Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	king_n	law_n	prerogative_n	2,572	5	10.8191	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88244	Regall tyrannie discovered: or, A discourse, shewing that all lawfull (approbational) instituted power by God amongst men, is by common agreement, and mutual consent. Which power (in the hands of whomsoever) ought alwayes to be exercised for the good, benefit, and welfare of the trusters, and never ought other wise to be administered: ... In which is also punctually declared, the tyrannie of the kings of England, from the dayes of William the invader and robber, and tyrant, alias the Conqueror, to this present King Charles, ... Out of which is drawn a discourse, occasioned by the tyrannie and injustice inflicted by the Lords, upon that stout-faithful-lover of his country, and constant sufferer for the liberties thereof, Lieut. Col. John Lilburn, now prisoner in the Tower. In which these 4. following positions are punctually handled ... Vnto which is annexed a little touch, upon some palbable miscarriages, of some rotten members of the House of Commons: which house, is the absolute sole lawmaking, and law-binding interest of England.	Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657.	1647 (1647)	Wing L2172; Thomason E370_12; ESTC R201291	90,580	119

Lordships have flowing from one and the same fountain with them namely the Kings will and pleasure commonly called The Kings Prerogative demonstrated by his Letters Pattents which in such a case is not worth a button as is clear by the Law and the very principles of Reason and that the Lordly Prerogative honour it self that they enjoy from the King which was never given them by common consent as all right and just honour and power ought to be is a meer boon and gratuity given them by the King for the helping him to inslave and envassalise the People and from the●r Predecess●rs whom William the Conqueror a●ias the Theefe and Tyran● made Dukes Earles and Barons for helping him to subdue and enslave the free Nation of England and gave them by the Law of this own will the estate of the Inhabit●nts the right owners thereof to maintain the Grandeur of their Tyranny and Prerogative Peerage And therfore their Creator the King doth in his Dce p. 324 ingeniously declare that their title to their legislative power is only by bloud And if so then not by common consent or choyce of the People the onely and alone Fountain of all just power on earth and therefore void null and at the best but a meer fixion and usurpation and the greatest or best stile they gave themselves in their joynt Declaration with the House of Commons page 508 is That the House of Peers are the Hereditary Councellors of the Kingdome and what right they have thereby to make the People Lawes I know not neither is it declared there by what right they came by their Hereditary Councellorship Nor yet is it there declared what it is So that I understand not what they mean by it which I desire them to explaine for sure I am it is a maxime in Nature and Reason That no man can be concluded bu● by his own consent and that it is absolute Tyranny for any what or whom soever to impose a Law upon a People that were never chosen nor betrusted by them to make them Lawes But in that Declaration in the next line The chosen and betrusted House of Commons the only alone Law-makers of England the King and Lords consent to their Votes Lawes and Ordinances being but in truth a meer Ceremony and usurped formality and in the strength of Law which justly is nothing else then pure reason neither addes strength unto them nor detracts power from them is royally truly and majesterially stiled and called the representaive Body of the whole Commons of the Kingdome and so are in abundance of other places before cited Yea and whosoever seriously reades and considers the third Position laid down page 726. and laid down in the name of the Parliament shall see indeed and in truth the power of the Lords wholly cashiered their words are these That we did and do say that a Parliament may dispose of any thing wherein the King or any Subject hath a right in such a way as that the Kingdome may not be in danger thereby and that if the King being humbly sought unto by his Parliament shall refuse to joyn with them in such cases the Representative Body of the Kingdome that is to say the House of Commons alone the Lords representing no Body but themselves and their Ladies neither challenge they any such title but call themselves meerly Hereditary Councellours is not to sit still and see the Kingdome perish before their eyes and of this danger they are Judges and Judges superiour to all others I beseech you mark it well that legally have any power of judicature within this Kingdome Where are you my Lords And what say you to this your own ingenious confession For yours it is for any thing I know to the contrary unlesse you were all asleep when you past it Nay further My Lords If the Representative Body bee the Parliament as is here confessed and averred and that Representative Body be the House of Commons and none else as before is proved and the House of Commons or Representative Body be the Parliament as here they are called then My Lords what say you to that inference from hence drawn and naturally flowing and arising from the premises and proved by your first Pofition laid down in the fore-cited page 726. which is That the Parliament hath a power in declaring Law in particular cases in question before them and that which is so declared by the High Court of Parliament being the highest Court of Judicature ought not afterwards to be questioned by his Majesty or any of his Subjects for that there lyeth no Appeal from them to any Person or Court whatsoever so that the right and safety both of King and People shal depend upon the Law and the Law for its interpretation upon the Courts of Justice which are the competent Judges thereof and not upon the