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
that know it already and trouble those that need not know the particular cases for it is one of the Fundamentals of Law That the king is not above the Law but the Law above the King I could easily deraign it from 1 Edward 3. to the Jurisdiction of Courts That the king has no more Power or Authority then what by Law is concredited and committed to him but the most famous Authority is Fortescue Chancellor to H. 6. and therefore undoubtedly would not clip his Masters Prerogative who most Judicially takes a difference between a Government wholly Regal and Seignoral as in Turkey Russia France Spain c. and a Government Politique and mixt where the Law keeps the beam even between Soveraignty and Subjection as in England Denmark Swede and Poland the first where the Edict of a Prince makes the Law resembles an impetuous inundation of the waters whereby the Corn and Hay and other Fruits of the Earth are spoiled as when it is Midwinter at Midsummer the latter is like a sweet smooth Stream running by the pleasant Fields and Meadows That by the Law of England the King ought not to impose any thing upon the people or take any thing away from them to the value of a farthing but by common consent in Parliaments or National meetings and that the people of Common-Right and by several Statutes ought to have Parliaments yearly or oftner if need be for the Redress of publique grievances and for the Enacting of good and wholsome Laws and repealing of old Statutes of Omeri which are prejudicial to the Nation And that the king hath not by Law so much power as a Justice of Peace to commit any man to Prison for any offence whatsoever because all such matters were committed to proper Courts and Officers of Justice And if the King by his verbal command send for any person to come before him if the party refused to attend and the messenger endevoring to force him they fell to blows if the messenger killed the party sent for this by the Law is Murther in him but if he killed the messenger this was justifiable in him being in his own defence so as to sue forth a pardon of course these and many other Cases of like nature are so clear well known that I wil not presume to multiply particulars That the king took an Oath at his Coronation to preserve the Peace of the Nation to do Justice to all and to keep and observe the Laws which the people have himself confesses And it was charged upon the late Arch-Bishop that he Emasculated the Oath and left out very material words Which the people shall chuse which certainly he durst not have done without the kings special Command And it seems to me no light presumption that from that very day he had a Design to alter and subvert the Fundamental Laws and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government but though there had been an Oath yet by special Office and duty of his place every King of England is obliged to Act for the peoples good for all power as it is originally in the people he must needs be extream ignorant malicious or a self-destroyer that shall deny it so it is given forth for their preservation nothing for their destruction for a king to rule by lust and not by Law is a creature that was never of Gods making not of Gods approbation but his permission And though such men are said to be Gods on Earth 't is in no other sence then the Devil is called the God of this world It seems that one passage which the king would have offered to the Court which was not permitted him to dispute the Supreme Authority in the Nation and standing mute the Charge being for High Treason it is a conviction in Law was That 1 Sam. 8. is a Copy of the kings Commission by vertue whereof he as a king might rule and govern as he list that he might take the Peoples Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and take their Daughters to be his Confectionaries and take their Fields and Vineyards and Oliveyards even the best of them and thair goodliest yong men and their Asses and give them to his Officers and to his Servants which indeed is a Copy and Patern of an absolute Tyrant and absolute Slaves where the people have no more then the Tyrant will afford them The holy Spirit in that Chapter does not insinuate what a good king ought to do but what a wicked king would presume to do Besides Saul and David had extraordinary callings but all just power is now derived from and conferred by the people yet in the case of Saul it is observable that the people out of pride to be like other Nations desired a king and such a king as the Heathens had which were all Tyrants for they that know any thing in History know that the first four Monarchs were all Tyrants at first til they gained the peoples consent Nimrod the great Hunter was Ninus that built Nineveh the first Tyrant and Conquerer that had no Title so were all kingdoms which are not Elective till the peoples subsequent consent and though it be by descent yet 't is a continuation of a Conquest till the people consent voluntarily submit to a Government they are but Slaves in reason they may free themselves if they can In France the king begins his Raign from the day of his Coronation the Archbishop asks the people if he shall be King the twelve Peers or some that personate them say yes they girt the sword about him then he swares to defend the Lawes And is any thing more naturall then to keepe an Oath And though vertuous Kings have prevailed with the People to make their Crownes Hereditary yet the Coronation shews the shell that the kernell hath been in Samuel was a good Judge and there was nothing could be objected against him therefore God was displeased at their inordinate desire of a King and it seemes to me that the Lord declares his dislike of all such Kings as the heathens were that is Kings with an unlimited power that are not tied to laws for he gave them a King in his wrath therein dealing with them as the wise Physitian with the distempered and impatient Patient who desiring to drink wine tels him the danger of inflammation yet wine he will have and the Physitian considering a little wine will do but little hurt rather then his Patient by fretting should take greater hurt prescribes a little whitewine wherein the Physitian doth not approve his drinking of wine but of two evils chooseth the least The Jewes would have a King for Majestie and Splendor like the Heathens God permits this he approves it not it seems to me that the Lord renounces the very Genus of such Kings as are there mentioned and the old word Conning by Contraction king does not signifie power
