SECTION I.

That Monarchy, or the Supreme Dominion of one person, was primarily intended by God, when he created the World. That it is founded in nature. As consonant to the Divine Government. And of Divine Institution. Acknowledg'd by Heathens, as well as Christians.

GOvernment is of that absolute necessity (if not to the being) at least to the well-being of every thing, that without it, Cicero de legibus, lib. 3. nec domus ulla, nec civitas, &c. nor House, nor City, nor Nation, nor Mankind, nor Nature, nor the world it self could consist; inasmuch as the stronger would devour the weaker, and the whole run back again to its first Chaos: and therefore, the eternal Wisdom, when he had created the world, and stockt it with living Creatures according to their kinds, as if he had done nothing, while there yet wanted something more excellent to govern it, made man.

Ovid Metam. Sanctius his animal, mentisque capacius altae, Deerat adhuc, & qui dominari in caetera possit; Natus homo est—

A creature not only capable of it, and that he might the better go thro with it, furnish'd out accordingly, Cognati retinebat semina coeli, but primarily design'd to it; and, however last in act, yet first in projection; for says the Text, Let us make man, &c.Gen. 1.26, 27, 28. And God created man after his own likeness, &c. and blessed them, and said, Increase and multiply, &c. and have dominion, &c. and over every thing that moveth upon the earth; by which, what other can there be rationally understood, but the supreme Sovereignty, or Dominion of one: for, if God Almighty had intended otherwise, how easie had it been, when he created our first Parents, to have form'd a multitude, and given them a joynt Commission, to have govern'd one another, or at least bade 'em gone together, and agree among themselves: but he foresaw it would not be, and therefore to avoid confusion, (the inseparable companion of a multitude) created but one, and erected an exemplary Monarchy in him.

That it is founded in nature.Neither will this less appear, if we consider that the very laws of nature lead us to a Monarchy, Natura commenta est regem, saith Seneca, de Clem. As among all irrational creatures, who having least of reason, are wholly govern'd by sense, we find some one that has a preheminence above the rest of its kind: And thus, Birds have their Eagle; Beasts their Lion, and among them also every Flock its vir gregis:: the Fish of the Sea their Leviathan: a King over the children of Pride, for so Job calls him: and the shout of a King may be found among Bees, —Rege incolumi, mens omnibus una est;Virgil Geo. Amisso, rupere fidem— Nor is it more founded in nature,As consonant to the Divine Government. than consonant to the Divine government of God, and a lively image and representation of him, who as sole Monarch ruleth and guideth all things: Look up to Heaven, and we find an Hierarchy among Angels; and one Star differ from another in glory; yet, every of them paying this homage to the Suns sovereignty, that they veil their faces, at his least appearance: Take back again to Earth, and this little world of man, has but one Body, and all the members of this body, but one head, whereon depends the will, motion, and sense; and the greater world, but one God: He ruleth over the Angels, (than whom he made Man only inferior) they over Men, Men over Beasts, the Soul over the Body, Man (again) over Woman, and Reason above Affection: by which means, every good, commanding over what is less good by a certain combination of Powers, all things are kept in their order: whereas, were there a duplex Principium, of equal power (as the Ancients fabled) the commands must be contrary, and consequently thereby either ruine one another, or at least by their continual jarring, disturb the harmony of the whole: and therefore it is observable, that albeit God, who comprehended the whole system at once, and unblotted nature, thro all her Meanders; and to every days work (but that of the second) said, And behold it was good, yet until he had put to his last finishing hand, i. e. made man, and giv'n him his Commission, of having dominion, It is not said, And God saw all that he had made, and they were very good: and by that Divine Commission have Kings ever since reign'd, there being no power but what is appointed of God, who according to the similitude of his heavenly Kingdom hath given unto them, the Scepters of their earthly Principalities.

Nor need we go far for examples, we find it every where;And of Divine Institution. for such was Abraham taken and acknowledged by the Inhabitants when they call'd him Principem Dei; and albeit Heaven be the Throne of God, yet we meet with another of his on this Earth, his Foot-stool; for so we find it express'd,1 Chron: 29.23. Solomon sate on the Throne of the Lord, as King: And in like manner the Queen of Sheba, God set thee on his Throne, to be King for the Lord thy God:2 Chron. 9.8. As also David is called his King, and his Anointed, He giveth strength to his King, 1 Sam. 2.10. 2 Sam. 22.51. &c. and again, Hath shewed mercy to his Anointed. Obj. To which, if any man shall object, that this was spoken of a good King, a man after his own heart; Sol. I answer, That not only Josiah who also was a good King is called the Anointed of the Lord,1 Lam. 4.20. but Saul, a King whom God is said to have given in his anger, has this sacred Title attributed to him, in eight places in the first Book of Samuel, and in two other in the second: And the same also, we find God giving to Heathen Emperors,Isa. 45.1. Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed Cyrus; to Cyrus, whose hand I have holden to subdue Nations before him. And ver. 4. I have surnamed thee tho thou hast not known me: Howbeit tho he knew not his Founder at first, it is not long e're we find him acknowledging him; Thus saith Cyrus the King, All the Kingdoms of the Earth hath the Lord God of Heaven given me, &c. And he that gave the title of Anointed to Cyrus, gave the stile of his Servant to Nebuchadnezzar (who yet had sack'd Jerusalem, Jer. 25.9. and led the People thereof into captivity) when he calls him Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, my Servant; which also is but the same, wherewith he so often favours Moses, Joshua and David.

Acknowledg'd by Heathens as well as Christians.Neither is this truth, that Kings derive their power from God, less acknowledg'd by the Heathens, than us Christians, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Kings are from Jupiter, saith Hesiod: Hesiod. and elsewere you find 'em stiled 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Homer. born of Jove, and nourish'd by Jove; whereby God is made their procreant cause, as well as their conservant; not as deriving their pedigree from Jupiter, but their Kingly honor: And what the Poet ascribes to Jupiter, Acts 17.28. the Apostle gives to God, For (saith he) as certain of your own Poets have said, we are also his off-spring. And what other does the Psalmist's calling them Gods import,Psal. 82.6. than that they receive their Authority from God, whose place they supply, and whose person they represent? Many also of the most ancient Philosophers acknowledg the Regal Office to be a Divine good, and the King as it were a God among men; and that God had given him dominion; as we have it at large in The Power communicated by God to the Prince, and the Obedience required of the Subject;Arch-Bishop usher. written by the most Reverend the late Lord Primate of all Ireland. In short, the Psalmist is direct in this point,Psal. 8.6. Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: And therefore when S. Peter calls Government an Ordinance of man,1 Pet. 2.13. it is not that it was invented by men, but as proper to them, and ordained of God, for the good and conservation of human kind, and exercised by men, about the government of human Society.

SECTION II.

That Adam held it by Divine right. Cain a Monarch. By the Kingdoms of the most ancient Gentiles, not God's, but Monarchs were denoted. That the original of Power came not from the People, by way of Pact, or Contract. The unreasonableness and ill consequence of the contrary. Noah and his Sons, Kings. A Family, an exemplary Monarchy, in which the Pater-familias had power of life, and death, by the right of Primogeniture: Examples of the exercise of it in Judah, Abraham, Jephthah, Brutus. Vpon the increase of Families they still continued under one head. Esau. The four grand Monarchies. Ancients, and Moderns universally receiv'd it, as precedent to all other Governments.

THat God Almighty was the first King, will not be deny'd; and that Adam was the next, appears by his Commission (as I have shewn before) a large Commission, and of as large extent, as having made him a mighty King, and universal Monarch, and given him an unqestionable right to his Kingdom, which was, all the inferior world, the Earth, the Sea, and all that therein were; insomuch that it might not improperly be said of this matter, Jupiter in coelis; terras, regit unus Adamus: Divisum imperium cum Jove, Adamus habet. And now as all things were created in order, and that the infant world might not sit in darkness, nor their posterity want a light to guide and direct them, what wonder is it, that for the preservation of that order, God erected a Dominion himself, and declar'd his Vicegerent?

Cain a Monarch.Afterward, when the world began to enlarge, and men liv'd so long, that they begat a numerous posterity, Cain with his own Colony went into a strange Land, and built a City, and called the name thereof, after his Sons name, Enoch; Seld. Tit. Hon. 4. which double act carries the character of a Kingdom in it, and that he was as well the King, as Father of the Inhabitants: neither do the ancientest Gentiles otherwise speak of those elder times, than with a clear supposition of Monarchy.The Kingdoms of Saturn, &c. Monarchies. Those Kingdoms of Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, and the like, denoting as much, and that under those names, applied to distinct Kingdoms, not Gods, but the Monarchs of Land and Sea, in the first times were understood. And so Cicero, Certum est, De legibus, l. 3. Just. l. 1. omnes antiquas gentes regibus paruisse. And with him agrees Justin, Principio rerum gentiumque imperium penes Reges erat. But not a word all this while do we hear of the People,That the original of Power came not from the People. or that the original of Government came from them by way of pact or contract; for if the power of Adam, upon his Children, and his Posterity, and so all mankind whatever depended not on any consent of his Sons, or Posterity, but wholly proceeded from God and nature, then certainly, the Authority of Kings is both natural and immediately Divine, and not of any consent, or allowance of man, and consequently, the people had no more right to chuse their Kings, than to chuse their Fathers.

The Irrationality of the contrary.Besides, to examin it a little farther, if this power of paction, or contract, had been in the people, then it must lie in all the people, as an equal, common right, or in some particular part; if in all of them, they would do well to shew how they came by it; or if in any more peculiar part, by what Authority were the rest excluded; it being a Maxim in Law, Quod nostrum est sine facto, Co. 8. Rep. 92. vel defectu nostro amitti, vel in alium transferri non potest, Whatever is mine, cannot be lost, or transferr'd unto another, without my own act, or defect. Nor would it be less enquir'd, who were the persons suppos'd to have made the contract? or whether all, without difference of Sex, Age, or Condition, were admitted to drive the bargain? and if so, Wives and Children were not sui juris, and consequently could not conclude others, nor themselves for any longer time, than during the disability: Vide Bishop Sanderson's Preface to the Power of Princes. Which once remov'd, they were free again: Or if all were admitted, whether it were with an equal right to every one, or with some inequality? was the Servants interest (if yet such a thing could be among equals) equal with the Masters? and if not, who made the inequality? or if equal, who could summon the rest? or when met, regulate, preside, or moderate? and thus new Atlantis-men, run round the maze, not knowing how to disentangle themselves; and like men in a mist, lose their way by seeking to find it.

Whereas on the other hand,The ill consequence of it. if we should admit the thing, and that Princes had no more right, than what the People shall think fit to entrust them withal, which also, they may enlarge, or restrain at pleasure: Then what follows, but that their Power is precarious, and ambulatory, and subject to be varied, according to the exigency of times, and occasions; whereas the Jus gladii, i. e. the Sovereign Power belongs to the King, by the ordinance of God, not the donation of the People: for he beareth the Sword as the Minister of God, from whom he receiv'd it,Rom. 13.2. and not as the Minister of the People, who had no right to give it, because they never had it themselves, and consequently, could not bestow it upon another, it being also another maxim in Law, Nemo potest plus juris in alium transferre, Dyer 256 Co • 4. Rep. 24. quam ipse habet, No man can give another, what he has not himself. And be this sufficient, to have been said, against that humor, That the original of Government came from the People.

But to proceed, Noah and his Sons Kings. and omitting those traditional Kings, who are said to have reigned before the Flood, Seld. Tit. Hon. 5, 6. and of whom Xisuthur in whose time the Flood came, is supposed to be no other than Noah himself; we have great reason to believe, that after the Flood, the sole Government was at first in Noah, and that whatever property in several, or share of Government in any part of the world afterwards, his Sons had, they had it by his sole allotment, and authority, and transmitted the same to their posterity, merely on that account; those words seeming to import as much,Gen. 10.32. These are the families of the Sons of Noah in their generations, after their Nations; and by them were the Nations divided in the earth after the flood. And so the Son of Sirach, Ecclus. 17.17. In the division of the Nations of the earth, he appointed a ruler over every People.

A Family an exemplary Monarchy.Besides, if we examin Families, (a Family being in nature before a publick Society) we shall find them no other, than so many exemplary Monarchies, wherein the Paterfamilias, and the first-born after him, exercised all kind of Government Ecclesiastical and Civil (so Noah curs'd Cham, Gen. 9. Gen. 21. and bless'd Shem and Japhet; Abraham cast out Hagar and Ismael) and had the power of life and death in the Family. Aristot. pol. l. 1. c. 8. Patris, in liberis est regia potestas; The Father has the authority of a King over his Children: for the better understanding of which, it will be requisite (e're I go further) to shew what the Paterfamilias truly was, and give some instances where he us'd this regal Authority.

As to the former,What the Paterfamilias was. Paterfamilias imports no more than Familiae Pater, the Master, or good man of the house, who had the care of the Estate, and ordering the Family; and so Tully uses it: C. Quintius, Pro Quintio. suarum rerum, Paterfamilias, & prudens, & attentus: which in English, we would call, a discreet and careful manager of his Estate. And in another place, De Repub. l. 5. Bono patrifamilias, colendi, aedificandi, & ratiocinandi, quidam usus, opus est; had need of some skill in Plowing, Building, and keeping Accounts; all which as yet, carry no more in it, than a bare care of the Family. And to the second, that this Paterfamilias had the power of life and death,His power of life and death. Pater vitae necisque potestatem habebat in filios: Pro domo sua. A Father has the power of life and death over his Children, saith the same Tully; not simply, and quatenus Pater, or Paterfamilias, which is the same, but by a regal Authority annex'd to it, by the right of primogeniture, whereby the elder was by the law of Nature, to rule and govern the younger,Gen. 49.1. he being prior in donis, major in imperio: And so Aristotle, Parens, quod & amicus, & natu major est, praeficitur, quae species est regiae potestatis. Pol. l. 1. c. 8. In which sense, God speaking to Cain of his younger Brother Abel, Gen. 4.7. saith, Sub te erit appetitus ejus, & tu dominaberis illi. Subject to thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him: which made Jacob so eager in supplanting his elder Brother Esau, of that birth-right;2 Kings 2. and Elisha alludes to it, when he pray'd Elijah that a double portion of his spirit might be upon him, i. e. in comparison of the rest of the remaining Prophets, among whom he had obtained the place of an elder Brother, and to whom afterwards he became a Father.

The exercise of this regal Authority is found every where;The exercise of it in Judah. and because examples give a quicker impression than arguments, take a few for the rest; by this power, Judah pass'd sentence upon Thamar;Gen. 38. Abraham. and Abraham shew'd his readiness to Sacrifice his Son Isaac; which, had he done, and had not withal had a regal Power in himself,Gen. 22. which own'd no Superior, less than him, that gave him the command, what justification for him had that command been, among a people, unto whom at that time, the God of Abraham was altogether unknown.

Jephthah. In like manner Jephthah, who (as 'tis more than probable) actually Sacrific'd his Daughter; for the Text says he did with her according to his Vow,Judges 11. which was, If thou shalt deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, whatsoever cometh forth of my house to meet me, when I return (holocaustum offeram Domino) I will offer it up a burnt-offering, &c. and is the same word, which Isaac uses to his Father,Gen. 22. Behold the fire and the wood, but where is (victima Holocausti) the sacrifice for a burnt-offering? which is argument enough for me that her Father Sacrific'd her; And that he did it by virtue of that regal power annex'd to him as Father, and not of any power deriv'd to him from the People, when they made him their Captain, will appear in this, that albeit such an Officer had an absolute, and independent Authority, when once elected, Godw. Jew. An •• q. c. 1. yet he was seldom chosen, but in times of imminent danger, which overpast, he retir'd to a private life again, as did Gideon, Judges 8. after he had deliver'd Israel from the Midianites; and that's the reason why we find such chasms and vacancies between the cessation of one Judg, and the election of another: and therefore, that Samuel judged Israel all his days was extraordinary; and extraordinary examples neither make a rule, nor break one: so that in short, their Judges were the same in effect with the Roman Dictator some Centuries after, who was neither Sovereign Prince, nor Magistrate, but simply commissionated, on some sudden occasion for the making of War, suppressing Sedition, or the like, which ended, he was no more than a Subject himself.

Brutus. Neither can that of Brutus the first Consul, his beheading his two Sons, be taken to be done by him as Consul, but as having the regal power of life and death, within his Family: for, besides that the Consuls were as yet in their Biggens, they never at any time afterward had any regal power, nor could they either make Laws, Peace, or War, or so much as whip a Citizen (but in time of War) without leave of the People, whose Subjects and Servants they were, and might be imprison'd by the least of the Tribunes of the People; as was Philippus the Consul, by Drusus the Tribune, for that he interrupted him as he was speaking to the people: from all which I infer, that Families (who as I said) were before publick Societies, were under the absolute obedience of one, who had a regal power in him, and ruled as King over them: Howbeit in after times, when Fathers began to abuse that Authority, it was thought fit to abridg them of it, and place it in the hands of the more publick Father, the King; a Kingdom being no other than a great Family, wherein the King hath a paternal power.

But to proceed;Monarchy, upon the increase of Families. as the world increased, so did these Families; and being now extrafamiliated, became a part of the Common-wealth, and for want of room at home, swarm'd abroad into larger Families and Septs, but under the obedience still of one common head thereof: so Esau is called the Father of Edom, Esau. and the Dukes descended from him, were heads of Families, and Esau their chief.Gen. 36, Hi Duces Edom habitantes in terra imperii sui, ipse Esau est pater: And we read, that Abraham when he pursued the four Kings in the relief of his Brothers Son, and Ally,Gen. 14. Lot, set out 318 (expeditos vernaculos) light harnessed men at Arms, born in his own house: Yet hitherto, these may be rather called Reguli, than Reges, as being Princes of a narrow Territory, and much of the same, with the Kings we read of in the same Chapter,Josh. 12. or the 31 Kings that were vanquish'd by Joshua.

But when in process of time Kings began to encroach upon their Neighbors, and that whatever it were they had already only shew'd them, how much more was wanting, then also were their Kingdoms enlarged. And the first of this kind we read of was Nimrod, The Assyrian Monarchy. whom Bodin calls a Lordly Monarch, and the Scripture a mighty Hunter, not only in that he was a great King, or as he has it, an oppressor; but rather, and the more probable, that he was the first that usurp'd on his Neighbors rights, to enlarge his own Dominions; that path which he first discovered, his Son Ninus further laid open with his Sword, and left it to his Heirs, who held it, for above a thousand years; from them, the same Sword translated it to the Medes and Persians, The Persian. and from them, to Alexander by the same way;The Grecian. and continued by by the same right, among his Successors, till being crumbled by them into lesser morsels, (yet still Monarchs) it became the fitter for the Roman Swallow,The Roman Monarchy. and at last an Empire again, under Octavius Caesar; that unwieldy lump of the Roman Republick, being but a concretion of heterogeneal parts, which (like the toes of Iron, and Clay in Nebuchadnezzar's Image) might stick together for a while, but never incorporate: but of this, more at large in proper place.

All other ancient Nations Monarchies.Nor were these four transcendent Monarchies the only instances of Monarchy, inasmuch as it hath gone out into all Lands; and there is neither Speech nor Language, where it has not been heard among 'em. The Seythians, Aethiopians, Indians, Aegyptians, Armenians, Bactrians, &c. Nations famous in their Ages, were all govern'd by Monarchs; and the Jews when they demanded a King over them, that they also might be like all the Nations, what other did they imply, but that all other Nations (for ought at least they had heard) were govern'd by Kings: The Cappadocians vanquisht by the Romans, had lost their King, and being persuaded by them to take a popular State, refus'd it, as declaring they could not live without a King. In short, Bodin. where we meet the most ancient Kingdoms mentioned, we hear not (so much as a Rat behind the Hangings) the least word of Aristocracy, and as little of Democracy: Selden's Tit. Hon. 10. That all Greece was anciently under Kings, was never doubted, and till long after Homer's time, Aristocracy was never dreamt of: And when the Roman Democracy began, is but to ask the next School-boy, when the Tarquins ended; and therefore he that shall say of either of them, that (in comparison) they were more than of yesterday, may have it also said of himself, he knows nothing.

And as universally received by the Moderns.But what need I run so far back, when there are so many examples before us, even at our own doors; And therefore to pass the Polonians, Danes, Moscovites, Tartars, Turks, Abissines, Moors, &c. yea, and the salvage People discover'd by the Spaniard, and our selves in the Indies, where all of them, as guided thereto, by the dictates of nature, liv'd under a Monarchy: The English, Scots, French, Spaniard, Irish, (the first and last only excepted during the 12 years Fever of a Rebellion) never knew other Government than that of Kings; and therefore if we shall follow the advice of the Prophet, State super vias antiquas & videte quaenam sit via recta, & vera, & ambulate in ea, Stand upon the old paths, and consider which is the right and true way, and walk in it: Custom and usage claims that reverence from us, as that we give Monarchy the precedency of all other Governments,Precedent to all other Governments. not only in respect of its antiquity, beyond any other State, but as most universally receiv'd throughout the world, and consequently, allow that of Aristotle (otherwise no great friend to Monarchy) Necesse est eam quae à prima maximeque divina cecidit, esse deterrimam. Arist. pol. l. 4, In short,Lord Baeon. the Schools may dispute it, but time hath try'd it: Other States may have curious frames but they are soon out of order; But Monarchy like a work of nature is well compos'd both to grow and continue.

SECTION III.

That all Governments have a natural tendency to Monarchy. Their several Forms, and Rotations, of Aristocracy. Democracy. Tyranny, to be rather wisht, than either. Examples, of Athens, and Rome; the first Consulate. Their Tribunes, several Seditions. Marius, and Sylla. Crassus, Caesar, Pompey. The two latter divide. Caesar complemented to Rome by the Senate. The Triumvirate, their Proscriptions, and breach. No peace, till Monarchy restor'd under Augustus. The sense of those times touching this matter.

I Have in the former Sections endeavoured, and I hope satisfi'd my unbyass'd Reader, that Monarchy is of Divine Institution, and has been the most anciently receiv'd and exercis'd Government throughout the world, even from the first of time: I come now to shew, that all other notions of Government, of what kind soever, have a natural tendency to Monarchy, and like massie bodies, retain a trepidation, and wavering, till they fix, and settle on the same centre, whence they were first moved: Nor can this be more readily effected, than by examining them apart, by which means, and comparing one with another, we shall be the less apt to mistake.

The common receiv'd forms of Government,The several Forms of Government. have been three, viz. Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy. If the Sovereignty be in one only Prince, 'tis a Monarchy: If all the people be interessed therein, as in one Body, 'tis a Democracy, Republick, or Popular State: If but some part of the People, whether excelling in Virtue, Wisdom, Riches, Nobility, &c. have the Sovereign Command, as in one Body, and so give Laws to the rest, 'tis an Aristocracy, Optimacy, or Government of the better fort.

