THus ended Phaeton, and consequently the Hi­story with him: from whose ruins I will take my Exordium. And Exemplo monstrante viam, imi­tating my Mother Earth in her persecution, shal [...] first lift up my head and hands, to the God o [...] Gods, and begin with a short Ejaculation, though in King Davids words, yet the same in effect with hers:

[Page 21]Let me fall into the hands of the Lord (for very great are his mercies) but let me not fall into the hands of man.Note: 1 Chron. 21.13. O happy David! O happy Prayer! O happy Success! He Prayed that if he must perish by the Sword, that he might perish by the Sword of the Lord, viz. the Pestilence, and doubtless the Pestilence is a harmless dove, if com­pared to the raging violence of lawless man. For who can without horror think what cruel tor­ments and hideous tortures, bloudy Tyrants have invented for the punishment of poor Innocents. I will not stain my paper with their names, being so well known and so ill practised. Audax omnia perpeti gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas. Nothing comes amiss to them. Take a view of the preced­ing ages, and you shall finde some Caines, some bad, in the best of times, no garden without some weeds, no roses without some thorns, and no field without some tares; But take a glimpse of our age, and without the help of Spectacles, you may see, our scarlet sins swiming upon the red Sea of Martyrs blood in every street. The whole field is grown over with briers and thistles, and all are be­come abominable, there is none that doth good, no not one. Vir bonus & sapiens, (qualem vix reperit unum, Millibus e cunctis hominum consultus Apollo.) If Diogenes had the Sun to be his Candle, and the eyes of the whole world to be his Lanthern, he could not finde amongst us the man he lookt for, so many ages since. All such are become Exuls, though not exleges. And since we meet with an [Page 22] Exul in the way, Let us salute him by his proper name; and first describe what he is not, and then what, and who he is.

Though many good and prudent men, by the fierce Tyranny of others are forced from their na­tive soil, and hunted from place to place, like the panting Hart, by the multitude of raging hounds, yet will they not own the name of Exuls, but Travellers: esteeming it the part of a pusillanimous Spirit, not to make every part of the world their Country, and account the whole world as one city. Such was Camillus, and Marcellus, and many other antients, whom time and paper would fail me here to Catalogue. But I need not rip up an­tiquity, for such examples, enough, and one too many doth our iron age afford. But as little birds, though hatched in as little nests, make all the earth their habitations, so wise and valiant men account the whole world, as their private dwel­ling. Fools are banisht in their own Country, wise men are in their own Country though ba­nisht, and by their travels obtain such learning, as if their banishment had been their Ʋniversity: so much for what an Exul is not. Let Cicero (who best could) tell you what and who he is, and least you should mistrust that I belye him.

[Page 23]For,

Is the motto of our times, The Father cannot be­lieve his Son, nor the Son his Father, he is wisest that can forge the most beneficial lies, and lies are become the ammunition of our age. Therefore hear him in his own Dialect.Note: Paradox 4. Omnes scele­rati & impii, quos leges exilio affici volunt, exules sunt, etiamsi solum non mutant; All wicked and impious persons, which deserve banishment by law, are exuls, Though they continue upon their native Country: Sure I am they are exleges; But since there are many in the world that are driven from their own native soil, whose virtue will not suffer them to esteem it a banishment; but rather a tryal to exer­cize their fortitude: Yet, confident I am, as an un­faigned lover, whose Mistress hath abandoned him from her presence, whereby he contemneth her, be­cause shee contemneth him, yet if once shee open her pleasant arms to receive him, forgetting all her former injuries, he presently imbraceth her; and is capable of no greater joy: so they who are so exiled would willingly return if their hard-hearted Country would once receive them,

Home is home, though it be never so homely. Therefore let all those who labour with this dis­ease of banishment, apply themselves to reverend Petrack, de exilio, where they may finde an Anti­dote, let their malady be of what nature soever. And since the Physitian is so learned, his Physick so good, and the disease so obvious, behold the Physitian and his patient arguing together; assuming the names of Dolor and Ratio, and first the Physitian.

Dolor. Exilio pellor injusto R. Quid tu igitur justo pelli malles exilio? Nempe quod ad injuriae cumulum ais, in diversum trahitur; habes enim injusti exilii so­latium comitem Justitiam, quae injustos cives destituens, te sequuta tecum exulat. D. Injusto exilio pulsus sum. R. An te rex expulit? an Tyrannus? an populus? an hostis? an tu ipse? Nam si rex; aut injustum exilium non erit, aut ipse non justus: at que ita nec rex quidem. Si Tyrannus, ab illo te pulsum gaude; sub quo boni exi­stant, fures imperant. Si populus, moribus ille suis uti­tur; bonos odit, & hic quoque multiceps Tyrannus nunquam sui similem pepulisset. Non te igitur patria, sed malorum caetibus arceri, neque in exilium, sed in partem bonorum civium cogi putes. At si hostis, agnosce injuriae [Page 25] levitatem; non hostiliter saeviit, qui omnia cum possit, patriam abstulit, spem reliquit. Sui tu ipse, mores po­puli peresus; aut Tyranni abitum elegisti, non modo te doleas, sed etiam gloriare, virtutem patriae praetulisse; non tu flebilem, sed honestam, & prorsus invidiosam, bonis atque optabilem, non jam exilii, sed absentiae cau­sam habes, sponte Pythagoras Samon liquit; Athaenas Solon; Romam Scipio. D. Depellor & patria. R. Pul­sum te pessimi [...], optimis insere, neque te patria, sed pa­triam te indignam rebus proba. Sentiat illa, quid per­didit. Tu nihil perdidisse sentias: mali cives tui odio, simulque praesentis odio ac suspitione careant: boni autem amore absentis ac desiderio teneantur, sequanturque oculis, atque animis abeuntem, illi se solos linqui doleant. D. Mittor in exilium. R. Immo in experimentum tui videris, quem te in exilio praebeas; si succumbis, exul verus; si consistis, exilio clarus, ut multi olim, qui invicti & fulgidi per asperitates incesserunt, ut sequen­tibus rectum iter ostenderent. Sine Tyrannos saevire, sine populum furere, sine hostes, ac fortunam fremere. Pelli potes, capi, caedi, perimi, vinci autem, nisi manum extuleris, non potes, neque ornamentis tuis spoliari, cum quibus quocunque ieris, & civis, & patriae Principum unus eris. Sorrow. I am unjustly driven into ba­nishment. Reason. What hadst thou rather than be justly banished? For as touching the heap of in­juries whereof thou speakest, it is taken in the contrary part, and now thou hast justice to be thy companion, which shall be a comfort unto thee in thy unjust banishment, which forsaking thy unjust Countrymen, hath chosen rather to follow thee [Page 26] into exile. Sorrow. I am banished unjustly. Reason. Hath the King banished thee? or a Tyrant? or the people? or an enemy? or thou thy self? If the King, either thy banishment is not unjust; or he himself is not just, and so by consequence no King. If a Tyrant, rejoyce that thou ar [...] banished by him, under whom good men are exiled, and Theeves are set in authority. If the people, they use their old manner, they hate the virtuous, among whom if this many-headed Tyrant had found any like themselves, they would never have banished him: Think not therefore that thou art expulsed thy Country, but removed from the fellowship of wicked persons, and that thou art not driven into exile, but received into the Country of good Ci­tizens. If an Enemy, acknowledge the lightness of the injury, for he hath not dealt extreamly with thee: he that could take from a man all that he hath, and hath taken but his Country, hath left him hope. But if thou thy self, the cause is, that falling into misliking of the people, or Tyrant, thou hast chosen to depart, not only because thou wouldest not be sorry; but also vaunt thy self for preferring the honour of thy Country. So that now thou hast not a miserable, but an honest cause, not of exile, but of absence, hateful to the wicked, and grateful to the virtuous. Pythagoras volun­tarily forsook Samos, and Solon Athens, and Lycur­gus Lacedemon, and Scipio Rome. Sorrow. I am dri­ven from my Country. Reason. Being driven away of the worst, insinuate thy self into the Company [Page 27] of the best sort, and make it evident by good proofs, that thy Country was unworthy of thee, and not thou of thy Country. Let it perceive what it hath lost, and know thou how that thou hast lost nothing: Let the evil Citizens want the wearisomness, and also the hatred and suspition of thy presence, and let the good persecute thine absence with love and desire, and with their eyes, and minds, follow after thy departure; let them be sorry for that thou hast forsaken them. Sorrow. I am sent into exile. Reason. Nay rather to try thy self. Beware how thou behave thy self in thy exile; if thou faint, then art thou a very banished wight, if thou stand stoutly, thy banishment will ennoble thee, as it hath done many other before thee, who passed invincibly & honourably through difficulties, to the end they might shew the right way to them that came after. Let Tyrants rage, let the people chafe, let thine Enemies and Fortune fret and fume: thou maist be driven away, taken, beaten, slain; but thou canst not be overcome, un­less thou yield up thine hands, nor yet be despoil­ed of thine Ornaments; by means whereof, whi­thersoever thou goest thou shalt be a Citizen, and one of the Princes of thy Country.

HAving sheltered the banished, from the tem­pests of a forraign exile, Let us arme him a­gainst the Changeling Fortune. Constant only in inconstancy, according to mellifluous Ovid.

She wandereth about the Earth, making all men Tenants at will of their possessions, and as a whirl­wind bloweth up dust on heaps & then scattereth it about: so she puffeth riches to a man, & then puf­feth both man & riches away together. Quem dies vidit veniens superbum, hunc dies vidit fugiens jacentem. Whom the rising Sun saw as glorious as himself in the morning, the setting Sun often seeth as low as himself in the evening; Therefore let not them [Page 29] glory in their prosperity, who raign in the palace of Fortune, triumph over their enemies, and have success to crown their actions, whether they be just, or unjust.

Fortune dealeth with men as a wheele with its spoaks, turneth those lowest which even now were highest; She throweth down Kings, and setteth up Beggars, he who even now was but a servile Cobler, is by and by metamorphosed, and translated, into his Soveraign Master — Ex humili magna ad fa­stigia rerum Extollit, quoties voluit Fortuna jocari. It is her sport to promote fools, to lift the Peasant from the plough to the Throne, to set the frogg upon the washing block, and elevate him to the highest point of honour, that she may break his neck down again. Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu gra­viore ruunt. They are lifted up for no other cause, but that their fall might be the greater; There­fore my advice is to all those (if advice may have the honour to look upon them) who have their hearts desire in all things, and want nothing of this world to make themselves compleatly happy, to remember in the midst of their prosperity King Craesus (if they will vouchsafe to let a King come into their thoughts) Who when he was esteemed the most happy of all mortals, both for riches and peace, was admonished by Solon, Nemi­nem [Page 30] ante cineres beatum dicendum, quod quoad vivi­mus, periculum sit, ne instabilis hujus mundi foelicitas dolore aliquo contaminetur. That no man before death could be said to be happy, because whilest we live, it is a chance, but that the foelicity of this unstable world, will be blotted out with the black pen of misery; which sentence of Sclons, the Cala­mity of Croesus did afterwards declare most true; For he being conquered by Cyrus, and chained to the stake to be burned, remembring the whole­some saying of his friend Solon, did cry out Solon, Solon, Solon; at which Cyrus much wondering, ask­ed him which of the Gods or men he did invoke, and what was his meaning, Cyrus being informed of the whole matter, and put in minde of hu­mane vicissitudes, delivered Craesus from the flame, and ever afterwards had him in great esteem, fear­ing lest the like calamity might fall upon him­self; so when Sesostris King of Egypt being drunk with good fortune, and lifted too high with his great successes against his enemies, caused four Kings taken prisoners to draw his triumphal Cha­riot; wherein one of them looked back with smiles to the wheel of the Chariot, and being de­manded his reason for it, answered, That he smil­ed to see the spoak of the wheel, now at the top to be presently at the bottome, and again, that which is now at the bottome, to be by and by at the top. Which when the King heard, considering the mutability of all earthly things, his haughty spirit was not a little mollfiied.

[Page 31]These relations I thought good here to insert, that the mighty and dreadful men of the world, who have got the power of the Sword into their own hands, taking Cyrus for their example (whose example will be no disgrace for them to follow, though he was a King, for he was likewise a valiant Souldier) might not exercise Tyranny over their vanquished enemies, especially over their own fel­low subjects. Cain purchased little honour by the murder of his brother Abel. Though the Heathens appeared as glorious as the Sun at their triumphs after the conquest of a forraign enemy, yet mourn­ing was their habit instead of triumph, after a vi­ctory obtained in a civil war: when two Noble men were convicted for affecting and aspiring to the Empire of Titus Vespasianus, he proceeded no far­ther against them, than to admonish them to desist, and give over; saying, that Soveraign Power was the gift of Destiny, and Divine Providence; If they were Petitioners for any thing else, he promised to give it unto them. For Melius est servare unum quam occi­dere mille, It is better to save one, then to kill a thousand, is a saying worthy to be written in let­ters of gold, but more worthy to be put in practise. O blessed Conqueror, that is thus qualifyed! O blessed prisoner that hath such a victor!

Having pruned the fortunate, let us now stoop to the miserable, whom fortune hath cast to the lowest stair of affliction, Nemo desperet meliora lapsus prohibet Clotho stare fortunam; vicissitude o [...] Fortune is sufficient argument, to keep the unfortunate [Page 32] from despair; for though the highest spoak of the wheel be turned lowest, yet it doth not tarry there, but presently returneth to its former heighth, Non semper imbres nubibus hispidos manant in agros. Though it rain one day, the Sun may shine again the next. No storm without a calm, nor no Win­ter without a Summer. Post tempestatem tranquilli­tas; The North-wind which bloweth cold, may quickly turn into a warmer corner. Weeping may indure for a night, but joy cometh in the morn­ing, Psalm 30. vers. 5. But if the brevity of time, will not give ease unto thy malady, declare thy grief; a disease well known is half cured.

What art thou robbed of all that thou hast? Consider what thou broughtest into the World, and thou hast lost nothing, this thou hast got, the means to wean thee from things below, and if thou wilt to set thy mind on things above.

Art opprest with sickness? The sickness of thy body may prove the welfare of thy soul, Thou learnest to pitty others, and knowest that thy earthly cottage is not invincible.

Doth poverty knock at thy door? Let her in, shee will teach thee to be humble, keep thee from envy, and lock thee up secure; It is better meekly to entertain her, then proudly to oppose her.

Art born a bondman? There is no bondage like that to sin, cast of that and thou art free, it is bet­ter to be born a bondman, and dye free from sin, than to be born a freeman, and dye a bondslave to Satan.

[Page 33]Is thy fare thine? Thou hast avoided two sins, glut­tony, & incontinency. Thou hast wydened the way to virtue, Though streightened the passage to thy belly; Hunger nourisheth arts, and a full belly is the ensign of an empty head Bonae mētis soror est paupertas.

Art thou poor and over-burdened with children? Children are riches, then how canst thou be poor, amongst so many jewels? acknowledge thy blessing and give thanks, and He that feedeth the fishes of the Sea, the fouls of the Air, and apparelleth the flowers of the Field, will both feed, and cloath thy children; It was harder to raise them to thee, than to provide food for them.

Art thou rich and childness? He that created thee, can create thee children. Sarah had a Son in her old age. In the mean time, make thy self the child of God, and thou art better than if thou hadst many children.

Hast thou lost thy mony? Thou hast exchanged fears, and cares, for quietness and carelesness, liber­ty is better then golden chains, Thou hast but paid fortune that which she lent thee, For omnia tua tecum portas, Thou canst not truly be called Master of that, whereof fortune is mistress.

Art thou become a surety? Thou art near a shrewd turn, henceforth give away all that thou hast, rather than thy liberty; In the mean time, let thy hand discharge that which thy mouth hath set on thy score; It is no charity to pluck a thorn out of another mans foot, to put it in thine own.

Hath nature made thee deformed? Let the de­formity [Page 34] of thy body, put thee in minde of the de­formity of thy soul; Depart from sin, and adorn thy soul with virtues, as for thy body it is the work of Gods hands. Beauty is at best but a fade­ing vanity, profitable to none, hurtful to many, and perhaps might have been thy destruction. Pulchrius est pulchrum fieri quam nasci. Si mihi diffi­cilis formam natura negavit, Jugenio formae damna re­pendo mea.

Hast thou lost thy time? Thou hast lost an inva­luable pearl, which cannot be re-called, nor super­seded by riches, or honor. But it is never too late to repent, lose time no more, and thou hast made amends.

Hast thou lost thy betrothed mistress? He that loseth his wife is delivered of many cares, but he that loseth his spouse, is preserved: both of these are good, but the last is the best. There­fore grieve not too much, lest thou lose thy self.

Hast thou buried thy wife? Thou hast buried her on earth, who first buried thee in the grave of sin, in Paradise; couldest thou be rid of sin, as thou art rid of her, Thou hadst cause to rejoyce: and had shee not brought thee a Saviour, thou hadst had cause to repent, that ever thou sawest her.

Hath Infamy blasted thy name? If it be deser­ved, lament not the Infamy, but the cause of the Infamy: But if it be undeserved, contemn the er­rours of men with a valiant courage, and comfort thy self with the testimony of a good conscience, It is better to be innocent and slandered, than no­cent and applauded.

[Page 35]Hast thou many enemies? If they profess it openly, thou art armed, if they keep it secretly, thou liest open to danger; be thou a friend to justice, and God will be so much a friend to thee, as to deliver thee publickly from thy private enemy; none are so pernitious enemies as flattering friends.

Hast thou lost an occasion to revenge? Thou hast let fall a Snake out of thy hands, take heed thou take it not up again. O happy loss whereby thou hast saved thy soul; vengeance belongeth unto God, Forgiveness unto thee, if thou intend­est to be forgiven. From this lost occasion, take oc­casion never to have such an occasion of revenge to lose.

Hath thy friend forsaken thee? Better he for­sake thee, than thee him; for then thou hadst been guilty of his fault. The loss of his friendship, per­haps may make thee seek after Gods friendship, which if thou finde thou hast made a good ex­change.

Do thy people hate thee their Soveraign? This beast is prompt to injury, and slow to duty. The Commons love is light, and their hatred heavy. There is nothing more forcible than the multi­tude of fools; whereas publique fury pricketh forth the rage of every private person, and the rage of every private person kindleth the publique frantickness, and one of them enforceth another: Beware, there is nothing more dangerous than to fall into their hands, whose will standeth for law, and headlong outrage for discretion.

[Page 36]Art thou contemned? Inferiours contemn their superiours, thinking, by casting dirt upon them, they beautify themselves, and some men have no other way to patch up their own credits than by picking holes in the credit of others; If it be just­ly, thou hast cause, I confess, to be sorry, notwith­standing thou must endure it; but if unjustly, thou mayst laugh at it. For there is nothing more ridi­culous, nor that hapneth more commonly, than for a wise man to be contemned of mad men.

Dost thou complain that promisses made unto thee, are late in performance? words are cheaper than deeds; Hence learn punctually to perform thy promisses to others; nothing more debaseth a gift than an hard graunt, and a slow performance; bis dat qui cito dat.

Art thou subject to a Tyrant? Thou fearest one, he fears many; God suffereth him like Pharaoh to scourge thee for thy instruction, but for his perdi­tion, when he hath done he will burn the rod. Ini­qua nunquam regna perpetuo manent.

Hast thou an unruly proud scholar? Pride is an enemy to learning. Whip out his arrogance, o [...] else for wit there will be no entrance; If thou art not able to remove his pride from him, remove him from thee; Hale in thy sayles and go to shore. Thou nourishest up a Serpent, and tillest a vene­mous plant, yea thy utter enemy.

Dost thou suffer an hard Father? A hard Father maketh a soft and gentle Son, correction is thy pro­fit, and chiding is thy gain; remember that he is [Page 37] thy Father, and thou art his Son; It is his duty to chastise thee, and thy duty to obey him; he that spareth the rod spilleth the child.

Hast thou a rebellious Son? If thou wast the cause, thank thy self. If thou wast his pattern, consider what thy Father suffered by thee. Amend him if thou canst, if not, love him, because he is thy Son; If not for that cause, then for that he is a man; if thou canst not love him, pitty him; as severity belongeth to a Father, even so doth com­passion.

Hast thou a malapert wife? thou hast an evil thing. Chastise her, if chastisement will avail, but if it be in vain, arm thy self with patience, and endeavour to love her; There is nothing more comfortable than to do that willingly, to which one is con­strained, levius fit patientia Quicquid corrigi est nefas.

Hath thy dying Mother forsaken thee? She hath not forsaken thee, but is gone before thee, Thou hast yet another Mother, who will not forsake thee, if thou wouldest, from the first thou canst, and unto the second shalt thou return, The first gave thee house roomth, the space of a few months, the other shall give thee lodging the space of many years; the one of these gave thee thy body, the o­ther shall take it away; but as from the first, so from the second shalt thou arise.

Dost thou weep for the death of thy son? If thou wouldest have wept at his death, thou shoulst also have wept at his birth, for then he began to [Page 38] dye, but now he hath done. Thou knewest thou shouldest get a mortal Son, and dost thou now re­pent it? he stept before thee, happy wert thou if thou hadst stept before him.

Is thy friend dead? bury him in thy remem­brance, and so shall he live with thee for ever; O happy friendship, which continued untill the end. Hadst thou lost him by any other means, than by death, then hadst thou not lost a friend, but a false opinion of friendship.

Dost thou mourn because thou didst narrowly escape shipwrack? Rejoyce rather that thou didst escape, and hereafter, since thou art an earthly crea­ture, learn to keep the earth, and rather to affect Heaven, than the Sea; though thou dost suffer ship­wrack both of thy body and goods in thy voyage to Heaven, yet if thy sould do safely arrive, thou shalt have no cause to mourn.

Did thy harvest miss, and thy land lye barren one year? Let the barrenness of thy land, put thee in minde, of the barrenness of thy soul; if thou sowest but one seed, and reapest not ten fold for it, thou mournest; God soweth much and reapeth nothing, what shall he do? It is the plenty of thy fins, which causeth the barrenness of thy land.

Dost thou dwell in a narrow little house? great Princes have been born in small cottages, thy hea­venly Soul dwelleth in a little house of clay; think upon the narrowness of thy grave, and thy house will seem very large.

Art thou shut up in an unworthy prison? death [Page 39] will set thee free, and we are all Prisoners till then· Better is an unworthy prison, than unworthy liber­ty, and happier is the innocent prisoner, than the corrupt Judge, who put him there.

Dost thou fear thou shalt lose the victory? thou art half conquered already; fear is always an evil guest of the minde, but a much more worse companion in warr; There is no greater incourage­ment to an army, than a fearful enemy.

Hast thou lost a Tyranny? O happy loss! O happy people! where Tyrants are dismounted, and Thrones lawfully established. Prosperity enters when Tyranny hath it's Exit. It is a burden to the Commonwealth, most grievous, to the Tyrants dangerous, to no good man profitable, hurtful to many, odious unto all men, and comfortable only in it's brevity, for violenta nemo imperia conti­nuit diu.

Have thy subjects betrayd thee? Not subjects but Rebels. They have undone themselves by do­ing thee out of thy Kingdom. They have betray­ed thee, but cast away themselves; pricked thee, but they are wounded, and in spoiling thee have slain themselves. For perchance thou hast lost thy Kingdome or thy wealth, but they have lost their souls, their fame, the quietness of Conscience, and the company of all good men. The Sun shineth not upon a more wicked thing than is a Traytor, whose filthyness is such, that they which need his craft, abhorre the craftesman, and others, which would be notorious in other sins, shunne the shame of this impiety.

HAving given the unfortunate, an Antidote, Let us apply this Cordial, That goodness is not an unseparable incident to prosperity, success is no invincible argument that the cause is good. Good­ness and greatness are not alwayes companions.

Though Foxes have holes, and Birds of the air have nests, yet our Saviour the King of Kings had not where to lay his head. King David, though a man after Gods own heart, was not without his troubles, but had many infoelicities. Though the subtile Foxes with their deceitful wiles, banish our King from his Sacra Patrimonia, his sacred Patri­mony, (for so the possessions of Kings are called) and make him wander up and down like a Pelican in the wilderness; yet this is but like Jobs afflicti­ons, to make him the more glorious; The top which is most scourged spinneth the better, and the blustering windes make the Tree take the deeper [Page 41] root; ‘The Camomile the more it is trodden on the better it groweth, and the Palm depressed riseth the higher: so the afflictions of our Soveraign shall extol his renown the higher, and like a ball thrown against the ground, shall rebound, and fly with more lofty Majesty;’ For why? his goodness doth increase by his misery, and his Royal virtue, like grass after a shower, shall florish more glori­ously: God let Daniel be thrown into the Den, to encrease his honour, and chasteneth the Children which he loveth, onely for their good. What though cross gales drive us from our intended Haven? And our hearts fail of all our desired in­joyments, so that blinde Fortune only striveth to make us miserable, in prohibiting us from all our pleasing wishes? Yet is this no argument, that we are sinfull, or that our desires are prophane. What though a man be born blinde, and so continue from his birth to his death? Yet neither may this man have sinned, nor his parents; But that the (John 29) works of God might be made manifest. Can any one have the impudence to say that the King is wic­ked, and that his cause is naught, because the multitude of reprobates prevail, and through the mightiness of their villanies subdue all that is good? So may they argue that the Jews were Saints, when they murthered our Saviour, and that the Devil was an Holy Angel, when he spoiled Job. No, God correcteth the pious, that he may preserve them, and permitteth the designs of the wicked to coach them to their own destructions. He letteth [Page 42] Rebels dethrone their Soveraign, and pull the earthly Crown from off his head, that he may crown him in Heaven with everlasting glory. The meanness of the case doth not diminish the lustre of the Jewel, and Christ was a King though in the manger.

Fortune doth not alwayes signally attest the de­sign of such a party, or the justnes of such an acti­on to be righteous, by permitting it to prosper, and taper up into the world; the Sun shines upon the bad aswell as the good, and the rain makes their corn to grow oftentimes more plentiful than the righteous mens, which makes the wicked glory in their actions, and scorn all those as Atheists, who will not Canonize them for Saints. Honesta, quaedam scelera successus facit. If success doth but attend their enterprises, let them be never so impiously wicked, all the Logick and Rhetorick in the world cannot perswade them, but that they are most sa­cred and righteous; such is their profound igno­rance, and blind zeal, That if the Devil put it into their hearts to murder their lawful King and So­veraign, and likewise assist them to effect it, they think they do God good service, and punish all those with an Egyptian slavery, who will not be of their opinion, although expresly against God his [Page 43] Commandments, viz. Fear God, honour the King, 1 Pet. 2.17. They make God to be even altogether such a one as they are, in crying, that it is Gods cause, even, when they commit the greatest Sa­criledge, Persperum ac faelix scelus virtus vocatur, a mischief neatly effected, is one of their chiefest virtues. This indeed made King David to stagger, nay his steps had wellnigh slipt, when he saw the prospe­rity of the wicked, when he considered, that they were not in trouble as other men, nor plagued like other men, Their Eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish. This made him cry out, Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence; But when he went into the Sanctuary of God, Then understood he their end; For, Surely thou didst set them in slipery places, Thou castedst them down in destruction: How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment? they are utterly consumed with ter­rors, as a dream when one awaketh: So O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image, was his next vote. Prov. 1.30. They would none of my Coun­sell, they despised all my reproof; Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of Fools shall destroy them. Thus you see that prosperity is sometimes a curse, and no blessing. To those beasts we intend to kill, we commonly allow the best pasture; And surely those men are better acquainted with Mahomets Alchoran, than our Saviours Gospel, who will not be convinced, but that temporal happiness is the [Page 44] true index of Divine favour. God scattereth his outward blessings upon the wicked aswell as on the good, because if Virtue and Religion should only appropriate riches, more men would become vir­tuous and religious for the love of mony and wealth, than out of any love they did bear either to Virtue, or Religion.

Therefore let not those despair whom blind Fortune hath kicked into any mishap, nor mea­sure the justness of their actions by the quantity of success; Though the voyce of the world censure it, For it is not the event which makes it good or bad.

NOw it is time to resolve the Quaere couchant in the Prologue, Eloquar an sileam; timor hoc, pudor impedit illud; Whether I should speak or be silent. When I consider the perills of the times, wherein no man can speak his own conscience with­out offending those, who will give him blows for words, Then Timor hoc. But, Jam tua res agitur pa­ries cum proximus ardet, when I see my neighbour his house on fire, and my own next to it, when all men are asleep in sin, and none to awake them, Then pudor impedit illud. For, Non mihi si centum linguae sint oraque Centum, Omnia culparum percur­rere nomina possum, If I had a thousand tongues, and so many mouths, I could not vilify our iron age according to its deserts; Me thinks, as if souls ac­cording to Phythagoras his opinion, descented [Page 46] from one man to another, I see those ancient Ty­rants, or their black souls in worser images, act­ing their bloudy parts upon the stage of the world, and sounding out their hellish edicts. Here is Caius Caesar Caligula with his detestable motto in his mouth, Oderint dum metuant, Let them hate me so they fear me: He forced parents to be present at the execution of their own children, and after he had well drunk and eaten, took pleasure to cast his friends into the Sea, from on high from a bridge, which he built. He wished that his peo­ple had but one neck, that he might chop them off at a blow, vox Carnifice quam Imperatore dignior? A Speech fitter for an Hangman, than an Emperour; When a prisoner being fearfull of the cruel Tor­ments, with which the Emperour would murder him, had taken poyson to prevent him, What sayes he, Antidotum adversus Caesarem? Is there any Antidote against Caesar? How many poor innocents being condemned to dreadful deaths, by the Ty­rants of our age have poysened themselves, to pre­vent their undesetved punishments? And when his Grand-mother Antonia seemed to give him some admonition; Memento, ait, omnia mihi in om­nes licere. I would have you to know, saith he, That I can do any thing, a true Character of a Ty­rant, for what will not hee do? But doubtless the love of the people is the best guard for a King, Magnum Satellitium Amor. And that which ones natural lawfull Soveraign would most look after. For, [...]num est regi inexpugnabile munimentum, amor [Page 47] Civium. It is not fear, and force, nor Troops of Dragoons, and Red-coats that are the surest holds for Governours; but the benevolence, hearts, and love of their subjects. Caesar, dando, sublevando, ignoscendo gloriam adeptus est. Rulers have no grea­ter enemy, than the fear and envy of the people. For, Quem metuunt oderunt: Quem quisque odit pe­riisse expedit. Whom we fear, we hate, and whom we hate, we study and desire his death. But be­hold, Aulus Vitellius, Bonus odor hostis, melior civis occisi. An enemy slain hath a very good smell, but a Cittizen far better: O black abominable Tragi­cal and Tyrannical speech! And did not our age swarm with such horse-leaches, we should never suck the blood one of another, so as we do: But that you may hate the very name of Tyrants, and abhor their actions; Hearken a little to Flavius Vespasianus and his Councel, how impiously they consulted, and first Vespasian, Lucri bonus odor ex re qualibet, It is gain which makes the smell so good for a slain Citizen or enemy; No actions so hellish, if it produce profit, but that it is a virtue to at­tempt it, and the reason is, Omnis in ferro salus, be­cause all our hope and health is in the sword: for whilest we have that in our hands, what law or Religion dares oppose us? no disputant like the sword. Exeat aula qui volet esse pius: virtus & summa potestas non coeunt: semper metuunt quem save pude­bunt. Let him depart from our Courts and Coun­sel, who is so simple that he must nee [...] be pious, Godliness is a great hinderance to o [...] profession, [Page 48] and he is a Coward who is ashamed to act wicked­ly, Sibi bonus aliis malus, saith an other, He is a fool, who thinks that any one can lose so he gets; Let us be good to our selves, and all is well. There be some simple innocents, who cry, Melius mori, quam sibi vivere, It is better to dye, than to live only for our selves: But if such be their Doctrine, let them get for others, for us if they please, and starve themselves. Let us carve for ourselves, Proximus ipse mihi, Charity begins at home, and he is an Ass that carrieth a burden for another. Others there be of the same stamp, and both alike simple, who say, Dulce est pro patria mori, It is sweet to dye for ones Country; let such good natured fools tast of that sweetness, and dye for their Country; our lives are sweet, and not so to be fooled away; It is sweet for our Country to dye for us. But Pestis reipu­blicae literae, saith another of the Counsel; we shall never carry on our affairs handsomely, so long as we have so many Lawyers, and Gospel men a­mongst us, the highest step to our promotion, will be to lay them on their backs, and I think the near­est way to dispel the cloud of black Coats, will be to throw down their Universites, and take their tithes and lands away from then; As for the Law­yers perhaps we may bribe them, but if not, I am sure, they will rather turn than burn; To what we cannot perswade them with our tongues, we will compel them to with our swords. For Law, Learning and Religion, are as so many plagues and poysons t [...] Commonwealth. And Qui nescit dis­simulare [Page 49] nescit imperare, He that cannot dissemble shall be no Commonwealths-man; for to tell you the truth, Dissimulation, cogging, and lying, is the foundation of our government; and if the foun­dation be taken away, every one knows the super­structure cannot stand; Therefore to deal plainly with the world, let us cover our worst actions with the best pretences, and ravish the people with the pleasing and specious names of Liberty and Religion, when we intend the extirpation of both; Let us imitate Tereus, who so neatly dissembled piety, that when he acted most against it, the people did Saint him, — Ipso sceleris molimine Tereus Creditur esse pius; And doubtless he was no mean Cowmonwealths-man. Let us hold a fair corre­spondence with all Religions, but be sure to lead the Van in the most prevalent; it matters not whe­ther it be true or false, let them look to that, who intend to obtain eternal advantages of it, we look no further than to enjoy the temporal. A Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. It is the greatest obstacle to generous actions, not to personate that Religion, which will serve ones purpose best, be it Canonical or Apocrypha; and doubtless that Religion, which brings the greatest profit and largest incomes, is the most sacred, and most consonant to Scripture. But why should I blur my paper with the Description of this deceit­full Parliament, the Theory whereof, is become practical almost in every City? Let us therefore lament at the funeral of our Laws and Religion, [Page 50] and throw one sprig of rosemary into the grave, where all our Rights & Libertyes are buried. That Son giveth cause of suspition of his Legitimation, who will not mourn at his Mothers death: And surely he was never a true born Son of the Church, or Law, that will not shed a tear when they are both fell to ruin. Some (though very few) good Eleazors amongst us, have lost their heads and lives, for our Laws and Religion; And although I am not worthy to dye a Martyr for them — — Haud equidem tali me dignor honore, Yet whilst I live it living tears shall fall from mine eyes, for them. For — Q [...]is talia fan do Mrmidonum, Dolopumve, aut duri miles Ʋlyssis, Temperet a lacrymis? Who? what Puritan, Independent, Anabaptist, Presbyterian, Quaker, &c. Or Red-coat as bad, though not worse than any of them, can restrain his Adamantine heart from grief, and his eyes from tears, when he considers the deplorable con­ditions, which they have brought upon our King­dom? Who (as it now plainly appeareth) had no other quarrel against King, than because they were not Kings themselves; nor no other reason against Episcopacy, than because each of them was not a Bishop. They could never yet produce any argument sufficient, unless the sword, to prove that King, or Bishop was not Jure Divino. And now behold what the sword hath brought them unto. I remember Cadmus sowed the teeth of a Serpent, which sprung up armed men, who pre­sently destroyed one the other; I will not deter­mine [Page 51] that the seed of these men came from a Ser­pent, but sure I am they cannot deny themselves, but that they destroy each the other, like Cadmus his men. They kick the Government of our King­dom about, from one to the other, like a foot ball; And it will be marvail, if some of them do not break their shins, a swell as their consciences, be­fore the game is ended.Note: Res publica, sig­nifyeth a whore. They make the Govern­ment Proteus-like to turn into what shape they please, a true Common-wealth indeed, being common to so many Rivalls. And as the unruly Quadrupedes whirried about the Chariot, (Phoebus their lawfull Soveraign being absent) untill they had set the whole world on fire; so it is to be doubted, that these headstrong Bears, having cast away the rains of true obedience, will not leave to wurry us, untill they have brought us to utter ruine? O England, England. Hei mihi! qualis erat! quantum mutatus ab illo! How is thy fame besmeared! and thy honour laid in the dust! Once the envy of the whole world for the glory of thy Laws, and Religion, now become a by-word, and a laughing-stock to all Nations. Venit summa dies, & ineluctabile tempus. The Sen­tence is already past, and the decree is gone forth, and nothing can avert the wrath of an angry Deity. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae? Can the Almighty be so passionate? We want a Moses, and we want an Aaron, to intercede and make an at­tonement for us, We want a Jonah to preach re­pentance, And we want the hearts of Nineveh to [Page 52] entertain it. We have done worse than to touch the Lords annointed, and have killed his Prophets, all the day long. We have not reverenced his Sanctuary, But have made it a den of Theeves, and Stable for Beasts, not altogether so bad as our selves. O God why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoak against the Sheep of thy pasture? O de­liver not the soul of thy Turtle Dove unto the multitude of the wicked; Forget not the Congregation of thy poor for ever.

Remember thy old mercy, and remember our former estate; For though now, like People, like Priest, The Prophets lye, and the People would have it so; Yet like Bethlehem, we have not heretofore been the least amongst the Princes of the World. We have had those who have thought it, Melius tondere qaam deglubere oves, better to trimm us, than to flea us, and Melius servare unum quam occi­dere mille, better to preserve one than kill a thou­sand; Who have been Tardus ad vindictam, ad bene­volentiam velox, slow to do evill and revenge, but swift to do good and reconcile; Loving Pax bello potior, peace better than war, and esteeming it Pro patria mori pulchrum, honourable to dye for their Country. Which they have done, and all Law, Religion, Justice, and Equity with them: Cum uno paricidio junxerunt juris divini, naturalis, juris gen­tium, [Page 53] omnium legum publicarum privatarumque ever­sionem, reipublicae perturbationem, libertatis populi op­pressionem, Senatus abolitionem, nobilitatis extermina­tionem, innocentium damnationem, peculatum, & aera­rii publici direptionem, solennis conventionis infractio­nem, perfidiam, jurisjurandi violationem, statuum om­nium confusionem, immo subversionem.

Therefore let no man be offended if I attend the funeral, and say something on the behalf of the deceased; It is a Christian duty, and none will ac­count it superstition to give an Encomium at buri­alls where it is due, unless those who account it superstition to deserve well themselves. De mor­tuis nil nisi bonum, We must say nothing but good of the dead. Therefore behold the Monument in these insuing political Aphorisms.

KIngs are Jure Divino, by Divine right, to be obeyed, and not by violent force of subjects to be re­sisted, although they act wickedly, Prov. 8.15. By me Kings raign. Dan. 2.21. He removeth Kings, and setteth up Kings. Prov. 16.10. A Divine Sentence is in the lips of the King. Prov. 21.1. The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord. Job 34.18. Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked? and to Princes, ye are ungodly? Prov. 24.21. Fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change. Eccl. 8.2. I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment. Exod. 22.28. Thou shalt not speak evil of thy Prince, nor detract the Magistrate. 1 Pet. 2.17. Fear God, honour the King. Prov. 30.31. A King against whom there is no rising up. Eccles. 10.20. Curse not the King, no not in thy thought. 1 Sam. 24.6. The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Mas­ter, the Lords anointed, to stretch forth mine hand a­gainst him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. From which premisses none unless those who deny the Scripture, can deny these Consequences. That the [Page 55] jura regalia of Kings, are holden of Heaven, and can­not for any cause escheat to their Subjects. That active obedience is to be yielded to the King as Supreme, in omnibus licitis, in all things lawfull. But if God for the punishment of a Nation, should set up a Tyrannical King, secundum voluntatem pravam non rationem rectam regentem, governing by his de­praved will against reason, and commanding things contrary to the word of God, we must not by force of arms rebel against him; but rather than so, (if not prevailing by Petition unto him, or escaping by flight from him) patiently submit to the losse of our Lives and Estates, and in that case, Arma nostra sunt preces nostrae, nec possimus, nec debemus aliter resistere, Our prayers and tears should fight, and not our Swords: For who can lift up his hands against the Lords anointed, and be guiltless? This in Scrip­ture we find practised by Gods people to Pharaoh: Exo. 5.1. and the same people, to Nebuchadnezzar, a Tyrant, were commanded to perform obedience, and to pray for him, Though there was no wick­ednesse almost which he was not guilty of. His Successor Darius, Daniel obeyed, and said, O King live for ever. Dan. 6.21. For now no private person hath with Ehud, Judg. 3.21. extraordinary com­mandment from God to kill Princes, nor no per­sonal warrant from God, as all such persons had who attempted any thing against the life even of Tyrants. Nil sine prudenti fecit ratione vetustas.

2. The King hath his Title to the Crown, and to his Kingly office and power, not by way of trust from the peo­ple, [Page 56] but by inherent bigthright, immediately from God, Nature and the law, 1 Reg. Ja. ca. 1. li. 7.12 Calvins ca [...]e.

3. The Law of Royal government, is a Law Funda­mental, 1 pars Jnst. fo. 11.

4. The Kings Prerogative, and the Subjects Liberty are determined, and bounded by the Law. Bracton, fo. 132. Plowden, fo. 236, 237.

5. By Law no Subjects can call their King in question, to answer for his actions, be they good or bad. Bract­on, fo. 5, 6. Si autem ab eo petatur (cum Breve non Currat contra ipsum) locus erit supplicationi, quod fac­tum suum corrigat, & emendet, quod quidem si non fe­cerit, satis sufficit ei ad poenam, quòd Dominum expectet ultorem. Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare, multo fortius contra factum suum venire. If any one hath cause of action against the King (because there is no Writ runneth against him) his only re­medy is by supplication and petition to the King, that he would vouchsafe to correct and amend that which he hath done, which if he refuse to do, Only God is to revenge and punish him, which is punishment enough. No man ought to presume to dispute the Kings actions, much lesse to rebel against him.

6. The King is the only Supreme Governour, hath no Peer [...] his Land, and all other persons have their power from him. 3 Ed. 3.19. Bracton, li. 1. cap. 8. Sunt eti­ [...]m sub Rege liberi homines & Servi ejus potestati subjecti, & Omnis quidem sub eo, & ipse sub nullo, nisi tantum sub Deo. Parem autem non habit in Regno suo, quia sic [Page 57] amitterit praeceptum, cum par in parem non habeat im­perium. Item nec multo fortius superiorem nec potentio­rem habere debet, quia sic esset inferior sibi subjectis & inferiores pares esse non possunt potentioribus. Ipse autem Rex, non debet esse sub homine, sed sub Deo & sub lege, quia Lex facit Regem. The King hath no superior but the Almighty God. All his people are inferior to him, he inferior to none but God.

7. The King is Caput Reipublicae, the Head of the Commonwealth immediately under God. 1 Jnst. 73.1. h. 7.10. Finch, 81.

And therefore carrying Gods stamp and mark among men, and being as one may say, a God upon Earth, as God is a King in Heaven, hath a shadow of the Excellencies that are in God, in a similitu­dinary sort given him, (Bracton, fo. 5. Cum sit Dei vicarius, evidenter apparet ad similitudinem Jesu Christi, cujus vices gerit in terris) That is to say

• 1. Divine Perfection.
• 2. Infinitenesse.
• 3. Majesty.
• 4. Soveraignty and Power
• 5. Perpetuity.
• 6. Justice.
• 7. Truth.
• 8. Omniscience.

1. Divine perfection. In the King no imperfect thing can be thought. No Laches, Folly, Negli­gence, Infamy, Stain or Corruption of blood can be adjudged in him. 35. h. 6.26. So that Nullum tempus occurrit Regi.

2. Infiniteness. The King in a manner is every where, and present in all Courts. And therefore [Page 58] it is that he cannot be non-sute, and that all Acts of Parliament that concern the King are general; And the Court must take notice without pleading them, for he is in all, and all have their part in him. Fitz. N. B. 21. H. 25. H. 8. Br: tit. Non­sute. 68.

3. Majesty. The King cannot take nor part from any thing, but by matter of Record, and that is in respect of his Majesty: unless it be a Chattle or the like; Because, De minimis non curat, Lex. 5. Ed. 4.7. 4 E. 6.31. 2 H. 4.7.

4. Soveraignty and Power. All the Land is hol­den of the King. No action lyeth against him; For who can command the King? He may compel his Subjects to go out of the Realm to war. Hath absolute power over all; For by a clause of Non­obstante, he may dispense with a Statute Law, and that if he recite the Statute; Though the Statute say, such dispensation shall be meerly void. 7 E. 4.17.21. H. 7.2. H. 7.7. Calvins case. Bracton. Rex habet potestatem & jurisdictionem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt, ea quae sunt jurisdictionis, & pacis ad nullum pertinent nisi ad Regiam dignitatem, habet eti­am coercionem, ut delinquentes puniat & coerceat. And therefore ought to have the Militia.

5. Perpetuity. The King hath a perpetual suc­cession, and never dyeth; For in Law it is called the demise of the King, and there is no Inter-reg­num. A gift to the King goeth to his Successors, though not named. For he is a Corporation of himself, and hath two capacities, (to wit) a natu­ral [Page 59] body, in which he may inherit to any of his Ancestors, or purchase Lands to him, and the heirs of his body, which he shall retain, although he be afterwards removed from his Royal estate; and a body politick, in which he may purchase to him and his heirs Kings of England, or to him and his Successors. Yet both bodies make but one indivi­sible body. Plowden 213.233.242. li. 7.12.

6. Justice. The King can do no wrong; There­fore cannot be a disseisor. He is all Justice, Veritas & Justitia, saith Bracton, circa solium ejus. They are the two Supporters that do uphold his Crown. he is Medicus regni, Pater patriae, sponsus Regni qui per annulum, is espoused to his Realm at his Coro­nation; he is Gods Lieutenant, and is not able to do an unjust thing. 4 Ed. 4.25. 5 Ed. 4.29. Potentia injuriae est impotentia naturae. His Ministers may offend, and therefore are to be punished if the Laws are violated; but not he.

7. Truth. The King shall never be estopped, Judgement finall in a writ of right shall not con­clude him. 18 E. 3.38. 20 E. 3. Fitz. Droit. 15.

8. Omniscience. When the King licenceth ex­presly to aliente an Abbot, &c. which is in Mort­main, he needs not make any Non obstante of the Statutes of Mortmain; For it is apparent to be granted in Mortmain, And the King is the head of the Law, and therefore shall not be intended misconusant of the Law. For, Praesumitur Rex ha­bere omnia jura in scrinio pectoris sui. 1 Jnst. 99. And therefore ought to have a Negative voice in Par­liament. [Page 60] For he is the fountain of justice from whence the Law floweth.

8. The Opinion of the two Spencers, in Ed. 2. Who held that the oath of allegiance was more, by rea­son of the Kings Crown, (that is his politick capa­city) than by reason of his person, Is a most detesta­ble, excreable, damnable and damned invention, 7 Rep. fo. 11. Calvins case.

9. High Treason can be committed against none, but the King, neither is any thing high Treason, but what is declared so to be by the Statute. 25 Ed. 3. c. 21. To leavy war against the King, to compass or imagine his death, or the death of his Queen, or of his el­dest Son, to counterfeit his Money, or his great Seal, to imprison the King untill he agree to cer­tain demands, to leavy war to alter Religion, or the Law, to remove Counsellours by arms, or the King from his Counsellours, be they evil or good, by arms, to seize the Kings Forts, Ports, Magazine of war, to depose the King, or to adhere to any State within or without the Kingdome, but the Kings Majesty, is high Treason. For which the Offendor should have judgement. First, to be drawn to the Gallows. 2. There to be hanged by the neck, and cut down alive. 3. His Intralls to be taken out of his belly, And he being alive to be burnt before him. 4. That his head should be cut off. 5. That his body should be cut in four parts. and 6. That his head and his quarters should be put where the Lord the King pleaseth.

[Page 61]10. Treason doth ever produce fatal destruction to the Offender, either in body or soul, sometimes in both, and he never attains to his desired end. 3 Par. Jnst. pag. 36. Peruse over all Books, Records and Hi­stories, and you shall finde a Principle in Law, a Rule in Reason, and a tryal in experience, that Treason doth ever produce fatal and final de­struction to the Offender, and never attains to the desired end, (two incidents inseparable thereunto) and therefore let all men abandon it, as the Poy­sonons bait of the Devil, and follow the precept in holy Scripture, Serve God, Honour the King, and have no company with the seditions.

11. That Kings have been deposed by their Subjects, is no argument or ground that we may depose ours, A facto ad jus non valet argumentum. Because Children have murdered their own fathers, is no warrant for us to murder ours. Judas betrayed his Sove­raign, yet should not we follow his example, unless we strive for his reward. There was never King deposed but in tumultuous and mad times, and by might, not by right.

12. The King is Principium, caput, & finis Parlia­menti, the begining, head, and end of a Parliament. The body makes not the head, nor that which is posterior, that which is prior, Kings were before Parliaments. There were not in England any for­med bodyes called the two Houses of Parliament, untill above 200. years after the Norman Conquest.

13. The King of England is armed with diverse Counsels, one whereof is called Commune consilium, [Page 62] the Common counsel, and that is the Court of Parliament, and so it is legally called in writs and judicial proceedings, Commune Consilium Regni An­gliae, Consilium non est praeceptum, Consiliarii non sunt prae­ceptores. It is not the office or duty of a Counseller, to command and make precepts; but only to advise.

14. The King is the fountain of justice, and the life of the Law. The two Houses frame the body, the King giveth the soul, for without him it is but a dead carcase. And—Si componere magnis Parva mihi fas est, If I may compare small things with great, As in a bond, though one find paper and a­nother write it, yet if the obligor do not seal and deliver it, it is nugatory and no obligation: So if the King assent not to an act of the two Houses, it is void and no Statute, It is the royal Scepter which gives it the force of a Law. Witnesse the whole Academy of the Law, & perspicua vera no [...] sunt probanda. It would be foolish to light the Sun with Candles.

15. Originally The King did make new Laws, and abrogate old, without the ass [...]nt of any known body, o [...] assembly of his Subjects. But afterwards by his graci­ous goodnesse perceiving that his people could best know their own soars, and so consequently ap­ply the most convenient remedy, he vouchsafed so much to restrain his power, that he would no make any Law concerning them, without their assent. For at the first, Populus nullis legibus tenebatu sed arbitria regum pro legibus erant. Which truth i [...] [Page 63] so clear, that it shines almost in every History. The oldest and best stile of an act of Parliament is, Be it enacted by the Kings Majesty, with the assent of the Lords, Spiritual and Temporal, and the Com­mons &c. which proves where the virtual power is.

16. The Commons have no Authority but by the Writ of Summons. That Writ gives them no power to make new Lawes, but onely to do and consent to such things, which shall hap­pen to be ordained by Common Counsel there in Parliament, which are the words of the writ, and all their Jurisdiction. At a Conference the Com­mons are alwayes uncovered, and stand bare, when the Lords sit with their hats on; which shews that they are not Colleagues in Judgement with the Lords. Every Member of the House of Commons takes the oath of allegiance and supremacy before his admission in the House, and should keep it too.

17. It is Lex & consuetudo Parliamenti; The Law and Custome of a Parliament, That no Arms are to be borne in London or Westminster, in the time of Par­liament, Lest the proceedings in that high Court, pro bono publico should thereby be hindred or di­sturbed. For it is more congruous for Red-coats with their Pikes, Muskets, Swords, and other ammunition to keep a Den of Theeves, than to keep the Members of so honourable a Court. 3 Jnst. 160. 4 Jnst. 14.

18. When an Act of Parliament is against Common right or reason (as that Debtors should not pay their debts, &c.) or repugnant or impossible to be performed, [Page 64] the Common Law shall controle it, and adjudge it to be voyd; And such is an Act for a perpetual Parliament, or to kill the King, Dier. 313. li. 8.118. Doctor Bonhams case.

19. The premisses being rightly and duely considered, if any person be so impudent, insolent and arro­gant, as to deny the King his Negative voyce in Parliament, They may aswell deny him his life, and take upon them to frame a new Law and Com­monwealth to themselves. Shall the Commons have a Negative voyce, who are most of them Tradesmen, and not educated in the Law, but in Mechanick handy-crafts? And shall not the King have this priviledge, who is assisted by the advice of the Judges, his Counsel at Law, Sollicitor, At­turney, Masters of Chancery and Counsel of State, consisting of some great Prelates, and other great Personages versed in State affairs?

20. The Parliament is actually dissolved by the de­mise of the King. Note: Quid prodest tibi nomen usurpare ali­e [...]um & vo­cari quod non es? For the Individuum Carolus Rex, being gone from whence they derived their power, consequent­ly their authority is gone likewise. For cessante statu primitivo c [...]ssat & de­rivativus. And Derivativa potestas non potest esse major primitivo.

HAving dissolved the Parliament, and set foot on the ground of the Politician, let us travel a little further, and take a survey of the main [Page 66] Triangle upon which the art of Government con­sists, viz.

• 1. Monarchy,
• 2 Aristocracy,
• 3. Democracy, or popular estate,

which dege­nerate into

• 1. Tyranny,
• 2. Oligarchy,
• 3. Ochlocracy, or Commonwealth.

