have the supreme power over the people is proved in Adam and testifyed by the Law of God the Law of Nations The Law of Nature The Law of Reason The Law of the Realm and by the Oathes of all English men aswel Parliament men as other Magistrates though since broken by our Saviour by the Apostles by all the Fathers of the Church and by all Christian People and Religion The glory of the Martyrs which have sacrificed their lives in this just cause shall live for ever and the Rebells shall go out with stink like the snuffe of a Candle The Majesty and power of the King described Good subjects commended and the punishment of Traytors with Korah Dathan and Abiram manifested The sad effects if the people should have the supreme power and proved by reason that no Government could stand nor any man whatsoever live if the people had power to question the King or other their Governors Two supreme powers cannot stand together Trayterous Tyrants alwayes pretend Liberty and Religion with which they blinde the ignorant people The Oath of Supremacy by whom taken and by whom broken with all Gods Commandments with it How the People of England deal with their King HAving satisfied all but those whose profit it is to believe the contrary who have no other grounds for their belief than other mens grounds and estates that Kings receive their power from God and not from the people and are independent from all but the Almighty I shall now shew 1. That they have the Supreme power over the people 2. That they are above the Law 3. That they are not to give account of their actions to the people but only to God and so conclude that there can be no just cause for the subjects either to take up armes against their Soveraign to call him to the bar to accuse him to condemn him or to kill or murther him First with the first That the first King was made in Paradice your have already heard and that there he received his dominion and power but from whom did he receive his power from God hath not God therefore greater power than the Kingâ— he hath From whence do the people derive their power from the King Hath not the King therefore more power than the people he hath Constituens Constituto potior The Constituent is better and higher in place and dignity than the Constituted But the power of God Constituted the power of Kings Ergo the power of God is greater than the power of Kings And quod efficit tale magis est tale that which maketh any such or such is in it self much more such or such But the King giveth power to the people Ergo the power of the King is higher than the power of the people The King is the only fountain from whence all the streams of authority flow to the people It is he that is the Magazine from whence they derive their power And Derivativa potestas non potest esse major primitiva a Derived power can not be greater than the primitive Therefore those men who place Soveraignty in the palace of the peoples breasts must needs be more knaves than fools for so great ignorance cannot roust in their pates who are so worldly wise But let them glosse the text with what false Commentaries they please make white black and black white and muster up dark clouds of jugling riddles to dazle the purblind sight of the Rascal rable of the people who think the Gown makes the Lawyer That that must needs be Law which the Judge saith esteem all things by their exterior apperances and only know how to be ignorant whose deceived foolishnesse is the Chariot on which our men of war ride triumphant from one degree of wickednesse to another Yet notwithstanding Legibus eversis rerum natura peribit the Law of nature shall perish and the Heavens and Earth shall passe away before Lex Terrae the Law of the Land shall deny this Oracle Omnis sub Rege ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo All men are under the King and the King is under none but God this is that Divine sentence quod nec Jovis ira nec ignes Nec poterit ferrum necedax abolere vetustas which neither angry Jove nor fiery Vulcan neither devouring age nor the bloudy sword a worse devourer than that shall ever expunge out of our Law-Books or explode out of the memory of every pious man This is that which many worthies have written with their blouds and sealed with their lives To this have many died Martyrs whose fame shall out-live the Sun and their memories be engraven upon the marble of everlasting monuments whilest others their opposers would be glad to have the stench of their ignominious names buried in the grave of oblivion where leaving them let us return to our King For nullum tempus occurrit Regi It is alwaies seasonable to do allegiance to the King whose power like the Ocean is boundlesse and his authority like the wind goeth where it listeth he only can proclaim war and he only can conclude peace he only can call Parliaments and dissolve them when he pleaseth he appointeth what Magistrates he pleaseth and turneth out whom he pleaseth all Laws Customs Privileges and Franchises are granted and confirmed to the people by him He raiseth men that are dead to life again for those that are condemned to die by the Judges are dead in Law but the Kings pardon reviveth them again He hath the sole power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts strong Holds Ports Havens and all other parts of the Militia He is the breath of our Nostrils the life head and authority of all that we do Supremam potestatem merum imperium apud nos habens having the Supreme power and meer empire over our bodies members lives and estates he doth whatsoever he pleaseth to be short he is our King And where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou Eccle. 8.3 4. But so greedy is humane nature of dominion and covetous to rule that we have some amongst us who professe themselves to be born Kings they are Kings by birth nay greater than Kings are here For Par in parem non habet Dominium one King cannot command another King But these men use Kings as Children do birds in a string give him what Liberty and Authority they please clip his wings lest he should fly too high for them put pins in his eyes to make sport with him and clip off his head too to make known their authority But doubtless these men were never bred in Christs University Did they ever hear of him If they did it is the worse for them For they which know the will of God and do it not will fare never the better for their knowledge It is better to be an ignorant fool than a cunning knave Reddite quae sunt Caesaris
and dy'd and rul'd and stunk agen Rebellion for a little moment shines But seldom with a brave applause declines 'T is only Truth and Loyalty can give Restoratives to make a Dead man live T. F. REPENTANCE FOR THE MURTHER OF Charles the Martyr AND The Restauration of Charles the II. is the only Balm to cure Englands Distractions 'T Is true our Nostrils lost their Breath What then ' Cause we sinn'd once shall 's ne're be good agen We murther'd Charles for which Infernal Kings With worse than Aegypt's Plagues have scourg'd our sins The Martyrs Goodnesse Angels cann't rehearse The Rebels baseness Devils cann't expresse Who in their Lower House have acted more Than Belzebub in Hell or th' Earth before And did not Charles the Son yet shine I 'de say That God of Nature and the World decay But God is God and Satan's Fraud we see Charles is our King and Rebels Rebels be Then since we ken a Traytor from a Saint Let 's be for God our King and Bel recant Hee 'l dry our Eyes and cure those Wounds which we Receiv'd i'â—h ' dark groping for Liberty For Liberty which kept us all in Fetters Slaves to the Rump and to the Rumps Abetters Who Freedom and Religion up cry'd When Freedom and Religion they destroy'd Who killed us with Plaisters and brought Hell For Paradice So Eve by th' Serpent fell Then if the death o' th' King caus'd all our woe The life o' th' King had sav'd us all men know Behold him in his Son whose splendid light Shall heal the darknesse of his Fathers night 'T is madnesse to use Candles in the day What need a Parl'ament when Charles le Roy Stands at the door and to us fain would bring Freedom and Laws instead of Rape and Sin The glory of a King is to command But Subjects shame to sit when he doth stand God save the King C. B. Never forget Reader That the Presbyters in their Almighty scotified nullified Solemn League and Covenant with their hands lifted up to the Most high God do swear That they will preserve and defend the Kings Majesty his Person and Authority And that they have no thoughts or intentions to diminish his Majesties just Power and Greatnesse Yet they do also there swear that they will extirpate Episcopacy although so to do is contrary to the Kings Will Laws Command Safety Greatnesse and Authority As if his Majesty had no just Power but what their Faction vouchsafed and pleased to think fit On the late MIRACVLOVS REVOLVTIONS IN ENGLAND c. THree Kingdoms like one Ship a long time lay Black tempest-proof upon a troubled Sea Bandy'd from wave to wave from rock to sand A prey to Pyrats from a forein Land Expos'd to all the injuries of Fate All the Reproaches of a Bedlam-State The brave Sayles torn the Main-mast cut in sunder Destruction from above and ruine under Once the base rout of Saylors try'd to steer The giddy Vessel but thence could appear Nothing but mad Confusion Then came One He sate at Helm and his Dominion Frightned the blustring Billows for a while And made their Fury counterfeit a smile Then for a time the Bottom seem'd to play I' th' wonted Chanel and the beaten way Yet floated still The Rabble snatch't again It's mannagement but all alas in vain No Anchor fixt no wished shâ—ar appears No Haven after these distracted years But when the lawfull Pilot shall direct Our wav'ring Course and Heav'n shall Him protect The Storms shall laugh the Windes rejoyce thereat And then our Ark shall find an Ararat T. F. THE HISTORY of PHAETON Being only a Flourish or Praeludium to the sulsequent more solid discourse Wherein implicitly the temerarious appetite of Subjects to their dread Soveraigns Crown is refuted and condemned The gracious Concessions unparalleled goodness and fatherly indulgence of our late King to his over-bold Subjects manifested and the sad effects of usurpation laid open with the Traytors Epitaph Phoebus representing the King and Phaeton the hare-brained people Eloquar an Sileam timor hoc pudor impedit illud Shall I speak or hold my Peace How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange Land And how shall I hold that which is not to be found WHen rash Phaeton being mounted on the soaring wings of arrogance and presumption attempted the Kingly Government of his royal Fathers Chariot fit for none but such powerful and well-instructed Monarch as himâ—lf For Ovid. lib. 2. Non est tua tuta voluntas Magna petis Phaeton quae non viribus istis Munera conveniunt nec tam puerilibus annis Sors tua mortalis non est mortale quod optas Plus etiam quam quod superis contingere fas est Nescius affectas placeat sibi quisque licebit Non tamen ignifero quisquam consistere in axe Me valet excepto Vusti quoque Rector Olympi Qui fera terribili jaculatur fulmina dextra Non agit hos curros Et quid Jove majus habetur Thy wish is naught What 's so desir'd by thee Can neither with thy strength nor youth agree Too great intentions set thy thoughts on fire Thou mortal dost no mortal thing desire Through ignorance affecting more than they Dare undertake who in Olympus sway Though each himself approve except me none Is able to supply my burning Throne Not that dread Thunderer who rules above Can drive these wheels and who more great than Jove Thou seekest after that which humane power neither can nor ought for to atchieve Thou art ignorant of my power and too much presuming on thine own I am no Officer of trust deputed by the common rout but hold my jurisdiction from above It is not for Mortals to aspire and foolishly to covet such sacred things There iâ— none but I capable of this dignity It is I that aâ— the anointed and crowned King by caelestial decree and therefore am not to be dethroned by terrestial innovation At tu funesti ne sim tibi muneris auctor Nate cave dum resque sinit tua corrige vota Then lest my bounty which would save should kill Beware and whilest thou maist reform thy will Be wise my Son in time and lest thou prove a felo de se banish from thy thoughts this desperate and fond appetite of thine to take my princely reigns of Government into thine unadvised hands Non honor est paenam Phaeton pro munere poscis It is not honour but disgrace and thy utter ruin which thou so greedily huntest after Scilicet ut nostro genitum te sanguine credas Pignora certa petis do pignora certa timendo Et patrio pater esse metu probor aspice vultus Ecce meos utinamque oculos in pectore posses Inserere patrias intus deprendere curas Denique quicquid habet dives circumspiee mundus Deque tot ac tantis caeli terraeque marisque Posce bonis aliquid nullam patiere repulsam Deprecor hoc unum quod vero
politick in which he may purchase to him and his heirs Kings of England or to him and his Successors Yet both bodies make but one indivisible body Plowden 213.233.242 li. 7.12 6. Justice The King can do no wrong Therefore cannot be a disseisor He is all Justice Veritas Justitia saith Bracton circa solium ejus They are the two Supporters that do uphold his Crown he is Medicus regni Pater patriae sponsus Regni qui per annulum is espoused to his Realm at his Coronation he is Gods Lieutenant and is not able to do an unjust thing 4 Ed. 4.25 5 Ed. 4.29 Potentia injuriae est impotentia naturae His Ministers may offend and therefore are to be punished if the Laws are violated but not he 7. Truth The King shall never be estopped Judgement finall in a writ of right shall not conclude him 18 E. 3.38 20 E. 3. Fitz. Droit 15. 8. Omniscience When the King licenceth expresly to aliente an Abbot c. which is in Mortmain he needs not make any Non obstante of the Statutes of Mortmain For it is apparent to be granted in Mortmain And the King is the head of the Law and therefore shall not be intended misconusant of the Law For Praesumitur Rex habere omnia jura in scrinio pectoris sui 1 Jnst 99. And therefore ought to have a Negative voice in Parliament For he is the fountain of justice from whence the Law floweth 8. The Opinion of the two Spencers in Ed. 2. Who held that the oath of allegiance was more by reason of the Kings Crown that is his politick capacity than by reason of his person Is a most detestable excreable damnable and damned invention 7 Rep. fo 11. Calvins case 9. High Treason can be committed against none but the King neither is any thing high Treason but what is declared so to be by the Statute 25 Ed. 3. c. 21. To leavy war against the King to compass or imagine his death or the death of his Queen or of his eldest Son to counterfeit his Money or his great Seal to imprison the King untill he agree to certain demands to leavy war to alter Religion or the Law to remove Counsellours by arms or the King from his Counsellours be they evil or good by arms to seize the Kings Forts Ports Magazine of war to depose the King or to adhere to any State within or without the Kingdome but the Kings Majesty is high Treason For which the Offendor should have judgement First to be drawn to the Gallows 2. There to be hanged by the neck and cut down alive 3. His Intralls to be taken out of his belly And he being alive to be burnt before him 4. That his head should be cut off 5. That his body should be cut in four parts and 6. That his head and his quarters should be put where the Lord the King pleaseth 10. Treason doth ever produce fatal destruction to the Offender either in body or soul sometimes in both and he never attains to his desired end 3 Par. Jnst pag. 36. Peruse over all Books Records and Histories and you shall finde a Principle in Law a Rule in Reason and a tryal in experience that Treason doth ever produce fatal and final destruction to the Offender and never attains to the desired end two incidents inseparable thereunto and therefore let all men abandon it as the Poysonons bait of the Devil and follow the precept in holy Scripture Serve God Honour the King and have no company with the seditions 11. That Kings have been deposed by their Subjects is no argument or ground that we may depose ours A facto ad jus non valet argumentum Because Children have murdered their own fathers is no warrant for us to murder ours Judas betrayed his Soveraign yet should not we follow his example unless we strive for his reward There was never King deposed but in tumultuous and mad times and by might not by right 12. The King is Principium caput finis Parliamenti the begining head and end of a Parliament The body makes not the head nor that which is posterior that which is prior Kings were before Parliaments There were not in England any formed bodyes called the two Houses of Parliament untill above 200. years after the Norman Conquest 13. The King of England is armed with diverse Counsels one whereof is called Commune consilium the Common counsel and that is the Court of Parliament and so it is legally called in writs and judicial proceedings Commune Consilium Regni Angliae Consilium non est praeceptum Consiliarii non sunt praeceptores It is not the office or duty of a Counseller to command and make precepts but only to advise 14. The King is the fountain of justice and the life of the Law The two Houses frame the body the King giveth the soul for without him it is but a dead carcase And Si componere magnis Parva mihi fas est If I may compare small things with great As in a bond though one find paper and another write it yet if the obligor do not seal and deliver it it is nugatory and no obligation So if the King assent not to an act of the two Houses it is void and no Statute It is the royal Scepter which gives it the force of a Law Witnesse the whole Academy of the Law perspicua vera noâ— sunt probanda It would be foolish to light the Sun with Candles 15. Originally The King did make new Laws and abrogate old without the assâ—nt of any known body oâ— assembly of his Subjects But afterwards by his gracious goodnesse perceiving that his people could best know their own soars and so consequently apply the most convenient remedy he vouchsafed so much to restrain his power that he would no make any Law concerning them without their assent For at the first Populus nullis legibus tenebatu sed arbitria regum pro legibus erant Which truth iâ— so clear that it shines almost in every History The oldest and best stile of an act of Parliament is Be it enacted by the Kings Majesty with the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons c. which proves where the virtual power is 16. The Commons have no Authority but by the Writ of Summons That Writ gives them no power to make new Lawes but onely to do and consent to such things which shall happen to be ordained by Common Counsel there in Parliament which are the words of the writ and all their Jurisdiction At a Conference the Commons are alwayes uncovered and stand bare when the Lords sit with their hats on which shews that they are not Colleagues in Judgement with the Lords Every Member of the House of Commons takes the oath of allegiance and supremacy before his admission in the House and should keep it too 17. It is Lex consuetudo Parliamenti The Law and Custome of a Parliament
That no Arms are to be borne in London or Westminster in the time of Parliament Lest the proceedings in that high Court pro bono publico should thereby be hindred or disturbed For it is more congruous for Red-coats with their Pikes Muskets Swords and other ammunition to keep a Den of Theeves than to keep the Members of so honourable a Court. 3 Jnst 160. 4 Jnst 14. 18. When an Act of Parliament is against Common right or reason as that Debtors should not pay their debts c. or repugnant or impossible to be performed the Common Law shall controle it and adjudge it to be voyd And such is an Act for a perpetual Parliament or to kill the King Dier 313. li. 8.118 Doctor Bonhams case 19. The premisses being rightly and duely considered if any person be so impudent insolent and arrogant as to deny the King his Negative voyce in Parliament They may aswell deny him his life and take upon them to frame a new Law and Commonwealth to themselves Shall the Commons have a Negative voyce who are most of them Tradesmen and not educated in the Law but in Mechanick handy-crafts And shall not the King have this priviledge who is assisted by the advice of the Judges his Counsel at Law Sollicitor Atturney Masters of Chancery and Counsel of State consisting of some great Prelates and other great Personages versed in State affairs 20. The Parliament is actually dissolved by the demise of the King For the Individuum Carolus Rex being gone from whence they derived their power consequently their authority is gone likewise For cessante statu primitivo câ—ssat derivativus And Derivativa potestas non potest esse major primitivo The Division of Governments Monarchy is the most natural and Divine The King hath no equal in his Kingdome Soveraignty can not be divided beâ—ween the King and the People Neither can the People either jointly or singlely have the supreme power where the Government is Monarchical The tenets of our new Statesmen yet old Knaves confuted as damnable Parliaments have no power but from the King neither did ever any Parliament unless our late Rebels ever claim any power but what came from the King But all Parliaments ever since they had their being by the very Statutes which the King made with their consent have acknowledged the supreme power to be in the King and have sworn it with sacred oaths So did that Parliâ—mâ—nt which murthered their King swear that the only supreme power and Soveraignty was in the King next to God and that there was no power on earth above his which being true I would fain know what power they had not only to remove their King from his evil Counsellers which they did in removing him from themselves but also from the Land of the living Quos Deus sed c. HAving dissolved the Parliament and set foot on the ground of the Politician let us travel a little further and take a survey of the main Triangle upon which the art of Government consists viz. 1. Monarchy 2 Aristocracy 3. Democracy or popular estate which degenerate into 1. Tyranny 2. Oligarchy 3. Ochlocracy or Commonwealth And first of Monarchy For a principalioribus seu dignioribus est inchoandum The most excellent must have precedency Monarchy which we may call a Kingdome is where the absolute Soveraignty lyeth in the power of one only Prince for so much the word Monarchy of it self importeth who ruleth either according to the rule of Law and equity or contrary Which form of Government doth as far transcend and excel all others as the glorious Sun doth the pale-fâ—ced Moon or the Moon the lesser Stars It is the Embleme of the Almighty For behold the blessed Trinity where there are three persons but one God There is an Arch-angel The Angels adore but one Lord and Soveraign Take a view of the heavenly Orb where you shall see the caelestial creatures give place to the Kingly Sun The Moon ruleth Queen regent amongst the Stars Behold the Eagle the King of the Birds of the air The Lyon the King of the beasts on the earth And the Whale the King of fishes in the sea Fire hath the majestick preheminence above the other Elements among granes the wheat among drinks the wine among spices the baulm among metals the gold The Devills themselves will not be so disorderly as not to have a King for Satan is their Prince and chiefest Leader The Members of the Natural body are subjects to the Head their Soveraign and the same Congruity and Harmony is there in the Politique body of Monarchy And such is the stately preheminence of this Government that the Monarch can admit of no Peer in his Kingdome no more than the Sun can of an other Sun in the Firmament Si duo soles velint essâ— periculum ne incendio omnia perdantur Serinus If two be equal in power in a Commonwealth it is Aristocracy or rather Duarchy and not Monarchy For one of them hath not Soveraignty over the other For Par in parem non habet potestatem he only is a Soveraign who commandeth all others and can himâ—elf by none be commanded Then no less foolish than wicked and detestable is their opinion who confess their Government to be Monarchical yet would have Duo summa imperia and hold that the Universe of the people are of equal if not higher power than their Monarch and may call him in question for his actions and prosecute him even unto death if they please who make their dreadfull Soveraign a Jack a Lâ—nt a Minister of trust at the best to be turned out of his Office at their pleasure when God and all the World knows that by the Law of God as I shewed before and shall more fully shew hereafter the Law of Nations the Law of Nature and the Law of England both Common and Statute They ought not to touch him though in truth he were so wicked as they would have and pretend him to be No they ought not so much as to think an evil thought of him Quod summum est vnum est Soveraignty is a thing indivisible and cannot at one and the same time be divided between the King and his Subjects If the Soveraignty be in the people then is the Government either Popular or Aristocratical and not Monarchical To mix the estate of a Monarchy with Democratical or Aristocratical estate each having a share of the Soveraignty is altogether impossible For if every one of the three estate or but two of them hath power to make Laws who should be the Subjects to obey them or who could give the Law being himself constramed to receive of them unto whom he himself gave it Then might the King make the acting of his people against him treason and the people make the acting of their King against them treason which would bring all to Anarchical confusion And although our age had produced such a Monster
as to take upon them a power to depose and powr out the sacred blood of their lawfull Soveraign Yet is there no such power in rerum natura It is the off-pring of the Devil The cloak Sanctuary and refuge of Treason Rebellion and Tyranny to blinde the people taking advantage of their ignorance and lead them hood-winckt into everlasting destruction unless the God of mercy prevent not With this new upstart Doctrine have our Apochryphal Dogmatists in England led the rascal rabble of the people about like a Dog in a string buzzing in their ears that the Monarchy of England is composed of three kinds of Commonwealths and that the Parliament hath the form of an Aristocracy the three estates of a Democracy and the King to represent the state of a Monarchy which is an opinion not only false absurd fond foolish and impossible but also worthy of the most severe punishment For it is high treason to make the Subject equal with the King in authority and power or to joyn them as Companions in the Soveraignty For the power of a Soveraign Prince is nothing diminished by his Parliament but rather much more thereby manifested The Majesty of a Prince consists in the obedience of his Subjects and where is the obedience of the Subjects more manifested then in his Parliament where the Lords and Commons the Nobility and Comminalty and all his Subjects from the highest Cedar to the lowest Shrub with bended knees and bare heads do cast down themselves at his feet and do homage and reverence unto his Majesty Humbly offering unto him their requests which he at his pleasure receiveth or admiteth So that it plainly appeareth that if the Parliament be not extravagant and leap over the bounds limited by the laws of God and our Realm of England the majesty and authority of our Soveraign is not decreased by the assembly of Parliament but rather augmented and increased For the Peers cannot assume Aristocracy nor the Commons Democracy without violation of their Oaths with which they are tyed in obedience to their Soveraign as well as with the Laws Indeed our Prince doth distribute places of command Magistracy and preferments to all his Subjects indifferently and so the Government is in a manner tempered with Democracy But yet notwithstanding the State doth continue a pure and simple Monarchy because all authority floweth and is derived from the King and the Soveraignty doth still continue in him as the fountain from whence those streams of power run and the Parliament is so far from sharing in this Soveraignty that the whole current of our acts of Parliament acknowledge the King to be the only Soveraign stiling him Our Soveraign Lord the King And the Parliament 25 H. 8. saith This your Graces Realm recognizing no superior under God but your Grace c. And the Parliament 16 Rich. 2.5 affirmeth the Crown of England to have been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediately to God in all things touching the Regality of the said Crown and to none other And without doubt these Parliaments and many others had as much might and right though not so much Knavery as our Anabaptists and Puritans and other Sectaries have now who pretend that the Government originally proceedeth and habitually resideth in the people but is cumulatively and communicatively derived from them unto the King and therefore the people not denuding themselves of their first interest but still retaining the same in the collective body that is to say in themselves suppletive if the King in their Judgement be defective in the administration or neglect the performance of his duty may question their King for his misgovernment dethrone him if they see cause and resuming the Collated power into their own hands again may transfer it to any other whom they please These men would make themselves extraordinary wise or else our Ancestors extraordinary fools for surely if there had been such a power residing in the people as these men blab of it would have been preached up before these new-lights ever saw the light some busie-head like themselves would have awakened it and not let it sleep so long But it is impossible and a meer foppery to think that such a power should be for suppose that the people had at first Elected their Governour and gave him Soveraignty over them could they with justice and equity dethrone him again Surely no. For sive electione sive postulatione vel successione vel belli jure princeps fiat Principi tamen facto Divinitus potestas adest Let the King be made by election lot succession or conquest yet being he is a King he hath Divine power And therefore they have no power to take away that which God hath given The Conceit of a mixed Monarchy that the supreme power may be equally distributed into two or three sorts of Governours is meerly vain and frivolous because the supreme power being but one must be placed in one sort of Governors either only in Monarchy or only in Aristocracy or only in Democracy Our Parliaments of England never until now claimed either Aristocracy or Democracy Therefore as hitherto it hath been granted so the Government must of necessity still be Monarchical And the gracious Concessions of our Soveraign not to make Laws without a Parliament do not make the Parliament sharer or his equal in the Soveraignty because as I shewed before the Parliament hath no power but what is derived from the King His limitation of his Prerogative doth no way diminish his Supremacy God himself who is most absolute may notwithstanding limit himself and his power as he doth when he promises and sweareth that he will not fail David and that the unrepentant Rebels should never enter into his rest so a man that yieldeth himself to be bound hath his strength restrained but not lessened neither is any of it transferred to them who bound him So our Soveraign doth limit his power in some points of his administration and yet this limitation neither transferreth any power of Soveraignty unto the Parliament nor denyeth the Monarchy to be absolute nor admitteth of any resistance against him Monarchy is either Lordly or Royal. Adam proved to be the first King and made by God in Paradise not by the people All Kings are made by God The Son hath more right and it is more pleasing to God for him to murther his Father the Wife her Husband and the Servant his Master than it is for the people to kill their King Though in truth he be wicked The Kings institution and authority declared by Divine and Humane Writers The Horrible Labyrinth of sins which Regicides plunge into with their guilt The most famous Nations in the World have and do live under Monarchy Englands glory and love to Kings in times past and her Apostacy in times present Pater familias were petite Kings and how little Kingdoms grew great Kingdoms The Kings power is
authority is originally and radically in the people from them by consent derived to Kings immediately mediately only from God that the donation or collation of the power is from the Community the approbation only from God and that Soveraignty and power in a King is by conveyance from the people by a trust devolved upon him and that it is Conditional fiduciary and proportioned according as it pleaseth the Community to entrust more or lesse and to be weighed out ounce by ounce and that the King may be opposed and resisted by violence force and arms and the people resume their power which we deny and shall prove by the law of God of Nations of Nature of the Common and Statute law of England that the Royal power and Soveraignty of Kings is primarily formally and immediatly from God and that the people through pretence of Liberty Privilege Law Religion or what Colour soever ought not to oppose imprison resist much lesse Murther their King though he be wicked and subvert Law and Religion much lesse when he is pious upholdeth and maintaineth both First I conceive that there is no man so impudently wicked as to deny that there is a God who created all things Heaven and Earth Angels and Men the power of Angels and the power of Men there is one power of Angels and another of Men so there is a difference of powers amongst men the power of a King inferior to no power on earth but only Gods the power of the Subjects inferior to the power of the King the power of a Father over his Children and the power of a Husband over his Wife and so every power limitted by God and as one Star doth excel another in brightnesse so one power doth excel another in dignity and glory There is nothing more plain and evidently asserted in the Scripture than that Kingly power is the most Sacred Divine and glorious of all powers immediately from God peculiarly owned by him as a power wherin his Nature and Majesty is most manifested and as I have already shewed hath a shadow of all Divine Excellencies Man was made Gen. 1.26 and God said let us make man in our Image But man had no power or dominion untill God further said And let them have dominion over so that it is from hence most clear that man had no power or Soveraignty untill God gave it him and the first man to whom God gave it was Adam a King the sole Monarch of the world Then let not our new Sectaries fondly wickedly conceit that royal authority is originally and radically from them that it is by their consent immediatly derived from them to Kings Since the Kingly power office was before they were born or had any power from whence such authority could be derived By me Kings raign saith God not only particular Kings as Kings of the Jews c. but all Kings Prov. 85.1 Qui succedit in locum succedit in jus Therefore whosoever claim unto themselves that power which is universally and perpetually peculiar unto the God of all power do Blaspheme and rob God of his honour and what lyes in them do make God no God and themselves the only Almighty But the people which challenge unto themselves the original power of earthly Dominion do challenge unto themselves that power which is universally and perpetually peculiar to the God of all power Therefore those people do blaspheme and rob God of his honour and what lyes in them do make God no God and themselves the only Almighty There is no power but of God The powers that be are ordained of God Rom. 13.1 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Doubtless our superintendants did never learn their Doctrine from this Text but they may aswell learn it from hence as from any other place in Scripture for I finde nothing in my Bible contrary to this but every text in Scripture doth harmoniously agree with this and unanimously resolve that Kings are of God they are Gods Children of the most high his Servants â—ir publick Ministers his Deputies his Vicegerenis his Lieutenants their Throne their Crown their Sword their Scepter their Judgements are Gods their Power Person and charge are of Divine extract and so their authority and person are both sacred and inviolable God removeth Kings and setteth up Kings Daniel 2.21 Thou settetst a Crown of pure Gold on his head Psal 21.3 I gave thee a King in mine anger and took him away in my wrath Hos 13.11 Which proveth that God not the people did institute Kings and that God not the people should take them away God hath spoken once yea twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God Psal 62.11 By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers Col. 1.16 And now O Lord my God thou hast made thy servant King instead of David my Father 1 Kings 3.7 I have provided me a King saith God 1 Sam. 16.1 Whole heaps of Scipture might I gather to confirm that Kings are solely and immediatly dependent from God and independent from all others which truth the suffrages of the Holy Fathers which are but as so many Commentaries on the Scripture and therefore not so necessary here to be recited do affirm and maintain But some may ask me how Kings in these dayes can be said to be immediatly from God when somtimes they are elected Kings by the people sometimes they come to their Crowns by Conquest and sometimes hereditarily by succession and never by extraordinary manifestation and revelation from Heaven as did Moses Saul David To this I briefly answer That as Divines hold a thing is immediatly from God several wayes 1. When it is solely from God and presupposeth nothing ordinary or humane antecedent to the obtaining of it So was Moses made captain over Israel and so had Joshua his authority But Soveraignty now to our Kings is not so conveyed but some humane act is alwayes intervening 2. When the Donation and Collation of the power to such a person is immediatly from God though some act of man be antecedent as Mathias was an Apostle immediatly from Christ though first the Apostles put two a part and cast lots yet neither of these two acts jointly or severally did virtually or formally collate the Apostolical power upon him When an Atturney maketh livery of seisin according to his letter of Atturny the Feoffee is in by the Feoffor and not by the Atturny though his act was interposed Is is not the Feoffment of the Atturney but of the Feoffor and the Feoffee his Title is only from the Feoffor though he had not had it but by the means of the Atturny In the second sense Soveraignty is conferred on kings immediatly from God though some created act as Election Succession Conquest or any other
with a sure foot Though King David was a man after Gods own heart yet could he not please the people for Absolom his own Son made a conspiracy against him and forced him to flye for his life But mark the end of this Traytor though the earth did not open her mouth and swallow him up yet the very Trees took vengeance and caught him up by the head so that he hung between heaven and earth as unworthy to go to heaven or to live upon the earth 11 Sam. 18.9 Then how dare these Pulpit Hunters blaspheme God and prophane his Word and Sanctuary so much as to preach that Rebellion is obedience nay a necessary duty commanded of God and a great means to carry on the work of Salvation inciting the people to cry out for justice accounting all things injustice unless that they have their wicked ends So Absolom did steal the hearts of the people who had controversies telling them that there was no man deputed of the King to hear them 11 Sam. 15.4 And Absolom said moreover O that I were made judge in the Land that every man which hath any sute or cause might come unto me and I would do them Justice A true Lecture of a Traytor for you shall never find Traytors without Law and Justice on their sides to colour their actions The King hath not deputed a man say they to distribute Justice He is popishly given and would bring into the Kingdome the popish Religion He infringeth your Charters breaketh the Laws and destroyeth your Rights and Liberties But O that we were made Judges in the Land how equally and impartially would we give justice to all men we would not take away your Charters nor encroach upon your Liberties The preservation of the Law and Religion is the only cause for which we take up arms But when with their charms and sorcery they have intoxicated the people got the hilt of the sword into their own hands and a power to do what they list then down goeth both Law and Religion and the King too like Jonas must be thrown down from the stern of Government to appease the tempest of the multitude And then and not untill then like the head of a Snail or a Tortoise out of it's shell not seen before doth appear their own cause and indeed the only cause for which they took up arms which is their own private interest and the destruction of the whole Kingdome with their own bodies and souls hereafter Hor. Suis ipsa Roma viribus ruit And Englands own Sword destroyeth poor England But let Traytors pretend what they will yet this is a Principle whose original is the Bible confirmed by our Saviour and the Apostles by all the Fathers of the Church and by all Christian people by all reason and Religion That Kings have the Supreme power over their people and consequently the people no power to resist them either to save their Laws Religion or for what other pretence soever For Rex si supra populum optimatesve agnoscat proprie non est Rex He cannot be a King which hath not the supreme authority and Soveraignty Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet It is God and the King to whom Soveraignty belongeth the people are their Vassals and not sharers in so high a dignity Our Saviour alone was both God and Man and it is a thing impossible for the people to be both king and Subject too at one time But why should I seek stars to light the noon day or press that with arguments to be true to them who with their oaths have confirmed it for a truth swearing I William Lenthal do utterly testify and declare in my conscience that the Kings Highness is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm and all other his Highness Dominions and Countries aswell in all spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or Causes as Temporal And that no forein Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Pre-eminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spâ—ritual within this Realm And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all forein Jurisdiction Powers Superiorities and Authorities and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear faith and true allegiance to the Kings Highnesse his heirs and lawfull Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Privileges Pre-eminences and authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highnesse his heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm So help me God and by the Contents of this Book What greater exemplification confirmation or demonstration of the kings Soveraignty can there be than this Sacred Oath of Supremacy For this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded saith Moses Num. 30.1 2. If a man Vow a Vow unto the Lord or swear an Oath to binde his soul with a bond he shall not break his word he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth And is there any English-man so impudently wicked and prophane as presumptuously to break Gods Commandement break his own vows and impiously turn perjured Traytor vix ipse tantum vix adhuc credo malum scarce I even I who have seen it with my own eyes can yet hardly believe so great a villany can be perpetrated Haec facere Jason potuit Could the betrothed do this Heu pietas Heu prisca fides Alas the antient piety Alas the fidelity of old time Debuit ferro obvium Offerre pectus I would have dyed first Quid non mortalia pectora cogis Auri sacra fames What doth not gold more sacred to them than their oathes compel mortals to atchieve Vid. 1. Eli. cap. 1. That the Kings power is above the Law is demonstrated by reason and proved by authority In the beginning were no Laws but the Kings will and pleasure Adams absolute power The King can do no wrong It is better and more profitable that one King than many Tyrants do what they lift with us The King hath no Judge but God That place in learned Bracton which Bradshaw and others used as an authority to kill the King explained and their damnable opinion and false Commentary upon him confuted The King is bound to observe Gods Law yet absolute King That God not the people instituteth kings and that the House of Commons which is but the tail of the Parliament nor any whole Parliament can have power over the king or disinherit him HAving made it evidently manifest that the King hath the supreme power and Soveraignty over the people I will now ascend a step higher and make it as manifest that he hath the supreme power and Soveraignty over the Laws as well as over the people Quidvis facere id est regem esse saith Salustius To do what one will is to be a King Cui quod libet licet Qui legibus solutus est Qui leges dat non accipit proiude qui omnes judicat a nemine
judicatur To whom it is lawful to do what he lift without punishment by the people Who is freed from the fetters of the Law who giveth Laws and receiveth Laws from none who judgeth all men and himself is judged by none and this is the true definition of a king warranted in holy writ by the example of all kings by the Prophets by the Apostles by the holy writings of multitudes of men by the Fathers of the Church by the true Orthodox Clergy by the Law of Nations and of Nature In the beginning saith Iustin Populus nullis legibus tenebatur sed arbitria regum pro legibus erant The people were kept under by no Laws but the will of their kings was the only Law they had which I find verifyed in the first king which God made Adam Whose power was absolute for in his Commission he had from God there is no limitation Gen. 1.28 Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it And have dominion over the fish of the Sea and over the fowl of the Air and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth Here is no command that he shall not make a Law without the consent of a Parliament that he shall receive so much tribute of his subjects and no more the king is not here prohibited to have a negative voyce or tyed up with any Law of his subjects He is to give Laws not to receive them what his will leadeth him to that may he do which is all included in this word Dominare have Dominion But go a little further and see his Majesty upon his royal Throne where with reverence be it spoken you may behold the Almighty doing more obedience to the King than his vassals do in these our dayes Gen. 2.19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them And whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof The Lord God formed every living thing but Adam must give them names The Lord God brought them to him but it was but to see what he would call them For whatsoever Adam was pleased to call every living creature that was the name thereof So that hitherto there was no Law but the will of Adam the King to govern every living creature Ad libitum Regis sonuit sententia legis What Adam pleased to command that was presently obeyed But let us make a further progress and explicate the Soveraignty of king Adam For as yet there was not found an help meet for him But the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he took aâ— rib out of his side whereof he made a woman and brought her unto the man And Adam said this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man The Lord God made the woman but it was of one of Adams bones and Adam must give her a name Nay Adam must make a Law concerning her For Therefore shall a man leave his Father and his Mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh which Law continueth still and shall do for ever For there shall be marrying and giving in marriage until the end of the World Therefore Justine doth prove a true Historian when he saith in the beginning Arbitria Regum pro legibus erant There was no Law but the kings will for you may read of many kings before Moses his time as of nine in one chapter Gen. 14.1 2. But Moses was the first that ever writ Laws or invented letters as we can finde then what Laws could those nine Kings use and all the Kings from Adam until Moses but their own wills And God gave Moses the power of Governing the people before he gave the law and Moses administred Justice to every one according to his pleasure so did Joshua and Saul and all the Kings after them and if the King governeth with the law which is derived from him which is most certainly true then undoubtedly the King is above the law For propter quod unumquodque tale ipsum magis tale that by which any thing is made such or such is in it self much more such or such But the King maketh the Law Ergo the King is much more above the Law The Laws are the reigns with which the King governeth and guideth the people how can the Charioter rule his horses if he hath not the free use and power over the reigns and by what means can the King rule and direct his people if he hath not the supreme power over the Laws with which he is to guide them not they him If the Law be equal in power with the king then why doth the king pardon those whom the Law condemneth alter the old Laws and make new Laws For par in parem non habet imperium every boy can tell that a man hath no power to command his equal but suppose the Laws should be equal or above the king who should put these Laws in execution The people cannot because as I have already shewen they are Inferior to the king and Contra rationem est contraque naturam superiorem ab inferiore judicari saith Barclay It is against reason and nature that the Superiour should be judged by the Inferiour Therefore though nothing can be so true and plain but that subtle Sophisters by Sinister and false interpretations and glosses will make it obscure yet it is an inviolable truth that the king is above the Law and therefore Rex non potest facere injuriam the king can do no wrong for ubi non est Lex ibi non est transgressio quo ad mundum where there is no Law there is no transgression as to the world Quisquis summum obtinet imperium sive is sit unus Rex sive pauci nobiles vel ipse populus universus supra omnes leges sunt Ratio haec est quod nemo sibi feret legem sed subditis suis se legibus nemo adstringit saith Saravia de Imperand autor li. 2. c. 3. Every Governour let the Government be Monarchie Aristocracie or Democracie is above all the Laws for no man can impose Laws on himself but on his subjects and no man can bind himself to keep his own Laws because as Barclay saith Quod neque suis legibus teneri possit cum nemo sit seipso superior nemo a seipso cogipossit Leges a superiore tantum sciscantur denturque inferioribus No man can be bound by the Laws he makes himself because no man is above himself neither can any man be compelled of himself and Laws are only made by superiours and given to inferiours Cujus est instituere ejus est abrogare He which maketh any Law may abrogate it when he pleaseth It is not possible for any Government to be
