suffered his Father to have bound him if by Law he had not had power to kil him and that the same Law continued amongst the Romans which no Parents would abuse or exercise only to keep their Children in obedience yet this is clear that by the Law of nature the child is to be obedient to the Father and when the child is set to School or an Apprentice it is the fathers power which he puts into the Masters hands to correct the child which commission the Master may not exceed and therefore that moderate correction which the Law allows to be given to Scholars and Apprentices is to be intended by the Fathers consent for if the Father shal indent with the Master not to correct his child if he strike him I conceive an Action of Trespass wil lie against him and this power continues till the child be able to provide for it self for by the civil Law the Father is bound to provide for his bastard till it be 25. at which time it is presumed able to help it self grounded upon Natures Law that beasts and birds feed their young ones till they can cater for themselves and no longer and so it ought to be with us where the child is natural and not legal 2. This Nature which makes all alike free apts and fits some with gifts to command others to obey 't is a ground in Nature that wise men should govern the Ignorant the Patriarchs were never impowered but carried things so sweetly that men freely obeyed them for when people shal perceive that wise and honest men aim at nothing so much as the publick good every man thinks himself happy to be under such Governors and indeed to prefer such men into places of Judicature is rather a preferment to the people then to them for as by wisdom the world was made and as it is enlightned by the Sun so by Reason the Lord wil have it governed and as in Nature he that is born blind must be guided by those that can see so must ignorant and ill-disposed people be ordered and commanded by those that have the gifts and Spirit of Government and such as are vertuously disposed But all Government is to be ascribed to necessity and reason For the world becoming populous vitious and licentious a Government was necessary and though the primary Laws of Nature as obedience to Parents to hurt no body and to do as we would be done unto be imprinted in the heart of every man and sufficient to condemn the Gentiles yet they are so defaced and corrupted by the fall of Adam and original sin that God and Nature for the good of mankind not only commended but commanded a Government for man is a sociable creature and society is natural for in Hermites Nature is not changed but transgressed 3. All just power and authority is either from God immediately who is Lord of all and may appoint one to be sole Monarch over all the world if it please him as formerly he appointed Kings or in the people who impower one or more over them Saul and David had extraordinary Callings but all just power is now derived from the people 1 Sam. â— yet in the case of Saul it is observable that the people out of pride to be like other Nations desired a King and such a King as the Heathens had which were all Tyrants for they that know any thing in History know that the first four Monarchs were all Tyrants at first till they gained the peoples consent Nimrod the great hunter was Ninus that built Ninivy the first Tyrant and Conqueror that had no title Gen. 10.9 and so were all Kingdoms which are not Elective till the peoples subsequent consent and though it be by discent yet 't is a continuation of a Conquest till the people consent and voluntarily submit to a Government they are but slaves and in reason they may free themselves if they can for conquest gains a title amongst beasts not amongst men In France the King begins his Reign from the day of his Coronation the Archbishop asks the people if he shal be King the twelve Peers or some that personate them say Yes they girt the sword about him then he swears to defend the Laws and is any thing more natural then to keep an Oath And though vertuous Kings have prevailed with the people to make their Crowns hereditary yet the Coronation shews the shel that the kernel hath been in Samuel was a good Iudg and there was nothing could be objected against him therefore God was displeased at their inordinate desire of a King and it seems to me that the Lord declares his dislike of all such Kings as the Heathens were that is Kings with an unlimited power that are not tied to any Laws for he gave them a King in his wrath therein dealing with them as the wise Physitian with his dâ—stempered impatient Patient who desiring to drink wine tels him the danger of inflamation yet wine he wil have and the Physitian considering a little wine wil do but a little hurt rather then his Patient by fretting should take greater hurt prescribes a little white wine wherein the Physitian doth not approve his drinking of wine but of two evils chooseth the least The Jews would have a King for Maiesty and splendor like the Heathens God permits this he approves it not it seems to me that the Lord renounces the very Genus of such Kings that have no Laws to govern by but their own wils Gen. 10.49 for if it be obiected that God had promised them a King and a Scepter in Israel I answer that when God cals any man to such high honor he gives him answerable abilities when he places any man upon the bench of justice he never sets himself besides the cushion besides he told those Kings whom he anointed what their duty was not to exalt themselves overmuch above their brethren Deut. 17. to delight themselves in the Law of God out of which I infer that the Turks Tartars and all people that live at the beck and nod of Tyrannical men may and ought to free themselves from that Tyranny if and when they can to desire too great a King is to have a River too impetuous for such Tyrants that so domineer with a rod of Iron do not govern by Gods permissive hand of approbation or benediction but by the permissive hand of his providence suffering them to scourge the people for ends best known to himself until he open a way for the people to work out their own infranchisements 4. That no Government is divine I mean by Gods approbation for extraordinary callings I know none in these days but that which is just and rational for there can be no such conveyance of power as is destructive of humanity therefore for millions to be at the Command of one man to obey him universally in all things is irrational for wise men are but men
Majesty we shal use all dutiful means to procure Your Royal Assent but if You still refuse we mst not sit still and see our selves ruined we must save the Kingdom without Your Consent though we hope not against it But then saith the Obiector where is the Kings power I answer nothing at all diminished his Maiesty hath more power then he can imagine for the preservation and happiness of the Kingdom which is the end of all Superiority but nothing for the destruction and desolation of the people we say God is omnipotent and yet he cannot sin nor do any iniustice shal we say that the Kings power is diminished because he may not hurt the people or that a man is less in health becaus he hath many Physitians to attend him nothing less for 't is impotence and weakness to do hurt and iniury but the King is impowred for the good of the people true but he may not say that is for the Kingdoms good which they say is for their hurt what I do for my own good I may undo Methinks this should satisfie every noble Prince let my Subjects in Parliament propound what Laws they please for their own security 't is a great ease to me if the Laws be not good they may thank themselves if they be good the honor is mine my consent being as the Master-builder that gives the form and life to the Architecture and if the Subiect suffers I cannot be blamed but if the contrary should be Law what miserable things were Subiects who wil trust his own father with his life And who can be merry if a King or Governor may divide his head from his body or him from his dearest relations by imprisonment or otherwise when he pleaseth but here lies the root of all our misery we take all for gold that glisters every thing to be reason that looks like it and every case to be Law which we find written in our Law books whereas Law is reason adiudged in a Court of Record where reason is the Genus the Court makes the difference from extraiuditial discours which may be rationally yet is not legally iust if it be not reason the pronunciation of 10000. Judges cannot make it Law no more then the Venetian Madonnas can by their huge high heels in reality add one Cubit to their stature as for example 't is a Max me in Law that the King can do no wrong therefore if he kill or ravish 't is neither Murder nor Felony I say 't is against reason therefore against Law for if the King may kill one man he may kill one hundred and what Courtier dare give any faithful advice when the King may without controul kill him or strangle him and so not be guilty of blood as the grand Turk that having promised to spare a mans blood caused him to be strangled and so shed no blood or something like the case of the Duke of Glocester by King H. 7. this was acknowledged by the Tyrant who having a mind to kill his brother his Chancellor told him he might not by Law commit Fratricide but saith he is there not a Law that I may do what I please and let but Mr Jenkins answer whether those Judges whose Authorities he vouches were not of opinion that whatsoever the King did it is in Law no offence and then all that he hath written or can write against the Parlâ—ament wil not bear the weight of a feather and I humbly intreat all indifferent men that read books more for satisfaction then a desire to contend for any party but to answer me this question Why should there be any more credit given to the opinion and authorities of the Judges specially such as payd dear for their places in matters of difference between the King and his Subjects in point of property then there was to the Bishops for matter of Divinity were they not both the Kings creatures alike Was it the way of preferment by standing for the liberty of the Subject to get great estates Have not the Iudges in many Countries been the raisers and first founders of great and noble Families And were those estates got by pleading for the liberty of the subject against the Prerogative We know who it was not long since that got a vast estate and thinking to ingratiate himself with his Prince said he was seldom or never of counsel in passing any Pattent but he reserved some starting hole to make it voyd in Law if need were which was as good as an act of Resumption This is the grand Error that subordinate officers are accountable only to the King and the King to God whereas all Judges and Magistrates are intrusted by the people