the Histories of all Nations look over the Chronicles of our own Country call to mind so many Rebellions of old time and some yet fresh in memory ye shall not find that God ever prospered any Rebellion against the natural and lawful Prince but contrariwise that the Rebels were overthrown and slain and such as were taken Prisoners dreadfully executed Consider the great and noble Houses of Dukes Marquesses Earls and other Lords whose names ye shall read in our Chronicles now clean extinguished and gone and seek out the causes of the decay you shall find that not lack of Issue and Heirs Male hath so much wrought that decay and waste of noble Bloods and Houses as hath Rebellion 1 Sam. 26. 9. Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless Prov. 24. 21 22. My son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change for their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruin of them both FINIS a First part of the Homily against Rebellion b Aristot. in Problem sect. 40. c Merc. Anâ—iâ— Sept. 52. d V. Stamfords Pleas cap. 2. Coke on Littleton I. 2. c. 11. §. 200. e Stat. 25. Ed. 3. cap. 2. f Bracton l. 2. g V. Speed Hollingsh and others in the life of Edw. 4. g V. Speed Hollingsh and others in the life of Edw. 4. h Id. in Hen. 8. i Compton in his book of Justices k Stow. in Hen. 7. l Id. in Elizabeth m Hollingsh in the life of Q. Elizabeth n Compton in his book of Justices o Howe 's addition to Stowes Chronicle p Cap. 2. q Spiegel in Lexico â—ur Civil r Bartolus in Constitut. Hen. 7. s Camden Annal. Eliz. An. 1601. t Camden ibid. u Id. Ibid. x Idem Ibid. y Rom. 13. 1. z Rom. 13. a In Apolog. b Cyprian Epistola ad Demetrian c Lactant Institut divin. l. 5. d Eucher Lugdunâ—â—ns alii e Mercur Britannicus num 19. f Nazianzen Oratio 1. in Julian g Ambros. Orat. 5. h Bartolus in repertorio First part of the Homily against Rebellion k Sâ—at 13. Eliz. cap. 1â— l Buchanan de jure Regni m Rom. 13. v. 1 2 3. n Baron Chronol. alii o 2 Kings 25. 2 Chron. c. 36. p Plutarch in Agis Ceolmenis q Socrat. Eccl. Hist. l. 4. c. 22. r Theodoret. Hist. Eccl. l. 3 c. 4. s Ambr. Orat. 5. t Jerem. 27. 9 10. u Acts 23. v. 2 3. x Ibid. v. 3. y Ibid. v. 4. z Ibid. v. 4. a Camden Annal. Eliz. Anno 16â—0 b Hollingsh in Rich. 2. c Id. Ibid. d Id. in the life of Henry 6. e Paraeus in ep. ad Rom. c. 13. f 1 Sam. 22. v. 5. 23. v. 13. 26 27 c. g 1 Sam. 24. v. 3. h 1 Sam. 16. v. 3. i Ibid. v. 12. k Aristot. in Polit. l Calvin Institut l. 3. c. 10. 5 6. m Rom. 13. vers. 4. n 1 Pet. â— vers. 14. o Merc. Brit. numb. 19. p 1 Sam. â— vers. 18. q Ps. 51. v. 4. r Ambros. in locum s S Greg. Tur. Hist. Franc. t Bracton 1. cap. 8. u Tertull. Apologet c. 39. x In his disloyalty of Papists c. z Plaut. in Amphitr Act. 2. y Observations on his Majesties Answers c. a Statut. 24. Henr. 8. â— 12. b Bractâ—n I. 1. c 8. â— 5. c 25. Hen. 8. c. 22 c. d Constitut. Valentin Valent e August f Bract. l. 1. c. 8. â— 4. l. 2. c. 24. g Proclam Feb. 16. 1642 h Merc. Brit. numb. 18 19. l L. Digbies Apol. p. 13. k Histor Con Triden Sleid. alii l S. August Confess l. 8. c. 2. m Val. Max. l. 3. c. 7. n. 3. n Bartochinus in Repertorio aureo
another Plaister which will salve that Sore viz. The difference that is made between the King's Person and his Power by which is it made visible to discerning eyes that though the Parliament have levyed War against the Person of the King yet they do not fight against his Power but defend it rather And 't is not a resistance of the Person but the Power of Princes which is forbidden by Saint Paul How do you like of that distinction Answ. As ill or worse than of the other as being of the two the more serious folly and coming from an Author no less factious but far more learned I confess than your other was For if I do remember right Buchanan was the first that broached this Doctrine in his Book De jure regni apud Scotos in which he tells us that Saint Paul in the place aforesaid doth not speak of Magistrates Sed de functione officio eorum qui aliis praesunt but of the Magistracy it self the Function or Office of the Magistrate which must not be resisted though his Person may Which foolish Fancy serving fitly for a Cloak or Vizard wherewith to palliate and disguise Rebellions hath since been ofen used by those who pursue his Principles though never worn so thred-bare as of late in your treacherous Pamphlets but draweth after it as many and as gross Absurdities as the other did For by this strange division of the King from himself or of his Person from his Power a Traitor may kill Charles and not hurt the King destroy the Man and save the Magistrate the Power of the King in one of the Armies may fight against his Person in the other Army his own Authority may be used to his own destruction and one may lawfully set upon him beat assault and wound him in order to his preservation So that you make the King like Sosia in the ancient Comedy who being well beaten and demanded who it was that did it made answer Egomet memet qui nunc sunt domi z that Sosia who was at home in his Masters House did beat that Sosia which was abroad in his Masters business But questionless Saint Paul did better understand himself than either Buchanan or any of his followers since his time have done Who doth interpret the word power which he useth in the first and second Verses by that of Principes Ministri Rulers and Ministers which be useth in the third and fourth