without arbitrary power most men of a late edition allow it in Aristocracy and Democracy Why then not in Monarchy If it be Tyranny for one man to govern according to his will Why should it not be far greater Tyranny for a multitude of men to govern how they please without being accountable or restrained by Law But though silent leges inter arma Yet Rex est viva Lex as our books say The king is a living Law Indigna digna habenda sunt Rex quae facit Those things which are unlawfull for the subject are lawfull for the king to do Imperatorem non esse subjectum legibus qui habet in potestate alias leges ferre saith B. Augustine The king cannot be subject to the Laws because he hath power to make other Laws What then after he hath established a Law That his subjects shall quietly injoy their estates may the king legally without offending God take away their estates and break that Law Because his will is a Law I answer he may But distinguenda sunt tempora causae The King hath a Conscience aswell as another man which must be ruled according to Gods Law and Equity otherwise God to whom vengeance only belongeth will judge him It is lawful for the king ad supplendam reipub necessitatem supportandam regiam majestatem to supply the necessity of State and to support his Royal Majesty notwithstanding any former Law to take away the estates of his subjects without their leave and that legally too because in that case his will makes a Law And therefore doth the common Law of England allow him many prerogatives which to explain would require a volume of it self and are very copiously in our Law books demonstrated But the summe of them is The king upon just cause may do what he please both with his subjects and their estates and no body is to be judge whether that cause be just or no and take vengeance but only God his own conscience If it be unjust Habet Deum Judicem Conscientiae ultorem injustitiae He hath God the Judge of his conscience and the Revenger of his injustice And satis sufficit ei ad paenam quod Dominum expectet ultorem It is punishment enough for him to think that God will take vengeance on him saith Bracton doth Bracton say so Why there are some a amongst us who make Bracton the only instrument and authority to kill kings But to vindicate the Law and Reverend Bracton I will make bold to tell them for veritas audentes facit truth makes a man bold that they belye Bracton and scandal the Law and their profession And that it may appear it is not my opinion only I will recite that warrant out of Braston li. 2. c. 16. fol. 34. which they build upon and the answer to it of the Lord Bishop of Osory a man worthy of eternal renown both for his Law Learning and Religion for saith he Yet because this point is of such great concernment and the chiefest Argument they have out of Bracton is that he saith Rex habet superiorem legem curiam suam Comites Barones quia Comites Dicuntur quasi socii Regis qui habet socium habet Magistrum ideo si Rex fuerit sine fraeno id est sine lege debent ei fraenum ponere nisi ipsimet fuerunt cum rege sine fraeno And all this makes just nothing in the World for them if they had the honesty or the learning to understand it right For what is above the King the Law and the Court of Earls and Barons But how are they above him as the Preacher is above the King when he Preacheth unto him or the Physician when he gives him Physick or the Pilot when he sayleth by Sea that is quo ad rationem consulendi non cogendi they have superioritatem directivam non coactivam For so the teacher is above him that is taught and the Counseller above him that is counselled that is by way of advice but not by way of command And to shew you that this is Bractons true meaning I pray you consider his words Comites dicuntur quasi socii they are as fellows or Peers not simply but quasi And if they were simply so yet they are but Socii not superiours And what can Socii do not command For par in parem non habet potestatem that is praecipiendi otherwise you must confess habet potestatem consulendi Therefore Bracton adds qui habet Socium habet Magistrum that is a Teacher not a Commander and to make this yet more plain he adds si Rex fuerit sine sraeno id est sine lege If the King be without a bridle that is saith he lest you should mistake what he means by the bridle and think he means force and arms the Law they ought to put this bridle unto him that is to press him with this Law and still to shew him his duty even as we do both to King and people saying this is the Law this should bridle you but here is not a word of commanding much less of forcing the King not a word of superiority nor yet simply of equality And therefore I must say hoc argumentum nihil ad rhombum And these do abuse every Author So much the Bishop and I think this answer will satisfy every reasonable man And I add further that it would be very strange that Bracton should say in this place that the King hath a Superiour when he denyes it in several other places of his book and presseth it with arguments that he hath not saying Omnis quidem sub eo ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo All are under the King and the King under none but God Rex non habet superiorem nisi Deum The King hath no superiour but God Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare multo fortius contra factum suum venire Let no man presume to dispute against the Kings actions much less withstand his actions with force and arms and rebel against him fol. 6. Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo The King is under none but God Exercere Rex debet potestatem sicut Dei vicarius in terra Minister quia ea potestas solius Dei est The King ought to exercise power as the Vicar and Minister of God because he receiveth his power from God only Therefore they who would fain have Bracton say that the Law and the people are the Kings Superiours would make him as uncertain as themselves and do very much abuse that venerable Author and no man can finde so much as scintilla legis a spark of Law in all the Law books that ever the People or Law were above the king so as to punish him and doubtless if there had been any such thing the learned Lawyers would have reported it to posterity And A
non usu valet argumentum But they all unanimously resolve and report the contrary Reader I Would not have thee imagine as some men through malice or ignorance do most impudently assert that when we say The King is absolute and above the Law that thereby is intended that the King is freed from and hath power to act against Gods Laws when he pleaseth No this is but their false glosse and interpretation For non est potentia nisi ad bonum hability and power is not but to good There is no power but what is from God and therefore no mortal man can have a power to act against God To sin and break Gods commandements is impotency and weakness no power For the Angels which are established in glory do far excel men in power yet they cannot sin The Law of God is above the King and he is bound to God to keep it yet neverthelesse he is an absolute King over men because God hath given him the Supreme power over them and hath given no power to men to correct him if he transgresse But God only whose Law only he can transgresse can call the King to an account Hoc unum Rex potest facere quod non potest injuste agere the King only is able not to do unjustly is a rule in Commonlaw and the reason is because the people do not give Laws to the King but the King only giveth Laws to the people as all our Statutes and Perpetual experience hath taught us Therefore how can the King offend against the Laws of the people or be obnoxious to them when they never gave him any Laws to keep or transgresse and then how can the people punish him who never offended their Laws Therefore the King must needs be absolute over the people and only bound to God not to the people to keep those Laws which God not the people gave him and as God is above the Laws and may alter them at his pleasure which he gave and set over the king so is the King above and may alter at his pleasure those laws which at his pleasure he gave set over the people still observing that he is free from all Laws quo ad coactionem in respect of any coaction from the people but not quo ad obligationem in respect of obedience to God by his obligation Therfore well might Solomon counsel us to keep the Kings commandement saying Eccles 8.2 I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandement and that in regard of the Oath of God Be not hasty to go out of his sight stand not in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever he pleaseth Where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dâ—st thou These words are the words of God which King Solomon did speak by infusion of the Spirit In which you may see that the King doth what he pleaseth And we are commanded not to stand in an evil thing that is according to Iunius and Tremel translation perturbatione rebellione quae tibi malum allatura esset ageret tecum arbitratu suo sive jure sive injuria We must not murmur and rebel against the King though he deal with us unjustly He may be just when we think he is unjust The Kings heart is in the hands of God the searcher of all hearts as the Rivers of Water not in the hands of the people Therefore God not the people can turn it whether soever he will Prov. 21.1 King David was filius Dei non populi The Son of God not of the People Psalm 89.26 It was God who made him higher than the Kings of the Earth verse 27. not the People He was neither chosen of the People nor exalted of the People For I have exalted one chosen out of the people saith God verse 19. The exaltation was Gods and the choice not of but out of the people For I have found David my Servant with my holy oil have I anointed him saith God verse 20 Kings are the Children of the most high not of the people Psalm 82. Therefore who can say unto the King what dost thou If the people of England have power to depose and make Kings Why are they usurpers who by the power of the people destroy the lawfull King as did Richard the third and by the consent of the people established himself in the Government They are Kings de facto but not de jure as all our Books agree For the people have not the Soveraignty but the King Surely the people of England thought so when by act of Parliament they ordained that none should be capable to sit in Parliament before they had Sworn it vide 1 Eliz. 1.5 Eliz. 1.1 Jac. 1. And I am sure that the breaking of the Oath can give the Parliament no new Authority It is declared by the Lords and Commons in full Parliament rot Par. 42 E. 3. nu 7. Lex consuetudo Parliamenti 4 Inst 14. upon demand made of them on the behalf of the King that they could not assent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the disherison of the King and his Crown whereunto they were Sworn And it is strange to think that the House of Commons which is but the tail of a Parliament should have that power which both Lords and Commons had not But since there can be no Parliament without the King 4 Inst 1 2.341.356 We may conclude that these men being Traytors Rebels and Tyrants will take upon them to do any thing Defensive War against the King is illegal or the Great question made by Rebels with honest men no question Whether the people for any cause though the King act most wickedly may take up arms against their Soveraign or any other way by force or craft call him in question for his actions Resolved and proved by the Law of God the Law of Nations the Law of Nature the Laws of the Realm by the rules of all Honesty Equity Conscience Religion and Piety by the Example and Doctrine of our Saviour Christ all the Prophets Apostles Fathers of the Church and all pious Saints and holy Martyrs That the peoplâ— can have no cause either for Religion or Laws or what thing soever to levy War against the King much lesse to murther him proved in Adam The manner of the Government of the King Gods Steward and Stewart when he cometh described The Bishops Lords Prayer and Common Prayer Book must then be restored with their excellencies now abused He will lay down his life before he will betray his trust and give his account to any but God as did our last great Stewart his Father The blessednesse of the people when the King shall come and rule over them declared his Majesty The Christians duty towards their King laid open and warranted by the Death and Sufferings of Christ and multitudes oâ— Christians The madnesse of the people in casting oâ— the Government of a gracious King and submitting
to a Multitude of Tyrants and the dreadfull events if the Tyrants do not restore the King to his own again The murder of the late King Charles is proved to be most illegal and how the Rebels use the liberty of the people only as a Cloak for their wickednesse and their Knavery discovered in pretending the supreme power to be in the people whereas they use it themselves and so Tyrannize over us The Laws of England described and proved that our Soveraign Charles the 1. was unjustly killed against the Common Law Statute Law and all other Laws of England WE have already clearly proved that Kings are by Divine institution that they have their power from the Heavens and not from terrestrial men and that their power is above the people and Laws We are now come to see whether the people the Kings subjects have power to destroy and put assunder that which God hath thus created and joyned together It is a sound conclusion which naturally and of necessity floweth from the premisses that they have not and having shewed 1. That God made the first King Adam in Paradise 2. That there he received his regal power from God not from the people And 3. That there he arbitrarily made Laws according to his will where he had reigned a Monarch for ever as Divines hold had not he transgressed Let us now see what became of him after his transgression for King Adam did transgress and he must give an account of his Stewardship But to whom must he give his account To man he cannot for the King hath no superiour on earth Therefore he must to God who in the 19 th verse of Gen. cap. 2. challengeth his praerogative And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him Where art thou No sooner did Adam hear God call but he presently gave an account of himself saying verse the 10. I heard thy voyce in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self Where note That God taketh an account chiefly of the king for his subjects offences The king is Gods Steward and God will reckon with him God sent him from Paradise out of the garden of Eden to till the ground Therefore that he may make a good account he must Parcere subjectis debellare superbos cherrish the flowers and root up the weeds He must be a nursing Father to his loyal subjects but he must batter down the swelling pride of Traytors The true Protestant Religion must florish as the best flowet in his Garden But the Anabaptists Independents Presbyterians Papists Jesuits and other wicked Sectaries must be pulled up as weeds lest they overspred and choak the good flower They must be extirpated by the root whilest they are young lest theâ— grow up and seed and their seed be sowen up and down in the whole World He must set the Bishops again in their natural soyl which is now grown over with these weeds and rubbish That that stone which these new builders refused may become the head stone of the Corner and the Bishops Lands which they did not refuse must be given to the Church again The Common Prayer Book now rejected as fit for none but the use of Papists He must bring in and make those Papists read it who now reject it as Popery for no other cause but that there is no Popery in it He must turn the Horses and other unclean beasts out of his Sanctuary now made a Stable St. Pauls c. and put in holy Bishops and reverend Pastors in their room And since our Saviour hath commanded it He must make the Lords Prayer current amongst us That our Ministers may leave off piping what they list and pipe the true tune which the Lord of life the best Musician taught them that all Gods people may dance For how can we dance when the instrument is out of order and the wrong tune is piped Good God! what a superstitious and Papistical age do we live in when we account it superstition and Popery to say the Lords Prayer the Common Prayer the ordinary means of our salvation O blessed Iesus Hast not thou commanded us not to use vain repetitions But when we pray to pray thus Our Father c Dost not thou know what we want better than our selves and hast thou not prescribed us a set form of prayer to ask it with And shall we cast thy prayer behind our backs and presume to come before thee without it are we wiser than the Lord of life or is there any nearer way to Heaven than that which he hath taught us shall we present the Lord with our own husks and trample on the Manna which he hath prepared for us Is there any other spirit to teach us to pray than the Spirit of the Lord which taught us in his Gospel When we petition to any of our superiours on earth then we premeditate and cull out filed and curious words worthy of his personage But when we should pray to the Almighty then any thing which lyeth uppermost is shot out at him like water out of a squirt and what pleaseth our foolish phantasies that we pretend to be the Spirit of the Lord. O God arise vindicate thy own cause Let not the soul of thy Turtle Dove be given into the power of the wicked For how is the Mother reviled by her Children and it grieveth thy servants to see her stones lye in the dust But rege venienti hostes fugierunt It is Gods Steward otherwise called Stewart with must remedy all this He must turn our spears into pruning hooks and our swords into plow-shares and so consequently our sword-men into plow-men The love of his Subjects must be the Magazine of his Artillery and their Loyally and obedience must be their chiefest good and honour O fortunatos nimium sua sâ— bona norint O happy multitude if they did but know their summum bonum their chiefest good which is loyalty and due obedience to their Soveraign For he will not break the Charters of their Corporations nor invade their rights and liberties He will not distrain for excessive Taxes nor impose great burdens on his Subjects The Law shall be to him as the apple of his eye and the true Protestant Religion as his dearest heart Learning shall florish and the Vniversities shall not be destroyed He will not murder the Prophets nor massacre the Citizens before their own doors He will not contrive plots with his Impes and Emissaries to catch honest men with their estate Justice shall run down the streets like streams and peace shall make the Land flow with milk and honey Every man shall eat the fruits of his vineyard under his own vines and enjoy the presence of his family with the absence of a Souldier He will not build up his throne with bloud nor establish his royal state with lyes and dissembling Flatterers will he abandon from his Court and those who keep other mens estates
will he banish from his Realm But suppose that he should eat of the forbidden fruit do what was right in his own eyes and evil in the Lords To whom shall this great Steward give an account shall he give his account to the Inferiour servants of his Lord That would be an audacious and wicked attempt of them A high prejudice to the Lord and a great dishonesty and disgrace to the Steward in his Office For the Lord would be extremely offended The Inferiour servants severely punished for exacting an account which only belonged to their Lord And the Steward would be dismissed of his Stewardship as dishonest and unfaithful Therefore every just and pious Steward will dye before he will so much wrong his Lord and Master of his right as to give an account of his Stewardship to them to whom it doth not belong and although they are so unjust and dishonest to require it yet he will give them his life before he will be corrupted For he is accountable to none but unto the Lord who will require it as his due For the Lord called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou And he said I heard thy voyce in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self But what is this all Must the King give an account only of himself No he must answer for his subjects too Of him to whom much is given much shall be required For Adam said The woman whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat Where note that the subject may cause the Soveraign to sin and the sin of the subjects often times pulleth down judgments on their Soveraigns head aswell as on their own and the King must be their Accomptant Eve first sinned But Adam must be first called in question Yet he was a King and therefore none must call him in question but God who only was his Superiour But when Adam fell did not his Soveraignty fall with him No Adam was a King after his fall and had his Soveraignty confirmed to him by God for ever For Gen. 3.16 And thy desire shall be to thy Husband and he shall rule over thee so that Adam did still retain his superiority But was not this Soveraignty personally fixed in Adam and so dyed with him No God did declare it transmissible from Adam to the first born For Gen. 4.7 God said to Cain the first born speaking of his younger brother Abel sub te erit appetitus ejus dominaberis ei Unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him So that from Adam it doth appear 1. That Kings are ordained by God not by the people 2. That God gave them their regal power 3. That that power is above the laws 4. That they have no Superiours but God And 5. That God only hath power to call them in question and punish them if they offend For Crimine ab uno Disce omnes From that one great offence which Adam the King committed and was not accountable neither did he account with any but with God leaâ—n all that the King cannot commit any offence so great as to give his Subjects just cause to call him in question or to take up arms and with force to resist him Which I shall prove with luculent authorities and pregnant examples both human and divine I think it is received by all for a truth That the King is Pater Patriae the Father of his Country Maritus Reip the Husband of the Commonwealth and Dominus Subditorum the Master of his Subjects I remember that Roffensis de potestate Papae asketh this Question An potestas Adami in filios ac nepotes adeoque omnes ubique homines ex consensu filiorum ac nepotum dependet an à solo Deo ac natura profluit Whether the power of Adam over his Children and nephews and so over all the men in the world doth depend on their consent or whether it doth not flow from God and Nature I have already made it clear that his power doth not depend on their will and consent but is instituted by God and Nature If so then I ask this Question Whether the sons of Adam have any power either from God or Nature violently to resist and oppose the King their Father Which Question I conceive may be as truly resolved that they have not For first there is nothing so fairly written and so deeply impress'd in Nature as Obedience You may see it in every creature every brute beast will teach you the obedience due from children to their parents and the soveraignty of the parents over their children Vipers indeed will destroy their parent but it is a monster in Nature and therefore not imitable by any but those of a viperous brood Behold the natural love and obedience of the pious Storks towards their parents who feed their feeble and impotent parents when they are old as they fed them being young And lest Obedience should lose a reward the Aeâ—yptians so esteemed this bird that they laid a great penalty on him that should kill it You may read of many beasts and fowls that with bloudie strokes will beat away and banish their young from them But so great is the natural love allegeance of their young that as if it had been high-treason for them so to doe they will not so much as resist their parents but flie from them teaching every subject his true obedience towards his Soveraign and that in this case only when the Soveraign would unjustly punish him it is most honourable and the greatest argument of a valiant man to run away Would not it be a most hideous and detestable thing for a son to murder his own Father Nay suppose the Father should draw his sword at his Son would that be a just ground for him presently to run in upon his Father and stab him surely I think every mans nature will teach him to speak better things than these and to be so far from approving it that he will account nothing more horrible and worthie of so much punishment Pater quamvis legum contemptor quamvis impius sit tamen pater est Patri vel matri nullo modo contradicere debemus dicant faciant quae volunt saith Origenes We ought to contradict our Father or Mother by no means let them say or doe what they please for be they good or bad they are our Father and Mother But behold a greater than thy Father is here It is thy King whose Sword commandeth fear whose Crown importeth honour whose Scepter requireth obedience whose Throne exacteth reverence whose Person is sacred his Function divine and his Royal Charge calleth for all our praiers O quam te mâ—morem virgo namoue haud tibi vultus Mortalis nec vox hominem sonat O Dea certe O King with what terms of honour shall I style thee Is it lawfull to call thee a Man The
Woolves with the destruction of the Innocent I need no other proof for this than every mans experience Virgil. Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia Vestri Jam caelum terramque Dei sine numine venti Miscere tantas audetis tollere moles Quos Deus at motos praestat componere fluctus Post sibi non simili poena commissa luetis Maturate fugam Regique haec dicite vestro O ye Empty Clouds and raging winds of Ambition could Attempts enter into your Dunghill thoughts as to assassinate your King provoke Heaven and molest the Earth Durst you encounter the Almighty pitch battail and sight against his Deity Are your Commandments above his and can your Statutes repeal his Hath not he in his Vpper-house constituted a King and commanded you to honor and obey him and can your Mortal nothings in the Lower-house next door to hell vote him useless Can you put asunder that which Jehovah hath joyned together and take away not only the Crown but the life also of your dread Soveraign Can you do these things and look upwards Aposiopesis But God will that he will Ah rather repent of your villanies It is better for you I think though not your deserts to go peaceably to Heaven than to be thrown headlong into hell For there you will be murthered with the Devils and you cannot murther any more Kings death lyeth at your door and after this life ended you shall not be punished with the Sermons of holy Ministers or with Gods Word which is now odious unto you But with the Scorpions of the Devil Beelzebub and his Angels shall execute Tyranny over you in the infernal pit as you and your Angels have done over the Lords anointed and his innocent subjects in the open air before God and man Therefore Repent for Repentance is your nearest way to salvation Maturate fugam Regique haec dicite vestro Make haste and go and tell your King these things That you are sorrowful and that it gnaweth and biteth your seared Conscience to think that you should be the Authors of so great a wickedness beg his gracious pardon restore his sacred Patrimony which you have torne in pieces and cast lots for his pardon and peace with him will do your Souls more good than all his Lands or Royalties Acknowledge his Soveraignty as ye ought and set the Crown again upon his head which you did injuriously pluck off or else the time will come that one drop of the many tears and waters which you have caused to flow from the eyes of the Royal party their Widdows and Orphans shall be more desired of you to cool your tongues than ever their estates and honours were If a Thief should set upon you or any other subject to rob him It is lawful for the honest man to draw his sword and kill him if he can How dare you then with violence set upon your King to rob him not only of his goods but also of his life yet because he defended himself and so some of the Rebels slain Therefore you impeach him of high Treason and murther O monstrous did you ever hear of any Law in the whole world that ever the King could commit high Treason Be dumb for you did not The Laws of England are divided into three parts viz. 1. Common Law which is the most antient Law of the Realm 2. Particular Customes 3. Statutes or Acts of Parliament There is no offence punishable by the Laws of England unless it be against one of these Laws He that doth not offend against the Law is no sinner for where there is no Law there can be no transgression I had not known sin saith St. Paul but by the Law Rom. 7.7 Then cannot the King be guilty of Treason to the people or of any other offence punishable unless he offend against one of these three Laws And that he did not offend against any of them nor was guilty of those offences laid to his charge by any one or all of those Laws is as clear as the Sun and a Maxim with all honest men For 1. The Common Law is nothing else but the general custome and common usage of the Realm Finch 77. Plowdens Com. 195. Therefore the King cannot be an offender or guilty by the common Law nor the people have power to call him in question for any of his actions because it is so far from being the general custome and common usage of England for the King to be punished by the people that before this first and last great and monstrous distractive and destructive wicked and abominable murther of the last most gracious and merciful King such a thing was scarce ever heard of or entred into the thoughts of any English man Therefore the Rebels are cast by common Law and the Chancery will never give relief against the common Law li. 4.124 D. and St. So that take them which may you will this Dilemma will hang them Amen 2. Customary Law is where a particular custome grounded upon reason differeth from the general usage and common custome of the Realm Now to prove that the King is not an Offender against this Law would be a thing altogether frivolous and ridiculous it being known to every one that he cannot 3. Statute Law is a Law positive made by the King with the assent of the Parliament And there is no Statute or Act of Parliament in England which maketh any offence in the King high Treason or that giveth the people power to call the King to an account accuse or condemn him But there are many offences committed by the people made high Treason against the King by several Acts of Parliament But that the King could commit Treason against the people is such a novelty that Heaven nor Earth never heard of before perditious England hatcht it But since our age is much given to fictions Let us for once feign with our false Republicans That by the antient fundamental Laws of the Realm The King might commit Treason against the people and be a Traytor to the Common-wealth for which the people might lawfully question him Yet since Leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant The Statute Law may alter and abridge the common Law The King cannot now commit Treason against the people nor be a Traytor to the Commonwealth Because by the Statute made 1 H. 4.10 and several others It is enacted by authority of Parliament who as the common people think may do any thing vote Heaven Hell or Hell Heaven That in no time to come any Treason be Judged otherwise than it was ordained by the Statute of 25 E. 3.2 In which Statute I am sure there is no mention made of any Treason but only against the King as any one may read at large which Statute being it was made by Benedictum Parliamentum a blessed Parliament for so it was called Co. Inst 3.2 I commend it to the perusal of every English man as the best
lesson he can learn by which he will see the error of the times and what changes the wicked have wrought amongst us Therefore since several Parliaments have made Statutes That the King can commit no Treason nor no Treason be committed but against the King Ex ore tuo te Judicabo we may conclude from their own mouths that by no Law but against all Laws they murthered their King the meekest and justest of all men For whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the Law for sin is the trangression of the Law 1 John 3.4 Then how could the King sin when there was no Law for him to transgress By the common Law as I have already shewed he could not be an offender neither could he by any Statutes For at that very time when the Parliament the peoples representatives charged the King with Treason they had made many Statutes That those things which they themselves acted against the King should be high Treason against the King But they had made no Law whereby the King might become a Traytor against them Therefore the King could not offend against that Law which was not Adam had not sinned in eating the forhidden fruit had he not been first forbidden Neither had St. Paul known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not sin Rom. 7.7 And for the King to commit Treason when there is no Law which maketh any offence in the King whatsoever Treason but all laws both Common and Statute both Divine and Humane resolve the contrary is such a Chimaera which passeth the understanding of every reasonable creature But forsooth our new upstart pragmatical Lawyers as they call them such as Cook was witness his King Charls his case fol. 22. A Cook but rather a Scullion I am sure of no affinity in judgement nor comparable in learning with our great Master and Oracle of the law Sir Edward Cook do say and profess that they have a Law written in their hearts whereby they are enabled and authorized to kill the King if he offend But I wonder holy David had not this Law written in his heart to kill wicked King Saul when it lay in his power so to do The question is easily answered for God said that David was a man after Gods own heart and therefore could not do so great a villany But I am sure if the Scripture be true Neither God nor man will say that these men are men either after Gods heart or any honest mans heart And divide the Kingdom and you will finde a thousand for one in whose hearts this law was never written Therefore if it be written in some few mens hearts yet since it is not written in the hearts of the Major part according to their own tenets that law is not binding You may read in 1 Sam. 24.6 and cap. 26.11 That it was in Davids power and he was admonished to kill his enemy wicked King Saul once in the Cave where he cut off the Kings skirt indeed but his heart smote him as if he had committed Crimen laesae Majestatis high Treason against the King And then in the Trench where Saul lay sleeping 1 Sam. 26.7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night and behold Saul lay sleeping within the Trench and his Spear stook in the ground at his Bolster But Abner and the people lay round about him Then said Abishai to David God hath delivered thine Enemy into thine hand this day Now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the Spear even to the earth at once and I will not smite him the second time And David said to Abishai Destroy him not For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless David said furthermore As the Lord liveth the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to dye or he shall descend into battel and perish The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords anointed but I pray thee take thou now the Spear that is at his bolster and the Cruse of Water and let us go Here you may see how greivous a thing it is to lay hands upon the King though he be wicked and persecute you For by holy Davids own confession no man can do it without committing an high and wofull offence Therefore better it is for all men with King David to commit the punishment of their King to God who most assuredly will punish the King aswell as the Beggar for his offences and not violently oppose or stretch forth their hands against him for none can do that and be guiltless It is true the law of England in many particulars is lex non scripta and when our law books are silent we must repair to the law of Nature and Reason But when a law is established by the law of God declared by many Statutes and reported by multitudes of reverend Judges in their Reports as it is that the King can commit no offence so great as to be punished by the people Then sit liber Judex We must Judge according to the written Law though it do not agree with our own private reason If the King before the descent of the Crown be attainted of Treason felony or any other offence yet by the descent of the Crown The Attainder eo instante is void as it fell out in the case of Henry the seventh 1 H. 7.4 Jnst 1.16 Then if the Coronation of the King prohibiteth the punishment of those offences which he committed before he was King only because he is King and so not punishable by any earthly power how can he commit any offence after his Coronation for which the people may call him in question It being a Maxim in Law That the King can do no wrong that is no wrong for which the people may punish him And to say that the King is an Officer of trust placed by the people is a meer foppery and against the express letter of a principle in Law viz. That the King is not capable of an office to use but to grant Co. Jnst 1.3 But why should I speak of Law to those who God and all the World knows Act all things against law For is there any Law which maketh it high Treason in the King if he commit such or such an offence or is there any law to enable the people to call their King to an account I appeal to the whole World and even to the Consciences of our wicked Folarchical upstarts Whether they ever read any such Law in the old or new Testament in the Statutes or Reports of the laws of our Realm or whether they ever heard of any such law in any Kingdom or Nation under the Sun No they did not The Devil brought it if any there be out of the infernal pit whither it will bring them all unless God most high prevent not can a posteriour Law make that an offence which was lawful at the Commitment without doubt it cannot
But these men with their practice most wickedly affirm it King Henry the 7 â— h and many Burgesses and Knights of the Counties being first attainted by Act of Parliament of high Treason against Richard the 3d. The question was in H. the 7 ths Parliament How this Act of Attainder should be reversed and made void It was resolved by all the Judges That those Knights and Burgesses which were attainted should not sit in the House when the Act of Attainder was to â—e reversed But when that Act was reversed then they might come again and sit in Parliament But as for the King it was unanimously agreed and resolved by all the said Judges that ipso facto when he took upon him to be King that he was a person able and discharged of the Attainder for said they the King hath power in himself to enable himself without a Parliament And an Act for the reversal of the Attainder is not at all necessary See 1 H. 7.4 Com. 238. Parliament B. 37. and 105. In which case you may see the power of a King of a King that was attainted of the greatest offence viz. High Treason Here likewise you may view the power of a Parliament of a Parliament who had asmuch right to dethrone their King as ever the long Parliament or any other had Here likewise you may hear the voyce of the Law of the Common law not since repealed by any subsequent Statute But as it was then so it ought to be now the Resolution of all the Judges in England That the King hath power to take pardon and ought not to crave pardon of the people for his offences The Crown once gained taketh away all defect is the Sentence of the Law and an Adage amongst all honest Lawyers If the people had the Supreme power why was not the Attainder of the King in this precedent case reversed by Act of Parliament as were the Attainders of the other Members If the King be but an Officer of trust deputed by the people and receiveth his power from them Why was not the King in this case freed from his offence by the people What would they entrust a person attainted of so great an offence as high Treason with the highest place in the Common-wealth And yet not permit others guilty and attainted of the same offence not so much as to fit and Act as Members of the Parliament without they were first purged of their offence It doth not stand with reason that the highest Offender should exercise the highest office And doubtless if the people had had power the Parliament would have cleared King H. the 7th from his crime before he should have Officiated his Office of Kingship But that Parliament well knew that the feet were not higher than the head and that the Inferiour Members could not impose Laws on the King their Soveraign They knew with Bracton that the King Parem non habet in Regno suo had not in his Kingdom any single man or the people his equal Therefore since it is the Law of the land Magna Charta 29. That no mâ—n shall be judged but by his Peers and being the King hath no Peer or Peers in his Dominions They resolved not to judge their King nor to commit so great a vanity as to reverse the Attainder For can a King be attainted or can the people who have no authority but what they have from him have authority to correct and revise their King O foolish imagination Horac Caelo tonantem credidimus Jovem Regnare praesens Divus habebitur Augustus adjectis Britaunis Imperio Jove governs Heaven with his Nod King Charles he is the earthly God Great Britain being his lawfull Inheritance Our King Augustus high and mighty Solus Princeps qui est Monarcha Imperator in Regno suo Davis Irish Rep. fo 60. Our only Prince who is both Monarch and Emperor in his kingdom hath only authority and the only right to govern the Britains who though long since have been accounted Rigidi hospitibus feri rigid and cruel to strangers yet that they should ever so much degenerate as to be rigid and cruel to their own natural King and kill their natural Soveraign is such a wonder and murther that never entred into the thoughts of former ages and will be a bugbear and scar-crow to all succeeding generations for by robbing their King of his Crown and Life they have robbed the Turk of his cruelty Judas of his treachery and all the Devils of their malicious wickedness For the Turks cruelty Judas his perfidious treachery and the Devils malicious villanies do all conjoyn to make up and center in an English Rebel one of those beasts who like the Enemies of King David Psal 102.8 Have sworn together against their King are mad upon him and revile him all the day long Yet that they may seem religious even when they commit Sacrilege they like the Devil when he tempted our Saviour taking him up into an exceeding high mountain and shewing him all the kingdoms in the world and the glory of them saying unto him All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Mat. 4.9 will promise fairly and as if they were resolved diametrically to oppose St. Peters Doctrin who commands them 1 Pet. 2.16 Not to use liberty for a cloak of maliciousness they use the liberty of the people as a Wolf doth the Lambs skin to destroy poor Lambs as the only cloak and cover for all their malicious wicked prodigious and damnable actions For if you ask them for what cause did they murder the King Their answer is for the liberty of the people For what cause do they make themselves Governours and Lords and Masters over all that we have For the liberty of the people For what cause do they subvert the Laws expell and throw down the orderly and holy Clergie and all Religion with them For the liberty of the people For what cause do they enslave the whole Nation For the liberty of the people Nay these men are so well furnished with godly pretences and wicked intentions that even whilst they cut the peoples throats they make them believe they give them a blessing And as the man who swore that the Coat of the true owner was another mans only because he might have the use of it himself So these men have the impudence to swear though not without perjury that the Supreme power is in the people only because they might throw down our royal Government with all goodnesse with it and use that Supreme power themselves which they protest is in the people O delusive Mountebanks Was there ever such a jugling deceit acted by any Jugglers or Quacksalvers in the world Surely there was not And did not every one nay they themselves very well know the truth of what I have said I might easily make it clear and evident even to the blind with multitudes of Examples For
who was it that murthered the King Was it the people Every man knoweth that it was neither the people nor the Parliament But a Company of Jesuitical treacherous Rebels and damnable Usurpers Who flaming the people in the mouth with a tale that the supreme power was in the people made use of this power themselves against the wills of the people as an Engine to perform and bring to passe all their wicked and horrible designs But say they we are the peoples Representatives chosen by the people and so what we do they do Catch a Knave without a Knaves answer and he will give you leave to hang him I must confesse if this were true they might have somewhat the more colour though not the more honesty for what they do But this is as false as themselves For the people chose them to sit in Parliament and act according to the Kings Writ as part of the Kings Parliament according to the Laws of the Realm But since the Parliament is destroyed for what Parliament can there be without a King and House of Lords such a headlesse Monster was never seen untill of late Consequently their power which they derived from the people is gone also Neither are the Commons in Parliament the representative body of the whole Kingdom or people For they do not represent the King who is the head nor the Lords who are the nobler and higher part of the body of the Realm the Commons only represent the Inferior and lower sort of the people but if they did as they do not represent the whole body yet did not the people ever give them any power to cut off their Kings head For the Lords voted it unlawful all the honest Commons forsook the House and the people were all displeased except a few of their own hatching up and every one else murmured against it The Nobility mourned The Gentry were amazed The Common people wept and men women and Children did cry The Heavens cloathed themselves in black And the Sun hid his face The Lion King of Beasts died at the â—ight of his royal blood And the wild foules came wondering to see this execrable fact on the Scaffold And if the Thundering and Lightening of the Almighty be a true sign of Gods Angry Deity Then even from this we may conclude that these Regicides took too much upon them and very much provoked his wrath For Diespiter Igni coruseo nubila dividens Plerumque per purum tonantes Egit equos volucremque currum The Heavens roared with thunder which made the earth shake and the darts of fiery lightening threatened the ruines of both And who can think upon this worse than Gunpowder-Treason plot for then was but intended that which now is put in Execution viz. The murther of our gracious King and the subversion of all Laws and Religion with him and not justly expect all the Plagues of Aegypt and the punishment of Sodom and Gomorah to fall upon him and the whole people For Hor. Hoc fonte derivata clades In patriam populumque fluxit From the death of the King as from a fountain did flow the slaughter of the Nobility and people with the ruine of the Glory and freedom of the English Nation Tantae molis erat perversam condere gentem Such and so great villanies were perpetrated to raise this generation of Vipers Yet forsooth they will tell you that the supreme power and Soveraignty is in the people and that they act under them O grand Delusion Did the people turn out the long Parliament Did the people set up Oliver Protector Did the people turn out Dick his son Did the people foist up again the Rump of the long Parliamene Or did they hunt them out again Did the people sanctifie the Committee of Safety over them Or did they hunt in the Rump again Or have they made all the Revolutions and Choppings and Changings amongst us No neither the people nor their Representatives But the Devil his Representatives have been the cause of all our subversions For as the people have not so neither did the twentieth part of them ever challenge or claim the supreme power But have alwaies acknowledged the Soveraignty to be only in their King and only Soveraign only under God Reader take notice that in many places of this Book by the word Parliament is meant those Traytors the House of Commons who have unjustly usurped the name of Parliament For by the known Laws of the Land there can be no Parliament without the King Therefore let every one of the Regicides repent and pray to God to open his eyes and that the scales of blindnesse may fall from them that he may see his duty which is so evidently written in the Scripture and all other pious Writers which is to fear God and to honour his King which is acceptable in the sight of the Lord. And so I shut up my discourse with these verses which I would have the Reader get without book for his Edification Astra Deo nil majus habent nil Caesare terrae Sic Caesar terras ut Deus astra regit Imperium regis Caesar Deus astra gubernat Caesar honore suo dignus amore Deus Dignus amore Deus dignus quoque Caesar honore est Alter enim terras alter astra regit Cum Deus in coelis Caesar regâ—t omnia terris Censum Caesaribus Solvile vôta Deo A Tyrant without a Title set out in all his Colours and proved by the Laws both of God and man by the sentence of all honest and wise men by the vote of Antiquity and several Examples That it is most lawfull and glorious for any man either publique or private to fall upon Tyrants and kill them without Examination according to the usual forms of Judicature Where the consent of the people after Vsurpation makes an Vsurpers Title good and where not That the assent of the people cannot ratify any Government without him so long as their King liveth though banished but all their acting is Illegal How Tyrants pretend the safety of the people only for their own safe-guard and how they delude the people with specious names for their Magna Latrocinia their great villanies and robberies The Devil was a Rebel so are they and like Satan they have their power only by permission with an incitement to all men to execute them for these are not the Dignities we should obey LEt us now take our Swords in our hands and arme our selves to incounter with this Tyrant sine Titulo a Tyrant without a Title That bird of prey that beast of the game Orbis flagellum that scourge of the world that Devourer of Mankind Fulmen belli that Thunderbolt of war that Maule of the earth Poliâ—rcletes that destroyer of Cities that Hangman that Murtherer that great Robber whose might is his only right whose multitude of thieves makes him formidable builds himself up with honest mens blood feared by all men and fears
take it for a curse or do things worse Some would have children those that have them mone or wish them gone What is it then to have or have no wife But single thraldome or a double strife Our own affections still at home to please is a disease To crosse the sea to any forein soil perils and toil Wars with their noise affright us when they ceasâ— we are worse in peace What then remains but that we still should cry Not to be born or being born to die The King of Englands Soveraignty proved and approved by the Common Law to be above both Parliament and people inferiour to none on earth but God Almighty and that neither the people of England nor any other his Subjects either distributively or collectively in one intire body ought to call the King in question for his actions though they be never so wicked The sweet harmony and concordance of the Law of God and the Law of the Realm in maintaining the Royal Prerogative of our Soveraign manifested The Kings Coronation is onely a Ceremony no part of his Title How the Changeling Statesmen of our times who will not endure that the King should have Soveraignty over them his vassals make themselves absolute Kings over the Scripture and Law books and make the Law and the Gospel speak in what sense their wicked wills and lusts vouchsafe Resistance of the power unlawfull The Subjects duty to their Soveraign Their Reward and remedy if they be punished wrongfully Reverend Bracton cleared from Mr. Pryns false aspersions Mr. Pryns Character his Book entitled the Soverâ—ign Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes arraigned convicted and condemned and his confident averment therein That it was not Saint Pauls nor the Holy Ghosts meaning to inhibit defensive wars of the Subjects against their King proved to be Apocriphal and that Saint Paul like an honest man spoke what he meant when he said Let every soul be subject to the higher powers though Mr. Pryn would have his words and his meaning two things How Mr. Pryn worshipped the long Parliament heretofore as a Sacred Deity when it acted wickedly and now despiseth it as idolatry and an Advertisement to him to write a book of Retractations To go about to prove that the King of England c. hath the Supreme power over the Parliament and people deserveth as much derision as to go about to prove that the Sun shineth at noon day or that the heavens are above the earth yet since there are those amongst us who like the Sodomites grope for light in the clearest day and have the iâ—pudence to publish for truth that which their conscience telleth them is false I will give you a tast of our Lord the Kings Soveraignty which lieth dispersed and scattered about in our Law books Jus Câ—ronae The Law of the Crown is the principal part of the Laws of this Realm Co. Lit. 11.b. 15. b 344. a 25 E. 3 cap. 1. Register inter jura Regia 61 c. For since the Common Law of the Land is common usage expressed in our books of Law and judicial Records Co. Lit. 344 a. Plowden 195. Finch 77a. The Government of this Kingdome by a Royal Soveraign is become a Fundamental Law being as antient as history it self and used from the time whereof the memory of antiquity is not to the contrary And since that the ligeance faith obedience of the Subject is due unto the King by the Law of nature Co. l. 6. fol. 12. as well before as after the municipal and Judicial Laws were made our Law-books like faithfull Subjects being the Magazine of law from their Alpha to Omega could preach no other Doctrine than Allegeance faith and due obedience to their Soveraign the King whom they all confesse and testifie to be the Supreme lord and head of the Common-wealth immediately under God above all persons in all causes Finch in French fol. 20. in English 81. Co. lib. 2.15 Le Roy est caput salus Reipublicae à capite bona valetudo tranfit in omnes lib. 4.124 the King is the fountain of Justice tranquillity and repose Plowden 242. Therefore Nil desperandum Rege duce Auspice Rege Nothing can come amisse to us the King being our guide and Soveraign Reges sacro aleo uncti spiritualis jurisdictionis sunt capaces Kings being the Lords Anointed are nursing Fathers to our Church The King of England est Monarcha Imperator in Regno suo Davis Irish reports fol. 60. the Almighty hath said that they are gods and our common laws of England being founded on the laws of God do likewise attribute to them a shadow of the Divine excellencies viz. VVingates Maxim fol. 301. 1 Divine perfection 2 Infinitenesse 3. Majesty 4 Soveraignty 5. perpetuity 6. Justice 7. Truth 8 Omniscienc Of which I have already treated Nay as God is a King in Heaven so the King is stiled a God upon Earth Finch 81. He is the Head Father Physician and husband of the Common-wealth He is Gods Lieutenant Deputy Vicegerent receiving his Commission from God not from the people These are the titles which the Common Laws of England give to the King A Divine sentence is in the lips of the King his mouth transgresseth not in judgement Prov. 16.10 saith Gods word Therefore the Law receiveth it for a Maxim That the King can do no wrong Co. Lit. f. 19. He is Rex gratia Dei non populi King by the grace of God not of the people The most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will Dan. 4.17 Therfore all the Lands and Tenements in England in the hands of Subjects are holden mediately or immediately of the King but the King is Tenant to none but God 8 H. 7 12. Co. Lit. 1. For Praedium Domini Regis est Directum Dominium cujus nullus author est nisi Deus Only God is the author and Donor of the Kings Dominions Therefore the possessions of the King are called sacra Patrimonia Dominica Coronae Regis The King is the Lords anointed 1 Sam. 10.1 Therefore the Law giveth reverence to his Person and maketh him supreme in Ecclesiastical causes The villain of a Lord in the presence of the King cannot be seized because the presence of the King is a protection to the villain for that time 27 ass Pla. 49. Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly Job 34.18 Therefore no Civil much lesse Criminal action lyeth against the King if he doth unjustly the only remedie against the King is by petition and supplication for who shall command the King Stamford Praer fol. 5. Bracton fol. 5. Flera fol. 17. Finch 13. The Prerogative which the Common-law giveth the King is so large as Sir Henry Finch saith that you shall find that to be law almost in every case of the King that is law in no case of the Subject Finch fol. 85.