pleasure and interpretation of private persons or of Publike in a private capacity Good-night my Lords unlesse you will make a little more buzling and so make the stink a little more hot in the Nostrils of all men that have the use of their sences before your snuffe go cleer out the which if you do it will I am confident but cause it to go out with a witnesse And therefore look to it and remember the Star-Chamber the Councell-I able and High Commission Where are they all but in the grave of reproach contumely disgrace and shame And give me leave to tell you of the common Proverb now abroad of Canterbury and Strafford That if in the dayes of their prosperity which were as high and great as yours are or ever were they had thought they should have beene pulled down by the common People whom they strongly labonred to enslave and by their unwearied cryes to the eares of Englands supreame Judges for Justice were justly by them condemned to the block and lost their wicked Lordly Heads in the presence of many of those that they had tyrannized over they would have been more moderate just and righteous in their generations then they were Apply it my Lord s and remember Mr. Lilburn c. and the tyrannie you have exercised upon him for many weekes together both in Newgate and the Tower of London in locking him up close prisoner without the use of Pen Ink or Paper and not suffering his friends nor wife that singular comfort and help that the wise God provided for poor fraile man to set her foot within his Chamber door for about three Weekes together nor she nor any of his friends to deliver to his hands though in the presence of his Keeper meat drink or money and yet you never allowed himm 2. d. to live on that I could heare of and then unjustly sentence him 4000. l. and 7 years Imprisonment in the Tower c. there to be tyrannized over by one ●f your own Creatures Col. West Lieutenant thereof who hath divers weeks divorced him from his wife and

upon me without my con●●nt the doing of which is meerly tyrannicall Antichristian and Di●bolicall Rom. 13. Yea Reason tells me in this that no Soveraignty can justly be exercised nor no Law rightfully imposed but what is given by common consent in which every individuall is included So this proves the latter part of the Argument As for the minor Proposition I think it will not be denied for I conceive none that confesse Christ to be come in the fl●sh will be so Atheisticall as to affirme the King to be any more then a meer man subject to the like infirmities with other men See Acts 12. 22 23. Dan. 14. 22 25 33. and 5. 18 20 23. As touching the second Argument the whole Current of the Scripture proveth i● In all the Contracts betwixt GOD and his Creatures As io● instance First with Adam who by Gods contract being his Soveraign was to enjoy Paradice c. upon such and such a condition but as soon as Adam broke the agreement GOD took the for●●iture see Gen. 3. 16 17 24. So likewise GOD made a contract with 〈◊〉 when he gave the Law in Mount Syna as their LORD and KING by the hand of Moses But when they broke their Covenant GOD took the forfeiture though he being a Soveraigne LORD and governed by nothing bu● his own WILL forbore long the finall execution of the forfeiture So in the same case amongst the Sons of Men that live in mutuall society one amongst another in nature and reason there is none above or over another against mutuall consent and agreement and all the particulars or individuals knit and joyned together by mu●u●ll consent and agreement becomes a Soveraign Lord and King and may create or set apart for the execution of their Lawes flowing from their will and mind founded upon the Law of God ingraven in nature and demonstrated by reason O●●icers which we call Magistrates and limit them by what rules they judge convenient alwayes provided they be consonant to the Law of God Nature and Reason by the ●orce of which it is not lawfull for any man to subject himself to be a slave For that which is against Nature and the glory of the Image of GOD that he created man in Gen. 9. 6. and so a dishonour to himself and to his Maker his absolute and alone Soveraign cannot justly be done But to subject to slavery or to be a slave is to degenerate from his Originall and Primitive institution of a Man into the habit of a Beast upon whom GOD never bestowed that stile of honour of being creatures created in the Image of their Creator And therefore I am absolutely of Catoes mind to think that no man can be an honest man but he that is a free man And no man is a free man but he that is a just man And for any man in the world whatsoever he be that shal by his sword or any other means thus assume unto himself and exercise a power over any sorts of men after this kind against their wills and mindes is an absolute Tyrant and Monster not of God or mans making but of the Divels linage and off-spring who is said to go up and down the world seeking whom he may devour who ought to be abhorred of GOD and all good men seeing that such Monsters commonly called Kings 〈◊〉 Monarks assume unto themselves the very Soveraignty Stile Office and name of GOD himself whose Soveraign Prerogative it is only and alone to rule and govern by his will Therefore when the Sons of men took upon them to execute in this kind GOD raised up Moses his Servant to deliver those whom he took delight in from their tyranny and to be an Instrument in his Name to ruine and destroy that grand Tyrant Pharo●h and all his Country Exod. 3. 9 10. and 5. 5. and 14. 5 14 25 28. As he journied towards Canaan God by his Agents destroyed five Vsurpers or Kings more at one bou● Num. 31. 8. and more at the next bout Num 32. 33. Deu 3. 2 3. And after him the Lord raised up Ioshua whom he filled full of the Spirit of wisdome Deut 34. 9 to be his executioner upon such his pretending Competitors Kings alias Tyrants And the first that I read of was the King of Jericho whom he destroyed Josh 6. 21. and 10. 