Kings Prerogative as well as Magna Charta is proved by Iudge Ienkins to be a principall part of the common Law and Royal Government a Law fundamental Nay 9. It is proved by the same most learned and pious Iudge That the Supreme power even in time of Parliament was declared by both Houses to belong unto the King 10. The Kings Supremacy hath been proved by so many Arguments out of Bracton as may be seen in Dudley Diggs The Reasons of the Vniversity of Oxford Iudge Ienkins and the like that I shall onely translate some few short passages into English The King saith he hath power and Iurisdiction over all who are within his Kingdome and none but He. Every one is under the King and he under God onely He hath no Peer or equal with his Kingdome mâ—ch less is inferiour unto his subjects God alone is his superiour and to God alone is he accomptable In a word The things that concern Iurisdiction and Peace or are annexed to peace and Iustice do belong to none but to the Crown and the Kingly Dignity nor can they be separated from the Crown for as much as the Crown consisteth in them 11. The Kings supremacy is evinced from the Nature of all his subjects Tenures they holding their Lands of him in Fee Whiâ—h though it gives a perpeâ—ual Estate yet is it not absolute but conditionall as depending on the acknowledgement of superiority and as being forfeitable upon the non-performance of some duties on which supposition it still returns unto the King For the breach of Fidelity is loss of Fee In short it is agreed among the most learned in the Law â— That the King alone hath such a property in all his Lands as Lawyers are wont to call Alaâ—dium because he doth hold in his own full Right without any service or payment of Rent because from God onely 2. That subjects of all Degrees do hold their Lands ut Feuda in the nature of Fee which implyes Fealty to a Superiour 12. The Oath of Allegeance hath the force of another Oath of Supremacy For Legiancy is defined to be 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 advise and power not to lift up their arms against him nor to support in any way those that oppose him Now as no Liege Lord can acknowledge any Superiour and though bound to some duties is not bound under pain of Forfeiture so subjects on the other side are Homines Ligii all Liege-men owing him Faith and Allegiance as their Superiour Which Faith if they violate He is enabled by the Law as being the Fountain of Iurisdiction saith Master Diggs to seiz upon their Goods and Lands and to destroy their persons too Whereas if He fail in the discharge of his duty he is not subject to any Forfeiture by any Law of the Land I could ever hear of and Mr. Diggs hath challenged all the world to name any Doctor Sanderson also affirmeth That if a King who is Supreme should do the things that are proposed 1 Sam. 8. and Rule as a Tyrant by no other Law then his own hearts lust he would yet be unaccountable on this side Heaven however liable to the wrath of the Soveraign Iudge of all the World For however such a Tyrant may abuse his power yet the power is His which he abuseth and who shall say unto the King what dost thou Eccles. 8.4 a Text produced by the late King of most blessed Memorie against his own most unnatural and Blood Triers 13. There is an antient Monument saith Mr. Diggs p. 83. which shews the manner of holding a Parliament before the conquest The King is the head the beginning and the end of the Parliament and so he hath not any equal in his Degree This I cite to anticipate Mr. Hiâ—kman's possible objection 14. The King by Law hath just power to pass acts of Parliament by his great Seal to grant out Commissions of Oyer and Terminer for the holding of Assisses to adjourn the Term to whatsoever place he pleaseth To make Iustices of Peace which wholly depends on his will and pleasure To pardon Delinquents and Malefactors a priviledge by law estated solely in the King To choose his Officers to protect all persons to coin money to make leagues with forrein Princes to dispose the Militia to call and dissolve Parliaments And to be in one word Le dernier Resort de la Iustice. 15. In the thirty seventh Article of the Church of England The King or Queen is declared to have the chief Power in this Realm of England c. to whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Causes doth appertain And this called the Prerogative which hath alwayes been given to all godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himself that they shall rule all Estates and all Degrees Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil sword the stubborn and evil Doers 16. And accordingly in the Canons by law established in the Church A Supreme Power is declared to be given by God in Scripture to the sacred order of Kings which is there also declared to be of Divine Right And that for any person or persons to set up maintain or avow in any their said Realms respectively under any pretence whatsoever any Independent co-active power either Papal or popular whether directly or indirectly is to undermine their great Royal office and cunningly to overthrow that most sacred ordinance which God himself hath established and so is treasonable against God as well as against the King This I earnestly recommend to Mr. Hickman his consideration and that which follows in the Canon viz. That for subjects to bear Arms against their Kings offensive or defensive upon any pretence whatsoever is at the least to resist the powers which are ordained of God And though they do not invade but onely resist 17. Saint Paul tells them plainly They shall receive to themselves damnation The most excellent Recognition which was made by both Houses in the first year of King Iames is so worthy to be written in Letters of Gold and so needfull to be rivetted in the hearts and memories of the people who desire to have a conscience void of offence towards God and men that I think I shall deserve many an honest man's thanks who hath either never known or hath forgot what once he knew by inserting some part upon this occasion The King is our onely rightfull and lawfull Leige Lord and Soveraign we do upon the knees of our heart adnize constant Faith Loyalty and Obedience to the King and his Royall Progeny in this high Court of Parliament where all the body of the Realm is either in Person or by representation we do acknowledge that the true and
own A new Discovery of his stealths with their aggravation His mistake of Iustice for Drollery The Calvinian Tenet renders all study useless The Kings Declaration forbidding its being preached No good Arguing from evill custom The Lord Falklands judgment against Calvin's Mr. H's Inhumane and slanderous Insinuation How much worse in Himself then in any other It s odiousness shewn by a parallel case His Profession of Cordial Friendship with its effect His Sacrilegious Eulogie bestowed on them of his way The Doctrine of the Church of England Vindicated with BP Laud and BP Mountague Of Mr. H's Impertinence implying Presbyterians to be Idolaters The Archbishop cleared as to what he did against Sherfield An Impartial Narrative of the case The Doctrine of St. Iohn concerning Antichrist Original sin assented to as taught in the Article of our Church Loyalty a part of our Religion An accompt to the Reader of the Method observed in all that follows BP Tunstall and BP Hooper out weigh Tyndal c. The 17th Article 2 wayes for us So the Liturgy and Homilies and Nowells Catechism which Mr. H. produceth against himself It was not the Church of England that put the Calvinists into preferments ArchbP Bancroft an Anticalvinist Dr. Richardson and Dr. Overal both publick professors and most severe to the Calvinian Doctrines Dr. Sanderson no less since his change of judgment Persecution is not a mark of error in those that suffer it Mr. Simpson cleared from his censors as to falling from Grace and Rom. 7. Barrets Recanting an arrant Fable BP Mountagues vindication Mr. H's confession That men follow Calvin in their younger and Arminius in their riper years The causes of it given by D. Sanderson Of Dr. Iacksons Act Questions and Dr. Frewin's Of K. Iames and BP Mountague K. Iames his conversion from the Calvinian errors A change of judgment in some Divines who were sent to Dort Mr. H's sense of the University and his unpardonable scurrility of the late Archbishop Vniversal Redemption held as well by K. Iames the late Primate of Armagh and BP Davâ—nant as by Arminius Mr. H. grants the whole cause but does not know it His opposition to the Asse mbly mens Confession of faith Mr. H. proved to grant the whole causâ— at which he rails and so to be a Calvinistical-Arminian Confirmed by Du Moulin Paraeus and Dr. Reynolds Confirmed further by Dr. Twisse And by the Synod of Dort His scurrilous usage of Dr. Heylin shews the length of his own ears His concluding Question childishly fallacious Touching the Remnant of his Book HIs Self condemnation and Contradiction The Calvinists draw their own consequences from their Tenet of Decrees