Now because, as says Aristotle, Degenerat regia potestas in Tyrannidem, Arist. Pol. l. 3. c. 5. Aristocratia, in Oligarchiam, Respublica, in Democratiam, Monarchy degenerates into Tyranny;And their Rotations. Aristocracy into Oligarchy; a Common-wealth into Democracy:Discourse on Livy, Deca. 1. which yet Machiavel takes for the same; and therefore says, Democracy degenerates into Anarchy, and that (of course) runs into Monarchy; it being but natural, that when the Populace have toil'd, and moil'd, and even giddied themselves in the wild Circle, that they even sit down, and rest themselves where they first sate out: And here it will not be amiss, to examin that sphere of Government, which himself and others of that humor, have made to themselves: viz. That in the beginning of the world, men liv'd at large, as other Creatures; but when they began to multiply, they began also to come nearer together, and then, whether it were that the people (as they would have it) chose the strongest, or that he took it by force, came Monarchy into the world: but afterward, when by frequent Injuries, and Rapines on each other, men began to consider how they might keep what they had, safely, how unjustly soever they had gotten it, then came in Laws; and from them, property; and then, not the strongest, but the wisest had it; and in memory of the Father's virtue, his Son continu'd it, and from thence, came hereditary Monarchy: but his Posterity, forgetting that patrum virtus, and living (perhaps) as if they thought the only character of a Prince, was to exceed others in Rapine and Luxury, they fell by degrees, into the peoples hatred, and that made the Prince afraid of them; and that fear (which creates an object, where it cannot really find it) increasing, he began to study a revenge, oppressing some, disobliging others, until at last it insensibly altered into Tyranny: And from thence came conspiracies; not of the poorer, but the better sort, whose spirits not brooking it, they buzz'd notions into the peoples heads, and finding them pleas'd, laid hold of the opportunity, and heading the Multitude, both took Arms together, and thence came Rebellion; and having conquer'd that Government, the Mobile vulgus (as Virgil calls 'em) ever desirous of a change, in hopes of battering their condition, and fond of any thing, but what they were last, submitted to those that rais'd 'em, and help'd 'em to conquer; whereupon, superinducing new Laws, they alter'd the Government, and thence came Aristocracy: but, as man being in honor abideth not, they, and such as follow'd them, least minding the specious advantages they propos'd to the people, e're they got them to rebel, and not contented with a civil equality, but blinded by ambition, and taking upon them, by excluding some of the best by degrees, to grasp the Power into the hands of a few, and those, the least worthy, the Government was again changed, and from an Aristocracy, brought to an Oligarchy; so that the Multitude weary of both, and ready for another change, resolv'd to restore neither, and concluded on a Popular State wherein every man taking upon himself to have an equal right in the Government, it insensibly lost it self in the Mare mortuum of Anarchy, and upon the whole matter, finding that in all this rotation, they had rather lighted on some new Physician, than any remedy for the Disease, they return'd to Monarchy, and after all turns of the Compass, came about and setled in the same point again. And thus, Pigmalion like, men form an image to themselves, and then fall in love with't: and tho the question be yet to be granted, that the Sovereign Power was ever in the people, yet it is sufficient to prove my Argument, That all Governments have a natural tendency to Monarchy, and the reasons are obvious.

For, if we consider Aristocracy,Aristocracy. besides that it will be hard to determin who are the most virtuous, wisest, richest, and most noble, or what shall be the true number of the Commanders, by reason of the multiplicity of the pretenders (for the more generous they are the more factious will they grow, their consultations be the more difficult, and sooner discover'd) how will it be avoided, but that (as in Corporations) the greatest part, i. e. most voices, will overrule the sounder, and the better; and the more men there be, the less effects will there be of virtue, and wisdom, when the best men shall be always vanquish'd in number, by the vicious, and the resolutions of the lesser, but sounder part, overwhelm'd with the gaggles of the Factious, and Ambitious: They are also in a continual distrust of one another, and fear of the people, whom for that reason, they dare neither train to Arms, nor trust Weapons in their hands: so that in effect, they have a kind of Wolf by the ears, hold him in, then endanger biting; let him go, then are torn in pieces.

Democracy.So then if the Tyranny of one be pernicious, that of many must be much worse, yet neither so dangerous, as that of a multitude, where no one commands, and no one obeys, and to ask counsel of whom (as in times of old they did) what other were it than to seek wisdom of a mad man? with whom, on all occasions, instead of argument, —Faces & saxa volant, furor arma ministrat.Virgil. Whereas in difficulties they stagger to and fro, and are in dangers, confounded: and therefore, one would think, when the Poet describ'd the Chaos of old, that he carried somewhat more under it, and meant the common people, Ovid. Metam. —Rudis indigestaque moles; Nec quicquam nisi pondus iners; congestaque eodem Non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum; Obstabatque aliis, aliud— Besides which, the end of all good Government is to flourish in virtue, justice, valor, honor, &c. but the end of a Popular State, is to banish all of them, as may be seen in Athens, and Rome; that by advancing the most unworthy men to Offices, and Dignities, they may make room for themselves; or at least (as Marius and Pompey bought) get money for their Voices; in which case, who can blame him for selling by retail, what he bought in gross; more than he'd condemn a Woman, who having abandon'd her honor, makes the best of her Trade: In short, what shall be said, when in most Common-wealths of the Ancients, instead of Majesty, and Justice, we find nothing but licentiousness, and impunity? and how much it was improv'd for the better, in our late times, among our selves, I appeal to the yet calamitous remembrance of it, when every man did what was best his own eyes, and for the same reason also, There was no King in Israel.

And now,Tyranny, to be rather wisht than either. who would not rather wish a Tyranny, than an Aristocracy, or Democracy; for as many wise skilful Pilots, hinder one another, in striving to govern the Helm, so will many men, of what condition, wisdom, or virtue soever they may be, when every one shall seek to govern the Common-wealth, according to the vain images of his own fancy, or abus'd imagination: In short, in the multitude of Counsellors, there is wisdom, but the determinative part; is better performed by one, who having digested their opinions, will the readier execute that, which the other would scarce resolve on, without contention; it being the nature of Ambition, rather to see all lost, than admit another, wiser than it self, or hazard the disrepute, of changing its opinion.

Examples in Athens, &c.But to proceed; and here, not to weary my Reader with the state of Athens, under the thirty Tyrants, or the Lacedemonians under their Ephori, who tho they carried the specious shew of restraining their Kings, were indeed, a scourge, and plague to the people; I shall only insist on the Romans, whose infancy for about 250 years (for so Florus reckons it) was under Kings: Florus, l. 1. Tacitus, l. 1. And to the same purpose Tacitus, Urbem Roman à Principio, Reges habuere: After this, Rome from the first Consulate. upon expulsion of the Tarquins, they set up two Consuls, but not satisfied with this also, the people take Arms, and leaving the City, declare they will not return, unless there be appointed some Tribunes of the People, Florus, l. 1. c. 23. who might bridle the Disorders of the Consuls, and the wealthier sort;Their Tribunes. and 'tis granted: nor would this yet satisfie; they must now know, what the Law was, and to that end it must be written in twelve Tables, for the doing of which, the Consuls were laid by, and the Decemviri created, with the Power, quam modo Consules, Rosi • . Antiq. l. 7. c. 19. olim Reges habuissent; interim, cessare omnes magistratus alios, donec juxta leges creati fuerint; but they (as says the same Author) having made an agreement among themselves, and bound it with an Oath, that no one should oppose another, but what was approv'd by one, should be approv'd by all; that they would admit no other to be joyn'd to them, but hold an equal Authority among themselves, Maximamque partem rerum pro imperio, multa tyrannice agerent; the People took Arms again, and wholly destroy'd their power, (and as saith Florus, Lib. 1. c. 24. laid their persons in chains) the third year from the time they were first set up; and thereupon the Consuls were again restor'd.

Add to this the several Seditions of Tiberius Gracchus, slain by Scipio Nascica: Id. l: 3. c. 14, 15, 16, 17. that other of his Brother Caius, slain by the Consul Opimius: A third of Appuleius Saturninus, suppress'd by Marius, Several Seditions. and that other of Livius Drusus, by Philippus the Consul. As also the bloody outrages between Marius, and Cinna, against Sylla, Marius and Sylla. of which last (not to excuse either of the former) Plutarch says,In vita Syllae. that he had slain 100000 men, 90 Senators, 15 of Consular Dignity, and 2000 Gentlemen: And touching Marius, that of Ovid may not improperly be applied, Fastorum, l. 4. Ausus & è media plebe sedere Deus. Yet all this will be little more than the beginnings of evil, if we consider that Monster of three heads; for so those times call'd it, viz. Crassus, Caesar, and Pompey: Crassus, Caesar, Pompey. the first was wealthy, even to a Proverb, Crasso divitior; and yet, still gaping for more: the second was for bringing himself into Estimation and Authority; and the latter, for keeping what he had already gotten; all were alike greedy of Power, and therefore no wonder if they so easily agreed for invading the Common-wealth; Caesar takes upon him Gaul; Crassus, Asia; and Pompey, Spain: This (rope of Sand) held together for 10 years; and such I call it; for Crassus being slain in Parthia, and there wanting a third, to ballance the other two, they quickly broke asunder: Pompey, begins to suspect Caesar's Wealth,The two latter divide. and Caesar casts an ill eye on Pompey's new Authority; Flo. l. 4. c 4. Nec hic ferebat parem, nec ille superiorem: Nefas! Sic de Principatu laborabant, tanquam duos tanta imperii fortuna non caperet. The one brook'd not an Equal, nor the other a Superior: Impossible! they made such work who should be Chief; as if the fortune of so great an Empire were too little for two. In short, they made such havock between them, that any one region of the world was too little to contain it; and therefore it spread thro the whole; for Pompey having the ill fate of surviving his Dignity, in the loss of his Army at Pharsalia, and to be as treacherously murdered, by his friend Ptolomy, King of Alexandria, to whom he had fled for succor, his Sons took up the quarrel; of whom, Cnaeus (the younger) flying wounded from the Battle of Munda in Spain, was pursued by Caesar, and slain; from which, Sextus (the elder) escaping, and having gotten together 350 Ships, Ibid. cap. 8. he was (after the death of Caesar) overthrown in a Sea-fight near Sicily; whence flying into Asia, he fell into Anthony's hands, and was there slain: of which Martial, Lib. • . Ep. 75.Pompeios juvenes Asia, atque Europa, sed ipsum Terra tegit Libyes; si tamen ulla tegit: Quid mirum toto si spargitur orbe? jacere Uno non poterat tanta ruina loco. And now, Caesar complemented to Rome by the Senate. every thing following the good fortune of Caesar, it was not said to the Senate, And will ye be last to bring the Conqueror home? No, they prevented it, for besides the bringing his Statues into their Temples, inscribing a month of the year to him, &c. they met their Enemy in the way, and having new studded the word Imperator, welcom'd him in, with the supernumerary Titles, God. Rom. Ant. 171. of Pater Patriae, Consul in decennium, Dictator in perpetuum, Sacrosanctus, & Imperator. But (O the uncertainty of human condition!) deprav'd natures are never reconcil'd; and such, those his Flatterers prov'd to him; for upon a Conspiracy of Brutus, and Cassius, and other Senators, he was murder'd in the Senate; they not longer nevertheless surviving it themselves, than in the effects of that Parricide, Flo. l. 4. c. 7. to have beheld that liberty lost, they had made such bustle to restore.

And here again,The Triumvirate. Rome found the want of a Head; for Sextus Pompeius having (as I said before) set up at Sea, to recover what his Father had lost by Land, and failing in it; Octavius must be reveng'd of the murderers of Caesar, who had adopted him; Antony, of them who had declar'd him an enemy; and Lepidus, (whose only business, in hopes of Wealth, was to fish in troubled waters) comes in as fuel to a flame, and joyning with Octavius and Antony, they made a Triumvirate; and under the common pretences of revenging the murder of Julius Caesar, and setling the Common-wealth, which was much out of order, had chief Power and Authority for five years, Rofin. Antiq. l. 7. c. 21. which expiring, they refus'd to resign, but held it other five, enacting, or reversing, what laws they pleas'd, and that, without the consent of the Senate, or People; and having divided one Common-wealth into three Monarchies, viz. Africk, both the Sardinia's, and Sicily to Octavius: All Spain and Gallia Narbonensis, i. e. Languedoc, Daulphine, and Provence, to Lepidus; and the rest of France of either side the Alps, to Antony; the defence of Rome, and Italy, is left to Lepidus, while the other two, advance against Brutus and Cassius, who (by a mistake) having lost the day, kill themselves: Upon this, the Conquerors return to Rome, and exercising all cruelty whatever, without any regard of person, or condition,Their Proscriptions. they proscribe and banish at pleasure: Lepidus gave up his Brother Lucius Paulus, to gratifie Octavius: Rosin. Antiq. l. 7. c. 21. Antony, his Uncle L. Caesar, to requite Lepidus: And Octavius, his friend Cicero (whose advice had given him the Empire) to appease inexorable Antony, concerning the Philippicks: And now, nothing but slaughter bestrid the Streets, when besides the incredible number of Roman Knights and Citizens kill'd in the broil, there were no less than 130 Senators proscrib'd between them, and of whom those last mentioned, were three.

And Breach.And now one would think all had been at quiet, the Common-wealth (as I said before) being divided into three Monarchies, and Antony married to the Sister of Octavius, yet all would not do; for Antony being gone for Egypt, and Sextus Pompeius overthrown, Octavius makes War on Lepidus, whose softness and irresolution made him submit, with the loss of his share of the Triumvirate; and thence, to keep a War (as he had never less than reason to suspect it) from home, he follows Antony, whose sensuality, and unpursutiveness lost him the sole Empire of the World; for Octavius having overcome him and Cleopatra, in the Naval Battle of Actium, No peace, until Monarchy restor'd. the Morning and the Evening of the Roman State, made but one day, and the Sovereignty once more coming into one hand, the Temple of Janus was now the third time clos'd: Upon which, applying himself to preserve that peace he had so happily restor'd, he made severe Laws to restrain those evils, a peaceable Age is but too prone to run into; Florus, l. 4. c. 12. in due sense of which, it was debated in Senate, An quia condidisset imperium Romulus vocaretur; sed sanctius & reverentius visum est nomen Augusti. And it may be observ'd, that from the expulsion of the Roman Kings to the Reign of Octavius Augustus (about 450 years) there was seldom above 10 years, without some Civil War, or some Sedition; whereas Augustus kept the Empire in peace for above 50 years, and so it continu'd after his death, till the Pretorian Bands began to chaffer for the Empire, and others, to comply with them, gave an Empire for an Empire.

The sense of those times touching this matter.And now e're I close the Argument, it may not be amiss to recollect, what the Historians, and Poets, that speak of those times, thought of it. Neque aliud discordantis reipublicae remedium, quam ut ab uno regeretur, saith Tacitus: Nor is Florus, who wrote not long after him, in any thing short of him. Gratulandum tamen in tanta perturbatione est, quod potissimum ad Octavium Caesarem summa rerum rediit; qui sapientia sua, atque solertia perculsum undique & perturbatum, ordinavit imperii corpus. Quod ita haud dubie nunquam coire & consentire potuisset, nisi unius praesidis nutu, quasi anima, & mente regeretur. We have this yet in so great a confusion, to be glad at, that the upshot of all came back to Octavius Caesar, rather than another; who by his Wisdom and Policy, brought the shatter'd, and disorder'd body of the Empire into frame again; which without dispute had never met, and joyn'd together, had it not been actuated, by one chief Ruler, as with a Soul, and Intelligence. And to the same purpose L. Ampelius, (who wrote before the division of the Empire) speaking of the several turns of the state of Rome, and the uncertain condition of the people, Amp. in lib. memoriali, c. 28. Donec exortis bellis civilibus, inter Caesarem, & Pompeium, & oppressa per vim libertate, sub unius Caesaris potestatem redacta sunt omnia, Until those Civil Wars between Caesar and Pompey began, and the publick liberty over-born by violence, all things were reduced under rhe obedience of one Caesar. And what the much ancienter Homer's sense of having many Lords, was, we have every where, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Nec multos regnare bonum; Rex unicus esto. And the reason of it is clear. Lucan.Nulla fides regni sociis, omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit.— And so another, —Summo nil dulcius unum estStatius. Stare loco, sociisque comes discordia regnis. From all which we may gather, That all Governments, of what kind soever, have a natural tendency to Monarchy, and (like Noah's Dove) find no rest, till they return to the same station, whence they first departed. It being impossible otherwise, but that (as Lines from the Center) the farther they run, the farther they must separate.

SECTION IV.

That the Kingdom of the Jews, was a Supreme Sovereign Monarchy, in which their Kings had the absolute Power, of Peace, and War, and were Supreme, in Ecclesiasticis. And an Answer to that Objection, That God gave them a King in his wrath.

I Have hitherto, according to my method propos'd, discours'd of Monarchy in general; it remains now that I bring it down to some particulars: I'll begin with the Kingdom, God erected among the Jews (his own People) and shew, That the Monarchy among them, was supreme, and independent: And here we'l take the case as we find it in Samuel. Samuel was become old,1 Sam. 8. throughout. and his Sons not walking in his ways, had distasted the People, who ask of him a King to judg them like all the Nations; Samuel is displeas'd, but God commands him to hearken to them, howbeit to protest solemnly against them, and shew them the manner of the King, that was to reign over them, which he accordingly does, viz. He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots: He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them and give them to his servants, &c. A hard saying no doubt, whether we respect their persons, or their possessions, and yet he calls it Jus Regis qui imperaturus est vobis, thereby also implying, that such was the manner of all other Nations. And when he wrote it in a Book and laid it up before the Lord,1 Sam. 10.25. he calls it Legem Regni, The Law of the Kingdom; and yet a King they must have, and had him, adding to that of Samuel, this other, of their own desires, that he might have the absolute power of Peace, and War; and this appears within the very letter of their demands, viz. That he might judg them, which is the power of Peace, and go out before them,1 Sam. 8.20. and fight their Battels, which is the power of War. And what Authority he had in matters of the Church may be seen in this, That Solomon of himself thrust out Abiathar (the High-Priest) and appointed Zadok in his room.1 Kings 2.27. And that even the Horns of the Altar were no Sanctuary against him in case of Treason,1 Kings 25.34 may be also seen in Adonijah and Joab; and yet we cannot so much as gather, that God was offended with him for his so doing, or that his person was the less acceptable to him, by reason of those matters.

To which if it be objected, Object. That God gave them a King in his anger: I answer,

Moses having foretold the Israelites, Sol. Deut. 17.15. that when they came into the Land, they would be asking a King, charges them to set him over them, whom God should choose; which shews, That a popular Election was utterly forbidden them: yet they, weary of such Judges, as had succeeded Moses, and whom God had raised to rule them as Kings, demand a King, like all the Nations, i. e. of a more absolute power, than those Judges had: and therefore, not staying Gods time, but taking upon them to be their own Carvers, he is said to have given them a King in his wrath, in that they had not rejected Samuel, but himself, who had appointed Samuel. In acknowledgment of which, and as sensible of their error, they ever after accepted their Kings by Succession, unless only, when their Prophets had anointed and ordained another, by Gods special designation: Nor do we find any one in Holy Writ, chosen King by the Children of Israel, but Abimelech the Bastard of Gideon, Judges 9.18. and Creature of the People, who also came in by Conspiracy and Murder: And (as it seems probable) Jeroboam, 1 Kings 12.3. who made Israel to sin; for they had sent to him (at that time, a discontented Fugitive, in Egypt) and he headed them, in a complaint of Grievances to Rehoboam, which occasion'd the revolt of the ten Tribes; both which yet, reigned as wickedly, as they entred unjustly, and perish'd miserably.

SECTION V.

What is here intended by a Supreme Monarchy. The marks of Sovereignty; as, the Power of making Laws, and exemption from any coactive obedience to them. The Power of Peace, and War, &c. That the Kingdoms of England, &c. are Supreme Imperial Monarchies. Those two marks of Sovereignty, and seven others, prov'd to be no other than what has ever been, the undoubted Right of the Kings of England. The Kings Sovereignty by the Common Law. The like from the Statute Law. Power in Ecclesiasticks. And that they have justly used those Titles of King, and Emperor, and that from ancient times, and before the Conquest.

I Have now brought my Discourse whither I first design'd it, and therefore to avoid confusion, which ever attends the being too general, I shall first shew my Reader, what I mean by a Supreme Imperial Monarch, at this day; and in the next place, prove the Kings of England, &c. are such: And lastly, that however the Emperors of the West and East, have so much striven about that great Title of Emperor, or Basileus, that yet the Kings of England (as Supreme within their Dominions) have also and justly from ancient Ages used it, as no less proper to their own independent greatness.

As to the first, The Regal Estate and Dignity of a King is of two sorts, The one Imperial and Supreme, as England, France, Spain, &c. who owing no service to the Majesty of another,Inst. 4 343. is his own Master, and hath an absolute Power in himself, no way subject to the controul of another: and of such a one speaks Martial. Qui Rex est, Regem (Maxime) non habeat. The other, an Homager, or Feudatary, to another King, as his Superior Lord; such as that of Navar and Portugal (of old) to Castile; Granada, and Leon, to Aragon; Lombardy, Sicily, Naples, and Bohemia, to the Empire; Seld. Tit. Hon. 24. six parts of the Saxon Heptarchy, who acknowledged the seventh, Anglorum Rex primus; and such was Aella, King of Sussex; the Kings of Man and others, of whom I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. hereafter. The first of these is what I intend, and will be the better made out, if we cast our eyes a little on the marks of Sovereignty, and then, consider wherein they differ from our own Laws. And amongst others, we find these,Marks of Sovereignty: Power of making Laws. Psal. 60.7. 1. The Power of making Laws; and so what our English Translation calls, Judah my Law-giver, is in the vulgar Latin, Juda Rex meus, Judah my King: This power being one of the principal ends of Regal Authority, and was in Kings, by the Law of Nature, long before Municipal Laws had any Being, the people at that time being govern'd by a natural equity, which by the Law of Nature, all were bound to observe: And so the Poet, —Remo cum fratre, QuirinusVirgil. Jura dabat populo— The like of King Priam; —Jura vocatis More dabat populis.— And of Augustus, —Legesque tulit justissimus Auctor. So Cicero speaking of Julius Caesar (as a Law-giver) saith thus, Caesar, si ab eo quaereretur quid egisset in Toga, Leges se respondisset multas, & praeclaras tulisse; Though many yet received Laws, at the will of their Prince; and thus, Barbaris, pro legibus, semper imperia fuerunt: Livy. which word barbarous, at that time, carry'd no disgrace with it, but was apply'd to them, that spoke a strange Language; And so the Hebrews called the Egyptians (of all other Nations, the most civiliz'd, and learned) for that they us'd the Egyptian Tongue, and not the Hebrew, as we have it in the Psalmist,Psal. 114.1. When Israel came out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob (de gente barbaro) from a people of strange language.

And exemption from any coactive Obedience to them.And as they gave Laws to others, so were they loosed from the force of them themselves, i. e. from all coactive Obedience, or Obligation, to any written, or positive Law. Thus M. Antony, when press'd by his Cleopatra, to call Herod in question, Joseph. Ant. l. 15. c. 14. answer'd, It was not fitting a King should give an account of what he did in his Government, it being in effect, to be no King at all. And to the same purpose Pliny, Ereptum principi, Panegyr. ad Trajan. illud in principatu beatissimum, quod non cogitur.

