and a Prince Ruling by his Will is less than a Man or a man Brutified In another place the same Philosopher saith Aristot lib. 1. cap. 2. That a Prince who leaveth Law and Ruleth himself and others by his Appetite is of all Creatures the worst and of all Beasts the most furious and dangerous For that nothing is so outragious as Injustice Arm'd and no Armour is so strong as Wit and Authority the first he hath as Man the other as a Prince For this cause all Commonwealths have prescribed Laws unto their Princes whereby to govern as by a most excellent certain and immutable Rule to which sense Cicero said Leges sunt inventoe Lib. 2. Offic. ut omnibus semper una eadem vâ—ce loquerentur For which reason they have been called by Philosophers a Rule or Square inflexible But the Prophet David who was also a King seemeth to call them by the Name of Discipline for that as Discipline keeps all the parts of a Man or of a particular House in order so Law duly administred keeps all the Members of a Commonwealth in Peace and Plenty And to shew how severely God exacteth this at all Princes hands Psal 2. he uses these Words And not learn ye Kings and be instructed ye Princes of the Earth Serve God in fear and rejoyce in him with trembling Embrace the Discipline lest he enter into wrath and so ye perish from the way of Righteousness Which Words being spoken by a Prophet and a King contain many Points worthy of Consideration As first That Kings are pound to learn Law and Discipline Secondly To observe the same with great humility and fear of Gods Wrath And Thirdly That if they do not they shall perish from the way of Righteousness As if the greatest Plague imaginable to a Prince were to lose the Way of Righteousness Law and Justice in his Government and to give himself over to Passion and his own Will whereby he is sure to come to Shipwreck From like Authority and for like Consideration have come the Limitation of all Kings and Kingly Power in all Times and in all Countries both touching themselves their Posterity and Successors Which is apparent in the two most Renowned States of the World that of the Romans and Grecians who both began with Kings but yet with far different Laws and Restraints about their Authorities For in Rome the Kings that succeeded Romulus had great Authority but yet their Children or next in Blood succeeded them not unless chosen by the Senate and People so as of the Three most excellent Kings that ensued immediately after Romulus viz. Numa Pompilius Tullius Hostilius and Tarquinus Priscus Tit. Liv. lib. 1. doe 1. none of them were of the Blood Royal nor of Kin to one another nor yet Romans born but chosen rather from amongst Strangers for their Vertue and Valour In Greece among the Lacedemonians which was the most eminent Kingdom at that time the Succession of Children was most certain but yet their Power was so restrain'd by the Ephori as they were not only checked and chastned by them if occasion served but also Deprived and sometimes put to Death For this Cause Aristotle did justly mislike this eminent Jurisdiction of the Ephori over their Kings but yet we see hereby what Authority the Commonwealth had in this case and what their meaning was in making Laws and restraining their Kings Power viz. thereby the more to bind them to do Justice We may repeat a multitude of such Examples in Heathen Kingdoms but being they may be rejected as being no President for us we shall haste to shew How Christian Kingdoms have limited their Princes Now if we consider the Roman Empire as it is at this day annexed to the German Electors thô it be the first in Dignity amongst Christian Princes yet we shall see it so restrained by particular Laws as the Emperour cannot do so much as other Kings for he can neither make War nor exact any Mony but by the free leave and consent of the German Dyer or Parliament and as for his Children or next of Kin they have no Interest or Pretence to succeed in their Fathers Dignity but only by free Election if they shall be thought worthy Nay one of the chiefest Points that the Emperour must Swear at his Entrance is Sleyden lib. 8. That he will never go about to make the Dignity of the Empire Peculiar or Hereditary to his Family but leave it to the Electors free in their power to chuse his Successor according to the Law made by Pope Gregory the Fifth and the Emperour Charles the Fourth The Kingdom of Polonia is much of the same manner with the Empire both for its restraint of Power Cromenias lib. 3. hist Polo and successions of its King for they have great Limitations being they can do nothing of great moment without the consent of certain Principal Officers called Palatines or Castellans neither may their Children succeed them unless they are Chosen as in the Empire in Spain France and England the Priviledges of Kings is much different from the former The Kings of Spain and France have greater Power than the Kings of England for that every Ordination of these two Kings is Law it self without the Approbation of the Commonwealth But in the Point of Succession it appeareth that the restraint is far greater in those two Countreys than in England for in Spain the next of Blood cannot succeed but by a new Approbation of the Nobility and Bishops of the Realm as it is expresly set down in the two Ancient