that must interprete but either cleare Law or solide reason But in Countreys where the formalitie of Law hath no place as in Denmarke which I may trewly report as hauing my selfe beene an eye-witnesse thereof all their State is gouerned onely by a written Law there is no Aduocate or Proctour admitted to plead onely the parties themselues plead their owne cause and then a man stands vp and reads the Law and there is an end for the very Law-booke it selfe is their onely Iudge Happy were all Kingdomes if they could be so But heere curious wits various conceits different actions and varietie of examples breed questions in Law And therefore when you heare the questions if they be plaine there is a plaine way in it selfe if they be such as are not plaine for mens inuentions dayly abound then are you to interprete according to common sense and draw a good and certaine Minor of naturall reason out of the Maior of direct Lawe and thereupon to make a right and trew Conclusion For though the Common Law be a mystery and skill best knowen vnto your selues yet if your interpretation be such as other men which haue Logicke and common sense vnderstand not the reason I will neuer trust such an Interpretation Remember also you are Iudges and not a Iudge and diuided into Benches which sheweth that what you doe that you should doe with aduice and deliberation not hastily and rashly before you well study the case and conferre together debating it duely not giuing single opinions per emendicata suffragia and so to giue your Iudgement as you will answer to God and me Now hauing spoken of your Office in generall I am next to come to the limits wherein you are to bound yourselues which likewise are three First Incroach not vpon the Prerogatiue of the Crowne If there fall out a question that concernes my Prerogatiue or mystery of State deale not with it till you consult with the King or his Councell or both for they are transcendent matters and must not be sliberely caried with ouer-rash wilfulnesse for so may you wound the King through the sides of a priuate person and this I commend vnto your speciall care as some of you of late haue done very well to blunt the sharpe edge and vaine popular humour of some Lawyers at the Barre that thinke they are not eloquent and bold spirited enough except they meddle with the Kings Prerogatiue But doe not you suffer this for certainely if this liberty be suffered the Kings Prerogatiue the Crowne and I shall bee as much wounded by their pleading as if you resolued what they disputed That which concernes the mysterie of the Kings power is not lawfull to be disputed for that is to wade into the weakenesse of Princes and to take away the mysticall reuerence that belongs vnto them that sit in the Throne of God Secondly That you keepe yourselues within your owne Benches not to inuade other Iurisdictions which is vnfit and an vnlawful thing In this I must inlarge my selfe Besides the Courts of Common Law there is the Court of Requests the Admiraltie Court the Court of the President and Councell of Walles the President and Councell of the North High Commission Courts euery Bishop in his owne Court These Courts ought to keepe their owne limits and boundes of their Commission and Instructions according to the ancient Presidents And like as I declare that my pleasure is that euery of these shall keepe their owne limits and boundes So the Courts of Common Lawe are not to encroach vpon them no more then it is my pleasure that they should encroach vpon the Common Law And this is a thing Regall and proper to a King to keepe euery Court within his owne bounds In Westminster Hall there are foure Courts Two that handle causes Ciuill which are the Common-pleas and the Exchequer Two that determine causes Criminall which are the Kings-Bench and the Starre-Chamber where now I sit The Common-Pleas is a part and branch of the Kings-Bench for it was first all one Court and then the Common-Pleas being extracted it was called Common-Pleas because it medled with the Pleas of Priuate persons and that which remained the Kings-Bench The other of the Courts for ciuill Causes is the Exchequer which was ordeined for the Kings Reuenew That is the principall Institution of that Court and ought to be their chiefe studie and as other things come orderly thither by occasion of the former they may be handled and Iustice there administred Keepe you therefore all in your owne bounds and for my part I desire you to giue me no more right in my priuate Prerogatiue then you giue to any Subiect and therein I will be acquiescent As for the absolute Prerogatiue of the Crowne that is no Subiect for the tongue of a Lawyer nor is lawfull to be disputed It is Athiesme and blasphemie to dispute what God can doe good Christians content themselues with his will reuealed in his word so it is presumption and high contempt in a Subiect to