Rex habet Jurisdictionem supra omnes Lib. 4. c. 24. N. 1. qui in Regno suo sunt King H. 8. upon a Contest touching an Ecclesiastical Immunity uttered these very words Doct. Burnet's Hist of the Reformation Lib. 1. part 1. f. 17. By the permission and Ordinance of God we are King of England and the Kings of England in times past had never any superiour but God only Therefore know you well that we will maintain the Right of our Crown and of our Temporal Jurisdiction as well in this as in all other Points in as ample manner as any of our Progenitors have done before our time Add hereunto That this Soveraignty and Supremacy appertaining to our Kings and to the Emperial Grown of England is asserted not only by our Books of Law but likewise those Statutes that have been Enacted by our Princes and Nobles in Parliament do affirm the same witness 16. R. 2. C. 5.24 H. 8. c. 12.25 H. 8. c. 21 22 1 Eliz c. 1. 1. Jac. c. 1. All which Statutes you may peruse at your own leisure Now I would fain know of any Popeling or Fanatick what greater or more Royal Power can any Prince of Juda or Israel claim than is here by our Laws acknowledged to be in the King of England The Third Respect in his Charge and Duty which consists in the observance of the Law of God the Law of Nature and the Laws of this Realm To observe the Law of God He is bound as a Christian to observe the Law of Nature he is obliged as a Man to observe the Laws of his Realm he is bound as a King Nor is he only bound vinculo Offieii as he is a King tho' this is a strict tye considering to whom he must one day render an Accompt of his Stewardship but he is also bound Vinculo Juramenti by an Oath taken at his Coronation The effect whereof is this Of the Oath at the Coronation see Flesa Lib. 1. c. 17. N. 12 13 14 c. To keep confirm and defend all Laws Customs and Freedoms granted by his Predecessors to the Clergy or People to preserve Peace and Concord and cause equal and right Justice to be done according to his Power Whence it is very evident that the King hath his Duty enjoyned him and ought not to make his Will the Rule of his Actions Temperent igitur says Fleta Lib. 1. c. 17. N. 11. Reges potentiam suam per Legem quae frenum est Potentiae quod secundum Leges vivant quia hoc sanxit Lex humana quod Leges suum ligent Latorem alibi digna vox ex Majestate Regnantis est Legibus alligatnm se principem profiteri praeterea nihil tam proprium imperio quam Legibus vivere majus est Imperio Legibus submittere Principatum The fourth and last Respect is in the rendring of his Account For as the King 's mentioned in Scripture were not so the King of England is not accountable for his Actions to any but God alone First Because the King of England hath not his Crown from any but God alone Not only Holy (o) Prov. 8.15 Rom. 13.2 Psalm 82.8 John 19.11 Psal 62.11 Scripture but the writings of Heathens have declared that in Soveraign Princes there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something divine above the reach of man which cannot be derived from them and therefore they are descended more immediately from the gods and more particularly depending on them Kings are from Jupiter says Callimachus and nothing ever descended more sacred from him And Homer◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ab Jove summus Honos Omnis provectus maxime Regius ad divinitatis munera referendus est Says Vitigis apud Cassiodorum Mâ—terent apud Tacitum lib. 6. Tibi summum Rerum Judicium dii dedere nobis obsequii gloria relicta est no Law could punish nor any call Kings to account but the gods who as they gave them the highest Empire here so did they leave their Subjects nothing but the Glory of obeying But it may be said by our Fanaticks how can the Kings Power be thought to be only and immediately from God when it is derived to him by ordinary means of Hereditary Succession It is answered That Election Succession and Lawful Conquest are Titles whereby Princes receive their Authority they are not the Original and immediate Fountain of this Authority Heat Moysture Cold Dryness and our Temper arising from them whilst we are miraculously fashioned in our Mothers Womb are preparations whereby our Bodies are made fit Receptacles for our Souls but the Creator of our Souls is God So Princes have just claim to their Soveraign Power by the titles of Succession and Conquest but the Prime Author of their Power is God Cujus jussu says Irenaeus nascuntur homines ejus jussu Constituuntur Principes By whose appointment they are born Men and made reasonable Creatures by his appointment are they made Princes And as they receive their Power only from God so for the