King Charls his Case OR AN APPEAL To all Rational Men Concerning His TRYAL AT THE High Court of Iustice Being for the most part that which was intended to have been delivered at the Bar if the King had Pleaded to the CHARGE and put himself upon a fair TRYAL With an additional Opinion concerning The Death of King James The loss of Rochel and The Blood of Ireland By JOHN COOK of Grays-Inn Barrester Justice is an excellent vertue Reason is the life of the Law Womanish pity to mourn for a Tyrant Is a deceitful cruelty to a City London Printed by Peter Cole at the sign of the Printing-Press in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange for Giles Calvert at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1649. To the READER THe righteous Iudge whose judgement is not onely inevitable but infallible must shortly judge me and all that concurred to bring the capital Delinquent to condign punishment but in the interim I desire to be judged by all understanding men in the world that suffer their judgements to be swayed by Reason and not byassed by private Interest Whether ever any man did so much deserve to dye Cain for the murther of one righteous Abel and David for one Uriah had been men of death had not God pardoned them Those thirty one Kings which Joshua hanged up and Sauls seven Sons which were but at the worst as it seems to me Evil Counsellors were they not innocent nay Saints in comparison of this man Those that crucified Christ did it ignorantly For had they known him they had not crucified the Lord of Glory The Saints under the ten Persecutions suffered by the hands of Heathens the Sicilian Vespers the Parisian Massacre of the Protestants and the Gunpowder-Plot were acted and intended by Papists out of a conceit of Merit But for a Protestant Prince stiled The Defendor of the Faith in a time of light that had sworn to keep the Peace received Tribute to that end and might have had the very hearts of the People if they could have given him them without death the strongest Engagements I say for such a one so long to persecute the faithful destroy and inslave the People by oppressing cruelties And when Machiavel could not do it to levy a War to that wicked end which never any of his Ancestors durst attempt that might at any time with a word of his mouth have stopt all the bleeding veins in the three Kingdoms but would not and for the satisfying of a base lust caused more Protestant blood to be shed then ever was spilt either by Rome Heathen or Antichristian Blessed God what ugly sins lodge in their bosoms that would have had this man to live But Words are but Women Proofs are Men it is Reason that must be the Chariot to carry men to give their concurrence to this ludgement Therefore I shall deliver my thoughts to the courteous Reader as I was prepared for it if Issue had been joyned in the Cause but with some addition for illustration sake desiring excuse for the Preamble because there is some repetition in matter An Appeal to all Rational men that love their God Justice and Countrey more then their Honor Pleasure and Money Concerning the Kings Tryal May it please your Lordship MY Lord President and this High Court erected for the most Comprehensive Impartial and Glorious piece of Justice that ever was Acted and Executed upon the Theatre of England for the Trying and Judging of Charls Stuart whom God in his wrath gave to be a king to this Nation and will I trust in great love for his notorious Prevarications and Blood-guiltiness take him away from us He that hath been the Original of all Injustice and the Principal Author of more mischiefs to the Free-born People of this Nation then the best Arithmetician can well enumerate stands now to give an account of his Stewardship and to receive the good of Justice for all the evil of his Injustice and Cruelty Had he Ten thousand lives they could not all satisfie for the numerous Horid and Barbarous Massacres of Myriades and legions of Innocent persons which by his Commands Commissions and Procurements or at least all the world must needs say which he might have prevented and he that suffers any man to be kill'd when he may save his life without danger of his own is a Murtherer have been cruelly slain and inhumanely murthered in this renowned Albion Anglia hath been made an Aceldama and her yonger sister Ireland a Land of Ire and Misery and yet this hard-hearted man as he went out of the Court down the stairs Jan. 22. said as some of his Gnard told me and others That he was not troubled for any of the blood that hath been shed but for the blood of one man peradventure he meant Strafford He was no more affected with a List that was brought in to Oxford of Five or six thousand slain at Edgehill then to read one of Ben Johnsons Tragedies You Gentlemen Royalists that fought for him if ye had lost your lives for his sake you see he would have no more pitied you by his own confession then you do a poor Worm and yet what heart but would cleave if it were a Rock melt if it were Ice break if it were a Flint or dissolve if it were a Diamond to consider that so much precious Protestant blood should be shed in these three kingdoms so many gallant valiant Men of all sorts and conditions to be sacrificed and lose their lives and many of them to dye so desperately in regard of their Eternal conditions and all this meerly and onely for the satisfying and fulfilling of one mans sinful lust and wicked will a good Shepherd is he that lays down his life or ventures it to save the Sheep but for one to be so proudly wedded to his own conceits as so