Laiety by Sequestrations Decimations and otherwise ensued whereof we of the Loyal Party were not only Witnesses and Spectators but therein we were fellow Sufferers Now the Writs of the King suffered Violence of which Mr. Fitzherbert in his Preface to his Natura Brevium saith that they be the Foundations whereupon the whole Law doth depend of the which Writs and Processes as be appointed in the Law it is said in St. Jermin in his Book Written by way of Dialogue called Doctor and Student Fol. 64. a. That the King as Sovereign and Fountain of the Law is bounden of Justice to Grant them to every Person that will Complain be his Surmise true or false Yet in stead of Carolus Secundus Dei Gratia c. Vicecomiti c. was used The Keepers of the Liberties of England by Authority of Parliament To the Sheriff of c. But those who had built this Babel by their Divisions and Jealousies one had of another were in time brought to strange Confusions The Writs were to run no longer in the Name of the Keepers c. But all Writs and Process were issued forth in the Name of Oliver their General The Independent though the Younger now prevailed against the Presbyterian the Elder Brother whath the Elder had hunted after the Younger now catched for himself And now also it may be observed that a House of Commons singly Assumed to themselves the Title of and were stiled the Parliament of England though his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First had before truely told them in his Speech to them 3. Car. that none of the Houses of Parliament joint or Separate had any Power either to Make or Declare a Law without his Consent CHAP. V. Sheweth about what time the Kings Writs were first framed for the induction of the Commons into the Parliaments of England FRom the Norman Conquest untill some time in the Reign of H. 3. Parliaments were holden by the King and his Barons Spiritual and Temporal in whose days it is thought the Kings Writ for Election of Kinghts c. was first framed and that the Commons were reduced to a House by the Advice of the Bishops to the King in the heat of the Barons Wars It was thought expedient then to frame a Writ for their Induction that they might allay and lessen the Pride and Power of the Peers who had waged War so many years against the Crown However least they should arrogate too much Authority to themselves they never could so much as exhibit an Oath nor impose a Fine or inflict Punishment upon any but their own Members until the time of the late Usurpers when they were grown to that height of Impudence that the King himself and Lords Spiritual and Temporal were Excluded by them of whom as well before the Norman Conquest as since the Ancient Parliaments of England consisted only without them For it is true the People were wrought under by the Sword of the first William and his followers to a Subjected Vassallage Division and Power had Mastered them none of their old Nobility and Heads were left either of Credit or Fortunes what he Detained not in Providence as the Demeans of the Crown or reserved in Piety as for the Maintenance of the Church he parted and divided amongst those Strangers that Sailed along with him in the same Bark of his Adventure leaving the Natives for the most part as may be seen by his Survey called Domesday Book now in the Exchequor in no better a condition than Villenage To supply his Occasions of Men Money or Provisions he Ordered that all those who injoyed any fruit of his Conquest should hold their Lands proportionably by so many Knights Fees of the Crown And permitted them to Enfeofle their followers with such parts as they pleased of their own Portions which to ease their charge they did in his and his Sons time This course provided him the Body of his War the Money and Provision was by Hidage Assessed on the Common People at and with the consent of their Lords who held in all their Seigniories such right of Royalty that to their vassals as Paris saith they were quot domini tot Tyranni and in time provided to the Kings so great a Curb and restraint of Power that nothing fell into the Care of Majesty after more than to retrench the force of Aristocracy that was like in time to strangle the Monarchy Though others foresaw the Mischief betimes yet none attempted the remedy until King John whose overhasty undertakings brought in the mentioned broiles of the Barrons Wars there needed not before this Care to Advise with the Commons in any Parliamentary or Publick Assemblies when every Man in England by Tenure held himself to his great Lords Will whose Presence was ever required in their Parliaments and in whose Assents his dependant Tennants consent was ever included from what is aforesaid the Commons of England or rather they whom the Commons shall Elect to future Parliaments and are properly said in Parliament Assembled to be the Representatives of all the Commons of England may take notice that Anciently was in use only one Writ of Summons to Parliament