Another mark of Sovereignty is the power of Peace and War,Power of Peace and War. and which, as Bodin says, De Repub. 163. was never doubted to be in a King. In like manner to create and appoint Magistrates, especially such, as are not under the command of others. The power of the last appeal. To confer Honors. To pardon Offenders. To appoint the Value, Weight, and Stamp of his own Coin, and make Forein Coin currant by Proclamation. To receive Liege Homage of an inferior King. And bear those Titles of Sacred, and Majesty, only proper to Sovereign Princes, apart from all others; of which you may read at large in Bodin. But I come to the second. Id. Bodin, 182.

That the Kingdoms of England, &c. are a Supreme Imperial Monarchy;That the Kingdom of England is a Supreme Imperial Monarchy. which will the better appear, when by examining those marks of Sovereignty, we find no more in them, than what the Laws of these Realms have ever acknowledg'd, to be the undoubted right of our Kings; and that, whether we respect the Common Law, Statute Law, or their Power, in Ecclesiasticks. I'll take my rise from the marks of Sovereignty.

The Kings Power in making Laws.1. The Power of making Laws. The Laws of most Kingdoms (saith the Lord Bacon) have been like Buildings of many pieces,In his Resusc. fol. 153. patcht up from time to time, according to the occasion, without form or model; and as to our own, that they are mixt as our Language, Ibid. 154. of British, Roman, Saxon, Danish, Norman Customs. Edgar the Saxon collected those of his time, Ibid. fol. 276: and gave them the force of a Fagot bound, which formerly were dispersed. The Danes impos'd upon us their Dane-Law: And the third of that name before the Conquest,Sir E. Coke's Preface to his third Report. Ex immensa Legum congerie quas Britanni, Romani, Angli, Daci condiderunt, optima quaeque selegit, & in unam coegit, quod vocari voluit Legem communem. Some of which bear his name to this day, as Ordain'd by him: After him, William the Conqueror (whom Polidor Virgil calls our Law-giver) brought in somewhat of a new Law, as may be seen in this,Sir Jo. Davys Preface to his Irish Reports. That tho he made but little or no alteration in the Fundamentals, but formulis juris, he found here, yet, whether it were to honor his own Language, or to shew some mark of Conquest, he set forth his Publick Edicts in the Norman Tongue, and caused our Laws to be written in the same: And likewise, his Justiciaries, Lawyers, and Ministerial Officers, being at that time all Normans, it may be none of the least reasons why all our Pleadings and Entries were in that Tongue, until altered by Statute, That because of the great mischiefs that had hapned to divers by means of the said Laws being written in the French Tongue which they understood not,36 Edw. III. cap. 15. That therefore all Pleas for the future, should be pleaded in the English Tongue, and enrolled in the Latin, and that we receiv'd our ancient Tenures,Sir Jo. Davys Preface to his Irish Reports. from the Normans, is obvious every where. And King John planted the English Laws in Ireland.

But to come nearer home, and examin how our present constitutions agree with it; nor are they other than what has been the Practice of all former Parliaments, wherein, both Houses are so subordinate to the King in the making of Laws, that neither of them singly, nor both of them together,Sir E. Cooke, Sur West. 2. can make any binding Law without the Kings concurrence; they might in all times ('tis true) propose, advise or consent, or, to borrow a Metaphor, Spawn of themselves; but in the Royal Consent only (like the male touch) lay the vis plastica, which gave the Embrion life, and quicken'd it into Laws; and the reason of it is, because the Legislative Power resideth solely in the King, ut in subjecto proprio, and the consent of the Lords and Commons, is no sharing of that Power (which is indivisible) but a requisite condition, Inst. 4.243. to complete the Kings Power: for otherwise, all those Bills that have pass'd both Houses, and for want of the Royal-Assent, lie buried in oblivion, might as occasion serv'd, be rak'd from their forgotten Embers, and set up for Laws. Which also further appears in the several forms of our Kings giving their Royal Assent, as Le Roy voit, Inst. 2.286. Le Roy est Assensus, Le Roy Advisera, &c. and makes good this point, That the Power of making Laws, resides in the King, and that he may, as he sees cause, either refuse or ratifie: And this the Law of Scotland calls,Indictment against the Earl of Areyle, 1681. his Majesties best, and most incommunicable Prerogative.

And as the Legislative Power resides in the King solely, so also, to him belongs it to interpret those Laws: Si disputatio oriatur, The Kings Power in interpreting Laws. Justiciarii non possunt eam interpretari, sed in dubiis & obscuris Domini Regis erit expectanda interpretatio, & voluntas; cum ejus sit interpretari cujus est condere (saith the Lord Ellesmer from Bracton and Britton) His is the interpretation of the Law,Cited by him in his Postnaci. whose is the Power of making the Law. In his recurrendum ad Regem justitiae fontem; whence he is said to carry all the Laws (in scrinio pectoris sui) in his Breast.Sir H. Spelman's Gloss, fol. 107. Inst. 1.99. Inst. 2.168. To give one instance for all, When King Charles the First (of happy memory) had just given his Royal Assent, to the Petition of Right, he told the Houses, That his meaning was to confirm all their Liberties, as knowing, that according to their own Protestations, they neither meant, nor could hurt his Prerogative, &c. And on the last day of the Session, before his Royal Assent to the Bills, saying, he would tell them the cause, why he came so suddenly to end that Session, he adds, Vide Petition of Right, and his Majesties Answer, 3 Car. 1. Tho I must avow that I own an account of my actions to none, but God: And again, charging both Houses, with their Profession, during the hammering that Petition, that it was in no ways to trench upon his Prerogative, saying, they had neither intention nor power to hurt it, he commands them all to take notice, that what he had spoken, was the true meaning of what he had granted, But especially (adds his Majesty) you my Lords the Judges, for to you only, under me, belongs the Interpretation of Laws, Vide Stat. at large, fol. 1433. for none of the Houses of Parliament, joynt, or separate (what new Doctrin soever may be raised) have any power, either to make, or declare a Law, without my consent.

And as the King is the sole Lawgiver,His being exempt from their coactive force. and Interpreter of that Law when given, so also is he exempt and free from the Law, for as much as concerneth the coactive force of the Law, as being the Head of the Law,Inst. 1.99. and of the Common-wealth, Ibid. 73. and consequently no man can give Sentence of condemnation against him, if he do any thing against that Law: for besides that every Sentence must be given by a Superior, upon his Inferior: there must be some Supreme, whereunto all are subject, but it self, to none; because otherwise, the course of Justice would go infinitely in a Circle, every Superior having his Superior, without end, which cannot be: yet admitting it might; the People cannot do it, for they have no power themselves; or if they had, are his Subjects: and a Parliament cannot do it; for besides that they are his Subjects also, and not his Peers, who shall try him? for he is Principium, Caput, & finis Parliamenti; Ibid. 110. and it can neither begin, nor end, without his Presence in Person,Inst. 4.28. or by Representation; and hence it is, Ibid. 46. that his Death Dissolves them. Again, if the People may call him to account, the State is plainly Democratical; if the Peers, it is Aristocratical, if either, or both of them, 'tis no way Monarchical, which is directly contrary to the known Laws of the Land, • ract. l. 1. c. 8. for Omnis sub Rege, & ipse sub nullo, nisi tantum sub Deo; Every man is in subjection to the King, and he, to none but God; and so the Oath of Supremacy declares him the onely Supreme Governor of this Realm,1 Jac. of which, more hereafter, when I come to speak of the Statute-Law; and therefore if the King refuse to do right, seeing no Writ can issue against him, there is a place for Petition, and if that prevail not, Satis ei erit ad poenam (saith the same Bracton) quod Dominum habeat ultorem. And with this agreeth that of Horace, Regum timendorum in proprios greges, Reges in ipsos, imperium est Jovis. And in this respect, a Prince is not loosed from the Law, for as much as concerneth the directive Power of it, but having not the Law, becomes a Law to himself, as well knowing, Claudian.—Observantior aequi Fit Populus, nec ferre negat, cum viderit ipsum Auctorem parere sibi—

The Kings absolute Power of Peace, and War.2. As to the Power of Peace and War, It is the right of the King (saith Fitzherbert) to defend his Kingdom as well against the Sea, Nat. Brev. 113. as against Enemies; which implies, that it is his right to defend it against Enemies; and how can he do it without the right of his Sword, when, if he should be oblig'd to pray in Aid of others, perhaps they may be of another mind, or take up so much time in the Debate that the Kingdom may be lost ere they resolve what to do: And this I take to be one of the effects of Con-si-de-ra-ti-on, in those matters, whose good or ill fortune solely depends on Expedition, and Secresie: for, Dangers,Ess. of Delay. (as the Lord Bacon saith) are better met half way, than by keeping too long a watch upon their approaches; for if a man watch too long, 'tis odds he will fall asleep. But to proceed; Sir Edw. Cooke says,Inst. 3.9. no Subject can levy War within the Realm, without Authority from the King, unto whom it only belongeth; and that it was High-Treason at the Common Law,25 Edw. 3.2. before the Statute De proditionibus: And in Calvin's case, he makes it clear,7 Rep. 25. That to make Leagues, or denounce War, only belongs to the King, who without his Subjects, may grant Letters of safe Conduct, and Denization; and that this high point of Prerogative Royal, cannot be conferred upon any other, it being a right of Majesty, and among the badges of Supreme Power: And now one would think this were enough, and yet a late Statute of this Kingdom makes it yet clearer, it being thereby declared, That the sole Supreme Government, Command, and disposition of the Militia,13th. of this King, cap. 2. and all Forces by Sea and Land, and of all Forces and places of Strength is, and by the Law of England ever were, the undoubted right of his Majesty, and his Royal Predecessors, Kings and Queens of England; and that both, or either of the Houses of Parliament cannot, nor ought to pretend to the same, nor can, nor lawfully may, raise or levy War, Offensive, or Defensive, against his Majesty, his Heirs and lawful Successors, &c. all which is not introductive of a new Law, but declaratory of the old, as may be further seen by the penning thereof. And now what can be added more, but the Purse, without which, what's the Sword, but (as the Greek Proverb has it) A Bow, without a Bow-man? For in as much as Mony is the Sinews of War, and Peace (firmamentum belli, Sir E. Cooke, Inst. 1.90 ornamentum pacis) they that hang the Sword on one side, and the Purse on the other, seem to me, to hazard both; for neither can any sudden danger (Subscribed to, by all the Judges (in the case of Ship-Money) and by Hatten, and Crooke, tho they fell off afterward. Sir Will. Dugdale's Short View, fol. 42. of which the King was ever thought the Judg) be stav'd off, nor War carried on, nor the Publick Peace be long preserv'd, without it. And therefore on such occasions have Parliaments advis'd and assisted the King in supplying his Wants, without directing him; it seeming hard, that he should have Power to Proclaim War, and not be able to maintain it; and be bound to defend his Subjects,Inst. 1.161. but deny'd the means. Qui dirimit medium, destruit finem.

The Kings Power in appointing chief Magistrates, and great Ministers.3. As to the creation and appointing Magistrates, and Officers, especially such as are not under the command of others, this also resides solely in the King; for, besides what I have said in the last Paragraph, touching his sole Power, in the ordering and disposing the Militia, and all Forces by Sea, and places of Strength by Land, His is the appointing, all the great Officers, and Ministers of the Realm, Smith de Repub. Ang. l. 2. whether Spiritual, or Temporal; the highest, immediately by himself; the inferior, mediately by Authority derived from him, and as it were, —De lumine, lumen. So the King appoints the Lord Commissioner and all other the grand Ministers and Officers of Scotland; and the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, Lords Justices and all other the grand Ministers and Officers of Ireland, who also (but in his Kings name) appoint under him, according to the extent of their respective Commissions; so the Kings of England have, and may at this day by Letters Patents make a Prorex, Locum tenens, or Guardian of the Realm, before whom (in their absence in remotis) a Parliament may be held:Inst. 2.26. And such was Edward Duke of Cornwal, 13 Edw. 3. Lionel Duke of Clarence, 21 Edw. 3. John Duke of Bedford, 5 Henry 5. And the Test of the Writ of Summons shall be in the Guardians name: or, by Commission under the great Seal, to certain Lords of Parliament, authorise them to hold a Parliament, the King being then in the Realm, but indisposed: and such was that 3 Edw. 4. to William Lord Arch-Bishop of York; and that other 28 Eliz. to John Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and others,Inst. 3.7. ad inchoandum, &c. & ad Procedendum, &c. & ad faciendum omnia & singula, &c. nec non ad Parliamentum adjournandum, & Prorogandum, &c. And so are Parliaments held in Scotland, and Ireland, before the Lords Commissioners, Lord Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, &c. of the respective Kingdoms.

The Power of the last Appeal.4. The Power of the last Appeal, i. e. from whose Sentence, no Appeal lies: The only person (besides the Kings of England) that ever pretended to it here,Inst. 4.343. was the Pope; tho yet, the first attempt ever made that way, was by Anselme Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, Ibid. 341. in the Reign of King William Rufus, but it took no effect: And the Arch-Bishop, concerning himself too much, touching the Jurisdiction of the Pope in England, the King told him, Matth. Paris, cited by Sir J. Davys, in his Irish Rep. 61. Ad Officium Imperatoris spectat, &c. That it belong'd to the Emperor to make whom he pleas'd Pope, and that for the same reason, no Arch-Bishop, or Bishop within his Realm, should yield any subjection to the Court, or Pope of Rome, and chiefly in this respect (cum ipse omnes libertates haberet in regno suo, quas Imperator vindicabat in Imperio) That he had the same Prerogative in his Kingdom, that the Emperor claim'd in the Empire: And when Pope Innocent the Third, had against the declar'd will of King John, caused Stephen Langton to be Elected Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and after that confirm'd him, and wrote to the King to receive him, the King returns, that he (the Pope) had subverted the Liberties of his Crown,Answer to Petit. p. 88. and that therefore he would prohibit all People going to Rome, and from making appeals thither: which confirms my former instance, and that this Power was always in the King, however for a time it might have happen'd to be neglected; for otherwise, it had been a vain thing in him, to have expell'd the Monks of Canterbury as Traytors (which he actually did) or to have imagin'd, that a Bigotted, Seditious Clergy (as at that time they were, and to be headed by that Arch-Bishop, at least no friend to the King, if not his Enemy) should be frighten'd with an empty Bug bear, touching a matter whereof he had no cognisance, had he not been satisfi'd, it was in his Power to do it; Ass. de Clarend. 10 H. 2. c. 8. as well as his Father before him, had done it. And having thus occasionally nam'd him, let me (with all submission) offer this to the memory of that unfortunate Prince; that his designs, in order to the freeing the Crown from Forein usurpation, were mighty, and, that he came short, in what Henry the Eighth afterwards effected, was not, that he was less able, but his times worse: for considering the unsettled condition of those times, and at what disadvantages he came in, what wonder if he were oppress'd by a Faction, when deserted by his Subjects, who otherwise, had never suffer'd him to have made that Crown (to the defence of which, they had all sworn) tributary, which, many years afterward,Inst. 4.14. when the Arrears of that Tribute were demanded, was too late, tho effectually enough, declar'd in Parliament, he could not do, nor they consent to the doing it. But to proceed: When after this the Sea of Rome, would be yet intermedling, it was by all the States of Parliament, severally examin'd, and answering, each State, one by one, personally for it self,16 R. 2. c. 5. unanimously Declar'd, That the Pope's awarding any Processes, or Sentences of Excommunication, &c. against any Bishops, or other Spiritual Persons, for executing Judgments, given in the Kings Courts, was clearly in derogation of the Kings Crown, and Regality, used, and approved, of the time of all his Progenitors, and which they would maintain as they were bound, by their Liegance: and thereupon Enacted, That the purchasing any Bulls, from Rome, or elsewhere, shall be a Premunire: Vide, The Case of Premunire, in Sir John Davys. In which it is observable, That as the Judges before that time, were for the most part, Church-men, the Laity being not yet come up to Letters, or where they were, Rari nantes in gurgite vasto, The Lords Temporal, and the Commons of this Parliament, were all Romanists, and of what Persuasion the Lords Spiritual (and their Assistants the then Judges) were, I leave to every man, the question at that time being not, matter of Religion, but right of Superiority: not the Church, but Court of Rome:Inst. 4.341. And so Sir E. Cooke speaking of the first Article of the Statute of 25 H. 8. concerning the Prohibition of Appeals to Rome, saith, it is but declaratory of the ancient Law of this Realm: And (in another place) The same Authority that the Pope ever exercised in this Kingdom by Usurpation,Inst. 2.602. was always in the King, de jure. With which also agrees the Lord Chief Justice Hobart, That whatsoever the Pope did in this Kingdom,Sir H. Hobart, fol. 146. even then when he was in his greatest height, and strength, was of no better force, in right, and justice, than at the first, when he was but simple Bishop of Rome, which was coram non Judice, and so, Jus non habenti, tuto non paretur.

The sole fountain of Honor.5. The Power of conferring Honors; on which account he may also enable a man to assign his Surname, Arms,Inst. 4.126. and Barony to another: For, as by the Laws of England, all Lands within the same, were originally derived from the Crown, and holden of the King, either mediately,Inst. 1.65. or immediately, as Lord Paramount, so also by the same Laws were all degrees of Nobility and Honor derived from the King,Inst. 4.363. as the Fountain of Honor. So H. 6. granted to H. Beuchamp, Ut esset primus & praecipuus Comes Angliae; and that he should use the Title of Henricus Praecomes totius Angl, &c. ibid. 361. First Earl of all England, &c. And to the name Count, or Earl, which was the most ancient name of Dignity among the Saxons, Edw. 3. Ang. Greg. 11. created the Title of Duke, as distinct from that of Earl (for in elder times they were oft synonimous with us) and created his eldest Son (the Black Prince) then Earl of Chester, Seld. Tit. of Honor, 621. into the Title of Duke of Cornwal, which he created into a Dutchy: and about the 18th. of his Reign, the most noble Order of the Garter. And in the 9th. of R. 2. Robert de Vere, Ibid. 628. Earl of Oxford, was created Marquess of Dublin. And H. 6. the 18th. of his Reign, created John Lord Beaumont, Ibid. 630. Viscount Beaumont; of which Titles we find no mention in the Magna Charta, 9. H. 3. for they were not at that time in being.Inst. 1.69. And to this yet further, the Kings of England have, and may at this day create a County-Palatine, May create a Palatinate. which none but the Emperor, or a Supreme Monarch may do: for whoever is owner thereof, hath in that County, Jura Regalia, as fully, as the King in Palatio, —Par curis, solo diademate dispar. So Hugh Lupus, Camb. Britt. 464. Nephew of King William the Conqueror, was by him created Earl of Chester, Seld. Tit. Hon. 530. and the County given him, Tenendum sibi & haeredibus ita libere ad gladium sicut ipse Rex tenebat Angliam ad Coronam;Inst. 4.211. by which general words he had Jura Regalia within the said County, and consequently a County-Palatine without express words; and by force thereof he created eight Cheshire Barons. So not long after his time was the County-Palatine of Durham raised. Camb. Britt. 600. And in the 10th. of H. 1. the Royal Franchise of Ely. In the 13th. of Edw. 3. the County-Palatine of Pembroke. And in the 50th. year of his Reign the County of Lancaster was by him erected into a County-Palatine, and by him given to his fourth Son, Plowd. 214. John of Gaunt, then Duke of Lancaster, for life: to which, if any one shall say, that it was De assensu praelatorum & procerum, Sir Edw. Coke answers for me, That the King may make a County-Palatine, Inst. 4.204. in the Margin. by his Letters Patents, without Parliament.

Add to this the three first Counties-Palatine created in Ireland, by Henry the Second, viz. Leinster, which he granted to Earl Strongbow, who had married the Daughter and Heir of M. Morough, Prince of Leinster. 2. Meath, to Sir Hugh Lacy the Elder. 3. Ulster, to Sir Hugh Lacy the younger, and had their Barons under them, answerable to the Barons created by H. Lupus: of which before. Of which you may read excellent Learning,9 Jac. in Scac. fol. 49. in the Case of the County-Palatine of Wexford, reported by Sir John Davys, As also, Seld. Tit. Hon. 693. at that time Attorney-General of Ireland. As also the County-Palatine of Tipperary, formerly enjoy'd by the Ancestors of his Grace, James Duke of Ormond, &c. the present Lord Lieutenant of the same, and granted, restored, and confirm'd to him, by Letters-Patents at Westminster, Stat. Hibern. 14 Car. 2. c. 20. the 22. of April, in the 14th. of this King, and not long afterward, confirmed by Act of Parliament in Ireland; and whence also he bears it as a part of his Titles, Dominus Regalitatum & Libertatum Comitatus Palatini Tipperarii.

Nor is this all,Have made a King and Lord of Ireland. The Kings of England have created Kings within their own Dominions, and for such has the world received them: So King Henry the Second, in the 13th. year after his coming into Ireland, made his Son John, King of Ireland. And Henry the Third his Son Edward the First, Seld. Tit. Hon. 38.41. Lord of Ireland, and well own'd the doing it, albeit until the 33 Henry 8. they wrote but Lords themselves; for their Dignity was merely Royal, as having their Justices, Custodes, or Lord Lieutenants, and all things belonging to the Royal Estate and Majesty of a King.Inst. 4.357. And Sir Edw. Cooke tells us he has seen a Charter made in 20. H. 6. to Henry Beuchamp Earl of Warwick, Inst. 1.83. whereby he was created King of the Isle of Wight, and (as saith Mr. Selden) Crowned King of the same. Ibid. Seld. 26.

6. The Power of Pardoning, which is a Royal Act of Grace, whereby the King, either before Conviction, Sentence,Sir E. Cooke 5 Rep. 110. in Foxley's Case. or Attainder, or after, forgiveth any Crime, Punishment, Execution, Right, Title, Debt, or Duty Temporal, or Ecclesiastical: on which account he may restore a man that has lost Liberam Legem, by being recreant: As also, all that is forfeited to him by Attainder, &c. he may restore by his Charter; but if by the Attainder the Blood be corrupted, that must be restored by Act of Parliament; of which,Inst. 3.233. & 241. more at large in Sir Edw. Cooke, Titles, Pardons, and Restitutions.

7. To appoint the Value,

The King appoints the value, &c. of Coin.

Sir J. Davys, q. v. Case de mixt Moneys.

Weight, and Stamp of his Coin; and make Forein Coin currant by Proclamation. As to the first, we need go no farther than the smallest Piece, and that will tell us whose Image and Superscription it is, and therefore called the Kings Money;

Stat. 25 Edw. 3. cap. 2.

Sir J. Davys in Pref. 5. Rep. 114.

and so King John brought the Irish Mony to the English Standard: And as to the other, the same Sir Edw. Coke tells us, That the King, by his absolute Prerogative, may make any Forein Coin,Inst. 2.576. lawful Mony of England, at his pleasure, by his Proclamation. And in another place, putting both together, he says, That lawful Mony of England is of two sorts, viz. Inst. 1.207. The English Mony either of Gold, or Silver, Coined by the Kings Authority, or Forein Coin, by Proclamation made currant within this Realm.

