with the direst imprecations to the Scaffold It is the custom of the vulgar changeable on sudden occasions to be as prone to pity as they were immeasurable in Cruelty as the excellent (n) Est mos vulgo mutabili subita tam prono in misericordiam quam immodicum saevitia fueritâ— 1. Hist Historian observes in Cossus's appeasing the Souldiers who were enraged against the Helvetians It were indeed much better if the safety of the Government would suffer it to heal the vitious (o) Melius sanare vitiosas partes quam exsecare 2. ad Attic. Ep. 5. parts rather than cut them off but it 's a most certain Rule of the same (p) Omnis animadversio non ad ejus qui punit aliquem sed ad Reipublicae utilitatem referenda 2. de Offic. Orator That the sentencing of Criminals should not relate to him that punisheth but to the profit of the Commonweal that is not to be so ordered as the Prince should be judged to consult only his own Revenge or safety but the Peace Tranquillity and Prosperity of his People Therefore the excellent (q) Non tam ut ipsi percant quam ut alios a pereundo deterreant 1. de Ira. Seneca saith It becomes not Princes to chastise only that the guilty may perish but that others may be affrighted from perishing For it is a ferina rabies saith he to rejoice in Blood and Wounds Hence all good Princes unwillingly and with great torment to themselves inflict Capital Punishments nor is execution in most cases performed while the Prince's Wrath and Rage how just soever is upon him because that Mediocrity then cannot be observed which ought to be betwixt much and little therefore all Punishments are most kindly that are more patrio lest that Sarcasm of (r) Qui puniendi causam habent modum non habent 2. de Clem. Seneca be verified Though the cause of punishment be great yet a Mean or Measure is not observed So Tacitus instructs us That though it be against the guilty and such as deserve to be extream examples yet a Prince should have mercy not so much for the profit of the Republick but that multitudes should not be consumed for the cruelty of one as the People in an overglutting revenge will be apt to censure Therefore caution should be used that the punishment be not overspreading as to Heads of many Families lest if they be illustrious and of great Interest the Prince attract more Enemies and as the Latin Philosopher (s) Parentes liberique eorum qui interfecti sunt prepinqui amiâ—i in locum singulorum succedunt 2. de Clementia saith The Parents Children Kinsmen and Friends of the slain succeed in their places to meditate revenge if there be any hopes of success by it Such an Hydra especially is despairing Rebellion Yea though in China Japan and other of the Eastern Countries whole Families are commonly extirpated for the crime of one yet no Civilised Nations imitate it no not when Rebellion proves most formidable If an illustrious Person be in Conspiracy to whom a Prince and his Subjects have been oblig'd if it may safely be done the punishment may be (t) Poenam si tuto poteris donabis sin mâ—nus temp rabis 〈…〉 Clem. attempered if the Crime cannot be pardoned So Livia told Augustus That the Criminal being secured cannot hurt but in his Pardon the Prince might augment his Fame as King James the First did to the Lord Colhaâ— and his Companions when he concealed the discovery of their Pardon till the Prisoners were upon the Scaffold and expected nothing but the last stroke of the terrible Axe As Physicians in Blood-letting and purging if in so great a Theme so low an example may be used with the bad humours must necessarily evacuate some of the good So in Conspiracies and Rebellions some may not be so maliciously inclined in their own natures but by their popular (u) Facile studia vulgi ad se trabunt vel inviti temper or easiness to be seduced be caressed to be partakers in some pretended reformations the black Arts and Designs being hid from them and so be made properties If therefore the Prince can be secured that either in their own natures they are not prone to Rebellion or while they are alive they can never expect to head parties again Banishment may be sufficient punishment for them So when in Nero's (w) Vt consuleret sibi turbis seque prave defamâ—tibus subtraberet Esse illi per Asiam agros in quibus tuta inturbida juventa frueretur Tacit. 14. Annal. time upon the appearing of a Comet it was bruited that it portended the change of a King and Râ—belliâ—us Plautus was celebrated as the Person Nero writ Letters to Plautus That he should consult his own good and withdraw himself from the Rabbles defaming of him to his prejudice and having Possessions in Asia he might enjoy his blooming Years undisturbed and in safety Which was most humanly done for by that he spared Plautus and yet provided for the quiet of the Commonwealth But as the merciful temper of a Prince in some cases is most Christian and Prudent so in others too much Clemency may encourage Sedition and consequently Treason For as the Orator (x) Maxima illecebra peccandi impunitatis spes Pro Milone saith The hopes of escaping punishment is the greatest allurement to do evil a wicked Subject fearing that Prince (y) Apud quem conditum imo constrictum est ferrum Seneca little who wears a Padlock on his Sword There are few that eschew evil for the Turpitude of it but for the fear of punishment therefore in such dangerous matters as Conspiracies and Rebellion the edge of the Prince's Sword is always to be sharp and the Council of Tiberius (z) Corruptus simul corruptor aeger flagrans animus haud lenioribus remediis restinguendus est quam libidinibus ardescit 3. Annal. in his Epistle to the Senate is to be followed That the corrupt and the corruptor the sick and burning Soul is scarce to be quenched with milder remedies than such as bear proportion to the lusts it burns with of what kind soever it be The punishment of a few wicked Persons restrains the malevolent effects of many as Cicero (a) Vnius improbi supplicio muliorum improbitates coercere 3. in Verrem notes Nor saith (b) Neque aliud gliscentis discordiae remedium quam si unus alterve maxime prompti subverterentur Tacit. 4. Annal. Tacitus is there any other remedy of glowing Discord than that one or other of the most forward be orewhelmed and examplary Justice be executed upon them Though the Gangreen begin but in in a Toe or Finger yet it may require Amputation lest a Leg or an Arm be in danger so the skillful Gardiner prunes his cankered Branches more speedily than the luxuriant By punishing the Advisers Fomenters
end but that he might fit man for those Chains and Fetters he hath provided for him depriving him of the greatest glory and happiness that can be attributed to him of Gentleness and Benevolence which is conspicuous in man's Nature and on the contrary making him the only Creature that out of the malignity of his own Nature and the base fear he makes inseparable from it should be obliged for his own benefit and the defence of his Rapine to worry and destroy all of his own kind till they all became yoaked by Covenant of his own contriving never yet entered into by any one man or in Nature possible to be entred into as in due place I shall make appear Supposing however by the Law of Nature every man may defend himself and annoy those whom he hath power over (b) Review of observations p. 20 21. Whatever the state of Nature was yet Government is necessary yet how much more eligible is it to part with that Right and yet to do nothing contrary to Nature when Reason tells us we shall obtain a more excellent good the benefit of Peace and Prosperity in Society which together with Safety and Plenty are what Government aims at The People finding by reason that the good they wanted was not attainable without a Common Protector to administer Justice equally amongst them and the sense of the miseries that would befal them sor want of this made their Routs become Societies The Salus populi in the Constitution of Government being the prime end of it as most agreeable with the joynt Interest of Rulers and People The multitude therefore that do not consider the Reason that made all People commit themselves The reasons why all must quit the state of Nature to submit to Government their lives and fortunes to the trust of their Rulers ought to be convinced that their giving up their Right of defending themselves and subjecting them to Government and restraining their own Arbitrary Wills and yielding themselves to the Conduct of their lawful Superiors will conduce most to the obtaining of that most excellent good the benefit of Peace and Society every one being in less danger of mischief from the rapacious and bloody minded living in Society and under the Protection of the Government than where every one might follow his own Inclinations This also being the chiefest preservation from that Misery and Confusion which Sedition and Rebellion generally blanched with the abused names of Salus populi have brought many Nations to so the Judicious Chancellor (c) De laudibus LL. Angliae c. 14. Fortescue saith that no Nation by its own Consent was incorporated into a Kingdom but that thereby they might Government necessary for Preservation with more safety than before maintain themselves and enjoy their goods from such misfortunes and losses as they stood in fear of Therefore the old (d) Adversus Mathematicos lib. 2. Stobaei Serm. 42. Persians saith Sextus Empiricus for five days together after the death of their King permitted the People to live Lawless that after the Experience of the Slaughter Rapine and other Outrages committed in that short interval they might learn to hold the Government in more esteem Self-preservation and an ardent desire of happiness saith a (w) Nalson Common Interest learned Author are the two Poles upon which all our Natural and Rational desire and aversions move These are the Tutelars and Inseparable Companions of Mankind through all the vicissitudes of Life These are the potentest incentments to Society and Government which not only allure but necessitate the Congress Combination and Cement of Confederacies in Societies for the mutual Preservation and Peaceable Possession of that Happiness all do covet This implanted Love to our selves made all Mortals exercise their best faculties to defend and ensure themselves against every thing they could foresee or fear would be capable of disturbing their felicity the peaceable fruition of which was the upshot of all their desires and appetites which was no ways so likely to be effected as by Union in Government For to be rich and not able to defend our wealth is to expose our selves as a prey and to be safe and poor is to be securely miserable both which are avoided by the benefit of Government Furthermore The Common People not to be ordered without Government if we consider the nature of the common people which make up the gross body we shall find an absolute necessity of Government For as the Orator (x) Cicero pro Planeio observes in the multitude is a great variety and change of opinions they are as unconstant as the weather nothing being so familiar with them as the change of their affections being not led by choice and wisdom to judge of things sed impetu quadam temeritate without Council Reason Discrimination (y) Sallust ad Casarem or Diligence to search the Causes and forecast the Event of things by custom rather than judgment following one anothers sentiments as to their short-sightedness seems most eligible Their Wills and Appetites being no less various than their features and countenances Their actions and designs turning to as divers ends as the desires that guide them are divers so that it were impossible they should continue long together in society and peace or enjoy the benefits desired if there were not some strong tye which holding them united together should draw them all along to the same end When there is no (z) Cum nec Imperii majestas ulla nec Magistratuum aut Curatorum est Imperium Bodinus de Repub. l. 4. c. 1. Government Against Anarchy that which is left is known by the name of Anarchy which is described by Bodinus to be where there is no Majesty of Empire nor power of command in Magistrates or subordinate Officers no form of a City none found to command or obey Of all Governments continues he Tyranny is the worst but of all Tyrannies Omnium deterrima plebis impotentissima potestas ex his tamen omnibus nihil Anarchiae magis pestiferum Idem that of Many is most pernicious and the impotent power of the people is the worst yet Anarchy is the most pestiferous of all This indeed dissolves all into the first confused Chaos where is nothing of order but a jumble of jarring parts every one justiling other out of its place Imagine a person placed upon such an Hill that he might see below him a confus'd multitude various in their Interests and Appetites let loose to the fiery bent of their wills He would be amazed to hear the boisterous clamors and see the strange turmoils and tempestuous tossings of that crowd the desultory actions and all the pageantry of Garboiles before the last down-right counter-scufflle which the sage wisdom of one man if he might be heard would be able to compose Even so it is in Anarchy or whereever the Peoples unbridled will governs (a)