And therefore Sir John Davis in his preface confidently averreth that the common-Common-law doth excel all other laws in upholding a free Monarchy which is the most excellent form of Government exalting the Prerogative royal and being tender and watchful to preserve it and yet maintaining all the Ingenuous liberty of the Subject Nay so carefull is the law of the Kings Soveraignty that in all cases from the highest to the lowest it demonstrateth the Kings supreme power and dignity The law will not permit any Subject to come so near the King as to be jointenant with him for if Lands are given to the King and a subject or if there be two Jointenants and the Crown descend to one of them the Jointure is severed and they are Tenants in Common for no Subject is equal with the King Co. Lit. 190. Plowd Com. in Seig. Barkleys Case Nay rather than the Suâ—â—ect shall be equal with the King in any thing he shall lose all for the King being Tenant in Common of entier Chattel personal he shall have the whole as if an Obligation be made to two or two possessed of an horse and one is attainted the King shall have the whole duty of the Obligation and the horse 13 El. pl. 322. Finch 178. To instance all particular cases is endlesse and impossible all land is holden of the King immediately or by means himself not having any higher upon earth of whom to hold 50 Ass pl. 1. 18 Eli. Pl. 498. For it would be against Common right and reason that the King should hold of any or do service to any of his subjects saith Cook lib. 8.118 Because he hath no Superior but God almighty Cook Lit. 1. Escheats of all Cities appertaineth unto the King all mines of Gold and silver or wherein the gold and silver is of the greater value appertain unto the King 8 E. 3. Escheat 12. 1 El. Plo. 314. The King is Anima legis he governeth and defendeth the law all Writs and Processe run in his name and receive authority onely from him and all persons have their power from him and by his Writ Patent or Commission The King hath the sole Government of his subjects The body Politick and the natural body of the King make one body and not diverse and are inseparable and indivisible Plo. 234 242.213 lib. 7.12 Rex tuetur legem lex tuâ—tur jus We muâ— be for God and the King because by his laws we are protected and it is a miserable case to be out of the Kings Protection Co. Lit. 129. All Jurisdictions and the punishment of all offenders against the Laws belongs to the King And Treasons Felonies and other Pleas of the Crown are propriae causae regis For why The King is viva Lex a living Law who only hath power to give Laws and therefore he only ought to punish those who break them Not the Parliament as it is called viz. the two Houses or either of them singly because they without the King can make no Law and therefore they are murtherers because they have put to death many worthy Innocents having no other Law but their own wicked wills And for my part if any one should tell me that the Law of England is nothing but the will of the King I could not disprove him for what are the great volumes of our Statutes but the Monuments and Repertory of the Kings will What is the reason that it is a Law that the King cannot make new or alter old Laws but in Parliament with the consent of his Lords and Commons Because the King was pleased to will it so for it was not so from the beginning The King was long before Parliaments and therefore did most certainly make Laws without them What is an Act of Parliament but the will of the King Nay what is Magna Charta but a Roy le veilt All our Rights and Liberties we enioy are by the gracious concessions of our Soveraign Lord the King who esteemeth our good and freedom his best praerogative and happinesse Omnium domos illius vigilia defendit omnium otium illius labor omnium delitias illius industria omnium vacationem illius occupatio The King by his watch and diligent care doth defend and keep every mans house in safety his labour doth maintain and defend every mans rest and quiet his diligence doth preserve and defend every private mans pleasure and delight his businesse doth maintain and defend every mans leasure So that as Manwood hath it even as the head of a natural body doth continually watch and with a provident care still ook about for the safety and preservation of every member of the same body Even so the King being the head of the body of the Commonweal doth not only continually carry a watchful eye for the preservation of peace and quietnesse at home amongst his own Subjects but also to preserve and keep them in peace and quietnesse from any forein invasion Therefore if the Rebells since the murther of our gracious King Charles the first have taken the freeborn Subjects of this Nation and imprisoned them like Slaves without any just cause or due processe of Law If they have violently driven us from our Lands and Livelyhoods possessing themselves of them and taken away our free Customs and Liberties If they have unjustly deprived us of the benefit of the Law banished us out of our Country and destroyed us with their high Courts of Injustice without the verdict of our equalls contrary to the Law of the Land if they have delayed Justice and Right denyed it to all men and granted it to no man but to those who would buy it Blesse God for Charles the first and pray for the restauration of Charles the second Praise God for their noble Praedecessours who have been our Nursing Fathers and their Queens our nursing Mothers who have willed and enacted Magna Charta ca. 29. Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur aut dissisietur de libero tenemento suo vel libertatibus vel liberis consuetudinibus suis aut utlagagetur aut exuletur aut aliquo modo destruatur nec super ibimus nec super eum mittemus nisi per legale judicium parium suorum vel per legem terrae nulli vendemus nulli negabimus aut differemus justitiam vel rectum That no man should be arrested imprisoned disseised of his Free-hold of his Liberties or free customes or out-lawed bâ—nished or otherwise destroyed but by the verdict of his equals and the Law of the Land neither should Law and Justice be delayed sold or denyed to any man but the King in judgment of Law is present in all his Courts of Justice repeating these words We will sell deny nor delay Justice and right to no man Inst 2.55 O Magnificent blessed and golden Oration It proceeded from the lips of Kings and we shall never hear such Doctrine preached again in any of our Courts of Justice untill our King be
his Majesty before he was crowned King But it was clearly resolved by all the Judges of England that presently by the descent his Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King without any essential ceremony or act to be done Ex post facto and that Coronation was but a royal ornament and outward solemniation of the descent And this evidently appeareth by infinite Presidents and book cases where such execrable opinions have been no sooner hatched than destroyed and if the Judges of our age had been so honest as to have cropped in the bud such like opinions broached by the Rebells Charls the first had still been our King and we a flourishing and happy Kingdom Although the King of England hath two Capacities the one by Nature the other by Policy yet ligeance is due to the King in his natural capacity and his natural and politick body make but one indivisible body Plo. 213. The Oath of Alligeance is made to the natural person of the King so is the Oath of Supremacy and all Inditements of Treason when any do intend or compasse mort◠et destructionem Domini Regis the death and destruction of the Lord our King which must needs be understood of his natural body for his politick body is immortal and not subject to death the Inditement concludeth contra ligeantiae suae debitum ergo the ligeance is due to the natural body vid. Fitt Justice of Peace 53. Plo. Com. 384. in the Earl of Leicesters case It is true that the King in genere dyeth not but no question in individuo he dyeth as for example Charls the first dyed yet the King is not dead because Charls the second whom God preserve is still alive For by the Laws of England there can be no interregnum within the same lib. 7.11 And to affirm as the Traytors now do that the Kings power is separable from his person is high Treason by the Law of the Land hear the Oracle of the Law tell you so lib. 7.11 In the Reign saith he of Edward the second the Spencers the Father and the Son to cover the Treason hatched in their hearts invented this damnable and damned opinion that Homage and Oath of Ligeance was more by reason of the Kings Crown that is of his politick capacity than by reason of the person of the King upon which opinion they inferred execrable and detestable consequents 1. If the King do not demean himself by reason in the right of his Crown his Lieges are bound by Oath to remove the King 2. Seeing that the King could not be reformed by Sute of Law that ought to be done by aspertee that is by force 3. That his Lieges be bound to Govern in aid of him and in default of him All which were condemned by two Parliaments one in the Reign of E. 2. called exilium Hugonis le Spencer and the other in Anno 1 E. 3. cap. 1. If the opinions of the Spencers were so wicked and detestable what then are the actions of the Rebells of our age who have put in practice what was but intended by the Spencers and that they might reform the King according to their minds cut off his head because he was a headhigher than they O Monstrous Reformers Did I not know that the Euthusiasts of our times do by their diabolical interpretations subvert even the Holy word of the Almighty making themselves absolute Kings over the Scripture to do what they please with it though they will not permit their King to have Soveraignty over themselves his Vassals And like the raging torrent of the foaming flouds which running down the lofty Hills demolisheth and carrieth away all opposites in its roaring Streams or as the violent fury of a Masterless headstrong multitude who hew down Kings as well as Royal Subjects in their tempestuous fury so these men set upon the Bible and stretch every Text of Scripture to their own meaning although there is as great a distance between their meaning and the Scripture as there was betwixt the Glutton in Hell and Lazarus in Abrahams Bosom in Heaven else should I wonder how they could seem to make the very Letter of the Law speak against the very Letter and like the Philosophers stone which turneth all things into Gold so the tongues of these men turn the sense of all the Lawbooks into their golden meaning and cite those books as authorities on their sides which are so contrary and opposite against them as if they had been purposely prepared to encounter and confute them For where is the Kings Soveraignty more fully demonstrated and evidenced than in Reverend Bracton and what book so much abūsed as his For lib. 2. cap. 24. speaking of Liberties and who had power to give them Quis saith he who hath power he answereth that the King hath For Sciendum quòd ipse dominus Rex qui ordinariam habet jurtsdictionem et dignitatem et potestatem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt habet enim omnia jura in manu sua quae ad coronam et laicalem pertinent potestatem materialem gladium qui pertinet ad regni gubernaculum habet etiam justitiam et judicium quae sunt jurisdictiones ut ex jurisdictione suae sicut dei minister vicarius tribuat unicuique quod suum fuerit Habet enim ea quae sunt pacis ut populus sibi traditus in pace sileat quiescat ne quis alterum verberet vulneret vel male tractet ne quis alienam rem per vim roberiam auferat vel asportet ne quis hominem Mahemiet vel occidat Habet enim coercionem ut delinquentes puniat coerceat Item habet in potestate sua leges constitutiones assisas in regno suo provisas et approbatas et juratas ipse in propria persona observet et subditis suis faciat observari nihil enim prodest jura condere nisi sit qui jura tueatur Habet igitur Rex hujusmodi jura five jurisdictiones in manu sua And again in the same Chapter ea quae jurisdictionis funt pacis ea quae sunt justitiae paci annexae ad nullum pertinent nisi ad coronam dignitatem regiam nec a Corona separari poterunt cum faciant ipsam Coronam The sum of which in English is this the King hath supreme power in all civil causes the Law floweth solely from him he is super omnes above all men in his Kingdom all jurisdictions are in him The material Sword of right belongs to him and whatsoever conduces to peace that the people committed to his charge may live peaceably and quietly The power of holding Assizes is derived from him and of punishing Delinquents for it would be in vain to Enact Laws if there was not some body enabled to protect us by defending them c. And the same Author saith lib. 2. ca. 9. Potentia vero omnes sibi subitos praecellere parem autem habere
he repenteth But without repentance he must expect nothing but a Traytors reward in this World I leave him to Gods mercy in the World to come But since it is the manner of Worldlings to set the best side formost the purest grain commonly lyeth in the mouth of the Sack and a fair Apple many times hath a rotten coar Therefore behold the specious Title of Mr. Prynnes book and the cunning Sophistry in his Mental Reservation by which he hath deceived the common people befooled himself and undone the whole Kingdom the Title of his book is The Parliament and Kingdom are the Soveraign power Any man would think that by the word Parliament Mr. Prynne meant the King the House of Lords and the House of Commons because by the Law of the Land there can be no Parliament without the King neither can the two Houses by Law act any thing without him and then if he means so no man will deny but that the Parliament hath the Soveraign power But alas he hath no such thoughts he means as by the stuff of his book is manifest that the two Houses or the major part of them have the Soveraign power and that they may enact any thing without the King as well as with him Thus by lifting up the Legs and Feet too high he hath given the Head a fall and battered the whole Body into pieces O unhappy Member who would have the Heels execute the Office of the Brains and maintain the Warr of the inferiour Members against the Superiour to be legal and consciencious In his Epistle Dedicatory to the Lords and Commons whom he calleth Eternally Renowned Senators and most cordial Philopaters he will not now tell you they were eternal Mr Prynne termeth all contrary opinions to his though they be the opinions of Bishops and farr better Lawers than himself to be but the vain empty brain-sick lying fancies of a few illiterate impolitick Court Chaplains Lawyers Sycophants c. How irreverently and discourteously he hath dealt with his Gracious Soveraign Lord and Master the King let his book judge where he can scarce speak of the King at any time without taxing him with perjury lying popery and murther He raileth against the treachery and disloyalty of Popish Parliaments Prelates Lords and Subjects to their Soveraign and so concludeth that they have made greater innovations and encroachments on the Crown and in an higher degree than ever did the long Parliament which he hopes will for ever silence the clamorous tongues of all ill Counsellers Courtiers Royalists Malignants Papists and Cavalliers against the proceedings of that Parliament see the 1. part of his Book fol. 33. as if the excessive abundance of other mens sinnes would justifie the sinnes of the long Parliament And indeed the most of his arguments are à facto ad jus which especially in the Kings case is no argument at all The books of the Royalists to maintain the Kings just prerogatives he calleth anti-Parliamentary Pamphlets and the Authors of them he calleth Malignant Popish Vipets illiterate ignorant injudicious Court Doctors and Lawyers and Anti-parliamental Momusses But is not Mr. Prynne the Anti-parliamental Momus and viper who setteth the body above the head maintaineth that the two Houses or the major part have the Soveraign power may act without the King levy warre against him and kill him too by defending themselves which as he telleth you he will justifie both in point of law and conscience O unhappy law O the no Conscience which teacheth men to kill Kings and the Subjects to levy warre against their Soveraign David the Lords anointed cryed The Lord forbid that he should do this thing But Mr. Prynne a Presbyterian cryeth The Lord forbid that it should not be done Oh the difference between a holy David and a rigid Presbyterian He maketh the ignorance as he termeth it of other men the greatest ground of his arguments He calleth all Divines and Lawyers a company of seemingly scient though really inscient self-conceited Court Doctors Priests and Lawyers Doctum genus indoctissimorum hominum vix ad Doroberniam usque docti who hold an opinion contrary to his truely so named by himself Vid. Epist 1. part of Soveraign power c. dangerous Paradoxes and upstart Enthusiasmes He endeavoureth to make us all our Ancestors and all Kingdomes fooles himself the only omniscient He revileth the King and all his royal party by the names of Murtherers Popish cut-throats ignorant Momusses and an unnatural generation of popish and malignant vipers But To his ever honoured noble kind friends the right Honourable Lord Ferdinando Fairfax the right worshipfull Sir William Waller and Sir William Bruerton Knights Commanders in Chief of the Parliaments forces which is the superscription to his Epistle of the 3d. part of the Sovereign power c. These he calleth in the Vocative case Deservedly renowned worthies So that as none but Homer could expresse the praises due to Homer so none but Mr. Prynne can expresse the aspersions which Mr. Prynne hath cast upon his Master the King and his betters the loyal Royalists for who can come after Mr. Prynne in railing where he letteth his pen flye out You must take his own interpretations for true Maxims and his own meaning both of Scripture and Law-books must go for current Doctrine otherwise you spoil his whole building and that which he recites for him will be most against him Nay his averments must passe for undoubted axioms But you will ask me then How can Mr. Prynne be clear from the guilt of blasphemy who in his 3d. part of the Soveraign power of Parliaments fol. 6. declareth himself in these words viz. I dare confidently averre it was never the thought nor intention of Paul or of the Holy Ghost to inhibit Subjects by defensive armes to resist Kings themselves under pain of damnation For my part I will not invectively censure Mr. Prynne as guilty of Blasphemy nor scold at him as a Subverter of Scripture Parasite c. as he hath done at others who are contrary to him in opinion but let me tell him that if he had averred that it was never the thought nor intention of St. Paul or the Holy-Ghost to inhibit Subjects by offensive arms to resist Kings themselves under pain of damnation I should have as soon believed him for Saint Paul saith Rom. 13.1 2. Let every Soul be Subject unto the higher Powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Now if St. Pauls thoughts and intention be not according to his words then Mr. Prinns confident averrment perhaps may be true but if St. Paules thoughts and intention be according to his words as most certainly they are then Mr. Prinns averrment is but a false allegation and a belying of St. Paul and the Holy-Ghost for by Saint Paules Doctrine he
which is not subject too but resisteth the power shall receive damnation but whosoever with defensive arms resisteth the King is not subject to but doth resist the power Therehe which with defensive arms resisteth the King shall receive damnation The Major no man can deny the Minor is inviolable and the Conclusion is perfect and sound There be those indeed who do confidently averr and have written a book too that there were men before Adam but I could never see any Scripture but their own interpretations and meanings to warrant their averments And untill Mr. Pryn can produce Texts of Scripture to warrant and maintain his confident averment he must excuse me if I still hold St. Paules Doctrine Canonical and his averment meer Apocripha For suppose the King subverteth both Law and Religion yet doth not that take away his supreme power he is still a King and Gods ordinance Saul was a King though an impious sinner and there have been wicked Kings as well as wicked Subjects to do evil saith one is no power but impotency therefore if the King command me to murther my self my Father to destroy my Country or to do any other wicked act I will not do it but obey God not him because it is his corruption not any power he hath from whence his commandment proceedeth and therefore I am not obliged to obey him because I must be a Subject to his power not to his sins yet if he should run after me with a naked Sword to kill me my Father my Mother ruine my Country Laws and Religion Yet would not I with defensive arms lift up my hands against him to resist hurt and destroy him because he is still my King and hath still that supreme power which God placed in him although he doth not then execute it and therefore if I should with defensive Arms lift up my hands to resist hurt and destroy him I should with defensive Arms lift up my hands to resist hurt and destroy the Ordinance of God and so receive damnation for my reward Not to perform the Kings command is a resistance although we suffer death Therefore if it be the Kings power and not his wicked will which commandeth me to do an evil thing if I did not perform his evil commandment I should resist his power and so be lyable to damnation although I patiently and meekly suffered death But doubtlesse the Kings power cannot command me to do any evil but it must proceed from his sinfull will for God is not the Author of any unrighteousnesse and there is no power but what God is the Author of therefore according to venerable Bede the Apostle doth not say Non est cupiditas nisi a Deo est enim mala cupiditas quae non est a deo nocendi autem voluntas potest esse a suo quoque animo pravo That there is no concupiscence but what is of God for there is an evil concupiscence which is not from God and the evil will of sinning proceedeth from our own depraved mindes therefore if the King command me to do an evil thing I ought to obey God not his wicked will but rather than to lift up my hands against him though in my defence I ought cheerfully and meekly to suffer a thousand deaths for by dying unjustly here I shall live eternally in Heaven and since the Glory of a Christian is the Crosse by suffering and dying a Martyr I shall obtain everlasting Glory and by my thus doing well I shall get praise even of the Power which the Kings wicked will made use of to destroy me but defence against the power of a King is offence therefore if with defensive arms I should fight against him I should resist Gods Ordinance and so receive damnation for by Gods Ordinance the King hath the power over all and his Actions ought not to be questioned or resisted by any but the Almighty But for my part I hold clearly that when the King executeth Tyranny taketh away the Lives or Estates of his Subjects unjustly that he doth it not only by reason of his wicked will according to the precedent distinction but by force and virtue of his power which God hath given him and that this is the power which St. Paul commandeth us to be subject unto which if we resist we shall receive damnation and that for several reasons It is most certain that there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God for by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him Col. 1.16 Which expressions in the Abstract do expresse existents in the Concrete from whence it followeth that bad Kings have their power from God and are Gods Ordinance as well as good And it is manifest in Scripture that wicked Kings are often sent for the punishment of a Nation as in Hosea 13.11 I gave them a King in my wrath and took him away in mine anger And God commandeth us to pray for and be subject not only to the good but also to the bad Kings I exhort you that Prayers and Supplications and Thanksgiving be made for all men for Kings and such as are in Authority 1 Tim. 2.1 Thus Abraham prayed for King Abimeleck Gen. 20.17 And Jacob blessed the King of Aegypt Gen. 47.10 Yet the Kings of those times were Infidels and most notoriously wicked No man is ignorant that Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed Jerusalem was a great spoyler and oppressor yet the Lord tells us by Ezekiel that he had given unto him the Land of Aegypt for the good service he had done in laying it waste on his Commandement And Daniel said unto him thus Dan. 2.37 Thou O King art a King of Kings for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom Power and Strength and Glory and wheresoever the Children of men dwell the Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of Heaven hath he given into thy hand and hath made thee Ruler over them all Again to Belshazzar his Son Dan. 5.18 The most high God gave unto Nebuchadnezzar thy Father a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Honour and for the Majesty that he gave him all people Nations and Languages trembled and feared before him And again Jer. 27.6 I have made the Earth saith the Lord the Man and the Beast that are upon the ground by my great power and by my outstretched Arm and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me And now have I given all these Lands into the Hands of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon my Servant and the Beasts of the Field have I given him also to serve him and all Nations shall serve him and his Son and his Sons Son untill the very time of his Land come And it shall come to passe that the Nation and Kingdom which will not serve the same Nebcchadnezzar
is never good which turneth again and the good Christian will suffer himself to be broken in a thousand pieces before he will turn again with resistance against his persecuting King for why He knoweth that though he suffer here on Earth yet God will glorifie him in Heaven though he be contemned by the King yet he shall be exalted by God and though he dye by the Kings unlawfull command yet his comfort is that his dead body shall arise by the eternal Decree of the Almighty and so the good will always receive praise of the Power Neither are the Rulers a terrour to him because he always aboundeth with good works Hor. Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri Jaculis nequè arcuâ— Nec Venenatis gravida sagitis Fusce Pharetra Who lives upright and pure of heart Oh Fuscus neither needs the Dart Nor Bow nor Quiver fraught with store Of Shafts envenom'd by the Moor. Innocence is the only buckler which protecteth a loyal Subject from the terrour of his Soveraign But Traytors who have rebelled against their king deserved death by the known Laws of the Land These men must preach up Mr. Prynnes Doctrine to cover their malice hold the truth in unrighteousnesse and when with offensive Arms contrary to all Law and Religion and against their allegiance and oaths they set upon the Kings sacred Majesty and with an innumerous multitude of unhallowed Rebels they fight against and strive to murther their dread Soveraign in the open Air They must have the impudence with Mr. Prynne to excuse themselves may think it a glorious Apology To averr confidently that it was never the meaning of St. Paul nor the Holy Ghost to inhibit Subjects to take up defensive Arms against Kings themselves And thus they invoke St. Paul himself and the Holy Ghost to patronize their wicked Treasons and unparallel'd Rebellions and belch out Blasphemy to defend their injustice and themselves from the justice of their injured Soveraign The Apostles did not only teach us with their Doctrine that resistance of the power was unlawful but also suffered themselves to be wickedly massacred and murthered before they would resist an unjust power Nay all the primitive Christians which Mr. Prynne confesseth although they were many in number and sufficiently able to defend themselves against their Persecutors by force and Arms yet did refuse to do it yielding themselves up to any tortures punishments deaths without the least resistance of the power either in word or deed Nay our Saviour himself acknowledged that Pilate had power given him from above to Crucifie him as you may read in St. Iohn 19.10 Then saith Pilate unto him Speakest thou not unto me knowest thou not that I have power to Crucifie thee and have power to release thee Jesus answered Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above Therefore he which delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin Yet Mr. Prynne with his confident averrment for he cannot bring one word of Scripture for what he saith goeth about to maintain the defensive Warr as he calls it of the Subjects against their Soveraign Lord the King lawfull both in point of Law and Conscience Tantumnè potest suadere malorum Religio Could his Religion do this His surely and only his for it is against the foundation of Christian Religion and Mr. Prynne must publish a new Gospel or else rectifie the Bible at the Presbyterian Oracle before his King-killing books will be Canonical He bringeth his arguments from the time that never was nor ever will be for saith he 2d pâ—rt of his Soveraign power of Parliaments fo 82 83. Kingdoms were before Kings ergo the King hath no absolute negative voyce c. I alwayes thought that Kings were before Kingdoms they being correlativa and doubtlesse if Fathers were before Sons and Masters before Servants then Mr. Prynne speaks nonsense but for his Apology you must understand that he means Countryes and people were before Kings but I think that is false too for the first man Adam was a King and Mr. Prynne cannot shew any time before England was governed by Kings And the word Kingdom in the Reports of our book cases and in Acts of Parliaments also is oftentimes taken for the King himself as you may read in Calvins case lib. 7.12 Therefore since by the Laws of the Land there can be no Parliament without the King that the word Kingdom is often used for the King himself who can deny the truth of the Title of Mr. Prynnes book which saith That the Parliament and Kingdom are the Soveraign power But latet anguis in herba Open the leaves of his book and you will see the mystery of iniquity clouted together If the King saith Mr. Prynne dye without heir then the people might make what lawes they should think fit Ergo the Members at this day have power without the King to make Lawes and are the most absolute supreme power and law-giver not the King If the Sky fall we may perhaps catch Larks but it doth not therefore follow that we may catch Larks presently Mr. Prynne knoweth that it is a Maxim in Law that the King never dyeth But admit the King should dye without heir and that then the people had power to make Lawes yet grosse it were to conclude that the members of the two Houses might so do because they are dissolved and are extinct when the King dyeth Therefore with more reason as a Royalist observes the King might argue thus All the lands in England are holden mediatly or immediately of the King and if the owners dye without heir by the lawes of the Realm their lands escheat to the Crown and so become at the Kings disposal But every man may dye without heir Ergo All the lands in England at this present are the proper inheritance of the King No Lawyer can deny Major or Minor yet the Conclusion thereupon is absurd The Court of Parliament saith Mr. Prynne hath power to avoid the Kings Charters c. made against law Ergo it hath the Soveraign power and is above the King and why not Ergo the Court of Chancery or any other of the Courts of Law at Westminster have the soveraign power and are above the King for they have power to nullifie and avoid the Kings Charters c. made against Law But I am sick of Mr. Prynnes impertinence and nonsense if any one be desirous to drink more of it I referre him to the Ocean his Book I will only give you a taste of the abuses which Mr. Prynne hath cast on Venerable Bracton and how Mr. Prynne endeavoureth to make Bracton speak Mr. Prynne's own sense against Bracton's own sense expresse words and meaning And since Mr. Prynne can make the Gospel and Holy Ghost speak what he pleaseth no wonder if he hath the Law-books at his beck Bracton saith as you have already heard That the King
hath no Peer in his Kingdome for so he should lose his Empire since Peers or Equals have no command over one another much more then ought he not to have a superiour or mightier for so he should be inferiour to those who are subject to him and inferiours cannot be equal to superiours Now saith Mr. Prynne according to the old Jesuitical distinction The meaning of Bracton is That the King is above every one of his subjects and hath no Peer nor superiour if they be taken particularly and distributively as single men but if we take them collectively in Parliament as they are one body and represent the whole Kingdome then the Subjects are above the King and may yea ought to restrain and question his actions his Male-administrations if their be just cause By which meaning of Bracton as he calleth it but in truth only his own Mr. Prynne would prove the Parliament to have the Soveraign power over the King and Kingdome Truly I think the very recital of what Bracton hath written and what Mr. Prynne writeth is Bracton's meaning is enough to convince and make appear even to the blind that Mr. Prynne is worse than a false Commentator and an absurd deceiver But howsoever I will examine them and let the world judge how they agree The King hath no Peer in his Kingdome saith Bracton But the Parliament and people the Kings Subjects are in his Kingdome Ergo neither the Parliament nor people collectively or distributively are the Kings Peer or equal But why hath the King no Peer in his Kingdome Because then he should lose his Empire So he should if the Parliament was his Peer and Bracton did never intend that the King should lose his Empire for he saith the King ought by no meanes to have a superiour or mightier Mr. Prynne saith he ought by all meanes to have the Parliament his superiour and mightier But wherefore ought not the King to have a Superiour because saith Bracton so he should be inferiour to those who are subject to him The Parliament and People confess themselves to be the Kings Subjects yet Mr. Prynn would have them to be the Kings Superiour Expressly against Bractons words and meaning and a meer nonsensical Contradiction And the reason why Mr. Prynne saith Bracton did only mean that any single man was not the Kings Superiour or Equal not the Parliament is because Bracton saith Rex non habet parem nec Superiorem in regno suo seing Parem and Superiorem in the singular number I pray what Latine would Mr. Prynne have Bracton speak could he have expressed himself better and too Mr. Prynne pretendeth the Parliament to be only the Kings Superiour not Superiours Therefore doth not the singular number fully answer Mr. Prynne in all points but Mr. Prynne may hear Bracton confute him in the plural number too if he please as I have already shewed saying Rex habet potestatem et jurisdictionem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt and again Potentia vero omnes fibi subditos praecellet Where is Mr. Prynns almighty Parliament now Bracton telleth him if they be in the Kings Dominions that the King hath power over and above them and Mr. Prynne must find out some Utopia for them in the air to inhabit before he can prove either by Law or Gospel that the Parliament is above of hath Soveraign power over the King Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo et sub Lege quia Lex facit Regem saith Bracton but the King himself ought to be under the Parliament saith Mr. Prynne and why not under the women for if Mr. Prynne will say that the Parliament is not comprehended in the word Homine so likewise may he say that neither are women Bracton saith that the King ought to be under none but God and unless Mr. Prynne can make his Parliament a God Almighty he can never make out that the King is under it For according to Bractons Doctrine the King is under none but God Omnis quidem sub rege et ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Which is sufficient testimony that the King is under no mortal man or men yet he is sub Lege under the Law because the Law maketh the King Ergo saith Mr. Prynne The Parliament maketh the King and Governeth him with the Laws which the Parliament first made O Grand Imposture Can any man but Mr. Prynne forge such a consequence Rex solutus a Legibus quò ad vim coactivam subditus est legibus quo ad vim directivam propria voluntate The King indeed is under the Law because he will be ruled by the Law but if he will not no man hath power to compel or punish him according to the opinion of Thomas Aquinas The King is free from the Coercive power of the Law but he may be subject to its directive power yet according to his own will and inclination that is God can only compell and command him but the Law and his Courts may direct and advise him Every honest man is bound to perform and fulfill his word and the King is so much under and subject to the Laws which he maketh that he will perform and fulfill them but if not Dominum expectet ultorem which is the only punishment for Kings And satis sufficit that is enough too according to Reverend Bracton But that the Parliament therfore maketh the King and may question his actions according to Mr. Prynns Sophistry is a meer non sequitur The Law indeed maketh the King for he hath a legal Title to his Crown he is made our King by the Law of God and the Law of the Kingdom which cannot be without a King but that the Law of the Parliament or that the Law by the Parliament made the King is such a Chimaera that is no where to be found but in Mr. Prynnes unsetled brain For the King of England was made a long time before Parliaments were invented or thought on The King indeed first made Parliaments and gave them their being who now have unmade their King and took away his living O ungrateful Servants who rob their Master O ungracious Children who murther their Father which begot them So much for Mr. Prynne and his pestilent book the prodigious offspring of a revengeful head whom I would not have mentioned but to vindicate the truth for which I will both live and dye One thing Reader I recommend to thee worthy of the observation of all Christians and as a just judgement of the Almighty God Psal 33.10 who bringeth the Counsel of the Heathen to nought and maketh the devices of the people of none effect Which is that Mr. Prynne who was the only Champion to fight against the truth with his pen as the Rebels did with their Swords to maintain and applaud the long Parliament in their Treason and Rebellion against their Soveraign was afterwards ill intreated by his
