Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	act_n	king_n	parliament_n	3,280	5	6.9453	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85396	Hybristodikai. The obstructours of justice. Or a defence of the honourable sentence passed upon the late King, by the High Court of Justice. Opposed chiefly to the serious and faithfull representation and vindication of some of the ministers of London. As also to, The humble addresse of Dr. Hamond, to His Excellencie and Councel of warre. Wherein the justice, and equitie of the said sentence is demonstratively asserted, as well upon clear texts of Scripture, as principles of reason, grounds of law, authorities, presidents, as well forreign, as domestique. Together with, a brief reply to Mr. John Geree's book, intituled, Might overcoming right: wherein the act of the Armie in garbling the Parliament, is further cleared. As also, some further reckonings between thesaid [sic] Dr. Hamond and the authour, made straight. / By John Goodwin.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.; Glover, George, b. ca. 1618, engraver.	1649 (1649)	Wing G1170; Thomason E557_2; ESTC R12380	138,495	164

OF OUR OWN 4. If the Parliament of England because of the sequestration Sect. 36 of some of their Members by the Army were under force or in no capacity to act Parliament-wise doubtlesse the Parliament of Scotland now sitting is much more under force and upon this account all they have acted since the first of their sitting or shall act yet further must be null yea more formally and apparantly null than any the Acts of the present Parliament of England For about six moneths since the Army of the Parliament of Scotland which invaded this Kingdom being by the blessing of God overcome those that now govern affairs there who were before oppressed by them raised forces of their own Authority and by force caused them who See the Parliaments Declaration o● 〈…〉 17. 16●● Pag. 12. 13. had the Parliamentary Authority to flee from Edenburgh and by the help of the English forces than in the North invited to their assistance did compell the disbanding of the forces there remaining that were raised by the Parliament and having modelled their own forces did call another Parliament while the former was by Adjourment continued and gave such limitations to the new Elections as they judged most for the interest safety and peace of that Kingdom And that Parliament hath since sat under the Protection of those forces so raised So that the present Parliament of England is much more free than the Parliament of Scotland For 1. The Members of the former were Elected without any limitations prescribed to or about their Election whereas the Election of the Members of the latter was incumbered and not carried or made with the like freedom 2. The Parliament of England now in being was not brought in by force over the head of another Parliament legally chosen this being forced to flee to make way for that which is the case of the Scottish Parliament 3. And lastly the Parliament of England sitteth under the Protection of forces raised by their whole body and whilest all their Members had full liberty to sit whereas the Parliament of Scotland is attended for their security by forces raised by some few of them onely the forces raised by their free Legall Parliament being by force compelled to disband But 5. That the Parliament of England acteth freely and not as Sect. 37 under any force since the want of their secluded Members or at least as freely as they did before is evident because they now act by the same principles and according to the same genius by which they acted whilest those Members sat with them though by the number and potent influence of these Members upon the House matters were still over-ruled in opposition to them as well as to the liberties and safety of th● Kingdom 6. There is no colour to judge the Parliament now sitting to be under force in as much as those under whose Protection they sit are their reall cordiall and ●ried friends being their own Army raised by themselves and who have stood by them and by the Kingdom with all faithfulnesse and with the eminent hazard of their own lives from the first untill now Do m●n use to be afraid of their friends their known their long their throughly experienced friends Suppose they had been under such a kind of force which had strongly inclined them to act contrarie to their judgements I mean contrarie to such principles as by which it is like they would have acted in case such a force had not diverted them yet unlesse it can be proved that those judgements of theirs according unto which it is supposed they would have acted in case no force at all had influenced them were consistent with the liberties peace and safety of the Nation which consistencie hath not yet been proved nor ever will there can no sufficient reason be given why their acts should be judged null or illegall It is the saying of Seneca It is an happy necessity which compelleth men to better 〈…〉 c●●p●… wayes than otherwise they were like to take And in case Parliamentary Acts should be questioned in point of legall validity u●on a supposall yea and this in some degree reasonable that Parliaments at the time of their transaction were under force or which is the same under fear of acting otherwise upon this account the validity of all Parliamentary Acts whatsoever in this Kingdom if not in others also will be obnoxious and liable unto question For it may very reasonably be doubted whether any Parliament were ever so free in the passing of any Act but that they were under fear either of the King and his power and party on the one hand or of the people and their discontent on the other and consequently whether ever any Parliament acted with such precisenesse of liberty or freedom as that the genuine and native ducture of their judgements was no wayes touched or wrought upon by any influence of persons or things feared by them If it be yet objected yea but it was onely the House of Sect. 38 Commons that voted the Erection of that Court of Justice which gave sentence against the King The House of Lords concurred not with it Therefore the Authority of this Court was illegall it being contrarie to the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom that either of the two Houses should assume unto themselves or exercise a compleat Parliamentary power without the concurrence of the other I answer 1. Many talk of the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom who I beleeve understand not at least consider not what the word fundamental imports Certain it is that no other Law or Laws of this Kingdom can with any propriety of speech be termed fundamental but onely such the observation whereof by the body of the Kingdom is of absolute necessity to the wel-being of it And no lesse certain it is but that the welfare and prosperity of this Kingdom may stand without any house of Lords at all and much more without their concurrence with whatsoever the House of Commons shall passe in order thereunto Upon the same ground evident it is that the Trial of Malefactours or Delinquents especially in extraordinary cas●● of Delinquencie by Juries is no fundamental Law of the Kingdom in as much as the wel-being of the Kingdom may subsist as well without it 2. All Authority and Power of Government being originally Sect. 39 and fundamentally in the people as hath been already proved at large they have a just and legall power in their Representative which is the House of Commons without the Lords to act and do whatsoever they rightly judge conducible to their wealth and safety especially when the Lords shall refuse to concurre with them in such things It is unreasonable to conceive that it should be a matter of sin or unlawfull for a Kingdom to make provision for it self and it is own good unlesse such or such a small party amongst them who prefer their own undue personal Interests before