And first of Monarchy, For a principalioribus seu dignioribus est inchoandum, The most excellent must have precedency. Monarchy, which we may call a Kingdome, is where the absolute Soveraignty lyeth in the power of one only Prince, (for so much the word Monarchy of it self importeth) who ruleth either according to the rule of Law and equity, or contrary. Which form of Government doth as far transcend and excel all o­thers, as the glorious Sun, doth the pale-f [...]ced Moon, or the Moon the lesser Stars. It is the Em­bleme of the Almighty: For behold the blessed Trinity, where there are three persons, but one God. There is an Arch-angel; The Angels adore but one Lord and Soveraign. Take a view of the heaven­ly Orb, where you shall see the caelestial creatures, give place to the Kingly Sun, The Moon ruleth Queen regent amongst the Stars; Behold the Eagle the King of the Birds of the air; The Lyon the King of the beasts, on the earth; And the Whale the King of fishes, in the sea; Fire hath the maje­stick preheminence above the other Elements; among granes, the wheat; among drinks, the wine; among spices, the baulm; among metals, the [Page 67] gold. The Devills themselves will not be so dis­orderly as not to have a King; for Satan is their Prince and chiefest Leader. The Members of the Natural body are subjects to the Head their So­veraign, and the same Congruity and Harmony is there in the Politique body of Monarchy. And such is the stately preheminence of this Government, that the Monarch can admit of no Peer in his King­dome, no more than the Sun can of an other Sun in the Firmament. Si duo soles velint ess [...], periculum ne incendio omnia perdantur. Serinus. If two be equal in power in a Commonwealth, it is Aristocracy, or rather Duarchy, and not Monarchy. For one of them hath not Soveraignty over the other; For, Par in parem non habet potestatem, & he only is a Soveraign who commandeth all others, and can him [...]elf by none be commanded. Then no less foolish than wicked and detestable is their opinion, who con­fess their Government to be Monarchical, yet would have Duo summa imperia, and hold that the Universe of the people are of equal, if not higher power than their Monarch, and may call him in question for his actions, and prosecute him even unto death, if they please; who make their dread­full Soveraign, a Jack a L [...]nt, a Minister of trust at the best, to be turned out of his Office at their pleasure, when God and all the World knows, that by the Law of God (as I shewed before, and shall more fully shew hereafter) the Law of Nations, the Law of Nature, and the Law of England, both Common and Statute, They ought not to touch [Page 68] him, though in truth he were so wicked as they would have and pretend him to be; No, they ought not so much as to think an evil thought of him. Quod summum est vnum est. Soveraignty is a thing indivisible, and cannot at one and the same time be divided between the King and his Subjects; If the Soveraignty be in the people, then is the Go­vernment either Popular or Aristocratical, and not Monarchical. To mix the estate of a Monarchy with Democratical, or Aristocratical estate, each having a share of the Soveraignty, is altogether impossi­ble. For if every one of the three estate, or but two of them hath power to make Laws, who should be the Subjects to obey them, or who could give the Law? being himself constramed to receive of them unto whom he himself gave it. Then might the King make the acting of his peo­ple against him treason, and the people make the acting of their King against them treason, which would bring all to Anarchical confusion. And although our age had produced such a Monster as to take upon them a power to depose, and powr out the sacred blood of their lawfull Soveraign; Yet is there no such power, in rerum natura, It is the off-pring of the Devil, The cloak, Sanctuary, and refuge of Treason, Rebellion, and Tyranny, to blinde the people, taking advantage of their ig­norance, and lead them hood-winckt, into ever­lasting destruction, unless the God of mercy pre­vent not.

With this new upstart Doctrine, have our [Page 69] Apochryphal Dogmatists in England, led the rascal rabble of the people about, like a Dog in a string, buzzing in their ears that the Monarchy of England is composed of three kinds of Commonwealths, and that the Parliament hath the form of an Aristocracy; the three estates of a Demo­cracy; and the King to represent the state of a Mo­narchy; which is an opinion not only false, absurd, fond, foolish and impossible, but also worthy of the most severe punishment. For it is high treason to make the Subject equal with the King, in au­thority, and power, or to joyn them as Compani­ons in the Soveraignty. For the power of a Sove­raign Prince, is nothing diminished by his Parlia­ment, but rather much more thereby manifested; The Majesty of a Prince, consists in the obedience of his Subjects, and where is the obedience of the Subjects more manifested then in his Parliament, where the Lords and Commons, the Nobility and Com­minalty, and all his Subjects from the highest Cedar, to the lowest Shrub, with bended knees, and bare heads, do cast down themselves at his feet, and do homage, and reverence unto his Majesty, Humbly offering unto him their requests, which he at his pleasure receiveth, or admiteth? So that it plainly appeareth, that if the Parliament be not extrava­gant, and leap over the bounds limited by the laws of God, and our Realm of England, the ma­jesty and authority of our Soveraign is not de­creased by the assembly of Parliament, but rather augmented and increased. For the Peers cannot [Page 70] assume. Aristocracy, nor the Commons Democracy, without violation of their Oaths, with which they are tyed in obedience to their Soveraign, as well as with the Laws. Indeed our Prince doth distribute places of command, Magistracy, and preferments to all his Subjects indifferently, and so the Govern­ment is in a manner tempered with Democracy. But yet notwithstanding the State doth continue a pure and simple Monarchy, because all authority floweth and is derived from the King, and the So­veraignty doth still continue in him, as the foun­tain from whence those streams of power run, and the Parliament is so far from sharing in this So­veraignty, that the whole current of our acts of Parliament acknowledge the King to be the only Soveraign, stiling him Our Soveraign Lord the King. And the Parliament, 25 H. 8. saith, This your Graces Realm, recognizing no superior under God, but your Grace, &c. And the Parliament 16 Rich. 2.5. affirm­eth the Crown of England, to have been so free at all times, that it hath been in no earthly subjection, but immediately to God, in all things touching the Regality of the said Crown, and to none other. And without doubt these Parliaments, and many others had as much might, and right, though not so much Knavery, as our Anabaptists, and Puritans and other Sectaries have now, who pretend that the Government originally proceedeth, and habi­tually resideth in the people, but is cumulatively, and communicatively derived from them, unto the King, and therefore the people, not denuding [Page 71] themselves of their first interest, but still retaining the same in the collective body, that is to say in themselves suppletive, if the King in their Judge­ment be defective, in the administration, or neglect the performance of his duty, may question their King for his misgovernment, dethrone him if they see cause, and resuming the Collated power into their own hands again, may transfer it to any other whom they please.

These men would make themselves extraordi­nary wise, or else our Ancestors extraordinary fools; for surely if there had been such a power re­siding in the people, as these men blab of, it would have been preached up before these new­lights ever saw the light, some busie-head like themselves, would have awakened it, and not let it sleep so long. But it is impossible and a meer foppery to think that such a power should be; for suppose that the people had at first Elected their Governour, and gave him Soveraignty over them, could they with justice and equity dethrone him again? Surely no. For, sive electione, sive postulatione, vel successione, vel belli jure princeps fiat, Principi ta­men facto, Divinitus potestas adest. Let the King be made by election, lot, succession or conquest, yet being he is a King, he hath Divine power. And therefore they have no power to take away that which God hath given.

The Conceit of a mixed Monarchy, that the su­preme power may be equally distributed into two or three sorts of Governours, is meerly vain [Page 72] and frivolous, because the supreme power being but one, must be placed in one sort of Governors, either only in Monarchy, or only in Aristocracy, or only in Democracy; Our Parliaments of England ne­ver until now claimed either Aristocracy, or Demo­cracy; Therefore, as hitherto it hath been granted, so the Government must of necessity still be Monar­chical: And the gracious Concessions of our Sove­raign, not to make Laws without a Parliament, do not make the Parliament sharer, or his equal in the Soveraignty, because, as I shewed before, the Parliament hath no power but what is derived from the King. His limitation of his Prerogative, doth no way diminish his Supremacy; God himself who is most absolute, may notwithstanding limit himself and his power, as he doth when he promises and sweareth that he will not fail David, and that the unrepentant Rebels should never enter into his rest; so a man that yieldeth himself to be bound, hath his strength restrained, but not lessen­ed; neither is any of it transferred to them who bound him; So our Soveraign doth limit his power in some points of his administration, and yet this limitation neither transferreth any power of Soveraignty unto the Parliament, nor denyeth the Monarchy to be absolute, nor admitteth of any re­sistance against him.

MOnarchy is either Lordly, or Royal; Lordly is where the Monarch by the Law of Arms, in a lawfull war becometh Lord of the goods and per­sons of the Conquered, governing them, as the Master of a family doth his slaves, how he pleaseth; And it is concluded by all that Nimrod was the first Lordly Monarch.

[Page 74] Royal, is where the Monarch maketh the Law the Rule of his actions, permitting his subjects to injoy their Meum and Tuum, aswell as himself; the Law being the Arbitrator between them both. I am not ignorant of the infinite sorts of Monar­chies, which many men make by the different means of the obtaining the State; but all of them may be comprised in these two (unless Tyrannical of which hereafter I shall speak) be they haeredita­ry by succession, by election, by gift, or by devise; For the difference of Monarchs, is not to be gather­ed by the means of the coming to the State, but by the means of governing.

Among the many Prerogatives, which the State of Monarchy may challenge above other Govern­ments, it hath none so glorious as it's Author, and Antiquity; For he that denyeth that the Almighty was the founder of Monarchical Soveraignty, may aswell deny that there is a God, being himself the Monarch of all creatures; Therefore to this Almighty Monarch, will I lift up my head and hands, and humbly implore his sacred Majesty, to guide my pen in the road of truth, whilest I travel to the head of this river, for I will dive into the depth of it, and make a scrutiny in the very foun­dation.

The first caelestial King which made Heaven and [Page 75] Earth, and all things therein, was the Almighty; The first terrestial King which was made for Heaven and of Earth, and Governour of all things therein, was Adam; If thou art so much a Basileu-mastix, as to doubt this truth, behold his Patent by which he was made Lord and King over all, Genes. 1.28. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and subdue it, and have Dominion over the fish of the Sea, and over the foul of the Air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth. This royal Commission did the King of Kings give to our Fa­ther Adam, which is so much the larger by reason of the word Dominare, which is more than regere. Which may serve to re [...]ell that absurd opinion, and worse than humane invention of those men, who impudently aswell as ignorantly, call Kingship, humanum inventum, a humane ordinance, and say that Kings were originally instituted by the suf­frage of the people, and so may be deposed by the people, whereas it plainly appeareth, that there were no people when the first King was ordained; and doubtless (let the opposers of Royal Govern­ment spet what venome they will) it is an un­doubted truth & an irrefragable axiome, that Chil­dren have asmuch right by the Law of God, and nature, to depose their natural Father, and chuse another, as the people have to depose their natu­ral haereditary Soveraign, and make choise of ano­ther; For the King is the Father of the people, the Husband of the Commonwealth, and the Master of his subjects; and suppose him to be evil, can you [Page 76] finde any warrant in Scripture, that Children should murder their Father, the Wife her Husband, or the Servant his Master, because they were wic­ked? surely not, no more can you finde any autho­rity for Subjects to murder their Soveraign: but our age hath created such a power, or rather a Monster, and cloathed it too with such piety, and Religion, as if they did intend to binde it up with the Bible, and make it Canonical; but without doubt they will be so far from making future ages to take it for Gospel, as they will hardly have Rethorick enough, to make them believe that ever such a wickedness could be committed.

Let us now look into humane Writers, and see what their Histories afford us, which we will make rise of, only as an illustration to what we have said, not as an authority, because there is no greater au­thority than Scripture, although Historia non est vilis authoritas, great is the authority of History.

Principio rerum, gentium, nationumque imperium penes Reges erat, saith Justin. li. 1. From the begining of things, that is, fr [...]m the begining of the world, the rule and Government of the people, and of all Nations, was in the hands of Kings; which Learn­ed Cicero doth with no lesse truth Confirm, saying, Certum est omnes antiquas gentes Regibus primum pa­ruisse, which is the same in effect with Iustin. That Monarchy is most natural, and as it were instituted by the laws of Nature, is a Conclusion by the com­mon consent of the best Philosophers and Historians; Let Tacitus, and Seneca speak for them all: Ʋnum [Page 77] imperii Corpus, unius Animo regendum videtur, the whole Commonwealth makes but one Body, and it is most natural for one body, to be ruled by one Soul. Seneca, Natura certe commenta est Regem, quod ex aliis animali [...]us licet cognoscere, surely Nature found out Kings, which we may learn even of the brute beasts. And Multitudes of antients preach Monarchy to be Divine. Callimach. [...]: Ex Jove sunt Reges, Kings were instituted by their Gods. Plato in Polit. [...]: Rex, Deus quispiam humanus est, The King is, as one may say, a God upon Earth. Liv. lib. xxvi. Regnum, res inter Deos hominesque pulcherrima. Therefore let none so stupidly deny, that Monarchy is not Divinum institutum, a Divine institution. If they do, blind Homer will prove them blinder than himself, For, [...]: à Jove educatos Re­ges, saith he, The Gods constituted and educated Kings; therefore let every one use his uttermost endeavour, and make these supplications with Ho­mer, to his lawfull Soveraign, — [...] — herus unicus, esto unicus & Rex, Be thou our only Lord, and our only King. O most legal and dreadfull Soveraign.

Let us all be of one mind, to establish our King, for he being unsafe, we are all unsafe and perjured. I know not of what constitution thou art, who peru­sest [Page 78] these lines, But be thou (a)Note Reader that this Chaos of Religions, hath justed the true Protestant Religi­on out of doors, so have I seen a flower kill'd by the multitude of weeds, and a Lamb destroyed by a number of Woolves. a Puritan, Presbyterian, Brownist, In­dependent, Anabaptist, fift Monarchy­man, Quaker, Millenarie, Arminian, Socinian, Antitrinitarian, Theaurau John, Antinomian, Adamite, Fami­list, Jesuit, Ranter or what thou wilt, Learn this, though perhaps it agree not with thy constitution; That Kings are ordained by Gods constitution, and by Gods constitution, we are commanded and ought for to obey them, as out of holy Writ I have already, and shall farther prove; and as that man who maketh a question, whether there is a God or no? ought to be answered with Stripes, rather than verball instructions, so he that denyeth this truth, ought with the ora­tory of the sword, and not of the mouth, to be perswaded into his due obedience. For it is an uncontrolable Maxim, that he doth not honour, and serve God as he should, who doth not honour and serve his King as he ought; God will not own him to be his subject, who will not be a subject to his Soveraign the Lords anointed; Therefore since by the Law of God (for nothing is more frequent­ly commanded in the Scripture, and our Kings are of like institution with those Kings in Scrip­ture, and ought to have the same honour and obe­dience) by the Law of Nature, by the Law of Na­tions, by the Common, and Statute Law of Eng­land, [Page 79] we are commanded to honour our King: Let no man be so much an Enemy to God, to Re­ligion, to his Country, to the Church, to the Law, and to his own soul, as to Rebel against his Legal Soveraign; For he that doth it, transgresseth against the ten Commandements of the Law, the new Commandement of the Gospel, he committeth the seaven deadly sins, the four crying sins, the three most detestable sins, to the soul of man, viz. Pro­phaness, Impudency, and Sacrilege; In a word, he committeth all sins, is the Embleme of the Devil, and unless he repent, he will have his Lot with Belzebub the great Rebel and Traytor against Hea­ven. If punishment cannot compel them, me thinks the beauty of Monarchy might allure men to love it. Surely there is no generous spirit who doth not; for the most renowned and famous Na­tions in the World have lived under Monarchical Government, as the Scythians, Ethiopians, Indians, Assyrians, Medes, Egyptians, Bactrians, Armenians, Macedonians, Jews and Romans, first and last, and at this day the French, Spaniards, Polonians, Danes, Muscovites, Tartars, Turks, Abissines, Moors, Agia­mesques, Zagathinians, Cathaians, yea and the Salvage people lately discovered in the West-Indies, as be­ing guided thereto, by the rules of nature; and rip up Antiquity, and search Histories both antient and modern, and thou shalt never finde our Realm of England so much an Enemy to virtue, as to hate Royal Government, until these latter and worst of dayes, wherein it is accounted a sin to be [Page 80] noble, and vertuous: Nay so much did our Nation love Kings in former times, that we had seaven of them in England at one and the same time, viz. 1. The King of Kent, 2. Of the South-Saxons, 3. Of the West-Saxons, 4. Of the East-Saxons, 5. Of Northumberland, 6. Of Mercia. 7. Of the East-Angels, which ruled and shined like the seaven Stars, each absolutely reigning in his Country, not under the subjection of other, until at length by the Law of Conquest, one became Monarch over all, ruling like the Sun, and acknowledging none on Earth his Superior, so much that it is amongst us a common adage, viz. The King holdeth of none but of God. But it seems God hath now granted away the Seigniory to the House of Commons, and the King must hold of them; But from hence ariseth a point in Law, whether they are absolutely and le­gally seized of the Seigniory, without attornment of the tenant: In my simple opinion the Seigniory doth not pass before attornment; but I leave it as a quaere to the House of Commons, who are best able to resolve it, because they have all the Law in their own hands.

From what hath been said, it is apparent that Adam was the first King on Earth, and that King­doms have been ever since Adam haereditary; for a family which was before Commonwealth, is no­thing else but a small Kingdom, and a great Kingdom [Page 81] is nothing else but a great family, for the Pater fa­milias were, petite Kings, and had royal power, and potestatem vitae & necis, even over their own Children, as Abraham and others. But when the family increased, and the numerous off-pring of their first parent multiplied, built Villages, Towns, and Cities, and so became a great people, so long as their first parent lived, their love and duty to­wards him, would not permit them unnaturally to strive with him, for the superiority; but to acknowledge and obey him as their Soveraign and lawfull King, from whence they had their being: And this is the reason that Kings are called Patres Patriae, Fathers of their Country. Sal. 1. Inde enim origo regum regiique regiminis petenda est. Haec cum primo homine & cum solo novo cepit, quoniam primum parentem numerosus ex eo descendens natorum, & qui ex [...]is nati sunt populus, pro rege habuit, & observavit, ut primum sui generis auctorem. So much for Mo­narchy, the best of all Governments. No man can serve two Masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other; ye cannot serve God and Mammon, Math. 6.24. If any Anti-Royalist think himself wiser than our Saviour, and that he can serve two Masters, and love them both, let him hate Monarchy, and set up his two headed Master, and let experience the mistris of fools correct him, as it hath many al­ready.

But since our age is given to nothing but vain imaginations, there be some who do Imagine, and [Page 82] will object that Adam was no King, because he is not stiled so in Scripture. I answer (though this frivolous objection doth not deserve an answer) that neither do you find Adam stiled in Scripture, my Father, or thy Father, yet Adam was the Fa­ther of all flesh; Si res apparet, Cur de nomine certas? He that hath the supreme power is a King; But Adam had the supreme power, Ergo, Adam was a King. Rex cometh from Regere to rule, and Adam was sole Lord, Ruler, and King, and so continued untill he died. Adam was created by God, the Monarch of the World, before he had any subjects, And by right of Nature it was due to Adam to go­vern his posterity, even before his subjects were born: So that, though not in act, yet in habit Adam was a king from his creation; Neither could Eve, nor her Children ever limit Adams power. It was God that gave the power, therefore no Mortals could ever diminish or increase it. For, Quid Jove majus habetur? They must be above all that which is called godlinesse, who go about to put asunder, that which the Almighty hath joyned together. This Paternal power continued Monarchical, to the Floud, and after the Floud, to the Confusion of Babel, at which time God scattered the people a­broad from thence, upon the face of the whole earth, as you may read, Gen. 10, & 11. Yet they went out by Colonies of whole families, over which the prime Fathers had the Soveraignty, and were kings, deriving their Fatherly and Regal power from Noah, whose Sons or Grand-children they [Page 83] were all. And although I think there are but few Kings in the world, who can prove their title to their Crown hereditary, ever since Noahs Floud, or the Confusion of Babel, yet it is as true, that there is a Regal right, continuing in the Father-hood, even untill this day, and that the next heir to Adam ought to have the Supreme power, as it is true, that the father hath right, & ought to govern his Children, or as that it is a rule, Qui prior est tempore potior est jure; He that is eldest, by Law ought to rule: For God told Cain the eldest bro­ther, Gen. 4.7. That unto him should be the de­sire of his youngest brother, and that he should rule over him, which continueth a Law until this present time: But though we know not which is the next heir to Adam in any convention of the people, (which is the fault of our ignorance, not of nature) yet since God hath told us in his Holy Word, that he only disposeth of Crowns, as he pleaseth; Therefore they can not go out of the right line, so long as he directeth and guideth them, though the right in the Father-hood lye dormant. Every King is a Father, therefore every subject must be obedient to his fatherly power, otherwise he will break Gods Commandment, viz. Honour thy Father, &c. God only had right to give, and take away Crowns, and thereby to adopt subjects into the allegiance of another fa­therly power.

Therefore no less false than execrable is their opinion, who promulge that all men whereby na­ture [Page 84] born free from subjection, and that they had no Governour, but by the peoples assent, and chu­sing, when it is most apparent, that God gave the Supreme power to Adam, and that all men since were born subjects by nature. Our Saviour was subject to his Parents will, Luke 2.51. And doubt­less those men are free from all goodness too, who profess themselves born free from subjection to their Prince, or their Ancestors before them.

But suppose all men were born free by nature, and that the people originally by nature had power to chuse a King? after what manner, or how is it possible for them to make their choice? it must be by the joint consent of every reasonable crea­ture, Male and Female, Old and Young, Babes and Antient men, Sick and Lame, all at one time Ne­mine Contradicente: for if natural freedom be gran­ted to all, the Major part of the whole people in the world, or the Major part of the people of a Kingdom, have no power to binde the lesser part to their consent, and agreement; Every one being as free by birth, and having as much power as any other: For the Major part never bindeth, but where men at first either agree to be so bound, or where a higher power so commands: Now there being no higher power than Nature, but God him­self, where neither Nature nor God appoints the Major part to binde, The consent of the Major part is not binding to any, but only to themselves who consent; Those who are born afterwards (ac­cording to the tenets of natural freedome) are not [Page 85] bound by their consent, because by nature they are likewise born free. But if it should be true, (as it is false) that men are all free born by nature, yet have not they power jointly or severally, to alter the Law of nature. Now, by the Law of na­ture no man hath power to take away his own life; How then can the people or any single man give that power to another, which he hath not in him­self? If he killeth himself for any offence, he is a murtherer. Therefore if any man claiming no other power but what he hath from the people, do take away the life of any man, though in a way of publique justice, he is a murtherer, and the man so killed, is a felo de se. Because the man slain had no power to kill himself, and so consequently he which killed him had no power neither; For, Nemo potest plus juris in alium transferre quam ipse habet: No man can transfer to another, a greater right and power, than he himself hath.

LEt us now set upon this Monster, a Tyrant who is either cum titulo, vel sine titulo, with a title, or without a title; A Tyrant cum titulo or Exercitio, is he who being a legal Soveraign, ruleth by his de­praved will, and treading under foot the Laws of God, and his Realm, enslaveth his free born sub­jects, [Page 87] and useth their goods as his own. A Tyrant sine Titulo is he who usurpeth the Soveraignty without the Authority of the Law, and subverteth all Rights, and Religion, making what Laws he pleaseth, or else squareth his actions according to the rule of the known Laws. For he that hath no Title to the Soveraignty, but usurpation, is a Ty­rant, though he live so piously and religiously, that to the world he seems a Saint.

Here I could willingly cast Anchor, and stop the progress of my pen, from sayling any further into this rough Ocean of Tyranny; But when I see the Sword and Scripture so much at variance, the one fighting against the other, then am I forced to put this question, Whether a lawful Soveraign pervert­ing the Laws of God and man, and metamorpho­sed into an absolute Tyrant, may by his subjects be called in question, and punished at their plea­sure? The Sword saith he may, and proves it by experience. The Scripture, though not with so much violence, yet with more Reason, and Reli­gion, both saith and proves it that he may not, Mulciber in Trojam, pro Troja stabat Apollo.

For the better decision of which question, it is first necessary to be known, whether the institution of Kings be immediatly from God, or whether they be creatures made by the people, receiving their power from their subjects, and so to be de­throned when they vouchsafe to think convenient. For art thou only a stranger in England, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these [Page 88] dayes? That there are new Statesmen, who have found out a new discovery, and hold forth these Sophisms for true doctrin, That Royal authority is originally, and radically, in the people, from them by consent, derived to Kings immediately, medi­ately only from God; that the donation or colla­tion of the power is from the Community, the approbation only from God, and that Sove­raignty and power, in a King, is by conveyance from the people, by a trust devolved upon him, and that it is Conditional, fiduciary and propor­tioned, according as it pleaseth the Community to entrust more or lesse, and to be weighed out ounce by ounce, and that the King may be opposed, and resisted by violence, force, and arms, and the people resume their power; which we deny, and shall prove by the law of God, of Nations, of Nature, of the Common and Statute law of England, that the Royal power, and Soveraignty of Kings is prima­rily, formally, and immediatly from God, and that the people through pretence of Liberty, Privilege, Law, Religion, or what Colour soever, ought not to oppose, imprison, resist, much lesse Murther their King, though he be wicked, and subvert Law and Religion; much lesse when he is pious, uphol­deth and maintaineth both.

First, I conceive that there is no man so impu­dently wicked as to deny that there is a God who created all things, Heaven and Earth, Angels and Men; the power of Angels, and the power of Men; there is one power of Angels, and another of Men, [Page 89] so there is a difference of powers amongst men, the power of a King, inferior to no power on earth but only Gods, the power of the Subjects inferior to the power of the King; the power of a Father over his Children; and the power of a Husband over his Wife; and so every power limitted by God; and as one Star doth excel another in brightnesse, so one power doth excel another in dignity and glory. There is nothing more plain and evidently asserted in the Scripture, than that Kingly power is the most Sacred, Divine, and glorious of all po­wers, immediately from God, peculiarly owned by him, as a power wherin his Nature and Majesty is most manifested; and as I have already shewed, hath a shadow of all Divine Excellencies. Man was made, Gen. 1.26. and God said, let us make man in our Image: But man had no power or dominion, untill God further said, And let them have dominion over; so that it is from hence most clear, that man had no power or Soveraignty, untill God gave it him, and the first man to whom God gave it, was Adam a King, the sole Monarch of the world. Then let not our new Sectaries fondly & wickedly conceit, that royal authority is originally, and radically from them, & that it is by their consent immediatly derived from them, to Kings; Since the Kingly pow­er & office was before they were born, or had any power, from whence such authority could be deri­ved. By me Kings raign saith God, not only particular Kings, as Kings of the Jews, &c. but all Kings, Prov. 85.1. Qui succedit in locum, succedit in jus. Therefore [Page 90] whosoever claim unto themselves, that pow­er which is universally and perpetually peculiar unto the God of all power, do Blaspheme and rob God of his honour, and what lyes in them, do make God no God, and themselves the only Al­mighty: But the people which challenge unto themselves, the original power of earthly Domi­nion, do challenge unto themselves that power which is universally and perpetually peculiar to the God of all power; Therefore those people do blaspheme, and rob God of his honour, and what lyes in them do make God no God, and themselves the only Almighty. There is no power but of God, The powers that be are ordained of God, Rom. 13.1, 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Doubtless our superinten­dants did never learn their Doctrine, from this Text; but they may aswell learn it from hence as from any other place in Scripture, for I finde no­thing in my Bible contrary to this, but every text in Scripture, doth harmoniously agree with this, and unanimously resolve, that Kings are of God, they are Gods; Children of the most high, his Servants, [...]ir pub­lick Ministers, his Deputies, his Vicegerenis, his Lieute­nants, their Throne, their Crown, their Sword, their Scepter, their Judgements are Gods, their Power, Per­son, and charge are of Divine extract, and so their au­thority, and person are both sacred, and inviolable. God removeth Kings and setteth up Kings, Daniel 2.21. Thou settetst a Crown of pure Gold on his head, Psal. 21.3. I gave thee a King in mine anger, and took him away [Page 91] in my wrath, Hos. 13.11. Which proveth that God, not the people, did institute Kings, and that God not the people should take them away. God hath spoken once, yea twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God, Psal. 62.11. By him were all things created that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers, Col. 1.16. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant King, instead of David my Father, 1 Kings 3.7. I have pro­vided me a King, saith God, 1 Sam. 16.1. Whole heaps of Scipture might I gather to confirm that Kings are solely, and immediatly dependent from God, and independent from all others, which truth the suffrages of the Holy Fathers, (which are but as so many Commentaries on the Scripture, and therefore not so necessary here to be recited) do affirm and maintain.

But some may ask me, how Kings in these dayes can be said to be immediatly from God, when som­times they are elected Kings by the people, some­times they come to their Crowns by Conquest, and sometimes hereditarily by succession, and never by extraordinary manifestation and revelation from Heaven, as did Moses, Saul, David. To this I briefly answer, That (as Divines hold) a thing is imme­diatly from God several wayes. 1. When it is solely from God, and presupposeth nothing ordi­nary or humane, antecedent to the obtaining of it. So was Moses made captain over Israel, and so had Joshua his authority. But Soveraignty now to our [Page 86] [...] [Page 87] [...] [Page 88] [...] [Page 89] [...] [Page 90] [...] [Page 91] [...] [Page 92] Kings is not so conveyed, but some humane act is alwayes intervening.

2. When the Donation and Collation of the power to such a person, is immediatly from God, though some act of man be antecedent, as Mathias was an Apostle immediatly from Christ, though first the Apostles put two a part, and cast lots, yet neither of these two acts jointly or severally, did virtually or formally, collate the Apostolical power upon him. When an Atturney maketh livery of seisin, according to his letter of Atturny, the Feoffee is in by the Feoffor, and not by the Atturny, though his act was interposed. Is is not the Fe­offment of the Atturney, but of the Feoffor, and the Feoffee his Title is only from the Feoffor, though he had not had it but by the means of the At­turny.

In the second sense, Soveraignty is conferred on kings immediatly from God, though some created act, as Election, Succession, Conquest, or any other ordinary act intervene; For the interposed act containeth not in it power to confer Soveraignty, but that power cometh formally and virtually from God, and so relateth to him as the proper Donor, and immediate Author; As when a king giveth power to a favourite, to make a Lord, or a Baron, yet who is so stupid as to averr that the ho­nour of a Lord, or a Baron, cometh immediatly from the favourite, and not from the king? So when God puts into the hearts of the people to chuse a king, the Soveraignty cometh from God, [Page 93] and not from the people, The people cannot pro­duce so noble an effect as Royalty, Nemo potest trans­ferre in alium quod non habet in se, No man can give that to another, which he hath not himself. The Soveraign hath power over life and death; No single man hath power to kill himself, nor the peo­ple jointly; For if no man hath power over his own life, much less over his neighbours; There­fore Soveraignty is not derived from the people. The people have potestatem designativam personae, but not potestatem collativam potestatis regiae, they have power to design, and depute the person, But not the power to joyn the Royal authory to the person; for that is immediatly from God. As the designation of the person to an holy function is from man or men, but the collation of the power is immediatly from God. I may have power to throw a man into the Sea, but it is the water which drowneth him. There is a great difference be­tween the applying of the person to the authority, and the applying of the authority to the person, the one may be the act of the people, the other can only be the act of the Almighty, Licet communi­catio potestatis quandoque sit per consensum hominum, po­testas tamen ipsa immediate est a Deo, cujus est potestas, Though the power be sometimes conferred by the consent of men, yet it is immediatly given from God, whose power it is, saith R [...]ffensis, de potestate Papae. fol. 283. Et Communitas nihil sui confert regibus, nisi ad summam personam determinet, & potius personam applicat divinae potestati, [Page 94] quam divinam potestatem personae, The Com­munity hath no power to confer on Kings, but only to depute the person, it may apply the person to the divine power, but cannot apply the divine power to the person, saith Spalet. tom. 2.529. Con­stitue supra nos Regem at judicet nos sicut & universae habent nationes, Make us a King to rule over us (not we over him) that he may judge us (not that we may judge him) as all other Nations have, Cry the Elders of Israel. From whence it is apparent, that Soveraignty cometh from the Heavens, not from our earthly Cottages, we are rather Passive, than Active, it is God which makes Kings, we receive and should obey them. There is no society without Govern­ment. We should destroy one the other unlesse we had a Governour. Thou O Lord hast made and given a King to the little Bees, who follow him as their leader, and honour him with a throne in the midst, and safest place amongst them; the Cranes do follow one as chief, and flocks and herds have their Captain to lead them; the Fishes of the Sea do fol­low one as King. Therefore let not us men only be independent, and since thou hast told us that power belongs to thee, we will not rob thee of it; Obedi­ence is that which we are only capable of; Sove­raignty is a Creature of thy making, not of ours, Therefore make us a king to rule over us. The Prophet Samuel seeing their urgent resolution for a king, lest they should afterwards plead ignorance, told them the power of a king. Vosque eritis ei servi, If you have a King, you must be his Servants, he will take [Page 95] your Sons, and appoint them for himself, for his Chari­ots, he will take the tenth of your sheep, and of your seed, he will take your Daughters to be confectionaries, [...]e will take your Fields, your Vineyards, your Olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his Officers and Ser­vants, he will take your men-Servants, and your maid-Servants, and your Goodliest young men, and your Asses, and put them to his work, This is the power of a king; and from whence is this power derived? doubtless not from the people, for they are never so willing to part from what they have. But notwithstanding they persisted in their Petition, and would have a king, saying, Rex erit super nos, & erimus nos quoqu [...] sicut omnes gentes, & judicabit nos Rex noster, Nay, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the Nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our Battels; by which it is perspicuous, that all Kings had the same power, as this King here described, by the Prophet had. The Israelites did not sin in desiring a King, nei­ther did God give them a King purposely for their punishment in his wrath; For as the best Divines hold, when God saith Hos. 13.11. I gave them a King in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath, (which proveth that God only giveth, and taketh away Kings) wicked Jeroboam is meant, and not Saul. For Samuel prayed for Saul, God com­manded Samuel to hearken to the voice of the people in all that they said, 1 Sam. 8.7. and did chuse them a pious King, for cap. 10.24. Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath cho­sen, [Page 96] that there is none like him among all the peo­ple, and all the people shouted, and said God save the King. So that it is apparent that Saul was chosen for his virtues, and was no Tyrant at his inaugu­ration. Moses Deut. 17.14, 15. did prophesie of their King, Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall chuse. Where Moses relateth what is decent, and meet for a cle­ment and merciful king. But Samuel describeth what a king may do, if he will use his summum jus, which is to do what he pleaseth; Therefore Sa­muel setteth forth the greatest and largest power of Kings, not to deter the people from desiring a Kings, but to prepare their hearts to obey him; for God commanded Samuel to grant the people their request, according to the prophecie of Moses, and therefore Samuel would not be unwilling to per­form Gods command, Neither was Samuels displea­sure for any other end; but that the people might be pleased with the king whom they so earnestly desired, and knowing his power, and remembring their fervent sute for him, they might more wil­lingly and chearfully obey him. For Sauls wicked­nesse did spring from the Corruption of his Nature, after he was made king, and not through any de­fault in God, for he was a man of excellent qualities when God chose him, and many pious and religi­ous kings were given to the people afterwards, as David, &c. But be they good or bad the people must not resist them, because, as Samuel sheweth, the manner of kings is to do what they will.

[Page 97] Principi summum rerum arbitrium Dii dederunt, subdi­tis obsequii gloria relicta est, To Princes God hath given the highest power, to Subjects only is left the glory of obedience, saith Tacitus, which indeed is the greatest glory can be conferred on them, if they had but hearts to receive it: for what is more glorious in Subjects than obedience to God and their King? Super imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fert imperatorem, The King hath no superior but only God, saith Optatus Bishop of Milivis. Generale pactum est societatis humanae obedire Regibus, It is a Natural, a General, a Universal Compact, Cove­nant of humane society, to obey their Kings, saith St. Austin. li. 3. Confess. cap. 8. But since optimus Legum interpres praxis, practice is the best interpre­ter of the Law, Look into the Scriptures and learn what our Ancestors have done before us, I am con­fident you cannot find in all the Scripture where God appointed any people to be the chusers of their Kings, but rather to accept of them and sub­mit themselves to them, whom the Lord had chosen and placed over them, Nusquam invenio Re­gem aliquem Judaeorum populi suffragiis creatum, quin si primus ille erat, qui designaretur a Deo, vel a prophetae ex Dei jussu, vel sorte, vel alia ratione, quam Deus in­dicasset, I never find any Jewish King made by the suffrages of the people, but whom God did first by some means appoint, saith Piueda de rebus Solo. li. 1. c. 2. neither did the Children of Israel chuse any unlesse Abimelech, the Bastard son of Gedeon, and (as some say) Jeroboam who made Israel to sin, and [Page 98] of the evil successe of their reigns, the Scripture will give you an account; Would not the people have established Adonijah in King Davids throne, crying out before him, 1 Kings 1.25. God save the King Adonijah? But God whose property it is only to make Kings, rejecteth Adonijah, and maketh So­lomon to rule in his Fathers stead, although Adoni­jah his title was by birthright, aswell as by the con­sent of the people, For, 1 Kings 2.15. saith he to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, Thou knowest that the Kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign, howbeit the Kingdom is turned about, and is become my Brothers, For it was his from the Lord. In this verse you may see the title of Ado­nijah, and the title of Solomon, to their Fathers Crown; Adonijah claimed it by birthright, and the power of the people, But Solomon claimed it from the Lord. It is no marvel that Adonijah put in his title for the Crown, for God hath appointed the right of primogeniture, by which the Patriarchs and all the rest of the posterity of Adam injoyed their roy­alty. The elder is to rule over the younger, by the Law of Nature; Suppose Adonijah to be more wicked than Solomon, yet doth not that take away his Birthright; For God saith to Cain, though he was never so wicked an Hypocrite, unto thee shall be the desire of thy Brother, and thou shalt rule over him, though Abel was never so Godly and sincere a ser­ver of God; which made Jacob so earnest to pur­chase his Brothers Birthright, Gen. 25.31. And Jacob said, sell me this day thy Birthright. But Ada­nijah [Page 99] his Title was not only by birthright, but also the people would have made him King, and if those people had had as much power as the people of England pretend to have, Adonijah would have wanted no other title than their power; for the peo­ple of England are not afraid to say like Gods, By us Kings reign, we throw down Kings & set them up again, there is no power but what comes from us, they provide themselves Kings, they have spoken once, yea twice have I heard this, that Power belongeth unto them, and that their Kings are only Derivatives from them, O mon­strum, horrendum, ingens, cui lumen ademptum. Did ever the world produce such blind prodigious Monsters? Was ever God and Christ robbed so much of their Power, Honour and Majesty as by these Vipers? Adonijah no sooner saw his Brothers Title, but he released his own, and quit­ted the Crown, wo be to them who usurp the Crown, and have no Title of their own. The Title of King Solomon was from the Lord, he only set the regal Diadem on his head, the people stood by as Ciphers, Solus verus Deus dat regna terrena bonis & malis, saith St. Austin de Civit. Dei, li. 4. cap. 33. It is God alone who disposeth of Crowns, he crown­ed Adam a King in Paradice before his fall, and before the rise of our M [...]so-Monarchical Statists, and therefore Monarchy is no Creature of the peoples, which makes them confess and believe (the De­vils do the same) that Monarchy is the best of all Governments, which perhaps is the reason that they would so fain have it to be a Bird of their [Page 100] own hatching; But me thinks their Tenets prove the contrary, for if all Supreme power were origi­nally in the people, and derived from them to the King, then without doubt Democracy were the best of all Governments; for that form of Govern­ment which cometh nearest to its Original is the best: But Democracy cometh nearest to its Original, therefore Democracy is the best, for the nearer the Fountain the purer the stream. But change the Supposition into a true Proposition, and then the Conclusion will be found, as thus, All Supreme Power is originally derived from God, That Go­vernment which cometh nearest to its Original is the best: But Monarchy cometh nearest to its Ori­ginal, therefore Monarchy is of all Governments the best. And that Monarchy is the best form of all Governments is the conclusion of all Politicians. Omnes vero palmam dant regno, all give the palm to Monarchy, Praestantiam autem Monarchiae, non ex ve­tustate cum Lipsio, nec ex naturae ductu, cum Hieron. ad Rastic. Mona. probo, sed ex commoditatibus, quibus caete­ras species antestat, I do not only prove Monarchy to be the most excellent, because it is most anti­ent, and most natural: but also because it is most profitable, saith Henningus Arnisaeus. As it is the most beautifull, so it is the most profitable go­vernment: Therefore none but mad men will dart forth the weapons of their Tongues and Hands, against Monarchy, or else those who would be Commonwealths-men only for their own private ends, or else those men who will not have a king­dom, [Page 101] unless it be their own, and Reges abominan­tur nisi ipsi sint, think kings abominable, unless they may be kings themselves. And these men think they may the easier attain to kingship by preaching this new Doctrine with the Iesuits, that the kings power is derived from the people, and so fool the ignorant multitude into an act of joyning with them to take the Regal Diadem from off their pious Soveraigns head, & place it on their own fana­tick Coxcombs, and so become our good Lords, & Masters of all that we have; for never was king ille­gally dethroned, but a hundred Tyrants came in his room, Regem quidem apparet eos sustulisse, sed nec minus manifestum est Regnum sibi retinuisse, dum quod sub uno erat in plures diviserunt, & triginta ac septem socios tyrannidis adscivere qui imperium secum tenerent, gravique & intollerando servitio cives suos pre­merent, nam sub specie libertatis tyrannidem saevissi­mam velle eos exercere vel caecis clarum est, saith Sal. But caveat emptor, let them take heed they do not purchase their vain glory at too dear a rate, their counterfeit dissembling may find a real Hell, Nec est diuturna poss [...]ssio, in quam gladio inducimur, this world will not last alwaies. Let them assure them­selves the people did never give nor ought for to take the power of their King, Non tribuamus dandi Regni potestatem nisi Deo vero, Let us not attribute the power of disposing of kingdoms to any but to the true God, saith St. Austin, de Civit. Dei, li. 5. c. 21. Nemo enim ante infelicissimam hanc nostram tem­pestatem, non fassus est, Principem populo dominari, [Page 102] Principi vero Deum, For no man before these most unhappy times of ours, did ever deny but that the King ought to govern the people, and the King to be governed by none but God, saith Barclay. Had I not known that our Regicides have voted the Lords prayer, as well as kings useless, (for uno ab­surdo dato mille sequuntur, over Shooes, over Boots) I should have wondred with what face they could conclude their Prayers to the Almighty, saying, For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for e­ver, Amen, yet claim the same power to them­selves: for if theirs be the kingdom, the power and the glory, if they have power to make and un­make kings when they please, then what or where is Gods power? Surely if their Doctrine be true, then our Saviours is false, and he did ill to teach us to pray, and command us to say, Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever; But let God he true, and every man a Lyar. Our Saviour is the Truth and the Light, and if these men had been inlightned by our Saviours doctrin, the darkness of these errors would never have so damnably blinded them, who make God a Paren­th [...]sis, thinking themselves perfect and compleat without him, and profess that the king, (whose [...]oodness, like their wickedness is incomparable,) is but a Brat of their own begetting, and that they like God may take him away as occasion shall serve.

These Antimonians (who pick out places of Scripture only to destroy Scripture) that they [Page 103] may be Canonical in all things, and do nothing without the Bible, say, that the people make the King, and that they are so taught out of Gods word, For, 1 Sam. 11.15. All the people went to Gil­gal, and there they made Saul King, before the Lord in Gilgal, which (say they) is an invincible proof, that the people made Saul their King, and not God, and so consequently all Kings are made by the peo­ple; but if these men will tie themselves up so strictly to the letter of the Scripture (because it makes for their purpose as they suppose) that they will not hearken to the true meaning, and interpre­tation, let their own weapons kill them, for, 1 Sam. 12.1. Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hark­ned unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a King over you. This verse saith that Samuel made the King, which is the very next verse to theirs, which saith, that the people made the King, so that litterally, one of these verses must needs speak falsly, for if the people made the King, then Samuel did not, but if Samuel made the king, then the people did not; so that this Dilemma must needs confute our new Doctors. But let Scripture interpret Scripture, and the interpretation will tell you that God only made the king. For though the people say, We will set a king over us, Deuter. 17.14. Yet they must in any wise set him king over them whom the Lord their God shall chuse. The Lord must, who only can give their king Soveraign power, he must make and give the king. The people have only power to receive and set him [Page 104] over them. 1 Sam. 10.1. Samuel took a vyal of Oil, and poured it on his head: But the Lord anointed him King, he is the Lords anointed, not Samuels: For why? Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be Captain over his Inheritance? Saith Samuel. Paul may plant, and Apollo may water, but God on­ly giveth the encrease; God is Master of the Sub­stance, and only giveth regal power, Samuel, &c. and the people are but masters of the Ceremony; and the Coronation of Kings is only a Declaration to the people that God hath given them a King; Outward Vnctions, and Solemnities used at coro­nations, are but only Ceremonies, which confer no power to the King, For it was his from the Lord. 1 Ki. 2.15. The Elders of Judah and Israel chose David to be their King, and anointed him over them, 2 Sam. 5.3. But they did not give him power, or right unto his kingdom; For saith God, 1 Sam. 16.3. I will shew thee what thou shalt do, and thou shalt a­noint unto me him whom I name unto thee. The peo­ple make the King, not by giving him Soveraign power; for that feather doth not grow in their wing; but by receiving him, and approving that which God hath done. For the Lord, the King of all the Earth, ruleth in the Kingdom of Men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. Psal. 4.7. Dan. 4.25.

Old Horace, more a Divine than most of these new Sectaries, the incendiaries of all mischief, could teach them this truth.

Which Sentence, lest it should seem too light, and savour too much of Poetical assenta­tion; Let our Antichristians (for those who by their practise, though not which their mouths deny Christs Doctrine, deserve no better name,) hearken unto the Words of our Saviour (if they will vouchsafe to debase themselves so much) and behold, what Doctrine he preached to Pilate, which is the more remarkable, because it was his last. John 19.11. Iesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. For, Cujus jussu homines nascuntur, illius jussu reges constituuntur. He who made men, made Kings.

HAving satisfied all, but those whose profit it is to believe the contrary, who have no other grounds [Page 107] for their belief than other mens grounds and estates, that Kings receive their power from God, and not from the people, and are independent from all but the Almighty. I shall now shew, 1. That they have the Supreme power over the people, 2. That they are above the Law, 3. That they are not to give account of their actions to the people, but only to God, and so conclude that there can be no just cause for the subjects, either to take up armes against their Soveraign, to call him to the bar, to accuse him, to condemn him, or to kill or mur­ther him.

First, with the first, That the first King was made in Paradice, your have already heard, and that there he received his dominion and power; but from whom did he receive his power? from God; hath not God therefore greater power than the King [...] he hath; From whence do the people derive their power? from the King; Hath not the King there­fore more power than the people? he hath, Consti­tuens Constituto potior, The Constituent is better and higher in place and dignity than the Constituted; But the power of God Constituted the power of Kings, Ergo, the power of God is greater than the power of Kings, And quod efficit tale magis est tale; that which maketh any such or such, is in it self much more such or such; But the King giveth power to the people, Ergo, the power of the King is higher than the power of the people; The King is the only fountain from whence all the streams of authority flow, to the people, It is he that is the [Page 108] Magazine, from whence they derive their power, And Derivativa potestas non potest esse major primitiva, a Derived power can not be greater than the pri­mitive; Therefore those men who place Sove­raignty in the palace of the peoples breasts, must needs be more knaves, than fools, for so great ig­norance cannot roust in their pates, who are so worldly wise; But let them glosse the text with what false Commentaries they please, make white black, and black, white, and muster up dark clouds of jugling riddles, to dazle the purblind sight of the Rascal rable of the people, who think the Gown makes the Lawyer, That that must needs be Law which the Judge saith, esteem all things by their exterior apperances, and only know how to be ig­norant; whose deceived foolishnesse, is the Chari­ot on which our men of war ride triumphant, from one degree of wickednesse to another; Yet not­withstanding Legibus eversis rerum natura peribit, the Law of nature shall perish, and the Heavens and Earth shall passe away, before Lex Terrae, the Law of the Land, shall deny this Oracle, Omnis sub Rege & ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo, All men are un­der the King, and the King is under none but God, this is that Divine sentence —quod nec Jovis ira nec ignes, Nec poterit ferrum, necedax abolere vetustas, which neither angry Jove, nor fiery Vulcan, neither devouring age, nor the bloudy sword, a worse devou­rer than that, shall ever expunge out of our Law-Books, or explode out of the memory of every pious man. This is that which many worthies have [Page 109] written with their blouds, and sealed with their lives; To this have many died Martyrs, whose fame shall out-live the Sun, and their memories be en­graven upon the marble of everlasting monuments, whilest others their opposers, would be glad to have the stench of their ignominious names, buri­ed in the grave of oblivion; where leaving them, let us return to our King, For nullum tempus occurrit Regi, It is alwaies seasonable to do allegiance to the King, whose power, like the Ocean, is boundlesse, and his authority, like the wind, goeth where it listeth; he only can proclaim war, and he only can conclude peace; he only can call Parliaments, and dissolve them when he pleaseth; he appointeth what Magistrates he pleaseth, and turneth out whom he pleaseth; all Laws, Customs, Privileges and Franchises, are granted and confirmed to the peo­ple by him. He raiseth men that are dead, to life again, for those that are condemned to die by the Judges, are dead in Law, but the Kings pardon re­viveth them again. He hath the sole power of or­dering and disposing all the Castles, Forts, strong Holds, Ports, Havens, and all other parts of the Militia. He is the breath of our Nostrils, the life, head and authority of all that we do, Supremam po­testatem, & merum imperium apud nos habens, having the Supreme power, and meer empire over our bodies, members, lives and estates; he doth what­soever he pleaseth; to be short, he is our King, And where the word of a King is, there is power, and who may say unto him what dost thou? Eccle. 8.3, 4. But so [Page 110] greedy is humane nature of dominion and co­vetous to rule, that we have some amongst us, who professe themselves to be born Kings, they are Kings by birth, nay greater than Kings are here; For Par in parem non habet Dominium, one King cannot command another King; But these men use Kings as Children do birds in a string, give him what Liberty and Authority they please, clip his wings lest he should fly too high for them, put pins in his eyes to make sport with him, and clip off his head too, to make known their authority. But doubtless, these men were never bred in Christs University. Did they ever hear of him? If they did, it is the worse for them; For they, which know the will of God and do it not, will fare never the bet­ter for their knowledge. It is better to be an igno­rant fool, than a cunning knave. Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari. Render to Caesar, that which is Caesars, saith our Saviour. Quot verba, tot argumenta, His words should be to us commands; his actions our instructions, and his obedience should be our pattern; shall the Lord of life submit himself unto the King? and shall not we? shall he give Caesar his due? and shall not we? shall he suffer himself to be murthered by the King? and shall we murder the King? This is the Popes Doctrine, to take away the lives of Princes; and [...]re not we his true Disci­ples, when we put his words in practice? His Disciples did I say? nay we scorn that, for every man now is a Pope, and exerciseth the fame au­thority. But let us forsake the Pope, and learn [Page 111] the obedience of true subjects, from the subjects of Ioshua, chap. 1.16, 18. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us, we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go; Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy Commandments, and will not hearken unto thy words, in all that thou com­mandest him, He shall be put to death, only be strong, and of a good courage. Behold, here the Kings So­veraignty to command, the Subjects duty to obey, and the punishment of a Rebel is death; If the King hath not the supreme power, how can he command? If the subjects are not his inferours, why should they obey? If the people have a power co­ordinate and equal with the King, then must there be duo summa imperia, two supreme powers, which the Philosophers tell us cannot be, Nam quod summum est unum est. Soveraignty cannot be divi­ded, diverse supreme powers are no more com­patible in on State, than two sunns are in the fir­mament:

Kings and Lovers admit of no Rivals, Soveraign­ty being an individual, must be in one sort of Go­vernours, either in one man, as in Monarchy, or else in one specifical kinde of men, as the optimates, as it is in Aristocracy, or in the people, as in Democra­cy, saith Aristotle. Necesse est aut unum esse penes quem [Page 112] summum sit imperium, aut paucos, aut multos: But the Government of England is Monarchy, and there­fore the people have no supreme power, It would be a monstrous body if the inferior members were equal in power, or could command the head. But suppose there should be such an Ʋtopia, as our Novelists feign, where the prople might call their King in question for his actions, when they thought he offended, we should then have a new King, every new moon or oftner, and would any man be so mad as to be their King? For my part, I think he had betrer be hanged; for what beast is more Salvage and uncertain, than the headlesse blind multitude?

