to such an Occasion And therefore if the Matter and Form of the Book be well considered there will appear great reason to believe that these were meer Pretences to cover some other Design and that the true Design of the Book was only or principally to assert That an Absolute Irresistible and Unaccountable Monarchy without consent of the People is Jure Divine Gods Ordinance Originally descending from him and depending upon him and that all others are degenerate Forms of Government and to assert a like Jus Divinum for their own Ecclesiastical Government and withall to prejudice vilifie and decry all Claim of any Right in the Government or of Liberties by the People with the reproachful Terms and under the Notion of Factious Popularity which are plainly known to have been the Kings own Sentiments by whose special License and Authority they did sit and consult And this is so plain and visible in the Book that the Learned Dr. Sherlock makes no Scruple to speak it out plainly that The princpal Design of it is to assert the Irresistible Authority of Sovereign Princes which was as much of it as his Subject led him to speak of otherwise I doubt not but had he had occasion he could and would have said as much of the other part of the Design viz. the Ecclesiastical Government And if this was indeed the Design it was in my apprehension especially as it was managed in that clandestine and covert way and with such a Form of Authority not only unjust but vile and dishonourable unbefitting the Majesty of a King or the dignity of a Convocation of Clergy-men and a great abuse of Religion to prostitute the Reputation of so venerable Authority to abuse People out of their Right nay to enchant them as it were to venture their Lives and Fortunes against their own Right and Interest as it did by degrees at last make them do besides many other Mischiefs it hath produced and principally upon the Authors as is very usual by the Just Judgments of the Righteous God But all this I will endeavour to make plain and manifest as briefly as I can in the several Particulars following 1. That King James 1. notwithstanding his many Professions and solemn Protestations to govern according to Law did from the very beginning of his Reign study and employ all his King-craft to make himself Absolute and get all into his own Power This is so well known that I need only mention some of his Artifices and Attempts to that purpose with References to Evidences and Testimonies thereof As 1. Upon the Parliament it self 1. To restrain the Freedom of Elections of Knights and Burgesses and the Returns of Members for divers Corporations as may be perceived by his Proclamation 1 Jan. 1 Jac. 2. To draw the Determination of such Elections into the Chancery before an Officer of his own as may be seen in the Case of Sir Fr. Goodwyn 1 Jac. lately published in Lex Parliamentaria 3. To restrain their Freedom of Debates which was complained of in Parliament with the two preceding 1 Jac. and afterward occasioned that Remonstrance 24. May 8 Jac. and at last produced that free and generous Protestation concerning their Rights in print in Wilson p. 188. and Rushworth p. 53. To which others might be added which made the Parliament tell him that in the first Parliament of his Reign the Priviledges of their House and therein the Liberties and Stability of the whole Kingdom had been more universally and dangerously impugned than ever since the beginning of Parliaments c. V. Journal An. 1. 2. To make his Proclamations pass for Laws or Edicts as they have since done in France of which he published no less than Seventy in the first Year of his Reign and many every year after till they were printed all together in a Volume in the form of Acts of Parliament and Books were written for their Authority and that the Parliament took notice and complained of it And then he began to cover it as well as he could by another Proclamation 24 Sept. 8 Jac. 3. To impose Taxes without consent of Parliament as appears by the Remonstrance 24 May 1610. printed with a learned and necessary Argument concerning that matter and the Benevolence notwithstanding extorted Anno 1614. v. Wilson p. 78. 4. To set up Extrajudicial Opinions of Judges for Laws vide the Apol. 1. Jac. and to impose upon the Judges to give Judgments in favour of Prerogative contrary to the Laws and their own Oaths as may be seen in Franklins Annals Anno 1616. 14 Jac. which compared with that noble Case of Cavendish in Anderson 1 Rep. 152. in the Queens time the different behaviour of them two and their Judges will appear very remarkable 5. To tune the Pulpits as some pretend that Queen Elizabeth used to phrase it and set the Clergy on work by Preaching Writing and Discourses to promote his Designs by pretence of Scripture and Religion and to make good by colour of Divinity what could not be done by Law and seek Principles for a chosen Conclusion which is the matter now in hand And therefore The Second particular is That there was at that time a Party of the Clergy who besides a Court Faction struck in joyned and held a secret Correspondence with him for the promoting of these matters This might be observed in divers Instances precedent to his first Parliament but the Complaints of the House of Commons the very first Sessions of some of the Higher Clergy writing a Book