at leastwise no man can impose such a Law upon himself but that he may recede from it when he pleaseth D. 32.1.22 de Leg. 3. He that is under the former power only is accountable to God only for his Actions as the King But he that is under both Powers of the Law is accountable both to God and the Law as is every Subject Again In respect of the Directing Power the Law is the Object and Rule of Justice and so the King is under the Law In Respect of the Correcting Power the Law is the Instrument of Justice and so the King is not under the Law but the Law is a means serving the King to govern his People To illustrate this by an example a Servant who guides and directs his Master as he is a Guide is superiour to his Master but consider him as an Instrument and Servant unto his Master and though he be never so Wise and Upright yet his Master is above him And as the Law is said to be above the King so in the same Sence His Council may also be said to be above him that is in respect they guide Bracton Lib. 2. c. 16. N. 3. Fleta Lib. 1. c. 17. N. 9. direct and advise the King in the Governing of his People For so say our two antient Lawyers The King hath Superiors in the Governing of his People the Law by which he is made and his Council to wit The Earls and Barons But here a scruple may arise what Bracton and Fleta mean when they say The Law makes the King It is answered there are two singular and excellent benefits which by the Law redound unto the King The one is the Law does declare and publish unto the People the Kings Right unto the Crown so that they quietly and willingly receive him as their King and submit unto him The other Benefit is the Law doth support and strengthen him in his Emperial Throne In both which respects it may well be said That the Law makes the King and so Sir Edward Coke spake right when he told King James That the Law set the Crown upon his Head Sir These Objections being fully as I think answered I shall leave you and your Fanatick Neighbours to compare what hath been now by me proved with what hath been by some of our Divines lately delivered out of the Scriptures and you will clearly find That the King of England is such a King as the Scriptures make mention of And if it be so how then can Fanaticks take up Arms against him If he be wicked what advantage will it be to them to be worse If he break his Oath will they also break theirs Or can they say that they swear Allegiance unto him on conditon of his good Behaviour Does the Statute of 25. Ed. 3. C. 2. declare it to be Treason only to Levy War against a good a just King Why then did not the Protestants take up Arms against that bloody Idolatrous Queen Mary Why then is it Treason to compass the Death of an Usurper of the Crown Dalt 227. Was not Spencer banished for the affirming Co. Lib. 7. Calvin's Case That if the King did not demean himself by Reason in the Right of the Crown His Subjects were bound by Oath to remove him Oh Fanaticks take heed of this unhappy principle which not long since ruined as Flourishing a Kingdom as any in the Christian World By the dire Effects of it our Religion was abolished our Foundations over-turned our Laws abrogated the Government of Church and State dissolved instead of Religion Atheism and Infidelity Fanatick Rage and wild Enthusiasme In short instead of Liberty and Property the voice of Sequestrations Plunders and Decimations were heard in the Land FLAGELLVM CONCILIABVLORVM OR A ROD for the FOOLS-BACK SHEWING What Laws both Forreign and Domestick have been framed for the Prevention and Suppression of Conventicles THe gathering of Assemblies is reckoned as an especial Priviledge of Soveraign Princes who in all times have been jealous of them and provided severe Laws against them and good Reason for such Jealousy for that it is impossible be the pretences of Meeting never so specious and fair to Govern People and keep them quiet long if they have liberty to flock together at their pleasures And therefore there is a necessity that all Assemblings of people whether upon a Sacred or Civil account should be absolutely in the Power of Princes To which purpose both remarkable and agreable are those Laws and Edicts made by the Policy of the Greeks and Romans whereunto we will add those Laws Canons and Constitutions that have been Enacted in our Parliaments and Convocations And we shall begin with those that are Foreign Isocrates under the person of King Nicocles thus instructs his Subjects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In English thus Make no Societies nor Coventicles without my License Assemblies of this kind as in other Governments they are hurtful so in Monarchies they are exceeding dangerous Agreable hereto is that of Mecenas in Dio who pronounceth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is