How Mr. H. is their Accuser and how his own How as an Hobbist and an Arminian How in striving to clear he condemns himself and confesseth his making God to be the Author of siâ— His own thick darkness touching the darkness in the Creation How he makes the most real thingâ— to be entia rationis How he obtrudes a new Article of Faith And makes it a point of omnipotence to be able to do evill He proves his own sins to be positive entities by ascribing his rage to his sobriety His slanderous charge against Mr. Tho. Barlow of Qâ—eens C. in Oxford His foul Defamation of Dr. Reynolds His self contradiction and blind zeal as to Dr. Martin The nullity of a Priesthood sinfully given by Presbyterians The Recantations of some who were so Ordained Mr. H's disappointment by Dr. Sandersons change of judgment A vindication of BP Hall BP Morton BP Brownrig from Mr. H's slanderous suggestion The perfect Amitie and Communion of all Episcopal Divines for all their difference in judgment as to some controverted Doctrines Mr. H's confession of his Ignorance an Incapacity to understand the points in controversie His confessed insufficiency to maintain the chief Articles of the Creed Yet his conceitedness of his parts is not the less His way to make a Rope of sand whereby to pull in the Puritanes His sinfull way of defending Robbery by adding a manifold aggravation His slanderoâ—s insinuation against the two houses of Parliament to save the credit of the visitors in sinning against their own commission His disparagement of the visitors in his eâ—deavours to assert them The work he makes with Hypocâ—ondriacal conceits Touching the supream authority of the Nation HE adds Rayling to his Robbery and treasonably misplaceth the Supreme power of the Nation The two Houses vindicated from his gross Insinuation an d the supreme power asserted by 19. Arguments and by very many more for which the Reader is enâ—reated to use the works of Iudge Ienkins Touching the Visitors of Oxford HOw Mr. H. became one of my uncommissioned Receivers In what sense he may be called my Receiver and Vsufructuary How the Assembly-Presbyterians became Abettors of Sacriledge and Praevaricators with the Bible Mr H's confounding possession and right and making no scruple of many Robberies at once His wilfull bitternesse sadly reflecting upon the Visitors And as much on the Lords and Commons worst of all upon the King in excludâ—ng whom he beheads the Parliament How he and his Visitors have acted against the two Houses and withall against the supreme power of the Nation Touching Mr. H's no skill in Logick A Transition to the discovery of his no skill in Logick His Insultation added to hide or bear up his Ignorance Concerning the subject of an Accident Of Subjectum ultimum ultimatum Of an Inseparable Accident Of the substantiall Faculties of the soul. By whom they are held to be its essence Of his granting what he denyes whilst he denyes it and giving up the whole cause A Postscipt touching some Dealings of Mr. Baxter THe Synagogue of the Libertines fitly applyed to Mr. Baxter Hiâ— Railing on K. Iames and BP Bancroft on BP Andrewes and Dr. Sanderson for their Iustice to the Puritans His confession of his own wickednesse again confessed by himself though but in part His prodigious falsifying the Common prayer His denyal of that confession which he confessed a little before His Perjury and Rebellion proved out of his own words His playing at Fast loose with his integrity His Time-serving and fawning upon his Soveraign Richard His rejoycing in our late miseries c. His charging upon God all the villanies of the times His Flâ—tteâ—ing mâ—ntions of Old Oliver as tenderly carefull of Christs cause His being Accessâ—ry to the most Parricidial Act the murder of Gâ—ds anointed The seven wayes of partaking in other mens sins His being an Incendiary in the war and Incouraging many thousand to rebell proved out of his confessions His denying the Supremacy of the King which yet he allowed the two Cromwells His confession that Rebellion is worse then Murder Adultery Drunkenness and the like and that he may be called a Perfidious Rebell by his consent if the supremacy was in the King HIs denying the Supremacy of the King which yet he allowed the two Cromwels How
sincere Religion of the Church is continued and established by the King And do recognize as we are bound by the law of God and man the Realm of England and the Imperiall Crown thereof doth belong to him by inherent birthright and lawfull and undoubted succession and submit our selves and our posterities for ever untill the last drop of bloud be spent to his rule and beseech the King to accept the same as the first fruits of our Loyalty and Faith to his Majesty and his posterity for ever and for that this Act is not compleat nor perfect without his Majesties assent the same is humbly desired This proves saith Judge Ienkins 1. That the Houses are not above the King 2. That Kings have not their titles to the Crown by the two Houses but 3. by inherent birth-right and 4. That there can be no Statute without his express assent and so 5. It destroyes the Chimaera of the Kings virtuall being in the Houses 18. The Kings Proclamations heretofore to severall purposes were of no less force then Acts of Parliament And the ground of it was that the supremitie of the Regal power is given by God And however that Act was indeed repealed by the meek concession of King Edward the sixth yet the Reason of the Repeal is recorded to have been this A willingness in the King to gratifie his people upâ—n trust that they would not abuse the same but rather be encouraged with more faithfulness and diligence to serve his Highness So when Charles the First passed a Bill for the continuance of the long Parliament indefinitely it was upon their promise that the gracious favour of his Majesty expressed in that Bill should not encourage them to do any thing which otherwise had not been sit to be done And so good is the Rule in the Civil Law Cessante causa cessat Lex That the Lords and Commons even of that very Parliament did dâ—clare it to hold good in Acts of Parliament 19. When 't was declared by all the Iudges and Sergeants of Law that it cannot be said the King doth wrong it was by a Periphrasis A Declaration of his Supâ—emacy For the meaning of it must be say the greatest Lawyers That what the King doth in point of Jurisdiction he doth by his Iudges who are sworn to deal legally between the King and his people So as the Judges may be questioned for violation of Law but the King is unaccountable and on his person or power no Reflection is to be made § 78. Thus I have given such an account of the proper subject of Supremacy as my Notes of Observation suggest unto me at this time I gather'd my Notes more especially for my private use and information that I might know what Party I ought to own in these times of Triall and Temptation partly out of the Papers which passed betwixt the King and both Houses of Parliament partly from the writings of Mr. Prin Mr. Diggs Iudge Ienkins and Dr. Langbane partly out of the Book of Statutes though I have not time to consult them much Many more Arguments I could urge out of the works of Iudge Ienkins but that I find them too many to be transcribed in this Appendix and withall I consider that book is cheap and little and I hope easily to be had which makes me choose to referr my Readers to his whole Lex Terrae from page 8. to page 63. I have been so convinced by all put together which hath been said as I cannot but conclude with the most Learned and moderate Doctor Sanderson That at least amongst us here in England there can be nothing more certain or conspicuous unless we will not use our eyes but rather choose to be blind at noon by stoutly winking against the Sun then that the power of these Three Kingdoms doth onely belong to his Serene and Supreme Royall Majesty This is said by that great and judicious Casuist in his stating the obligation and efficient cause of humane Lawes After which if Mr. Hickman shall yet contend that the Oxford Visitors were commissioned by the Supreme Authority of the Nation though by the two Houses onely not onely without but against the pleasure of the King I will onely referr him to certain Notes on the Oathes of Supremacy and Allegiance in a late-Printed Book which is thus â—ntitled The Resurrection of Loyalty and Obedience out of the Grave of Rebellion § 80. But I printed saith Mr. Hickman as if I had right to two Fellowships and asks how else he is but one of my receivers p 46. To which I answer 1. That for any thing I know Mr. Hickman succeeded him that succeeded me And my words of him were these that for ought I know he may be in possession of mine own fellowship c. Or 2. If he did not succeed my successor but that his Robbery is immediate not once removed I will give him an Answer to chew upon out of the Digests When a number of men do joâ—â— their strength to steal a piece of Timber or any thing else which is anothers which none of them singly