by which the King Summoned the Lords Spiritual and Temporal separately to come to his Parliament at a certain Day and Place appointed in the Kings Writ And of latter times with the reasons for the one and the other there hath been an Additional Writ framed which is sent to every Sheriff of England and Wales for Election of Kinghts c. for the Parliament in the Kings Name and when sent it is called the Kings Writ and is directed to his Subordinate Officer the Kings Sheriff For the truth is the King by his Writ giveth the very Essence and Form to the Parliament which is to be Summoned when he pleaseth to be Adjourned Prorogued and Dissolved when he pleaseth And in all good times of Government before and since the Conquest it was ever in the Kings power and was and is his Priviledge Royal Prerogative and Regality to Grant or Deny such Petitions as he pleaseth and all Acts of former times and some of latter time were and are in form of Petitions CHAP. VI. Sheweth the difference between Parliamentary Priviledges and the Priviledges of the King and sheweth how at first Kingly Government was constituted by God himself and that by Gods Law also the Legislative Power and the Power of the Militia was given to the King and that in these highest Points of the Kings Prerogative the Law of England is agreeing with the Law of God and that God is vindex sui Ordinis the avenger of his own Ordinance THE Speaker uf the House of Commons on the first day of every Parliament is usually Presented to the King and in the Name of the Commons of England he humbly Prays his Majesty would be Graciously Pleased to Grant them their Liberties and Priviledges which is a strong Argument that their Priviledge their
Secretaries of State or some Magistrate and to discover the whole matter in orderly manner that he ought not to stay Two days or nights in one place before he sees the King nor to be let or hindred by any business though never so urgent quia vix ei permittitur ut retrospiciat because the Law giveth him not so much time as to look back in some Cases as we must render an account for every idle word so must we likewise in this case for our idle silence for in such a Case as this where any knoweth of any Conspiracy against his King or Country he is bound by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm presently to discover it for as Fire in its beginning whilst it is but small is more easily quenched than it is afterwards when by some continuance it hath gathered strength so the beginning of Rebellious contrivances being known and discovered with more ease the sad events and evil consequences thereof are nipped in the Bud and are smothered hindred and prevented therefore as to this Evil or rather Devil of Rebellion all are to be advised by the Poet who saith Principiis obsta sero medicina paratur Cum mala per longas invaluere moras CHAP. XVII Sheweth that all Writs Process Executions and Commandments are and ought to be in the Kings Name only NOW I shall acquaint you further that all Writs Executions and Commandments are done in the Kings Name Nay we do say in England the Life and Member of the Kings Subject are the Kings only that is to say no Man hath hault or moyenne Justice but the King nor can hold plea thereof Hence it is that those Pleas which touch the Life or Mutilation of Man be called Pleas of the Crown nor can be done in the Name of any inferior Person than he or she that holdeth the Crown of England And all Enditements Presentments and Processes relating to the Sessions of the Peace begin with Juratores presentant pro Domino Rege quod I. S. de c. or Inquiratur pro Domino Rege si A. B. de c. And every warrant from a Justice of the Peace upon all occasions whatsoever directed to the Constable begin with these or such like words these are in his Majesties Name to Will and Require you forthwith c. If any Process Summons Invitation or Commandment come to you in Parliament time or out of Parliament time in any other Habit Dress or Name whatsoever Be you assured such Coin is counterfeit and not currant within his Majesties Realms and Domions but are deceitful and delusory and may not improperly be likened to the Melody of Syrens who Sing not to stir up Mirth but to allure unto danger and mishaps CHAP. XVIII All Freeholders are advised as to what manner of Persons they are or ought to Choose for future Parliaments I Remember I made mention of the Secluded Members in the late times of Rebellion These were they with whom Treason had no place because with them Obedience to their Soveraign Lord the King and his Laws Ecclesiastical and Temporal bore sway and held Principallity some of whom when the confluence and Clamours of the Tumults in those times passed all boundaries of Laws and Reverence to Authority by the rude and unseemly deportments both in contemptuous words and actions of the vulgar and that no means prevailed for their suppression withdrew themselves with his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First