in English Combinations and Assemblies and Associations are things that do not very well consist with a Monarchy Upon this account Arnoldus Clapmarius shews how pernitious and dangerous are Conventicles in a Government Lâ—b 3. cap. 13. de Arcanis Donationis and gives us Tacitus's Note In Rebellione Galliarum Igitur says Tacitus per conciliabula Caetus seditiosa disserebant From whence such unlawful Assemblies are prevented and suppressed by the Decrees and Constitutions of the Roman Princes and Senators which are to be found in the Body of the Civil Law which I now present to the Reader Sub praetextu Religionis D. 47.11.2 de caetibus illicitis vel sub species solvendi voti Caetus illicitos nec a veteranis tempetare oportet Mandatis principalibus praecipitur praesidibus provinciarum ne patiantur esse Collegia sodalitia neve milites Collegia in castris habeant D. 47.22.1 de Collegii Sed permittitur tenuioribus Stipem menstruam Conferre dum tamen semel in mense caeant ne sub praetextu hujusmodi illicitum Collegium coeat Quod non tantum in urbe sed in Italia in provinciis Locum habere Divus quoque severus rescripsit Sed Religionis Causa coine non prohibentur D. 47.22.2 de pâ—na dum tamen per hoc non fiat Contra Senatusconsultum quo illicita Collegiaarcentur Quisquis illicitum Collegium Vsurpaverit ea paena quo Tenetur qui hominibus armatis Loca publica vel templa occupasse judicati sunt In summa autem nisi ex senatusconsulti auctoritate vel Caesaris D. 47.22.3.1 Collegium vel quod cunque tale Corpus coierit contra senatusconsultum et mandata constitutiones collegium celebrant By these
for the suppressing of Popery and the growth thereof by Subjecting all Popish Recusants to the greatest Severity of Ecclesiastical censures in that behalf Canon 5. This present Synod well knowing that there are other Sects which endeavour the subversion both of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England no less than the Papists do although by another way for the preventing thereof doth hereby decree and ordain That all those Proceedings and Penalties which are mentioned in the aforesaid Canon against Popish-Recusants as far as they shall be applyable shall stand in full Force and Vigour against all Anabaptists Brownists Separatists Familists or other Sect or Sects person or persons whatsoever who do or shall either obâ—â—â—nately refuse or ordinarily not having a Lawful Impediment that is for the space of a Month neglect to repair to their Parish-Churches or Chapels where they inhabit for the hearing of Divine-Service Established and receiving of the Holy-Communion according to Law And further because there are sprung up among us a sort of factious people Despisers and Depravers of the Books of Common-Prayer who do not according to the Law resort to their Parish-Church or Chappel to joyn in the publick Prayers Service and Worship of God with the Congregation contenting themselves with the hearing of Sermons only thinking thereby to avoid the Penalties due to such as wholly absent themselves from the Church We therefore for the restraint of all such wilfull Contemners or Neglectors of the Service of God do ordain that the Church or Chappel-Wardens and Questmen or Sidemen of every Parish shall be careful to enquire out all such disaffected persons and shall present the names of all such Delinquents at all Visitations of Bishops and other Ordinaries and that the same Proceedings and Penalties mentioned in the Canon aforesaid respectively shall be used against them as against other Recusants unless within one whole Month after they are first denounced they shall make acknowledgment and reformation of that their fault Provided always that this Canon shall not derogate from any other Canon Law or Statute in that behalf provided against those Sectaries From the Reign of King Charles the 1st I come to the Reign of the King that now is wherein are Laws enacted besides those against Nonconformists for the preventing and suppressing of Conventicles As for Example In the 16th of King Charles the 2d there is a Law 16. Car. 2. c. 4. Intituled An act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles and in the preamble thereof are these words to be read Whereas an Act made in the five and thirtieth Year of the Reign of our late Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth Entituled An Act to retain the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due Obedience hath not been put in due Execution by reason of some doubt of late made whether the said Act be still in force altho' it be very clear and evident and it is hereby declared that the said Act is still in force and ought to be put in due Execution For providing therefore of further and more speedy Remedies against the