now let the fear of the Lord ●e upon you take heed and do fr there is no iniquitie with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts ● where first it is observable that not onely 〈…〉 Kings but Judges also inferiour in place unto them judge for God i. in the place and office of Judicature represent God himself or perform that work which properly belongs unto God himself therefore ought to behave themselvs in all acts of judgement as their consciences tell them that God himself would do in case he sat in judgement himself and were to give sentence with his own mouth 2. That though God doth not sit or appear visibly with such Judges when they sit in judgement yet he is after a very peculiar manner with them at such times who i● or will be with you in the judgement viz to observe nar●orowly with what courage conscience and integritie they act for him and how they represent him upon the tribunal and so to assert and vindicate them in every just sentence against any person or persons how great soever and of whose face otherwise they might be afraid 3. That such Judges as these are in a more especiall manner to take ●eed that in matters of judgement they do not mis-represent God either first in respecting mens persons or 2. in taking of gifts 4. And lastly that it was a godly and wise King who said unto inferiour Judges created and deputed by himself that they were n●t to judge for man i. with respect to any humane Interest whatsoever no not his own but for the Lord. i. with an intire respect to the Interest of God and so that he may not suffer in any of his Attributes through any unworthy carriage of theirs in their places A like passage we have from Moses also Ye saith he to the Judges appointed over the people shall not respect pers●ns in judgement you shall not be afraid of the face of man for the judgement is Gods Deut. 1. 17. So that if we ought to judge it a thing altogether unworthy of God and dishonourable to his infinit Greatnesse in case he sat in judgement himself and gave sentence immediatly to think that he would respect the persons of Kings in Judgement and sentence onely meaner men both being alike guilty certainly it is dishonourable likewise unto him and would be sinfull in an high degree if they who are intrusted to judge for him and in his Name place and stead should do the same I mean accept the persons of Kings or Princes how worthy soever of death and onely adjudge inferiour persons to the suffering of this punishment when they prove guilty hereof Were not this to represent God unto the world as an accepter of persons and so to turn the glory of his unpartial justice into a lie And might it not be more properly and truly said of such Judges that they judge for man and not for the Lord Doth the Law of the most High God know any man after the fl●sh Or is it afraid to say unto Kings ye a●e wicked or when they shed mans blood that by man shall their bloud be shed Is it like to a spiders web which serves to catch smaller flies but hornets break through and escape It is a frivolous pretence to say that Kings are accountable Sect. 4. unto God when they transgresse his Law though not unto men and in this respect the Law of God is not made void in respect of them though they should not suffer for their transgression of it from the hands of men as others do and ought For even those also who suffer and in the judgement of these ministers themselves ought to suffer from men for the transgression of the Law of God as in the case of murther or the like are neverthelesse accountable unto God for their transgression their suffering from men notwithstanding So that if an accountablenesse unto God for the breach of such laws of his which are punishable by men were a due ground of exemption from suffering in the courts of humane Justice not onely Kings but Subjects also of all sorts might justly challenge that exemption in this kind which is contended for by our Ministers as the Prerogative of Kings And if the Lawe of God should priviledge Kings against the barre of humane Justice for what crimes soever leaving them accountable onely unto God and not indulge the like favour unto meaner men but make th●se for their delinquencies answerable to both tribunals should they not together with the Law-maker himself benototiously partiall Or what is partialitie in Laws or Judgement if to blend an equalitie in cause with an inequalitie of a sentence be not This respect of persons in judgement is elswhere and that frequently very severely prohibited by God See Levit. 19. 15. Deut. 1. 17. Deut. 16. 19. Prov. 24. 23. c. Against this Authority of Heaven which arraigns even Kings 〈…〉 5. themselves as well as persons of inferiour rank at the bar of Earthly Judicatures it is more than in vain for our Jure-Divino men to oppose a Jus human●m or rather a defect of Jus h●ma●um to inhibit the processe Ought not Christ to be worshipped as God because the Senate of Rome refused to apotheize him Or must such a Law of God which is both naturall and positive the Law which commands life for life the the life of the murtherer for the life of the murthered is such be over-ruled for the gratification of Kings to their own and the worlds undoing with them by a meer non-ens or by that which is not Or is this good Logico-Divinity There is no Law of the land no Law of man for the calling of Kings to account for any crime what soever no not for murther it self therefore the law of God which imposeth a sentence of death upon murtherers without all exception or respect of persons must be of none effect in respect of Kings when they murther The Sert●es and Pharisees of our Saviours time were sharply reproved by him for making the Command of God of none effect by their tradition * M●●● 15 ● Yet these men had some thing they had their instrument such as it was they had their tradition wherewith to work this prophane feat the making the Commandment of God of none effect The Moses-chair-men of our dayes make account that they are able to remove a like mountain without any instrument or means at all onely by they want a tradition which should make it stand fast But what if there be a clear Law of the Land for putting even Kings to death when they commit murther Doubtlesse that law of the land which sentenceth murtherers with death as it specifieth no particular rank or calling of men whereunto it is to be limited so neither doth it particularize any order or degree of men by way of exemption Therefore since there is a Law of the Land clear enough

that mercie to all the three Kingdoms which would be expressed and shewed unto them as well in the preservation of those liberties as in the Execution of Justice upon their enemies and disturbers of their peace 2. Suppose the preservation of the Kings person had been Sect. 47 simply and without any limitation or condition injoyned in the Covenant yet the injunction being grounded upon this presumption that the King himself should and would enter into the same Covenant with us he refusing to come into the bond of the Covenant excludeth himself from all the benefit overtu●ed unto him in the Covenant upon those terms and dischargeth the Covenanters from all Covenant-obligations relating unto him The Author of the Discourse intituled Lex Rex was I suppose at the framing of the Covenant in Scotland yea and probably fashioned it both behind and before or however hath ploughed with a better heifer than all our Subscriptioners have done to understand a right the riddle of it yet he teacheth us this Doctrine for truth that if the Condition without the which one of the parties would never have entered in Covenant be not performed that person is loosed from the Covenant * L●●●●g p●g ●● Now I appeal to the Consciences of the Subscribers or to as many of them as have taken the Covenant whether they would have Covenanted the preservation of the person and Authority of the King if they had known the King would not have Covenanted the other things with them especially if they had known that he would so desperatly have opposed all the main ends of the Covenant as he did But this nail I remember is driven home to the head by that work-man who drew up the Armies large Declaration Therefore 3. Where a promise is either made or sworn conditionally Sect. 48 especially when the performance of the condition by him to whom or on whose behalf the promise is made or sworn is of greater moment than the performance of the promise it self in such cases it is as clear as the light that the non-performance of the condition by the one party induceth a disobligation of the other party from performance of the promise How much more when there is not onely a simple non-performance of the condition but also a practising with an high hand in opposition to it First evident it is that those words in the Covenant in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom import a condition to be performed on the Kings part without the performance whereof the Covenant obligeth no man to the preservation or defence of his Person or Authority If this be not the clear meaning and importance of