Xenoph. de Rep. Athenarum Thucyd. lib. 3. this is a Mart wherein voices are bought and sold poverty and ignorance driving the crowds to null that to day which they have eagerly pursued the day before scarce forbearing the same day to condemn and absolve nothing being done amongst them but in tumultuary ferments and an high boyling fret or a dead torpidness and irresolution the Ebbings and Flowings of the Ocean being more regular than theirs whereas all Government according to the (b) Polit. l. 4. c. 4. Philosopher subsists and is established in firmness and constancy by every mans knowing what is his right to enjoy and his duty to do or as (c) Coeius hominum Juris consensu utibitatis communione sociatus De Civitate Dei c. 23. St. Augustine calls it a society of Men incorporated for common benefits by the agreement of Laws It is a grave saying of (d) Populus negligit rempublicam magnitudine nimia communium curarum expers 1. Hist Privata cuique stimulatio vile decus publicum 2. Annal. Tacitus That the common People neglect the affairs of the Common-weal by their over-bulkiness void of publick spirit and care and in another place That the incentives to their private profit produce a disregarding neglect of the publick (e) Quod omnia aetatis membra familiasque singulas in unum corpus cogit De Rep. lib. 1. Bodinus compares a Common-wealth or Government to a Ship and well observes that without the Keel which unites the Stern and Fore-castle Ribs c. it would be but informe lignum So a Community without Government which unites the members of all Ages and all Families in one body can no ways deserve the name of society Such a People headless is not worthy to be called a Body Politick for Government no ways consists in the number of Persons or the heads of Citizens but in the combination of them under one Soveraign Power The unwieldy bulk of numerous Armies wanting Conduct and Discipline rarely effect any glorious enterprise In the Tumults of Naples the Rascality were forced to set up an Head though it were but the frothy boisterous Thomas Anello So were Cade Ket Tyler and others in our popular Rebellions set up as the Captains Leaders and Idols of the Clowns From whence we may learn that even such people as rose up as they pretended to suppress Magistrates Monarchy or Tyranny level Estates and set all at liberty yet once imbodied were forced to chuse Captains to lead them to whose Orders there was a necessity of submission If we thoughtfully consider How Superiority and Government founded in Nature we shall find that Government is founded in nature in which state there is no such thing as equality for the Parent by priority of natural cause must be superior to the Children Yea if we should believe People to be Juvenes ab Aquilone creati like Grashoppers or Locusts or like Cadmus his men sprung up at once out of the Earth underived from any pre-existent Parent all of them having equal Origin and Power yet a short converse one with another would have necessitated them to embody in Societies We Christians believe God made Man after his own Image Dominion given to Man and gave him dominion over all the Creatures of our sublunary world and it is not reasonable to think that he endowed him not with faculties necessary for the administration of that great Empire not only over the Brutes but over his own Species For the Philosopher (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Polit c. 5. notes that nature hath made some fit to command and others to obey or serve of which we have many and great Instances So Julius Caesar and others whose great actions are recorded in History manifested more sublime Spirits than any of those who were subdued by them Some born to Empire and when those great Heroes were dead though their Officers and Soldiers survived by whose prowess and valour they had effected those wonders yet we read of a suddain degeneracy as if the soul had expired and left the carcass only of an Army The Orator observes that no Nation was ever so Barbarous No Nation so Savage wherein some Government hath not been as to be wholly void of Religious Worshippers since every where some Deity or other hath been acknowledged Even so we may affirm that never any People were so rude wild and savage but they found a necessity of Government of which they had at least in their first embodying some unpollished Model and some sort of Institutes appointed by and coeval with their Governours by which their political interests and private concerns were regulated without the infinite disorder which would happen to all publick transactions which should be the product of tumultuous votes where every meeting would be a jumble of great and small The Mischiefs of tumultuous voting and want of Magistrates soft and hard sculls a pudling of business and putting all things to chance and blundering in a maze till at last some Mens wisdom formed them into order How then is that condition of a People to be wailed which Tacitus (g) Ea demum libertas Romae est non Senatus non Magistratus non Leges non Mores Majorum non Instituta Patrum 1 Annal. describes to be the Roman State of liberty wherein there was no Senate no Magistrates no Laws no Ancient Usage no Institutes of the Fathers From all which we may conclude that the same nature that ordered societies gives them prudence to know that to preserve the Society and the peace of it it was necessary that there should be one or some who laying aside private advantage and particular Interest should imploy their minds bend all their thoughts and direct their actions for the publick good and by the sinews of power hold all so fast united as they should guide them to the same end and we must determine that Government is absolutely necessary for the being and well-being of a People though there be servitude in it which made Seneca comparing Augustus's times with the preceding irregular ones say Salva esse Roma non potuit nisi benesicio servitutis The City could not have been safe without the benefit of servitude CHAP. III. That the People are not the Original of Authority and Government BEfore I proceed to treat of the several forms of Government I judge it requisite to examine some positions made use of by Republicans so long at least as they argue against Monarchical Government or till they obtain their ends in the subverting of it One of which is that supreme power is originally and fundamentally in the People for whose benefit all Government was established Secondly That there is a tacit reservation of power in them to vary the form of Government and change the Persons when the people finds it convenient for them The Law of Nature as they say justifying any attempt
which are all the ways whereby any right can be legally established Therefore we must look upon all such as cast in such Baits for the People to nibble at that they intend to make a prey of them and having fastned the gilded Hook in their Jaws may draw them out of their own Element to a free air indeed but such as will stifle them For when any Subjects by the instigation of such pretended Patriots are excited to put in their claim of Original Power and shake the Government though their Rebellion be prosperous it is not without vast effusion of Blood that the Government can be changed After which how will it be possible that the Community of the People can be put into that pristin state of freedom those State-Mountebanks promise but rather into an Anarchy which is contrary to the end of all Society and to quiet and peace and is the Parent of all confusion which is much worse than the hardest subjection This truth by a most chargeable tryal we experimented in the late War when the Pretended Saviours of the Nation and great Promoters of Spiritual and Temporal Liberty having wheedled the People into a belief of their honest Intentions and by their prosperous Arms overthrown the most temperate Monarchy by the effusion of infinite Blood and Treasure by pretended agreements of the People they assumed the Government to themselves enslaving both the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty more than any Foreign Conqueror would do or ever their Ancestors had been in any Age and the Golden Scepter and that of King Edward with the Dove was turned into a Rod of Iron and a Flaming Sword Basilisks and Fiery Serpents CHAP. IV. The Benefit of Government from the Establishing and Instituting of Laws THe (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rhetor. ad Alex. c. 1. Philosopher describes Law to be the Promulgation of what by the common consent of the City is defined which commands upon Terms how every thing is to be done Which is to be understood after Government is established where the Lawgivers are agreed upon and the Subjects known that are to obey them In another place the same (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ethic. Nicom c. 5. Philosopher saith Laws are to be declared concerning all things that may respect the common Benefit of all or of the Optimacy viz. the Nobility or Prime Gentry or the Sovereign or be agreeable to Vertue or to any other Necessity of the People and these he calls Common Laws The same (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Repab l. 2. c. 6. Learned and Wise Composer of Politicks tells us That the Law hath no force to compel Obedience but as it receives it from Usage and Custom and this springs not from any thing so much as from length of Time and multitude of Years Of these kind of Laws few Nations make such use as we do in England under the Title of Common Laws and Customs and it is no small Credit to them that so Judicious and Ancient a Writer hath given such a Character of these kind of Laws by which we have something more than a shadow of ours The same (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Philosopher likewise with great Judgment tells us That to forego Laws received and long used and over-easily to substitute new ones is to make weak and infirm the Laws themselves Yet he is not for tying Posterity to the Laws of their Progenitors too strictly for that it is likely saith he the first Ancestors of them being such as he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sons of the Earth or such as escaped from some great Calamities and Destructions were rude and illiterate such as he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that it would be (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. absurd to persist in their Decrees therefore he saith All seek not their (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Countrys Laws but those onely that are good as generally such are which have had the Approbation of Ages By what hath been noted from so Ancient and Judicious an Author I may easily infer That Laws resulted from Government and were the necessary Products of such Counsels as the first Leaders or Monarchs entertained to order their People by and since he (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. makes the Laws of such like validity and force in the Commonwealth as the Rules and Orders of Parents in private Families we may well conclude That as those had their Origination from the Will of the Father of the Family so the other from the Prince who is his Peoples Common Parent Therefore in Homer Kings are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Givers of Laws or Judges of the People as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pastors or Feeders Conductors Defenders or Shepherds of the People So in Sacred Writ the first Hebrew Captains or Kings were called Judges Therefore Pomponius Laetus saith In the ancientest Times before Laws were agreed upon the King's Will was a Law And (i) Regis nutus Arbitrium pro Legibus lib. 10. Dionysius is express That the intimation of their Mind by Signs and their absolute Wills were in stead of Laws (k) Romulus ad libitum imperitaverat dein Numa Religionibus Divino Jure Populum devinxit Sed praecipuus Servius Tullius sanctor Legum fuit quis etiam Râ—g â—s obtemperarent 3 Annal Tacitus giving an account of the Roman Laws saith of Romulus That he commanded at his own pleasure and after him Numa bound the People with Religion and Divine Laws Some were found under Tullus and Ancus but the principal Institutor of Laws was Servius Tullius to which even Kings should obey that is they thought themselves obliged to observe and keep the Laws they had appointed He then notes That after Tarquin was expell'd the People prepared many Laws for the defence of their Liberty and to strengthen their Concord against the Factions of the Fathers A late Judicious (l) Nalson Common Interest p. 14 15. Author saith That God and Nature investing Primogeniture with the Right of Kings and Magistrates they made Laws and this not being observed or wilfully disowned by some Popular Patrons who would possess the People that the Laws made Kings and Governours hath created the greatest Mischiefs by giving an Inlet to the Changes of Governors and Government For granting this most enormous Doctrine and dangerous Principle Laws being alterable for the Convenience of Prince or People by consequence the Right of the Sovereign if it be onely from the Laws must be precarious also The Opinion is in it self most absurd and unreasonable for there never could be Laws till there was some Form of Government to establish and enact such Laws and give them their energy and vigour For nothing can have the force or power of a Law or oblige men to Obedience unless it proceed from such Person or Persons as have a Right to command and Authority to punish the
Disobedience and Neglect of those who ought to be subject to it So that it is almost impossible to find the least Footsteps of Law that is by far so ancient as Government If we consider the Infancy of the World when Nations were divided by the Swarms that made new Colonies we may easily conceive that Differences and Quarrels would not onely fall out amongst them about Boundaries but within the District of one Government the Shares of distinct Families and Persons would be allotted and these would require the Preservation of those Peculiars from the Incroachment of Thieves Robbers or other mischievous Persons From whence must spring a necessity of Laws to prevent Domestick Quarrels and Injuries and to ascertain to every man his Right and effect those good things which would make the Society happy Which Laws as far as we have any Record of History were first appointed by those who first led the Colonies or such as they chuse out to assist in such a design of concern who being supream over the People had the only Power of making Laws and exacting obedience to them Consentaneous to which the Serjeants at a late Call gave this Motto A Deo Rex a Rege Lex The Benefits Societies enjoy by Laws But however we conceive of the first Authors and Institutors of Laws it no ways lessens the benefit all Societies enjoy by being govern'd by Laws adapted to the Constitution of the People and Government For as (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 1. c. 2. Aristotle observes Of all living Creatures man is the best so he is the worst if not governed by Laws and Judgment Both (n) Lib. 12. de LL. Plato and * Lib. 5. ult Eâ—kic Aristotle agree that Men Just and most Eminent in Vertue being as Gods among Men are under no Law living as regularly (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 3. c. 13. on their own accord as others constrained by the Laws for these good Men are Laws themselves exciting others to Vertue by their Examples Yet since this is but the Portion of a few there is a necessity of enforcing the Laws by Authority upon those that are not obedient to them nor a Law to themselves As to the use of Laws The Usefulness of Laws the (p) 1 de Oratore Orator tells us that by their Authority we are taught to subdue our Lusts to circumscribe and bound our unlawful desires to defend our own and restrain our Eyes and Hands from that which belongs to others They were saith the same Cicero (q) Major hareditas unicuique nesteum a Jure Legious quam aliis a quibus illa bona relicta surt Id. pro Caecinna invented for the security of every one a greater and more plentiful Inheritance coming to us by them than from those that left us our Estates These are fitted for the Diseases of the Common-wealth ex malis moribus oriuntur bonae leges They restrain Men from their depraved Appetites the over-boilings of their Lusts the debauchery of their Lives the Injustice of their Rapines stop the Effusion of Innocent Blood secure every Man's Interest instruct and dispose all to do well and secure them when they do so Hedges are set up saith Mr. Hobs (r) Civil Wars to stop Travellers and keep them in the way that is allowed and prescrib'd and for hindring them from chusing a way for themselves So Laws are made to guide govern and punish Men who presume to decline the Rule and chuse another to walk by that is more agreeable to their own Appetite and Convenience The poorest necessitated Man saith a (s) Fr. Whyte Sacred Laws Judicious Author amidst the Calamities of his wretched Life would yet be more unhappy were not Laws and Government his Sanctuary Oppression the heaviest of all miseries would crush him to pieces and break the Repose of his shortest Slumbers The malice of the Clown the dark Arts of the City would surround us and what we most prize tho' we want