in number nor more obvious than those of our Kings serving their turns by and upon their Parliaments as their occasions did require For not to look on higher and more Regal times we find that Richard the 2d a Prince not very acceptable to the Common people could get an Act of Parliament t 21 Ric. 2. to confirm the extrajudicial opinion of the Iudges given before at Notingham that King Henry 4th could by an other Act reverse all that Parliament u 1 Hen 4. entayl the Crown to his posterity and keep his Dutchy of Lancaster and all the Lands and Seigneuries of it from being united to the Crown that King Edward the 4th could have a Parliament to declare all the Kings of the House of Lancaster to be Kings in fact but not in right x 1 Ed. c. 1. and for uniting of that Dutchy to the Crown Imperial notwithstanding the former Act of separation that King Richard the 3d. could have a Parliament to bastardize all his Brothers Children to set the Crown on his own head though a most bloody Tyrant and a plain Usurper y Speeds hist in K. Richard 3. that King Henry 7. could have the Crown entayled by an Act of Parliament to the issue of his own body z Verulam hist of K. Hen 7. without relation to his Queen of the house of York which was conceived by many at that time to have the better Title to it another for paying a Benevolence which he had required of the subject a 11 Hen. 7. c. 10. though all Benevolences had been damned by a former Statute made in the short but bloody reign of King Richard the 3d. that King Henry 8. b 65 Hen. 8. c. 22 28. c. 7. 35 H. 8. c. 1. could have one Act of Parliament to bastardry his Daughter Mary in favour of the Lady Elizabeth another to declare the Lady Elizabeth to be illegitimate in expectation of the issue by Queen Jane Seymour a third for setling the succession by his Will and Testament and what else he pleased that Queen Mary could not only obtain several Acts in favour of her self and the Sâ—e of Rome c 1 Mar. sâ—s 2. c. 1 2. 1. 2 Ph. M. c. 8. 10. but for the setling of the Regency on the King of Spain in case the Children of that Bed should be left in nonage And finally that Queen Elizabeth did not only gain many several Acts for the security of her own Person which were determinable with her life but could procure an Act to be passed in Parliament for making it high treason to affirm and say That the Queen could not by Act of Parliament bind and dispose the Rights aâ—d Titles which any person whatsoever might have to the Crown d 13 Eliz. c. 1. And as for raising monies and amassing treasures by help of Parliaments he that desires to know how well our Kings have served themselves that way by the help of Parliaments let him peruse a book intituled the Privilege of Parliaments writ in the manner of Dialogue between a Privy Counsellor and a Iustice of Peace and he shall be satisfied to the full Put all that hath been said together and sure the kingdom of England must not be the place in which the three Estates convened in Parliament have power to regulate the King or restain his actions or moderate his extravagances or where they can be taxed for perâ—idious treachery if they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insult on the Common-people or otherwise abuse that power which the Lord hath given them Calvin was much mistaken if he thought the contrary or if he dreamt that he should be believ'd on his ipse dixit without a punctual enquiry into the grounds and probability of such a dangerous intimation as he lays before us 13. But against this it is objected that Parliaments have disposed of the Militia of the Kingdom of the Forts Castles Ports and the Navie Royal not only without the Kings leave but against his liking that they have deposed some Kings and advanced others to the top of the Regal Throne And for the proof of this they produce examples out of the reign of K. Henry 3. K. Edw. 2. and K. Richard the 2. e Prynnes Book of Parl. part 2. Examples which if rightly pondered doe not so much prove the power as the weakness of Parliaments in being carried up and down by the privat conduct of every popular pretender For 't is well known that the Parliaments did not take upon them to rule or rather to over-look K. Henry 3. but as they were directed by Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester who having raised a potent faction in the State by the assistance of the Earls of Glocester Hereford Derby f Maâ— Paris Henr. 3. and some others of the great Lords of the kingdom compelled the King to yeeld unto what terms he pleased and made the Parliaments no other than a means and instrument to put a popular gloss on his wretched purposes And 't is well known that the ensuing Parliaments which they instance in moved not of their own accord to the deposing of King Edward the 2. or King Richard the 2. but sailed as they were steered by those powerfull Counsels which Queen Isabel in the one and Henry Duke of Lancaster in the other did propose unto them g Walsingham in Hist Angl. Hypodig Neustriae It was no safe resisting those as their cold wisdoms and forgotten loyalties did suggest unto them qui tot legionibus imperarent who had so manany thousand men in arms to make good their project and they might think as the poor-spirited Citizens of Samaria did in another case but a case very like the present Behold two Kings stood not before him how then can we stand h 2 Kings 10. 