against them even the Parliament sitting and the Inferiour Clergy inveighing against them in Pulpits yea publishing Protestations tending to the Impeachment of their most ancient and undoubted Rights as may be seen in the Journal is sufficient evidence of it self and yet will receive farther Confirmation from what follows The third is That this Work was an Arcanum Imperii and managed and transacted in a secret mysterious and disguised manner between them This we may see plainly by what They pretend to be Their chief Purpose and He to be His Reason of calling them together that they did agree in this that each Party did use Colours and Pretences but as it usually falls out in secret Conspiracies that all Circumstances are not provided for so in this their Disagreement in the Particular discovers that both were but Pretence This may further be perceived by the Kings Letter to good Dr. Abbot published in the Observator For why should he write of that matter to Good Dr. Abbot rather than to Trusty Dr. Bancroft who was President of the Upper House of Convocation for the Province of Canterbury or to Thornborough Bishop of Bristoll who was one of that Convocation and besides was thought sit to be made President for the Province of York or to Learned Dr. Overall who was the person employed to draw up the Book and was besides Prolocutor of the Lower House Nay why was it written at all Had the King
decree that the Order of Kings is of Divine Right the Ordinance of God founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly established by express Texts of Scripture That a Supream Power is given to this Order by God himself to command all and punish with the Temporal Sword all stubborn and wicked doers That the care of God's Church is committed to Kings in Scripture and her Government belongs in chief to Kings That the Power to call and dissolve Councils is the true Right of all Christian Kings That to avow in any of their Realms any Independant Coactive Power either Papal or Popular is to undermine their Regal Office That for Subjects to bear Arms against their King upon any pretence whatsoever is at least to resist the Powers which are ordained of God That Tribute Custom c. and all manner of support and supply is due to Kings from their Subjects by the Law of God Nature and Nations c. And they ordain this to be read by every Parson c. every quarter of the Year under pain of suspension and that no Ecclesiastical or Academical Person shall maintain or abett any Position in opposition or Impeachment of any part thereof under pain of Excommunication Now if this be true which they have decreed then have all Kings the same Power jure divino which cannot be restrain'd by any humane Constitution then are all those Constitutions of Government whereby a limited Power only is given to the King though settled by solemn Agreement and mutual Oaths for Observation and Performance thereof all void as to any Limitations as derogatory to the Law of God and the King may and must use his Power which he hath jure divino and then are all those who insist upon any Right by any such Laws which is inconsistent with that Plenitude of Royal Power jure divino factious and seditious and to be punished with the Temporal Sword as stubborn and wicked doers But if all Forms of Government when throughly settled have Gods Authority and the Powers that be in each be ordained of God if Publick Pacts and Agreements by which Governments are usually constituted and ratified are to be observed inviolably jure naturali and if Solemn Oaths by which Pacts and Agreements are usually confirmed and made as Sacred and Inviolable as may be are to be observed most religiously and jure divino then is their Doctrine false factious and seditious and tending to the Subversion or Disturbance of most Kingdoms in this Part of the World and of our own in particular and was therefore justly condemned by the next Parliament then is the Church of England in Convocation and her Doctrine no less fallible than the Church of Rome and then was that Faction the great Occasion of our late Civil Wars by misleading the Consciences of the King and of a great part of the People of great Abuses by Declarations and Clauses inconsistent with the Constitution of our Government obtruded into divers Acts of Parliament and of many illegal Arbitrary Acts in the Reigns since is still the occasion of our Civil Dissentions and Unsettlement and of much of our Disappointments under the present Government at this day and will continue so to be till either some good Counsel and Resolution put an end to it or it produce another Civil War For while Princes and some part of the People shall be perswaded upon pretended Principles of Religion that the Regal Power is Jure Divino above all Humane Laws and the rest know that it anciently hath been and to this day is very different all over the World in all Kingdoms according to their several Constitutions in some more absolute as the Eastern and the Roman Emperors in others very little as divers of the Northern and particularly the German from whom the English descended who acted in Council Authoritate suadendi magis quam Jubendi Potestate and that by the English Constitution it is limited and confined to the observance of Law in all parts of it this must be a perpetual Cause or Occasion of