Discord is the only Ensign of a multitude, and sooner will the Stars gather into one body, than a multi­tude unite themselves into one mind, Quot homines tot sententiae, and would not a man have a rare place of it, to be servant to all these beares? The Cynical Puritan would hang him if he was not in all things so pure a Saint as himself, and the Indepen­dent would pende him if he did not solely depend on him as on God almighty; the rigid Presbyterian would bend his knotty brows at him, if he was not as obedient to him, as a water Spaniel; and the dreadfull Anabaptist would hang both Puritan, In­dependent, Presbyterian, and King and all, if they [Page 113] would not be Baptized according to his sacred te­net, the Quaker would make him quake; and The­aurau John would crack his crown, unlesse he did esteem them as the greatest part of Christs king­dom. And can any wise man think that this king­dom thus divided can stand? A man cannot serve two Masters, saith our Savior, but that he will love the one, and hate the other, and Jove himself cannot please this many headed monster. Therefore if the almighty God had not put the bridle of Government into the peoples mouths, and the reigns into the hands of their Superior, like the unruly horses of Phaeton, or the masterlesse winds of Eolus let loose, they would have torn the world asunder, and brought all things with themselves into Confusion. Tanta est discordia Fratrum, So great is the discord, even of Brethren. No King can be so well accomplished as to please all men, neither indeed is it a sign of an honest man to be so flexible, as to please every one, Populo placere non potest cui placet virtus, the just love him, whom the wicked hate; and the wicked love him, whom the just hate; what King so pious, just, religious, and mild, as Moses the meekest of all men? and what greater treason was ever hatched and plotted against any man than him? Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with two hundred and fifty Princes of the Congregation, lead the people to Sedition, and then to Rebellion, telling Moses to his face, he took too much upon him, and had not God Vindicated the sacred Soveraignty which he had placed in Moses, even Moses himself had become a prey to the blood-thirsty, [Page 114] and Rebellious appetite of these Traytors; For it came to passe, that the ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their Houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods, they and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth clozed upon them, and they perished from among the Congregation; and all Israel that were round about them, fled at the cry of them, for they said, l [...]st the earth swallow us up also; And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense, as you may read in Numbers 16. A fearful example, one would think enough to deterre the hearts of all Traytors from rebellion. This was the first re­bellion we read of in the Scripture, and how God approved of it, doth appear by the exemplary punishment. These Traytors did but only mur­mur, and rebel with their tongues, yet see how God rewarded them; then what punishment is re­served for them, who do not only murmur, and rebel with their reviling tongues, more sharp than a two edged sword, but also murder the Lords an­ointed, and powr out his sacred bloud like water upon the ground? Doubtless they have just cause to fear, that although they flourish here like the green grass, yet at the day of Judgement, Hell it self will open it's mouth, and swallow them up both bodies and souls into everlasting fire, and damnation, where there shall be nothing but weep­ing, and wailing, and guashing of teeth. Lento [Page 115] gradu ad vindictam sui divina procedit ira, & tardi­tatem supplicii gravitate compensat; The longer the blow is a fetching, the heavier it will be when it falleth, Divine vengeance cometh, though with a slow yet with a sure foot. Though King David was a man after Gods own heart, yet could he not please the people, for Absolom his own Son made a con­spiracy against him, and forced him to flye for his life; But mark the end of this Traytor, though the earth did not open her mouth and swallow him up, yet the very Trees took vengeance, and caught him up by the head, so that he hung between hea­ven and earth, as unworthy to go to heaven, or to live upon the earth. 11 Sam. 18.9. Then how dare these Pulpit Hunters blaspheme God, and prophane his Word, and Sanctuary, so much, as to preach that Rebellion is obedience, nay a necessary duty commanded of God, and a great means to carry on the work of Salvation, inciting the people to cry out for justice, accounting all things inju­stice, unless that they have their wicked ends? So Absolom did steal the hearts of the people who had controversies, telling them, that there was no man de­puted of the King to hear them. 11 Sam. 15.4. And Absolom said moreover, O that I were made judge in the Land, that every man which hath any sute, or cause, might come unto me, and I would do them Justice. A true Lecture of a Traytor; for you shall never find Traytors without Law and Justice on their sides, to colour their actions; The King hath not deputed a man (say they) to distribute Justice. He is popishly [Page 116] given, and would bring into the Kingdome the popish Religion; He infringeth your Charters, breaketh the Laws, and destroyeth your Rights and Liberties. But O that we were made Judges in the Land, how equally and impartially would we give justice to all men? we would not take away your Charters, nor encroach upon your Liberties; The preservation of the Law and Religion is the only cause, for which we take up arms; But when with their charms and sorcery they have intoxicated the people, got the hilt of the sword into their own hands, and a power to do what they list, then down goeth both Law and Religion, and the King too, like Jonas, must be thrown down from the stern of Government, to appease the tempest of the multitude; And then, and not untill then, like the head of a Snail, or a Tortoise out of it's shell, not seen before, doth appear their own cause, and indeed the only cause for which they took up arms, which is their own private interest, and the destruction of the whole Kingdome, with their own bodies and souls hereafter.

But let Traytors pretend what they will, yet this is a Principle, whose original is the Bible, confirmed by our Saviour and the Apostles, by all the Fathers [Page 117] of the Church, and by all Christian people, by all reason and Religion, That Kings have the Supreme power over their people, and consequently the peo­ple no power to resist them, either to save their Laws, Religion, or for what other pretence soever. For, Rex si supra populum optimatesve agnoscat proprie non est Rex, He cannot be a King, which hath not the supreme authority and Soveraignty; Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet, It is God and the King to whom Soveraignty belongeth, the people are their Vassals, and not sharers in so high a digni­ty. Our Saviour alone was both God and Man, and it is a thing impossible, for the people to be both king and Subject too, at one time. But why should I seek stars to light the noon day? or press that with arguments to be true to them, who with their oaths have confirmed it for a truth, swearing, I William Lenthal do utterly testify and declare in my conscience, that the Kings Highness is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm, and all other his Highness Dominions and Countries, aswell in all spiritual, or Ecclesiastical things, or Causes, as Temporal: And that no forein Prince, Person, Prelate, State or Po­tentate, hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction, Power, Superiority, Pre-eminence or Authority, Ecclesiastical or Sp [...]ritual, within this Realm. And therefore I do utterly renounce, and forsake all forein Jurisdiction, Powers, Superiorities, and Authorities; and do pro­mise that from henceforth I shall bear faith, and true alle­giance to the Kings Highnesse, his heirs and lawfull Successors, and to my power shall assist, and defend all [Page 118] Jurisdictions, Privileges, Pre-eminences and authorities, granted or belonging to the Kings Highnesse, his heirs and Successors, or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm. So help me God, and by the Con­tents of this Book. What greater exemplification, confirmation or demonstration of the kings Sove­raignty, can there be than this Sacred Oath of Su­premacy? For this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded; saith Moses, Num. 30.1, 2. If a man Vow a Vow unto the Lord, or swear an Oath to binde his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. And is there any English-man so impudently wicked and prophane, as presumptuously to break Gods Commandement, break his own vows, and impiously turn perjured Traytor? vix ipse tantum vix adhuc credo malum: scarce I, even I, who have seen it with my own eyes, can yet hardly believe so great a villany can be perpetrated. Haec facere Jason potuit? Could the betrothed do this? Heu pietas! Heu prisca fides! Alas the antient piety! Alas the fidelity of old time! Debuit ferro obvium Offerre pectus, I would have dyed first. — Quid non mortalia pectora cogis Auri sacra fames? What doth not gold, more sacred to them than their oathes, compel mortals to atchieve? Vid. 1. Eli. cap. 1.

HAving made it evidently manifest, that the King hath the supreme power and Soveraign­ty over the people, I will now ascend a step higher, and make it as manifest, that he hath the supreme power and Soveraignty over the Laws, as well, as over the people. Quidvis facere, id est regem esse, saith Salustius, To do what one will, is to be a King; Cui quod libet, licet, Qui legibus solutus est, Qui leges dat, non accipit, & proiude, qui omnes judicat, a nemine judicatur. To whom it is lawful to do what he lift, without punishment by the people. [Page 120] Who is freed from the fetters of the Law, who giveth Laws, and receiveth Laws from none, who judgeth all men, and himself is judged by none, and this is the true definition of a king, warranted in holy writ, by the example of all kings, by the Pro­phets, by the Apostles, by the holy writings of mul­titudes of men, by the Fathers of the Church, by the true Orthodox Clergy, by the Law of Nations, and of Nature. In the beginning, saith Iustin. Populus nullis legibus tenebatur, sed arbitria regum pro legibus erant; The people were kept under by no Laws, but the will of their kings was the only Law they had; which I find verifyed in the first king which God made, Adam, Whose power was absolute, for in his Commission he had from God, there is no limitati­on, Gen. 1.28. Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the Sea, and over the fowl of the Air, and over every li­ving thing that moveth upon the Earth. Here is no com­mand, that he shall not make a Law without the consent of a Parliament; that he shall receive so much tribute of his subjects, and no more; the king is not here prohibited to have a negative voyce, or tyed up with any Law of his subjects; He is to give Laws, not to receive them; what his will leadeth him to, that may he do, which is all included in this word, Dominare, have Dominion. But go a little further, and see his Majesty upon his royal Throne, where (with reverence be it spoken) you may behold the Almighty doing more obedience to the King, than his vassals do in these our dayes, Gen. 2.19. ‘And [Page 121] out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would call them; And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.’ The Lord God formed every living thing, but Adam must give them names; The Lord God brought them to him, but it was but to see what he would call them: ‘For whatsoever Adam was pleased to call every living creature, that was the name thereof.’ So that hitherto, there was no Law, but the will of Adam the King to govern every li­ving creature, Ad libitum Regis sonuit sententia legis. What Adam pleased to command, that was pre­sently obeyed. But let us make a further progress and explicate the Soveraignty of king Adam; For as yet there was not found an help meet for him, ‘But the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall up­on Adam, and he took a [...] rib out of his side, whereof he made a woman, and brought her unto the man; And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, she shall be cal­led woman, because she was taken out of man.’ The Lord God made the woman, but it was of one of Adams bones, and Adam must give her a name; Nay Adam must make a Law concerning her, For, ‘Therefore shall a man leave his Father, and his Mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh; which Law continueth still, and shall do for ever;’ For there shall be mar­rying, and giving in marriage until the end of the [Page 122] World; Therefore Justine doth prove a true Historian, when he saith, in the beginning, Arbitria Regum pro legibus erant, There was no Law, but the kings will: for you may read of many kings before Moses his time, as of nine in one chapter, Gen. 14.1, 2. But Moses was the first that ever writ Laws, or invented letters as we can finde; then what Laws could those nine Kings use, and all the Kings from Adam, until Moses, but their own wills? And God gave Moses the power of Governing the people, before he gave the law, and Moses administred Justice to every one, accord­ing to his pleasure; so did Joshua, and Saul, and all the Kings after them; and if the King governeth with the law, which is derived from him, which is most certainly true, then undoubtedly the King is above the law. For propter quod unumquodque tale, ipsum magis tale, that by which any thing is made such or such, is in it self much more such or such. But the King maketh the Law; Ergo, the King is much more above the Law. The Laws are the reigns with which the King governeth and guideth the people; how can the Charioter rule his horses, if he hath not the free use, and power over the reigns? and by what means can the King rule, and direct his people, if he hath not the supreme pow­er over the Laws? with which he is to guide them, not they him.

If the Law be equal in power with the king, then why doth the king pardon those, whom the Law condemneth, alter the old Laws, and make new [Page 123] Laws? For par in parem non habet imperium, every boy can tell that a man hath no power to command his equal; but suppose the Laws should be equal or above the king, who should put these Laws in execution? The people cannot, because (as I have already shewen) they are Inferior to the king, and Contra rationem est contraque naturam, superiorem ab inferiore judicari, saith Barclay, It is against reason and nature, that the Superiour should be judged by the Inferiour. Therefore though nothing can be so true and plain, but that subtle Sophisters, by Sinister and false interpretations, and glosses, will make it obscure; yet it is an inviolable truth, that the king is above the Law, and therefore Rex non potest facere injuriam, the king can do no wrong, for ubi non est Lex, ibi non est transgressio, quo ad mundum, where there is no Law there is no transgression, as to the world. Quisquis summum obtinet imperium, si­ve is sit unus Rex, sive pauci nobiles, vel ipse populus uni­versus, supra omnes leges sunt, Ratio haec est, quod nemo sibi feret legem, sed subditis suis, se legibus nemo ad­stringit, saith Saravia, de Imperand. autor. li. 2. c. 3. Every Governour, let the Government be Monarchie, Aristocracie, or Democracie, is above all the Laws; for no man can impose Laws on himself, but on his subjects, and no man can bind himself to keep his own Laws, because as Barclay saith, Quod neque suis legibus teneri possit, cum nemo sit seipso superior, nemo a seipso cogipossit, & Leges a su­periore tantum sciscantur, denturque inferioribus; No man can be bound by the Laws he makes himself, [Page 124] because no man is above himself; neither can any man be compelled of himself; and Laws are only made by superiours, and given to inferiours. Cujus est instituere ejus est abrogare, He which maketh any Law may abrogate it when he pleaseth. It is not possible for any Government to be without arbi­trary power; most men of a late edition allow it in Aristocracy, and Democracy, Why then not in Monarchy? If it be Tyranny for one man to go­vern according to his will? Why should it not be far greater Tyranny for a multitude of men to go­vern, how they please, without being accountable, or restrained by Law? But though silent leges inter arma, Yet Rex est viva Lex, as our books say, The king is a living Law, Indigna digna habenda sunt, Rex quae facit, Those things which are unlaw­full for the subject, are lawfull for the king to do. Imperatorem non esse subjectum legibus qui habet in pote­state alias leges ferre, saith B. Augustine. The king cannot be subject to the Laws, because he hath power to make other Laws. What then? after he hath established a Law, That his subjects shall quietly injoy their estates, may the king legally without offending God, take away their estates, and break that Law; Because his will is a Law? I an­swer he may. But distinguenda sunt tempora & causae. The King hath a Conscience aswell as ano­ther man, which must be ruled according to Gods Law and Equity; otherwise God to whom venge­ance only belongeth, will judge him. It is lawful for the king ad supplendam reipub. necessitatem, & [Page 125] supportandam regiam majestatem, to supply the ne­cessity of State, and to support his Royal Majesty, notwithstanding any former Law, to take away the estates of his subjects, without their leave, and that legally too, because in that case his will makes a Law. And therefore doth the common Law of England allow him many prerogatives, which to explain would require a volume of it self, and are very copiously in our Law books demonstrated. But the summe of them is, The king upon just cause may do what he please, both with his subjects, and their estates, and no body is to be judge, whether that cause be just or no, and take vengeance, but only God & his own conscience, If it be unjust, Habet Deum Judicem Conscientiae, & ultorem injustitiae, He hath God the Judge of his conscience, and the Re­venger of his injustice. And satis sufficit ei ad pae­nam, quod Dominum expectet ultorem, It is punish­ment enough for him to think that God will take vengeance on him, saith Bracton; doth Bracton say so? Why there are some a a­mongst us,Note: a Bradshaw, when he tempted the King ali­as, at the Kings tryal, but rather his Tempta­tion. who make Bracton the only instrument, and au­thority to kill kings. But to vindicate the Law, and Re­verend Bracton; I will make bold to tell them (for veritas audentes facit, truth makes a man bold) that they belye Bracton, and scandal the Law, and their profession; And that it may appear, it is not my opinion only, I will recite that warrant out of Braston, li. 2. c. 16. fol. 34. which they build upon, [Page 126] and the answer to it of the Lord Bishop of Osory, a man worthy of eternal renown, both for his Law, Learning, and Religion; for saith he, Yet because this point is of such great concernment, and the chiefest Argument they have out of Bracton, is that he saith, Rex habet superiorem, legem, curiam suam, Comites, Barones, quia Comites Dicuntur, quasi socii Regis, & qui habet socium habet Magistrum; & ideo si Rex fuerit sine fraeno, id est, sine lege, debent ei fraenum ponere, nisi ipsimet fuerunt cum rege sine fraeno, And all this makes just nothing in the World for them, if they had the honesty, or the learning to under­stand it right. For what is above the King? the Law, and the Court of Earls and Barons; But how are they above him? as the Preacher is above the King, when he Preacheth unto him, or the Physi­cian when he gives him Physick, or the Pilot, when he sayleth by Sea, that is quo ad rationem consulendi, non cogendi, they have superioritatem directivam, non coactivam. For so the teacher is above him that is taught, and the Counseller above him that is coun­selled, that is, by way of advice, but not by way of command, And to shew you that this is Bractons true meaning, I pray you consider his words; Co­mites dicuntur quasi socii, they are as fellows or Peers, not simply, but quasi; And if they were simply so, yet they are but Socii, not superiours; And what can Socii do? not command; For par in parem non habet potestatem, that is praecipiendi; otherwise you must confess, habet potestatem consulendi; Therefore Bracton adds, qui habet Socium habet Magistrum, that [Page 127] is a Teacher, not a Commander; and to make this yet more plain, he adds, si Rex fuerit sine sraeno, id est sine lege, If the King be without a bridle, that is, saith he, (lest you should mistake what he means by the bridle, and think he means force and arms) the Law, they ought to put this bridle unto him, that is to press him with this Law, and still to shew him his duty, even as we do both to King and people, saying, this is the Law, this should bridle you; but here is not a word of commanding, much less of forcing the King; not a word of superiori­ty, nor yet simply of equality; And therefore I must say, hoc argumentum nihil ad rhombum: And these do abuse every Author.

So much the Bishop, and I think this answer will satisfy every reasonable man; And I add further, that it would be very strange that Bracton should say in this place that the King hath a Superiour, when he denyes it in several other places of his book, and presseth it with arguments that he hath not, saying, Omnis quidem sub eo, & ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo, All are under the King, and the King under none but God. Rex non habet superiorem nisi Deum, The King hath no superiour but God, Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare, multo fortius contra factum suum venire, Let no man pre­sume to dispute against the Kings actions, much less withstand his actions with force and arms, and rebel against him, fol. 6. Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine, sed sub Deo, The King is under none but God, Exercere Rex debet potestatem sicut Dei vi­carius [Page 128] in terra & Minister, quia ea potestas solius Dei est, The King ought to exercise power, as the Vicar and Minister of God, because he receiveth his power from God only. Therefore they who would fain have Bracton say that the Law and the people are the Kings Superiours, would make him as un­certain as themselves, and do very much abuse that venerable Author; and no man can finde so much as scintilla legis, a spark of Law in all the Law books, that ever the People or Law were above the king, so as to punish him; and doubtless if there had been any such thing, the learned Lawyers would have reported it to posterity; And A non usu valet argu­mentum. But they all unanimously resolve and re­port the contrary.

Reader,

I Would not have thee imagine, as some men through malice, or ignorance, do most impu­dently assert, that when we say, The King is abso­lute and above the Law, that thereby is intended, that the King is freed from, and hath power to act against Gods Laws, when he pleaseth. No, this is but their false glosse and interpretation, For, non est potentia nisi ad bonum, hability and power, is not but to good; There is no power but what is from God, and therefore no mortal man can have a pow­er to act against God; To sin, and break Gods com­mandements, is impotency, and weakness, no pow­er; For the Angels which are established in glory, [Page 129] do far excel men in power, yet they cannot sin. The Law of God is above the King, and he is bound to God to keep it; yet neverthelesse he is an abso­lute King over men, because God hath given him the Supreme power over them, and hath given no power to men to correct him, if he transgresse: But God only whose Law only he can transgresse, can call the King to an account. Hoc unum Rex po­test facere, quod non potest injuste agere, the King only is able, not to do unjustly, is a rule in Commonlaw, and the reason is, because the people do not give Laws to the King, but the King only giveth Laws to the people, as all our Statutes, and Perpetual experience hath taught us. Therefore how can the King offend against the Laws of the people, or be obnoxious to them, when they never gave him any Laws to keep, or transgresse? and then how can the people punish him, who never offended their Laws? Therefore the King must needs be absolute over the people, and only bound to God, not to the people, to keep those Laws, which God, not the people gave him; and as God is above the Laws, and may alter them at his pleasure, which he gave and set over the king, so is the King, above, and may alter at his pleasure, those laws which at his plea­sure he gave & set over the people; still observing that he is free from all Laws, quo ad coactionem, in re­spect of any coaction from the people, but not quo ad obligationem, in respect of obedience to God, by his obligation. Therfore well might Solomon coun­sel us to keep the Kings commandement, saying, [Page 130] Eccles. 8.2. I counsel thee to keep the Kings Comman­dement, and that in regard of the Oath of God. Be not hasty to go out of his sight, stand not in an evil thing, for he doth whatsoever he pleaseth. Where the word of a King is, there is power, and who may say unto him what d [...]st thou? These words are the words of God, which King Solomon did speak by infusion of the Spirit; In which you may see that the King doth what he pleaseth. And we are commanded not to stand in an evil thing, that is according to Iunius and Tremel: translation; perturbatione & rebellione, quae tibi malum allatura esset, ageret tecum arbitratu suo, sive jure, sive injuria. We must not murmur, and rebel against the King, though he deal with us un­justly. He may be just, when we think he is un­just; ‘The Kings heart is in the hands of God, the searcher of all hearts, as the Rivers of Water, not in the hands of the people; Therefore God, not the people, can turn it whether soever he will.’ Prov. 21.1. King David was, filius Dei, non populi; The Son of God, not of the People, Psalm 89.26. It was God who made him higher than the Kings of the Earth, verse 27. not the People. He was nei­ther chosen of the People, nor exalted of the Peo­ple; For I have exalted one chosen out of the people, saith God, verse 19. The exaltation was Gods, and the choice not of, but out of the people; ‘For I have found David my Servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him, saith God, verse 20:’ Kings are the Children of the most high, not of the peo­ple, Psalm 82. "Therefore who can say unto the [Page 131] "King, what dost thou? If the people of England have power to depose and make Kings, Why are they usurpers, who by the power of the people de­stroy the lawfull King, as did Richard the third, and by the consent of the people, established him­self in the Government? They are Kings, de facto, but not, de jure, as all our Books agree; For the people have not the Soveraignty, but the King. Surely the people of England thought so, when by act of Parliament they ordained that none should be capable to sit in Parliament, before they had Sworn it, vide 1 Eliz. 1.5 Eliz. 1.1 Jac. 1. And I am sure that the breaking of the Oath, can give the Parliament no new Authority. It is declared by the Lords and Commons in full Parliament (rot. Par. 42 E. 3. nu. 7. Lex & consuetudo Parlia­menti. 4 Inst. 14.) upon demand made of them on the behalf of the King, that ‘they could not assent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the disherison of the King, and his Crown, whereun­to they were Sworn.’ And it is strange to think that the House of Commons, which is but the tail of a Parliament, should have that power, which both Lords and Commons had not. But since there can be no Parliament without the King, 4 Inst. 1, 2.341.356. We may conclude, that these men being Traytors, Rebels and Tyrants, will take upon them to do any thing.

WE have already clearly proved, that Kings are by Divine institution, that they have their power from the Heavens, and not from terre­strial men, and that their power is above the peo­ple and Laws; We are now come to see whether the people the Kings subjects have power to de­stroy and put assunder, that which God hath thus created and joyned together. It is a sound conclu­sion, which naturally and of necessity floweth from the premisses, that they have not, and having shew­ed, 1. That God made the first King Adam, in Paradise. 2. That there he received his regal power from God, not from the people. And 3. That there he arbitrarily made Laws, according to his will, where he had reigned a Monarch for ever, as Divines hold, had not he transgressed. Let us now see what became of him after his transgression; for King Adam did transgress, and he must give an ac­count [Page 134] of his Stewardship. But to whom must he give his account? To man he cannot, for the King hath no superiour on earth. Therefore he must to God, who in the 19th. verse of Gen. cap. 2. chal­lengeth his praerogative; And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? No sooner did Adam hear God call, but he presently gave an account of himself, saying, verse the 10. I heard thy voyce in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid my self. Where note, That God taketh an account chiefly of the king for his subjects offences; The king is Gods Steward, and God will reckon with him, God sent him from Paradise, out of the garden of Eden, to till the ground; Therefore that he may make a good ac­count, he must Parcere subjectis & debellare superbos, cherrish the flowers, and root up the weeds; He must be a nursing Father to his loyal subjects, but he must batter down the swelling pride of Tray­tors. The true Protestant Religion must florish as the best flowet in his Garden; But the Anabaptists, Independents, Presbyterians, Papists, Jesuits, and other wicked Sectaries must be pulled up as weeds, lest they overspred, and choak the good flower; They must be extirpated by the root whilest they are young, lest the [...] grow up and seed, and their seed be sowen up and down in the whole World. He must set the Bishops again in their natural soyl, which is now grown over with these weeds, and rubbish, That, that stone which these new builders re­fused may become the head stone of the Corner, and the [Page 135] Bishops Lands, which they did not refuse, must be given to the Church again. The Common Prayer Book, now rejected as fit for none, but the use of Papists, He must bring in, and make those Papists read it, who now reject it, as Popery, for no other cause, but that there is no Popery in it. He must turn the Horses, and other unclean beasts out of his Sanctuary, now made a Stable, [St. Pauls, &c.] and put in holy Bishops, and reverend Pastors in their room; And since our Saviour hath command­ed it, He must make the Lords Prayer current a­mongst us; That our Ministers may leave off piping what they list, and pipe the true tune, which the Lord of life, the best Musician taught them that all Gods people may dance; For how can we dance when the instrument is out of order, and the wrong tune is piped? Good God! what a superstitious and Papistical age do we live in? when we account it superstition and Popery to say the Lords Prayer, & the Common Prayer, the ordinary means of our sal­vation? O blessed Iesus! Hast not thou commanded us not to use vain repetitions; But when we pray, to pray thus, Our Father, &c? Dost not thou know what we want better than our selves? and hast thou not prescribed us a set form of prayer to ask it with? And shall we cast thy prayer behind our backs, and presume to come before thee without it? are we wiser than the Lord of life, or is there any nearer way to Heaven, than that which he hath taught us? shall we present the Lord with our own husks, and trample on the Manna which he [Page 136] hath prepared for us? Is there any other spirit to teach us to pray, than the Spirit of the Lord, which taught us in his Gospel? When we petition to any of our superiours on earth, then we premeditate, and cull out filed and curious words, worthy of his personage: But when we should pray to the Almighty, then any thing which lyeth uppermost is shot out at him, like water out of a squirt, and what pleaseth our foolish phantasies, that we pre­tend to be the Spirit of the Lord. O God arise, vindicate thy own cause; Let not the soul of thy Turtle Dove be given into the power of the wicked, For how is the Mother reviled by her Children? and it grie­veth thy servants to see her stones lye in the dust. But, rege venienti hostes fugierunt, It is Gods Steward, otherwise called Stewart, with must remedy all this, He must turn our spears into pruning hooks, and our swords into plow-shares, and so conse­quently our sword-men into plow-men; The love of his Subjects must be the Magazine of his Artil­lery, and their Loyally, and obedience, must be their chiefest good and honour. O fortunatos ni­mium sua s [...] bona norint, O happy multitude, if they did but know their summum bonum, their chiefest good; which is loyalty and due obedience to their Soveraign. For he will not break the Charters of their Corporations, nor invade their rights, and li­berties. He will not distrain for excessive Taxes, nor impose great burdens on his Subjects. The Law shall be to him as the apple of his eye, and the true Protestant Religion, as his dearest heart. [Page 137] Learning shall florish, and the Ʋniversities shall not be destroyed. He will not murder the Prophets, nor massacre the Citizens before their own doors. He will not contrive plots with his Impes, and Emissaries, to catch honest men with their estate. Justice shall run down the streets like streams, and peace shall make the Land flow with milk and ho­ney. Every man shall eat the fruits of his vine­yard, under his own vines: and enjoy the presence of his family, with the absence of a Souldier. He will not build up his throne with bloud, nor esta­blish his royal state with lyes, and dissembling. Flatterers will he abandon from his Court, and those who keep other mens estates, will he banish from his Realm. But suppose that he should eat of the forbidden fruit, do what was right in his own eyes, and evil in the Lords, To whom shall this great Steward give an account? shall he give his account to the Inferiour servants of his Lord? That would be an audacious and wicked attempt of them. A high prejudice to the Lord, and a great dishonesty and disgrace to the Steward in his Office. For the Lord would be extremely offend­ed. The Inferiour servants severely punished, for exacting an account which only belonged to their Lord; And the Steward would be dismissed of his Stewardship as dishonest, and unfaithful. There­fore every just and pious Steward will dye, before he will so much wrong his Lord and Master of his right, as to give an account of his Stewardship to them, to whom it doth not belong: and although [Page 138] they are so unjust and dishonest to require it; yet he will give them his aHe will first suffer himself to be mur­thered at his own door, as was Charls the I. life, be­fore he will be corrupted. For he is accountable to none but unto the Lord, who will require it as his due; For the Lord called unto Adam, and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voyce in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid my self. But what, is this all? Must the King give an account only of himself? No, he must answer for his sub­jects too. Of him to whom much is given, much shall be required. For Adam said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Where note, that the subject may cause the So­veraign to sin, and the sin of the subjects often times pulleth down judgments on their Soveraigns head, aswell as on their own, and the King must be their Accomptant. Eve first sinned, But Adam must be first called in question. Yet he was a King, and therefore none must call him in question but God, who only was his Superiour. But when Adam fell, did not his Soveraignty fall with him? No, Adam was a King after his fall, and had his So­veraignty confirmed to him by God for ever. For Gen. 3.16. And thy desire shall be to thy Husband, and he shall rule over thee, so that Adam did still re­tain his superiority. But was not this Soveraign­ty personally fixed in Adam, and so dyed with him? No, God did declare it transmissible from Adam, to the first born. For Gen. 4.7. God said to Cain [Page 139] the first born, speaking of his younger brother Abel, sub te erit appetitus ejus, & dominaberis ei, Unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

So that from Adam it doth appear, 1. That Kings are ordained by God, not by the people. 2. That God gave them their regal power. 3. That that power is above the laws. 4. That they have no Superiours but God. And 5. That God only hath power to call them in question, and punish them if they offend. For — Crimine ab uno Dis­ce omnes: From that one great offence which Adam the King committed, and was not accountable, neither did he account with any, but with God, lea [...]n all, that the King cannot commit any offence so great, as to give his Subjects just cause to call him in question, or to take up arms, and with force to resist him. Which I shall prove with luculent authorities, and pregnant examples, both human and divine.

I think it is received by all for a truth, That the King is Pater Patriae, the Father of his Country, Maritus Reip: the Husband of the Commonwealth, and Dominus Subditorum, the Master of his Subjects. I remember that Roffensis de potestate Papae, ask­eth this Question, An potestas Adami in filios ac ne­potes, adeoque omnes ubique homines, ex consensu filio­rum, ac nepotum dependet, an à solo Deo ac natura profluit? Whether the power of Adam over his Children and nephews, and so over all the men in the world, doth depend on their consent, or whe­ther [Page 140] it doth not flow from God and Nature? I have already made it clear, that his power doth not depend on their will and consent, but is insti­tuted by God and Nature. If so? then I ask this Question, Whether the sons of Adam have any power either from God or Nature, violently to resist and oppose the King their Father? Which Question, I conceive, may be as truly resolved, that they have not. For first, there is nothing so fairly written, and so deeply impress'd in Nature, as Obedience: You may see it in every creature; every brute beast will teach you the obedience due from children to their parents, and the sove­raignty of the parents over their children. Vipers indeed will destroy their parent; but it is a mon­ster in Nature, and therefore not imitable by any, but those of a viperous brood. Behold the natural love and obedience of the pious Storks towards their parents, who feed their feeble and impotent parents, when they are old, as they fed them be­ing young: And lest Obedience should lose a re­ward, the Ae [...]yptians so esteemed this bird, that they laid a great penalty on him that should kill it. You may read of many beasts and fowls, that with bloudie strokes will beat away and banish their young from them; But so great is the natural love & allegeance of their young, that (as if it had been high-treason for them so to doe) they will not so much as resist their parents, but flie from them; teaching every subject his true obedience towards his Soveraign, and that in this case only when the [Page 141] Soveraign would unjustly punish him, it is most honourable, and the greatest argument of a vali­ant man, to run away. Would not it be a most hideous and detestable thing for a son to murder his own Father? Nay, suppose the Father should draw his sword at his Son, would that be a just ground for him presently to run in upon his Fa­ther and stab him? surely I think every mans na­ture will teach him to speak better things than these, and to be so far from approving it; that he will account nothing more horrible, and worthie of so much punishment, Pater quamvis legum con­temptor, quamvis impius sit, tamen pater est. Patri vel matri nullo modo contradicere debemus, dicant, fa­ciant, quae volunt, saith Origenes, We ought to con­tradict our Father or Mother by no means, let them say or doe what they please; for be they good or bad, they are our Father and Mother. But behold a greater than thy Father is here, It is thy King: whose Sword commandeth fear, whose Crown importeth honour, whose Scepter requireth obedience, whose Throne exacteth re­verence, whose Person is sacred, his Function di­vine, and his Royal Charge calleth for all our praiers. O quam te m [...]morem virgo? namoue haud tibi vultus Mortalis, nec vox hominem sonat, O Dea certe! O King, with what terms of honour shall I style thee? Is it lawfull to call thee a Man? The Almighty hath said, that ye are Gods, and I will not say that ye shall die like men. The radiant beams of your Countenance declare you more than mor­tal; [Page 142] For in the light of the Kings countenance there is life, saith Solomon, Prov. 16.15. Nei­ther is their voice like the voice of other men, For A divine Sentence is in the lips of the King, and his mouth transgresseth not in judgement, Prov. 16.10. Therfore I will conclude, that the King is a sacred Deitie.

A day in his Courts, is better than a thou­sand, I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of the King, than be a Protector, &c. and reign in the tents of wicked Traytors. For the Kings Throne is established by righteousnesse and mercy, but Traytors reign by their Villa­nies, and raise themselves up by the bloud and downfall of their superiors.Psa. 72.1. But God hath given his judgements to the King, and his righteousnesse unto the Kings son, and he will judge the people with righteousness, and the poor with judgement. Therefore kiss the son lest he be angry, Psa. 2.12. and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that are trusty and faithfull unto him. Eccles. 8.23. I counsel thee to keep the Kings com­mandment, and that in regard of the Oath of God; Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing, for he doth whatsoever he pleaseth. Zecha. 9.9. Rejoyce greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee, he is black, but comly, he is just, Isa. 49.23. and will be a nursing father to the people, & his Queen shall be a nursing mother, [Page 143] For God hath made him our King; Rev. 1.6. And our King cannot be made glad with our wicked­ness. But our lies and hypocrisie,Hos. 7.3. grieve him to the heart.Prov. 29.4. Prov. 16.12. Prov 31.4. The King by Judgement shall establish the Land. It is abomination to Kings to commit wickednesse, neither is it for Kings to drink wine, Mercy and truth preserve the King, and his Throne is upholden by mercy. Therefore thrice happy would the people be, if they did not rebel against the Lords anointed, who is righteous and pious, For when the righteous are in authority, Prov. 29.2. the people rejoyce, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Rebellion is as the sin of Witch­craft, and stubornnesse is as Iniqvity, 1 Sam. 15.23. and I­dolatry, and an evil man only seeketh Rebellion. Prov. 17.11. Isa. 1.2 [...]. Therefore a cruel M [...]ssenger shall be sent against him, For if ye rebel, ye shall be devoured. Therefore Rebel not against the Lord, nor the King. But when he cometh, salute him, Josh. 22.19. Mark 15.18. Hail King; but not of the Jews, for you professe yourselves Christians; Therefore learn of Christ obedience to the King. But s [...]ppose you were Jews, the Jews abound with reverence to their King, and loath to be so wicked, as to murther their King.John 19.15. For when Pilate said, Behold your King, shall I Crucify your King? They answered, We have no King but Caesar, accounting it a most barbarous and worse than Jewish act, for any people to crucifie their King, [Page 144] though in a way of publique justice. Ther­fore even of the Jews let Christians learn their duty to their King, and rejoyce at his coming, as the Bribe doth, at the ap­proach of the Bridegroom. The Husband­men indeed,Mat. 21.38. in the Gospel, killed the ser­vants, and when the son came to demand the fruits of his Fathers Vineyard, they conspired against him, and said, This is the Heir, come let us kill him, and the Inheri­tance shall be ours. But they were wicked, and their Judgement and doom was, mi­serably to be destroyed, to have their Vineyard taken from them, and to be let out to others who would yield better obedience, and render the fruits in their seasons: Therefore let all men take heed, that they doe not perish in the gainsaying of Core, and with those wicked Idolaters, Isa. 8.21. Curse their King and their God, and look upwards. Whose reward is Hell, where the Devil shall curb them, and rule over them for ever, because they would not let their King whom God placed over them be, as in truth he was and is, their only lawfull Soveraign.

It is so well known to every one who knoweth any thing, how the Heathens did honour their Kings as Gods, not onely when they were dead, but also whilst they were living, that it would not only be [Page 145] losse of inke and paper, but also expence of time, which is better, to relate the particulars. But (pudet heu) their obedience and allegiance may shame, aswell as be a pattern to the Christians of our age, who wander so far from the path their Lord and Master went in. And if any one be desi­rous to know how God hath alwayes esteemed of Kings, and with what reverence Gods people have alwayes obeyed them, I refer him to the Bible; Where (I may with confidenee speak it) there is no duty more commanded, and prest upon the people, than obedience, and no sin so much punished as Treason and Rebellion. And the chiefest end of their obedience to the King, is not only for God his glory, and the Kings honour, but also for their own good, praise, and profit. For, for this cause did the Apostle exhort the people, to pray for Kings, and all that are in authority, That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, for this is good and ac­ceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 1 Tim. 2.2. O Melilaee, Deus nobis haec otia fecit. Virgil could tell that the welfare of the King brought Tranquillity, and Peace upon the Land, and therefore he calleth him a God; Nay, he will therefore honour him as a God, Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus, saith he; And I fear his allegiance and due obedience will rise in Judgement, to condemn many who profess themselves Christians, yet by their actions are worse than Infidels, who Judas like pretend loyalty to their Soveraign, whilest they plot and contrive with a kisse to betray him; But Judas hanged him­self, [Page 146] and if these men do not hang themselves, It is a great mercy beyond their deserts, if some body else do not do it for them, before they live out half their dayes. For in the fifth Commandment, which as Divines hold is most obliging, We are commanded to honour our Father and Mother (by which words are meant Kings, Princes, and other Magistrates,) That our dayes may be long upon the Land which the Lord our God giveth us, which is the first Commandment with promise, as St. Paul observes, Ephes. 6.2. But this promise is not absolute, lt is upon this condition, that we honour and obey our Soveraign, and if we do not perform our parts, God is not tyed to perform his. If we break his Commandments, he may well break his promise, which was made only on that condition that we should obey, and if we had loved him we should have kept his Commandments; But whosoever breaketh one one of them, it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea. Therefore he who getteth a king­dom by the breach of Gods Commandements, hath no cause to bragg of his gettings; For what will it profit a man to lose his own soul, and to gain the whole world?

Let every one be subject unto the higher powers; For there is no power but of God; The powers that be are or­dained of God; Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the Ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive damnation, saith St. Paul, Rom. 13.1. Be­hold here, the duty of a Subject, and the reward [Page 147] of a Rebel. There is no power hut of God, saith the Text; Therefore he that resisteth the King, re­sisteth the Ordinance of God, for which he shall re­ceive damnation. What then? if an unjust King robb us of all we have, ravish our wives before our eyes, dash out our Childrens brains against the wall, set up Idolls, and command us to worship them? May we not resist him? Nonne oportet Deo magis obe­dire, quam hominibus? Ought we not to obey God rather than man? I answer, That ye ought to obey God, rather than man; Yet may you not with violence resist your King. We must not do evil, that good might come thereon. God hath in many places commanded us to obey, and pray even for the worst of Kings. Yet you cannot finde so much as a spark of warranty, for any subject, either Ma­gistrate or private man, to rise against his Soveraign, in the whole Bible, or to call him to an account for any of his actions; God hath reserved that to him­self, as his own peculiar prerogative, Magistratus de privatis, Principes de Magistratibus, Deum de Princi­pibus judicare, saith M. Aurelius, Magistrates are to judge private men, Kings are to judge Magi­strates, but none are to judge Kings but God. The only means which subjects have to reform King­doms, is that which the Apostle prescribeth, 1 Tim. 2.1. Let prayers, saith he, and supplications be made for Kings, and all that are in authority, that we may lead a Godly life. Prayers must be the only weapons of Subjects against their Kings; Let them look into their own breasts, and reform their own hearts, [Page 148] which many times are the only causes of a Judge­ment on the Nation; Let them amend their own lives, and with fervent supplications implore him, (who hath the Kings heart in his hand, and turneth it whithersoever he will) to reform the King ac­cording to his desire. Christiani hominis esse patien­ter ferre potius, quicquid injuriarum ac molestiarum infertur, quam ut adigi se sinat ad peccandum contra Deum, It is the part of a Christian, rather to suffer patiently what injury or persecution soever is laid upon him, than to offend God, saith Stephanus Szegedinus, Interea tamen non esse illicitum, si quis vim injustam, vel avertere, vel fugere, vel aliquousque miti­gare possit, modo id fiat rationibus haud illicitis; Quod si id fieri non potest, Cavebit Christianus, ne illatam vim contrariâ violentiâ retundere conetur, sed tolerabit poti­us omnia, nec de vindicando se cogitanit, sed vindictam j [...]sto Judici permittet, saith the same Author; Yet it is not unlawfull if a man can, to avert an unlaw­full violence, to flie from it, or otherwise mitigate it, so he doth not doe it by unlawful means; But if he cannot do it by lawful means, a Christian will take heed, and not endeavour to repell an unjust violence offered, with an unjust force: No, he will rather suffer all things first; neither will he so much as think of revenge, but will leave that to God, the just Judge, to whom vengeance belongeth. O vocem verè Christianam! O speech most worthy of a Christian. If Herod be wroth, and send forth, and slay all the Children that are in Bethlehem, and in all the coas [...]s thereof, so that there be lamenta­tion, [Page 149] and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and will not be comforted, be­cause they are not; yet will he flie into Egypt with our Saviour, and stay there until Herod be dead, rather than he will rebell against his Soveraign, re­sist Gods Ordinance, & so damn his own soul. If Saul send messengers to bring him up to him in the bed that he may slay him, or pursue him with 3000. cho­sen men of Israel, yet will not he put forth his hand against his Soveraign, for he is the Lords anoin­ted: Nay if it be in his power, and he is counsel­ed to kill him, yet with holy David he will cry out, The Lord forbid that I should doe this thing unto my ma­ster, the Lords anointed, to stretch forth my hand a­gainst him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. His heart will smite him if he cut off his skirts, but he will suffer all things before he will cut off his Kings head;Note: Mat. 10.23 for who can do that and be guilt­less? If the King persecute him in this City, he will flie into another. Hee hath learned of his Master to be subject to his So­veraign, not only for wrath, Note: Rom, 13.5. but also for conscience sake. He is good, and the rulers are not a terror to him. The evil and wicked will mur­der their Soveraign, for fear his justice should re­ward them with death, according to their deserts; But he will not like those filthy drea­mers, speak evil of dignities, Note: Jude 1.8, 10, 11. 2 Pet. 2.10, 11. and de­spise Dominion, his tears are his arms, and patience his revenger. — Levius fit patientia, Note: Hor. Ode 24. Quicquid cor­rigi [Page 150] est nefas: Though it be unlawfull for him to gather Soldiers with force & arms to correct, and take his Soveraign from his evil Counsellors, yet patience shall both assist, and give him the victory. St. Ambrose and he are alwaies in one time,Note: Ambrosius in Orat. contra Auxen. Tom 5. saying, I have not learned to re­sist, but I can grieve, and weep, and sigh, and against the weapons of the Soldiers, and the Gothes, my tears and my prayers are my wea­pons: otherwise, neither ought I, neither can I resist. If the King saith, God do so, and more also to me, Note: 2 Kings 6 32. if the head of this follow shall stand on him this day, and likewise send a Messenger to cut it off: yet, with Elisha, he will only shut the door against him, and offer no other violence, though it lie in his power. If a multitude come out with swords and staves against him, lay hold on him, and lead him away to the Rulers who condemn him, and deliver him to the wicked sol­diers to be crucified; yet in imitation of his Lord and Master, he will say nothing, rather than revile them; though they spit upon him, he will meekly wipe it off; If they crown him with thorns, hee will patiently suffer it; If they give him Vinegar mingled with gall to drink, hee will tast it; If they crucifie him, he will volunta­rily spread forth his humble hands to be nailed on the Crosse, and will not resist the higher Powers, for the Lords sake. If they saw him in pieces, he will re­member that Esaias suffered the same punishment. If they cast him into a Dungeon, so was Jeremiah the Prophet. Solamen miseris socios habuisse Doloris. [Page 151] There is nothing so comfortable as to have compa­nions in misery. If he be cast in to Lions, so was Daniel. If he be thrown into a fiery Furnace, so were the three Children. If he be thrust through the Temples, so was Amos. If he be slain in the porch of the Temple, so was Zacharias. If he be cast into the Sea, so was Jonas. If he be killed with the Sword, so was Ʋrias the Prophet. If his head be cut off, so was John Baptists. If he be fastned to the Crosse, with his head downwards, so was St. Peter. If he be crucified, so was St. Andrew. If he be mur­dered with the Sword, so was St. James, the son of Zebedaeus. If he be thrown into a tun of boiling oil, so was St. John the Evangelist. If he be beaten to death with clubs, so was St. Bartholomew. If he be slain with a Dart, or Javelin, so was St. Thomas. If he be beheaded, so was St. Matthew. If he be cruci­fied, so was St. Simon. If he be slain, so was St. Jude. If he be put upon a pinacle of the Temple, thrown down, and after his fall, having breath, be knockt on the head, with fullers clubs, and brained, so was St. James the son of Alphaeus. If he be first stoned, and then beheaded, so was St. Mathias. If his head be cut off, so was St. Pauls. If he be burned to ashes, by furious Idolaters, so was St. Mark. There is no punishment so dreadfull to his body, that shall cause his soul to break Gods ordinance, to lift up his hand against his King, and so bring dam­nation to his own soul. Occidi licet, occidere non licet, It is honourable to be martyred an innocent Sub­ject, But it is infamy to live a victorious Rebel. [Page 152] Preces & Lacrimae sunt arma Ecclesiae, Church-men must use no other weapons against their Soveraign, than prayers and teares. He that useth the Sword, shall perish by the Sword, and he that fighteth against his King, sighteth against God. For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me. saith God, that I should not reign over them: 1 Sam. 8.7. And if God doth not rule over them, then the Devil, who goeth to and fro in the earth, and walketh up and down in it, will puff up the heart of every sec­tarie, with the Pride of ruling, and ever the pre­vailing faction, will set up an Idol to worship, un­till Satan doth make another faction stronger than that, and then down goeth the former Idol, and the Idolaters with it, and up starteth another, al­together as wicked and uncertain as the other.

Christ never taught it, neither did ever any of the Prophets or Apostles, by their doctrin or ex­ample, give the least liberty that could be, to any Subjects to levy war against their Soveraign: But have forbid it, as a most detestable wickednesse, both by their Doctrine, Precepts, Perswasions, Ar­guments, Commands and Examples; most of them suffering themselves to be most cruelly tortured, and ignominiously murthered, before they would resist the higher powers; Nay, they have forbiden all evil words or thoughts against them, command­ing and instructing the people to pray even for the worst of Tyrants. What Tyrant more savage and cruel than Nebuchadnezzar? Yet with what earnest expressions did the Prophet Jeremiah exhort the [Page 153] people to obey him, threatning them with utter destruction for their Rebellion? What Tyrant more bloudy than Nero? that Monster to the world, and Idolatrous Persecutor; Yet St. Paul bids the Ro­mans obey and serve him for Conscience sake. Saul commanded the Amalekite to kill him, who when he had performed the Kings command, brought word thereof to David, which when David heard, although Saul was a wicked King, He said to the Amalekite, Wast not thou afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lords anointed? and commanded him to be slain for his pains, and said, thy blood be upon thy head, for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the Lords anointed, 2 Sam. 1 16.

Innumerous are the precepts of loyal obedience, to which fot brevity sake, I refer you to the Bible, which is an Iliad of such examples. Could not our Saviour have had more than twelve Legions of Angles, to have repelled the fury of his persecutors? But he was so far from resisting, that he bid Peter, who had drawn his Sword, put it into his place, and moreover told him, that they that use the Sword, shall perish with the Sword. Could not David have cut off S [...]uls head, when he cut off the lap of his Garment? Yet his heart did smite him, and he was not able to perpetrate so great a sin. How many glorious Martyrs, both antient and mo­dern, as those in Queen Maries daies, have been burnt alive, racked and torn in pieces, yet never would resist any of their persecutors? How dare the men then of our age, blaspheme God, even in [Page 154] their pulpits? teaching the people to rebell, and making God the Author of all their villanies, tel­ling the multitude, It is Gods cause, even when they are acting the most damnable works of the Devil. How justly may they expect the punish­ment of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt, and all the Curses in Hell to fall upon them and their posteritie for ever? If they have any special command from God, or be immediately inspired of him to kill their King, then may they be justifi­ed, as in the cases of Eglon, Zimri, Jehu, &c. who did nothing but what was just, when they killed the Lords anointed, because they had Gods will to be their Commander, and no man can sin in per­forming Gods will: For, sin is nothing but an ob­liquitie from Gods will. But when they know that it is Gods will, to honour and obey their Sove­raign, yet notwithstanding trample him in the dirt; What Judgement can they expect but that of their Master Lucifer, to be chained in everlasting Hell fire?

Qui disputat de potestate Principis, utrum bene fece­rit, est infamis, saith Marginista. He which disputeth of the Kings power, or whether he doth well or no, deserveth the most infamous punishment. For, Tibi soli peccavi, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil, O Lord, saith holy David, when he committed adultery, and, Psal. 51.4. Murther, as if he should have said, I am a King, and there­fore cannot be brought to the bar of Justice by men; They can give me no Laws to bind me, there­fore [Page 155] I cannot offend them. 2 Sam. 12.7. But a­gainst thee, thee only, O Lord have I sinned, and done his evil, against thee, who didst raise me out of the dust, and liftedst me needy out of the dung-hill, and didst [...]noint me King over Israel, and deliveredst me out of the [...]and of Saul, and gavest me my Masters house, and my Masters wives into my bosome, and gavest me the house of Israel & Judah, & if that had been too little, thou would­est moreover have given unto me such and such things. Against thee, who hast made me Judge over all, and loaded me with so many prerogatives above my brethren, have I sinned, and for the Judge to offend makes the offence so much the more grievous. The peo­ple did not call David in question for his wicked acts, but only God. Deus suam omnem in reges au­thoritatem contulit, caelum sibi retinuit, terram agen­dam, ferendamque pro libito tradidit, All the whole Heavens are the Lords, the Earth hath he given to Kings, to dispose of as they please. Therefore saith Solomon, Prov. 30.31. A King is he against whom there is no rising up. And therefore Job might well ask that question, 34.18. ‘Is it fit to say to a King, thou art wicked, and to Princes, ye are ungodly? For presumptuous are they, and self-willed, who are not afraid to speak evil of dig­nities, 2 Pet. 10. Render to Caesar, the things that are Caesars, Mark 12.17. Render therefore to all their dues, Tribute to whom Tribute is due, Custome to whom Custome, Fear to whom Fear, Honour to whom Honour. For Rulers are not a Terrour to good works, but to the evil; wilt [Page 156] thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the Minister of God, to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid: for he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the Minister of God, a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for Conscience sake; For, for this cause pay you Tribute also. For they are Gods Ministers, attending continually upon this very thing, Rom. 13. Submit your self to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake, whether it be to the King as Supreme, or unto Governours, as unto them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well; for so is the will of God, that with well-doing, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, As free, and not using your liberty for a Cloak of maliciousness, but as the servant of God. Ho­nour all men, love the brother-hood; Fear God, honour the King.’

We are commanded to obey the King, whether he be good or evil, Propter Deum, for the Lords sake; Not only because it is the will of the King, but because it is the will of God, that we should do so, he hath commanded it, and therefore for his sake we must do it; If we resist the King, we resist God, and he that resisteth God, shall receive damnation. For when we pretend that we are free born Subjects, that the Kings commands intrench [Page 157] upon our liberty, and that for the freedom of our liberties, we may rebel against him, This is to make Liberty a Cloak to cover our maliciousness, and wicked designs against the King, Which is forbidden by the Apostle; for not to serve the King is bondage, and to rise up against him to pre­serve and keep our liberties, is to enslave our selves to the Devil, and to make us his servants to per­form all wicked actions; For we must needs be Sub­ject to the Kings precepts, not only for wrath, but also for Conscience sake. Et si plures sunt quos corrigit timor, tamen meliores sunt quos ducit amor; Although they be most whom fear makes obedient; Yet they are best who out of true love obey their Soveraign. We must not obey the King only, that we may avoid giving of him offence, and so not incurr pu­nishment; But it is a duty laid upon our Con­sciences so to do, and if we love God, we must love as faithful Servants to be obedient unto the King, not as eye servants, who only do their duty when their Master looketh over them; But all our acti­ons, either publick or private, must savour of obe­dience to him, For he is our Master, and we are his Servants, and the Servant is not greater than his Master, but ought alwayes to be diligent in his Masters service. And although the King do re­compense good with evil, and punish them who like faithful Servants have not deserved it, Yet they being good, even in their sufferings shall receive praise from the power, as did our Saviour and the Apostles, when they were most wickedly murthered. [Page 156] For do we not until this day praise and honour their Martyrdom? Although the power which de­stroyed them, did not give them praise; yet by their obedience, and patience in their unjust pu­nishments, did they receive a Crown of everlasting glory, and renown from God and men. Who can sufficiently celebrate the fame of those worthy Martyrs, who unjustly suffered for Religion, under the Government of Queen Mary? Have not they by their unjust punishments received greater re­wards of praise, than if they had unjustly rebelled? Surely yea, for if they had rebelled, although it was to save their Religion, their Epitaphs would have been Rebels and Traytors, instead of pious and Godly Martyrs. The wicked only are afraid of the Kings power and punishments, to whom he is a Terrour; But a conscience voyd of offence towards God and towards man, maketh the courage of the righteous like Lyons, to contemn all earthly mi­sery.