for the security of their Persons from Violence others of when the Lords were Excluded and the House of Commons was purged by the Military power to a Rump Parliament for rotten Members as they then termed them were cast out and all of them that were afterwards living were again chosen for Parliament-men upon his late Majesties most miraculous and happy Restauration Many of them held their King and Country and the Government thereof so dear that in defence thereof they feared not to hazard their lives and Fortunes Such as these were Men Fearing God Honouring their King and abhorring to meddle or joyn with those that are given to change I advise every Freeholder who hath a voice in the Election of Knights Citizens and Burgesses should Chose and Elect to sit in Parliament for the future when his Majesty shall be pleased to Issue forth his Royal Writs for the same If you know of any that have offended grievously in former Parliaments Elect them not again upon an expected repentance All jealousies and fears laid aside Elect such as are Men of good Fortunes not such as have their fortunes to make such as are Wise and prudent Men in the management of their own private Affairs at home and in their several Countries make a right and good use of those benefits which God hath put into their hands for their succouring of others their poor Tennants and Neighbours whose vertue is yet altogether joyned with that Justice that is prudently guided with Moderation and reason for they that know well how to manage their own private Affairs when called thereto will in all probability as carefully contribute their prudent and hearty endeavours for the preservation of the Publick Peace and welfare of the whole Community Let not Elections be carryed on as heretofore with partiality and popular heat let the Gravity and discretion of the more sober and better educated Gentry allay and fix the Commons to a due temperament guiding some Mens well meaning Zeal by such Rules of Moderation as are best both to preserve and restore the health and welfare of all States and Kingdoms Every Freeholder ought to know and well to consider with what power he trusts those whom he chooseth in regard the Power of the House of Commons is derived from that trust and the Kings Writ directed to the Sheriff gives Authority to the Freeholders to make their Elections in which is expressed not only the Sheriffs Duty in point of Summoning but the Writ also contains the Duty and Power of such Knights and Burgesses as shall be Elected and such as shall be Elected are to know that as a Body Natural cannot do any perfect Act if it be dismembred viz. if the Head be in one place and the Body in another place and so of the rest of the Members of a Body Natural so it is in like wise of the Parliament which may be said by the Power of the King to be made corporate or the highest Court aggregate and consisting of the King or Queen of England the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in Parliament Assembled the Members whereof are or ought to know that they are Capitulariter or rather sub uno capite congregati Chapterwise or rather Assembled under one Head which is the King or Queen thereof who have the only Power Priviledge and Prerogative not only of Summoning but also of Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving of the Parliament as alsh of Passing or not Passing any Bills whatsoever framed for Acts at
Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now our Soveraign Lord King James the Second p. 31. CHAP. XI Sheweth that Ignorance of the Law will excuse none and that therefore all Dissenters to the Government in Church and State are advised to Conformity p. 36. CHAP. XII Sheweth that all Subjects owe true Ligeance to their Soveraign though they never were or ever shall be Sworn to the same and is shewed the diversity between Enemies and Rebels then all are advised from Rebellion and is shewed that the King hath no Peer and therefore cannot be judged by his Subjects for his Actions p. 38. CHAP. XIII Sheweth that no Action lyeth against the King but in place thereof Petition must be made unto him and that due circumstances observed the Subject shall have his remedy against the King by way of Petition as readily as one Subject may recover against another Subject by way of Action in any of the Kings Courts for that all his Majesties Subordinate Officers are Sworn to do Justice between the King and his Subjects which if they do not they are Answerable for the injury not the King p. 41. CHAP. XIV Sheweth what inconveniencies happen in the Realm of France through Regal Government alone with the Commodities that proceed of the joynt Government Politick and Regal in the Realm of England And all the Community are herein disswaded by mutinous and Rebellious practises to Disinfranchise themselves p. 43. CHAP. XV. Sheweth how tender this Government Politick and Regal conjoyned is of the safety of