Liege Homage received by our Kings.8. To receive Liege Homage of another inferior King or Homager: and such was our Henry the Second to the old Kings of Ireland, who are stiled Reges, & Reguli; and may more particularly appear in a grant of his to Roderick King of Connaught, Seld. Tit. Hon. 26. that he should enjoy his Territory, under a certain Tribute, Et quam diu ei fideliter serviet, ut sit Rex sub eo Paratus, ad servitium suum, sicut homo suus: And that Oneale is sometime stiled Rex, and sometime Regulus, denotes the Subject-Kings of that Country: And long before the Conquest, Edgar had eight Reguli or inferior Kings, Ibid. 29. Homagers to him, who at one time row'd him on the River Dee, himself guiding the Helm, and afterwards, glorying to his Nobility, that then every one of his Successors might boast himself to be King of England, when he receiv'd the like Honor from so many Kings his Attendants. So Reignald Lord or King of Man (Cui etiam fas erat Corona aurea Coronari) and those of Ibid. 24, 25.38. Ireland, did Homage to our Henry the Third. And John Baliol King of Scotland, and David Prince of Wales, to Edw. the First, and James the First, to Henry the Sixth, for the Kingdom of Scotland. So that Liege-Lord, is he that acknowledgeth no Superior; and a Liegeman is he that oweth Liegance to his Liege-Lord; and so the word is frequently us'd in our Statutes, viz. The Kings Liege-People: And if such a one shall be in open War, or Rebellion, or joyn with a Forein Enemy against the King, he shall not be ransom'd, or proceeded with as an Enemy, but as a Traytor,Inst. 3.11. because it is Contra Ligeantiam suam debitam, and so the Indictment runs: Such was the case of David Prince of Wales aforesaid, who had judgment of Treason given against him, for levying War against Edw. 1. for that his was within the Homage and Ligeance of the King.

9. Lastly, to bear those Titles,Their burning those incommunicable Titles of Majesty, &c. only proper to Sovereign Princes, apart from all others, as being indivisible, and incommunicable: And here (not to insist on the words Dei gratia, which are familiarly seen in the Titles of the Kings of Europe, and Princes of the Empire, Spiritual Lords, both abroad, and at home, have of elder times frequently us'd it in their Stiles, and in a Summons to our Parliaments, and Writs, to Assemble, or Prorogue the Convocation, the King gives it to the Arch-Bishops, as, Rex &c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri, Predilatoque, & fideli Consiliario nostro, A. eadem Gratia, Archiepiscopo Cant. &c. But in Warrants, and Commissions to them, it is generally omitted; Tit. Hon. 594. and never us'd by themselves, when they wrote to the Pope, Emperor, or a King; Ibid. 92. but thus: A. licet indignus, &c. Archiepiscopus, or Episcopus B. &c. whereby the present use of it among our selves, is easily reconcil'd, in that they receive the Attribute, not give it. The Kings of England, are in the second, and third person, commonly stiled, by that abstract of Majesty; as, your Majesty, his Majesty; which came into the Kingdoms of Christendom, from the use of it in the Roman Empire; the word in it self, denoting all kind of special Dignity, and, if as we should say in English, A Greatness; And to peruse our Statutes, from Magna Charta, to our own time, the most usual expressions are, Our Lord the King, The King our Sovereign Lord, Most Excellent Highness, Royal Majesty, Noble Grace, Most Excellent Majesty, Most Royal Majesty, Dread Sovereign Lord, Most Gracious Sovereign, and as we use it now, Most Excellent Majesty, and Sacred Majesty, which are but the same Attribute, in other words, and in their own nature, so unalienable from Sovereignty, that they can by no process of time be Prescrib'd against, or usurp'd upon: neither can it at all be call'd an Usurpation, as if it were, proper only to God, unless we as well deny Wisdom, Power, Clemency, or any other quality to be attributed to men, because those also, as all else, which is great, or good, are Primarily in him.

And so I have done with the marks of Sovereignty, as they are generally receiv'd;Further instances of the Kings Sovereignty by the Common Law. and now if there wanted any thing to the further proof of this Sovereign Imperial Monarchy, There are yet, other Regalities, and Prerogatives, which the Common Laws of England have ever allowed, and never doubted, but to be inherent in their Kings.Inst. 1.1. And hence it is, that the King cannot be said to be a Tenant, because he hath no Superior but God Almighty: And if the King and a common Person joyn in a Foundation,Inst. 2.68. the King shall be the Founder; for the thing being entire, the Kings Prerogative shall be preferr'd. That he shall have the Escheat of all Lands whereof a person attaint of High Treason was seiz'd,Inst. 1.13. of whomsoever they were holden. That there is no Occupant against the King, Ibid. 42. nor shall any one gain his Land, by priority of Entry; for, Nullum tempus occurrit Regi, That half Blood is no impediment to the descent of the Lands of the Crown;Inst. 1.15. as was seen in the Case of Queen Mary, who was but of half Blood to King Edward 6. and Queen Elizabeth to both: for the quality of the Person alters the Descent.1 H. 7.4. Plowd. 238. That the accession of the Crown purges all Attainders, as may be seen in the respective Cases of Henry 6. and Henry 7. whose Attainders, were no other than a present disability, which upon their assuming the Royal Dignity, were ipso facto void. That the word King imports his Politick Capacity, which is never in minority, and never dies,Inst. 4.352. but extends to all his Successors, as well Kings, as Queens. That he is King before Coronation, for besides that the Law suffers no interregnums, Inst. 3 7. he holds it by inherent Birth-Right, the Coronation being but a Royal Ornament, and outward Solemnization of the Descent;7. Rep. in Calvin's Case. and not unlike the publick Celebration of Matrimony, between a Man and a Woman, which adds nothing to the substance of the Contract, but declares it to the world. Ibidem. That the Ligeance of his Subjects is absolute, and indefinite, and due to the natural Person of the King, by the Law of Nature, which is immutable, and part of the Law of the Land, before any Municipal, or Judicial Law; and, that an Act of Parliament cannot bar the King of the Service of his Subject, which the indelible Law of Nature gave him, it being a part of the Law of the Land, by which, subjection is due to him. And therefore the Statute, That no man, notwithstanding any non obstante, shall serve as Sheriff,23 H. 6. c. 8. above one year, bars not the King from dispensing with it. And William Lord la Ware, altho disabled by Act of Parliament,11. Rep. of the Lord De la Ware. was nevertheless called to Parliament, was nevertheless called to Parliament by Queen Elizabeth, by Writ of Summons, for she could not be barr'd of the Service, and Counsel of any of her Subjects. Add to this, That all Restrictions upon his Sovereign Liberty, are void,13 Edw. 3. and therefore Publick Notaries made by the Emperor claiming to exercise their Offices in England, were prohibited, as being against the Dignity of a Supreme King.Inst. 4.342. And with this agrees the Statute-Law of Scotland, made in the Parliament of the 5th. of King James the Third; Vide Seld. Tit. Hon. 21. Ann. Reg. 14. cap. 3. In short, when King John had subjected his Crowns of England and Ireland, to Pope Innocent the Third, and had become his Feodary, under the annual Acknowledgment of one thousand Marks to the Pope, and his Successors, and when afterwards the Arrearages thereof were demanded, Ann. 40. Ed. 3. the Parliament of that year answered, That no King can put himself or his Realm in Subjection, without their Assent: And how far that Assent reach'd, we have it in the 42 of Edward the Third, where, in full Parliament, it was further declar'd,Inst. 4.13. & 357. That they could not Assent to any thing in Parliament, that tended to the Disinherison of the King, or his Crown, whereunto they were Sworn: which is no more, than what the Statute that prescribes the Oath of the Kings Justices has in it, viz. Ye shall not Counsel, 18 Edw. 3. nor Assent to any thing that may turn him (the King) in Damage, or Disinherison; by any manner, way, or colour. And to the same effect, are the several Oaths of the Lord Chancellor,Inst. 4.88. & 104. and Lord Treasurer; You shall not know nor suffer the Hurt, or Disinheriting of the King, or that the Rights of the Crown be decreased, by any means, as far as you may lett it. In a word (to omit many others) All such things, whereof no Subject can claim Property,Inst. 2.167. as Treasure-trove, Wreck, Estrays, &c. belong to the King by his Prerogative, which extends to all Powers,Inst. 1.90. & 344. and Preheminences, which the Law hath given the Crown;Inst. 2.496. Bract. l. 1. and is a principal part of the Law of the Land, and is called by Bracton, Libertas, & Privilegium Regis, both words signifying the same thing, i. e. The Kings Prerogative. And by Britton, Britt. f. 27. Droit le Roy, The Kings Right.Regist. fol. 61. And in the Register, Jus Regium, which is the same; and Jus Regium Coronae, The Royal Right of the Crown: And since it has not been wound up so high, as to endanger the strings, what reason is there to wish it let down so low, as to render it profanable by the People? When the Philistines return'd the Ark of God which they had taken, the men of Beth-Shemesh must be prying into it; and he that has a mind to know the effect of their curiosity, may read it in Samuel, 1 Sam. 6.19. God slew one hundred and fifty thousand of them.

But enough of the Common-Law; we'l in the next place consider, what the Statute-Law in further affirmance of the Common-Law,The like from the Statute-Law, and that the Crown of England is Imperial. Inst. 4.343. saith to this matter: And here, it cannot be thought (saith Sir Edw. Coke) that a Statute, made by the Authority of the whole Realm, will recite a thing against the Truth. I'll begin with that of Richard 2. commonly call'd the Statute of Premunire, in which it is declared,16 R. 2. c. 5. That the Crown of England hath been ever so free,

Vide Article against Woolsey. 21 H. 8.

I • st. 4.89.

that it is in no earthly subjection, but immediately subject to God, in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown, and to none other. In like manner the Statute of H. 8. against Appeals to Rome, saith, That by divers sundry old Authentick Histories, and Chronicles, 24 H. 8. c. 12. 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, by names of Spiritualty, and Temporalty, have bounden, and owen to bear, next to God, a natural, and humble Obedience. And near the middle of the said Statute, it is further called the Authority, and Prerogative of the said Imperial Crown. And in the 25 of the same,25 H. 8. c. 21. it is called, The Imperial Crown, and Royal Authority, recognising no Superior under God, but only your Grace. Vide Cap. 22. And in the following Chapter, besides the frequent use of the word Imperial, the Kings thereof are stiled, Kings, and Emperors of this Realm. And in another of the same Kings,88 H. 8. c. 7. it is called, The most Royal Estate of your Imperial Crown, of this Realm; and the same word Imperial, Vide cap. 16. made use of ten other times, in the same Statute, to the same purpose. And with this agrees the Statute of Ireland, Stat. Hibern. 28. H. 8. c. 2. where in express words also, the Kings of England are entituled, Kings and Emperors of the Realm of England, and of the Land of Ireland; and that too, five years,Stat. Hibern. 33 H. 8. c. 1. before the Title of Lord of Ireland was altered into King: And by the Act that so alter'd it, it is called The Majesty, and State of a King Imperial. 1 Eliz. c. 1. And so in the first of Qu. Eliz. (English) in which the Oath of Supremacy was enacted, the Crown of this Realm is three times called Imperial:and Cap. 3. And in the third Chapter of the same year, as often. And in the 5th. of the same Queen,5 Eliz. c. 1. (that requires all Ecclesiasticks, Graduates in any University, or Common-Laws, Officers of Court, Attorneys, every Member of Parliament, under the degree of a Baron, to take the said Oath of Supremacy, before he enter the House, or such Election to be deemed void) calls it The Dignity of the Imperial Crown. And the Act of Recognition of King James, 1 Jac. c. 1. uses the same expression of Imperial, four times. And upon a like ground,Stat. Scotiae 5. Jac. 3. c. 3. of mere Supremacy, was that Act of Scotland, before the Union of the Crowns, wherein 'tis said, Our Sovereign Lord, his full Jurisdiction, and free Empire, within this Realm. (Scotland) And the late Oath, or Test, prescribed to be taken by all persons in Publick Trust in that Kingdom,Printed at Edenburgh, 1681. declares the Kings Majesty the only Supreme Governor of that Realm, over all persons, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil. And the Act of acknowledging and asserting the right of Succession in that Kingdom, calls it the Imperial Crown of Scotland. In all which matters I have been the more particular, that I might the better evince my Reader, that this Independent Sovereignty, and Supremacy of the Kings of England, &c. has not been the opinion of any one time, but the general consent of all; and that our Kings, hold their Crowns in chief, from God, and owe no precarious acknowledgments, to the courtesie of the People.

Nor is the Kings Immediate,The Kings Power in Ecclesiasticks. Personal, Originary, Inherent Power, which he executes, or may execute (Authoritate Regiâ Supremâ Ecclesiastica) as King, and Sovereign Governor of the Church of England, to be less consider'd, it being one of those flowers whichSir H. Hob. 143. make up his Crown, and preserve it in verdure: And here, I question not but it will be granted, that the King is the Supreme Patron, of all the Arch-Bishopricks,Inst. 1.94. and Bishopricks of England, as being all founded by the Kings of England, to hold Christi Baroniam (excepting that of Soder, Glanv. l. 1. c. 7. in the Isle of Man, which was instituted by Pope Gregory the Fourth,Inst. 4.285. and may perhaps be the reason, why the Bishop thereof, hath neither Place, nor Voice in the Parliament of England) and so, were at first donative,Inst. 1.134. & 344. Per traditionem annuli, & baculi Pastoralis, by the delivery of a Ring, and the Pastoral Staff, or Crosier. And the Bishop of Rome persuading Henry the First to make them Elective, by their Chapters, Ann. Reg. 17. refused it; But King John by his Charter recognising the Custom, and Right of the Crown, in former times, by the common consent of his Barons, granted, that they should be eligible; as least doubting, he had so far lockt up himself, as that he might not be receiv'd, to disapprove, or allow: for before that, I find, Math. Paris, fol. 213. That when he had given a Conge d' eslier to the Monks of Canterbury, to Elect an Arch-Bishop, and Pope Innocent the Third, notwithstanding the Kings desires of promoting the Bishop of Norwich to it, (whom also, they had Elected) had under a Curse commanded them, to choose Stephen Langton, with which, for fear of Excommunicacation they comply'd, the King banishes the Monks as Traytors, and writes to the Pope,Answ. to Pet. fol. 88. that he had subverted the Liberties of his Crown: by which it appears, that he lookt upon himself, as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and that no Arch-Bishop, or Bishop, could be put upon him, without his consent: and what advantage the Kingdom got by this Usurpation, may be gather'd from the effects, when, after a more than six years Jurisdiction, the King Depos'd, and a free Crown put in Vassalage, it only open'd a way to those future Broils, between him, and his Barons, which lasted all his time, and wanted no fuel to feed 'em, till towards the latter end of his Son, men began to stand at gaze, and as infatuated, or startled at they knew not what, thought it more safety to look on, than lend a hand to master it: nor had they fully resolv'd what to do, until the Pope having demanded Homage of Edw. 3. and the Arrears of one thousand Marks per ann. for the Kingdoms of England, 40 Edw. 3. and Ireland, (which had been also demanded in the 3 of Edw. 1. and in case of non-performance, threatned to make out Process against the King and Kingdom, then at last, the scales fell from their eyes, and as men got out of a dream, they began to consider what they had startled at, and as an argument of their recovered Senses, the Lords Spiritual by themselves, the Lords Temporal by themselves,The Act is not in the Statutes at large, but you may find it, Inst. 4.13. and the Commons by themselves, unanimously resolv'd, and declar'd, That the King could not put Himself, his Realm, or his People in subjection, without their Assent; and albeit it might, it is (as saith Sir Edw. Coke) Contra Legem & consuetudinem Parliamenti, Ibid. 357. contrary to the order, and custom of Parliament, because it is a disherison of the King, and his Crown: after which, to avoid all further dispute, the manner and order of Election of Arch-Bishops, and Bishops, and all things relating thereunto, is setled by Statute,25 H. 8. c. 2. viz. 1. Negatively, That no one thereafter be Presented, Nominated, or Commended to the Sea of Rome, for the Dignity or Office of any Arch-Bishop, or Bishop within this Realm, or any other the Kings Dominions. 2, Affirmatively, That at every avoidance of any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick (as before) the King our Sovereign Lord his Heirs and Successors, may grant to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Churches where the Sea of such Arch-bishoprick, or Bishoprick shall happen to be void, a License under the Great Seal, as of old time hath been accustomed to proceed to Election of an Arch-Bishop, or Bishop, of the Sea so being void, with a Letter missive, containing the name of the person which they shall Elect or Choose, by virtue of which, they elect the said person, &c. or in case of refusal incur the Penalties of a Premunire. So that upon the whole, the Election (in effect) is but a matter of form, it is the Kings meer Grant which placeth, and the Bishops Consecration, which maketh a Bishop: Neither do the Kings of this Land use herein, any other, than such Prerogatives, as Forein Nations have been accustomed unto. Or otherwise, what made Pope Boniface, solicit the Emperor Honorius, to take order, that the Bishops of Rome, might be created, without ambitious seeking of the Place. A needless Petition, if so be the Emperor had no right, in placing of Bishops there.This was set out by Dr. Bernard, in 16 1. in a Book, entituled, Clavi Trabales, with the Bishop of Lincoln's Preface to it, p. 82. Of which, there are several other instances, in a piece of Mr. Hookers, touching the Kings Power in the advancement of Bishops. In short, if before that Act of Hen. 8. a Bishop in England had been made a Cardinal,Inst. 4.357. the Bishoprick became void, but the King should have nam'd the Succsseor, because the Bishoprick is of his Patronage. And as to the Arch-Bishops, and Bishops in Ireland, Ibid. 359. the respective Chapters (of ancient time) upon every avoidance, sued to the King in England, to go to the Election of another, and upon certificate of such Election made, and the Royal Assent obtain'd, a Writ issued out of the Chancery here, to the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Regist. 294. or the Lieutenant, rehearsing the whole matter, and commanding him to take fealty of the Bishop, Fitz. N. Bre • . Printed in 1666. 411. and restore him to his Temporalties: But now the course is, that such Writs are made in Ireland, in the name of the King, who nominates the Arch Bishops and Bishops there, as he doth in England, and then the Chapter choose him whom the King names to them, and thereupon the Writs are made of course. Nor were the Kings of England, even in those times, excluded, but still acknowledg'd to have Power of Dispensation, and other Ecclesiastical Acts.6 Edw. 3.11. 11 H. 4.68. And therefore as he first gave Bishopricks and Abbeys, and afterward, granted the Election to Deans, and Chapters, and Covents; so likewise might he grant Dispensation to a Bishop Elect, to retain any of his Dignities,11 H 4.60. 11 H. 7.12. or Benefices in Commendam: and to take two Benefices; and to a Bastard, to be a Priest: And where the Statute 25 H. 8. c. 21. says,Sir Hen. Hob. fol. 146. That all Dispensations, &c. shall be granted in manner and form following, and not otherwise; yet the King is not thereby restrain'd, but his Power remains full, and perfect, as before, and he may still grant them as King; for all acts of Justice and Grace flow from him: and on this account also, he can pardon any Ecclesiastical Offence; as Heresie (for example) is a cause merely Spiritual,Inst. 3.238. or Ecclesiastical, and yet the King may pardon one convict of Heresie. Fitz. N.B. 662. And as the King may dispense, or pardon, so also does that Supreme Power enable him to several other things relating to Church-matters, which pertain not to another. He may found a Church, Hospital, or Free Chappel Donative, and whether he specially exempt the same from ordinary Jurisdiction, or not, his Chancellor,Inst. 1.344. and not the Ordinary shall visit it: and he may by his Charter license a Subject to found such a Church, or Chappel, and to ordain that it shall be Donative, and not Presentable; and to be visited by the Founder, and not by the Ordinary. And thus began Donatives in England, whereof Common Persons were Patrons. So he shall visit Cathedral Churches (by Commissioners) Sede vacante Archiepiscopalii: Dyer, 348. He may also revoke before Induction, by presenting another, for the Church is not full against the King, till Induction: And therefore if a Bishop Collates, and before Induction dies, by which means the Temporalties come into the Kings hands, the King shall present to the avoidance, for the same reason. Ibid. 294. In short, He is the Supreme Ordinary, and on that account may take the resignation of a Spiritual Dignity. Neither did the Abbots and Priors in Edward the Fourths time think him less, when they stile him Supremus Dominus noster Edwardus 4. Rex;The same 3 Car. 1 c. 4. Inst. 4.342. Inter Leges Ed. c. 17. which agrees with the Laws before the Conquest in which the King is called Vicarius summi Regis, The Vicar of the highest King.Mr. Hooker, of the Kings Power in matters of Religion, Cla. Trab. 72. And albeit, Ecclesiastical Councils, consisting of Church-men, did frame the Laws, whereby the Church Affairs were ordered in Ancient times, yet no Canon, no not of any Council, had the force of Law, in the Church, unless it were ratifi'd, and confirmed by the Emperor, being Christian: In like manner, our Convocations (that assemble not of themselves, but by the Kings Writ) must have, both Licence to make new Canons, and the Royal Assent to allow them, before they can be put in Execution; and this, by the Common Law: for,Inst. 4.323. before the Statute 25 H. 8. c. 19. A Disme (i. e. the Tenths of all Spiritual Livings, in ancient times paid to the Pope) granted by them, did not bind the Clergy, before the Royal Assent. In a word, Cro. Jac. 371. the King may make orders for the Government of the Clergy without Parliament, and deprive the Disobedient. And the Act for suppressing Seditious Conventicles,22 Car. 2. has a saving to his Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs. And so (I hope) I have clear'd this point, That the Kingdom of England, &c. is a Sovereign Imperial Monarchy, of which, the King is the only Supreme Governor, as well in all Spiritual, or Ecclesiastical Things, or Causes, as Temporal.