Councils of Toledo the 4th and 5th In France the World knows that Women are not admitted to succeed in the Crown be they never so near in Blood neither any of their Issue thô it be Male. For which cause Edward the Third of England thô he were Son and Heir to the Daughter of France whose three Brothers were Kings and left her sole Heir to her Father Philip the Fourth yet was he put by the Crown and Philip de Valois a Brothers Son of Philip the 4th preferr'd to it by general Consent of the whole Parliament of Paris And thô the Salic Law is not very ancient as the French themselves do confess and much less made by Pharamond their first King or in those ancient Times as some without ground do affirm yet we see its sufficient to bind all Princes and Subjects of that Realm to observe the same and alter the course of Natural Descent and Nearness of Blood as we have seen but such things are not suffered in England for that our Laws are otherwise which were made by the Commonwealth By all which it is manifest that most Kingdoms have different Laws and Customs both as to their Authority and Succession and it is not enough for a man to alledge bare propinquity of Blood for that he may be excluded for several other Reasons which we shall hereafter discuss I
rendred useless 't will be natural to conclude That the Means we have used were the only effectual ones for our Peace and Happiness and that one Restauration is enough in an Age. Now there are some superficial Objections made against the Deposition of the late King viz. That many Kings have been privately Assassinated but that we hear of none who have been publickly Deposed by the Jurisdiction of a National Council or Assembly without the Limits of our own Kingdom In Answer to which I shall endeavour to make it appear That it hath been the practice of all Nations and at all times to assert their Jurisdiction as we have done by the Deposition of Evil Princes whenever they had the means to effect it And we may safely bid any of our Neighbouring Kingdoms who have not been in our Circumstances to cast the first Stone at us Now as previous to our main design we shall lay down this Position and shew our Reasons for it That as Government and Authority in general is from God so the particular Forms and Magistrates are left to the Election of the People that is Whether they 'l have Democracy which is Popular Government by the People it self as Athens Thebes and many other Cities of Greece had in old times or as the Cantons or Switzers at this day have or else Aristocracy which is the Government of some certain Chosen number of the best as the Romans many years were govern'd by Consuls and Senators which the States of Holland imitate at this day Or else Monarchy which is the Regiment of one and this of an Emperour King Duke Earl or the like These particular Forms I say are not determin'd by God or Nature as Government in general is for then they should be all one in all Nations as the other is seeing God and Nature are one to all but it is left to every Nation and Country to chuse that Form of Government which they shall like best which Aristotle proveth throughout all the second and fourth Books of his Politicks very largely laying down divers kinds of Governments in his days as in Greece that of the Milesians Lacedemonians Candians and others and sheweth the Causes of their difference which he attributes to the diversity of Mens Natures Customs Educations and other such Causes that inclined them to make Choice of such or such Forms And this might be proved also by infinite other Examples both of Time past and present and in all Nations and Countries which have not had only different Forms of Government the one from the other but even among themselves at one time one Form and another at other times For the Romans first had Kings and after rejecting them for their Evil Government they chose Consuls which were two Governours for every Year whose Authority they limited by a multitude of Senators which were of their Council and these mens Power was restrained also by adding Tribunes of the People and sometimes Dictators and finally they came to be governed last of all by Emperours The like may be said of Carthage in Africa and many Cities and Commonwealths of Greece which in divers Seasons and upon divers Causes have taken different Forms of Government to themselves The like we see in Europe at this Day Naples hath a King for its Sovereign Rome the Pope Venice and Genoua have Senators and Dukes but their Dukes have little Authority Florence Mantua Parma Vrbin and Savoy have their Dukes only without Senatours and their Power is Absolute Milan was once a Kingdom but now a Dukedom Burgundy and Lorain had once Kings and after Dukes and now Kings again Bohemia and Polonia were formerly Dukedoms and now are Kingdoms The like may be said of France after the expulsion of the Romans which was first a Monarchy under Pharamond their first King and so continued for many years under Clodion Merovis Childerik and Clodovaeus their first Christian Kings but after it was divided into four Kingdoms one of Paris another of Soissons the third of Orleance and the fourth of Metz and so it continued for many years but afterwards it was one Monarchy again England also was first a Monarchy under the Britains