if the people give power to the King to chose them 't is out of a confidence that his Majesty wil nominate such as shal most faithfully serve the peoples good and when Arbitrators are impowred to choose an Vmpire he may be truly said to be chosen by the parties litigant this ruines Justice when men in places of Authority more esteem him that gives them their Commission then the business that they are imployed about when their eyes are more intentively fix't upon the stars of their inclinations who preferred them then upon the publick good of the Kingdom for whose sake they were preferred for when a Magistrate is made great the principal intent and meaning of the Law is not his greatness and honor but to advance publick justice I but says one he is such a mans creature raised by him E vilissimo pulvere must not he requite his love and pleasure his Father No justice is blind and knows neither father nor mother the Judg looks not at the manner of the conveyance of his power how he comes by his Authority but at the matter of his Commission and the true end of Judicature the right understanding of one Scripture 1 Pet. 2.13 14. makes a good Judg the words are plain and being learned for learning is a special gift sanctified for matters of policy and government observes that Kings are a humane Ordinance as wel as Corporations and Societies and concludes that all those Scholastical discourses of Kings being Jure Divino are but tryals of Wit and by Supream he intends that the King is supream to administer the Law not to make Laws much less break them and Governors sent by him are for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do wel the want of this consideration ruined the Judges in point of ship-money the greatest part whereof were very very learned men Haec est crede mihi cunctorum causa malorum Scripturas Domini non didicisse sacras I know this Error in judgment undid the Lord Keepers Finch and Littleton men of brave spirits had they been for publick liberties Lord Chief Iustice Banks a man profoundly studied And Mr Jenkins being made a Iudg thinks himself bound in honor Junare in verba English men
as one of the most necessary works to be done in this Kingdom and that wherein there wil appear much opposition and if it be not suddainly done it wil not be done in this Generation our Laws are actually or potentially the best in the world for if any thing be amiss the Parliament may reform it according to right reason which is the soul of al humane Laws without exception no Law ought to live longer then the reason of it continues away with all bugbear objections and after Naseby fight lets never distrust God for any thing I mean let us have such Laws as are not directly against Scripture and for which some reason may be given besides the course of the Court for that for which probable reason may be rendred on both sides is not fundamental as the eldest son to inherite the whole estate certainly there ought in all reason some provision to be made for the young Children if the Father make none for them in his live time but true it is that many positive Laws are fundamental secundarily to alter which would be ful of danger and inconveniences unless it were most evident that great utility would thereby arise and accrue to the Kingdom but that is not my present work something I intend concerning Government in general rules by which no man can conceive himself prejudiced as by general rules of Physick no wise man can expect to be cured 1. That the people girt the sword about the King the King says our Law books is the fountain of honor and it is true for the peoples good therefore doth the King make Judges and Magistrates great that they may not be afraid to do right and justice to their brethren so that indeed the state confers honors by the King as the King gives the Alms by his Almoner they presume that the King wil make no Lords but such as shal be an honor to the Kingdom in whom the Kingdom shal be preferred the Judges Robes are for the Kingdoms good to strick a terror into offenders if the Kingdom or the Parliament which is the state contract can justly except against those which are honored that is if they by their greatness oppress the people and Lord it over poor men the honor ought not to continue for all Priviledges and Preeminences are forfeited by abusers no Priviledg which is a private Law must oppose Publique welfare Indeed nothing done without the states allowance is allowable that is nothing against the fundamental good of the people and truly the main end of Parliaments is to supervise the Publique Magistrates to see that Ministers of justice be just and execute justice impartially If Kings did always prefer good men and conferr the great offices of trust and judicial places upon the most idoneous and best men in the Kingdom which are Infra Causam meriti that best deserve them there would be the less need of Parliaments I mean officers of the Kingdom for there are officers of the Empire for the Administration of Publique justice and officers of the Emperors as his Domestical servants answerable to our distinction of the Kings natural Capacity and his politique Capacity art is always the perfection and never the destruction of nature Let me but humbly observe a little defectiveness in state policy concerning the Kings Councel That the Regal heires have not in their princely education Tutors to instruct them in that which most concerns the good of the Kingdom which is Councellors to acquaint them in the fundamental laws of the land how improper is it that the Kings Counsel should be least of Counsel with his Majesty but by per-audience to gain other Clyents and be ingaged in other mens business when they should be attending his Majesty stil presenting the law before him which is the golden rule of justice Judg Fortescue holds it necessary for the peoplâ—s happiness that the King see with his own eys what is for his peoples good that so he may reward the most vertuous the Frâ—nch King is enioyned to pray so much every day to be exemplary to the people how happy would it be if the nobles and Grandees of state would study that fundamental and true end of Government which is the wâ—lfare of the people The young Prince of Persia hath 4 Tutors for Religion as many for the Law but 2 for Martial Exploits for they said for the King to know how to ride the Great horse is but half as good for the Subiects as to know the law by which he wears his Crown and one Tutor for every moral vertue patience courtesy temperance chastity c. 2. Not to argue whether we live under a Government mixt and co-ordinate or simple and subordinate 't is a common Tenent that the Empire France and Spain are merum Emperium England Sweden Denmark and Poland a mixt Empire the Venetians a pure Aristocracy Holland Geneva c. Jurisdictio sine Imperio that of the 6. Kings that be in Christendom Franâ—e and Spain have too much power Sweden and Poland too little for their title England and Denmark just enough to make themselves splendid and their people happy All agree that the King cannot make a Law without a Parliament and I cannot but exceedingly magnifie the mixture of the 3. estates the superlative trust by Law is in the King Lords and Commons 't is but loss of time to look back into the power of the Bishops for 't is not much above 100. years since there were Statutes enforced for the Popes supreamacy yet so as if the Lords and Commons perceive that the King by evil advice undermines the subjects liberties to the manifest indangering of Salus they must then necessarily suspend the operation of that mixture as when 3. men are to cary a weight if one plucks back his haÌ„d the other 2. must bear it for the consideration of publick utility is always equivalent to a necessity Causae necessitatis util tatis aequiparantur in Jure and therefore it is an error to say the people do not trust the right honorable Lords because they do not choose them Their Nobility was acquired and is continued by noble actions those noble Peers that have not deserted the Parliament but continued faithful and adventured their lives and honors for the publick safety deserve eternal praises and in the multitude of such Counsellors there is much safety to this Kingdom for all true Honor consists in vertuous endowments and their improvements the principal whereof is faithfulness to the Kingdom expressing their honorable endeavors after that in works of mâ—rcy justice peace and love The King is ever present by his power the Lords present in their persons and the Kingdom represented by their choycest members who are impowred for themselvâ—s and the whole Kingdom so the whole Kingdom is figuratively present by a part taken for the whole therefore the words Commâ—ssioners or Arbitrators or Feoffees in trust of exceeding their power and such
of the greatest trust hee that is true to his end cannot be a Traytor The War first undertaken for the defence of Laws and Liberties hath had a great influence upon Religion and pray answer me this Question if the Parliament had told you at the first that you should not expect any Liberty of Conscience in case of prevayling but that you must serve God according to the precepts of men whether you see reason for it or no would you have engaged so cordially upon a promise of freedom for your temporall estates What is all the World worth if a man enjoy not the freedom of his soul peradventure you will say that the world cannot deprive you of the liberty of your Consciences for the Saints are as free in prison to enjoy God as if they were abroad as sweet experience can testifie and the more we glorifie him by suffering for him here the more conformable are wee made to our Head and shall be glorified with him and Jesus Christ is eminently all Ordinances in himself most true but in the dark the best eyes have need of Candles We are not yet as we shall be we live upon the beams here and not the body and it derogates much from the wisdome and the love of Christ to reckon that as a shadow which he hath appointed for a standing Ordinance Religion teacheth nothing against nature piety doth not ruinate humanity but makes one man worth twenty I assure you Gods people hope that you will deliver them from the Bishops successors as well as themselves by what title soever they be called I doubt not but you have both naturall and spirituall affection to this poore Kingdom the poore Saints that are rich in faith act faith in Christ for deliverance by you they say they care not what becomes of them so as the Crown may be set upon the head of Christ and fealty and alleagance sworne unto him who is no enemy to any just governours they are perswaded that the Parliament of themselves intend no lesse and that there are very many in both Houses most cordiall servants to Jesus Christ who are even sick for the love