to make use of that Arbitrary Power whereof tho in the exercise of it he may restrain himself yet he can never be divested to secure himself and people from the Contrivances of malicious and ill-designing Persons Those therefore that argue for Limited or Mixed Monarchies do in effect only plead for Anarchy and Confusion For either these Limits must be such Laws and Bounds as the Monarch has set himself to Govern by to the Observance whereof tho he may by Promise so far engage himself that he cannot as has been said ordinarily transgress them without the Sin of Injustice yet this Promise of his which is but an After-act of Grace not dissolving that absolute Subjection which preceded it his Power if he will sinfully put it forth to act is no less Arbitrary than it was before the making of the Promise Or if you will imagin these Bounds of the Monarchs Power to be ab externo and not from the free Determination of his own Will then the Subject as they say not being legally bound to subjection in case the Prince commands beyond the Law if there arise a Dispute between the Monarch and the meanest of his Subjects about the Legality or Illegality of his Commands either the Monarch himself must be Judge and then farewel Limitation or else the whole people or some part of them and then farewel Monarchy or else there must be no Judge at all and then farewell Government So likewise in that which they call a mixed Monarchy or a Government composed of Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy either the Soveraign Power must be Originally in the Monarch and derivatively only in the others and then farewel the Mixture or else it must tho acknowledged to be an indivisible Beam of Divine Perfection be originally shared amongst them all and then farewel the Monarchy So also in this Mixture as they call it of Power if a Difference arise between the Prince and the States there being according to their Principles no Authoritative judge to determin it the Government is dissolved and every man left at liberty to side with that Part which in his Reason and Judgment stands most for publick Good more than which the Wit of Man cannot say for Anarchy The unlimited Jurisdiction of Kings is so strongly asserted in Scripture that it occasioned one who writ in justification of the late Rebellion to affirm That to make a King by the Standard of GOD's Word is to make the Subjects Slaves for Conscience sake Than which I know not whether any thing can be said more impious The Paternal Empire as it was in it self hereditary so was it as other Goods are alienable by Patent and seizable by an Usurper Thus amongst the first Fathers of Families dispersed by the Confusion of Babel was Nimrod who being no doubt by good Right Lord or King over his own Family and not contented therewith did against Right enlarge his Empire by violently seizing on the Rights of other Fathers of Families and laid the Foundation of the first of those great Kingdoms which for the vast Extent of their Dominions were called the four Monarchies of the World Yet this Power he got by Usurpation and not by any Election of or Faction with the People or Multitude The Dominions indeed of Princes anciently were but small consisting generally but of Cities apiece with the adjacent Teritories Thus in a little Corner of Asia nine Kings met at once in Battle In the small Circuit of the Land of Canaan Joshuah destroyed one and thirty Kings Adonibezek made seventy Kings whose Thumbs and Toes he had cut off to feed under his Table Two and thirty Kings came to Benhadad King of Syria and seventy Kings of Greece went to the Wars of Troy But in process of Time partly by Conquest partly by Lineal Succession and partly by the Cession of many little Princes these Petty Kingdoms were united and greater Monarchies erected Whence tho Kings are not now the Natural Parents of their Subjects yet they all either are or are to be reputed the next Heirs to those Progenitors who were at first the Natural Parents of the whole people and as such succeed to the Exercise of Soveraign Jurisdiction not only over their own Children but over their Brethren and all that were subject to their Fathers As long as the first Fathers lived they were properly called Patriarchs but when the Fatherhood it self was extinct and the Right only descended to the next Heir they were more significantly styled Kings and Princes If through Negligence the Knowledge of the true Heir to any Kingdom be lost for the Right it self never can yet does not the Supremacy devolve to the multitude who never yet had right to Rule or choose their Rulers but to the Princes and independent Heads of Families and because the Dependency of ancient Families is frequently obscure and worn out of Knowledge to such persons as the Wisdom of the precedent Monarchs thought fit to adopt for Heads of Families and Princes of Provinces These and none but these have it such Case alone Power to consent in uniting or conferring their Fatherly Right of Soveraign Authority oâ— whom they please Nor does the person thus elected hold his