own stipendaries and cast out of the pack as an unprofitable Member He incouraged the Souldiers to fight against the King dedicated his Volumes to their chief Commanders loaded them with high Commendations and incomparable praises and made them believe that they could do God no better service than to go on vigorously in their Rebellion So that it may be truly said that his paper pellets did more harm than the roaring Guns or cutting Swords He laboured night and day to glorifie and vindicate the Parliament in their wicked proceedings at home and as his books will manifest he spared many hours from his natural rest to promote the unnatural Warrs abroad Yet now nec invideo he prosecuteth them with reproaches as much as he did then with praises himself being become hatefull to them all verifying the Proverb of Solomon cap. 24.24 He that saith unto the wicked thou art righteous him shall the people curse Nations shall abhorre him Therefore I once more advise him as a friend to write a book of Retractations The Lord be merciful unto us the men of our times would make one believe that there never was a King in the World Nay they would seem to make the Kings so highly esteemed of by God all the Prophets and Apostles in Scripture but meer white walls the empty shadows of the people and the Bible but a bundle of Fables as if God never took no more notice of a King than of an ordinary Porter How Judas sirnamed the Long Parliament betrayed and murthered Charles the first The best of all Kings and contrary to all Law and Religion and the common interest of the people Banish Charles the 2d our only lawful King and Governour The mystery of their iniquity laid open and that they are the greatest and most wicked Tyrants that ever dwelt upon the face of the Earth and the Child which is unborn will rue the day of their untimely birth Of what persons a Parliament consisteth No Parliament without the King The Original institution of Parliaments and that the House of Commons which now make themselves Kings over King and people were but as of yesterday have no legal power but what is derived from the King and never were intrusted with any power from the people much lesse with the Soveraignty which they now Tyrannically usurpe The Kings Soveraignty over Parliament and people copiously proved King Charles his Title to the Crown of England To him only belongeth the Militia the power of chusing Judges Privy Counsellors and other great Officers c. He is head in Ecclesiastical causes and our sole Legislator Our Ancestors alwayes found and accounted Monarchy to be the best of Governments and most profitable for us yet these 40 or 50. Tyrants contrary to all Antiquity and common sense and feeling sit and vote Monarchy dangerous and burthensome That all persons put to death since the murther of Charles the Martyr by the power of our new States-men have been murthered and their Judges Murtherers and so it will continue until they receive their power and authority from Charles the 2d and that we shall never enjoy peace or plenty until our King be restored to his Kingdoms which a pack of Tyrants and Traytors not the People keep from him How the Law abhorreth to offer violence to the King and how these Rebels transgresse all Laws both of God and Man to uphold themselves in their unparallel'd Villanies A History which commandeth the serious contemplation of our age and worthy of the observation of all the people in the World and of all future Generations not that they might imitate but detest and loath these Perfidious and Rebellious transactions Perlege deinde scies HAving sufficiently prov'd out of our Law books that by the Common Law of the Realm the King hath the Soveraign power over Parliament and People and ought not to be questioned for his actions by any of his Subjects taken either distributively or collectively in one intire body because he hath no Superiour on Earth but God Almighty Let us now take a brief view of the Statutes and Acts of Parliament which have from Age to Age confirmed what I have said as an undoubted inviolable and indisputable truth And since there are those amongst us who talk much of a power in the Parliament as they call the two Houses which they pretend to be above and Superiour to the King Let us examine what this high and mighty Creature is whence and when it had its original what is its true natural and legal power and of what persons it doth consist The Kings high Court of Parliament consisteth of the Kings Majesty sitting there as in his Royal politick capacity and of the three Estates of the Realm viz. 1 Of the Lords spiritual Arch-Bishops and Bishops being in number 24 who sit there by succession in respect of their Counties or Baronies parcell of their Bishopricks which they hold also in their politick capacity 2. The Lords temporal Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons who sit there by reason of their Dignities which they hold by descent or creation being in number 106. And every one of these when the King vouchsafeth to hold a Parliament hath a Writ of Summons The third Estate is the Commons of the Realm which are divided into three parts viz. into Knights of Shires or Counties Citizens out of Cities and Burgesses out of Borroughs All which the King commandeth his Sheriffs to cause to come to his Parliament being respectively Elected by the Shires or Counties Cities and Burroughs and in number 493. It is called Parliament because every Member of the Court should sincerely and discreetly Parler la ment for the general good of the Common-wealth This Court of Parliament is the most high and absolute the supremest and most antient in the Realm it Maketh Enlargeth Diminisheth Abrogateth Repealeth and Reviveth Laws Statutes Acts and Ordinances concerning matters Ecclesiastical Capital Criminal Common Civil Martial Maritine c. to be short so transcendent is the power and jurisdiction of the Parliament as it cannot be confined either for Causes or Persons within any bounds Of this Court it is truly said Si antiquitatem spectes est vetustissima si dignitatem est honoratissima si jurisdictionem est capacissima Yet notwithstanding this Almighty power as I may say of the Parliament do but cut off the Kings head or any ways take away the King and it is nothing Then a petty Court of Pypowders hath more power and jurisdiction than that The King is the Soul of the Parliament and without him it is but Putre Cadaver a stinking Carcasse for as my Lord Coke observeth of this Court the King is Caput principium et finis And it is a baser and more odious part then the Rump of a Parliament which wanteth all these and as in a natural body when all the Sinews being joyned in the head do joyn their forces together for the strengthening of the body
the due course of Law smote the Shepherd and so the sheep of the Protestant flock were all scattered abroad Bradshaw indeed that Pontius Pilate pressed the King very earnestly and by subtil and crafty inventions thought to have wrought upon the King to have submitted to their summa injuria their Arbitrary High Court of Injustice and pleaded So that his Example might have been urged as an irrefragable precedent against the lives and liberties of the whole Kingdome and that after ages might cite King Charles his case as an authority to kill Kings But the King foreseeing their delusive and abominable intentions rather than he would betray the lives and liberty of his free born subjects to the Arbitrary Lusts of these Tyrants told them of the great wickednesse they were about and shewed to his people how these Traitours endeavoured to inslave the whole Realm and so patiently suffered himself to be murdered dying a most true Martyr both for our Lawes and Religion but for plea he said nothing So Bradshaw more wicked than Pilate for instead of washing his hands he impudently bathed them in his Masters innocent blood gave the sentence of their wicked wills against him and delivered him over to the blood-thirsty to be crucified who spit upon him threw Tobacco pipes at him mocked him cryed out Away with him away with him Crucifie him Crucifie him cut off his Head with their wicked Engines and then cast lots for his Garments and Estate giving each Souldier a part But instead of writing over his head This is Charles the King of the Jews his true Title or rather the King of the Devils they writ over his head Exit Tyrannus Regum ultimus anno libertatis Angliae restitutae primo although in truth the best of Kings then went out and the greatest Tyranny under the Heavens then entred into our England comming far short of the Jews in all that is good but exceeding them in all wickednesse treachery perfidiousness and villany Now all this impious Council sought false witnesse against the King to put him to death but found none Therefore that they might do nothing without wickedness but proceed in all their Actions contrary almost to the very colour of Justice and make themselves the greatest and most illegal Tyrants that ever the world heard of they made themselves both Judges Jury Witness Party and Accuser in their own quarrel against the King For whereas by the Laws of the Land our gracious King alwayes made the Judges of the Land Arbitrators between his Subjects and himself in all cases from the lowest offence and trespass to the highest offence Crimen laesae Majestatis High Treason This Amalekite the House of Commons made part of themselves the Judges of the King who had committed the greatest Treason against the King and by the Laws of the Land deserved rather to hang at Tyburn than sit in the Chair of Justice likewise they made the Souldiers his Judges who professed themselves to be the Kings inveterate Enemies by their Remonstrances and Speeches and that they desired nothing more than his Blood and Life fought against him with their Guns and Swords Yet forsooth of this Hotchpotch of Traytors was their high Court of Justice made up Most of them being Collonels of the Army and other Souldiers who fought against him abroad and others Parliament men who conspired his ruine at home By the Laws of the Land it is a just exception to any Jury man who is to try the basest or poorest Felon and a legal challenge for which he must be withdrawn That he is a professed Enemy and Prosecutor who seeks his life and therefore no lawful nor indifferent tryer of him for it yet these bloody Butchers who professed themselves to be the Kings greatest Enemies and Prosecutors seeking after nothing so eagerly as the Kings life were both the Judges and Jury-men too to try the King Perjured O. Cromwell who then intended and afterwards effected to have the supreme power over these three Kingdoms was one of the Tryers to judge whether the King or himself with the rest of his brethren in iniquity deserved death and whether the King and his Royal Progeny ought not to be distroyed and Oliver and his stinking stock take possession O unparraleld lump of impiousness Aliquis non debet esse Judex in propria causà It is a Maxim in Law that no man ought to be Judge in his own cause Yet these villains made themselves the only Judge whether they committed Treason against the King or the King against them Nemo tenetur prodere seipsum No man is bound to accuse himself and it would have been a wonder indeed if these Rebels should have spoke the truth and said that they had committed high Treason against the King Therefore for fear the Law should punish them according to their deserts they thought good to prevent that mischief punish the King as they pleased according to their lusts And that they might make themselves the greatest Tyrants and the people the basest Slaves in the world they took upon them the Governing power which by Law only belongeth to the King 2. The Legislative power which likewise belongeth to the King with the concurrence of the upper and Lower House And 3. The Judicative power which belongeth to the Judges who are known Expositors and Dispencers of Law and Justice in all Causes brought before them So that these Trayterous Tyrants by their boundless and arbitrary wills put us to death when they please for what cause they please and take away our Estates when they see occasion And yet they have the impudence to tell us and many the sottishness to believe that the Parliament having the Supreme power doth all these villanies by Law O Abominable How these Tyrants mock the people with the name of a Parliament the Parliament consisteth of the King the head and about 600 of his Subjects and there were not above 50 or 60 of the Parliament who caused the King to be murthered and ruined his people yet these Schismaticks call themselves a Parliament and so having nothing good but their name Tyrannize over us They may as well say that the parings of the nailes of the toes are the whole man and have the power of all the other members as say that they are the Parliament or have any lawfull power they being nothing but the dregs and lees of the inferiour House from whom we must never expect any thing pleasing to any honest mans palate If the Parliament had power to depose the King yet what power can these few Gaol-Birds have who are scarce the tenth part of the Parliament and no Representatives of the People but only of their own Devilish ambitions By what authority do these Ignes fatui abolish Kingship and the House of Lords as dangedangerous and useless which all our Ancestors have found most profitable and glorious for our Kingdom These Currs have several times been kicked out of
odious woman when she is married and an Hand-maiâ— that is Heir to her Mistresse Is not our Englanâ— disquieted with all these Oh who can bear it yet these Tyrants rejoce at it Delight is not seemly for a Fool much lesse for a Servant to have ruâ— over Princes Pro. 19.10 Yet these Slaves tryumph over their Prince and scoff at his Miseries And as the Jews in a deriding manner said of oâ— Saviour This is Jesus King of the Jews So thesâ— Jews scoffingly call their Soveraign Lord The King of Scots yet keep his Kingdom from him jeeâ—ing him out of his Estate O Heavens As perpetually afterwards so allwayes before the Conquerour the legislative power did continue in the King tanquam in proprio subjecto as in the true and proper subject of that power and the Kings Edicts were the only positive Laws of the Realm and indeed who can be a King without this power for what difference is there between the King and Subject but that the one gives the Laws the other receiveth them And most clear it is by all Historians that the Common Council of our antient Kings were composed only of Prelates and Peers the Commons were not admitted to any Communication in affairs of State Camden in his Britannia telleth us that in the times of the Saxon Kings and in after Ages the Common Council of the Land was Praesentia Regis Praelatorum Procerumque collectorum The presence of the King with the Prelates and Peers Ingulphus who dyed before 1109 saith Rex Eldredus Convocavit Magnates Episcopos Proceres Optimates ad tractandum de publicis negotiis Regni He did not call the Commons So Edward the Confessor that great Legislâ—tor made all his Laws without the consent of the Commons Now when the Norman Conqueror one of the Praedecessors of Charles the Martyr came in who had a triple title to this Kingdome to wit by Donation Conquest and by the Consent of the people for as it is well known when Edward the Confessor lived in Normandy he gave this Kingdom after his decease to William Duke of Normandy as he was his kinsman near of bloud so that the Conquerour was heir of the Crown to the Confessor by adoption Which title if it was invalid you must know he was a Conquerour and no man will deny that Conquest maketh a legal title Jure Belli But suppose both those titles were as they were not invalid yet by the Law of Nations the Consent of the people maketh an inviolable title even to an Usurper in continuance of time if they have no other lawfull King much more to a lawfull Soveraign And his people our Ancestors ever since the Conquest for the space of about six hundred yeares have all done allegiance to and unanimously resolved that the Conquerour and his Successors were our only true Kings Liege Lords and Soveraigns having the supreme power over us and never did the people claim power to depose the King until those Monsters at Westminster under pretence of such a power murthered Charles the first and against all Law Justice and Equity and against thâ— wills of the people make themselves masters of our lives and fortunes and of all that we have taking them away when they please It would make a man cry and it would make a man laugh to see what fools these fellowes make of us Royal Government by Kings hath been used here time out of mind and approved by all our Ancestors to be the best of Governments and most natural and profitable for us yet these few stinking Members at Westminster made an Act March 17. 1648. contrary even to their own Oaths and Protestations to abolish the Kingly Government as unnecessary I use their own words burthensome and dangerous to the people as if this small company consisting of fifty or sixty at the most of the Scum and tail of the people were wiser and knew what was better for us than all our Ancestors both noble and ignoble in all ages But what was their reason to abolish Kingship To make each of themselves Kings nay Tyrannical Kings over us So may the slave say that the government of his Lord over him is unnecessary burthensome and dangerous and therefore he will murther his Lord and make himself Maâ—ter changeing the name and execute the office worse So may High-way men take away the true owners purse and tell him it was unnecessary for him to keep it or by the same law may thieves murther and rob the Master of his house and then vote the Master burthensome and dangerous to his family Yet notwithstanding while these Tyrants destroy our fundamental Government Lawes Religion Freedoms and Liberties making of us absolute slaves villains only to satiate their lust and pleasure yet even then they stile themselves The Keepers of the Liberty of England by Authority of Parliament Close and trusty keepers of our liberty indeed for we can come at none of it they keep it from us not for us so Wolves may call themselves keepers of the Lambs which they have caught or by the same law may a Cut-purse be called the keeper of the purse and be said to have the same care of it for they are heepers of our liberty only to keep themselves For by what authority was this Individuam vagum the Keepers erected By what authority why they will tell you by authority of Parliament Cunning Curres How they take the people with this word Parliament when God knows they themselves were all the Parliament by whose authority the thing called Keepers I know not what they be for I never yet heard them named were invented So may Adulterers vote themselves keepers of Chastity or so may I murther a man against his will and then call my self keeper of his life by his authority For they destroyed the Parliament when they destroyed the King and there hath been no Parliament since Vide 1 H. 4. Rot. Parl. n. 1.14 li. 4. Coke 4 Inst p. 46. and 4 C. 4. f. 440. Therefore they most falsly call themselves a Parliament Neither are they the Representatives of the people as I shewed before but a company of Ungracious Tyrants acting against the wills of the people Yet forsooth they tell us that the people have the supreme power and that they act for the people being their Representatives Just as if I should take away all that another man hath against his will and then tell him that he hath the supreme power over his goods and that I took them away by his authority and power or as if I should take away his money without his leave and tell him that I am his Representative So these Foxes cozen the people with nonsensical cheats and in all things are Representatives of the Devil not of the People for they all well know and some of them have declared so that if the people might chuse their Representatives those Representatives would restore the King to his
is as much to say as Tenures de persona Regis because the head is the principal part of the body and the King is the head of the body of the Commonwealth Which Tenures brought many profits and commodities to the Crown which would be too tedious here to particularize and are a clear testimony of the Kings Soveraignty For no man can alien those lands which he holdeth in Capite without the Kings Licence if they doe the King is to have a fine for the contempt and may seise the land and retain it untill the fine be paid By example and in imitation of the King For Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis Did the Nobles and Gentry of this Nation to whom the King had given large portions of land grant out parcells of their land to their Servants and under-Tenants reserving such services and appointing such like Tenures as the King did to them as Homage Fealty c. whereof you may read plentifully in Littletons Tenures But their Tenants in doing Homage and Fealty to them did alwayes except the Faith which they did owe unto the King As in their making Homage appeareth viz. I become your man from this day forward of Life and Limb and of earthly worship and unto you shall be true and faithful and bear you faith for the Tenements I claim to hold of you saving the Faith that I owe unto our Soveraign Lord the King Though they Swore to become the men of and be true and faithfull to their Lords yet not so but that they still were the men of and ever would be true and faithful to the King their Soveraign who was Lord over their Lords and over the whole Realm Omnis homo debet fidem Domino suo de vita membris suis terreno honore observatione consilii sui per honestum utile salva fide Deo Terrae Principi Lib. Rub. cap. 55. We can oblige our selves to no men so deeply as to take away our allegiance and fidelity towards the King We must be for God and the King in all things all our actings and undertakings should tend to their Glory which would prove our greatest good and comfort Homagium Ligeum is only due unto the King the Law prohibiteth us to do Homage to any without making mention of this Homage due unto the Lord our King therefore we must not be opposite to or armed against him but both our lives and members must be ready for his defence because he is Soveraign Lord over all Co. Lit. 65. As the Conquerour did make all his Subjects Feudaries to him so likewise did he change our Lawes and Customes at his pleasure and brought in his own Country fashions which is the Common use of Conquerours He caused all Lawes to be written in his language and made what Lawes he thought meet Quod Principi placuerit legis habet vigorem whatsoever the King willed was the only law His fiat was as binding as an Act of Parliament and what he voted no man no not the whole Kingdome had power to dispute There was no question then made but that the King ought to have the Militia neither did any one think of much lesse deny him a Negative voice The Commons then thought it an high honour to look upon the Kings Majesty a farre off To sit and rule their families at home was all the Jurisdiction which they had or claimed They had not power to condemn one of their servants to death much lesse their Soveraign Lord the King from whom they then and we now have our being The King had not then made them so much as the Lower House nor ever did admit them to his Counsel The Lords their Masters were only deemed worâ—hy of this dignity for why Tractent fabrilâ—a fabri Let the Shepheard keep his sheep and the Hogheard keep his hogs and not meddle with the tuning of musical Instruments Though the Plow-man can drive and guide his horses well yet he would make an ill Pilot to steer a ship The Blacksmith may have skill to make a horse-shooe but he would rather marre than make a watch The Commons may make good Subjects but experience teacheth us they will rather destroy both King and Kingdome than reform or rectifie either Therefore the Kings of England did never admit the Commoners into their Counsels much lesse intrust them with the Legislative poâ—er For it is a Meridian truth that as before so from the Conquest until a great part of the Reign of Henry the third in whose dayes as some hold the writ for election of Knights was first framed the Barons and Prelâ—tes only made the Parliament or Common Council of the Realm whom the King convoked by his Royal Summons when he pleased Neither did the Council so convened consist of any certain number but of what number and of what persons the King vouchsafed Nay clear it is by the Lawes made in the Reign of Edward the first which was above two hundred yeares after the conquest that there was no certain persons or formed body whose consent was requisite to joyn with the King in making an act of Parliament but when the King conceived it fit to make a Law he called such persons as he thought most proper to be consulted with Indeed at the Coronation of Henry the first all the People of England were called by the King and Laws were then made but it was per Commune Concilium Baronum And that King and his Successours did not usually call the Commons but made Laws with the advice of which of their Subjects they pleased and as Sir Walter Rawleigh and others write the Commons with their Magna Charta had but bastard births being begotten by Usurpers and fostered by Rebellion for King Henry the first did but usurp the Kingdom and therefore to secure himself the better against Robert his eldest brother he Courted the Commons and granted them that Great Charter with Charta de foresta which King John confirmed upon the same grounds for he was also an Usurper Arthur Duke of Brittain being the undoubted heir of the Crown so the House of Commons and these Great Charters had their original from such that were Kings de facto not de jure But it maters not which of the Kings first instituted the House of Commons certain it is that long after the Conquerour its name was not so much as heard of in England but as it is apparent one of his Successours did form them and grant not to make Laws without their consent and by a Statute made 7 H. 4. the Writ of Summons now used was formed and by an other Act made 1 H. 5. direction is given who shall be chosen that is to say For Knights of the Shires Persons resiant in the County and for Cities and Boroughs Citizens and Burgesses dwelling there and Free-men of the same Cities and Boroughs and no other So that now by the
Kings gracious Concessions each Member of the house of Commons ought to be respectively elected out of the Shires or Counties Cities or Boroughs by the Kings Writ ex debito Justitiae Now would it not strike a man with admiration and make his hair stand an end to hear that the House of Commons should claim the Legislative power and protest to the world that they were greater in authority and Majesty than the King who raised them from nothing surely 't is but a dream which troubled the head a while with strange Chimaeras and then vanish'd it is but a Phantasm which fanatick distempers raised in lunatick brains and so perish'd after ages will account it but an Ovids Metamorphosis or as a Fable told more for mirth and novelty than for any truth or reality for why are the pots greater than the Potter or doth he who ought for to obey give Laws to him whose right it is to command The King sayeth to the House of Commons come and they come and he sayeth to them go and they go whatsoever the King commands that they cannot chuse by Law but do Nay the Lords their Masters are but the Kings Servants the King is the head and they are but the servile Members it is the property of the Head not of the Members to command the inferiour Members are all at the will and nod of the Head the feet run the hands work and the whole body moveth at the pleasure of the head but without the head the whole body is but a dead trunck and neither hands nor feet have power to move so the Members of the Parliament without the King their head have not power to sit much less to Act there is no body without a head nor no Parliament without a King they cannot move nor convene together without his Royal Summons neither can they dissolve themselves being convened without his command the King assembles adjourns prorogues and dissolves the Parliament by Law at his pleasure and therfore it is called in our Statutes and Law-bookes Parliamentum Regis Curia Regis et Concilium Regis and the Acts of Parliament are called the Kings Laws and why not the Kings Laws doth not he make them The whole body and volumes of the Statutes proclaim the King the sole Legislator What is Magna Charta but the Kings will and gift The very beginning of it will tell you 't is no more viz. Henry by the grace of God c. Know ye that we of our meer and free will have given these Liberties In the self same style runs Charta de foresta In the Statute of escheates made at Lincoln 29 Edw. 1. are these words At the Parliament of our Soveraign Lord the King by his Council it was agreed and also commanded by the King himself That c. The Statute of Marlebridg 52 H. 3. runs thus The King hath made these Acts Ordinances and Statutes which he willeth to be observtd of all his Subjects high and low 3. Edwardi primi The title of the Statute is These are the Acts of King Edward and afterwards it followeth The King hath ordained these Acts And the first Chapter begins The King forbiddeth and commandeth That c. 6. Edw. 1 It is said Our Soveraign Lord the King hath established the Acts commanding they be observed within this Realm And in the 14 Chap. the words are The King of his special grace granteth That c. The Statute of Quo Warranto saith Our Lord the King at his Parliament of his special Grace and for affection which he beareth to his Prelats Earls and Barons and others hath granted that they who have liberties by prescription shall enjoy them 1. Ed. 3. To the honour of God and of holy Church and to the redresse of the oppression of the people our Soveraign Lord the King c. At the request of the Commonalty of his Realm by their Petition made before him and his Counsel in the Parliament by the assent of the Prelats Earls Barons and other great men assembled in the said Parliament hath granted for him and his heirs c. But wherfore evidences to prove that which no man can deny The styles of the Statutes and Acts printed to the 1 H. 7 are either The King willeth the King commandeth the King provideth the King grants the King ordains at his Parliament or the King ordaineth by the advice of his Prelats and Barons and at the humble Petition of the Commons c. But in Henry 7 his time the style altered and hath sithence continued thus It is ordained by the Kings Majesty and the Lords spiritual and temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled And why do the Lords and Commons ordain Is it not only because the King doth It is so they do because the King doth which only denotateth their assent for the Kings Majesty giveth life to all as the Soul to the Body for did ever the Lords or Commons make an Act without the King Never they cannot the Lords advise the Commons consent but the King makes the Law their Bills are but inanimate scriblings untill the King breaths into their nostrils the breath of life and so that which was but mould before becometh a Law which ruleth living Souls and as Sr. Edward Coke observeth In antient times all Acts of Parliament were in form of Petitions which the King answered at his pleasure now if it be the duty of the Parliament to Petition and in the power of the King to receive or reject their Petitions at his will judg you who hath the supreme power Neither doth the King only make the Laws but he executeth them too for all executions which are the life of the Law receive their force and vigour from the King Car la ley le roy et les briefes le Roy Sont les choses per que home est Protect et ayde saith our Father Littleton Sect. 199. There be three things whereby every Subject is protected Rex Lex rescripta Regis The King commandeth his commands are our Laws and those Laws are executed only by the Kings Writs and Precepts and although the King Moses-like deputeth subaltern Judges to ease himself of some part of the burthen of administring Justice yet what they Judge are the Kings Judgments the Law is the rule but it is mute the King judgeth by his Judges and they judging are the Kings speaking Law The Judges are Lex loquens the Kings mouth the Commons are his eys and the Lords his ears but the Kings head is Viva Lex the fountain of Justice to whom God hath given his Judgments and we have none but what the King Gods Vicar giveth to us and why not the Kings judgments Quod quisque facit per alterum facit per se The Kings Patent makes the Judges the power of pardoning offences only belongeth to the King He may grant conusance of all pleas at his pleasure within any County
his Common-Counsell they are but only Ministerial Servants and by the Writ it is clear that they are no part of the great Counsel of the Kingdom they are but the grand Inquest and general Inquisitors of the Realm to find out the grievances of the people and Petition to the King for redress the Burgesses and Citizens to present the defects in their Trade and the Knights of the Shires the burthens and Sores of their Counties they ought not nor are not admitted into the House before they have sworn that the Kings Majesty is the only and supreme Governour over all persons in all causes This oath did every Member of the long Parliament take before they set foot into the House of Charls the Martyr whom they afterwards murthered and took possession themselves of all that he or his royal progeny had or should have let the world judge how faithfully these Keepers kept their Oathes and Covenants Now forsooth none must come into the House but those who first swear that the King who is is not but that they who are not are the only supreme Governours over all persons in all causes And will these oaths be kept 'T is perjury to keep them Thus they joyn hand in hand and oath to oath but it is but to do wickedness for like King Davids Rebels they make a Covenant against their King and would murther him as they did his Father if they could catch him but nulla pax malis the wicked cannot hold together long though they unite their forces into one intire body yet it is but like Samsons Foxes by the tailes only to set the world on fire When the Commons have taken the oath of Supremacy and met together in a body collective in the house they have not so much power as a Steward in his Leet or a Sheriff in his Tourn for they cannot minister an oath imprison any body but themselves nor try any offence whatsoever much less try their King and assume the Legislative power At a conference the Commons are always uncovered and stand when the Lords sit surely these are no marks of Soveraignity They indeed chuse their Speaker but after their choice the King may refuse him at his pleasure and make them chuse another and Lenthal himself as all other Speakers do did when he was presented to the King disable himself as a person unworthy to speak before the King yet now he is styled the Father of our Country How the world is turned up-side down These Parliamentiers heretofore were wont to be arrested by any common Person and lyable to all Sutes and punishments as other men untill the King graciously passed an Act for their indemnity 4 H. 8. ea 8. So that they are nothing but what the King made them nor have nothing but by his grant and all that the King did make them appeareth by the Writ which is to do and consent to such things as the King with his Common-Counsell should ordain Then stay Reader and behold stand still with thy head and hands lift up to the heavens and admire with what impudence and oppression tyranny and usurpation the long Parliamentiers are fraught with who never had any other legal power than by the Kings Writ and have lost that by the Kings death yet tyrannize over three kingdoms calling themselves the Representatives of the whole Kingdom and that they were intrusted by the People with the Supreme and Legislative power which God and all the world knoweth is as false as the Almighty is true For first they do not represent the King the head nor the Peers who are the higher and nobler part of the kingdom therefore they are not the Representatives of the whole kingdom neither were they ever entrusted by the People with the Supreme and Legislative power Nay the people did never confer any power on them at all for by their Election the people did but design the person all the power the Commons have proceeded from the King which is contained in the Writ by which they were called As Free-holders worth forty shillings a year and free-men of Cities and Borroughs would make very unfit Electors of Supreme Magistrates so never did they they cannot make any Election of their Commons untill the King commandeth and giveth them power they have no power so to do of their own much less to authorize supreme Legislators The King giveth liberty to Towns and Cities to make choice of Burgesses which had no such power before the Kings grant so that all the power which the Commons have floweth from the King not a drop of it from the people Therefore if the Commons exceed their commission to wit the power given them by the Kings Writ it is illegal and their actings void in Law and since the power given them by the Writ is extinguished by the Kings death the Long Parliament is by Law dissolved and all the power which they take upon them since is usurped illegal and Tyrannical and contrary to the Lawes both of God and man And to make their Tyranny the greatest under the Heavens they protest to the world that the Representatives of the people ought to have the Legislative power yet they give Lawes as they call them to Scotland and Ireland not having so much as one Member from both Kingdomes in their representative body nor the eighth part of the Representatives chosen by the Counties Cities and Burroughs in England So that no Tyrants since the Creation of the world did ever equallize these either in cruelty or absurdity wickednesse or foolishnesse yet forsooth in 1649 they made an Act that it should be High Treason for any one to affirm the present Government to be Tyrannical Usurped or Unlawfull or that these Commons are not the supreme Authority of the Nation So thieves may murther the Father and take away the inheritance from his Children and then make a Law that it shall be high Treason for any one to call them thieves or usurpers or to say they had not the supreme Authority Thus they defend Tyranny with Tyranny and one sin with another Unumquodque conservatur eodem modo quo fit Things impiously got must be impiously kept They got their authority by blood and by blood it must be kept they juggled themselves by lyes into the supreme self-created authority and we must lye and say they are the supreme authority only because they do otherwise we shall be executed for high Treason against this infamous conventicle So that of necessity we must displease God if we please them and live no longer than we sin for they have made it a capital offence to speak truth I must confesse most men amongst us are frighted with this scarr-Crow not only to lye and affirm the long called Parliament to be the legal supreme authority but also with St. Peter forswear and deny their persecuted Lord and Master the King accounting no weather ill so they be by their warm fire