Non est fas Christianis, armis, ac vi, tueri se adver­sus impetum persecutorum, saith Cyprian, Epist. 1. It is not lawfull for Christians by violence to defend themselves against Persecutors; Therefore surely [Page 159] they ought not to murther their King, and again Cyprian, Epist. 56. Incumbamus gemitibus assiduis, & deprecationibus crebris, haec enim sunt munimenta spiritualia, & tela divina quae protegunt; Let us apply our selves to daily sighes, and continual prayers, for these are the spiritual bulwarks, and divine weapons, with which Christians should only fight, These, not guns and swords, will only defend us. Ambrosius adversus reginae (Justinae Arianae) furo­rem, non se manu defensabat, aut telo, sed jejuniis, con­tinuatisque vigiliis sub altari positus, Ruffinus li. 2. c. 6. Ambrose did not defend himself against the fury of the Queen, by the force of the hand, and of the sword, but by fastings, continual watchings and prayers; And shall we offend our gracious So­veraign, with clubbs and axes? Who by his suf­ferings shewed us the example of a true Christian, whiles we like Jews triumph in his murther, cry­ing out, crucify him, crucify him. Tertulian Apolog. c. 37. saith expresly, that the Christians might for strength and number have defended themselves against their Persecutors, but thought it unlawful; Yet we, because by our wicked plots and devices, we have got a numberless company, of those who like our selves, will do any thing for gain, think it a sin, if we do not perform any wicked­ness, which our power will assist us to effect.

[Page 160]Homicides, Paricides, Mauslaughters, murthers, oppressions, deceits, extortions, briberies, and such like offences, we committed in our youthful years, when the Gospel was first planted in England, but now we are become great proficients in Christiani­ty, we are now high, and mighty Christians, not fit to be fed with milk, as babes and sucklings, but with the bloud of Kings, Regicides are our passe­times, and to murther the King, is holden to bee one of the chiefest Principles, and proofs of a sound Christian: whole Nations gather together, and make a Covenant, to murther their Kings, which they hold to be as sacred, and as beneficial, as the old or new covenant in the Bible; but, Quae scelere pacta est, scelere rumpetur fides, That Covenant and trust which is made by wickedness, by wickedness may be broken, which doth most evidently appear in the transactions of the English and Scotish Re­bels; For they most wickedly swore, and made a Covenant against the King, like those Traitors of whom King David complained, Psal. 102.8. And after they had murthered the King, then they swore, and made Covenants one partie against another, so that, like those wicked men in Hosea 4.2. by swea­ring, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and commit­ting adultery, they break out, blood toucheth blood, be­cause there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land; verifying the Proverb of King Solomon, Prov. 26.27. Who so diggeth a pit, shall fall therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him: for Rebellion, by which they murthered the King, is [Page 161] returned upon them, and they now rebell one a­gainst the other: so that we may truly say, their own iniquities have taken the wicked themselves, Prov. 5.22. and they perish by the devices and imagina­tions of their own hearts; fulfilling the Scripture, Prov. 11.21. Though hand joyn in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. For notwithstanding all the wicked plots, and inventions of the bloody Rebels, yet is our King C. 2. the seed of our most righteous So­veraign whom they destroyed, delivered out of their hands, as the bird out of the nets and snares of the fowler, or as the innocent Hart, out of the mouthes of the bloudy hounds, Whilest they rage and are madd one against the other. O the good­ness and providence of the Almighty God!

Where the word of a King is, there is power, and who may say unto him, what dost thou? Eccles. 8. 2, 3, 4. The fear of a King, is as the roaring of a Lion, who so provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul, Prov. 20.2. What sins then are we guilty of, who not only provoke our King to anger, but quench his anger with his own bloud? St. Peter teacheth us another lesson, which you cannot hear too often, 1 Pet. 2.13, 17. Submit your selves to every ordi­nance of man for the Lords sake, whether it be to the King as supreme, or unto Governours, as unto them who are sent by him, for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well, for so is the will of God. Honour all men, love the Brotherhood, Fear God, and honour the King. [Page 162] And to see the Civil Law, and the Divine Law go hand in hand, harmoniously agreeing, and consent­ing, to lead a loyal subject into due obedience, and allegiance to his Soveraign, is no less delightful to the Royalist, than envyed by the Rebels, which Bar­clay doth out of the best Civil Lawyers, sum up to­gether, cap. 14. saying, Principem ex certa scientia, supra jus, extra jus, & contra jus, omnia posse. Et esse crimen sacrilegii instar, disputare de potestate Principis. Et Principem esse legem animatam in terris. Et Prin­cipem solum posse condere statuta; licet humanum sit, quod consilio Procerum utatur. Denique Principem posse tollere leges positivas, quia illis non subjicitur, sed illae sibi. Et Deum Principi leges subjecisse, & nullam Legem ejus Celsitudini imponi posse. Et licet de jure aliquid non valeat, si tamen Princeps de facto mandat servari, per­inde est, ac si de jure valeret, quoad subditos. Et solum Principem soli Deo habere de peccato reddere rationem, & soli Caelo debere innocentiae rationem. Et temera­rium esse velle Majestatem regiam, ullis terminis limi­tare. Et Principem re vera esse solutum Legibus. The Latine is so elegant, that I will not cloath it in En­glish raggs. None but blind Sodomites who grope for the wall at noon day, will not here see the door which openeth to obedience, and go in; conclu­ding, That the King is free from the Laws, and can­not be limitted by any humane invention; may do what he please, & if he be more a Tyrant than Phala­ris, or Nerone Nerouior, degenerate from all humani­ty, and prove a Wolf to his People; Yet by the Law of God, by the Law of Nations, by the Law of Na­ture, [Page 163] by the Law of the Land, by the example of all Saints, by the rule of Honesty, and by all equitable considerations, It is not lawful for his Subjects, nor any man, or any degree, or sort of men within his Dominions, upon this pretence of Tyranny, to rebel against their Soveraign. For if any cause should be allowed to be just for the Subjects to re­bel, then that cause would alwayes be alleged by the Rebels, though in truth they had no such cause at all; For whom one man and his Company did esteem a good, Pious, and Religious Prince, another party would proclaim him wicked, Tyrannical, and Idolatrous; And who shall be judge between them, but the sword? and then Excessit medicina modum, The remedy would be worse than the disease. For it is an undoubted truth, that Subjects did never despose their Prince, although he was a Tyrant, But that a multitude of Tyrants, far worse than they pretended their Prince to be, did rise up in his room. By the cutting off the head of one snake, twenty snakes grow in the same place; Therefore it is not profitable aswell as not lawfull for subjects to resist their King. For hear what Bodine saith, O how many Tyrants should there be, If it should be lawfull for subjects to kill their Soveraigns though Tyrants? How many good and innocent Princes should as Tyrants perish, by the conspiracy of their subjects against them; he that should of his subjects exact subsidies, should be then (as the vulgar peo­ple account him) a Tyrant. He that should rule and command contrary to the good liking of the [Page 164] people should be a Tyrant. He that should keep strong guards and garrisons, for the safety of his person, should be Tyrant. He that should put to death Traytors and Conspirators against his State, should be also counted a Tyrant; And indeed how should good Princes be assured of their lives, if un­der the colour of Tyranny they might be slain of their subjects by whom they ought to be defend­ed? Then what madness is that Nation intoxica­ted with, who throw down a pious, good, and religious Prince, to promote a multitude of law­less Tyrants, whose little finger is heavier than the whole loynes of their Lawful native So­veraign?

The King, as I said, is the Husband of the Com­monwealth; and the Wife is not greater than her Husband, because she had once power to chuse whom she would, and because the man could not have been her Husband, without her consent. It is no argument that she hath power to turn away her Husband, because she made him her Husband. No, it is God who giveth the Marital power; he gave her the Husband, and gave him power over her, so that she cannot t [...]rn him from her, though he prove never so wicked. So though the people chuse them a King, and are the cause, sine qua non, yet it is God who is the author of his royal power; And the people can no more dethrone him, and e­lect another, than the wife can her Husband. And it is as good an argument, to hold that the wife hath power to put away her Husband, and chuse [Page 165] another, because she made him her Husband; As it is that the people may cast off their obedience to their Soveraign, and set up another, because they made him their King. The Cardinals make the Pope, and the Clerks the Bishop; but it would be a strange thing to them, if one should tell them, that there­fore the Cardinals and Clerks might degrade them, when they pleased. Suppose the Souldiers should chuse them a General, would not the General think it strange Logick, to argue, that therefore the Soldi­ers might turn him out of his office when they pleased? Indeed, where the superior makes an In­ferior officer, he may deject him at his pleasure. As in a Prineipality (which is nothing else but an Aristo­cracy or Democracy) where the people create a Magistrate to rule so long as they please, they may turn him out at their will, because they alwaies tetain a power of Constituting, and rejecting him when they think fit. So the King may turn out Par­liaments when he will, because they depend upon him, and their power is inferior to his. But when the woman hath taken a Husband, when the Com­monwealth is married and subjected to a King, then the Commonwealth hath no power, but all her power is ttansmitted to her Husband the King. For, Omnia quae sunt uxoris sunt ipsius viri, non habet uxor potestatem sui, sed vir, All that the wife hath is the husbands, and the wife hath not power over her self, but the husband. The people by their e­lection, denude themselves of all their power, and transfer it to the King, so that he is the only foun­tain, [Page 166] from whence they draw every drop of power they have. As when Valentinian was desired of his people to admit of a consort in his Empire, he an­swered them, In eorum fuisse potestate priusquam eum ad imperium vocarent, id non facere, jam vero vocato imperatore eos non posse, nec ab eo impetrare quod nefas crederet illis concedere, That before they had elected him, it was in their power, either to elect him, or another, but now he being elected, they had no such power, neither ought they for to ask that, which he thought not fit to grant them. It is a prejudice to a royal mind, to be compelled to any thing, compulsion diminisheth the worth of a voluntary goodness. It is against the nature of Royalty to be restrained, which makes Kings say, Licet Legibus soluti sumus, attamen legibus vivimus, Though no man hath power to compel us to live according to the Laws, Yet we will. For Decet tantae Majestati eas servare leges quibus ipse solutus esse videtur, It is the part of a royal Prince, nay very decent and becoming so great Majesty, voluntarily to observe those Laws from which he is free.

But if our Prince should not rule his life accor­ding to the Laws, yet it is our duties so to do, and we are commanded to obey him, and acknowledge [Page 167] him our King, though he be never so wicked; For we are his Servants; Nay, his Servants by birth, and therefore enjoyned by a command to serve him, 1 Pet. 2.18. Servants be subject to your Masters, with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, But also to the froward. For this is thanks worthy, if a man for Conscience toward God indure grief, suffering wrong­fully. Nullus nascitur liber ab imperio; No man is born exempted from the subjection of Govern­ment. Our Saviour himself, as man, was not free from this; for he was subject to his Father and Mother, Luke 2.51. and also to the King, though he is the King of Kings, and all earthly Kings are only dependent upon God and Christ, whose vice­gerents they are. I admire with what impudence our terrae filii, these screeching Oules, the men of our pale-face'd times, can blasphemously give the Almighty the lye, and say, per nor reges regnant, by us Kings reign, we give Kings, and take them away, When God plainly telleth them and all the world, per me Reges regnant, By me Kings reign, I give Kings and take them away; and doubtless these Quack­salvers have as great authority and warrant from the Scripture to say, By us the Sun ruleth the day, and the Moon the night, and we gave the heavens and the earth their being, as they have to maintain this their detestable opinion, viz. that the Kings power is radically in the people, and de­rived from them to him; For nemo est Dominus suae vitae, no man hath power over his own life, and therefore none can give that to another, which he [Page 168] hath not in himself; God only hath power over life, and death, and he hath given this power to Kings, as he hath evidently declared in his holy writ; And I am sure, God who hath said that by him Kings reign, is true, Rom. 3.4. And every man who saith the contrary is a Lyar. Then if God only instituted, and gave Kings, God can only take them away; For Eodem modo quo quid constituitur, diss [...]lvitur, Things are dissolved as they are con­tracted; Therefore every man should say with the French Bishop, mentioned in Greog. Turon. Hist. 4. lib. 5. Si quis de nobis, O Rex, Justitiae tramites tran­scendere voluerit, a te corripi potest, si tu vero excesseris, quis te corripiet? loquimur enim tibi, sed si volueris, audis, si autem nolueris, quis te damnabit, nisi qui se pronunciavit esse justitiam? If any of us offend the King, thou mayest correct us, but if thou shalt ex­ceed, who shall correct thee? we may speak unto thee, and if thou wilt thou mayest hear us, But if thou wilt not, none can condemn thee, but he who is Justice it self; Therefore every one should en­deavour to be that true obedient described by St. Bernard, Verus Obediens, non attendit quale sit quod praecipitur, hoc solo contentus, quia praecipitur, He that is truly obedient, regardeth not what is comman­ded, being content only with this, that it is com­manded. We should be as diligent to obey, and preserve our King, as the apple our eye, and take asmuch delight in him, as we do in the light, for he is worth ten thousand of us; Therefore the Israelites would not let David their King adven­ture [Page 169] himself in the war against his rebellious Son, and their reason was, Thou art worth ten thousand of us, so in the war against the Philistines, They swear, Thou shalt no more go out with us, because they esteemed him as the light of the Kingdom, and say, 2 Sam. 18.31. That thou quench not the light of Israel; if he should miscarry, they accounted themselves to be but in darkeness; And if we were true Israe­lites indeed, in whom there was no guile, we should have the same estimation of our dread Soveraign, nulli pietate secundus, who is a second David. But suppose he was (as he is not) a Tyrant, were it not better for us to serve one hard, yet honoura­ble, Master, than a hundred domineering, yet base [...]red Tyrants? Si pereo, manibus hominum periisse ju­ [...]abit, If we must be killed and made slaves of, let the King, who is our superiour do it, and not our servants, who have no greater pedigree, than an­ [...]ient servants, and no other cause of their promo­tion, than their wickedness, Praestat timere unum [...]uam multos, It is better to fear one than many, Better one woolf than many, to put our lives in continual hazard. It is a Maxime in Law, that the King shall have the estates, and protection of their persons who are non compos mentis, Ideots, &c. May not the King then justly and with good title, by this rule, challenge both our estates, and our per­sons? Surely he may, for if we were not worse than mad men and fools, we should never expel a gra­cious and merciful Soveraign, and subject our selves to a company of the Lord knows what, A [Page 170] monster without head or tayl, more wonderful than Chimaera; they would, and they would not, they themselves cannot tell what to make of them­selves, neither can any man tell where to have them, like empty clouds and foggy mists they are blown about with every winde; But it is to be fear­ed that the Devil will catch them at the long run, who now drink bloud like sponges, and only know how to be wicked, oppressing both Law and Religion. Did the King demand Ship-mony, (as by the (a)witness, the resolution of all the Judges in En­gland, in the reign of Charls the I. &c. For suppose that the Parliament turn Traytors and Rebel against the King, as did the long Parliament, Is it not profitable for the people, and lawful for the King alone, to command money and assistance of his subjects, to subdue the Rebels, and oppose a forein Navy, who are coming to destroy, and swallow up both King and people? Surely none but a mad­man will deny, but that it is most lawful, just, and the only safety of the people, and their estates. Indeed, as it is the best way for a thief to binde the honest man, he doth intend to robb, so it is the safest, and best way, for that Parliament (who do intend to murther the King, and take away all that he hath) to binde the King as fast as they can, to take away his Negative voice, and all his just praerogatives, to make all his legal power, whereby he might withstand their violence, illegal; Nay, it is their best way to tye the King up from his meat to, make him stand for a Cypher, a meer nothing, that so they being the predominant figures, may chop off his head, or do what they list with him, as did the long Parlia­ment; who from trespass to high Treason against God and the King, have omitted no offence undone; But their soundest Doctrine, will prove but Apochrypha, to all honest Parliaments. I do confesse, that except it be in cases of ne­cessity, the King can lay no tallage upon the people, with­out their consent in Parliament; and so not shipmoney, which in truth is condemned by the Statutes of 25 E. 1 & 34 E. 1. de Tallagio non concedendo, Dangelit, Englishty, because the King hath restrained his power, by his Statutes. But if the King could not tax the people with shipmony, and other im­positions in extrao [...]dinary cases of necessity, aa when a forein Enemy doth suddenly invade the Land, being invited in by a prevalent faction, in a refractory Parliament, who would ru­ine themselves and the whole Kingdom, so that they might ruine their King, and fulfill their wicked wills, who will not grant shipmoney, or any thing else to the King, lest he should be provided to oppose them, and defend himself, and the people in safety: I say, that if in this and such like cases, the King may not lawfully lay tallages on the people, and com­mand their assistance, I had rather be a slave, than a King, and should account my self the Vassal of the people, not their King. But in truth, the King cannot denude himself of this power, nor by any Statute or Law, tye himself from it: For it is inseparable from the Crown, Et quod sceptro inhaeret non potest tolli, nisi sublato sceptro, And therefore cannot be taken from the King, unless the Crown with it: which rule the long Parliament have truly verifyed. For when they had taken away his chiefest praerogative, they could not forbear, but presently took off his Crown from his head, and then his head from his shoulders. Sic transit gloria mundi. Law in extraordinary cases he might,) and was he condemned, and vilifyed, as unjust, and a breaker of the peoples liberty? What are they then, who against all Law and Equity take away all that we have, only to [Page 171] [Page 172] satisfy their own ambitions, Atheistical appetites, and to maintain themselves in their most wicked, devillish, and incomparable villanies? Did the King demand five treacherous Members of the Par­liament, whom the Law would have condemned guilty of high Treason? And was he adjudged an Enemy to Parliaments, and an Infringer of their freedoms? What are they then to be adjudged, who do what they list, hang or draw, our Mem­bers, and persons, and play with Parliaments, as Children do with Rattles, or as Butchers, their slaughtering axes, throw them away when they have done with them, and dismount, and thrust out that * what do you call it? [* Quondam Parl.] which first gave them their being? O viperous brood, who destroy that viper which ingendred them! But since by the Law of the Land, Mad men shall not be punished for committing of Felony or Murther, Lest we (being mad-men and fools as I have said before) should murther our King, and think to excuse our selves, by pleading, non compos mentis, Let me tell you, that though one that is not of his right mind, shall not be punished if he commit Felony, Murther, petite Treason, &c. Yet if he kill, or offer to kill the King, it is high Treason, and he shall suffer punishment as other Traytors ought to do; let Cook the Oracle of the Law, give the reason, li. 4. fo. 124. Car le Roy, Est Caput, & salus Reipublicae, & a Capite bona valetudo transit in omnes, & pur cest cause lour persons sont cy sacred, que nul doit a eux offer violence, mes [Page 173] il est, Reus criminis laesae Majestatis, & pereat unus, ne pereant omnes. For the King is the head, saith he, & health of the Commonwealth, upon whom the safety of all doth depend; and for this cause, the Kings person is so sacred, that no man can offer vi­olence to the King, but he is guilty of high Trea­son, for which he shall die; For it is better that one perish, than all. And since it lyeth in my way, this will I speak for the credit of the Common laws of our Realm, That though the Law of God, the Civil Law, and all other Laws, do as it were strive to excel each other, in maintaining and defending the Prerogative of Kings, yet doth not our Com­mon Law (which is founded on the Law of God) come behind any of them; For I should want words to expresse, and Paper to contain the many privileges, and just immunities, which the Law giveth its Soveraign the King; and if the Judges had been as just to execute the Law, as Dunn the Hangman is, The head and feet had still injoyed their proper Functions, and there would (as there ought) still have been a difference betwixt the Servant, and the Master, the Subject, and the So­veraign. But silent leges inter arma, our law-books, like broken Vessels, are laid aside; and our Laws, like Cobwebs, are not taken notice of, except it be to wipe & sweep them away; that the Corruption of one thing, is the perfection of another, is a rule in Philosophy, And do not the Sophistical Philosophers of our times, prove and approve this rule by prac­tice, who perfect themselves by the ruine of the [Page 174] Laws? The Sword is their pruning-hook, by which they lop others, to make themselves grow the better; they bait all their designs with Liber­ty and Rellgion, and so catch the people into Hell, when they think to go to Heaven. The principal end of Government is the advancement of God [...] honour, but these men, make the safety of the people, the sole and only end of Government, on­ly that they might murther their King, the Shep­heard, make a prey of the sheep, his subjects, and so feed the cruel appetite of themselves, the Woolves, with the destruction of the Innocent. I need no other proof for this, than every mans experi­ence.

O ye Empty Clouds, and raging winds of Ambition, could Attempts enter into your Dunghill thoughts, as to assassinate your King, provoke Heaven, and molest the Earth? Durst you encounter the Al­mighty, pitch battail, and sight against his Deity? Are your Commandments above his? and can your Statutes repeal his? Hath not he in his Ʋpper-house constituted a King, and commanded you to honor, and obey him? and can your Mortal nothings in the [Page 175] Lower-house (next door to hell) vote him useless? Can you put asunder, that which Jehovah hath joyned together? and take away not only the Crown, but the life also of your dread Soveraign? Can you do these things and look upwards? [Aposiopesis.] But God will, that he will. — Ah rather repent of your villanies; It is better for you (I think, though not your deserts) to go peaceably to Heaven, than to be thrown headlong into hell; For there you will be murthered with the Devils, and you cannot murther any more Kings; death lyeth at your door, and after this life ended, you shall not be punished with the Sermons of holy Ministers, or with Gods Word, which is now odious unto you▪ But with the Scorpions of the Devil, Beelzebub and his Angels shall execute Ty­ranny over you, in the infernal pit, as you and your Angels have done over the Lords anointed, and his innocent subjects, in the open air before God, and man. Therefore Repent, for Repentance is your nearest way to salvation, Maturate fugam, Regique haec dicite vestro, Make haste, and go and tell your King these things, That you are sorrowful, and that it gnaweth and biteth your seared Conscience, to think that you should be the Authors of so great a wickedness, beg his gracious pardon, re­store his sacred Patrimony, which you have torne in pieces, and cast lots for; his pardon, and peace with him, will do your Souls more good than all his Lands, or Royalties. Acknowledge his Soveraignty as ye ought, and set the Crown again upon his [Page 176] head, which you did injuriously pluck off, or else the time will come, that one drop of the many tears and waters, which you have caused to flow from the eyes of the Royal party, their Widdows, and Orphans, shall be more desired of you to cool your tongues, than ever their estates and honours were. If a Thief should set upon you, or any other sub­ject to rob him, It is lawful for the honest man to draw his sword, and kill him if he can: How dare you then with violence set upon your King to rob him, not only of his goods, but also of his life, yet because he defended himself, and so some of the Rebels slain, Therefore you impeach him of high Treason and murther? O monstrous, did you ever hear of any Law in the whole world, that ever the King could commit high Treason? Be dumb, for you did not.

The Laws of England are divided into three parts, viz. 1. Common Law, which is the most antient Law of the Realm, 2. Particular Cu­stomes, 3. Statutes or Acts of Parliament.

There is no offence punishable by the Laws of England, unless it be against one of these Laws. He that doth not offend against the Law, is no sinner, for where there is no Law, there can be no trans­gression, I had not known sin, saith St. Paul, but by the Law, Rom. 7.7.

Then cannot the King be guilty of Treason to the people, or of any other offence punishable, un­less he offend against one of these three Laws: And that he did not offend against any of them, nor [Page 177] was guilty of those offences laid to his charge, by any one, or all of those Laws, is as clear as the Sun, and a Maxim with all honest men. For

1. The Common Law is nothing else but the general custome, and common usage of the Realm. Finch. 77. Plowdens Com. 195. Therefore the King cannot be an offender, or guilty by the common Law, nor the people have power to call him in question for any of his actions; because it is so far from being the general custome, and common usage of England, for the King to be punished by the people, that before this first, and last, great, and monstrous, distractive and destructive, wicked and abominable murther, of the last most gracious and merciful King, such a thing was scarce ever heard of, or entred into the thoughts of any English man. Therefore the Rebels are cast by common Law, and the Chancery will never give relief against the common Law. li. 4.124. D. and St. So that take them which may you will, this Dilemma will hang them. Amen.

2. Customary Law, is where a particular cu­stome grounded upon reason, differeth from the general usage, and common custome of the Realm. Now to prove, that the King is not an Offender against this Law, would be a thing altogether fri­volous and ridiculous, it being known to every one that he cannot.

3. Statute Law, is a Law positive made by the King, with the assent of the Parliament: And there is no Statute or Act of Parliament in England, [Page 178] which maketh any offence in the King high Trea­son, or that giveth the people power to call the King to an account, accuse or condemn him. But there are many offences committed by the people, made high Treason against the King by several Acts of Parliament: But that the King could com­mit Treason against the people, is such a novelty, that Heaven nor Earth never heard of before per­ditious England hatcht it.

But since our age is much given to fictions, Let us for once feign with our false Republicans, That by the antient fundamental Laws of the Realm, The King might commit Treason against the people and be a Traytor to the Common-wealth, for which the people might lawfully question him▪ Yet since, (Leges posteriores, priores contrarias abro­gant, The Statute Law may alter and abridge the common Law,) The King cannot now commit Treason against the people, nor be a Traytor to the Commonwealth; Because by the Statute made 1 H. 4.10. and several others, It is enacted by authority of Parliament, (who as the common people think may do any thing, vote Heaven Hell or, Hell Heaven) That in no time to come any Treason be Judged otherwise, than it was ordained by the Statute of 25 E. 3.2. In which Statute I am sure there is no mention made of any Treason, but only against the King, as any one may read at large which Statute, being it was made by Benedictum Parliamentum, a blessed Parliament, (for so it was called Co. Inst. 3.2.) I commend it to the per­usal [Page 179] of every English man, as the best lesson he can learn, by which he will see the error of the times, and what changes the wicked have wrought a­mongst us.

Therefore since several Parliaments have made Statutes, That the King can commit no Treason, nor no Treason be committed but against the King, Ex ore tuo te Judicabo, we may conclude from their own mouths, that by no Law, but against all Laws, they murthered their King, the meekest and just­est of all men.

For, whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the Law, for sin is the trangression of the Law, 1 John 3.4. Then how could the King sin, when there was no Law for him to transgress? By the common Law (as I have already shewed) he could not be an offender; neither could he by any Statutes; For at that very time, when the Parliament (the peoples representatives) charged the King with Treason, they had made many Statutes, That those things which they themselves acted against the King, should be high Treason against the King; But they had made no Law, whereby the King might become a Traytor against them. Therefore the King could not offend against that Law which was not. Adam had not sinned in eating the forhid­den fruit, had he not been first forbidden; Neither had St. Paul known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not sin, Rom. 7.7. And for the King to com­mit Treason, when there is no Law which maketh any offence in the King whatsoever Treason, but [Page 180] all laws both Common and Statute, both Divine and Humane resolve the contrary, is such a Chimae­ra, which passeth the understanding of every rea­sonable creature. But forsooth, our new upstart pragmatical Lawyers (as they call them) such as Cook was, witness his King Charls his case, fol. 22. (A Cook, (but rather a Scullion) I am sure of no affinity in judgement, nor comparable in learning, with our great Master and Oracle of the law Sir Edward Cook) do say and profess, that they have a Law written in their hearts, whereby they are enabled and authorized to kill the King, if he offend; But I wonder holy David had not this Law written in his heart to kill wicked King Saul, when it lay in his power so to do? The question is easily answered, for God said, that David was a man after Gods own heart, and therefore could not do so great a villany; But I am sure, if the Scripture be true, Neither God nor man will say, that these men, are men, either after Gods heart, or any honest mans heart; And di­vide the Kingdom, and you will finde a thousand for one, in whose hearts this law was never written; Therefore if it be written in some few mens hearts, yet since it is not written in the hearts of the Major part, according to their own tenets, that law is not binding. You may read in 1 Sam. 24.6. and cap. 26.11. That it was in Davids power, and he was admonished to kill his enemy wicked King Saul, once in the Cave, where he cut off the Kings skirt indeed, but his heart smote him, as if he had com­mitted Crimen laesae Majestatis, high Treason against [Page 181] the King; And then in the Trench where Saul lay sleeping, 1 Sam. 26.7. So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping within the Trench, and his Spear stook in the ground at his Bolster; But Abner and the people lay round about him. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine Enemy into thine hand this day: Now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the Spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time; And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not. For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anoint­ed, and be guiltless? David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to dye, or he shall descend into battel and perish: The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords anointed: but I pray thee take thou now the Spear that is at his bolster, and the Cruse of Water, and let us go. Here you may see how greiv­ous a thing it is to lay hands upon the King, though he be wicked, and persecute you. For by holy Davids own confession, no man can do it, without committing an high and wofull offence. There­fore better it is for all men with King David to commit the punishment of their King to God, (who most assuredly will punish the King, aswell as the Beggar for his offences,) and not violently op­pose, or stretch forth their hands against him, for none can do that, and be guiltless.

It is true the law of England in many particulars is lex non scripta, and when our law books are silent, we must repair to the law of Nature, and Reason; [Page 182] But when a law is established by the law of God, declared by many Statutes, and reported by mul­titudes of reverend Judges in their Reports, as it is, that the King can commit no offence so great, as to be punished by the people, Then sit liber Judex, We must Judge according to the written Law, though it do not agree with our own private rea­son; If the King before the descent of the Crown be attainted of Treason, felony, or any other of­fence, yet by the descent of the Crown, The At­tainder eo instante is void, as it fell out in the case of Henry the seventh, 1 H. 7.4. Jnst. 1.16. Then if the Coronation of the King prohibiteth the pu­nishment of those offences which he committed before he was King, only because he is King, and so not punishable by any earthly power, how can he commit any offence after his Coronation, for which the people may call him in question? It be­ing a Maxim in Law, That the King can do no wrong, that is, no wrong for which the people may pu­nish him; And to say that the King is an Officer of trust placed by the people, is a meer foppery, and against the express letter of a principle in Law, viz. That the King is not capable of an office to use, but to grant, Co. Jnst. 1.3. But why should I speak of Law, to those who God and all the World knows Act all things against law? For is there any Law which maketh it high Treason in the King, if he commit such or such an offence? or is there any law to enable the people to call their King to an account? I appeal to the whole World, and [Page 183] even to the Consciences of our wicked Folarchical upstarts, Whether they ever read any such Law in the old or new Testament, in the Statutes or Re­ports of the laws of our Realm? or whether they ever heard of any such law in any Kingdom or Na­tion under the Sun? No they did not, The Devil brought it (if any there be) out of the infernal pit, whither it will bring them all, unless God most high prevent not; can a posteriour Law make that an offence, which was lawful at the Commitment? without doubt it cannot; But these men with their practice most wickedly affirm it. King Henry the 7. [...] h and many Burgesses and Knights of the Counties, being first attainted by Act of Parliament of high Treason against Richard the 3d. The question was in H. the 7ths. Parliament, How this Act of Attain­der should be reversed, and made void; It was resolved by all the Judges, That those Knights and Burgesses which were attainted, should not sit in the House, when the Act of Attainder was to [...]e reversed; But when that Act was reversed, then they might come again and sit in Parliament: But as for the King, it was unanimously agreed and re­solved by all the said Judges, that ipso facto, when he took upon him to be King, that he was a person able, and discharged of the Attainder; for (said they) the King hath power in himself to enable himself without a Parliament: And an Act for the reversal of the Attainder, is not at all necessary. See 1 H. 7.4. Com. 238. Parliament. B. 37. and 105.

[Page 184]In which case you may see the power of a King, of a King that was attainted of the greatest offence, viz. High Treason. Here likewise you may view the power of a Parliament, of a Parliament, who had asmuch right to dethrone their King, as ever the long Parliament, or any other had. Here likewise you may hear the voyce of the Law, of the Common law, not since repealed by any subsequent Statute. But as it was then, so it ought to be now the Re­solution of all the Judges in England, That the King hath power to take pardon, and ought not to crave pardon of the people for his offences.

The Crown once gained taketh away all defect, is the Sentence of the Law, and an Adage amongst all honest Lawyers; If the people had the Supreme power, why was not the Attainder of the King (in this precedent case) reversed by Act of Parliament, as were the Attainders of the other Members? If the King be but an Officer of trust, deputed by the people, and receiveth his power from them, Why was not the King (in this case) freed from his offence by the people? What would they entrust a person attainted of so great an offence as high Treason, with the highest place in the Common-wealth, And yet not permit others guilty and at­tainted of the same offence, not so much as to fit, and Act as Members of the Parliament, without they were first purged of their offence? It doth not stand with reason, that the highest Offender should exercise the highest office; And doubtless if the people had had power, the Parliament would [Page 185] have cleared King H. the 7th. from his crime, be­fore he should have Officiated his Office of King­ship.

But that Parliament well knew, that the feet were not higher than the head, and that the Infe­riour Members could not impose Laws on the King their Soveraign; They knew with Bracton, that the King (Parem non habet in Regno suo) had not in his Kingdom, any single man, or the people, his equal. Therefore since it is the Law of the land, Magna Charta, 29. That no m [...]n shall be judged but by his Peers, and being the King hath no Peer, or Peers, in his Dominions, They resolved not to judge their King, nor to commit so great a vanity, as to reverse the Attainder: For can a King be at­tainted? or can the people, who have no autho­rity, but what they have from him, have authority to correct, and revise their King? O foolish ima­gination!

Our King Augustus, high and mighty, Solus Prin­ceps, qui est Monarcha & Imperator in Regno suo, Davis Irish Rep. fo. 60. Our only Prince, who is [Page 186] both Monarch and Emperor in his kingdom, hath only authority and the only right to govern the Britains, who, though long since, have been ac­counted, Rigidi & hospitibus feri, rigid, and cruel to strangers: yet, that they should ever so much degenerate, as to be rigid and cruel to their own natural King, and kill their natural Soveraign, is such a wonder, and murther, that never entred into the thoughts of former ages, and will be a bug­bear, and scar-crow to all succeeding generations: for by robbing their King of his Crown and Life, they have robbed the Turk of his cruelty, Judas of his treachery, and all the Devils of their malicious wickedness: For the Turks cruelty, Judas his per­fidious treachery, and the Devils malicious villa­nies, do all conjoyn to make up, and center in an English Rebel, one of those beasts, who like the E­nemies of King David, Psal. 102.8. Have sworn to­gether against their King, are mad upon him, and re­vile him all the day long: Yet, that they may seem religious even when they commit Sacrilege, they (like the Devil when he tempted our Saviour, ta­king him up into an exceeding high mountain, and shew­ing him all the kingdoms in the world, and the glory of them, saying unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me, Mat. 4.9.) will promise fairly; and, as if they were resolved dia­metrically to oppose St. Peters Doctrin, who com­mands them, 1 Pet. 2.16. Not to use liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, they use the liberty of the people (as a Wolf doth the Lambs skin, to destroy [Page 187] poor Lambs) as the only cloak and cover for all their malicious, wicked, prodigious, and damna­ble actions. For, if you ask them, for what cause did they murder the King? Their answer is, for the liberty of the people: For what cause do they make themselves Governours, and Lords and Ma­sters over all that we have? For the liberty of the people: For what cause do they subvert the Laws, expell and throw down the orderly and holy Clergie, and all Religion with them? For the li­berty of the people: For what cause do they en­slave the whole Nation? For the liberty of the people.

Nay, these men are so well furnished with godly pretences, and wicked intentions, that even whilst they cut the peoples throats, they make them be­lieve they give them a blessing: And as the man, who swore that the Coat of the true owner, was another mans, only because he might have the use of it himself; So these men have the impudence to swear (though not without perjury) that the Supreme power is in the people, only because they might throw down our royal Government, with all goodnesse with it, and use that Supreme power themselves, which they protest is in the people. O delusive Mountebanks! Was there ever such a jug­ling deceit acted by any Jugglers or Quacksalvers in the world? Surely there was not. And did not every one, nay they themselves, very well know the truth of what I have said, I might easily make it clear and evident, even to the blind, with [Page 188] multitudes of Examples. For who was it that mur­thered the King? Was it the people? Every man knoweth that it was neither the people nor the Parliament, But a Company of Jesuitical treache­rous Rebels, and damnable Usurpers, Who flam­ing the people in the mouth with a tale, that the su­preme power was in the people, made use of this power themselves, against the wills of the people, as an Engine to perform and bring to passe all their wicked and horrible designs.

But say they, we are the peoples Representatives, chosen by the people, and so what we do, they do; Catch a Knave without a Knaves answer, and he will give you leave to hang him. I must confesse, if this were true, they might have somewhat the more colour (though not the more honesty) for what they do: But this is as false as themselves: For the people chose them to sit in Parliament, and act according to the Kings Writ, as part of the Kings Parliament, according to the Laws of the Realm; But since the Parliament is destroyed (for what Parliament can there be, without a King and House of Lords? such a headlesse Monster was never seen untill of late) Consequently their power which they derived from the people, is gone also. Neither are the Commons in Parliament the representative body of the whole Kingdom or people; For they do not represent the King, who is the head, nor the Lords, who are the nobler and higher part of the body of the Realm; the Commons only represent the Inferior and lower sort of the people: but if they did, as [Page 189] they do not, represent the whole body, yet did not the people ever give them any power, to cut off their Kings head. For the Lords voted it unlawful, all the honest Commons forsook the House, and the people were all displeased (except a few of their own hatching up) and every one else murmured a­gainst it. The Nobility mourned, The Gentry were amazed, The Common people wept, and men women and Children did cry, The Heavens cloath­ed themselves in black, And the Sun hid his face. The Lion King of Beasts died at the [...]ight of his royal blood, And the wild foules came wondering to see this execrable fact, on the Scaffold, And if the Thundering and Lightening of the Almighty be a true sign of Gods Angry Deity, Then even from this we may conclude, that these Regicides took too much upon them, and very much provo­ked his wrath. For,

The Heavens roared with thunder, which made the earth shake, and the darts of fiery lightening threa­tened the ruines of both. And who can think upon this worse than Gunpowder-Treason plot (for then was but intended, that which now is put in Execution) viz. The murther of our gracious King, and the subversion of all Laws and Religion with [Page 190] him, and not justly expect all the Plagues of Aegypt, and the punishment of Sodom and Gomorah, to fall upon him and the whole people? For,

From the death of the King, as from a fountain, did flow the slaughter of the Nobility and people, with the ruine of the Glory and freedom of the English Nation. ‘Tantae molis erat perversam condere gentem,’ Such, and so great villanies were perpetrated, to raise this generation of Vipers. Yet forsooth, they will tell you, that the supreme power and Sove­raignty, is in the people, and that they act under them. O grand Delusion! Did the people turn out the long Parliament? Did the people set up Oliver Protector? Did the people turn out Dick his son? Did the people foist up again the Rump of the long Parliamene? Or did they hunt them out again? Did the people sanctifie the Committee of Safe­ty over them? Or did they hunt in the Rump again? Or have they made all the Revolutions and Choppings, and Changings amongst us? No, neither the people nor their Representatives, But the Devil & his Representatives have been the cause of all our subversions. For as the people have not, so neither did the twentieth part of them, ever chal­lenge, or claim the supreme power. But have al­waies [Page 191] acknowledged the Soveraignty to be only in their King, and only Soveraign, only under God.

Reader, take notice, that in many places of this Book, by the word Parliament, is meant those Traytors, the House of Commons, who have unjustly usur­ped the name of Parliament: For by the known Laws of the Land, there can be no Parliament without the King.

Therefore, let every one of the Regicides repent, and pray to God, to open his eyes, and that the scales of blindnesse may fall from them, that he may see his duty, which is so evidently written in the Scripture, and all other pious Writers, which is, to fear God, and to honour his King, which is acceptable in the sight of the Lord. And so I shut up my discourse, with these verses, which I would have the Reader get without book for his Edification.

LEt us now take our Swords in our hands, and arme our selves to incounter with this Tyrant, sine Titulo, a Tyrant without a Title; That bird of prey, that beast of the game, Orbis flagellum, that scourge of the world, that Devourer of Mankind, Fulmen belli, that Thunderbolt of war, that Maule of the earth, Poli [...]rcletes, that destroyer of Cities, that Hangman, that Murtherer, that great Robber, whose might is his only right, whose multitude of thieves makes him formidable, builds himself up with honest mens blood, feared by all men, and [Page 193] fears all men, an enemy to every honest man, and every honest man an enemy to him, a monster more hideous, than ever the Poets could feign, and more noysome and destructive to humane kind than any beast the world ever bred, a Devil in hu­mane shape. If you do not yet conceive his nature, I will give you a further description of him. A Tyrant without a Title (who indeed is most pro­perly called a Tyrant) is he who levieth war against his King, killeth him, and takes the Government upon himself, or who of his own authority against the will of the people, without election, or right of succession, neither by lot, by will, by gift, by just war, nor speciall calling of God, doth take upon him the Soveraignty. Take notice, Reader, by he way, That the Subject can have no just war against his King. A forein Prince may have a just cause to levy war, and if he conquer, his Ti­tle is good and just by the Law of Conquest. So if ones own natural Prince be kept out of his Country by the Rebellion of his Subjects, and he afterwards come with a forein Army, nay with fire and sword (as we say) that is, putting all to the sword who resisted him, and burning up all that they have, yet if he subdue the Traytors, he is no Tyrant. But if any man without any right or ti­tle usurpeth the Government and aspireth unto the Soveraignty, though afterwards he squareth his life according to the rules of moral honesty, and liveth (as one may say) according to the Lawes, Yet notwithstanding he is a Tyrant for all this. A [Page 194] Thief when he hath taken a mans purse from him, will in company stand upon his Terms of honesty, as much, if not more than an honester man. Yet this after sanctity will not purge a Tyrant from his former sin. He must restore home that which he wrongfully and unjustly keepeth, before he can be a true penitent, and nothing but true Repentance can wash away the guilt of former sins. Therefore Equo ne credite Teucri, trust him no further than you can see him, before he hath cast off the unlawfull robes of Soveraignty, and put on the honest ha­bit of a true Subject, Eor Latet anguis in berba, Let his outside be never so Religious, he is a knave in his heart, his pretentions and his intentions are seldome of affinity.

But may any private hand stick this wild boar? may any publick or private man stab, or otherwise destroy this Tyrant before he be tried according to the Common course of the Law? Grounding upon the Law of God, the Law of Nations, the Law of Nature, and the Common Law of the Realm, I give judgement against him, that as a stroyer of humane kind and society, every man may lay violent hands on him and execute him, For which according to the Laws and writings of antient Fa­thers, he deserveth perpetual honour, propound­ing to every one who should kill such a Tyrant most ample rewards, viz. honourable Titles of Nobility and prowesse, arms, statues, Crowns, and the goods of the Tyrant, as to the true deli­verer of his Countrey. By the Law of God, [Page 195] Whosoeuer sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed, Gen. 9.6. And what Tyrant ever was there who did not shed mans blood? Nay by the Law of God, That man who will do presumptuously and not hearken to the law, is to be cut off, that the evil may be put away from the Land, Deut. 17.12. Exod. 21.14. All the Civil Lawyers do unanimously give judge­ment against him, and esteem that man as one, who doth God and his Countrey good service, who shall rid the world of this viper. By the law of nature every man is obliged to preserve himself, And what better means can he use for his preserva­tion, than to destroy this elf, this Wolf amongst men. For who can say any thing is his own? who can say his life, his goods or estate is secure, so long as a Tyrant reigneth? By the Common Law of the Realm, if any one set upon me to rob or take anie thing away from me, I may lawfullie pistol him, stab him, or otherwise destroy him. and by the same reason and law; for ubi eadem ra­tio, ibi idem jus, I may destroy a Tyrant; for the onely difference betwixt a common highway man, or Burglar, and he is their strength and might, the one is a little thief, the other a great one. As when Diomedes a pirate was taken and brought before A­lexander, saith he, Ego quia uno navigi [...] latrocinior, a [...]cusor pirata, tu quia ingenti classe id agis, vocaris im­perator: si solus & captivus esses, latro cris, st mihi ad nutum populi famulentur, vocarer Imperator, I because I rob with one poor ship, am accused as a Pirate, thou because thou robbest with a great Navie, art [Page 196] called an Emperor. If I had as great and strong a companie of robbers with me as thou hast, and thou wast alone, and a Captive, as I am, then thou wouldest be the thief, and I the Emperor. So may every common thief, high-way man, cut­purse, or Burglar say to the Tyrant when he is brought before him, For mutato nomine Fahula de te narratur. When the Tyrant murthereth any ho­nest man and taketh away his estate, he pretends it is for the safety and good of the Common-wealth, calling him Traytor to the State. So it is for the safety of a thief to kill the man he intendeth to rob. But the Tyrant he dazles mens eyes with new invented names; for his magna latrocinia, his great thefts having nothing honest in them, but the ve­ry names. For when he exerciseth his robberies, and sendeth some of his messengers (who are in­deed no better than thieves) to rob men, that he calleth Excise. So when he setteth upon the whole Nation, he compelleth them to make a purse for him, that he calleth Taxes. And this kind of thie­very is so much the more remarkable, because he maketh the owners like fools gather the monies for him themselves. Nay such is the stupidity of these Dromedaries, that if they have scarce monie enough to buy themselves bread, or to pay their Land­lord his just Rents, yet they will trot about to gather monies for this Tyrant; their common ene­mie, before they will lift up a hand against him. They will let their Churches drop down for want of repair, and Law and Religion and all fall [Page 197] to the ground, before they will let the Tyrant misse of a farthing of his demands—Tanta est in­sania mundi. So great is the madnesse of men.

And the reason why the Law alloweth every man to kill a Tyrant, and take that vengeance which in other cases is reserved to God and the Magistrate, is, because there is no other remedy, and Gods Lawes cannot be otherwise executed; for the Tyrant maketh himself above all law, posses­seth himself of all Forts, strong Holds, Garisons, and the Magazine of all Armour, so that by the greatnesse of his villanies he is secured from the power of the Magistrates, and so consequently cannot be punished by the ordinarie Court of Ju­stice. Therefore Extremis morbis, extrema remedia, Extraordinarie diseases must be cured by extraor­dinarie means, Receditur à placitis juris, potius quam injuriae, & delicta maneant impunita, We may go a little out of the Common road of Justice to pu­nish those crimes who make by-paths their high waies, and cannot otherwise be met with. For Lex semper dabitremedium, The Law will alwaies give a remedie, and—immedicabile vulnus ense recidendum est, that ulcer or sore which cannot be cured by medicines, must be cut off with the sword, and it is a rule in Law, that aliquid conce­ditur, ne injuria remaneret impunita, quod alias non concederetur, The law will dispense with some grounds of law, rather than crimes and wrongs should go unpunished it is a Maxim, that no private man may kill another, Exod. 22.2. Yet if [Page 198] a thief set upon a man in the high way, or come to rob his House, he or any other man may law­fully kill him, and deserve well of the Common-wealth. So a Tyrant who continually liveth up­on the spoils of the people, and is continually robbing the Common-wealth; for he hath no­thing but by robbery, though he pretend nothing but the good and safety of the Common-wealth, may be killed by any man, and that man who ex­ecuteth him deserveth perpetual renown, and ought to have his name written in the Chronicles of e­verlasting memory, and consecrated to eter­nity.

Object. But it may be objected, [...]hat a Tyrant who usurpeth the Government by force, and after­wards getteth the consent of the people, may not justly be killed by anie man, because this future approbation, and election of the people, is a true ratification of his power.

Sol. To which I answer, That notwitstanding the peoples consent he may lawfullie be slain; for that which is done by duresse cannot be binding, and that cannot be thought to be the true consent of the people which they do by constraint. Indeed if the Soveraigntie continueth in the Children and posteritie of the Tyrant for the space of an hundred years or more, so that they have a title by Prescription, which must be without the least [...]nterruption or Rebellion of the people, then ought not any man to slay them, because they have a title by Prescription. As in the Govern­ment [Page 199] of Rome. Julius Caesar usurped the Soveraign­tie, aand wrested the power out of the Senates hands, but was afterwards stabbed with twentie three wounds, and all men rejoiced and esteemed his murther a most worthie act. But when Tiberius Caesar came to the Government, he reigned unque­stioned without anie competition of the Senate, and therefore no private man could justlie slay him. For our Saviour did acknowledge allegiance due to him. But where a Tyrant rebelleth against his lawfull Soveraign, dethroneth, him banisheth him, and establisheth the Supream power on him­self, though the people all of them continuallie consent, and the Tyrant and his posteritie reign for a thousand years, or more, yet may anie man lawfully slay him; for the people cannot give a­way Soveraignty from their lawfull King, and he may demand it when he pleaseth, and regain his own when God hath made him able; For Dormit aliquando jus, sed moritur nunquam. Right sometimes sleepeth, but never dieth.

Out of the Magazine of autorities which might be brought to confirm what I have spoken concer­ning this firebrand, a Tyrant without a Title, I shall onely select some flowers to lay upon his stinking corps, and so wind up my discourse with his winding sheet.

Bias being asked which was the most pernitious of all beasts, he answered, Sylvestrium Tyrannus, Domesticorum adulator. Of forest beasts a Tyrant was the worst, but of domestick a flatterer, Plut.

[Page 200] Antisthenes alwayes preferred hangmen before Tyrants, and being asked the reason, he answered, a A Car nifice quidem homines injusti interimuntur, à Tyranno autem etiam insontes, A Hang man onely hangeth the unjust and evil men, but a Tyrant al­so hangeth the most just and most pious, Ludovicus 12 Gall. Rex, was wont to say, Plehem & rusticos esse pascua Tyrannorum, & militum: Tyrannus autem & milites, pascua esse daemonorum, That the Common people and Countrie Farmers, were the food of Ty­rants, and their Souldiers; but the Tyrants and the Souldiers were the food of Devils, Annal. Franciae.

Democritus being asked of Dionysius what kind of metal was the best, answered, That whereof the Athenians made the statues of Harmodiu [...], and Aristo­giton, in honour of their killing Pisistratus the Tyrant. Intimating by this answer, that all Tyrants ought to be destroyed, and to those who killed them ought to be erected statues of brasse in honour of their noble attempt, after the manner of the Athe­nians Plut.

Euphron the Lacedemonian having made himself a Tyrant in the Citie of Cicyon, was shortly after murthered by the Senators, as he sate in counsel with them, who defended themselves by this Apo­logie. Quod qui manifesti sceleris, proditionis, & Ty­rannidis rei sunt, non sententia aliqua damnandi videan­tur, sed ab omnibus hominibus jam ante damnati sunt, & quod nulla Graecorum lex ostendi possit, quae proéito­ribus, [...]ut tyrannis securitatem praestet, That those [Page 201] which are guilty of treason and tyrannie, need not to be proceeded against in a legal way; for that they are beforehand condemned in all mens judgements, neither was there any Law amongst the Grecians that gave security to traytors and ty­rants, Plut.

Insidiatori & latroni non potest afferri injusta nex, saith Cicero pro Milone, A traytor and a tyrant can­not be killed with an unlawfull death; for every man may be both Judge and executioner of them, and non se obstrinxit scelere, si quis Tyrannum occidit quamvis familiarem. 3. Offic. Nulla nobis cum Tyrannis societas est, sed summa potius distractio, ne­que est contra naturam spoliare eum, quem honestum est necare. It is the part of an honest man to kill a tyrant, although he be his familiar friend; for no man should keep company with a tyrant, and it is most natural and honest for a man to kill him; Ci­cero likewise saith, Phil. 13, Quem discordiae, quem coedes civium, quem bellum civile delectat, eum ex nume­ro hominum ejiciendum, ex finibus humanae naturae censeo exterminandum, Whom discord, slaughter of the Citizens, and Civil War delighteth, I would have him cast out of the Societie of men, and thrown down headlong into Hell. And Contra publicos hostes & majestatis reos omnis homomiles est, saith Tertullian, Against common enemies, and those that are tray­tors to their King, every one is an Ebud with his dagger, and may most law fullie kill them. There­fore though Christ hath taught me to forgive my enemies, nay to love them, and not to speak evil [Page 202] Of Dignities, and for my part I hate not the per­son of any Tyrant. Pax [...]um hominibus, bellum vi­tiis, but I hate his Tyyrannie, I freely forgive them all the injuries they have done to me, or any of my friends, and for their good I have writ­ten this Treatise; but they are Gods enemies, and God would be offended if we should let them sleep in their villanies. Our Laws and Religion ought to be more dear to us than all things in the world; for without them we should be worse than beasts; and who more subverteth our Laws and Religion than Tyrants? Ʋt imperium ever­tant libertatem preferunt, cum perverterunt, ipsam ag­grediuntur, saies Tacitus, That they may pervert the legal Government they pretend liberty for the people, and when the Government is down, they then invade that libertie themselves. Auferre, truci­dare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi so­litudinem faciunt, pacem appellent, To rob, to mur­ther, to plunder, Tyrants falsely call to Govern, and to make desolation, they call to settle peace. These are they which God sayes, Hosea 8.4. Ipsi re­gnaverunt, sed non ex me, They have reigned, but not, by me. They have made Princes, and I knew it not. and have cast off the thing that is g [...]od. There is no power indeed, but of God, but the abuse of power is from the Devil. These men do not rightly use, but abuse the power, and as Satan is called the Prince of the world, so these men are called Go­vernors of the Realm, not because they are so by right, but by Treacherie, Rebellion, and Trea­son, [Page 203] their power is by Gods permission, not by his Donation, Therefore these are not the Digni­ties and higher powers which the Apostle com­mands us to be subject to; for then we must be subject to the Devil too; for Tyrants and Devils have powers both alike lawfull, and both by Trea­son and Rebellion: No, we should resist and arm our selves against these enemies, it is Disobedience to obey them, Rebellion not to rebell against them, and Treason not to plot Treason against them: Therefore let everie one be readie with his dagger like Jodes, to stab this devourer of man­kind. Bad Kings must be converted onelie with praiers and tears; but Tyrants must be subdued with clubs and swords; for Quis constituit te virum Principem & Judicem super nos, Exod. 2.14. Who made them Princes and Judges over us? the King we know and the Kings son we know, but who are they? They are not of Gods making, but of Beelzebubs their Master, and their own making: Therefore let everie good Christian arm himself a­gainst these Caterpillers, devotion and action must go together, let him not bribe his Conscience with self interests, but take courage and fight the good fight, that so he may deliver himself, and his Countrie from slaverie, and bring the Tyrants to the Rope, their best winding sheet.