good or evil Administration thereof they are accountable only unto God as unto their Superior and not unto any mortal Creature God only maketh them Kings and only can unmake them and deject them from their Thrones according to the Rule of Law Ejusdem est destituere cujus instituere Secondly The Oath that the King takes at his Coronation binds him only before God for there is no Condition Promise or Limitation whereby he is made Accountable to his People Thirdly By the suffrage and Testimony of our Lawyers it appears that the King of England is unaccountable to any humane Power on Earth And we begin with Bracton who tells us that we have no Legal Remedy we can only humbly Petition His Sacred Majesty Locus erit Supplicationi quod factum suum corrigat Lib. 1. cap. 8. N. 5. emendet Quod quidemsi non fecerit satis sufficit ei ad praenam quod dominum expectet ultorem Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare multo fortius Contra factum suam venire If he will not hearken to our just and reasonable desires satis sufficit his punishment is more than enough for he must render an account to him that judgeth Righteously Let not men presume to question his deeds much less to undo by force what he shall do though not according to Right That our Fanaticks may not think this dropt from our Bracton unwariily he repeats it in other places and Lib. 5. Tract 3. De defaltis Cap. 3. N. 3. He puts the Case that the King should do injury and a Plea is brought against him in whose behalf he did it the King being Petitioned and Persisting and he rules it thus Quo casu cum dominus Rex super hoc fuerit interpellatus in eadem perstiterit voluntate quod vellet tenentem esse defensum injuria cum teneatur justitiam totis viribus defensare ex tunc
erit injuria ipsius Domini Regis nec poterit ei necessitatem imponere quod illam corrigat emendet nisi velit cum superiorem non habeat nisi deum satis erit illi propaena quod deum expectet ultorem If the King who is bound to Administer Justice to his utmost power will not recall the wrong he did upon a false suggestion in this case he injures his Subjects but no body can force him to do Right because he hath supream Power he hath no superior but God only and it is sufficient that we shall have a day of hearing hereafter at a just Tribunal where he shall be punished for doing wrong and we amply requited for our patient suffering Gilbert de Thornton Chief Justice under Edward the First speaketh in the same manner Cum provisum sit Fleta Lib. 1. c. 17. N. 9. quod quilibet in sui juris prosequutione potius judicio quam viribus utatur oportet Laesos Regem adire ut ostensis sibi injuriis illatis Celerem justitiam petentibus faciat exhiberi qui si noluerit de seipso vel de alio â—x tunc deum expectent conquerentes ultorem Nemo enim de facto Regis praesumat disputaare nec contrafactum suum venire Stamford in his Exposition of the Kings Prerogative is of the same mind with Bracton and Thornton for he says That by the Common Law there lyeth no Action or Writ against the King but when he seizeth the Subjects Lands or Goods having no Title by order of Law so to do Petition is all the Remedy the Subject hath and this Petition is called a Petition of Right With our Lawyers do concurr two of our Parliaments which have declared that the King of England is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accountable to none but God and therefore no way obnoxious to any humane coercive Power Thomas de Walsingham mentions a Letter written to the Bishop of Rome in the name of the whole Kingdom from the Parliament held at Lincoln Anno Domini 1301 wherein are these words Scimus Pater Sanctissime notorium est a prima institutione Regni Angliae tam temporibus Britannorum quam Anglorum quod certum directum dominium ad Regem pertinuit neque Reges Angliae ex libera pre-eminentia Regiae dignitatis Consuetudine cunctis temporibus observata coram aliquo Judice Ecclesiastico velseculari responderunt aut respondere debebant We know most holy Father and it is manifest from the very beginning of the Kingdom of England as well in the time of the Brittains as of the Angles that the certain and direct dominion hath belonged unto the King neither have the Kings of England by reason of the undoubted preheminence of the Royal Dignity and Custom observed in all Ages answered or ought to answer before any Judge Ecclefiastical or Civil The other Parliament was held at Westminster in the Reign of the King that now is whereat the Lords and Commons have declared 12. Car. 2. c. 30. That by the undoubted and Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom neither the Peers of this Realm nor the