sides and esteeming all men indiscreet who publickly own their King and therby incurr the displeasure of these domineering Tyrants But for my part I had rather be a Servant to God and my King than a Master amongst the unrighteous I am a Member of the body of the Common-wealth and therefore cannot see my head the King cut off without crying Lord have mercy upon us It is the duty of all his Subjects both with pens and hands to help their King out of the mire into which these Rebels have cast him not only the law of God but the law of the land injoyneth us thereto And I cannot see our Laws and Religion rooted up without groans and sighs It is no time to be silent when the fabrick wherein our whole treasure and happines consisteth is set on fire Neither can silence or innocence protect one from the unjust violence of these Wolves Sleeping or waking we are alwayes their prey Some of us they murther for our Estates some for their pleasure but all according to their wicked wills not law Therefore God knows whether I may be the next who must come to their pot Howsoever I had rather be taken doing God my King and my Country service than in a drowsie Lethargy I commit my Soul and Body to the protection of the Almighty who dorh not let a sparrow fall to the ground without his divine providence therefore will not let me fall into the power of their lust without his permission The King fell and why should not I The Lords will be done who when he hath corrected his Children will burn the rod. They can destroy only my Body him only will I fear who can destroy both Body and Soul Give Cerberus a sop cryes some men and speak fairly to the Monster now in power But it is but to go into Hell Therefore I will neither flatter nor dissemble with them Not to speak of the Modesty of the House of Commons in former Ages scarce adventuring to doe what they might for fear they should arrogate too much As in 21 Ed. 3. When their advice was required concerning the prosecution of a Warr with France They answered That their humble desire of the King was that he would be advised therein by the Lords being of more experience than themselves in such affairs The like president of their Modesty may you find in the 6 R. 2. and in the 3 E. 3. They disclaimed to have Cognisance of such matters as the Guarding of the Seas and Marches of the Kingdom We may conclude that unlesse it be the property of the Servant to command and the Master to obey or of the Souldiers to march before their Captain that the King hath the supreme power and is the sole Legislator not the House of Commons For the King representeth God the Commons only the ignoble People As for both Houses joyntly together they are no Court at all therefore can have no thoughts of having the Legislative power And as the two Houses have no power but what the King bestoweth on them so neither have they any title of honour and dignity but by the Kings gift For as all the lands in England and all power and authority is derived from the Crown So by the laws of England all the degrees of Nobilitie and Honour are derived from the King the Fountain of Honour and Majesty it self 4. Inst 363. What then have the two Houses joyntly or the House of Commons singly the Soveraign power because they have none but what the King giveth them Have they the Majesty because they have no honour or dignity but by the Kings gift Surely this is all the reason The King made the Lords not the Lords the King a Peasant to day may be a Lord to morrow if the King pleaseth and is the Pesant therefore the Kings master surely no it is the King who createth Barons and so maketh them capable to sit in the House of Peers but they are made but Peers not Kings nay they are but Peers of the Realm not of the King They are under not above the King For sunt alii Potentes sub Rege qui dicuntur Barones hoc est robur belli saith Bracton l. 1. c. 8. Though they are Potentes yet they are sub rege As for the House of Commons they are so far from being our keepers or the masters of our King and kingdom that there is not a Noble man amongst them They receive their being from the breath of the Kings Writ and having their being in a collective body they are but the Lower House whose name importeth subjection But if the Commons when they sit in the House have the Soveraign power where was it before their Sessions and where is it when they are dissolved What doth it hang in the Clouds and drop on them when they sit and dissolve like the Snow with the VVinter when the King dissolveth them Soveraignty is permanent and always continueth waking The House of Commons are and they are not according to the Kings pleasure he assembles and dissolves them at his will And what doth the Soveraign power sleep or die during their interregnum one would think it belonged to the King because he never dieth O ridiculous Commons I am weary of their absurdity in claiming the Soveraignty But as once it was demanded of an Oraaor speaking very much in the commendation of Hercules Quis vituperavit So it may be demanded of me treating of the Kings Soveraignty who hath brought arguments against it Truly for my part I never saw any reasonable argument against it many cavils but no reasons Evasions are the best proofs used by the Anti-Royalists And when they shift a Question with forein matter or a forein meaning They think they have not only made a good answer but also proved the point in question to be on their side As when our Books say Every man in the kingdom is under the King but the King is under none but God They answer the meaning of the book is That every single man in the kingdom is under the King but not the whole people collectively for they are above the King Just as if the Book should say every man in the world is under the Heavens but the Heavens are under none but God And they should answer to evade it The meaning of the Book is That every single man is under the Heavens but not the whole body of the people for they are above the Heavens O miserable invention such absurdities are most of their Arguments Therefore we may conclude that since Club-Law set them above reason it must be Club-Law which must pull them down Let the Sword argue them out of the Kings possessions which they have gotten by Rebellion and it will be easie then to convince them that Rebellion against the King is unlawful Had the King had no Revenues he had still injoyed his Crown It is the profit which maketh King-killing honest
but it was fifty or sixty rotten tainted Members of the lower House small in number but great in transgression So may the Tayl nay a piece of the Tayl destroy the whole body and reign sole Lord Paramount Oh what multitudes of impieties can the wicked accomplish in an instant Seneca Nullum ad nocendum tempus angustum est malis In no longer space than betwixt the Father and the Son did these Horse-Leaches subvert our fundamental Government destroy King and Kingdom Parliament and People and all our Laws and Religion so that the question is not whether the Parliament be above the King but whether a little company of great Traytors and Usurpers the Dregs and Lees of all Tyranny be above both King and Parliament For the Parliament as you see by the joyfull recognition made to King James c. enacted and most humbly acknowledged the King to be above both Parliament and People and the Crown to be hereditary to the King and his Royal Progeny but these men and only these who by violence make themselves above both King and Parliament defending their persons from the Justice of the Law with Armed Red-Coats and the greatness of their villanies These are they who deny it though the Laws of the Realm and all Histories and all Kingdoms teach them otherwise God calleth himself a King in several places of the Scripture to note and signifie his Soveraignity which surely he would not do was the King the Peoples vassal or under Officer as the Bedlam franticks of our age feign Thou art my King O God saith David Command delâ—verance for Jacob. The King and the Power to command are Individua He is a Clout no King which cannot command And who should be under his command What The People taken particularly and distributively as single men and not collectively as the whole Kingdom according to the fanatick opinion of our Lunaticks Why is he not then called King of single men If he be King of a Kingdom then all the People jointly or severally in his Kingdom are under his command and if under his command then he only hath power to give them Laws be they in one collective body as in Parliament at the Kings house or simple bodies at their private dwellings Le Roy fait les leix avec le Consent du Seigneurs et Communs et non pas les Seigneuns et Communs avec le consent du Roy is the voice of the Common Law The King makes Laws in Parliament with the consent of the Lords and Commons and not the Lords and Commons with the consent of the King Virg. 7 Eneid Hoc Priami gestamen erat cum jura vocatis More daret Populis And 5 Eneid Gaudet regno Trojanus Arestes Indicitque forum patribus dat jura vocatis The Lords and Commons have power only to propound and advise it is only the Kings Le roy le veult which makes the Law their propositions and advice signifie nothing if the King saith Le Roy se avisera They have not power to grant him any subsidies untill the King saith Le Roy remercieses loyaulx et ainsi le veult Therefore much less the Soveraignity It would be strange if the assembling of the Subjects together should make them Masters over the King who gave them power to assemble and hath power to turn them home again when he pleaseth Legum ac edictorum probatio aut publicatio quae in curia vel Senatu fieri solet non arguit imperii majestatem in Senatu vel curia inesse saith Bodin de Rep. li. 1. ca. 8. The publishing and approbation of Laws and Edicts which is made ordinarily in the Court of Parliament proves not the Majesty of the State to be in the said Court or Parliament It is the Kings Scepter which giveth force to the Law and we have no Law but what is his Will The King surely would never call his Subjects to bind him with Laws against his will much lesse to take his Dominion from him and make himself a Vassal and Officer to his two Houses or either of them who were not capable themselves of any Office without his Gift and Licence The Kings of England have called many Parliaments yet the Government hath alwayes continued Monarchical and the King not under but above the people inferior only to God even Forein Polititians will tell you so Let famous Bodin who tanketh our Kings amongst the absolute Monarchs speak for all lib. 1. cap. 8. Habere quidem Ordines Anglorum authoritatem quandam jura vero Majestatis imperji summam in unius Principis arbitrio versari The States saith he of England have a kind of authority but all the rights of Soveraignty and command in chief are at the will and pleasure of the Prince alone Learned Cambden in his Britannia fo 163. teacheth us As touching the division of our Common wealth it consisteth of a King or Monarch Noblemen or Gentry Citizens freeborn whow we call Yeomen and Artisans or Handicrafts-men The King whom our Ancestors the English Saxons called Coning and Gining in which name is implyed a signification both of power and skill and we name contractly King hath Soveraign power and absolute command among us neither holdeth he his Empire in Vassalage nor receiveth his investure or enstalling of another ne yet acknowledgeth any superiour but God alone Now if Reason and the Judgement of our Ancestors would satisfie our frenzy upstarts what greater authority would they have But that they are troubled with so many visions and false revelations of their own I would commend to them a true vision in the Reign of Edward the Confessor viz. One being very inquisitive and musing what should become of the Crown and Kingdom after King Edwards death the blood Royal being almost extinguished he had a strange vision and heard a voyce which forbade him to be inquisitive of such matters resounding in his ears The Kingdom of England belongeth to God himself who will provide it a King at his pleasure But now forsooth it belongeth to the people and they will provide it a King at their pleasure It is the people now which make the King if so why ever had we any Kingdoms why were they not called Peopledoms The Kings of England with them of France Jerusalem Naples and afterwards Scotland were antiently the only anointed Kings of Christendom And as the Kings in Scripture as Asia Jehoshaphat Hezechiah c. so the Kings of England have alwayes had the supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes Reges sacro oleo uncti sunt capaces spiritualis jurisdictionis 33 Ed. 3. Rex est persona mixta cum Sacerdote habet ecclesiasticam et spiritualem jurisdictionem 10 H. 7.18 And although Kings ought not to be Ministers of the Chutch so as to dispense the word and Sacraments For No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron Hebrews 5.4 Yet since they
are called of God to be Kings as his Vicegerents they have power to look to and have a care of the Church that the word be preached and the Sacraments administred by fit persons and in a right manner else how should Kings be Nursing Fathers to the Church had they not a Fatherly power over it Therefore many Acts of Parliament in several Kings Reigns and the whole Current of Law Books resolve and affirm the King to be head and have Supreme Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical causes In the first year of Edward the sixth a Statute was made That all Authority and Jurisdiction both Spiritual and Temporal is derived from the King So in the Reign of Edward the Confessor was this Law ca. 17. The King who is the Vicar of the highest King is ordained to this end that he should Govern and Rule the Kingdom and People of the Land and above all things the Holy Church and that he defend the same from wrong doers and destroy and root out workers of mischief But since Reverend Coke in the fifth part of his Reports De jure Regis Ecclesiastico hath with luculent examples and impregnable lawes made it so clear that no man can gainsay it that the King ought and the Kings of England ever since before the Conquest until the Reign of Queen Elizabeth at which time he writ have had the supreme power and jurisdiction in all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical causes I referre you to his Book only reciting part of his conclusion viz. Thus hath it appeared as well by the antient Common Lawes of this Realm by the Resolutions and Judgments of the Judges and Sages of the Lawes of England in all succession of ages as by authority of many Acts of Parliament antient and of later times that the Kingdome of England is an absolute Monarchy and that the King is the only supreme Governour as well over Ecclesiastical persons and in Ecclesiastical causes as temporal within this Realm And in another places fo 8. he saith And therefore by the antient Lawes of this Realm this Kingdome of England is an absolute Empire and Monarchy consisting of one head which is the King and of a body politick compact and compounded of many and almost infinite several and yet well agreeing Members All which the law divideth into two several parts that is to say the Clergy and the Laity both of them next and immediately under God subject and obedient to the head Also the Kingly head of this politick body is instituted and furnished with plenary and intire power prerogative and jurisdiction to render justice and right to every part and member of this body of what estate degree or calling soever in all causes Ecclesiastical or Temporal otherwise he should not be a head of the whole body Now he that looketh upon these Authorities and yet saith that the King is not above both Parliament and people nor hath soveraign power over them will likewise look upon the sun in the Heavens and yet say that it is not above but below the earth and when he is in the midst of the sea say that there are no waters in the world If then the King hath the supreme power over Parliament and people as most certainly he hath how then could the Parliament or people much lesse sixty of them question or judge their King For no man can deny but that the greater power ought to correct and judge the lesser not the lesser the greater How could they did I say Why vi armis by violence and injury not by law So may I go and murther the King of Spain or the King of France and then tell them that their people have the supreme power over them The case is all one only these Rebels murthered their natural Father and King to whom nature and the Lawes of God and man had made them subjects but I should murther a forein King whom I ought not to touch he being the Lords annointed It is easie to prove the Soveraignty of the Kings of England by their Stiles unlesse our anti-monarchical Statists will say they nick named themselves Their several stiles since the Conquest you may see in the first part of my Lord Coke's Institutes Fo. 27. Therefore I will not trouble you with a recital of them as for the styles before the Conquest take one for all which you may find in the Preface of Co. li. 4. and in Davis his Irish reports Fo. 60. In a Charter made by Edgar one of the Saxon Monarchs of England before the Danish Kings viz. Altitonantis dei largiflua clementia qui est Rex Regum dominus dominantium Ego Edgarus Anglorum Basileus omniumque rerum Insularum Oceani quae Britanniam circumjacent cunctarumque Nationum quae infra eam includuntuâ— Imperator et dominus Gratias ago ipsi Deo omnipotenti Regi meo qui meum imperium sic ampliavit exaltavit super Regum patrum meorum Qui licet Monarchiam totius Angliae adepti sunt a tempore Athelstani qui primus Regum Anglorum omnes Nationes quae Britanniam incolunt sibi armis subegit nullus tamen eorum ultra fines imperium suum dilatare agressus est mihi tamen concessit propitia Divinitas cum Anglorum imperio omnia regna Insularum Oceani cum suis ferocissimis regibus usque Norvegiam maximamque partem Hiberniae cum sua nobilissima Civitate de Dublina Anglorum regno subjugare quos etiam omnes meis imperiis colla subdare dei favente gratia coegi By which you may observe the first Conquest of Ireland and that the Kings of England are Emperours and Monarchs in their Kingdom constituted only by God the King of Kings and Lord of Lords not by the people And so did many other Kings of England stile themselves as for example Etheldredus totius Albionis Dei Providentia Imperator and Edredus Magnae Britanniae Monarcha c. But that our preposterous Commonwealths men might make themselves most ridiculous as well as impious in all things they would argue the King out of his Militia and have him to be their Defender yet they would take away his sword from him O Childish foppery What a Warriour without arms a General without souldiers why not aâ— well a Speaker without a mouth such Drollerâ— was never heard of in the world until the Infatuation of these infandous Republicans hatcht it Nay but there shall be a King over us cryed the Israelites that we also might be like all the Nations and that our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our battels 1 Sam. 8.19 Anâ— what should he fight without the Militia should the King be over the people judge them and go out before them to battel yet ought the people tâ— have power to array arm and muster the souldierâ— at their pleasure ought they to appoint whaâ— Officers and Commanders they thought fit surely no For he will saith Samuel verse 12.
appoinâ— him Captains over thousands and Captains oveâ— fifties So 11 Sam. 12.29 David gathered aâ— the people together and went to Rabbath and foughâ— against it and took it But why do I cite David Had not all the Kings in the Scripture nay havâ— not all the Kings in the world the chief poweâ— over their Militia Surely nothing is more certain otherwise what difference would there be between the King and Subject Militarem autem prudentiam ante omnia necessariam Ego Principi assero adeo ut sine ea vix Princeps Quomodo enim aliter se tueatuâ— sua ac suos saith Justus Lipsius No Militia no King For how can he defend himself and Kingdome without it The Puppy dogs would master the Lyon were it not for his pawes the cowardly Owles would conquer the Eagle if he had no talons and the King would be a laughing stock both at home and abroad were it not for the sword which God not the people hath girded to his side The King beareth not the sword in vain saith St. Paul Rom. 13.4 But surely he would bear it in vain had he not power of himself to draw it or sheath it but when the people pleased he would be but a poor revenger to execute Gods wrath had the people as our Novists feign not he the sole disposing of the Militia Unges eum ducem 1 Sam. 9.16 Thou shalt annoint him to be captain over my people Which shewes the Kings right to the Militia being Captain over his people Unum est Regi inexpugnabile munimentum amor civium I must confesse the Citizens and Peoples love is the best fortresse and bulwork for Kings but Charity growes cold Loyal love and Citizens are not alwayes companions whole Cities nay whole Countries may prove perfidious to their King and whilst the King dischargeth the office of a loving father his people may turn Traytors and rebell against his goodnesse Therefore it is good walking with a horse in ones hand and ever safest for Princes even in the greatest peace to have a well-disciplin'd Militia in a readinesse for the affection of the people like the wind is never constant In Rege qui recte regit necessaria sunt duo haec arma videlicet leges quibus utrumque tempus bellorum pacis recte possit gubernari utrumque enim istorum alterius indiget auxilio quo tam res militaris possit esse in tuto quà m ipsae leges usu armorum praesidio possint esse servatae Si autem arma defecerinâ— contra hostes rebelles indomitos sic erit regnum indefensum si autem leges sic exterminabitur justitia nec erit qui justum faciat judicium The Law and Arms are so necessary and requisite in a King that without both he can have neither for how could he execute and maintain his lawes withouâ— arms and how could he levy war without lawes to direct and guide his Arms He could neither proclaim war nor make leagues or peace without them The King is Custos totius Regni and by law ought to defend and save hiâ— Realm But surely he would bâ— but a poor keeper if the peoplâ— had power to keep his weapon from him at their pleasure Custodes libertatis Angliae The Keepers of our liberty could not keep it from us without the force of the Militia and how should the King maintain his Realm in peace and defend our lives liberties and estates from the forein and domestick Tyranny of Traytors and Rebels had he not the sole power and strength of Arms The Subjects of England are bound by their liegeance to go with the King c. in his wars as well within his Realms as without as appeareth by the Statute of 2 Ed. 6. cap. 11. and by a Statute made 11 H. 7. c. 1. The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament declare it to be the duty and allegiance of the Subjects of England not only to serve their Prince and Soveraign Lord for the time being in warres but to enter and abide in service in battel and that both in defence of the King and land against every rebellion power and might reared against him But wherefore should I make my self ridiculous in attempting to prove that which no age hath denied It hath been the Custome of all Kingdoms the practice of all times and the Common Law of the Realm of England ever since it was a Realm that the power of the Militia did alwayes belong unto the King nay it is proper to him quarto modo he hath an inherent and inalienable right to it Which right hath been declared and affirmed by many Acts of Parliament in all succession of ages which in a case so clear need not to be recited It belongs to the King only to make leagues with forein Princes 2 H. 5. ca. And as it is resolved in our Law Books if all the people of England should break the league made with a foâ—eâ—n Prince without the Kings consent yet the league holds and is not broken Nay so farr are the People or House of Lords or Commons from having the power of the Militia that as you may read the expresse words 3 Inst pa. 9. If any levy Warr to expulse strangers to deliver men out of Prisons to remove Counsellors or against any Statute or to any other end pretending Reformation of their own heads without Warrant it is high Treason For no Subject can levy Warr within the Realm without Authority from the King for to him it only belongeth O then admire at the impiousnesse and impudence of the long called Parliament who murthered their King for committing Treason against them whereas by the Laws of the Land they were the only Traytors against him So may the offender punish the offended for the offence which he himself committed and so may the Prisoner condemn and execute the Judge for the Crime whereof himself is only guilty The only reason why they demanded the Militia of the King and said that it only belonged to them was not because the King ought not to have it for they well knew that by the Law of all Ages it did only belong to him and not to them But how then could they carry on and accomplish their wicked design of Murthering him if they still let his Sword hang by his side Therefore they first laid hold on that and wrested the Militia out of his hands arguing that it did not belong to the King but to them So Murtherers may say that the Sword of him whom they intend to murther doth not belong to the owner but to them to the end they may with the more ease and safeguard perpetrate their wickedness And that they might have a shadow to hide all their filthynesse They first got several Counties to Petition for the Militia which they afterwards took by violence nay they themselves did first Petition the King for it So sturdy Beggars first beg
for an Almes and by and by knock their Benefactor on the head and make themselves Masters of what they before entreated for And indeed the most part of their Villanies did commence with Petitions for in driving on their wicked designs they alwayes got the Rascal rable of the People to heap in Petitions for what they themselves set them upon as if these Godly Villains did nothing but what they were driven to through commiseration of the people when God knows they did nothing but what was for the satisfaction of their own wicked Lusts and Ambition For when the Souldiers and other baser sort of the people cryed out for Justice and Privilege of the Parliament Even then was the Injustice of these Rebels most promoted and the Parliament did not then only lose its privileges but its very life and being Thus Barbers may cut off the Head when they pretend to trim the Hair and so may Physicians destroy and kill the Body when they pretend to apply Medicines For as now it appeareth even to the blind their pious pretences were but a Colour for their wicked intentions to destroy both King and Parliament and root up all our Laws and Religion when they seemed to act most to preserve them Now since the power of Warr only belongeth unto the King it must of necessity follow that the King hath power to levy Taxes and impose Subsidies on his people to maintain the Warr otherwise it would be in vain to think of waging Warr for all Souldiers must have Vectigalia Food Apparel and Arms and where should the King have this but in his own Kingdom To be short it is a duty laid upon the Consciences of all Subjects to supply their King with all necessaries both in time of Warr and Peace And a thing commanded both by our Saviour and his Apostles Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars And 13 Rom. Render therefore to all their due Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour But our Antipodes subverting all Scripture render to no man their dues and that they may act contrary to the very words and meaning of every Text They do not render Tribute Custom Fear and Honour to the King to whom it is only due but forsooth to themselves to whom it is not due So may the Servant murther his Master and take all his Revenues and Honour as due only to himself He which argueth that the King hath not right to chuse his Privy Counsellors Great Officers and Judges c. will likewise say that the Master hath not right to chuse his Servants it being the practice of all Kingdoms as well as of England and due to him by the Law of Nature Thou shalt provide out of the People able Men saith Jethro to Moses when the 70. grand Senators of Israel the Great Sanhedrim of the Jews were to be chosen By which you see the great Officers c. are to be chosen out of and not by the people but by the King So Pharoah not the people made Joseph Ruler over all the Land of Aegypt and Nebuchadnezzar and not his people made Daniel Ruler over the whole Province of Babylon And since our Lawyers are so forward to take Commissions and be made Judges by every power which getteth uppermost be it right or wrong Let me tell them that it is an undoubted truth that every person who hath been since the murther of Charls the Martyr or shall hereafter without the authority of Charls the second be condemned and executed for any Crime whether guilty or not guilty in the Kings Bench or at the Assizes or elsewhere is murthered and all the Judgments acts and proceedings of those nominal Judges or Commissioners are void as things done Coram non judice So that it consequently followeth that these lawless Judges are principals in every murther so committed Vengeance only belongeth unto God Deu. 32.35 The King is the Minister of God a Reuenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil Therfore whosoever prosecuteth in the Kings Courts against the life of any man as in an Appeal c. or sueth for recompence for any wrong done unto him he doth not take vengeance but God who executeth his wrath by his Minister the King But if any private man or the whole people take upon them to make themselves their own Carvers taking what recompence they think fit either against the King or any of their fellow Subjects in this case they make themselves their own Revengers and rob God of his rights for vengeance belongeth to him not to them Therefore if any man though in a way of publick Justice take upon him to condemn and execute any man without authority and power from the King he is a Murtherer and malicious Revenger upon whom the vengeance of God whom he endeavoureth to cheat and rob will fall Oh then admire and bewail the Infandous Murthers and Murtherers of our age wherein the good are destroyed for performing their duty towards God and their King and the wicked flowrish only because they are sinfull for whosoever will not be a Rebel must not be a Common-wealths-man amongst these new Republicans Yet forsooth they have such a form of Godlinesse amongst them that whosoever doth not approve of their wickednesse but speaketh of their actions according to their deserts they call such men the ungodly and flatter themselves saying the Saints of all ages have been spoken evil of by the wicked holy David nay our Saviour and his Disciples were reviled by the Reprobate therfore no wonder if the Malignant Cavaleers do reproach and vilifie our piousness and brotherly love and charity one towards the other So Belzebub may call them impious who do not account him the only good Angell How these men would be esteemed most Religious even when they commit Sacrilege and seem righteous even in the very act of wickednesse They murther many and take away the Estates of all Royalists yet if the Royalists whom they have thus spoyled tell them according to Gods Commandments that they ought not to be swift to shed blood nor covet their neighbours goods these Saints presently tell them that they have not the Spirit of Godliness in them but that they are the abusers of Gods word and his Children as if Gods Spirit gave them authority to act wickedly and that none but they were the children of God who had got their wealth by murther rapine and sacrilege O Monstrous If you call their ill gotten Government Tyranny or Usurpation they number you amongst those filthy Dreamers who speak evil of Dignities and will noâ— submit to lawfull authority Yet these Antipodes could revile their Soveraign the King with multitudes of scurrilous Pamplets cut off his head and banish his Royal Progeny taking away their Lands and the Estates of thousands more yet they would make one believe that they never spoke evil of Dignities nor ever resisted lawfull
their free will and pleasure So that the peoples Representatives must represent these Traytors in all their wickednesse otherwise they shall be no free-Statesmen for they account that Government most for the liberty of the people wherein themselves may have liberty still to continue in their Treason Rebellion and that they call slavery and oppression of the people which would suppresse their wicked and infandous Tyranny All the reason which they can give against Monarchy is because say they many of the people would lose their interests in their new purchased estates and we should be turned out of our possessions and perhaps lose our lives too A good argument indeed if maintained by the Logick of the sword So thieves and murtherers may argue against the Sessions because then perhaps they should lose their stollen goods and be hanged for their murthers and robberies O abominable that English men should degenerate into such impious impudence for this is the truth of their case might they but still have the Kings and Bishops lands which they have gotten by their horrible Treason and Rebellion and be sure to live secure from the punishment which the Law of the Land would inflict upon them they would easily confesse if the Devil have not made them contradictors of all manner of truth that Monarchy is the best of all Governments especially for the English Nation where as one may say it grew by nature until these destroyers of the Lawes of God Nature and the Realm rooted it up and endeavoured to plant their fancied Commonwealth in its room which will grow there when plums grow in the sky or when rocks grow in the air not before as you may see by the small root it hath taken ever since the reign of Charles the Martyr Dig and delve they may yet they will never set it in so fast but that if the right heir do not which God grant he soon may the wind and ambition of some one of their own sect and faction will quickly blow it down as did Oliver the wicked c. As Monarchy is the best sort of all govetnments so the Monarchy of England is the best of all Monarchies and hath in it the perfection and all that is good either in Aristocracy Democracy or Free-State For every one knoweth that Charles the Martyr though a King yet alwayes made himself a subject to his lawes accounting his prerogative safer being locked up in the custody of the law than in the absolutenesse of his own will And what lawes of any Nation in the world did ever maintain the liberty and freedome of the people more than the Kings Lawes of England I may most truly answer none more nor so much for what greater freedome can the people wish for than not to have any lawes imposed on them than what they please and desire The Kings of England never make any law but what the people consent to the Lords and Commons have a Negative voice as well as the King Although the inferiour Members receive all their authority from the head yet cannot the head act without their consent and privity so neither â—oth the King impose any lawes on his subjects without their concurrence and approbation The House of Lords resembleth Aristocracy and the House of Commons Democracy or a free State yet the King like the Sun which doth not diminish its own light by giving light to others continueth stil a royal Monarch and without any Solecism in State I may truly say that the House of Lords did excel Aristocracy and the House of Commons Democracy in preserving the Peoples rights and wel-fare because the necessity of their joyning votes each with the other and both of them with the King in making of a Law did inhibit either of them from having an unlimited arbitrary power which either of them without the other would have and so enslave the People as the House of Commons now do according to their lusts having destroyed their Master the King and the House of Lords their Moderators Whilest the King Lords and Commons like the three Graces joined hand in hand in passing votes approved by this triple touchstone then were our Laws like Gold seven times refined which made our Nation most glorious abroad and to overflow with peace and plenty at home we were then feared not derided by all forein Kings and Princes Religion not Faction then reigned in our hearts and our industry was then to preserve not to destroy Gods Sanctuary But now since the hand hath said to the eye I have no need of thee and the feet to the head I have no need of you the whole body of our Kingdom hath groaned and every Member therof as with a Consumption is wasted and grieved The Crown is fallen from our head and we are become a reproach and hissing amongst all Nations Oh therfore to redeem our credit and long lost happiness Let us all unanimously agree to be loyal Subjects to Charls our King and let all his loyal Subjects pray for and earnestly desire his safe arrival into our England that we may once more eat the Manna of our old Laws and Religion with the sweetnesse wherof we surfeited in the reign of Charls the Martyr Then shall we beat our Swords into plow-shares and our Spears into pruning hookes faction shall not rise up against faction neither shall we learn war any more For if we be willing and obedient we shall eat the good of the Land Isa 1 19. Hor. Concines laetosque dies urbis Publicum ludum super impetrato Fortis Augusti reditu forumque litibus orbum Tum meae si quid loquor audiendum Vocis accedet bona pars O Sol Pulcher O laudande canam recepto Cáesare falix Tuque dum procedis Io triumphe Non semel dicemus Io triumphe Civitas omnis dabimusque divis Thura benâ—s Then shall we sing the publick plays For his return and holy days For our Prayers heard and Law 's restor'd From Rebels Sword Then I if I may then be heard Happy in my regained Lord Will joyn ' i th' close and O! I le say O Sun-shine day The City leading wee 'l all sing Io triumph and agin Io triumph at each turning Incense burning Thus when we have received our gracious Soveraign from his long unnatural banishment what then can the Lord do more for us that he hath not done Wherefore when he looketh that we should bring forth good grapes let us take heed that we do not bring forth wild grapes let us fear God and honour the King and meddle not with them that are given to change as God hath commanded us for if we refuse and rebel we shall be devoured with the Sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and so our last rebellion will be worse for us then the first General Monk hath amply repaired his honour which he lost by pulling down the City Gates and Perculisses and
Astraea Redeunt Saturnia regna progenies caelo Demittitur alto Bishops the Coâ—on prâ—â—ier Booke â—ewarded Sectaries reiected SALMASIUS HIS BUCKLER OR A Royal Apology FOR King CHARLES the MARTYR Dedicated to CHARLES the Second King of Great Brittain Salus Populi Salus Regis LONDON Printed for H.B. and are to be sold in Westminster-hall and at the Royal Exchange 1662. The Epistle to the Reader THere have been so many Wolves in sheeps-cloathing and so many Innocents by the reviling tongues of their Enemies robbing them of their good names as well as of their good estates made Malignants in this our worse than iron age that I know not what Epithite to give thee If thou art an Honest man Rara avis in terris I invoke thee to be my Patron If thou art not Noli me tangere But since St. Austin once perhaps as zealous a Reprobate as thy self was converted by looking on the Bible by chance I will not prohibit thee from eating of this fruit Though I believe to think that thy view of my Book will work the like conversion on thee is to have a better opinion of thee and the Book than both will deserve For though an Angel should come from heaven or a man arise from the dead yet could he not perswade our hot-headed Zealots but that they did God good service even when they rebell against his own Ordinance transgress his Commandements murther their Father the KING and pollute their once flourishing Mother the CHURCH Before this prodigious off-spring like Vipers destroyed the Mother by their birth The Jews indeed murthered the Lord of life because they did not know him and therefore thought it was pleasing to God But wo be to them who did not only with Ham see their Fathers nakedness and reproach him but commit Paricide see his heart naked and call the multitude to laugh at it En quo discordia Cives produxit miseros O the miserable effects of seditious men Who shall now cure the Kings evil Or who shall cure the evil of the People O purblind City how long will you enslave yourselves to ravenous woolves who by their often changing of their feigned Governments do but change the thief and still your Store-houses must be the Magazine to furnish them with plunder You must never look to enjoy your lives estates or Gods blessing with the fruition of your Wives and Children before your lawfull King and Soveraign CHARLS the II. unjustly banished by Rebells be restored to his Crown and Kingdom For what Comfort can any honest or conscientious man take in any thing so long as he seeth his own native Prince like King David driven from his own natural inheritance by the unjust force of a multitude of Traytors both to God and their King Who Judas-like acknowledging his Master with a kiss so they swore with their mouthes that King CHARLS the I. was their only lawfull King and Soveraign and had the Supreme power over them all and then delivered him to the Sword-men who came out with Clubbs and Staves against their Soveraign as against a Thief and as the Jews did the Lord our Saviour whom they did not acknowledge to be their King otherwise they would not have done it These men murthered their dread Soveraign whom they all acknowledged and vowed to be their only King Excelling the Jewes only in wickednesse Therefore since by the Laws of the Land there can be no Parliament without the King what difference is there between a Protector and one of their Parliaments but only number For their Protectors are but the head thieves and their Parliaments but a headless multitude of thieves For so long as the Royal Progenie of CHARLS the I. which God long preserve remain alive all other our Governours besides them will be but Rebells Traytors and Tyrants let them call themselves a Free State or by what names they please continue until the worlds end Therfore rouze up Citizens and take courage How long will you be the common Hackney to be ridden by every one that will stride you How long shall your Sanctuary be made a Stable and Den for Thieves Shall your Streets blush with the blood of Prophets and with the blood of your Citâ—zens and will not you change your colour where is the reverend Doctor Hewyt that Glory of your City that Glory of all Christians that Glory of the whole World whose fame shall out-live the Sun and his renown shine longer and brighter than the Moon or the lesser Stars Caesar the Usurper was wont to say Si violandum est jus regnandi causa esse violandum That if it is lawfull to forswear one self for any Cause the Cause of gaining a Kingdom is the most lawfull But there are those amongst us who have turned the Supposition into a Proposition and confidently by their practice affirm that it is lawfull to forswear one self for any thing and most sacred to be forsworn if by the perjury a Kingdom may be gained But I will not touch the Soars which lye raw before every mans eyes only this will I say which every one knoweth to be true that no Kingdom in the World was so happy both for peace and plenty law and religion and all other good things as our Kingdom of England was whilest due obedience was lawfully paid to our Soveraign Lord the King but now the King being murthered and all goodness with him no Nation under the Sun is more miserable and so it will continue untill King Charles the second be restored to his Crown The Sword of Gods word ought only to fight for Religion the Iron sword of Rebels did never establish Christian Religion nor ever will set up Christs Kingdom especially if it be unsheathed against Kings by their Subjects And to satisfie all Objections whatsoever against my writing I answer Si natura negat facit indignatio versum It was not to shew my self to the world for as in Tempests so in our daies he is best who is seen least abroad But it was to shew and prefer the Truth which hath been laid asleep by the Charmes of our Sins For to this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witnes to the truth every one that is of the Truth will hear the voice of the truth when I saw the many revolutions turnings of men like Weathercocks being presented almost every day with new strange and various shapes and forms of Government it caused me more diligently to search after the true reason of our changings which I found to be our Sins and the absence of our King also which was the best kind of Government which I found to be Monarchy and that all trayterous Tyrants sine titulo might most lawfully be killed by any privat hand but Kings only by God Truth often getteth hatred and it is the doom of serious books to be hooted at by those who have nothing