of him that dyed for the love of them but here is the case there is a potent faction within this Kingdom men that have enriched themselves in these times of danger and calamity a base thing so to build upon the ruines of our brethren that count gain godlinesse and these consist of subtill Atheisticall and depraved Polititians on the one hand and devout superstitious rigid Zealots on the other hand who by specious pretences and plausible insinuation worke upon the candor and devotion of many honest men whose mindes are vertuously disposed to enslave this Kingdom for their own ends and this under a pretence of Gods honour service worship and uniformity and this designe so politikely carried on that the wisest men may be mistaken for he that thinks no hurt himselfe is seldome suspitious of others The chiefe Religion of these Polititians is to have no Religion in the power of it but such a forme established as is most sutable to his Grandor and they thinke it a sin to let any man live in this Kingdome who will not eat up as sugar all their Orders and Sanctions our noble Worthies in Parliament would quickly be as wholsom medicinable restoratives to heale the wounds of this Kingdom but that they like byting corrosives study to make them greater and more dangerous setting up all sails to sail withall and rowing with all manner of Oares but being discovered will I hope be abhorred by all honest men Now to restrain the malice of these ambitious men the Lord hath preserved you to this houre and me thinks I heare Iesus Christ be-speaking you in this manner Hearken yee noble Army of Martyrs in affection and resolution who carryed your lives in your hands for my sake and for morall justice wherewith I am delighted I take it as kindly from you as if you had given me your lives but keepe them I am preparing mansions for you but your worke is not yet done you must stand up for the liberties of your brethren you must stand up in the gap for me who alone trod the wine-presse of my Fathers wrath for you why have I impowred you but to purchase liberty for my people Did I preserve you from active martyrdome that you should bring your selves to passive Would not I have taken your lives as kindly from you at Nasâ—bey Bristol c. as if after disbanding you should be imprisoned and put to death for Heretiques or Schismatiques Is not my kingly government as precious to you and as well worthy fighting for as my Priestly office But if you should be disbanded before Gods people have their liberties secured I should have covered my face and onely thought that you did not so well understand the Doctrine of Christs government and domâ—nion in his Churches and amongst his Saints as the Doctrine of satisfaction by faith in him Is it not most apparent that the day of your disbanding is in probabiâ—ity the Eye of the Kingdoms ruine for does not this potent faction say they will not suffer an Independent that they cannot live but by the death of the Independent party Hath God preserved you hitherto in times of War to be insensibly destroyed in times of peace Was not your Commission to fight for Laws and Liberties whereof Conscience is the greatest hath not the Kingdom sufficiently dishonoured Religion formerly in the Bishops times but must they now under a pretence of uniformity seek the life of her Children and of Religion it self do they not ayme at the life of Religion which is the heart of God and the lives of his children which are the apple of his eye The Meâ—curialists at Court did but strike at the letter of the law in some things but these Phaetons would set all on fire and ayme at the power of Religion the very life of our Laws whose humours are so corrupt that the least scratch turns into a Gangreen For I am confident that these cruell men cannot bring one argument for themselves but what I may improve for the Popes Supremacy which was pretended to be for orders sake to avoid confusion but in reality hath been the occasion of all Tyranny But many words are not proper to an Army you have won the heart of Gods people in you is fulfilled that prophesie Esay 49. That Kings shall be your nursing Fathers Commanders persons of Eminency for what the watchfull Constable worthy Justicer reverend Judge and all other Officers of Justice do in punishing Traitors in times of peace the same in effect is done by Armies in time of War every Souldier hath been a judge to do justice and execution upon the enemy I have but this request to make to you that you hearken not to any Syren songs but be ever true to your first principles let the Honour of Parliament always be of most high account and precious esteem with you your jarring with that Supreame Court would be a pleasant melody to many that will pretend faire to you speak you fair to borrow your hands to take out the Chestnut for them that would have you crack the shell for them to eat the kernell It is reported of the Lioness or the Bear that if a whelpe dye she will roar in the Den exceedingly over the carkass or else having got some gobbets of flesh hopes by continuall clamour to put life into it some such there are that by daily exclamation against the Supream Court think to vivifie their dead Cause and to put life into a carkass that will not acquit our renowned Worthyes from the highest Crimination and yet will justifie your station by the Law of the Land I beseech you if the Parliament had no power to Commissionate you to redeem out Liberties what are you that have acted by their authority I hate dissimulation the happiness of this Kingdom will rest principally in this that all the godly though of different opinions favour and assist one another and that all honest peaceable men joyn together as one man to break the neck of all oppression and injustice Let every man contend for the Honour and Priviledges of the King and Parliament in the preservation of the Liberties and Birth-rights of the people And when the Kingdome is happily setled let us say that God hath done all yet honour them whom he hath honour'd The End
loves the Assembly yet conceives that Liberty had been long since setled but for them who make the smal differences between the Conformists and Reformists wider 45. The absurdity of that Common Argument that if Independents be permitted then Papists must Errors in Religion to be tolerated but not against Religion 46. That there are more differences between the Papists then are in this Kingdom therefore we are to spend our wit upon them and our love upon Protestants Pope Joan in the dark as good as my Lady 47. A moderate Presbytery commended for restraining vice and for external beauty but a rigid Presbytery dangerous to this Kingdom men wiser in the South then in the North the danger of Coactive violence in matters not fundamental 48. Whether it be as lawful to fight for Christs Kingly Office as for his Priestly Office and whether Christians may presume of Gods extraordinary power in case of Arms without an extraordinary warrant 49. What Liberty of Conscience is desired and that natural men know not what belongs to spiritual priviledges and what use may be made of the late Common-prayer-book 50. A request to the Assembly to become suitors for just Liberties and to the Army not to mingle their interests by any means with those that shal oppose the High Court of Parliament Redintegratio Amoris OR A Union of Hearts between The Kings Most Excellent Majesty the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons in PARLIAMENT His Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax and the ARMY under His Command The Assembly and every honest Man that desires a sound and durable Peace accompanied with speedy Justice and Piety AFter a shower how glorious is the Sun The War being ended what endearments should there be between all true-hearted English men When hands are tyed the great business is to unite hearts 'T is the wisdom of State when the heart of War is broken to deal Honorably with the Conquerors and gently with the Conquered 'T is the glory of a State as wel as a man to pass by an infirmity and far more noble to forgive him whom thou mayst kill then to kill him whom thou mayst forgive The Title of this Treatise I hope will please every man but such as feed only upon poyson which creatures soon after break in pieces that are grown rich in a time of poverty or fear a Day of Account before the Day of Judgment some only can fish in troubled waters the matter of it I hope wil relish wel to wel-tempered pallates that have the salt of reason for my own particular it hath ever been my hearty prayer and what I have prayed for I have ventured to write for though I know very few that have gained any thing by the Press besides their own contentment but hard censures but he that is wise when men are fools is true when they are lyars I am not in love with my own conceptions and yet will father them that they be not illegitimate and the mother conceiving them is a single heart as an English man the subject is weighty and many ticklish points but strong affections may be discerned by weak performances and I hope men are more merciful then formerly those that love wil excuse let others bring reason for reason I am satisfied to give the Reader rational satisfaction I must dig deep for these precious truths for taking too much upon trust and that to be reason which only looks like it hath occasioned our late mischiefs And 't is as hard to make some men beleeve the Truth as it is to disswade others from Errors Wherein as it is said of Errors that to reduce them to their first original is to refute them bastards love any discourse but to hear of their originals so in all matters of Reformation by the Interven-of the Sword the foundation Root highest wel-spring fountain end and grounds of all government is in the first place to be sounded fathomed and discovered which under favour have been the great defect in many writers in this late Comâ—â—stion that speak of obedience to higher powers of the unâ—awfulness of resisting and of the Rights and Liberties of the people◠〈◊〉 drawing from the Fountain but following the streamâ— of former Authorities and practises of other times which have â—he â—â—â—â—â—nance of example but not the least force of a Law 〈…〉 striving to know by the Causes why such a Government is appointed or Law is made as by the effects that so they find it to be Which Impolitiques is the Reason why there are so many Practises to be reformed in Courts of Justice the Judges finding the course of the Court which they say makes the Law to be so they never look further at the reason why it is so for if they did but consider the end and primary intention of all Laws viz. the execution of justice which consists in giving every man his own they would rather dispence with 10000 formalities and niceties in Law then neglect the doing of justice