dispute what a King can doe or say that a King cannot doe this or that but rest in that which is the Kings reuealed will in his Law The Kings-Bench is the principall Court for criminall causes and in some respects it deales with Ciuill causes Then is there a Chancerie Court this is a Court of Equitie and hath power to deale likewise in Ciuill causes It is called the dispenser of the Kings Conscience following alwayes the intention of Law and Iustice not altering the Law not making that blacke which other Courts made white nor è conuerso But in this it exceeds other Courts mixing Mercie with Iustice where other Courts proceed onely according to the strict rules of Law And where the rigour of the Law in many cases will vndoe a Subiect there the Chancerie tempers the Law with equitie and so mixeth Mercy with Iustice as it preserues men from destruction And thus as before I told you is the Kings Throne established by Mercy and Iustice The Chancerie is vndependant of any other Court and is onely vnder the King There it is written Teste meipso from that Court there is no Appeale And as I am bound in my Conscience to maintaine euery Courts Iurisdiction so especially this and not suffer it to sustaine wrong yet so to maintaine it as to keepe it within the owne limits and free from corruption My Chancellour that now is I found him Keeper of the Seale the same place in substance although I gaue him the Stile of Chancellour and God hath kept him in it till now and I pray God he may hold it long and so I hope he will He will beare mee witnesse I neuer gaue him other warrant then to goe on in his Court according to Presidents warranted by Law in the time of the best gouerning Kings and most learned Chancellours These were the limits I gaue vnto him beyond the same limits he hath promised me he
the Lawes but onely the clearing and the sweeping off the rust of them and that by Parliament our Lawes might be cleared and made knowen to all the Subiects Yea rather it were lesse hurt that all the approued Cases were set downe and allowed by Parliament for standing Lawes in all time to come For although some of them peraduenture may bee vniust as set downe by corrupt Iudges yet better it is to haue a certaine Law with some spots in it nor liue vnder such an vncertaine and arbitrarie Law since as the prouerbe is It is lesse harme to suffer an inconuenience then a mischiefe And now may you haue faire occasion of amending and polishing your Lawes when Scotland is to bee vnited with you vnder them for who can blame Scotland to say If you will take away our owne Lawes I pray you giue vs a better and cleerer in place thereof But this is not possible to bee done without a fit preparation Hee that buildeth a Ship must first prouide the timber and as Christ himselfe said No man will build an house but he will first prouide the materials nor a wise King will not make warre against another without he first makeprouision of money and all great workes must haue their preparation and that was my end in causing the Instrument of the Vnion to be made Vnion is a mariage would he not bee thought absurd that for furthering of a mariage betweene two friends of his would make his first motion to haue the two parties be laid in bedde together and performe the other turnes of mariage must there not precede the mutuall sight and acquaintance of the parties one with another the conditions of the contract and Ioincture to be talked of and agreed vpon by their friends and such other things as in order ought to goe before the ending of such a worke The vnion is an eternall agreement and reconciliation of many long bloody warres that haue beene betweene these two ancient Kingdomes Is it the readiest way to agree a priuate quarell betweene two to bring them at the first to shake hands and as it were kisse other and lie vnder one roofe or rather in one bedde together before that first the ground of their quarell be communed vpon their mindes mitigated their affections prepared and all other circumstances first vsed that ought to be vsed to proceed to such a finall agreement Euery honest man desireth a perfect Vnion but they that say so and admit no preparation thereto haue mel in ore fel in corde If after your so long talke of Vnion in all this long Session of Parliament yee rise without agreeing vpon any particular what will the neighbour Princes iudge whose eyes are all fixed vpon the conclusion of this Action but that the King is refused in his desire whereby the Nation should bee taxed and the King disgraced And what an ill preparation is it for the mindes of Scotland toward the Vnion when they shall heare that ill is spoken of their whole Nation but nothing is done nor aduanced in the matter of the Vnion it selfe But this I am glad was but the fault of one and one is no number yet haue your neighbours of Scotland this aduantage of you that none