them the Covenant is a Barbarian unto me I understand not the English of it But if men will impose aenigm●s in the name of Covenants or Covenants made of riddles they can reasonably expect no observation of them but onely from some Oedipus or Fortunatus unlesse they will please to send their heifer along with them Secondly whether the Preservation and Defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom be not a matter of far greater consequence than the Preservation and Defence of the Person and Authority of the King I am content to leave it to the Ministers themselves to judge and determin Thirdly whether the King hath not all along since the taking of the Covenant by the Generality of the Parliament and Kingdom acted in a way of full opposition to the preservation and defence of true Religion and the Liberties ●● the Kingdom I do not much fear to refer to the same arbitration Certain I am that if their tongues and pens were not at va●iance with their judgements this was their unanimous judgement and award wh●●est the Parliament smiled and the King f●owned upon the Presbyterian Interest Therefore as God by his promise of ●aving those who shall believe stands no wayes bound to save those who shall not believe so neither doth any Covenant or promise though made with Oath to preserve a●d defen●● t●e ●ings Person and Authority in case ●e shall preserve the t●ue Religion and Lib●●ties of the Kingdom oblige any man to the preservati●n or defence of either when the King acts destructively either to the true R●ligi●n or to the Liberties of the Kingdom least of all when he acts destr●ctively unto both M● Prynne himself approbante calam● citeth these words amongst many others of like import out of J●●tus Brutus Therefore the people are obliged to the Prince under a condition the Prince purely to the people Therefore if the condition be not fulfilled the people are unbound and the Contract void the Obligation null in Law it self * 〈…〉 Nay 4 The truth is all things duly considered that the Covenant Sect. 49 doth not more if so much promi●e or overture unto the King the preservation or defence of ●is Person or Authority by those that should take it as threaten him with the neglect yea and ruin of both from them Thus far the case is evident he that promiseth upon condition intimates and to a degree threatens non-performance of promise in case the condition be not performed especially when the performance of the condition is of much concernment to him that maketh the promise Suppose that God should onely have made such a promise as this unto the world Whosoever believeth in my Son Christ shall be saved without the explicit addition of this threatening but he that believeth not shall be damned it had been a pregnant Item and caveat given unto the world not to have expected salvation from him unlesse they believed Yea the promise ●● self contains a tacit threatening of condemnation unto those who believe not Nor is it a thing reasonable or worthy of God to conceive that he in a most serious and solemn manner and when he would speak most like unto himself should promise salvation unto the world upon condition that men believe and yet at the same time intend to save them whether they believed or no. Nor would it be in men any thing lesse than taking the Name of God in vain to swear in a solemn manner and with ●ands lifted up to heaven the preservation and defence of the Kings Person and Authority upon condition that he prese●v● and defend the true Religi●n and Liberties of the Kingdom and yet to tell or intimate unto him at the same time that they will preserve and defend his Person and A●thority whether he preserves Religion and Liberties or no. 5 If there be any thing in the Vow Protestation or Covenant Sect. 50 against bringing the King to a judiciary Trial and sentencing him according to his demerits the Ministers themselves are far deeper in the condemnation of tran●gr●ssours than those that have acted in or towards this bringing of him to trial or that have given Sentence against him at least in respect of any guilt contracted by them by either of

done by the Parliament which his constant Judgement was could not be done without sin If so he hath no part or fellowship in that blessednesse which the Apostle pronounceth over him that condemneth not himself in what ●● alloweth * Rom. 14 ●● Or did the wind of this mans Judgement blow to the same point of the compasse at which it stands both in the Representation and Vindication when a few pages after in the same Sermon he dogmatized thus Men who lie under the guilt of much innocent bloud are not meet persons to be at peace with till all the guilt of bloud be expiated and avenged either by the sword of the Law or by the Law of the sword else a Peace can neither be safe or just Though I do not find any great store of good sence in this period which seemes to suppose that a Peace can neither ●e safe or just with a person guilty of much innocent bloud untill he be dead yet the Authour clearly supposeth ● That the King lay under the guilt of much innocent bloud 2. that such guilt ought to be expiated and avenged by the sword either of the Magistrate or the Souldier His meaning cannot be that the guilt contracted by and which lay upon the King should be expiated or avenged upon the person of another man though this seemes to b● M● Gerees Divinitie * Might ove●●oming Right pa● ●● c. because the Peace now endeavoured by Treaty was to have been made and concluded chiefly with the King If then M r. Love be so infected with the dangerous Errour of ●uto-catacritisme I fear there are very many of his fellow-Subscribers in the same Condemnation with him For it is well known and commonly talked that the Sons of high Presbytery have still in matters of opinion relating to their Interest but one Judgement amongst them which serves them all and which they weather as Mariners do their sail● upon all occasions according to the shiftings of the wind The latter of the two home-Authours mentioned is M● William Sect. 70 Prynne who though no Divine by profession yet a Protestant yea and a Divine too both by competency of faculty and super-frequencie of ingagement since the sitting of this present Parliament hath written and published a large volume intituled The Soveraign power of Parliaments and Kingdoms wherein if the frontispiece be not too high for the edifice the Superiority of our own and m●st other forreign Parliaments States Kingdoms Magistrates Colle●tively con●idered over and above their lawfull Emperours Kings Princes is abundantly evinced confirmed by pr●gnant Re●sons Resolutions Precedents Histories Authorites of all sorts the contrary refelled And all Objections Calumnies of the King his Councel Royalists Mal●gnants Delinquents Papists against this present Parliaments proceedings pretended to be exceeding derogatorie to the Kings Supremacy and Subjects libertie satisfactorily answered refu●ed diss●pated in all particulars This book all circumstances considered as 1. the subject matter of it 2. the Author of it a man of ●minent learning and great Mecenas to the Pr●●byterian cause 3. the largenesse and comprehensive fulnesse of the discourse 4. the ti●e wherein it had been ●xtant and every where to ●e had when the Ministers subscribed their Representation and Vindication being four or five years at the least 5. the Grand and pressing occasion which of later times lay upon all conscientious men and more especially upon them themselves in regard of their solemn undertakings to Stigmatize as they have done the proceedings against the King to inquire into the argument for satisfaction all these circumstances I say with some others of like nature duly considered is it possible to imagine that the Ministers had not seen this book or at least known or heard of the judgement of the Authour therein about that great question concerning the power of Parliaments over Kings so largely there debated when they subscribed both the said Subscriptions If they had done either the one or the other how shall not their consciences sweat blood for affirming that it hath alwaies been the constant judgement and Doctrine of Protestant Divines that Kings ought not to suffer from the sword of justice for any perpetrations or crimes whatsoever For unlesse this be their meaning in their stingling and aspersive language wherein they professe that they disclaim detest abhor the wicked and bloudy Tenets and Practises of J●suits and the murthering of Kings by any though under the most