rather suffer all the courses of the Court to be broken and shivered into attomes then suffer one poor man to be undone by a mispleading or Error in the proceedings for justice is of moral and of perpetual equity but the course of a Court is but Ceremonial the Ceremonial Law of God always gave place to the moral when it appears fairly to the Court that the Debt is due or that the Plaintiff hath title to the Land if there be as many Errors and mistakes in the pleadings as there are stars in the Firmament the Judg must break through all forms to make the Plaintiff master of his right and to object matters of form and confusion is but to tyrannize over poor men that are not able to buy Justice and to be more careful of the shoo then of the foot that wears it Resembling herein the stranger that admiring the height of St. Marks-Tower in Venice thinking the Foundation could not be deep by reason of the water was very studious to know whereupon so goodly a Fabrick stood the people said it was so but how it came about was for the Senate to know the reason they troubled not themselves about it but I must dig deep for this precious truth and go to the ground of the point which being â—ound in the groundsels the building is not to be suspected and I conceive 1. That by nature all men are born alike free as we hold all by Frankalmoign so nature is Gavelkind tenure and there is no power natural but parental further then every man doth expresly or implicitly impower other men over him and every Father is a King in his own family Abraham Isaac and Jacob in Canaan had no Government but Domestical Parental or Proparental And though I cannot agree with Learned Charron that the Jews had power of life death over their Children which he would prove by Abrahams offering up Isaac which he supposes Isaac being about 25. would not have
and the best men are but men at the best subject to the faults of the irascible and concupiscible faculties 5. That to assume a Government without a title and to act beyond Commission to the destruction of those whom they should preserve is all one in reason and so King James that Phoenix of his age for solid learning agrees that there may be a Tyrant as wel by male-Administration as he that comes in by Conquest To speak of the several Conquests that have been made in this Kindom by the Romans Saxons Danes and Normans as also whether William the Conqueror came in upon his Remittor by ancient title I judg impertinent but this is clear as Chrystal that our Ancestors did voluntarily submit to Kingly politick Government that if the Conqueror were a Tyrant for want of title the subsequent consent of the people made him or his Successors lawful Kings being equivalent to an election as Leah by an after-consent became Jacobs lawful wife though he was mistaken in the marriage and an error in the person nullifies the Matrimony And the act of our Predecessors is as strong and binding to us as if it had been our own personal consent A Law being the act and deed of the body politick in Parliament voted by the whole Kingdom as the whole men sees hears instrumentally performed by the eyes and ears Pan. anglium Pan Aeâ—olium Pan-Sicilium The first Paâ—liament wherein by intendment every man woman and child is vertually present by representation or else a statute could not bind them and a Law binds not only their makers but their successors for Corporations never die as the River of Thames keeps thought name the new waters perpetually succeed And though it be not so clear when this consent was given yet we find that King H. the 1. Beaucleark youngest son to William the Conqueror in the 16. year of his Reign called a Parliament at Salisbury which I do not conceive so much to be derived from the French word signifying Freedom of debate as Parliamentum quasi pariam Lamentum the Complaint of the People when there is any difference between the King and his Subjects his Majesty gives them leave to choose out of themselves whom they please as Arbitrators or Vmpiers to determine the matter wherein the Subject thought himself secure that he might choose his own Judges and this was but equal because the King chose the Judges of the Law and though it doth not appear that this agreement between the King and people was reduced into writing because that easy coâ—servatory of printing was not then invented yet who knows but that it was written and since defaced or Imbeziled for my part I cannot imagine our Ancestors to be so â—rrational that they would ever agree that any man should raign over them as their lawful King by their ful consents but upon this condition that when they found themselves oppressed and burthened his Majesty should be obliged to call a Parliament and to agree to such Laws quas vulgus eligerit as the Parliament should present unto him for their happy Government and not to dissolve them till they had done the business they were intrusted to do for the good of the Kingdom for Parliaments never dye intentionally and why may not such an Agreement be lost As we know the Records of many Statutes are not to be found yet it is written in the heart of every understanding man that so it was for how irrational is it to imagine that the King was not bound to call Parliaments 36. E. 3. c. which by Statutes ought to be every year or oftner as need shal require and if the King might disolve them when he pleased what fickle things were Kings what vain things were Parliaments and though it have been strongly objeâ—â—ed that when things have been wel setled the King is to have the negative voice in making new Laws though not in expounding the old because a Kingdom may subsist without making new Laws but not without executing the present Laws I say that the objector is defective in stated Policy for the alteration or enacting of new Laws is as absolutely necessary as to execute those which are made a Kingdom may be as wel undone for want of the Kings negative voice as for not executing the Laws already establish't for the wisest Parliament cannot foresee what wil be best for the Common good the next year Such Exigencies of State may happen and I observe that what hath been objected by the Kings late party to the contrary hath been that the Law is otherwise but words are the least part of Reason that which Mr. Jenkins writes is most true according to the Authorities which he vouches but what Authority is it some of the Judges of the Common Law very good by whom were they made Judges By the King How came they by their places The Eccho is buy them for until the statute of 5. E. 6. All judicial places were generally bought and sold as Horses in Smith-feild for a cheif Iustices place it may be 10000. hath been given and how long to continue during the Kings pleasure was it safe for them to argue for the Liberty of the Subject against the Kings Prerogative the Temptation was very great to be for the Kings side in all Arguments besides Parliaments have been discontinued and short-lived for my own part I do not much value his judgment In a question of prerogative who holds his place at the Princes pleasure for to stand to my own judgment or the judgment of him whom I elect is much alike yet as there have been in all ages some that have stood for the Honor of Christ and resisted unto the death so there have been some that have argued for the Peoples Liberties Bracton saies Rex non habet parem in regno suo nisi Comites Fortesâ—ue Barones et communes in Parliamento et hanc potestatem a populo effluxam Rex habet Another that Rex est singulis major universis minor that the King hath no Peers in his Kingdom but the Lords and Commons in Parliament that the King is greater then any Subject but less then all his Subjects and that he derives all his power from the people Fits Herbert and Shelley that the King is servant to all his Subjects set over them for their good and this is the voice of right reason 't is impossible to imagine that ever any man should have the consent of the people to be their King upon other conditions without which no man hath right to wear the Diadem for when the first Agreement was concerning the power of Parliaments if the King should have said Gentlemen are you content to allow Me my Negative voyce that if you vote the Kingdom to be in danger unless such an Act pass if I refuse to assent shal nothing be done in that case Surely no rational man but would have answered May it please Your
for quick and cheap justice would do it abundantly that the poor may have justice for Gods sake and the rich for reasonable Considerations The favorites of state have always magnified the happiness of English men above all other nations in regard of the Assizes that twice a year Queen justice rides her Progress and Justice is sent them home to thier doors but I profess the Kingdom is a great looser by it 't is a meer spunge to suck away their moneys for little or no Consideration matters of the Crown only excepted and why more hast to hang a man for stealing a sheep then to help a poor man to his just Debt for what a charge is it to try a Nisi prius and when the matter of fact is tryed the party is never the neerer judgment is far of the Defendent may dye or elss writs of Error brought that a man is not beholding so much to the Law as to a good purse to obtain his right therefore this I would humbly beg of the Parliament for the present because to settle a Court of Judicature in every County wil require time and much wisdom to foresee and prevent subsequent inconveniences that the Reverent Judges may every Circuit if possibly to begin this Summer circuit be enabled by Commission to hear and determine besides the Nisi prises all private differences between party and party throughout the whole Kingdom the matter to be brought before them by Petition the Defendent to have timely notice in person or at his dwelling house by Affidavit of two witnesses in case he appear not both parties to bring their witnesses and evidences and the matter being heard to be speedily ended and execution by the Sherif accordingly unless it be very weighty and then to be adjourned to Westminster whereby a difference may be ended in a moneths time for 5. l. charge at the most which now costs 50 or 100. l. and is 3 years at the least in deciding and ends most commonly with the ruin of one party and the other gets such a blow that is long in recovering I know this wil be counted a dangerous design tending to overthrow the Law but it is only by such as fear rather the overthrow of their own profit more then they value the Law and the Prophets for I am sure they cry out for quick and cheap justice and I wil burn my books nay venture my life upon it that no man can render a reason nor frame an objection against this but that I can easily refute it if this be granted as a maxime of state that the Publique good and