the Kings Person and of all his Royal Rights and Prerogatives And that our Law doth not reject Women or Infants in the high point of the Descent of the Crown and that our King holdeth immediately of God to himself and acknowledgeth no Prince on Earth his Superior p. 46. CHAP. XVI Sheweth that all Vnlawful Assemblies or Meetings for the Plotting of harm to the King or the Alteration of the Government are Vnlawful and further sheweth what Misprision of Treason is and that it is the Duty of every good Subject presently to discover Treason p. 49. CHAP. XVII Sheweth that all Writs Process Executions and Commandments are and ought to be in the Kings Name only p. 51. CHAP. XVIII All Freeholders are advised as to what manner of Persons they are or ought to Choose for future Parliaments p. 52. CHAP. XIX Sheweth that the King of England is and always hath been Supream Head of the Church not the Pope p. 55. CHAP. XX. As to the Kings Supremacy is shewed the difference between the Primitive and more modern times herein the Author adviseth all to be at Vnity within themselves and since we are restored to our Ancient Government to give to our Soveraign Lord the King his Dues and desires all to joyn with him in the conclusive Prayer for the Morning Service in our Church Liturgy for the King p. 58. ADVICE TO THE Commons of England c. CHAP. I. Sheweth how things stood at the latter end of King James the First and something is said of the High Court of Parliament AS Noah rendred in the Word of God Gen. 6. and 9. ver to be a just and perfect Man and one that walked with God and that with his Family after the great deluge survived the whole World is fictitiously said to have had two Faces the one looking backward the other forward the one looking upon the World before the Flood the other on the World after the Flood so an old indigent Officer of the Kings Majesties Army King Charles the First of ever Blessed Memory may not improperly be said to have two Faces the one looking backward the other forward the one looking on this Kingdom of England before the late Civil War the other on the same since the said War Taking leave to look backward and to examine how and in what state of Affairs things stood in the latter end of the Reign of King James the First and how the said King Charles the First found things upon the demise of the Kingdom to him upon the death of the natural Body of His said Royal Ancestor I collect out of what I have read long since that about the Ninteenth year of the Reign of the said King James the First in a Speech to his House of Peers he expressed himself that he intended not to derogate from or Infringe any of the Liberties or Priveledges of their House but rather to fortifie and strengthen them for never any King had done so much for the Nobility of England as he had done and ever would be ready to do and whatever he should say or deliver to them as his thought yet when he had said what he thought he would afterwards freely leave the judgment thereof wholly to their House he knew they would do nothing but what the like had been done before and prayed them not to be jealous that he would abridg them of any thing that had been used for whatsoever Presidents in good times of Government could warrant he would allow acknowledging them to be the Supreme Court of Justice wherein he was ever present by Representation But his said Sacred Majesty then inferred that the Priviledges of the Commons which they claimed to be their natural Birthrights were but the favours of former Kings Against which the Commons then protested That the Liberties c. o◠Parliament are the Ancient and undoubted Birthright and Inheritance of the Subjects of England that the urgent Affairs concerning the Kings State and defence of the Realm and the Church of England and the Maintenance and making of Laws and redress of Mischiefs within the Realm are proper matter for Debate in Parliament and that this Debate ought to be free c. And no Member to be Imprisoned other than by censure of the House it self for debating Parliament business and if any Member is complained of for any thing done or said in Parliament the same is to be shewed the King by assent of the Commons before the King is to give credence to any private Information In Counsel afterwards this King expressed that he never meant to deny the House of Commons any Lawful Priviledge they had enjoyed by any Law or Statute by Custom or uncontrolled and lawful President In the Protestation some words viz. arduis Regni are cunningly mentioned but the word quibusdam which restraineth the generality to such particular Cases as his Majesty pleaseth to consult with them upon was purposely omitted Now as to what he is pleased to consult with them upon it is Customary for the King at the first opening of every Parliament in a short Speech to declare to the Three Estates the certain Occasions urged him to convene them on which or the particular Heads thereof the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England for the time being more Copiously enlargeth observing those measures the King his Master prescribeth him thô in fewer words for non-observance whereof and for