could have carried away Vlpian saith that each of them severally as well as all of them joyntly is lyable to an action for the double value of the thing And so when the right of a Society is invaded by a Society which was our case in Magd. Colledge when almost all were at once bereaved by men of violence all may require their right of all and every man from every man For every man by partnership is an Accessary to all that have done the wrong as well as principall in part and indefinitely and so responsible to all who receive the wrong or do require a reparation I could prove to Mr. Hickman that he is guilty of the Visitor's sin by accepting the spoils of their injustice But I am ready to pardon though not to dissemble my being injur'd § 81. I had but said by such a figure as is allowable in Scripture It seems the Visitors made him one of my Receivers and Vsu-fructuaries when taking my words by the wrong handle he pretends that His is the usus-fructus p. 46. But 1. he knows I there added That my legitimate Successor they could not make him which is a proof that what I spake was of what they did not ought to do And a Facto ad Ius no good Argument is to be drawn The Visitors made him my Receiver as they made their strength the law of justice Or as Lambert made Cromwell the Kings Receiver 'T is easie for one man to be mâ—de an other man's Receiver and yet by a Proverb to be as bad as the thief that made him The sons of violence and rapine made one another what they pleased as opportunity and power was in their hands So it was said by Doctor Heylin that Mr. Hickman had made a Book But he presently added As
indeed object against him his Dissent from the Doctrine of the Church of England so to their shame if they had any he freed himself from that charge Master Pâ—m's Report to the House of Commons is no proof at all that he was censur'd by the Parliament And the Order of that House in the behalf of the Articles was not hurtfull to him who oppos'd them not but understood them better and declar'd as much for them as the Commoners could doe § 44. To Mr. Hickmans rare Question p. 28. How comes it to pass that those who now follow Arminius did heretofore follow Mr. Calvin I thank him for the occasion to make this Answer That the older men grâ—w they grow the wiser and more impartial To what end do men study both men and books but to discover the mistakes of their giddy youth Is it not fit that the aged Bishop of Winchester should understand things better then young Mr. Andrews But he was a Bishop and one who lived at such a Time when it was safe to leave Calvin as King Iames his Great Master had also done And therefore to satisfie Mr. Hickman Let the Question be put of Dr. Sanderson whose change of judgement was never publish'd untill the last and worst times whilst yet the Followers of Calvin had power to persecute their opponents why did he follow the way of Calvin in point of Doctrine I mean his sublapsarian way before he considered and compar'd it with other wayes and at last forsook it after such consideration The very Question suggests the Answer which in all reason is to be made And may suffice for a general answer to the farr greatest part of Mr. Hickman's long Preface Observe Good Reader the most Ingenuous Confession of that so eminently learned and holy man Giving himself to the study of practicall Divinity he saith he took up most other things upon trust And this he did so much the rather because Calvin at that time was not so wholesomely suspected as blessed be God he since hath been But to express it in the words of the Judicious Doctor Sanderson The honour of Calvin's name gave Reputation to his very errours And if so great a Scholar as he did take up opinions upon trust and was carried down the stream of the common errours his weaker brethren could not choose but be swept away with so strong a Torrent § 45. But they were farr from being such whose Questions in the Act Mr. Hickman reciteth from Mr. Prin as he hath done the greatest part of his tedious Preface For Doctor Iackson might well acknowledge all lost in Adam when he supposed a Recovery of all in Christ. And here it is observable that Mr. Hickman hath not stoln fairly For Mr. Prin expressed very honestly what his jugling Transcriber thought it his Interest to conceal It was the very first of the Doctors three Questions An Peccatum originale contineat in se aliquid positivi And this was held in the affirmative The other Act-questions were Doctor Frewin's the now-Right Honourable and Right Reverend Father in God the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield whom I am never able to name without a preface of honour and veneration Who if he did once Calvinizare as Bishop Andrews and King Iames before the times of their conversion let it suffice that his latter judgement is much preferrable to his former It is no more to the disparagement of Doctor Goad and Master Hales and Daniel â—ilenus the Synodist at Dort and Doctor Potter and Doctor Godwin and Melanchthon himself and the late Primate that as soon as they saw they forsook their errours then it could be to Saint Paul that though as long as in comparison he was a child he spake as a child understood as a child and thought as a child yet when he grew to a perfect man he put away childish things And hence Mr. Hickman may take the reason why I parted with those opinions I first embraced which now he reproacheth me withall p. 29. though more to my honour then he imagin'd But he must know that by the first of the three last Questions An praedestinatio ad salutem sit propter praevisam fidem he seems to be ignorant of the difference betwixt the foresight of Faith and Faith foreseen as betwixt ex and propter a condition and a cause secundum praescientiam Fidei propter fidem praescitam And so he is like the vain Ianglers of whom Saint Paul speaks to Timothy that they desired to be Teachers understanding neither what they said nor whereof they affirmed § 46. Of Lambeth Articles that they were caused to be suppress'd by Queen Elizabeth See Doctor Heylin his Examen Historicum p. 164. That King Iames before he dyed was an Anti-Calvinist appears by the Conference at Hampton Court and by his great approbation of all that was preached by Bishop Andrews which was as opposite to Calvin as light to darkness and by his high esteem of Bâ—shop OVERALL who was wont to call the Calvinists The Zenonian Sect and by his singular favour to Bishop Montague whom he imployed in composing his Apparatus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and whose Appeal he adorned with his Royal Patronage and Protection which yet he could not have done if he had not been that which they call Arminian That Bishop Montague was incouraged by the special Direction of King IAMES to Dedicate that Book to his Royal self is most apparent to every man who wilâ— but read his own words in his Dedication If any Reader can yet be ignorant of King Iames his deliverance from that captivity into which he had been lâ—dd by his first and worst Teachers let him peruse that Epistle with which the learned Tilenus Senior did dedicate his Book to that learned King even his Book of Animadversions upon the Synod of Dorts Canon There the Reader will be inform'd how Tilenus his Paraenesis had pleas'd that King who gave a proof of his special liking by his speciall command to have it Printed How a little after that the King invited him by a Letter to come over into England and here to try the effects of his Royall Favour How his Majestie took care that care might be taken by other men Not to blaspheme with the Puritanes in making God the Author of sin How he assented to Tilenus whilst he inveighed against the Error of irrespective decrees especially that of Reprobation A more impious errour then which he said a Synod of Divels was not able to invent Thence he styled it the Horrendum illud Calvini decretum and professed to see nothing throughout the whole Calvinian Scheme which did not either flow out of Zeno's porch or from the Tables of the Destinies or from the stinking Mephitis of the Manichees By all which it is apparent that Mr. Hickman is unexcusable as far as his 38. page where he grows less guilty