28. And the next was the King of Are whose Citie and Inhabitants he utterly destroyed and hanged their King on a tr●e Josh 8. 26 28 29 The next after them wa● five Kings with whom he waged battell altogether And when he had slain their people he took the five Kings and caused his Captains and men of war to tread upon their nec●●s and afterwards he s●ote them and slew them and hanged them on five trees Iosh 10. 26. The next he destroyed was the King of Makkedah vers 28. and vers 29. he destroyed the King of Libnah vers 23. he destroyed the King of Gezer and the next he destroyed was the King of Hebron vers 37. A●d then he utterly destroy●d the King of Debir and his City vers 39. and in chap. 11. Hazer sent to abundance of his neighbouring Kings who assembled much people together even as the sand that is upon the Sea-shore vers 4 to fight against Joshua who utterly destroyed them all vers 12. 23. which in the next C●apter he enumerates And after Joshua the Lord chose Judah to be his Executioner ●● his Deputy or Vice-Roy that being a name and title high enough for any man and the first piece of justice that Judah doth is upon Adonibezek who was a great and cruell King and Tyrant and his thumbs and his great toes he cut off who himself confessed it a just hand of God upon him himself having serv●d threescore and ten Kings in the same manner and made them gather their meat under his Table Iudg. 1. 6 7. But the children of Israel h● Subjects of GOD not onely by Creation but also by Contract and Covenant v●o●ating their Covenant with their Soveraigne LORD and KING I● no● driving out and utterly destroying the people of Gods indignation who had robbed him of his Honour as their Soveraign by creation in yeelding subjection to the wills and lusts of Tyrants called their Kings who had thereby usurped upon the peculiar Prerogative Royall of GOD himself and so put both Tyrants Kings and Slaves his Subjects out of the protection of their Creato● wherefore they became unto them as thornes in their sides Iudg. 2. 2 3. and in a little time they began to rebell against their LORD and his Lawes which incensed his anger against them and caused him to deliver them into the hands of Spoylers and to sell them into the hands of their Enemies round about Iudg. 2. 14. And in the 9 chapter Abemilech sought the Soveraignty over the people and got it with the bloud and slaughter of threescore and ten of his Brethren but GOD requit●d●● with a wi●nesse

obtained saith Martin fol. 29. The Empresse with many honourable tryumphs and solemnities was received into the Cities of Circester Oxford Winchester and London but the Londoners desiring the restitution of King Edwards Lawes which she refused which proved her ruine and the restitution of King Stephen out of prison and to the Crown again and after some fresh bouts betwixt King Stephen and Duke Henry Mauds eldest Son a Peace was concluded betwixt them in a Parliament at Westminster and that Duke Henry should enjoy the Crown after King Stephen At the receiving of which he took the usuall oath and being like to have much work in France c. being held in thereby from all exorbitant courses he was therefore Wary to observe at first all meanes to get and retain the love and good opinion of this Kingdom by a regular and easie government and at Waldingford in Parliament saith Daniel fol. 80. made an act that both served his own turn and much eased the stomackes of his people which was the expulsion of strangers wherewith the Land was much pestered but afterwards was more with Becket the traytorly Arch-bishop of Canterbury And after him succeeds his Son Richard the first At the beginning of this mans Reigne a miserable massacre was of the Jewes in this Kingdom who went to the holy wars and was taken prisone by the Emperour as he came home of whom Daniel saith fol. 126. that he reigned 9 years and 9 moneths Wherein he exacted and consumed more of this Kingdome then all his Predecessours from the Norman had done before him and yet lesse deserved then any His brother Duke John being then beyond Seas with his Army was by the then Archbishop of Canterburies meanes endeavoured to be made King Who undertooke for him that he should restore unto them their Rights and govern the Kingdome as he ought with moderation and was thereupon after taking three oathes which were to love holy Church and preserve it from all Oppressours The Kings Oath to govern the State in justice and abolish bad Lawes not to assume this Royall honour but with full purpose to rerform that he had sworn Speed 534. crowned King And because the title was doubtfull in regard of Arthur the Posthumus Son of Geffery Duke of Brittain King Iohns eldest brother Speed fol. 532 he receives the Crown and Kingdome by way of election Daniel fol. 127. the Archbishop that crowned him in his Oration professing before the whole Assembly of the State That by all reason Divine and Humane none ought to succeed in the Kingdome but who should bee for the worthinesse of his vertues universally chosen by the State as was this man And yet notwithstanding all this he assumed power by his will and prerogative to impose three shillings upon every plough-land and also exacted great Fines of Offenders in his Forrests And afterwards summons the Farles and Barons of England to be presently ready with Horse and Arms to passe the Seas with him But they holding a conference together at Lecester by a generall consent send him word That unlesse he would render them their rights and liberties they would not attend him out of the Kingdome Which put him into a mighty rage but yet he went into France and there took his Nephew Arthur prisoner and put him to death by reason of which the Nobility of Britaigne Anjou and Poictou took Armes against him and summon him to answer at the Court of Justice of the King of France to whom they appeale Which he refusing is condemn●d to lose the Dutchy of Normandy which his Ancestors had held 300. yeares