of them haue spoken ill of you nor shall as long as I am King in Parliament or any such publique place of Iuditature Consider therefore well if the mindes of Scotland had not neede to be well prepared to perswade their mutuall consent seeing you here haue all the great aduantage by the Vnion Is not here the personall residence of the King his whole Court and family Is not here the seate of Iustice and the fountaine of Gouernment must they not be subiected to the Lawes of England and so with time become but as Cumberland and Northumberland and those other remote and Northerne Shires you are to be the husband they the wife you conquerours they as conquered though not by the sword but by the sweet and sure bond of loue Besides that they as other Northerne Countreys will beseldome seene and saluted by their King and that as it were but in a posting or hunting iourney How little cause then they may haue of such a change of so ancient a Monarchie into the case of priuate Shires iudge rightly herein And that you may be the more vpright Iudges suppose your selues the Patients of whom such sentence should be giuen But what preparation is it which I craue onely such as by the entrance may shew something is done yet more is intended There is a conceipt intertained and a double iealousie possesseth many wherein I am misiudged First that this Vnion will be the Crisis to the ouerthrow of England and setting vp of Scotland England will then bee ouerwhelmed by the swarming of the Scots who if the Vnion were effected would raigne and rule all The second is my profuse liberalitie to the Scottish men more then the English and that with this Vnion all things shal be giuen to them and you turned out of all To you shall bee left the sweat and labour to them shall bee giuen the fruite and sweet and that my forbearance is but till this Vnion may be gained How agreeable this is to the trewth Iudge you And that not by my wordes but by my Actions Doe I craue the Vnion without exceptions doe I not offer to binde my selfe and to reserue to you as in the Instrument all places of Iudicature doe I intend any thing which standeth not with the equall good of both Nations I could then haue done it and not spoken of it For all men of vnderstanding must agree that I might dispose without assent of Parliament Offices of Iudicature and others both Ecclesiasticall and Temporall But herein I did voluntarily offer by my Letters from Royston to the Commissioners to bind my Prerogatiue Some thinke that I will draw the Scottish Nation hither talking idlely of transporting of Trees out of a barren ground into a better and of leane cattell out of bad pasture into a more fertile soile Can any man displant you vnlesse you will or can any man thinke that Scotland is so strong to pull you out of your houses or doe you not thinke I know England hath more people Scotland more wast ground So that there is roumth in Scotland rather to plant your idle people that swarme in London streets and other Townes and disburden you of them then to bring more vnto you And in cases of Iustice if I bee partiall to either side let my owne mouth condemne me as vnworthy to be your King I appeale to your selues if in fauour or Iustice I haue beene partiall Nay my intention was euer you should then haue most cause to praise my discretion when you saw I had most power If hitherto I haue done nothing to your preiudice much lesse meane I hereafter If when I might haue done it without any breach of promise Thinke so of mee that
Law of the King whereto themselues are also subiect Hauing now perfourmed this ancient Prouerbe A Ioue principium which though it was spoken by a Pagan yet it is good and holy I am now to come to my particular Errand for which I am heere this day wherein I must handle two parts First the reason why I haue not these fourteene yeeres sithence my Coronation vntill now satisfied a great many of my louing subiects who I know haue had a great expectation and as it were a longing like them that are with child to heare mee speake in this place where my Predecessors haue often sitten and especially King Henry the seuenth from whom as diuers wayes before I am lineally descended and that doubly to this Crowne and as I am neerest descended of him so doe I desire to follow him in his best actions The next part is the reason Why I am now come The cause that made mee abstaine was this When I came into England although I was an old King past middle aage and practised in gouernment euer sithence I was twelue yeeres olde yet being heere a stranger in gouernement though not in blood because my breeding was in another Kingdome I resolued therefore with Pythagoras to keepe silence seuen yeeres and learne my selfe the Lawes of this Kingdome before I would take vpon mee to teach them vnto others When this Apprentiship was ended then another impediment came which was in the