Hypochondres as much as Fame hath affirmed it to have had dominion over his own I never was so inhumane as to upbraid my greatest enemy with any such bodily indisposition and have rather afforded my utmost help But since Mr. Hickman unprovoked could not abstain from objecting a sicknesse to me and such a sicknesse as I have ever by the blessing of God been exempted from it is his own fault onely though my misfortune that I am forced to expose him in this point also And for the future I do beseech him not to meddle in matters of which he hath not any knowledge nor to have so little mercy upon himself as to scourge his guilty self upon an innocent mans back but rather to conceal his great infirmities or onely reveal them to his Physician and apply himself to the means of cure I might in favour and mercy to him have prompted his Readers to believe that it was but his spleenative Conceit which made him say in his Epistle wherewith he dedicates his collection that the Doctrines printed before my birth were the meer chimaera's of my brain For which prodigious Adventure he is not capable of excuse unlesse his flatulent Hypocondres made him a kind of Pythagorean so as to fancy a transmigration of Calvin's soul into my body I am sure Pythagoras is reported to have thought himself to be Aethalides the son of Mercurie and that Aethalides being dead he became Euphorbus and that Euphorbus being departed he passed also into Hermotimus and that Hermotimus dying he lived in Pyrrhus the Fisherman And after Pyrrhus his decease he again survived in Pythagoras Sure 't were better for Mr. Hickman to think that my soul was once in Calvin or Zuinglius or Dr. Twisse then to call their writings the meer chimaera's of my brain or wilfully to deny what hath been read by thousands and may be seen in those Writers by all Mankind who can but read them The former I say were so much better then the later by how much better it is to be sick then sinfull And so 't were charity to imagine if that were possible to be done that this was one of Mr. Hickman's Hypochondriacal conceits § 76. It may be taken for one at least that he should charge me with Impudence against the Supreme Authority of the Nation p. 45. For if he deals syncerely as well as simply he hence inferr's the Oxford Visitors Mr. Cheynel and Mr. Wilkinson and such like things to have had the Supremacy in his opinion They alone being the men by whom I complaind I had been injur'd in their Transgressing the Prescriptions of those that sent them And loosers by a Proverb have still had liberty to complain I did but modestly hope Mr. Hickman would pay me my Arrears when again and again he tells his Readers I am impudent p. 45. and 47. so impudent I am as to own my Right though not so simple as to expect it And it is strange that Mr. Hickman should thus revile me for onely presuming to hope well of him or for refusing to dissemble what was so visibly my due So when the owner in the Parable sent for fruits of his Vineyard the Husbandmen abused his severall Messengers as well as sent them away empty I will not say of Mr. Hickman that he is impudent because his manners are none of mine but I must needs admire the strange nature of his modesty when he denyed a matter of Fact however attested by all mens eyes Sect. 77. If he means the two Houses by the Supreme Authority of the Nation as he seems to do pag. 47. he contradicts the fundamental Laws of the Land the Canons of the Church the Oathes of Allegeancâ— and Supremacy and implicitely censures all the Members of the House of Commons by whom the Visitors were sent in the year 1648. as guilty of willful perjury when they took those oathes bâ—fore they sate or could sit as members in the House of Commons 1. The members of Parliament did even swâ—ar in taking the Oath of Supremacy That the Kings Highnâ—ss is the onely Supreme Governour of this Realm and of all other his Dominions and Countreys as well in all Spiritual and Ecclesiasticall Things or Causes as Temporal 2. The King was ever acknowledged in the Prayers of the Clergie before their Seâ—mons to be the Supreme Head and Governour in all Causes and over all Pâ—rsons Ecclesiasticall and Civill Nor may we think that the Clergie were either taught oâ— commanded to lye to God in their Publick prayers Nay 3. he was uttâ—rly testified and in conscience declared as well by the members of Parliament as by other subjects upon oath to be not onely the Supreme which shews that none can be above him but Solus Supremus Moderator as Dr. Sanderson observes the Sole and Onely Supreme Head and Governour which shews that none can be so besides him or that none can be equal to him 4. In the generall judgement of knowing men and of Dr. Sanderson in particular The Kings Supremacy is imported by the stile of Dread Soveraign and Soveraign Lord and that of Majesty expressions used by the two Houses of the late long Parliament in their hâ—mble Petitions and addresses unto the King nor need I here tell my Reader what an humble Petition is set to signifie and as well in the most solemn establishment of Laws as in actions and forms of Jurisdiction 5. Magna Charta was first granted in effect by King Iohn and confirmed with that Title by Henry the third of his mere free will and so the liberties of the subject cannot with reason be presumed to lessen the King of his Supremacie 6. Other Statutes which have the force of Acts of Parliament are known to be directed as private Writs with a Teste Meipso And the common stile of most others is found to run in this strain The King with the advice of the Lords at the humble Petition of the Commons wills this or that so the form of passing Bills is still observed to be this Lâ— Roâ— le veult The King will have it And sâ—it faict comme il est desiré Let it be done as it is desired plainly speaking by way of Grant to something sought or petitioned for From whence by some it hath been gathered that the Râ—gaâ—ion of Laws does rightly belong to the two Houses but the Legislation unto the King That their Act is Preparâ—tive his onely Iussive 7. That Supremacy of Power which the Law hath invested the King withall is not onely over all particular persons but also over all states which all the subjects of this Realm and the Members of Parliament in particular are bound by oaâ—h both to acknowledge and to maintain And which they grant to be his Due when they desire him to protect them in their priviledges and call him alwayes in their Acts Their onely Soveraign Lord or their Royal Soveraign 8. The
Statutes of each have defined hath been also the Plea of the Heads of our Colledges in the name of their severall Societies And for this and nothing but this that is in plain words because they have with all civility to the two Houses and to the persons sent by them refused to incur that damning sin of perjury which hath already helpt to bring such heavy judgements upon this Nation the Governours of the University are displaced and some imprison'd and Master Reynolds a Vâ—si or put into the office of Vice-chancellour and into the Dâ—anary of Christ Church two places of the greatest dignitâ— and poweâ— one of the greatest profit in the Vniversity And in like manner the Heads of the Colledges and the Prebendaries of Châ—ist-church have many of them already faln under the same punishments and the rest expect their turns and severall of the Visitors also are put into their plâ—ces And now the slaughter hastens to the door of every of the ancientest or youngest Student Fellow Scholar Commoner or other member of the whole Vniversity and the speed is so great the pursuit so vehement that four whole Colledges have been in one day summoned to â—ppear before them without any delay to give positive Answer to this one Question Whethey will submit or nâ— By this 't is apparent to us that as the state of things now stands we have an easie though unhappy choice proposed to us viz. Whether we will prefer the preservation of our Estates or of our Souls by admitting perjury or ruine And in the making of the choice God hath given the whole University such an uniform constancy and contempt of the world that we hear not of above three men that have considered their profit so much as to yield this submission And that it may be also apparent to all others that this is the choice I shall give you the plain words of our Oaths by which we are withheld from submitting that the Honourable Houses may judge if they please whether it be probable that conscience hath by us been hypocritically pretended to destroy our selves as it hath sometimes been made use of by others for their visible advantages Thiâ— I shall set down first as far as our obligation is founded in our Oathes to the University and then to our severall Colledges The Oath of the University to every man is this T is jurabis te observaturum omnia Statuta Libertates Privilegia Coâ—suetudines istius universitatis Thou shalt Swear to observe all the Statutes Liberties Priviledges and customes of this Vniversity The Scholar answers Iuro I swear and this he renews and repeats as often as he takes any degree in the University From hence we conclude that for any man wilfully to betray any one of the Privilâ—dges or Liberties as well as to break the Statutes or customes of the University can never be excused from the guilt and charge of down-right Perjury for which we must be banished the Vniversity if ever we be called to account for it by any just power And that one of our Priviledges is that we be visited by none but the King or those that are sent by Him as we are verily perswaded so have we never heard â—f any other title or pretension of any which is thought even by our enemies to have any shew of Ground in our Charters or Customes against our Plea save onely that of the Archbishop of Canterbury the Metropolitan