It remains now that I shew, That however the Emperors of the West,That the Kings of England have justly used the Titles of Emperor, &c. and that from Ancient Ages. and East have so much striven, about that great Title of Emperor, or Basileus, that yet the Kings of England (as Supreme within their Dominions) have also justly used it, and that from ancient Ages, as no less proper to their own independent greatness. And here, amongst many others, we have Edgar frequently in his Charters, Seld. Tit. of Honor, f. 17. stiling himself, Albionis, & Anglorum Basileus, King of Britain, and the English. And in one of his, to Oswald Bishop of Worcester, in the year 964. and of his Reign the sixth, Ego Edgarus, Anglorum Basileus, omniumque Regum, Insularum, Oceanique Britanniam circumjacentis, cunctarumque Nationum quae infra eam includuntur, Imperator, & Dominus, &c. Sir Edw. Coke's Preface to his fourth Report. I Edgar King of the English, and of all the Kings of the Isles, and the Ocean lying round Britain (i. e. England, Scotland, and Wales) and of all the People therein, Emperor, and Supreme Lord; for, the word in this place, bears no less, as I have shewn it before, in the Word, Lord of Ireland. Wherein it is observable, that as long since as it is, that yet the King of England, or Britain, was Lord, and Emperor of the British Sea; which agrees with that of one of his Successors (Canutus) when sitting in a Chair, by the South Shore, he used these words to the Sea, Camb. Brit. 189. Tumeae ditionis es, & terra in qua sedeo, mea est; Thou art of my Dominion (or Empire) and the Land whereon I sit, is mine; as taking it clearly, that he was the Supreme Lord, and Emperor of both: whence also, Ibid. Seld. it is affirm'd by Belknap (one of the Justices of the Kings Bench 5 R. 2.) That the Sea, is of the King Ligeance, as of the Crown of England. Inst. 4.343. So that Edward his Son, in a Charter to the Abbey of Ramsey, Ego Edwardus, totius Albionis, Dei moderante gubernatione, Basileus; I Edward by the Guidance, or Assistance of God, King of Britain. And Edwine, Ibidem. in a Charter of his to the Abbey of Crowland, is stiled, Edwinus Anglorum Rex, & totius Britanniae telluris, Gubernator & Rector; Edwine King of the English, and of all the British Land, Director, and Governor. In like manner Ethelred, in a Charter of his to the Church of Canterbury, stiles himself Angligenum, Orcadarum, Ibid, Seld. 1 necne in gyro jacentium, Monarchus, Monarch (or sole Governor) of the English, the Isles of Orkeney, and all that lie within that Circuit: but subscribes it, Ego Aethelredus, Anglorum Induperator, &c. I Ethelred Emperor of the English. And besides what I said before of King William Rufus, that said he had the same Prerogatives in his Kingdom, as the Emperor claim'd in the Empire, in a Charter of his to the Monastery of Shaftsbury, he says, Ego Willielmus Rex Anglorum, anno ab incarnatione 1089. secundo anno mei Imperii. I William King of the English, in the year of our Lord 1089. and of my Empire the second. And now having brought it thus far, I shall in the next place examin the unreasonableness of that new Notion, that the King is one of the three Estates, and doubt not but to prove the contrary, to any man but him, who will not be persuaded, tho you shall have persuaded him.

SECTION VI.

That the King is none of the Three Estates; in which, two preliminary Objections are examin'd by Reason; and answered by the manner of the Three Estates applying to him. What the Three Estates are. To presume him one of them were to make him but a Co-ordinate Power. The King cannot be said to Summon, or Supplicate himself. How will the Three Estates be made out, before the Commons came in? With a short Series during the Saxons to the latter end of Henry III. in all which time they are not so much as nam'd as any constituent part of a Parliament, And the time when probably they first came in, to be as they are at this day, one of the three Estates. That the Lords Temporal were never doubted but to be an Estate. Four reasons offer'd, that the Lords Spiritual, are one other Estate, distinct from the Lords Temporal, and one Act of Parliament, in point: With other Authorities to prove the Assertion.

THose that would have the King one of the Three Estates, say, That our Government is a kind of mixt Monarchy, Object. 1. inasmuch, as in our Parliaments, the Lower House (as representing the Commons) bear a semblance of a Democracy; and the Lords, of Aristocracy: And others, Object. 2. That the King, Lords, and Commons; who as Assembled joyntly, to the end of Legislation, as one Corporation, (and no otherwise) are the Law-giver. We'll examin it by reason, which —Neque decipitur, nec decipit usquam, and only commands belief, when all things else beg it. Sol. 1. And here, to come as near the wind as I can, that I may the better get up with them; admitting the semblance, but not granting the thing, what does this make for them, or serve to prove, that yet the Government is not a free Monarchy? because the Supreme Authority (as I said ere while) resteth neither in the one House, or the other, either joyntly, or severally, but solely in the King, at whose pleasure they are assembled, and without whose Royal Assent, they can make no Law, to oblige the Subject. And therefore not denying Bodin's distinction, Bodin, l. 2. of a Lordly Monarch, a Royal Monarch, and a Tyrannical Monarch, which relateth only to the Power, and Practice of the Monarch; yet the distinction of a Supreme, and mixt Monarchy, which designeth the manner of the Government, is a contradiction in Terminis; because that Government which extendeth it self to more than one, can never be a Monarchy; as is obvious to every one, that understandeth the word Monarchy, and was never heard of in our Land, till the men of our late times, instead of suppressing Idolatry, &c. had fram'd a new Idol of their own, and having made it as gay as they could, set it up, to be ador'd by the Multitude, always prone to admire every thing, they least understand: And what must the consequence of it be? but that the Government, must be partly Monarchical, partly Aristocratical, and partly Democratical, which are in themselves contrary, and to be governed, by contrary Laws; and if it be impossible to make any good, out of two extremes (as Monarchy, and Democracy are) what then shall be made of three, confounded among themselves? or how can it be that Sovereignty (a thing indivisible) can at one and the same time, be divided, between one Prince, the Nobility, Ibid. Bodin. and the People, in common, and not to be altogether, a State Popular; or at best a Venetian Republick, wherein albeit there be but one Duke (and He for life) yet, his person being not invested with the Supreme Power of Government, he is in effect, but —Magni nominis umbra. And as to the other, Sol. 2. That the King, Lords, and Commons as one Corporation (and no otherwise) are the Law-giver; here, I take the King to be in a worse condition; for, tho to the making of an Act, the concurrence of both Houses is necessary, yet of no effect, if the King disapprove: yet, the Case of a Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses (or whatever other the stile of the Corporation be) is wholly different; for they, meeting together (by the Princes grant) in a kind of Democratical Common Council, for the better Government of the place where they reside, order every thing, by most Voices, wherein the Mayor himself, has but one, and is concluded by the greater number; but the King, having no Voice (nor any one to represent him) in the discussive part of any Act, cannot be said to give his Royal Assent, as one of the Corporation, but by his inherent Legislative Prerogative: and how improper the contrary is; will further appear, in that a Common-Council, put what By-Laws they please, upon the Mayor, as long as they are not contrary to the Law of the Land, because he has no negative upon them. But in case of a Sovereign, the first mark of it (as I have shewn before) is the Power of making Laws; now, who should those Subjects be, that should yield Obedience to that Law, if they also had the Power to make Laws? or who should that Prince be, that could give the Law, being himself constrain'd to receive it of his Subjects, unto whom also, he gave it? A thing, not only incompatible, but even absurd, from every days Practice and Experience: for,The manner of the Three Estates applying to the King. do not the Three Estates of this Kingdom upon the passing of all Bills, address themselves to his Majesty, in the most humble Stile? As that of the Petition of Right,3 Car. 1. Humbly shew unto our Sovereign Lord the King, the Lords Spiritual, and Temporal, and Commons in Parliament Assembled, &c. So to King James, Most dread, 1 Jac. 1. and most gracious Sovereign, We your most Loyal, and Humble Subjects, the Lords, &c. So to Queen Elizabeth, 1 Eliz. 3. Most dread Sovereign Lady, &c. We your most Humble, Faithful, and Obedient Subjects, the Lords, &c. So to Queen Mary, 1 Mar. Sess. 2. We your Highness most Loving, Faithful, and Obedient Subjects, &c. do beseech your most Excellent Majesty, that it may be Enacted, &c. So to H. 8. In their most humble wise, 28 H. 8. c. 7. shewn to your most Royal Majesty, the Lords, &c. And so to Rich. 3. and backward,1 Rich. 3. By the Advice, and Assent of the Lords, &c. at the request of the Commons. To Edw. 4.3 Edw. 4. By the Advice and Assent of his Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and at the special Request of his Commons. To H. 6. By, &c. and at the special instance and request. To H. 5. the same. To H. 4. At the instance, and special request. To R. 2. the same.4 Edw. 3. In Edw. 3.'s time, These things underwritten at the request of the Commons, be Established, and Enacted, by our Lord the King, his Prelates, Earls, • 5 Edw. 3. and Barons; so by the Assent, and Prayer of the Great men, and the Commons. And in Edw. 1.'s time, At the request of the Commonalty,1 Edw. 1. by their Petition, made before him, and his Council in Parliament; as may be further seen in the Statutes at large, Stat de Scat. 51 H. 3. till ye can go no further backward, than, the King commandeth: In which also, I have been the larger, that by the consent of all times, I might shew, that this is not after the manner of Corporations, or the Language of Equals; and shall be my first Argument, why the King is none of the Three Estates.

2. This will further appear,What these Three Estates are. if we shall consider, who these Three Estates are: And those, I take to be, the Lords Spiritual, viz. Arch-Bishops, and Bishops,Inst. 4.1. who sit in Parliament by Succession, in respect of their Baronies, parcel of their Bishopricks. 2. The Lords Temporal, as Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, Barons, who sit there by reason of their Dignities, which they hold by Descent or Creation; and the third Estate, the Commons of the Realm, viz. Knights of Shires, Citizens of Cities, and Burgesses of Burroughs, respectively Elected, by force of the Kings Writ; which three Estates, Sir Edw. Coke saith) the French-men call,Inst. 1.110. Les Estates, or L' Assemble des Estates: And Philip de Comines, Lib. 5.233. (speaking how the English grant Subsidies) Convocatis (saith he) primis ordinibus, & assentiente Populo; The first, or chief Estates, being call'd together, and the People assenting: And Bodin (who by his Conference with the English Embassador, De Repub. l. 1. for so himself confesseth) wherever he speaks of the Constitution of England, calls it the King, and the Three Estates of the Realm: Coll. Fr. T •• ffe his Speech to them, • rom the Duke of Lorain, 1674. Like which, The Republick of the Kingdom of Poland, in the Interregnum between the Death of one King, and the Election of another, is stiled, Serenissimae Reipublicae Regni Poloniae, &c. Congregati Ordines: The Estates Assembled: And such were the Amplissimi Ordines, among the Romans; viz. the Senate, of whom the Emperor was no part; and signifies with us, The Estates of People, among our selves, viz. The Clergy, The Nobility, and the Commons, which, being duly Assembled, we call, a Parliament: And so Sir Henry Spelman speaking of the word Parliament, saith, it is,Sir H. Spelm. Gloss. f. 449. Solenne Colloquium, omnium Ordinum Regni, authoritate solius Regis, ad consulendum, statuendumque de negotiis regni indictum. A Parliament (saith he) is a Solemn Conference of all the Estates of the Kingdom, commanded together, by the sole Authority of the King, to Consult and Order the Affairs of the Realm. From whence it must necessarily follow, that the King is none of them, but as the Apostle says ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) as having the preheminence over them;1 Pet. 2.13. for, Quicquid efficit tale, est magis tale, Whatever is the cause of any thing, is greater than the thing caused.

To presume him such, were to make him but a Co-ordinate Power.3. To presume the King to be one of the Three Estates, were to make him but a Co-ordinate Power, and consequently, concludible by the other two; for, Par, in Parem, non habet imperium, Among Equals there is no Authority: whereas, the Supreme Title of King, is distinguish'd from others, in this, that it acknowledges no other Superior: And Bodin, speaking of a Supreme Monarch, saith, He is next to God, of whom he holdeth his Scepter, and is bound to no man. And to the same purpose Berkly, —Regum cognata Potentia coelo.Bar. Arg. l. 1. Whence it naturally follows, that this Honor is not to be shar'd with another.

4. Which is a negative instance.He cannot Summon himself. (And one Negative instance (saith the Lord Bacon) is of more force, Novum Organ. Aphor. 46. to unfix a pretending Rule, than two Affirmative to establish it.) If the King were one of the Three Estates, he should be Summon'd by Writ; but because all Writs Issue in his Name, it cannot be said, that he can Summon himself, or Supplicate himself, as both Houses do him; or not to have Power to depart, without leave, i. e. of himself, seeing they have no Power to Assemble, Determin, or Depart, part, without the Kings express Commandment.

Where were these three Estates, before the Commons came in to be a third Estate?5. If the King were one of the Three Estates, then it follows of course, as undeniable, that before the Commons became a Third Estate, and a Constituent part of a Parliament, as they are at this day, That the King must have been one Estate, The Lords Spiritual a second, The Lords Temporal a third; or otherwise there could not have been Three Estates: and, now the Commons, since the Writs for their Election, being become another, what hinders, but that they make a fourth? unless (perhaps) we deny the Lords Spiritual to have been one, and then, before the Commons, there could be but two. To examin it a little:

That Great Councils of Kings, their Nobles, Wise men, and Chief Officers, were frequently held, of Ancient time, there is hardly any thing more obvious; but, whether the Commonalty, scarce yet civiliz'd, or if so, for the most part, if not wholly, without Literature, were any essential or constituent part, of those great Councils, and Government, might be a question at this day, if there were any sufficient ground, on which to raise it. Convocavit David omnes Principes Israel, Duces tribuum, 1 Chron. 28.1. & Praepositos turmarum, qui ministrabant Regi: Tribunos quoque & Centuriones, & qui Praeerant substantiae Regis; filiosque suos, cum Eunuchis; & Potentes, & robustissimos quosque in exercitu, Jerusalem. David called together all the Princes of Israel, the Leaders of the Tribes, and the Captains of the Companies that served under him, and the Captains over the thousands, and the Captains over the hundreds, and the Stewards over all the substance and possession of the King; and his Sons, with the Officers and mighty men, and valiant men, unto Jerusalem. By which you see, of what persons, this great Council consisted; all, men of the first note, and not a word of the people. In like manner Solomon, 2 Chron. 5.2. Congregavit majores natu Israel, & cunctos Principes tribuum, & Capita familiarum, de filiis Israel, in Jerusalem. He assembled the Elders of Israel, and all the rulers of the Tribes, and the heads of the families, of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem: And here too, not a word of the People;Inst. 4.3. and yet, Sir Edw. Coke calls them both Parliaments; and so no doubt but they were somewhat like it, or otherwise, so many succeeding Centuries had never took pattern from them.

Not to run so far from home. What was our Saxon Witenage mote, Micel Synods, Micel Gemotes, or Great Councils, but so many Assemblies of the Wise men; concerning whom, it is not to be presumed, but that they were of the first rate; the lump of the People (as I so lately toucht it) being for many Ages, before, and after, not bred to Letters, and consequently, more apt for Blows, than Arguments, and readier to cut the knot in two, with their Swords, than unty it with their Tongues: and in all the Saxon Annals we find the principal, or chief Wites,Answer to Mr. Petit. 19, 20. or Wise men of the Nation,Sir H. Spelm. Gloss. 450. the Assembly of Gods Servants (the Clergy, then so called) Aldermen (or Earls) Great men, Chiefest men, Noblemen, the constituent parts of those great Councils, but no Commons to be found, or any that represented them. Neither does Sir Edw. Coke, in any Authority of his, before the latter years of Henry 3. prove any where, that the Commons at that time, were any such part of those Parliaments, for if they had, there is no question, but he would have nam'd them also; as he doth those others, that made up those Parliaments.Inst. 4 3. Rex Eldredus, convocavit Magnates, Episcopos, Proceres, & Optimates, ad tractandum de publicis negotiis regni, For so Mr. Selden takes the words, Tit. Hon. 580. King Eldred (saith he) call'd together his Earls, Bishops, Barons, and Chief men; but not a word again of the Commonalty: And with this, agrees the learned Mr. Selden, Ibid. 524. where we have several other instances, to the same purpose, but not one word in any of them, touching the Commons.

And as the Saxon Great men,Answer to Petit. 44.46. were only present; in their Great Councils, so were only the Norman Barons, and their Great men, in those of the Conqueror: for, we often meet Arch-Bishops, Bishops, Earls, Barons, but no where find the least mention of the Commons: neither is it to be believ'd, that his new acquest, would yet suffer him, to trust a People, he had so lately conquer'd, or that he made to himself, other measures, than what he took from his Sword.

And as to William Rufus his time, we find it the same; for in the sixth year of his Reign, there was a Great Council held at Winchester; and in the seventh, Ibid. Answ. 52. another at Rockingham: and in the tenth, Seld. Tit. Hen. 581. De statu regni acturus, Episcopos, Abbates, & quosque regni Proceres in unum, praecepti sui sanctione egit. Being to order some Affairs of the Realm, he commanded together the Bishops, Abbats, and all the Nobility of the Kingdom; and yet all this while, not a word of the Commons.

In like manner, albeit in the first of Henry 1. Clerus Angliae, & Populus universus, &c. the Clergy, and all the People were Summon'd to Westminster; yet here the word Populus, is used, as contradistinct, to the Clergy, Ibid. Answer, 56, 57, 58. to which it is opposed; and denotes not, any distinct State, or Order, among Secular men, or Laicks; but an Order and Estate of men, distinct, from the Ecclesiasticks, or Clergy; these two words of Clerus, and Populus, being the two general States, or Orders, into which all mankind is divided: And so he cites it, as quoted by Sir Will. Dugdale, Monast. Ang. touching the Coronation of King Egbert, Veniunt Wintoniam, Clerus & Populus; The Clergy and People came to Winchester. To which also Mr. Selden gives a great light, when of the same Council he saith, Tit. Hon. 581. Ad commune concilium Baronum meorum, is mentioned in it. Or what means that other of the third of the same King, wherein they are call'd, Primates utriusque ordinis, The Chiefs of both Orders, i. e. of the Clergy, viz. the Lords Spiritual: and of Laity, viz. the Nobles, who are also called, Principes Regni, The Chief, or Head men of the Kingdom; of which also we have several instances, in that (beloved Physician's) ingenuious, Pet. 61, 62, 63. learned Answer to Mr. Petit.

Neither does it appear, that the Great Councils in King Stephen's time, consisted of any other, than the Clergy, and the Nobility, there being not the least mention of the Milites, or Liberi homines, Knights, or Free-men, or that they acted in them. But from these Usurpations, we come to Hen. 2. who (Robert Duke of Normandy being dead) came in upon a rightful Title, from his Grand-father, Henry 1. and yet, the Great Council at Clarendon, which was the 10th. of his Reign, consisted only of Arch-Bishops, Bishops, Abbats, Priors, Earls, and Chief men, of the Kingdom; and albeit Mr. Selden (as himself from Hoveden) says, That Clerus, and Populus Regni, the Clergy, and People of the Land, were then Assembled, it appears not, that any other Estate was meant by the word Populus, than the Lay Nobles: For, at the great Council of Northampton (which was the following year) Rex Statuens celebrare solenne Concilium, Tit. Hon. 583. omnes qui tenebant de Rege in Capite, mandari fecit. The King having resolv'd to hold a Great Council, he Summon'd thither, all those, that held of him, in Capite, i. e. in Chief. Now to hold in Chief of the King, is to hold of him immediately, and merely as King, and of his Crown, as of a Seigneury in Gross, and in Chief, above all other Seigneuries, and not as of, or by means of some Honor, Castle, or Mannor, belonging to the Crown. And in the preceding leaf, Mr. Selden says, Tenere de Rege in Capite, & habere possessiones sicut Baroniam, are Synonimies; and, to hold in Chief, and to have their Possessions as Baronies,Sir H. Spelm. Tit. Baro. was to have the right of sitting in Councils, with the rest of the Barons: concerning which, it does not yet appear, that the Commonalty at that time, had any.

From thence, and during the Reign of King Richard the First, and until the 15th. of K. John, we find it the same; only at that time, the King being at Rochel in France, commits the custody of England to the Bishop of Winchester, then Chief Justice, and writes to his Barons, Knights, and to all his Feudataries, or Vassals, thro England, That he had received the Popes Letters, touching the release of the Interdict (under which the Kingdom then lay, and of which, I toucht before) which he had sent to the said Bishop; and therefore requires them, as of whose kindness, and fidelity, he had full confidence, that according to what the said Bishop should then say unto them, they would effectually give their advice, and aid: as in like manner, he writes to several other Cities, and Burroughs, thereby earnestly requiring them, that according to what the said Bishop shall give them to understand, that they effectually apply themselves to give him a supply, towards the relaxation of the said Interdict; and thereby also promises them a re-payment with thanks: so, that He only borrows Mony of them on that particular occasion, but does not in the least hint, or direct them to send their Proxies, or Representatives, to any Great Council to be then call'd: as we have it, and the History of that time, more at large, Pet. 80. ad 99. in the said Answer to Mr. Petit.

And now, having offer'd thus far to this matter, I shall go on with the reason of those times, which I take to be thus. William the Conqueror having subdu'd England, began now to consider the way of securing it; and to that purpose (as it is in the Proverb) cut large thongs out of other mens hides) and (as a reward of the Service done him) granted a certain compass or circuit of Land, unto such of his Chief men, as had assisted him, in the acquisition, to them and their Heirs, to dwell on, and exercise such Jurisdiction therein, as he thought good to grant; performing also such Services, and paying him such yearly Rent, as the Grant required: they again parcell'd this Land, to such other meaner men, as had follow'd them in the Expedition, under such Services, and Rents, as they thought fit; and by this means, as those Great men became Tenants to the King in Chief, so the Inferiors became Tenants to them, who (as Superiors) exercised a kind of little Kingship over them: The King and his Successors being Supreme Lords of the whole, and imposing from time to time, such Laws, as by the advice, and assent of those his Barons, were thought expedient, and unto which,Sir H. Spelm. Gloss. 451. Consentire inferior quisque vis us est, in persona Domini sui capitalis, prout hodie per Procuratores Comitatus, vel Burgi, quos in Parliamentis, Knights and Burgesses appellamus; to which, every inferior (saith he) was presum'd to consent, in the person of his Chief Lord, from whom he held; as at this day, by the Representatives of Counties, and Burroughs in Parliament, whom we call Knights and Burgesses: and certainly, there is no doubt to be made, but that if there had been any such privilege, of ancient time, belonging to the People, that the Historians of those times would not have pass'd so material a thing in silence, especially considering how many of lesser account, are every where found among them. Polidor Virgil, would have the Commons to have been brought into those great Councils, in the 16th. of Henry I. Sir Walter Raleigh, about the 18th. of that King; but Sir Henry Spelman will not allow it; his words are these, Sine ut sodes dicam, Ibidem. collegisse me centenas (reor) conciliorum edictiones (tenoresque ipsos plurimorum) ab ingressu Guilielmi 1. ad excessum Hen. 3. existentium, nec in tanta multitudine, de plebe, uspiam reperisse aliquid, nil in his delituerit. Give me leave (saith he) to speak frankly, I believe, I have collected an hundred Acts of Councils (and the forms of most) from the coming in of William the First, to the going off of Henry the Third; nor in so great a number have I any where found any thing of the Commonalty, nothing of it lies in them.

And yet, it may be probable,The time when it is most probable they first came in. that Henry the Third, toward the end of his long, but troublesome Reign, brought them in, to counterpoise the Factions of his seditious Barons: for, tho at the making of the Statutes of Merton, 20 H. 3. there is not the least mention of the Commons, yet in those at Marleborough, they are thus named, The more discreet men of the Realm, Vide Stat. 52 H. 3. being called together, as well of the higher, as of the lower Estate. And in the Title of the Statute of Westminster the first, made in the third of Edw. 1. (who, as he was first of his name, after the Conquest, so he was the first, that setled the Law, and State, and freed this Kingdom, from the Wardship of the Peers) it is thus said, These be the Acts of King Edward, Son to King Henry, made at Westminster, at his first Parliament, &c. by his Council, and by the Assent of Arch-Bishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, and all the Commonalty of the Realm, being thither Summoned, &c. And so, that word Parliament, which (as Sir Henry Spelman says) in King John's time, Gloss. 452. nondum emicuit, was not yet got up, other than by the name of (Commune Concilium Regni) The Common-Council of the Kingdom, came in use, as it is now taken, and the Commons, as they are at this day, an essential, and constituent part of the same, and a third Estate.