Commons nor both together in Parliament nor the People collectively or representatively nor any other persons whatsover ever had have hath or ought to have any coercive Power over the persons of the Kings of England You see Sir that though there be Laws to guide and direct our Princes yet if they chance to forget themselves so much as to violate and break through them there is no Law whereby Subjects may resist and punish them their Ministers and Instruments are ever accountable but as to themselves it is a known Maxime among our Lawyers That they can do no wrong But after all that has been said there are some Hunt-Scrap Lawyers and Polititians ready to raise such objections as these following From whom the King receiveth his power Object 1. to them he is accountable but from the people the King receiveth his power as Fortescue delivers Cap. 13. Ad tutelam Legis subditorum ac eorum Corporum Bonorum Rex erectus hanc potestatem a populo estluxam ipse habet A King is ordained for the defence of the Law of his Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods whereunto he receiveth Power of his People Therefore to his People the King is accountable If the Makers of this Objection did rightly set down the words of Fortescue Solution they might easily Answer themselves for it is not barely Rex a King but Rex hujusmodi such a King meaning a King whose Government is meerly Politick But the Government of England is not meerly Politick nor meerly Regal but mixt partly regal and partly politick as Fortescue saith presently after Regnum Angliae ex Bruti Comitiva Trojanorum in dominium politicum Regale prorupit The King of England out of Brutus his retinue of the Trojans first grew into a Politick and Regal Dominion And in the Ninth Chapter Rex Angliae principatu nedum regali politico suo populo Dominatur The King of England Governeth his People by Dominion notonly Regal but also Politick How it is Regal and how Politick doth plainly appear by what hath been before spoken for in regard all Power and Authority is derived from him and he holds his Kingdom and there withal his Power from God only it must needs be that his Government is Regal and in regard he is tyed to the observance of the Laws of his Kingdom whereby Potestas Regia Lege politica cohibetur Fortescue Cap. 9. The Power Regal is restrained by a Law Politick it must needs follow that this Government is Politick So that in reference to his Power he is a Regal King in reference to his Duty he is a Politick King The Objection therefore being grounded upon Fortescues words of a Kingdom meerly Politick does not concern our Kingdom He who is under the Law Object 2. may be called to account for his Actions but the King is under the Law Bracton says Ipse Rex non debet esse sub homine Lib. 1. c. 8. N. 5. sed sub Deo sub Lege Quia Lex facit Regem The King himself ought not to be under man but under God and under the Law because the Law makes the King In Answer to this Objection Sulution we must call to mind that there is a two fold Power in the Law a Directing Power and a Correcting-Power In respect of the former the King is under the Law That is to say the Law is the Line and Rule whereby the Will of the King is guided and directed and in this sence Bracton spake In respect of the later the King is not under the Law For how can we possibly conceive that he who giveth Life to the Law should by the Law offer force unto himself and compel himself for as with the Grammarians the Imperative-Mood hath no first Person so with the Civilians D.
AN APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE OF A FANATICK SHEWING That the KING of ENGLAND by the Fundamental Laws of it is as absolute and Independent a Monarch as any of the Kings mentioned in Scripture and consequently as free as any of them from any Humane Coactive Power to Punish Censure or Dethrone him Whereunto is added A Short view of the Laws both Foreign and Domestick against Seditious Conventicles By a Barrister at Law LONDON Printed by J. G. for John Walthoe at the Black-Lyon in Chancery-Lane overagainst Lincolns-Inn 1684. AN APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE OF A Fanatick c. SIR YOurs I have received wherein you are pleased to signify that you have shown the several Tracts which have been lately written and exposed to publick View in defence of the Doctrine of Non-resistance to some of your Neighbors who are much inclined to Fanaticism and they say upon perusal of them that though they should grant to our Church-men what they have endeavoured to prove out of Scripture Viz. The unlawfullness of Subjects taking up Arms against their Sovereign in what Case