IF you remember, in my Division of Govern­ments, I made mention of Aristocracy and Demo­cracy, &c. which indeed had their first Original from the corruption of Monarchy, and are but shreds of Monarchy, as all Politicians hold: Therefore I will not spend time and paper to abuse your patience with anie thing, but a Description of them: For

Monarchy doth as far excell all other sorts of Government, in glory, profit, conveniencie for the people, and in all other good qualities, as the Sun doth the Moon, or the Moon the twinckling stars, and is like the lofty Cedar amongst the [Page 205] servile shrubs. Hence it cometh, that even the Re­publicans who hate a King because he is their Sove­raign Master, are compelled to suffer and use Petite Monarchies (as one may say) under them: as one Ma­ster over everie Familie, one Maior over everie City, one Sheriff over everie Countie, one Rector over everie Parish Church, one Pilot over every ship, one Captain over everie Troop, one Admiral over the Fleet, and manie other Offices of trust and places wherein Pluralitie of persons would prove most obnoxious: But Monarchie is and alwaies hath been proved and approved the best and most abso­lute lie good.

Aristocracy is the Government of a Common-wealth by some select number of the better sort of the people, preferred for their wisdome and other vertues for the publick good.

Oligarchy is the swarving or distortion or Ari­stocracy, or the Government of a few rich, yet wicked men, whose private end is the chiefest end of their Government; tyrannizing over Law, Re­ligion and the people.

Democracy or popular estate is the Government of the multitude. Where the people have the su­pream power, and Soveraign autority.

Ochilocracy or a Common-wealth is the corrup­tion and deprivation of Democracy, where the ras­cal Rabble or viler sort of the people govern by reason of their multitude.

These kinds of Government were not heard of a long time after Monarchy began, and the impul­sive [Page 206] causes of them were contention and confusion, and were rather permitted than ordained by God, as the bill of Divorce was by Moses; For non erat sic ab initio, there was no such Government at the beginning; for God did not create it, as he did Monarchy when he made all things; but the people being stragled up and down in the world, and so in processe of time became out of the knowledge of their lawfull King, rather than they would indure the miserable effects of Anarchy; for Plebs fine Rege ruit, there can be no family, no society, indeed no living without rulers, they, re [...]igned up their whole power and libertie to some few select men, or else to many, who made Laws for them, and so tied up the hands of the unrulie and wicked, and defended the just from the violent tempests and storms of the unjust, to which before they lay open and naked: which God seeing that it was better for them to have such a Government, than none at all, did al­low of it, but it hath no comparison with Monar­c [...]y, becuase that was instituted by Gods primarie Ordinance, and the further men go from Gods original institution they have the more corrupti­on, Nay, if compared to Monarchy it is a curse; for Solomon saith, Prov. 28.2. For the transgressions of a Land, many are the Princes thereof, but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.

[Page 207]How sweetlie doth the Poet sing, when he saith, that it is most sweet for one to govern; for a companie of Governors have alwaies discord to be their companion. Monarchia nihil habet durum praeter nomen, populare contra regimen nihil lene praeter nomen. Monarchy hath nothing harsh but its name, but on the contrarie, a popular estate hath no­thing delightfull or taking but its name. Our times are so full a Commentarie, and so plain an Exposition of the evil events of a popular estate, that I will not, neither need I recite the opinions of the Antients, wherewith they have contemned it, as the worst of Governments, most subject to dissension and change, and most obnoxious to the people. And I think, no Nation under the Sun could ever produce a more notorious example than mutable England, where everie man as if he had ser­ved an Apprentiship to novelty, forgeth new inven­ions everie day: he changeth his mind as often as children would change their cloaths, and fitteth his conscience to everie opportunitie and purpose. His heart (though hollow) will bend like a flexi­ble osier, and incline to anie thing that is profita­ble, though never so wicked, his resolutions will break to pieces like ropes of sand, and like the Moon are alwaies changing. He never standeth to anie thing so fast, but that he can slip away from it when he pleaseth. Neither did he ever love any Religion 'so well, but that he could love another as well at any time, and for a need entertain tw [...]n­tie together, twentie did I say? Nay, 'tis his fa­shion [Page 208] to change his Religions everie day, if no every hour, and so, much Religion makes him an ir­religious changeling.

But for brevities sake take his Epitome, viz Constant onely in inconstancy. And this man thu [...] qualified is one of the main pillars of the Govern­ment of England; for you must know too, that h [...] hath sometimes a great mind to be a Governor, nay, he is so hot upon it, that sometimes he will do a­ny thing rather than fail. If his own father stands between the Throne and him, he will make him stand by, or else make him go into another world. He can pull off Kings Crowns, as often as he can pull off his own Hat. He can break a great Oath as easie as he can break a little [...]hreed, and Perjury with him is a Cardinal vertue, if it do but add a­ny thing to his Design. And you will make it a miracle, if this man should not make a good Com­mon-wealths man, if not a good one, however one would think that he might keep his place long enough, being so well furnished with all these sweet, flexible and easie conditions, but no, he cannot, and the reason is, because there is a great Litter of these Whelps gathered together of the same kind with himself, and being so many, they often snarl one at another for the bone: so the Go­vernment Proteus like changeth it self into what shape they please, sometimes one of them is pro­moted to the Government, just like a Malefactor on a Woodden Horse, whom they pull down when they please, and them run open mouthed [Page 191] with a full cry after it again,*Omnibus esse Lupos licet in regione Lupo­porum. un­till that at length one being nim­bler footed, or quicker mouthed, catcheth it into his paws, by and by all of them like Acteons dogs fall up­on him, and although he crieth out ‘Actaeon ego sum, Dominum cognoscite vestrum.’ I am he which use to hunt with you, and be your master Huntsman, yet such is the furious madnesse of these Animals, Note: Gal. 2.18. If I build again the things which I destroyed, I make my self a transgressour. that they tear him in pieces, and hang the Government on another, and so they tosse it about from one to the other, as children do a three half penny ball, thinking it is no sport, if the ball lie long still in one of their hands. Regni sacra fames quid non morialia pectora cogis? What doth not the thirst of ruling compell these mor­tals to do? Every one cuts his fellows throat if he thwarts him in the Government; they make the people swear to be faithfull to a single person one day, and to swear against a single person the next. It is high Treason to speak against one kind of Government one hour, and high Treason or worse not to speak against it the next; and what is the reason of these turnings, and twinings, and various alterations? Because in these dayes there is no King in England, and every man doth that which is right in his own eys, Judg. 21.25.

What madnesse O people, O people what licenti­ous fury possesseth your earthly Cottages? Can fish live in the air? Or can fowls live in the Sea? Can you scale the heavens, and subdue the Al­mighty?

The disposing of Crowns belongeth to God, and not unto your frail Quidlibets, When you go to wrest the Crown from your Soveraign, you go to [Page 211] fight against God: And through your foolishnesse pull down his wrath upon you. Why preach you up your selves the maintainers of the Law so much? Alas, thieves cannot live without a Law; for if they do not distribute their stolen goods e­qually, and according to Justice (as they term it) Divisions and quarrels will soon arise amongst them. But I hope this is not your case, if it is, *The strifes and di­visions now amongst the Rebels do further the Kings Restaurati­on to his own, of which they robbed him. honest men will come by their goods: Therefore being admonished Do not despise your lawfull King and Soveraign.

But if you do, and with your vaunting power, and raging violence over-rule all humane strength and ju [...]tice, Yet remember, that the gods remember you, and when your villanies are past and rubbed out of your brittle memories (For nothing is more pleasing than to forget ones evil actions) yet then they are most fairly written in Gods book, and shall never be blotted out untill your names are razed out of the book of life. What sweetnesse is there in Crowns, which makes you so earnest to wear them? It is your fond conceits to think they are delightfull, there is nothing in them which hath not plus fellis quam mellis, more gall than honie. ‘Deformis facies non est deformis amanti.’ [Page 194] It is only your love which makes them beautifull; for Crowns are not without cares and fears, crosses and losses; and high seats are alwaies slipperi [...]. O vilis Pannus, said one King, throwing down his Royal Diadem, Were it but known how many miseries and molestations do attend thee, ‘Nemo foret qui te vellere tollet humo.’

No man would stoop to take thee up. Anto­nius the Philosopher, Emperor of Rome, was wont to say, That an Empire was malorum Ocea­nus, an Ocean of miseries: and surely the time will come, that every one of you with him will say, Felix si non imperassem, Happie had I been, if I had never reigned: but suppose the Crown to be your own, and you everie day to sit upon the Throne of Majestle, triumphing over all perils and dangers, fare deliciously every day, and with those wicked men which King David speaks of, have what your heart could wish or desire? Yet

When you think your selves most secure, then destruction may be nearest at hand, and when you feast your pampered bodies, crying seria cras, then may the sword which must be your executioner [Page 195] hang over your head, but by a hair. Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. The shortnesse of our lives forbids us to expect Eternitie here. Where is Alexander the great? Where is Julius Caesar the Usurper? Or where is Oliver the Tyrant? is he not gone out like the snuff of a Candle, even loathsom to his own Parasites?

And him whom a whole world of villanies could not satisfie, was at length overcome with a little Coffin, and contented with a span of ground, Death onely making him stand to his Principles. And although you like mistie fogs going against the Sun which raised them, rebell against him from whom you have your being, making ‘Hoc volo, sic jube [...], stat pro ratione voluntas,’ Your will's the onely reason of your Laws, and your Laws like traps, only to catch honest men, yet Nemo malus felix, There is no wicked man happy.

[Page 214]It is easie for you, nay it is very pleasant to plunge your selves into Hell, but if you should join all your heads together, nay unite all your hearts and forces into one intire body (which it seems is a hard matter for you to do) yet by all your strength and juggling tricks, ye cannot jug­gle your selves out again, nay, the Devil himself cannot get you from thence, but there you shall burn like wisps, which have done scouring the better vessels, or like the rods which have chasti­sed Gods children. Your rejoycing shall be turned into mourning, and your deceitfull prating into gnashing of teeth.

How men are taken with their own shadows? and Narcissus-like grope after that which is not. What will it profit a man to enjoy the whole world to day, and lose his own soul to morrow? David taxed them with foolerie, whose inward thought was that their houses should continue for ever, and their dwelling pla­ces to all generations, and call their lands after their own names. How much more then may they be taxed with foolery, who call other mens Lands after their own names and think they shall enjoy them for ever? This their way is their folly, yet their posterity ap­prove their sayings, yet this night shall their souls be ta­ken from them, they shall be laid in the grave, death shall [...]eed on them, and the upright shall have Dominion over [Page 215] them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume in the grave, from their dwelling; though while they lived, they blessed themselves, yet when they die they shall carry nothing away, neither shall any thing but their villanies descend with them. The same voice which came to Nebuchadnezzar whilest he was boasting of his great Babel, shall come from heaven to these Babylo­nians, saying, To you be it spoken, your Kingdome is departed from you. And Pompey-like you shall die, and have no mold to cover your carcases.

They who living made men run from them through fear, shall now make men run from them by reason of their stink. And I pray God that I may not have cause to say of this City of London, as once Seneca said of a City which was burnt to ash­es, Ʋna dies interest inter magnam Civitatem, & nul­lam, There is but one dayes difference betwixt a great City and no City; for what Citie in the world so full fraught with sinnes and villanies, as ours?

How do our houses burn with lust? and our Chambers with pride and wantonnesse, whilest the streets blush with the blood of Prophets? to see the Children murther their great, yet loving Father, before his own door. O Almighty God pardon our infamous Paticides, and Regicides, and cloze up those wounds which our sins have made so wide that none but thy right hand can cure them.

Relieve the distresses of thy Saints, and take pity upon those who are wrongfully persecuted; turn rather than confound the hearts of all men, and open the casements of our ignorant (yet zealous) minds, that by the true light of the Gospel we may walk in faithful obedience towards thee our God, and towards our lawful King and Soveraign, whom thou, not men and Satan have placed over us: and let all men learn that which a Divine and honourable Poet hath left us.

To go about to prove, that the King of England, &c. hath the Supreme power over the Parlia­ment and people, deserveth as much derision, as to go about to prove that the Sun shineth at noon day, or that the heavens are above the earth, yet since there are those amongst us, who like the So­domites grope for light in the clearest day, and have the i [...]pudence to publish for truth, that which their conscience telleth them is false, I will give you a tast of our Lord the Kings Soveraignty, which lieth dispersed and scattered about in our Law books.

Jus C [...]ronae, The Law of the Crown is the prin­cipal part of the Laws of this Realm, Co. Lit. 11. ^b. 15. ^b 344. ^a 25 E. 3 cap. 1. Register inter jura Regia 61, &c. For since the Common Law of the Land, is common usage, expressed in our books of Law, and judicial Records, Co. Lit. 344 ^a. Plowden 195. Finch 77 ^a. The Government of this Kingdome by a Royal Soveraign is become a Fundamental Law, being as antient as history it self, and used from the time whereof the memory of antiquity is not to the contrary.

And since that the ligeance, faith & obedience of [Page 207] the Subject is due unto the King by the Law of nature, Co. l. 6. fol. 12. as well before, as after the municipal and Judicial Laws were made, our Law-books like faithfull Subjects (being the Ma­gazine of law) from their Alpha to Omega could preach no other Doctrine than Allegeance, faith and due obedience to their Soveraign the King, whom they all confesse and testifie to be the Su­preme lord and head of the Common-wealth, immediately under God, above all persons, in all causes. Finch in French, fol. 20. in English 81. Co. lib. 2.15. Le Roy est caput & salus Reipublicae, & à capite bona valetudo tranfit in omnes, lib. 4.124. the King is the fountain of Justice, tranquillity and repose, Plowden 242. Therefore Nil desperandum Rege duce, & Auspice Rege, Nothing can come a­misse to us, the King being our guide and Sove­raign. Reges sacro aleo uncti spiritualis jurisdictionis sunt capaces, Kings being the Lords Anointed are nursing Fathers to our Church. The King of Eng­land est Monarcha & Imperator in Regno suo, Davis Irish reports fol. 60. the Almighty hath said, that they are gods, and our common laws of Eng­land being founded on the laws of God do like­wise attribute to them a shadow of the Divine excellencies, viz.

• 1 Divine perfection.
• 2 Infinitenesse
• 3. Majesty
• 4 Soveraignty.
• 5. perpetuity
• 6. Justice.
• 7. Truth.
• 8 Omniscienc

[Page 222] Of which I have already treated; Nay as God is a King in Heaven, so the King is stiled, a God up­on Earth. Finch 81. He is the Head, Father, Physi­cian, and husband of the Common-wealth; He is Gods Lieutenant, Deputy, Vicegerent, receiving his Commission from God, not from the people. These are the titles which the Common Laws of England give to the King. A Divine sentence is in the lips of the King, his mouth transgresseth not in judge­ment, Prov. 16.10. saith Gods word, Therefore the Law receiveth it for a Maxim, That the King can do no wrong, Co. Lit. f. 19. He is Rex gratia Dei non populi, King by the grace of God, not of the people, The most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, Dan. 4.17. Ther­fore all the Lands and Tenements in England, in the hands of Subjects, are holden mediately or immediately of the King, but the King is Tenant to none but God, 8 H. 7:12. Co. Lit. 1. For, Prae­dium Domini Regis est Directum Dominium, cujus nul­lus author est nisi Deus, Only God is the author and Donor of the Kings Dominions. Therefore the possessions of the King are called, sacra Patrimonia & Dominica Coronae Regis. The King is the Lords anointed, 1 Sam. 10.1. Therefore the Law giveth reverence to his Person, and maketh him supreme in Ecclesiastical causes. The villain of a Lord in the presence of the King cannot be seized, because the presence of the King, is a protection to the vil­lain for that time, 27 ass. Pla. 49. Is it fit to say to a King, thou art wicked, and to Princes, ye are ungodly? [Page 223] Job 34.18. Therefore no Civil (much lesse Crimi­nal) action lyeth against the King, if he doth un­justly, the only remedie against the King is by pe­tition and supplication, for who shall command the King ▪ Stamford Praer. fol. 5. Bracton fol. 5. Flera fol. 17. Finch 13. The Prerogative which the Common-law giveth the King is so large, as Sir Henry Finch saith, that you shall find that to be law almost in every case of the King, that is law in no case of the Subject, Finch fol. 85. And therefore Sir John Davis in his preface confidently averreth, ‘that the Common-law doth excel all other laws, in upholding a free Monarchy, which is the most excellent form of Government, exalting the Pre­rogative royal, and being tender, and watchful to preserve it, and yet maintaining all the Ingenuous liberty of the Subject.’ Nay so carefull is the law of the Kings Soveraignty, that in all cases from the highest to the lowest, it demonstrateth the Kings supreme power and dignity. The law will not permit any Subject to come so near the King, as to be jointenant with him, for if Lands are given to the King and a subject, or if there be two Jointenants, and the Crown descend to one of them, the Jointure is severed, and they are Te­nants in Common; for no Subject is equal with the King, Co. Lit. 190. Plowd. Com. in Seig. Barkleys Case. Nay rather than the Su [...]ect shall be equal with the King in any thing, he shall lose all; for the King being Tenant in Common of entier [Page 206] Chattel personal, he shall have the whole, as if an Obligation be made to two, or two possessed of an horse, and one is attainted, the King shall have the whole duty of the Obligation and the horse, 13 El. pl. 322. Finch. 178. To instance all particular cases, is endlesse and impossible, all land is holden of the King immediately, or by means, himself not having any higher upon earth of whom to hold, 50 Ass. pl. 1. 18 Eli. Pl. 498. For it would be against Common right and reason, that the King should hold of any, or do service to any of his subjects, saith Cook, lib. 8.118. Because he hath no Superior but God almighty, Cook Lit. 1. Escheats of all Cities appertaineth un­to the King, all mines of Gold and silver, or wherein the gold and silver is of the greater va­lue, appertain unto the King, 8 E. 3. Escheat 12. 1 El. Plo. 314. The King is Anima legis, he gover­neth and defendeth the law, all Writs and Pro­cesse run in his name, and receive authority one­ly from him; and all persons have their power from him, and by his Writ, Patent, or Com­mission. The King hath the sole Government of his subjects. The body Politick and the natural body of the King make one body, and not di­verse, and are inseparable and indivisible, Plo. 234 242.213. lib. 7.12. Rex tuetur legem, & lex tu­ [...]tur jus. We mu [...] be for God and the King, be­cause by his laws we are protected, and it is a miserable case to be out of the Kings Protection, Co. Lit. 129.

[Page 225]All Jurisdictions and the punishment of all of­fenders against the Laws, belongs to the King; And Treasons, Felonies and other Pleas of the Crown, are propriae causae regis. For why? The King is viva Lex, a living Law, who only hath power to give Laws, and therefore he only ought to punish those who break them: Not the Parlia­ment as it is called, viz. the two Houses, or either of them singly, because they without the King can make no Law, and therefore they are murtherers, because they have put to death many worthy Inno­cents, having no other Law, but their own wicked wills.

And for my part, if any one should tell me that the Law of England, is nothing but the will of the King, I could not disprove him; for what are the great volumes of our Statutes, but the Monu­ments and Repertory of the Kings will? What is the reason, that it is a Law that the King cannot make new or alter old Laws, but in Parliament with the consent of his Lords and Commons? Be­cause the King was pleased to will it so, for it was not so from the beginning. The King was long before Parliaments, and therefore did most certainly make Laws without them. What is an Act of Parliament, but the will of the King, Nay what is Magna Charta, but a Roy le veilt? All our Rights and Liberties we enioy, are by the gra­cious concessions of our Soveraign Lord the King, who esteemeth our good, and freedom, his best [Page 226] praerogative and happinesse; Omnium domos, illius vigilia defendit, omnium otium, illius labor, om­nium delitias, illius industria, omnium vacatio­nem, illius occupatio: The King by his watch, and diligent care, doth defend, and keep every mans house in safety: his labour doth maintain and de­fend every mans rest and quiet, his diligence doth preserve and defend every private mans plea­sure and delight, his businesse doth maintain and defend every mans leasure; So that (as Manwood hath it) even as the head of a natural body doth continually watch, and with a provident care still ook about for the safety, and preservation of eve­ry member of the same body: Even so the King being the head of the body of the Commonweal, doth not only continually carry a watchful eye for the preservation of peace, and quietnesse at home amongst his own Subjects, but also to preserve, and keep them in peace and quietnesse from any forein invasion: Therefore if the Rebells since the murther of our gracious King Charles the first, have taken the freeborn Subjects of this Nation, and imprisoned them like Slaves without any just cause or due processe of Law; If they have violently dri­ven us from our Lands and Livelyhoods, posses­sing themselves of them, and taken away our free Customs and Liberties; If they have unjustly de­prived us of the benefit of the Law, banished us out of our Country, and destroyed us with their high Courts of Injustice, without the verdict of [Page 227] our equalls, contrary to the Law of the Land; if they have delayed Justice and Right, denyed it to all men, and granted it to no man, but to those who would buy it, Blesse God for Charles the first, and pray for the restauration of Charles the second. Praise God for their noble Praedecessours, who have been our Nursing Fathers, and their Queens our nursing Mothers, who have willed and enacted Magna Charta, ca. 29. Nullus liber homo capiatur, vel imprisonetur, aut dissisietur de libero tenemento suo, vel libertatibus, vel liberis consuetudinibus suis, aut utlagagetur, aut exuletur, aut aliquo modo destru­atur, nec super ibimus, nec super eum mittemus nisi per legale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem ter­rae, nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differemus justitiam, vel rectum. That no man should be ar­rested, imprisoned, disseised of his Free-hold, of his Liberties, or free customes, or out-lawed, b [...] ­nished, or otherwise destroyed, but by the verdict of his equals, and the Law of the Land, neither should Law and Justice be delayed, sold or denyed to any man, but the King in judgment of Law, is present in all his Courts of Justice, repeating these words, We will sell, deny, nor delay Justice and right to no man, Inst. 2.55. O Magnificent, blessed, and golden Oration! It proceeded from the lips of Kings, and we shall never hear such Doctrine preach­ed again in any of our Courts of Justice, untill our King be restored to his own, and sit Judge amongst us. It was King Charles the first who granted [Page 228] that the burthen of excise should not be laid on the shoulders of his Subjects, but the Rebels with their intollerable and monstrous Excises, new found impositions, and other unspeakable grievances, have beggered the Subjects, and undone the whole King­dome both in their Estates and Reputation; To be short, whatsoever they voted unlawfull for the King to do, they have done that, and ten thousand times worse: so that though we want not bodies to feel the miseries, which they have brought upon us, yet we want tongues to expresse the wofulnesse of our Condition, and the incomparable wickedness of these Traytors.

And what greater pretence have they had for their actions, than to say, that the King was not the Supreme Governour over his Subjects? A con­tradiction in it self; but we will proceed further to manifest their error. Sir Thomas Smith in his com­mon-wealth of England, saith, cap. 9. By old and antient Histories that I have read, I do not under­stand that our Nation hath used any other general Authority in this Realm, neither Aristocratical, nor Democratical, out only the royal & Kingly Ma­jesty, who held of God to himself, & by his Sword, his People & Crown, acknowledging no Prince on Earth his Superiour, and so it is kept, & holden at this day; which truth is sufficiently warranted in our Law-Books. The state of our Kingdome (saith Sir Edward Cook li. 4. Ep. ad lectorem) is Mo­narchical, & from the beginning by right of inheri­tance [Page 229] hath been successive, which is the most abso­lute and perfect form of Government; excluding Interregnum, and with it infinite inconveniences, the Maxim of the common Law being Regem Angliae nunquam mori, That the King of England never dyeth; then doubtlesse the Rebels could not by Law mortifie both the natural and politique ca­pacity of the King. And in Calvins case li. 7. The weightiest case that ever was argued in any Court, than which case (according to my Lord Cokes ob­servation) never any case was adjudged with great­er concordance, and lesse variety of opinions, and that (which never fell out in any doubtfull case) no one opinion in all our books is against that judg­ment, In this case it was resolved amongst other things, Fo. 4. &c. 1. That the People of England &c. were the Subjects of the King, viz. their So­veraign liege Lord King James. 2. That Ligeance, or obedience of the Subject to the Soveraign, is due by the Law of Nature. 3. That this Law of Nature is part of the Laws of England. 4. That the Law of Nature was before any judicial or municipal Law in the world. 5. That the Law of Nature is immu­table, and cannot be changed. From which resolu­tions we may conclude, that the Subjects of the King of England (unlesse they like God Almighty could alter the Law of Nature,) They could not al­ter their obedience and subjection to their Sove­raign Lord King Charles. For if by the Law of Na­ture [Page 230] obedience from them was due to the natural body (as I shall further prove) of King Charles; and if the Law of Nature is immutable, (as most certainly it is, Bracton lib. 1 ca. 5. D. & Stu. ca. 5. & 6.) then could not they have any cause whatso­ever, (as altering their Religion, banishing, or killing of them) a sufficient ground for them to take up arms against him, and put him to death. For by this they go about to change the Law of Nature, which is impossible for mortals to do: But say some, by the Law of Nature we may defend our selves, and therefore leavy war against the King for our own defence; I answer, that by the Law of Na­ture we are bound to defend our selves, yet must we use no unlawfull means for our defence; for the Subjects to levy war against their Soveraign, is forbidden both by the Laws of God and Nature. Therefore vain and foolish is that excuse, as well as all others which the Rebels make use of to defend their Rebellion.

Ligeance is a true and faithfull obedience of the Subject due to his Soveraign, It is an obligation up­on all Subjects to take part with their Liege Lord against all men living, to aid and assist him with their bodies, and minds, with their advice and pow­er; not toft li up their arms against him, nor to support in any way those who oppose him. This ligeance and obedience is an incident inseparable to every. Subject of England; and in our Law-books, and many Acts of Parliament, as in 34 H. 8. cap. [Page 231] 1. 35 H. 8. cap. 3, &c. The King is called the liege Lord of his Subjects, and the people his liege subjects. Every Subject of England taketh the Oath of ligeance, which is only due unto the King, yet doth not the ligeance of the Subject to the King begin at the taking of this Oath at the Leet; For (as it was resolved in Calvins Case) so soon as the Subject is born, he oweth by birth-right ligeance and obedience to his Soveraign Lord the King. Because ligeance, faith and obedience of the Subject to the Soveraign, was by the Law of Nature written with the Finger of God in the Heart of Man, before any municipal, or judicial Laws were made: 1. For that Moses was the first Reporter or writer of Law in the World, yet go­vernment and subjection was long before Moses. 2. For that it had been in vain to have prescribed laws to any, but to such as ought obedience, faith and ligeance before, in respect whereof they were bound to obey and observe them, Frustra enim feruntur leges, nisi subditis, & obedientibus. You may read likewise in Calvins Case, That the King of England hath his title to the Crown by inherent birth-right, by descent from the blood royal, from God, Nature, and the Law, and therefore not by way of trust from the two Houses of Parliament, or from the People; Neither is his Coronation any part of his Title, but only an ornament, and solem­niation of the royal descent; For it was then re­solved, that the title of King James was by des­sent, [Page 232] and that by Queen Elizabeths death, the Crown and Kingdom of England descended to his Majesty, and he was fully and absolutely thereby King, without any essential ceremony, or act to be done Ex post facto. So in the first year of the same Kings reign, before his Majesties Coronation, Watson and Clarke, seminary Priests, and others, were of opinion, that his Majesty was no com­pleat and absolute King before his Coronation, but that Coronation did adde perfection to the descent, and therefore (observe saith my Lord Cook their damnable and damned consequent) that they by strength and power might before his Coronation take him and his royal Issue into their possession, keep him prisoner in the Tower, remove such Counsellors, and great Officers as pleased them, and constitute others in their places, &c. and that these, and others of like nature, could not be treason against his Majesty, before he was crowned King. But it was clearly resolved by all the Judges of England, that presently, by the descent, his Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King, with­out any essential ceremony or act to be done Ex post facto, and that Coronation was but a royal ornament, and outward solemniation of the de­scent. And this evidently appeareth by infinite Presidents and book cases, where such execrable opinions have been no sooner hatched, than destroy­ed; and if the Judges of our age had been so ho­nest, as to have cropped in the bud such like opini­ons [Page 233] broached by the Rebells, Charls the first had still been our King, and we a flourishing and hap­py Kingdom.

Although the King of England hath two Capaci­ties, the one by Nature, the other by Policy; yet ligeance is due to the King in his natural capacity, and his natural and politick body make but one indivisible body, Plo. 213. The Oath of Allige­ance is made to the natural person of the King, so is the Oath of Supremacy, and all Inditements of Treason, when any do intend, or compasse mor­t [...] et destructionem Domini Regis, the death, and destruction of the Lord our King (which must needs be understood of his natural body, for his politick body is immortal, and not subject to death) the Inditement concludeth, contra lige­antiae suae debitum, ergo, the ligeance is due to the natural body, vid. Fitt. Justice of Peace, 53. Plo. Com. 384. in the Earl of Leicesters case; It is true, that the King in genere dyeth not; but no question in individuo he dyeth, as for example Charls the first dyed, yet the King is not dead, because Charls the second (whom God preserve) is still alive. For by the Laws of England, there can be no inter­regnum within the same, lib. 7.11. And to affirm, (as the Traytors now do) that the Kings power is separable from his person, is high Treason by the Law of the Land; hear the Oracle of the Law tell you so, lib. 7.11, In the Reign (saith he) of Edward the second, the Spencers, the Father, and [Page 234] the Son, to cover the Treason hatched in their hearts, invented this damnable and damned opini­on; that Homage, and Oath of Ligeance, was more by reason of the Kings Crown, (that is of his po­litick capacity) than by reason of the person of the King, upon which opinion they inferred exe­crable, and detestable consequents. 1. If the King do not demean himself by reason in the right of his Crown, his Lieges are bound by Oath to remove the King. 2. Seeing that the King could not be reformed by Sute of Law, that ought to be done by aspertee, that is by force. 3. That his Lieges be bound to Govern, in aid of him, and in default of him. All which were condemned by two Parliaments, one in the Reign of E. 2. called exilium Hugonis le Spencer, and the other in Anno 1 E. 3. cap. 1. If the opinions of the Spen­cers were so wicked, and detestable, what then are the actions of the Rebells of our age? who have put in practice, what was but intended by the Spen­cers, and that they might reform the King according to their minds, cut off his head, because he was a headhigher than they. O Monstrous Reformers.

Did I not know that the Euthusiasts of our times, do by their diabolical interpretations, sub­vert even the Holy word of the Almighty, making themselves absolute Kings over the Scripture, to do what they please with it, though they will not permit their King to have Soveraignty over them­selves his Vassals; And, like the raging torrent of [Page 235] the foaming flouds, which running down the lofty Hills, demolisheth and carrieth away all oppo­sites in its roaring Streams; or as the violent fury of a Masterless, headstrong multitude, who hew down Kings, as well as Royal Subjects, in their tempestuous fury: so these men set upon the Bi­ble, and stretch every Text of Scripture to their own meaning, although there is as great a distance between their meaning, and the Scripture, as there was betwixt the Glutton in Hell, and Lazarus, in Abrahams Bosom in Heaven, else should I won­der, how they could seem to make the very Letter of the Law speak against the very Letter, and like the Philosophers stone, which turneth all things into Gold, so the tongues of these men turn the sense of all the Lawbooks into their golden mean­ing, and cite those books as authorities on their sides, which are so contrary, and opposite against them, as if they had been purposely prepared to encounter and confute them; For where is the Kings Soveraignty more fully demonstrated, and e­videnced, than in Reverend Bracton? and what book so much abūsed as his? For lib. 2. cap. 24. speaking of Liberties, and who had power to give them, Quis? saith he, who hath power? he an­swereth that the King hath. For, Sciendum, quòd ipse dominus Rex, qui ordinariam habet jurts­dictionem, et dignitatem, et potestatem super om­nes qui in regno suo sunt, habet enim omnia jura in manu sua, quae ad coronam, et laicalem pertinent [Page 236] potestatem, & materialem gladium, qui pertinet ad regni gubernaculum, habet etiam justitiam, et ju­dicium, quae sunt jurisdictiones, ut ex jurisdictione suae, sicut dei minister, & vicarius, tribuat unicuique quod suum fuerit. Habet enim ea quae sunt pacis, ut populus sibi traditus in pace sileat, & quiescat, & ne quis alterum verberet, vulneret, vel male tractet, ne quis alienam rem, per vim & roberiam auferat, vel asportet, ne quis hominem Mahemiet vel occi­dat. Habet enim coercionem, ut delinquentes pu­niat, & coerceat. Item habet in potestate sua leges, & constitutiones, assisas in regno suo provisas, et ap­probatas, et juratas, ipse in propria persona observet, et subditis suis faciat observari, nihil enim prodest jura condere, nisi sit qui jura tueatur. Habet igitur Rex hujusmodi jura five jurisdictiones in manu sua; And again in the same Chapter, ea quae jurisdictio­nis funt & pacis, & ea quae sunt justitiae, & paci an­nexae, ad nullum pertinent, nisi ad coronam, & dignitatem regiam, nec a Corona separa­ri poterunt cum faciant ipsam Coronam. The sum of which in English is this, the King hath supreme power in all civil causes, the Law flow­eth solely from him, he is super omnes, above all men in his Kingdom, all jurisdictions are in him, The material Sword of right belongs to him, and what­soever conduces to peace, that the people com­mitted to his charge may live peaceably and quiet­ly. The power of holding Assizes is derived from him, and of punishing Delinquents, for it would be [Page 237] in vain to Enact Laws, if there was not some body enabled to protect us by defending them &c. And the same Author saith lib. 2. ca. 9. Potentia vero omnes sibi subitos praecellere, parem autem habere non debet, nec multo fortiùs superiorem, and a little after in the same Chapter, Exercere Rex debet potestatem juris, sicùt dei vicarius in terra et minister, quia ea potestas solius Dei est. The King doth excell all his Subjects in power, He hath no Equal, much lesse a Superiour, because his power is from God only, he is Gods Vicar, Therefore not the Peoples. And again, li. 1. ca. 8. Item in temporalibus sunt Impe­ratores, Reges, et Principes, in hiis quae pertinent ad reg­num, et sub eis Duces, Comites, Barones, magnates sive Vavasores, et Milites, et etiam liberi et villani, et diversae Potestates sub rege constitutae. And a lit­tle after, sunt etiam sub Rege liberi homines, et servi ejus Potestati Subjecti. Et omnis quidem sub eo, et ipse sub nullo, nisi tantum sub Deo; Parem autem non habet in regno suo, quia sic amitteret praeceptum, cum par in partem non habeat imperium. Item nec mul­to fortius superiorem, nec potentiorem habere de­bet, quia sic esset inferior sibi subjectis, et inferiores pares esse non possunt potentioribus, ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub Homine sed sub Deo, et sub Lege, quia Lex facit Regem. Dukes, Earls, Baronets, Knights, the Worthies of the Land, Free-Men and Villains, all are under the King, and the King under none but God, He hath no Peer in his Realm, because then he would lose his command, [Page 238] for amongst Equals there can be no Empire, there­fore much lesse hath he any Superiour, or more powerfull than himself, because then he would be inferiour to his Subjects, and Inferiours, (as the Subjects are,) cannot be equal with the more powerfull, (as the King is.) But the King ought not to be under man, but under God, and the Law, because the Law makes him King.

But what if the King should swerve from the Rules of the Law, destroy his Subjects and their Es­tates without a cause, May the Subjects take up arms against their Soveraign, and compell him by force to do that which they cannot perswade him to by fair meams? No, saith Bracton, li. 1. ca. 8. Si au­tem ab eo petatur (cum breve non currat contra ipsum) locus erit supplicationi, quòd factum suum corrigat, et emendet, quod quidem si non fecerit, satis sufficit ei ad paenam, quod dominum expectet ultorem. Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare, multo forti­us contra factum suum-venire, No Enditement of high Treason &c. lieth against the King, our only remedy is to Petition his sacred Majesty, but if he will not hearken to our just and reasonrble re­quests, satis sufficit, Nay his punishment is more than enough, for he must render an account one day to him who judgeth righteously, who will give us all a hearing, the Beggar as well as the King. But let not men (in the mean time) presume to questi­on the deeds of the King, much lesse Rebel against him, and undoe by force, what the King shall do [Page 239] though not according to right. And that you may know that Bracton fully meant that the Subjects ought not to rise against the King though he acted unjustly, He repeats his mind in other places, li. 5. Tract. 3. de defaltis, cap. 3.3. where he puts the case, that if the King should do injury, and will not suffer the Law, but his will to take place, Quo casu cum dominus Rex super hoc fuerit interpellatus, in e­adem perstiterit voluntate, quod velit tenentem esse defensum injuria cum teneatur justitiam totis viribus defensare, ex tunc erit injuria ipsius domini Regis, nec poterit ei necessitatem aliquis imponere, quòd i [...]la [...] corrigat, et emendet, nisi velit, cum superiorem non ha­beat nisi deum, et satis erit illi pro paena quòd deum expectat ultorem. If the King who is bound to ad­minister justice to his utmost power, being Petiti­oned, will not recall, and amend the wrong he did, he injures his Subjects, but no body can force him to do right, because he hath the Supreme power, he hath no Superiour but God, and it is punish­ment enough for him, to expect that God to whom vengeance only belongeth, will take vengeance on him. To every point which I have cited out of Bracton, doth Fleta unanimously agree.

What man then, so impudently wicked? What hand so wilfully audacious? what pen can there be so repugnant, and contradictory to all truth? as to affirm and publish to the world, that Bracton wri­teth, and is so to be understood, viz. That the peo­ple have the Soverainty over the King, and may [Page 240] call him in question for his actions, & so punish him for his offences. O Traytor to the King, and Sy­cophant of Bracton.

Mr. Willian Prynne of Lincolns-Inne is the man, who with his Hand and Pen (I cannot say Heart) hath promulged this false Doctrine to the World, in his Book called The Soveraign Power of Parlia­ments and Kingdoms: Wherein (according to Mr. Sandersons expression, in his History of King Charls the 1st. fo. 117.) Prynne pretends to overthrow all Scripture proofs against killing Kings and Princes. For my part I bear not the least grudge or animo­sity to the mans person; But his book is such a rapsody of nonsense, a bundle of Rebellion, and Treason, a Pamplet so Seditious, Pernicious, Sophistical, Jesuitical, Trayterous, and Scurrulous, that I want Mr. Prynnes Epithites, to give his own book, its deserved Odium; Wherein (as Mr. Ful­ler in his Church History, lib. 11. fol. 152. well ob­serveth) he delighteth more to be numerous with many, than ponderous with select quotations, which maketh his Books to swell with the losse of tentimes of the Reader, sometimes of the Printer, and his pen generally querulous, hath more of the Plantiff than of the Defendant therein.

I mention Mr. Prynne, and his book here, only to put him in mind of the wrong which he hath done both to our Soveraign the King, and the whole Kingdom; He being the greatest, (if not the only Champion,) who rook upon him, to vindi­cate, [Page 241] and applaud, those treacherous, damnable, and rebellious proceedings, and unchristian, inhu­mane, and unnatural Warr against the King, of that Monster, called the Long Parliament, whom, now he laboureth as much to vilifye, as he did then to promote. O Trayterous Offspring, which killeth his Mother only, because she will not give him, suck! If he repent, why doth he not write a book of retractations? If he looketh upon his book intituled, The lawfulnesse of the Parliaments necessary defensive War, both in point of Law and Con­science, I am sure, he will have cause enough to repent of his writing, if he hath any Law or Con­science in him. And he hath no way better to re­deem his credit, than by a publique Confession. God may pardon him, and the King may pardon him, if he repenteth; But without repentance, he must expect nothing but a Traytors reward in this World; I leave him to Gods mercy in the World to come.

But since it is the manner of Worldlings to set the best side formost, the purest grain commonly lyeth in the mouth of the Sack, and a fair Apple many times hath a rotten coar; Therefore behold the specious Title of Mr. Prynnes book, and the cunning Sophistry, in his Mental Reservation, by which he hath deceived the common people, be­fooled himself, and undone the whole Kingdom; the Title of his book is, The Parliament and Kingdom are the Soveraign power. Any man would think, [Page 242] that by the word, Parliament, Mr. Prynne meant the King, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons, because by the Law of the Land, there can be no Parliament without the King, neither can the two Houses by Law act any thing without him, and then if he means so, no man will deny, but that the Parliament hath the Soveraign power; But alas he hath no such thoughts, he means (as by the stuff of his book is manifest) that the two Houses, or the major part of them, have the So­veraign power, and that they may enact any thing without the King, as well as with him: Thus by lifting up the Legs and Feet too high, he hath gi­ven the Head a fall, and battered the whole Body into pieces, O unhappy Member, who would have the Heels execute the Office of the Brains, and maintain the Warr of the inferiour Members a­gainst the Superiour, to be legal, and consciencious! In his Epistle Dedicatory to the Lords and Com­mons, whom he calleth, Eternally Renowned Senators, and most cordial Philopaters (he will not now tell you, they were eternal) Mr Prynne termeth all contrary opinions to his (though they be the opinions of Bishops, and farr better Law­ers than himself) to be but the vain, empty, brain­sick, lying fancies of a few illiterate, impolitick Court Chaplains, Lawyers, Sycophants, &c. How irreverently, and discourteously, he hath dealt with his Gracious Soveraign, Lord, and Master the King, let his book judge, where he can scarce speak of [Page 243] the King at any time, without taxing him with perjury, lying, popery and murther.

He raileth against the treachery and disloyalty of Popish Parliaments, Prelates, Lords, and Subjects to their Soveraign, and so concludeth, that they have made greater innovations, and encroach­ments on the Crown, and in an higher degree, than ever did the long Parliament, which he hopes will for ever silence the clamorous tongues of all ill Counsellers, Courtiers, Royalists, Malignants, Papists and Cavalliers, against the proceedings of that Parliament, (see the 1. part of his Book, fol. 33.) as if the excessive abundance of other mens sinnes, would justifie the sinnes of the long Parliament. And indeed, the most of his arguments are à facto ad jus, which (especially in the Kings case) is no argument at all. The books of the Royalists to maintain the Kings just prerogatives, he calleth anti-Parliamentary Pamphlets, and the Authors of them he calleth Malignant, Popish Vipets, illiterate, ignorant, injudicious Court Doctors and Lawyers, and Anti-parliamental Mo­musses: But is not Mr. Prynne the Anti-parliamen­tal Momus and viper? who setteth the body above the head, maintaineth that the two Houses, or the major part, have the Soveraign power, may act without the King, levy warre against him, and kill him too, by defending themselves; which as he telleth you, he will justifie both in point of law and conscience. O unhappy law! O the no Con­science! [Page 244] which teacheth men to kill Kings, and the Subjects to levy warre against their Soveraign; David, the Lords anointed, cryed, The Lord for­bid that he should do this thing: But Mr. Prynne a Presbyterian, cryeth, The Lord forbid that it should not be done. Oh, the difference between a holy David, and a rigid Presbyterian!

He maketh the ignorance (as he termeth it) of other men, the greatest ground of his arguments; He calleth all Divines and Lawyers, a company of seemingly scient,Note: Vid. Epist. 2 part of So­veraign power. though really inscient, self-conceited, Court Doctors, Priests and Lawyers; Do­ctum genus indoctissimorum hominum, vix ad Doroberniam usque docti; who hold an opi­nion contrary to his, (truely so named, by himself Vid. Epist. 1. part of Soveraign power, &c.) dan­gerous Paradoxes, and upstart Enthusiasmes. He endeavoureth to make us, all our Ancestors, and all Kingdomes fooles, himself the only omni­scient. He revileth the King and all his royal par­ty, by the names of Murtherers, Popish cut­throats, ignorant Momusses, and an unnatural gene­ration of popish and malignant vipers; But, To his ever honoured, noble, kind friends, the right Honourable Lord, Ferdinando Fairfax, the right worshipfull Sir William Waller, and Sir William Bruerton, Knights, Commanders in Chief of the Parliaments forces, (which is the superscription to his Epistle of the 3d. part of the Sovereign pow­er, [Page 245] &c.) These he calleth in the Vocative case, Deservedly renowned worthies. So that, as none but Homer could expresse the praises due to Ho­mer, so none but Mr. Prynne can expresse the asper­sions which Mr. Prynne hath cast upon his Master, the King, and his betters, the loyal Royalists; for who can come after Mr. Prynne in railing, where he letteth his pen flye out?

You must take his own interpretations for true Maxims, and his own meaning both of Scripture and Law-books, must go for current Doctrine; otherwise you spoil his whole building; and that which he recites for him, will be most against him. Nay, his averments must passe for undoubted axi­oms. But you will ask me then, How can Mr. Prynne be clear from the guilt of blasphemy? who in his 3d. part of the Soveraign power of Parli­aments, fol. 6. declareth himself in these words, viz. I dare confidently averre, it was never the thought, nor intention of Paul, or of the Holy Ghost, to inhibit Subjects by defensive armes to re­sist Kings themselves, under pain of damnation. For my part I will not invectively censure Mr. Prynne, as guilty of Blasphemy, nor scold at him as a Subverter of Scripture, Parasite, &c. as he hath done at others who are contrary to him in opinion, but let me tell him, that if he had averred, that it was never the thought, nor intention of St. Paul or the Holy-Ghost to inhibit Subjects, by offensive arms, to resist Kings themselves, under pain of damnati­on; [Page 246] I should have as soon believed him, for Saint Paul saith, Rom. 13.1, 2. Let every Soul be Sub­ject unto the higher Powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God, whosoe­ver therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Now if St. Pauls thoughts and intenti­on be not according to his words, then Mr. Prinns confident averrment, perhaps may be true; but if St. Paules thoughts and intention be according to his words (as most certainly they are) then Mr. Prinns averrment, is but a false allegation, and a be­lying of St. Paul, and the Holy-Ghost; for by Saint Paules Doctrine, he which is not subject too, but resisteth the power, shall receive damnation; but whosoever with defensive arms resisteth the King, is not subject to, but doth resist the power; There­he which with defensive arms resisteth the King, shall receive damnation, The Major no man can de­ny, the Minor is inviolable, and the Conclusion is perfect, and sound. There be those indeed who do confidently averr (and have written a book too,) that there were men before Adam, but I could ne­ver see any Scripture, but their own interpretations and meanings to warrant their averments. And untill Mr. Pryn can produce Texts of Scripture, to warrant, and maintain his confident averment, he must excuse me, if I still hold St. Paules Doctrine Canonical, and his averment meer Apocripha. For suppose the King subverteth both Law and Religi­on, [Page 247] yet doth not that take away his supreme power, he is still a King, and Gods ordinance; Saul was a King, though an impious sinner, and there have been wicked Kings as well as wicked Subjects; to do evil (saith one,) is no power, but impotency, therefore if the King command me to murther my self, my Father, to destroy my Country, or to do a­ny other wicked act, I will not do it, but obey God, not him, because it is his corruption, not any power he hath, from whence his commandment proceed­eth: and therefore I am not obliged to obey him, because I must be a Subject to his power, not to his sins; yet if he should run after me with a naked Sword to kill me, my Father, my Mother, ruine my Country, Laws, and Religion, Yet would not I with defensive arms, lift up my hands against him, to resist, hurt, and destroy him, because he is still my King, and hath still that supreme power, which God placed in him, although he doth not then execute it, and therefore if I should with defensive Arms lift up my hands to resist, hurt, and destroy him, I should with defensive Arms lift up my hands to re­sist, hurt, and destroy the Ordinance of God, and so receive damnation for my reward; Not to per­form the Kings command, is a resistance, although we suffer death; Therefore if it be the Kings power and not his wicked will which commandeth me to do an evil thing, if I did not perform his evil com­mandment, I should resist his power and so be ly­able to damnation, although I patiently and meekly [Page 248] suffered death. But doubtlesse the Kings power cannot command me to do any evil, but it must proceed from his sinfull will, for God is not the Au­thor of any unrighteousnesse, and there is no power but what God is the Author of; therefore accord­ing to venerable Bede, the Apostle doth not say, Non est cupiditas nisi a Deo, est enim mala cupiditas quae non est a deo, nocendi autem voluntas potest esse a suo quo (que) animo pravo. That there is no concupi­scence but what is of God, for there is an evil con­cupiscence, which is not from God, and the evil will of sinning proceedeth from our own depraved mindes; therefore if the King command me to do an evil thing, I ought to obey God, not his wicked will, but rather than to lift up my hands against him, though in my defence, I ought cheerfully and meek­ly to suffer a thousand deaths, for by dying unjustly here, I shall live eternally in Heaven; and since the Glory of a Christian is the Crosse, by suffering and dying a Martyr, I shall obtain everlasting Glory, and by my thus doing well, I shall get praise even of the Power, which the Kings wicked will made use of to destroy me; but defence against the power of a King is offence, therefore if with defen­sive arms, I should fight against him, I should resist Gods Ordinance, and so receive damnation, for by Gods Ordinance the King hath the power over all, and his Actions ought not to be questioned or resisted by any but the Almighty.

But for my part, I hold clearly, that when the [Page 249] King executeth Tyranny, taketh away the Lives, or Estates of his Subjects unjustly, that he doth it not only by reason of his wicked will (according to the precedent distinction) but by force, and virtue of his power, which God hath given him, and that this is the power, which St. Paul com­mandeth us to be subject unto, which if we resist, we shall receive damnation, and that for several reasons.

It is most certain that there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God, for by him were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Pow­ers, all things were created by him, and for him, Col. 1.16. (Which expressions in the Abstract, do expresse existents in the Concrete) from whence it followeth, that bad Kings have their power from God, and are Gods Ordinance, as well as good; And it is manifest in Scripture, that wicked Kings are often sent for the punishment of a Nation, as in Hosea 13.11. I gave them a King in my wrath, and took him away in mine anger; And God commandeth us to pray for, and be subject, not only to the good, but also to the bad Kings. I exhort you that Prayers, and Supplications, and Thanksgiving be made for all men, for Kings, and such as are in Authority. 1 Tim. 2.1. Thus Abra­ham prayed for King Abimeleck, Gen. 20.17. And Jacob blessed the King of Aegypt, Gen. 47.10. [Page 250] Yet the Kings of those times were Infidels, and most notoriously wicked; No man is ignorant, that Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed Jerusalem, was a great spoyler and oppressor, yet the Lord tells us by Ezekiel, that he had given unto him the Land of Aegypt, for the good service he had done in lay­ing it waste on his Commandement. And Daniel said unto him thus, Dan. 2.37. Thou O King art a King of Kings; for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom, Power, and Strength, and Glory, and wheresoever the Children of men dwell, the Beasts of the Field, and the Fowls of Heaven, hath he given into thy hand, and hath made thee Ruler o­ver them all. Again to Belshazzar his Son, Dan. 5.18. The most high God gave unto Nebuchadnezzar thy Father a Kingdom, and Majesty, and Glory, and Honour, and for the Majesty that he gave him, all people, Nations, and Languages, trembled and feared before him; And again, Jer. 27.6. I have made the Earth saith the Lord, the Man and the Beast that are upon the ground, by my great power, and by my outstretched Arm, and have given it un­to whom it seemed meet unto me; And now have I gi­ven all these Lands into the Hands of Nebuchadnez­zar King of Babylon my Servant, and the Beasts of the Field have I given him also to serve him, and all Nations shall serve him, and his Son, and his Sons Son, untill the very time of his Land come: And it shall come to passe, that the Nation and Kingdom which will not serve the same Nebcchadnezzar King [Page 251] of Babylon, and that will not put their Neck under the Yoke of the King of Babylon, that Nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the Sword, and with Famine, and with the Pestilence; Wherefore serve the King of Babylon, and live. And St. Peter saith, Servants (all the Kings Subjects are his Servants) be subject to your Masters (the King is our Sove­raign Lord and Master) with all fear, not only to the good, and gentle, but also to the froward; For this is thanks worthy, if a man for Conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully. From which it is most evident, that we ought, and are commanded to be Subject to evill Kings, who are degenerated into Tyrants.Note: Inde illis po­testas unde spiritus. Ter­tul. Apol. pa. 6.5. If then the power of evil Kings com­meth from God, if God command­eth us to pray for them, and to be subject to them, and if they are Gods ordinance (as most certainly they are) it consequently followeth, that he which with defensive or offensive (I can make no distinction, for ubi lex non distinguit, non est di­stinguenda,) Arms, resisteth an evil King, resist­eth Gods ordinance, and shall receive dam­nation; What then, if the King command us to doe Evill, must we doe it? God forbid, nay God hath forbidden it, therefore we must obey God, not the King; yet must we not unjust­ly resist him, but rather, resign up our lives and estates into his hands: For we must needs be subject [Page 252] to the King, not only for wrath, but also for consci­ence sake, saith S. Paul. But our objecter saith, that if it be the meaning of the Apostle, to inhibit the resistance of the Kings unlawful commands, then, to flye, or to die, rather than obey, is like­wise inhibited, because the not performance of the command, is a resistance. To which I answer, that I may confidently averre, that it was never the meaning of St. Paul, nor the Holy Ghost, to inhi­bit this kind of resistance under the pain of eternal damnation: it being the Doctrine and practise of our Saviour, and all the Apostles, when they were persecuted in one City, to fly into another, Matth. 10.23. and all of them willingly suffered death under wicked Kings: but you shall never find that they resisted with defensive arms, but both with their lives, deaths and doctrine, set forth the con­trary. But if this kind of resistance be inhibited by the Apostle, you must understand, that the penalty is temporal, not eternal damnation. The word in the Original is [...], which signifieth judicium, and so it is used in several places in the New Testa­ment, as in Matth. 7.2. Luke 24.20, &c. for temporal damnation and judgment. So that we may conclude, that the intention of the Apostle was, that whosoever resisteth the lawful com­mands of the King, shall receive damnation both from God and the King; and he which doth not perform the unlawful commands of the King, shall receive temporal judgment, and damnation from [Page 253] the King, but salvation, and life everlasting from God: but whosoever useth unlawful resistance a­gainst the Kings unlawful commands, as defen­sive arms, &c. must expect temporal judgment and damnation from the King, and eternal judg­ment and damnation from the Almighty.