choice of that cause that should first bring me hither I expected some great cause to make my first entry vpon For I thought that hauing abstained so long it should be a worthy matter that should bring mee hither Now euery cause must be great or small In small causes I thought it disgracefull to come hauing beene so long absent In great causes they must be either betwixt the King and some of his Subiects or betwixt Subiect and Subiect In a cause where my selfe was concerned I was loath to come because men should not thinke I did come for my owne priuate either Prerogatiue or profit or for any other by-respect And in that case I will alwayes abide the triall of men and Angels neuer to haue had any particular end in that which is the Maine of all things Iustice In a great cause also betweene partie and partie great in respect either of the question or value of the thing my comming might seeme as it were obliquely to be in fauour of one partie and for that cause this Counsellour or that Courtier might be thought to mooue me to come hither And a meane cause was not worthy of mee especially for my first entrance So lacke of choice in both respects kept mee off till now And now hauing passed a double apprentiship of twice seuen yeeres I am come hither to speake vnto you And next as to the reasons of my comming at this time they are these I haue obserued in the time of my whole Reigne here and my double Apprentiship diuers things fallen out in the Iudicatures here at Westminster Hall that I thought required and vrged a reformation at my hands whereupon I resolued with my selfe that I could not more fitly begin a reformation then here to make an open declaration of my meaning I remember Christs saying My sheepe heare my voyce and so I assure my selfe my people will most willingly heare the voyce of me their owne Shepheard and King whereupon I tooke this occasion in mine owne person here in this Seate of Iudgement not iudicially but declaratorily and openly to giue those directions which at other times by piece-meale I haue deliuered to some of you in diuers lesse publike places but now will put it vp in all your audience where I hope it shall bee trewly caried and cannot be mistaken as it might haue bene when it was spoken more priuately I will for order sake take mee to the methode of the number of Three the number of perfection and vpon that number distribute all I haue to declare to you FIrst I am to giue a charge to my selfe for a King or Iudge vnder a King that first giues not a good charge to himselfe will neuer be able to giue a good charge to his inferiours for as I haue said Good riuers cannot flow but from good springs if the fountaine be impure so must the riuers be Secondly to the Iudges And thirdly to the Auditory and the rest of the inferiour ministers of Iustice First I protest to you all in all your audience heere sitting in the seate of Iustice belonging vnto GOD and now by right fallen vnto mee that I haue resolued as Confirmation in Maioritie followeth Baptisme in minoritie so now after many yeeres to renew my promise and Oath made at my Coronation concerning Iustice and the promise therein for maintenance of the Law of the Land And I protest in GODS presence my care hath euer beene to keepe my conscience cleare in all the points of my Oath taken at my Coronation so farre as humane frailtie may permit mee or my knowledge enforme mee I speake in point of Iustice and Law For Religion I hope I am reasonably well knowen already I meane therefore of Lawe and Iustice and for Law I meane the Common Law of the Land according to which the King gouernes and by which the people are gouerned For the Common Law you can all beare mee witnesse I neuer pressed alteration of it in Parliament but on the contrary when I endeauoured most an Vnion reall as was already in my person my desire was to conforme the Lawes of Scotland to the Law of England and not the Law of England to the Law of Scotland and so the prophecie to be trew of my wise Grandfather Henry the seuenth who foretold that the lesser Kingdome by marriage would follow the greater and not the greater the lesser And therefore married his eldest daughter Margaret to Iames the fourth my great Grandfather It was a foolish Querke of some Iudges who held that the Parliament of England could not vnite Scotland and England by the name of Great Britaine but that it would make an alteration of the Lawes though I am since come to that knowledge that an Acte of Parliament can doe greater wonders And that old wise man the Treasourer Burghley was wont to say Hee knew not what an Acte of Parliament could not doe in England For my intention was alwayes to effect vnion by vniting Scotland to England and not England to Scotland For I euer meant being euer resolued that this Law should continue in this Kingdome and two things mooued mee thereunto One is that in matter of Policie and State you shall neuer see any thing anciently and maturely established but by Innouation or alteration it is worse then it was I meane not by purging of it from corruptions and restoring it to the ancient integritie Another reason was I was sworne to maintaine the Law of the Land and therefore I had beene periured if I