else to do but to scrible Pamphlets Every one judging according to his capacity or affection And as Men so Books are pressed to war Ad prelum tanquam ad praelium But Nulla fides pietasve viris qui castra sequuntur there is as little credit as piety to be found in Swordmen and so their calumny will not prejudice me in any wise mans judgement The good of my Country and the settlement of our Distractions is the thing which I aim at let Momus carp while his Teeth ake which Settlement will never be untill Right overcomes Might and every one be established in his own again For what man hath been secure and immutable since the great and wicked change Sen. Quem felicem Cynthia vidit Vidit miserum abitura dies He that shone like the Sun in the Morning was clouded like Night in the Evening a Protector one hour and glad to be protected the next God oftentimes curseth with the same Sins which were committed against him Pharoah hardened his heart the first time for his Pleasure God hardened it the next for his Destruction We changed our Government once to please our wicked Wills God hath changed it oftner to purge our impious Sins But Jam satis terris nivis atque dirae Grandinis mifit pater rubenâ—e Dextera sacras jaculatus arces Terruit urbem Terruit gentes Enough of hail and cruel snow Hath Jove now showr'd on us below Enough with thundering Steeples down Frightned the Town Frightned the World O thou God of Order now hold thy punishing hand cement our Differences and unite the lines of our Discord in the true Centre Let Charls the 2 d. our Augustus and Caesars Successor revenge the bloody Murther of Caesar O most worthy Augustus our only lawfull Soveraign be thou a stay to our falling Kingdom Patiens vocari Caesaris ultor do thou hasten to be Caesars Revenger and then Serus in coelum redeas diuque Laetus intersis populo Quirini Neve te nostris vitiis iniquum Oâ—yor aura Tollat hic magnos potius triumphos Hic ames dici pater atque Prinâ—eps Neu sinas Medos equitare inultos Te duce Caesar Return to Heaven late we pray And long with us the Britains stay Nor let disdain of our offence Take thee from hence Love here victorious Triumphs rather Love here the name of Prince and father Nor let the Rebels scot-free ride Thou being our Guide Which is the continual Prayer of Your Graces most humble true faithfull and obedient Subject and most dutifull Servant usque ad aras Cimelgus Bonde ERRATA THe times are full of errors Parliaments themselves have erred therefore pardon the Errata of the Printer Some Letters nay some words are left out and wrong ones put in their room What then our Nobles nay our King himself hath been dis-throned and wrong ones The Shrubs their Servants have intruded and usurped their places The Rump ruled the whole Body the Feet got above the Shoulders And untill the Head fully enjoyeth its preheminence and Prerogative over the inferiour Members expect no Amendments either publick or private But since our Age hath more need of a Bit than Spurs adde bit to the end of the 21. line fo 6. line 9. fo 42. Munera l. 21. f. 47. of instead of for l. 22. fo 174. read Could such attempts In the Latin Verses read cujus and fonte in the two last lines THe Contents of this Book you may find fo 1. 20 28 40 54 65 73 86 106 119 132 192 204 210 219 267 361 376. And since the last in execution is the first in the intention I must request the Reader to begin with the last part of the Book and end with the first part in his reading And if he meet with any sharp and tart laguage let him remember the Persons whom it concerns whose Actions were more base than the most nipping and satyrical pen could rehearse For what villany so great as for Subjects to murther their gracious King Oh Heavens could the Godly do this Do this Yes root up our Laws and Religion destroy our Church and murder our Prophets with many thousands of their innocent Brethren and yet be accounted Saints too But from such Saints good Lord deliver us who took away the Kings and Bishops lands and then voted them Papistical and dangerous to the Church and Common-wealth It was Naboths Vineyard which made him a Blasphemour and Jack Presbyter would never have made a Covenant to extirpate Episcopacy as contrary to the power of Godliness had not the Bishops had Land and the Presbyter much Pride and more of the form than of the power of Godliness in him But Multa cadunt inter caliceÌ„ Supremaque labra the Independents stept between home and him got the honor of cutting off the Kings head and took to themselves the Revenues of both King and Bishop So that now Iohn could rellish a King and the Office of a Bishop I like his Appetite well but I pray God he do not spoyl the meat in the chewing it But renowned General Monk hath now cheared us with the hopes of a Free-Parliament which will put a period to our miseries that is they will bring in our exiled King without whom they will be but a Gallimaufrey of Confusion increasing not diminishing our Distractions for no Parliament without the King And no doubt but our famous General holds the Scripture Canonical and will never dissent from his Father Solomon who thus teaeheth and commandeth all of us My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change for their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruine of them both Prov. 24.21 22. To the Author of the Royal Buckler or a Lecture to Traytors TO speak what ev'ry one desires and in a strain That suits with ev'ry Hearer is no pain No trouble to profess the bloody Creed Of Mahomet among the Turks no need To be afraid amidst ones friends but he That talks of Virtue before Villanie Who can be Christian among the Crew Of Sectaries and bid defiance to the Jew He that i' th worst of Times dares to be good Like Capel seals his Ligeance with his Blood Can strive against th' impetuous wind and wave And all their joynt-conspiracies outbrave In spite of Fortune resolutely stand To argue with a bloudy treacherous Land That Man 's a Man indeed can stoutly cry Hosanna when the Throng sayes Crucifie Sir such are you and such your Lines to whom Or to your shrine Posterity shall come Laden with Laurels and the little brood Of them whose hands were in their Prince's bloud Shall justifie thy Book and read therein Their own Misfortunes and their Father's Sin Shall read the Miracles of Providence And borrow matter for Romances thence Thus Sir your Pen shall to your self create A Monument beyond the Pageant state Of breathless Oliver or those Poor men That rul'd
enemies caused four Kings taken prisoners to draw his triumphal Chariot wherein one of them looked back with smiles to the wheel of the Chariot and being demanded his reason for it answered That he smiled to see the spoak of the wheel now at the top to be presently at the bottome and again that which is now at the bottome to be by and by at the top Which when the King heard considering the mutability of all earthly things his haughty spirit was not a little mollfiied These relations I thought good here to insert that the mighty and dreadful men of the world who have got the power of the Sword into their own hands taking Cyrus for their example whose example will be no disgrace for them to follow though he was a King for he was likewise a valiant Souldier might not exercise Tyranny over their vanquished enemies especially over their own fellow subjects Cain purchased little honour by the murder of his brother Abel Though the Heathens appeared as glorious as the Sun at their triumphs after the conquest of a forraign enemy yet mourning was their habit instead of triumph after a victory obtained in a civil war when two Noble men were convicted for affecting and aspiring to the Empire of Titus Vespasianus he proceeded no farther against them than to admonish them to desist and give over saying that Soveraign Power was the gift of Destiny and Divine Providence If they were Petitioners for any thing else he promised to give it unto them For Melius est servare unum quam occidere mille It is better to save one then to kill a thousand is a saying worthy to be written in letters of gold but more worthy to be put in practise O blessed Conqueror that is thus qualifyed O blessed prisoner that hath such a victor Having pruned the fortunate let us now stoop to the miserable whom fortune hath cast to the lowest stair of affliction Nemo desperet meliora lapsus prohibet Clotho stare fortunam vicissitude o◠Fortune is sufficient argument to keep the unfortunate from despair for though the highest spoak of the wheel be turned lowest yet it doth not tarry there but presently returneth to its former heighth Non semper imbres nubibus hispidos manant in agros Though it rain one day the Sun may shine again the next No storm without a calm nor no Winter without a Summer Post tempestatem tranquillitas The North-wind which bloweth cold may quickly turn into a warmer corner Weeping may indure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psalm 30. vers 5. But if the brevity of time will not give ease unto thy malady declare thy grief a disease well known is half cured What art thou robbed of all that thou hast Consider what thou broughtest into the World and thou hast lost nothing this thou hast got the means to wean thee from things below and if thou wilt to set thy mind on things above Art opprest with sickness The sickness of thy body may prove the welfare of thy soul Thou learnest to pitty others and knowest that thy earthly cottage is not invincible Doth poverty knock at thy door Let her in shee will teach thee to be humble keep thee from envy and lock thee up secure It is better meekly to entertain her then proudly to oppose her Art born a bondman There is no bondage like that to sin cast of that and thou art free it is better to be born a bondman and dye free from sin than to be born a freeman and dye a bondslave to Satan Is thy fare thine Thou hast avoided two sins gluttony incontinency Thou hast wydened the way to virtue Though streightened the passage to thy belly Hunger nourisheth arts and a full belly is the ensign of an empty head Bonae mētis soror est paupertas Art thou poor and over-burdened with children Children are riches then how canst thou be poor amongst so many jewels acknowledge thy blessing and give thanks and He that feedeth the fishes of the Sea the fouls of the Air and apparelleth the flowers of the Field will both feed and cloath thy children It was harder to raise them to thee than to provide food for them Art thou rich and childness He that created thee can create thee children Sarah had a Son in her old age In the mean time make thy self the child of God and thou art better than if thou hadst many children Hast thou lost thy mony Thou hast exchanged fears and cares for quietness and carelesness liberty is better then golden chains Thou hast but paid fortune that which she lent thee For omnia tua tecum portas Thou canst not truly be called Master of that whereof fortune is mistress Art thou become a surety Thou art near a shrewd turn henceforth give away all that thou hast rather than thy liberty In the mean time let thy hand discharge that which thy mouth hath set on thy score It is no charity to pluck a thorn out of another mans foot to put it in thine own Hath nature made thee deformed Let the deformity of thy body put thee in minde of the deformity of thy soul Depart from sin and adorn thy soul with virtues as for thy body it is the work of Gods hands Beauty is at best but a fadeing vanity profitable to none hurtful to many and perhaps might have been thy destruction Pulchrius est pulchrum fieri quam nasci Si mihi difficilis formam natura negavit Jugenio formae damna rependo mea Hast thou lost thy time Thou hast lost an invaluable pearl which cannot be re-called nor superseded by riches or honor But it is never too late to repent lose time no more and thou hast made amends Hast thou lost thy betrothed mistress He that loseth his wife is delivered of many cares but he that loseth his spouse is preserved both of these are good but the last is the best Therefore grieve not too much lest thou lose thy self Hast thou buried thy wife Thou hast buried her on earth who first buried thee in the grave of sin in Paradise couldest thou be rid of sin as thou art rid of her Thou hadst cause to rejoyce and had shee not brought thee a Saviour thou hadst had cause to repent that ever thou sawest her Hath Infamy blasted thy name If it be deserved lament not the Infamy but the cause of the Infamy But if it be undeserved contemn the errours of men with a valiant courage and comfort thy self with the testimony of a good conscience It is better to be innocent and slandered than nocent and applauded Hast thou many enemies If they profess it openly thou art armed if they keep it secretly thou liest open to danger be thou a friend to justice and God will be so much a friend to thee as to deliver thee publickly from thy private enemy none are so pernitious enemies as flattering friends Hast thou lost an occasion to revenge
nor detract the Magistrate 1 Pet. 2.17 Fear God honour the King Prov. 30.31 A King against whom there is no rising up Eccles 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy thought 1 Sam. 24.6 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. From which premisses none unless those who deny the Scripture can deny these Consequences That the jura regalia of Kings are holden of Heaven and cannot for any cause escheat to their Subjects That active obedience is to be yielded to the King as Supreme in omnibus licitis in all things lawfull But if God for the punishment of a Nation should set up a Tyrannical King secundum voluntatem pravam non rationem rectam regentem governing by his depraved will against reason and commanding things contrary to the word of God we must not by force of arms rebel against him but rather than so if not prevailing by Petition unto him or escaping by flight from him patiently submit to the losse of our Lives and Estates and in that case Arma nostra sunt preces nostrae nec possimus nec debemus aliter resistere Our prayers and tears should fight and not our Swords For who can lift up his hands against the Lords anointed and be guiltless This in Scripture we find practised by Gods people to Pharaoh Exo. 5.1 and the same people to Nebuchadnezzar a Tyrant were commanded to perform obedience and to pray for him Though there was no wickednesse almost which he was not guilty of His Successor Darius Daniel obeyed and said O King live for ever Dan. 6.21 For now no private person hath with Ehud Judg. 3.21 extraordinary commandment from God to kill Princes nor no personal warrant from God as all such persons had who attempted any thing against the life even of Tyrants Nil sine prudenti fecit ratione vetustas 2. The King hath his Title to the Crown and to his Kingly office and power not by way of trust from the people but by inherent bigthright immediately from God Nature and the law 1 Reg. Ja. ca. 1. li. 7.12 Calvins caâ—e 3. The Law of Royal government is a Law Fundamental 1 pars Jnst fo 11. 4. The Kings Prerogative and the Subjects Liberty are determined and bounded by the Law Bracton fo 132. Plowden fo 236 237. 5. By Law no Subjects can call their King in question to answer for his actions be they good or bad Bracton fo 5 6. Si autem ab eo petatur cum Breve non Currat contra ipsum locus erit supplicationi quod factum suum corrigat emendet quod quidem si non fecerit satis sufficit ei ad poenam quòd Dominum expectet ultorem Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare multo fortius contra factum suum venire If any one hath cause of action against the King because there is no Writ runneth against him his only remedy is by supplication and petition to the King that he would vouchsafe to correct and amend that which he hath done which if he refuse to do Only God is to revenge and punish him which is punishment enough No man ought to presume to dispute the Kings actions much lesse to rebel against him 6. The King is the only Supreme Governour hath no Peer â— his Land and all other persons have their power from him 3 Ed. 3.19 Bracton li. 1. cap. 8. Sunt etiâ—m sub Rege liberi homines Servi ejus potestati subjecti Omnis quidem sub eo ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Parem autem non habit in Regno suo quia sic amitterit praeceptum cum par in parem non habeat imperium Item nec multo fortius superiorem nec potentiorem habere debet quia sic esset inferior sibi subjectis inferiores pares esse non possunt potentioribus Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo sub lege quia Lex facit Regem The King hath no superior but the Almighty God All his people are inferior to him he inferior to none but God 7. The King is Caput Reipublicae the Head of the Commonwealth immediately under God 1 Jnst 73.1 h. 7.10 Finch 81. And therefore carrying Gods stamp and mark among men and being as one may say a God upon Earth as God is a King in Heaven hath a shadow of the Excellencies that are in God in a similitudinary sort given him Bracton fo 5. Cum sit Dei vicarius evidenter apparet ad similitudinem Jesu Christi cujus vices gerit in terris That is to say 1. Divine Perfection 2. Infinitenesse 3. Majesty 4. Soveraignty and Power 5. Perpetuity 6. Justice 7. Truth 8. Omniscience 1. Divine perfection In the King no imperfect thing can be thought No Laches Folly Negligence Infamy Stain or Corruption of blood can be adjudged in him 35. h. 6.26 So that Nullum tempus occurrit Regi 2. Infiniteness The King in a manner is every where and present in all Courts And therefore it is that he cannot be non-sute and that all Acts of Parliament that concern the King are general And the Court must take notice without pleading them for he is in all and all have their part in him Fitz. N. B. 21. H. 25. H. 8. Br tit Non-sute 68. 3. Majesty The King cannot take nor part from any thing but by matter of Record and that is in respect of his Majesty unless it be a Chattle or the like Because De minimis non curat Lex 5. Ed. 4.7 4 E. 6.31 2 H. 4.7 4. Soveraignty and Power All the Land is holden of the King No action lyeth against him For who can command the King He may compel his Subjects to go out of the Realm to war Hath absolute power over all For by a clause of Non-obstante he may dispense with a Statute Law and that if he recite the Statute Though the Statute say such dispensation shall be meerly void 7 E. 4.17.21 H. 7.2 H. 7.7 Calvins case Bracton Rex habet potestatem jurisdictionem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt ea quae sunt jurisdictionis pacis ad nullum pertinent nisi ad Regiam dignitatem habet etiam coercionem ut delinquentes puniat coerceat And therefore ought to have the Militia 5. Perpetuity The King hath a perpetual succession and never dyeth For in Law it is called the demise of the King and there is no Inter-regnum A gift to the King goeth to his Successors though not named For he is a Corporation of himself and hath two capacities to wit a natural body in which he may inherit to any of his Ancestors or purchase Lands to him and the heirs of his body which he shall retain although he be afterwards removed from his Royal estate and a body
instructions so he that denyeth this truth ought with the oratory of the sword and not of the mouth to be perswaded into his due obedience For it is an uncontrolable Maxim that he doth not honour and serve God as he should who doth not honour and serve his King as he ought God will not own him to be his subject who will not be a subject to his Soveraign the Lords anointed Therefore since by the Law of God for nothing is more frequently commanded in the Scripture and our Kings are of like institution with those Kings in Scripture and ought to have the same honour and obedience by the Law of Nature by the Law of Nations by the Common and Statute Law of England we are commanded to honour our King Let no man be so much an Enemy to God to Religion to his Country to the Church to the Law and to his own soul as to Rebel against his Legal Soveraign For he that doth it transgresseth against the ten Commandements of the Law the new Commandement of the Gospel he committeth the seaven deadly sins the four crying sins the three most detestable sins to the soul of man viz. Prophaness Impudency and Sacrilege In a word he committeth all sins is the Embleme of the Devil and unless he repent he will have his Lot with Belzebub the great Rebel and Traytor against Heaven If punishment cannot compel them me thinks the beauty of Monarchy might allure men to love it Surely there is no generous spirit who doth not for the most renowned and famous Nations in the World have lived under Monarchical Government as the Scythians Ethiopians Indians Assyrians Medes Egyptians Bactrians Armenians Macedonians Jews and Romans first and last and at this day the French Spaniards Polonians Danes Muscovites Tartars Turks Abissines Moors Agiamesques Zagathinians Cathaians yea and the Salvage people lately discovered in the West-Indies as being guided thereto by the rules of nature and rip up Antiquity and search Histories both antient and modern and thou shalt never finde our Realm of England so much an Enemy to virtue as to hate Royal Government until these latter and worst of dayes wherein it is accounted a sin to be noble and vertuous Nay so much did our Nation love Kings in former times that we had seaven of them in England at one and the same time viz. 1. The King of Kent 2. Of the South-Saxons 3. Of the West-Saxons 4. Of the East-Saxons 5. Of Northumberland 6. Of Mercia 7. Of the East-Angels which ruled and shined like the seaven Stars each absolutely reigning in his Country not under the subjection of other until at length by the Law of Conquest one became Monarch over all ruling like the Sun and acknowledging none on Earth his Superior so much that it is amongst us a common adage viz. The King holdeth of none but of God But it seems God hath now granted away the Seigniory to the House of Commons and the King must hold of them But from hence ariseth a point in Law whether they are absolutely and legally seized of the Seigniory without attornment of the tenant In my simple opinion the Seigniory doth not pass before attornment but I leave it as a quaere to the House of Commons who are best able to resolve it because they have all the Law in their own hands Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites From what hath been said it is apparent that Adam was the first King on Earth and that Kingdoms have been ever since Adam haereditary for a family which was before Commonwealth is nothing else but a small Kingdom and a great Kingdom is nothing else but a great family for the Pater familias were petite Kings and had royal power and potestatem vitae necis even over their own Children as Abraham and others But when the family increased and the numerous off-pring of their first parent multiplied built Villages Towns and Cities and so became a great people so long as their first parent lived their love and duty towards him would not permit them unnaturally to strive with him for the superiority but to acknowledge and obey him as their Soveraign and lawfull King from whence they had their being And this is the reason that Kings are called Patres Patriae Fathers of their Country Sal. 1. Inde enim origo regum regiique regiminis petenda est Haec cum primo homine cum solo novo cepit quoniam primum parentem numerosus ex eo descendens natorum qui ex â—is nati sunt populus pro rege habuit observavit ut primum sui generis auctorem So much for Monarchy the best of all Governments No man can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon Math. 6.24 If any Anti-Royalist think himself wiser than our Saviour and that he can serve two Masters and love them both let him hate Monarchy and set up his two headed Master and let experience the mistris of fools correct him as it hath many already But since our age is given to nothing but vain imaginations there be some who do Imagine and will object that Adam was no King because he is not stiled so in Scripture I answer though this frivolous objection doth not deserve an answer that neither do you find Adam stiled in Scripture my Father or thy Father yet Adam was the Father of all flesh Si res apparet Cur de nomine certas He that hath the supreme power is a King But Adam had the supreme power Ergo Adam was a King Rex cometh from Regere to rule and Adam was sole Lord Ruler and King and so continued untill he died Adam was created by God the Monarch of the World before he had any subjects And by right of Nature it was due to Adam to govern his posterity even before his subjects were born So that though not in act yet in habit Adam was a king from his creation Neither could Eve nor her Children ever limit Adams power It was God that gave the power therefore no Mortals could ever diminish or increase it For Quid Jove majus habetur They must be above all that which is called godlinesse who go about to put asunder that which the Almighty hath joyned together This Paternal power continued Monarchical to the Floud and after the Floud to the Confusion of Babel at which time God scattered the people abroad from thence upon the face of the whole earth as you may read Gen. 10 11. Yet they went out by Colonies of whole families over which the prime Fathers had the Soveraignty and were kings deriving their Fatherly and Regal power from Noah whose Sons or Grand-children they were all And although I think there are but few Kings in the world who can prove their title to their Crown hereditary ever since Noahs
Floud or the Confusion of Babel yet it is as true that there is a Regal right continuing in the Father-hood even untill this day and that the next heir to Adam ought to have the Supreme power as it is true that the father hath right ought to govern his Children or as that it is a rule Qui prior est tempore potior est jure He that is eldest by Law ought to rule For God told Cain the eldest brother Gen. 4.7 That unto him should be the desire of his youngest brother and that he should rule over him which continueth a Law until this present time But though we know not which is the next heir to Adam in any convention of the people which is the fault of our ignorance not of nature yet since God hath told us in his Holy Word that he only disposeth of Crowns as he pleaseth Therefore they can not go out of the right line so long as he directeth and guideth them though the right in the Father-hood lye dormant Every King is a Father therefore every subject must be obedient to his fatherly power otherwise he will break Gods Commandment viz. Honour thy Father c. God only had right to give and take away Crowns and thereby to adopt subjects into the allegiance of another fatherly power Therefore no less false than execrable is their opinion who promulge that all men whereby nature born free from subjection and that they had no Governour but by the peoples assent and chusing when it is most apparent that God gave the Supreme power to Adam and that all men since were born subjects by nature Our Saviour was subject to his Parents will Luke 2.51 And doubtless those men are free from all goodness too who profess themselves born free from subjection to their Prince or their Ancestors before them But suppose all men were born free by nature and that the people originally by nature had power to chuse a King after what manner or how is it possible for them to make their choice it must be by the joint consent of every reasonable creature Male and Female Old and Young Babes and Antient men Sick and Lame all at one time Nemine Contradicente for if natural freedom be granted to all the Major part of the whole people in the world or the Major part of the people of a Kingdom have no power to binde the lesser part to their consent and agreement Every one being as free by birth and having as much power as any other For the Major part never bindeth but where men at first either agree to be so bound or where a higher power so commands Now there being no higher power than Nature but God himself where neither Nature nor God appoints the Major part to binde The consent of the Major part is not binding to any but only to themselves who consent Those who are born afterwards according to the tenets of natural freedome are not bound by their consent because by nature they are likewise born free But if it should be true as it is false that men are all free born by nature yet have not they power jointly or severally to alter the Law of nature Now by the Law of nature no man hath power to take away his own life How then can the people or any single man give that power to another which he hath not in himself If he killeth himself for any offence he is a murtherer Therefore if any man claiming no other power but what he hath from the people do take away the life of any man though in a way of publique justice he is a murtherer and the man so killed is a felo de se Because the man slain had no power to kill himself and so consequently he which killed him had no power neither For Nemo potest plus juris in alium transferre quam ipse habet No man can transfer to another a greater right and power than he himself hath Tyrants are either with a Tittle or without a Tittle Their qualities Kings have their power immediatly from God not from the People proved in Adam and by Gods own Word in several Texts of Scripture by the suffrages of the Fathers and other Writers and by the Lords Prayer and Doctrine The several sorts and degrees of power instituted by God and the Commission whereby God gave power to Adam The honour which God hath bestowed on Kings and his special care and owning them How Kings are said to be instituted immediatly by God The Israelites did not sin in desiring a King and his power and praerâ—gative set forth by the Prophet Samuel Saul was chosen for his virtues and was not vitious at his inanguration Proved from Adonijah and Solomon that God only maketh Kings not the People The Arrogance and presumption of the pragmatical People of England in claiming power to make and unmake Kings condemned who will have none Kings but themselves Monarchy the best of Governments LEt us now set upon this Monster a Tyrant who is either cum titulo vel sine titulo with a title or without a title A Tyrant cum titulo or Exercitio is he who being a legal Soveraign ruleth by his depraved will and treading under foot the Laws of God and his Realm enslaveth his free born subjects and useth their goods as his own A Tyrant sine Titulo is he who usurpeth the Soveraignty without the Authority of the Law and subverteth all Rights and Religion making what Laws he pleaseth or else squareth his actions according to the rule of the known Laws For he that hath no Title to the Soveraignty but usurpation is a Tyrant though he live so piously and religiously that to the world he seems a Saint Here I could willingly cast Anchor and stop the progress of my pen from sayling any further into this rough Ocean of Tyranny But when I see the Sword and Scripture so much at variance the one fighting against the other then am I forced to put this question Whether a lawful Soveraign perverting the Laws of God and man and metamorphosed into an absolute Tyrant may by his subjects be called in question and punished at their pleasure The Sword saith he may and proves it by experience The Scripture though not with so much violence yet with more Reason and Religion both saith and proves it that he may not Mulciber in Trojam pro Troja stabat Apollo For the better decision of which question it is first necessary to be known whether the institution of Kings be immediatly from God or whether they be creatures made by the people receiving their power from their subjects and so to be dethroned when they vouchsafe to think convenient For art thou only a stranger in England and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these dayes That there are new Statesmen who have found out a new discovery and hold forth these Sophisms for true doctrin That Royal
ordinary act intervene For the interposed act containeth not in it power to confer Soveraignty but that power cometh formally and virtually from God and so relateth to him as the proper Donor and immediate Author As when a king giveth power to a favourite to make a Lord or a Baron yet who is so stupid as to averr that the honour of a Lord or a Baron cometh immediatly from the favourite and not from the king So when God puts into the hearts of the people to chuse a king the Soveraignty cometh from God and not from the people The people cannot produce so noble an effect as Royalty Nemo potest transferre in alium quod non habet in se No man can give that to another which he hath not himself The Soveraign hath power over life and death No single man hath power to kill himself nor the people jointly For if no man hath power over his own life much less over his neighbours Therefore Soveraignty is not derived from the people The people have potestatem designativam personae but not potestatem collativam potestatis regiae they have power to design and depute the person But not the power to joyn the Royal authory to the person for that is immediatly from God As the designation of the person to an holy function is from man or men but the collation of the power is immediatly from God I may have power to throw a man into the Sea but it is the water which drowneth him There is a great difference between the applying of the person to the authority and the applying of the authority to the person the one may be the act of the people the other can only be the act of the Almighty Licet communicatio potestatis quandoque sit per consensum hominum potestas tamen ipsa immediate est a Deo cujus est potestas Though the power be sometimes conferred by the consent of men yet it is immediatly given from God whose power it is saith Râ—ffensis de potestate Papae fol. 283. Et Communitas nihil sui confert regibus nisi ad summam personam determinet potius personam applicat divinae potestati quam divinam potestatem personae The Community hath no power to confer on Kings but only to depute the person it may apply the person to the divine power but cannot apply the divine power to the person saith Spalet tom 2.529 Constitue supra nos Regem at judicet nos sicut universae habent nationes Make us a King to rule over us not we over him that he may judge us not that we may judge him as all other Nations have Cry the Elders of Israel From whence it is apparent that Soveraignty cometh from the Heavens not from our earthly Cottages we are rather Passive than Active it is God which makes Kings we receive and should obey them There is no society without Government We should destroy one the other unlesse we had a Governour Thou O Lord hast made and given a King to the little Bees who follow him as their leader and honour him with a throne in the midst and safest place amongst them the Cranes do follow one as chief and flocks and herds have their Captain to lead them the Fishes of the Sea do follow one as King Therefore let not us men only be independent and since thou hast told us that power belongs to thee we will not rob thee of it Obedience is that which we are only capable of Soveraignty is a Creature of thy making not of ours Therefore make us a king to rule over us The Prophet Samuel seeing their urgent resolution for a king lest they should afterwards plead ignorance told them the power of a king Vosque eritis ei servi If you have a King you must be his Servants he will take your Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots he will take the tenth of your sheep and of your seed he will take your Daughters to be confectionaries â—e will take your Fields your Vineyards your Olive-yards even the best of them and give them to his Officers and Servants he will take your men-Servants and your maid-Servants and your Goodliest young men and your Asses and put them to his work This is the power of a king and from whence is this power derived doubtless not from the people for they are never so willing to part from what they have But notwithstanding they persisted in their Petition and would have a king saying Rex erit super nos erimus nos quoquâ— sicut omnes gentes judicabit nos Rex noster Nay but there shall be a king over us that we also may be like all the Nations and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our Battels by which it is perspicuous that all Kings had the same power as this King here described by the Prophet had The Israelites did not sin in desiring a King neither did God give them a King purposely for their punishment in his wrath For as the best Divines hold when God saith Hos 13.11 I gave them a King in mine anger and took him away in my wrath which proveth that God only giveth and taketh away Kings wicked Jeroboam is meant and not Saul For Samuel prayed for Saul God commanded Samuel to hearken to the voice of the people in all that they said 1 Sam. 8.7 and did chuse them a pious King for cap. 10.24 Samuel said to all the people See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen that there is none like him among all the people and all the people shouted and said God save the King So that it is apparent that Saul was chosen for his virtues and was no Tyrant at his inauguration Moses Deut. 17.14 15. did prophesie of their King Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse Where Moses relateth what is decent and meet for a clement and merciful king But Samuel describeth what a king may do if he will use his summum jus which is to do what he pleaseth Therefore Samuel setteth forth the greatest and largest power of Kings not to deter the people from desiring a Kings but to prepare their hearts to obey him for God commanded Samuel to grant the people their request according to the prophecie of Moses and therefore Samuel would not be unwilling to perform Gods command Neither was Samuels displeasure for any other end but that the people might be pleased with the king whom they so earnestly desired and knowing his power and remembring their fervent sute for him they might more willingly and chearfully obey him For Sauls wickednesse did spring from the Corruption of his Nature after he was made king and not through any default in God for he was a man of excellent qualities when God chose him and many pious and religious kings were given to the people afterwards as David c.