maliciously to oppose his private Opinion against the publique Judgement and Reason of State and to make head against the Parliament who acknowledged him to be head thereof so far as to give him the Honor of the Royal Assent in settling the Militia and Safety of the People I say for a Protestant Prince so beloved at home and feared abroad that in love and by gentle means might have had any thing from the Parliament for him to occasion the shedding of so much blood for a pretended Prerogative as hereafter will appear nothing in effect but to fix and perpetuate an absolute Tyranny I can say no less But O Lucifer from whence art thou faln and what hereticks are they in politicks that would have had such a man to live much more that think his Actions to have merited love and praise from Heaven and Earth But now to diffect the Charge 1. That the kings of England are trusted with a limited power to govern by Law the whole stream and current of Legal Authorities run so limpid and clear that I should but weary those
or force to do what he will but a knowing wise discreete man that opens the Peoples eyes and does not lead them by the noses but governe them with wisedome and discretion for their owne good Therefore Gentlemen-Royalists be not so mad as to misconstrue either the Oaths of Allegiance or Supremacy or any League or Covenant that any man should sweare to give any one leave to cut his throat the true meaning is that the King of England was supreme in this land in opposition to the Pope or any other Prince or Potentate as the words of the Oath do import that no foraigne State Prince or Potentate c. In case of any forraigne invasion the King was by Law to be Generalissimo to command the People for their owne safety and so it was expounded by the Parliament in 13. Eliz. which for some reason of State was not permitted to be printed with the Statutes besides God told those Kings whom he had formerly annoynted what their duty was not to exalt themselves overmuch above their brethren to delight themselves in the Law of God out of which I inferre that the Turkes Tarters Muscovites French Spaniards and all people that live at the beck and nod of tyrannicall men may and ought to free themselves from that tyranny if and when they can for such Tyrants that so domineer with a rod of iron do not governe by Gods permissive hand of approbation or benediction but by the permissive hand of his Providence suffering them to scourge the People for ends best known to himselfe untill he open a way for the people to work out their owne enfranchisements But before I speak of the warre it will be necessary for the satisfaction of rationall men to open and prove the Kings wicked designe wherewith he stands charged Now that he had from the beginning of his raigne such a designe and indeavour so to teare up the foundations of Government that Law should be no Protection to any mans person or estate will clearly appeare by what follows 1. By his not taking the Oath so fully as his Predecessours did that so when the Parliament should tender good laws to him for the Royal assent he might readily answer that he was not by Oath obliged to confirme or corroborare the same 2. By his dishonourable and perfidious dealing with the People at his Coronation when he set forth a Proclamation that in regard of the infection then spread through the Kingdome He promised to dispense with those knights that by an old statute were to attend at the Coronation who were thereby required not to attend but did notwithstanding with in few months after take advantage of their absence and raised a vaste summe of money out of their estates at the Councel Table where they pleading the said Proclamation for their justification they were answered that the law of the land was above any Proclamation like that Tyrant that when he could not by law execute a virgin commanded her to be deflored and then put to death 3. By his altering the Pattents and Commissions to the Judges wch having heretofore had their places granted to them so long as they should behave themselvs therin he made them but during pleasure that so if the Judges should not declare the Law to be as he would have it he might with a wet singer remove them and put in such as should not only say but swear if need werethat the Law was as the king would have it for when a man shall give five or ten thousand pounds for a Judges place during the kings pleasure and he shall the next day send to him to know his opinion of a difference in law between the king and a subject it shal be intimated unto him that if he do not deliver his opinion for the king he is likely to be removed out of his place the next day which if so he knows not how to live but must rot in a Prison for the money which he borrowed to buy his place as was well known to be some of their cases who underhand and closely bought great places to elude the danger of the statute whether this was not too heavy a temptation for the shoulders of most men to bear is no hard matter to determine so as upon the matter that very act of his made the King at the least a potentiall Tyrant for when that shall be law which a King shall declare himselfe or which shall be declared by those whom he chooses this brings the People to the very next step to slavery But that which does irrefragably prove the design was his restlesse desire to destroy Parliaments or to make them uselesse And for that who knowes not but that there were three or four National meetings in Parliament in the first foure yeares of his Reign which were called for supply to bring