righteousnesse that their persons as bright lampes of godlinesse and vertue may going in and out before their people giue light to all their steps Remember also that by the right knowledge and feare of God which is the beginning of Wisedome Prou 9.10 as Salomon saith ye shall know all the things necessarie for the discharge of your duetie both as a Christian and as a King seeing in him as in a mirrour the course of all earthly things whereof hee is the spring and onely moouer Now the onely way to bring you to this knowledge The meanes to know God is diligently to reade his word and earnestly to pray for the right vnderstanding thereof Search the Scriptures sayth Christ for they beare testimonie of me and Iohn 5.39 the whole Scripture saith Paul is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach 2. Tim. 3.16.17 to conuince to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute being made perfite vnto all good workes And most properly of any other belongeth the reading thereof vnto Kings Deut. 17. since in that part of Scripture where the godly Kings are first made mention of that were ordained to rule ouer the people of God there is an expresse and most notable exhortation and commandement giuen them to reade and meditate in the Law of God I ioyne to this the carefull hearing of the doctrine with attendance and reuerence for faith commeth by hearing Rom. 10.17 sayth the same Apostle But aboue all beware ye wrest not the word to your owne appetite as ouer many doe making it like a bell to sound as ye please to interprete but by the contrary frame all your affections to follow precisely the rule there set downe The whole Scripture chiefly containeth two things a command Wherein chiefely the whole Scripture consisteth and a prohibition to doe such things and to abstaine from the contrary Obey in both neither thinke it enough to abstaine from euill and do no good nor thinke not that if yee doe many good things it may serue you for a cloake to mixe euill turnes therewith And as in these two points the whole Scripture principally consisteth Two degrees of the seruice of God so in two degrees standeth the whole seruice of God by man interiour or vpward exteriour or downward the first by prayer in faith towards God the next by workes flowing therefra before the world which is nothing else but the exercise of Religion towards God and of equitie towards your neighbour As for the particular points of Religion I need not to dilate them I am no hypocrite follow my footsteps A regardable paterne and your owne present education therein I thanke God I was neuer ashamed to giue account of my profession howsoeuer the malicious lying tongues of some haue traduced me and if my conscience had not resolued me that all my Religion presently professed by me and my kingdome was grounded vpon the plaine wordes of the Scripture without the which all points of Religion are superfluous as any thing contrary to the same is abomination I had neuer outwardly auowed it for pleasure or awe of any flesh And as for the points of equitie towards your neigbour because that will fall in properly vpon the second part concerning a Kings office I leaue it to the owne roume For the first part then of mans seruice to his God Religion which is Religion that is the worship of God according to his reuealed will it is wholly grounded vpon the Scripture as I haue alreadie said quickened by faith and conserued by conscience For the Scripture I haue now spoken of it in generall but that yee may the more readily make choice of any part thereof for your instruction or comfort remember shortly this methode The whole Scripture is dyted by Gods Spirit The methode of Scripture thereby as by his liuely word to instruct and rule the whole Church militant to the end of the word It is composed of two parts the Olde and New Testament The ground of the former is the Lawe which sheweth our sinne and containeth iustice the ground of the other is Christ who pardoning sinne containeth grace The summe of the Law is the tenne Commandements more largely delated in the bookes of Moses Of the Law interpreted and applied by the Prophets and by the histories are the examples shewed of obedience or disobedience thereto and what praemium or poena was accordingly giuen by God But because no man was able to keepe the Law nor any part thereof it pleased God of his infinite wisedome and goodnesse to incarnate his only Sonne in our nature for satisfaction of his iustice in his suffering for vs that since we could not be saued by