6. That the Lords Temporal are one Estate of the Realm,The Lords Temporal one great Estate. was never doubted; Mr. Selden begins his Privilege of Baronage with it: and when the Commons came in to be another, I question not but I have fully prov'd; and if now I shall make it appear, that the Lords Spiritual are one other Estate of the Realm, distinct and separate, from the Lords Temporal (I hope) I shall have gain'd my point, and that the King is not one of the Three Estates. In order to which,

1. The Lords Spiritual sit in Parliament, by a different Right,The Lords Spiritual one other distinct Estate from the Lords Temporal. Inst. 4.1. from the Lords Temporal, viz. by Succession, in respect of their Counties, or Baronies, parcel of their Bishopricks; and the others, by reason of their Dignities, which they hold, by Descent, or Creation.

2. They sit in Parliament, in a different Robe, and on a different side of the House, from the Lords Temporal, and are commanded thither by a different form in the Writ, Seld. Tit. Hon. 594. viz. In fide, & dilectione, &c. And the Lords Temporal, In fide & ligeancia, &c.

3. They have a Convocation by themselves, consisting of an Upper House, viz. Arch-Bishops, and Bishops; and a Lower House, viz. the Procuratores Cleri, Inst. 4.322. called together by the Kings Writ, and have the same Privilege for themselves, their Servants,8 H. 6. c. 1. and Familiars, as other Members of Parliament; and grant their Subsidies apart, and distinct from the Lay Nobles; as may be seen by the respective Acts, by which they have been granted, as also, ratifi'd, and confirmed.

4. The general stile of all Acts of Parliament hath been such, that sometimes the Ecclesiastical Lords are respectively named, Stat. 1 E. 1. as Arch-bishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors; as well as the Temporal Lords: and sometimes, Stat. 13 E. 1 by the inclusive name, of the Prelates; and so to the 10th. of Richard 2. where it is said, By the Assent of the Lords and Commons: under which general words, of the Lords, they seem at first to be included, as if they were but one Estate with them; were it not in the 13th. of the said King, again said, Of the Assent of the Prelates, and Lords Temporal, and Commons. And in another, of the 20th. By the Assent of the Prelates, Lords, and Commons; and in the 14.15.16. and 17. of the same King, By the Assent of his Parliament; and, the Parliament; and none of them named apart: from which time, till the 4th. of Henry 4. the word, Prelates, was again continued, and then, thus altered, viz. By the Assent of the Lords Spiritual, and Temporal, and at the special instance, and request of the Commons; and in the fifth of the same King, By the Advice and Assent of his Lords Spiritual, and Temporal, and at the request of the Commons; which so continued without any variation in substance, until the 18th. of Henry 6. at what time it became, as we have it now, viz. By the Advice and Assent of the Lords Spiritual, and Temporal, and the Commons. Besides, if the Lords Spiritual were not a third Estate, what is the reason that at the making of the Statute of Praemunire, that the Commons having declared, that they would stand to the King, in the defence of his Liberties; and praying, that all the Lords, as well Spiritual, as Temporal severally, and all the Estates of Parliament, might be examined, how they thought of that matter. The Lords Temporal, being so demanded, answered every one by himself; and in like manner, the Lords Spiritual, severally examin'd, answered by themselves: which affords me a double Argument, 1. That by all the States of Parliament there must be necessarily intended, more than two, if it were for no other reason, than mere propriety of Speech. 2. That the King could not make up, that other, or third Estate; because, he is desired to examin all the States severally, which he could not do, if he had been one of them himself: so in the 40th. of Edw. 3. (which I should have named first) when the King asks advice of his Parliament,40 Edw. 3. Whether King John could have subjected the Realm, as (what in him lay) he did, The Prelates by themselves, the Dukes, Earls, and Barons by themselves, and the Commons by themselves, answered, That he could not. From which, nothing seems clearer to me, than that the Lords Spiritual, are one Estate, distinct from the Lords Temporal; or otherwise, what needed they have been examin'd, by those several names, of Spiritual, and Temporal, or as severally answer'd, by the same appellations.

An Act of Parliament in point.5. And now, if yet there remain'd any doubt, we have one Act of Parliament, clear in point; where, the question being, whether the making of Bishops had been duly and orderly done,8 Eliz. c. 1. according to Law, the Statute says, which is much tending to the slander of all the State of the Clergy, being one of the greatest States of this Realm. And so, having found Three Estates, without the King, I think (in good manners) we ought to spare him.

I have hitherto offered some Reasons,Express Authorities to prove the King none of the Three Estates. nor without their Authorities. I come now to somewhat more direct, if yet, those of the 40th. of Edw. 3. the 16th. of Rich. 2. and the 8th. of Qu. Eliz. last mentioned could be thought otherwise. I'll begin with the Statute of H. 8. where this Kingdom is called an Empire, governed by one Supreme Head, and King, unto whom a Body Politick compact of all sorts, and degrees of People, divideth in Terms, and by names of Spiritualty, and Temporalty been bounden: and who can believe, that the Authority of a Parliament, should utter any thing in Parables, or under double meanings, contrary to the common sense of the express words, or that there was ever intended, by the words, (divided in Terms, and by names of Spiritualty and Temporalty) so many mere words, and no more? However, to take off all doubt, Sir Edw. Coke says, The High Court of Parliament consisteth of the Kings Majesty, sitting there, as in his Royal Politick Capacity, and of the Three Estates of the Realm, Inst. 4.1. viz. the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal, and the Commons: And so Cowel, Cowel Interp. Tit. Parliam. The word Parliament, in England, we use it for the Assembly of the King, and the Three Estates, viz. the Lords Spiritual, Lords Temporal, and the Commons. And, Title Statute, he saith it signifieth, a Decree, or Act of Parliament, made by the Prince, and the Three Estates; unto whom (as I said before) they are subordinate, in the Legislation, and of no Power of themselves, but joyned to their Figure, have the full strength of their places: which in short we may thus farther demonstrate, under the familiar instance of a Dean, and Chapter; of whom, the Dean is no part, but (Caput Capituli) the Head of them. And now if any one shall demand, why this term of the Three Estates does not so frequently occur to us, of Ancient time; I answer, That before the Commons were brought in, there was no thought of it; and since that time, no dispute of it; until of late, where many a worse twig was (even learnedly) made use of, to stilt, and bolster a Ricketed Cause· However, it is not too late, that the Point is cleared now. And so we have it, in the Act for Unifermity of Publick Prayers, made the 14th. of this King, where the Form of Prayer, for the Fifth of November, is thus entitled, A Form of Prayer, with Thanksgiving, to be used yearly, on the Fifth day of November, for the happy deliverance of the King, and the Three Estates of the Realm, &c.

And with this agrees the Kingdom of Scotland, of which, Mr. Cambden, Tit. Scotland, fol. 7, 8. in his History of Britain, says, That their Supreme Court, is their Parliament, which consisteth of Three Estates, The Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal, and the Commons, for Cities, and Burghs: of which, the King is Directus totius Dominus. Stat. of Scotl. 3 Jac. 1. c. 48. And so a Parliament of that Kingdom reckons them: It is ordained by the King, by Consent, and Deliverance, of the Three Estates.Printed at Edenb. 16. October, 1669. And the Act of asserting the Kings Supremacy over all Persons, and in all Causes Ecclesiastical; and the late Indictment, against Argile; and the Acts,All Printed at • denbr. 1681. for the Acknowledging, and Asserting, the Right of Succession, to the Imperial Crown of Scotland: And that other, for ratifying all former Laws, for the security of the Protestant Religion, agree in point with it: Nor is it strange they should, inasmuch, as neither their Langue, nor their Laws, especially, such as are criminal (as may be seen, by comparing their Regiam Majestatem, with our Glanvil, De Legibus, written in Henry the Second's time) much differ from ours: And the Union of the two Crowns, in the Person of King James, is called, An Union,English Stat. 1 Jac. c. 1. or rather, a re-uniting of two Mighty, Famous, and Ancient Kingdoms, yet anciently, but one. And that the Laws of Ireland (a distinct Realm,Inst. 4.351. or Kingdom, from both) say nothing of this matter, I take it to be, for the same reason, that the Romans made no Law against Parricide, They never dreamt it.

SECTION VII.

Admitting what has been before offer'd, wherein has our present King merited less than any of his Royal Ancestors? with a short recapitulation of Affairs, as they had been, and were at his Majesties most happy Restauration: and that he wanted not the means of a just Resentment, had he design'd any.

I Have hitherto shewn, that the Crown of England, &c. is Supreme, Sovereign, and Imperial; nor will it be from the purpose now, to demand, Wherein has our present King, less merited, than any of his Regal Ancestors, that it should appear less on his Head, than theirs; especially considering he is so far from not getting up to 'em, that (his Royal Father only excepted) he has out-gone them all in his own example; albeit he wanted not the too many just occasions of having been otherwise. To recapitulate some few of them;A short Recapitulation of Affairs, before his Majesties return. nor is it less than fit, to burn Incense, where ill Odors have been cast, or rais'd. To have seen (then) three famous Kingdoms, that had so often acknowledg'd his Princely Progenitors, their undoubted Heirs, (like Aesop's Pots) broken, against one another: To have examin'd the Quarrel, of which (whatever were the pretences) nothing other was in the bottom, than to kill the Heir, and divide the Inheritance: To have beheld his Glorious Father, Disarm'd by one Party, and in that condition, left to the growing designs of another, and the merciless Cruelty of both: To have consider'd him, not forsaken only, but ingratefully edg'd forward to his Destruction, by those Mushromes, whom his Royal Influence had fermented into somewhat: To have recollected his many Messages, fruitless Treaties, and that after all condescensions, nothing would content them, without the Kingdom also: If there be yet room for a thought; to have remember'd (after the Faith of both Houses given him) how he was brought to Jerusalem to be Crucifi'd by the Jews: To have once more remembred, Him, The Fountain of all Law, Justice, and Honor, publickly arraign'd, by the Tail of the People, and that too, under the false detorted names of Law, Justice, and Honor of the Nation, nor without the Fucus of their Religion also, brought in, to sanctifie the Ordinance: To have remember'd him (I say) Traiterously Sentenc'd by his own Subjects, and as ignominiously (even while the Heads of the Faction (as the Phrase of that time was) Were seeking God) Infesto Regibus exemplo, Part of the Epitaph, of Mary Queen of Scots. Securi percussum, and Murder'd before his own Palace; Kingly Government abolish'd; the Name, Stile, Title, and Test of the King, Scobel's Collection of Acts, 1648. alter'd into, The Keepers of the Liberty of England, by Authority of Parliament: That notion of a Parliament too, which by the same fatal blow, cut themselves off, also: Let me not seem tedious, to have remembred himself, Proscrib'd, and thereby, made High Treason, to Proclaim him King; The Oaths of Allegiance, and Supremacy damn'd; The Royal Ensigns defac'd; The Coin alter'd; The Regal Statue thrown down, and under that Vacancy, Engraven, Exit Tyrannus, Regum ultimus, Anno Libertatis restitutae, primo: In short, to have remembred his helpless Friends, either starving at Home, or by not complying, necessitated into Forein Arms, and not the least number of them, so unfortunate, as to have surviv'd the Ruines of their (once) Families; and lastly, the more unhappy himself, that could only look on and pity them. —Quis talia fando, Temperet?— What private Gentleman could have born it? But perhaps you'l say, he wanted the opportunity; I think not: For if we consider him, as he was at that time, not only return'd from his Fathers Allies,That he wanted not opportunities of resenting them, had he design'd it. but the same Profest Son of the Church of England, he first went out, and in that, the Darling of the People; what particular person, or number of men, might he not have singled from the Herd, as a just Sacrifice to his Fathers Ashes, and his own Revenge; had he design'd any? He had an Army at his beck; The Navy regenerated; All Forts, and Garrisons re-inforc'd with Royalists; The Country return'd to its former Allegiance; and the City, crying out, Yea, let him take all, since my Lord the King is return'd to his own House in peace? What (I say) might he not have done? especially considering, that such as had been obnoxious, could not but expect, that the Cloud must break, and be afraid, where it might fall, and consequently ready, each man to have given up his nearest Relation, to save himself, —Et quae sibi quisque timêre Unius in miseri exitium convertere—Virgil. Can a Mother forget her Son? Or a Son, such a Father? And yet, Quanquam animo redit usque Pater,Strada. tamen excutit omnem, Rex melior— he so far forgot it, as to avoid the occasions of remembring it: Nay, which of his Enemies lookt up to him, and return'd empty? Was not the Childrens Bread thrown among them, while the helpless Orphans scarce lickt up the Crums? And has not that fulness of Bread, provok'd them into wantonness? They have eat, drunk, and now rise up to play; and 'tis a shrewd sign they are idle, when nothing will serve them, but they must be Sacrificing in a Wilderness; yet, what greater Testimonies could there be, of an entire Forgiveness? And if so, this methinks should at last mind us, that as Vapors rising from the Earth, stay not long in the Air, but fall on the same Earth again, That we also, as truly sensible of the Mercy, return him (at least) the grateful Acknowledgments of an humble Obedience.

SECTION VIII.

That notwithstanding the hard Law of the Kingdom, the Jews paid their Kings, an entire Obedience. Two Objections answered. The like, other Nations to their Kings. A third Objection answered. The Precept of Obedience is without restriction; Examples upon it: Nor is Idolatry any ground to resist; much less, things indifferent. The example from our Saviour in Instituting his last Supper. Least of all, is injury, with the practice of Holy men of old, in like cases. And that if any ground were to be admitted, that, would never be wanting.

I Gave an account before, of that hard Law of the Kingdom given to the Jews, and yet we find not throughout the Story, that they did in the least repine at it, but rather the contrary; for when upon the Constitution of Saul, 1 Sam. 10.26. some Children of Belial, (for so the Text calls them) had despis'd him, saying, How shall this man save us? The People (whose hearts God had toucht) in the next Chapter, ver. 12. say unto Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men, that we may put them to death. And what value they put on their Kings Person, may be seen in this, that Saul's Armor-bearer, chose rather to kill himself, than perform that last (if yet I may so call it) charitable Office, to his distressed Master,1 Chron. 10.5. then ready to fall into his Enemies hands, and praying it; neither would the People suffer David to go forth before them to Battel; For if we flee (say they) they will not be much concerned at it, 2 Sam. 18.3. neither if half of us die, will they care for us; but thou art worth ten thousand of us. In short, he that was King among them, did whatever pleased him;Eccles. 8.3. And whatever the King did,2 Sam. 3.36. pleased all the people.

And was not this a perfect love between a King and his People? was there ever a more exact, or entire Obedience? An Obedience, to be reckon'd for Righteousness? And yet, what new paths do we take to our selves? when, if we would but examin Holy Writ, we might find that, every where directing us to our Duty. As, 1. Negatively; in that we are commanded, not to think ill of the King; Curse not the King, no, Eccles. 10.20. not in thy thoughts: much less then, may we speak it,Exod. 22.18. Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people. Least of all, may we do him hurt:Psal. 105.25. Touch not mine Anointed. 2. Affirmatively, We are commanded to keep his Commandments, and that in regard of the Oath of God:Eccles. 8.2. Neither may we give him any just cause of anger; Whoso provoketh him to it, sinneth against his own soul. 〈◊〉 . 20.2. To which, 〈◊〉 . 1. if any one shall say, they were Kings themselves, that spake it, and 'twere much they could say nothing in their own behalf: I answer, Sci. 1. That besides that it has been ever receiv'd for Holy Writ, Job, who wrote many Centuries, before there was any King in Israel, puts the question,Job 36.18. Is it fit (saith he) to say to a King, thou art wicked, or to Princes, ye are ungodly? The Interrogation is affirmative, and after the manner of affirmative Interrogations, concludes negatively, i. e. No, it is not fit; for, says the same Eccles. (which is another of the same) who may say unto him, What do'st thou? To which also if it be yet objected, that this Law was given to a peculiar People, Object. 2. and that no Law (but the Law of Nature, which is immutable) obliges any, to whom it was not given: Sol. 2. I answer (as before) besides that it is Holy Writ, what inconvenience is it, if we give the same credit to God Almighty, we generally allow to other Law-givers? and the rather, in that God, is not the God of the Jews only,Rom. 3.29. but the Gentiles also.

That Reverence,The like of other Nations to their Kings. the Jews paid their Kings, by a Written Law, the Ancient Heathens took up from a mere impulse of Nature; and yet, what the manner of their Kingdoms were (in that the Jews did but desire to be like all other Nations) you have had before. Q. Curtius tells us, that the Persians had such a love to their King, that Alexander could not persuade them, either for fear, or reward, to tell him whither their King had fled; or reveal any of his intentions. In like manner, when Xerxes fled from Greece, in a small Vessel, Herodot. l. 8. so full of men, that it was impossible for him to be sav'd, without throwing some overboard; the Nobility leapt into the Sea, and by their example, others, till the Ship was lightned, and the King preserv'd. And so Boëmus Aubanus, De morib • s gentium, l. 1. cap. 5. speaking of the Aegyptian Kings, saith, that they had so much love from their People, Ut non solum sacerdotibus, sed etiam singulis Aegyptiis, major Regis, quam uxorum, filiorumque salutis, inesset cura, That not only the Priests, but every one of them had a greater care of the Kings safety, than of their Wives, and Children. And in another place, speaking of the Tartars, Albeit their King (saith he) upon his Inauguration, tells them, Oris mei sermo, gladius meus erit, My word's my Sword; and that all things are in his power, Ibid. l. 2. c. 10. and no man may dwell in any part of the Land, but what is assign'd him by the King; yet, nemini licet imperatoris ve • ba mutare, nemini latae ab illo sententiae qualicunque modo contraire; No man may alter his Decree, or in the least tittle dispute his Commands.

Besides all which, the obsequious impiety of elder times, attributed the name of God to their Emperors; and whence (perhaps) it might be, that Joseph swore, By the life of Pharaoh; —Sceptrum, capitisque salutem Testatur— And the Romans, By the Majesty and Genius of the Emperor: And the drinking his Health, at Publick Feasts was decreed to Augustus; as we have it in Peter Ursinus his Appendix, where also, he cites S. Ambrose, speaking of the custom of his time, Append. ad Pet. Ciacc. de Triclinio, 327. Bibamus (inquiunt) pro salute Imperatorum, & qui non biberit, sit reus in devotione: Let us drink (say they) the Emperors Health, and let him be damn'd that refuses it ▪ in which the Father taxes not the thing, but their ill of doing it.

In the offering of all which, let me not be mistaken, as if I design'd to insinuate, that such a Power as those Kings I so lately mentioned, did exercise, might be practicable now, or any municipal Law, alter'd ad libitum; no, that were to justifie that Arbitrary Power, so often talkt of, and against which, our present King, hath so publickly declar'd; the absolute, and unlimited Sovereignty, which they have by the Ordinance of God, having from time to time (by their Bounty) been limited, and bounded in the ordinary exercise thereof, by such Laws, and Customs, as themselves have given the Royal Assent unto, and allowed; so that in effect, it may be said, What have we, that we have not received? Upon which score it is, that a Subject may maintain his Right, and Property, and have Judgment against the King; and in such cases, the Judges are bound to right the party, according to Law: And there are many things also, of which it is said, The King cannot do them, i. e. because he will not do them (quia refragantur ordini) as being contrary to the Law, and Order, establish'd in his Realm: And therefore, neither can our Kings, or ought they in common justice to be esteem'd, or thought the less, when they have scatter'd any Flowers of their Crown on their Subjects, in asmuch as the root rests in the same place, and is as productive of more, when deserved.

Object. 3.But suppose (may some say) the King be a wicked King, a Tyrant, an Idolater, or however else the licentiousness of an enrag'd Rabble may render him, may not the subordinate Magistrate, the Nobility, or People, restrain, or remove him?

Sol. 3.I answer, No; for besides that the Precepts of Obedience to Kings, are without restriction, and therefore extend to all Kings,The precept of Obedience is without restriction. be they what they will; if it be not lawful for me to judg another man's Servant, how much less then, my own Master, whose Power over me is just, tho it may so happen, that he use it unjustly? The Israelites had a sharp bondage under the Egyptians, Exod. 1.9, 10. and wanted not numbers to have made their party good: The Land was filled with them, and Pharaoh confesseth them, the more mighty; yet they thought it better to quit the Country, than rebel: Nor was their condition much improv'd in Babylon, Ezra 6.10. and yet they are commanded to offer Sacrifices,Jer. 29.7. and pray for the Life of the King, and of his Sons; and to seek the peace of the City where they were Captives. Samuel pronounced the rejection of Saul (whom also,1 Sam. 15.26, 35. David afterward spar'd) yet neither incited the People to rebel against him:Idolatry, no ground to resist. Nebuchadnezzar, Achab, Manasses, were Idolatrous Kings; and yet Daniel, Elias, and the Holy men of those times, continu'd their Obedience, and tamper'd not with others, to infringe theirs: What shall I add? our Saviour commands us to give unto Caesar, Matth. 22.21. the things that are Caesars, and the Apostle who exhorts,1 Tim. 2.1, 2. That, first of all, supplications, prayers, &c. be made for all men, forgets not more especially, Kings, and all that are in Authority: In short, the Primitive Christians resisted not their Idolatrous Persecutors, and yet contrary to the opinion of Bellarmin, Bellarm de Po • t. l. 3. c. 9. Buch. de j • re Reg. p. 61. and Buchanan, they wanted not numbers: Vestra omnia implevimus, (saith Tertullian) urbes, insulas, In Apolog. castella, municipia, conciliabula, castra ipsa, decurias, Palatia, forum, Senatum: cui bello non idonei, non prompti fuissemus, qui tam libenter trucidamur, si non apud disciplinam nostram magis occidi liceret, quam occidere? We fill (saith he) the whole Empire, your Cities, Princes Houses, Castles, Corporations, Councils, your very Camps, Courts of Justice, Palaces, Market-places, Senate; with whom are we not able to make a War, who so willingly offer our selves to the slaughter? did not our Religion teach us, that (in such cases) it is better to be killed than kill. But instead of it, pray'd, That God would give them, Vitam prolixam, Imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, Senatum fidelem, Populum probum, orbem quietum, & quaecunque hominis aut Caesaris sunt vota. A long Life, a secure Empire, safe House, valiant Forces, a faithful Council, loyal People, quiet State; and whatever were the desires of a man, or Emperor: They preferr'd God, before Julian's Idolatry, yet, when he said, March, they obey'd him.

Much less, things indifferent.And if Idolatry be not ground for a Subject to resist his Prince, much less then may cases of lesser consequence, which touch not the Foundation, but are only circumstantials: And of this kind, are all (Adiaphora) things in themselves indifferent, whether to be made use of, or not made use of, however, coming to be commanded, by a lawful Authority, the indifferency ceases, and every man is obliged in Conscience to comply with the Command, as especially in such cases, where he has made himself a party, Dyer, 23.148. by his Representative; and from which, if he might retract, by saying, it was not the sense he meant, why also might not the King, in some other case, say, he was mistaken, when he gave the Royal Assent? for I do not find, that the Subject here, shall be in a better condition, than the King. And then, make the consequence who will, which is as easily done, off-hand, as other matters, that require no study.