Dissensions which are apt to break out at last into Wars But if the Occasions of that Error being observed it be well considered that the Power of the Jewish Kings the Roman Emperors or any other is no Rule for the measure of our Government where the greatest Power of all is manifestly not in the King but remaining in the whole Body of King Lords and Commons That Expressions in some Acts of Parliament Articles of Religion or Canons used and intended meerly in Opposition to Papal Pretences ought not captiously to be extended to what was not intended or in question contrary to manifest Truth That Expressions in the Homilies out of Zeal against Conspiracies and Rebellions of Papists are of no Authority in Questions or Controversies of State nor Deerees of Universities when to serve a Faction or please those from whom they expect Preferment and That Ambition Self-interest and Flattery the usual Attendants of Princes Courts are always the promoters of such Pretences the Faction will soon be deserted by all honest men and then may we hope for a Happy Settlement which is the Design of this Paper and the sincere Desire of it's Author FINIS
pleaseth that is without Law or that his Will should be a Law as the Roman Emperours was Quod Principi placuerit Lex esto He hath so much as the Common Agreement or the Constitution hath given him and no more the other States in all things else retaining their Natural Power and not only the Laws which he is sworn to observe confining him within bounds but the very Constitution which gives him his being And therefore if a Question arise in such a Constitution concerning any Right of King or People the Proof will ly on the part of the King to make good his Claim by the publick Agreement or Constitution and not on the part of the People who have a precedent Title viz. Jure Naturali and are subject to him in nothing but what he hath by the Constitution or Original Contract And such an intire Constitution being the Ordinance of God and the Authority residing in the whole and in each part Gods Authority the Authority of the whole is Irresistible and the Authority of each of the Parts equally Irresistible And therefore as whoever violates the Authority of the whole violates Gods Authority so whoever violates the Authority of either of the parts in that part violates the Authority of the whole and Gods Authority and may therefore be resisted though it be either of the Parts that doth it even the King himself For in that he doth not act by but contrary to Gods Authority and Resistance of the King in such case is no Resistance of his Authority for he had no such Authority to do what he doth but of a Tyrant or an Invader Aggressor or Usurper nor Rebellion but a Just Defence of the Government and Constitution of Gods Ordinance and Gods Authority But on the other side as such a Violation may be either by open Force or by Fraud secret Practice and Conspiracy so they who do it this way are as much Traytors against the Government as they are Rebels who do it the other though against the King himself And if the King in such a Constitution conspire with a part of the People to do this He and They become thereby a Trayterous Faction He violates Gods Ordinance his own Oath and in effect Abdicates his Government and may justly be deposed for his Trayterous Practice and They be punished as Betrayers of their Countrey and Traytors to the Government And God himself doth often punish such Abuses of his Authority especially in persons professing Religion even in this Life by his Providence with very severe and remarkable Judgments And such we may observe in the present business of the Convocation and the Consequences thereof from first to last as will further appear in what follows For From what hath been said I think it apparent that the Doctrine and Resolutions of this Convocation do as I said plainly confirm what they were designed to subvert and subvert what they were designed to erect or raise up which is an argument of a very strange Infatuation as if God had smitten them with Astonishment given them a Spirit of Slumber and mingled a perverse Spirit in the midst of them as he threatned to do in the Counsels of the Egyptians Isa 19. a thing not at all incredible or indeed to be questioned if we consider how wicked and perverse a work it was they were about which is likewise apparent and easie to be concluded from what hath been said that is in general as I said before a hidden Work of Dishonesty and a very Mystery of Iniquity but more particularly such a Conspiracy as I mentioned but now with divers Aggravating Circumstances For that Constitution there described is the very true and genuine English Constitution and one of the best in the World But the Principal Design of that Book as Dr. Sherlock hath rightly observed and is apparent to an ordinary Capacity and by consequence of that King and of the Principal Managers of that Convocation in it was to assert the Irresistible Authority of Soveraign Princes as he phraseth it that is such an Authority Jure Divino as makes them irresistible in any thing Which is utterly inconsistent with such a Constitution where the Supreme Authority is so divided among several Essential parts as with us the King the Lords and the Commons So that it was plainly a Conspiracy against the Government of their