doing we might at least bee saued by beleeuing The ground therefore of the word of grace Of Grace is contained in the foure histories of the birth life death resurrection and ascention of Christ The larger interpretation and vse thereof is contained in the Epistles of the Apostles and the practise in the faithfull or vnfaithfull with the historie of the infancie and first progresse of the Church is contained in their Actes Would ye then know your sinne by the Lawe Vse of the Law reade the bookes of Moses containing it Would ye haue a commentarie thereupon Reade the Prophets and likewise the bookes of the Prouerbes and Ecclesiastes written by that great patterne of wisedome Salomon which will not only serue you for instruction how to walke in the obedience of the Lawe of God but is also so full of golden sentences and morall precepts in all things that can concerne your conuersation in the world as among all the prophane Philosophers and Poets ye shall not finde so rich a storehouse of precepts of naturall wisedome agreeing with the will and diuine wisedome of God Would ye see how good men are rewarded and wicked punished looke the historicall parts of these same bookes of Moses together with the histories of Ioshua the Iudges Ezra Nehemiah Esther and Iob but especially the bookes of the Kings and Chronicles wherewith ye ought to bee familiarly acquainted for there shall yee see your selfe as in a myrrour in the catalogue either of the good or the euill Kings Would yee know the doctrine life and death of our Sauiour Christ Vse of the Gospel reade the Euangelists Would ye bee more particularly trained vp in his Schoole meditate vpon the Epistles of the Apostles And would ye be acquainted with the practises of that doctrine in the persons of the primitiue Church Cast vp the Apostles Actes And as to the Apocryphe bookes I omit them because I am no Papist as I said before and indeed some of them are no wayes like the dytement of the Spirit of God But when ye reade the Scripture How to reade the Scripture reade it with a sanctified and chaste heart admire reuerently
your actions as farre as yee may eschewing euer wilfully and wittingly to contrare your conscience For a small sinne wilfully committed with a deliberate resolution to breake the bridle of conscience therein is farre more grieuous before God then a greater sinne committed in a suddaine passion when conscience is asleepe Last account Remember therefore in all your actions of the great account that yee are one day to make in all the dayes of your life euer learning to die and liuing euery day as it were your last Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum Horat. lib. 1. Epist And therefore I would not haue you to pray with the Papists to be preserued from suddaine death but that God would giue you grace so to liue as ye may euery houre of your life be ready for death so shall ye attaine to the vertue of trew fortitude neuer being afraid for the horrour of death Trew fortitude come when he list And especially beware to offend your conscience with vse of swearing or lying suppose but in iest for others are but an vse Foolish vse of oathes and a sinne cloathed with no delight nor gaine and therefore the more inexcusable euen in the sight of men and lying commeth also much of a vile vse which banisheth shame Therfore beware euen to deny the trewth which is a sort of lie that may best be eschewed by a person of your ranke For if any thing be asked at you that yee thinke not meete to reueale if yee say that question is not pertinent for them to aske who dare examine you further and vsing sometimes this answere both in trew and false things that shall be asked at you such vnmanerly people will neuer be the wiser thereof And for keeping your conscience sound from that sickenesse of superstition Against superstition yee must neither lay the safetie of your conscience vpon the credit of your owne conceits nor yet of other mens humors how great doctors of Diuinitie that euer they be but yee must onely ground it vpon the expresse Scripture for conscience not grounded vpon sure knowledge is either an ignorant fantasie or an arrogant vanitie Beware therefore in this case with two extremities the one to beleeue with the Papists the Churches authority better then your owne knowledge the other to leane with the Anabaptists to your owne conceits and dreamed reuelations But learne wisely to discerne betwixt points of saluation and indifferent things Difference of internall and externall things betwixt substance and ceremonies and betwixt the expresse commandement and will of God in his word and the inuention or ordinance of man since all that is necessarie for saluation is contained in the Scripture For in any thing that is expressely commanded or prohibited in the booke of God ye cannot be ouer precise euen in the least thing counting euery sinne