quiet of many is to be preserved before the private profit of a few say not that I shal hereby wrong my own profession 't is all one if I did in reference to the Publique good but this is a great mistake Lawyers would get more by speedy Justice for who had not rather give his Councel 40. s. to end his business in a day then attend many moneths and give him 10. s. a time for motion upon motion references and references besides no wise man wil go to Law for as matters are carryed the worst end by Arbitriments is better then the best can be expected by the Law all things computed unless in special cases and so what is lost in the hundred is found in the Shire pray do not say this wil prejudice the City and keep away Termers suppose it were so why should all the blood in the body be drawn into one veine When one member swels too much the body pines but that 's another mistake for men would bestow that in Cloaths and Commodities which they now spend in Law-suits but I hope time wil make us wise but then comes the old objection wil you have all things arbitrary and uncertain Nothing less but every Controversie to be ended according to reason and every former President and Judgment to be authentical and binding so far as there is reason for it and not otherwise the contrary practise is as dangerous to the state as implicite faith in matters of salvation for I would but ask this question If a Judg beleives in his Conscience that former Presidents were against reason whether if he observe them he doth not therein condemn himself but if he see reason for the Judgment then it is his own Judgment that leads him and not the bare Authority of his Predecessors but it wil be alledged that reason is malleable and one reason may be brought against another truly in matters of moral Justice t is hard to imagine any great difficulty that cause which at first is a bul-rush comes to be a Gyant differences for the most part are plain and very easie at the first beginning of the suit but when by motion upon motion the cause is put out of its course the matter grows so intricate that a poor Clyent can scarce get out of the Labyrinth but my meaning is not that every rational man should be able to understand the reason of a Law-case but that that cannot be given Law when there is a good reason to be given against it as put the case there is a verdict for a Just debt now whatsoever can be alleadged that such a process did not issue regularly yet reason says that the Debt ought to be presently paid and this can be no more called confusion then Mithridate deserves the name of Poyson And now if I should proceed Methodically I should argue whether the Parliament have sufficient grounds to raise Armies as they did but that is but to argue whether the Protestants or the Papists be of the true Religion and next I should lay down what those just grounds and Arguments were but that would savor of Presumption having been so fully and ungainsayingly declared by both Houses and might be unsafe if I should omit any and at the best prove tedious to the reader my desire being not to build upon any mans foundation nor to bring Arguments which have been exposed to Publique view already though I judg them better then my own yet 't is but a kind of cosenage to the reader to invite him to make several purchases of the same matter a trick more Common then Commendable in this Printing age yet something I must say concerning those matters which is this that the Arguments and motives which swayed me to adhere so cordially and constantly to the Parliament against the late Oxford party were rather Scripture grounds and reasons of state and self preservation then Law-cases and Printed authorities for I always conceived that the King was obliged to call Parliaments as often as the generallity of the people besought him and to disolve them til the Parliament said omnia bene was against his oath and that he was to consent to all such Laws as should humbly be presented to his Majesty by both Houses and when I find in our Law books that the King is a God upon earth as
God is a King in heaven alas Mr. Jenkins speaketh too meanly and lowly of the Kings prerogative both in those Incommunicable Excellencies of Infinitness and divine perfection as also his Majesties power and perpetuity that by a non obstante he may dispence with a statute Law a pure invention to set the King above the Law I thought thus that seldom did any man refuse to be a Bishop or a Judg and when I read those cases that it hath been often adiudged that the King could do wrong I conceive the meaning is that the King should do no wrong a letter wil much alter the case for I find that when smal offences and trespasses are not punish't a reason rendred that the Law regards not smal things the book to warrant it carrys the sense that the Law reckons not the minuts and the odd hours which make the Leap year and I find Mr. Jâ—nkins though certainly a man deeply learned in Law Cases and in the Histoâ—ical part of the laws I wish he had so wel studied the end of Government which is the welfare of the people vouching Authorities by the halfs for where he says that Bracton says the King hath no superior or equal but God he omits what the book adds unless it be the Lords and Commons in Parliament and so a man might as wel argue that our blessed Savior said hang all the Law and the Prophets because he said upon these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets When I read that the King may pardon murder specially if the word murder be not in the pardon I find it contrary to Scripture and therefore take it to be no Law and when I read that the King by his Prerogative may make a 20. s. piece by Proclamation to go currant for 40. s. or to be worth but 6. d. I conceive this to be against reason and so against Law worse then that abominable project of brass money as the Honorable Commons were pleased to call it for if I have 20. s. in my pocket and the King may proclaim this to be worth but 6. d. then may he take 19. s. and 6. d. from me and then where is the liberty of the Subjects Therefore I conceive that the Kings Prerogative in moneys is for the wel ballancing of trade and equallity of exchanges between us and other Nations in case that other Forraign Kingdoms or states should inhanse or debase their moneys the King may do the like for the good of this Kingdom that our moneys be not exhausted and drawn out of the Kingdom if it should be much dearer here then there but the purest fallacy that I have met with is that how can the Parliament grant a pardon to others when themselves sent to the King to New-castle for a pardon as if a General pardon which is usually granted at the end of every Parliament should prove the Parliament men guilty of all the offences thereby pardoned A general pardon which is in effect as an act of Oblivion supposes no particular man guilty but tollit reatum quoad mundum but a special pardon pre-supposes the offence and must be pleaded and so reason speaks it out that the King hath no Prerogative whereby to hurt the people but wholly for their good save only in matters of honor and pleasure and in a favourable construction of his Grants to be construed according to his intention and not deception which Priviledg every Subject in reason ought to enjoy and I wish heartily that his Majesty may enjoy all his ancient and undoubted Royalties and Prerogatives that are according to Scripture and right reason besides which there is nothing that can judg between a Prince and his people but the sword and let his Majesties Honor be superior by many stories then it was for the preservation of the Kingdom in all things not injurious to the Subject which his Majestie saies is all that he desires and God forbid he should have any less but let him not have power to hurt his Subjects for he that by Law may do so though he were the best man living yet he is a Potential Tyrant and his Subiects may fear him but they can never love him and the conceit of such a power is enough to spoyl the best Prince living I know some Hispanialized Courtiers and Common Lawyers that having rested in the Letter of the Law not looking into the true meaning of it have made his Maiesty beleeve that the Parliament have done him wrong and taken away his Forts and Castles from him What reason can Mr Jenkins or any man give why the King may not as wel command all the money in the Kingdom as all the strength in the Kingdom or all the horses in the Kingdom in order to the Militia As the Pope commands temporals in order to spirituals for money is the sinew of War Whereas his Maiesty was never intrusted by the people against themselvs but against forraign forces and that I take to be the meaning of the Oath of Supreamacy which was intended against the Pope that the Pope is in no sort head of the Church other meaning I know none in a spiritual way but civilly and so it was declared by that gracious Queen Elizabeth about the 13. year of her raign which is or ought to be printed For did ever any rational people put the sword into the hands of any man to have the point of it turned against themselves that 1 Sam. 8. proves that Kings are to fight the peoples battels not the people to fight their quarrels and if it be obiected that the King never intended to hurt the subiect with their own sword I answer that that is all one if the people say otherwise for they must iudg because al the people cannot meet together therfore the Parliament must judg for not to argue the point concerning the power of the Militia which is but to argue whether a man be bound to kil himself Put the case there were 20. men travelling together in a dangerous wilderness they intrust one as a Captain to carry the sword to defend them against all assaults coÌ„mand them in order to their best safety and make him Governor at last they are of opinion that this Cap. intends to betray them they intreat him to redeliver the sword he promises to be faithful to them now in this case if there were no apparent ground of jealousie and distrust the 19. are to be blamed for their levity disloyalty but yet this Governor is bound in justice and common honesty to restore the sword and not to make a war against the 19. to reduce them to obedience for if they wil be destroyed who can help it God doth not save any man against his wil but of unwilling makes him willing nor must a Kingdom be saved against their wils a Prince is not to lead his people by their noses but to open their eyes to see their own