mony into his coffers in point of Subsidies rather then for any benefit to the People as may appear by the few good Lawes that were then made But that which is most memorable is the untimely dissolving of the Parliament in 4o Car. when Sir John Elliot and others who managed a Conference with the House of Peers concerning the Duke of Buckin ham who amongst other things was charged concerning the death of King James were committed close prisoner to the Tower where he lost his life by cruel indurance Which I may not passe over without a special Animadversion for sure there is no Turk or Heathen but will say that if he were any way guilty of his Fathers death let him die for it I would not willingly be so injurious to the honest Reader as to make him buy that again which he hath formerly met with in the Parliaments Declaration or elswhere in such a case a marginal reference may be sufficient Nor would I herein be so presumptuous as to prevent any thing that happily may be intended in any Declaration for more general satisfaction but humbly to offer a Students mite which satisfies my self with submission to better judgments How the King first came to the Crown God and his own Conscience best knew It was well known observed at Court that a little before he was a professed enemy to the Duke of Buckingham but instantly upon the death of King James took him into such special protection grace and favour that upon the matter he divided the Kingdom with him And when the Earl of Bristol had exhibited a Charge against the said Duke the 13. Article whereof concerned the death of King James He instantly dissolved that Parliament that so he might protect the Duke from the justice thereof and would never suffer any legal inquiry to be made for his Fathers death The Rabbines observe that that which stuck most with Abraham about Gods command to sacrifice Isaac was this Can I not be obedient unlesse I be unnaturall What will the Heathens say when they heare I have killed my only son What will
Spies being abroad they often met but durst not speake but parted with tears in their eyes which declared that they had more to utter but durst not this struck him to greaterfears he commanded that none should look upon one anothers eyes at parting therefore their griefes being too great to be smothered they fetcht a deep sigh when they parted which moved them so to compassionate one anothers wrongs that they ran in and killed the Tyrant The long hatching Irish treason was now ripe and therefore it was necessary that England and Scotland should be in Combustion least we might help the Irish Protestants well the Scots get Newcastle he knew they would trust him no more he had so often broke with them therefore no hopes to get them out by a treaty many Lords and the City petition for a Parliament the King was at such a necessity that yield he must to that which he most abhorred God had brought him to such a straite he that a few moneths before assumed the power of God Commanding men not to thinke of Parliaments to restraine the free thoughts of the heart of man was constrained to call one which they knew he would breake off when the Scots were sent home therefore got a Confirmation of it that he should not dissolve it without the consent of both Houses of which he had no hopes or by force which he suddenly attempted and the English Army in the North was to have come up to confound the Parliament and this rebellious and disloyall City as the King called it and for their paines was promised thirty thousand pounds and the plunder as by the examinations of Colonel Goring Legge c. doth more fully appeare And here by the way I cannot but commend the City Malignants He calls them Rebels they call him a gracious King He by his Proclamation at Oxford prohibits all commerce and entercourse of trade betweene this populous City the life and interest whereof consists in trade without which many thousands cannot subsist and other parts of the kingdome still they do good against evill and petitioning him so often to cut their throats are troubled at nothing so much as that they are not reduced to that former and a worse bondage then when there was a Lord Warden made in the City and the King sent for as much of their estates as he pleased But surely the Oxford-shire men are more to be commended for when the King had commanded by his Proclamation that what Corne Hay and other provision in the County of Oxford could not be fetcht into the said City for his Garison should be consumed and destroyed by fire for feare it should fall into the hands of the Parliaments friends a cruelty not to be parallel'd by any Infidell Heathen or pagan King nor to be presidented amongst the most avowed and professed enemies much lesâ—e from a King to his Subjects they resolved never to trust him any more But the great Question will be What hath been the true ground and occasion of the War which unless I clear and put it out of question as the Charge imports I shall fall short of what I chiefly aym at viz. That the King set up his Standard of War for the advancement and upholding of his Personal Interest Power and pretended Prerogative against the Publique Interest of Common-Right Peace and Safety and thus I prove it 1. He fought for the Militia by Sea and Land to have it at his absolute dispose and to justifie maintain his illegal Commissions of Array and this he pretended was his Birthright by the Law of England which if it were so then might he by the same Reason command all the money in the kingdom for he that carries the Sword will command the Purse 