Power as a Donative from the People but from GOD from whom alone he receives his Royal Charter of Universal Father tho testified by the Ministry of the Heads of the People And altho I do not say that all popular Governments are so far unlawful as to oblige them things being as they are to subject themselves to Monarchy yet this I must aver as a most undoubted Truth that no other Government but Monarchy had ever any lawful Original there never having been any Nation which was not for many years governed by Kings untill Wantonness Ambition or Faction of the People made them attempt new wayes of Regiment which Mutations alwayes proved bloody and miserable to their Authors and happy in nothing but the short time of their Duration The Excellency of Monarchy is not only manifest by the Divineness of its Originall Excellency but also by the singular Advantages it has over any other Form of Government The chief End of Government is that the People may according to the Apostle Lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty Consequently whereunto we find that in all Monarchies both before the Law of Moses under it and ever since whether Grecian or Barbarian Jewish or Pagan Christian or Turkish a singular Care has been taken for Religion the Priests whereof have been alwayes had in such Respect and Veneration as to have an eminent Share in the Administration of the Government But in all popular States their main Devotion being exercised only in opposing and suppressing Monarchy their next is to exclude the Clergy from medling with Government wherein the Vnited Netherlands and Venice of which it is commonly said that the one hath all Religions and the other none do at this day
at Cork in Ireland Anno 1381. EDMVND MORTIMER Earl of March had Issue Roger Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster Lord of Wigmor Trym Clare and Connaght who married Elianor Eldest Daughter and one of the Heirs of Thomas Holland Earl of Kent 1. Roger Mortimer died without Issue 2. Edmund Mortimer died without Issue 3. Anne Mortimer married to Richard Plantagenet Earl of Cambridge by whom she had Issue Richard Plantagenet Duke of York Earl of Cambridge March and Vlster Edward the IVth King of England and France and Lord of Ireland 1. Edward the Vth. King of England and France and Lord of Ireland murthered in the Tower left no Issue 2. Richard Plantagenet Duke of York murthered with his Brother King Edward left no Issue 3. Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the IVth married to Henry the VIIth King of England and France and Lord of Ireland ELIZABETH eldest Daughter to King Edward the IVth by her Husband King Henry the VIIth had Issue 1. Arthur Prince of VVales died before his Father and left no Issue 2 Henry the VIIIth King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith 1. Edward the VIth King of England France and Ireladd died without Issue 2. Mary Q. of England France and Ireland died without Issue 3. Elizabeth Queen of England France and Ireland died without Issue 3. Margaret eldest Daughter to Henry the VIIth married to James the IVth King of Scotland by whom she had Issue James the Vth. King of Scotland Mary Queen of Scotland who was by her Subjects infected with Calvinism of which it is truly observed that it never entred into any Country but by Rebellion expelled her Kingdom and forced to fly for shelter into England where so implacable is Presbyterian Malice they never left persecuting her till they had brought her after eighteen years Imprisonment to end her dayes upon a Scaffold By her Husband Henry Lord Darnley Son to Mathew Stuart Earl of Lenox she had Issue James the VIth King of Scotland who after the Decease of Elizabeth Queen of England as next Heir enjoyed the Crown of this Realm whereof he was no sooner possest but he reassumed the Title of Great Britain 1. Henry Prince of Wales died before his Father and left no Issue 2. CHARLES the Ist King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith a Prince of incomparable Vertues and Endowments who was on the 30th of January 1648. barbarously and inhumanly murthered before the Gates of his own Royal Palace by a traitorous Crew of villanous Phanaticks so secure in their own Thoughts of having thereby extirpated Monarchy out of this Island that they insolently set up on the Royal Exchange in the place where his Statue which they maliciously decollated had been erected amongst those of his Predecessors this Inscription Exit Tyrannus Regum ultimus 1. CHARLES the IId by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith now reigning Whō GOD long preserve 2. The Illustrious Prince James Duke of York and Albany 3. Mary Mother to the present Prince of Orange 4. Henrietta Mother to the present Queen of Spain 3. Elizaheth married to Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine by whom she had a numerous Issue CHAP. X. Of the present Government of Great Britain in general OF Monarchies some are Hereditary the Crown descending either only to the Heirs Male as has long been practiced in France or to the