Country to enslave their Country and turn the Legal Government thereof into Tyranny against an Ancient settled Government of their Countrey and therefore according to their own Doctrine against the Ordinance of God and Gods Authority And their End in it was plainly for their own Advantage the very same with that of the Papists and generally of aspiring Courtiers They are all for Arbitrary Government not only in pretence to insinuate themselves into Favour but in reality because they find it more easie to deal with the single Person of a Prince and to deceive him with Flatteries and Insinuations than with so great a Body of Men as an English Parliament among whom it can hardly be expected but there will alwayes be some or other of Parts and Ability to discern and defeat their Projects before they can bring them to perfection and who will not be corrupted as Favourites often may And the Parliament in the Queens time had bin so often upon Reformation of Pluralities Non-residence and other matters as ungrateful to them as before to the Papacy that they even dreaded the thoughts of it And this was their Tentation and the Occasion of their engaging in such a Work in such a Manner And indeed the Manner of their managing this Work is no less observable being altogether agreeable to a Mystery of Iniquity viz. 1. Under False Pretences pretence of Religion and pretence of setting out the Dignity of our Saviour Christ by his Almighty Power and Universal Government of the World so like the Great Mystery that never was Daughter more like her Mother 2. With gross Sophistry and Fallacies craftily leading People into such Opinions as they cautiously forbear to affirm As Can. 2. concerning the Original of Civil Power to affirm That it was derived from the People they seem very formally to condemn as a great Error and yet they craftily intermix so many allayes that indeed they do not unless it be affirmed 1. As a Consequence of such Premises there mentioned as may be in some sort false 2. That it was first so derived 3. And not simply from the People but from the People and disordered Multitude And 4. it must also be coupled with this Negation and is not Gods Ordinance c. So that it seems a designed Artifice to deceive the People and mislead them into an Opinion which yet they themselves did not believe and had therefore secured their Evasion which might be confirmed from many other Instances of their Canons contrived and drawn up in such a fraudulent and fallacious form That of Can. 28. I have touched already
what he could in a Sermon at Northampton Assizes to the same effect with Mainwaring viz. to justifie the Lawfulness of the Kings imposing Taxes by his Regal Power without Consent in Parliament and that such Impositions bind the Conscience This Sermon was sent as a snare to Archbishop Abbot to License at the Kings Command which he for weighty Reasons refusing it was referred to Laud by whom after some Qualifications and Corrections it was approved and then with a Dedication to the King and a stately commendatory License by Mountain then Bishop of London printed and published and the Author afterwards with Mainwaring and others was pardoned at least if not preferred and rewarded How the rest did their parts by inculcating this Doctrine of the Regal Power in Imposing of Taxes without Consent in Parliament though directly contrary to one of the most certain and known fundamental points of the English Constitution through the instigation of men of such a Temper and Power as Bishop Laud his old Patron Neile his Tutor Buckridge Harsnet Mountain Howson Curle Pierce and the rest of the Church-Faction may be understood by what was done by the Lords and Favourites of the Court-Faction there being an entire Combination between them well expressed in the beginning of the Instructions For the Gentlemen who refused the Loan were bound by Recognisance to appear at the Council Table and many appointed to their several Commitments in Forreign Counties and many committed to the Fleet Gate-house Marshalsey New Prison the common sort ordered some to be enrolled among the Companies of Souldiers others to be impress'd to serve in the King's Ships Such Impositions had been attempted by King James in his Time first directly claimed by him as a Right by Letters Pattents 6 Jac. and the Illegality of that being shewed then more indirectly under the Notion of a Benevolence 12 Jac. and that also being opposed as against Law Reason and Religion viz. the King's Oath at his Coronation it is an argument of great Pertinaciousness in the Faction that they dare thus impudently assert this Right again which the King himself doth in effect disclaim by requiring it not as a Tax nor so much as as a Benevolence but only as a Loan and of a strange Fascination upon the King to be so imposed upon by these Enchantments as to enforce with so much Violence to his Subjects and probably not without some to his own Conscience what he could not plainly assert as his Right or directly claim as his due And such a Fascination is no less observable in that Excess of his Affection to this Faction in opposition to his Parliament which appears in the Constancy of his special Favour to such of them as the Parliament censured soon after conferred upon them and as in the case of Mainwaring though he himself had publickly