the Death of the Natural Body of the King is called Plow 234. a. the Demise of the King because that thereby he Demiseth the Realm to another and the Body Politick is transferred from one Body Natural immediately to another Body Natural that Right hath and that because our Realm doth not admit of any Interregnum Hence it was that in the year of our Lord 1660. at the very instant of his late Sacred Majesties most happy Restauration all Charters and Writings whatsoever were Written Reputed and Esteemed to be made in the Twelfth year of his Reign though that from 1648. to that time he was injuriously and wickedly Deprived Robbed and kept out from his Inheritance of all his Regal Rights of the Crown whereof he was the undoubted right Heir by the late Usurpers CHAP. X. Herein you have an Heir defined and divided and is shewed that the Right Heir of the Crown ought not nor can lawfully be Disinherited that a Bastard ought not nor can be Heir to the Crown and further something is said to the late Bill for the Exclusion of the late most Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now our Soveraign Lord King James the Second NOW Sir Edward Coke in the First part of his Institutes Fol. 7. b. saith that in the Legal understanding of the Common Law he is said to be haeres an Heir that is ex justis nuptiis procreatus for haeres legittimus est quem nuptiae demonstrant and is he to whom Lands Tenements or hereditaments by the Act of God and right of Blood do descend of some Estate of Inheritance for solus deus haeredem facere potest non homo God alone can make an Heir not Man And Heirs are either Lineal who ever shall first Inherit or Collateral who are to Inherit for want of Lineal Lineal descent is conveyed downwards in the right Line as from the Grandfather to the Father from the Father to the Son c. Collateral descent is derived from the side of the Lineal as Grandfathers Brother Fathers Brother c. Now in Mr. Swinb 5th part Fol. 289. he that hath Issue Natural but not Lawful is said to die without Issue and in such Case the Fathers Brother shall Inherit and not the Issue Natural of the Father for such Issue Natural in our Law is said to be nullius filius no Mans Son whence may be Inferred that no Mans Son shall Inherit no Mans Land much less a Crown And in the 23d chap. of Deuteron the 2d verse is said a Bastard shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord even to his Tenth generation shall he not enter into the Congregation of the Lord. And 10. H. 7. 18. it is said that Rex est persona mixta cum sacerdote quia tam Ecclesiasticam quam temporalem habet jurisdictionem The King is a person mixt or participating with the Priest in the Priesthood because he is said to have Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as well as Temporal And Sir John Fortescue Fol. 95. a. b. saith that it is convenient that Mans Law in the benefit of Succession should cut them short whom the Church judgeth unworthy to be received into Holy Orders yea whom Holy Scripture judgeth as touching their Birthright inferior to the Legitimate or Lawfully Begotten as we read in the 25th chap. of Gen. 5 and 6th verses Abraham gave all his Inheritance to his Son Isaac and to the Sons of his Concubines he gave Gifts And again in Mr. Swinb part 5th Fol. 17. is said A King may ex plenitudine potestatis make his unlawful Issue capable of whatsoever by Will deviseable he doth give or bequeath unto him But Mr. Plowden saith 247. a. b. It is an evil or unlawful thing to Disinherit the Right Heir And Mr. Swinb in his 2d part Fol. 118. saith that by the Civil Canon and Common Laws also of this Realm of England It is unlawful for a King to give away his Kingdom from his Lawful Heirs However we had lately a House of Commons or rather a Major part of them that had framed a Bill for the Excluding and Disabling the then most Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now King James the Second for ever from Possessing Having Holding Inheriting and Enjoying of the Imperial Crowns of this Realm and Kingdoms It was a Presumptuous Bill for the Excluding of the Presumptive Heir of these Crowns However it was refused by the Lords House and so could not be offered to his late Majesty for his Royal Assent to make it a Law Have me excused for saying it was a Presumptuous Bill Matters of that nature have been in times past esteemed so in 35o. Eliz. Mr. Peter Wentworth and Sir Henry Bromley delivered a Petition to the Lord Keeper desiring the Lords of the Upper House to be suppliants with them of the Lower House unto her Majesty for entailing the Succession of the Crown whereof a Bill was ready drawn the Queen was highly displeased herewith and charged her Council to call the Parties before them so Sir Thomas Heneage