to which our Answer is so clear and punctuall viz. that in the vacancy of the Arch-bishops Sea all power that can be thought to belong to him must needs be acknowledged to devolve to the King the fountain of his power and so the Arch-bishop having been long dead this power of Visiting us if any such belong to the Arch-bishop must now needs be onely in the King that we profess never to have heard of any word of satisfaction that hath been offered to this enforcement of our Plea but are rather told that the Commission for this Visitation coming under the name of our Soveraign Lord Charles c. is a Commission issued out by the King which as it seems to us an acknowledgement of the truth of all our pretensions so is it the imposing upon us the belief of that which we know to be otherwise having certain knowledge that the King never consented to the issuing of this Commission and so having no excuse of ignorance in case we should yield submission to that Visitation as proceeding from him which is acknowledged by all to involve us in Perjury if it come not from him To this we may add one obligation more that as 't is one of the Vniversities Priviledges to be exempt without al controversie as long as the Arch-bishops Sea is vacant from all power but that of the King so 't is one of the Kings Priviledges and preeminencies to have this full and at this time sole power over us And then that branch of the Oath of Supremacy that obligeth all Subjects in these express words to assist and defend to our power all Priviledges and Preeminencies and Authorities granted and belonging to the Kings Majesty or annexed to the Imperiall Crown of this Kingdome doth certainly bind us to defend this as far as it is in our power to do it For the obligations of Colledge Statutes which name us particular Visitors and exclude all others from that employment I shall shorten your trouble and yet not fail in giving you and all men a perfect satisfaction by setting down a few plain words out of some of them In the Statutes of New Coll. Magdalen Coll. Corpus Christi and St. Iohn's in each of these without any considerable alteration these are the words Statuimus ordinamus volumus ut liceat Duo Episc Winton Dioc qui pro tempore fuerit nulli alii nec aliis c. per se vel suum Commissarium specialem quem duxerit deputandum praeterquam per Cancellarium Vniversitatis seu ejus Commissarium generalem seu procuratores Univers Oxon. c. ac praeterquam Custodem aut aliquam personam nostri Collegii aut alios quoscunque in Vniversitate per unam quindâ—nam anno proximo cum visitationem praecedente Studentes c. per quos aut ipsorum aliquem haec nolumus quâ—mâ—dolibet exerceri ad Collegii hujus visitationem liberè accedere Custodem ac alios singulos socios c. nostri Collegii in Sacellum ejusdem convocare From whence these few things are distinctly concluded by the Statuâ—es of those Colledges 1. That the Bishop of Winchester by himself or some body deputed by him is the onely lawfull Visitour of those Colledges and all other person or persons in direct words nec alii nec aliis praeterea nemini are excluded by the Statutes 2. That it is not lawfull for the Bishop himself to depute any of those persons which are there excepted viz. the Chancellour or Vice-chancellour or Proctours of
the University the Warden or President or any person of the said Colledges or any Sâ—udent in the University that hath been commorant there fifteen dayes in the year preceding the Visitation by which exception all thâ—se men which have lately been the onely actors in this business having now resided 't is to be supposed studied here for some time and now one nam'd and by them reputed to be Vice chancellour others to be Govâ—rnours of particular Colledges are made utterly uncapable of that employment I shall not need to mention any more it being clear that these men are not deputed by that Bishop and as clear that if they were deputed by him they are not qualified according to the Statutes but expresly excluded by them Now what is thus ordained by those statutes every member admitted into those Colledges is by Oath obliged to observe and not onely involved in perjury if he do not but where other penalties are not named as in this matter there are not is liable to the pain of perjury that is deprivation of all benefits of his Colledge which is now become the punishment of none but those who will observe them Besides these Oathes which particularly and directly look to the grand maâ—ter of the Visitation There be many other branches of our Oathes Academicall and Collegiate which are most nearly concerned in the present transactions The Statutes of the University to the observing of which our oaths distinctly bind us prescribe the manner of Election of Proctours of calling and meeting in Convocations c. And therefore whensoever Proctours have been removed by the KING the Vniversity Statutes have taken place in appointing the Successours and those as the Vice-chancellour also are obliged to take Oaths for the discharge of their places according to statute But all is now done directly contâ—ary to all this And therefore herein no sworn member of the Vniversity can think fit without professing despight to Conscience or reputation to joyn with them And so in particular Colledges the Statutes are punctuall that after the departure or a motion of any Governour the Fellows must proceed within such a time to the election of a new and he and none but he shall be reputed Warden President c. who shall be chosen by a major part of the Electours And then he that is chosen must take severall Oaths particularly to govern according to Statute before any of the muniments of the Colledge may be delivered up to him or before he enter upon the Government to act any thing in it And this is established by severall positive statutes to the observing of which all members of Colledges are precisely sworn And it is evident and acknowledged that no man can be made Dean or Prebendary of Christs Church nor ever was since the foundation of the Church but by the KINGS personal consent and nomination under the Privy Seal and Broad Seal by which he is installed And to him that is thus possest of that Deanary every Student of that Church is by plain words of the Oath of his admission bound to perform due obedience c. All which being now most clearly violated by not onely Sequestring but removing the former and putting in new Governours by force without Election or taking of Oaths to the Colledges it follows that no sworn member of any Colledge can acknowledge any such Governours without wilfull un-execusable Perjury The onely thing that hath yet been offer'd to us to answer the Force and urgence of all this Plea and at the presence of which all mention of our Oaths must vanish presently is the pretended Soveraign power of the two Houses to make and abolish Laws and Obligations which having interposed here is consequently said to quit us of all these engagements which formerly lay upon us But this is so far from removing our scruples that it is it self a scruple much more hard to us to digest then the former For by our having taken the Oath of Supremacy we have acknowledged that to be onely in the KING and by our education in this Kingdome have been brought up in a firm belief grounded on the known Laws and Customes thereof that the power of enacting and repealing of Laws belongs not to the two Houses exclusively but to the KING ' with the consent of the two Houses and we do now profess never to have heard any thing to the contrary before these times nor since these times sufficient to alter our judgements in this particular And therefore whatsoever question be made of this truth by other men yet we whose hearts assure us that we make no question of it and consequently acknowledge that we do not yet conceive our selves to be freed from any one branch of any of these Oaths cannot imagine what colour it is possible for the Tempter to put upon this required submission by which to perswade us that it might be reconcileable with a good Conscience now or with any degree of excuse to God or men or of quiet and tranquillity within our own breasts at the hour of death in case we should on such terms as these submit to this Visitation And as I think I might safely appeal to any Divine in the world as to a Confessour or Casuist for the stating of this Question Whether it were lawfull for us to submit supposing our many Oathes confestly bound us to the contrary and that we are verily perswaded that those Oathes are in full force upon us and as confident that the two Houses could not dispence with them nor take off the obligingness of them So would I likewise appeal to any man living that ever pretended to assert either the Liberty of Conscience or pâ—opriety of goods Whether we ought in this case to be turn'd out of our free hold to the utter undoing of so great a multitude for no other crime but this of not submitting when that is nothing else but the following the dictates of our Consciences informed and regulated by the known Laws of the Land Having given you this short view of our state which as 't is told us assuredly by the Visitours is suddenly to bring a perfect vastation on this Vniversity I cannot but think it my duty to the publick which is now so disabled from meeting in a body that it cannot make any formall address to you to lay this representation before you and to desire by your assistance it may yet be resumed into consideration Whether it will be for the honour of Christian Religion or of the Protestant Profession that our bare demurring or refusing to submit our selves to the grossest and most unquestion'd perjuries should be voted by your Committee to be an high contempt of Authority of Parliament and such punishments assign'd thereto which if inflicted impartially must necessarily leave no one Scholar of what quality soever in this University which is of age to have taken Oathes of admission to the University or to any particular Colledge which