But what, doth God give power to Kings to take away mens lives and estates unjustly? I an­swer that he doth; the Devil himself hath no pow­er, but what God giveth him. It is the wisdome of the Almighty, oftentimes to scourge his people for their sins, with the power which he giveth to wicked Kings: The King is a minister of God (saith St. Paul) a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doth evil: and sometimes to try them, that he may make them the more happy and glorious; God gave power to the Devil to afflict Job, who had not his like in the whole earth, a perfect, and an up­right man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil, Job. 1.8. and what made Job so famous, as his miseries? Had not Job had sore boyles, we should never have heard of Job's glory, and good fortunes; and was it not the Lord which authorized the De­vil to afflict him? It was, for the Devil had not power to touch him, until he had desired God to put forth his hand, and touch his bone, and his flesh; which made holy Job to cry, the Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken, not the Devil, for he was but the instrument: so God oftentimes by the power which he giveth to Kings, afflicteth his [Page 254] dearest children, both in their bodies, and estates; yet cannot unrighteousnesse be imputed unto God; because he doth it for their good: but the wicked wills of Kings, which use the power which God gi­veth them, so unjustly, are unrighteous, and shall by the Almighty be punished, according to ve­nerable Bede, Injustum enim non est ut improbis ac­cipientibus nocendi potestatem bonorum patientia pro­betur, & malorum iniquitas puniatur. It is not un­just in God, that the patience of the good be proved, and the sins of the wicked punished, by the power which is given the wicked to offend; for by the power given to the Devil, Job was tried, and appeared to be just; St. Peter was tempted, that he should not presume too much upon him­self; and Judas was condemned, that he hanged himself. But it is unjust in the King to use it. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? (saith the Apo­stle) Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. A good man will have praise of the power, let the King be good or evil: If the King be good, he will cherish the good, and reward their piety and goodnesse, with praise and dig­nity: But if the King be evil, yet shall the good receive praise from the power. It is the Glory of a Chrstian to suffer wrongfully, his unjust miseries are his best herauldry to ennoble him; and every injury offered to him, is as a Crown of gold set on his head; he had rather be punished for a thousand faults wrongfully, than for one justly; [Page 255] For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is accept­able with God, 1 Peter 2.20. Non dicit ab illa, sed [...]ex ea (saith reverend Bede) quia etsi potestas hu­mana non laudat, immo si etiam persequitur, si occidit gladio, ut Paulum, si crucifigit, ut Petrum, habebis ex illa laudem, dum ex eo quod illa malefacit in te, justum, et innoxium, tuae virtutis patientia Coronam laudis meretur. All the Apostles, and Martyrs re­ceived a Crown of Glory by their sufferings under Tyrants, and so will every good Man. For they are the Ministers of God to them for good, though they oppresse, nay kill the Innocent, and Righteous, they do not hurt them, but do them good; as the best Gold is purified in the fire, so the best Christians are discerned from the drosse, by their afflictions. That mettle is never good which turn­eth again, and the good Christian will suffer him­self to be broken in a thousand pieces, before he will turn again with resistance, against his persecu­ting King; for why? He knoweth that though he suffer here on Earth, yet God will glorifie him in Heaven, though he be contemned by the King, yet he shall be exalted by God, and though he dye by the Kings unlawfull command, yet his comfort is, that his dead body shall arise, by the eternal Decree of the Almighty, and so the good will always re­ceive praise of the Power.

Neither are the Rulers a terrour to him, because [Page 256] he always aboundeth with good works.

Innocence is the only buckler which protecteth a loyal Subject from the terrour of his Soveraign; But Traytors, who have rebelled against their king, & deserved death by the known Laws of the Land, These men must preach up Mr. Prynnes Doctrine to cover their malice, hold the truth in unrighteous­nesse, and when with offensive Arms, contrary to all Law and Religion, and against their allegiance and oaths, they set upon the Kings sacred Majesty, and with an innumerous multitude of unhallowed Rebels, they fight against, and strive to murther their dread Soveraign in the open Air; They must have the impudence with Mr. Prynne, to excuse themselves, may think it a glorious Apology, To averr confidently that it was never the meaning of St. Paul, nor the Holy Ghost, to inhibit Subjects to take up defensive Arms against Kings themselves; And thus they invoke St. Paul himself, and the Holy [Page 257] Ghost, to patronize their wicked Treasons, and unparallel'd Rebellions, and belch out Blasphemy, to defend their injustice, and themselves from the justice of their injured Soveraign. The Apostles did not only teach us with their Doctrine, that re­sistance of the power was unlawful; but also suf­fered themselves to be wickedly massacred, and murthered, before they would resist an unjust power; Nay all the primitive Christians (which Mr. Prynne confesseth) although they were many in number, and sufficiently able to defend themselves against their Persecutors, by force, and Arms, yet did refuse to do it, yielding themselves up to any tor­tures, punishments, & deaths, without the least resist­ance of the power, either in word, or deed; Nay our Saviour himself, acknowledged that Pilate had power given him from above to Crucifie him (as you may read in St. Iohn 19.10.) Then saith Pi­late unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to Crucifie thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: Therefore he which delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Yet Mr. Prynne with his confident averrment (for he cannot bring one word of Scripture for what he saith) goeth about to maintain the defensive Warr (as he calls it) of the Subjects against their Soveraign Lord the King, lawfull, both in point of Law and Conscience;

Could his Religion do this? His surely, and only his, for it is against the foundation of Christian Re­ligion, and Mr. Prynne must publish a new Gospel, or else rectifie the Bible at the Presbyterian Ora­cle, before his King-killing books will be Canonical.

He bringeth his arguments from the time that never was, nor ever will be, for saith he (2d. p [...]rt of his Soveraign power of Parliaments, fo. 82, 83.) Kingdoms were before Kings, ergo, the King hath no absolute negative voyce, &c. I alwayes thought that Kings were before Kingdoms, they being correlativa, and doubtlesse if Fathers were before Sons, and Masters before Servants, then Mr. Prynne speaks nonsense; but for his Apology, you must understand that he means, Countryes and people were before Kings; but I think that is false too, for the first man Adam was a King, and Mr. Prynne cannot shew any time, before England was governed by Kings: And the word Kingdom in the Reports of our book cases, and in Acts of Parliaments also, is oftentimes taken for the King himself, as you may read in Calvins case, lib. 7.12.

Therefore, since by the Laws of the Land there can be no Parliament without the King, & that the word Kingdom is often used for the King himself; who can deny the truth of the Title of Mr. Prynnes book, which saith, That the Parliament and King­dom [Page 259] are the Soveraign power. But, latet anguis in herba; Open the leaves of his book, and you will see the mystery of iniquity clouted toge­ther.

If the King (saith Mr. Prynne) dye without heir, then the people might make what lawes they should think fit; Ergo, the Members at this day have power without the King to make Lawes, and are the most absolute supreme power, and law-giver, not the King. If the Sky fall, we may perhaps catch Larks; but it doth not therefore follow, that we may catch Larks presently. Mr. Prynne knoweth, that it is a Maxim in Law, that the King never dyeth: But admit the King should dye without heir, and that then the people had power to make Lawes; yet grosse it were to con­clude, that the members of the two Houses might so do, because they are dissolved, and are extinct when the King dyeth. Therefore with more reason (as a Royalist observes) the King might argue thus; All the lands in England are holden mediatly or immediately of the King,Note: Co. Lit. 1.12. l. 7.20. and if the owners dye without heir, by the lawes of the Realm, their lands escheat to the Crown, and so become at the Kings disposal. But every man may dye without heir, Ergo, All the lands in England, at this present, are the proper inheritance of the King. No Lawyer can deny Major or Mi­nor, yet the Conclusion thereupon is absurd.

[Page 260]The Court of Parliament (saith Mr. Prynne) hath power to avoid the Kings Charters, &c. made against law; Ergo it hath the Soveraign power, and is above the King; and why not, Ergo, the Court of Chancery, or any other of the Courts of Law at Westminster, have the soveraign power, and are above the King; for they have power to nullifie and avoid the Kings Charters, &c. made against Law? But I am sick of Mr. Prynnes impertinence, and nonsense, if any one be desirous to drink more of it, I referre him to the Ocean, his Book: I will only give you a taste of the abuses which Mr. Prynne hath cast on Venerable Bracton, and how Mr. Prynne endeavoureth to make Bracton speak Mr. Prynne's own sense, against Bracton's own sense, expresse words, and meaning. And since Mr. Prynne can make the Gospel, and Holy Ghost speak what he pleaseth, no wonder, if he hath the Law-books at his beck.

Bracton saith (as you have already heard) That the King hath no Peer in his Kingdome, for so he should lose his Empire, since Peers (or Equals) have no command over one another, much more then ought he not to have a superiour, or mightier; for so he should be inferiour to those who are subject to him, and inferiours cannot be equal to superiours. Now saith Mr. Prynne, (according to the old Jesuitical di­stinction) The meaning of Bracton is, That the King is above every one of his subjects, and hath no Peer, nor superiour, if they be taken particularly and [Page 261] distributively, as single men: but if we take them collectively in Parliament, as they are one body, and represent the whole Kingdome; then the Sub­jects are above the King, and may, yea, ought to restrain and question his actions, his Male­administrations, if their be just cause. By which meaning of Bracton, (as he calleth it, but in truth only his own) Mr. Prynne would prove the Parliament to have the Soveraign power over the King and Kingdome. Truly I think, the very recital of what Bracton hath written, and what Mr. Prynne writeth is Bracton's meaning, is enough to convince, and make appear even to the blind, that Mr. Prynne is worse than a false Commentator, and an absurd deceiver. But howsoever I will examine them, and let the world judge how they agree. The King hath no Peer in his Kingdome, saith Bracton, But the Parliament and people (the Kings Subjects) are in his Kingdome, Ergo, neither the Parliament nor people, (collectively, or distributively) are the Kings Peer (or equal.) But why hath the King no Peer in his Kingdome? Because then he should lose his Empire. So he should if the Parliament was his Peer; and Bracton did ne­ver intend that the King should lose his Empire; for he saith, the King ought by no meanes to have a superiour, or mightier, (Mr. Prynne saith, he ought by all meanes to have the Parlia­ment his superiour and mightier) But wherefore [Page 262] ought not the King to have a Superiour? because (saith Bracton) so he should be inferiour to those who are subject to him: The Parliament and People confess themselves to be the Kings Subjects, yet Mr. Prynn would have them to be the Kings Superiour, Expressly against Bractons words and meaning, and a meer nonsensical Contra­diction. And the reason why Mr. Prynne saith, Bracton did only mean that any single man, was not the Kings Superiour, or Equal, not the Parliament, is, because Bracton saith, Rex non habet parem, nec Superiorem in regno suo, seing Parem, and Superiorem? in the singular number; I pray what Latine would Mr. Prynne have Bracton speak, could he have expressed himself better: and too, Mr. Prynne pretendeth the Parliament to be only the Kings Superiour, not Superiours, Therefore doth not the singular number fully answer Mr. Prynne in all points, but Mr. Prynne may hear Bracton confute him in the plural number too, if he please, (as I have already shewed) saying, Rex habet po­testatem, et jurisdictionem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt, and again, Potentia vero omnes fibi subditos praecellet. Where is Mr. Prynns almighty Parlia­ment now? Bracton telleth him, if they be in the Kings Dominions, that the King hath power over and above them, and Mr. Prynne must find out some Utopia for them, in the air, to inhabit, before he can prove either by Law, or Gospel, that the Parlia­ment is above, of hath Soveraign power over the [Page 263] King, Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine, sed sub Deo, et sub Lege, quia Lex facit Regem, saith Bracton, but the King himself ought to be under the Parliament, (saith Mr. Prynne) and why not un­der the women? for if Mr. Prynne will say that the Parliament is not comprehended in the word Homine, so likewise may he say that neither are women: Bracton saith that the King ought to be under none but God, and unless Mr. Prynne can make his Parliament a God Almighty, he can never make out that the King is under it. For according to Bract­ons Doctrine the King is under none but God, Omnis quidem sub rege et ipse, sub nullo, nisi tantum sub Deo. Which is sufficient testimony that the King is under no mortal man, or men, yet he is sub Lege, under the Law, because the Law maketh the King: Ergo saith Mr. Prynne, The Parliament ma­keth the King, and Governeth him with the Laws which the Parliament first made. O Grand Imposture! Can any man but Mr. Prynne forge such a conse­quence? Rex solutus a Legibus quò ad vim coacti­vam, subditus est legibus quo ad vim directivam pro­pria voluntate, The King indeed is under the Law because he will be ruled by the Law, but if he will not, no man hath power to compel, or punish him, according to the opinion of Thomas Aquinas, The King is free from the Coercive power of the Law, but he may be subject to its directive power, yet according to his own will and inclination, that is, God can only compell and command him, but the [Page 264] Law and his Courts may direct and advise him. E­very honest man is bound to perform and fulfill his word, and the King is so much under and subject to the Laws which he maketh, that he will perform and fulfill them, but if not, Dominum expectet ulto­rem, which is the only punishment for Kings; And satis sufficit, that is enough too, according to Reve­rend Bracton: But that the Parliament therfore ma­keth the King, and may question his actions (accord­ing to Mr. Prynns Sophistry) is a meer non sequitur. The Law indeed maketh the King, for he hath a legal Title to his Crown, he is made our King by the Law of God, and the Law of the Kingdom, which cannot be without a King; but that the Law of the Parliament, or that the Law by the Parliament, made the King, is such a Chi­maera, that is no where to be found, but in Mr. Prynnes unsetled brain: For the King of England was made a long time before Parliaments were in­vented, or thought on. The King indeed first made Parliaments, and gave them their being, who now have unmade their King, and took away his living. O ungrateful Servants who rob their Master! O ungracious Children who murther their Father which begot them!

So much for Mr. Prynne, and his pestilent book, the prodigious offspring of a revengeful head, whom I would not have mentioned, but to vindi­cate the truth, for which I will both live and dye.

One thing, Reader, I recommend to thee, wor­thy [Page 265] of the observation of all Christians, and as a just judgement of the Almighty God, Psal. 33.10. who bringeth the Counsel of the Heathen to nought, and maketh the devices of the people of none effect, Which is, that Mr. Prynne who was the only Cham­pion, to fight against the truth with his pen (as the Rebels did with their Swords) to maintain and applaud the long Parliament, in their Treason and Rebellion against their Soveraign, was after­wards ill intreated by his own stipendaries, and cast out of the pack as an unprofitable Member; He incouraged the Souldiers to fight against the King, dedicated his Volumes to their chief Command­ers, loaded them with high Commendations, and incomparable praises, and made them believe, that they could do God no better service, than to go on vigorously in their Rebellion. So that it may be truly said, that his paper pellets did more harm, than the roaring Guns, or cutting Swords; He laboured night and day to glorifie and vindicate the Parliament, in their wicked proceedings at home, and (as his books will manifest) he spared many hours from his natural rest, to promote the unnatural Warrs abroad. Yet now (nec invideo) he prosecuteth them with reproaches, as much as he did then with praises, himself being become hatefull to them all, verifying the Proverb of So­lomon cap. 24.24. He that saith unto the wicked thou art righteous, him shall the people curse, Nations shall abhorre him. Therefore I once more advise [Page 266] him, (as a friend) to write a book of Retractati­ons.

The Lord be merciful unto us, the men of our times would make one believe that there never was a King in the World: Nay, they would seem to make the Kings, so highly esteemed of by God, all the Prophets and Apostles in Scripture, but meer white walls, the empty shadows of the people, and the Bible, but a bundle of Fables, as if God never took no more notice of a King, than of an or­dinary Porter.

HAving sufficiently prov'd out of our Law books that by the Common Law of the Realm, the [Page 269] King hath the Soveraign power over Parliament and People, and ought not to be questioned for his acti­ons by any of his Subjects, taken either distri­butively, or collectively in one intire body, be­cause he hath no Superiour on Earth, but God Al­mighty; Let us now take a brief view of the Sta­tutes and Acts of Parliament, which have from Age to Age confirmed what I have said, as an un­doubted, inviolable, and indisputable truth. And since there are those amongst us, who talk much of a power in the Parliament (as they call the two Houses) which they pretend to be above, and Su­periour to the King; Let us examine what this high and mighty Creature is, whence, and when, it had its original, what is its true, natural, and le­gal power, and of what persons it doth consist.

The Kings high Court of Parliament, consisteth of the Kings Majesty sitting there,Note: 4 Inst. 1. 1 Inst. 110 as in his Royal politick capacity: and of the three Estates of the Realm, viz. 1 Of the Lords spiritual, Arch-Bishops, and Bishops, being in number 24, who sit there by suc­cession in respect of their Counties, or Baronies, parcell of their Bishopricks, which they hold also in their politick capacity. 2. The Lords tempo­ral, Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and Ba­rons, who sit there by reason of their Dignities, which they hold by descent, or creation, being in number 106. And every one of these when the [Page 270] King vouchsafeth to hold a Parliament, hath a Writ of Summons. The third Estate is the Commons, of the Realm, which are divided into three parts, viz. into Knights of Shires, or Counties; Citizens out of Cities, and Burgesses out of Borroughs. All which the King commandeth his Sheriffs to cause to come to his Parliament, being respectively E­lected by the Shires, or Counties, Cities and Bur­roughs, and in number, 493.

It is called Parliament, because every Member of the Court, should sincerely and discreetly Par­ler la ment, for the general good of the Common-wealth. This Court of Parliament is the most high and absolute, the supremest and most antient in the Realm, it Maketh, Enlargeth, Diminisheth, Abro­gateth, Repealeth and Reviveth, Laws, Statutes, Acts, and Ordinances, concerning matters Ecclesi­astical, Capital, Criminal, Common, Civil, Marti­al, Maritine, &c. to be short, so transcendent is the power, and jurisdiction of the Parliament, as it cannot be confined either for Causes, or Per­sons, within any bounds: Of this Court it is truly said, Si antiquitatem, spectes est vetustissima, si dig­nitatem, est honoratissima, si jurisdictionem, est capa­cissima. Yet notwithstanding this Almighty pow­er (as I may say) of the Parliament, do but cut off the Kings head, or any ways take away the King, and it is nothing: Then a petty Court of Pypow­ders hath more power and jurisdiction than that. The King is the Soul of the Parliament, and with­out [Page 271] him it is but Putre Cadaver, a stinking Carcasse, for as my Lord Coke observeth of this Court, the King is Caput, principium, et finis, And it is a baser and more odious part, then the Rump of a Parlia­ment, which wanteth all these; and as in a natural body, when all the Sinews being joyned in the head, do joyn their forces together for the strengthening of the body, there is Ultimum Potentiae; so in the po­litick body, when the King and the Lords Spi­titual, and temporal, Knights, Citizens, and Bur­gesses, are all by the Kings command assembled and joyned together, under the head, the King in consultation for the Common good of the whole Realm, there is Ultimum Sapientiae: But it was never known in any age, that the Members with­out the head, had either power or wisdom; and it would be prodigious, if our age should produce such a Monster.

No man can tell the contrary but that our Realm of England hath been Governed by Kings ever since the Creation of the World; clear it is by all Historians,Note: Bodin de Rep. l. c. 8. Camden in Britan. de­script. that ever since we heard of any Go­vernment in England, it hath been a Royal State, and although our Go­vernours have been often changed, yet our Government was never turned out of the regal road, & it is as easy to pull the Sun out of the Firmament, and make the Stars to rule the day, as it is to abolish Monarchy, and establish Aristocracy, [Page 272] or Democracy, in our Kingdom; For that which is bred in the bone, will never out of the flesh. As Monarchy is the most divine, and most natural kind of Government, so it is most natural to, and esteemed most divine by all true born English men; For such is the Courage, and so great is the Lofti­ness of English Spirits, that they disdain to be ruled by any, but by his sacred Majesty, our Sove­raign Lord the King: For as it was long before King William the Conquerour, so did our Go­vernment continue still without interruption a Royal Monarchy, until the chief Priests, and the Scribes, and the Elders (as they call them) of the People, to wit, Presbiterians, Indepen­dents,Note: Mat. 26.34. Anabaptists, Jesuits, &c. assem­bled together, and consulted that they might take Charles the first (whose undeserved sufferings have made him immortal on Earth, as well as in Heaven) by subtilty, and kill him; But they said, let us not kill him suddenly and openly, lest there be an uproar among the people, night time is the only day for wickedness. The Gun­powder Treason was hatched in darknesse, and these Godly Villains thought that the best way to catch their prey, was to beat on the dark side of the hedge. They cut the Throat of Religion, when they seemed to lay a plaister; and they murthered their Soveraign, when they swore they intended nothing, but to make him a Glorious King.

[Page 273]Then entred Satan into Judas, Note: Luke 22 3, 4, 5, 6. surna­med the House of Commons, being one of the two Houses of Parliament; And these Judasses went their way, and communed with the chief Priests, and Captains, how they might betray him unto them: And they were glad, and covenanted to give them mony; who then pro­mised, and sought opportunity to betray him un­to them in the absence of the multitude. And since the innocent Birds are oftentimes easier catcht with silent and gentle snares, than roaring Guns, at first these Judasses thought to betray their Master with kisses, courting his Majesty with high­flying Complements of Obedience;Note: Ovem in fronte, vul­pem in corde ge­rentes. and that they might make him believe them to be, what indeed they were not, they made many Oathes, Protestati­ons, Vows and Covenants, that they were his Graces most dutyful Subjects, and desi­red to live no longer, than to do his Majesty ser­vice. But it seems they did but play the Fox, speak fair, only to get their prey, for by these sophisti­cal insinuations, they charmed his Majesty, and wrested from him divers marks of his Soveraignty; they were intrusted with the Navy, obteined a Triennial Parliament, were acquitted of Ship-mony and other impositions, and at length made them­selves perpetual, for his Majesty passed an Act, not to Dissolve them without their consent. So that they now wanted nothing but his Majesties life [Page 274] which to obtain, they procured by their wickedness, the Earl of Strafford's head to be cut off,Note: The Nobles which were faithfull to the King, they called Evil Coun­sellers. and many other Nobles which stood in their way; which props being removed, they thought they might with more ease pull down the Soveraignty of the King: & that these Negroes might make themselves com­pleat Devils, they got the head of the Earl of Strafford, & others cutoff, for committing Treason against the King, whose head they afterwards in­tended to cut off, for committing treason against them. O incomparable villany! What they made a capital offence in others, they esteemed more than a Cardinal virtue in themselves. It was High Treason in others, to think to do the King any harm, but it was a high piece of Godlinesse in them to cut off his head. The Earl of Strafford must dye as a Traitour, because they said he inten­ded to levy warre against the Kings will: But these Saints raised Armies to fight against his Majesties own person, Levied warre against the King and Kingdome, murthered the King, and destroyed the whole Realm; Yet forsooth they must be canonized as the only true servants of Jesus Christ, and all those who speak against them they kill and massa­cre, as if they had committed Treason, and Blas­phemy against the Almighty. Nay, the great of­fence against the Holy Ghost, they esteem more pardonable, than the least against them.

[Page 275]And as it now plainly appeareth to the world, all their oaths, vowes, and protestations of obedi­ence to the King, and performing of their duty to­wards him, were but preparations for their great wickednesse of murthering the King. For as the Gunner, when he laboureth to kill the innocent bird, walketh gently, and treadeth softly, holding down his gun, as if it was the least of his thoughts to shoot, when he mindeth nothing more; or as the greedy Huntsman stealeth upon the Hare, or Deer, looking another way, untill he is gotten close by, and then letteth out his bloudy hounds, to take and kill his prey: So these Vipers, more wise than Serpents, (only to do mischief) did steal up­on the King, and undermined him, by cutting off his Nobles, whom they knew would be true and trusty servants to him; and then when they thought they had him within their reach, They let fly their doggs, the bloudy souldiers: for this Judas (the House of Commons) then having re­ceived a band of men, and officers, from the chief Priests and Pharisees, John. 18.3. who first set them on work, came forth with a great multitude, with swords and staves, Matth. 26.47, 48. to take and kill their Soveraign. Now they that be­trayed him, gave the souldiers a sign,Note: Witness their Oath of Su­premacy. saying, Whomsoever we have sworn to be the only supreme Governour in all causes, and over all persons, That same is he, hold him fast. In that same time [Page 276] said the King to the Multitude, Are ye come out as against a thief, with swords and staves, for to take me? I sate daily with you in the Parliament House, making many good lawes, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done, that their wic­kednesse might be fulfilled, John 18.12. Then the band, and the Captain, and the Officers of these Jews, took the King, and led him away to their Council, and contrary to all legal proceedings, and the due course of Law, smote the Shepherd, and so the sheep of the Protestant flock were all scat­tered abroad; Bradshaw, indeed, (that Pontius Pilate) pressed the King very earnestly; and by subtil and crafty inventions, thought to have wrought upon the King, to have submitted to their (summa injuria) their Arbitrary High Court of Injustice, and pleaded: So that his Example might have been urged as an irrefragable precedent, a­gainst the lives and liberties of the whole King­dome; and that after ages might cite King Charles his case, as an authority to kill Kings. But the King foreseeing their delusive and abominable in­tentions, rather than he would betray the lives and liberty of his free born subjects, to the Arbitrary Lusts of these Tyrants; told them of the great wickednesse they were about, and shewed to his people, how these Traitours endeavoured to inslave the whole Realm; and so patiently suffered himself to be murdered, dying a most true Martyr, both for our Lawes and Religion; but for plea, he said [Page 277] nothing. So Bradshaw (more wicked than Pilate, for instead of washing his hands, he impudently bathed them in his Masters innocent blood) gave the sentence of their wicked wills against him, and delivered him over to the blood-thirsty, to be cruci­fied, who spit upon him, threw Tobacco pipes at him, mocked him, cryed out, Away with him, away with him, Crucifie him, Crucifie him, cut off his Head with their wicked Engines, and then cast lots for his Garments, and Estate, giving each Souldier a part; But instead of writing over his head, This is Charles the King of the Jews, (his true Ti­tle, or rather the King of the Devils) they writ over his head, Exit Tyrannus Regum ultimus, anno libertatis Angliae restitutae primo, (although in truth, the best of Kings then went out, and the greatest Tyranny under the Heavens then entred into our England) comming far short of the Jews in all that is good, but exceeding them in all wicked­nesse, treachery, perfidiousness, and villany.

Now all this impious Council sought false wit­nesse against the King, to put him to death, but found none; Therefore that they might do no­thing without wickedness, but proceed in all their Actions contrary almost to the very colour of Ju­stice, and make themselves the greatest, and most illegal Tyrants that ever the world heard of, they made themselves both Judges, Jury, Witness, Par­ty, and Accuser, in their own quarrel against the [Page 278] King: For whereas by the Laws of the Land, our gra­cious King alwayes made the Judges of the Land, Arbitrators between his Subjects and himself in all cases, from the lowest offence, and trespass, to the highest offence, Crimen laesae Majestatis, High Treason; This Amalekite the House of Commons, made part of themselves the Judges of the King, who had committed the greatest Treason against the King, and by the Laws of the Land deserved rather to hang at Tyburn, than sit in the Chair of Justice; likewise they made the Souldiers his Judges, who professed themselves to be the Kings inveterate Enemies, by their Remonstrances, and Speeches, and that they desired nothing more than his Blood and Life, fought against him with their Guns and Swords. Yet forsooth of this Hotchpotch of Traytors, was their high Court of Justice made up; Most of them being Collonels of the Army, and other Souldiers who fought a­gainst him abroad, and others Parliament men, who conspired his ruine at home. By the Laws of the Land, it is a just exception to any Jury man, who is to try the basest or poorest Felon, and a legal challenge for which he must be withdrawn, That he is a professed Enemy, and Prosecutor, who seeks his life, and therefore no lawful nor indifferent tryer of him for it; yet these bloody Butchers, who professed themselves to be the Kings greatest Enemies, and Prosecutors, seek­ing after nothing so eagerly as the Kings life, were [Page 279] both the Judges and Jury-men too, to try the King: Perjured O. Cromwell (who then intended, and af­terwards effected to have the supreme power over these three Kingdoms,) was one of the Try­ers, to judge whether the King, or himself with the rest of his brethren in iniquity deserved death, and whether the King and his Royal Proge­ny ought not to be distroyed, and Oliver and his stinking stock take possession; O unparraleld lump of impiousness! Aliquis non debet esse Judex in propria causà, It is a Maxim in Law, that no man ought to be Judge in his own cause; Yet these vil­lains made themselves the only Judge whether they committed Treason against the King, or the King against them: Nemo tenetur prodere seipsum, No man is bound to accuse himself, and it would have been a wonder indeed, if these Rebels should have spoke the truth, and said that they had committed high Treason against the King; Therefore for fear the Law should punish them according to their de­serts, they thought good to prevent that mischief, & punish the King as they pleased according to their lusts: And that they might make themselves the greatest Tyrants, and the people the basest Slaves in the world, they took upon them the Governing power, which by Law only belongeth to the King. 2. The Legislative power, which likewise belong­eth to the King with the concurrence of the upper and Lower House. And 3. The Judicative power, which belongeth to the Judges, who are known Ex­positors, [Page 280] and Dispencers of Law and Justice in all Causes brought before them; So that these Tray­terous Tyrants by their boundless and arbitrary wills, put us to death when they please, for what cause they please, and take away our Estates when they see occasion; And yet they have the impu­dence to tell us, and many the sottishness to be­lieve, that the Parliament having the Supreme pow­er, doth all these villanies by Law; O Abominable! How these Tyrants mock the people with the name of a Parliament; the Parliament consisteth of the King the head, and about 600 of his Subjects, and there were not above 50 or 60 of the Parlia­ment who caused the King to be murthered, and ruined his people, yet these Schismaticks call them­selves a Parliament, and so having nothing good but their name, Tyrannize over us. They may as well say that the parings of the nailes of the toes are the whole man and have the power of all the other members, as say that they are the Parliament, or have any lawfull power, they being nothing but the dregs and lees of the inferiour House, from whom we must never expect any thing pleasing to any honest mans palate; If the Parliament had power to depose the King, yet what power can these few Gaol-Birds have, who are scarce the tenth part of the Parliament, and no Representatives of the People, but only of their own Devilish ambitions? By what authority do these Ignes fatui abolish Kingship, and the House of Lords as dange­dangerous [Page 281] and useless, which all our Ancestors have found most profitable,Note: Dangerous and useless only to their villa­ny. and glorious for our Kingdom? These Currs have several times been kicked out of the House, by the martial vio­lence of the Souldiers, their Masters, whose Jour­ny-Men they are, yet no sooner do they find the door open, but in they slip again, like Dogs into the Buttery, where they sit and eat the fat of the Land, and the fruits of our labours, for which they now and then shite us an Act of Parliament, whereby they destroy our fundamental Laws, and Liberties, and invent new high Treasons against them, (such as our Law-Books nor Statutes never told us of,) by which they maintain themselves in their Rob­bery, and the people in their Slavery. As for the oath of Supremary, Vows, Protestations, and Covenants, which they made in the presence of God, with hands lift up to heaven for vengeance if they did not perform them, and all other oathes of Homage, Fealty, and Allegiance, which the People took to be true and faithfull to the King, These they dis­charge themselves, and the People of, by an Act of Parliament, as if these Caterpillers could discharge debts due to the Almighty; But to make God a­mends, they passed another Act, that the People should swear to be true and faithfull unto them. To go about to number their villanies, deceits, treacheries, perjuries, and other their wicked Acti­ons, were to go about to number the sands of the [Page 282] Sea, or the fraudulent devices of Belzebub their Ma­ster, they being the Genus generalissimum of all Treason, Rebellion, Murther, Blasphemy, Hypo­crisie, Lying, Swearing and For-swearing, abound­ing in W [...]oredom, Drunkenness, Leachery, Treachery, Covetousnesse, Pride Ambition, and all other detestable vices. They are a pack of rotten, putrefied Members, glued together in the stinking body of sin: And if I should give you a Character of each Simple wherewith this Compound is con­tracted, it would fright you out of your wits;Note: Witnesse all their actions. for I speak really, I think they are the very Quintessence of all the Devils in Hell. And although this beast cannot well agree, which horn or legge shall go foremost, they being somwhat troubled in di­viding the spoil, and their usurped authorities, which is caused by their pride and covetousness, and although they differ in Ceremonies, and Ci [...] ­cumstances, yet they make it one of their Fudamen­tals upon which themselves and all their proceed­ings are builded, to murther Charles the second▪ as they did Charles the first, when they can lay their unhallowed Claws upon him; and although they hate, and bark, and snarle at one another like dogs, yet in the great work of their Salvation, like Pilate and Herod, they all agree to be Traytor, and Re­bels against their King. And so long as these Ma­stives Lord it over us, we must never expect peace, but alwayes live like dogs, fighting, and biting for [Page 283] what we have. We must (with them) account vice vertue, and vertue vice: we must hold their words more canonical than Gods word, and say that is law, which they say is law, though it be nei­ther law, truth, nor reason. Unlawfull wars set them up, and we shall alwayes have wars, and ru­mours of wars amongst us, untill they are pulled down. To be short, we must resolve to forsake God, and serve the Devil, if we intend to keep any thing safe, so long as this Phalaris, the Tail of the House of Commons domineereth over us; For the Children of this world being in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light, Luke 16.8. These Worldlings are so wise and subtil to do mischief, that when they commit the most deadly sin, They make it passe to the world, as the best service done to God; and when they themselves make plots to murther honest Royalists, then they get some of their hirelings to discover it, and swear that the Royalists invented the plot against them; and pre­sently (forsooth) they vote and command, that their three Kingdomes give God thanks for their great deliverance; ascribing that which was done by their own providence, to the Providence of the Almighty. Nay, they have their Lillies, and other lying Astrologers, whom they consult with, before they commit any great wickednesse, and make them publish to the world, that the Heavens ruled, and voted what these Beagles please to perform.

It is as natural for their Judges to judge unjust­ly, [Page 284] if it be for the profit, or pleasure of their Ma­sters at Westminster, as it is for them to live: For how many innocent Gentlemen have they con­demned to death, for doing their duty in defend­ing the King from unjust violence? which we are all bound to do by the law of God, Nature, and of the Realm.

They have their Balaam Prophets and Priests too, almost in every parish, and pulpit, which they make the Organs to sound forth their own praises; so that the ignorant country multitudes, who scarce know that there is a God, but that they heard their Minister tell them so, thinking that he doth God the best service and credit, who hath the finest ribbond on his hat, or that weareth the best cloaths on his back at Church: these Momusses believe that the Saints at Westminster, are the only supreme power on Earth; and that no men in the world, (for some of them think that the sea side is the end of the world) are to be compared to them, either for wisdome, learning or honesty: and the only reason of their thoughts is, Ipse dixit, their Minister said so but last Sunday. And this was the chiefest reason, wherefore the countrey Peasants flocked in so fast, to the Armies of those Neroes at Westminster, raised against the King; who alwayes made the ignorance of the people, their greatest Champion. And lest we should see the superiority of the King, above, and over the Knaves, and other Cards, they abolish, and pro­hibit [Page 285] Card-playing, as a great sin in their Com­monwealth. Why did they not give the superiori­ty to the Knaves? How these godly Villains stum­ble at strawes, and leap over blocks! They prohi­bit innocent recreations on the Sabbath day, pur­posely because they would have the people esteem them zealous in Religion, and stricter observers of Gods Commandments, than the King. But in truth, they serv'd God, only to serve themselves; In nomine Domini, incipit omne malum; acting all their wickednesse in the name of the Lord. For when they have got a good name amongst the peo­ple, they think under that shadow, to act any wic­kednesse, and yet to the world seem saints; Mur­ther their King too, and yet be accounted good Christians; nay, Reformers of the Christian Reli­gion. O Religious Impostors! To these Quack­salvers belongeth two Speakers, alias dictos, Lyars, viz. the private Speaker Lenthall, (now called by the common souldiers, the Father of their Country: Can you blame the little Thieves, if they applaud the great Thief?) and the publick Speaker Need­ham; the one rough hammereth lyes, at the forge, the House of Commons; the other fashioneth them in his Mercurius Politicus. Thus they fill our eares with as many lies, as their breasts be: yet forsooth none must dare not to believe what they publish by authority.

Now the Presbyterian Judasses, when they saw that the King was condemned, repented them­selves, [Page 286] saying, We have sinned, in that we have be­trayed Innocent blood; and were all of them rea­dy to hang themselves. But it was not out of any love, or allegiance they did bear to the King, but because they could not have those ends upon the King, which they intended. They would have had the King buckled to their bent, and it grieved them to see the Independents, &c. out-knave them: fo [...] the greatest part of the religion of these factions, consists in their animosities one against the other; not only the Presbyterians, but also the Indepen­dents, Anabaptists, &c. are both almost, and alto­gether such as the proud Pharisees were. There­fore their greatest care and study is, to domineer, and master it one over the other; which makes the prevalent faction alwayes outragious, and that which sinketh, alwayes envious. So that the Pres­byterian being at this time undermost, he would fain insinuate himself into the favour of the honest Royalist: and because he hath not force to be so much Knave as he would be, therefore he is com­pelled to be honest against his will, and would have his injured King to rule over him again. But get thee behind me, Dagon, what hast thou to do with peace? Didst thou not in thy youthfull age revile thy Innocent King with thy mouth, and per­secute him with thy bloudy hand, and wouldst thou now in thy old age serve him? Thy service is Hy­pocrisie, and thy words but the vapours of a de­ceitfull head: Let the Presbyterians rigid [Page 287] actions, judge the rigid Presbyterians.

Having related of what persons the Parliament doth consist, viz. of the King above all, and the three Estates, sharing no more with the King in the Soveraignity, than the body doth with the head, and how King Charles the first, was most traiterously murthered by those who have the impudence to call themselves a Parliament, though in truth they are nothing else but a den of Tyrannical Traytors and Rebels; I will further proceed to explicate the Soveraignity of the King, and the legal power of the three Estates, with their first institution and cre­ation.

Sapiens omnia agit cum consilio, saith Solomon, a wise man doth nothing without counsel, Pro. 13.16. Therefore the King of England Ex mero mo­tu et speciali gratia, out of his meer good-will and special favour, hath vouchsafed his Subjects that honour as to make them his Counsellours, not only concerning Ardua Regni, but also arcana im­perii, even in his most privie affairs, wherefore As my Lord Cook observeth, the King is armed with diverse Councills, one whereof is called Com­mune Concilium, and that is the Court of Parlia­ment, and another is called Magnum Concilium, this is somtimes applyed to the upper House of Parliament, and somtimes out of Parliament time to the Peers of the Realm, Lords of Parliament, who are called Magnum Concilium Regis, Thirdly, (as every man knoweth) the King hath a privie [Page 288] Council for matters of State, The fourth Council of the King are his Judg [...]s of the Law, for Law matters, as appeareth in our Law-Books.

This word Parliament was never used in Eng­land unti [...]l the time of William the Conquerour, who first brought it in with him. For as King Da­vid called a Parliament when he intended to build an house for the name of the Lord, 1 Chro. 28. and assembled all the Princes of Israel, the Princes of the Tribes, and the Captains of the Companies that mi­nistred unto the King by course, and the Captains over the thousands, and Captaines over the hundreds, and the Stewards over all the substance and possession of the King, and of his Sons, with the Officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men unto Jeru­salem, And when they were assembled the King himself shewed the cause of calling that Parliament, for then David the King stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me my Brethren, and my People, as for me, I had in my heart to build and House of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building &c. Whereupon all the people offered their Gold and Silver willingly towards the work, which made the People and David their King rejoice exceedingly with great joy, as you may there read: So the Kings of England from the beginning, in all extraordinary cases, when they intended to make new Laws, or abolish old, have always convoked an assembly of their Subjects, what persons, and of what number [Page 289] they thought fit; Not because they could not do what they pleased without their Subjects consent, but because their Subjects best knowing what shooes would fit their own feet, might (as they often did) by Petitions humbly supplicate his Majesty, to grant what they shewed him was most convenient and necessary for them by their re­quests, which he refused or granted at his plea­sure. Which Councils and Conventions they cal­led, Witenage Mote, Conventus sapientium, Mi­chael Smoth, Michael Gemote, &c. that is to say, the great Court, or meeting of the King; To which the King convened only the Nobles and Bi­shops: The Rustick Commons were not then ad­mitted into the presence of the King. And doubt­lesse they had then small hopes, and lesse thoughts, that they should ever take the Regal Diadem from off their Soveraigns head, and become Lords Pa­ramount, ruling both King and People, by no other Law, than Hoc volo, sic Jubeo, stat pro ratione voluntas, by their own lusts, and unstable (ex­cept to do mischief) wills. But I have seen ser­vants upon Horses, and Princes walking as Servants upon the Earth, saith Solomon; And pray who hath not seen as much as Solomon of this? For behold Tinkers, Taylors, Spicket and Fosset makers, and those who were Servants even to the basest of the people, having murthered their Soveraign Lord the King, doe take possession of his sacred Pa­trinomy, and now sit Lords over all, ruling and [Page 290] domineering in his Palace at Westminster. Feign that the people did intrust the King with his Roy­al Office, yet why should it escheat to these Hy­pocrites? why not to the people? And if his Of­fice with the Lands which he held Jure Coronae, yet by what Law do they seise upon those Lands, which he held in his natural Capacity, and those Lands which he purchased? For if a man forfeit an Office, he only forfeiteth those Lands which belonged to the Office. But if all his Lands es­cheat, by what Law do they detain and keep the Queens Dower from her? By what Law, did I say? By that Law whereby they subdue all things to themselves, to wit, their own wicked Appetites, Ambition, and Covetousnesse, which is all the Law they can shew for any of their Actions, to which we must be Slaves so long as they command over us. Pro. 30.21. For three things (saith So­lomon) the earth is disquieted, and for four, which it cannot bear: For a Servant when he reigneth, and a Fool when he is filled with meat: For and odious woman when she is married, and an Hand-mai [...] that is Heir to her Mistresse: Is not our Englan [...] disquieted with all these? Oh who can bear it yet these Tyrants rejoce at it, Delight is not seem­ly for a Fool, much lesse for a Servant to have ru [...] over Princes. Pro. 19.10. Yet these Slaves tryumph over their Prince, and scoff at his Miseries And as the Jews in a deriding manner said of o [...] Saviour, This is Jesus King of the Jews, So thes [...] [Page 291] Jews scoffingly call their Soveraign Lord, The King of Scots, yet keep his Kingdom from him, jee­ [...]ing him out of his Estate. O Heavens! As per­petually afterwards, so allwayes before the Conquerour, the legislative power did continue in the King, tanquam in proprio subjecto, as in the true and proper subject of that power; and the Kings Edicts, were the only positive Laws of the Realm; and indeed who can be a King without this power? for what difference is there between the King, and Subject, but that the one gives the Laws, the other receiveth them? And most clear it is by all Historians, that the Common Council of our antient Kings, were composed only of Prelates, and Peers, the Commons were not admitted to any Communication in affairs of State. Camden in his Britannia telleth us, that in the times of the Saxon Kings, and in after A­ges, the Common Council of the Land, was Prae­sentia Regis Praelatorum, Procerum (que) collectorum, The presence of the King with the Prelates and Peers; Ingulphus (who dyed before 1109) saith, Rex Eldredus Convocavit Magnates, Episcopos, Pro­ceres, & Optimates ad tractandum de publicis negoti­is Regni. He did not call the Commons. So Edward the Confessor, that great Legisl [...]tor, made all his Laws, without the consent of the Com­mons.

Now when the Norman Conqueror, one of the Praedecessors of Charles the Martyr came in, who [Page 292] had a triple title to this Kingdome, to wit, by Donation, Conquest, and by the Consent of the people: for (as it is well known) when Edward the Confessor lived in Normandy, he gave this Kingdom, after his decease, to William Duke of Normandy, as he was his kinsman, & near of bloud so that the Conquerour was heir of the Crown to the Confessor by adoption. Which title, if it was invalid, you must know he was a Conquerour; and no man will deny that Conquest maketh a legal title,Note: Bodin li. 2. ca. 5. Jure Belli. But, suppose both those titles were (as they were not invalid, yet by the Law of Nations, the Consent of the people maketh an inviolable title, even to an Usurper, in continuance of time, (if they have no other law­full King;) much more to a lawfull Soveraign. And his people, our Ancestors, ever since the Con­quest, for the space of about six hundred yeares, have all done allegiance to, and unanimously resol­ved, that the Conquerour and his Successors, were our only true Kings, Liege Lords, and Soveraigns, having the supreme power over us, and never did the people claim power to depose the King, until those Monsters at West­minster, Note: King Charles his title had been good to the Crown of England, though he had borrowed no part of this Claim from the Conque­rour. See reverend Heylin's life of King Charles. under pretence of such a power, murthered Charles the first, and a­gainst all Law, Justice and Equity, and against th [...] wills of the people, make [Page 293] themselves masters of our lives, and fortunes, and of all that we have, taking them away when they please.

It would make a man cry, and it would make a man laugh, to see what fools these fellowes make of us: Royal Government by Kings, hath been used here, time out of mind, and approved by all our Ancestors, to be the best of Governments, and most natural, and profitable for us; yet these few stinking Members at Westminster, made an Act (March 17. 1648. contrary even to their own Oaths and Protestations) to abolish the Kingly Government, as unnecessary (I use their own words) burthensome, and dangerous to the people: as if this small company, consisting of fifty, or sixty at the most, of the Scum, and tail of the people, were wiser, and knew what was better for us, than all our Ancestors, both noble and ignoble, in all ages. But what was their reason to abolish Kingship? To make each of themselves Kings, nay Tyrannical Kings over us. So may the slave say, that the go­vernment of his Lord over him, is unnecessary, bur­thensome and dangerous; and therefore he will murther his Lord, and make himself Ma [...]ter: change­ing the name, and execute the office worse. So may High-way men take away the true owners purse, and tell him it was unnecessary for him to keep it: or by the same law, may thieves murther, and rob the Master of his house, and then vote the Master bur­thensome, and dangerous to his family. Yet not­withstanding, [Page 294] while these Tyrants destroy our fun­damental Government, Lawes, Religion, Free­doms and Liberties, making of us absolute slaves & villains, only to satiate their lust and pleasure; yet even then they stile themselves The Keepers of the Liberty of England, by Authority of Parliament. Close, and trusty keepers of our liberty, indeed, for we can come at none of it, they keep it from us, not for us: so Wolves may call themselves keepers of the Lambs which they have caught; or by the same law, may a Cut-purse be called the keeper of the purse, and be said to have the same care of it: for they are heepers of our liberty, only to keep them­selves. For by what authority was this Individu­am vagum, the Keepers, erected? By what autho­rity? why they will tell you by authority of Par­liament. Cunning Curres! How they take the people with this word Parliament! when God knows, they themselves were all the Parliament by whose authority the thing called Keepers (I know not what they be, for I never yet heard them na­med) were invented. So may Adulterers vote them­selves keepers of Chastity; or so may I murther a man against his will, and then call my self keeper of his life, by his authority. For they destroyed the Parliament, when they destroyed the King; and there hath been no Parliament since. Vide 1 H. 4. Rot. Parl. n. 1.14. li. 4. Coke 4 Inst. p. 46. and 4 C. 4. f. 440. Therefore they most falsly call themselves a Parliament: Neither are they the Re­presentatives [Page 295] of the people, (as I shewed before;) but a company of Ungracious Tyrants, acting a­gainst the wills of the people. Yet, forsooth, they tell us, that the people have the supreme power, and that they act for the people, being their Re­presentatives. Just as if I should take away all that another man hath, against his will, and then tell him, that he hath the supreme power over his goods, and that I took them away by his authori­ty and power; or, as if I should take away his mo­ney, without his leave, and tell him, that I am his Representative. So these Foxes cozen the people with nonsensical cheats; and in all things, are Re­presentatives of the Devil, not of the People: for they all well know, and some of them have decla­red so, that if the people might chuse their Repre­sentatives, those Representatives would restore the King to his own again, which these most unjustly keep from him. We cannot serve God and Mammon, both at one time, Good and evil cannot stand both together. If the King come in and rule, these men must fall; If we serve the King as we ought, we cannot serve these at all; If God re-establisheth his Anointed, Lucifer must call down his Children; wickednesse must be abolish­ed, when righteousnesse takes place; therefore the Gaolers of the Liberty of England must down, when Charles the Second, our only lawfull Sove­raign, is restored to his Crown, and Kingdome. Which they very well know, therefore they would [Page 296] fain keep as long as they can, their Empire, which cost them their Souls, and Reputation. But let us return to our King.

When the Conquerour came in He got by right of Conquest all the Land of the Realm into his own hands, the whole Kingdom was his direct and pro­per inheritance in demeasn, so that no man can at this day make any greater title than from the Con­quest to any Lands in England, for the King being owner and sole Lord of the whole Land and the People therein, did (as he lawfully might) dis­pose of the Land, and people, according to his will and pleasure; he gave out of his hands what Lands he pleased, to what persons he pleased, and reser­ved what tenures and services he pleased. So that in the Law of England we have not properly Allo­dium, that is, any Subjects Land that is not holden.Note: Co. Lit. 1. We all hold our Lands mediately or immediately of the Crown, neither have we any right to our Lands a­ny longer than we are faithfull, and loyal to the King, who first gave us them upon that condition; for by the Laws of the Realm, if we take up arms against the King, imagine his death, or commit any other offence, which is high Treason, we forfeit our estates to the King, so that they return from whence they were first derived; the greatest and highest ti­tle or property which a Subject hath to his Lands, is Quod talisseisitus fuit in dominico; suo ut de feodo. Now though this word Feodum doth (as Littleton [Page 297] teacheth) legally signify inheritance, and so Feodum Simplex, signifieth a lawfull or pure inheritance, yet it is apparently manifest, that Feodum is a deri­ved right, and doth import with it a trust to be per­formed, which trust broken forfeiteth the Estate to the King, who only hath (as Camden obser­veth) Directum imperium, cujus nullus est Author nisi Deus. For all the Lands within this Realm, were originally derived from the Crown, and therefore the King is Soveraign Lord, or Lord Paramount, either mediate or immediate, of all and every parcel of Land within the Realm, 18 E. 3.35.44 E. 3.5. 48 E, 3.9.8 H. 7.12. Therefore though in other places he which findeth a piece of Land, that no o­ther possesseth, or hath title unto, & entreth into it, gaineth a property by his entry; yet in England pro­perty to Land cannot be gained any such way, for the Subject can have no property, but what was first by the Kings grant; therefore those Lands are still appropriated to the Crown, which the King did not give away to his Subjects; as if Land be left by the Sea, this Land belongeth to the King, and not to him that hath the Lands next adjoyning, or to any other but the King.

Caelum Caeli Domino, terram autem dedit filiis ho­minum, All the whole Heavens are the Lords, the Earth hath he given to the Children of men, for which he only reserved their service, as an ac­knowledgement of his bounteous liberality: so the whole Kingdom is the Kings, but the Land therein [Page 298] he hath given to his Children the people, for which he only reserved their allegiance and ser­vice, as a remembrance, and recognition, of his Royal bounty; in which reservation, the King (as my Lord Bacon writeth) had four institutions, exceeding politick and suitable to the State of a Conquerour.

First, Seeing his people to be part Normans, and part Saxons, the Normans he brought with him, the Saxons he found here, he bent himself to conjoyn them by Mariages in Amity, and for that purpose ordains, that if those of his Nobles, Knights, and Gentlemen, to whom he gave great rewards of lands, should dye, leaving their Heir within Age, a Male within 21, and a Female within 14 years, and unmaryed, then the King should have the bestowing of such Heirs in Mari­age, in such a Family, and to such persons as he should think meet, which interest of Mariage, went still imployed, and doth at this day in every Tenure called Knights service.

The Second was, to the end that his people should be still conserved in Warlik exercises, and able for his defence, when therefore he gave any good portion of Lands that might make the party of Abilities, or strength, he withall reserved this service, That that party and his Heirs,Note: Who then ought to have the Militia but the King? having such lands, should keep a Horse of service continu­ally, and serve upon him him­self, [Page 299] when the King went to Warrs, or else ha­ving impediment to excuse his own person, should find another to serve in his place, which ser­vice, of Horse, and Man, is a part of that Te­nure called Knights service at this day.