2. The next thing that he pretended to fight for was his Power to call Parliaments when he pleased and dissolve them when he list If they will serve his turn then they may sit by a Law to inslave the People so that the People had better choose all the Courtiers and Kings Favorites at first then to trouble themselves with ludibrious Elections to assemble the Freeholders together to their great labor expence both of time coyn and those which are chosen Knights Burgesses to make great preparations to take long Journeys to London themselves their Attendants to see the King Lords in their Parliament robes ride in state to the House and with Domitian to catch Flies and no sooner shall there be any breathings or a Spirit of Justice stirring discovered in the House of Commons but the king sends the Black-Rod and dissolves the Parliament and sends them back again as wise as they were before but not with so much money in their purses to tell stories to the Freeholders of the bravery of the king and Lords 3. Well but if this be too gross and that the People begin to murmure and clamor for another Parliament then there goes out another Summons and they meet and sit for some time but to as much purpose as before for when the Commons have presented any Bill for Redress of a publique Grievance then the king hath several games to play to make all fruitless as first his own Negative Voyce that if Lords and Commons are both agreed then he will advise which I know not by what strange Doctrine hath been of late construed to be a plain denyal though under favor at the first it was no more but to allow him two or three days time to consider of the Equity of the Law in which time if he could not convince them of the Injustice of it then ought he by his Oath and by Law to consent to it 4. But if by this means the king had contracted hard thoughts from the people and that not onely the Commons but many of the Lords that have the same noble blood running in their veins as those English Barons whose Swords were the chief Instruments that purchased Magna Charta then that the king might be sure to put some others between him and the peoples hatred The next prerogative that he pretended to have was to be the sole Judge of Chivalry to have the sole power of conferring Honors to make as many Lords as he pleased that so he may be sure to have two against one if the House of Commons by reason of the multitude of Burgesses which he likewise pretended a power to make as many Borough-Towns and Corporations as he pleased were not pack'd also And this is that glorious priviledge of the English Parliaments so much admired for just nothing for if his pretended Prerogative might stand for Law as was challenged by his adherents never was there a purer cheat put upon any people nor a more ready way to enslave them then by priviledge of Parliament being just such a mockery of the people as that Mock-Parliament at Oxford was where the kings consent must be the Figure and
then I do to my dear Father but I hate that cursed principle of Tyranny that hath so long lodged and harbored within Him which hath turned our waters of Law into blood And therefore upon that Malignant principle I hope this High Court which is an habitation of Justice and a Royal Palace of principles of Freedom will do speedy Justice That this Lyon which hath devoured so many Sheep may not onely be removed out of the way but that this Iron Scepter which hath been lifted up to break this poor Nation in pieces like a Potters vessel may be wrested out of the hands of Tyrants That my honorable Clients for whom I am an unworthy Advocate The people of England may not onely taste but drink abundantly of those sweet Waters of that Well of Liberty which this renowned Army hath digg'd with their swords which was stopt by the Philistines the fierce Jew and uncircumcised Canaanite the hopes whereof made me readily to hearken to the call to this service as if it had been immediately from Heaven being fully satisfied That the prisoner was long since condemned to dye by Gods Law which being more Noble and ancient then any Law of man if there had been a Statute that he should not dye yet he ought to be put to death not withstanding and that this High Court was but to pronounce the Sentence and Judgment written against him And though I might have been sufficiently discouraged in respect that my reason is far less then others of my profession yet considering that there are but two things desireable to make a dumb man eloquent namely A good Cause and good Judges The first whereof procures the Justice of Heaven and the second Justice upon Earth And thinking that happily God might make use of one mean man at the Bar amongst other learned Counsel that more of his minde might appear in it for many times the less there is of man the more Gods glory does appear and hitherto very much of the minde of God hath appeared in this action I went as chearfully about it as to a Wedding And that the glory of this administration may be wholly given to God I desire to observe to the praise of his great name the work of God upon my own spirit in his gracious assistance and presence with me as a return of Prayer and fruit of Faith believing that God never calls to the acting of any thing so pleasing to him as this most excellent Court of Justice is but he is present with the honorable Judges and those that wait upon them I have been sometimes of Counsel against Felons and Prisoners but I never moved the Court to proceed to Judgement against any Felon or to keep any man in Prison but I trembled at it