and all other his Provinces in France which he was accordingly the next yeare deposed of And in this disastrous estate ●aith Daniel fol. 130. he returnes into England ●nd charges the Earles and Barons with the reproaches of his l●sses in France and fines them by his Prerogative to pay the seventh part of all their goods for refusing his aid And after this going over into France to wras●le another fall was forced to a peace for two years and returnes into England for more supplies where by his will iust and prerogative he layes an imposition of the thirteenth part of all moveables and other goods both of the Clergie and Laitie who now saith Daniel seeing their substances consume and likely ever to be made liabl● to the Kings desperate courses began to cast about for the recovery of their ancient immunities which upon their former sufferance had been usurped by their late Kings And hence grew the beginning of a miserable breach between the King his people Which saith he folio 131. cost more adoe and more Noble blood then all the warres for raigne had done since the Conquest For this contention ceased not though it often had fair intermissions till the GREAT CHARTER made to keep the Beame right betwixt SOVERAIGNTY and SVBJECTION first obtained of this King JOHN in his 15. and 16. yeares of his yeares of his reigne and after of his sonne Henry the 3. in the 3. 8. 21. 36. 42. yeares of his reigne though observed truly of neither was in the maturity of a judiciall Prince Edward the first freely ratified Anno regni 27. 28. But I am confident that whosoever seriously and impartially readeth over the lives of King John and his sonne Henry the third will judge them Monsters rather then men Roaring Lions Ravening Wolves and salvadge Boares studying how to destroy and ruine the people rather then Magistrates to govern the people with justice and equity For as for King John he made nothing to take his Oath and immediatly to break it the common practice of Kings to grant Charters and Freedomes and when his turn was Consider compare and conclude served to annihilate them again and thereby and by his tyrannicall oppressions to embroyle the Kingdo●e in Warres Blood and all kind of miseries In selling and basely delivering up the Kingdome that was none of his own but the peoples as was decreed in the next Parliament Speed fol. 565. by laying down his CROWN Scepter Mantle Sword and Ring the Ensignes of his Royalty at the feet of Randulphus the Popes Agent delivering up therewithall the Kingdome of England to the Pope And hearing of the death of Geffery Fitz Peter one of the Patrons of the people rejoyced much and swore by the Feet of God That now at length he was King and Lord of England having a fre●r power to untie himselfe of those knots which his Oath had made to this great man against his will and to break all the Bonds of the late concluded peace with the people unto which he repented to have ever condescended And as Daniel folio 140. saith to shew the desperate malice this King and Tyrant who rather then not to have an absolute domination over his people to doe what he listed would be any thing himself● under any other that would but support him in his violences There is recorded an

the Realm granted him the ninth peny A● so deer a rate were they forced to buy their own Rights at the hands of him that was their servant and had received his Crown and Dignity from them and for them But the People of England not being content with the confirmation of their Liberties by his Deputies presse him at a Pa●l at Westminster the next year to the confirmation of their Charters he pressing hard to have the Clause Salvo Jure Coroae nostrae put in but the People would not endure it should be so Yet with much adoe he confirmes them according to their mind and ●hat neither he nor his heires shall procure or do any thing whereby the Liberties of the Great Charter contained shall be infringed or broken and if any thing be procured by any person contrary to the premises i● shall be held of no force nor effect And this c●st them dear as I said before So that here you have a true relation of the begetting the conception and birth of Magna Charta The English-Mans Inheritance And how much blood and money it cost our fore-fathers before they could wring it out of the hands of their tyrannicall Kings and yet alas in my judgment it falls far short of Edward the Confessors Laws for the ease good and quiet of the people which the Conqueror robbed England of for the Norman practises yet in Westminster-Hall by reason of their tediousnesse ambiguities uncertainties the entries in Latine which is not our own Tongue their forcing men to plead by Lawyers and no● permitting ☞ themselves to plead their own causes their compelling of persons to come from all places of the Kingdom to seek for Justice at Westminster is such an Iron Norman yoak with fangs and teeth in it as Lieutenant Colonell Lilburn in his late printed Epistle to Judge Reeves cals it That if we werefree in every particular else that our hearts can think of yet as the same Author saith were we slaves by this alone the burthen of which singly will pie●ce gaul our shoulders make us bow stoop even down to the ground ready to be made a prey not only by great men but even by every cunning sharking knave Oh therefore that our Honourable Parliament according to their late Declaration would for ever annihilate this Norman innovation reduce us back to that part of the antient frame of government in this Kingdome before the Conquerors dayes That we may have all cases and differences decided in the County or Hundred where they are committed or do arise without any appeale but to a Parliament And that they may monethly be judged by twelve men of free and honest condition chosen by themselves with their grave or chiefe Officer amongst them and that they may swear to judge every mans cause aright without feare favour or affection upon a severe and strict