But if the Tenant himself be an Infant, the King is to hold this land himself, untill he come to full Age, finding him Meat, Drink, Apparel, and other necessaries; and finding a Horse and a Man with the overplus, to serve in the Warrs, as the Tenant himself should do if he were at full Age.

But if this Inheritance descend upon a Woman that cannot serve by her Sex, then the King is not to have the Lands, she being 14. years of Age, be­cause she is then able to have an Husband that may do the service in person.

The Third institution, that upon every gift of Land, the King reserved a Vow, and an Oath, to bind the party to his Faith, and Loyalty; that Vow was called Homage; the Oath, of Fealty; Homage is to be done kneeling, holding his hands between the knees of the Lord, saying in the French tongue, I become your Man of Life and Limb, and of earthly honour. Fealty is to take an Oath upon a Book, that he will be a faithful Te­nant to the King, and do his service, and pay his Rents according to his Tenure.

The Fourth institution was, that for Recogni­zance of the Kings bounty, by every Heir succeed­ing [Page 300] his Ancestor in those Knight service lands, the King should have Pr [...]mer seisin of the lands, which is one years profit of the lands, and untill this be paid, the King is to have possession of the land, and then to restore it to the Heir, which continu­eth at this day in use, and is the very cause of su­ing livery, and that as well where the Heir hath been in ward, as otherwise.

Many other Tenures with services did the Con­querour institute, as Grand Serjeanty, Petit Ser­jeanty, Tenure in Burgage, Soccage, Escuage &c. which being holden of the King, are called Te­nures in capite, which is as much to say, as Te­nures de persona Regis, because the head is the principal part of the body, and the King is the head of the body of the Commonwealth; Which Tenures brought many profits,Co. Lit. 108. and commodities to the Crown (which would be too tedious here to particula­rize) and are a clear testimony of the Kings Sove­raignty. For no man can alien those lands which he holdeth in Capite, without the Kings Licence, if they doe, the King is to have a fine for the con­tempt, and may seise the land, and retain it un­till the fine be paid.

By example, and in imitation of the King (For Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis) Did the Nobles, and Gentry, of this Nation (to whom the King had given large portions of land) grant out parcells of their land to their Servants, and under-Tenants, [Page 301] reserving such services; and appointing such like Tenures, as the King did to them, as Homage, Fealty, &c. whereof you may read plentifully in Littletons Tenures; But their Tenants in doing Homage and Fealty to them, did alwayes except the Faith which they did owe unto the King; As in their making Homage appea­reth, viz.Note: Co. Lit. 64. I become your man from this day forward of Life and Limb, and of earthly worship, and unto you shall be true, and faithful, and bear you faith for the Tenements I claim to hold of you (saving the Faith that I owe unto our Soveraign Lord the King) Though they Swore to become the men of, and be true and faithfull to, their Lords, yet not so, but that they still were the men of, and ever would be true and faithful to, the King their Soveraign, who was Lord over their Lords, and over the whole Realm, Omnis homo debet fidem Domino suo, de vita & membris suis, & terreno honore, & observatione consilii sui, per honestum, & utile, salva fide Deo, & Terrae Principi, Lib. Rub. cap. 55. We can oblige our selves to no men so deeply, as to take away our allegiance and fidelity towards the King; We must be for God and the King in all things, all our act­ings, and undertakings, should tend to their Glo­ry, which would prove our greatest good and comfort; Homagium Ligeum is only due unto the King; the Law prohibiteth us to do Homage to any, without making mention of this Homage [Page 302] due unto the Lord our King; therefore we must not be opposite to, or armed against him, but both our lives and members must be ready for his de­fence, because he is Soveraign Lord over all. Co. Lit. 65.

As the Conquerour did make all his Subjects Feudaries to him, so likewise did he change our Lawes and Customes at his pleasure, and brought in his own Country fashions, which is the Common use of Conquerours. He caused all Lawes to be written in his language, and made what Lawes he thought meet, Quod Principi placuerit, legis habet vigorem, whatsoever the King willed, was the only law; His fiat, was as binding, as an Act of Parliament; and what he voted, no man, no not the whole Kingdome, had power to dispute. There was no question then made, but that the King ought to have the Militia, neither did any one think of, much lesse, deny him a Negative voice. The Commons then thought it an high honour, to look upon the Kings Majesty a farre off; To sit, and rule their families at home, was all the Jurisdiction which they had, or claim­ed; They had not power to condemn one of their servants to death, much lesse their Soveraign Lord the King, from whom they then, and we now, have our being. The King had not then made them so much as the Lower House, nor ever did admit them to his Counsel; The Lords, their Masters, were only deemed wor [...]hy of this dignity; for [Page 303] why? Tractent fabril [...]a fabri, Let the Shepheard keep his sheep, and the Hogheard keep his hogs, and not meddle with the tuning of musical Instru­ments. Though the Plow-man can drive, and guide his horses well, yet he would make an ill Pilot to steer a ship; The Blacksmith may have skill to make a horse-shooe, but he would rather marre, than make a watch; The Commons may make good Subjects, but experience teacheth us, they will rather destroy both King, and Kingdome, than reform, or rectifie either. Therefore the Kings of England did never admit the Commoners into their Counsels, much lesse, intrust them with the Legislative po [...]er. For it is a Meridian truth, that as before, so from the Conquest, until a great part of the Reign of Henry the third, (in whose dayes (as some hold) the writ for election of Knights was first framed) the Barons and Prel [...]tes only made the Parliament, or Common Council of the Realm, whom the King convoked by his Royal Summons, when he pleased. Neither did the Council so convened, consist of any certain num­ber, but of what number, and of what persons the King vouchsafed. Nay clear it is, by the Lawes made in the Reign of Edward the first, (which was above two hundred yeares after the conquest) that there was no certain persons, or formed body, whose consent was requisite to joyn with the King in making an act of Parliament; but when the King conceived it fit to make a Law, he called such per­sons [Page 304] as he thought most proper to be consulted with. Indeed, at the Coronation of Henry the first, all the People of England were called by the King, and Laws were then made, but it was per Commune Concilium Baronum. And that King and his Successours, did not usually call the Commons, but made Laws with the advice of which of their Subjects they pleased; and as Sir Walter Rawleigh and others write, the Commons with their Magna Charta, had but bastard births, being begotten by Usurpers, and fostered by Rebellion, for King Hen­ry the first did but usurp the Kingdom; and there­fore to secure himself the better against Robert his eldest brother, he Courted the Commons, and granted them that Great Charter, with Charta de foresta, which King John confirmed upon the same grounds, for he was also an Usurper, Arthur Duke of Brittain being the undoubted heir of the Crown,Note: Mr. Howels Philanglus. so the House of Commons and these Great Charters had their original from such that were Kings de facto, not de jure.

But it maters not which of the Kings first institu­ted the House of Commons, certain it is, that long after the Conquerour, its name was not so much as heard of in England, but (as it is apparent) one of his Successours did form them, and grant, not to make Laws without their consent, and by a Statute made 7 H. 4. the Writ of Summons now used was formed, and by an other Act made 1 H. 5. direction [Page 305] is given who shall be chosen, that is to say, For Knights of the Shires, Persons resiant in the County, and for Cities and Boroughs, Citizens and Burgesses dwelling there, and Free-men of the same Cities, and Boroughs, and no other. So that now by the Kings gracious Concessions, each Member of the house of Commons ought to be respectively elected, out of the Shires, or Counties, Cities, or Boroughs, by the Kings Writ, ex debito Justitiae.

Now would it not strike a man with admiration, and make his hair stand an end, to hear, that the House of Commons should claim the Legislative power, and protest to the world, that they were greater in authority and Majesty than the King, who raised them from nothing? surely 'tis but a dream, which troubled the head a while, with strange Chi­maeras, and then vanish'd; it is but a Phantasm, which fanatick distempers raised in lunatick brains, and so perish'd; after ages will account it but an O­vids Metamorphosis, or as a Fable, told more, for mirth, and novelty, than for any truth or reality; for why? are the pots greater than the Potter? or doth he who ought for to obey, give Laws to him whose right it is to command? The King sayeth to the House of Commons, come, and they come, and he sayeth to them go, and they go, whatsoever the King commands, that they cannot chuse by Law but do; Nay the Lords their Masters, are but the Kings Servants, the King is the head, and they are but the servile Members; it is the property of the [Page 306] Head, not of the Members to command; the inferi­our Members are all at the will and nod of the Head, the feet run, the hands work, and the whole body moveth at the pleasure of the head, but with­out the head the whole body is but a dead trunck, and neither hands nor feet have power to move: so the Members of the Parliament without the King their head, have not power to sit, much less to Act: there is no body without a head, nor no Parliament without a King, they cannot move, nor convene together, without his Royal Summons, neither can they dissolve themselves, being convened, without his command, the King assembles, adjourns, pro­rogues and dissolves the Parliament by Law at his pleasure, and therfore it is called in our Statutes and Law-bookes, Parliamentum Regis, Curia Regis, et Concilium Regis, and the Acts of Parliament are called the Kings Laws; and why not the Kings Laws? doth not he make them? The whole body and volumes of the Statutes proclaim the King the sole Legislator. What is Magna Charta but the Kings will, and gift? The very beginning of it will tell you 'tis no more, viz. Henry by the grace of God, &c. Know ye that we of our meer and free will, have given these Liberties: In the self same style runs Charta de foresta.

In the Statute of escheates made at Lincoln, 29 Edw. 1. are these words, At the Parliament of our Soveraign Lord the King, by his Coun­cil it was agreed, and also commanded by the [Page 307] King himself, That &c.

The Statute of Marlebridg 52 H. 3. runs thus. The King hath made these Acts, Ordinances, and Statutes, which he willeth to be observtd of all his Sub­jects high and low.

3. Edwardi primi, The title of the Statute is, These are the Acts of King Edward, and afterwards it followeth, The King hath ordained these Acts, And the first Chapter begins, The King forbiddeth and commandeth, That &c.

6. Edw. 1 It is said, Our Soveraign Lord the King hath established the Acts, commanding they be observed within this Realm. And in the 14 Chap. the words are, The King of his special grace grant­eth, That &c.

The Statute of Quo Warranto, saith, Our Lord the King at his Parliament, of his special Grace, and for affection which he beareth to his Prelats, Earls, and Barons, and others, hath granted, that they who have liberties by prescription shall enjoy them.

1. Ed. 3. To the honour of God, and of holy Church, and to the redresse of the oppression of the people, our Soveraign Lord the King &c. At the request of the Commonalty of his Realm by their Petition made be­fore him and his Counsel in the Parliament, by the assent of the Prelats, Earls, Barons, and other great men assembled in the said Parliament, hath granted for him and his heirs &c.

But wherfore evidences to prove that which no man can deny? The styles of the Statutes and Acts [Page 308] printed to the 1 H. 7 are either, The King willeth, the King commandeth, the King provideth, the King grants, the King ordains at his Parliament, or the King ordaineth by the advice of his Prelats, and Ba­rons, and at the humble Petition of the Commons &c. But in Henry 7 his time the style altered, and hath sithence continued thus: It is ordained by the Kings Majesty, and the Lords spiritual, and temporal, and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled; And why do the Lords and Commons ordain? Is it not only because the King doth? It is so, they do, because the King doth, which only denotateth their assent, for the Kings Majesty giveth life to all, as the Soul to the Body; for did ever the Lords or Commons make an Act without the King? Never; they cannot; the Lords advise, the Commons con­sent, but the King makes the Law, their Bills are but inanimate scriblings, untill the King breaths in­to their nostrils the breath of life, and so that which was but mould before, becometh a Law which ru­leth living Souls, and as Sr. Edward Coke observeth,Note: [...] Inst. 25. In antient times all Acts of Parliament were in form of Petitions, which the King answered at his pleasure; now if it be the duty of the Parliament to Petition, and in the power of the King to receive or reject their Petitions at his will, judg you who hath the supreme power. Neither doth the King only make the Laws, but he executeth them too, for all execu­tions (which are the life of the Law) receive their [Page 309] force and vigour from the King. Car la ley, le roy, et les briefes le Roy Sont les choses per que ho­me est Protect et ayde, saith our Father Lit­tleton, Sect. 199. There be three things whereby every Subject is protected, Rex, Lex, & rescripta Regis, The King commandeth, his commands are our Laws, and those Laws are executed only by the Kings Writs and Precepts; and although the King Moses-like deputeth subaltern Judges, to ease him­self of some part of the burthen of administring Justice, yet what they Judge, are the Kings Judg­ments; the Law is the rule, but it is mute, the King judgeth by his Judges, and they judging are the Kings speaking Law; The Judges are Lex loquens the Kings mouth, the Commons are his eys, and the Lords his ears, but the Kings head is Viva Lex, the fountain of Justice, to whom God hath given his Judgments, and we have none but what the King Gods Vicar giveth to us; and why not the Kings judgments? Quod quis (que) facit per alterum facit per se, The Kings Patent makes the Judges, the power of pardoning offences only belongeth to the King: He may grant conusance of all pleas at his pleasure within any County or Precinct, to be holden there only, and remove the Courts at Westminster to what place he pleaseth, and adjourn the Terms as he sees cause, this is book-Law, 6. H. 7.9.6 Eli. Dier 226.Note: Summum jus summa injuria. But I pray what Law set up the new slaughter-house in England, viz. the high Court of Justice? [Page 310] Doubtlesse it was not the Kings Law, and if not his Law, it was no Law, for England never heard of any other but the Kings Laws.

You have already heard that the King was before Parliaments, that the King first instituted Parlia­ments, not Parliaments the King, that the House of Commons is but as it were of yesterday, and that both Houses are nothing else but what the King made them; Let us now see what the King did make them, & with what power this Idol the House of Commons is invested, & since they have nothing else to shew for what they are, than the Kings Writ, that being their Basis, and only legal authority, Take a view of the Writ.

This Writ is the foundation of the Par­liament,Note: Decl. of the Treaty; p. 15. upon which the whole fabrick of their power and proceedings is ground­ed. It is that which setteth up a Parlia­ment Man, and is the only Commission which distinguisheth him from another man; for without that, every man in the Kingdom hath e­qual right and authority to sit and vote in Parlia­ment: Now by Law, no man ought to exceed his Commission; Therefore if the Lords or Com­mons act beyond the bounds of their power limi­ted in this Writ, (their only Commission) they are transgressors, and incur the punishment of Malefactors. The Writ telleth you, that both Houses are but as it were the production of the Privy Council, for though the King ordaineth the Parliament, yet it is, by the advice, and assent of his Council: why then may not the Kings privy Council (being prius tempore) lay claim to the So­veraignty, as well as his Common Council? sure­ly both have like right. The Lords are only ena­bled by their call, t [...] Conferr and Treat, and that not without, but with the King. It is their Coun­sel to advise, not their power to authorize, which the King requireth; For why? had not the King ordained a certain Parliament to be, and there to [Page 313] [...]ave Conference, and to treat with them, they [...]ad not come, to give him Counsel; and as they [...]annot come but when the King commands them, [...]o neither can they chuse but come when the King [...]oth command, except the King excuse them. [...]nd being come they are but (as Judge Jenkins [...]ith) Consiliarii, non Praeceptores, Counsellors, [...]or Commanders, for to Counsel, is not to Com­ [...]and; They are only to advise, not to controul, [...]r compel the King. The Parliament is ordained [...]y the [...]ing (as appeareth by the Writ) only for [...]ertain arduous, and urgent affairs, 1. Touching [...]he King. 2. The State of the Kingdom. [...]. The defence of the Kingdom. 4.Note: 4 Inst. 9. The [...]tate of the Church. And 5. The [...]efence of the same Church. Though it [...]e arduous, yet not urgent occasion, to destroy [...]ingship. To condemn the King to death, and [...]unishment, is not touching the King but a Male­ [...]ctor. To kill the King, is to destroy the kingdom, [...]ot to defend it, and his death, is the death of [...]e Church and Religion. O how have the Long [...]arliament swarved from the true ends for [...]hich Parliaments were ordained!

Indeed the Lords (not as the upper House of [...]arliament, but as a distinct Court of the Kings Ba­ [...]ns) have power to reform erroneous judge­ [...]ents given in the Kings Bench; But there is first Petition of Right made to the King, and his an­ [...]wer to it, viz. Fiat Justitia. The Court of Par­liament [Page 314] is only the House of Lords where the King sitteth, and they are his common-Counsel, it be­longs to them to receive all Petitions, to advise his Majesty with their Counsel, and to consent to what Laws the King shall make by their advice.

Not to speak of the qualities of the persons of the House of Commons,Note: Yet forsooth these the Low­est, set up the Highest Court viz. The high Court of Justice. So Servants may set up a high Court, to try and condemn their Mastets. Asperius nihil est humili cum su [...]git in altum. being most of them (to wit Citizens and Burges­ses) Tradesmen, brought up in their Shops, not in any University, or Aca­demy of Law and Learn­ing, and as fit to Govern and make Laws, God wot, as Cows are to dance; The rest of them be­ing Knights of Shires, chosen commonly rather for their Mony than their Wit, having greater wealth than head-pieces. I pass from their education to the authority which the King vouchsafed to bestow upon them, which is only what is contained in the Writ, viz. facere & consentire, to do & consent, but to what? Not unto such things which they shall ordain, but unto such things which are ordained by the King and his Common-Counsell, they are but only Mi­nisterial Servants, and by the Writ it is clear that they are no part of the great Counsel of the King­dom, they are but the grand Inquest, and general Inquisitors of the Realm,Note: 4 Inst. 11. to find out the grievances of the peo­ple, [Page 315] and Petition to the King for redress, the Bur­gesses, and Citizens to present the defects in their Trade, and the Knights of the Shires, the burthens and Sores of their Counties,Note: 5 Eli. ca- 1. they ought not, nor are not admitted into the House before they have sworn, that the Kings Majesty is the only and supreme Governour o­ver all persons in all causes. This oath did every Mem­ber of the long Parliament take, before they set foot into the House of Charls the Martyr, whom they af­terwards murthered, and took possession them­selves of all that he or his royal progeny, had or should have; let the world judge how faithfully these Keepers kept their Oathes, and Covenants. Now forsooth none must come into the House but those who first swear, that the King (who is) is not, but that they (who are not) are the only supreme Governours over all persons in all causes. And will these oaths be kept? 'Tis perjury to keep them. Thus they joyn hand in hand, and oath to oath, but it is but to do wickedness, for like King Davids Rebels, they make a Covenant against their King, and would murther him, as they did his Fa­ther, if they could catch him: but nulla pax malis, the wicked cannot hold together long, though they unite their forces into one intire body, yet it is but like Samsons Foxes, by the tailes, only to set the world on fire.

When the Commons have taken the oath of Su­premacy, and met together in a body collective, [Page 316] in the house, they have not so much power as a Steward in his Leet, or a Sheriff in his Tourn, for they cannot minister an oath, imprison any body but themselves, nor try any offence whatsoever, (much less try their King, and assume the Legislative pow­er;) At a conference the Commons are always un­covered, and stand when the Lords sit, (surely these are no marks of Soveraignity) They indeed chuse their Speaker, but after their choice the King may refuse him at his pleasure,Note: 4 Inst. 8. and make them chuse another, and Lenthal himself (as all other Speakers do) did, when he was presented to the King, disable himself as a per­son unworthy to speak before the King; yet now he is styled the Father of our Country. (How the world is turned up-side down!) These Parliamen­tiers heretofore were wont to be arrested by any common Person, and lyable to all Sutes, and pu­nishments, as other men, untill the King graciously passed an Act for their indemnity, 4 H. 8. ea. 8. So that they are nothing but what the King made them, nor have nothing but by his grant; and all that the King did make them, appeareth by the Writ, which is to do and consent to such things as the King with his Common-Counsell should ordain.

Then stay Reader, and behold, stand still, with thy head and hands lift up to the heavens, and ad­mire, with what impudence, and oppression, tyran­ny, and usurpation, the long Parliamentiers are [Page 317] fraught with, who never had any other legal power than by the Kings Writ, and have lost that by the Kings death; yet tyrannize over three kingdoms, calling themselves the Representatives of the whole Kingdom, and that they were intrusted by the People, with the Supreme and Legislative pow­er, which God and all the world knoweth is as false as the Almighty is true. For first they do not represent the King the head, nor the Peers who are the higher and nobler part of the kingdom,Note: 4 Inst. 2. therefore they are not the Representatives of the whole kingdom, neither were they ever entrusted by the People with the Supreme and Legislative power, Nay, the people did never confer any power on them at all, for by their Election the people did but design the person, all the power the Commons have, proceed­ed from the King, which is contained in the Writ, by which they were called. As Free-holders worth forty shillings a year, and free-men of Cities, and Borroughs, would make very unfit Electors of Su­preme Magistrates, so never did they, they cannot make any Election of their Commons, untill the King commandeth, and giveth them power, they have no power so to do of their own, much less to authorize supreme Legislators. The King giveth liberty to Towns and Cities, to make choice of Bur­gesses, which had no such power before the Kings grant, so that all the power which the Commons have floweth from the King, not a drop of it from the people.

[Page 318]Therefore, if the Commons exceed their com­mission, to wit, the power given them by the Kings Writ, it is illegal, and their actings void in Law; and since the power given them by the Writ, is extinguished by the Kings death, the Long Parlia­ment is by Law dissolved, and all the power which they take upon them since, is usurped, illegal, and Tyrannical, and contrary to the Lawes both of God and man. And to make their Tyranny the greatest under the Heavens, they protest to the world, that the Representatives of the people, ought to have the Legislative power; yet they give Lawes (as they call them) to Scotland and Ire­land, not having so much as one Member from both Kingdomes, in their representative body; nor the eighth part of the Representatives chosen by the Counties, Cities, and Burroughs in England. So that no Tyrants since the Creation of the world, did ever equallize these, either in cruelty or ab­surdity, wickednesse or foolishnesse: yet forsooth, in 1649, they made an Act, that it should be High Treason, for any one to affirm the present Govern­ment to be Tyrannical, Usurped or Unlawfull; or that these Commons are not the supreme Autho­rity of the Nation. So thieves may murther the Father, and take away the inheritance from his Children, and then make a Law, that it shall be high Treason for any one to call them thieves or usurpers, or to say, they had not the supreme Au­thority. Thus they defend Tyranny with Tyran­ny, [Page 319] and one sin with another. Unumquodque conser­vatur, eodem modo quo fit. Things impiously got, must be impiously kept. They got their authority by blood, and by blood it must be kept; they juggled themselves by lyes into the supreme self-created authority, and we must lye, and say they are the supreme authority, only because they do, otherwise we shall be executed for high Treason, against this infamous conventicle; So that of ne­cessity we must displease God, if we please them, and live no longer, than we sin, for they have made it a capital offence to speak truth. I must confesse, most men amongst us, are frighted with this scarr-Crow, not only to lye, and affirm the long called Parliament to be the legal supreme au­thority, but also with St. Peter, forswear, and deny their persecuted Lord and Master the King, accounting no weather ill, so they be by their warm fire sides, and esteeming all men indiscreet, who publickly own their King, and therby incurr the displeasure of these domineering Tyrants. But for my part, I had rather be a Servant to God, and my King, than a Master amongst the unrighte­ous; I am a Member of the body of the Common­wealth, and therefore cannot see my head the King cut off, without crying,Note: They are dead Mem­bers who do not. Lord have mercy upon us. It is the duty of all his Subjects both with pens and hands, to help their King out of the mire, into which these Rebels have [Page 320] cast him; not only the law of God, but the law of the land injoyneth us thereto: And I cannot see our Laws and Religion rooted up, without groans and sighs; It is no time to be silent, when the fabrick wherein our whole treasure and happines consisteth, is set on fire: Neither can silence, or innocence, protect one from the unjust violence of these Wolves; Sleeping, or waking, we are al­wayes their prey: Some of us they murther for our Estates, some for their pleasure, but all ac­cording to their wicked wills, not law. Therefore God knows whether I may be the next who must come to their pot; Howsoever, I had rather be ta­ken, doing God, my King, and my Country ser­vice, than in a drowsie Lethargy: I commit my Soul and Body, to the protection of the Almighty, who dorh not let a sparrow fall to the ground without his divine providence, therefore will not let me fall into the power of their lust, without his permission. The King fell, and why should not I? The Lords will be done, who when he hath corrected his Children, will burn the rod. They can destroy only my Body: him only will I fear, who can destroy both Body and Soul. Give Cerberus a sop cryes some men, and speak fairly to the Monster now in power: But it is but to go into Hell; Therefore I will neither flatter, nor dissemble with them.

Not to speak of the Modesty of the House of Commons in former Ages, scarce adventuring to [Page 321] doe what they might, for fear they should arro­gate too much; As in 21 Ed. 3. When their ad­vice was required concerning the prosecution of a Warr with France, They answered, That their humble desire of the King was, that he would be ad­vised therein by the Lords, being of more experi­ence than themselves in such affairs. The like pre­sident of their Modesty may you find in the 6 R. 2. and in the 3 E. 3. They disclaimed to have Cog­nisance of such matters, as the Guarding of the Seas, and Marches of the Kingdom. We may con­clude, that unlesse it be the property of the Ser­vant to command, and the Master to obey, or of the Souldiers to march before their Captain, that the King hath the supreme power, and is the sole Legislator, not the House of Commons: For the King representeth God, the Commons only the ignoble People. As for both Houses joyntly to­gether, they are no Court at all; therefore can have no thoughts of having the Legislative power. And as the two Houses have no power but what the King bestoweth on them, so neither have they any title of honour and dignity, but by the Kings gift. For as all the lands in England, and all power and authority, is derived from the Crown; So by the laws of England, all the degrees of No­bilitie, and Honour, are derived from the King, the Fountain of Honour, and Majesty it self, 4. Inst. 363. What then? have the two Houses joyntly, or the House of Commons singly, the Soveraign [Page 322] power, because they have none but what the King giveth them? Have they the Majesty, because they have no honour or dignity but by the Kings gift? Surely this is all the reason: The King made the Lords, not the Lords the King: a Peasant to day may be a Lord to morrow, if the King pleaseth; and is the Pesant therefore the Kings master? sure­ly no, it is the King who createth Barons, and so maketh them capable to sit in the House of Peers; but they are made but Peers, not Kings; nay they are but Peers of the Realm, not of the King: They are under, not above the King; For sunt & alii Potentes sub Rege qui dicuntur Barones, hoc est, robur belli, saith Bracton l. 1. c. 8. Though they are Potentes, yet they are sub rege. As for the House of Commons, they are so far from being our keepers, or the masters of our King and king­dom, that there is not a Noble man amongst them; They receive their being from the breath of the Kings Writ, and having their being in a collective body, they are but the Lower House, whose name importeth subjection. But if the Commons when they sit in the House have the Soveraign power, where was it before their Sessions? and where is it when they are dissolved? What doth it hang in the Clouds, and drop on them when they sit, and dis­solve like the Snow with the VVinter, when the King dissolveth them? Soveraignty is permanent, and always continueth waking: The House of Commons are, and they are not, according to the [Page 323] Kings pleasure, he assembles and dissolves them at his will. And what? doth the Soveraign power sleep or die, during their interregnum? one would think it belonged to the King, because he never di­eth. O ridiculous Commons! I am weary of their absurdity in claiming the Soveraignty.

But as once it was demanded of an Oraaor; speaking very much in the commendation of Her­cules, Quis vituperavit? So it may be demanded of me, treating of the Kings Soveraignty, who hath brought arguments against it? Truly for my part, I never saw any reasonable argument against it; many cavils, but no reasons. Evasions are the best proofs used by the Anti-Royalists: And when they shift a Question with forein matter, or a forein meaning, They think they have not only made a good answer, but also proved the point in questi­on to be on their side: As when our Books say, Every man in the kingdom is under the King, but the King is under none but God, They answer, the meaning of the book is, That every single man in the kingdom is under the King, but not the whole people collectively, for they are above the King. Just as if the Book should say, every man in the world is under the Heavens, but the Heavens are under none but God: And they should answer to evade it, The meaning of the Book is, That e­very single man is under the Heavens, but not the whole body of the people; for they are above the Heavens. O miserable invention! such absurdi­ties [Page 324] are most of their Arguments. Therefore we may conclude, that since Club-Law set them above reason, it must be Club-Law which must pull them down. Let the Sword argue them out of the Kings possessions, which they have gotten by Rebelli­on, and it will be easie then to convince them, that Rebellion against the King is unlawful. Had the King had no Revenues, he had still injoyed his Crown. It is the profit which maketh King-killing honest; And it is the sweetnesse of the Bishops Lands, which makes the Office of a Bishop so bitter, and odious, to our new States-men; The Law would have them ejected from their ill got­ten Fortune and Estates; therefore they perse­cute the Law, as their utter Enemy, And say, that they will have it no more coached in the City of London, but carted in the Country amongst the Swains; But they must likewise send the City with it into the Country, otherwise the Body will dye when the Soul departeth, and the City will perish, when the Law and its Retinue bid it fare­well.

As Histories both forein and domestique, anti­ent and modern, and the whole Accademy of the Common Law, so it is apparent by many Re­cords, and Judgements in Parliament: And both the Lords and Commons, in divers Acts of Parliament,Note: Davis Irish Rep. so. 90. through many suc­cessions of Ages, have declared that the King of England is Monarcha & [Page 325] Imperator in regno suo, a Monarch and Emperour in his Realm, above all the people in his kingdom, and inferiour to none on Earth, but only the Al­mighty, holding his Crown and Royal dignity, immediately of God, and of none else.

By the Statute of 28 H. 8. ca. 2. enacted in Ire­land, it is declared, that the Kings of England are Lawful Kings and Emperours of the said Realm of England, and of this Land of Ireland.

So by the Act of 16 R. 2. ca. 5. It is declared, That the Crown of England hath been so free at all times, that it hath been in no earthly subjection, but immediately subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown, and to none other. And what is the House of Commons, a God? if they are but men, the Crown is not subject to them, for the Statute telleth you it is in no Earthly sub­jection. But perhaps they are Devils; neither will that serve their turn, for as it appeareth by the Act, The Crown is immediately subject to God, and to none other.

So by the Statute of 24 H. 8. cap. 12. it is de­clared, Where by divers sundry old authentick Hi­stories, and Chronicles, it is manifestly declared, and expressed, That this Realm of England, is an Empire, and so hath been accepted in the World, Governed by one Supreme Head and King, having the Dignity and Royal Estate of the imperial Crown of the same, unto whom a body politick compact of all sorts, and degrees of people, divided in terms, and [Page 326] by names of Spiritualty and Temporalty, been bounden, and ought to bear next God, a natural and humble obedience, he being also institute and furnished by the goodnesse and sufferance of Almighty God, with plenary, whole and entire power, pre-eminence, au­thority, prerogative, and Jurisdiction, to render and yield justice, and final determination, to all manner of Folk, and Subjects within his Realm, and in a [...] causes, matters, and debates whatsoever. Behold here, and consider the Judgement of the whole people, both Lords and Commons. Who can contradict what they said? None but the Antipo­des of our Age, who contradict all Truth, Justice, Law, and Honesty. I heard it affirmed, that they were about to explode out of the new Testament▪ the 13th. Chapter of the Romans, and other Texts in Scripture, which commanded subjecti­on to Kings. Truly I believe they did not want knavery, but only conveniency to effect it. If the Bible had had but one Head, off it had went as sure as the Kings▪

In the Statute of 1 Eli. cap. 1. and in several o­ther Acts of Parliamen [...], the Crown of England is called an Imperial Crown, and the Parliament, the Kings h [...]gh Court: And that you may see, that the Murtherers of Charls the Martyr, pretended to want water when they were in the Sea, read the Act of Parliament 1 Ia. cap. 1. wherein the Lords and Commons made this joyfull Recogniti­on, viz. Albeit, We your Majesties loyal and faith­full [Page 327] Subjects, of all Estates, and Degrees, with all pos­sible and publick joy and acclamation, by open procla­mations, within few hours after the decease of our late Soveraign Queen, we declared with one full voice of tongue and heart, your Majesty to be our only law­full and rightfull Liege-Lord and Soveraign, yet as we cannot do it too often, or enough, so it cannot be more fit, than in this high Court of Parliament, where the whole Kingdom in person, or by Represen­tatives is present, upon the knees of our hearts, to ag­nize our most constant faith, obedience, and loyal­ty, to your Majesty, and your Royal Progeny, humbly beseeching it may be (as a memorial to all Posteri­ty) recorded in Parliament, and enacted by the same, that we (being bounden thereunto by the Laws of God and Man) do recognize and acknowledg, that immediately upon the death of Queen Elizabeth, the imperial Crown of this Realm did by inherent birth­right, and lawfull and undoubted succession, descend, and come to your Majesty, and that by lawfull right and descent, under one imperial Crown, your Majesty is of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, the most potent and mighty King, and thereunto we most humbly, and faithfully submit, and oblige our selves, our heirs and posterities for ever, untill the last drop of our bloods be spent, and beseech your Majesty to accept the same, as the first fruits of our loyalty, to your Majesty and Royal Progeny, and Posterity for ever; Which if your Majesty will adorn with your roy­al assent (without which it neither can be compleat [Page 328] and perfect, nor remain to all Posterity,) we shall adde this to the rest of your Majesties inestimable benefits. But now Tiber runs backwards, and the Moon giveth light unto the Sun, the Servant ruleth the Master, and the Peasant is mightier and greater than the King: Nay in stead of walking on our feet (as our fore-Fathers did,) we walk upon our heads, and as for the old paths where is the good way,Note: Jer. 6.16. we will not walk therein. Our Ancestors have attested the Kings Soveraignity with their lives and sacred oaths, but we attest the contrary, so that if we of this age are not, our Ancestors of all ages past were ignorant perjured fools. Our Fathers (as you see in the fore-going Statute) did humbly submit, and oblige themselves, and us, their heirs, and Posteri­ty, to be constant and faithfull in subjection to the King, and his Royal Progeny: But we (unduty­full to our Parents, as well as Rebellious to our King,) oblige our selves, and bind our souls, with many sacred oaths, to expell him from his Crown, rob him of his Revenews, and extirpate his Royal Progeny, being constant, and faithfull to nothing but our own lusts and ambition. They would spend their bloods to maintain, and defend the King: but we spend both our bloods and Estates, to offend and destroy him. They esteem­ed their Act void and imperfect, without the Royal assent; But we esteem and vote the Royal assent, void, imperfect, and uselesse. But where­fore [Page 329] do I say we? Lay the saddle on the right horse. It was neither Lords, nor Commons, Parliament, nor people, who perpetrated all these villanies; but it was fifty or sixty rotten tainted Members of the lower House, small in number, but great in transgression. So may the Tayl, nay a piece of the Tayl, destroy the whole body, and reign sole Lord Paramount. Oh what multi­tudes of impieties can the wicked accomplish in an instant.

Seneca. Nullum ad nocendum tempus an­gustum est malis, In no longer space than betwixt the Father and the Son, did these Horse-Leaches subvert our fundamental Government, destroy King and Kingdom, Parliament and People, and all our Laws, and Religion; so that the question is not whether the Parliament be above the King, but whether a little company of great Traytors and Usurpers, (the Dregs and Lees of all Tyran­ny,) be above both King and Parliament: For the Parliament (as you see by the joyfull recogni­tion made to King James &c.) enacted, and most humbly acknowledged the King to be above both Parliament and People, and the Crown to be here­ditary to the King and his Royal Progeny; but these men, and only these who by violence make themselves above both King and Parliament, de­fending their persons from the Justice of the Law, with Armed Red-Coats, and the greatness of their villanies, These are they who deny it, though [Page 330] the Laws of the Realm, and all Histories, and all Kingdoms teach them otherwise.

God calleth himself a King in several places of the Scripture, to note, and signifie his So­veraignity,Note: Psal. 10.16 29.10.47.2.7.44 4. which surely he would not do, was the King the Peoples vassal or under Officer, as the Bedlam franticks of our age feign. Thou art my King O God, (saith David) Command del [...]verance for Jacob. The King and the Power to command are Individua, He is a Clout, no King, which cannot command; And who should be under his command? What? The People, taken particularly, and distributively, as single men, and not collectively as the whole Kingdom, according to the fanatick opinion of our Lunaticks? Why is he not then called King of single men? If he be King of a Kingdom, then all the People jointly or severally in his Kingdom are under his command, and if under his command, then he only hath power to give them Laws, be they in one collective body as in Parliament, at the Kings house, or simple bodies at their pri­vate dwellings. Le Roy fait les leix avec le Consent du Seigneurs, et Communs: et non pas les Seigneuns, et Communs avec le consent du Roy, is the voice of the Common Law, The King makes Laws in Par­liament, with the consent of the Lords and Com­mons, and not the Lords and Commons with the consent of the King.

The Lords and Commons have power only to propound, and advise, it is only the Kings Le roy le veult, which makes the Law, their propositions and advice signifie nothing, if the King saith Le Roy se avisera; They have not power to grant him any subsidies, untill the King saith, Le Roy remercieses loyaulx et ainsi le veult. There­fore much less the Soveraignity. It would be strange, if the assembling of the Subjects toge­ther should make them Masters over the King, who gave them power to assemble, and hath power to turn them home again when he pleaseth. Legum ac edictorum probatio, aut publicatio, quae in curia vel Senatu fieri solet, non arguit imperii majestatem in Senatu vel cu­ria inesse, saith Bodin. de Rep. li. 1. ca. 8. The publishing, and approbation of Laws and E­dicts, which is made ordinarily in the Court of Parliament, proves not the Majesty of the State to be in the said Court, or Parliament; It is the Kings Scepter which giveth force to the Law, and we have no Law, but what is his Will. The [Page 332] King surely would never call his Subjects, to bind him with Laws against his will, much lesse to take his Dominion from him, and make himself a Vassal, and Officer, to his two Houses, or ei­ther of them, who were not capable themselves of any Office without his Gift and Licence. The Kings of England have called many Parliaments, yet the Government hath alwayes continued Mo­narchical, and the King not under, but above the people, inferior only to God; even Forein Politi­tians will tell you so. Let famous Bodin (who tanketh our Kings amongst the absolute Monarchs) speak for all, lib. 1. cap. 8. Habere quidem Ordi­nes Anglorum authoritatem quandam, jura vero Ma­jestatis & imperji summam, in unius Principis ar­bitrio versari. The States (saith) he of England, have a kind of authority, but all the rights of So­veraignty, and command in chief, are at the will and pleasure of the Prince alone. Learned Camb­den in his Britannia, fo. 163. teacheth us, As touching the division of our Common wealth, it con­sisteth of a King, or Monarch, Noblemen, or Gentry, Citizens, freeborn, whow we call Yeomen, and Ar­tisans or Handicrafts-men. The King whom our Ancestors (the English Saxons) called Coning and Gining (in which name is implyed a signification both of power and skill) and we name contractly King, hath Soveraign power, and absolute com­mand among us, neither holdeth he his Empire in Vassalage, nor receiveth his investure, or enstal­ling [Page 333] of another, ne yet acknowledgeth any superiour but God alone. Now if Reason, and the Judge­ment of our Ancestors, would satisfie our frenzy upstarts, what greater authority would they have? But that they are troubled with so many visions, and false revelations of their own, I would com­mend to them a true vision, in the Reign of Ed­ward the Confessor, viz. One being very inquisi­tive, and musing what should become of the Crown, and Kingdom, after King Edwards death (the blood Royal being almost extinguished) he had a strange vision, and heard a voyce which forbade him to be inquisitive of such matters, re­sounding in his ears; The Kingdom of England belongeth to God himself, who will provide it a King at his pleasure. But now forsooth it belongeth to the people, and they will provide it a King at their pleasure: It is the people now which make the King; if so, why ever had we any Kingdoms? why were they not called Peopledoms? The Kings of England, with them of France, Jerusalem, Naples, and afterwards Scotland, Note: Cambdens Remains. were anti­ently the only anointed Kings of Chri­stendom. And as the Kings in Scripture (as Asia, Jehoshaphat, Hezechiah, Note: See 2 Chro. 15, & 17, & 29, & 30, & 31. &c.) so the Kings of England have al­wayes had the supremacy in Ecclesi­astical causes: Reges, sacro oleo uncti, sunt capaces spiritualis jurisdictionis. 33 Ed. 3. Rex est persona mixta cum Sacerdote, habet ecclesiasticam et spiri­tualem [Page 334] jurisdictionem, 10 H. 7.18. And although Kings ought not to be Ministers of the Chutch, so as to dispense the word and Sacraments, For No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, Hebrews 5.4. Yet since they are called of God to be Kings, as his Vicegerents, they have power to look to, and have a care of the Church, that the word be preached, and the Sacraments administred, by fit persons, and in a right manner, else how should Kings be Nursing Fathers to the Church,Note: Isa. 49.23. had they not a Fatherly pow­er over it? Therefore many Acts of Parliament, in several Kings Reigns, and the whole Current of Law Books, resolve and affirm the King to be head, and have Supreme Juris­diction in Ecclesiastical causes. In the first year of Edward the sixth, a Statute was made, That all Authority and Jurisdiction both Spiritual and Temporal, is derived from the King. So in the Reign of Edward the Confessor, was this Law, ca. 17. The King, who is the Vicar of the highest King, is ordained to this end, that he should Go­vern and Rule the Kingdom, and People of the Land, and above all things the Holy Church, and that he defend the same from wrong doers, and destroy, and root out workers of mischief. But since Reverend Coke in the fifth part of his Reports, De jure Regis Ecclesiastico, hath with lu­culent examples, and impregnable lawes, made it [Page 335] so clear, (that no man can gainsay it) that the King ought, and the Kings of England ever since before the Conquest, until the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, (at which time he writ) have had the supreme power and jurisdiction, in all Spiritual, and Ecclesiastical causes, I referre you to his Book, only reciting part of his conclusion, viz. Thus hath it appeared, as well by the antient Common Lawes of this Realm, by the Resolutions and Judg­ments of the Judges, and Sages of the Lawes of Eng­land, in all succession of ages, as by authority of many Acts of Parliament, antient, and of later times, that the Kingdome of England is an absolute Monarchy, and that the King is the only supreme Governour, as well over Ecclesiastical persons, and in Ecclesiastical causes, as temporal, within this Realm. And in another places, fo. 8. he saith, And therefore by the antient Lawes of this Realm, this Kingdome of Eng­land is an absolute Empire, and Monarchy, consisting of one head, which is the King; and of a body poli­tick, compact and compounded of many, and almost infinite several, and yet well agreeing Members. All which the law divideth into two several parts, that is to say, the Clergy, and the Laity; both of them next, and immediately under God, subject, and obedi­ent to the head. Also, the Kingly head of this poli­tick body, is instituted, and furnished with plenary, and intire power, prerogative, and jurisdiction, to render justice and right, to every part and member of this body, of what estate, degree, or calling soever, in [Page 336] all causes, Ecclesiastical or Temporal, otherwise he should not be a head of the whole body. Now he that looketh upon these Authorities, and yet saith, that the King is not above both Parliament and people, nor hath soveraign power over them, will likewise look upon the sun in the Heavens, and yet say, that it is not above, but below the earth; and when he is in the midst of the sea, say, that there are no wa­ters in the world. If then the King hath the su­preme power over Parliament and people, (as most certainly he hath) how then could the Par­liament or people, (much lesse, sixty of them) question, or judge their King? For no man can deny, but that the greater power ought to correct, and judge the lesser, not the lesser, the greater. How could they, did I say? Why, vi & armis, by violence and injury, not by law. So may I go and murther the King of Spain, or the King of France, and then tell them, that their people have the su­preme power over them. The case is all one, on­ly these Rebels murthered their natural Father, and King, to whom nature, and the Lawes of God and man, had made them subjects; but I should murther a forein King, whom I ought not to touch, he being the Lords annointed.

It is easie to prove the Soveraignty of the Kings of England, by their Stiles, (unlesse our anti-mo­narchical Statists will say, they nick named them­selves.) Their several stiles, since the Conquest, you may see in the first part of my Lord Coke's In­stitutes [Page 337] Fo. 27. Therefore I will not trouble you with a recital of them; as for the styles before the Conquest, take one for all, which you may find in the Preface of Co. li. 4. and in Davis his Irish re­ports Fo. 60. In a Charter made by Edgar one of the Saxon Monarchs of England, before the Danish Kings. viz. Altitonantis dei largiflua cle­mentia, qui est Rex Regum, & dominus dominanti­um, Ego Edgarus Anglorum Basileus, omnium (que) rerum, Insularum Oceani quae Britanniam circumja­cent, cunctarum (que) Nationum quae infra eam includun­tu [...], Imperator et dominus, Gratias ago ipsi Deo omni­potenti Regi meo, qui meum imperium sic am­pliavit, & exaltavit, super Regum patrum me­orum, Qui licet Monarchiam totius Angliae adep­ti sunt a tempore Athelstani, qui primus Regum Anglorum omnes Nationes quae Britanniam incolunt sibi armis subegit, nullus tamen eorum ultra fines imperium suum dilatare agressus est, mihi tamen con­cessit propitia Divinitas cum Anglorum imperio, omnia regna Insularum Oceani cum suis ferocissimis re­gibus us (que) Norvegiam, maximam (que) partem Hiberniae cum sua nobilissima Civitate de Dublina, Anglorum regno subjugare, quos etiam omnes meis imperiis colla subdare dei favente gratia coegi. By which you may observe the first Conquest of Ireland, and that the Kings of England are Emperours, and Mo­narchs in their Kingdom, constituted only by God, (the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,) not by the people. And so did many other Kings of Eng­land [Page 338] stile themselves, as for example: Etheldredus totius Albionis, Dei Providentia, Imperator: and Edredus Magnae Britanniae Monarcha, &c.

But that our preposterous Commonwealths men might make themselves most ridiculous, as well as impious in all things, they would argue the King out of his Militia, and have him to be their Defen­der, yet they would take away his sword from him. O Childish foppery! What? a Warriour without arms? a General without souldiers? why not a [...] well, a Speaker without a mouth? such Droller [...] was never heard of in the world, until the Infatuation of these infandous Republicans hatcht it▪ Nay, but there shall be a King over us (cryed the Israelites) that we also might be like all the Nations, and that our King may judge us and go out before us, and fight our battels, 1 Sam. 8.19. An [...] what? should he fight without the Militia? should the King be over the people, judge them, and go out before them to battel, yet ought the people t [...] have power to array, arm, and muster the souldier [...] at their pleasure? ought they to appoint wha [...] Officers and Commanders they thought fit? surely no: For he will (saith Samuel, verse 12.) appoin [...] him Captains over thousands, and Captains ove [...] fifties. So 11 Sam. 12.29. David gathered a [...] the people together, and went to Rabbath, and fough [...] against it, and took it. But why do I cite David Had not all the Kings in the Scripture, nay, hav [...] not all the Kings in the world the chief powe [...] [Page 339] over their Militia? Surely, nothing is more cer­tain; otherwise, what difference would there be between the King and Subject? Militarem autem prudentiam, ante omnia necessariam, Ego Principi assero, adeo ut sine ea, vix Princeps. Quomodo enim aliter se tueatu [...], sua, ac suos, saith Justus Lipsius. No Militia, no King; For how can he defend himself and Kingdome without it? The Puppy dogs would master the Lyon, were it not for his pawes; the cowardly Owles would conquer the Eagle, if he had no talons; and the King would be a laugh­ing stock, both at home and abroad, were it not for the sword, which God (not the people) hath girded to his side. The King beareth not the sword in vain, saith St. Paul, Rom. 13.4. But surely he would bear it in vain, had he not power of himself to draw it, or sheath it, but when the people plea­sed; he would be but a poor revenger, to execute Gods wrath, had the people, (as our Novists feign) not he, the sole disposing of the Militia. Unges eum ducem, 1 Sam. 9.16. Thou shalt annoint him to be captain over my people. Which shewes the Kings right to the Militia, being Captain over his people. Unum est Regi inexpugnabile munimentum, amor civium. I must confesse, the Citizens, and Peoples love is the best fortresse, and bulwork for Kings; but Charity growes cold, Loyal love, and Citizens, are not alwayes companions; whole Ci­ties, nay whole Countries, may prove perfidious to their King; and whilst the King dischargeth the [Page 340] office of a loving father, his people may turn Traytors,Note: Teste Anglia. and rebell a­gainst his goodnesse. Therefore it is good walking with a horse in ones hand, and ever safest for Princes, even in the greatest peace, to have a well-disciplin'd Militia in a readinesse; for the affection of the people, like the wind, is never constant, In Rege, qui recte regit, ne­cessaria sunt duo haec, arma videlicet, & leges, Note: Bract. fo. 1. Justin. In­stitutes, Fle­ta. quibus utrumque tempus, bel­lorum & pacis, recte possit gubernari: utrumque enim istorum alterius indi­get auxilio, quo tam res militaris pos­sit esse in tuto, quàm ipsae leges, usu armorum, & prae­sidio possint esse servatae. Si autem arma defecerin [...] contra hostes rebelles & indomitos, sic erit regnum indefensum: si autem leges, sic exterminabitur justi­tia, nec erit qui justum faciat judicium, The Law, and Arms, are so necessary, and requisite in a King that without both, he can have neither; for how could he execute, and maintain his lawes, withou [...] arms? and how could he levy war, without lawes to direct, and guide his Arms? He could neither proclaim war, nor make leagues, or peace without them. The King is Custos totius Regni, and by law ought to defend,Note: Davis Irish Re­ports, fo. 58. Fitz. n. 6.113.233. and save hi [...] Realm. But surely he would b [...] but a poor keeper, if the peopl [...] had power to keep his weapon [Page 341] from him at their pleasure. Custodes libertatis An­gliae, The Keepers of our liberty, could not keep it from us, without the force of the Militia: and how should the King maintain his Realm in peace, and defend our lives, liberties and estates, from the forein, and domestick Tyranny of Traytors and Rebels, had he not the sole power, and strength of Arms? The Subjects of England are bound by their liegeance, to go with the King, &c. in his wars, as well within his Realms,Note: Calvins case, so. 7. as without, as appeareth by the Statute of 2 Ed. 6. cap. 11. and by a Statute made 11 H. 7. c. 1. The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, declare it to be the duty, and allegi­ance of the Subjects of England, not only to serve their Prince, and Soveraign Lord, for the time being, in warres, but to enter, and abide in service, in battel. and that both in defence of the King and land, against every rebellion, power, and might reared against him. But wherefore should I make my self ridiculous, in attempting to prove that which no age hath de­nied? It hath been the Custome of all Kingdoms, the practice of all times, and the Common Law of the Realm of England, ever since it was a Realm, that the power of the Militia did alwayes belong unto the King▪ nay it is proper to him quarto modo he hath an inherent, and inalienable right to it. Which right hath been declared, and affirmed by many Acts of Parliament, in all suc­cession of ages, which in a case so clear, need not [Page 342] to be recited. It belongs to the King only to make leagues with forein Princes. 2 H. 5. ca. Note: 19 E. 4.46.22 E. 4. And as it is resolved in our Law Books, if all the people of England should break the league made with a fo [...]e [...]n Prince, without the Kings consent, yet the league holds, and is not broken; Nay so farr are the People, or House of Lords, or Commons, from having the power of the Militia, that (as you may read the expresse words, 3 Inst. pa. 9.) If any levy Warr to expulse strangers, to deliver men out of Prisons, to remove Counsellors, or against any Statute, or to any other end, pretending Refor­mation of their own heads, without Warrant, it is high Treason; For no Subject can levy Warr within the Realm, without Authority from the King, for to him it only belongeth. O then admire at the impiousnesse, and impudence of the long called Parliament, who murthered their King for committing Treason against them, whereas by the Laws of the Land, they were the only Traytors against him. So may the offender punish the of­fended, for the offence which he himself com­mitted, and so may the Prisoner condemn, and execute the Judge, for the Crime whereof him­self is only guilty. The only reason why they de­manded the Militia of the King, and said that it only belonged to them, was not, because the King ought not to have it, for they well knew, that by the Law of all Ages, it did only belong to him, [Page 343] and not to them; But how then could they carry on, and accomplish, their wicked design of Mur­thering him, if they still let his Sword hang by his side? Therefore they first laid hold on that, and wrested the Militia out of his hands, arguing that it did not belong to the King, but to them. So Murtherers may say, that the Sword of him whom they intend to murther, doth not belong to the owner, but to them, to the end, they may with the more ease and safeguard, perpetrate their wickedness. And that they might have a shadow to hide all their filthynesse; They first got several Counties to Petition for the Militia, which they afterwards took by violence, nay they themselves did first Petition the King for it. So sturdy Beg­gars first beg for an Almes, and by and by knock their Benefactor on the head, and make them­selves Masters of what they before entreated for: And indeed the most part of their Villanies did commence with Petitions, for in driving on their wicked designs, they alwayes got the Rascal ra­ble of the People, to heap in Petitions, for what they themselves set them upon, as if these Godly Villains did nothing, but what they were driven to through commiseration of the people, when God knows, they did nothing, but what was for the satisfaction of their own wicked Lusts, and Ambition. For when the Souldiers, and other baser sort of the people, cryed out for Justice and Privilege of the Parliament; Even then was the [Page 344] Injustice of these Rebels most promoted, and the Parliament did not then only lose its privileges, but its very life and being. Thus Barbers may cut off the Head, when they pretend to trim the Hair, and so may Physicians destroy and kill the Body, when they pretend to apply Medicines. For, as now it appeareth even to the blind, their pious pretences, were but a Colour, for their wicked intentions, to destroy both King and Parliament, and root up all our Laws and Religion, when they seemed to act most to preserve them.