so faulty in the discharge of his pastoral Office as he professed himself to be if he had not avowed it in very plain English both in his sheet against the Quakers and in his Saints everlasting Rest. From both I cited his words and pages And lastly for his injustice in usurping the Right of Mr. Dance I never so much as heard of it untill he told me Nor was it without his own intreaty that I demonstrated to him his great Injustice Let his Followers but consider my whole Chapter of Sequestrations and I shall hope they will be wary how they are led by his example Nay in his Postscript to his True Catholick he makes an open Confession of one part of his Confession though not of All. He saith He is aware of Hypocrisie within him p. 315. And Hypocrysy as I take it must needs denominate an Hypocrite after the measure that Hypocrisie doth dwell within him § 6. But he saith he may have my own Consent to tell the world that there is no truth in me ibid. See the desperate wickednesse of this Pretender to Reformation without so much as any colour of Common Honesty For when and where did I consent that he should tell the world so gross a Falshood And yet he saith he doth perceive he may have my consent to rayl and slander But how doth he perceive it Is it by any thing he hath read in all my writings Or by any kinde of Message which I had sent him No he contents himself to say It is my ordinary Confession in the Book of Common prayer ibid. Does this Professor believe there is a God or a Devil A Heaven or a Hell Or believing all four does he conclude he is Regenerate and cannot cease to be such by any Sin to be imagined Were it not for This or That he could not wilfully publish so leâ—d a Fiction For first in all the Common prayer there are not any such words Next I might use the Common prayer and yet not All. Thirdly the words that are likest to it are expressely taken out of S. Iohn and are only Hypothetical If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and there is no Truth in us 1 John 1.8 Insomuch that Mr. Baxter is just as bad as that Fellow of whom King Iames doth somewhere speak in his Basilicon Doron who sought to prove out of the Psalmist There is no God because it is said by the Prophet David The fool hath said in his heart there is no God Nay fourthly we are only commanded to use some One of those many Sentences in the Beginning of the Liturgy which a man may do for many years without so much as once repeating what Mr. Baxter doth seem to allude unto And t is more then he knows if ever I once us'd it in all my Life But fifthly let us suppose there were indeed such a Confession categorically made in the Common prayer Mr. Baxter is old enough to have known what Mr. Hooker and others might have taught him having not read it in S. Ierome a Latine Father That the Priest in publick prayer is the Mouth of the people unto God as he is in publick preaching Gods Mouth unto the people· And so Confession is to be made in such General Terms as may well become the Congregation To which as the Priest doth address himself with a Dearly beloved Brethren so doth he beseech them in the Conclusion to keep him Company in the Devotion saying after him what he speaks with a pure heart and humble voice But it seems Mr. Baxter cares not what he foams out although it be his own shame if he may ease himself for a time by aspersing the person with whom he deals § 7. Having confessed again in print his printed Confession of his Hypocrisie p. 315. He yet professeth he is so far from proclaiming himself an Hypocrite that he will imitate Job in holding fast his integrity p. 318. 1. It seems he either understands not the rule of Conjugates and believes he hath the privilege to keep his Hypocrisie without the danger of being an Hypocrite or else when he came to p. 318. he forgot what he had said p. 315. or else he thinks that to publish his Sins in print is nothing neer so much as to proclaim them or else he is desperate and careless what becomes of his reputation or else he thinks it no Disrepute to print such shameful Self-Contradictions 2. After publick Convictions of his Pride and Selfishnesse Hypocrisie and Impatience for he somewhere also confesseth he is of a pettish Disposition as I have somewhere shewed in my New Discoverer Discover'd He talks of imitating Iob in holding fast his Integrity Mr. Dance his Living cannot be called his Intrgrity which yet alone is the Thing that he hath ever held fast since first he held it As for Loyalty and Obedience Professions and Principles Oaths and Covenants Those are things he hath playd with at Fast and Loose Which I proceed to make apparent by these following Degrees § 8. First he hath printed a Confession That our old Constitution was King Lords and Commons which we were Sworn and Sworn and Sworn again to be faithful to and to defend These are all his own words in his Praeface directed to the Army 1659. Next he hath printed a Confession That after several changes of Government we had a Protector governing according to an Instrument made by God knows who After this we had a Protector governing to the humble petition and Advice and sworn to both Thirdly he printed a Confession that his Protectors came not in till after these four changes which I pray the Reader to observe that thou mayest see in the Conclusion how the Hocus of Kiderminster hath jugled with God and his own Conscience and how his Iugling is brought to Light by his own Discovery 1. The King withdrawing mark his words the Lords and Commons ruled alone 2. Next this we had the minor part of the House of Commons in the exercise of the Soveraign power Regality and a House of Lords being cast off 3. Next this we had nothing visible but a General and an Army 4. Next this we had All the whole Constitution and Liberties of the Common-wealth at once subverted Certain men being called by the NAME of a Parliament and the Soveraign power pretended to be given them and exercised by them that never were chosen by the people but by we know not whom Such a fact he confesseth as never King was guilty of since Parliaments were known 5. 6. There came a Protector and a Protector of whom I noted his Confession in my second Observation Having praemised these Confessions which prove the Titular Protectors to have been the greatest of all VSVRPERS and so the guiltiest Malefactors in all the Kingdome Let us consider Mr. Baxter in the holding fast of his Integrity of which he boasteth Let us
observe how he defended and was faithfull to the King Lords and Commons to which he was Sworn and Sworn and Sworn again by his Confession Alluding I suppose to those three Oathes that of Allegiance that of Supremacy that of the Scotish and English Covenant Wherein He Swore to be faithfull and obedient to his Majesties person and posterity to assert and defend them with the utmost of his power that is to say with Life and Fortune He swore the two first with one hand upon the Bible the third with hands lifted up to the most high God After which I cannot tell whether he enter'd into the Engagement to be true and Faithfull to that which followed without the King and house of Lords but that he did as bad or worse I shall prove out of his writings by what now follows § 10. First he dedicates a book to Protector Richard wherein he playes the Parasitaster in a most loathsome manner The style in which he directs his Flattery is To his Highness Richard Lord Protector of the Common-Wealth of England Scotland and Ireland After which he begins to cogg with the man in these words These papers are Ambitious of Accompanying those against popery into your Highness presence for the tender of their service I observe the Nation generally rejoyceth in your peaceable entrance upon the Government Many are perswaded you have been strangely kept from participating in any of our late bloody contentions that God might make you an Healer of our Breaches and imploy you in that Temple-work which David himself might not be honoured with This would be the way to lift you highest in