And here I might instance several Ceremonies, which, albeit they were first devised by man, for the more decent order in the Church, and tho the keeping, or omitting them, is in it self, but a small thing, yet the wilful, Vide, Preface to the Liturgy, and touching Ceremonies. and contemptuous transgression, and breaking of a common Order, and Discipline, is no small offence, against that rule of the Apostle, Let all things be done in a seemly and due order: and is no more of private interpretation, than is Scripture, which (like the Law) pronounceth nothing, but in the mouth of a Judg.

To speak once for all, our Saviour who was an Hebrew, amongst whom,The example of our Saviour, in his Instituting his last Supper. the Roman Customs were not so altogether in use, gives us a remarkable example, in this matter, and I think no man will question his Authority, —Solem quis dicere falsum Audeat? He was (I said before) an Hebrew, and yet, if we examin his converse among the Romans, we shall find it generally, comporting to their manners. To pass the rest, that one of Instituting his last Supper, seems to me to carry no small force: The Triclinium (a Bed, not unlike our Couches without backs, but broader, on which the Romans at their Feasts, lay in a manner extended, on their Sides, Breasts, or Elbows) was not in use among the Jews, that ever I yet met, or learn'd; yet when our Saviour was to keep the Passover (which the Jews did,Deut. 12.11. their Loins girt, their Shoes on their feet, their Staves in their hands, and in hast) the Text says, Discumbebat cum duodecim, which signifies the manner, how the Romans used those Beds; and from whence S. John is said, to have leaned on his bosom: yet admitting, that he sate down, it is enough, to prove, that it was not the Jewish custom, for they stood: besides, the form of the Table seems to have been Roman, viz. Orbicular, or Oval (of which kind, we have several figures, Rosin. Rom. Antiq. l. 5. c. 27. Lipsii Saturn. lib. 1. c. 6. in Rosinus, Lipsius, and others) and the reason of it was, that every ghest might put his hand in the Dish, without reaching over another: and this is further plain, by that answer of our Saviour, to his Disciples, asking him,Mat. 26.23. who should betray him, Qui intingit manum in Paropside, &c. He that dippeth his hand with me in the Dish, the same shall betray me: neither is it possible it could have been a long Table, for then, how could our Saviour (as we have it in another Evangelist) have given him the Sop;John 13.26. in as much, as Judas being the last of the twelve (and perhaps for that reason also,Mat. 10 4. carrying the Bag) must in all probability have sate lowest, and out of reach of the Sop, as well as of the Dish: from all which I infer, that if our Saviour, who was no Roman, conform'd himself to the customs of the Roman Empire, to which the Jews, were at that time Tributary, how much more then ought this be a sufficient ground to us, whereby to follow his example; especially, in matters, otherwise indifferent, where they are not commanded; it being but reasonable, that in standing weight, even a grain of Authority should turn the Scale.

Least of all then is injury any ground for a Subject to oppose his Prince; inasmuch,Least of all, injury. as no man can be said to be injur'd by him, of whom, by the Law of God, and man, he can take no revenge, without a greater injustice.John 18.11. S. Peter was reproved by our Saviour, for drawing his Sword against Authority, tho in defence of his Master: S. Paul checks himself for a bareActs 25.5. slip of his Tongue, against the High-Priest: And look back into the Old Testament, those times also, hold no such custom, but rather the contrary:Exod. 12.37. Thus Moses, and six hundred thousand footmen, besides children, and a mixt multitude, fled from Pharaoh: David, 1 Sam. 22.2. in the head of an Army, (and those, if we consider the persons, desperate enough) from Saul:1 Kings 19.18. And Elias, from Jezabel, seven thousand men yet left in Israel, that had not bow'd their knees unto Baal: And as they fled, others supplicated:1 Sam. 19.4. So Jonathan, for David to Saul:Jer. 38.9. Ebedmelech, for Jeremiah, Esther 7.3. to Zedechiah: And Esther (a Queen) for her Nation, to Ahasuerus.

If any ground were to be admitted, that would never be wanting.In short, if any cause should be admitted, for which Subjects might resist, that cause, would never be wanting, against any Prince (let him reign never so justly) whom the people shall call an Idolater, or Tyrant; and how easie it will be, to conclude him one, or both, especially, where they that take upon them to give the Sentence, shall make the case, I leave it to every man: Impiety must be the ground to accuse him, and that, the common pretence, whereby to depose him; as if a King, like a Chinese god, Semido in His • . of China. might be whipt into a compliance, or if that will not do, thrown in the fire, and another set up in his room, during the same pleasure, or better behaviour. In a word, I spake erewhile of flight, and supplications, but they that are too stiff for the one, will rarely bend to the other, unless (when they can do no more) they appeal (from the King, to Alexander) from himself, unto himself, as presuming, that private Spirit which knows not how to deny, will yet so prevail on his publick capacity, that he will remit any thing.

SECTION IX.

The Arts of the late times in working the People from this Obedience. It was to be done piece-meal. The Kings Necessities, answered with Complaints. Plots discovered; Fears and Jealousies promoted. Religion cants its part. Leading men, some to make it Law, others, Gospel; The examples of Corah, &c. The same Game playing over again: Prognostications, &c. The ill consequence of such Impressions. The examples of Cade, Tyler, and others. Holy League in France; Solemn League and Covenant, at home, &c. New Trains to the old Fuel. Our Saviours advice to his Disciples touching the leven of the Pharisees: What that, and they were, made applicable unto our selves.

I Have brought it thus far, that Princes are to be obey'd, and yet, ere I close the Argument, it will not be from the purpose, if we examin how the People were wrought from it in the late times, and of what ill consequence, the like impressions may be at present. Wise men are safe, they have wit enough to keep within themselves; but, 'tis the Mobile vulgus, the Ignota Capita, Sine nomine turba, that only fall within my discourse. And truly, considering this Kingdom in its self, —Potens armis, atque ubere glebae, A Land so considerable abroad, and fruitful at home, That Virtue, and Fortune, which (according to Florus) seem'd to have contested about the raising of the Roman Empire, might have been truly said to have concenter'd here: And withal, considering the evils we have past, and the happy days we might enjoy, if we pleas'd our selves, it would confound Astrologers, to observe such Planets, such masculine Planets, Ascending, in Conjunction, in the Houses of their Exaltation, and yet the Kingdom, Planet-struck. —Pudet haec opprobria dici; Et dici potuisse, & non potuisse refelli. To examin it a little further, and the rather, for this, that by viewing the Cards, by which the last Game was play'd, we need not be once more cheated, unless we please our selves.

That the People were so beset, is agreed of all hands: Whither do Rheumes, and Humors resort, but to the weakest parts? yet, this was not to be done all at once; no, they were first to be prepar'd, and then so dispos'd, that they saw nothing but (sub imagine lusca) by a dull false light. To have askt the People about sixty years since, if they would have taken Arms against their Prince, That Prince, whose Ancestor had given them so much, they could not readily tell, what to ask more; no doubt but they had startled at the question, and answer'd, as Hazael to Elisha, 2 Kings 8.13. Is thy servant a dead dog he should do this thing? No, that was a gobbet too large for their throats;It was to be done piece-meal. but given bit, by bit, there was no danger of the swallow, were it never so raw. Seldom appears the Devil so ugly as the Painters make him, that were enough to convince an Atheist; but when he offers himself as an Angel of Light, who would suffer him to shake off the dust of his feet on them?

The Kings necessities to be supply'd with complaints.And here, Religion was a main instrument, but it must stay its time: no man serves up the last course, till the first, and second are over: the King was to be first reduc'd to necessity, to the end, that being forc'd to extraordinary means for supply, he might attract an odium: nor must he be supply'd, but from hand to mouth; however, what he might want in that, he had it otherways, press'd down, and running over: complaints of Grievances, Treasure mis-spent, Necessities contracted by mis-providence, Remonstrances against Favourites, not forgetting the Old Ingredients, of Growth of Popery, Rushworth's Coll. fol. 40.183.402.656. and Arbitrary Government: and if this was not the Art of that time, my Author has done them wrong, and that he is seldom guilty of.

By this time the People were shod with the Preparation of the Work; and now,Plots discover'd, Fears and Jealousies promoted. the French are ready to land, and the old Vault smells rank of Powder again: The Kingdom must be put into a posture of Defence,Sir Will. Dugd. Short View, &c. from fol. 67. to fol. 124. and the Militia into Confiding hands; Fears and Jealousies promoted; Bishops, and Popish Lords Excluded; the Well-affected Counties Associated; Monies raised; themselves Perpetuated; Publick-Faith set up; the Excise slurr'd on the People for repaying it; and the holy Covenant, to pin the Basket: And one would think they had laid in well enough, and yet, besides the 11 Millions; which the Plate, Rings, Bodkins, &c. within London, Essex, and Middlesex, besides other Counties, amounted to, it is publickly declar'd, That if any Papists, would bring in any considerable Sums, Octob. 6.1642. upon the Propositions, they should be received; albeit they tax'd his Majesty for raising an Army, by the help of Papists; as their Disciples, some years afterward, hired Owen Roe O Neal, to raise the Siege at London-Derry in Ireland, then Beleaguer'd by his Majesties Forces; not without suspicion, that they over-paid him his Wages in a Parting Glass.

And now 'tis time that Religion Trump up,Religion cants its part. and justifie all they had already laid, or were to act for the future. A painful, Gospel-Ministry, must act its part, and S. Ant'lins Lectures, lead the way to the Artillery-yard: in order to which, they beat down morality, that having swept the house of one Tenant, it might be the readier for another. Ye must not (said they) plant Gospel-Truths on legal Foundations, or the rotten Crab-stocks of carnal Principles: who ever found fault with Fresh Herrings? and shall we despise Truth because 'tis a novelty? 'tis a sign men have a mind to sleep, when they draw their Curtains, and will have no more light come in: whereas, it is your work to enquire after further light: To call out, what of the night? How much of the night of Popery and darkness remains? How near are we to the taking the possession? and how long may we be kept off ere the Scepter of the Kingdom be advanced? And is not this fine stuff? And yet the Pulpit-Drums of that time beat no other March: And all this by Scripture too; nor (as to themselves) without reason: Don't we give Children Hony and Raisins, with their Worm-seed? and g • ld Pills, for men of riper years? Did ever Dog swallow a Cork without Butter? or even a Fool, Angle, without hiding his Hook in a Bait? No, no, the Needle must be first in, and the Thred follows of course. Absalom had never gotten the People to him, had he not mask'd his Rebellion, under a Vow at Hebron; for the Text says, They went in their simplicity, 2 Sam. 15.11. and knew not any thing.

Yet it was not to be expected,Leading men, to make it Law, and Gospel. that Religion alone should carry on the work, or that the same old drudg Cloak, should still hold out Rain, without a new Lining: Wisdom built her house on more Pillars than one, and a mere Foundation was too hazardous for their new Jerusalem, without Props and Buttresses: And therefore, to prevent the question, Do any of the Scribes follow him? there must be Hinters, as well as Holders-forth; Leading-men to countenance that for Law, which their Assembly had predetermin'd, should pass for Gospel.The examples of Corah, &c. Corah and his Companions, were of the Tribe of Levi; Dathan and Abiram, of the Tribe of Reuben; Heads of Families, men famous in the Congregation; Clergy, and Laity; dissembled Sanctity, to usurp'd Authority: And that their Quarrel was Government, under the pretence of Religion too, appears by what they said to Moses, Numb. 16.3. and Aaron, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the Congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord? So Adoniah (when his Father David, the Kingdom of the Jews being not yet become Hereditary, had caused Solomon to be Crowned King, while he yet lived) the better to colour his pretence to it, took to him Abiathar, 1 Kings 1.19. the High-Priest, and Joab the Captain of the Host: And who would think it strange, that a short-sighted, Sand-blind Multitude, should scruple to follow, where such Guides lead them?

I have hitherto with what briefness I could, accounted some slights of hand within our own memories; and shall it be reckoned to our inadvertence, or folly, that they pass twice in the same Age? That the Devil was once in the Herd, we have Authority enough; but that he never should quit it, we hold no such Prophesie.The same Game playing over again. And yet methinks the Game is playing over again, or else, what meaneth this bleeting of the Sheep, and lowing of the Oxen? this talking with the People upon the Wall,2 Kings 18.2 • . or making them believe, that they, that came into the world (as Cato into the Theatre) only to go out again, should yet be the Saints that are to judg, and inherit it? why must they that carry their Souls in their Eyes, and their Brains in other mens Heads, be once more buzz'd with Laws, Liberties, Conscience, Dissatisfaction? or (like Larks) dar'd to the Net, with every thing?Prognostications, &c. Prognostications, Prophesies, Prodigies, &c. which, albeit (like Mercenary Soldiers) they may be brought to fight on either side, yet every man superstitiously interprets them to his own advantage, and lets them speak no other Language, than what his wishes, hope, or fear, put in their mouths: In short, we have had enough of the Arts by which the people have been already impos'd on, nor will it be unworth the while, if we consider, of what ill consequence, such, or the like impressions, may further be to them; inasmuch also, as those Spiritual Druggists, give out the Commodity without garbling, and vend what they please among the Rabble, for staple Goods and warrantable. Man, as he is a rational, Hudibras. The ill consequence of such impressions. so also is he a compound, gradual Creature, the way to his reason, being by his sense, and appetite, which being disturb'd, or prepossess'd, how is it possible for him to take any thing aright, more than for him that is out in the premisses, not to be worse mistaken in the conclusion; or, than that a Bowl, deliver'd short, or narrow at hand, should ever come up with the Block: some Birds are whistled into the Snare, others driven, and Dotterils caught by imitation of such postures, as others put themselves into: Argus had an hundred eyes, and yet was surpriz'd sleeping: The evil one in the Gospel, sow'd tares,Matth. 13.25. while the Husbandman slept; and what worse effects may not such impressions have upon the multitude, whose whole life is but one long slumber; or at best, Per pocula noctes? And therefore considering them (as the Athenians in the Acts) ever spending their time in nothing else,Acts 17.21. but either to tell, or hear some new thing; or, taking them, as they are, weak in judgment, but violent in will; believing, as they affect, and presaging, as they believe; how easie is it to make them serviceable, to any aspiring design, shall be cast before them? And if so, how are they to be entrusted with themselves? much less, to be lasht down-hill especially, if when we have any credit to the Poet, we also allow him in the advice to Phaeton, Parce (puer) stimulis, & fortius utere loris,Ovid. Met. Sponte suâ properant, labor est inhibere— For tho they would be quiet enough, if their drivers would let 'em, yet if once they get the Bitt in their teeth, or find the Reins lie loose on their necks, they grow wild, unruly, seditious, and no longer apt to be govern'd, or ruled; and as another on the like occasion, —Non audivere jugales Imperium, & prono nec sat stetit orbita coelo.Barkeley, Argen. l. 3. And therefore the Psalmist, that reckons it among the Prerogatives of God,Psal. 65.7. to still the raging of the Sea, subjoyns immediately, and the madness of the People. Who would have thought,The examples of Jack Cade, and others. that Jack Cade (alias) Captain Mend-all in Henry 6th.'s time; Jack Straw, and Wat Tyler in Richard 2.'s time, and their Rabbles, could have done any mischief? and yet, they put the Kingdom into such a Convulsion, that it required some time ere it recover'd its limbs. And here, I wonder any Citizen of London can look upon the Bloody Dagger, in the dexter Canton, of the City Arms, and not remember the Loyalty of Sir William Wallworth, 4 Rich. 2. then Lord Mayor of London, who with his own hand, knockt down Wat Tyler, in the Kings presence, in Smithfield, and and thereby dispers'd the Rabble; in memory of which action, that Augmentation, was first given them. In like manner, That of Thomas Anello (or Massinello) in Naples, about 34 years since, Vide, The History, written by a noble Neapolitan. where so inconsiderable a thing, as the Gabel on a Basket of Fruit, or Fish, rais'd the People into a Rebellion of above 200000 men, in less than five days; wherein (ere it ended) 'twas odds, but the Neapolitan Courser, had (for all the Bridle, and Saddle) thrown his Rider, had not the Policy of that time, thought the acquest of a disputable Crown, of less concern, than the setting up again a declining, but popular, emulous, not to say pretending Family, and giving it once more, the opportunity of an Estate, that was but too mighty in Obligations already. Add to this, the late Assassination of De Witt, and his Brother, in Holland, by a wild Rabble, which also, had not been so easily quieted, were it not natural with the common People, enragedly to vent themselves on the stone that hurt them, and never regard the hand that threw it.

Holy League in France. And yet in all this there was no pretence of Religion; but it heightens the case when that shall be edg'd in, to blanch the design: and however the voice may be the voice of Jacob, it seldom happens, but that the hands, are the hands of Esau. What mischiefs, did the Army of God, Comb. Britt. 509. and the Church (for so they stil'd themselves) in King John's time? The Holy League, in the time of Henry 3. of France; which, albeit himself entred into, for the Extirpation of the Hugono • s, Lord Bacon • Essaya, 78. yet it was not long ere it was turn'd upon him: John of Leyden, and Knipperdolin in Germany: The Sword of the Lord, and Gideon (as it was then called) under John Knox, in Scotland: And the Solemn League and Covenant in our own times;Solemn League and Covenant at home. the Brands of which are it seems) not so altogether extinguish'd, but that they, more than once, began to take fire again, tho the flame were prevented. And do we not find, that in all these, a demure, down look, and an uplifted eye, went more than half way, and a mistaken violence, the undisputable Character, of a zeal to the cause? How much therefore, have the people more need of a Pendulum, than Fly; somewhat to moderate, not multiply the motion? it being here, as with Gossips Tongues, much easier to raise the Devil, than lay him. Who ever put a Sword into a mad-mans hand to keep the Peace with? or entrusted an Ape to range in a Glass-shop? yet such, or worse must it be, where the People are the Reformer, who never examin what they are doing, but how to run farthest, from what they were last.

New Trains to the old Fuel.And if so, what mean these new Trains, to the old Fuel? Jealousies, Murmurings, Repinings, Libels, Licentious Discourses, false News, half Whispers, Disputing, Excusing, or Cavilling upon Directions; sometimes praising the Government, yet but slightly (at most) and that too, not without some pity of Defects, and ill management—Ay but— and a shrug—It were to be wish'd—but who can help it— we had—and may have again— however—a good man—'tis pity: and what's all this, but the blowing one up, to break him, or lifting him from the ground, to be the surer of throwing him? or, is it not what the Psalmist speaks of, Sagitta volans in die, &c. The Arrow that flieth by day, and the Pestilence, that walketh in darkness; for tho it be not level'd at any particular mark, it cannot be, but that it must hit some body, as being shot among a crowd; and so not improperly, in S. Hieroms Translation further rendred, by Daemonium meridianum:Psal. 90.6. And truly if the Conventicles at this day (as the Preamble of the Act for the Preventing, 22 Car. • . and Suppressing Seditious Conventicles, and Sectaries, says) did not under pretence of Tender Conscience, contrive Insurrections, why might they not be contented with enjoying their private Opinions within their own Families, and any other number of persons, not exceeding four? But alas! alas! Religion is not the matter, but following, and Parties: Is it peace Jehu? What hast thou to do with peace? Get thee behind me: They carry ('tis true) peace in their mouths, but their hands, are making ready to Battel.

Our Saviours advice to his Disciples.I'll close this point with the double advice of our Saviour to his Disciples:Mark 8.15. Beware of the leven (i. e. the Doctrin) of the Pharisees: for the better understanding of which it is requisite that we consider them as they were, that is, a sort of men of the strictest Sect,Acts 26.5. of the Jewish Religion,Luke 18.11, 12. appearing outwardly (more than ordinarily) righteous unto men,Mat. 23.27. but within, full of hypocrisie, and iniquity: for, they did works, but to be seen of men:What the Pharisees were. they shut up the Kingdom of Heaven, against others; but, enter'd not themselves: they made long Prayers; but, under that pretence, devour'd Widows houses: they tyth'd Mint, Annise, and Cummin; but, neglected the weightier matters of the Law, &c. and therefore our Saviour calls them eight times, in the same Chapter, Hypocrites; and their Doctrin, Hypocrisie.Luke 12.1. Besides (as Josephus says of them) they were subtil, proud, scrupulous, Josephus Antiq l. 17. c. 3. such as were able, openly to practise against Kings, and presumed to raise War against them, and among them: for, whereas all the Jewish Nation, had by Oaths, oblig'd their fidelity to Augustus, these men, to the number of 6000. and upwards, refus'd it. And truly the very word (Peruschim) whence the name is derived, speaks little less; for it comes from the Hebrew Verb, Godw. Jewish Antiq. 40, 41. Parasch, which in the Conjugation Piel, signifies to divide, or separate; in which acceptation, they are by the Greeks, called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , i. e. Separatists.

And by the well observing this, we shall be the better enabled, to follow that other,Mat 25.5.23, 24, 25, 26. Take heed that no man deceive you; for many shall come in my name, and shall deceive many: for there shall arise false Christs, and false Prophets, &c. Behold, I have foretold you: wherefore, if they shall say unto you behold he is in the Desert, Go not forth; Behold he is in the secret chambers, believe it not: What our Saviour here said to his Disciples, he said to all men, in them;Made applicable to our selves. and therefore, to make it applicable to our selves: when any such Prophet, or dreamer of Dreams, shall offer us peace, in the Wilderness of a Multitude, and Religion in the lurking holes, or covert of a Conventicle, that voice had need continually sound in our ears, Go not out; and, believe it not, be as often redoubled; for much better it is, that we leave the Ark to shake, as it shall please God, than follow any unworthy hands, that may pretend (even a Call) to support it.

SECTION X.

A further enquiry, Whether any Exclusision of his Royal Highness the Duke of York may be of more advantage or disadvantage. The advantage propos'd; and whether an Act for security of Religion, be not as safe, as a Bill of Exclusion. The moral impossibility of introducing the Romish Religion, tho the Prince were of that Persuasion. The reason why the Kingdom follow'd the Reformation under Edw. VI. Qu. Mary. Qu. Elizabeth. That the case cannot be the same at this day. The Crown of England, an ancient Entail; with the danger of Innovations. Objection, That such things have been done. So has a King been murder'd. More particularly answered, in Edw. IV. Qu. Mary, and Qu. Eliz. all three excluded by Parliament, yet came to the Crown. No man changes, but in hopes of better. The advantages of continuing as we are. It is a bar to Pretenders. The same, as to Competitors. Disorders avoided. No new Family to be provided for. The indignity of a Repulse avoided. Suppose Scotland, and Ireland be of another Opinion; the former of which has by Parliament asserted the Right of Succession of that Crown, notwithstanding any Religion, &c. Lastly, all occasions of Jealousie taken away. Objection, answer'd. Disadvantages that have attended the laying by the Right Heir. Examples from old Rome; and Vsurpations at home. The Revolt from Rehoboam; our loss of France. With a conclusion from the whole. More particularly, as it relates to his Royal Highness.