But be they good or bad the people must not resist them because as Samuel sheweth the manner of kings is to do what they will Principi summum rerum arbitrium Dii dederunt subditis obsequii gloria relicta est To Princes God hath given the highest power to Subjects only is left the glory of obedience saith Tacitus which indeed is the greatest glory can be conferred on them if they had but hearts to receive it for what is more glorious in Subjects than obedience to God and their King Super imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fert imperatorem The King hath no superior but only God saith Optatus Bishop of Milivis Generale pactum est societatis humanae obedire Regibus It is a Natural a General a Universal Compact Covenant of humane society to obey their Kings saith St. Austin li. 3. Confess cap. 8. But since optimus Legum interpres praxis practice is the best interpreter of the Law Look into the Scriptures and learn what our Ancestors have done before us I am confident you cannot find in all the Scripture where God appointed any people to be the chusers of their Kings but rather to accept of them and submit themselves to them whom the Lord had chosen and placed over them Nusquam invenio Regem aliquem Judaeorum populi suffragiis creatum quin si primus ille erat qui designaretur a Deo vel a prophetae ex Dei jussu vel sorte vel alia ratione quam Deus indicasset I never find any Jewish King made by the suffrages of the people but whom God did first by some means appoint saith Piueda de rebus Solo. li. 1. c. 2. neither did the Children of Israel chuse any unlesse Abimelech the Bastard son of Gedeon and as some say Jeroboam who made Israel to sin and of the evil successe of their reigns the Scripture will give you an account Would not the people have established Adonijah in King Davids throne crying out before him 1 Kings 1.25 God save the King Adonijah But God whose property it is only to make Kings rejecteth Adonijah and maketh Solomon to rule in his Fathers stead although Adonijah his title was by birthright aswell as by the consent of the people For 1 Kings 2.15 saith he to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon Thou knowest that the Kingdom was mine and that all Israel set their faces on me that I should reign howbeit the Kingdom is turned about and is become my Brothers For it was his from the Lord. In this verse you may see the title of Adonijah and the title of Solomon to their Fathers Crown Adonijah claimed it by birthright and the power of the people But Solomon claimed it from the Lord. It is no marvel that Adonijah put in his title for the Crown for God hath appointed the right of primogeniture by which the Patriarchs and all the rest of the posterity of Adam injoyed their royalty The elder is to rule over the younger by the Law of Nature Suppose Adonijah to be more wicked than Solomon yet doth not that take away his Birthright For God saith to Cain though he was never so wicked an Hypocrite unto thee shall be the desire of thy Brother and thou shalt rule over him though Abel was never so Godly and sincere a server of God which made Jacob so earnest to purchase his Brothers Birthright Gen. 25.31 And Jacob said sell me this day thy Birthright But Adanijah his Title was not only by birthright but also the people would have made him King and if those people had had as much power as the people of England pretend to have Adonijah would have wanted no other title than their power for the people of England are not afraid to say like Gods By us Kings reign we throw down Kings set them up again there is no power but what comes from us they provide themselves Kings they have spoken once yea twice have I heard this that Power belongeth unto them and that their Kings are only Derivatives from them O monstrum horrendum ingens cui lumen ademptum Did ever the world produce such blind prodigious Monsters Was ever God and Christ robbed so much of their Power Honour and Majesty as by these Vipers Adonijah no sooner saw his Brothers Title but he released his own and quitted the Crown wo be to them who usurp the Crown and have no Title of their own The Title of King Solomon was from the Lord he only set the regal Diadem on his head the people stood by as Ciphers Solus verus Deus dat regna terrena bonis malis saith St. Austin de Civit. Dei li. 4. cap. 33. It is God alone who disposeth of Crowns he crowned Adam a King in Paradice before his fall and before the rise of our Mâ—so-Monarchical Statists and therefore Monarchy is no Creature of the peoples which makes them confess and believe the Devils do the same that Monarchy is the best of all Governments which perhaps is the reason that they would so fain have it to be a Bird of their own hatching But me thinks their Tenets prove the contrary for if all Supreme power were originally in the people and derived from them to the King then without doubt Democracy were the best of all Governments for that form of Government which cometh nearest to its Original is the best But Democracy cometh nearest to its Original therefore Democracy is the best for the nearer the Fountain the purer the stream But change the Supposition into a true Proposition and then the Conclusion will be found as thus All Supreme Power is originally derived from God That Government which cometh nearest to its Original is the best But Monarchy cometh nearest to its Original therefore Monarchy is of all Governments the best And that Monarchy is the best form of all Governments is the conclusion of all Politicians Omnes vero palmam dant regno all give the palm to Monarchy Praestantiam autem Monarchiae non ex vetustate cum Lipsio nec ex naturae ductu cum Hieron ad Rastic Mona probo sed ex commoditatibus quibus caeteras species antestat I do not only prove Monarchy to be the most excellent because it is most antient and most natural but also because it is most profitable saith Henningus Arnisaeus As it is the most beautifull so it is the most profitable government Therefore none but mad men will dart forth the weapons of their Tongues and Hands against Monarchy or else those who would be Commonwealths-men only for their own private ends or else those men who will not have a kingdom unless it be their own and Reges abominantur nisi ipsi sint think kings abominable unless they may be kings themselves And these men think they may the easier attain to kingship by preaching this new Doctrine with the Iesuits that the kings power is derived from the people and so fool the ignorant multitude
into an act of joyning with them to take the Regal Diadem from off their pious Soveraigns head place it on their own fanatick Coxcombs and so become our good Lords Masters of all that we have for never was king illegally dethroned but a hundred Tyrants came in his room Regem quidem apparet eos sustulisse sed nec minus manifestum est Regnum sibi retinuisse dum quod sub uno erat in plures diviserunt triginta ac septem socios tyrannidis adscivere qui imperium secum tenerent gravique intollerando servitio cives suos premerent nam sub specie libertatis tyrannidem saevissimam velle eos exercere vel caecis clarum est saith Sal. But caveat emptor let them take heed they do not purchase their vain glory at too dear a rate their counterfeit dissembling may find a real Hell Nec est diuturna possâ—ssio in quam gladio inducimur this world will not last alwaies Let them assure themselves the people did never give nor ought for to take the power of their King Non tribuamus dandi Regni potestatem nisi Deo vero Let us not attribute the power of disposing of kingdoms to any but to the true God saith St. Austin de Civit. Dei li. 5. c. 21. Nemo enim ante infelicissimam hanc nostram tempestatem non fassus est Principem populo dominari Principi vero Deum For no man before these most unhappy times of ours did ever deny but that the King ought to govern the people and the King to be governed by none but God saith Barclay Had I not known that our Regicides have voted the Lords prayer as well as kings useless for uno absurdo dato mille sequuntur over Shooes over Boots I should have wondred with what face they could conclude their Prayers to the Almighty saying For thine is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever Amen yet claim the same power to themselves for if theirs be the kingdom the power and the glory if they have power to make and unmake kings when they please then what or where is Gods power Surely if their Doctrine be true then our Saviours is false and he did ill to teach us to pray and command us to say Thine is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever But let God he true and every man a Lyar. Our Saviour is the Truth and the Light and if these men had been inlightned by our Saviours doctrin the darkness of these errors would never have so damnably blinded them who make God a Parenthâ—sis thinking themselves perfect and compleat without him and profess that the king whose â—oodness like their wickedness is incomparable is but a Brat of their own begetting and that they like God may take him away as occasion shall serve These Antimonians who pick out places of Scripture only to destroy Scripture that they may be Canonical in all things and do nothing without the Bible say that the people make the King and that they are so taught out of Gods word For 1 Sam. 11.15 All the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal which say they is an invincible proof that the people made Saul their King and not God and so consequently all Kings are made by the people but if these men will tie themselves up so strictly to the letter of the Scripture because it makes for their purpose as they suppose that they will not hearken to the true meaning and interpretation let their own weapons kill them for 1 Sam. 12.1 Samuel said unto all Israel Behold I have harkned unto your voice in all that ye said unto me and have made a King over you This verse saith that Samuel made the King which is the very next verse to theirs which saith that the people made the King so that litterally one of these verses must needs speak falsly for if the people made the King then Samuel did not but if Samuel made the king then the people did not so that this Dilemma must needs confute our new Doctors But let Scripture interpret Scripture and the interpretation will tell you that God only made the king For though the people say We will set a king over us Deuter. 17.14 Yet they must in any wise set him king over them whom the Lord their God shall chuse The Lord must who only can give their king Soveraign power he must make and give the king The people have only power to receive and set him over them 1 Sam. 10.1 Samuel took a vyal of Oil and poured it on his head But the Lord anointed him King he is the Lords anointed not Samuels For why Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be Captain over his Inheritance Saith Samuel Paul may plant and Apollo may water but God only giveth the encrease God is Master of the Substance and only giveth regal power Samuel c. and the people are but masters of the Ceremony and the Coronation of Kings is only a Declaration to the people that God hath given them a King Outward Vnctions and Solemnities used at coronations are but only Ceremonies which confer no power to the King For it was his from the Lord. 1 Ki. 2.15 The Elders of Judah and Israel chose David to be their King and anointed him over them 2 Sam. 5.3 But they did not give him power or right unto his kingdom For saith God 1 Sam. 16.3 I will shew thee what thou shalt do and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee The people make the King not by giving him Soveraign power for that feather doth not grow in their wing but by receiving him and approving that which God hath done For the Lord the King of all the Earth ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will Psal 4.7 Dan. 4.25 Old Horace more a Divine than most of these new Sectaries the incendiaries of all mischief could teach them this truth Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium êst Jovis Clari Gigantaeo triumpho Cuncta supercilio moventis Fear'd Kings command on their own ground The King commanding Kings is Jove Whose arm the Gyants did confound Whose awfull brow doth all things move Which Sentence lest it should seem too light and savour too much of Poetical assentation Let our Antichristians for those who by their practise though not which their mouths deny Christs Doctrine deserve no better name hearken unto the Words of our Saviour if they will vouchsafe to debase themselves so much and behold what Doctrine he preached to Pilate which is the more remarkable because it was his last John 19.11 Iesus answered Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above For Cujus jussu homines nascuntur illius jussu reges constituuntur He who made men made Kings That Kings
Caesari Render to Caesar that which is Caesars saith our Saviour Quot verba tot argumenta His words should be to us commands his actions our instructions and his obedience should be our pattern shall the Lord of life submit himself unto the King and shall not we shall he give Caesar his due and shall not we shall he suffer himself to be murthered by the King and shall we murder the King This is the Popes Doctrine to take away the lives of Princes and â—re not we his true Disciples when we put his words in practice His Disciples did I say nay we scorn that for every man now is a Pope and exerciseth the fame authority But let us forsake the Pope and learn the obedience of true subjects from the subjects of Ioshua chap. 1.16 18. And they answered Joshua saying All that thou commandest us we will do and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy Commandments and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him He shall be put to death only be strong and of a good courage Behold here the Kings Soveraignty to command the Subjects duty to obey and the punishment of a Rebel is death If the King hath not the supreme power how can he command If the subjects are not his inferours why should they obey If the people have a power co-ordinate and equal with the King then must there be duo summa imperia two supreme powers which the Philosophers tell us cannot be Nam quod summum est unum est Soveraignty cannot be divided diverse supreme powers are no more compatible in on State than two sunns are in the firmament Omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit Non bene cum sociis regna Venusque manent Kings and Lovers admit of no Rivals Soveraignty being an individual must be in one sort of Governours either in one man as in Monarchy or else in one specifical kinde of men as the optimates as it is in Aristocracy or in the people as in Democracy saith Aristotle Necesse est aut unum esse penes quem summum sit imperium aut paucos aut multos But the Government of England is Monarchy and therefore the people have no supreme power It would be a monstrous body if the inferior members were equal in power or could command the head But suppose there should be such an Vtopia as our Novelists feign where the prople might call their King in question for his actions when they thought he offended we should then have a new King every new moon or oftner and would any man be so mad as to be their King For my part I think he had betrer be hanged for what beast is more Salvage and uncertain than the headlesse blind multitude Virgil. Scinditur incertum studia in contraria Vulgus Discord is the only Ensign of a multitude and sooner will the Stars gather into one body than a multitude unite themselves into one mind Quot homines tot sententiae and would not a man have a rare place of it to be servant to all these beares The Cynical Puritan would hang him if he was not in all things so pure a Saint as himself and the Independent would pende him if he did not solely depend on him as on God almighty the rigid Presbyterian would bend his knotty brows at him if he was not as obedient to him as a water Spaniel and the dreadfull Anabaptist would hang both Puritan Independent Presbyterian and King and all if they would not be Baptized according to his sacred tenet the Quaker would make him quake and Theaurau John would crack his crown unlesse he did esteem them as the greatest part of Christs kingdom And can any wise man think that this kingdom thus divided can stand A man cannot serve two Masters saith our Savior but that he will love the one and hate the other and Jove himself cannot please this many headed monster Therefore if the almighty God had not put the bridle of Government into the peoples mouths and the reigns into the hands of their Superior like the unruly horses of Phaeton or the masterlesse winds of Eolus let loose they would have torn the world asunder and brought all things with themselves into Confusion Tanta est discordia Fratrum So great is the discord even of Brethren No King can be so well accomplished as to please all men neither indeed is it a sign of an honest man to be so flexible as to please every one Populo placere non potest cui placet virtus the just love him whom the wicked hate and the wicked love him whom the just hate what King so pious just religious and mild as Moses the meekest of all men and what greater treason was ever hatched and plotted against any man than him Korah Dathan and Abiram with two hundred and fifty Princes of the Congregation lead the people to Sedition and then to Rebellion telling Moses to his face he took too much upon him and had not God Vindicated the sacred Soveraignty which he had placed in Moses even Moses himself had become a prey to the blood-thirsty and Rebellious appetite of these Traytors For it came to passe that the ground clave asunder that was under them and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their Houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods they and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit and the earth clozed upon them and they perished from among the Congregation and all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them for they said lâ—st the earth swallow us up also And there came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense as you may read in Numbers 16. A fearful example one would think enough to deterre the hearts of all Traytors from rebellion This was the first rebellion we read of in the Scripture and how God approved of it doth appear by the exemplary punishment These Traytors did but only murmur and rebel with their tongues yet see how God rewarded them then what punishment is reserved for them who do not only murmur and rebel with their reviling tongues more sharp than a two edged sword but also murder the Lords anointed and powr out his sacred bloud like water upon the ground Doubtless they have just cause to fear that although they flourish here like the green grass yet at the day of Judgement Hell it self will open it's mouth and swallow them up both bodies and souls into everlasting fire and damnation where there shall be nothing but weeping and wailing and guashing of teeth Lento gradu ad vindictam sui divina procedit ira tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensat The longer the blow is a fetching the heavier it will be when it falleth Divine vengeance cometh though with a slow yet
remember that Esaias suffered the same punishment If they cast him into a Dungeon so was Jeremiah the Prophet Solamen miseris socios habuisse Doloris There is nothing so comfortable as to have companions in misery If he be cast in to Lions so was Daniel If he be thrown into a fiery Furnace so were the three Children If he be thrust through the Temples so was Amos. If he be slain in the porch of the Temple so was Zacharias If he be cast into the Sea so was Jonas If he be killed with the Sword so was Vrias the Prophet If his head be cut off so was John Baptists If he be fastned to the Crosse with his head downwards so was St. Peter If he be crucified so was St. Andrew If he be murdered with the Sword so was St. James the son of Zebedaeus If he be thrown into a tun of boiling oil so was St. John the Evangelist If he be beaten to death with clubs so was St. Bartholomew If he be slain with a Dart or Javelin so was St. Thomas If he be beheaded so was St. Matthew If he be crucified so was St. Simon If he be slain so was St. Jude If he be put upon a pinacle of the Temple thrown down and after his fall having breath be knockt on the head with fullers clubs and brained so was St. James the son of Alphaeus If he be first stoned and then beheaded so was St. Mathias If his head be cut off so was St. Pauls If he be burned to ashes by furious Idolaters so was St. Mark There is no punishment so dreadfull to his body that shall cause his soul to break Gods ordinance to lift up his hand against his King and so bring damnation to his own soul Occidi licet occidere non licet It is honourable to be martyred an innocent Subject But it is infamy to live a victorious Rebel Preces Lacrimae sunt arma Ecclesiae Church-men must use no other weapons against their Soveraign than prayers and teares He that useth the Sword shall perish by the Sword and he that fighteth against his King sighteth against God For they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me saith God that I should not reign over them 1 Sam. 8.7 And if God doth not rule over them then the Devil who goeth to and fro in the earth and walketh up and down in it will puff up the heart of every sectarie with the Pride of ruling and ever the prevailing faction will set up an Idol to worship untill Satan doth make another faction stronger than that and then down goeth the former Idol and the Idolaters with it and up starteth another altogether as wicked and uncertain as the other Christ never taught it neither did ever any of the Prophets or Apostles by their doctrin or example give the least liberty that could be to any Subjects to levy war against their Soveraign But have forbid it as a most detestable wickednesse both by their Doctrine Precepts Perswasions Arguments Commands and Examples most of them suffering themselves to be most cruelly tortured and ignominiously murthered before they would resist the higher powers Nay they have forbiden all evil words or thoughts against them commanding and instructing the people to pray even for the worst of Tyrants What Tyrant more savage and cruel than Nebuchadnezzar Yet with what earnest expressions did the Prophet Jeremiah exhort the people to obey him threatning them with utter destruction for their Rebellion What Tyrant more bloudy than Nero that Monster to the world and Idolatrous Persecutor Yet St. Paul bids the Romans obey and serve him for Conscience sake Saul commanded the Amalekite to kill him who when he had performed the Kings command brought word thereof to David which when David heard although Saul was a wicked King He said to the Amalekite Wast not thou afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lords anointed and commanded him to be slain for his pains and said thy blood be upon thy head for thy mouth hath testified against thee saying I have slain the Lords anointed 2 Sam. 1 16. Innumerous are the precepts of loyal obedience to which fot brevity sake I refer you to the Bible which is an Iliad of such examples Could not our Saviour have had more than twelve Legions of Angles to have repelled the fury of his persecutors But he was so far from resisting that he bid Peter who had drawn his Sword put it into his place and moreover told him that they that use the Sword shall perish with the Sword Could not David have cut off Sâ—uls head when he cut off the lap of his Garment Yet his heart did smite him and he was not able to perpetrate so great a sin How many glorious Martyrs both antient and modern as those in Queen Maries daies have been burnt alive racked and torn in pieces yet never would resist any of their persecutors How dare the men then of our age blaspheme God even in their pulpits teaching the people to rebell and making God the Author of all their villanies telling the multitude It is Gods cause even when they are acting the most damnable works of the Devil How justly may they expect the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah the plagues of Egypt and all the Curses in Hell to fall upon them and their posteritie for ever If they have any special command from God or be immediately inspired of him to kill their King then may they be justified as in the cases of Eglon Zimri Jehu c. who did nothing but what was just when they killed the Lords anointed because they had Gods will to be their Commander and no man can sin in performing Gods will For sin is nothing but an obliquitie from Gods will But when they know that it is Gods will to honour and obey their Soveraign yet notwithstanding trample him in the dirt What Judgement can they expect but that of their Master Lucifer to be chained in everlasting Hell fire Qui disputat de potestate Principis utrum bene fecerit est infamis saith Marginista He which disputeth of the Kings power or whether he doth well or no deserveth the most infamous punishment For Tibi soli peccavi against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil O Lord saith holy David when he committed adultery and Psal 51.4 Murther as if he should have said I am a King and therefore cannot be brought to the bar of Justice by men They can give me no Laws to bind me therefore I cannot offend them 2 Sam. 12.7 But against thee thee only O Lord have I sinned and done his evil against thee who didst raise me out of the dust and liftedst me needy out of the dung-hill and didst â—noint me King over Israel and deliveredst me out of the â—and of Saul and gavest me my Masters house and my Masters wives into my bosome and gavest me the house of Israel Judah if
that had been too little thou wouldest moreover have given unto me such and such things Against thee who hast made me Judge over all and loaded me with so many prerogatives above my brethren have I sinned and for the Judge to offend makes the offence so much the more grievous The people did not call David in question for his wicked acts but only God Deus suam omnem in reges authoritatem contulit caelum sibi retinuit terram agendam ferendamque pro libito tradidit All the whole Heavens are the Lords the Earth hath he given to Kings to dispose of as they please Therefore saith Solomon Prov. 30.31 A King is he against whom there is no rising up And therefore Job might well ask that question 34.18 Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly For presumptuous are they and self-willed who are not afraid to speak evil of dignities 2 Pet. 10. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars Mark 12.17 Render therefore to all their dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custome to whom Custome Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour For Rulers are not a Terrour to good works but to the evil wilt thou then not be afraid of the power Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same For he is the Minister of God to thee for good But if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the Minister of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake For for this cause pay you Tribute also For they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing Rom. 13. Submit your self to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men As free and not using your liberty for a Cloak of maliciousness but as the servant of God Honour all men love the brother-hood Fear God honour the King We are commanded to obey the King whether he be good or evil Propter Deum for the Lords sake Not only because it is the will of the King but because it is the will of God that we should do so he hath commanded it and therefore for his sake we must do it If we resist the King we resist God and he that resisteth God shall receive damnation For when we pretend that we are free born Subjects that the Kings commands intrench upon our liberty and that for the freedom of our liberties we may rebel against him This is to make Liberty a Cloak to cover our maliciousness and wicked designs against the King Which is forbidden by the Apostle for not to serve the King is bondage and to rise up against him to preserve and keep our liberties is to enslave our selves to the Devil and to make us his servants to perform all wicked actions For we must needs be Subject to the Kings precepts not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake Et si plures sunt quos corrigit timor tamen meliores sunt quos ducit amor Although they be most whom fear makes obedient Yet they are best who out of true love obey their Soveraign We must not obey the King only that we may avoid giving of him offence and so not incurr punishment But it is a duty laid upon our Consciences so to do and if we love God we must love as faithful Servants to be obedient unto the King not as eye servants who only do their duty when their Master looketh over them But all our actions either publick or private must savour of obedience to him For he is our Master and we are his Servants and the Servant is not greater than his Master but ought alwayes to be diligent in his Masters service And although the King do recompense good with evil and punish them who like faithful Servants have not deserved it Yet they being good even in their sufferings shall receive praise from the power as did our Saviour and the Apostles when they were most wickedly murthered For do we not until this day praise and honour their Martyrdom Although the power which destroyed them did not give them praise yet by their obedience and patience in their unjust punishments did they receive a Crown of everlasting glory and renown from God and men Who can sufficiently celebrate the fame of those worthy Martyrs who unjustly suffered for Religion under the Government of Queen Mary Have not they by their unjust punishments received greater rewards of praise than if they had unjustly rebelled Surely yea for if they had rebelled although it was to save their Religion their Epitaphs would have been Rebels and Traytors instead of pious and Godly Martyrs The wicked only are afraid of the Kings power and punishments to whom he is a Terrour But a conscience voyd of offence towards God and towards man maketh the courage of the righteous like Lyons to contemn all earthly misery Hic Murus aheneus esto Nil conscire sibi nulla pallescere culpa Be this a wall of Brass to have within No black accuser barbour no pale sin Non est fas Christianis armis ac vi tueri se adversus impetum persecutorum saith Cyprian Epist 1. It is not lawfull for Christians by violence to defend themselves against Persecutors Therefore surely they ought not to murther their King and again Cyprian Epist 56. Incumbamus gemitibus assiduis deprecationibus crebris haec enim sunt munimenta spiritualia tela divina quae protegunt Let us apply our selves to daily sighes and continual prayers for these are the spiritual bulwarks and divine weapons with which Christians should only fight These not guns and swords will only defend us Ambrosius adversus reginae Justinae Arianae furorem non se manu defensabat aut telo sed jejuniis continuatisque vigiliis sub altari positus Ruffinus li. 2. c. 6. Ambrose did not defend himself against the fury of the Queen by the force of the hand and of the sword but by fastings continual watchings and prayers And shall we offend our gracious Soveraign with clubbs and axes Who by his sufferings shewed us the example of a true Christian whiles we like Jews triumph in his murther crying out crucify him crucify him Tertulian Apolog. c. 37. saith expresly that the Christians might for strength and number have defended themselves against their Persecutors but thought it unlawful Yet we because by our wicked plots and devices we have got a numberless company of those who like our selves will do any thing for gain think it a sin if we do not
perform any wickedness which our power will assist us to effect Sen. Medea Tremenda caelo pariter ac terris mala Mens intus agitat vulnera caedem vagum Funus per artus levia memoravi nimis Haec virgo feci Homicides Paricides Mauslaughters murthers oppressions deceits extortions briberies and such like offences we committed in our youthful years when the Gospel was first planted in England but now we are become great proficients in Christianity we are now high and mighty Christians not fit to be fed with milk as babes and sucklings but with the bloud of Kings Regicides are our passe-times and to murther the King is holden to bee one of the chiefest Principles and proofs of a sound Christian whole Nations gather together and make a Covenant to murther their Kings which they hold to be as sacred and as beneficial as the old or new covenant in the Bible but Quae scelere pacta est scelere rumpetur fides That Covenant and trust which is made by wickedness by wickedness may be broken which doth most evidently appear in the transactions of the English and Scotish Rebels For they most wickedly swore and made a Covenant against the King like those Traitors of whom King David complained Psal 102.8 And after they had murthered the King then they swore and made Covenants one partie against another so that like those wicked men in Hosea 4.2 by swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out blood toucheth blood because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land verifying the Proverb of King Solomon Prov. 26.27 Who so diggeth a pit shall fall therein and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him for Rebellion by which they murthered the King is returned upon them and they now rebell one against the other so that we may truly say their own iniquities have taken the wicked themselves Prov. 5.22 and they perish by the devices and imaginations of their own hearts fulfilling the Scripture Prov. 11.21 Though hand joyn in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered For notwithstanding all the wicked plots and inventions of the bloody Rebels yet is our King C. 2. the seed of our most righteous Soveraign whom they destroyed delivered out of their hands as the bird out of the nets and snares of the fowler or as the innocent Hart out of the mouthes of the bloudy hounds Whilest they rage and are madd one against the other O the goodness and providence of the Almighty God! Where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou Eccles 8. 2 3 4. The fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lion who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul Prov. 20.2 What sins then are we guilty of who not only provoke our King to anger but quench his anger with his own bloud St. Peter teacheth us another lesson which you cannot hear too often 1 Pet. 2.13 17. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them who are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God Honour all men love the Brotherhood Fear God and honour the King And to see the Civil Law and the Divine Law go hand in hand harmoniously agreeing and consenting to lead a loyal subject into due obedience and allegiance to his Soveraign is no less delightful to the Royalist than envyed by the Rebels which Barclay doth out of the best Civil Lawyers sum up together cap. 14. saying Principem ex certa scientia supra jus extra jus contra jus omnia posse Et esse crimen sacrilegii instar disputare de potestate Principis Et Principem esse legem animatam in terris Et Principem solum posse condere statuta licet humanum sit quod consilio Procerum utatur Denique Principem posse tollere leges positivas quia illis non subjicitur sed illae sibi Et Deum Principi leges subjecisse nullam Legem ejus Celsitudini imponi posse Et licet de jure aliquid non valeat si tamen Princeps de facto mandat servari perinde est ac si de jure valeret quoad subditos Et solum Principem soli Deo habere de peccato reddere rationem soli Caelo debere innocentiae rationem Et temerarium esse velle Majestatem regiam ullis terminis limitare Et Principem re vera esse solutum Legibus The Latine is so elegant that I will not cloath it in English raggs None but blind Sodomites who grope for the wall at noon day will not here see the door which openeth to obedience and go in concluding That the King is free from the Laws and cannot be limitted by any humane invention may do what he please if he be more a Tyrant than Phalaris or Nerone Nerouior degenerate from all humanity and prove a Wolf to his People Yet by the Law of God by the Law of Nations by the Law of Nature by the Law of the Land by the example of all Saints by the rule of Honesty and by all equitable considerations It is not lawful for his Subjects nor any man or any degree or sort of men within his Dominions upon this pretence of Tyranny to rebel against their Soveraign For if any cause should be allowed to be just for the Subjects to rebel then that cause would alwayes be alleged by the Rebels though in truth they had no such cause at all For whom one man and his Company did esteem a good Pious and Religious Prince another party would proclaim him wicked Tyrannical and Idolatrous And who shall be judge between them but the sword and then Excessit medicina modum The remedy would be worse than the disease For it is an undoubted truth that Subjects did never despose their Prince although he was a Tyrant But that a multitude of Tyrants far worse than they pretended their Prince to be did rise up in his room By the cutting off the head of one snake twenty snakes grow in the same place Therefore it is not profitable aswell as not lawfull for subjects to resist their King For hear what Bodine saith O how many Tyrants should there be If it should be lawfull for subjects to kill their Soveraigns though Tyrants How many good and innocent Princes should as Tyrants perish by the conspiracy of their subjects against them he that should of his subjects exact subsidies should be then as the vulgar people account him a Tyrant He that should rule and command contrary to the good liking of the people should be a Tyrant He that should keep strong guards and garrisons for the safety of his person should be Tyrant He that
should put to death Traytors and Conspirators against his State should be also counted a Tyrant And indeed how should good Princes be assured of their lives if under the colour of Tyranny they might be slain of their subjects by whom they ought to be defended Then what madness is that Nation intoxicated with who throw down a pious good and religious Prince to promote a multitude of lawless Tyrants whose little finger is heavier than the whole loynes of their Lawful native Soveraign The King as I said is the Husband of the Commonwealth and the Wife is not greater than her Husband because she had once power to chuse whom she would and because the man could not have been her Husband without her consent It is no argument that she hath power to turn away her Husband because she made him her Husband No it is God who giveth the Marital power he gave her the Husband and gave him power over her so that she cannot tâ—rn him from her though he prove never so wicked So though the people chuse them a King and are the cause sine qua non yet it is God who is the author of his royal power And the people can no more dethrone him and elect another than the wife can her Husband And it is as good an argument to hold that the wife hath power to put away her Husband and chuse another because she made him her Husband As it is that the people may cast off their obedience to their Soveraign and set up another because they made him their King The Cardinals make the Pope and the Clerks the Bishop but it would be a strange thing to them if one should tell them that therefore the Cardinals and Clerks might degrade them when they pleased Suppose the Souldiers should chuse them a General would not the General think it strange Logick to argue that therefore the Soldiers might turn him out of his office when they pleased Indeed where the superior makes an Inferior officer he may deject him at his pleasure As in a Prineipality which is nothing else but an Aristocracy or Democracy where the people create a Magistrate to rule so long as they please they may turn him out at their will because they alwaies tetain a power of Constituting and rejecting him when they think fit So the King may turn out Parliaments when he will because they depend upon him and their power is inferior to his But when the woman hath taken a Husband when the Commonwealth is married and subjected to a King then the Commonwealth hath no power but all her power is ttansmitted to her Husband the King For Omnia quae sunt uxoris sunt ipsius viri non habet uxor potestatem sui sed vir All that the wife hath is the husbands and the wife hath not power over her self but the husband The people by their election denude themselves of all their power and transfer it to the King so that he is the only fountain from whence they draw every drop of power they have As when Valentinian was desired of his people to admit of a consort in his Empire he answered them In eorum fuisse potestate priusquam eum ad imperium vocarent id non facere jam vero vocato imperatore eos non posse nec ab eo impetrare quod nefas crederet illis concedere That before they had elected him it was in their power either to elect him or another but now he being elected they had no such power neither ought they for to ask that which he thought not fit to grant them It is a prejudice to a royal mind to be compelled to any thing compulsion diminisheth the worth of a voluntary goodness It is against the nature of Royalty to be restrained which makes Kings say Licet Legibus soluti sumus attamen legibus vivimus Though no man hath power to compel us to live according to the Laws Yet we will For Decet tantae Majestati eas servare leges quibus ipse solutus esse videtur It is the part of a royal Prince nay very decent and becoming so great Majesty voluntarily to observe those Laws from which he is free German vates Nihil ut verum fatear magis esse Decorum Aut regale puto quam legis jure solutum Sponte tamen legi sese supponere regem But if our Prince should not rule his life according to the Laws yet it is our duties so to do and we are commanded to obey him and acknowledge him our King though he be never so wicked For we are his Servants Nay his Servants by birth and therefore enjoyned by a command to serve him 1 Pet. 2.18 Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle But also to the froward For this is thanks worthy if a man for Conscience toward God indure grief suffering wrongfully Nullus nascitur liber ab imperio No man is born exempted from the subjection of Government Our Saviour himself as man was not free from this for he was subject to his Father and Mother Luke 2.51 and also to the King though he is the King of Kings and all earthly Kings are only dependent upon God and Christ whose vicegerents they are I admire with what impudence our terrae filii these screeching Oules the men of our pale-face'd times can blasphemously give the Almighty the lye and say per nor reges regnant by us Kings reign we give Kings and take them away When God plainly telleth them and all the world per me Reges regnant By me Kings reign I give Kings and take them away and doubtless these Quacksalvers have as great authority and warrant from the Scripture to say By us the Sun ruleth the day and the Moon the night and we gave the heavens and the earth their being as they have to maintain this their detestable opinion viz. that the Kings power is radically in the people and derived from them to him For nemo est Dominus suae vitae no man hath power over his own life and therefore none can give that to another which he hath not in himself God only hath power over life and death and he hath given this power to Kings as he hath evidently declared in his holy writ And I am sure God who hath said that by him Kings reign is true Rom. 3.4 And every man who saith the contrary is a Lyar. Then if God only instituted and gave Kings God can only take them away For Eodem modo quo quid constituitur dissâ—lvitur Things are dissolved as they are contracted Therefore every man should say with the French Bishop mentioned in Greog Turon Hist 4. lib. 5. Si quis de nobis O Rex Justitiae tramites transcendere voluerit a te corripi potest si tu vero excesseris quis te corripiet loquimur enim tibi sed si volueris audis si autem nolueris quis te damnabit
person of any Tyrant Pax â—um hominibus bellum vitiis but I hate his Tyyrannie I freely forgive them all the injuries they have done to me or any of my friends and for their good I have written this Treatise but they are Gods enemies and God would be offended if we should let them sleep in their villanies Our Laws and Religion ought to be more dear to us than all things in the world for without them we should be worse than beasts and who more subverteth our Laws and Religion than Tyrants Vt imperium evertant libertatem preferunt cum perverterunt ipsam aggrediuntur saies Tacitus That they may pervert the legal Government they pretend liberty for the people and when the Government is down they then invade that libertie themselves Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium atque ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellent To rob to murther to plunder Tyrants falsely call to Govern and to make desolation they call to settle peace These are they which God sayes Hosea 8.4 Ipsi regnaverunt sed non ex me They have reigned but not by me They have made Princes and I knew it not and have cast off the thing that is gâ—od There is no power indeed but of God but the abuse of power is from the Devil These men do not rightly use but abuse the power and as Satan is called the Prince of the world so these men are called Governors of the Realm not because they are so by right but by Treacherie Rebellion and Treason their power is by Gods permission not by his Donation Therefore these are not the Dignities and higher powers which the Apostle commands us to be subject to for then we must be subject to the Devil too for Tyrants and Devils have powers both alike lawfull and both by Treason and Rebellion No we should resist and arm our selves against these enemies it is Disobedience to obey them Rebellion not to rebell against them and Treason not to plot Treason against them Therefore let everie one be readie with his dagger like Jodes to stab this devourer of mankind Bad Kings must be converted onelie with praiers and tears but Tyrants must be subdued with clubs and swords for Quis constituit te virum Principem Judicem super nos Exod. 2.14 Who made them Princes and Judges over us the King we know and the Kings son we know but who are they They are not of Gods making but of Beelzebubs their Master and their own making Therefore let everie good Christian arm himself against these Caterpillers devotion and action must go together let him not bribe his Conscience with self interests but take courage and fight the good fight that so he may deliver himself and his Countrie from slaverie and bring the Tyrants to the Rope their best winding sheet All other Governments are but the corruption and and shreds of Monarchy which is the most glorious and most profitable of all sorts of Governments when and how Aristocracy and Democracy begun rather by Gods permission than institution The proper Character of a Common-wealths man or the Definition of an English Changeling with his flexible and mutable qualities The absence of our King is the cause of the presence of our many sins and divisions IF you remember in my Division of Governments I made mention of Aristocracy and Democracy c. which indeed had their first Original from the corruption of Monarchy and are but shreds of Monarchy as all Politicians hold Therefore I will not spend time and paper to abuse your patience with anie thing but a Description of them For Virg. Verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes Quantum lent a soleni inter viburna cupressi Monarchy doth as far excell all other sorts of Government in glory profit conveniencie for the people and in all other good qualities as the Sun doth the Moon or the Moon the twinckling stars and is like the lofty Cedar amongst the servile shrubs Hence it cometh that even the Republicans who hate a King because he is their Soveraign Master are compelled to suffer and use Petite Monarchies as one may say under them as one Master over everie Familie one Maior over everie City one Sheriff over everie Countie one Rector over everie Parish Church one Pilot over every ship one Captain over everie Troop one Admiral over the Fleet and manie other Offices of trust and places wherein Pluralitie of persons would prove most obnoxious But Monarchie is and alwaies hath been proved and approved the best and most absolute lie good Aristocracy is the Government of a Common-wealth by some select number of the better sort of the people preferred for their wisdome and other vertues for the publick good Oligarchy is the swarving or distortion or Aristocracy or the Government of a few rich yet wicked men whose private end is the chiefest end of their Government tyrannizing over Law Religion and the people Democracy or popular estate is the Government of the multitude Where the people have the supream power and Soveraign autority Ochilocracy or a Common-wealth is the corruption and deprivation of Democracy where the rascal Rabble or viler sort of the people govern by reason of their multitude These kinds of Government were not heard of a long time after Monarchy began and the impulsive causes of them were contention and confusion and were rather permitted than ordained by God as the bill of Divorce was by Moses For non erat sic ab initio there was no such Government at the beginning for God did not create it as he did Monarchy when he made all things but the people being stragled up and down in the world and so in processe of time became out of the knowledge of their lawfull King rather than they would indure the miserable effects of Anarchy for Plebs fine Rege ruit there can be no family no society indeed no living without rulers they reâ—igned up their whole power and libertie to some few select men or else to many who made Laws for them and so tied up the hands of the unrulie and wicked and defended the just from the violent tempests and storms of the unjust to which before they lay open and naked which God seeing that it was better for them to have such a Government than none at all did allow of it but it hath no comparison with Monarcâ—y becuase that was instituted by Gods primarie Ordinance and the further men go from Gods original institution they have the more corruption Nay if compared to Monarchy it is a curse for Solomon saith Prov. 28.2 For the transgressions of a Land many are the Princes thereof but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged summo dulcius unum Stare loco sociisque comes discordia regnis How sweetlie doth the Poet sing when he saith that it is most sweet for one to govern for a companie of Governors
have alwaies discord to be their companion Monarchia nihil habet durum praeter nomen populare contra regimen nihil lene praeter nomen Monarchy hath nothing harsh but its name but on the contrarie a popular estate hath nothing delightfull or taking but its name Our times are so full a Commentarie and so plain an Exposition of the evil events of a popular estate that I will not neither need I recite the opinions of the Antients wherewith they have contemned it as the worst of Governments most subject to dissension and change and most obnoxious to the people And I think no Nation under the Sun could ever produce a more notorious example than mutable England where everie man as if he had served an Apprentiship to novelty forgeth new invenions everie day he changeth his mind as often as children would change their cloaths and fitteth his conscience to everie opportunitie and purpose His heart though hollow will bend like a flexible osier and incline to anie thing that is profitable though never so wicked his resolutions will break to pieces like ropes of sand and like the Moon are alwaies changing He never standeth to anie thing so fast but that he can slip away from it when he pleaseth Neither did he ever love any Religion ' so well but that he could love another as well at any time and for a need entertain twâ—ntie together twentie did I say Nay 't is his fashion to change his Religions everie day if no every hour and so much Religion makes him an irreligious changeling But for brevities sake take his Epitome viz Constant onely in inconstancy And this man thuâ— qualified is one of the main pillars of the Government of England for you must know too that hâ— hath sometimes a great mind to be a Governor nay he is so hot upon it that sometimes he will do any thing rather than fail If his own father stands between the Throne and him he will make him stand by or else make him go into another world He can pull off Kings Crowns as often as he can pull off his own Hat He can break a great Oath as easie as he can break a little â—hreed and Perjury with him is a Cardinal vertue if it do but add any thing to his Design And you will make it a miracle if this man should not make a good Common-wealths man if not a good one however one would think that he might keep his place long enough being so well furnished with all these sweet flexible and easie conditions but no he cannot and the reason is because there is a great Litter of these Whelps gathered together of the same kind with himself and being so many they often snarl one at another for the bone so the Government Proteus like changeth it self into what shape they please sometimes one of them is promoted to the Government just like a Malefactor on a Woodden Horse whom they pull down when they please and them run open mouthed with a full cry after it again untill that at length one being nimbler footed or quicker mouthed catcheth it into his paws by and by all of them like Acteons dogs fall upon him and although he crieth out Actaeon ego sum Dominum cognoscite vestrum I am he which use to hunt with you and be your master Huntsman yet such is the furious madnesse of these Animals that they tear him in pieces and hang the Government on another and so they tosse it about from one to the other as children do a three half penny ball thinking it is no sport if the ball lie long still in one of their hands Regni sacra fames quid non morialia pectora cogis What doth not the thirst of ruling compell these mortals to do Every one cuts his fellows throat if he thwarts him in the Government they make the people swear to be faithfull to a single person one day and to swear against a single person the next It is high Treason to speak against one kind of Government one hour and high Treason or worse not to speak against it the next and what is the reason of these turnings and twinings and various alterations Because in these dayes there is no King in England and every man doth that which is right in his own eys Judg. 21.25 Velle suum cuique est nec voto vivitur â—no An Advertisement to the Enthusiasts and Crown-hunters of this over-ruling age admonishing them since their lives are so short and so wicked that they would not expect Eternity in their ill-got-estate and that from hell there will be no Redemption because the Devil will not be deluded with bribes Cares and fears do accompany Crowns lawfully gotten but curses and damnation do attend them and their possessors which have gotten them by the Murther of their King or by any other illegal means as did our English Rebels QVis furor O populus quae tanta licentia ferri Discite justitiam moniti non temnere Divos What madnesse O people O people what licentious fury possesseth your earthly Cottages Can fish live in the air Or can fowls live in the Sea Can you scale the heavens and subdue the Almighty Hor. Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia neque Per nostrum patimur scelus Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmina The disposing of Crowns belongeth to God and not unto your frail Quidlibets When you go to wrest the Crown from your Soveraign you go to fight against God And through your foolishnesse pull down his wrath upon you Why preach you up your selves the maintainers of the Law so much Alas thieves cannot live without a Law for if they do not distribute their stolen goods equally and according to Justice as they term it Divisions and quarrels will soon arise amongst them But I hope this is not your case if it is honest men will come by their goods Therefore being admonished Do not despise your lawfull King and Soveraign Si genus humanum mortalia temnitis arma At sperate Deos memores fandi atque nefandi But if you do and with your vaunting power and raging violence over-rule all humane strength and juâ—tice Yet remember that the gods remember you and when your villanies are past and rubbed out of your brittle memories For nothing is more pleasing than to forget ones evil actions yet then they are most fairly written in Gods book and shall never be blotted out untill your names are razed out of the book of life What sweetnesse is there in Crowns which makes you so earnest to wear them It is your fond conceits to think they are delightfull there is nothing in them which hath not plus fellis quam mellis more gall than honie Deformis facies non est deformis amanti It is only your love which makes them beautifull for Crowns are not without cares and fears crosses and losses and high seats are alwaies slipperiâ— O vilis