Which as it plainly shews that he meaneth the Magistrate and not the Function or the Office as your Masters tell you so doth it leave you liable to the wrath of God if you endeavour to defend these wicked and rebellious courses by such wretched shifts 26. Quest What say you then if it appear that the two Houses of Parliament for I use your terms are not subordinate to the King but coordinate with him y I hope then you will yield so far that the two Houses have a power if they cannot otherwise provide for the common safety to arm the People of the Realm against Him as against an Equal Answ. We grant indeed that People which have no Superiour but stand on equal terms with one another if injured by their Neighbours and not receiving satisfaction when they do desire it may remedy themselves by force and for so doing by the Law of Nations are esteemed just Enemies but so it is not in the point which is now in question the Realm of England as it is declared by Act of a Parliament being on Empire governed by one supreme Head and King having the Dignity and Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whomâ— Body Politick compact of all sorts and degrees of People divided in â—erms and by Names of Spirituality and Temporality been bounden and ought to bear next to God a natural and humble Obedience Assuredly had the Lords and Commons then assembled conceived themselves coordinate with the King in the publick Government they would not have so wronged themselves and their Posterity as to have made this declaration and acknowledgment so prejudicial thereunto not only in a Parliament time but by Act of Parliament Besides if this Coordination which you dream of could be once admitted it must needs follow thereupon that though the King hath no Superiour he hath many Equals and where there is equality there is no subjection But Bracton tells you in plain terms not only that the King hath no superiour in his Realm except God alone but that he hath no Equal neither Parem autem non habet in regno suo as his words there are b And then he gives this reason of it Quia sic amitteret praeceptum cum par in parem non habet imperium because he could not have an Equal but with the loss of his Authority and Regal Dignity considering that an Equal hath no power to command another Now lest you should object that is spoken of the King out of times of Parliament but that when once the Lords and Commons are convened in Parliament the case is otherwise First you must think that had this Doctrine been on foot in the times preceding it would have been a great impediment unto frequent Parliaments and that our King as others being very jealous even of the smallest points of Sovereignty would not admit of Partners in the Crown Imperial by the assembling of a Parliament having been used to reign alone without any Rivals And Secondly you may call to mind that even sedente Parliamento during the sitting of the Court the Lords and Commons call themselves His Majesties most humble and obedient Subjects which is not only used as a stile of course in such Petitions as they use to present unto him and by the way 't is not the use for men of equal power to send Petitions unto one another but it is the very Phrase in some Acts of Parliament c for which I do refer you to the Book at large And if they be his Subjects as they say they be they cannot be his Equals as you say they are and therefore not coordinate with him but subordinate to him by consequence the levying War against the King no more excusable in them than the meanest Subject 27. Quest You take great pains to make the Parliament or the two Houses as you call them to be guilty of Rebellion against his Majesty without ground or reason For tell me seriously think you the Parliament hath not power to arm the people and put them into a posture of defence against the Enemies of the Kingdom if they see occasion Answ. Yes if the King do give consent and that there be such Enemies against whom to arm them For properly according to the ordinary rules of Polities there is no power of raising Forces and putting the People into Arms but only in the Prince or Supreme Magistrate The Civil Laws have so resolved it Nulli prorsus nobis insciis
life they had before expressed such a dangerous malice Then add to this that when they came unto Edge-Hill they bent their Canon more especially and spent the hottest part of their shot and fury towards that part of the battel in which according unto that advertisement which the villain Blague had given their General a Man as full of discontent and malice as the worst amongst them the King in Person and the two young Princes meant to be Put this together and compare it with some subsequent passages which have been desperatly vented in the House of Commons touching the deposition of the King without check or censure and the inviting of a forreign Nation to Invade this Kingdom the better to effect their business and tell me if you can what is aimed at else then the destruction of the King and his Royal Issue 30. Quest I must confess you put me to it but I must take some time to consider of it before I tell you what I think In the mean season I have one more doubt to propose unto you which if you can remove I am wholly yours The name of Parliament is sacred to me and I am loth to scruple any of those actions which receive countenance and authority from the awful body Can