penalty of those that shall do unjustly And then farewell jangling Lawyers the wildfire-destroyers and bane of all just rationall and right-governed Common-wealths And for the facilitating of this work and the prevention of frauds I shall onely make use of Mr. John Cookes words a Lawyer in Grays-Inne in the 66. page of his late published Book called A Vindication of the Professours and Profession of the Law where he prescribes A ready remedy against Frauds which is That there might be a publike office in every Countie to register all Leases made for any Land in that County and also all conveyances whatsoever and all charges upon the Lands and all Bonds and Contracts of any value for saith he It is a hard matter to find out Recognizances Judgments Extents and other Charges and too chargable for the Subject that so for 12. d. or some such small matter every man might know in whom the Interest of Land remains and what incu●brances lie upon it and every estate or charge not entered there to be void in Law And that the Country have the choosing of the Registers in their respective Counties onc● a yeare upon a fixed day and that they have plaine rules and limitations made by authority of Parliament and severe penalties enacted for transgressing them But after this digression let us return to Mag. Charta whosoever readeth i● which eve●● man may at large at the beginning of the book of Statu●es sha●l fi●d it an absolute Contract betwixt the Kings of England and the People thereof which at their Coronations ever since they take an Oath inviolable to observe And we shall find in the dayes of ●his P●inc● who is noted for one of the best that we have that English-men understood themselves so well that when the Pope endeavoured to meddle in a businesse betwixt the Scots and the Crown of England there was letters sent from Lincoln at a Parliament which did absolutely tell the Pope that the King their Lord should i● no sort undergo his Holinesse judgement therein Neither send his P●ocurators as was required ●bout that businesse whereby it may seeme that doub●s were made of their Kings title to the prej●dice of the Crowne the Royall Dignity the Liberties Custom●s and Lawes of England which by their oath and duty they were bound to observe and would defend with their lives Neither would they permit nor could any usuall unlawful and detrimental proceeding but that which is most observable is in the next clause viz. nor suffer their King if he would to do or any way to attempt the same Daniel fol. 199. After the warlike King succeeded his Son Edward the second who was continually at variance with his people although never any before him was received with greater love of the people then he as saith Daniel fol. 204. nor ever any that sooner le●t it His very first actions discovered a head-strong wilfulnesse that was unconcealable regarding no other company but the base Parasites of of the times the head of which was Gaveston which made his Nobles at Westminster when he and his Queen was to be crowned to assemble together and require him that Gaveston his darling might be removed from out of the Court and Kingdome otherwise they purposed to hinder his Coronation at that time Whereupon the King to avoid so great a disgrace promises on his saith to yeeld to what they desired in the next Parliament And at the next Parliament the whole Assembly humbly besought the King to advise and treat with his Nobles who then it seemes were abundantly honester then these are now concerning the state of the Kingdome for the avoiding of iminent mischiese likely to ensue through the neglect of Government and so far urged the matter as the King consents thereunto and not only grants them liberty to draw into Articles what was requisite for the King●ome but takes his Oath to ratifie whatsoever th●y should c●nclude Whereupon they elect certain choice men both of the Clergy Nobility and Commons to compose those Articles which don● the Archbishop of Canterbury lately recalled from exile with

both on him and all that had a finger in furthering of his usurpation vers 23 24 45 53 54 for afterward the Tyrant tha● they had set up destroyed them all for their pains and in the end had his scull broke to pieces with a piece of a mill-stone thrown from the hand of a woman And after many miseries sustained by the people of Israel for their revolt from their loyalty to GOD their LORD and KING Yet in their distresse hee took compassion of them and sen● them Samuel a just and righteous Judge who judged ●hem justly all his dayes But the people of Israel like foolish men not being content with the Government of their Soveraign by Judges who ou● of doubt took such a care of them that he provided the best in the world for them would reject their Liege Lord and chuse one of their own nam●y a King that so they might be like the Pagans and Heathens who ive without God in the world which Act af theirs God plainly declares was a rejection of him th●t he should not reign over them 1 Sam. 87. and chap. 10. 19. Bu● withal he desc●●beth vnto them the behaviour of the King vers 11 12 13 14 16. which 1 Sam. 8. 7. and 10. 9. is that he will rule and govern them by his own will just Tyrant like for saith Samuel he will take your Sons and appoint them for himselfe for his Chariots and to be his hor●em●n and ome shall run before his Chari t s and he will take by his Prerogative your Fi●lds and your Vineyards and you● Oliveyards eve● the hest of them and give them to his Servants and he will take your men-servants and your maid-servants and your goodliest young-men and your Asses and put them to his worke c. And saith Samuel you shall cry out in that day because of your King which ye shall have chosen unto you but the Lord will not hear you in that day And Samuel in the 12. C●ap●er gives them positively the reason ofi● which was that although GOD in all their straights had taken compassion on them and sent them deliveries and at the last had by himself set them free on every side so that they dwelt sately Yet all this would not content them but they would have a King to reigne over them when s●●h Samu●l the ●ord your God was your King therefore chap. 1● 19. saith Samuel ye have this day rejected your God who himself saved you out of all your adversities c. yea and in the 19. ver of the 12. chap. the People acknowledged that they had added unto all their sins this evill even to ask a King Whereb we may evidently p●rceive that this office of a King is not in the least of Gods institution neither is it to b● given to any man upon earth Because none must rule by his will but God alone And therefore the Scripture saith He gave them a King in his anger and took him away in his wrath Hosa 13. 