Now since the power of Warr only belongeth unto the King, it must of necessity follow, that the King hath power to levy Taxes, and impose Subsidies on his people to maintain the Warr, o­therwise it would be in vain to think of waging Warr: for all Souldiers must have (Vectigalia) Food, Apparel, and Arms, and where should the King have this but in his own Kingdom? To be short, it is a duty laid upon the Consciences of all Subjects, to supply their King with all necessaries, both in time of Warr, and Peace; And a thing commanded both by our Saviour, and his Apostles, Render unto Caesar, the things which are Caesars. And 13 Rom. Render therefore to all their due, Tribute, to whom Tribute is due, Custom, to whom Custom, Fear, to whom Fear, Honour, to whom Honour. But our Antipodes subverting all Scripture, render to no man their dues, and that they may act contrary to the very words and mean­ing [Page 345] of every Text, They do not render Tribute, Custom, Fear, and Honour, to the King, to whom it is only due, but forsooth to themselves, to whom it is not due. So may the Servant mur­ther his Master, and take all his Revenues, and Honour as due only to himself. He which argu­eth that the King hath not right to chuse his Privy Counsellors, Great Officers, and Judges, &c. will likewise say, that the Master hath not right to chuse his Servants, it being the practice of all Kingdoms, as well as of England, and due to him by the Law of Nature; Thou shalt provide out of the People able Men, saith Jethro to Moses, when the 70. grand Senators of Israel, the Great San­hedrim of the Jews were to be chosen; By which you see, the great Officers, &c. are to be chosen out of, and not by the people, but by the King. So Pharoah, not the people, made Joseph Ruler over all the Land of Aegypt, and Nebuchadnez­zar, and not his people, made Daniel Ruler o­ver the whole Province of Babylon. And since our Lawyers are so forward to take Commissions, and be made Judges by every power, which getteth uppermost, be it right or wrong, Let me tell them, that it is an undoubted truth, that every person, who hath been since the murther of Charls the Martyr, or shall hereafter (without the au­thority of Charls the second) be condemned and executed for any Crime (whether guilty or not guilty) in the Kings Bench, or at the Assizes, [Page 346] or elsewhere, is murthered, and all the Judgments, acts and proceedings of those nominal Judges, or Commissioners are void, as things done Coram non judice. So that it consequently followeth, that these lawless Judges are principals in every mur­ther, so committed. Vengeance only belongeth un­to God, Deu. 32.35. The King is the Minister of God, a Reuenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil. Therfore whosoever prosecuteth in the Kings Courts against the life of any man (as in an Appeal &c.) or sueth for recompence for any wrong done unto him, he doth not take ven­geance, but God, who executeth his wrath by his Minister the King. But if any private man, or the whole people take upon them to make themselves their own Carvers taking what recompence they think fit, either against the King or any of their fellow Subjects, in this case they make themselves their own Revengers, and rob God of his rights, for vengeance belongeth to him, not to them. Therefore if any man, though in a way of publick Justice, take upon him to condemn and execute a­ny man, without authority and power from the King, he is a Murtherer, and malicious Revenger, upon whom the vengeance of God (whom he endeavoureth to cheat and rob) will fall. Oh then admire, and bewail the Infandous Mur­thers, and Murtherers of our age, wherein the good are destroyed for performing their duty to­wards God and their King, and the wicked flow­rish, [Page 347] only because they are sinfull, for whosoever will not be a Rebel, must not be a Common­wealths-man amongst these new Republicans. Yet forsooth they have such a form of Godlinesse amongst them, that whosoever doth not approve of their wickednesse, but speaketh of their actions according to their deserts, they call such men the ungodly, and flatter themselves, saying, the Saints of all ages have been spoken evil of by the wicked, holy David, nay our Saviour and his Disciples were reviled by the Reprobate, therfore no won­der if the Malignant Cavaleers do reproach, and vilifie our piousness, and brotherly love and chari­ty one towards the other. So Belzebub may call them impious, who do not account him the only good Angell. How these men would be esteemed most Religious, even when they commit Sacri­lege, and seem righteous even in the very act of wickednesse; They murther many, and take away the Estates of all Royalists, yet if the Royalists whom they have thus spoyled, tell them according to Gods Commandments, that they ought not to be swift to shed blood, nor covet their neighbours goods, these Saints presently tell them, that they have not the Spirit of Godliness in them, but that they are the abusers of Gods word, and his Chil­dren, as if Gods Spirit gave them authority to act wickedly, and that none but they were the chil­dren of God, who had got their wealth by murther, rapine, and sacrilege: O Monstrous! If you call [Page 348] their ill gotten Government, Tyranny, or Usurpa­tion, they number you amongst those filthy Drea­mers, who speak evil of Dignities, and will no [...] submit to lawfull authority. Yet these Antipodes could revile their Soveraign the King, with multitudes of scurrilous Pamplets, cut off his head and banish his Royal Progeny, taking away their Lands, and the Estates of thousands more, yet they would make one believe, that they never spoke evil of Dignities, nor ever resisted lawfull authori­ty. O pious Rebels!

So far are our Laws of England from allowing Subjects to take up arms against the King, or to condemn & execute him, that it is high treason for any one,Note: 25 E. 3.2. or all of his Sub­jects, but to imagine the Kings death, which the wisdom and Religion of our Realm hath from age to age so much hated and ab­horred, that an offender therin, by the Laws of the Land, shall be hanged, and cut down alive, his bowels shall be cut off, and burned in his sight, his head shall be severed from his body, his quarters shall be divided asunder, and disposed at the Kings pleasure, and made food for the birds of the air, or the beasts of the Field, and his wife and chil­dren shall be thrust out of his house, and livings, his seed and blood shall be corrupted, his Lands and goods shall be confiscated, and (as by the Sta­tute of 29 H. 6.1. It is ordained of the Traytor John Cade) hee shall be called a false Traytor for [Page 346] ever. But the Traytors against Charls the Mar­tyr have prevented this punishment (most due to them) by the greatnesse of their villanies. Yet though they are got out of the reach of Justice, and trample our Laws and King under their feet, let them remember that God is above Earth, and will give them their reward, if not in this world, yet in the world to come.

The aforesaid Statute of 25 Ed. 3. (as you may read in Pulton de pace Regis, & Regni, fo. 108.) doth confirm it to be high treason, for any person to compasse, or imagine the death of our Soveraign Lord the King, the Queen, &c. by which words, it doth approve what a great regard, and reverend respect, the Common Law hath al­wayes had to the person of the King, which it hath endeavoured religiously, and carefully to preserve, as a thing consecrated by Almighty God, and by him ordained, to be the head, health, and wealth of the Kingdom, and therefore it hath ingrafted a deep, and settled fear in the hearts of all sorts of Subjects, to offer violence, or force unto it, un­der the pain of High Treason:Note: Leges Auredi. ca. 4. Co. Lib. 4.124. See 3 Inst. pag. 4. and 6. inso­much as if he that [...]s Non Compos Mentis, do kill, or attempt to kill the King, it shall be adjudged in him High Treason, though if he do commit petit Treason, homi­cide or larceny, it shall not be im­puted unto him as Felony, for that he knew not [Page 350] what he did, neither had he malice prepensed, not a felonious intent. And this law doth not only restrain all persons from laying violent hands upon the person of the King, but also by prevention, it doth inhibit them so much as to compasse, or ima­gine, or to devise, or think in their hearts, to cut off, by violent, or untimely death, the life of the King, Queen, &c. for the only compassing, or ima­gination, without bringing it to effect, is High Treason, because that compassing, and imagination doth proceed from false and traiterous hearts, and out of cruel, bloudy, and murdering minds.

Thus you see with what reverence our Lawes do adore his sacred Majesty our King, detesting nothing more, than the violence, or dammage offered to him: yet forsooth, the Rebels affirm, they killed the King by the Common Law, and why by the Common Law? what, because the Commons made it? surely that is all the reason, for there is no law under the Heavens, which war­ranteth Subjects to kill their King: but all lawes both humane, and divine command the contra­ry. Many are the publick oaths, (as you may read in Mr. Prynne's Concordia discors) protestations, leagues, covenants, which all English Subjects, (especially Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, Mayors, Mi­nisters, Lawyers, Graduates, Members of the House of Commons, and all publick officers what­soever) by the Lawes, and Statutes of the land, have formerly taken, to their lawful hereditary [Page 351] Kings, their heirs, and successors, to bind their souls and consciences, to bear constant faith, al­legiance, obedience, and dutiful subjection to them, and to defend their Persons, Crowns, and just royal Prerogatives, with their lives, members, and fortunes, against all attempts, conspiracies, and innovations whatsoever. But since, all those sa­cred oaths have been trayterously violated, and broken by the Rebels against Charles the Martyr. I will only present you with the effect of the Oath of Allegiance, which every one is to take when he is of the age of twelve years, and this oath was instituted in the time of King Arthur. Calvin's Case, fo. 7. Co. Lit. fo. 68.172. You shall swear that from this day forward, you shall be true and faithful to our Soverain Lord King Charles, and his heirs, and truth and faith shall bear, of life and member, and terrene honour; and you shall neither know, nor hear of any ill, or dammage intended unto him, that you shall not defend. So help you Almighty God. The substance and effect of this oath (as it is resolved, and proved in Calvin's case) is due to the King, by the law of Nature, and is called Lige­antia naturalis, being an incident inseparable to every Subject; for so soon as he is born, he ow­eth by birth-right ligeance and obedience to his Soveraign, and therefore the King is called in his Statutes our natural liege Lord, and his people, na­tural liege Subjects. But Ligeantia legalis, is so called because the Municipal Laws of this Realm [Page 352] have prescribed the order and form of it. None can deny but that obedience is due from the Son to the Father by the Law of Nature, yet may the Municipal Laws of the Realm prescribe formality and order to it, not diminishing the substance. So likewise may they to the Allegiance due by nature to the King.

Thus have you seen how the English Tray­terous Rebells, contrary to all the Laws of God, the Law of Nature, the Law of Na­tions, the Laws of our Realm, and against the foundation of Christian Religion, have by an unheard of example, most wickedly murthered, & as a common Thief, and vile vassal of the people, con­demned their gracious King, whose name from the very beginning of the world hath ever been esteem­ed amongst all Nations great and holy; whom the Prophets and Apostles, nay our Saviour himself, and all the Primitive Christians, both with their lives, death, examples, and Doctrine have taught, and commanded us to reverence and pray for, and to be subject to, not violently to resist him though he violently persecute us; whom God himself in his old and new Testament hath declared to be constituted by him, and reign by him, (not by the People,) and particularly whom our fore-Fathers of this Realm of England, have always accounted sacred, and ever found by experience Kingly Go­vernment to be most glorious, and profitable for them, yet these forty or fifty Tyrannical Rebels, [Page 353] contrary even to common sense, and feeling, up­holding themselves by Force, and Arms, Treason, and Usurpation, do sit and Vote Kingship dange­rous and burthensom to the good people of this Common-wealth, when in the mean time, out Merchants turn Bankrupts, our Tradesmen break, Food groweth dear, Trade dyeth, thousands of Families are ready to starve, Millions of men are ruined and undone, the whole Realm groaneth un­der the burthen of excessive Taxes, and Wars, and rumors of Wars, continually plague our Kingdom, which hath lost its glory both abroad and at home, and become a meer laughing-stock to all Nations, and all this misery ariseth from the Tyranny of these Rebels, who unjustly banish our lawfull hae­reditary King Charls the second, and take possessi­on of his three Kingdoms, making themselves abso­lute Tyrannical Kings over us, and so I believe they intend to make their Heirs: for (being accusto­med to lye) they declare in their Declarations, that the People shall be governed by their Repre­sentatives in Parliament, Yet (their actions con­tradicting their words,) they will not suffer the People to chuse their Representa­tives, or come into the House,Note: The People declare for a free Parlia­ment, but these Rebels only for themselves. but they tell us, that they will chuse men of fit qualities. So one Thief chuseth another, Similis simili gau­det, We may be sure never to have an honest man amongst them, if they [Page 4] have the chusing. So that we may conclude, that unlesse we arise, and destroy these self-seeki [...]g self-created Tyrants, and restore our gracious King to his Crown, both we, and our heirs, shall be Slaves to the worlds end; for no legal Government can be established without the King.

I have sufficiently proved, that it is unlawfull for Subjects to rebel against evil Kings: How much more then is it unlawfull to rebel against a pious, and mercifull Soveraign, which addeth to the bulk of the sins of our English Rebels? For the whole world knoweth, that Charls the Martyr (whom they so trayter­ously murthered,Note: Read his incom­parable heaven­ly Book, which will make thee weep for our loss, but rejoice and admire at his pi­ety.) was the best of Kings, and meekest of men: He was Charls le bon, & Charls le grand, good in his greatnesse, and great in his goodnesse. Some have said, that a good King cannot be a good Christian, but it is proved manifestly false in him, for to the admiration of the whole Earth, he was the best of Christians, and no less to be admired as a good King: So that his misfortune in his Government did not proceed from his deficiency in the art of Governing, but from the excesse of the Rebels sins, who transcen­ded all Traytors since the creation of the world, in sin, and treachery, as far as Hell is distant from the Earth. Wherefore we may most truly say, that he was murthered, only because he was good: [Page 355] For every Kingdom divided against it self, is brought to desolation,Note: Luk. 11.18. if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his Kingdom stand? Therfore if the King had been evil, these evil Traytors would never have cast him out, but seeing he was a pious and Religious King, (and so an evil Member to their evil Common-wealth,Note: See their charge a­gainst him.) They all uni­ted their hearts and hands to cut him off, and lay to his charge all the Trea­sons, Murthers, Rapines, Burnings, Spoils, Desolations, Damage and Mis­chief to this Nation, which they themselves com­mitted. So Thieves and Murtherers may spoil, burn, and make desolate all places, and Massacre, and kill many Noble, and trusty Servants, to the end they might take their Master and kill him, and then having taken him, lay all to his charge, and execute him as the only Author of all those villa­nies which they themselves acted and occasioned. O heavens! Could the Almighty suffer this? Why not? The Lord made all things for himself, yea even the wicked for the day of evil. Pro. 16.4.

As for our rising Sun Charls the second, though hitherto obscured by the foggy mists of Treason, and Rebellion, in his own Kingdoms; yet do the rayes of his sacred Majesty shine throughout the world beside, and his renown ecchoeth in every part of the Earth, to the admiration of forein Kingdoms, and to the envy & hatred of the Rebels [Page 356] in his own. Yet cannot their malice but marvel at the virtues, and patience of their King, whom they so much wrong: And it grieves them to see that royal progeny (whose ruine they so greedily hunt after) flourish with such glorious splendour amongst the Kings, and Princes of the Earth, growing in favour both with God and Man; Whilst they (odious to all but themselves) by their Ty­ranny and Rebellion, incurr the displeasure both of Heaven and Earth, and become a Ridiculous Rump, The object of the scorn and derision, both of Old and Young, Rich and Poor. And had not these infatuated Rebels, brasen faces to deny what their own Conscience telleth them is true, They would presently declare, that the only way to settle our distractions, and restore our Nation to its pristin happinesse, and glory, were to call in the King, and re-establish him in his own, which they unjustly pocket from him: For so long as there is one of the race of the Stew­arts (which God long preserve) and any forein King, or People, remain alive, we must never look for peace, or plenty, but (as publick Thieves) alwayes live in a posture of Warr, and ever expect forein Nations to come in, and swallow us up, Who account it (as indeed it is) the greatest piece of Justice under the Sun, to revenge (with our bloods, and utter destruction) the bloody Murther of Charls the first, and the unnatural Ba­nishment of Charls the second, our only lawful [Page 357] Soveraign. Therefore let all English Spirits (who have not washed their hands in the Innocent blood of Charls the Martyr) joyn their prayers to God, and their Forces to one another, and lance this Ulcer, and cut off this proud flesh, whose growth destroyeth our King, Laws, and Religion. Behold the Duke of York wi [...]l be your leader, whose very name striketh terror to the greatest men of Warr, and our Rebels tremble to think of his Martial atchievements; It is he who will be our Champion, to hunt out these treacherous Foxes, who Rebel against his King and Brother; and then make our Nation dreadful to the Pope, and other forein Invaders. Therefore let us not dream like Goats, whilst we have this Lyon to be our Captain, but follow him, and destroy these Wolves, who make us their continual prey, keep­ing us in Slavery, under a false pretence of Liber­ty; and let us obey our King, and Father, Charls the second, who will blesse us with the blessings of Jacob, and weed out of our Church, and State, those Jesuits, and Popish Blasphemors, who now under the colour of a free State, are work­ing, and contriving, the ruine both of our Laws and Religion. And then we shall prosper into a Kingdom, Ezekiel 86.13. and once more be a glorious people, under so glorious a King: which God Almighty speedily grant, for the glory of his Holy Name, and for the welfare and happinesse of all Christian people.

[Page 358]Every one knoweth that in 1648. after the long tempest of a horrid VVarr and Rebel­lion, raised by the Refractory and Treache­rous House of Commons, under a pretence of removing evil Counsellours from the King, (but in truth only to promote their own pri­vate Interests, and factious designs) The Currish Army, who had for a long time hunted the distressed King, and his Royal party, pretending to be set on only by their Master Rebels the Commons, but it seems they had a game to play of their own, which on the sixth of December 1648. they be­gun to shew; And therefore when the Tray­terous Commons had obtained what they could ask, or desire, of their Soveraign, then their Prisoner at the Isle of Wight, being such Concessions, which never any King before him granted, nor Subjects ever de­manded, So that shame compelled them to vote them satisfactory, Then the bloody Souldiers thinking themselves lost, if the King and Parliament should find a peace, went up to the House of Commons, and by force kept out and imprisoned those who voted the Kings Concessi­ons satisfactory,Note: Vulgarly cal­led the Seclu­ded Memb­ers. which the mi­litant Saints pleased to call pur­ging of the House, (so that bo­dy is purged which hath poyson left in it, and [Page 359] nutriment taken out of it by the purge) yet this purge would not do, the Lords must be turned out too, and only 40. or fifty packt Members of the House of Commons,Note: So he which play­eth at Knave out of doors, getteth the Knave, to beat all the rest of the Cards. who had sworn to be as very (if not worse) Knaves than the wicked Souldiers would have them to be, were only left in the House, who presently took upon them, what power their own lusts could desire, or the over-ruling Sword help them to, Murthered the King, and the chiefest of the Royal Party, and yet to colour their Tyranny, ca [...]led them­selves a Parliament; by which name blowing up, King, Lords Spiritual, and Temporal, and all our Lawes, and Religion with them, they still Domineer, and Rule over us, yet not so, but that the Army Rule them, (as the Wind doth a weather-cock) turning them which way, and how they please, some­times up, and sometimes down, and no doubt but that shortly they will be cast down for altogether, for the wicked shall not last, but vanish as a shadow.

Blessed art thou O Lord, when thy King is the Son of Nobles: Eccles. 10.17. But alas, Ser­vants have ruled over us, and there is none that doth [Page 360] deliver us out of their hands. Lamen. 5.8. The Crown is fallen from our head: Wo unto us that we have sinned. Verse 16. For now they shall say, we have no King, because we feared not the Lord; What then should a King do unto us? Hosea 10.3.

AS a distracted Ship (whose Pilate the rage­ [...]ng violence of a tempestuous storm hath cast down headlong from the stern) staggereth too and fro amongst the unquiet waves of the rough Ocean, somtimes clashing against the proud surly Rocks, and somtimes reeling up and down the smoother waters, now threatening present Ship­wrack, and Destruction, by [...]nd by promising [...] seeming safety, and secure arrival, yet never set­led fast, nor absolutely tending to the quiet and de­sired Haven: So the vexed Government of frantick England, ever since the furious madnesse of a few turbulent Spirits beheaded our King and Kingdom, threw down Charls the Martyr (our only lawfull Governour) from the stern of Government, and took it into their unskilfull and unlawfull hands, it hath been tossed up and down, somtimes falling amongst the lawless Souldiers, as a Lamb amongst Wolves, or as a glass upon stones,) and somtimes happening amongst Tyrants, calling themselves a Parliament, who are so much worse than the Souldiers, by how much wickednesse covered with a colour of Justice is worse, and more dangerous than naked villanies. Yet in all our Revolutions (although many gaps have been laid open that way,) hath not the Government steered its course [Page 363] directly to Charls the second, its only proper right, and quiet Haven; to which until it come, we must never expect to have the Ship of our Common-wealth so secure, but that Tempests and Storms will still molest and trouble (if not totally ruine) it. Though it stand so fast one day, that it seemeth impossible for humane strength to remove it, yet the next day it moultereth away to nothing. I vouch every mans experience to war­rant this truth; And were not our blind Sodo­mites intoxicated with Senselesse, as well as Law­lesse Counsels, They would never gape after preferment, nor hope for continuance in their imaginary Commonwealth, where the greatest one hour is made least the next, and they them­selves swallow up each the other, never having rest or peace, no not in their own House. And can this divided Monster (which is the cause of all our divisions) cloze up our divisions, and settle our Nation in peace and happinesse? 'Tis mad­nesse to think it. So fire may quench fire, and the Devil who was the first Author of wickedness, put an end to all wickedness. Examine the con­dition of the times, since the Reign of Charls the first, and you may see what times we shall have, until the Reign of Charls the second. Tyranny and Usurpation, Beggery and Slavery, Warrs and Murthers, Subversion of our Laws, and Reli­gions, changing the Riders, but we must alwayes be the Asses, Hunger and Famine, Guns and [Page 364] Swords, Drums and Trumpets, Robberies and Thieveries, Fornication and Adultery, Brick without Straw, Taxes although no bread, These must be the voices which will alwayes sound in our Ears, untill we cast off this old man of Sin, viz. The Long called Parliament, and submit (as we ought) to Charls the second our only lawfull King.

VVe may read of many Kings who have been suddainly killed, by the rash violence of an in­discreet multitude, who in the heat of Blood, do that which they repent of all their life after, (mad Fury being the only cause of their unjust Act­ings;) But to commit sin with reason and piety, to kill their King with discretion, formally and so­lemnly, is such a premeditated Murther, that the Sun never saw, until these Sons of perdition brought it to light; For a long time before the fact, they machinated, and plotted, the Kings death, and contrived how they might with the best colour and shew of Justice effect it; At length (as if their Votes were more authentique than all Srcipture) they passed (amongst others) this Vote, Die Jovis, Jan. 4. 1648. viz. That the People, under God, were the original of all just power; This was the foundation upon which the super­structure of all their murthers and villanies (which they call just Judgments) were built; which granted, it consequently followeth, that all the power which they then and now exercise over [Page 365] these three Kingdoms, is unjust and Tyrannical, be­cause not derived from the People. There are no Representatives amongst them for Scotland nor Ire­land, nor the greatest part of England, neither did they ever receive any power at all from the People of either England, Scotland, or Ireland, and now all the People publiquely declare against them as the greatest Usurpers and Tyrants in the world; yet contrary to all the Peoples wills, they sit, and Rule, and will admit of no Member of the Peo­ples chusing to come amongst them, unless they first qualifie and fit him for their own purpose; therefore it plainly appeareth, that this Vote, that the People had the supreme power under God, was but a meer juggle to gull the people, and to bring their wicked designs to passe. So that as A whip for the Horse, or a bridle for the Asse, have the People made (of this quondam Parliament,) a rod for their fools-backs, Pro. 26.3.

The King being murthered by these Tyrants, and all our Laws and Religion totally subverted, (a time wherin every one did what was right in his own eys,) Oliver Cromwel (who for his excel­lency in wickedness and villanies was made Gene­ral of the long called Parliaments unjust Forces,) the twentieth of April 1653. entred the House, attended with some of the chief Commanders of his Army, and delivering his reasons to them in a Speech, why he came to put a period to their sit­ing, as judging it a thing much conducing to the [Page 366] publick wellfare of the Nation, dissolved them. And why might not he turn out them by force, who by force had already turned out the King, Lords, and all the Commons, besides themselves? Surely if he had taken and hanged them all, it would have been a glorious Act, pleasing to God, and the whole people, and a Cordial to heal the miseries of our long-distressed Nation. But his ambition was to make himself Great, not to give relief and take away the Tyranny, therfore he sum­moned a certain select number of his own creatures to appear at Westminster on the fourth of July next, which he called a Parliament, and none could deny but that they had the Soveraign power, because Cromwel said so, yet not so but that he made them resign up their power to him, and make him (the Lord protect us) Lord Protector, not a King, be­cause a King might do nothing but by Law, but the Protector did nothing but according to his will and pleasure; yet in this were we happy, that in his reign, one Tyrant Lorded it over us, but in the long Parliaments, many. It is worth the ob­servation, that notwithstanding a Parliament had newly abrogated the very name and being of a King,Note: Our Soveraign Charls must be no King, because pious, but O­liver must be a King, because a Rebel. Oh the mystery of their iniqui [...]y [...] as dangerous and burthensom to the Common-wealth, yet a Parliament (summoned by Cromwel in July 1656. to meet on the 17 of Septem­ber,) [Page 367] Petitioned and made many humble addres­ses to Cromwel that he would take Kingship upon him, and be anointed King, which old Nolls mouth watered at, yet because some things did not fall out according to his expectation, he de­clined it, and refused to be what he eagerly (though not openly) persued.Note: Though the Kings Nobility might not, yet Cromwels might be a House of Peers. Cromwel likewise created a House of Lords, which was called the o­ther House: but the high aspiring thoughts of this turbulent Scorpion, were at length blown down, and extinguished by a high and mighty, wondrous and unparalleld wind, which out raunted Old Nol, and whirried his black Soul down ad inferos. So that after this storm, we had a Calm; and as the Sheep are at quiet ease, when the bloody Woolf forsakes them, so the People did rejoice and solace their hearts, when this Tyrant made his Exit; yet no sooner were we rid of this crafty Knave, the Fa­ther, but we were troubled with a simple Fool, his Son. Richard his eldest Son was proclamed (by the new Courtiers, and Army-Officers) Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and so tumble down Dick thought to have risen, and Reigned in his Fathers room; But a Fools bolt is soon shot, Richard was quickly up, & quick­ly down: No sooner had he called a Parliament, but the Souldiers (who feared that his Parlia­ment should be honest, and disband them, as [Page 368] the only instruments to execute all Villanies) went to the Mushroom Protector, and by dn­resse, made him dissolve the Parliament, and di­vest himself of all his Power and Authority. And in this respect, it is better to be a Knave, than a Fool; For crafty Noll kept the rude Souldiers in due obedience; But simple Dick let them be his Masters, whereas he might easily have made them, and the whole people, have been his Servants to this day. When Richard was dismounted, the Souldiers could not well tell where to hang the Government, to secure them in their Rebellion, and Roguery: At last they pitcht upon the old rot­ten Rump (viz. the fagg▪ end of a worn-out,Note: Tristius haud illis mon­strum, nec saevior ulla Pestis, & ira Deum Sly­ [...]iis sese extulit undis. perjured Parliament) who had for­merly dissolved themselves, (witnesse the Entry in their own Journal Book, April 20.1653.) although they pretend to be interrupted by Cromwells force; So these Knaves (the worst of Tyrants) cement­ed together again, like a Snakes tail, and for co­lour called themselves, the Revivers of the Good Old Cause, and were as busie, as if they had had another King, and 3. Kingdoms to destroy. So these infamous wicked Traytors returned to their wick­edness, as a Dog to his vomit, to the great grief and grievance of all sorts of People in the Land, who groaned and murm [...]red, as if they were en­tering into a far worse than Egyptian bondage and [Page 369] Slavery under these task-masters. To say that the people (not they) had the Soveraign power, was now high Treason, although they themselves had voted so formerly, and to talk of a Free Parlia­ment, the antient birthright of the people (as they themselves likewise formerly affirmed) was now made a greater offence than Crimen lae sae Majesta­tis. These Custodes filled all the Prisons in the Kingdom, with those persons who desited a Free Parliament, and in that respect, they may be cal­led The Keepers of our Liberty, as Gaolers do Thieves in Chains, or as the Cage doth Birds in grates; For they keep us so much from our Free Liberty, to do well, that they will not so much as give us leave to speak, or think well. But there is no peace with the wicked. when these Tyrants had beaten down Sir George Booth, and other As­sertors of a Free Parliament, and made them­selves as secure, as Force and Violence could make them, One Lambert (a Chip of the old Block) newly made General of their Forces, dis­placed the Rump, and with his Souldiers inhibi­ted their usuped sitting; which made the whole people not only rejoyce inwardly, but break out in open laughter for joy: But nullum commodum sine incommodo, there is no pleasure without a dis­pleasure: No sooner did the Rump leave riding of us,Note: What pretty names these State Thieys have for their Robberies and Tyranny. but up gets the Committee of Safety into the Saddle, who [Page 370] made account that they were so absolutely our Masters, as if we had all sworn allegiance to them. They rid furiously, but in a short time (the Breech being too heavy,Note: viz. The ti­tular Parlia­ment. for this new Head) they moltered away to no­thing. Though the Rump had for a time hung down its tail betwixt its Leggs, yet at length it begun to wagg it, and whilst the Safety of the Committee of Safety was marched into the North under its Father Lam­berts Conduct, the Currish Rump stole into the House again by night, seven times a Devil worse than before; where now they ride Triumphant, and without the peoples consent, or liking, make what Laws they list, and Assesse what Taxes they please, send their mercenary Souldiers (who would fight for the Devil, if he would give them mony) into the City in the night time, and take the Citizens mony away from them, pretending that the Citizens provide it for Charls Stuart, but when the Citizens prove the con­trary,Note: Alas not for so good a use. then they tell them they will secure it for them. So Burglars and Thieves take away mens purses from them, and then tell them they will secure them for them. These are the Keepers of our Liberty: These are they who stood so much for the privileges of Parliament, and for the peo­ples free election of their Representatives. Now they account it a great Breach of Privilege of Par­liament, [Page 371] to petition to them for a free Par­liament, and imprison them that are for it. So Robbers may account it dishonesty for those who are robbed, to ask for their own, and imprison them as disturbers of the Com­monwealth. Although these Tyrants have built themselves great houses, and filled their baggs and coffers with the estates of their Masters, whom they murthered, and with the unparal­lel'd impositions which they have laid upon the people, yet do they still resolve to rob the spittle; and have newly made an Act for the Assessement of six hundred thousand pounds. Oh that the English should provide monies, to maintain their devourers! Though we have not bread to suffice our own hunger, yet must we find dainties, and moneys to fulfill their lusts; though they take away our straw, yet we must still provide a greater tale of bricks: so that of all the Tyrants in the world, which Histo­ry, or men acquaint us with, these are the greatest. There was Justice in Phalaris his bull, but these men have only the colour of Justice. Other Tyrants were but shadowes, these are the Quintessence of all Tyranny and perdition. I will not plunge my self into such a bottomlesse Labyrinth,Note: I commend you to the History of Independency. as to attempt to particularize all their villanies; Non opus est nostrum, I am not able; nay the quickest [Page 372] pen of a ready writer, would come farre short of so great a task. The Histories of after ages will resound with these Turpia Dictu, the people of our age have only time to feel, and indure the mi­series of this Tyranny, subsequent generations will have leisure to tell the story, Et haec olim me­minisse juvabit. Methinks I already hear the Post­nati, those who will be born thousands of years hence, relating one to the other, the marvellous Tyranny which happened to our Nation, after the Reign of Charles the Martyr, and in what manner the King was murthered, and how Charles the second was afterwards driven into an un-christian Exile, and likewise rehearsing what persons they were which acted all these villanies; & so end with a Te Deum laudamus, blessing God for the tran­quillity peace and plenty; which they enjoy under their Gracious Soveraign Lord the King.

The Persian Law commanded, that at the death of their Kings, there should be a suspension of the lawes, a lawlesse liberty for the space of five dayes, that the subjects might know the necessity of Government, and learn to prize it better, by being bereft of the benefit of it for a time. Sure I am, a lawlesse liberty hath reigned amongst us ever since the murther of Charles the first: there­fore I hope, our present torments for want of a King, will sufficiently prohibit all future ages, to think of offering violence to their Kings: and teach them to know, that a bad King, (much mor [...] [Page 373] a good King, as was Charles the Martyr) is an un­valuable blessing, if compared to the Government of that many headed Monster, the People, or their Representatives in Parliament.

The peoples eyes were all fixed upon General Monk, as their Moses, to deliver them from this iron yoke of Egyptian bondage; But,

Monk prov'd worse than Pharaoh himself, and instead of relieving of our distressed Jerusalem, (which he might have done in the twinkling of an eye, without one drop of bloudshed, and thereby have gotten eternal renown and glory, as well a­mongst all Nations, as in his own native Country) he heaped misery to misery, and executed such a grand piece of Tyranny, that none in the world (unlesse those Harpies, his Master Rebels at West­minster) could invent. On Thursday the ninth day of February, 1659. In perpetuam rei memori­ [...]m, he drew up all his souldiers into the City, with their matches lighted, in a warlike posture, doubled his guards, and tore down all the gates, [...]nd posts of the City; neither did his intoxicated malice stay upon the gates, but leapt upon the Aldermen, and other Citizens, whom he present­ [...]y cast into prison, so that now he is become odi­ous, [Page 374] and stinks in the nostrils of all the Citizens and People: and whereas he was the common hopes of all men, he is now the common hatred of all men, as a Traytor more detestable than Oli­ver himself; who, though he manacled the Citi­zens hands, yet never took away the doores of their City, whereby all manner of beasts, (as well the Wolves at Westminster, as other out-lying Foxes, and Birds of prey) may come in, and de­stroy them when they please. So that now iniqui­ty followeth iniquity, and the wicked joyn hand in hand, and oath to oath, to persevere in their Re­bellion. And although no sacred Oaths, Protesta­tions, Vowes or Covenants, could keep them in lawful subjection to the King, they now think with unlawful oaths, to tye one the other fast to their usurped Tyranny. So that the Kings righte­ous cause, is now in a seemingly worse condition than before; and he may complain with Holy King David, That the Rebels have cast their heads together with one consent, and are confederate against him. But why art thou cast down, O my soul, or why art thou disquieted within me? Cannot God who permitteth these Rebels to reign, as easily cast them down? Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his Excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever, like his own dung: they [Page 375] which have seen him shall say, where is he? He shall flee away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea he shall be chased away, as a vision of the night: The eye also which saw him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him, because he hath oppressed, and hath forsaken the poor, be­cause he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not. Job. 20.

OH the inscrutable judgments of God! Oh the wonderful mercy of the Almighty! Oh [...]he Justice of our Jehovah! No sooner had I written these last words of the mo­mentary prosperity of the wicked,Note: 11th. of Fe­bruary 1659. Cressa ne ca­reat pulchra dies aota. out immediately the same hour, news was brought me, that General Monck and the City were agreeed, and resolved to declare for a free Parliament, and decline the Rump, Obstupui, stet­terunt (que) comae, & vox faucibus haesit, I was strucken with amazement, joy made me tremble, and the goodnesse of the news would scarce permit me to believe it; when I considered the crying sins of our Nation, (which deserved showers of vengeance, not such sprinklings of mercy,) then all such con­ceipts seemed to me as vain, and empty delusi­ons; but when I considered the infinite mercy of the Almighty, then why might not God spare our Nineveh, and send joyfull tydings into our discor­solate City? Surely his mercies are greater than [Page 378] our great Sins. Therefore to resolve this doubt, I went up into the City, where instead of Tears (as formerly) I had like to have been drowned with the Streams of joy, and rejoycing; The Bell rung merrily, the Streets were paved with mirth and every house resounded with joyful acclamati­ons. I had do need then to ask whether the new [...] (I heard in my Chamber) were true or no, both Men, Women, and Children, Old and Young, Rich and Poor, all sung forth the destruction o [...] the Long called Parliament, the whole City was as it were on fire with Bonfires for joy; And now those who formerly threatned the firing of the City, were burnt at every door, for all the people cryed out, let us Burn the Rump, let us roast the Rump: A suddain change! History can­not tell us of its parallel. No lesse than thirty eight Bonfires, were made between Pleet-Conduit, and Temple-Barre. To be short, there was scarce so much as one Alley in the whole City, wherein there were not many Bonfires; so that, so great and general joyfulnesse, never entred into the Walls of the City, since it was built, nei­ther will again, untill Charls the second be restored to his Crown. The hopes where­of only caused the fervency of those joyes. The Pulpits on the morrow (being Sunday) and all the Churches ecchoed forth Praises and Thanks to God, and private devotion was not wanting; neither was this joy confined only within the [Page 379] walls of the City, but being a publique mischief was removed, a publique rejoycing overspread the whole Kingdom, and all the people with one heart and voyce, shouted, clapped hands, and poured out joyful thanks for this great deliverance; So the wearyed Hare is delighted, and cheereth her self, when she hath shook off the bloody Hounds, and so a Flock of Sheep are at rest, and ease, when the Ravenous Wolves have newly left them.

Oh therefore let our distracted England be a warnin-gpiece to all Nations, that they never at­tempt to Try and Judge their King, for what cause soever; And let all Traytors and Tyrants in the World learn by the example of our English Rebels, that their Prosperity and Dominion (though it seemeth never so perpetual) is but momentary, and as the wind which no man seeth; For who so much applauded, and look'd upon, as the Long Parliament, when they first took upon then to correct and question the King? and who now so Ridiculous, and Scorned? They were them admired by the People as the Patrons, Vin­dicators, Redeemers, and Keepers of their Li­berty; Nay I may most truly say, that the people did worship and adore them, more than they did God: But now (although they were as wicked then, and did as much destroy our Laws and Li­berties, as they do now) they are become a by­word, the Scorn and Derision, both of Men, [Page 380] Women, and Children, and hooted at by every one, as the greatest, and most shameful laughing­stock in the World.

Who then can think upon our late most graci­our King Charls the Martyr, without Tears in his Eyes, and contrition in his heart? who can re­member his patient Suffrings without Amaze­ment and mourning? who can look upon his Pro­phetical, and Incomparable Book, without Admi­ration, and Weeping Rejoycings? especially up­on that Text in the 26 Chapter of his book, viz. Vulgar complyance with any illegal and extravagant wayes, like violent motions in nature, soon grows weary of it self, and ends in a refractory sullennesse: Peoples rebounds, are oft in their faces, who first put them upon those violent strokes. This needs no Commentary, for every one knoweth with what zeal the Rabel of the people did at first stick to the Trayterous House of Commons in their Grand Rebellion, and how they are now weary of them, and with refractory sullennesse rise up against them, and are ready to fly in their Faces, who first taught them to Rebel, and fight against their King. Nay the Apprentices of London, whom formerly these Rebels made instrumental, to carry on their wicked designs against the King, are now most vehement against them; For why? a noy­some House is most obnoxious to the nearest Neigbours, and the stinking House of Commons, that sentina malorum, doth most annoy this [Page 381] neighbouring City. It is the nature of foxes to prey furthest from their holes: but these un­natural foxes, in sheeps clothing, make all their prey, both at home and abroad. All is fish which comes to their net.

And that these Rebels may still have freedom to persevere in their villanies, they cry up a free-State, as the best of all Governments, yet (mark the nature of the beast,) a free-State (say they) is most beneficial for the peo­ple, yet not so free, Note: Brave for thieves, if they might qualifie their Judges. But I think they can scarce pick out men enough in England, to fill up the House, who will admit of their wicked Qualificati­ons. but that they may, and will qualifie, and engage the persons cho­sen by the people, according to their free will and pleasure. So that the peoples Represen­tatives must represent these Traytors, in all their wicked­nesse; otherwise they shall be no free-Statesmen: for they account that Government most for the liber­ty of the people, wherein themselves may have li­berty still to continue in their Treason & Rebellion: and that they call slavery, and oppression of the people, which would suppresse their wicked and infandous Tyranny. All the reason which they can give against Monarchy, is, because (say they) many of the people would lose their interests in their new purchased estates; and we should be turned out of our possessions, and perhaps lose [Page 382] our lives too. (A good argument indeed, if main­tained by the Logick of the sword.) So thieves and murtherers may argue against the Sessions, be­cause then perhaps they should lose their stollen goods, and be hanged for their murthers and rob­beries. O abominable, that English men should degenerate into such impious impudence! for this is the truth of their case, might they but still have the Kings, and Bishops lands, which they have gotten by their horrible Treason and Rebellion, and be sure to live secure from the punishment which the Law of the Land would inflict upon them, they would easily confesse (if the Devil have not made them contradictors of all manner of truth) that Monarchy is the best of all Go­vernments, especially for the English Nation; where (as one may say) it grew by nature, until these destroyers of the Lawes of God, Nature, and the Realm, rooted it up; and endeavoured to plant their fancied Commonwealth in its room: which will grow there, when plums grow in the sky, or when rocks grow in the air, not before; as you may see by the small root it hath taken, ever since the reign of Charles the Martyr. Dig and delve they may, yet they will never set it in so fast, but that (if the right heir do not, which God grant he soon may) the wind and ambition of some one of their own sect and faction, will quickly blow it down: as did Oliver the wicked, &c.

As Monarchy is the best sort of all govetn­ments, [Page 383] so the Monarchy of England, Note: To be short (saith Comi­nes) in mine opinion, of all the Seigneuries in the world, that I know, the Realm of England is the Countrey, where the Commonwealth is best governed, the people least oppressed, and the fewest buildings and houses de­stroyed in Civil war, and alwayes the lot of mis­fortune falleth upon them that be the Authors of the war. is the best of all Monarchies; and hath in it, the perfection, and all that is good, ei­ther in Aristocracy, De­mocracy, or Free-State. For every one knoweth, that Charles the Martyr, though a King, yet al­wayes made himself a subject to his lawes; ac­counting his prerogative safer, being locked up in the custody of the law, than in the absolutenesse of his own will. And what lawes of any Nation in the world, did ever maintain the liberty and freedome of the people, more than the Kings Lawes of England? I may most truly answer, none more, nor so much: for what greater freedome can the people wish for, than not to have any lawes imposed on them, than what they please and desire? The Kings of Eng­land never make any law, but what the people con­sent to; the Lords and Commons have a Negative voice, as well as the King. Although the inferiour Members receive all their authority from the head, yet cannot the head act without their con­sent and privity; so neither [...]oth the King impose any lawes on his subjects, without their concur­rence [Page 384] and approbation. The House of Lords resem­bleth Aristocracy, and the House of Commons Democracy or a free State, yet the King (like the Sun which doth not diminish its own light by giving light to others) continueth stil a royal Monarch and without any Solecism in State, I may truly say, that the House of Lords did excel Aristocracy, and the House of Commons Democracy, in preserving the Peoples rights and wel-fare, because the ne­cessity of their joyning votes each with the other, and both of them with the King, in making of a Law, did inhibit either of them from having an unlimited arbitrary power, which either of them without the other would have, and so enslave the People, as the House of Commons now do, ac­cording to their lusts, having destroyed their Ma­ster the King, and the House of Lords their Mo­derators. Whilest the King, Lords, and Com­mons, like the three Graces joined hand in hand, in passing votes approved by this triple touch­stone, then were our Laws like Gold seven times refined, which made our Nation most glorious a­broad, and to overflow with peace and plenty at home; we were then feared, not derided, by all forein Kings and Princes; Religion, not Faction then reigned in our hearts, and our industry was then to preserve, not to destroy Gods Sanctuary.

But now since the hand hath said to the eye, I have no need of thee,Note: Magnae discordia pereunt concordiavalent and the feet to the head I have [Page 385] no need of you, the whole body of our Kingdom hath groaned, and every Mem­ber therof as with a Consumption is wasted and grieved. The Crown is fallen from our head, and we are become a reproach, and hissing amongst all Nations. Oh therfore (to redeem our credit, and long lost happiness) Let us all unanimously agree to be loyal Subjects to Charls our King, and let all his loyal Subjects pray for, and earnestly desire, his safe arrival into our Eng­land, that we may once more eat the Manna of our old Laws and Religion, with the sweetnesse wherof we surfeited, in the reign of Charls the Martyr. Then shall we beat our Swords into plow­shares, and our Spears into pruning hookes, facti­on shall not rise up against faction, neither shall we learn war any more, For if we be willing and obedient we shall eat the good of the Land, Isa. 1 19.

Thus when we have received our gracious So­veraign, from his long unnatural banishment, what then can the Lord do more for us, that he hath not done? Wherefore when he looketh that we should bring forth good grapes, let us take heed that we do not bring forth wild grapes, let us fear God and honour the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change, as God hath com­manded us, for if we refuse and rebel, we shall be devoured with the Sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, and so our last rebellion will be worse for us then the first.

General Monk hath amply repaired his honour which he lost by pulling down the City Gates and Perculisses, and in stead of proving a Keeper to the Trayterous Keepers, he hath approved himself a glorious D [...]ender of our Liberties, for which [Page 387] Trophies of honour shall be erected to his eternal renown; neither will our King spare heaping of rewards, upon his so memorable merits, at his re­turn to his own house, which the General hath swept for him, and turned out them who made it aden of thieves.

On Tuesday the 21. day of February, 1659. (a day which deserveth more solemnization, than Gunpowder Treason day; for then we were deli­vered from those who only intended to de­stroy King and Parliament, but now we are deli­vered from those, who actually did destroy both King and Parliament, and so consequently the whole Kingdome) General Monk (our famous Patron) conducted the secluded Members to the House of Com­mons,Note: You may guesse with what a coun­tenance the Rump looked upon them. where (according to their former agreement with the Ge­neral) they voted themselves in a short time to be dissolved, and a free Parliament to be elected. Now I hope no man will presume to conceive the General so insipid, as to think there can be a free Parliament, without the King, and House of Lords. No, it is ridiculous to think so; for a free Parliament without the King, would be but like salt which hath lost his favour, thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be troden under foot of men. Mat. 5.13. It would be but a Rump fatned, and grow bigger. For we [Page 388] are all sick of the Kings Evil, therefore nothing but the touch of his Sacred Majesties hands can cure us. And I may with confidence, and truth affirm, that every one of that infinite number of people, which so much rejoyced at the destruction of the Rump, and at the voice of a free Parliament, would mourn, and cry at their sitting, if they do not bring with them the good tidings of restoring their King, the hopes whereof only made them re­joyce. And indeed, they would have more cause to bewail a free Parliaments sitting, without the King, than the sitting of the Rump; for this we may be sure of, that the King will come in either by fair means, or by soul; if by soul, that is by war; then the war will be greater with a free Par­liament, (and so consequently more grievous to the people) than with the Rump; because a free Parliament will have greater force, and power to levy a war, than the Rump, and so the combusti­ble matter being more, the flame will be the higher. But it is Atheism, to think that a free Parliament will withstand the King: therefore I will not taint my Paper with such detestable words.

I let fall a blot of ink, upon Mr. Prynne's Sove­rain Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes, a Book which I am sure deserves a greater blurre. But Mr. Prynne hath since repaired his credit, and got the applause of the people, by writing for the King, and against the Rump, and other sectaries. There­fore [Page 389] to give him his deserts, there is no man in the Nation, hath so much merited as himself, in pulling down the many Tyrannies over us, since the murther of Charles the Martyr. He hath been our Champion, whose pen hath fought against the scriblings, and actings of the Traytors and Re­bels; for which I shall ever love and honour him, and without doubt, our Gracious King will suffi­ciently reward him, if he continueth constant in his loyalty; which God grant he may.

And although the Presbyterian held the head of Charles the Martyr to the block, by his hair, whilst the Independent cut it off; yet now I hope the many evils which we have sustained by that royal fall, (for which he shewed the first play) will teach the rigid Presbyter moderation; and make him confesse (notwithstanding his vio­lent Covenant against that Apostolical constitu­tion of Bishops,) that Episcopacy is the best form of Church Government, and the only way to extirpate and keep down those infinite number of s31y'sects and factions, which have taken root, and budded, since Episcopacy was rooted up and bla­sted. No Bishop, No King, was the Symbole of our Solomon, King James, who I think was as wise, and as much a Christian, as any of our Lay-Elders; therefore in vain do the Presbytery think of en­joying Monarchy, unlesse they first resolve to lay aside all their schismatical Tenets, and stick to Episcopacy: For (as the same King sayes) A [Page 390] Scottish Presbitery, and Monarchy, agree as God and the Devil.

Our Soveraign Charls the Martyr in his sacred writings, hath so clearly approved, and vindica­ted Episcopacy from the false aspersions of the Presbiterian faction, and also laid open the ab­surdities of Presbitery so fully, that it would be arrogance in me to say any thing after him, and not only ignorance, but impudence, in any man to look upon his writings, and still remain a Pres­biterian. Therefore O Heavenly Father asswage the pride, and open the Eyes of these rigid Ze­lots, that in seeing, they may see, and in hearing, they may hear, and understand; and not professe themselves wiser than our Saviour, that great Bi­shop, and his Apostles which were Bishops, and appointed successive Bishops, as you may read in the Epistles of St▪ Paul to Timothy and Titus &c. And the Government of Bishops hath been the universal and constant practice of the Church, so that (as Charls the Martyr writeth) ever since the first age, for 1500 years not one example can be produced of any setled Church, wherein were many Ministers and Congregations, which had not some Bishop above them, under whose Ju­risdiction and Government they were. Therefore let not the aspiring, currish Presbiterian (who would pull down a Bishop in every Diocesse, but set up a Pope in every Parish) no longer spet ve­nom against the Reverend Bishops; And truly [Page 391] I think their grounds are so slender against Epis­copacy, that if the King would but make them Bishops, they would then be as violent for Epis­copacy, as they are now against it: Therefore rest content Presbiter, for though not thy deserts, yet State Policy, may in time make thee a Bi­shop.

The Antipodes indeed, viz. the Long called Parliament, who acted all things contrary to all Law and Religion, voted that Bishops should never more vote as Peers in Parliament; But why? was it not because the Religious Bishops should not withstand their Irreligious and Blas­phemous proceedings, in Murthering the King, Destroying the Church, and all our Laws and Re­ligion with them? Surely no man can deny but that was the only reason. Que enim est respubli­ca ubi Ecclesiastici primum non habeant locum in Co­mitiis, & publicis de salute Reipub: Deliberationi­bus? For which is that Commonwealth, where the Ecclesiastical persons had not the first place in all meetings, and publique consultations, about the Welfare of the Commonwealth? Surely none but the Utopian Commonwealth of these Rebels; For it is the practice of all Nations, nay the Rebels themselves, who voted it unlawful for Bishops, and other grave Prelates of the Church, to meddle the least in Civil Affairs, could approve it in their new inspired Prophets, whom they admitted to have the chiefest voyce in [Page 392] their meetings, and consultations, concerning Warr or Peace. Pope John in his Chair, never thought himself so bigg, as a Cymical Presbiter amongst his Lay-Elders, or as an Independant in a Committee of Tryers, &c. Neither did Pope Joan in her State, ever think so well of her self, as a Sanctified Presbiterians Wife, drest up in her best Attire. The Lords Prayer, and the Com­mon Prayer, is held prophane by these Saints because Christ (not they) taught and command­ed us when we pray, to pray thus, &c. And because the Common Prayer is for the most part Texts of Scripture, which learneth us to pray for Kings and Bishops, more than for their Presbiterian faction; The Reverend Bishops forsooth must have no voice in Parliament, that Taylers, Tinkers, and Coblers, might have a full cry in eve­ry Pulpit; The Clergy must not meddle with Civil Affairs, but every Tradesman, nay those who were scarce their Crafts-master in their own Trade, might handle Spiritual matters as the best proficients; But from such Sacrilege, and Blasphemy, good Lord deliver us. Let us therefore pray for the rising of the Son in our Lebanon, whose glo­rious Rayes of his Sacred Majesty, will soon dispell these foggy vapours of misty factions. It was the Presbyterians who first Clouded? our Sun already set, And it is [Page 393] now in their power to drive away this long night of our Afflictions, and usher in the [...]oyes of our hearts, in the youthfull mor­ning of the Royal Progeny, which God of Heaven sanctifie them to doe, as I make no doubt but he will, For Vox Populi, vox Dei, and the whole People cry to have it so.

The Presbyterians fought so [...]ong for King & Parliament,Note: Episcopacy was a bul­work against Popery, and other factions, Therfore the Papists and the Factions did batter down that, to make way for their Sects, which they call liberty of conscience. that they destroyed both, and by their Solemn League and Covenant to extirpate E­piscopacy, have fomented Po­pery, and brought in Sects, Heresies, and Schismes, which are ten times worse.

Therefore let the Cryes of thy People come unto thee O God, and restore our Gracious King Charls the second to his Haereditary Crown: Whose Youth thou hast seasoned with the Afflictions of King Da­vid, and Clowded the Morning of his, and our happinesse, with the Misery of an Unchristian Exile, which hath made him the fitter for his Throne, and thy Mercy. Restore our Antient Liturgy, and our Lords Spiritual and Temporal, to their undoubt­ed Rights and Privileges in Parliament. Restore the Commons to their right wits, [Page 394] and learn them to know, that the Hea [...] is above, not below the Feet: So th [...] our King only, with the assent of th [...] Lords and Commons, may make, and giv [...] us Laws, as it was in the beginning; u [...] till which time I will pull down my Sai [...] and keep close unto the Haven, being su [...] to have nothing else but Tempests, an [...] Storms, and no clear setled weather untill then, either in Church or Common wealth, let our Republicans boast of the [...] Free State, or of what else they please for a Bone out of joynt will never b [...] setled right, but in its proper place.