not according to the light estimation and common vse of it in the world but as the booke of God counteth of it But as for all other things not contained in the Scripture spare not to vse or alter them as the necessitie of the time shall require Account of things externall And when any of the spirituall office-bearers in the Church speake vnto you any thing that is well warranted by the word reuerence and obey them as the heraulds of the most high God but if passing that bounds they vrge you to embrace any of their fantasies in the place of Gods word or would colour their particulars with a pretended zeale acknowledge them for no other then vaine men exceeding the bounds of their calling and according to your office grauely and with authoritie redact them in order againe To conclude then Conclusion both this purpose of conscience and the first part of this booke keepe God more sparingly in your mouth but abundantly in your heart be precise in effect but sociall in shew kythe more by your deedes then by your wordes the loue of vertue and hatred of vice and delight more to be godly and vertuous indeed then to be thought and called so expecting more for your praise and reward in heauen then heere and apply to all your outward actions Christs command to pray and giue your almes secretly So shal ye on the one part be inwardly garnished with trew Christian humilitie not outwardly with the proud Pharisie glorying in your godlinesse but saying as Christ commandeth vs all when we haue done all that we can Luke 10.17 Inutiles serui sumus And on the other part yee shall eschew outwardly before the world the suspition of filthie proude hypocrisie and deceitfull dissimulation OF A KINGS DVETIE IN HIS OFFICE THE SECOND BOOKE BVT as ye are clothed with two callings so must ye be alike careful for the discharge of them both that as yee are a good Christian so yee may be a good King discharging your Office as I shewed before in the points of Iustice and Equitie The Office of a King which in two sundrie waies ye must doe the one in establishing and executing Plato in Polit. which is the life of the Law good Lawes among your people Isocr in Sym. the other by your behauiour in your owne person and with your seruants to teach your people by your example for people are naturally inclined to counterfaite like apes their Princes maners Plate in Polis according to the notable saying of Plato expressed by the Poet Componitur orbis Regis ad exemplum nec sic inflectere sensus Humanos edicta valent quà m vitaregentis Claudian in 4. cons Hon. For the part of making and executing of Lawes consider first the trew difference betwixt a lawfull good King and an vsurping Tyran and yee shall the more easily vnderstand your duetie herein Difference of a King and a Tyran for contraria iuxta se posita magis elucescunt The one acknowledgeth himselfe ordained for his people hauing receiued from God a burthen of gouernment Plato in Polit. whereof he must be countable the other thinketh his people ordined for him Arist 5. Polit. a prey to his passions and inordinate appetites as the fruites of his magnanimitie And therefore as their ends are directly contrarie so are their whole actions as meanes whereby they preasse to attaine to their endes A good King thinking his highest honour to consist in the due discharge of his calling emploieth all his studie and paines to procure and maintaine Xen. 8. Cyr. by the making and execution of good Lawes the well-fare and peace of his people and as their naturall father and kindly Master Cic. lib. 5. de Rep. thinketh his greatest contentment standeth in their prosperitie and his greatest suretie in hauing their hearts subiecting his owne priuate affections and appetites to the weale and standing of his Subiects euer thinking the common interesse his chiefest particular where by the contrarie an vsurping Tyran thinking his greatest
committer Here would I also eike another crime to bee vnpardonable if I should not be thought partiall but the fatherly loue I beare you will make mee breake the bounds of shame in opening it vnto you Stayning of the blood It is then the false and vnreuerent writing or speaking of malicious men against your Parents and Predecessors Exod. 20.12 ye know the command in Gods lawe Honour your Father and Mother and consequently sen ye are the lawful magistrate suffer not both your Princes and your Parents to be dishonoured by any especially sith the example also toucheth your selfe Plat. 4. de Legib. in leauing thereby to your successors the measure of that which they shal mete out againe to you in your like behalfe I graunt wee haue all our faults which priuately betwixt you and God should serue you for examples to meditate vpon and mend in your person but should not be a matter of discourse to others whatsoeuer And sith yeare come of as honourable Predecessours as any Prince liuing