11. In the second place for the proofe of the minor Proposition which is That Charles R. received his Crown and Kingdome by contract and agreement and hath broken his contract and agreement I thus prove And first for the first part of the position History makes it clear that WILLIAM THE CONQVEROVR OR TYRANT being a Bastard subdued this Kingdome by force of Armes Reade Speeds Chronicle folio 413. There being slain in the first Battell betwixt him and the English about sixty thousand men on the English party As Daniel records in his History fol. 25. And having gained the Country he ruled it by his sword as an absolute Conqueror professing that he was beholding to none for his Kingdome but God and his sword making his power as wide as his will just Tyrant like giving away the Lands of their Nobles to his Normans laying unwonted taxes and heavie subsidies upon the Commons insomuch that many of them to enjoy a barren liberty forsook their fruitfull inheritance and with their w●ves and children as out-lawes lived in woods preferring that naked name of freedome before a sufficient ☞ maintenance possest under the thraldome of a Conquerar who subvert●ed their Lawes disweaponed the Commons prevented their night meetings with a h●avi● penalty that every man at th● day closing should cover his fi●e and depart to his rest there by depriving them of all opportunity to consult together how to recover their liberties collating Office●s all both of command and judicature on those who were his 〈◊〉 made saith Daniel page 46. his domination such as he● would have it For whereas the causes of the Kingdome were before determined in every Shire And by a Law of King Edward Seg●ier all matters in question should upon speciall penalty without further deferment be finally decid●d in the Gemote or Conv●●●ions held monethly in every Hundred Now he ordained That four times in the yeare for certain dayes the same businesse should be determ●ned in such place as he would appoint where he constituted Judges to 〈◊〉 to that purpose and others from whom as from the bosom● of ●he Prince all litig●tors should have justice And to make them ●s miserable as slav●s could be made He ordered that the Laws should be practised in French A● P●itions and businesses of C●urt ●n French that so the poor miserable people might be gulled and cheated undone and destroyed not onely at his will and pleasure but also at the will and pleasure of his under Tyrants and Officers For to speak in the words of Martin in his History page 4 He enacted and established strict and severe Lawes and published them in his own language by meanes whereof many who were of great estate and of much worth through ignorance did transgress● and their sm●llest offences were great enough to entitle the CONQVEROR to their lands to the lands and riches which they did possesse All which ke seized on and took from them without remorse And in page 5. he declares hat he erected sundry Courts for the administra●i●n● his ●ew Lawes and of Justice and least his Iudges sh●uld bear to● great a sway by reason of his absence he caused them all to follow his Court upon all removes Whereby he not only curbed th●ir disp●si●ions which i●cited them to be great but also tired out the English N●tion with extraordinary troubles and excessive charges in the prosecution of Suites in Law From all which relations we may observe First from how wicked bloudy triviall base and tyrannicall a Fountain our gratious Soveraignes and most excellent Majesties of England have sprung namely from the Spring of a Bastard of poore condition by the Mothers side and from the p●rnitious springs of Robbery Pyracie violence and Murder c. Howsoever fabulous Writers striv● as Daniel saith to abuse the credulity of after Ages with Heroicall or mircaulous beginnings that surely if it be rightly considered there will none dote upon those kind of Monsters Kings bu●

left to do what is aright in his own eyes without either guide or rule the wisdome of this State hath intrusted the Parliament with a power to supply what shall bee wanting on the part of the Prince as is evident by the constant custome and practice thereof in cases of nonage naturall disability and captivity and the like reason doth and must hold for the exercise of the same power in such cases where the Royall Trust cannot bee or is not discharged and that the Kingdome runs an evident and eminent danger thereby which danger having been declared by the Lords and Commons in Parliament there needs not the authority of any person or Court to affirme nor is it in the power of any person or Court to revoke that judgment for as they well say in their Declaration of the 26. of May 1642. page 281. it is not agreeable to reason or conscience that it should be otherwise seeing men should be put upon an impossibility of knowing their duty if the Judgment of the highest Court should not be a rule and guide to them And if the Judgment therefore should be followed where the question is who is King as before in that Declaration they have rpoved it ought much more what is the best service of the King and Kingdome and therefore those that shall guide themselves by the judgment of Parliament ought