specious and colourable pretences they do but baffle their simple Reader speaking nothing at all to the businesse in issue For who or which of those to whom they addresse in the Representation do not with as much clearnesse and simplicity of spirit as themselves disclaim detest and abhor the wicked and bloudy Tenets and Practises of J●suits and the murthering of Kings though under the most specious and colourable pretences if Representation pag. 11. they mean nothing more than what they say in these expressions and I wonder upon what account men pretending to such proximity unto the Heavens in sanctity and integrity as they should assume that to themselves as somewhat emphatically excellent and singular which is nothing but what is found in all men without exception unlesse it be that congregation of the first-born of Satan the Jesuites and their Proselytes But as commonly it fareth with trades-men that are much behind-hand with the world and declining in their estates they buy dear and sel cheap and make all bargains to losse and disadvantage till they fail and sink right down so these men having overthrown their estates in honour and repute with men by stretching themselves beyond their line and over-dealing both their wisdom and their worth are now from time to time after a ●ort necessitated to disadvantagious tran●actions and such which will I fear in short time lay all their grandure and high looks in the dust Whereas some pretend an irregularity in the Sentence passed Sect. 71 upon the King through a defect of President or example I answer this is the lightes● and loosest of all pleas that are commonly made in the case For 1. An example is no Rule God made Rules before that men yea or himself made examples Nor doth he necessarily break a rule who acts or works without a pattern or example Bezal●●l and A●olia● wrought curious work for the tabernacle and yet had no patterns of what they wrought before them When Moses smote ●he Egyptian who wronged the Israelite that he died he had no precedent action of like nature to warrant or justifie his action yet was it neverthelesse justifiable Nor did J●●ojada the Priest who caused Athalia● to be slai● act under the Protection of any Parallel Instances of this kind are without number 2. As in descents of families it is a thing frequent and Sect. 72 commendable for those who succeed in the inheritance to adde to the demesnes with honourable industrie and thrift and to transmit the

shall chuse out the God of Israel from amongst all the gods of the earth to serve honour for your God you shall appropriate him to yout selves he will not he cannot denie himself to be yours And they who are circumspect and carefull in the choise of their God may be secure about their enemies If you had all the world your enemies yet had you but the dust in the balance or the drop of the bucket to oppose you the greatnesse of your God swallows up all consideration of your enemies into ●●ctorie and makes them bread for you Onely take heed that you profane not the excellencie of your strength either by fearing the faces of men or by crouching to the God of this world for any of his morsels The glory of the incorruptible God is as unto men turned into the basest lye into the similitude of a dumb and dead Idol when they who pretend to his service shall shew themselves either fearfull or unjust In either of these deportments much more in both together men blaspheme the name of that God whom they serve if indeed they serve any either as defective in power wherewith to help them or in goodnesse which should ingage this power for them or in both A well built Confidence and Conscience answerable to it are two noble Principles absolutely necessarie for those who desire to live in amitie and friendship with God Be not troubled that the Nation is departed from you keep your hold fast upon God and with Jacob let not him go and he will blesse you he will ●isse unto the Nation and bring them back again in a moment unto you Depend with your whole heart upon him and you shall render him as unable to forsake you as to denie himself You know how soon the minds of the poor People of the Isle Melita were turned upside down within them concerning Paul He that was in their thoughts as this hour a murtherer a man whom Divine vengeance would not suffer to live the next became no lesse than a God * Acts 2● 46 I trust the weak and sinfull People of this Island have left you upon no worse an account than On●simus as Paul hoped sometimes for look his master Philemon they have therefore departed for a season that you should receive them for ever † Philem 1● Pert●n●● b●●itas al● qu● ●●●●n●●t There is no evil no frowardnesse so stubborn but pertinacie in goodnesse will in time overcome If your straits were so great that you knew not otherwise what to do Jehosaphats stratageme of casting your eyes upon God * 2 Ch●●● 20. 18. is alwayes ready for execution and none more promising successe against enemies than it Nor can I much fear but that that God who stood by you when the wickednesse of your Heads compassed you about and gave them into your hand will any more ●avour the iniquitie of your heels † Psalm 4● 5. against you or suffer you to fall into their hands One thing by which you are losers at present in the judgementts and affections of manie men makes you most assuredly great gainers in the favour of God your zeal and faithfulnesse I mean in that most exemplary act of Justice upon the late King and will I question not counter-work it self in the hearts of the same men as the Gospel sometimes did in the conscience of Paul when having first provoked him into persecution afterwards it wrought him about to a zealous predication and propagation of it In so much that the Saints said of him He which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the Faith which once he destroyed * Gal 1 ●● The first apparitions of things new and strange especially when the reasons and causes of them are unknown most of all when there is place and opportunitie for the jealousies and fears of men to write their consequences and effects sad and bitter are usually disturbing and offensive to their apprehensions But when a diligent inquirie hath satisfied them from whence they come and a little experience whither they go and no evil found in the form●● nor felt in the latter that which was at the first offensive soon ceaseth and the things themselves become the delight and great contentment of men When the Disciples at Sea in the fourth watch of the night saw Christ walking on the Sea towards them they were troubled saith the text saying it is a spirit and they cried out for fear * M●●● 14. 26. but when he was come into the ship and had reconciled the boistrons winds and Seas to their desires he proved the joy and great rejoycing of them all The Scriptures afford severall other instances in this kind That that Royal Act of Justice we speak of whereunto your hearts and hands were lifted up by God should for a season exercise and trouble the sancies of many is not to be numbered amongst things that are strange considering 1. how long the judgements and consciences of the generalitie of men in the world have been overshadowed with Prerogative Divinitie 2. how unaccustomed the present Age is to bear the weight of such Heroique transactions 3. that neither were their Fathers able to report unto them any such thing as done in their dayes 4. how generall onely and therefore in many respects unsatisfactorie most of those accounts are which have been drawn up for the Justification of the Action 5. and lastly what latitude and scope there is for the jealousies and fears of men to play up and down in forming and fore-casting the events and consequences of the Action almost to what dismall and formidable varietie they please But the two things alreadie hinted 1. a distinct and clear apprehension of the justiftablenesse of the grounds upon which the said Action stands fair and without spot 2. a competent experience that in the consequence of it it will onely blesse and not at all curse the Nation will perfectly heal the offensivenesse of it and bring back the hearts of men unto you by the same way they went from you Out of an unfeigned and humble desire to set both your persons and Honourable proceedings especially about the late King right and straight in the minds and affections of the Nation having withall diligence and good conscience surveied that great Transaction of yours in all the circumstances of it and all the Pleas relating to it as well by way of opposition as comport as far as my weak apprehension was able to discern any thing of such an import I was willing to tax my self at so much time and pains which I have now levied accordingly as to draw up a Report in writing of what I found in that my survey This I humbly present unto your Honourable House in the next ensuing discourse attended with the strength of my desires that it may and with some ●aint hopes that it will accomplish that good thing on your behalf amongst men whereunto it is consigned