next of Blood without Distinction of Sex as in Great Britain and Spain Others are Elective where upon the Death of every Prince another is chosen to succeed without any respect to the Heirs of the Predecessor as is used in Poland Of Hereditary Monarchies some are dependent holden of earthly Potentates to whom the Princes are obliged to do Homage for the same as is the Kingdom of Naples holden at this day of the Pope by the King of Spain Others are independent whose Princes acknowledge no Superior upon Earth but hold only of GOD and by their Sword Of this latter sort is the Empire of Great Britain being an Hereditary Monarchy consisting of two Provinces or Kingdoms governed by one Supreme Absolute Independent Undeposable and Unaccountable Head according to the known Laws and Customs of each Kingdom It is a Free Monarchy challenging above many other Europaean Kingdoms an Exemption from all Subjection to the Emperor or Laws of the Empi to which as the Northern Part of the Island or Kingdom of Scotland was never subject so the Southern part since called the Kingdom of England being abandoned by the Romans who had by force obtained the Dominion thereof the Right of Government by all manner of Laws reverted to the ancient Inhabitants to the last of whose Kings viz. Cadwalladar our present Sovereign is as appears by the precedent Genealogy by Lineal and Legitimate Descent the true and unquestionable Heir And as it is exempt from all forreign Jurisdiction and Dominion so likewise is it free from all Interregnum and many other Domestick Mischiefs whereunto Elective Kingdoms are ordinarily subject It is a Monarchy wherein the Grace and Bounty of its Princes rendring the subordinate Concurrence of the three Estates necessary to the making and repealing of all Statutes or Acts of Parliament in either Realm have afforded so much to the Industry Liberty and Happiness of the Subject and made the Yoak of Government so easy and its Burden so light that were it not for those malevolent and Fanatical Spirits which by sowing Jealousies amongst the People and raising Animosities in their Minds against their Prince endeavor to deprive us of the benefit of our Parliaments by rendring their Meetings unpracticable our Condition might well be envied by all other Nations of the Universe CHAP. XI Of the Monarch of Great Britain and therein of his Name Title Arms Dominions and Strength Of his Person Office Prerogative Soveraignty Divinity and Respect TO the Monarch of Great Britain is given in English which is the Language most generally spoken through his whole Dominions the Name King which hath its Original from the Saxon Word Koning and intimateth that Power and Knowledge wherewith every Soveraign should especially be invested The Modern Title used by the Monarch in all Treaties with forreign Princes and in all publick Affairs relating to his whole Dominions and stamped upon his Coin is By the Grace of GOD King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith but in all Writs and other publick Instruments referring to the particular Concerns of either Kingdom of England or Scotland the two Kingdoms are distinctly named that Kingdom having the Precedency in such Instrument which is therein particularly concerned To the King alone belongs Dei Gratiâ taken simply and in the strictest sense as holding his Regal Dignity by the Favour of none but GOD the Archbishops and Bishops to whom that Title is also sometimes given must understand Dei Gratiâ Regis For tho their Character and
for the Safety and Well-Government of his Subjects the abandoning tho for so short a time the Protection and Defence of the People committed to his Charge Whatever things are proper unto Supreme Majesty Scepters and Crowns Soveraignty the Purple Robe the Globe or Golden Ball and Holy Unction have as long appertained to the British Monarch as to any other Prince in Europe The Antiquity of anointing Kings in Britain has been already shewn out of Gildas and as for the other four they are by Leland a famous Antiquary ascribed unto King Arthur who began his Reign in the Year of our Lord 506. Which was as soon as they were ordinarily in use with the Roman Emperors The King of Great Britain is an absolute and unaccountable Monarch a Free Prince of Soveraign Power not holding his Kingdom in Vassallage nor receiving his Instalment or Investiture from another Nor does he acknowledge Superiority to any but to GOD alone He is not only the Supreme but sole Legislator within his Dominions The Power of making Laws whatever some Antimonarchists pretend to the contrary rests solely in him And altho the Gracious Condescension of our Kings has been such as to render the subordinate Concurrence of the Estates of each Realm a Condition requisite to the making of new or abrogating of old Laws within the respective Kingdoms yet are they not thereby admitted to any Share in the Soveraignty their Power being wholly derivative from the King who is Caput Principium Finis Parliamentorum the three Estates when assembled in Parliament being as much his Subjects as