4. For had it been an argument of the power of Parliaments that they deposed one King to set up another dethroned King Richard to advance the Duke of Lancaster to the Regal diadem they would have kept the house of Lancaster in possession of it for the full demonstration of a power indeed and not have cast them off at the first attempt of a new plausible pretender declared them to be kings in fact but not in right whose lawfull right they had before preferred above all other titles and set the Crown upon the heads of their deadly Enemies In the next place it is objected that Parliaments are a great restraint of the Soveraign power according to the Doctrine here laid down by Calvin in that the King can make no laws nor levy any money upon the Subject but by the counsel and assent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament But this objection hurts as little as the former did For Kings to say the truth need no laws at all In all such points wherein they have not bound themselves by some former laws
they reduced all matters they commonly declin'd the Kings judgement and his Courts of Judicature as altogether incompetent appealing from them either to their own Presbyteries or to the next general Assembly of their own appointing and standing so wilfully to those Appeals that some of them had like to have paid dear for it after that Kings coming into England if the King had not been more mercifull to them then they deserved at his hands If no man whatsoever he be can lawfully acquit himself from this subjection as is said by Chrysostome what will become of Calvins popular Magistrates and of the great authority which he gives them over Kings and Princes those popular Officers being included equally with the rest of the people in St. Pauls injunction It 's true that Calvins popular Officers may seem to have some colour for it both from our English Translation and the vulgar Latine by which obedience is required sublimioribus potestatibus to the higher powers and all such popular Officers whatsoever they be may warrantably be lookt upon as higher powers in respect of the residue of the people But first the words in the original viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do not so properly signifie the higher as the supreme powers and so the word is rendred in the first of St. Peter cap. 2. vers 13. in which submission is required to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the Supreme or unto such as are sent by him c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Peter in the singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Paul in the plural number both words proceeding from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Nominative Case and consequently being of the same sense and signification But secondly permitting them the benefit of these translations yet will they finde but little colour for that coercive power that soveraign Authority and Jurisdiction which Calvin hath assigned to the three Estates or any other popular Officers over Kings and Princes For though such popular Officers may warrantably be lookt upon as higher powers in respect of the residue of the people as before was said yet are they lower powers in respect of the King from whom as they receive all the Authority which they have whatsoever it be so unto him they are to render an accompt of their actings in it whensoever he pleaseth So that these popular Officers may be compar'd not unfitly unto the Genera subalterna in the Schools of Logick each of them being subordinate to one another the Constable to the Maior or Bayliff in a corporate Town or to the Justices of the Peace in the County at large the Maiors and Justices to the Judges in their several Circuits the Judges in their several Circuits and their Courts of Judicature to the Lord Chancellor for the time being and he unto the three Estates when convened in Parliament till they end all in genus summum in that supreme power which is subordinate to none and unto which the rest are Species subalternae as the Logicians phrase it in their several orders till they end all in Specie infimâ even in the lowest of the People Less comfort can I give them from the Apostle of the Jewes from the words of St. Peter in which submission is required as before was said to every ordinance of man whether it be unto the King as unto the Supreme or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evill doers and for the praise of them that do well Now those which are thus authorised and sent by Kings to the ends and purposes before mentioned may very properly be resembled unto Jehosophats Commissioners in the Kingdome of Judah 2 Chron. 17. 