declared the sentence just Certainly this on both sides was Passion no less than what the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Rage of an unlawful Lust as if intoxicated by that abominable Magical Love Potion of the Golden Cup. And if we look a little further into the Story we shall meet more Evidence of such an Intoxication in the Inconsistence of the King's Actions having the next Year in full Parliament solemnly granted that most just and reasonable Petition of Rights and so confirmed them by a New Act and yet nevertheless before the next Session through these Enchantments violating the same in as gross manner as ever before But I need not to note more of such illegal Projects or Practices which were various and persisted in till they came to the usual Determination of such Publick Differences the Sword and Civil War by the severe Judgment of God upon the King and the whole Faction For they are fresh in Memory of many living and obvious in printed Books and that they all proceeded upon the same Principles may be underliood both by the Persons who had then the chief Management of Affairs and by that Solemn Declaration of their Principle which may be looked upon as the concluding Act of the Faction which sealed up all their Canons and Decrees made in their Synod 1640. continued durante beneplacito by a New Commission after the Parliament dissolved There was a perfect Combination between the two Factions and both proceeded upon the same common Principle in matters of State which being made matter of Religion by that means the Church Faction could not but be concerned in all And though that was not so rampant while Abbot was Archbishop yet was it then strongly promoted by Neal and others at last overpowered him and when his Successor Laud got up carried all both in Church and State rid the Beast He was a fierce Opposer of all who differed from him in Ecclesiastical Matters as Puritans or in Civil Matters as Republicans was Anno 1608. recommended by his Tutor Buckridge to the service of Neal and by him afterward to K. James by whom he was gradually raised at last to the Bishoprick of St. Davids Anno 1621. and came to that Power and Authority with Buckingham that he made him his Confessor and Counsellor and in the beginning of the next Reign grew as much into the King's Favour as before he had been in the Dukes becoming as it were his Majesties Secretary for all Church Concernments was made Bishop of Bath and Wells and Dean of the Chappel 1626. and 1628. after Complaint against him in Parliament Bishop of London and Privy Councellor together with his old Patron Neal and after the Dukes Death he is called to the Helm of the State and steers the Course thereof by his Directions About the same time was Sir Th Wentworth afterward E. of Straffod by the Treasurer Weston brought over to that Party made a Privy Councellor and became the most devour Friend of the Church the greatest Zealot for advancing the Monarchical Interest and Laud and he coming to a right understanding entred into a League of inviolable Friendship and joyning Hearts and Hands together co-operated from thenceforth for advancing the Honour of the Church and his Majesty's Service Such another intimate with him and Friend of the Church was the Attorney General Noy who projected the Ship Money whose death he much lamented And such another Sir Fr. Windebank for whom he obtained the place of Secretary of State Upon the Death of the E. of Pembroke 1630. he was chosen Chancellor of the University of Oxford and upon the death of Abbot 1633. immediately made Archbishop of Canterbury And how the seed sown in the dark in the former Convocation was cultivated and propagated by such strenuous Labourers and the Sun-shine of Majesty till it appeared in it's full maturity in the next may easily be conceived without reciting any more particular Instances In this Convocation there were three things which Canterbury was to take special care of the Regal Power the Episcopal Power and Uniformity For the Regal Power they
his own Designs Which is such a piece of shuffling Disingenuity or rather Dishonesty and Impiety as no man of a Christian Spirit will offer to excuse but abominate and detest being built upon a false Supposition contrary to many plain Instances in Aristotle and divers ancient Historians and other Writers of the Original of Governments of which such Learned men as Bancroft and the principal Managers of that Convocation could not be ignorant 4. But in this as such Enterprizes use to prove by the special Judgment of God their Folly and Infatuation appears to be no less than their Disingenuity and Dishonesty For from their Doctrine and Resolutions will these things undenyably follow contrary to their own Design Viz. 1. That God hath not determined by any positive Law or Declaration of his Will in the S. Scripture any one Form of Civil Government for all Nations but left that to the Determination of his Special Providence disposing the Nature and Circumstances and Minds of People and interposing in their Actions and Counsels to constitute one or other as should seem most expedient And 2. That if when any new Form of Government whatever it be is throughly settled the Authority in it is of God and all are bound to be subject to Gods Authority which is there executed then is