what ever happen to be secure and free from all account and penalties upon the grounds and equity of this very Statute of 11. Hen. 7. Chap. 1. And again page 697. they say very rationally There must be a Judge of the question wherein the safety of the Kingdome depends for it must not lie undetermined And if then there be not an agreement betwixt his Majesty and the Parliament either his Majesty must be Judge against his Parliament or the Parliament without his Majesty It is unsound and irrationall to give it to his Majestie who out of the Courts is not Judge of the least dammage or trespasse done to the least of his Subjects but the Parliament is the Representative Body of the whole Kingdome and therefore the absolute proper and legall Judge Besides If his Majesty in the difference of Opinions should be Judge he should be Judge in his own case but the Parliament should be Judges between his Majesty and the Kingdome And if his Majesty should be Judge hee should be Judge out of his Courts yea and against his highest Court which he never is nor can be but the Parliament should only judge without his Majesties personall consent which as a Court of Judicature it alwayes doth and all other Courts as well as it Therefore if the King be for the Kingdome and not the Kingdome for the King And if the Kingdome best knowes what is for its own good and preservation and the Parliament be the Representative Body of the Kingdome It is easie to judge who in this case should be Judge And therefore the Parliament are bound in duty to those that trust them to see that the king dispose aright of his trust being that right that the King hath as King in the things he enjoyes is of a different nature and for different ends to the right of propriety which a particular man hath in his Goods and Lands c. That of propriety is a right of propriety which a particular man may dispose of as hee pleaseth according to his own discretion for his own advantage so it bee not contrary to the publike good but the right of the King is only a right of trust which he is to mannage in such wayes and by such Councels as the Law doth direct and only for the publike good and not to his private advantages nor to the prejudice of any mans particular Interests much lesse of the Publike page 700. And therefore say they page 687. The King hath not the like liberty in disposing of his own person or of the persons of his children in respect of the Interest the Kingdome hath in them as a private man may have But if it shall be objected that the Parliament the representative of the Kingdome are not to intermeddle in the managing of his Maj●sties trust because of the Oaths that they have taken wherein they swear that His Majesty is supreame Head and Governour over all persons and over all causes within his Dominions to which I shal return partly their own answer p. 703. That notwithstanding this they are bound to see it managed according to the true intent condition therof for no man doth nor can give a power to destroy himself and therefore say they If we should say the King hath in the Government of his People Superiors to wi● the Law by which he is made and his Courts c. It were no new Doctrine We have an antient Author for it viz. Fleta Book 1. Chap. 17. of substituting of Iudges If we should say the King is the single greatest but lesse then the whole it were no new learning it being an undeniable rule in reason that they that make a thing are alwayes greater then the thing made by them and certainly this of supreame Head and Governour over all persons in all causes as it is meant singular or single persons rather then of Courts or of the Body collective of the whole Kingdome so it is meant in curia non in camera in his Courts that his Majesty is supreame Head and Governour over all persons in all causes and not in his private capacity and to speak properly It is only in his High Court of Parliament wherein and wherewith his Majesty hath absolutely the supream power and consequently is absolutely supreame Head and Governour from whom there is no Appeale And if the High Court of Parliamen may take an account of what is done by his Majesty in his inferiour Courts much more of what is done by him without the Authority of any Courts And for my part say that though the King be the Supream Officer which is all and the most he is yet he is not the supreame Power for the absolute Supream Power is the People in generall made up of every individuall and the legall and formall supream Power is only their Commissioners their collective or representative Body chosen by them and assembled in Parliament to whom the King is and ought to give an account both of his Office and Actions yea and to receive rules directions and limitations from them and by them And although King John the 7. from William the Rogue aiias the chiefe Robber or Conquerour was so Atheistically and impiously wicked as to give away his kingdome of England unto the Pope as is before declared * pag. which was none of his owne to give or dispose of either to him or any other whatsoever which the people that lived in those dayes very well knew and understood and therefore as Speed in his Chronicles records fol. 565. in a generall Parliament held