c. Numb 35. 11. 31. with many the like This tenour and form of words used by God himself in the promulgation of the Judiciall Law undeniably evinceth that the observation of this Law in the severall branches of it did not so relate to those whom this people should set over themselves for Magistrates or Judges but that they themselves were concerned the whole body of them joyntly and severally to see the said Law observed and duly put in execution as well though not as imm●diatly or by proprietie of office as they The● were first for their own accommodation and convenience to appoint Rulers and Magistrates over them upon whom the Execution of these Laws should in speciall manner lie and in cases these Rulers and Magistrates proved faithfull unto them in a d●e Execution of these Laws the people should be looked upon by God as having discharged their duties in this behalf b● them their Rulers But in case these Rulers entrusted by them with the Execution of these Laws should prevaricate with their trust so that the Laws we speak of were not put in exec●tion by them it highly concerned themselves I mean the body of this State or generality of this people one and other without e●ception of any to provide for this Execution And questionlesse upon this account and ground it is that when injustice violence and oppression are practised without controul in a Nation whether by Magistrates themselves onely or by others likewise with them the displeasure of God for these sins is not kindled against Magistrates onely as if they alone were guilty of them but against the people al●o even the generality of them as might be shewed by many pregnant instances both from the Scriptures and from other Histories Which plainly proveth a joynt delinquency in the people with their Magistrates in their non-execution or non-providing by one means or other for the Execution of such Laws amongst them which are made for the due punishment and so for the prevention of unrighteousnesse and oppression For it is no wayes consistent with the righteousnesse of God or with that equitablenesse of his wayes concerning which he is willing to make his enemies themselves Judges Ezech 18. 25 29. to punish the people for the sins of their Rulers unlesse they were their fellow-sinners By the way Inferiour Magistrates yea and the generality of Sect. 42 the people shall do well to take knowledge how highly it concerns them as they are Members of that State and Community where they live and have much of their peace and comfort bound up in the peace and wel-being of the publick diligently to consider when their Superiours are remisse and loose in the Execution of their Laws such especially whereby such sins which are more provoking in the sight of God as injustice oppression murther adultery c. are made punishable that ●o they may understand when the publick peace and ●afety call's for them to interpose and act in an extraordinary way as viz. by executing Justice and Judgement in their land upon the default of those who bear the sword in vain and thereby expose the land unto a curse Run ye to and fro saith God himself by his Prophet through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof IF Y● CAN FIND A MAN IF THERE BE ANY THAT EXECUTETH JUDGEMENT that seeketh the Truth and I will pardon it * ●er ● ● And whereas the ●●act of P●in●●as recorded Numb 25. 8. Sect. 43 and which is termed by the holy Ghost the executing of j●dgement P●al 106. 30. is commonly resolved into an extraordinary instinct or impulse of spirit from God as if without some such warranti● as this it had not been justifiable the resolution I conceive is not onely reasonlesse and without ground ●ut even clearly refutable by the Scripture it self For 1. God himself imputes the act we speak of unto Phineas his z●al for God because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for the Children of Israel * ●um ●5 1● Now to be zealous for God and hereby to make an atonement for our people is but a regular duty and whereunto we stand all obliged continually 2. This fact is said to have been imputed unto him by God himself for rig●te●●s●esse * 〈…〉 31 1. to have been commended and rewarded by him as an act of righteousnesse Now to act righteously or work ●●g●teousnesse doth not require any extraordinary immediate or forcible in citation from the Spirit of God being nothing but what all men stand bound to perform by that standing and ordinary pre●ence and assistance of the spirit which is vouchsaf●d unto them yea and which hereby they may perform By Faith saith t●e Apostle speaking of the Saints of old they wrought rig●teousnesse * ●●b 11. 33. 3. The kindling of that ●lame of zeal in Phineas by which he was strengthened to the act we speak of the Scripture ascribes not unto any extraordinary a●●●●tu● or revelation from heaven but to the occasionall sight or beholding of that daring wickednesse in one of the people though a great person who in the sight of Moses and of all the congregation of the Children of Israel now wee●ing before the door of the tabernacle of the congr●g●tion brought along with him a Midianitish woman and carried her into his tent And when Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the Priest saw it ●e rose up from amongst th● congregation and took a javelin in his hand and went after the man of Israel c. * N●mb ●5 ● 7 ● That which may seem most irregular in the fact viz. that he should do that severe Execution so suddainly and this onely upon his own evidence and without conviction by witnesses c. is reducible to terms of common righteousnesse and equity by the consideration of these three circumstances 1. The desperate daringnesse of the impiety in both the Delinquents especially the man who being an Israelite brought an Idolatrous Woman in t●e sight of Moses and of all the congregation and carried her into his tent 2. This wickednesse was thus daringly and dreadlesly committed when the wrath of God was now kindled amongst the people and a devouring plague set in amongst them which had already destroyed the lives of many thousands of them and was advancing in full carier to make a further slaughter and this for the sins of this people with the daughters of Midi●n 3. And lastly it was committed i● the sight of Moses and of all the congregation of the Children of Israel whilst they were mourning and weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the Congregation to pacifi● the w●ath of God which was now fallen in so terrible a manner upon the people Now when there is not onely a sufficient ground in point of demerit for the punishment inflicted upon a Male●actour but an addition also besides of any provoking and

these transactions In so much that that of the Apostle may be applied and spoken unto them with aggravation and advantage Therefore thou art in excuseable O ●an whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou cond●m●est thy self for thou that judgest dost the same things * ●●m ● ● The Ministers were they who deposed the King and consequently who according to the common and known processe of Law and Justice in the Kingdom exposed him both to that judiciary Trial whereunto he was brought as also to that Sentence which passed upon him For a King deposed is no longer a King but a Subject and consequently as subject I mean according to the ordinary current and course of things unto Law and Justice as ordinary Subjects are The Ministers with their party clearly deposed the King when they denied their subjection unto him withdrew their obedience from him acknowledged and submitted unto a power as Superiour unto his viz. the Parliament levied war against him as against a Traitour Rebell and Enemy to the Kingdom chased him up and down the land from place to place confiscated his revenews and at last imprisoned his person But this Doctrine with a further explication and proof of it hath been lately taught them with Authority and Power by another pen * Ten●●e of Ki●g● and Magi●●●●te● by