welfare and imbrace it which if they wil not their destruction is of themselves they do ill but the Lord wil not have them cudgelled into obedience for this we find an example in Scripture of the 10. Tribes which revolted from Rehoboam their lawful King who had 180000. chosen warriours to fight against them 2 Chro. 11 but the Lord forbad and though that be called a rebellion in the last verse of the former Chapter the reason of that is because Rehoboam was King by Gods institution and immediate appointment and in such a case mâ—ght Rehoboam have said ye have not rejected me but the Lord but now all lawful power is originally in the people and all lawful Governors chosen by them A Conqueror hath Jus in re not ad rem for a Conquest is but a great â—obbery good Kings raign by Gods approbation Tyrants by his permission til the people can free themselves Kingdoms at first were Elective till good Kings prevailed to have their children succeed them and certainly hereditary Kingdoms are best to prevent Factions and therefore the 19. wil have their Captain command them no longer he may not fight against them if he could procure any to take his part nor wil it avail to say that the 19. are Ignorant or distracted for he must not question the judgment of his Electors if the people know not how to choose a King then the Election is voyd and so a defective title but they that have judgment to consent for reasons best known to themselves may alter and dis-assent for this ease stands upon a special reason differing from all cases of bargains and contracts that rights vested cannot be devested and what pleased at first may not displease at last the King is born for the good of his subjects not they for his good further then to give him honor reverence and recompence this is the wil of God to prevent Wars which must otherwise follow inevitably and 't is a principle of right reason that as things are creatâ—d so by the same power they are dâ—ssolved they which may institute may destitute it strengthens our faith in the resurrection that the same power which made us of nothing can raise us out of the dust Mistake me not I say if all the 19. should so agree if but 3. or 4. should adhere to the Captain I dâ—liver no opinion in that case but I am against that opinion that if any County or burrough Town shal send for their Knights and Burgesses to return home and vote no longer that in this case they ought to come back because no man can be represented longer then he pleases this erew to destroy the frame of the Government For though every several Shire and Burrough make their several Elections yet they are sent not only to vote for the good of their own County or Town but for the general good of the Kingdom and they make not several distinct representative bodies but one intire representative body in the nature of a joyntenancy as the Soul is in every part of the body so every Member sits in the House for the good of the whole Kingdom as if chosen by all the people the several Elections being by agreement for the more conveniency But when Bâ—rgesses are chosen for one Town all the rest give their consents to such an Election and so in Law it may be called the Election of them all as between partners in a Drade one brings 1000 l. the other as much this is layd out in Commodities as a common stock now none of them alone hath power over any part of the goods though it may be purchased with his money but all things is to be done by a joynt consent no dissolution to be by parts that is to dismember the body otherwise this would follow that if two Burgesses voted only for that Town which sent them if one voted in the Affirmative and the other in the Negative nothing should be done in that particular but that which I chiefly intend in this discourse is not only that there may be a right understanding but endeared affections between the King and Parliament and truly I know no way like this to be perswaded of each others sincerity that they acted according to their judgments that light which they had revealed to them that his Majesty would beleeve as the truth is that the Right Honorable Lords and the Honorable Commons did nothing but what they conceived themselves in Honor and Iustice obliged to do for the safety of the Kingdom and that otherwise they could not have answered it to those whom they represented and that the Parliament would be perswaded that his Majesty did nothing but what he conceived himself in Honor bound to do without which he could not have given an Account to God nor his people with comfort for possibly there may be an invincible Ignorance of one anothers right The Cananites were in possession of a lawful title the Lord commands Ioshua to dispossess them who having a Command from God may lawfully fight and they not knowing of Gods Command might lawfully defend themselves now in this case if the Lord had not intended a National Church the destruction of the Cananites why might not an Israelite and a Cananite have been good friends and said thus one to another truly what you did you had some colour of reason for it at lest you thought you did for the best it may be I should have done so had I been in your case therefore let us do as we would be done by as there have been Arguments framed against each others proceedings so I wish heartily that the Kings Majesty and those evil Counsellors who were about him hee 's now guarded with Angels in comparison would argue thus for the Parliament the Kingdom petitioned both Houses to raise Arms for their preservation what could the Parliament do in such a case having voted that there was an apparent design to inslave the people had it been sufficient for the Members to have told the people Truly we gave his Majesty faithful advice besought him to reform what was amiss but he hearkned to his Courtiers and would not and so we left him to do what he pleased What would the Kingdom have said in such a case would they not have exclaimed against their Knights and Burgesses as the French do against their twelve Peers which being intrusted to oppose Tyranny prevaricated Oh ye unfaithful men I was there ever so great a breach of Trust in the world heard of Did we Elect you to infranchise us and do you suffer us to be inslaved Would you not put us into a Posture of war to defend our selves but suffer us to be destroyd insensibly since you wil not deliver us our freedom must come some other way what can be said in reason against this And so that the Parliament would argue for his Majesty amongst others to use but this What must
the Lords and Commons and some others is much to be commended O but how difficult a matter is it to get a motion in some places of Justice if a man could be dispatcht after four or five attendances it were brave and that which is most lamentable 't is all one if a mans Client be a prisoner whereas a politick Judg would ask at his first sitting Is there any motions concerning life or liberty or dower for Widows or Orphans and dispatch poor men first them that can spare most Fees let them tarry I know one that hath been assigned Councel for 26. Paupers could never be heard or above four or five of them 't is a po nt of great â—ngenuity in Lawyers to mâ—ve first for hiâ— poor Câ—â—nt without his Fee I have heard many of my leaâ—ned Masters that they would freely move for any poor man as often as he should desire if it mâ—ght not hinder them fâ—r their other Clients 't is a gallant spirit trulâ— though it be tâ— commend our selves yet 't is a truth and a man may commend himself to be coâ—manded and imployed as David did but some are lâ—ke Rocks and wil not be moved What do you to me with your Paupers at the latter end of the day When God knows he came two or three hours before the Couâ—t was sate What! do you think all to be heard As if we came nâ—t to be hâ—a d buâ— to hear others 3. That free people in their right wits never covenanted against the Law of God o Nature nor meant to inslave themselves to the lusts of one or more whom they elected or consented to be their Governors for the end of Governâ—ent is the welfare peace liberty safety propriety and all kind of haâ—piness of the people were it nâ—t for which there would be no end of Governors nor Laws nor can a Kingdâ—m be bound to any condition destructive to any of her own Members Law is but the rule safety is the and of Government now the end as it is first in intention so it is always more noble then the means for the means as means is always inferour to the end as he for whole sake a garment is made is more honorable then the rayment so health anâ— strength are the chief principal ends of dyet food and physick being the means therefore are inferior so are all Governors subservient to the peoples welfare as it is declared in that most excellent Declaration of the 17. of May 1646. whâ—ch deserves to be ingraven in marble Pillars that the welfare of the people is the suprem Law salus popâ—li is the end of all ends for whose sake all positive Laws may be ended and must expire like dead men for the Law is but Lord of particular persons thâ— Câ—â—munity is Lord over it nay theâ—e is no Law of Gâ—d that stands in competition against the safety of the people sacrâ—ficâ— must do homage to mercy the morality of the Subjects must be suspended to save the life of a sheep how much more for the welfare of the shepâ—erd if it be lawful to brâ—â—k the 4. Câ—mmandment in the Lettâ—r of it to save a mans life how much mâ—re lawful is it to dispence with the fifth Commandment to save the lives of milâ—â—ons all must stay and Lady Salus must first be secured the Letter of the Law must not be killing to the people a whole Kingdom can no more be â—uâ—ject to a dead letter then the Romans to their own slaves and as the Romans being a people full of generosity and courtesie never more exprest â—heir gentle disposition then by easie condescending to let their bond men at liberty so our Worthies in Parliament can never do a work more glorious then to infranchise this Kingdom in their souls bodies and estates for which they shal deserve immortal praises Q But hath not the Parliament an unlimited power and Authority Resp What agreement was between the Counties and the Knights of the Shire and the Corporations and Burgesses when Parliaments were first called no man can directâ—y say for my own part I do beleeve that there was some foâ—mal agreement reduced into writings what power the Kings and Burgesses should have and specified in the Indentures of return made betweâ—n the Sheriff and Electors and the Knights and Buâ—gâ—sses which trust the Parliamâ—nt men from tâ—me to time faithfully discharging and Contribuâ—ing to all Taxes and Charges out of their oâ—n estates the people at last were contenâ— to leâ—ve all matters indefinitely to their Knights and Bu gesses and in many Burrough towns there was scarce a man that could write in those days but the matter is not great for thâ—t which limits all Kings and Councels is the end of Government which is the prosperâ—ty of the people and all agreemâ—nts are presumed to be made for the welfare of the people No unnatural thing can be presumed Authoâ—ity is a challenge of