the esteem and love of all your People and make them see that you are appointed by God to be an Healer and Restorer and to glory in you and to blesse God for you as the instrument of our chiefest good My earnest prayers for your Highnesse shall be that you may rule us as one that is Ruled by God That you may alwayes remember you are Christs and your Peoples and not your own Your zeal for God will kindle in your Subjects a zeal for you Parliaments Ministers will heartily pray for you and praise the Lord for his mercies by you and Teach all the people to love honour and obey you I crave your Highness favourable acceptance of the tendred service of a Faithfull Subject to your Highness Richard Baxter In another Epistle to the same Richard to whom he dedicates another book he fawns and waggs the tail and catches at favour by these expressions You have your government and we our lives because the Papists are not strong enough Pope Pius V. in his Bull against our Queen Elizabeth saith we will and command that the Subjects take up Armes against that Haereticall and Excommunicated Queen Whether such Opinions as these should by us be uncontradicted or by you be suffered to be taught your Subjects is easie to discern We desire you that you would not advance us to temporal honours or dignities or power nor make us Lord Bishops nor to abound with the Riches of this World these things agree not with our calling Give not leave to every Seducer to do his worst to damn mens Souls when you will not tollerate every Tratior to draw your Armies or People into Rebellion If you ask who it is that presumeth thus to be your Monitor It is one that Rejoyceth in the present happiness of England and earnestly wisheth that it were but as well with the rest of the world and that honoureth all the providences of God by which we have been brought to what we are and he is one that concurring in the common hopes of greater blessings yet to these Nations under your Government was enâ—ouraged to do what you dayly allow your preachers to do and to concurr with the Rest in the Tenders and some performance of his service That God will make you a healer and preserver of his Churches here at home and a succesfull helper to his Churches abroad is the Earnest prayers of your Highness faithfull Subject Richard Baxter After this in a Third Epistle directed to the Army He calls the powers that were last laid by meaning either Richard or the Corrupt minority of the Garbled House but I rather suppose the Former The best governnours in all the world that have the supremacy whom to resist or depose is forbidden to Subjects on pain of Damnation In what respect he affirmeth those powers the best he explains by Wisdom and holyness conjunct And of the same he saith shall the best of Governours the greatest of mercies seem intollerable O how happy would the best of the Nations under heaven be if they had the Rulers that our Ingratitude hath cast off Again he tells them his book was written whilest the Lord Protector prudently piously faithfully to his immortall honour did exercise the Government Nay speaking I am sure either of Richard or the Rump but I think of Richard he saith he is bound to submit to the present Government as set over us by God and to obey for conscience and to behave himself as a loyall Subject towards them Nay his Reason for this is yet more monstrous first partially to Richard he saith A Full and Free Parliament hath owned it and so there is notoriously the Consent of the People which is the Evidence that some Princes had to justify the best Titles Next maliciously to the King his only rightfull Soveraign Lord he saith That they who plead Inheritance and Law must fetch the Original from Consent Lastly that nothing might be wanting to speak him a Time-server in grain He said to Richard concerning Oliver the bloodiest Tyrant in all the World That the Serious endeavours of his Renowned Father for the Protestants of Savoy had won him more esteem in the hearts of many that fear the Lord then all his Victories in themselves considered To which he added We pray that you may INHERIT a tender Care of the Cause of Christ plainly implying the Tyrant Oliver to have been Tenderly carefull of the Cause of Christ and so becoming by such Cajolrie a most eminent partaker in all his villanies Yet this is the man that stands neer Aeternity as he boasteth of himself and therefore unfaithfull Man-pleasing would be to him a double crime § 11. Having praemised his fearfull daubing with the Titularie Protectors whom he confessed to have Governed according to an instrument made by God knows who and according to the humble petition and advice made by all the world knows whom to wit a most illegall and Criminall sort of Traytors nicknamed a Parliament And with that having compared though not so fully as I intend his malicious disowning the Lords Anointed whom he had sworn and sworn and sworn again to be faithful unto and to defend against all such usurpers as Oliver Ale-seller and Richard
were known to be I shall now observe in how many respects Mr. Baxter comes to be partaker of other mens sins besides the hideous and frightful nature of his Own I mean the sins of both the nominal Protectors and of that sort of men who had set them up To which end it will be usefull briefly to reckon the severall wayes whereby a man may be Accessory when another is Principal in a transgression 1. By Consent and Approbation so Saul was guilty of Stephens death Act. 8.1 So the Gnosticks were guilty of sins committed by other men because they had pleasure in those that did them Rom. 1.32 2. By Counsel and advise so Achitophel was guilty of Absolons Incest and Rebellion 2. Sam. 16.23 So also Caiphas had a hand in the blood of Christ Ioh. 11.49 3. By Appointment and Command so Pharoah and Herod are said to have slain the little children they never toucht Exod. 1. and Matth. 2. So David is said to have slain Vriah the Hittite though with the hand as well as the Sword of the Children of Ammon 2. Sam. 12.9 4. By Commâ—nding Defending or Excusing the Fact or the Malefactour Wo be to you that call evill Good that put darkness for light and bitter for sweet Esa. 5.20 Wo be to them that sowe pillows to all Armeholes and make Kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls Ezek. 13.18 5. By any kind of participation of any illgotten Goods whether gotten by Rapine or kept by fraud and unjust Title Of this saith the Psalmist when thou saw'st a Thief thou consentedst with him and hast been partaker with Adulterers Psal. 50.18 Thy s Princes are Rebellious and Companions of Thieves every one loveth gifts and followeth after Rewards Isa. 1.23 6. By too much Lenity and Connivence which harden's a sinner by Impunity And therefore Ahab was threatned for the unjust Mercy he shew'd to Benhadad with a sentence of Death without Mercy Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a Man whom I appointed to utter destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life and thy people for his people 1. Kings 20.42 This was the sin that brake Eli's Neck 1. Sam. 3.13 and 4.18 The Magistrate is made to be Gods Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill And he ought not to bear the sword in vain Rom. 13.4 7. By unseasonable silence and Neglect of the Christian duty of reprehension For this is a sin against those precepts Levit. 19.17 Isa. 58. 1. Ezek. 3.17 and 33.7 Now by how many of these wayes Mr. Baxter hath been Accessarie to the Murder of One King and to the exclusion of another and to the debauching the peoples souls by his scandalous writings and example I leave to be pronounced by the Intelligent Readers Who that they may judge the more exactly shall do well to compare his signal Confessions above recited both with his flattering and blessing the Old and Young Cromwell And with his other Confessions which now ensue § 12. He confesseth he was moved to engage himself in the Parliament Warr Holy Common-wealth p. 456. And yet 2. That the Disorders which on both sides were unexcusable were no just cause to cast the Nation into a Warr. p. 474. Nay 3. That he would have ingaged as he did which was against his natural King and Leige Lord if he had known the Parliament he means the 2. Houses had been the beginners and in most fault p. 480. Nay 4. that the warr was not to procure a change of the constitution to take down Royalty and the house of Lords but clean contrary p. 482. why then did he fawn upon both the Cromwels 5. That all of them did rush too eagerly into the heat of Divisions and warr and none of them did so much as they should have done to prevent it And that himself in particular did speak much to blow the coals for which he saith he daily begs forgiveness of the Lord. p. 485. Nay 6. That he encouraged many thousands to engage against the Kings Army And is under a self-suspicion whether that engagement was lawfull or not yea that he will continue this self suspicion p. 486. Nay 7. he confesseth what he is by solemnly making this