the comfort of it no Man's Life could be safe a minute without them nothing could be sure nothing certain no commerce no conversation These protect the Orphan the Widow and the Stranger Seneca elegantly calls the Laws Virtutes Armatas because they compel evil manners into good order for without Laws Men are but a more cunning and pernicious sort of Brutes and where they are instituted and prevail humane Nature is most civilized refin'd and polite It is said of the Liberal Arts that Emolliunt mores nec sinunt esse feros They soften Mens minds and manners they correct that churlishness of temper and addulce and mellow the austere sowre and crabbed Disposition tame and make gentle the Savage Natures file off the Asperities of them all which is equally true of the force and efficacy of the Laws put in Execution What would this great World we live in be less than a great Bedlam were it not for these Political Combinations civil appointments and Laws which in all places and Countries not only curb and command that untamed Pride Fury and Malice which too naturally resides in many But the Laws likewise form and incorporate Men into civil Societies making those persons capable of Living conversing and dwelling together as Men endowed with rational and religious Faculties who otherwise would appear no better than a company of wild and Savage Creatures The Honour given to Law-makers So great Veneration had the Ancients for the Laws that they esteem'd the Lawgivers (t) Stephanus Niger Exposit Carm. Pythag Leges primo rudibus hominum animis simplices eram Maximeque fama celebravit Cretensium quas Minos Spartanorum quas Lycurgus ac mox Atheniensibus quâ—sitiores jam plures Solon praeseripsit Tâ—â—it 3 Annal. Holy and such as had Correspondence with the Deities they worshipped and were while they lived for these great Blessings to their People deified So Minos among the Egyptians makes Mercury the Author of the Laws and among the Cretians Jupiter Lycurgus among the Lacedaemonians fathered them on Apollo Numa Pompilius derived them from the whispers of the Goddess Aegeria the Persians from Zoroaster Xamolxis among the Goths deduces them from Vesta and that Moses received the Jewish Laws from God Almighty we all believe So that as every where we find the Heathens make the Gods descend for their Production and celestial Wisdom to flow into them saith the learned Mr. White in his Sacred Laws of the Land in which little Treatise is comprehended a great deal of curious Learning and who further adds That as Livy allows to Antiquity mixing things humane with divine to deduce the Original of Cities from Gods or Goddesses to make their beginnings more majestic the same may be said of the Laws saith my learned Author if it be Lawful to Canonize any to carry them up to Heaven or fetch them down from thence that Glory is alone due to the
fifth when the Multitude rule by majority of Voices and not the Law so that their temporary Votes were Law We have resemblance of these kinds of Governments in our Corporations Concerning the Democracies in Corporations where in the Elections of Magistrates in some places all Freemen in others those only who have Burgage Land in others a Common-Council solely have Vote and the whole Body or such and such parts have Power to make By-laws If we had no other Argument against Democracy but this that it is of that narrow capacity that it cannot be adapted to order Regions of large extent it would be sufficient to discredit it for we find in those incorporated little Democracies there are more Factions and divisions than in the whole large adjoining tracts of Land about them though the Villages contain a much numerouser People It is rarely found but that in all Votes relating to the public Combinations are made by Kindreds Companies or Factions The inferior sort having equal Vote often out-number the Richer and Wiser and so businesses are aukwardly or tumultuarily determin'd and the meaner People must either neglect their domestic affairs to attend frequent Conventions or leave the managery to a stirring factious Party which is (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. l. 5. c. 5. contrary to the fundamental equality and freedom they labour for As these Corporations were first created by the Sovereigns Grace and Favour for the encrease of Trade and enriching the places and administration of Justice so while they keep themselves within the bounds of their Duties are Loyal to their Prince and Faithful to the Government and presume not by their Pragmaticalness to dispose of the Fate of the Empire or by their factious Elections to make disturbances It is very necessary they should enjoy all their municipal Priviledges But so many Corporations having of late acted contrary it is no wonder that the late King upon solid reason of State issued out his Quo Warranto's against them and in all the new Charters reserv'd a Power in the Crown of displacing the Evil Magistrates at pleasure But to leave this to another place I shall note out of the Philosopher such Arguments as he useth against Democracy 1. Argument against Democracy Injustice As first that the common People being the greater number and the Soveraignty being supposed to be in the whole complex Body whatever they approve must be establish'd as a Right and Law (l) Vbi plebs est domina necesse est ut quod plurimis visum sit hoc quoque sit ratum hoc sit jus Polit. l. 6. c. 2. and suppose they vote a Dividend of the richer Citizens Estates among themselves though this by the force of their Government be just yet in its own nature it is great Injustice to destroy the rich Man's Propriety as well as it were for the Rich to do the same to the Poor 2dly 2. Against the Common Peoples Liberty of Elections Liberty being the principle of all Democratical Government it consists in two things either to live (m) Plerisque jucundius est licenter vivere quam modeste Ib. c. 2. licentiously which in Athens and other places was very fatal and as Demosthenes Isocrates and Cicero complain that under the specious pretence of Liberty even Anarchy prevail'd Or Secondly in the free and uncontroulable Power of chusing their Magistrates and this accasioned the contest of parties for Victory hence Crowds Tumults Routs Riots Frays and Quarrells and after all Heart-burnings (n) In Licurg Vide Giphanii Com. in c. 7. l. 2. Polit. Arist Plutarch gives us an account of the manner of some Elections for Senators that certain Persons being closed in a Room where they might hear the peoples Voices but not see the People One Competitor after another was proposed and him who was judged to have most Voices they carried Crowned to the Temples of the Gods Women and Children following him with Shouts This (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 2. Polit. c. 9. Aristotle calls a Childish action in so grave an affair it being not fit for any to seek Magistracy in such a way that by the judgment of the Multitude only is thought fit to Rule but (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. he that is worthy be he willing or unwilling should have the place Therefore we observe where the King hath the sole Power of nominating Judges Sheriffs Justices of Peace c. though they are of as great advantage to the Peace and order of the Government as Mayors Sheriffs or Common-Council Men of Corporations there are neither Hubbubs or Quarrels at their Elections and they are generally better qualified than such as court the peoples Favour Therefore (q) Rempublicam perituram in qua viri Principes consultant Populus vero imperita plebecula decernit Laertius exclaims justly that the Common-weal must perish in which the Nobility consult but the People and unskillful common Rabble give Judgment 3dly 3. Their Faction In this Government there is a continual spawning of Faction So it is (r) Giphanii Comment in lib. 5. c. 5. Polit. observ'd that at Athens the Democratical Government mostly obtain'd yet in the Attick State there were no less than three Factions according to the tripartite division of the People viz. the Diacrii that inhabited the mountainous Parts who were for pure Democracy the Pediaci who inhabited the lower Grounds and they were for a mixture of Oligarchy and the Parulii or Inhabitants on the Sea-Coasts and those were a mixture of both which Aristotle calls the Politick Hence Pisistratus appearing an Enemy to the Pediaci made himself gracious with the People and so easily got the Government So he instanceth in the changes of those of Milesia by the Prytania which was like a Consulship or Dictatorship at â—â—me So he gives an account of Dionysius feigning himself to be wounded by the Nobility who hated him for his love to the People raised a great Envy and Rage of the People against them and so established himself So Theagenes by slaying the Cattle of the Nobility animated the People of Maegara to follow him till by suppressing the Nobility and Richer he got himself to be Master of all The like we may read in (s) Lib. 13. c. 9. Diodorus Siculus that Agathocles did at Syracuse All which Changes were the Issues of Factions betwixt the Nobility and Common-people which is as inseparable from this sort of Government as the Prickle is from the Thistle or the Husk from the Corn. Fourthly The Philosopher notes That in this Government the Demagogues were most used These indeed were the Bell-wethers of Faction the Conductors of the Peoples Wills and Affections by the power of their Popularness The (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pol. l. 4. c. 4. Philosopher tells us there was no use of them where the Law commanded but where Matters were judged by the Decrees of the
fallacious Argument For it is found by experience that some few more crafty Citizens who have gained Credit with the People order Business in their close Committees and so undiscernably lead the Multitude to whatever they call the Publick Good of which they having prevailed upon their Affections are esteemed the most competent Judges by which any one of the Juncto for they must gratifie each other mutually is enabled to cross the Course of Law in a Friend's behalf and to put a sharper Edge upon the Sword of Justice when it strikes an Enemy These kind of men by frothy Eloquence in set Speeches cunningly fitted to the Capacity of the Common People having got the Art of changing the Peoples Opinion of Just and Unjust for Reasons are not weighed where such Numbers hold the Ballance their Art is to apply their Harangues to that which rules the weaker men the Affections and these are easily convinced and made the Measures of their Judgments the want of weight in the (d) Suaden'o docent non docendo suadent Premisses being supplied by an extraordinary love to the Conclusion The Judgments of Right and Wrong being not like Mathematical Knowledge are as various as their Interests different because they concern Meum and Tuum wherein Profit is the (e) Vtilitas Justi prope mater Aequi est Parent of Equitable and Just and these Ruling men when they have a mind to do a man a prejudice can easily transfer his Business to the Common Peoples Verdict where they shall be sure to have their Fleece torn off by the Brambles or Briars or suffer as cruel Death if they be judged Capital Offenders as those may be conceived to undergo that are rolled to death in a spiked Barrel So we find the Grecian Emperor Isacius Angelus and the two De Witts were torn in pieces when exposed to be worried by the Rabble Secondly as to Liberty 2. True Liberty is wanting in Democracy it is strange Men should so generally fall in love with a bare sound and court a name of freedom which duly examined signifies nothing They cannot mean by it a looseness from all Laws they dare not own such pernicious Licence the true debate is not Whether they shall admit the Bonds of Laws for they readily embrace them being forged and fitted by themselves but who shall impose them The question is not Whether (f) Non an servirent sed an servirent uni vel pluribus they should serve but Whether they should serve one or more and with them it is commonly called Liberty to serve many Masters Now if we rightly consider the restraint of our Freedom is that which is most valuable amongst the benefits of Government For this it is preserves Peace among men by it their hands are tied up from doing injury Every one it is true could wish to retain full and absolute liberty but not upon condition all others should enjoy the same For that love to it and delight in it is overbalanced by the fears and the sad consideration arising from the thoughts of others freedom to make us suffer as much as they may be tempted to inflict Besides where can true Liberty be where the unconstant Mobile have the dispensing of it who have no clear Idea of it are always catching at the shadow and the ungrasped Cloud for Juno Their Votes are easily corrupted when a (g) Platarc in Vita Marii Marius pours out Bushels of Corn in the Forum to buy them They are impelled as we see in crowds first one way then another ebbing and flowing in their actions like the unconstant Ocean and this they call their Liberty which rather is their servile Bondage being all this while in the shorter or longer Chain of their corrupt affections or weak judgments For how can we think the common body competent Judges to manage affairs who besides inconstancy and disorder do every thing in such a manner as it is very hard to separate Tumults and Multitudes and amongst Judges so qualified as they are it is not enough to give prudent Council but it must likewise be fortunate otherwise the judicious giver of it may probably find a great abridgment of his Liberty if not worse Thirdly Concerning Equality Concerning Equality while they urge it comes nearer to the Law of Nature by the same reason they must dissolve Government since it would take away all Magistrates Superiors and Inferiors Besides it is against Nature it self that there should be such Equality as to instance if in Rewards it had been intended Nature would have made all men equally deserving and Reason teacheth us that since we may excel others by Education and Industry greater Encouragements should be allotted in consideration of the charges of good breeding and of the extraordinary studies whereby Men enable themselves to serve the Publick Besides this Equality though pretended to conserve doth in truth destroy Unity for none are so quarrelsome none so subject to envy as equals Every one being Judge in his own case will yield nothing to common Justice To close this Chapter We may judge of the thriving of popular States by what we observe of Commons which are always poor and bare of good and wholesome Grass comparatively with Enclosures If these Wafts be taken into one Mans hand he causeth the fertile crop of Thistles to be Mowed stubbs up the Shrubs and Brambles ploughs up the Brakes trencheth and cultivates the Whole and encreaseth the profit four fold whereas when it lies in common every one serves his present turn of it overstocks it and nothing is bred upon it but poor Jades and Beasts of Burthen Yea the greater part of Men in a popular State being bred up to gain make Profit the rule of their Actions entertain but little sence of Honour and thereby the State is soon corrupted by their low affections so that though some may be rich yet the State can never be glorious In the standing Pools of popular Government from the putrilage and mud spawn swarms of Tadpols The rankness of such soyl brings store of Tares and Goss Docks and Nettles Here the Henbane Night-shade and Aconite grow too luxuriantly so that the medicinal and fragrant Plants rarely find room or cultivation CHAP. VII Of the several Forms of Government in Greece before and in Aristotle's time and of the Roman Commonwealth THE Philosopher observes (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 3. c. 15. that in remote Ages when there were fewer Persons of the sublimest eminence for Valour Wisdom Vertue and publick spiritedness to protect by their Courage and Conduct to institute Laws by their Wisdom to be a living Law by their just dealing and example to study the emolument and benefit of the common People by their good will to them (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Kingly Government was solely used But after that many grew up to be equal in vertue they endured Kings no longer