and then a Province under the Romans and after an Heptarchy under the Saxons and now a Monarchy again under the English And all this by Gods permission and approbation who in token thereof suffered his own Peculiar People of Israel to be under divers manners of Government in divers Times as first under Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob then under Captains as Moses Joshua and the like then under Judges as Othniel Ehud and Gideon then under High-Priests as Ely and Samuel then under Kings as Saul David and the rest and then under Captains and High-Priests again as Zorobabel Judas Machabeus and his Brethren until the Government was taken from them and they brought under the Power of the Romans Wherefore there can be no doubt but that the Commonwealth hath power to chuse their own Form of Government as also to change the same upon reasonable Causes as we shall make appear they have done in all Times and Countries and God no doubt approveth what the Realm determineth in this Point for otherwise nothing could be certain for on these Changes depend the Titles of all Princes and Potentates from the foundation of the World and if they should not be justifiable we must condemn as Illegal the Acts and Jurisdiction of almost all the Princes and Governours that ever have Reign'd which were great rashness and folly to do In like manner it is evident That as the Commonwealth hath Authority to chuse and change her Government so hath she also to limit the same with what Laws and Conditions she pleaseth from whence ensueth the diversity of Power which each of the former Governments had as the Dukes of Venice at this day are for their Lives except in certain Cases wherein they may be Deposed and those of Genoua only for two years and their Power is very small and much limited and their Heirs have no Claim or Pretence at all after them to that Dignity as the Children and next of Kin of other Dukes of Italy have thô in different sort also For that the Dukedoms of Vrbin and Parma are limited only to the Heirs Males and for defect thereof to return to the Pope or See of Rome Florence and Mantua are to return to the Empire for like defects and not to pass to the Heirs Female or next of Kin as Savoy and others do And now if we respect God and Nature as well might all these Governments follow one Law as so different for that neither God nor Nature prescribeth any of these particular Forms but concurreth with that the Commonwealth appointeth and so it is to be believ'd That God concur'd as well with Italy when it had but one Prince as now when it hath so many and the like also with Switzerland which once was one Commonwealth under Dukes
Kings Now as fro France their ancient Ceremonies of Crowning their old Kings was much after the manner which I noted before out of the Law of Don Pelayo first King of Spain after the Moors But as concerning the principal Point of that Action which is the substance of admitting the King unto his Royal Authority and of Oath by him made of governing well and justly and of the reciprocal Oath of Obedience made to him by his Subjects it was not much different from what is now used The Archbishop of Rhemes being vested in Pontifical Attire and come to the Altar to say Mast 9where the King is also upon a high Seat placed he turns to him and says these sords Sir that which we require at your hands this day is that you promise unto us that you 'l keep all Canonical priviledges Law and Justice due to be kept and defended as a good King is bound to do in his realm To which the King answers I do promise to every one of you that I will keep and maintain all Canonical priviledges Law and Justice due to every Man to the utmost of my power and by Gods help will defend you as a good King is bound to do This being done the king Swears and makes his oath laying his hands upon the gospel in these Words following I do swear and promise to all Christian People subject unto me these Points ensuing First To procure that all my Subjects be kept in union of the Church and I will defend them from all Excess Rapin Extortion and Iniquity Secondly I will take care that in all Judgments Justice shall be kept with Equity and Mercy Thirdly I 'le endeavour as much as possible to chase and drive out of my Realm all such as the Curch hath or shall declare Hereticks as God shall help me and his holy Gospel Thus Sweareth the King and then kisses the Book and immediately is sung Te Deum and then the King 's vested and the Ring Scepter Crown and the other Kingly Ornaments are put on him with Declaration first what they signifie and then particular Prayers are made to God that their signisication may be by the King fulfilled Now England hath particularly taken her Ceremonies from France Belfor in vita Phil. 2. being many of our English Kings have come from thence as William the Conqueror born in Normandy Stephen Earl of Blois and Bullen a French-man and Henry the Second born likewise in France and Son to the Earl of Anjou Now the Arcbishop of Canterbury doth ordinarily perform the Ceremonies at the Coronation in England as the Archbishop of Rhemes doth in France and we may collect the substance of what the Kings of England formerly swore from the Bishops Letter to Henry the Seocnd as also from the Speech of Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury to Henry the Fourth In the former are these Words Do you remember the Confession which you made and laid upon the Altar at Westminster for keeping and defending the liberty of the Church when you were Consecrated and Anointed King by Theobaldus our predecessor By which it appears that he not only Swears but gave up his oath also in Writing and for more solemnity and obligation laid it down with his own hands upon the Altar That to Henry the Fourth was occasioned by his attempting to take the temporalties from the Clergy wherefore the Archbishop desired him to remember the Oath which he made that he would delend the Church and Ministers thereof and therefore pray'd him to permit and suffer the Church to enjoy the Priviledges and Liberties which it did in the time of his Predecessors and he also desired him to consider his Promise made to the Realm which was That he would preferve unto every Man their Right and Title so far as in him lay At which the King was so moved as he would hear no more of that Bill of Laity but said He would leave the Church in as good or better condition than he feaund it The other conditions of good Government are expresly set down in the king of Englands oath recorded by ancient Writers in these Words Holing p. 47 1005. That he will during his Life bear due reverence unto Almighty God and to his Church and that he will administer Law and Justice equally to them all and take away all unjust Laws Which after he had sworn then did the Archbishop 9turning to the people declare whatthe King has promised and by an Herald at Arms asked their Consents Whether they were content to submit themselves unto this Man as unto their King or no under the Conditions proposed And when they have yielded the Archbishop beings to put on the Regal Ornaments as the Sword Ring Scepter and Crown as in the French Coronation and bids him hold his Place and keep his Oath And this is the sum of the English Coronation which may be read in Stow Stow in the Life of Ric. 2. but especially the Admissions as well of the said henry the Fourth last mentioned as also of King Edward the Fourth at their first Entrances to the Crown for in the Admission of KIng Henry Stow shews how the People were demanded thrice Whether they would be content to take him for their King And then the Archbishop read to them what this new King was bound by oath unto At the Admission also of King Edward the Fourth Staw shews how the Peoples Consent was solemnly demanded in S. Johns Fields by London notwithstanding King Edward had prov'd his title by Succession in the parliament at Weslminster And now the Consent of the people being had or He being thus Elected as Stow's Words are he was with great Royalty convey'd to Westminster Stow in the Lâ—â—â— of Hen. 6. p. 7 and in the Hall set in the Kings Seat with S. Edwards Scepter in his hand and then the people were askt if they would have him King and they cried Yea yea Thus far Stow. Now if any except against these Instances because they entred and began their Reigns upon the deprivation of other Kings then living let them look into the Coronations of Edward the 6th Queen mary and Elizabeth and they will find That the Consent of the People and their Acceptation of those Princes is not only demanded by the publick Cry of a Herald at Arms which stands on the side of the Scaffold whereon the Prince is Crowned and the peoples Answer expected till they cry Yes yes but also that the said Princes gave their Corporal Oath unto the Bishiop who Crowned them to uphold and manintain the true Faith with the Liberties and Priviledges of the Church as also to govern by Justice and Law Which Oath no doubt hath been most solemnly sworn by all the Kings and Queens of England from the days of Edward the Confessor at the least and whosoever would see more Points of these Oaths set down in particular let him read Magna Charta and he 'l
and Marquesses of Austria and now are divided into Thirteen Cantons under Popular Magistrates of their own and its certain that God approves of our most Gracious Prince King WILLIAM since his Election by the People as he did of the former Princes while the Commonwealth were contented with them so as when Men talk of a Natural Prince or Natural Successor as many times I have heard the Word us'd if it be understood of one that is Born in the same Realm or Country and so of our own Natural Blood it hath some Sense thô he may be good or bad and none have been worse or more cruel many times than Home born Princes but if it be meant as thô any Prince had his particular Government or Interest to succeed by Institution of God or Nature its ridiculous for that God or Nature giveth it not as hath been declared but the particular Constitution of every Common-wealth within it self Now the Government of every Prince is to be respected according to the benefit that redounds to the Subject for whose good it was ordain'd and when the Subjects live well and prosperously are defended and maintained in Peace Safety and Wealth when Justice is done equally to all Men the Wicked punished and the Good rewarded when true Religion is maintain'd and Vertue promoted this is that which importeth the Realm and Subjects and not where or in what Country the Prince or his Officers