the Authority which the People either retain in the First Constitution of a Government or recover afterwards when throughly settled whether in the making dispensing with or abrogating Laws inspecting the Government or Correcting the Exorbitances of Princes themselves or whatever else as much of God and Jure Divino as the Authority of any King whatever can be 3. That if this be true in the Case even of such new Governments as began by so unjust and wicked means as Vsurpations and Rebellions as is affirmed and decreed by the Convocation then must it be confessed to be unquestionably true in the case of all such Governments as began without any such wicked or unjust Means and were constituted by a deliberate mutual Agreement of a Free People who being sui juris might and ought jure naturali divino to consider and agree of such a Form of Government as They should judge most expedient for themselves 4. That if a Free People wisely considering the Inconveniences incident to the three simple Forms of Government constitute a Form of Government for themselves so composed as to comprehend whatever is desirable in any of them and to avoid the Inconveniences incident to each as far as their Humane Prudence can discern do this upon great Deliberation and by Publick Pact or Matual Agreement and ratifie the same by Solemn Oath of all Parties Such an Original of Government is according to the Law of Nature being a Necessary Provision upon Principles of Reason and Wisdom for the Common Good without Injury to any hath the Obligation of the Law of Nature being a Publick Pact by mutual and Deliberate Agreement hath also a Divine Obligation by the Solemn Oath of the Parties subjecting all to the Judgment of God in a special manner and may reasonably be believed to have been promoted by the secret Energy or Providence of God who is a Lover of Mankind and alwayes ready to assist them in all Sober Just and Wise Counfels to be his Ordinance and to have his Authority in all respects in a special manner And that the Violation of any part of such a Constitution by whomsoever it is is a Violation of the Ordinance of God and like to provoke his Judgments upon all who shall dare to transgress so many and great Obligations and most severely upon such as shall do it with a high hand let their pretences be what they will 5. If in a Government so constituted it be agreed more particularly that a certain Person being best qualified for that purpose for the necessary Exercise of Government shall be as it were the Principle of motion and for the greater Honour and Majesty of the State shall have the Title of King and be invested with the Ensigns of Majesty the Crown and Scepter by express consent of the People first solemnly asked but first shall take a Solemn Oath at his Coronation to Govern according to the Laws before any Subject shall swear Allegiance to him shall have with those the Jewels and Crown-Lands and Publick Revenue of the Nation but to use for the State and Defence of the Realm not to alienate at his Pleasure In the Administration of Justice all Authority Process Precepts and Writs c. shall be in his Name but so as he may not refuse it to any the designation and authorizing of the Persons of the Judges shall be by him but only with such Powers and for such Judicatures as are constituted by Law and they shall be sworn to Judge and do Justice according to Law shall not obey his Letters or Commands to the contrary and he himself and his Actions in Civil Matters shall be subject unto and bound by their Judgment In Matters of State all shall be by his Authority but by Advice of the Nobility or of a Privy Council of Persons sworn in due Form of Law and who shall be answerable for what Advice they give Lastly As to the Ardua Regni and Great Matters of making dispensing with and repealing Laws redressing of Grievances imposing of Taxes making of War c. the Assembling of the States of the Realm shall be by him but within a certain definite time the Dismission of them likewise but not till all the Business be dispatched the Ratification of Laws shall be by him but only of such as are first agreed both in Matter and Form by the other States He may make War by Advice of the Privy Council but at his own Charge unless the other States agree to it and if it prove prejudicial to the Nation they are to consider of it And to them the Imposing of Taxes the Examination and Declaration of Grievances and the Inspection and Consideration of the Management State and Condition of All belongs as a Right and Power remaining in and retained by them In summ the Government is so constituted of all the three Forms that the Regal is plainly but one third part of the whole and that most Honorary conferr'd upon him by the rest and apparently in all the Parts in trust for the Whole but most of the rest Originally in them retained by them and so remaining in them jure naturali This Constitution must by the Doctrine of this Convocation be confessed to be as it is in truth the Ordinance of God and the Authority which it hath to be Gods Authority Now such a King is a Soveraign Prince and he is Absolute that is he is not bound by any Tenure to any other Emperour King or State In this sence he is both these and his Crown is for the same reason an Imperial Crown But otherwise he is not Absolute to do what he