7. or the itinerary Judges in the Realm of England and can neither claim nor exercise any other Authority then what in their Commissions and instructions is assigned unto them And certainly no King did or will ever grant any such Commission whereby his Vnder-officers and inferior Magistrates may challenge any power above him or exercise any jurisdiction or Authority over him If any thing in this Text may be thought to favour Calvin in this strange opinion it is that Kings are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humana creatura saith the vulgar Latin an ordinance of man as the English reads it and being but a Creature of the peoples making the rest may think themselves as good men as he The Rhemists will have Kings to be called humane creatures because elected by the people or holding their Soveraignty by birth and carnall propagation ordained for the wealth peace and prosperity of the Subjects to put a difference betwixt that humane Superiority and the spiritual Rulers and Regiment guiding and governing the people to an higher end and instituted by God himself immediately Christ having expresly constituted the form of Regiment used ever since in the Church Whereunto Dr. Fulk for want of a better doth return this Answer viz. That though there be great difference between the government of Princes and Ecclesiastical Governors yet the Apostle calleth not Princes an humane creation as though they were not also of Gods Creation for there is no power but of God but that the form of their Creation is in mans appointment All the Genevians generally do so expound it and it concerns them so to do in point of interesse The Bishop of that City was their Soveraign Prince and had jus utriusque gladini as Calvin signified in a Letter to Cardinal Sadolet till he and all his Clergy were expelled the City in a popular Tumult Anno 1528. and a new form of Government established both in Church and State So that having laid the foundation of their Common-wealth in the expulsion of their Prince and the new model of their Discipline in refusing to have any more Bishop they found it best for justifying their proceedings at home and increasing their Partizans abroad to maintain a parity of Ministers in the Church of Christ and to invest the people and their popular Officers with a chief power in the concernments and affairs of State even to the deposing of Kings and disposing of Kingdoms But for this last they finde no warrant in the Text which we have before us For first admitting the Translation to be true and genuine as indeed it is not the Roman Emperor and consequently other Kings and Princes may be said to be an humane Ordinance because their power is most visibly conversant circa humanas Actiones about ordering of humane Actions and other civill affairs of men as they were subjects of the Empire and Members of that Body politick whereof that Emperor was head Secondly to make soveraign Princes by what name and Title soever called to be no other then an humane Ordinance because they are ordained by the people and of their appointment must needs create an irreconcileable difference
persisting in their former obstinacy excluso e Parliamento Clero Consilium Rex cum solis Baronibus populo habuit totumque statim Clerum protectione sua privavit d Antiqu. Brit. in R. Winchelsey the King saith the Historian excluding the Clergy out of the Parliament advised with his Barons and his people only what was best to be done by whose advise he put the Clergy out of his protection and thereby forced them to conform to his will and pleasure This is the summa totalis of the business and comes unto no more but this that a particular course was advised in Parliament on a particular displeasure taken by the King against the body of his Clergy then convened together for their particular refusal to contribute to his wants wars the better to reduce them to their natural duty Which makes not any thing at all against the right of Bishops in the House of Peers or for excluding them that House or for the validity of such Acts as are made in Parliament during the time of such exclusion especially considering that the King shortly after called his States together and did excuse himself for many extravagant Acts which he had committed e Walsingâ— in Edw. 1. anno 1297. against the liberties of the Subject whereof this was one laying the blame thereof on his great occasions and the necessities which the wars which he had abroad did impose upon him And so much as in Answer unto that Record supposing that the words thereof be rightly senced as I think they are not and that by Clerus there we are to understand Arch-bishops and Bishops as I think we be not there being no Record I dare boldly say it either of History or Law in which the word Clerus serves to signifie the Arch-bishops and Bishops exclusive of the other Clergy or any writing whatsoever wherein it doth not either signifie the whole Clergy generally or the inferiour Clergy only exclusive of the Arch-bishops Bishops and other Prelates Therefore in answer unto that so much applauded Cavil of Excluso Clero from what Record soever it either hath been hitherto or shall hereafter be produced I shall propose it to the consideration of the sober Reader whether by Clerus in that place or in any other of that kind and time we must not understand the inâ—eriour Clergy as they stand distinguished in the Laws from my Lords the Bishops For howsoever it be true that Clerus in the ecclesiastical notion of the word doth signifie the whole Clergy generally Arch-bishops Bishops Priests and Deacons yet in the legal notion of it it stands distinguished from the Prelates and signifieth only the inferiour Clergy Thus do we find the Ecclesiasticks of this Realm divided into Prelates men of Religion and other Clerks 3. Edw. 1. c. 1. the Seculars either into Prelates and Clerks 9 Edw. 2. c. 3. 