J M p●g ●9 ●● c. the Sermon being in print needs no repetition So then were it granted that the Protestation Vow or Covenant did positively and without any proviso injoyn the preservation of the Person and Authority of the King neither they who brought him to trial nor they who sentenced him can be looked upon as Covenant-breakers in either of these actions because neither he who was brought to that Trial we speak of nor he who was sentenced was a King when these things were done to him but onely a Subject that had been a King in his dayes but was now devested of his royall office and power by the Ministers of London and their partisans and reduced to the rank and condition of a Subject and this none of the greatest neither There is not the least jot or title in the Covenant concerning the Preservation or Defence of the Person and Authority of any man that sometimes was or had been a King nor the least mention of any restraint from bringing to triall or giving sentence against such a person being a Delinquent Therefore there being no Law in the Covenant against the trial or sentencing of such a person there can be no transgression in either against the Covenant Again 6. And lastly Suppose the Ministers were gratified with Sect. 51 their undue supposal viz. that the Covenant injoyns the Pres●rvation of the Kings Person and Authority without any reciprocal indenting with him for the preservation of Religion and Liberty yet there being two expresse clauses in the Covenant the one injoyning the preservation of the Liberties of the Kingdoms the other the bringing of Incendiaries and Malignants unto condign punishment either of these falling in competition with that concerning the preservation of the Kings person swalloweth up the obligation thereof For that is a true Rule which Peter Martyr delivers as elsewhere I have observed * ●…ht ●nd ●●●h● c. p●● 30. that when two duties or commands meet in such a strait that they cannot b●th receive that honour of observance which otherwise belongs unto them both that which in the judgement of the Law-giver is the greater ought to be observed and the lesser to give place * Now 〈…〉 P M●●t ●n ● S●●●● ● ● first certain it is that as well the one as the other of these two duties the preservation of the liberties of the Kingdom the bringing of In●endaries and Delinquents to condign punishment are far greater duties of far greater moment and consequence than the Preservation of the Kings Person and Authority the highest service imaginable of his Person and Authority in their best preservation being the procurement of these which are very well procureable too without them and 2. no lesse certain it is 1. that neither the preservation of the Kingdoms Liberties nor 2. and this more app●rantly th●n the former the bringing of Delinquents to condign Punishment were consistent with such a preservation of the Kings person Authority as the Ministers deem the Parliament Army and others obliged unto by the Covenant Late and lamentable experience shewed how near the Liberties of the Kingdom were to ruin by occasion of the preservation of the Kings person onely and that onely for a season though his Authority was kept under hatches It was the Preservation of his Person that gave life and breath and being to those dangerous insurrections in Kent Essex London Surrey Wales c. by means whereof there was but a step between the Liberties of the Kingdom and perpetuall enslavement It was the Preservation of his Person with hope of a restitution of his Authority that administred strength unto Scotland to conceive the conquest of England and to make the attempt by invading it with an Army of about if not above 30000 men unto whose teeth doubtlesse this Nation had been a prey had they not fought from heaven had not the stars in their courses fought against them And had his Person still been preserved especially with his Authority according to all experiments which the world hath made and had in such cases yea according to all principles as well of Religion as of reason and policy it would have been a spring or fountain of bitter waters unto the land and a darkening of the light in the heavens thereof But more of this elsewhere And instead of bringing Delinquents unto condign punishment it cannot in any rational Construction but be supposed that it would have been the lifting up the heads of such persons unto undeserved places of honour This with the other particulars argued upon the point of the Covenant duly considered is it possible to imagine that the Ministers should find in their judgements or consciences or any where else but in their degenerous and ignoble ends the least colour or pretence to declaim against the Parliament and those who adhere to them in their proceedings with such wide and open mouths with such multiplied and incessant battologies of Covenant-breaking Covenant-breaking Covenant-breaking as they do for their honourable proceedings against and royal execution of Justice upon the Person of the King or to think that such Scriptures have any hard aspect at all upon them or their actions as that which they manage against them Shall he prosper shall he escape that doth such things Or shall he break the Covenant and be delivered As I live saith the Lord seeing he despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant when lo he had give● his ●and he shall not escape c. Ezech. 17. 14 15. c. Have they not much more cause to fear that the Spirit which spe●k in such

he musters up those worthy names of men Mr. Sect. 4. Bi●ield Cartwright Traverse Dod Bradshaw Jewell Reynolds Whitaker c. before those worthy Ladies to whom he applies himself in his Dedication with an insinuation that these men were of his opinion and spirit and would have protected Murtherers if Kings against the Law of God and the justice therein commanded to be executed by men upon this generation of evil doers and takes up an effeminate indeed a ridiculous lamenation over his Religion as if that were like to suffer shame by those men and those actions which are like to be a praise and an honour to it in all generations he doth both the one and the other in a regular comportance with his Design in his Dedicatees knowing that fabulous and light presumptions intermixt with some pathetique strains commonly do more execution upon Feminine Spirits than seven Masculine Demonstrations I have ground in abundance to suppose that had those worthy men he speaks of lived in these dayes and stood off as clear from that besotting interest of High Presbytery as some of them did from that of Episcopacy they would have found no fault at all in those persons or practices which it seems were the abhorring of M r Geree's Soul But why he should commend himself to his Lady Patronesses and in them unto the World as so Grand a sufferer under the Bishops Chancellours Courts High Commissions c. and not somuch as mention his sufferings under and from the Parliament which were much greater than any endured by him under the Bishops I cannot conceive unlesse it were to conceal the sore of his Malignancie for the noysomnesse whereof he was Sequestred from his living in Tewksbury that so he might not too much discover himself to be an Enemy to the Parliament at least in the former constitution and proceedings of it before the late garbling by the Armie inasmuch as such a discovery as this must needs have been a grand prejudice to his project in his Book But they who shall attentively read this Book of his will find not onely that he owneth not the Parliament at all in no constitution of it since the late King forsook it but that upon all occasions he ●●ily reflects disparagement upon it as pag. 18. where he insinuates the Parliament into a Community of erring for depriving the King of his Power over the Militia of the Kingdom notwithstanding his exercising of this Power to the miserie and ruin of the Kingdom And had not his good friends in the Assembly out of a prudent apprehension that he though an Anti-Covenanter might yet befrind them at a back door baulked with their own Principles that I say not Consciences to gratifie him and make him free of the Presbyterian corporation without putting him to the Test of the company I mean the taking of the Covenant he had wanted the covering of a Church-living and so the nakednesse of his Anti-Parliamentarie Malignancie had appeared unto all men Whereas in his Preface he obliquely upbraids me as being Sect. 5. either through want of wit or honesty an Abettour to a prevailing