was sent to fetch them they were first commanded to forbear going to the House and not to go out of their several Lodgings afterwards they were called before the Lord Treasurer the Lord Buckhurst and Sir Thomas Heneage Wentworth was Committed to the Tower Bromley to the Fleet together with Mr. Stevens as also Mr. Welch Knight for Worcester-shire and yet it was then thought no Breach of Priviledge They that meddle with this matter of the Succession to the Crown do not only trench upon the Power and Priviledge of Almighty God who as the Prophet Daniel tells us in his 4th chap. is the most High that Ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will but also we have found by woful experience that they Praevaricate with the King himself for in the very word King is included all Succession so that where a Guift is made to the King a Fee-simple passeth without the words either of Heirs or Successors or both as may be seen C. Inst. 1. part 9. b. and in the same Book Fol. 22. b. is said a Man cannot have an Heir during his Life for non est haeres viventis And Mr. Plowden 45. b. saith no Heir hath Right or Title till after the Death of his Ancestor that hath the Inheritance be the Heir either Lineal or Collateral and not in his Life and this is because let all the provision imaginable by Man nay by a Parliament be appointed yet the same by the death of the Presumptive Heir or Heir apparent in the Life time of the Ancestor by the Act of God not otherwise may and can be disappointed And Anciently and now also as in C. 8. 28. it is held That Princeps coruscat radiis Regis censetur una persona cum Rege the Prince is enlightned and made splendid by the shining brightness of the King and is esteemed to be one and the same Person with the
King And as in Bracton cited by Stanf. 99. b. Since nihil aliud potest Rex in terris cum sit Dei Minister Vicarius quam quod de jure potest ita quod potestas juris sua est non injuriae c because the King as he is Gods Minister and Vicegerent can do nothing upon the Earth but what he may do by Law so that the Power of Equity and Justice not of injury and Injustice is properly said to be his Power Therefore his late Sacred Majesty not being minded to Calm the Stormes of some discontented Spirits by stirring up a Tempest in his own Bosom was pleased at the opening of the late Parliament at Westminster to signifie to the Two Houses that he desired them to preserve the Succession of the Crown in the right Line and withall intimated to them that he would give his Royal Assent to any Laws they should devise or make for the Security of the Protestant Religion as it is now Established by Law in the Church of England or to that Effect but we are living in faece seculi in the very Dregs and the very last and worst of Days we are Jealous again of our own shadows nay we mistrust Gods Providence and Protection and the Kingdom again is like to be ruined by secret Plots and Machinations We have for many years by the wonderful Providence of God been delivered from the Slavery and Superstition of Popery And yet nothing is now more feared than the Introduction and Publick exercise of Popery again in these Kingdoms Although as King James the First the Royal Grandfather of our gracious Soveraign Lord King James the Second in his first Speech to his first Parliament next after his Advent to the Crowns of England and Ireland did declare that it was then our happiness that our Head meaning himself was of the same Religion that the Body was of and that as he was no stranger to us in Blood no more was he a stranger to us in Faith or in the matters concerning the House of God so likewise his Sacred Majesty whom God long preserve in his first Speech to his Privy Counsel next after his first Advent to the Crowns of Great Brittain and Ireland hath been Graciously Pleased to Declare that he will do his utmost endeavours to Preserve and Defend the Government in Church and State as it is now Established by Law in his several Realms and Dominions And besides divers other undeniable Arguments might demonstrate that his late Sacred Majesty or his dear Royal Brother now King James the Second never intended in their Imaginations the least thought to make any alteration of the Protestant Religion as it is Established by Law in the Church of England that further happy alliance of Marriage contracted and Consummated between the Eldest Daughter of his Royal Majesty and the most Illustrious Prince of Orange And a later Marriage contracted also and Consummated between his Younger Daughter and the most Illustrious Prince George of Denmark most clearly confirms the reality of their intentions herein by which Nuptial engagements it appears further that their joint endeavours have been not only to defend uphold and maintain a bare profession thereof in these his Majesties Dominions but also to enlarge and corroborate it abroad as much as lyeth in their Power Do we not know that when a Protestant Prince is