shed in England Scotland and Ireland since these wars which is the blood of thousands of thousands For which if all the sons of men should be so base and wicked as not to doe their duty in executing justice upon him which Legally may and ought to bee done by those especially who have Power and Authority in their hands Yet undoubtedly the righteous God will and that I am confident in an exemplary manner in despight of all his bloody add wicked protectors and defenders For GOD is a just GOD and will revenge innocent blood even upon Kings Judg. 1 6 7. 1 Kings 21. 19. 22. 38. Isa 30. 33. Ezek. 32. 29. and will repay wicked and ungodly men Isai 59. 18. Therefore I desire those that shall thinke this a harsh saying to lay down the definition of a Tyrant in the highest degree and I am confident their own Consciences will tell them it is scarce possible to commit or doe that act of Tyranny that Charles Stewart is not guilty of and therefore de jure hath absolved all his people from their Allegeance and Obedience to him and which the Parliament are bound in duty and conscience De facto to declare and not to bee unjuster to the Kingdome then their predecessors have been which in part I have already memioned and shall to conclude only cite some particulars of the Parliaments just dealing with Edward the second who was not one quarter so bad as C. R who being called to account by the Parliament for his evill government and being imprisoned at Kenelworth-Castle the Parliament sent Commissioners to acquaint him with their pleasure the Bishops of Winches●●r Hereford and Lincoln two Earls two Abbots foure Barons two Justices three Knights for every County and for London and other principall places chiefly for the five Ports a certain number chosen by the Parliament And when they came to him they told him the Common-wealth had conceived so irreconcileable dislikes of his government the particulars whereof had been opened in the generall Assembly at London that it was resolved never to endure him as King any longer That notwithstanding those dislikes had not extended so far as for his sake to exclude his issue but that with universall applause and joy the Common-wealth had in Parliament elected his eldest sonne the Lord Edward for King They finally told him that unlesse he did of himselfe renounce his Crown and Scepter the people would neither endure him nor any of his children as their Soveraigne but disclaiming all Homage and Fealty would elect some other for King not of the Blood The King seeing it would be no better amongst other things told them That he sorrowed much that the people of the Kingdom were so exasperated against him as that they should utterly abhorre his any longer rule and soveraignty and therefore he besought all there present to forgive him and gave them thanks for chusing his eldest sonne to be their King which was greatly to his good liking that he was so gracious in their sight Whereupon they proceeded to the short Ceremony of his Resignation which principally consisted in the surrender of his Diadem and Ensignes of Majesty to the use of his son the new King Whereupon Sir William Trussel on the behalfe of the whole Realm renounced all homage and allegeance to the Lord Edward of Carnarvan late King The words of the definitive Sentence were these I William Trussel in the name of all men of the Land of England and all the Parliament Procurator resigne to thee Edward the Domage that was made to thee sometime and from this time forward now following I defy thee and deprive shee of all Royall power and I shall neuer be attendant to thee as for ●ing after this time But if any object It is true Subjects and people have de facto done this unto their Kings but they cannot doe it de jure for that Kings are above their people are not punishable by any but God I answer God is the fountain or efficient cause of all punishment But as to man instrumentally he inflicts by man And though he be our supream Lord and Law-Maker hath for bodily and visible transgressions of his Law appointed a visible and bodily punishment in this world for the transgressors thereof and man for his instrumentall executioner and never ordinarily doth it immediatly by himself but when his Instrument Man failes to doe his duty and being a God of order hath appointed a Magistrate or an impowred man as his and their executioner for the doing of justice and never goeth out of this Road but in extraordinary cases as he doth when the Magistrate is extraordinarily corrupted in the executing of his duty and in such cases God hath raised up particular or extraordinary persons to be his executioners And therefore God being no respecter of persons hath by nature created all men alike in power and not any lawlesse and none to bind each other against mutuall agreement and common consent and hath expr●sly commanded Man his rationall creature shall not tyrannize one over another or destroy by any intrusted power each other but that the intrusted Kings as well as others shall improve the utmost of their power and strength for the good and benefit protection and preservation of every individuall Trustee And whosoever he be that shall improve his intrusted power to the destruction of his impowrers forfeits his power And GOD the fountain of Reason and Justice hath endued man with so much reason mercy humanity and compassion to himself and his own Being as by the instinct Nature to improve his utmost power for his own preservation and defence which is a Law above all lawes and compacts in the world Declar. April 17. 1641. And whosoever rejects it and doth not use it hath obliterated the principles of Nature in himselfe degenerated into a habit worse then a beast and becomes felonious to himselfe and guilty of h●s own blood This Israel of old the Lords peculiar people understood as well as the people of England although they had 〈◊〉 expresse posi●ive law no more then we in England have to rebell or withdraw their obedience subjection from those Magistrates or Kings that exercise their power and authority contrary to the nature of their trust which is plain and cleare without dispute in the case of Rehoboam who was the son of Solomon who was the sonne of David who was assigned King by GOD and chosen and made King by the common consent of the people of Juda and Israel 2 Sam. 7. 13. And who by vertve of Gods promise to him and his seed to be Kings over his people had more to say for his Title to his and their Crown I am confident of it then all the Princes in the world have to say for their claim and childrens to their Crown For Rehoboam was not onely the sonne of Solomon who was in a manner intailed by God himselfe unto the Crown