soever yet they fancy that the King of England is not such a King as the Scriptures mention It is say you an Evasion they much boast of whensoever they read any pieces of this nature What is all this to us who Live not under such a King as the Holy Scriptures makes mention of Well â—â—â—ing that this Evasion is the Diana they so much vaunt or I am resolved out of the Zeal and Love I bear my King and Country and for the prevention of another Rebellion having been sufficiently sensible of the dire and calamitous Effects of the former to set forth the excellent and sweet agreement which the Municipal Laws of this Realm have with the Laws of God in this particular affirming That the King of England is such a King as the Scriptures mention and that in a fourfold Respect In Respect 1. Of his Right to the Crown 2. Of his Authority and Power 3. Of his Charge and Duty 4. Of the Rendring of his Account 1st The King of England 's Right to the Crown is by Birth Descent or Hereditary Succession And this shall be apparanted in these four particularities First By that part of the Oath of Allegiance which is used in every Leet You shall swear that from this day forward Co. Lib. 7. Calvin's Case you shall be true and faithful to our Sovereign Lord King Charles and his Heirs which demonstrates the Descent And by the by I presume it will not be amiss to present to our Fanaticks the whole scope and aim of this Oath of Allegiance as it is expressed in the Laws and Constitutions of our King William the First Statuimus ut omnes Liberi Homines faedere Sacramento affirment quod intra extra universum Regnum Angliae quod olim vocabatur Regnum Britanniae Willielmo Regi Domino suo fideles esse volunt Terras Honores illius omni fidelitate ubique servare cum eo contra inimicos alienigenas defendere Lex 52. De fide obsequio erga Regem Add hereto another Constitution of the Conqueror whereby all subjects are commanded ut Jura Regia illaesa servare pro viribus Conentur Statuimus etiam firmiter praecipimus ut omnes Liberi homines totius Regni nostri praedicti sint fratres Conjurati ad Monarchiam nostram ad Regnum Nostrum pro viribus suis facultatibus contra inimicos pro posse suo defendendum viriliter servandum Pacem dignitatem Coronae nostrae integram observandam Lex 59. Both which Laws and many others enacted and granted by the Conqueror were observed and kept in the Reign of King Edward the Confessor Secondly For that we do our Ligeance to the King in his natural Capacity that is as he is Charles the Son and Heir apparent of King Charles the Glorious and Royal Martyr For Ligeance or Homage cannot be done to the King in his Politick capacity Coke Lib. 7. Calvin's Case for so the Body of the King is invisible If this be true Law as it is what shall we judge then of the new Coined distinction to make a difference betwixt the King and his Authority betwixt his Personal Will and his Royal and Authoritative Will to pursue the late Kings Person with a Cannon-Bullet at Edge-hill and to preserve his Authority at London or elsewhere I am sure 't is Evident by the 25. E. 3. C. 2. De proditionibus that it is High-Treason to compasse the Kings Death by which must be meant to endeavour his Personal ruine because the Regal Authority never dies in England Oh Fanaticks take heed then for the future of New-coined distinctions take heed of the cunning Wiles and Sleights of the Jesuits There is no Wickedness but hath some excuse In that great Insurrection in Richard the Seconds time the Commons had a fair pretence Their Intent was as they said to abollish the Law of Velleinage and Servitude and to slay the Corrupt Judges And they took an Oath forsooth to be true to the King and Commons and that they would take nothing but what they paid for and they punished all Theft with death yet in the Parliament of 5. R. 2. N. 3 and 32. They were adjudged Traytors The Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth could in the Queens Name command the Country to follow them in Arms sometimes pretending the safety of Her Majesties Person in danger they said by Treasons in working And sometimes in case of Conscience for restoring their former Religion And in this Zeal they hasted to Durrham Minster where they tare the Bible and Communion Book and such other things as there were saith Stow in great Contempt Yet these were mere Rebels and Traytors Speed Lib. 9. Cap. 24. Wherefore examine search diligently into the Cause every thing is not as it seems All is not Gold that Glisters I beseech you to look before you leap into Rebellion that Sin of Witch-craft Thirdly It is expresly affirm'd in the Case of Calvin That the King holds the Kingdom