was so indebted But these factious Contentions did not long while contain themselves within heat of Words and cunning Practice for when the Art of Leading the Multitude into such quarrelsom Business grew to perfection they that found themselves overmatched by their Adversaries at this kind of Weapon began to make opposition first with Clubs and Stones afterward with Swords and finally proceeded from Frays and Murthers in the Streets to Battels in the Fields During the whole time of their Commonwealth there were Heart-burnings betwixt the Plebs or ordinary Rank of People and the Patres Conscripti Patricii or Senatorian Order Those never owning themselves to be the Delegates of the People but an Order of themselves that endeavoured to keep the Government in themselves taking State and Authority upon them using a sort of Arbitrary Government endeavouring to win a great Power over the People decreeing That the Consuls provide that the Commonweal receive no detriment On the other hand the People were restless by Representatives to get a share in the Government and the Senate as stoutly opposed such Encroachments and Innovations these kind of Emulations being the inseparable Diseases of all Commonwealths so that in one of the Mutinies the whole Commonalty forsook the City and (y) Liv. lib. 2. embodied upon Mount Aventine till they were gratified as I have before hinted in the Tribuni Plebis who were chosen by them to look after their Concerns in all Debates and who exercised a very imperious Power sometimes Yet this did not suffice but afterwards they more violently contended to have the Choice of one of the Consuls and the Fury of the People was so great that the Senators durst not come to the House and this Feud was so durable that it caused a five-years Anarchy and at last the Senate was forced to yield to the Peoples Importunities After the death of C. Gracchus and Saturnius a Popular Man who by the Senate was put out of the way it was not long e're Marius a famous Captain of theirs was so condemned who by force of Arms returned to the City and murthered all the principal Senators which giving unto Sylla who prospered therein opportunity to make himself absolute Lord of Rome taught Caesar a Man of higher Spirit to affect and obtain the like Sovereign Power who by the like decree of the Senate was provoked If all that I have hitherto mentioned be not sufficient to put a People out of love with this way of Government they may hug their Chains and Fetters as long as they please for me I know these People magnifie the wise contrivances of the State of Venice Concerning three Modern Common-wealths the United Provinces and Switzerland But they may consider That the first is an Optimacy mixed with a restrained and elective Monarchy and they all are more beholden to the Situation of their Countries and the interest their Neighbours have lest they should fall into the hands of others than for any excellency of their Constitution why they should have any likelyhood of duration The Prince of Orange's Stat-holder-ship being Hereditary in the Family contributes something to the suppressing of any potent Faction yet none knows but in process of time Factions may arise amongst them and then the World will see them molder as other such Commonwealths sometimes as flourishing as they and then they will either be made a prey to their Neighbours or submit to a Monarch of their own However it is experimentally known That in no other State the Subjects pay so much for their protection and that from their first Revolt they have been very few years without being engaged in chargeable Wars CHAP. IX Of Monarchical Government and the Preference of it before other Forms IN the commendation of Monarchy all Authors are so copious that it is more difficult to order and compose with Beauty the Jewels of the Crown than to amass and heap them That it hath been the most Antient and Primitive Government of the World we have the Universal suffrage and Testimony of all the preserved Records of remotest Ages Royal Authority and Kings being coaeval with what ever Monuments we find of the Origin of Nations The Writings of Moses much ancienter than any other Historian The Antiquity of Monarchy illustrated in Adam's Sovereignty and of more Authority evidently prove the Sovereignty of Adam and Noah Whence St. Chrysostom well observes That at the Creation God made one Man not many to intimate to us That he did design Monarchy not Aristocracy or Democracy For it cannot be doubted but that the Posterity of Adam during his life were his Subjects both by the Law of God and Nature The Charter of God Almighty giving to Adam Dominion over all the inferior Creation and to Noah over every living Creature Hence the (a) Ovid. Metam Poet speaking of the Origin of things owns his Dominion over the Creatures Sanctius his Animal mentisque capacius altae Deerat adhuc quod dominari in caetera posset Natus homo est Indeed it were absurd and irrational to believe that God who had made the Lion King of the four footed Beasts the Eagle Sovereign of the feathered Fowl and the Whale over the Fishes should leave the most glorious part of the Creation under the confusion of Anarchy or Parity Therefore (b) Natura commenta est Reges quod ex aliis animantibus Apibus praesertim licet dignoscere Seneca elegantly Monarchical Government most natural and according to his manner rightly observes that Nature it self points out Kings as we may know in several living Creatures especially in Bees and (c) Virgil. Georg. Virgil before him hath given us a curious description of the Obedience Bees pay to their King Praeterea Regem non sic Aegyptus ingens Lydia nec Populi Parthorum aut Medus Hydaspes Observant Rege incolumi mens omnibus una est Amisso rupere fidem Illum admirantur omnes Circumstant fremitu denso stipantque frequentes Et saepe attollunt humeris corpora bello Objectant So there may be observed a Dux ipse Gregis amongst all brute Creatures It is from Paternal Power That many Authors deduce the naturalness of Monarchy which was first exercised in Families Hords and Septs as I have (d) Cap. 2. elsewhere cleared therefore the Philosopher (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 6. c. 12. sets it down as a Fundamental Truth That that which begets commands by reason of his tender Love and older Age which is a kind of Kingly Government The sence of which is That the Paternal Government hath a resemblance to Monarchical Rule and that it was according to the order of Nature that the Elder should Rule as he confirms by the Oracle and Authority of (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer who making Jupiter Sovereign calls him Father of Men and Gods and the great Badge of Sovereignty to have Power of Life
and Death is owned by the (g) Pater vitae necisque potestatem habebat in filios Cicero Orator in his time to remain when he saith The Father had the Power of Life and Death over his Children So that what Brutus the first Consul did in beheading his two Sons in not taken by most to be done qua Consul but as Parent for that the Consuls never had any Regal Power without leave of the People If we consider the Scope of (h) Numb 11. Moses's Expostulation with God Almighty Why layest thou the burthen of all this People upon me Have I conceived all this People Have I begotten them must from hence infer That if He had been their common Parent he ought to have had the Charge and Government of them so natural seems the Connection betwixt Fatherly Authority and Filial Obedience and that this was an Original Truth the Philosopher cites (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odyss 11. Homer who saith That every Father to his Children and his Wives gives Laws This kind of Power seems to be confirmed in Scripture concerning Cain Abraham sacrificing Isaac Thamar and Jephtha But in after times when Fathers abused that Authority it was judged expedient to deprive them of it and place it in the hands of the more publick Father the King Having thus cleared the point The Antiquity of Monarchy from History and Testimony That Monarchy is according to the Institution of Nature I come now to speak of the Antiquity of it (k) Vide Stillingfleet 's Origines Sacrae Sanconiathan of greater Antiquity than any Greek Historian gives a large account of the Phoenician Monarchy the like Manetho gives of the Aegyptian and the true Berosus of the Babylonian So * Polit. lib. 5. c. 11. Aristotle speaks of the long Duration of the Molossiac Kingdom which began in Pyrrhus Son of Achilles and according to (l) De Antiquis Familiis Regum Reinerus lasted nine Hundred and Fifty years and the Lacedaemonian according to Plutarch Eusebius and others continued near upon as long The Philosopher (m) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 1. c. 1. advanceth the Origin of Kingly Government as high as the Heathen Religion or Philosophy could carry him when he saith That the very Heathen Deities were under this Form and Regimen So what Herodotus saith of the Egyptians may as truly be said of all other Nations That they could not live without Kings So Isocrates saith Before Democracy and Oligarchy the barbarous Nations and Cities of Greece obeyed Kings Therefore the Philosopher (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. saith At first Kings governed Cities and now Nations So Salust (o) In terris nomen Imperii primum fuit saith The name of Empire was first known in the World and Justin (p) Principio rerum Nationumque omnium imperium penes Reges erat Lib. 1. most expresly In the beginning of all things and Nations the Power and Government was solely and absolutely in Kings So (q) Certum est omnes Antiquas Gentes Regibus paruisse Lib. 3. de LL. Cicero saith That it is certain that all Ancient Nations did obey Kings If we consult Homer Plato Lucretius Diodorus Siculus lib. 2. Josephus lib. 4. c. 1. or any Historian Greek or Latin we shall find no Tract of Time nor Society of Men without Kingly Government The first Popular State we read of The first Common-wealths is that of Athens after the Reign of Erixias Anno Mundi 3275. and after that several other Cities of Greece as Sparta Corinth c. followed their examples expelling their Kings and in their Rooms erected little Commonwealths but great Tyrannies being in a continual broil either among themselves about their Magistrates or with their Neighbours for Preheminence till the time of Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Monarchy when the Country returned to their pristin Government and might so have continued if the Roman Arms and Ambition had not overthrown it As to Rome it self it was two Hundred and Fifty Years under Kings and Kingly Government was found under Lavinius when the Trojans came from that little Kingdom of Pergamus Therefore (r) Vrbem Romam a principio Reges habucre 1. Annal. Tacitus tells us That the City of Rome from the beginning had Kings to govern it Their Commonwealth began upon the Regifugium So that saith a Judicious (s) Dr. Nalsâ—n's Common Interest Author for three Thousand Years Monarchy possessed an Universal and Uninterrupted Empire over all the Affairs of the Universe so that the Sun the glorious Monarch of the day does not in all his Travels round the earthly Globe behold any spot of Ground inhabited by any thing but Brutes where Monarchy either is not at present or hath not been the Antient Original and fundamental way of Government From the consideration of this Naturalness of Monarchy Authors deducing Monarchy from a Divine Original and the Venerable Antiquity of it we may conclude the reason why the best and Ancientest Writers have adorned it with such Eulogiums deducing its Original from the Divine Being So Hesiod (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theog v. 91. saith Kings are from Jove and (v) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hymn in Jovem Callimachus adds that none are so Divine as they So in Homer (w) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ihad 6. v. 277. as well as in Hesiod they are stiled nourished of God and born of God not as deriving their Pedigrees but Kingly Honours from Jove as Eustachius notes and from Homer's making the Scepter of Agamemnon to be the Gift of Jove though a late (x) Absolute Power p. 63. Author contemptuously compares it to a Constables Staff He (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad 4. v. 738. saith The King hath both his Scepter and Jurisdiction from God Of which the curious Reader may see more Authorities in the learned Tract of Archbishop Vsher's Power of Princes (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato according to Synesius de Regno makes the Regal Office to be a Divine Good among Men and a King to be as it were a God among Men And (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Politico Diotogenes the Pythagorean saith that God hath given him Dominion Others have stiled them Gods which a late (b) Absolute Power p. 66. Author saith may be allowed for want of a better in Hobs's State of Ignorance and Atheism and would have him have the Epithete of Optimus as well as Maximus Thus some take a Liberty to ridicule all things most Sacred and Venerable But I shall have occasion to enquire into such Mens Principles afterwards and at present shall only say That no Mans Hyperbole or Expression is further to be understood than as it makes the Kingly Original from God and makes Kings his Viceroys upon Earth Therefore I shall not balk such Authorities (c) 2. de LL. Plato affirms Monarchy to be the