I Am fal'n upon an Argument, of which, some may, I could not be content to do, but I must over-do; and yet (permissu Superiorum) I conceive, not: for besides that my design in it is plain, and honest, as only tending to the continuance of that peace, which, his Exclusion, may probably endanger; it is none of the non disserenda, nor is there (that I know) any Law against it: And therefore, I shall (without further Apology) put my self upon the favourable interpretation of my Reader, as placing more assurance in the innocence of my own meaning, than the most reserv'd caution, or wariness of words.

The end, to be consider'd in all things. He that would hit the mark, must take his level before he part with his Arrow; and he that would not be cheated, had need see the Scales try'd, as well as weigh the Commodity: In like manner, he that will give a true judgment of this matter, must begin with the end, that by viewing the advantage, and disadvantage of either hand, his judgment, and election, may be the more clear, and the less apt to slide into error.

We'l take the case then as it has been of late,The advantage propos'd in Excluding his Royal Highness. in relation to his Royal Highness the Duke of York: The People were upon a pin, and nothing will satisfie them, but he must be Excluded, The advantage propos'd by it, not a little plausible; The security of the Protestant Religion: and very well; Depositum custodi, was the advice of S. Paul to Timothy, and 'tis a good account of a Steward, that he has lost nothing: But here the question will arise, Whether the Protestant Religion, profess'd at this time, in this Kingdom, may not be sufficiently secured against Popery, albeit the right Heir should happen to be of that Persuasion himself. And (with submission) I conceive it may:Wherein is at Act for security of Religion less than a Bill of Exclusion. for if such a person could be excluded, it must be done by Act of Parliament, and if so, where lies the difference, that an Act of Parliament, for the security of the now Establish'd Religion, against any Popish Successor, may not be of the same force as an Act of Parliament, for excluding him, in as much, Object. as the Authority is the same: to which, because I seem to hear some one, more than whispering, that in the one case, he will not have the opportunity, in the other he may: • ol. I answer, That it is morally impossible to introduce the Romish Religion into this Kingdom,The moral Impossibility of introducing the Romish Religion, tho the Prince were a Romanist himself. albeit the Prince were of that Persuasion: for tho the Kingdom follow'd Edw. 6. his Reformation, and Queen Mary tackt them about to the Church of Rome; and Queen Elizabeth bore up again for Edw. 6. yet it will not be the same at this day; for as to Edw. 6. it was no great wonder that the Kingdom follow'd his Reformation; for besides that,The reason why the Kingdom follow'd Edw. 6's Reformation. it was in the hurry of a Change, Henry 8. who, tho he forsook not the Church, but Court of Rome, had yet shaken it out of its Authority, and by dispersing the Abby Lands, among such as help'd him, put it out of a condition, of recovering suddenly: And now, Religion being not the only question, who can tax the Politicks of that time, for not standing to the Pope, when by setting up that Authority again, they must infallibly have hazarded, if not lost their new interests? whereas by complying with the Reformation, they were certain of keeping, what they had already, and in a fair way of getting more: And withal considering, there were several Opinions, at that time boiling up, what mighty matter was it to bring them to cry, Erravimus cum patribus nostris.

Queen Maries going back.And as to the Kingdoms tacking again with Queen Mary, that also is not so much to be wonder'd at; for considering, that under Edw. 6. the Harvest was as yet small, and the Laborers many; and those too not altogether knit, among themselves; and that he liv'd not, long enough, to see the last stone laid; and that the Queen coming in, so near after her Father, Henry 8. found ribs, and planks enough of the old Ship, left, to patch up another, for the present occasion, or till a better could be had: And the main obstacle, of securing the Abby Lands, in the hands of the Temporalty,S • at. 1.2. Ph. and Mary, c. 8. as they lay then, dispers'd among them, being first reconciled; no wonder (I say) if the Kingdom footed it to the Queens measures, and that the note was chang'd, to Super vias antiquas.

In like manner,Queen Eliz. return to it. that the Kingdom follow'd Queen Elizabeth, in the Reformation, begun by her Brother Edw. 6. it is not so strange; for considering also, how short a time Queen Mary reign'd; and (an inexcusable fault in Musick) that she began a Note too high, and by that means was forc'd to run it up, even to cracking the strings; and that the Reformation had (by that time) gotten some face, and credit in the world; and therefore, the violent Persecution of it (like Winds to young Trees) not overthrowing it, had but fasten'd its Roots; and withal, that such as had gotten any Church Lands, knew not what another Parliament might do, or what flaws (in after times) might be found in the former; and that the probable way, of making all sure, was to order it so, that it should not be in the Popes power, to hurt them, if he would; neither here also was it a wonder, that the Kingdom joyn'd with Queen Elizabeth, and alter'd the Carol, to a Canticum novum.

That the case cannot be the same at this day.But the case will not be the same at this day, for besides, that we have the Authority of a Church, confirm'd by several Acts of Parliament, even the People now, pronounce Schibboleth without lisping. Fox his Martyrs, are not yet forgotten; and tho the Writ, De Haeretico combruendo, be taken away, the crackling of the Faggots still rattle in their ears: Nor of less concern are the Loaves, than the Doctrin; the Land on which the Faggots grew, than the Faggots themselves: It is now 150 years since those Abby Lands were given out, and by this time, they are assimulated in Succum & Sanguinem; and the fear of losing them, has begot more ill blood, than the first grant of them did good. I have heard of one Impropriation, given back to the Church, but the Lands, remain much as they were, tho not altogether in the same hands; they yield good Rent, and many men are of Vespasian's mind, That all Gold, has the same scent. Sell all thou hast, and give it the poor, lost our Saviour a Disciple; and would be thought as hard a saying now: Men are loath to part with their Wedding garment, especially, where it may so happen, to be the best to their backs. Add to this, the vast improvements made upon them in so many years, and the several exchanges, intanglements, and dispositions from hand to hand, that it would puzzle, even the Church it self, to say, which were her Sons Coat; from whence, I close this, That let the Rabbies talk what they will,John 11.48. of Venient Romani, Nay, till they lay the way half plain before them, it will be yet morally impossible for them, to take away, either our place, or Nation, and much more to raise any superstructure of their own.

The Crown of England an old Entail.Besides, the Crown of England, is an ancient old Entail, the Reversion, in Him, by whom Kings Reign; and is it not reasonable, that he were first consulted, before it be dockt? or admitting it were to be done, how are we sure, that he that is to come after, shall always continue of the same opinion? or how are we secure, he shall not be worse? The Spaniards have an excellent Proverb, Better is the evil we know, than the good we do not know. Sana Corpora difficile medicationes ferunt (saith Hippocrates) 'tis better to make alterations, in sick Bodies,Aphorism: than sound: Twigs, and Saplings, may be easily bow'd, or remov'd; but old grown Trees, are not so safely ventur'd on: 'Tis the same in State:The danger of Innovations. Innovations and alterations, even in little things, are dangerous, for it seems to acquaint the people, with the sweetness of a change, and that there may be somewhat yet, still better, which (like our Philosophers of the Stone) they had undoubtedly hit, but that something in it, unluckily miscarried.

Object. But such things have been done.But, may some say, have not such things been done before? Was not Richard Duke of York in Henry 6. 's time declar'd by Parliament, incapable of Succession? (Nay, after he had been declared, Heir apparent) and was not Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, the same?

Sol. I grant it; but 'tis ill arguing à facto, ad jus. That because such things have been done, that therefore they may be done again. Examples must be judged by Laws, and not Laws, • o has a King been murdered. by Examples. We have in our own times seen, A King murder'd by his own Subjects, and that too, under the specious pretences of Religion, and Law; Monarchy abolish'd; Allegiance made Rebellion; and Iniquity, establish'd by a Law: And is this an Argument (think ye) that the same things, may be yet practis'd?

To give it a more particular answer;More particularly answered in E. 4. Qu. Mary, and Qu. Eliz. all excluded by Parliament, yet came to the Crown. They were declar'd incapable of Succession: 'tis true, but not upon any account of Religion, but interest, as the affairs of those times then stood: but yet 'tis as true, that Edw. 4. Son of Richard Duke of York recover'd the Crown, notwithstanding the said Declaration; the only cause of the War, between the Houses of York, and Lancaster, proceeding from the Right of one, and the Possession of the other. In like manner Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, 28 H. 8. c. 7. were both declar'd by Parliament, not inheritable, and excluded from all Claim, or Demand to the Crown; and yet they both successively Reigned, notwithstanding the said Temporary Disability; which (it seems) the accession of the Crown, purg'd, as well as it has been said of an Attainder; and yet their different Persuasions, diametrically opposite to each other.

No man changes but in hopes of better.

Jer. 2.11.

No man yet, ever chang'd his condition, but in hopes of bettering it: Hath a Nation chang'd their gods, which yet, are no Gods? (saith Jeremiah, upbraiding the ingratitude of the Jews) And therefore, a wise man begins from the end, and first considers, whether that be adequate, to the hazard he runs. Touching the security of Religion, I have already spoken; and next to the glory of God on High, the chiefest end of Man, is peace on earth. The end of War is Triumph, and the end of Triumph, Peace: The clashing of the Steel and Flint, wears out one another, and brings forth nothing but Fire: whereas, Peace is the Balm, that heals the Wounds, and the Cement, that fills up the Breaches of War. How careful then ought we be, to avoid, even the beginnings of strife, which Solomon aptly calls,Prov. 17.14. the letting out of waters, and will of themselves, quickly wear the breach wider. Upon which, it properly follows, that we weigh the advantages we have by continuing as we are, and the disadvantages, or inconveniencies, that have follow'd such Exclusions. As to the former,

1. The continuance of a Succession in one descent,The advantages of continuing as we are, Pretenders, barr'd. and according to proximity of Blood, is a bar to Pretenders, and the ordinary occasions of Mutiny, Competition, and Invasion, are thereby taken off: And to this purpose Tacitus, Minoris discriminis est Principem nasci, Annal. 1. quam sumi. It is less hazard, to have a Prince born to hand, than to be forc'd to seek one; because Subjects more naturally submit to an undoubted, unquestionable Title, and Enemies will not be so ready, to be fishing in clear water. A third, never attempts the bone, till two are quarreling.

Disorders avoided.2. We secure our selves against those disorders, which such a breach opens an infallible entrance into, and gives Ambition, and Insolence, the reins at large, which seldom stop, but multiply themselves, and the whole State, into confusion; when after all, the best seldom carries the day, but the violent takes it by force. Of which we need no further for instance, Vide Case of Tanistry, in Sir J. Davis's Irish Reports, f. 29. than the ancient Brahon Tanistry, before Hen. 2. his Conquest of Ireland.

3. It takes away the danger of having a new Family to provide for: Time was,No new Family to be provided for. the Empire could have spread her wings; but now, she has past so many hands, and been so deplum'd upon every change, that she has almost lost all her best Feathers, and kept little to her self, but the despair, of getting them back again,

4. It avoids the indignity of a repulse.The indignity of a repulse, avoided. Was ever Prince yet content, to see another sit on his Throne? Or did ever men reckon the Sun the less, that it had suffer'd an Eclipse? No; mankind naturally pities any thing in distress, and passionately croud to the recovering beams. In short, we picture Time, drawing Truth out of a Pit; and seldom find, Majesty so sunk under water, but some, or other, have been ever buoying it up again.

Suppose Scotland and Ireland should be of another opinion.5. There is a present Union, and Amity between these Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland; and who knows, whether they may be of the same Opinion. As to Ireland, it has been determin'd where it shall be bound, by an Act of Parliament, made in England; howbeit there is a Gulph between us: But as to Scotland, the Question was never yet put; not that I speak, as if the Kingdom of Scotland, which never did, should now begin) to give England Law. No, nor will I believe it ever thought—however, were we at odds, Virgil.—Fas est, & ab hoste doceri. Which was the better Son, he that said he would not go, but went, or he that said he would go, but went not? They have Recogniz'd, and Declar'd,Act of Scotland, for asserting the Succession of that Crown, 1681. That the Kings of that Realm (deriving their Royal Power from God alone) do succeed thereto, according to the proximity of Blood. And that no difference in Religion, nor any Law, nor Act of Parliament, made, or to be made, can alter or divert, the right of Succession, and Lineal Descent of that Crown, to the nearest, and lawful Heir, according to the degrees aforesaid. And that by Writing, Speaking, or any other way, to endeavour the Alteration, Diversion, Suspension, or debarring the same (by any Subjects of that Kingdom) shall be High Treason. So now, if it should happen, that the Kingdom of England should be of a contrary Opinion, must it not in all moral probability, open a gap to a new breach, and thereby hazard the rending asunder those two Crowns in Blood; the uniting of which, were so wisely design'd by H. 7. and as happily took effect in King James, without Blood; and what must the consequence of it be, but that we once more fall to the old trade again. Ovid Met.—Furit omnis turba, suoque Marte cadunt— And when (perhaps) it shall be said of the Conqueror, as of Alexander (in his Expedition against the Parthian) That he lost more by the War, than he got by the Victory; whereas Prudence, in the Adventure, looks at the return, and in the hazard, at the likelihood, and advantage, of the success.

All occasions of jealousie, taken off.Lastly, We hereby take off all occasions of jealousie; to which, almost every thing serves for Fuel, scarce any thing for Physick; it being but natural, That he must fear many, whom many fear, how groundlesly soever.

But, may some say; Object. Peace without safety is but a breathing, or bare Truce, at best. How can that man sleep securely, over whose head, a drawn Sword hangs by a single Hair?

And who shall be Judg of that? Sol. The Prince, whose safety depends on the love of his Subjects, and never Acts, but by his Council; or the Multitude, who (besides that number, and Truth, are seldom of the same side) never condsier what they do, or the true reason why it happen'd, to be so hung? What causes that Thunder in the Clouds, but the cross encounter of Fire and Water, mutually tending to their centre of safety? And while a people keep within their own Circle, what danger is there of a Prince's breaking in upon them:Gen. 6.12. God had looked upon the Earth, and pronounc'd it corrupt, before he sent a Deluge among them, to cleanse it. In short, there is an old saying, Divide, & impera; and I think, another, no ways inferior, Vis unita, fortior; I am sure it is true in experience; he that would pluck off a Horses Tail, must do it, hair by hair; and he that would shake a Faggot in pieces, must first pull out some considerable Stick, or cut the Band.

Disadvantages that have attended the laying by the right Heir.I come now, to the disadvantages, or inconveniencies, that have attended the laying by the right Heir. Revolts, Usurpation, and Exclusion differ in term and sound, but are the same in effect, and (which they hold in common) never wanted their Embroils: The revolt of the Ten Tribes from Rehoboam was the fore-runner of the Captivity;Revolt of the 10 Tribes. for having drein'd and weaken'd themselves with intestine War, what wonder if (like the Frog, and Mouse in the Fable) they became a prey to the next offerer? The Senate of Rome excluded Nero, but mist their aim; for one part of the Army set up Galba; another, Otho against him; a third, Vitellius against Otho; a fourth, Vespasian against Vitellius; still bickering, and beating one another to pieces, until Vespasian brought all into one hand again. Harold usurp'd on Edgar Atheling, and what was the effect of it? but that it open'd William the Conqueror a passage to the Kingdom, and gave both encouragement, and success to the enterprise. In like manner those more prosperous Usurpations of William Rufus, and Henry the First, upon their elder Brother Robert. King Stephen, on Maude the Daughter of Henry the First, and her Son (afterwards) Henry the Second. King John, on his Nephew Arthur. Henry the Fourth on Richard the Second, and Richard the Third, on Edward the Fifth; were they not founded in Blood, and defended with more? and therefore he that shall bring them in precedent, had as good save a ramble abroad, and instance,At home. in O. Cromwel at home. In short, the Exclusion of our King Edward the Third, Son and Heir of Isabella, Daughter and Heiress of France (under pretence of a Salique Law) occasioned the loss of their best men,Our loss of France. and Kingdom also: and did not we half lose it again, on the same account, by Henry 4. his Usurping on Richard 2? It is true, Henry 5. recovered it again, but his Son Henry 6. almost as soon lost it, by the civil Broils between him, and Richard Duke of York, (slain at Wakefield) which yet ended not, till his Son Edw. 4. had recovered the Possession. And what fruit (I pray) did we reap of those Wars? or rather, were they not such, as of which the Poet speaks? Bella geri placuit, nullos habitura triumphos!Lucan. How much better then is it, by learning from other mens harms, to keep the beaten road, with safety, than upon every new notion, to entangle our selves in those passes, wherein, so many before us, have lost their way. And especially, having the light of an Act of Parliament, directing and telling us,25 H. 8.22. That the ambiguity of several Titles, pretended to the Crown, then not so perfectly declar'd, but that men might expound them to every ones sinister affection, and sense, contrary to the right legality of the Succession, and Posterity of the Lawful Kings, and Emperors of this Realm, had been the cause of that great effusion, and destruction of mans Blood: And what can any man expect, but that the same cause will again produce the same effects; and the like Asterism, the like Revolutions.

To draw towards an end: It is the advice of our Saviour,Matth. 7.12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye, even so to them, for this is the Law, and the Prophets. Would any one (think ye) submit, to be brain'd by a Billet, albeit in amends it were said to his Heir, the like shall never be done to your self? especially, when the same hand, that did the one, cannot promise, for any that shall come after it: To one, Plutarch in vita Lycur. praying Lycurgus, to settle a popular State in Lacedaemon, that the basest might have the same Authority, as the highest: Begin (quoth he) to do it it, in thy own house, first: I know not of what Spirit other men are, but if there be such a one to be found, let him throw the first stone. And yet who knows, but there may be somewhat more than we see? Is there no old grudg? No—Manet altâ mente repôstum? No—Spreti injuria? Is it all pure Religion, and undefil'd: All dry, down-right conscience? No biass? No interest? No self in the case? 'tis very well:John 12.6. Judas made a charitable motion for the Poor, yet it might have seem'd better, had he not carried the Bag, tho he headed no Party.

In short: Commines saith, He is to be esteemed a good Prince, whose Virtues are not over-ballanc'd by his Vices: And the Persians never condemn'd any man (tho convicted) till his former life, had been weigh'd by the same Ballance, and found wanting. To apply it: I skill not to flatter, even the dead; and yet a moral justice is due to the living: or, our Saviour had never said,Luke 10.7. The laborer is worthy of his hire; and Solomon, Prov. 3.27. Withhold it not. Is not his Royal Highness the Son of that King, whom our late Parliaments have so often declar'd a Martyr? and the onely Brother (and as yet, indisputable Heir) of this King, who hath forgiven so much, and (to speak once for all) Crimes greater than every thing, but the mercy that forgave them? And what could the world have design'd him more, than what the eepectation of his mighty Birth must (by course of Nature) have given him? Even the new phrase, acknowledges it; The Presumptive Heir of three Imperial Crowns: and yet during the Banishment of the Royal Family, who serv'd with more Courage Abroad? And since their happy Restauration, what Private Person made more Honorable Hazards at Home? When yet he had many things to fear, and nothing to desire, but the Peace and Honor of the Kingdom: I need not far for instance, of what meets us every where: Witness for all,Lord Chancellors Speech to the Parliament at Oxon, 10. Octob. 65. that memorable 3. of June, 1665. in which great Action (with the loss of one single Ship) he destroy'd and took 18 of the Dutch Ships of War, whereof half, were the best they had; and touching which, a late learned Judg of the Kingdom of Ireland, thus Epigrammatically accosted his Majesty: Ad Regem, &c. Oliver Jones Esq second Justice of his Majesties chief place in Ireland.Subdidit Arctoum tribus olim classibus aequor Edgarus? At vestrae pars quota laudis erit! Obsessum Maris Imperium, felicior armis, Asseris, & Batavas conteris (ultor) opes. Euge! triumphato da jura perennia Ponto: Jam scit cui Domino pareat unda Maris. And must he after all this be smother'd in his own Perfumes? Must those Glories he reapt from the Enemy, serve him only as so many Garlands to a destin'd Sacrifice? And because he has deserv'd too much, will nothing but an Ostracism pay off his Debentures? Let every man lay his hand on his breast, and once more make the case his own; and then, I doubt not, but he will walk up to the thing he startled at, and by giving himself a distinct view of what (before) frighten'd, be the more easily persuaded into his senses, and shame his fear: And I press it the rather, in that his Royal Highness (I have it from a Noble hand, of too much Honor to falsifie) hath so often declar'd, That were it in his power to effect it, he would rather cut off his Arm, than make the least alteration in the Religion, or Law of the Kingdom, as it is now establish'd: And if Truth be sacred with private men, how much more must it be with a Prince? when, whoever wounds it, to save himself, does but take a blow on his head, to save his hilt.

To draw to an end; Has any man for companies sake been persuaded out of his way, what dishonor is it if he comply with the advice of the Angel to Hagar, Gen. 16.9. Return, and submit; or that other of our Saviour to the Lawyer tempting him,Luke 10.37. Go, and do thou likewise: and then he will the more unbiastly determin, whether Religion, or Monarchy, be the point in question, and what these murmurings against the Heir mean, if they carry not under 'em, a design on the Inheritance: for, let the pretences be what other they please, even the best Virtues may be suspected, when they become ostentations; and therefore, when men shall mask their Conspiracies with the name of Publick Good; pretend Conscience, against Duty; love to their Country, whereby to chalk a way to their own Ambition; zeal to Religion, to cover their own wild-fire, they may (I say) be suspected, as made use of, rather to purchase a Principality on Earth, than the Kingdom of Heaven; in as much as such courses, have been ever condemned, by the same Religion they would pretend to defend.

Upon the whole matter: What the pretences of the late times ended in, we have most of us seen, and what influence they yet held on our own, we had ere this felt, had not God been more merciful, in the discovery of the late horrid Association, and Conspiracy, against the lives of his Sacred Majesty, and his Royal Brother: Who would not swear they were of the same batch? for they agreed in substance, however otherwise, they might differ in circumstance: both (like Sampson's Foxes) were set upon destruction, tho they drew the fire-brands a contrary way. Those of 1641. did their work by degrees, Nemo repente fuit turpissimus— One Party, murder'd our late Sovereign, as a King, before the other, murder'd him, as a man; tho each yet, as deep in the guilt, as t'other; for, Qui vult media ad finem, vult etiam, & ipsum finem; He that wills the means con •• ucing to the end, wills also the end it self: These of this present, have seen that error, and thus far repented it to his Son, That they laid the Ax to the root of the Tree, and took up the advice of Abishai to David (when they had found Saul sleeping.1 Sam. 26. • .) Let me smite him even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time: But, God has been once more seen in the Mountain; They are sunk in the Pit they made, in the Net which they hid, is their own foot taken: And therefore, to the numerous congratulations on this happy delivery, I'll close all with that of Barclay, 〈◊〉 . l. 3.Vicimus O tandem non inaudita piorum Vota Deis! Nunc, alma salus, nunc, secula curat Jupiter: Omnis Io superum domus! omnis honores Ara ferat; nullaeque vacent a fronte Coronae. Which I have thus adventur'd to Translate, as more agreeable to the present sense, than any useless dwelling on the Letter: We have o'recome! nor were our Prayers in vain; We're once more safe; and Heav'n, proves Heav'n again: Your Organ Temples! Deck your Altars round! Hallow the Threshold! Let the Posts be Crown'd!