Declaration That if any of us can prove he was guilty of hurt to the person of the King or destruction of the Kings power or changing the Fundamental Constitution of the Common-wealth taking down the house of Lords without consent of all three States that had a part in the Sovereignty c. He will never gainsay us if we call him a most perfidious Rebell and tell him he is guilty of farr greater sin than Murder Whoredom Drunkenness or such like Or if we can solidly confute his grounds he will thank us and confess his sin to all the World p. 490. Here then I challenge him to make good his promise For I have proved him as guilty as any Rebell can be imagin'd in divers parts of this Postscript And his grounds I have confuted in my Appendix for Mr. Hickman § 78 79. If he thinks not solidly let him answer it if he is able § 13. What his chief Ground is upon which he goes whilest he speaks of the King as of a Rebell to the two Houses I easily gather from these words which I finde in his Praeface to the same book To this question did not you resist the King His answer is Verbatim thus Prove that the King was the highest power in the time of divisions and that he had power to make that war which he made and I will offer my Head to Iustice as a Rebell He here implicitely confesseth the King was once the highest power and implyes he lost it by the Divisions But that he never could loose it and that demonstrably he had it I have made it most evident in the Appendix of this book which concerns Mr. Baxter as much as Mr. Hickman at least as far as I have proved the Supremacy of the King § 78. which both the Houses of that Parliment did swear to acknowledg and to assert However if his Supremacy had been a Disputable thing yet whilst the most learned of the Land both Iudges and Divines did assert it in books which were never answered Mr. Baxter should have staid for the decision of that dispute before he resisted that power for the resisting of which for ought he knew he might be damned Rom. 13.4 Besides when he knew 't was no sin to abstain from fighting against the King and that fighting against him was a damning sin if it was any in the judgment of such persons as BP Hall BP Morton BP Davenant BP Brownrigg D. Sanderson D. Oldsworth thousands more he should have taken the safest course and rather have strained at a Gnat then have swallowed a Camel In a word That the warr was begun by the two Houses and only followed by
the King in his most Necessary Defence hath been proved too often to be excusably denyed And that our Law doth declare it to be high Treason to seize the Kings Ports Forts Magazine of war to remove Counsellors by Arms to Levy Warr to alter the Law to counterfeit the broad Seal to adhere to any state within the Kingdom but the Kings Majesty to imprison the King until he agree to certain Demands Unanswerably proved by the most excellent Judge Ienkins from page 37. as farr as page 77. That the power of the Militia and of making war is by Law in the King yea that All Authority and Iurisdiction Spiritual and Temporal is derived from the King therefore none from the Houses The same Judge hath evinced p. 20. and 8. and 13. I exhort Mr. Baxter to read the works of that Learned person and either to baffle all that Law and to confute that mighty Lawyer or else to declare he hath been worse then either a Drunkard or an Adulterer and offer his head as a Rebell according to his present promise I would not exhort him to the later but that I think it the way to obtein his pardon § 14. Whilst he saith that his Protector was set over us by God and owned also by a full and free Parliament ibid. p. 484. lin 2. he does not only falsifie against a known matter of fact All the considerable persons in the Land having been utterly against him but he grosly gives the lye to the Secluded Members whom he had called the first sâ—rt of the best Governours in the Land and to both the Houses of that very Parliament with whom he engaged against the King In stead of proving this at large which is not fit for this Postscript I will referr him to the perusal of Mr. Pryns True perfect Narrative And to The True State of the Secluded Members Case in Vindication of themselves From thence he may see how he hath Trespassed against them Besides that a Parliament cannot be full without the King who is the Head and House of Lords who are the shoulders never was any full Body made up of leggs with an Addition of some other Inferiour Members But Squire Cromwell was not the King nor was the pack of Mechanicks an House of Lords nor is it less then high Treason to set up either with those pretentions yet this was done by Mr. Baxter let him deny it if he is able Again a Parliament cannot be Free unless the Commonâ—rs are chosen by all the people who are qualified by law to give their suffrage Whereas no loyall Man was allowd by Cromwell to give a voice at those Elections and no honest Man could safely do it For besides the danger of provoking a proud Vsurper Squire Cromwel had no more right to send out Writs for an Election of Parliament Men then any Porter or Scavinger in all the Kingdom Nay he had less rather than more by being Son to so guilty and foul a Tyrant Richards Issuing out of writs was a most Treasonable Fact And could that make a Parliament full or free for which the maker by Law might be hang'd at Tiburn Let Mr. Baxter now consider in how many respects he is obnoxious both to the wrath of God for all his Perjuries and Time-serving to the wrath of God's Anointed whose Restauration is not impossible though somwhat remote from the eye of flesh for all his Treasons and slanders To the wrath of the two Houses before they were Garbled by the Army and Oliver Cromwell by setting up to their destruction a pack of flattering Cromwellians and affording them the name of a Full and Free Parliament Lord to what times are we reserved when such a Creature may pass for a godly brother and be entrusted with peoples souls § 16. Whilst he saith The old Constitution was King Lords and Commons which we were sworn and sworn and sworn again to be faithful to and to defend Praef. p. 9. he either implyes there was since a new Constitution and then he must shew by whose Authority it was made or else he must confess he spake and acted against his conscience when he claw'd the Cromwells and their Abettors as hath been shewd And he must name by what power he could be absolved from his three oaths or else acknowledge to all the world he is a perjur'd perjur'd perjur'd person For where was his Faithfulness to the King to which he was sworn and sworn and sworn when he confesseth he encouraged so many thousands to fight against him and when he acknowledged Mr. Cromwell to be his Soveraign And set over him by God too who did but suffer and permit that is not hinder the Prince of Darkness to set him over us Is Mr. Baxter qualified for the Priesthood being not able to distinguish betwixt Permission and approbation sufferance and appoinâ—ment or betwixt Gods patience and the Activity of Satan How again did he defend the Lords and Commons of the Long Parliament in conjunction with the King or divided from him when he asserted Cromwels Iuncto to be a full and free Parliament yet he knowes what it was which he was sworn to defend § 17. Whilst he saith The King withdrawing the Lords and Commons ruled alone ibid he first gives the lye to the Lords and Commons who in their Addresses and Declarations did own the King to be their Soveraign and called themselves his humble subjects Mr. Baxter himself could say no more to Mr. Cromwel They protested against the thought of ever changing the Government or lessening his Majesties just Prerogative but their Intention was to make him the greatest Prince in Christendome They confessed that without him they might not Rule and therefore used His Name to give countenance to their Actions I could write a volume on this occasion were it not fitter to referr unto severall volumes already written Let Mr. Baxter write less till he hath read more and let him read the writings of the most learned Doctor Hammond both against the Ordinance of the Lords and Commons for abolishing the Liturgie and against taking up of Arms under colour of Religion against the lawfull Magistrate Let him read Judge Ienkins against Master Prin's first writings and let him read the latter writings of Mr. Prin against himself Let him reade Mr. Diggs and Doctor Langbane The Regal Apologie the excellent observations upon Aristotles Politiques and many more such books then do occurr to my memory whilst I am writing Next in saying the King with-drew he doth unreasonably imply the King's withdrawing from the Government why else doth he add the Lords and Commons ruled alone which as it is a most senseless and a most traiterous insinuation so it seems to be the Reason why the man makes so ill use of Grotius whom he doth either not understand as indeed Mr. Baxter is a very small Latinist and not a small but rather no Grecian or wilfully mistake and