of England by Birth-Right Inherent by Descent from the Blood-Royal Co. Lib. 7 Calvin's Cases whereupon Succession doth attend and therefore it is usually said To the King his Heirs and Successors wherein Heirs is first named and Successors attendant upon Heirs but the Title is by Descent By Queen Elizabeth's Death the Crown and Kingdom of England descended to King James and from him to King Charles the First and from him to the King that now is and they were fully and absolutely thereby Kings without any essential Ceremony or Act to be done Ex post facto And by the way how inseparable this Right of descent is from the next in Blood you may see in H. 4. who though he was also of the Blood-Royal and had the Crown resigned unto him from R. 2. and confirmed by Act of Parliament
yet upon his Death-Bed he acknowledged he had no right thereunto as Speed tells us Lib. 9. C 14. Add to this acknowledgment the words of Sir Edward Coke The Dignity Royal saies he Co. Lib. 12. F. 28. is an Inherent inseparable to the Royal Blood of the King and descendable to the next of Blood of the King and cannot be transferred to another Lastly By all the Judges 1. Jacobi at the Arraignment of Watson and Clerk Two Seminary Priests it was resolved That immediately by descent His Majesty was compleatly and absolutely King without the Ceremony of Coronation which was but a Royal Ornament and external Solemnization of the Descent This is plainly illustrated by several precedents taken out of our Histories King H. 6. was not Crowned till the 9th year of his Reign Speed lib. 9. c. 16. yet divers were attainted of Treason before that time which could not have been had he not been King So Queen Mary Reigned Three Months before she was Crowned in which space the Duke of Northumberland and others were Condemned and Executed for Treason which they had committed before she was proclaimed Queen So King Edward 1. was in Palestina when his Father died and in his absence the Nobility and Prelates of the Realm assembled at London and did acknowledge him for their King In his return homeward he did Homage to the French King for the Lands which he held of him in France He also repressed certain Rebels of Gascoin amongst whom Gasco of Bierne Appealed to the Court of the French King where our King Edward had Judgement That Gasco had perpetrated Treason and thereupon he was delivered to the pleasure of King Edward Walsingham in Edw. 1. And all this happened before his Coronation which was a Year and Nine Months after he began to Reign Besides we know that so soon as the King departeth out of this Life His Successor is forthwith proclaimed all Writs go forthwith in his name all Courts of Justice exercised and all Offices are held by his Royal Authority all States all Persons are obliged to bear him Allegiance Which things plainly demonstrate that the King hath his Kingdom by descent and stays not to be made King by the People at his Coronation Indeed the people are at that time asked their Consent not that they have power to deny but that the King having their Consent may with greater Security and Confidence rely on his people Fides vestra Conftantia says King Alexander ut Regem me esse Credam Curtius lib. 5. facit Ferrum tuetur Principem melius fides Seneca Thus you see That the King of England 's Right to his Emperial Crown is by Birth Descent or Hereditary Succession As to the Second Respect it is evident That the Power of the King of England is by the Fundamental Laws of the Land as Great and Royal as that which our Divines have proved out of the Scriptures to belong unto the Kings of Juda and Israel For 1. He has vested in his Royal person the power of making Laws The Royal Power set fâ—rth in Scripture By it War proclaimed 2 Chr. 13.4 By it Peace concluded 1 Kings 15.19 By it the people assembled and dismissed Joshua 24.1 and 28. 1 Kings 8.1 and 66. By it a Law is made By a Law repealed 1 Sam. 14.24 34. By it Offenders are pardoned 2 Sam. 14.21 By it all Officers are chosen as well Ecclesiastical as Civil 1 Chr. 26.32 Gen. 41.33 34 41. Exod. 18.25 26. 2 Sam. 23.23 1 Kings 4.3 to 20. 2 Chron. 17.7 8. Nehemiah 5.14 15. Hester 3 1â— Dan. 2.43 49. By it all Arms and Fortifications are disposed 2 Sam 8.14 1 Kings 9.15 17 18 19 and Chap. 26.9 to 16. Nehem. 