obedience legally by such as are impowred by any people Power to speak properly is an ability to put that Authority in execution now all power in the people which they wel knowing were not so careful as they might have been to set limits and boundaries to Auâ—hority becauâ—e the strength remaining in themselves they could never imagine that any Governors would Command them to destroy themâ—elves and therefore these Arguments about seizing upon the Milâ—tâ—a and forts of the Kingdom are weak and invalid if the meaning be any other ways thâ—n this that it is Rebellion for any or many private men to resist the King and contemptuously to oppose the supream Court of the Kingdom because they are less then his Majesty but that both Houses of Parliament can commit Treason acting for the good and by the power of the Kingdom is to argue that a man may commit Treason against himself and that a man is bound with his right hand to cut off his left hand things which nature abhors Q. But what if a free people should make a general Letter of Attorney to some Governors to make what Laws they please against nature and humanity May not a man tye himself to a post as the old Usurer that would bind the young heir to a Table Resp I answer the authority is voyd and revocable for no power can be given that is destructive of humanity Q. But what if the Governors wil not let it go but act accordinly for Domination is a sweet morsel not easie to be parted with R. I answer that in such a case the peâ—ple are bound by the Law of God and Nature by force to redeem their liberties they which be impowred must be overpowred for free men can give away their freedom no further then as it conduceth to justice universal and paticular Phaâ—aohs Law to destroy all the Israelitish males or Herods cruelty or Lycurgus Law to kill all weak or old people or a Law to eat but twice a week doth any man question but these may
reap for them the honey by those men was not intended for the Bees sic vos non vobis c. Tell me now is it not more mercy to kill the wolfe then to let him go is it not better to be nourished by a Theefe then kild by a Shepheard is it not better to be healed by an Emperick then to be poysoned by a Physitian But in the former Case that I put where twenty chose a Captain to command them for he is as truly a King though not so great and glorious a King that reignes over twenty as hee that reignes over twenty millions Many of the Kings mentioned in Scripture of Sychem Iericho Sodom and Gomorrah never had so large a command as the Lord Mayor of London No King in Israel was Conductor of the people Governour is the generall word and to bee a King is but one kinde of Government Florence and Muscovy but Dukes in name have the greatest power of any Kings in Christendome if the seventeen desire to serve God contrary to the Captains judgement with the Common Prayer Book for the purpose the Captain with the other two comes to the house where the seventeen are worshiping interrupts them and will hale them to a prison they alleadge for themselves that they doe not any way disturb the present Government of State but desire freedome in their Consciences the question is Whether in this case it be against the word of God for these seventeen to defend their owne profession and to destroy the Captain and the other two for the liberty of their consciences if otherwise they cannot preserve it my meaning is after all meanes of entreaty used to the Captain to bee indulgent to them in so pretious a thing as Gods Service is and flying bâ—ck to a wall as we say as farre as a man can when he is pursued and so to make it but a pure se defendendo For my own part I think that it is not only lawfull but a thing most necessary that if these seventeen men should suffer themselves to bee imprisoned for their consciences by their Captain and two others that God would be angry with them for being so unnaturall and unjust to themselves But then the question will be If the Captain and seventeen should be of one opinion and the other two contrary minded and the eighteen make it capitall and condemn the other two for Heretiques whether may the other two resist in this case I answer they may save themselves by flight if they can but for two to take up Arms against the eighteen I am doubtfull whether it bee lawfull at least convenient because there is no probable hopes of successe and it is the minde of God that these two should suffer patiently what they cannot help and this will fall within that excellent Rule Of two evils the least is to be chosen the two are sure to lose their lives therefore they must suffer patiently rather then to endanger the lives of others with them for the God of peace does not delight in warres and then an evill is judged to bee inevitable when there is no apparent ordinary way to avoyd it because without an extraordinary warrant wee may not presume of Gods extraordinary power and assistance as if an honest man with a sword bee set upon by two theeves with pistols now in this case I hold it wisdome to deliver his purse to save his life because two are stronger then one Nature is Gods Lievtenant and efficient by a power from God received continued permitted and in humane affaires we are to look what the course of Nature may probably effect if not checked when God sayes this shall be because I will not hinder it then Nature of its own nature produces such effects What King with a thousand will fight against him that comes with ten thousand and as the use of lawfull means for safety does not argue a confidence in the creature but a subordination of the meanes that God without meanes can do it but meanes without God cannot doe it yet somtimes God puts more strength then ordinary into the creature and acts more immediatly by ten sometimes chasing a thousand therefore I passe it over But my meaning is that a warre for desence of Religion is unquestionable but the manner is alwayes to bee pondered and that in any Kingdome or State where such a considerable number of people which are the stronger part shall upon good grounds bee convinced in their judgements that they cannot by reason of the prevalency of some proud domineering covetous or malicious spirited men that had rather lose a Kingdome then that some men should enjoy too much of heaven upon earth and would set the Kingdome together by the eares to get their Eare-rings who while they exclaym against Conventicles and private meetings of honest people are themselves the most dangerous and only Conventiclers that I know in the Kingdom having their constant meetings how to oppresse and degrade all that stand in their way both in soules and bodies it being such clandestine and factious Ends onely that in judgement of Law makes a Conventicle for a hundred men to assemble to carry a Tree is no offence and will not let honest and peaceable men have freedome and liberty to serue God according to that light they have received from the Father of lights and to receive common justice submitting for conscience sake to every ordinance of man in such a case it is not onely permitted but commanded that these men manfully defend themselves and their liberties or else they are in effect selfe-murtherers and in such a case the truth of God is of that value that his meekest servants will fight for it rather then it shall be indangered what Doctor Ferne objâ—cts against it is but stubble and combustible and will not beare the weight of a feather in the ballance of the Sanctuary for will any man that is sound in his intellectuals unlesse he desire to be a Bishop Imagine that ever Saint Paul commanded the poore Saints in Neroes household to be subject to Nero in Church matters that was an enemy to them or to Caligula that wished that all Christians had but one naturall head as they had but one mysticall I wish there were no Caligulaes amongst us that would be cutting off many heads at one blow Indeed if any Court might enforce mens consciences what miserable things were Christians Truth shall be sure to be shut out of doors for the most are seldome the best Paul speaks of legall civill authority the Saints in Rome are but a handfull and had no law for their Religion That there should be some government is Gods institution as in the fifth Commandement which bindes the conscience in positive Laws though hard and rigorous but the manner of it is mans appointment and constitution of whose power and authority good and evill actions are the proper and adaequate objects I willingly grant that
the Magistrate who is a good Christian stands upon the advantage ground and ought to command the people for Gods sake to yeild obedience to the Laws of God and to be exemplary in his conversation and to protect Gods people by declaring against errours and that no man ought to beare with an errour in his dearest consort but perswasion is the Gospellary way without all dispute in matters not fundamentall My Lord Bacon was of that opinion he that is not against us is with us Spirituall maladies must have spirituall remedies in matter of opinion I wrong no man if he be offended at me it is his weakness I intend it not I speake of errours in Religion not errours against Religion with a toleration whereof no State or Kingdom can subsist 'T is a fruit of the Turks Religion not to couzen nor steale and to make conscience of an Oath to doe no murther nor adultery 'T is against Intrinsicall rules of all government to permit any of these nor must any errour be permitted that is a sworne enemy to peace and policy Man can give no power but what God gives therefore it is no resisting of authority when there can be no such authority given matters of conscience are not giveable nor takeable If I bid any man kill me and tye my hands yet I may breake the cords I cannot give power to enslave my selfe nor ought any man take it If there should be any Covenant made to enforce conscience it is an unjust Oath and to keepe it is to adde a greater sinne to a less as if the first were too little whereas the least is too great and should be lesned not enlarged and though I am bound to lose by my Covenant yet not to be undone by it When the Lord visits us with sicknesse doe not we defend our selves against his blessed Majesty by Physick by food and rayment And nothing more lawfull and naturall then selfe defence against which no Canon can be of force as it was resolved at Constance that a Canon made in favour of an angry Pope that he might strike any man and no man strike him was void by the Law of nature for what is it but to arme sin against the Law did not Sweden Holland France Germany Poland and Scotland introduce Religion by the sword Calvin Beza Bellarmine Carrerius Junius Turquet Bucanus maintained the lawfulnesse of it and Bilson in the Queens time wrote a book in defence of it not to invade the Turke because he