Faction they that have but any competent knowledge of my Spirit and of the course I have steer'd in the world all the dayes of my vanity hitherto will I know be my compurgators from this imputation and testifie on my behalf that undue compliance with any Faction or Partie whatsoever whether prevailing or failing hath been none of my at least visible sins It is well known not onely to my familiar friends and acquaintance but I presume to thousands more how small and faint correspondencie I have or hold with that Faction as M r Geree counts Faction which dogmatizeth with me about matters of Church-government and which he looketh upon as prevailing My Interest in these men though it was never much considerable yet was it much more whilest they were the tail and the high Presbyterian Faction the Head than it hath been since the turning of the Wheel if yet it be turned or than now it is But whereas he advances this decision that confidence in a Sect. 6. dubious case doth argue either great shallownesse or deep prejudice arising either from doting affection or unworthy Interest I marvail that a man pretending to such signall abilities of learning judgement understanding c. as M● Geree doth in this Tract should not Apprehend and see that this dart striketh through his own liver as well as mine For if the case depending between him and me be dubious and he every whit as confident as I am or lightly can be in his Determination and Judgement upon it which the Spirit ruling all along his discourse abundantly witnesseth then hath he given sentence against himself as a man either profoundly shallow or deeply prejudiced either through doting affection or unworthy Interest though for my part I apprehend no such Antipathie between shallownesse and prejudice whether arising from the one cause or the other but that one and the same earthen vessel may well be a receptacle of them both Yea I look upon prejudice as not occasionable either by Interest or affection without the influence of much shallownesse upon the production For what doth prejudice as well in the very Grammatical notation of the word as in the nature of the thing it self import but an immature act or conclusion of the Judgement as viz. before it hath had either time or opportunity or else the consent of the will to inquire out and duly weigh such arguments which according to the principles of sound reason are sufficient to raise such a Conclusion upon The Truth is that prejudice is as effeminate and weak a passion as is incident to the nature of man Whereas he magnifies himself against me as a man that had Sect. 7. discovered such weaknesse in the patronage of errour I make no question but that he who hath so much of a man in him as to consider duly before he judgeth will upon such an account judge my weaknesse as he is pleased to call weaknesse too hard for his strength and my Errour for his Truth Certain I am that the sence of some of those Parliament-men themselves yea some of the ablest of them whom M● Geree accuseth me to have accused causlesly yea and of some others of their most judicious friends is otherwise Onely herein I confesse they agree with him pretending that I have as to the men onely accused but not made good the Errour objected But whether I have onely accused the Parliament Members and not made good the Errour objected or whether he hath not onely justified them without making good any ground of their justification in those particulars wherewith they are charged by me we shall in due time ingage not strangers or enemies but their own actions and counsels to determine In his right stating of the Question as he pretends he deals Sect. 7. unrighteously For 1. he supposeth some

to a late President and practice amongst themselves in a like ca●e judged meet to impose upon themselves for the discovery of such of their Members who in their sence of meetnesse were not meet to sit amongst them or to have any part in the great transactions of the Kingdom Not long before they had ordered the taking of the Covenant for a Test or touch-stone whereby to make triall of the fitnesse and unfitnesse according to the Notion of fitnesse in this kind which then ruled in the House of their Members to sit in the House By means of this Test imposed sundry of their Members whose Judgements and Consciences stood against taking of the Covenant were debarred from sitting and came not to the house The same Parliament though not consisting of all the same Members judged it meet to make now another Test for the same end with the former viz. a subscription to a Vote formerly passed by them whereunto the Members Mr. Geree speaks of refusing to subscribe fell from their capacity of sitting in the House So that the Army had no hand at all in the Continuation of their restraint or absence from the House but it was occ●sioned by a known and regular practice of the house it self 3. And lastly whereas he further saith that they frighted a Major part out of the house debarring them liberty c. it is onely one of his presumptions no part of his knowledge For doubtlesse the Parliament it self had as much reason to know the truth hereof as M r. Geree and yet in their answer of Feb. 17. 1648. to the Scotish Commissioners who pretended as M r. Geree doth that the excluding of some Members by the Army had occasioned many others to withdraw because they could not act as a free Parliament to this pretence they answer thus Whether this be their Judgement or the Commissioners own WE KNOW NOT if some Members that are absent be of that judgement that they cannot act freely we neither force their Judgements nor find our selves under any such force as to hinder the free exercise of our own So that evident it is that M r. Geree in all his preparatories to the right stating of the Question between him and me scarce speaketh one word of truth Is it then any wayes like that he should argue work-man-like to the point in controversie But 2. As to or rather from the right stating of the Question Sect. 8. he supposeth and asserts many things wherein he spares the Truth so he suppresseth some things the knowledge and consideration whereof are Essentiall thereunto As first that the Parliament had unanimously both Lords and Commons not long before the unhappy and importune ingagement of some of the Members about the said Treaty at the Isle of Wight voted no more addresses to the King 2. That their votes were made upon such and so many Reasons of great w●ight and high concernment for the good of the people that to the least of them these men never gave any answer as the Parliament it self declareth in their mentioned Declaration of Jan. 15. 1648. p. 10. 3. That the Members excluded the House by the Army at least the leading men of them who had now by their Arti●ices of all sorts infected many of their fellow-Members formerly sound had made a defection from the Interest of the Kingdom and people unto the King his Interest and Partie and had by a long continued series of Councels actions and endeavours sufficiently discovered the same the particulars of which story are ext●●● in the Parliaments Declaration of Jan. 15. 1648. p. 7. 8 c. 4. And lastly that the very Tenure of the Commission which the Armie received from the Parliament did principally and particularly oblige them as well as enable them to endeavour in their way i. by force of Arms the Peace and safety of the Kingdom especially against the King and his adherents The ingrediencie of these circumstances in the state of the Question will quite alter the relish and tast which M r Geree hath given it And the truth is that the Declaration of the Parliament so oft mentioned is alone a sufficient Confutation of all that he hath said to the main of the Question between him and me as I signifyed in part unto himself by a Letter wherein I gave him thanks for the Book he sent me with a Letter and withall imparted this apprehension of mine unto him that if he had seen and well considered the said Declaration before the publishing of his Book he would have forborn it which himself in a second Letter written unto me in Answer to mine doth not very strongly gainsay Whereas p. 6. he opposeth this round Confession as he Sect. 9. tearms it of the Armie that the restraining of the Members was a course in it self irregular and unjustifiable but by honest intentions and extraordinary necessity as contradicting 1. that assertion of mine that their calling and Commission was to Act in the capacity of Souldiers for the peace libertie and safety