in my thoughts as thinking it would be easier to give an account of mercy and indulgence then of any thing that might look like rigor but now my spirits are quite of another temper and I hope it is meat and drink to good men to have Justice done and recreation to think what benefit this Nation will receive by it And now my Lord I must as the truth is conclude him guilty of more transcendent Treasons and Enormous Crimes then all the Kings in this part of the world have ever been And as he that would picture Venus must take the eyes of one the cheeks of another beautiful woman and so other parts to make a compleat beauty so to delineate an absolute Tyrant the cruelty of Richard the third and all the subtilty treachery deep dissimulation abominable projects and dishonorable shifts that ever were separately in any that swayed the English Scepter conspired together to make their habitation in this Whited-wal therefore I humbly pray That as he hath made himself a president in committing such horrid acts which former Kings and Ages knew not and have been afraid to think of That your Lordship and this High Court out of your sublime wisdoms and for Justice sake would make him an example for other kingdoms for the time to come That the Kings of the Earth may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly That he that would not be a patern of Vertue and an example of Justice in his life may be a president of Justice to others by his death Courteous Reader for thy full satisfaction in Reason of Law how the late King was by the Law of the Land accountable for his Tyrannous and Trayterous Exorbitances I refer thee to my Lord Presidents most Learned and Judicious Speech before the Sentence read And I have one word to adde That High Court was a Resemblance and Representation of the great day of Judgement when the Saints shall judge all worldly powers and where this Judgement will be confirmed and admired for it was not only bonum but bene not onely good for the matter but the maner of proceeding This High Court did not onely consult with Heaven for wisdom and direction a president for other Courts to begin every solemn action with Prayer but examined witnesses several days upon Oath to inform their consciences and received abundant satisfaction in a judicial way which by the Law of the Land was not requisite in Treason the Prisoner standing mute as Judges which before was most notorious and known to them as private persons and having most perspicuously discerned and weighed the merits of the Cause in the Ballances of the Sanctuary Law and right Reason pronounced as righteous a sentence as ever was given by mortal men And yet what Action was ever so good but was traduced Not onely by unholy men but by the holy men of the world that professors should pray for Justice and then repine at the execution of it Blessed Lord How does the God of this world storm now his kingdom is shaking An enlightened eye must needs see that it is the design of Heaven to break all humane glory with an iron Scepter that will not kiss his golden Scepter and to exalt Justice and Mercy in the Earth I confess if the greater part of the world should approve such High and Noble Acts of Justice it might be suspected because the most people will Judge erroneously but that Christians that have fasted and prayed many years for Justice should now be angry to see it done what is it but like foolish passengers that having been long at sea in dangerous storms as they are entring into the quiet haven to be mad with the Pilot because he will not return into the angry Seas but I shall observe one passage in the Lord Presidents Speech as a Schollar may presume to say a word after his Master concerning the many menaces minatory dangerous speeches wch are given forth concerning this High Court If men must be kill'd for the faithful discharge of their duties to God their Countrey I am sure the murtherer will have the worst of it in conclusion if he should not be known here though
would say He must make him a Bishop He had more learning and dexterity in State Affairs undoubtedly then all the kings in Christendom If he had had grace answerable to his strong parts he had been another Solomon but his wit and knowledge proved like a sword in a mad-mans hand he was a stranger to the work of Grace and the Spirit of God as the poor creature confest to Mr. Knowls after he was condemned and all those Maeanders in State his serpentine turnings and windings have but brought him to shame and confusion but I am fully satisfied none of his Councel durst ever advise him to any thing but what they knew before he resolved to have done and that they durst as well take a Bear by the tooth as do or consent to the doing of any thing but what they knew would please him they did but hew and square the timber he was the Master builder that gave the form to every Architecture and being so able and judicious to discern of every mans merits Never think that the Duke or Pennington or any Judge or Officer did ever any thing for his advantage without his command against Law or Honor Upon all which premises may it please your Lorship I do humbly demand and pray the Justice of this High Court and yet not I but the innocent blood that hath been shed in the three kingdoms demands Justice against him This blood is vocal and cryes loud and yet speaks no better but much louder then the blood of Abel for what proportion hath the blood of that righteous man to the blood of so many thousands If king Ahab and Queen Jezabel for the blood of one righteous Naboth who would not