to intermarry with a Forreign Princess of the Catholick Religion what great care and provision is made by the Parents or Friends on either side by Articles made and confirmed by some Ministers of State equally chosen and impowered for the purpose of her having a set number of Priests and other Ministers and Servants of her Judgment and Profession for the due Administration and Execution only of such Rites and Ceremonies as are proper for her having and enjoying that Freedom and Liberty that is agreeable to the Rule of her Conscience in that Religion wherein she hath been born and educated And I pray in the time of his late Sacred Majesty by whom the true Protestant Religion was professed that by Law is Established why might not some wholesome Law or Laws have been made by the great Council the Parliament for the prevention of the extirpation of the Protestant Religion and the setting aside those Idle and Aiery Jealousies of the Massacre of the true professors thereof after his Demise or Death But alas I fear I am mistaken in or do not put the question right there are divers Sects and not Religions such as are called Presbyterians Anabaptists Independents Quakers and I know not how many sorts of Novelists amongst us that had not only their Birth and Production but also their full growth in the late times of Usurpation and Rebellion who though they differ in judgment amongst themselves yet in this as formerly they are all still agreeing that if they had but the opportunity they would all shake hands and join together in being against the Kings Supremacy in Church and State as much if not more than the Papists For these several sorts of Sects do not so much differ from us in points of Religion as in their confused form of Policy and Parity being ever discontented with the present Government and are impatient to suffer any Superiority which maketh these Sects unable to be suffered in any well governed State or Kingdom But if we take into serious consideration that it is above Forty years since the late times of Rebellion and that every Individual person now living and that hath since attained to the Age of Fifty years or thereabouts were then Children and had not the discretion to discern or put a difference between good and evil if we consider the great changes and mighty revolutions the Metamorphosis and Transposition of all things in point of Government then and afterwards in time till his late sacred Majesties most happy Restauration then all these Sects or most of them I hope will be ready to conclude with me that they did not nor could know better because that in their Youth in stead of better and more wholsome nutriment they sucked in were nursed and educated in those bad times upon Venomous and Rebellious Principles Quo semel est imbuta recens fervabit odorem Horace Testa diu c. Accordingly what Children have been instructed or Grammard in in their Youth it is hard for them to leave in their Old or Elder years some of these several Sects do still retain their first drunken in Liquor upon a certain shamefacedness to be thought curious or changeable others of them that are more Willful and Obstinate will not be reformed because contrary to St. Pauls advice Rom. 12.16 they are wise in their own conceit and will not be informed CHAP. XI Sheweth that Ignorance of the Law will excuse none and that therefore all Dissenters to the Government in Church and State are advised to Conformity IT is horrible that St. Paul saith they that
pretended Birthright and Inheritance floweth only from the Kings Primitive Grace and Favour and that they would not pray that de Gratiâ of Grace if they had any Colour to claim the same de Jure of Right And the renewing of this Petition every Parliament proves the Grant to be but Temporary But the late Usurpers pretended they had Priviledge granted to them to sit by the Mentioned Act of Continuance c. And therefore all fair Offers from his said Majesty for Publick Good and for the Preservation of the Government in Church and State were afterwards interpreted a Breach of Priviledge Though the soundest Lawyers of that time were of Opinion that the said Act of Continuance was Void in it self in regard that what Grants or Concessions soever the King makes the Law presupposeth they are always with this Provisoe Salvo jure regio salvo jure Coronae In the 20th of Rich. the Second it may be seen in Mr. Howe 's Chronicle that a Parliament holden at Westminster was Ordained to endure Forty eight days but it was Abridged for the King would not tarry there more than Five days wherein he declared the things pertaining to the Realm especially such Matters as touched himself c. One property of every good Law of Man is that the Maker exceed not his Authority which certainly they did that framed that Bill for the Act of Continuance c. And Coke 10th rep 57. b. it is agreed that Parliamentum testamentum arbitramentum are to be construed according to the intention of the Makers the