7.1 2 3. the Authority Legislative being a peculiar and incommunicable priviledge of the Supreme Power so that the Office of the Two Houses of Parliament in this affair is only Consultive or Preparative but the Character of the Power rests in the final Sanction which is in the Kâ—â—g of England 2. To him belongs the power oâ— Life and Death He hath the Sword of Justice to punish them that transgress his Laws and endeavour to cause Sedition 'T is he that can remit the severities of the Penal Laws by pardoning both the smaller Breaches of them and more Capital Offences which he might most justly punish Bracton Lib. 1. c. 9. N. 3. Lib. 3. c. 8. N. 4. lib. 3. c. 14. N. 18. Fleta lib. 1. c. 16. N. 3 Sir Thomas Smith de Rep. Angl. lib. 2. c. 4. Lambard inter Leges Edovardi F. 143.9 E. 4.2 a. 27. H. 8. c. 24. 3. He only may Proclaim War and he solely can establish Peace among his people Co. Lib. 7. Calvin's Case F. 256. Smith's Common wealth Lib. 2. c. 4. 19. E. 46. Co. 4. Just f. 152. 2. H. 5. cap. 2. 4. There is no Lawful Assembly Meeting or Court but by Authority from him Yea the High Court of Parliament was at first devised framed and instituted by him Polyd. Virg. Lib. 11. Speed Stow Martin Baker and many others in the Life of H. 1. 5. By him all the Officers of the Realm whether Temporal or Ecclesiastical are chosen and established the Chief and Highest by himself immediately and mediately the Inferiour Officers by Authority from him Sir Thomas Smith Lib. 2. Cap. 4 5. Bracton Lib. 2. c. 24. Mirror c. 4. Sect. 2 4. Fleta Lib. 1. c. 17.12 H. 7.17 b. Co. Lib. 12. Case of Conspiracy f. 25.27 H. 8. c. 24. 6. By him all Liberties Franchises and Customs are granted and confirmed to the people Bracton Lib. 2. c. 24. N. 2. Cowells Just 1 2 5. Dyer 44. b. Co. Lib. 11.87 Case of Monopolies 7. He hath the sole Power of ordering and disposing all the Castles Forts and strong Holds and all the Ports and Havens and generally all the Militia of the Kingdom Co. Litt. 5. a. Co. 2. Just 30.13 Car. 2. c. 6.14 Car. 2. c. 3. Co. 3. Just 160 83. Co. Lib. 12. The Case of the Kings Prerogative in Salt-Peter In short The Prince is the Life the Head and Authority of all Things that be done in the Realm of England Smith Lib. 2. c. 4. Cambden in his Britania of the King of England Supreman potestatem merum Imperium apud nos habet Nec in Imperii Clientela est nec Investituram ab alio accipit nec preter Deum supremum agnoscit He hath Soveraign Power and Absolute Command among us neither holdeth he his Empire in Vassallage nor receiveth the Investiture or Enstalling from another nor yet acknowledgeth any Superiour but God Almighty above Bracton That Wrote in the Reign of H. 3. says thus Lib. 1. c. 8. N. 5. Sunt etiam sub Rege Liberi Homines servi ejus potestati subjecti omnis quidem sub eo ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo And in another place after says he
Texts of Law we are informed that unlawful Colledges Corporations and Assemblies gathered together to bad uses as to Eating Drinking Wantonness Conspiracy are punished as publick Routs and Riots Thus much for the Digests I come now to what is said of Conventicles in those parts of the Civil Law we call the Codes the Novels and the Feuds In the Code of the Emperour Justinian Cod. 1.3.15 de illicitis conventiculis you have this Text of Law Conventicula illicita etiam extra Ecclesiam in privatis aedibus celebrari prohibemus proscriptionis domus periculo imminente si dominus ejus in ea Clericos nova ac tumultuosa Conventicula extra Ecclesiam celebrantes susceperit For more of this matter of Conventicles the Reader may at leisure see Cod. 1.12.5 Cod. 1.5.6 and 8. In the Novels it is declared That the sacred Mysteries or Ministeries be not done in private Houses but be celebrated in publick places least thereby things be done contrary to the Catholick and Apostolick Faith unless they call to the celebrating of the same such Clerks of whose Faith and Conformity there is no doubt made or those that are deputed thereunto by the good will of the Bishop But places to pray in every man may have in his own House if any thing be done to the contrary the House wherein these things are done shall be confiscated and themselves shall be punished at the discretion of the Prince In the Feuds it is deereed thus Feudorum lib. 2. Tit. 53. Conventicula quoque in Civitatibus Omnesque Conjurationes extra etiam occasione parentelae inter Civitatem Civitatem inter personam personam sive inter Civitatem personam modis omnibus fieri prohibemus Et in preteritum factas Cassamus singulis conjuratorum paena unius Librae auri puniendis Episcopos vero Locorum Ecclesiastica censura violatores hujus sanctionis donec ad satisfactionem veniant voluimus coercere Receptoribus etiam malefactorum qui praedictam pacem violeverint praedam ementibus nostram indignationem subituris ejusdem paenis feriendis Praeterea bona ejus publicentur domus ejus destruatur By this edict it appears that Domus ubi conventicula aut Conspirationes fiunt confiscatur Receptans