sell his inheritance for the full value were justly put to death what punishment does he deserve that is guilty of the blood of thousands and fought for a pretended prerogative that he might have any mans Estate that he liked without paying for it This blood hath long cryed How long Parliament how long Army will ye forbear to avenge our blood will ye not do Justice upon the capital Author of all Injustice When will ye take the proud Lyon by the beard that defies you with imperious exultations What 's the House of Commons what 's the Army as Pharaoh said Who is the Lord and who is Moses I am not accountable to any power on earth those that were murthered at Brainford knockt on the head in the water and those honest souls that were kild in cold blood at Bolton and Leverpool in Lancashire at Bartomley in Cheshire and many other places their blood cryes night and day for Justice against him their wives and children cry Justice upon the murtherer or else give us our fathers and husbands again nay should the people be silent the very stones and timber of the houses would cry for Justice against him But my Lord before I pray Judgement I humbly crave leave to speak to two particulars 1. Concerning the Prisoner When I consider what he was and how many prayers have been made for him though I know that all the world cannot restore him nor save his life because God will not forgive his temporal punishment yet if God in him will be pleased to adde one example more to the Church of his unchangeable love to his elect in Christ not knowing but that he may belong to the election of grace I am troubled in my spirit in regard of his eternal condition for fear that he should depart this life without love and reconciliation to all those Saints whom he hath scorned under the notion of Presbyterians Anabaptists Independents and Sectaries It cannot be denyed but that he hath spent all his days in unmeasurable pride that during his whole raign he hath deported himself as a God been depended upon and adored as God that hath challenged and assured an Omnipotent power an earthly Omnipotence that with the breath of his mouth hath dissolved Parliaments his Non placet hath made all the Councels of that Supreme Court to become Abortives Non curo hath been his Motto who in stead of being honored as good Kings ought to be and no more hath been idolized and adored as our good God onely ought to be A man that hath shot all his arrows against the upright in the Land hated Christ in his members swallowed down unrighteousness as the Ox drinks water esteemed the needy as his footstool crusht honest publique spirited men and grieved when he could not afflict the honest more then he did counted it the best art and policy to suppress the righteous and to give way to his Courtiers so to gripe grinde oppress and overreach the free People of the Land that he might do what he list the remembrance whereof would pierce his soul if he knew the preciousnesse of it but all fins to an infinite mercy are equally pardonable therefore my prayer for this poor wretch shall be That God would so give him repentance to life that he may beleeve in that Christ whom he hath imprisoned persecuted and murthered in the Saints that he which hath lived a Tyrant and hated nothing so much as holinesse may die a convert and in love to the Saints in England that so the tears of the oppressed and the afflicted may not be as so many fiery stinging serpents causing an eternal despairing continual horror to this miserable Man when all Tyrants shall be astonisht and innocent blood will affright more then twelve legions of Devils All the hurt I wish to him is That he may look the Saints in the face with comfort for the Saints must judge the world and however it may be he or this adherents may think it a brave Roman spirit not to repent of any thing nor expresse any sorrow for any sin though never so horrid taking more care and fear not to change their countenance upon the Scaffold then what shall become of them after death Yet I beseech your Lordship that I may tell him and all the Malignants now living but this Charls Stuart unlesse you depart this life in love and reconciliation to all those Saints and godly men whom you have either ignorantly or maliciously opposed mockt and persecuted and still scorn and jeer at as Heretiques and Sectaries there is no more hopes for you ever to see God in comfort then for me to touch the Heavens with my finger or with a word to annihilate this great building or for the Devil to be saved which he might be if he could love a Saint as such No Sir it will be too late for you to say to those Saints whom you have defied Give me some of your holiness that I may behold Gods angry countenance You can expect no answer but Go buy Sir of those Soul-hucksters your Bishops which fed you with chaff and poyson and now you must feed upon fire and brimstone to all eternity 2. Concerning my self I bear no more malice to the Mans person