said King certainly intended not thereby to Exclude himself because by the Laws of our Land it cannot properly be said a Parliament unless it be consisting of King Lords and Commons And if Kingly Government be constituted by Divine Right then St. Jermyn tells us that Customs and Statutes are void that are against the Law of God and so that Act was null in its own Nature at the very first and the proposal of it was Treason in a high degree Parliamentary Priviledges are but Temporary and are not in them till asked by their Speaker Precario and granted by their Sovereign But Mr. Plowden Fol. 322. b. saith that every Prerogative of the King containeth in it self a Prescription for it resteth in usage And Fol. 319. b. and 322. a. he saith that the Prerogative of the King may not be said to be torcius that is consonant to reason and hath been used from time to time in the time of one King after another for the Law is not known if not by usage and usage proveth that it is Law And Fol. 322. a. and 323. he saith all the Prerogatives mentioned in the Statute of Prerogativa Regis made in 17o. Ed. 2 di were in the King by the Common Law before the said Statute and many others and Fol. 318. a. he saith It is a commendable thing for the King to abstain from the extremity of his Prerogative of his special grace in benefit of his Subjects but withall saith that the Law doth not force him so to do And Sir Ed. Coke in the First part of his Institutes Fol. 90. b. saith that Praerogativa is derived of prae id est ante and rogare that is to ask or Demand before hand whereof cometh Prerogativa and is denominated of the most excellent part because though an Act hath passed both the Houses of the Lords and Commons in Parliament yet before it be a Law the Royal Assent must be asked or Demanded and Obtained Bracton li. jo calleth it libertatem in another place privilegium Regis Britton Fol. 27. calleth it droit le Roy the Right of the King the Register of the Writs calleth it jus regium Coronae the Royal or Regal Right of the Crown And Mr. Stanford in Praerog Fol. 5. a. b. saith Praerogativa is as much to say as a Priviledge or Preeminence that one person hath before another which as it is tolerable in some so it is most to be permitted and allowed in a Prince or Soveraign Governour of a Realm for besides that he is the most worthyest or excellent Part or Member of the body of the Commonwealth so is he also through his good Governance the preserver nourisher and defender of all the People being the rest of the same body for which cause the Laws do attribute unto him all Honour Dignity Prerogative and Preeminence It is said Coke 7. 10. b. and 11. a. That the King is an absolute Prince before his Coronation which is but a Royal Ceremony Ornament and Solemnization of the Royal Descent but no part of the Title and that Rex non est Rex quia Coronatur sed Coronatur quia est Rex The King is not a King hecause he is Crowned but he is Crowned because he is a King And Coke 11.72 a. The King is said to be sponsus Regni and per annulum by a Ring is said to be espoused to the Realm at his Coronation which is a great Mark of Soveraignty and Power in the King over his People for admit the King to be sponsus the Bridegroom or new Married Man and the Realm to be sponsa the Bride or new Married Woman at this Solemnity of his Coronation every Woman is sub potestate viri sui under the Power of ber Husband ipse dominabitur ejus and he shall Rule or Reign over her by Gods Law Gen. 3.16 and our Law doth not estrange the Husband of any Interest Prerogative or thing that the Wife hath at the time of the intermarriâ—ge or after But as in all Rebellions so in the late time of Rebellion the Woman wore the Breeches as is easily proved by the Money Coined in those times Also in Coke 7. 10. b. The King is said to be pater patriae the Father of his Country which is another Mark of his Soveraignty and Supream Power for at the beginning of Kingdoms when all the World consisted of a few Housholds the Elder or Father of the Family exercised Authority over his Meyney and did distribute reward or punishment amongst them after his own discretion all which aforesaid is agreeing with what the Poet saith Jura dant singuli natis uxoribus every single individual Person gives Laws to his Wife and Children This was patria potestas Fatherly power the fountain of Regia potestas Kingly power and so Regia potestas is lege Naturae non arbitrio populi and so Kingly Authority is by the Law of Nature not by the Will Power or Arbitrement of the People leges Naturae perfectissimae sunt immutabilâ—s and the Laws of Nature are the most perfect and not to be Altered or Changed No sooner was there a Houshold but there was a Soveraign All regal Authority was then included in the Office of Father And therefore God Almighty in giving the Fifth Commandment called the Crown Commandment Honour thy Father and thy Mother intended the Duty belonging to all Magistrates Afterwards