were Born or of what Nation Language or Kindred they be for that as soon as he is placed in that Dignity he becometh a Stranger to me and it availeth me little whether he be of my Blood and Country or not And I may say as the People of Israel said to Rehoboam who being King Davids Grand-Son and of the House of Jesse thought his State assured and so might oppress the People at his pleasure Quae nobis pars in David vel quae haereditas in filio Jesse and so they left him and chose to be under Jeroboam a Stranger For what availed it them that lived in Spain under Peter the Cruel or in England under Richard the Third commonly call'd the Tyrant what did it import them that those Princes were of their own Country or Blood seeing they did that to them which a Stranger thô never so barbarous or cruel would scarce have done As in like manner What did it import those Noble Families of the De la Pools Staffords Plantagenets and others destroy'd by Henry the Eighth What avail'd it to them that the said King was not only their Country-man but their near Kinsman What profit or commodity was it to Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Gloucester that he lived under King Richard the Second who was his Nephew or to George Duke of Clarence that King Edward the Fourth was his Brother when both were disgrac'd and put to death by them and lost their Lands and Dignities which perhaps under a strange Prince they might have enjoyed many years And lastly what availeth it to Scotland or England that the late King James was descended of them and born with us or to the present Queen that he was her Father when he endeavour'd utterly to destroy the Peace and Tranquility of those Nations and unnaturally to exclude his Royal Daughter from the Inheritance of these Three Kingdoms to set up a suspected Child to finish the Game which he had begun so as we may say as before What part have we in James or what Inheritance in the Son of the Martyr And so much for this first Point which is the ground of all the rest I have to say Now since we have as I take it fully prov'd That no King or Goverour hath his Interest from God or Nature but from the particular Institutions of the Commonwealth I shall proceed to evince both by Reason and Example that they have Laws and Rules prescribed by the said Common-wealths by which they are bound to Rule and Govern their People Now I do really believe that of all other Governments Monarchy is the best and least subject to the Inconveniences that others are and that Popular Governments are the worst and have soonest come to ruine as may be shewed not only by old Examples of Greece Asia and Africa but also many Cities in Italy as Florence Bolonia Siena Pisa Arezzo Spóleto Perugia Padua and others which upon the fall or diminution of the Roman Empire under which they were before took unto themselves Popular Governments wherein they were tossed with continual Seditions Mutinies and banding of Factions and could have no end of their Miseries until after insinite Murthers and Massacres they came in the end under the Monarchy of one Prince as at this day they remain So where the Government of Aristocracy took place there were perpetual Divisions among the Senators as in Carthage which was the Reason that Succours were not sent to their Captain Hannibal in Italy after his so great and important Victory at Canna being the preservation of the Roman Empire and the loss of their own As also afterwards the Emulation and Disunion of the Roman Senators among themselves in the Contentions of Marius and Silla and of Pompey and Coesar was the occasion of all their Destruction and of the Commonwealth with them Now if the Prince who governeth alone and hath Supreme Authority to himself as he resembles God in this point of sole Command so could he resemble him also in wise discreet and just Government and in Ruling without Passion Nothing more excellent in the World could be desired for the perfect Felicity of his Subjects But because a King is a Man as others be and therefore not only subject to Errors in Judgment but also to passionate Assections in his Will therefore it was necessary that the Commonwealth as it gave him this great power over them so it should assign him the best Helps that might be for directing and rectifying both his Will and Judgment and make him as like in Government to God whom he representeth as mans Frailty can reach unto For this Consideration they assign'd to him the assistance and direction of Law Which Aristotle saith is a certain Mind disquieted with no disordinate Affection as mens Minds commonly be for that when a Law is made for the most part it s upon due consideration and without perturbation of evil Affections as Anger Envy Hatred Rashness or the like Passions and it is referred to some good End and Commodity of the Commonwealth which Law being once made remaineth still the same without alteration or partial Affection being indifferent to all speaking alike to every Man in which it resembles the Perfection of God himself For which cause the said Philosopher saith Aristot lib. 3. cap. 12. That he who joyneth a Law to govern with the Prince joyneth God to him but he that joyneth to the Prince his Affections joyneth a Beast So that a Prince Ruling by Law is more than a Man or a man Deified