to Kingly Government and he every where commends it as most acceptable to the People and most safe for the Prince There is an excellent (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Creatione Princ. Soliloquy that Philo brings in his King to make and which may become the potentest Monarch to imitate That he writ the Laws himself into a Book that he might transcribe them into his Soul and imprint into his Mind those divine Characters never to be washed out again whereas other Kings therefore bear Staves for their Scepter the abridgment of the Law should be his Scepter his rejoycing and Glory uncontroulable the Ensign of that unreproveable Government which is fashioned according to the Pattern of Gods own Kingdom Although according to Harmenopulus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King is not to be subject to the Laws because offending against them he is not punished and as St. (b) Neque ullis ad poenam legibus voâ—antur tuti Imperii potestate Apol. pro Davide Ambrose speaking of David saith He being a King was tyed to no Laws because Kings are freed from the Bonds or Punishments of Faults being called to Punishment by no Laws being protected by the Power of their Empire yet (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz. Orat. 27. as a grave Father saith God's Word and right Reason must give a Law to the Law-giver Therefore that weighty and elegant Expression of (d) Temperans Majestatem Caesaris infra Deum magis illum commendo Deo cui soli subjicio Ideo magnus quia coelo minor est Apol. c. 35. Tertullian deserves consideration by all Princes which is this While we temper the Majesty of Caesar under God we commend him the more to God unto whom alone we do subject him therefore great because he is less than Heaven To the voluntary submission of a Prince to his own or the Laws of his Progenitors may be referred the memorable saying of Valentinian (e) Revera majus Imperio est submittere legibus Principâ—tum Lib. 4. c. de Leg. c. Licet Lex Imperii solennibus Juris Imperatorem solverit nihil tamen tam proprium Imperii est quam legibus vivere Lib. 3. c. de Testam the Younger It is in truth a greater thing than Empire to submit the Princedom it self to the Laws and that other equally imitable by Princes Though the Laws of the Empire have freed the Emperor from the Solemnities of the Laws yet nothing is so proper for Empire as to live by the Laws or according to them So inthat commendation which Plutarch gives (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 2. de Fortuna Alex. Alexander the Great That he conceived he ought to be thought superior unto all Men yet subject to Justice Such a Prince we find Pliny fully describe in his (g) Nec minus hominem se quam hominibus praeesse meminit Panegyrick of Trajan That he thinks himself to be one of us and so much the more excellent and eminent he is that he so thinketh and no less remembreth that he is a Man than that he is a Ruler of Men. For he who hath nothing left to (h) Cui nihil ad augendum fastigium superest hic uno modo crescere potest si se ipse submittat securus magnitudinis suae increase his heighth hath but this one way to grow by if he submit himself that is to the governing by Laws it may be presumed he means being secure of greatness and in another place he calls him equal to all in this only greater than the rest That he was better and more nearly to our present purpose Thou hast made (i) Ipse te legibus subjecisti Legibus Caesar quas 〈◊〉 Principi scrip 〈◊〉 thy self subject to the Laws O Caesar which were not written to restrain the Prince by So we find both Severus (k) Licet legibus soluti simus attamen legibus 〈…〉 Instit quibus modis Testam infirment 8. Vet. and Antonius often set down in their Rescripts Although we be loosed from the Laws yet we live by the Laws These Laws are the Laws of God of Nature or those of the Kingdom concerning the first and last I shall not now discourse concerning that of Nature the (l) Non scripta sed nata lex quam non didicimus accepimus legimus verum ex natura ipsa arripuimus hausimus expressimus ad quam non docti sed facti non instituti sed imbuti sumus Pro Milone Orator saith It is not writ but born with us which we have not learnt received or read but from Nature it self have powerfully attracted drunk in and extracted to which we are not taught but made obedient not instructed but imbued Concerning the original of which Law he saith (m) Vnus erit communis quasi Magister Imperator omnium Deus ille legis hujus inventor disceptator lator â—ui qui non pâ—rebit ipâ—e se fugiet aâ— naturam hominis spernabitur atque hoc ipsâ— luet maximas poenas etiamsi caetera supplicia quae putantur â—ffugerit Lib. 3. de Repub. That God our common Master and Ruler of all is the Inventer Judg and Law-giver which he who will not obey must fly from himself i. e. abandon the Dictates of his own Reason and Conscience and despise the Nature of Man and in himself i. e. in his Conscience undergo the greatest Pains although he should escape all those other which commonly are accounted Punishments It is concerning this Law he saith That from it neither the Senate noâ— the People can exempt us nor is it lawful to abrogate it in the whole nor derogate from it (n) Ibid. Neque derogari ex hac aliquid licet neque tota abrogari potest nec vero aut per Senatum aut per populum solvi hac lege possumus The fore-mentioned Archbishop (o) Vsâ—er's Power of Princes p. 70. from hence concludes That to this moral Law of God whether by Nature thus written in the Hearts of Men or more fully delivered by Gods own written word or by just consequence deduced from the grounds of either of them the greatest Monarch upon Earth owes as much obedience as the lowest and meanest of all his Subjects And however the Prince is obliged to the directive force of the Law and so ought to be governed by it as his Director and though it be most true that (p) Reges Jolo Dei timore metuque Gehennae coercentur Isiodorus 3. Sent. c. 31. Kings are restrained only by the fear of God and Hell yet we may conclude that these together with the consideration of their Interests will be sufficient Incitements to them to govern according to such Laws Yet still it is to be owned That when a King doth not act according to such Laws he is not thereby capable of any Punishment for the transgressing of them and the reason saith the learned
render I Aelfred King of the West-Saxons showed these to all my Wites i.e. Nobility or wise Men and they said they liked them to be holden In this we may observe That the King speaks in the single Person Observations on these Laws that he collected chose and rejected and as in the same place he adds since it would be rashness to appoint all his own Laws it being uncertain what credit those might find with Posterity which he liked Therefore whatever in the Laws of Ines his Maeges i.e. Kinsman or of Offa King of the Mercians or of Aethelbyrhtes who was the (u) The aerest fulwilâ—â— underfeng on Angel cynne Ibid. first King of the English that was baptised Those that he (w) Tha the me rihtost thuhton Ic tha her on gegaderod thought righteous he those here gathered and the other he rejected passed by or pretermitted forlaete It may be also noted That he calls the Noblemen whose Advice and Assent he used his Wites minum Witum The next material Illustration of the Constituent Parts of the Legislative Power is found in the (x) Idem p. 36. League betwixt Alfrid and Guthrun King of the Danes which though not properly a great Council yet at least much resembled it since it saith This is the League of Peace which Aelfred and Guthrun Kings and all the English Wites and also those which inhabited East England have declared or (y) Geâ—weden habbath mid Athum gefaestnod p. 36. established and with Oath fastned or confirmed For hi sylfe for heora gingran for themselves and for their Off-spring ge for geborene ge for ungeborene born and unborn that care saith he for Gods Mercy or ours The Godes miltse recce oth-the ure In this it is to be noted Observations on this League That Alfred having so beat the Danes that they gave him Hostages either to go out of the Kingdom (z) Jo. Piâ—us qui vixit temp H. 1. or turn Christian This Guthrun otherwise Gurmund with Thirty of his Nobles and almost all of his People were baptized and Alfred received him at the Font as his Son and called him Ethelstan Also the Subjects of Guthrun are called the East-English Nation and the Nobility are called the Wites of the English King Angel cynnes witan And Lastly that the Oath or firm Contract was Obligatory to the present Age and to Posterity if they expected the Mercy or Compassion of God or the King by which we may judge what value they had then for an Oath so that this might be in the nature of a great Council of the King and the Wites convened for the surer Stability of this Peace to take the Oath In the Laws of King Edward the Elder The Laws of Edward the Elder Regn. coepit 900. desiit 924. after the Charge given to the Judges the first Law begins Ic wille I will and so in others in the fourth it is thus expressed That Eadweard the King with his Wites (a) Myd his witan tha hi Eaxanceastre waron Id. p. 39. that were at Exeter strictly enquiring by what means it might be better provided for Peace and Tranquillity which he perceived was less studiously preserved than it ought to be or it should which he had before commanded That no Man (b) That he aer beboden haefde That nan mon othrum rihtes ne wyrne as Lambard translates it ne quent injuria affiâ—iant deny stop or hinder others Rights In the Second and Third Chapter it is eac we cwaedon also we declare pronounce or sentence and in the Seventh Eac ic wille and I will In which Laws we have none mentioned with the King but his Wites and his commanding willing or pronouncing in the Imperative Mood is observeable The next Laws I find are those of King Athelstan The Laws of King Athelstan Regn. coepit 922. desiit 940. Ibid. p. 45. which begin thus Ic Aethelstane cyning mid getheahte Wulshelmes mines Hihbisceopes othra mina bisceopa bebeode eallum minum Gereafum thurh ealle mine rice I Athelstan King with the advice of Wulfelm my High-Bishop and other my Bishops command or bid all my Rieves i. e. Praefects of what degrees soever to pay Tithes c. And this he commands (c) Et that â—â—e gâ—do eaâ— tha Bisâ—eop is â—ecra gewhylera eac mine Ealdormanna Gereafa Ibid. p. 45. his Bishops his Aldermen and Praepositi who were the Judges in the County-Courts to do the same Although in this Preface there be no mention that he used any advice but of the Bishops yet the Conclusion of Twenty six Chapters of Laws is in these words Ealle this waer gesetted on tham miclan Synoth aet Greatanleage on tham waer se Aercebisceop Wulfhelme mid eallum thaem Aethelum mannum Wiotan de Ethelstan Cyning gegadrian Which I render thus into English All these were setled or done in the great Synod or Council at Greatanlea in which was the Archbishop Wulfhelm with all the Noblemen Somner Verb. Ethelum mannum must properly signify those of the highest Quality such as were Princes of the Blood and Dukes because it is distinct from VViotan or the Wites by which usually Earls and those of lower Nobility and great Officers were understood which Athelstan the King gathered In these Laws We cwaedon is used which I suppose is something more than Somner understands by his Cuide a Saying Speech or Sentence and properly is we will But the absoluteness of the King appears most in the Twenty sixth Chapter wherein it is expressed (d) Gif minra Gerefena gehwylce this don nylle c. Gylde min oferhyrnysse Ic finde otherne we wille se Bisceope amanige tha offer oferhyrnyss aet tham Gerefan the on his folgothe sy P. 53. That if any of his Graeves do not perform these Commands or be more remiss in the Execution of those he hath enjoined he shall be punished for his excess of Contumacy and the Bishop shall punish the Contumacy of the Graeve or Praepositus and his Sequel the Punishment for the first fault shall be five Pounds and the other fault his were that is the value of his Head and the third the loss of all his Goods and the King's Friendship ura ealra Freondscipes King Edmund was the next of our Kings King Edward's Laws p. 57. Regn. coepit 940. desiit 948. whose Laws are transmitted to us and they begin thus Eadmund cyning gesommnade mycelne synoth to Lundenbyrig on tha Halgan Easterlicon tid Edmund the King assembled a great Synod or Council to London on the Holy Eastertide and the persons summoned are stiled aegther ge Godcundra hada ge worulcundra both Gods-kind and World-kind i. e. Clergy and Laicks After Six Chapters of Laws the King signifies to all old and young That he had (e) That Ic â—meade mid minra Witena getheaht gegodra hada gelaewedra Id. p. 58. considered with his Wites Consultation being
and after by himself and his mock-Representatives by Councils of State and Safety and such new Names and Powers as our Laws never heard of and all this under pretence that they Acted by the Peoples Authority and suffrage and all the sad Devastations of that Age resulted from the confiding so much in the pretended Representatives of the People Which (a) England's Universal Distraction p. 4. one some Years before the sad Catastrophe plainly foretold tho' like belief was given to him as of old to Cassandra His Words are That the so much exalting the Power of the Representatives was first to destroy the King by the Parliament and next the Parliament and Kingdom by the People Thus ignorant Politicians that build upon such Quick-sands soon live to see their Insanae Structurae ruinously fall about their Ears Thirdly Whereas the Advocates for the Representatives would gladly have possessed the People that they could rely upon none so securely and safely as upon those they had themselves chosen they being less subject to private ends and affections than any particular man such a Body being not likely to counsel or consent to any thing but what is publickly advantageous It is to be considered that it is a false Postulatum Such a Body being but an Aggregate of particulars may have as many private ends as any other number of Subjects it being well known that Communities themselves are subject to dangerous Inclinations from private Incitements and I the Representatives subject to misleading Factions and Ambitions of private Men and by coalition of Parties when they fall into designs they are most dangerous and fatally violent and tho' it may at first View seem to be repugnant that an Universality should have private ends yet seeing it is not the number of Agents but the capacity in which they act and the quality of the Actors and the coherence or incoherence of what they pursue with the publick end and weal which makes the Actions of men public or private It must needs follow That if without Authority or out of the way of Public Ordinances men pursue any thing though the whole Community concur in the pursuit yet it is all of the nature of a private Action and done to a corrupt and private end Because the Author of some Observations upon some of K. Charles the 1st Messages was reputed the great Champion of the two Houses I shall content my self with culling out some of the daringest assertions Why Reason and Law were not hearkned to by the Advocates of the Long Parliament he and some other of their Triarii used and apply such of those Answers and Reasonings as the Learned and Loyal offered then against them though they could not be heard while the Torrent bore all down the stream The hideous noise of Tumults and after of Drums Trumpets Cannons and Fire-Arms hushed and silenced all the still voice of Law and Reason But now it is to be hoped when Mens Eyes are unsealed the Mask and Vizard dropped or pulled off the fatal Consequences of such pernicious Principles throughly manifested and the loud Thunder of the Two Houses Ordinance allayed mens Spirits will be better fitted to hear them refuted Besides what I have endeavoured to