you make proof that the Party which remains at Westminster have not the full authority of the two Houses of Parliament If you could make that clear then the work were done Answ. I dare not take that task upon me it is too invidious but I shall offer these few things to your consideration First it would seriously be considered Whether the King whose presence as the head of that awful body gives life and motion to the acts and results thereof do purposely absent himself to make their consultations frustrate and their meeting fruitless or that he hath been driven from them by force and violence Secondly Whether such considerable numbers of the Lords and Commons as are now absent from the Houses have left the Houses and the service for no other reason than for compliance with the King and to serve his ends in hope of getting honours and preferments by him or on the motion made by the rascal multitude to have the names of these given up who Voted not with Say and Pym and other the good Members of both Houses Thirdly What mischief would ensue both to the Church of Christ and the States of Christendom If when the greater and sounder part of Parliaments and General Councils shall be driven away either by the threats and practices of the lesser and the worse affected the less and the worse affected part may have the reputation of the whole body and their actions countenanced by the name thereof Fourthly Whether it be not one of the greatest prejudices which the Protestants have against the Council of Trent k that it was held in an unsafe place which they could not come to without danger and that the Prelates there assembled were so prelimited by the Popes instructions or awed with an Italian Guard which was set upon them under pretence of safety to their Persons from affronts and injuries that they had neither freedom to debate the points which were there propounded nor liberty of suffrage to determine of them Fifthly Whether the King calling the expulsed Party of the Lords and Commons to some other place and summoning all the rest also to assemble there may not with greater reason take unto themselves the name the power and reputation of a Parliament than the remaining party now at Westminster consisting seldom of above an hundred Commons and sometimes not above three Lords have challenged and usurped the name of the two Houses Sixthly and lastly 31. Quest Hold I must interupt you there The King by Writ appoints his Parliament to be held at Westminster and by a subsequent Act or Statute hath so bound himself that he can neither dissolve nor adjourn it without their consent How can he then remove it to another place than that which was at first appointed Answ. No doubt but he may do it with as good authority as the two Houses or either of them may adjourn to London which you cannot choose but know hath been often done since the beginning of this Session For tho they sit not there as Houses but by turning the either of the Houses into a Committee of the whole House yet this is but an Artifice to elude the Writ and act their business in a place of more advantage The change is only in the name but the power the same Witness those Votes and Declarations which they have passed and published in the said Committees as binding and effectual to their ends and purposes as any thing transacted in the several Houses Nor is the place so necessary and essential unto the being of Parliament but that the major part with the Kings consent may change it if they think it profitable for the Common wealth Otherwise we might say of Parliaments as once Victorinus did of Christians l Ergone pariete faciunt Christianum Is it the place and not the persons which do make a Parliament Or grant we that of common course the Houses cannot regularly be adjourned to another place but the adjournment must be made in the House it self yet this is but a circumstance or at most a ceremony not of the substance of the work And if that speech of Caesar carrieth any weight as all wise Men conceive it doth Legem necessitati cedere oportere m that even the strictest Laws must yield to the necessities and uses of the Common-wealth no question but so slight a circumstance as that of place must needs be thought in the present business is to give way unto the peace and preservation of this wretched Kingdom 32. Quest These points I shall consider of as you have advised only at present I shall tell you that I am very well resolved of the unlawfulness of this War against His Majesty and think them guilty of Rebellion who either laid the plot thereof or have since pursued it Tell me now for the close of all what punishment the Laws do inflict on those who are convicted of so capital and abhorred a crime Answ. You cannot be so ignorant of the Laws of England as not to know That a convicted Rebel is condemned to be hanged drawn and quartered his belly to be ripped up and his bowels to be taken out whilest he is yet living his head and limbs to be advanced on some eminent places for a terrible example unto others his blood attainted his estate confiscate his possessions forfeited The Civil Laws go somewhat further and execute them after death in their Coats of Arms which are to be defaced and razed in what place soever they are found Rebellium arma Insignia delenda sunt ubicunque inveniuntur n as Bartolus hath it I end as I began with the Book of Homilies Turn over and read