violatorem Legis pari cum eo paena punietur The House where Conventicles or Conspiracies are made is to be confiscated and he who receives any offender against this Law must be lyable with him to the same Punishment Thus much of the Foreign Edicts made against Conventicles and unlawful Assemblies I pass on to give an account what Laws Canons and Constitutions have been ordained both in the Church and State of England for the preventing and suppressing of the Conventicles of Sectaries And we begin with the Laws enacted in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth in whose name our Whiggs pretend to cast out of the Kingdom those Devils the Jesuits c. but will not observe one tittle of her Laws and Constitions made for the better Government of the Church and State In the 35th year of the Queens Reign are enacted two Laws The first is for the punishment of those persons that obstinately refuse to come to Church and perswade others to impugne the Queens Authority in Ecclesiastical Causes c. For what end this Punishment and for what persons intended the preamble of the same Statute demonstrates It is For the preventing and avoiding of such inconveniences and perills as might happen and grow by the wicked and dangerous practices of Seditious Sectaries and disloyal Persons The Second Law is 35 Eliz. c. 2. to impose a penalty on a Convicted Popish-Recusant removing above five Miles from the House c. And for what end the penalty is imposed and what persons are meant by this Law the preamble thereof will inform us It is for the better discovering and avoiding of such Trayterous and most dangerous Conspiracies and Attempts as are daily devised and practised against the Queens Majesty and the happy Estate of this Common Wealth by sundry wicked and Seditious persons who terming themselves Catholicks and being indeed Spies and Intelligencers not only for her Majesties Foreign Enemies but also for Rebellious and Traytorous Subjects Born within her Realms and Dominions and hiding their most detestable and divilish purposes under a false pretext of Religion and Conscience do secretly wander and shift from place to place within this Realm to corrupt her Majesties Subjects and to stir them to Sedition and Rebellion From the Reign of Queen Elizabeth we come to that of King James In 1. Jacobi Regis Anno 1603. there is a Canon and Constitution whereby maintainers of Conventicles are censured the words of the Canon are these Whosoever shall hereafter affirm or maintain that there are within this Realm other Meetings Canon 11. Assemblies or Congregations of the Kings born Subjects then such as by the Laws of the Land are held and allowed which may rightly Challenge to themselves the name of True and Lawful Churches Let him be Excommunicated and not restored but by the Arch-Bishop after his Repentance and publick Revocation of such his wicked Errors And as the maintainers of Conventicles are censured so against the maintainers of Constitutions made in Conventicles there is ordained a Canon which is the 12th The words whereof are as follow Whosoever shall hereafter affirm Canon 12. that it is Lawful for any sort of Ministers and Lay-persons or either of them to joyn together and make Rules Orders or Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical without the Kings Authority and shall submit themselves to be Ruled and Governed by them Let them be excommunicated ipso facto and not be restored until they Repent and publickly revoke those their wicked and Anabaptistical errors Add hereto a Third Canon against Ministers holding private Conventicles the very words whereof are these For as much as all Conventicles Canon 73. and secret Meetings of Priests and Ministers have been ever justly accounted very hurtful to the state of the Church wherein they live we do now Ordain and Constitute That no Priests or Ministers of the Word of God nor any other persons shall meet together in any private House or elsewhere to consult upon any matter or course to be taken by them or upon their motion or direction by any other which may any way tend to the impeachment or depravation of the Doctrine of the Church of England or of the Book of Common-Prayer or of any part of the Government and Discipline now established in the Church of England under pain of Excommunication ipso facto From King James's Reign I descend to that of the Royal Martyr King Charles the First by whose License and Authority there was a Constitution and Canon Ecclesiastical framed and agreed upon in the several Synods held at London and York Anno 1640 against Sectaries And it is this Whereas there is a Provision now made by a Canon