answer before concerning the Authority of the Representative which they would make an Assembly in which the People in underived Majesty are by these Proxies convened to affirm an Imaginary Power supposed to be theirs originally and in such a convention to be put in execution I say besides this which in several places I have refuted That filled all their Declarations Messages and Treatises when they were contriving the setting up the Commons House Topmost to prove That they were a Body that was not easily corrupted byassed tempted or prevailed upon to Act any thing but what was the best for the Peoples advantage Therefore I think fit in many particulars to shew how such Bodies may be warped to sinister ends and especially how that House not only deceived but tyrannized over the whole Nation Private (b) Answer to Observer p. 130 131. How Passions Affections Interests and Factions may sway Representatives Quarrels and the memory of former Sufferings may work upon some discontent and envy at other mens preferment may transport others the fear of the lash and desire to secure themselves have forced some to personate a part great Offices and Honours have been a Pearl in some Mens Eyes to hinder their Fight others have been like Organ Pipes to whom the wind of popular Applause hath only given a sound others who have premeditated their Parts before their design was discovered have upon some pretences or other suppose of an unlawful Election being Monopolists Abhorrers or such like got those excluded by Vote whom they conceived to be likely to oppose their designs The bewitching Power of Oratory prevails upon many In others there is a Speechless Humour of following the Drove The Ambition and Covetousness of Representatives Can we not easily conceive several of this Body may be ambitious which would prompt them to alter the old way of bestowing Offices and collating of Honours so by disservice as well as service in Parliaments some Men have obtained Honours Offices and Estates finding it a good way to get preferment by putting the King upon necessity of granting Good Woodmen say That some have used Deer-stealing as an Introduction to a Keepers place So we have seen a Non-conformist's mouth stopped I might instance in other Professions with a good Benefice whereas before he was satisfied he could gape as wide as his Neighbours Others by more only ways slip into Preferment for Covetousness and Ambition will sail with any Wind. The Covetousness of the Members of the long Parliament by woful experience was found insatiable witness their Voting for one anothers Offices Governments satisfaction for their losses out of Delinquents Estates sharing the Kings Lands and Revenue the Bishops Deans and Chapters Lands and the Estates of the Royal Party hence together with the itch of Arbitrary rule they drew the determination of Causes out of the ordinary Courts of Justice before their Houses and Committees of them and in every County had their Sub-committees to Tyrannize over the People and fleece them Their cruelty appeared in their erecting High Courts of Justice Major Generals and other Arbitrary Courts The Cruelty of the Long Parliament where many a Loyal and brave man for serving his King against such Rebels either lost his Life or his Liberty and Estate and when they were the gentlest yet they could show hatred enough by Imprisoning upon I know not what suspicion and at leasure prosecuting such as they had a pique against The partiality of Members in such Conventions are very frequent The Partiality in shielding their friends from being questioned though their Corruptions were notorious to all the World So in the fatal Parliament of 1641. A Monopolist if a Loyal man was sure to be
infallible and every Member an Angel But the Observer Objection That if the King have a Negative Voice there will be no need of Parliaments and his Pewfellows urge That if the Houses can do no Act for publick good without the King's consent and if the King may reject their Counsels and Advice it were needless to put the Country to the charge of choosing Members of Parliament And if the King may prefer other opinions before Parliamentary Motives then Parliaments are vain and useless helps Princes are unlimited and the People miserable These Objections are of such an odious nature Answer That no good Subject can take delight in them whose duty is to pray for the like consent among the several Orders of the Kingdom as is supposed to be among the several Orbs of Heaven The King undoubtedly the Primum movens the Great and Privy Council the lower Spheres The usual but not the only form of the Kings Answers to such Bills as they were not willing to pass Le Roy s'avisera proves (e) Answer to Observations p. 56. That after the advice of this his Great Council he is yet at liberty to advise further with persons or occasions as his own Wisdom shall think meet But these Authors will by no means take notice That the use of Council is to perswade not to compel as if a Man in business of great concernment might not very prudently consult with many Friends and yet at last follow the advice perhaps of one if it appear more proportionable to the end he aims at If it were because they are a more numerous body therefore their Counsel is upon that account to be yielded to then the liberty of dissenting may be denied to the House of Peers in comparison of the House of Commons and to that House too in comparison of the People and so both King Lords and Commons are voted out of Parliament Besides Natural Wisdom and Fidelity there is a thing called Experience of high concernment in the managery of Publick Affairs He that will steer one Kingdom aright must know the right Constitution of all others their Strength their Affections their Counsels and Resolutions that upon each different Face of the Skie he may alter his Rudder The best Governments have more Councils than one One for the Publick Interest of the Kingdom another for the Affairs of State a Council for War and a Council for Peace Let them be as wise and faithful Counsellors as the Observer pleaseth only let them be but Counsellors Necesse est us Lancea in libra ponderibus impositis deprimi sic animum perspicuis cedere Let their conlusions have as much credit as the premisses deserve and if they can necessitate the Prince by weight of Reason and convincing Evidence of experience let them do it on Gods name But it is not to be done upon the Authority of a bare Vote as I think all uninterested persons are satisfied in the Votes of the Houses in 1641. about the Militia Church-Government and the voted Nineteen Propositions or the late Votes about the Bill of Seclusion the Repealing of the branch of the Statute of Queen Elizabeth against Protestant Dissenters and the Loans upon the Kings Revenue There are other ends besides Counsel for which Parliaments are called as consenting to new Laws furnishing the Public with Moneys and maintaining the Interest of the Government and liberty of the Subject from the removing one social end to inferr that an Action is superfluous deserves no answer but silence and contempt This should teach the Electors Wisdom not to chuse such as have Factious Bents or are not truly qualified in their Allegiance to their Prince or Malecontents who render such Conventions useless to the Publick Ends of Government and the Peace Tranquillity and Prosperity of both Prince and People Because the Long Parliament Writers would have no Stone unturned nor any specious Argument uninforced Concerning the Coronation-Oaths of the King of England that might bring the King to their Lure to consent to what they proposed they endeavoured to make the World believe that the King was bound by his Coronation Oath to pass all such Bills as they presented or tendered to him grounding as Mr. Prynne and others alledged on a promise of the Kings at his Coronation to grant and keep the Laws and Customs which the Commonalty shall chuse Before I come to give the particular Answer I think it not unfit to take this opportunity to give a full account of the Coronation Oaths of our Kings and how the same from Age to Age were varied by which the Ingenious Reader will find what the respective Kings by their Oaths did promise That I may deduce as high as I have yet found the Original of Soveraign Princes taking Oaths at their Coronations it may be noted that the first Emperor that was Crowned and had any Coronation Oath prescribed was (f) Evagrius Hisâ— Eccles lib. 3. c. 32. Who first took a Coronation-Oath Anastasius the Greek Emperor who being elected by the Senate and Soldiers about Ann. 486. Euphemius Patriarch of Constantinople suspecting him to be addicted to the Heresy of Eutychius and the Manichees would not consent to his Coronation till he should deliver him a Writing under his Hand ratified with his Oath wherein he should plainly declare That if he were Crowned Emperour he would maintain the true Faith and Synod of Chalcedon during his Reign and bring in no Novelty to the Church of God This Writing ratified with his Oath Macedonius the Treasurer was to keep and after he was made Patriarch the Emperor demanded it and said It was a great discredit unto his Subjects that his Hand-writing should be kept to testifie against him or that he should be tied to Pen and Paper There is no mention of any Coronation Oath used from thence to the Year 804. that (g) Eutrop. lib. 24. p. 145 146. Zonar Annal. tom 3. fol. 142 143. Imperatorio Diademate est ornatus postulato prius scripto quo promitteret se nulla Ecclesiae statuta violaturum Stauratius Son to Nicephorus slain in his Wars against the Bulgarians being declared Emperor by some Michael Curopolata was adorned by the Patriarch with the Diadem a Writing before being desired in which he promised to violate none of the Statutes of the Church c. Which is the first Precedent of a Promise not an Oath demanded from or given by any Roman King for confirming the Laws of the Church c. The first Emperor Crowned at Rome by any Pope (h) Onuphr was Charles the Great Anno 800. but without an Oath and Henry the Fifth (i) Dicens Imperatorem nemini jurari debere cum juramentorum sacramenta ab omnibus sint sibi adhibenda Hermold Chron. Scl. l. 1. c. 40. Sim. Dunelm 232 237. refused to take any Corporal Oath saying That an Emperor ought to Swear to none for that Oath i. e. of Fealty
Gentry be bred up in Learning Young Nobility and Gentry to be so educated as they may be fitted for Magistracy Military Discipline and all other ways that might accomplish them for the service of their Prince and Country for where a Prince can be served by the Nobility and ancient Gentry it much facilitates the execution of their trusts but in some cases it may be requisite to imploy those of great Wisdom Judgment and Diligence the Endowments of noble Minds though not of so noble Extract So (q) 6. Annal. Mecaenas advised Augustus that he should chuse the praefectus praetorio out of the Horsemen lest if he were one of the Nobility he might attempt something against the Prince and so it is noted in (r) Quod pâ—r negotiis â—eque â—upra erat Tacitus That the Province was given to Sabinus not for any excellency but that he was fit and not above the imployment But this caution is unnecessary where Kingdoms are hereditary and depend not upon the approbation of Soldiery or Senate Princes not to give too great Powers to any Above all things Princes should take care that they commit not any of their Royal Prerogatives to the Magistrates or their Curators 'T is not safe for a Prince to intrust any of these in a Subjects hands for it is by many Histories apparent that when by reason of a Prince's Captivity Minority his prosecuting some War out of his Country whereby a Kingdom cannot be governed without a Viceroy or Protector with the whole Authority of a Prince the sweetness of this Power hath tempted them to usurp or do ill Offices to their Prince or People (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. lib. 5. c. 11. Hence the Philosopher adviseth not to make such great who in Wit and Manners are bold and daring Therefore it is not safe for Princes to keep Viceroys long in their imployments especially if there be any danger of their Ambitious aimes to get the Soveraignty into their own hands or that they will not be observant of the due Execution of the Laws or for private ends will suppress the Nobility Great Ministers not to be long continued in the same Station or oppress the People by their Interest pervert the course of Justice or introduce new Laws by surprizing the Soveraign in gaining his consent In all such cases the rule of the (t) Qui parvo tempore Magistratui praesunt non tam facile nocere possunt quam qui longo Philosopâ—er is most true They that for a short time obtain the Magistracy cannot so soon hurt as they which enjoy it long as he instanceth in Demagogues in Popular Government and the Dynastae in Oligarchies which by that means became Tyrants Julius Caesar (u) Clapmarius de Arcanis Imperil lib. 2. c. 18. and Augustus made all their Magistrates annually whereby they gratified all the eminent men of the Commonwealth by rotation but (w) Alii taedio novae curae semel placita pro aeternis servavisse quidam invidia ne plures fruerentur sunt qui existiment ut callidum ejus ingenium ita anxium judicium Tiberius did otherwise giving this reason for it That Horse-leeches having sucked much blood are at quiet and so the biting of fresh men are most sharp Some think saith Tacitus he did it only to seclude others from injoying of them and to prevent his yearly trouble in chusing which as it would oblige the Elected so would disoblige the Candidates but most ascribe it to the subtilty of his Nature quod nec (x) Tacitus 1. Annal. cap. ult eminentes virtutes sectabatur rursum vitia oderit ab optimis periculum sibi à pessimis dedecus publicum metuebat He did not make great search or take much care to find men of the most eminent Vertues and yet he hated the Vitious fearing from the best danger to himself and from the worst disgrace to the Commonweal In our constitution of Government The Sovereign's Power to change Magistrates a most excellent temper is observed where by the Princes Power is reserved to change the prime Ministers of State and Judicature at his pleasure which obligeth them to great care to act justly in their Places and prevents Sedition where any other had the Power of Electing for it is the Power of chusing in any other than the Soveraign that is the only cause of Faction not what the (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Polit. c. 5. Philosopher notes against Socrates That the same continually being Magistrates is the cause of Sedition by reason of the Envy of the rejected Candidates and also among Spirited and Martial People that expect those imployment The Kings of England have undoubtedly the sole Power of creating and appointing Magistrates See more of this in the next Chapter and Officers of greatest Authority So (z) Smith de Repub. Angliae lib. 2. the grave Author of the Commonwealth of England affirms That in the appointing all the great Officers and Ministers of the Realm whether Spiritual or Temporal the highest are immediately in the Kings Power to nominate and the inferiour by Authority derived from him So the Kings of England appoint the High Commissioner and all other the great Ministers and Officers in Scotland the Lord Lieutenant Lord Justices and other great Ministers and Officers in Ireland and by Letters Patents appoint a Prorex locum tenens or Guardian of the Realm in their absence before whom even Parliaments have been held but it were endless to descend to the particular imployments of Magistrates under the Soveraign Therefore I shall only note what the (a) MS. Speech 1 Eliz. penes Rad. Thoresly de Leedes Gen. Chancellor in the Queens name said to Sir Thomas Gargrave chosen Speaker of the Commons House That to the head of every body Politick bâ—â—ngeth immediately or mediately the assignment and admitting of every Member of the Body to his Ministry and Duty the contrary whereof were monstrous in Nature and Reason It is both a great glory and happiness to a Prince when he is served by Magistrates of great probity for the skill and watchfulness The necessary Care of a Prince in chusing Magistrates as well as indulgent care of a Prince is thereby discovered and revered in such a choice and the evil Complexion of the People is chargeable mostly on the Magistrates Therefore what the Chancellor (b) MS. Speech Trim. Term. 1557. in a Speech in the Star-Chamber by the Queens direction told the Justices is applicable to all sorts of Magistrates That the not or remiss doing of Justice must by the Prince be charged upon their shoulders as the immediate Executors of the Law The qualifications of Magistrates may be the Subject of a Common place I shall only hint some more necessary referring the rest to the succeeding Chapter First they ought to be Persons undisturbed with Passions for as they are appointed to