growing and dangerous practises of Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of tender Consciences do at their Meetings contrive Insurrections as late Experience hath shewed As for the Punishment c. of this same Law I shall not mention because it is expired In the 22d year of the Reign of the King that now is 22. Car. 2. c. 4. there is another Law made whereby 't is enacted 1. That if any of the Age of Sixteen years or upwards being a Subject of this Realm shall be present at any Conventicle under pretence of any Exercise of Religion in other manner than according to the Church of England any Justice of Peace c. on Proof Confession Oath of two Witnesses or notorious Evidence of the Fact may make a Record of such offence which Record shall be a Conviction and set a Fine of Five Shillings for the first offence and for the second Ten Shillings to be Levied by distress and sale of the offenders Goods or in case of Poverty on the Goods of others then convicted of the like offence at the same Conventicle 2. That every person convicted of Preaching at any such Meeting shall forfeit for the first offence Twenty Pound and if it be a Stranger and his name and habitation not known or he cannot be found or be unable to pay the Justice of Peace c. may Levy it upon any persons that were present and for the second offence Forty Pound to be levied and disposed c. 3. That every person convicted of wittingly suffering any such meeting to be held in his House Yard c. shall forfeit Twenty Pound and in case of his Poverty upon persons convicted of being present at the same 4. That if any Constable c. knowing or being informed of such Meetings within his Precinct shall not inform a Justice of Peace or chief Magistrate c. but they or others called in their aid shall wilfully omit their Duty and being convicted thereof they shall forfeit Five Pound and the Justice of Peace and chief Magistrate c. omitting their Duty shall forfeit one Hundred Pound Now for what end are these penalties imposed Why the preamble of the Law will tell you That it is For providing Remedy against the growing and dangerous practices of Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of tender Consciences have or may at their Meetings contrive Insurrections as late experience hath shewed Now Reader if this very last Statute be put in due execution I should think our Sectaries would not have long Pocket Courage enough to frequent Conventicles and if they themselves would but consider and weigh the preambles of the Laws and Canons before mentioned they would pronounce themselves Guilty of the greatest folly and Impudence in the World to be found at such unlawful Meetings Well I have no more to say to our Sectaries not only to desire them to read these following Lines spoken by a most excellent (a) Doctor Laney late Lord Bishop of Ely on 1. Thess 4.11 Prelate of our Church in a Sermon Preached before his Majesty at White-Hall 12. Martii 1664. A Man saies he may go far in Religion without troubling any and if then they fall into some Error or Misbelief in Religion they ought not to be severely handled but when they betake themselves to a Sect that alters the case it will then be Compassion mistaken A Locust alone is no such perilous Beast to be fear'd or regarded by any but when they come in shoals and swarms and cover the Face of the Earth they are a plague to the Country where they light So to look upon a Sectary single who out of simplicity and good meaning follows his Conscience our Hearts should be every whit as tender for them as their Consciences are But if we look upon them in Company they are as ill and dangerous as the Company they are found in and the danger of all popular Meetings and Associations to a State makes it the proper business of a King and his Ministers to look to it and to provide against it wherein the care hath been taken deserves a just Commendation FINIS BOOKS Printed for and are to be Sold by John Walthoe at the Black-Lyon in Chancery-Lane overagainst Lincolns-Inn AN Historical Account of the late great Frost in which are discovered in several Comical Relations the various Humours Loves Cheats and Intreagues of the Town as the same were managed upon the River of Thames during that Season In Twelves price 1 s. The Kings Prerogative and the Subjects Priviledges Asserted according to the Laws of England Together with Observations on the Laws and Government of most of the Kingdoms and States of the Universe by J. N. in large Octavo price 1 s. 6 d. The Religious Cavalier Done out of French By Gideon Pierrevile Gent. price 1 s. Eve Revived Or The Fair One Stark-Naked A Novell The Priviledge of Cuckolds Or the Cure of Jealousie A work necessary not only for those who are so but those that may be so In Twelves price 1 s.