every particular Man of them is when the Meeting is dissolved All Bills passed by them are but so much dead matter till quickned by his Royal Fiat which alone gives Life and Form to all their Proceedings Nor is it ex debito Justitiae but of his Special Grace that he passes such Acts as are presented to him Thus Henry the IIId begins his Magna Charta with Know ye that WE of our meer and free Will have given these Liberties Thus we hear King Edward the Ist saying The King of his special Grace for Redress of the Grievances of His People sustained by his Wars and for the Amendment of their Estate and to the intent that they may be the more ready to do him Service the more willing to assist and aid him in time of need Grants 28. E. 1. c. 1. And altho of later times Laws are said to be made by Authority of Parliament yet if we look into our antient Statutes we shall find the meaning to be that The King Ordains the Lords advise and the Commons consent Those then are much mistaken who affirm the Parliament to be at the least as Essential a Part of the Government as the Prince Which if it were true whenever the Parliament is dissolved the Government would be so too But this with the Pernicious Maxim of Coordinacy or sharing the Soveraign Power between King Lords and Commons with other treasonable and Antimonarchical Doctrines daily dispersed amongst the People and with the utmost of his Art industriously asserted by the Author of a late seditious Book entituled Plato Redivivus together with his audacious Proposals aiming to take all the Flowers out of the Imperial Diadem of the British Monarch are most fitly to be answered in Westminster-Hall as tending no less to the subversion of our Government which being purely Monarchical may be without the two Houses whereas they cannot be without the King than those traitorous Designs for which Coleman and his Accomplices paid their forfeited Lives to the Justice of the Laws The King of Great Britain is Lord Paramount supreme Landlord of all the Lands within his Dominions all landed men being mediately or immediately his Tenants by some Tenure or other By the Laws and Ordinances of ancient Kings saith Sir Edward Cook in the first part of his Institutes and especially of King Alfred it appeareth that the first Kings of this Realm had all the Lands of England in Demesne and the great Manors and Royalties they reserved to themselves and of the Remnant they for the Defence of the Realm enfeoffed the Barons of the Realm with such Jurisdiction as the Court Baron now hath The King as it is evident by the Rolls of the Chancellery in Scotland which contain their eldest and fundamental Laws is Dominus omnium bonorum and Dominus directus totius Dominii the whole Subjects being but his Vassals and from him holding all their Lands as their Over-lord Thus none but the King hath Allodium and Directum Dominium the sole and independent Property in any Land Upon this Ground no doubt it was that Serjeant Heal in the three and fortieth year of Queen Elizabeth said in Parliament He marvelled the House stood either at the granting of a Subsidy or time of Payment when all we have is her Majesties and She may lawfully at her pleasure take it from us and that She had as much Right to all our Lands and Goods as to any Revenue of the Crown And he said he could prove it by Precedents in the time of Henry the IIId King John and King Stephen And upon the same Ground was it resolved by the Judges in the beginning of the Reign of King James when there was a purpose to have taken away Tenures by Act of Parliament That such a Statute had been void because the Tenures were for the Defence of the King and Kingdom And altho since that the Tenures which gave a Dependency upon the Crown and were the greatest Safety to the King and People have been taken away and thereby a great Blow given to Monarchy yet let those who have the Fee the Jus perpetuum and the Vtile Dominium have a care lest by following the mischievous Advice of Plato Redivivus and abusing the Grace and Bounty of the Prince by endeavoring to draw the Soveraignty to themselves they necessitate not their King for the Preservation of himself and People to have Recourse to his Prerogative which is a Preheminence in Cases of Necessity above and before the Law of Property or Inheritance For the Prevention whereof it is to be wished that either by an Act of Resumption of the ancient Demesns of the Crown which was a sacred Patrimony and by Law unalienable or by such other way as the Wisdom of the Nation shall think fit a Royal Support adaequate to the Charges of the Crown be made for the King to defend his Kingdom and protect his People so that he may not be reduced to the Infelicity of having a precarious Revenue out of the Peoples Purse and to be beholden to a Parliament for his Bread in time of Peace which is no good Condition for a Monarchy As the Legislative Power is solely in the King so he alone has the Soveraign Power in the Administration of Justice and Execution of the Law He is the Fountain of all Justice which by his Judges and