1 Rich. 2. c. 3. or Prelates and Clerks beneficed 18 Edw. 3. c. 2. or generally into the Prelates and the Clergy 9 Edw. 2. c. 15. 14 Edw. 3. c. 1 3. 18 Edw. 3. 2. 7. 25 Edw. 3. 2. 4. 8 Hen. 6. c. 1. and in all acts and grants of Subsidies made by the Clergy to the Kings or Queens of England since the 32 of Henry 8. when the Clergy subsidies first began to be confirmed by act of Parliament So also in the Latin ideom which comes neerest home Nos Praelati Clerus in the submission of the Clergy to King Henry 8. f Regist Waâ—ham and in the sentence of divorce against Anne of Cleve g Regist Cranmer and in the instrument of the grant of the Clergy subsidies presented to the Kings of England ever since the 27 of Queen Elizabeth and in the form of the Certificates per h Statut. 8 Eliz. c. 17. ever since Praelatâ—s Clerum returned by every Bishop to the Lord High Treasurer and finally Nos Episcopi Clerus Cantuariensis Provinciae in hac Synodo more nostro solito dum Regni Parliamentum celebratur congregati i Stat. 1 Phil. Mar. c. 8. in the petition to K. K. Phillip and Mary about the confirmation of the Abby lands to the Patentees So that though many Statutes have been made in these later times excluso Clero the Clergy that is to say the inferiour Clergy being quite shut out and utterly excluded from those publick Counsails yet this proves nothing to the point that auy act of Parliament hath been counted good to which the Bishops were not called or at the making of which Act they either were shut out by force or excluded by cunning As for Kilbancies book which that Author speaks of k Prerâ—g pract of Paâ—l p. 38. in which the Justices are made to say 7 H. 8. that our Soveraign Lord the King may well hold his Parliament by him and his Temporal Lords and by the Commons also without the Spiritual Lords for that the Spiritual Lords have not any place in the Parliament chamber by reason of their Spiritualties but by reason of their Temporal possessions besides that it is only the opinion of a privat man of no authority or credit in the Common wealth and contrary to the practice in the Saxon times in which the Bishops sate in Parliament as Spiritual persons not as Barons the reason for ought I can see will serve as well to pretermit all or any of the Temporal Lords as it can serve to pretermit or exclude the Bishops the Temporal Lords being called to Parliament on no other ground than for the Temporal possessions which they hold by Barony 9. If it be said that my second answer to the argument of Excluso Clero supposeth that the inferiour â—lergy had some place in Parliament which being not to be supposed makes the Answer void I shall crave leave to offer some few observations unto the consideration of the sober and impartial Reader by which I hope to make that supposition probable and perhaps demonstrative First then we have that famous Parliament call it Concilium magnum or Concilium commune or by what other name soever the old writers called it summoned by King Ethelbert anno 605. which my l Concil Hen. Spelm. Author calleth Commune concilium tam Cleri quam Populi where Clerus comprehendeth the body of the Clergy generally aswell the Presbyters as the Bishops as the word populus doth the lay-subject generally as well Lords as Commons or else the Lords and Commons one of the two must be needs left out And in this sense we are to understand these words in the latter times as where we read that Clerus m Matth. Paris in Hen. 1. Angliae populus Vniversus were summoned to appear at Westminster at the Coronation of King Henry the first where divers Laws were made and declared subscribed by the Arch-bishops Bishops and others of the principal persons that were there assembled that Clero populo
aswell now as formerly in the times of the Roman Emperors Quod Principi placuerit legis habet vigorem nothing but that which the King pleaseth to allow of is to pass for Law the laws not taking their coercive force as judicious Hooker well observeth from the quality of such as devise them but from the power which giveth them the strength of laws d Hooker Ecclesiast Pol I shut up this Discourse with this expression and comparison of a late leatned Gentleman viz. That as in a Copyhold Estate the Copybolder of a meer Tenant at will comes by custom to gain an Inheritance and so to limit and restrain the will and power of the Lord that he cannot make any determination of the Copyholders Estate otherwise than according to the custome of the Mannour and yet doth not deprive the Lord of his Lordship in the Copyhold nor participate with him in it neither yet devest the Fee and Franktenement out of the Lord but that they still remain in him and are ever parcel of his Demesn e Case of our Affairs p. 6. so in the restraining of the Kings Legislative power to the concurrence of the Peers and Commons though the custome of the Kingdom hath so fixed and setled the restraint as that the King cannot in that point use his Soveraign power without the concurrence of the Peers and Commons according to the custom of the Kingdom yet still the Soveraignty and with it the inseparable Legislative power doth reside soly in the King 11. If any hereupon demand to what end serve Parliaments and what benefit can redound to the Subject by them I say in the Apostles words much every way f Rom. 3. 