murther is a sin that seldom goes unpunisht in this world and never did any Jesuit hold it meritorious to kill men for bringing tyrants and murtherers to Justice or to do such horrid acts in the sight of the Sun It was a noble saying of the Lord President That he was afraid of nothing so much as the not doing of Justice and when he was called to that High place which was put upon him he sought it not but desired to be excused more then once not to decline a duty to God and the people for fear of any loss or danger being above such thoughts by many Stories as actions testifie but alledging That of himself out of an humble spirit which if others had said of him I am sure they had done him a great deal of wrong And though he might have been sufficiently discouraged because it was a new unpresidented Tribunal of condemning a King because never did any king so Tyrannize and Butcher the People finde me but that in any History and on the other side the leaf you shall finde him more then beheaded even to be quartered and given to be meat to the fowls of the Air yet the glory of God and the love of Justice constrained him to accept it and with what great wisdom and undauntedness of Resolution joyned with a sweet meekness of spirit he hath performed it is most evident to all the Malignants themselves being Judges Concerning this High Court to speak any thing of this glorious Administration of Justice is but to shew the Sun with a candle the Sun of Justice now shines most gloriously and it will be fair weather in the Nation but alas the poor Mole is blinde still and cannot see it but none so blinde as they that will not see it however it is not proper or convenient for me at present to speak all the truth that I know the Generations that are to come will call them blessed concerning the Integrity and Justice of their proceedings lest I that a maâ— servant should be counted a Sycophant which I abhor in my soul as my body does poyson and this I will be bold to say which I hope God guides my hand to write This High Court hath cut off the head of a Tyrant and they have done well undoubtedly it is the best action that they ever did in all their lives a matter of pure envy not hatred for never shall or can any men in this Nation promerit so much Honor as these have done by any execution of Justice comparable to this and in so doing they have pronounced sentence not onely against one Tyrant but Tyranny it self therefore if any of them shall turn Tyrants or consent to set up any kinde of Tyranny by a Law or suffer any unmerciful domineering over the Consciences Persons and Estates of the Free People of this Land they have pronounced Sentence against themselves But good trees cannot bring forth bad fruits therefore let all desperate Malignants repent ere it be too late of any such ungodly purposes and fight no longer against God Every man is sowen here as a seed or grain and grows up to be a tree it behoves us all to see in what ground we stand holy and righteous men will be found to be timber for the great building of God in his love when Tyrants and Enemies to Holiness and Justice will be for a threshold or footstool to be trodden upon or fit for the fire Lastly for my self I bless God I have not so much fear as comes to the thousand part of a grain it is for a Cain to be afraid that every man that meets him will slay him I am not much solicitous whether I dye of a Consumption or by the hand of Ravilliacks I leave that to my heavenly Father If it be his will that I shall fall by the hand of violence it is the Lord let him do what he pleaseth If my Indentures be given in before the term of my Apprenticeship be expired and that I be at my Fathers house before it be night I am sure there is no hurt in all this If I have but so much time left I shall pray my Father to forgive the Murtherer the blood of Christ can wash away sins of the deepest stain but when he sees his childrens blood sprinkled upon the bloody wretch he loves every Member as he loves himself But know this ye that have conceived any desperate intentions against those Honorable Justices who have made you Freemen unless you will return to Egypt If God in wrath to you and love to any of his people should suffer you to imbrue your hands in any of their innocent blood either you will repent or not if you repent it will cost you ten times more anguish and grief of heart then the pleasure of the sin can cause delight and what a base thing is it to do that which must be repented of at the best But if you repent not it had been better for you to have never been born But let every man be faithful in doing his duty and trust God with the success and rejoyce in Christ in the testimony of a good Conscience for he that hath not a soul to lose hath nothing to lose but blessed be God I have no soul to lose therefore I desire onely to fear him whom to fear is the beginning of wisdom And for all Malignants to come in and joyn with honest men in settling this Nation upon Noble Principles of Justice Freedom and Mercy to the poor will be their best and greatest understanding FINIS 2 Sam. 21. In 1571. 1. Book of Ord. fol. 2 King 12. 20. 14. 1 5. 27 Mar. 5. Car. Darlingrub 15. Apr. 20. Car. Com E Leicesters Case
an Indian say to this case A King hath all power in his hands to do justice There is one accused upon strong presumptions at the least for poisoning that Kings Father The King protects him from justice Whether do you believe that himself had any hand in his Fathers death Had the Duke been accused for the death of a begger he ought not to have protected him from a Judicial Trial. We know that by Law it is no lesse then misprision of Treason to conceal a Treason and to conceal a Murder strongly implies a guilt thereof and makes him a kind of Accessary to the fact He that hath no nature to do justice to his own Father could it ever be expected that he should do justice to others Was he fit to continue a Father to the people who was without natural affection to his own Father Will he love a Kingdome that shewed no love to himself unlesse it was that he durst not suffer Inquisition to be made for it But I leave it as a riddle which at the day of Judgement will be