is not a Chrâ—stian but for the freedome of their own consciences King James in his Epistle to Perron justifies the French Protestants fighting for their Religion calling it a defensive Warre that he which offers the wrong is alwayes on the offensive part as he that denies the debt begins the suit and such a wrong doer cannot be wronged Geneva in 1536 cast off the Bishop their Prince and Calvin sâ—yes Populars may restrain all kinde of tyranny as the Ephori did the Lacedemonian Kings and the Tribunes curbed the Consuls and if for bodies much more for souls the reason is because every people in the conferring of power reserve so much to themselves to attaine that end whereunto they are ordained which is the glory of God and their own freedoms and welfare Certainly God never commanded any Magistrates to lay any clogs or Fetters upon the consciences of his own people that 's the apple of his own eye yet so as if by force his people be destroyed they must take it patiently dye like lambs for the Lambs sake that dyed for them but they may not suffer if they can oppose it that 's to be guilty of selfe murther The sufferings of Jesus Christ were voluntary and when wee resigne our wills to a thing enforced we make it willing and so the Martyrs were said to lay down their lives willingly and yet they could not help it This fighting for Religion is not to fight to promote it in others not to kill any tyrants that oppose it but to preserve Religion and the professors of it All Magistrates are tyed to the Laws of God and nature and 't is a lesse sinne for a private man to breake those Laws then the Magistrate who is intrusted to keepe them For a Commissioner to breake a trust is the highest prevarication against which illegalities self-defence is lawfull if the party can help it men may free themselves from tyrants if they can if not what remedy but patience the reason is perspicuous because no man can impower another over him to command against both or either of those Laws and therefore the meaning of those commands of honouring the King our parents and governours is to observe all such lawfull commands as are not contrary to God and nature for God is the God of order which he should not be if Governours were to be obeyed disorderly If a King or Governour be mad must all the Kingdom be fools to obey such a Devill as that Duke D' Alva was that made the Hangmans place in Flanders better then the Chancellours If such a Magistrate be drunke and resolved to kill whomsoever he meets may not the people shot him up all night from doing mischiefe to take away a madmans sword from him is not to take away the property but to prevent the mischiefe Many of H. 7. freinds had sworne fealty to R. 3. yet H. 7. did well to kill him and we never read of my pardon obtained from the Pope the Royall race of H. 7. inherits still in our Soveraigne Lord King CHARLES to whom God impart as many graces as to all his Ancestors that as he hath made the heart of Gods people sad so he may now make it his royall study to set Jesus Christ upon his Throne by whose gain his Majesty can be no loser and long may that Royall race continue to administer and execute good and wholsome Laws for the prosperity of these Nations by which it is more honourable to command 10 free men then to tyrannize over 10000 Gally-slaves If the Magistrate in a Protestant Kingdom should introduce Popery as in Queen Maries time a particular man may not oppose but the Parliament might and by the Law of God ought to have opposed it But if the Lord had put a sword into the hands of the Smithfield Martyrs able in probability to have defended themselves these could not have dyed with comfort for their Religion for I cannot judge him a good Christian that is not a morall man and he that will not doe right to himselfe to defend his own life will hardly doe right to his neighbour he that hath but a little minde can be but a little vertuous I affirme that the Army may not disband in point of honour till this Kingdome be in a better way of settlement for I ever thought that there was more to be done for the happinesse thereof then the humiliating and geniculating of the late Oxford party whose
the use of the Directory hee would not think it fit that his MAJESTY should have the liberty of his Conscience he sayd wee had Covenanted against it to take it away as a branch of Popery I told him the speciall point of popery to be rooted out is all domineering and tyrannizing over the conscience Are wee not all the servants of God why should wee Lord it one over another in matters of conscience but hee replyed that we were to bring all to the neerest Uniformity I answered that neerest was not the same Many ships sayl neer a Rock that come not to it the Common Prayer Book and Directory are very neer of kin I know no reason why they may not bear with one another if his Majesty and the Parliament please I remember being at Sedan a passage not unworty to be inserted the Duke of Bullun Prince of Sedan whose Ancestors and himselfe had been speciall friends to the French Protestants for the love of a beautifull Romish Lady changed his Religion and turned papist The Town being all Protestants as good reason they had accordingly opposed it He entreated them that he might be married by a priest in the Towne they refused it The Duke left his Mother the good old Madam in the Castle went away and was married return'd with his Lady but the Inhabitants shut the gates against him and so hee went to one of his Summer houses two leagues from the Town and there were severall Treaties between him and his Subjects about his Re-admittance He alledging that since he and his Ancestors had been the procurers of their Liberties why should they envy him the liberty of his conscience they sayd He was a Star faln from Heaven and it would be dangerous for them to be under his command An Englishman discoursing with Molinaus and Rambursius two learned Ministers about it assumed by way of argument that as that case stood with all its circumstances for them to deny him the exercise of his conscience who had purchased their Liberties was most unjust in it selfe and would be prejudiciall to other Protestants by incouraging Catholike Princes against them and might bring mischief upon their own heads at last he had liberty to come into the Town the Lady Duchess his wife and Masse was sayd in the Castle allowing her two priests and no more but not long since the French King made advantage of it against them that they denyed liberty to their naturall Prince and they are now I feare as the Rochilers are and no freer But this I drive at Rigid Presbytery is but yet a Probationer if it should be setled in this Kingdomâ— in the height and power of it it would undoubtedly cost ten times more bloud to remove it then ever it hath done to abolish Episcopacy I speak of a Rigid strict Presbytery that make their judgement as the Kings Royall Standard to weigh and measure all opinions by them to walk by their rule which will admit of no Exceptions if you would know what such a Presbyter is you may take it thus A Rigid Presbyter is he that is against every man and every man against him he will endure no man in the Kingdom but those that are of his opinion in omnibus and therefore no man in the Kingdome hath reason to endure him I assure you that that grievous Disease called the Sudor Anglicus the Sweating Sicknesse which lasted about forty years in this Kingdome that swept away so many that Harvest could not be Inned in many places was not so dangerous to this Kingdome as this Rigid Presbytery if it should grow inveterate there is a Prophesie in Scotland It began with Knoxs and must end with knocks my prayer is that the Rulers in that Kingdom would have a more favourable regard to tender Consciences and give free liberty to Gods people in their Native Kingdome There are many Scots banished into Holland and other places for matter of Conscience whom I verily believe to be precious Christians some of them told mee that their parents had been principall Instruments in the Reformation of Religion in that Kingdom and therefore took it unkindly that they should be exiled for some differences in opinions no way fundamentall or destructive of State-policy for why in the name of God should it any more disturbe the peace of the Kingdom to permit Christians to pray together in a private Chamber then for others to meet there about their ordinary businesse I desire deerly to be conceived when I use the word Presbytery the Lord knows my heart I use it onely for distinction sake not for reproach I do not oppose nor speak against a moderate Presbyter but look upon it as an excellent way to restrain vice and for my own part I like it for that which many fear it Namely it will be a means to prevent many frivolous quarrels and contentious Law-suits Certainly there is an externall beauty in that Government in Scotland Geneva the French Congregations but truly the power of Godliness is seen but little amongst them I have known in a Presbyterian Ministers house that there hath bin no prayer nor Family dutyes performed twice in a yeare and Examination before the Sacrament counted superfluous and if any thing have been questioned no other answer but the Puritans in England will be under no Order nor Government Is it not fit that Gods people for whose sake the World continues should have a being in the World if they can mayntain it nor do I say any thing against moderate Presbyters I believe there are many godly men of the Presbyterian judgment though not as they are Presbyters Saint Peter opposed Christ in the worke of redemption for which our Saviour sayd unto him Get thee behind me Satan and the devout women opposed the Apostles in the planting of the Gospel Amaziah and Jehosaphat good Kings of Judah yet took not away the high places Hezekiah did and Josiah yet more and more all godly men are not equally enlightned Were there not some godly Conformists think you in the Bishops time that opposed Nonconformists He that is the strictest Presbyter now possibly seven yeares since was for Bishops and seven yeares hence if God give repentance for keeping his Son Christ out of his throne may be an Independent But this is the misery that those men which are the most zealous promoters of the Rigid Presbyterian way are Politicians whose greatest Religion is to be of no Religion at all that play their game so cunningly that the godly Presbyterians not discerning their ambitious aymes which is to make themselves Grandees in Church and State joyne and concur with them as I have told you what the Rigid Presbyter is so I shall expresse whom I mean by the godly Presbyter I am well acquainted with many of them and I verily believe in my conscience that hee is such a one who really intends the glory of God and the welfare of this Kingdom and