2. Many vexations often times do befall the Subjects without the knowledge of the King and against his will to which his ears are open in a time of Parliament The King at other times useth the eyes and ears of such as have place about him who may perhaps be guilty of the wrongs which are done the people but in a Parliament he seeth with his own eyes and heareth with his own ears and so is in a better way to redresse the mischief than he could be otherwise Nor do the people by the opportunity of these Parliamentary meetings obtain upon their Prayers and petitions a redress of grievances only but many times the King is overcome by their importunity to abate so much of his power to grant such points and pass such Laws and Statutes for their ease and benefit as otherwise he would not yield to For certainly it is as true in making our approaches and petitions to our Lord the King as in the pouring out of our prayers and supplications to the Lord our God the more multitudinous and united the Petitioners are the more like to speed And therefore said Bodinus truly Principem plaeraque universis concedere quae singulis denegarentur g Bodin de Rep. l. 1. c. 8. that Kings do many times grant those favours to the whole body of their people which would be absolutely denied or not so readily yielded to particular persons There are moreover many things of greater concernment besides the abrogating of old Laws and making new which having been formerly recommended by the Kings of England to the care and counsel of their people convened in Parliament are not now regularly dispatched but in such conventions as are altering the tenure of Lands confirming the rights titles and possessions of private men naturalizing Aliens legitimating Bastards adding sometimes the secular authority to such points of Doctrin and forms of worship as the Clergy have agreed upon in their Comvocations if it be required changing the publick weights and measures thorowout the Kingdom defining of such doubtfull cases as are not easily resolved in the Courts of Law raising of Subsidies and Taxes attainting such as either are too potent to be caught or too hard to be found and so not tryable in the ordinary Courts of Justice restoring to their blood and honours such or the Heirs of such as have been formerly attainted granting of free and general pardons h Sir Tho. Smith de Rep. Angl. Camden in Brit. Crompt of Courts c. with divers others of this nature In all and each of these the Lords and Commons do co-operate to the publick good in the way of means and preparation but their co-operation would be lost and fruitless did not the King by his concomitant or subsequent grace produce their good intentions into perfect Acts and being Acts either of special grace and favour or else of ordinary right and justice no way derogatory to the Prerogative Royalâ— are usually confirmed by the Royal assent without stop or hesitancy But then some other things there are of great importance and advantage to the Common wealth in which the Houses usually do proceed even to final sentence the Commons in the way of imquisition or impeachment the Lords in that of judicature and determination with the consent and approbation of the King though many times without his personal assent and presence The King may be abused in his Grants and Patents to the oppression of the people or the dilapidation and destruction of the Royal Patrimony Judges and other the great Officers of Law and Equity are subject to corruptions and may smell of gifts whereby the passages of Justice do become obstructed The Ministers of inferiour Courts as well Ecclesiastical as Civil either exhaust the miserable subject by extortions or else consume him by delayes Erroneous judgements may be given through fear or favour to the undoing of a man and his whole posterity in which his Majesties Justices of either Bench can afford no remedy The great ones of the State may become too insolent and the poor too miserable and many other waies there are by which the Fabrick of the State may be out of Order for the removing of which mischiefs the rectifying of which abuses the Lords and Commons in their several waies before remembred are of special use yet so that if the Kings Grants do come in question or any of his Officers are called to a reckoning they used heretofore to signifie unto his Majesty what they found therein and he accordingly either revoked his Grants or displaced his Servants or by some other means gave way unto their contentment the Kings consent being alwaies necessary and received as a part of the final sentence if they went so far So that we may conclude this point with these words of Bodin who being well acquainted with the Government of this State and Nation partly by way of conference with Dr. Dale the Queens Ambassadour in France and partly in the way of observation when he was in England doth give this resolution of the point in controversie i Bodin de Repub. l. 1. c. 8. Habere quidem Ordines Anglorum authoritatem quandam jura vero majestatis imperii summam in unius Principis arbitrio