expounded and unridled for some sinnes will not be made manifest till that day with this only That had he made the Law of God his delight and studied therein night and day as God commanded his Kings to do or had he but studied Scripture half so much as Ben Johnson or Shakespear he might have learnt That when Amaziah was setled in the Kingdom he suddenly did justice upon those servants which had killed his father Joash he did not by any pretended prerogative excuse or protect them but delivered them up into the hands of that Justice which the horridnesse of the fact did undoubtedly demerit That Parliament 4. Car. proving so abortive the King sets forth a Proclamation That none should presume to move him to call Parliaments for he knew how to raise monies enough without the help of Parliaments therefore in 12 years refuseth to call any In which interval and intermission how he had oppressed the people by incroachments and usurpations upon their liberties and properties and what vast summes of mony he had forceably exacted and exhausted by illegal Patents and Monopolies of all sorts I referre the Reader to that most judicious and full Declaration of the state of the Kingdeme published in the beginning of this Parliament That Judgment of Ship-mony did upon the matter formalize the people absolute slaves and him an absolute Tyrant for if the King may take from the people in case of necessity and himself shall be Judge of that necessity then cannot any man say that he is worth 6d for if the King say that he hath need of that 6d then by Law he must have it I mean that great Nimrod that would have made all England a Forrest and the People which the Bishop call his sheep to be his Venison to be hunted at his pleasure Nor does the common objection That the Judges and evil Counsellors and not the King ought to be responsible for such male-Administrations injustice and oppression beare the weight of a feather in the ballance of right reason For 1. Who made such wicked and corrupt Judges were they not his own Creatures and ought not every man to be accountable for the works of his own hands He that does not hinder the doing of evil if it lies in his power to prevent it is guilty of it as a commander thereof He that suffered those black Starres to inflict such barbarous cruelties and unheard of punishments as Brandings Slitting of Noses c. upon honest men to the dishonour of the Protestant Religion and disgrace of the Image of God shining in the face of man He well deserv'd to have been so served But 2. He had the benefit of those illegal Fines and Judgments I agree That if a Judge shall oppresse I. S. for the benefit of I. D. the King ought not to answer for this but the Judge unlesse he protect the Judge against the complaint of I. S. and in that case he makes himself guilty of it But when an unjust judgment is given against I. S. for the Kings benefit and the Fine to come immediately into his Coffers he that receives the mony must needs be presumed to consent to the judgement But 3. Mark a Machiaveipolicy Call no Parliaments to question the injustice and corruption of Judges for the Peoples relief And make your own Iudges and let that be Law that they declare whether it be reasonable or unreasonable it is no matter But then how came it to passe that we had any more Parliaments Had we not a gracious King to call a Parliament when there was so much need of it and to passe so many gracious Acts to put downe the Starre-Chamber c Nothing lesse It was not any voluntary free Act of grace not the least ingredient or tincture of love or goodaffection to the people that called the short Parliament in 16 but to serve his owne turne against the Scots whom he then had designed to enslave and those seven Acts of grace which the King past were no more then his duty to do nor halfe so much but giving the people a take of their own grists and he dissents with them about the Militia which commanded all the rest he never intended thereby any more good and security to the people then he that stealing the Goose leaves the feathers behinde him But to answer the question thus it was The king being wholly given up to be led by the counsels of a Jesuited Party who indeavoured to throw a bone of dissention among us that they might cast in their net into our troubled waters and catch more fish for St. Peters Sea perswaded the King to set up a new forme of Prayer in Scotland and laid the bait so cunningly that whether they saw it or not they were undone if they saw the mystery of iniquity couched in it they would resist and so merit punishment for rebelling if they swallowed it it would make way for worse well they saw the poison and refused to taste it the King makes warre and many that loved honour and wealth more then God assisted him down he went with an Army but his treasure wasted in a short time fight they would not for feare of an after-reckoning some Commanders propound that they should make their demands and the King grants all comes back to London and burnes the Pacification saying it was counterfeit they reassume their forts he raises a second warre against them and was necessitated to call a Parliament offering to lay down shipmoney for twelve subsidies they refuse the King in high displeasure breakes off the Parliament and in a Declaration commands them not to thinke of any more Parliaments for he would never call another There was a King of Egypt that cruelly opprest the People they poore slaves complaining to one another he feared a rising and commanded that none should complaine upon paine of cruell death