Preservatives and Antidotes against the Poison and Infection of Faction and Sedition are a Prince's innate Virtue his Prudence Justice Providence Political Capacity Wealth Militia Fortunateness Fame and the harmony betwixt him and his Great Councils of which in order As to a Prince's Genuine Virtues A Prince's Vertue they are many and where they meet in a Constellation they out-shine the Jewels of the Crown The Majesty and Awfulness of these commands sometimes where Armies cannot they win upon all Nothing (a) Nihil virtute amabilior quam qui adeptus est ubicunque erit gentium a nobis diligetur Cicero l. 1. de Natura Deorum is more amiable nothing more universally loved and honoured than Virtue even the same of it when the Person is unknown gains an applause how much more must it be revered in a Crowned head Laws do not preserve all things saith (b) Stobaeus Serm. 1. Antisthenes but the Rule of Virtue teacheth every where what is honest and unbecoming So Epictetus compares a Soul throughly imbued with Virtue to a Spring of Water which is always pure sweet plentiful and endued with no evil quality Therefore (c) Plutarc in Lacon Charilaeus being asked Which was the best Common-weal answered That wherein many Citizens strive who shall excel in Virtue without Sedition As in the Opal the colour of several precious Stones are found the smaller Fire of the Carbuncle the shining Purple of the Amethyst the green Sea of the Smaragd so in a truly Virtuous Prince all the Sunbeams of Light Warmth Beauty and Celestial Influence for his Peoples cherishing comfort Glory and Prosperity are contained So the (d) Intaminatis fulget honoribus Nec sumit nec ponit secures Arbitrio popularis aurae Horat. Carm. Lib. 5. Od. 2. Poet tells us That it shines with unsullied Honours neither assuming or laying down the Ensigns of Soveraignty at the suffrage of the Populace having a firmer Basis than the Fleeting Bubbles of their Breath Pliny (e) Discimus experimento sidissimam esse custodiam Prineipis ipsius innocentiam Panaegyr tells Trajan That we learn by experience That a Prince's own Innocence is his faithfullest Guard By this word I understand not only his gentleness in not oppressing his Subjects but the whole complex of Virtue whereby he is guilty of no enormous Vices but hath the Soveraignty over his own passions as well as over his Subjects As to a Prince's Prudence A Prince's Prudence I have elsewhere spoken at large and shall now add upon so copious a Subject some gleanings out of good Authors In these things saith (f) Praeterita cogita praesentia ordina futura provide Senec. de Beneficâ—s Seneca Prudence is best discovered when by-past times are collated by observing the Annals and Histories of former Ages by ordering present Affairs according to the best Reason and providently forecasting future effects of present Counsels Tanquam oculus mentis undiquaque lucidissimus So a Prince will know how former Seditions have sprung and what hath been the cure of them how parallel the present are to by-past and how for the future to provide That the Roots and Fangs of them be digged up for foregon (g) Facta praeterita certa documenta dant futuris deeds give certain instructions for the future former miscarriages teach such a Prince sufficient caution Other Virtuous Qualifications may be common to the Soveraign and Subject but Prudence is his peculiar Province therefore (h) Stobaeus de Prudentia Jamblichus calleth this The very Prince of Virtues So when (i) Plut. in Lacon Archidamus was commended that he had overcome the Arcadians in Battel he answered That it had been much better if he had overcome them by Prudence So Antisthenes (k) Tutissimum murum esse prudentiam nec collabitur nec proditur Machinis aut suffossionibus aut vallorum proditione capiuntur prudentis autem decreta sunt inexpugnabilia Laert. lib. 6. c. 1. saith Prudence is the safest Wall it neither falls down or is betray'd all Walls Bulwarks or other defences by Batteries Mines or Treacheries may be taken but the determination of a Prudent Prince is inexpugnable The Counsels and Actions of a Prince endowed with this Virtue are never like to have the misfortune of those (l) Vtque evenit in consiliis infoelicibus optima viderentur quorum tempus essugerit Tacitus 1. Hist A Prince's Justice which are never known to be best till they have passed the season of being put in execution Justice in a Prince's Government and Faith in the Sacred observance of their Royal Words are not to be reckoned among the lesser Stars but are the two great Luminaries without (m) Remota Justitia quid sunt Regna nisi magna latrocinia Aug. 4. de Civ Dei which there would be nothing but Gloominess Tempests and Showres yet though Justice be that Sun Faith is not to be reputed that Moon that is changeable as to us by the interposition of the Earth but as it is in it self always enlightened by the Sun Faith is the companion of Justice and that (n) Justitiae consors tacitumque in pectore Numen Silius Ital. secret Divinity lodging in a Prince's Breast which must needs be reverenced of all Acts of State and Power may alter according to emergencies but a Prince that makes the Just Laws and his Promises the Standard of his Actions is surely possessed with that Divine (o) Sanctissimum humani generis bonum Senec. Epist Wisdom which every where is reputed Sacred for his Subjects have thereby as sure a foundation to rely upon as his Laws for they may be mis-interpreted by corrupt Judges but nothing can vitiate corrupt or extinguish that vestal Fire which burns in the Breast of a Prince who is the Defender of his Laws and his Faith Therefore Cato Censor tells us That the Romans placed Faith next to Jupiter in the Capitol for that they both are the defenders of Mankind nothing so efficaciously preserving Government in its force stability and titeness as Justice and Faith As to a Prince's Providence it is a sure Rampire A Prince's Providence for who will rebel against him whom they judge to do all things circumspectly and with cunctation The opinion conceived of such a Prince (p) In animos hominum illabitur admirationis praetextu velata Valer. lib. 2. c. 1. slides into the Souls of Men shaded with admiration and the Subjects soon fall from suspecting to admiring his Conduct for such a Prince is in his own nature wary and better pleased with cautelous (q) Cunctator natura cui cauta consilia cum ratione quam foelicia ex casu placent Counsel with reason than happy ones by chance as the great Historian observes A Provident Prince passeth vigorously from the beginning of his Affairs to the end and disposeth all things with easy order having by his forecast removed all difficulties by
The Advantage of Hereditary Succession in Private Families Aristotle's Opinion Philosopher dividing Kingly Government into four kinds as I have before instanced allows all to be Haereditary except the Aesymnaetian which was Elective and since in many places he affirms Kingdoms to be more durable than Commonwealths we may conclude that the fundamental cause of that duration is the Lineal Succession We experience in private Families where a long Series of Ancestors have transmitted Inheritances to Posterity how by the settledness and encrease of their Estates their alliances and the Employments they have had in their respective Ages they have acquired Honour Renown Interest and Stability that not only a greater Respect is payed to them than to others of a later Rise but they are thereby enabled upon many accounts to manage publick or private affairs with more sure success and repute than those than have not acquired such a nodosam Aeternitatem (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Repub. l. 3. c. 11. Aristotle makes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or natural Love of Parents to their Children to be one reason of the Succession of Sons to Fathers in their Kingdoms thence he makes it improbable that they who have obtained the Soveraignty should not deliver it to their Children because it would discover a Vertue beyond the ordinary Elevation of humane Nature to prefer the Benefit and good of the People by leaving them the Liberty of chusing upon every avoidance the most worthy if such a Prince's Son appeared not so rather than to establish the Principality in their own Family (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pâ—ly 〈◊〉 lib. 6. p. 455. D. Edit Wickl 1509. Several Reasons why Succession is to be preferr'd before Election Polybius speaking of Kings being most eminent for Wisdom Polybius his Opinion Justice and Valour whereby they drew the People to reverence them and consequently to submit themselves to their Conduct and Command saith That the Son having his education under such a vertuous wise Father whereby he had been present with him when affairs of the greatest Importance had been debated in common presumption was judged to be better capacitated to govern than any of a strange Family and so none would envy him his dignity but all readilier judged him the fittest to succeed And there is good reason to consider the cause of it for Government is an Art not easily attained to and by the unskilfullness in the proper Rules and Maxims the wrong Applications the Ignorance in pursuing the right Methods and chusing fit Instruments the Factious and Populace get advantages to make unfortunate times Therefore those Monarchs who from their Infancies are trained up and accustomed to Instructions in the Rudiments of Government as they grow up must more readily comprehend them must attain the better understanding of the great affairs and secret reasons of Stâ—â—â— be more quick apprehensive and sagacious in perceiving what is conducive to the common good and what not and so more ready in all publick Dispatches than such who have not been educated with all these Advantages Besides Governours at first must be to seek in understanding the nature of great Affairs so that one may as well expect (c) Dr. Nalson's Common Interest p. 113. a Man taken from the Plough should be able to Conn a Ship and carry her an East-India Voyage as that a Person though of the greatest natural and acquired Parts should at first be fit to Pilot the Government or skilful and dexterous in the steerage of the important affairs of a publick State and as in Republicks it falls out by that time he hath arrived at a competent Skill he must resign his Place and Power to others as raw and unexperienced as he was Whereas Succession in Monarchy doth effectually prevent this Inconvenience and which is of great moment it gives them an Interest and desire of designing well for the publick good safety and security of the People and the opportunity of finishing whatever is well begun For though it have happened by the Succession of a weak or vitious Prince that damage and infelicity have befallen the People yet it is very rare in History that two such succeed one another So we find in this Kingdom that Ed. 1. and Ed. 3. brought as great Honour and Renown to their Countries as their Fathers had Misfortunes and even in such Princes Reigns the Calamities that have befallen their Kingdoms have rather sprung from the Potency of Factions that took the advantage by the weakness of the Prince to bring him to Contempt that they might obtain the managery of affairs than from other Causes For even under such unfortunate Princes if it were not for factious Disturbances the Laws and good Order might during their Reigns conserve their Kingdoms in Peace Whereas in Kingdoms that are Elective The Inconveniences that happen where Right Succession is not observed Competitors and Candidates cause not only great Disturbances and Mischiefs at the Instant as we have infinite Examples when the Roman Emperors were chosen by the Factions of the Senate or Army as also in Germany before the expedient of chusing a King of the Romans and in the Miseries that have befallen Poland but Aemulations and Animosities have been continued for Ages among the prime Nobility and thence it is that the (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 5. Polit. c. 10. Giphanii Comment Philosopher so long since hath ascribed it one of the Principal Causes of the Destruction of a Kingdom when there is Discord in the Royal Family or as his Interpreter saith among the participes Regni as Brethren and Kindred of the Royal Family as (e) In vita Cleomenis Aegidis Plutarch tells us in the Kingdom of Sparta and as Justin gives us an account of the slaughter of Brethren and Kinsmen in the Kingdom of Syria and as it occasioned the Destruction of the flourishing Kingdom of Egypt by the Competition betwixt Ptolomy and Cleopatra and as our Ancestors sadly experienced in the Civil Wars betwixt the Houses of York and Lancaâ—â—â— and France in the Faction of Orleance and Burgundy and of later Date in the Kingdom of Hungary betwixt King John and the Emperor Ferdinand If therefore such Calamities befal Countries where Factions ruine their Peace how much more shall we judge the miserable Confusions will be when any shall challenge a Power to make a Breach in the Royal Chain of Succession especially when we find even at Rome upon the Election of the Pope by custom the People plunder the Pallace of the Cardinal who is elected Pope and since that outrage is committed where such an one is chosen as is owned by so great a part of Europe to be Christ's Vicar we are not to wonder that at the Death of the Ottoman Heir the Janizaries and Soldiery rifle and plunder Jews and Christians and cease not to commit all manner of Outrages till the new Grand Signior by his