of the Kingdom 2. that saying also of mine unto them in my epistle viz. that I doubt not but they were satisfied in the Righteousnesse of their actions from Heaven before they were in being I wonder wherein he should conceive the least opposition between either of these passages of mine and that of the Armie Do I in either of these expressions or any where else throughout my discourse go about to justifie that so much controverted act of the Armie without the supposall both of honest intentions and an extraordinary necess●tie Indeed I plead the purport of their calling and Commission as qualifying them before other men to Act besides the the common and standing rule in times of Peace for the safety of the Kingdom when any extraordinary necessity cals for such actings but it was as far from my thoughts as M r Gerees own to justifie the Armie in that they did simply and solely upon the ground of their calling or Commission or out of the case of such a necessity as the Armie it self mentions But M r Geree it seems pleased himself much in finding out supposed buls as himself cals them p. 27 where likewise he practiseth the same Art of jumbling fair and clear consistencies into obscure contradictions But to trace him in these Methods of vanity would take more in time then yield in edification For he is again making sport for himself with the same feather p. 28. What he argues about Oaths Protestations Covenants c. hath been abundantly answered in the former discourse What he discourseth p. 4. and in the former part of p. 5. concerning Christs intent in that saying that the Sabbath was made for man and not c. both untruly and irrelatively to the businesse in hand he retracts upon the matter a little after the midst of p. 5. in these words If there be any case wherein necessity amounts to a calling it must be where that necessity

consequence that the people formerly judged it meet to constrain him by an oath at his Coronation to exhibit it So that the Interest of declaring Laws resides wholly in the people But 2 Where there is no opportunity for the interposure of Sect. 32 other Judges the Law of nature and of nations alloweth every man t● judge in his own case When a man is encountred upon the way by a thief who demands his money and in case of refusall threatens and assaults his person this man is allowed by all Laws whatsoever that yet I have heard of but injoyne● by the Law of nature to become both a witnesse and a Judge yea and executioner too if he knows himself able in his own case as 1. to say unto himself this man assaulteth me and 2. to sentence him as worthy of blows yea of death it self for so doing if he refuseth to desist from his attempt yea and 3. in case of non-desistance to execute this sentence upon him if he be able by s●aying him When Hanun the King of the Ammonites by the counsel of his Princes abused 〈…〉 David in his messengers David took upon him and that without the violation of any Law to be Judge in his own case and committed the execution of the sentence which he awarded therein unto the sword of Joab and of the men of war with him So that when Kings turn Tyrants over their people the people themselves are competent Judges though they be parties and the case their own because they are not in a capacitie of making an application or addresse unto any other Judge for redresse of their wrongs Even as the late King took upon him to be Judge in his own case when he sentenced all those who served in the Wars on the Parliaments side against him for Rebels and Traitours and commanded execution accordingly But whether in such cases as those lately specified where no recourse can be had to other judges or in what cases soever men do not sin simply by making themselves judges in their own case for who is there but in any case relating to him undertakes to judge what of right belongs unto him But 1. in judging partially or unrighteously in their own behalf 2. In not suffering their own judgement to be over-ruled by the better sentence of a competent Judge 3. In not abiding with patience by the sentence or award of a Judge or Judges lawfully constituted and deputed for the cognisance of their cause upon a pretence or supposal of in-justice in it Thus then it is as clear as the sun that the topique Authoritie of this saying Par in parem non habet potestatem reflects nothing but peace upon the Sentence passed upon the KING Yea but say some we cannot approve the said sentence as Sect. 33 just in respect of those who awarded it The Parliament by whose Authority the High Court of Justice was erected were no legitimate or true Parliament or Representative of the people nor in a capacity of acting in a Parliamentary way a considerable part of their members being deteined from them by force and those remaining being under force To this I answer 1. The absence of twice so many members as were deteined from the house by force doth not at all maim the legitimacie or truth of a Parliament nor disable the legal Authoritie of it in respect of any Parliamentary end or purpose whatsoever fourtie sitting in the House being legally invested with the same power for all publick transactions which four hundred or the whole number of them could have in case they were present 2. The deteinment of some of their members from them by force doth not alter the case in respect of nulling the Authoritie or Parliamentarie power of those who did s●t especially they not consenting or being accessarie to such their deteinment Suppose some of their Members imployed by them in carrying Messages or Petitions to the King during the time of the Wars had been forcibly deteined by him would such a restraint laid upon them by the King have dissolved the Parliamentarie Authoritie of the House If it be said Yea but the Members who met and sat in the Sect. 34 House during the deteinment of their fellow-Members did unworthily in not demanding these fellow-Members of theirs out of the hands of those who deteined them or in case of being denied in this kind in not refusing to act in a Parliamentarie way any further untill they had been re-delivered unto them To this I answer 1. It doth not all relate to the point in hand whether the Members remaining in the House during the restraint of the other behaved themselves worthily and as became them in all points though I have nothing to charge them with to the con●rarie but whether they were a legal Parliament legal I mean in such a sence which imports a sufficient investiture or qualification according to the Laws of the Land with Authoritie or rightfulnesse of power to perform such acts which are lawfull onely for Parliaments to perform That they were not a legal Parliament in this sence hath not yet been proved nor I believe ever will I have heard nothing I know nothing so much as to colour or pretence such a supposall 2 They did demand the restitution of their deteined Members once and again But to infer from their being denied in this their demand or from the non-restitution of their Members especially receiving a satisfacto●●e account from those who deteined them why they could not restore them that therefore it had been their dutie to have suspended all Parliamentarie proceedings considering in what a trembling and distracted posture the great affairs of the Kingdom then stood what is it but to make the miserie ruin and destruction of the people the duty of those who were intrusted with the procurement of their peace and safety But 3. Whereas the main Objection pretends that the Parliament ●ect 35 or Members remaining who voted the Erection of the High Court of Justice were at the time of this transaction and ever since under force unlesse the Objectours will pretend to know more in this point than these Members themselves they must acknowledge vanity and falshood in such a pretence For these in their late Declaration of Febr. 17. 1648. published by way of Answer to two letters sent unto them by the Scottish Commissioners plainly deny it For the said Commissioners in one of their letters pretending that the exclusion of some of the Members of the house by the Souldiery had occasioned many others to withdraw because they could not act as a free Parliament they repone to them these words pag. 15. of the said Declaration whether this be their judgement or the Commissioners own we know not if some Members that are absent be of that judgement that they cannot act freely we neither force their judgements NOR FIND OUR SELV●S UNDER ANY SUCH FORCE AS TO HINDER THE FREE EXERCISE