That the king shall improve his power for their good and make it his work to procure their safeties and they to provide for his honor which it done to the Commonwealth in him as the Sword and Ensigns of Honor carried before the Lord Major are for the honor of the city now as when any one of this people shall compass the death of the Governor ruling well this is a Treason punishable with death for the wrong done to the Community and Anathema be to such a man so when he or they that are trusted to fight the peoples Battels and to procure their welfare shall prevaricate and act to the inslaving or destroying of the people who are their Liege Lords and all Governors are but the peoples creatures and the work of their hands to be accomptable as their Stewards and is it not senseless for the vessel to ask the Potter by what Law he calls it to account this is high Treason with a witness and far more transcendent then in the former case because the king was paid for his Service and the Dignity of the Person does increase the offence for a great man of noble Education and knowledge to betray so great a Trust and abuse so much love as the Parliament shewed to the king by Petitioning him as good Subjects praying for him as good Christians advising him as good Counsellors and treating with him as the great Counsel of the kingdom with such infinite care and tenderness of his honor a course which Gods people did not take with Rehoboam they never petitioned him but advised him he refused their counsel and hearkened to yong Counsellors and they cry To thy tents O Israel and made quick and short work of it after all this and much more longanimity and patience from the Lord to the Servant for him not onely to set up a Standard of War in defiance of his dread Soveraign The People for so they truly were in Nature though Names have befool'd us but to persist so many years in such cruel persecutions who with a word of his mouth might have made a Peace If ever there were so superlative a Treason let the Indians judge and whosoever shall break and violate such a trust and confidence Anathema Maranatha be unto them Q. But why was there not a written Law to make it Treason for the King to destroy the people as well as for a man to compass the Kings death Resp. Because our Ancestors did never imagine that any King of England would have been so desperately mad as to leavy a War against the Parliament and people as in the Common instance of Paricide the Romans made no Law against him that should kill his Father thinking no childe would be so unnatural to be the death of him who was the Author of his life but when a childe came to be accused for a Murther there was a more cruel punishment inflicted then for other Homicides for he was thrown into the Sea in a great Leather Barrel with a Dog a Jackanapes a Cock and a Viper significant companions for him to be deprived of all the Elements as in my Poor mans Case Fol. 10. Nor was there any Law made against Parents that should kill their children yet if any man was so unnatural he had an exemplary punishment Obj. But is it not a Maxime in Law That the King can do no wrong Resp. For any man to say so is blasphemy against the great God of Truth and Love for onely God cannot erre because what he wills is right because he wills it and 't is a sad thing to consider how learned men for unworthy ends should use such art to subdue the people by transportation of their sences as to make them believe that the Law is That the King can do no wrong First For Law I do aver it with confidence but in all humility That there is no such Case to be found in Law That if the King Rob or Murther or commit such horrid Extravagancies that it is no wrong Indeed the case is put in H. 7. by a chief Judge that If the King kill a man 't is no felony to make him suffer death that is to be meant in ordinary Courts of Justice But there is no doubt but the Parliament might try the King or appoint others to judge him for it We finde Cases in Law that the King hath been sued even in Civil Actions In 43 E 3. 22. it is resolved That all maner of Actions did lie against the King as against any Lord and 24 E. 3. 23. Wilby a learned Judge said that there was a Writ Praecipe Henrico Regi Angliae Indeed E. 1. did make an Act of State That men should sue to him by Petition but this was not agreed unto in Parliament Thelwall title Roye digest of Writs 71. But after when Judges places grew great the Judges and Bitesheeps began to sing Lullaby and speak Platentia to the king that My Lord the King is an Angel of light Now Angels are not responsible to men but God therefore not kings And the Judges they begin to make the king a God and say that by Law his stile is Sacred Majesty though he swears every hour and Gracious Majesty though gracious men be the chief objects of his hatred and that the king hath an Omnipotency and Omnipresence But I am sure there is no Case in Law That if the king leavy a War against the Parliament and people that it is not Treason Possibly that Case in H. 7. may prove That if the king should in his passion kill a man this shall not be Felony to take away the kings life for the inconveniency may be greater to the people by putting a king to death for one offence and miscarriage then the execution of Justice upon him can advantage them But what 's this toa leavying of War against a Parliament never any Judge was so devoid of understanding that he denyed that to be Treason But suppose a Judge that held his place at the kings pleasure did so I am sure never any Parliament said so But what if there had in dark times of Popery been an Act made That the king might Murther Ravish Burn and perpetrate all mischiefs and play Reaks with impunity will any man that hath but wit enough to measure an Ell of cloath or to tell Twenty say That this is an Obligation for men to stand still and suffer a Monster to cut their throats and grant Commission to rob at Suters hill as such and no better are all Legal thefts and oppressions The Doctor says That a Statute against giving an alms to a poor man is void He is no Student I mean was never bound Prentice to Reason that says A king cannot commit Treason against the people Ob. But are there not Negative words in the Statute of 25 Ed. 3. That nothing else shall be construed to be Treason but what is there exprest Res That Statute was intended for
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