Issue according to the present interests of his Affairs and Passions that such contradictory Acts could not be all true and though the Responses from Delphos or any Oracles of the Gentile ages might miss the truth as much yet by their dubious answers they forfeited not their reputations so much We may also note (l) Jus Regium p. 178 179. that by God Almighty's Providence and the care of his own Laws the Duke of Richmond was removed by death to prevent the unjust Competitors and Prince Edward was born and by the same Providence and the sence the Subjects had of the great Fundamental of Hereditary Succession contrary to some of these Acts and what Edward the Sixth did in setling the Crown upon the Lady Jane Grey proved of no force for Queen Mary succeeded though she was a Papist and Queen Elizabeth succeeded her though she was declared Bastard The rights of Blood prevailing over the Formalities of Divorce and the Dispensations of the Popes and the Laws made to gratify Henry the Eighth's pleasure as the strength of nature doth often prevail over Poisons and to evince the greater certainty of their being void so little notice was taken of those and the subsequent Acts Anno 1535. that the Heirs of the Blood succeeded without repealing that Act as an Act in it self invalid from the beginning For such Acts are past by without being repealed as we find in the Act of Recognition of Queen Elizabeth no notice was taken of the Act of Parliament against her and Blackwood (m) P. 45. observes very well that so conscious were the makers of these Acts Jus Regium p. 179. of the illegality of them and of their being contrary to the immutable Laws of God Nature and Nations that none durst produce that Kings Testament wherein he did nominate a Successor conformable to the power granted by those Acts but that as soon as they were freed by his Death from the violent oppressions that had forced them to alter a Successor three several times and at last to swear implicitly to whomsoever he should nominate they proclaimed first Queen Mary and after her decease Queen Elizabeth Therefore all these Acts both of Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth are to be looked upon as Politick interims to serve for some present ends And as we observe the trepidations vibrations and as we may say uneasiness of things in all that have been displaced till reseated again whereby we have a certain Indicium of any thing Natural so may we note the naturalness of Hereditary Succession by the Tragical Convulsions and unsetledness of things in any State where great force and policy have usurped the Crown till it hath returned to the right owner So we see after the force was removed by the expiration of Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth things returned again into their pristin State according to the Laws of the Crown I shall now pass to consider other Reasons and First it may be observed Fundamentals in Government not to be altered That the Venerable Age of such Fundamental Laws should have another kind of respect pay'd to them than to be made obsolete because they will not sort with some new-fashioned Intrigue For it is a most true Maxime Non magis aliunde floret respublica quam si legum vigeat Authoritas So in the first Parliament (n) Cap. 2. of King James the First it is fully expressed That to alter and innovate the Fundamental ad Ancient Laws See Commission for Union 16â—4 Priviledges and good Customs of the Kingdom whereby not only the Kings Regal Authority but the Peoples securities of Lands Livings and Priviledges both in general and particular are preserved and maintained and by the abolishing or alteration of the which it is impossible but that present confusion will fall upon the whole State and frame of Government is of most dangerous consequence whence we may well infer That to endeavour to alter the right of Succession of the Crown in the direct line is one of the most dangerous Innovations of all others as drawing innumerable mischiefs after it Now there can be no greater fundamental right than the Succession of our Monarch The Hereditary Succession is a Fundamental That our Monarchy is Hereditary is the great Basis upon which most of all the positions of the Laws are established which every where we meet with in the Writings of Lawyers viz. That the King never dies the next Successour in Blood is legally King from the very moment in which the last King dies that there needs neither Coronation or Recognition of the People to intitle him to the exercise of his Regal Authority that his Commissions are valid all Men are liable to do him Homage and hold their rights of him and his Heirs he may call Parliaments dispose of the Lands belonging to the Crown and all that oppose him are Rebells Generally this Principle runs through all the Veins of our Laws it is that which gives Life and Authority to our Statutes but receives none from them which are undeniable marks and Characters of a Fundamental Right in all Nations Secondly Such further provision hath the Law made to secure the Succession in the direct line that if the right Heir of the Blood or the Father or Mother of the right Heir be attainted of High Treason by Parliament the Attainder is no obstruction to the descent If he who were to succeed had committed Murther or were declared Traytor formerly to the Crown for open Rebellion against the King and Kingdom yet upon his coming to the Crown he need not to be restored by Act of Parliament but his very right of Blood would purge all these Imperfections For tanta est Regii sanguinis praerogativa dignitas ut vitium non admittat nec se contaminare patiatur saith a (o) Craig learned Lawyer and the Reasons given are For that no Man can be a Rebel against himself nor can the King have a Superior and consequently there can be none whom he can (p) Jus Reg. p. 169. offend and it would be absurd that he who can restore all other Men should need to be restored himself Also the Punishments of Crimes such as Confiscations c. are to be inflicted by the Kings Authority or to fall to the Kings Treasury and it would be most absurd that a Man should exact from himself a Punishment So Richard Plantaginet Duke of York and Edward the Fourth his Son were both attainted yet Edward the Fourth was rightful King and no impediment in the Succession accrued by it So Charles the Seventh of France though banished by Sentence of Parliament did afterwards succeed to the Crown and though Lewis the Twelfth forfeited for taking up Arms against Charles the Eighth yet he succeeded and Alexander Duke of Albany and his Descendants being declared Traytors by his Brother King James the Fourth yet his Son John being called home upon
Agonistes The Author John Milton The Fables of Esop in two Volumes Paraphras'd in Verse adorned with 100 Copper Sculptures and illustrated with Annotations By John Ogilby Esq Actions upon the Case for Slander or A Methodical Collection under certain Heads of thousands of Cases dispersed in the many great Volumes of the Law of what Words are Actionable and what not and of a Conspiracy and Libel By William Sheppard Esq An Exact Abridgment in English of the Cases reported by Sir Francis Moor Knight with the Resolution of the Points of Law therein by the Judges Books in Octavo small and Twelves Sterometry made easie or The Description and Use of a new Gauging Rod or Sliding Rule by which the content of any Tun Copper Cask or other Vessel may be readily found either the Whole or any Part thereof the Area's of Circles in Gallons and Barrels being found by Inspection only as also the Extraction of the Square and Cube Root Questions concerning Interest and Annuities and many other Arithmetical Problems are hereby resolved without Pen or Compasses To which is added An Appendix containing the Description and Use of another New Rule very useful in Gauging of Worts and resolving Questions in the Mensuration of Solids and Superficies With a Table of the Area's of Circles and Contents of Cylinders in Ale-Gallons Calculated to every tenth part of an Inch from 12 to 156 Inches Diameter By Tho. Everard Philomath The Policy and Government of the Venetians both in Civil and Military Affairs Written in French by the Sieur de la Haye and faithfully Englished An Enquiry whether Oral Tradition or the Sacred Writings be the safest Conservatory and Conveyance of Divine Truths down from their Original Delivery through all succeeding Ages The Rules of Civility or Certain Ways of Deportment observed amongst all Persons of Quality upon several Occasions Newly revised and much enlarged A Breviate of the Proceedings of France from the Pyrenaean Treaty to this time Grammatica Reformata Or A general Examination of the Art of Grammar as it hath been successively delivered by Franciscus Sanchus in Spain by Gasper Scioppius in France by Gerardus Joannes Vossius in the Lower Germany and Methodiz'd by the Oxford Grammarian in his Observations upon Lilly By John Twells Schoolmaster Fundamenta Grammatices or The Foundation of the Latin Tongue Being an Explanation of the Eight Parts of Speech with a more easie Method for the Declining of Nouns terminating the Declensions Comparing of Adjectives Conjugating of Verbs c. Also Propria quae maribus Quae genus and As in praesenti examined and made plain to the meanest Capacity with the meaning of all the Rules in Syntaxis with the particular Examples of each Rule applied and parsed for the Use and Benefit of all those that desire to be instructed in the Latin Tongue A Course of Catechising Being the Marrow of all Orthodox and Practical Expositions upon the Church-Catechism and of all Controversies upon the Church-Customs and Observances Digested into Fifty two Heads for Fifty two Sundays in the Year Useful for Ministers and their People School-masters and their Scholars Parents and Children Masters and Servants Illustrated with many Copper Pieces fitted to the several Occasions Seneca with Farnaby's Notes Printed for R. Scot Tho. Basset R. Châ—swell c. and sold by R. Clavell Aesop's Fables in Greek and Latin Printed for Jo. Redmayne and sold by R. Clavell Midicina Instaurata or A brief Account of the true Grounds and Principles of the Art of Physick with the insufficiency of the Vulgar Way of Preparing Medicines and the Excellency of such as are made by Chymical Operation Whereunto is added A plain Discourse as a Light to the True Preparation of Animal and Vegetable Animals with a Discovery of the true Subject of the Philosophical Mineral Mercury and that from the Authorities of the most Famous Philosophers By Edw. Bolnest M. D. The Temperate Man or the right way of preserving Life and Health together with the soundness of the Senses Judgment and Memory unto extream old Age in three Treatises the first written by the learned Leonardus Lessius the second by Lodowick Cornaro a Noble Gentleman of Venice the third by a Famous Italian faithfully Englished Two plain and profitable Discourses upon the two Sacraments the first laying open the nature of Baptism and pressing the serious Consideration and Religious observation of the second Vow made by all Christians in their Baptism the other pressing as earnestly the frequent renewing of our Baptismal Vow at the Lords Holy Table demonstrating the undispensable necessity of receiving and the great sin and danger of neglecting the Lords Supper The present State of the Princes and Republicks of Italy with observations on them the second Edition enlarged with the manner of electing Popes and a Character of Spain Treasons Master-piece or a Conference held at White-hall between Oliver Cromwell the late Usurper and a Committee of the then pretended Parliament who desired him to take upon him the Title of King of England c. with an intent to exclude the Royal Line wherein many of the Leading Men of those times did by unanswerable Arguments assert and prove Monarchy to be the only Legal Ancient and Necessary Form of Government in these Kingdoms Usury stated Whereunto are adjoyned some Animadversions on Mr. Bolton's and Mr. Capel's Discourses concerning the same Subject Schematologia Grammatica examplis tam Graecis quam Latinis illustrata ad defectus Grammatices vulgaris in hac parte supplendos Autore Michaele Gilberto A. M. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a History of Fevers composed according to such use of the Parts circulation of the Blood and the various Offices both of the Limpid Liquor and Nervous Juice as have been the happy Discoveries of Modern Anatomy together with a more particular description of the uses of the Spleen and Pancreas as also of the manner of Natures proceeding in the several motions of Fermentation and Ebullition than hath been formerly divulged The present state of the United Provinces of the Low-Countries as to the Government Laws Forces Riches Manners Customs Revenue and Territory of the Dutch in three Books Collected by W. A. Fellow of the Royal Society Accidence Commenced Grammer and supplied with sufficient Rules or a new and easy Method for the learning of the Latin Tongue The Author John Milton The Golden Calf which the World adores and desires in which is handled the most rare and incomparable wonder of Nature in transmitting Mettals viz. How the intire substance of Lead was in one moment transmitted into Gold Obrison with an exceeding true Particle of the Philosophers Stone at the Hague in the year 1666 written in Latin by John Frederick Helvesius Doctor and Practitioner of Medicine at the Hague faithfully Englished Medicina Statica or Rules of Health in eight Sections of Aphorisms Originally written by Sanctorius chief Professor of Physick at Padua Englished by J. D. Physick for Families or the new safe and powerful way of Physick upon constant proof established enabling every one at Sea or Land by the Medicines herein mentioned to cure themselves their Friends and Relations in all Distempers and Diseases without any trouble hazard pain or danger of Purges Vomits Bleeding Issues Glisters Blisters Opium Antimony and Quicksilver so full of perplexity in Sickness by W. Welwyn Physician Compendium Politicum or the Distempers of Government under these two Heads The Nobilities desire of Rule The Commons desire of Liberty with their proper Remedies in a brief Essay on the long Reign of King Henry III. By J. Y. of Grays-Inn Esquire Books newly Printed Of the Excellency of Monarchical Government especially of the English Monarchy Wherein is largely treated of the several Benefits of Kingly Government and the Inconvenience of Commonwealths Also of the several Badges of Sovereignty in general and particularly according to the Constitution of our Laws Likewise of the Duty of Subjects and the Mischiefs of Faction Sedition and Rebellion In all which the Principles and Practices of our late Commonwealths-men are considered By Nathaniel Johnston Doctor in Physick Sir William Dugdale's Summons of the Nobility to the Great Councils and Parliaments of this Kingdom c. Dr. Combers First and Second Book about Tithes with a Discourse of Excommunication Dr. Stern Archbishop of York his Book of Logick In Octavo Dean of Durham his Counsel and Directions Moral and Divine to a Young Gent. Swinborns Treatise of Spousals and Matrimonial Contracts The Installation of the Duke of Norfolk Earl of Peterborough and Earl of Rochester all newly published