restored to his own and sit Judge amongst us It was King Charles the first who granted that the burthen of excise should not be laid on the shoulders of his Subjects but the Rebels with their intollerable and monstrous Excises new found impositions and other unspeakable grievances have beggered the Subjects and undone the whole Kingdome both in their Estates and Reputation To be short whatsoever they voted unlawfull for the King to do they have done that and ten thousand times worse so that though we want not bodies to feel the miseries which they have brought upon us yet we want tongues to expresse the wofulnesse of our Condition and the incomparable wickedness of these Traytors And what greater pretence have they had for their actions than to say that the King was not the Supreme Governour over his Subjects A contradiction in it self but we will proceed further to manifest their error Sir Thomas Smith in his common-wealth of England saith cap. 9. By old and antient Histories that I have read I do not understand that our Nation hath used any other general Authority in this Realm neither Aristocratical nor Democratical out only the royal Kingly Majesty who held of God to himself by his Sword his People Crown acknowledging no Prince on Earth his Superiour and so it is kept holden at this day which truth is sufficiently warranted in our Law-Books The state of our Kingdome saith Sir Edward Cook li. 4. Ep. ad lectorem is Monarchical from the beginning by right of inheritance hath been successive which is the most absolute and perfect form of Government excluding Interregnum and with it infinite inconveniences the Maxim of the common Law being Regem Angliae nunquam mori That the King of England never dyeth then doubtlesse the Rebels could not by Law mortifie both the natural and politique capacity of the King And in Calvins case li. 7. The weightiest case that ever was argued in any Court than which case according to my Lord Cokes observation never any case was adjudged with greater concordance and lesse variety of opinions and that which never fell out in any doubtfull case no one opinion in all our books is against that judgment In this case it was resolved amongst other things Fo. 4. c. 1. That the People of England c. were the Subjects of the King viz. their Soveraign liege Lord King James 2. That Ligeance or obedience of the Subject to the Soveraign is due by the Law of Nature 3. That this Law of Nature is part of the Laws of England 4. That the Law of Nature was before any judicial or municipal Law in the world 5. That the Law of Nature is immutable and cannot be changed From which resolutions we may conclude that the Subjects of the King of England unlesse they like God Almighty could alter the Law of Nature They could not alter their obedience and subjection to their Soveraign Lord King Charles For if by the Law of Nature obedience from them was due to the natural body as I shall further prove of King Charles and if the Law of Nature is immutable as most certainly it is Bracton lib. 1 ca. 5. D. Stu. ca. 5. 6. then could not they have any cause whatsoever as altering their Religion banishing or killing of them a sufficient ground for them to take up arms against him and put him to death For by this they go about to change the Law of Nature which is impossible for mortals to do But say some by the Law of Nature we may defend our selves and therefore leavy war against the King for our own defence I answer that by the Law of Nature we are bound to defend our selves yet must we use no unlawfull means for our defence for the Subjects to levy war against their Soveraign is forbidden both by the Laws of God and Nature Therefore vain and foolish is that excuse as well as all others which the Rebels make use of to defend their Rebellion Ligeance is a true and faithfull obedience of the Subject due to his Soveraign It is an obligation upon all Subjects to take part with their Liege Lord against all men living to aid and assist him with their bodies and minds with their advice and power not toft li up their arms against him nor to support in any way those who oppose him This ligeance and obedience is an incident inseparable to every Subject of England and in our Law-books and many Acts of Parliament as in 34 H. 8. cap. 1. 35 H. 8. cap. 3 c. The King is called the liege Lord of his Subjects and the people his liege subjects Every Subject of England taketh the Oath of ligeance which is only due unto the King yet doth not the ligeance of the Subject to the King begin at the taking of this Oath at the Leet For as it was resolved in Calvins Case so soon as the Subject is born he oweth by birth-right ligeance and obedience to his Soveraign Lord the King Because ligeance faith and obedience of the Subject to the Soveraign was by the Law of Nature written with the Finger of God in the Heart of Man before any municipal or judicial Laws were made 1. For that Moses was the first Reporter or writer of Law in the World yet government and subjection was long before Moses 2. For that it had been in vain to have prescribed laws to any but to such as ought obedience faith and ligeance before in respect whereof they were bound to obey and observe them Frustra enim feruntur leges nisi subditis obedientibus You may read likewise in Calvins Case That the King of England hath his title to the Crown by inherent birth-right by descent from the blood royal from God Nature and the Law and therefore not by way of trust from the two Houses of Parliament or from the People Neither is his Coronation any part of his Title but only an ornament and solemniation of the royal descent For it was then resolved that the title of King James was by dessent and that by Queen Elizabeths death the Crown and Kingdom of England descended to his Majesty and he was fully and absolutely thereby King without any essential ceremony or act to be done Ex post facto So in the first year of the same Kings reign before his Majesties Coronation Watson and Clarke seminary Priests and others were of opinion that his Majesty was no compleat and absolute King before his Coronation but that Coronation did adde perfection to the descent and therefore observe saith my Lord Cook their damnable and damned consequent that they by strength and power might before his Coronation take him and his royal Issue into their possession keep him prisoner in the Tower remove such Counsellors and great Officers as pleased them and constitute others in their places c. and that these and others of like nature could not be treason against
non debet nec multo fortiùs superiorem and a little after in the same Chapter Exercere Rex debet potestatem juris sicùt dei vicarius in terra et minister quia ea potestas solius Dei est The King doth excell all his Subjects in power He hath no Equal much lesse a Superiour because his power is from God only he is Gods Vicar Therefore not the Peoples And again li. 1. ca. 8. Item in temporalibus sunt Imperatores Reges et Principes in hiis quae pertinent ad regnum et sub eis Duces Comites Barones magnates sive Vavasores et Milites et etiam liberi et villani et diversae Potestates sub rege constitutae And a little after sunt etiam sub Rege liberi homines et servi ejus Potestati Subjecti Et omnis quidem sub eo et ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Parem autem non habet in regno suo quia sic amitteret praeceptum cum par in partem non habeat imperium Item nec multo fortius superiorem nec potentiorem habere debet quia sic esset inferior sibi subjectis et inferiores pares esse non possunt potentioribus ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub Homine sed sub Deo et sub Lege quia Lex facit Regem Dukes Earls Baronets Knights the Worthies of the Land Free-Men and Villains all are under the King and the King under none but God He hath no Peer in his Realm because then he would lose his command for amongst Equals there can be no Empire therefore much lesse hath he any Superiour or more powerfull than himself because then he would be inferiour to his Subjects and Inferiours as the Subjects are cannot be equal with the more powerfull as the King is But the King ought not to be under man but under God and the Law because the Law makes him King But what if the King should swerve from the Rules of the Law destroy his Subjects and their Estates without a cause May the Subjects take up arms against their Soveraign and compell him by force to do that which they cannot perswade him to by fair meams No saith Bracton li. 1. ca. 8. Si autem ab eo petatur cum breve non currat contra ipsum locus erit supplicationi quòd factum suum corrigat et emendet quod quidem si non fecerit satis sufficit ei ad paenam quod dominum expectet ultorem Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare multo fortius contra factum suum-venire No Enditement of high Treason c. lieth against the King our only remedy is to Petition his sacred Majesty but if he will not hearken to our just and reasonrble requests satis sufficit Nay his punishment is more than enough for he must render an account one day to him who judgeth righteously who will give us all a hearing the Beggar as well as the King But let not men in the mean time presume to question the deeds of the King much lesse Rebel against him and undoe by force what the King shall do though not according to right And that you may know that Bracton fully meant that the Subjects ought not to rise against the King though he acted unjustly He repeats his mind in other places li. 5. Tract 3. de defaltis cap. 3.3 where he puts the case that if the King should do injury and will not suffer the Law but his will to take place Quo casu cum dominus Rex super hoc fuerit interpellatus in eadem perstiterit voluntate quod velit tenentem esse defensum injuria cum teneatur justitiam totis viribus defensare ex tunc erit injuria ipsius domini Regis nec poterit ei necessitatem aliquis imponere quòd iâ—laâ— corrigat et emendet nisi velit cum superiorem non habeat nisi deum et satis erit illi pro paena quòd deum expectat ultorem If the King who is bound to administer justice to his utmost power being Petitioned will not recall and amend the wrong he did he injures his Subjects but no body can force him to do right because he hath the Supreme power he hath no Superiour but God and it is punishment enough for him to expect that God to whom vengeance only belongeth will take vengeance on him To every point which I have cited out of Bracton doth Fleta unanimously agree What man then so impudently wicked What hand so wilfully audacious what pen can there be so repugnant and contradictory to all truth as to affirm and publish to the world that Bracton writeth and is so to be understood viz. That the people have the Soverainty over the King and may call him in question for his actions so punish him for his offences O Traytor to the King and Sycophant of Bracton Mr. Willian Prynne of Lincolns-Inne is the man who with his Hand and Pen I cannot say Heart hath promulged this false Doctrine to the World in his Book called The Soveraign Power of Parliaments and Kingdoms Wherein according to Mr. Sandersons expression in his History of King Charls the 1st fo 117. Prynne pretends to overthrow all Scripture proofs against killing Kings and Princes For my part I bear not the least grudge or animosity to the mans person But his book is such a rapsody of nonsense a bundle of Rebellion and Treason a Pamplet so Seditious Pernicious Sophistical Jesuitical Trayterous and Scurrulous that I want Mr. Prynnes Epithites to give his own book its deserved Odium Wherein as Mr. Fuller in his Church History lib. 11. fol. 152. well observeth he delighteth more to be numerous with many than ponderous with select quotations which maketh his Books to swell with the losse of tentimes of the Reader sometimes of the Printer and his pen generally querulous hath more of the Plantiff than of the Defendant therein I mention Mr. Prynne and his book here only to put him in mind of the wrong which he hath done both to our Soveraign the King and the whole Kingdom He being the greatest if not the only Champion who rook upon him to vindicate and applaud those treacherous damnable and rebellious proceedings and unchristian inhumane and unnatural Warr against the King of that Monster called the Long Parliament whom now he laboureth as much to vilifye as he did then to promote O Trayterous Offspring which killeth his Mother only because she will not give him suck If he repent why doth he not write a book of retractations If he looketh upon his book intituled The lawfulnesse of the Parliaments necessary defensive War both in point of Law and Conscience I am sure he will have cause enough to repent of his writing if he hath any Law or Conscience in him And he hath no way better to redeem his credit than by a publique Confession God may pardon him and the King may pardon him if
King of Babylon and that will not put their Neck under the Yoke of the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the Sword and with Famine and with the Pestilence Wherefore serve the King of Babylon and live And St. Peter saith Servants all the Kings Subjects are his Servants be subject to your Masters the King is our Soveraign Lord and Master with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward For this is thanks worthy if a man for Conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully From which it is most evident that we ought and are commanded to be Subject to evill Kings who are degenerated into Tyrants If then the power of evil Kings commeth from God if God commandeth us to pray for them and to be subject to them and if they are Gods ordinance as most certainly they are it consequently followeth that he which with defensive or offensive I can make no distinction for ubi lex non distinguit non est distinguenda Arms resisteth an evil King resisteth Gods ordinance and shall receive damnation What then if the King command us to doe Evill must we doe it God forbid nay God hath forbidden it therefore we must obey God not the King yet must we not unjustly resist him but rather resign up our lives and estates into his hands For we must needs be subject to the King not only for wrath but also for conscience sake saith S. Paul But our objecter saith that if it be the meaning of the Apostle to inhibit the resistance of the Kings unlawful commands then to flye or to die rather than obey is likewise inhibited because the not performance of the command is a resistance To which I answer that I may confidently averre that it was never the meaning of St. Paul nor the Holy Ghost to inhibit this kind of resistance under the pain of eternal damnation it being the Doctrine and practise of our Saviour and all the Apostles when they were persecuted in one City to fly into another Matth. 10.23 and all of them willingly suffered death under wicked Kings but you shall never find that they resisted with defensive arms but both with their lives deaths and doctrine set forth the contrary But if this kind of resistance be inhibited by the Apostle you must understand that the penalty is temporal not eternal damnation The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth judicium and so it is used in several places in the New Testament as in Matth. 7.2 Luke 24.20 c. for temporal damnation and judgment So that we may conclude that the intention of the Apostle was that whosoever resisteth the lawful commands of the King shall receive damnation both from God and the King and he which doth not perform the unlawful commands of the King shall receive temporal judgment and damnation from the King but salvation and life everlasting from God but whosoever useth unlawful resistance against the Kings unlawful commands as defensive arms c. must expect temporal judgment and damnation from the King and eternal judgment and damnation from the Almighty But what doth God give power to Kings to take away mens lives and estates unjustly I answer that he doth the Devil himself hath no power but what God giveth him It is the wisdome of the Almighty oftentimes to scourge his people for their sins with the power which he giveth to wicked Kings The King is a minister of God saith St. Paul a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil and sometimes to try them that he may make them the more happy and glorious God gave power to the Devil to afflict Job who had not his like in the whole earth a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil Job 1.8 and what made Job so famous as his miseries Had not Job had sore boyles we should never have heard of Job's glory and good fortunes and was it not the Lord which authorized the Devil to afflict him It was for the Devil had not power to touch him until he had desired God to put forth his hand and touch his bone and his flesh which made holy Job to cry the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken not the Devil for he was but the instrument so God oftentimes by the power which he giveth to Kings afflicteth his dearest children both in their bodies and estates yet cannot unrighteousnesse be imputed unto God because he doth it for their good but the wicked wills of Kings which use the power which God giveth them so unjustly are unrighteous and shall by the Almighty be punished according to venerable Bede Injustum enim non est ut improbis accipientibus nocendi potestatem bonorum patientia probetur malorum iniquitas puniatur It is not unjust in God that the patience of the good be proved and the sins of the wicked punished by the power which is given the wicked to offend for by the power given to the Devil Job was tried and appeared to be just St. Peter was tempted that he should not presume too much upon himself and Judas was condemned that he hanged himself But it is unjust in the King to use it Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power saith the Apostle Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same A good man will have praise of the power let the King be good or evil If the King be good he will cherish the good and reward their piety and goodnesse with praise and dignity But if the King be evil yet shall the good receive praise from the power It is the Glory of a Chrstian to suffer wrongfully his unjust miseries are his best herauldry to ennoble him and every injury offered to him is as a Crown of gold set on his head he had rather be punished for a thousand faults wrongfully than for one justly For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God 1 Peter 2.20 Non dicit ab illa sed â—ex ea saith reverend Bede quia etsi potestas humana non laudat immo si etiam persequitur si occidit gladio ut Paulum si crucifigit ut Petrum habebis ex illa laudem dum ex eo quod illa malefacit in te justum et innoxium tuae virtutis patientia Coronam laudis meretur All the Apostles and Martyrs received a Crown of Glory by their sufferings under Tyrants and so will every good Man For they are the Ministers of God to them for good though they oppresse nay kill the Innocent and Righteous they do not hurt them but do them good as the best Gold is purified in the fire so the best Christians are discerned from the drosse by their afflictions That mettle
there is Ultimum Potentiae so in the politick body when the King and the Lords Spititual and temporal Knights Citizens and Burgesses are all by the Kings command assembled and joyned together under the head the King in consultation for the Common good of the whole Realm there is Ultimum Sapientiae But it was never known in any age that the Members without the head had either power or wisdom and it would be prodigious if our age should produce such a Monster No man can tell the contrary but that our Realm of England hath been Governed by Kings ever since the Creation of the World clear it is by all Historians that ever since we heard of any Government in England it hath been a Royal State and although our Governours have been often changed yet our Government was never turned out of the regal road it is as easy to pull the Sun out of the Firmament and make the Stars to rule the day as it is to abolish Monarchy and establish Aristocracy or Democracy in our Kingdom For that which is bred in the bone will never out of the flesh As Monarchy is the most divine and most natural kind of Government so it is most natural to and esteemed most divine by all true born English men For such is the Courage and so great is the Loftiness of English Spirits that they disdain to be ruled by any but by his sacred Majesty our Soveraign Lord the King For as it was long before King William the Conquerour so did our Government continue still without interruption a Royal Monarchy until the chief Priests and the Scribes and the Elders as they call them of the People to wit Presbiterians Independents Anabaptists Jesuits c. assembled together and consulted that they might take Charles the first whose undeserved sufferings have made him immortal on Earth as well as in Heaven by subtilty and kill him But they said let us not kill him suddenly and openly lest there be an uproar among the people night time is the only day for wickedness The Gunpowder Treason was hatched in darknesse and these Godly Villains thought that the best way to catch their prey was to beat on the dark side of the hedge They cut the Throat of Religion when they seemed to lay a plaister and they murthered their Soveraign when they swore they intended nothing but to make him a Glorious King Then entred Satan into Judas surnamed the House of Commons being one of the two Houses of Parliament And these Judasses went their way and communed with the chief Priests and Captains how they might betray him unto them And they were glad and covenanted to give them mony who then promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude And since the innocent Birds are oftentimes easier catcht with silent and gentle snares than roaring Guns at first these Judasses thought to betray their Master with kisses courting his Majesty with high-flying Complements of Obedience and that they might make him believe them to be what indeed they were not they made many Oathes Protestations Vows and Covenants that they were his Graces most dutyful Subjects and desired to live no longer than to do his Majesty service But it seems they did but play the Fox speak fair only to get their prey for by these sophistical insinuations they charmed his Majesty and wrested from him divers marks of his Soveraignty they were intrusted with the Navy obteined a Triennial Parliament were acquitted of Ship-mony and other impositions and at length made themselves perpetual for his Majesty passed an Act not to Dissolve them without their consent So that they now wanted nothing but his Majesties life which to obtain they procured by their wickedness the Earl of Strafford's head to be cut off and many other Nobles which stood in their way which props being removed they thought they might with more ease pull down the Soveraignty of the King that these Negroes might make themselves compleat Devils they got the head of the Earl of Strafford others cutoff for committing Treason against the King whose head they afterwards intended to cut off for committing treason against them O incomparable villany What they made a capital offence in others they esteemed more than a Cardinal virtue in themselves It was High Treason in others to think to do the King any harm but it was a high piece of Godlinesse in them to cut off his head The Earl of Strafford must dye as a Traitour because they said he intended to levy warre against the Kings will But these Saints raised Armies to fight against his Majesties own person Levied warre against the King and Kingdome murthered the King and destroyed the whole Realm Yet forsooth they must be canonized as the only true servants of Jesus Christ and all those who speak against them they kill and massacre as if they had committed Treason and Blasphemy against the Almighty Nay the great offence against the Holy Ghost they esteem more pardonable than the least against them And as it now plainly appeareth to the world all their oaths vowes and protestations of obedience to the King and performing of their duty towards him were but preparations for their great wickednesse of murthering the King For as the Gunner when he laboureth to kill the innocent bird walketh gently and treadeth softly holding down his gun as if it was the least of his thoughts to shoot when he mindeth nothing more or as the greedy Huntsman stealeth upon the Hare or Deer looking another way untill he is gotten close by and then letteth out his bloudy hounds to take and kill his prey So these Vipers more wise than Serpents only to do mischief did steal upon the King and undermined him by cutting off his Nobles whom they knew would be true and trusty servants to him and then when they thought they had him within their reach They let fly their doggs the bloudy souldiers for this Judas the House of Commons then having received a band of men and officers from the chief Priests and Pharisees John 18.3 who first set them on work came forth with a great multitude with swords and staves Matth. 26.47 48. to take and kill their Soveraign Now they that betrayed him gave the souldiers a sign saying Whomsoever we have sworn to be the only supreme Governour in all causes and over all persons That same is he hold him fast In that same time said the King to the Multitude Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me I sate daily with you in the Parliament House making many good lawes and ye laid no hold on me But all this was done that their wickednesse might be fulfilled John 18.12 Then the band and the Captain and the Officers of these Jews took the King and led him away to their Council and contrary to all legal proceedings and
was condemned repented themselves saying We have sinned in that we have betrayed Innocent blood and were all of them ready to hang themselves But it was not out of any love or allegiance they did bear to the King but because they could not have those ends upon the King which they intended They would have had the King buckled to their bent and it grieved them to see the Independents c. out-knave them foâ— the greatest part of the religion of these factions consists in their animosities one against the other not only the Presbyterians but also the Independents Anabaptists c. are both almost and altogether such as the proud Pharisees were Therefore their greatest care and study is to domineer and master it one over the other which makes the prevalent faction alwayes outragious and that which sinketh alwayes envious So that the Presbyterian being at this time undermost he would fain insinuate himself into the favour of the honest Royalist and because he hath not force to be so much Knave as he would be therefore he is compelled to be honest against his will and would have his injured King to rule over him again But get thee behind me Dagon what hast thou to do with peace Didst thou not in thy youthfull age revile thy Innocent King with thy mouth and persecute him with thy bloudy hand and wouldst thou now in thy old age serve him Thy service is Hypocrisie and thy words but the vapours of a deceitfull head Let the Presbyterians rigid actions judge the rigid Presbyterians Having related of what persons the Parliament doth consist viz. of the King above all and the three Estates sharing no more with the King in the Soveraignity than the body doth with the head and how King Charles the first was most traiterously murthered by those who have the impudence to call themselves a Parliament though in truth they are nothing else but a den of Tyrannical Traytors and Rebels I will further proceed to explicate the Soveraignity of the King and the legal power of the three Estates with their first institution and creation Sapiens omnia agit cum consilio saith Solomon a wise man doth nothing without counsel Pro. 13.16 Therefore the King of England Ex mero motu et speciali gratia out of his meer good-will and special favour hath vouchsafed his Subjects that honour as to make them his Counsellours not only concerning Ardua Regni but also arcana imperii even in his most privie affairs wherefore As my Lord Cook observeth the King is armed with diverse Councills one whereof is called Commune Concilium and that is the Court of Parliament and another is called Magnum Concilium this is somtimes applyed to the upper House of Parliament and somtimes out of Parliament time to the Peers of the Realm Lords of Parliament who are called Magnum Concilium Regis Thirdly as every man knoweth the King hath a privie Council for matters of State The fourth Council of the King are his Judgâ—s of the Law for Law matters as appeareth in our Law-Books This word Parliament was never used in England untiâ—l the time of William the Conquerour who first brought it in with him For as King David called a Parliament when he intended to build an house for the name of the Lord 1 Chro. 28. and assembled all the Princes of Israel the Princes of the Tribes and the Captains of the Companies that ministred unto the King by course and the Captains over the thousands and Captaines over the hundreds and the Stewards over all the substance and possession of the King and of his Sons with the Officers and with the mighty men and with all the valiant men unto Jerusalem And when they were assembled the King himself shewed the cause of calling that Parliament for then David the King stood up upon his feet and said Hear me my Brethren and my People as for me I had in my heart to build and House of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God and had made ready for the building c. Whereupon all the people offered their Gold and Silver willingly towards the work which made the People and David their King rejoice exceedingly with great joy as you may there read So the Kings of England from the beginning in all extraordinary cases when they intended to make new Laws or abolish old have always convoked an assembly of their Subjects what persons and of what number they thought fit Not because they could not do what they pleased without their Subjects consent but because their Subjects best knowing what shooes would fit their own feet might as they often did by Petitions humbly supplicate his Majesty to grant what they shewed him was most convenient and necessary for them by their requests which he refused or granted at his pleasure Which Councils and Conventions they called Witenage Mote Conventus sapientium Michael Smoth Michael Gemote c. that is to say the great Court or meeting of the King To which the King convened only the Nobles and Bishops The Rustick Commons were not then admitted into the presence of the King And doubtlesse they had then small hopes and lesse thoughts that they should ever take the Regal Diadem from off their Soveraigns head and become Lords Paramount ruling both King and People by no other Law than Hoc volo sic Jubeo stat pro ratione voluntas by their own lusts and unstable except to do mischief wills But I have seen servants upon Horses and Princes walking as Servants upon the Earth saith Solomon And pray who hath not seen as much as Solomon of this For behold Tinkers Taylors Spicket and Fosset makers and those who were Servants even to the basest of the people having murthered their Soveraign Lord the King doe take possession of his sacred Patrinomy and now sit Lords over all ruling and domineering in his Palace at Westminster Feign that the people did intrust the King with his Royal Office yet why should it escheat to these Hypocrites why not to the people And if his Office with the Lands which he held Jure Coronae yet by what Law do they seise upon those Lands which he held in his natural Capacity and those Lands which he purchased For if a man forfeit an Office he only forfeiteth those Lands which belonged to the Office But if all his Lands escheat by what Law do they detain and keep the Queens Dower from her By what Law did I say By that Law whereby they subdue all things to themselves to wit their own wicked Appetites Ambition and Covetousnesse which is all the Law they can shew for any of their Actions to which we must be Slaves so long as they command over us Pro. 30.21 For three things saith Solomon the earth is disquieted and for four which it cannot bear For a Servant when he reigneth and a Fool when he is filled with meat For and
or Precinct to be holden there only and remove the Courts at Westminster to what place he pleaseth and adjourn the Terms as he sees cause this is book-Law 6. H. 7.9.6 Eli. Dier 226. But I pray what Law set up the new slaughter-house in England viz. the high Court of Justice Doubtlesse it was not the Kings Law and if not his Law it was no Law for England never heard of any other but the Kings Laws You have already heard that the King was before Parliaments that the King first instituted Parliaments not Parliaments the King that the House of Commons is but as it were of yesterday and that both Houses are nothing else but what the King made them Let us now see what the King did make them with what power this Idol the House of Commons is invested since they have nothing else to shew for what they are than the Kings Writ that being their Basis and only legal authority Take a view of the Writ The King to the Vicount or Sheriff Greeting WHereas by the advice and assent of our Counsell for certain arduous and urgent affairs concerning us the State and defence of our Kingdom of England and the Anglican Church We have ordained a certain Parliament of ours to be held at our City _____ the _____ day of _____ next ensuing and there to have conference and to treat with the Prelats Great-Men and Peers of our said Kingdom We command and strictly enjoyn you that making Proclamation at the next County Court after the receit of this our Writ to be holden the day and place aforesaid you cause two Knights girt with Swords the most fit and discreet of the County aforesaid and of every City of that County two Citizens of every Borough two Burgesses of the discreeter and most sufficient to be freely and indifferently chosen by them who shall be present at such Proclamation according to the Tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided and the names of the said Knights Cittizens and Burgesses so chosen to be inserted in certain Indentures to be then made between you and those that shall be present at such Election whether the parties so elected be present or absent and shall makâ— them to come at the said day and place so that the said Knights for themselves and for the County aforesaid and the Citizens and the Burgesses for themselves and the Cominalty of the said Cities and Burroughs may have severally from them full and sufficient power to do and to consent to those things which then by the favour of God shall there happen to be ordained by the Common Counsel of our said Kingdom concerning the businesse aforesaid So that the businesse may not by any means remain undone for want of such power or by reason of the improvident election of the aforesaid Knights Citizens and Burgesses But we will not in any case that you or any other Sheriff of our said Kingdome shall be eâ—ected And at the day and place aforesaid the said Election being made in a full County Court you shall certifie without delay to us in our Chancery under your Seal and the Seals of them which shall be present at that Election sending back unto us the other part of the Indenture aforesaid affiled to these presents together with the Writ Witnesse our self at Westminster This Writ is the foundation of the Parliament upon which the whole fabrick of their power and proceedings is grounded It is that which setteth up a Parliament Man and is the only Commission which distinguisheth him from another man for without that every man in the Kingdom hath equal right and authority to sit and vote in Parliament Now by Law no man ought to exceed his Commission Therefore if the Lords or Commons act beyond the bounds of their power limited in this Writ their only Commission they are transgressors and incur the punishment of Malefactors The Writ telleth you that both Houses are but as it were the production of the Privy Council for though the King ordaineth the Parliament yet it is by the advice and assent of his Council why then may not the Kings privy Council being prius tempore lay claim to the Soveraignty as well as his Common Council surely both have like right The Lords are only enabled by their call tâ— Conferr and Treat and that not without but with the King It is their Counsel to advise not their power to authorize which the King requireth For why had not the King ordained a certain Parliament to be and there to â—ave Conference and to treat with them they â—ad not come to give him Counsel and as they â—annot come but when the King commands them â—o neither can they chuse but come when the King â—oth command except the King excuse them â—nd being come they are but as Judge Jenkinsâ—ith â—ith Consiliarii non Praeceptores Counsellors â—or Commanders for to Counsel is not to Comâ—and They are only to advise not to controul â—r compel the King The Parliament is ordained â—y the â—ing as appeareth by the Writ only for â—ertain arduous and urgent affairs 1. Touching â—he King 2. The State of the Kingdom â— The defence of the Kingdom 4. The â—tate of the Church And 5. The â—efence of the same Church Though it â—e arduous yet not urgent occasion to destroy â—ingship To condemn the King to death and â—unishment is not touching the King but a Maleâ—ctor To kill the King is to destroy the kingdom â—ot to defend it and his death is the death of â—e Church and Religion O how have the Long â—arliament swarved from the true ends for â—hich Parliaments were ordained Indeed the Lords not as the upper House of â—arliament but as a distinct Court of the Kings Baâ—ns have power to reform erroneous judgeâ—ents given in the Kings Bench But there is first Petition of Right made to the King and his anâ—wer to it viz. Fiat Justitia The Court of Parliament is only the House of Lords where the King sitteth and they are his common-Counsel it belongs to them to receive all Petitions to advise his Majesty with their Counsel and to consent to what Laws the King shall make by their advice Not to speak of the qualities of the persons of the House of Commons being most of them to wit Citizens and Burgesses Tradesmen brought up in their Shops not in any University or Academy of Law and Learning and as fit to Govern and make Laws God wot as Cows are to dance The rest of them being Knights of Shires chosen commonly rather for their Mony than their Wit having greater wealth than head-pieces I pass from their education to the authority which the King vouchsafed to bestow upon them which is only what is contained in the Writ viz. facere consentire to do consent but to what Not unto such things which they shall ordain but unto such things which are ordained by the King and
in stead of proving a Keeper to the Trayterous Keepers he hath approved himself a glorious Dâ—â—ender of our Liberties for which Trophies of honour shall be erected to his eternal renown neither will our King spare heaping of rewards upon his so memorable merits at his return to his own house which the General hath swept for him and turned out them who made it aden of thieves On Tuesday the 21. day of February 1659. a day which deserveth more solemnization than Gunpowder Treason day for then we were delivered from those who only intended to destroy King and Parliament but now we are delivered from those who actually did destroy both King and Parliament and so consequently the whole Kingdome General Monk our famous Patron conducted the secluded Members to the House of Commons where according to their former agreement with the General they voted themselves in a short time to be dissolved and a free Parliament to be elected Now I hope no man will presume to conceive the General so insipid as to think there can be a free Parliament without the King and House of Lords No it is ridiculous to think so for a free Parliament without the King would be but like salt which hath lost his favour thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be troden under foot of men Mat. 5.13 It would be but a Rump fatned and grow bigger For we are all sick of the Kings Evil therefore nothing but the touch of his Sacred Majesties hands can cure us And I may with confidence and truth affirm that every one of that infinite number of people which so much rejoyced at the destruction of the Rump and at the voice of a free Parliament would mourn and cry at their sitting if they do not bring with them the good tidings of restoring their King the hopes whereof only made them rejoyce And indeed they would have more cause to bewail a free Parliaments sitting without the King than the sitting of the Rump for this we may be sure of that the King will come in either by fair means or by soul if by soul that is by war then the war will be greater with a free Parliament and so consequently more grievous to the people than with the Rump because a free Parliament will have greater force and power to levy a war than the Rump and so the combustible matter being more the flame will be the higher But it is Atheism to think that a free Parliament will withstand the King therefore I will not taint my Paper with such detestable words I let fall a blot of ink upon Mr. Prynne's Soverain Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes a Book which I am sure deserves a greater blurre But Mr. Prynne hath since repaired his credit and got the applause of the people by writing for the King and against the Rump and other sectaries Therefore to give him his deserts there is no man in the Nation hath so much merited as himself in pulling down the many Tyrannies over us since the murther of Charles the Martyr He hath been our Champion whose pen hath fought against the scriblings and actings of the Traytors and Rebels for which I shall ever love and honour him and without doubt our Gracious King will sufficiently reward him if he continueth constant in his loyalty which God grant he may And although the Presbyterian held the head of Charles the Martyr to the block by his hair whilst the Independent cut it off yet now I hope the many evils which we have sustained by that royal fall for which he shewed the first play will teach the rigid Presbyter moderation and make him confesse notwithstanding his violent Covenant against that Apostolical constitution of Bishops that Episcopacy is the best form of Church Government and the only way to extirpate and keep down those infinite number of s31y'sects and factions which have taken root and budded since Episcopacy was rooted up and blasted No Bishop No King was the Symbole of our Solomon King James who I think was as wise and as much a Christian as any of our Lay-Elders therefore in vain do the Presbytery think of enjoying Monarchy unlesse they first resolve to lay aside all their schismatical Tenets and stick to Episcopacy For as the same King sayes A Scottish Presbitery and Monarchy agree as God and the Devil Our Soveraign Charls the Martyr in his sacred writings hath so clearly approved and vindicated Episcopacy from the false aspersions of the Presbiterian faction and also laid open the absurdities of Presbitery so fully that it would be arrogance in me to say any thing after him and not only ignorance but impudence in any man to look upon his writings and still remain a Presbiterian Therefore O Heavenly Father asswage the pride and open the Eyes of these rigid Zelots that in seeing they may see and in hearing they may hear and understand and not professe themselves wiser than our Saviour that great Bishop and his Apostles which were Bishops and appointed successive Bishops as you may read in the Epistles of St Paul to Timothy and Titus c. And the Government of Bishops hath been the universal and constant practice of the Church so that as Charls the Martyr writeth ever since the first age for 1500 years not one example can be produced of any setled Church wherein were many Ministers and Congregations which had not some Bishop above them under whose Jurisdiction and Government they were Therefore let not the aspiring currish Presbiterian who would pull down a Bishop in every Diocesse but set up a Pope in every Parish no longer spet venom against the Reverend Bishops And truly I think their grounds are so slender against Episcopacy that if the King would but make them Bishops they would then be as violent for Episcopacy as they are now against it Therefore rest content Presbiter for though not thy deserts yet State Policy may in time make thee a Bishop The Antipodes indeed viz. the Long called Parliament who acted all things contrary to all Law and Religion voted that Bishops should never more vote as Peers in Parliament But why was it not because the Religious Bishops should not withstand their Irreligious and Blasphemous proceedings in Murthering the King Destroying the Church and all our Laws and Religion with them Surely no man can deny but that was the only reason Que enim est respublica ubi Ecclesiastici primum non habeant locum in Comitiis publicis de salute Reipub Deliberationibus For which is that Commonwealth where the Ecclesiastical persons had not the first place in all meetings and publique consultations about the Welfare of the Commonwealth Surely none but the Utopian Commonwealth of these Rebels For it is the practice of all Nations nay the Rebels themselves who voted it unlawful for Bishops and other grave Prelates of the Church to meddle the least in Civil Affairs could approve it in their new
and lawful for the King alone to command money and assistance of his subjects to subdue the Rebels and oppose a forein Navy who are coming to destroy and swallow up both King and people Surely none but a mad-man will deny but that it is most lawful just and the only safety of the people and their estates Indeed as it is the best way for a thief to binde the honest man he doth intend to robb so it is the safest and best way for that Parliament who do intend to murther the King and take away all that he hath to binde the King as fast as they can to take away his Negative voice and all his just praerogatives to make all his legal power whereby he might withstand their violence illegal Nay it is their best way to tye the King up from his meat to make him stand for a Cypher a meer nothing that so they being the predominant figures may chop off his head or do what they list with him as did the long Parliament who from trespass to high Treason against God and the King have omitted no offence undone But their soundest Doctrine will prove but Apochrypha to all honest Parliaments I do confesse that except it be in cases of necessity the King can lay no tallage upon the people without their consent in Parliament and so not shipmoney which in truth is condemned by the Statutes of 25 E. 1 34 E. 1. de Tallagio non concedendo Dangelit Englishty because the King hath restrained his power by his Statutes But if the King could not tax the people with shipmony and other impositions in extraoâ—dinary cases of necessity aa when a forein Enemy doth suddenly invade the Land being invited in by a prevalent faction in a refractory Parliament who would ruine themselves and the whole Kingdom so that they might ruine their King and fulfill their wicked wills who will not grant shipmoney or any thing else to the King lest he should be provided to oppose them and defend himself and the people in safety I say that if in this and such like cases the King may not lawfully lay tallages on the people and command their assistance I had rather be a slave than a King and should account my self the Vassal of the people not their King But in truth the King cannot denude himself of this power nor by any Statute or Law tye himself from it For it is inseparable from the Crown Et quod sceptro inhaeret non potest tolli nisi sublato sceptro And therefore cannot be taken from the King unless the Crown with it which rule the long Parliament have truly verifyed For when they had taken away his chiefest praerogative they could not forbear but presently took off his Crown from his head and then his head from his shoulders Sic transit gloria mundi (e) Aposiopesis est * Omnibus esse Lupos licet in regione Lupoporum Gal. 2.18 If I build again the things which I destroyed I make my self a transgressour * The strifes and divisions now amongst the Rebels do further the Kings Restauration to his own of which they robbed him Vid. Epist 2 part of Soveraign power Inde illis potestas unde spiritus Tertul Apol. pa. 6.5 Co. Lit. 1.12 l. 7.20 4 Inst 1. 1 Inst 110 Bodin de Rep. l. c. 8. Camden in Britan. descript Mat. 26.34 Luke 22 3 4 5 6. Ovem in fronte vulpem in corde gerentes The Nobles which were faithfull to the King they called Evil Counsellers Witness their Oath of Supremacy Dangerous and useless only to their villany Witnesse all their actions Bodin li. 2. ca. 5. King Charles his title had been good to the Crown of England though he had borrowed no part of this Claim from the Conquerour See reverend Heylin's life of King Charles Co. Lit. 1. Who then ought to have the Militia but the King Co. Lit. 108. Co. Lit. 64. Mr. Howels Philanglus â— Inst 25. Summum jus summa injuria Decl. of the Treaty p. 15. 4 Inst 9. Yet forsooth these the Lowest set up the Highest Court viz. The high Court of Justice So Servants may set up a high Court to try and condemn their Mastets Asperius nihil est humili cum suâ—git in altum 4 Inst 11. 5 Eli. ca 1. 4 Inst 8. 4 Inst 2. They are dead Members who do not Davis Irish Rep. so 90. Jer. 6.16 Psal 10.16 29.10.47.2.7.44 4. Cambdens Remains See 2 Chro. 15 17 29 30 31. Isa 49.23 Teste Anglia Bract. fo 1. Justin Institutes Fleta Davis Irish Reports fo 58. Fitz. n. 6.113.233 Calvins case so 7. 19 E. 4.46.22 E. 4. 25 E. 3.2 Leges Auredi ca. 4. Co. Lib. 4.124 See 3 Inst pag. 4. and 6. The People declare for a free Parliament but these Rebels only for themselves Read his incomparable heavenly Book which will make thee weep for our loss but rejoice and admire at his piety Luk. 11.18 See their charge against him Vulgarly called the Secluded Members So he which playeth at Knave out of doors getteth the Knave to beat all the rest of the Cards Our Soveraign Charls must be no King because pious but Oliver must be a King because a Rebel Oh the mystery of their iniquiâ—yâ— Though the Kings Nobility might not yet Cromwels might be a House of Peers Tristius haud illis monstrum nec saevior ulla Pestis ira Deum Slyâ—iis sese extulit undis What pretty names these State Thieys have for their Robberies and Tyranny viz. The titular Parliament Alas not for so good a use I commend you to the History of Independency 11th of February 1659. Cressa ne careat pulchra dies aota Brave for thieves if they might qualifie their Judges But I think they can scarce pick out men enough in England to fill up the House who will admit of their wicked Qualifications To be short saith Comines in mine opinion of all the Seigneuries in the world that I know the Realm of England is the Countrey where the Commonwealth is best governed the people least oppressed and the fewest buildings and houses destroyed in Civil war and alwayes the lot of misfortune falleth upon them that be the Authors of the war Magnae discordia pereunt concordiavalent You may guesse with what a countenance the Rump looked upon them Episcopacy was a bulwork against Popery and other factions Therfore the Papists and the Factions did batter down that to make way for their Sects which they call liberty of conscience (a) Rex (b) O Cromwel (c) Ironice [a] The King O. Cromwel c. Ironice