represse the insolence of such as vnder pretence to taxe a vice in the person seeke craftily to staine the race and to steale the affection of the people from their posteritie For how can they loue you that hated them whom-of ye are come Wherefore destroy men innocent young sucking Wolues and Foxes but for the hatred they beare to their race and why wil a coult of a Courser of Naples giue a greater price in a market then an Asse-colt but for loue of the race It is therefore a thing monstrous to see a man loue the childe and hate the Parents as on the other part the infaming and making odious of the parent is the readiest way to bring the sonne in contempt And for conclusion of this point I may also alledge my owne experience For besides the iudgments of God that with my eyes I haue seene fall vpon all them that were chiefe traitours to my parents I may iustly affirme I neuer found yet a constant biding by me in all my straites by any that were of perfite aage in my parents dayes but onely by such as constantly bode by them I meane specially by them that serued the Queene my mother for so that I discharge my conscience to you my Sonne in reuealing to you the trewth I care not what any traitour or treason-allower thinke of it And although the crime of oppression be not in this ranke of vnpardonable crimes Of oppression yet the ouer-common vse of it in this nation as if it were a vertue especially by the greatest ranke of subiects in the land requireth the King to be a sharpe censurer thereof Arist 5. polit Isocr de reg Cic. in Of. ad Q. fr. Be diligent therefore to trie and awfull to beate downe the hornes of proud oppressours embrace the quarrell of the poore and distressed as your owne particular thinking it your greatest honour to represse the oppressours The trew glorie of Kings care for the pleasure of none neither spare ye anie paines in your owne person to see their wrongs redressed and remember of the honourable stile giuen to my grand-father of worthie memorie A memorable and worthie patterne in being called the poore mans King And as the most part of a Kings office standeth in deciding that question of Meum and Tuum among his subiects so remember when ye sit in iudgement that the Throne ye sit on is Gods Deut. 1. as Moyses saith and sway neither to the right hand nor to the left either louing the rich or pittying the poore Iustice should be blinde and friendlesse it is not there ye should reward your friends Plat. in polit Câ—â—a Q. frat Arist 1. Ret. Plat. in Is or seeke to crosse your enemies Here now speaking of oppressours and of iustice the purpose leadeth me to speake of Hie-land and Border oppressions As for the Hie-lands Of the Hielands I shortly comprehend them all in two sorts of people the one that dwelleth in our maine land that are barbarous for the most part and yet mixed with some shewe of ciuilitie the other that dwelleth in the Iles and are alluterly barbares without any sort or shew of ciuilitie For the first sort put straitly to execution the Lawes made alreadie by me against their Ouer-lords and the chiefes of their Clannes and it will be no difficultie to danton them As for the other sort follow forth the course that I haue intended in planting Colonies among them of answerable In-lands subiects that within short time may reforme and ciuilize the best inclined among them rooting out or transporting the barbarous and stubborne sort and planting ciuilitie in their roomes But as for the Borders because I know if ye enioy not this whole Ile Of the Borders according to Gods right and your lineall discent yee will neuer get leaue to brooke this North and barrennest part thereof no not your owne head whereon the Crowne should stand I neede not in that case trouble you with them for then they will be the middest of the I le and so as easily ruled as any part thereof And that yee may the readier with wisedome and Iustice gouerne your subiects by knowing what vices they are naturallie most inclined to A necesiarie point in a good gouernment Plato in polis as a good Physician who must first know what peccant humours his Patient naturallie is most subiect vnto before he can begin his cure I shall therefore shortly note vnto you the principall faults that euery ranke of the people of this countrey is most affected vnto And as for England I will not speake be-gesse of them neuer hauing been among them although I hope in that God who euer fauoureth the right before I die to be as well acquainted with their fashions As the whole Subiects of our countrey by the ancient and fundamentall policie of our Kingdome are diuided into three estates A consideration of the three estates so is euerie estate hereof generally subiect to some speciall vices which in a maner by long habitude are thought rather vertue then vice among them not that euerie particular man in any of these rankes of men is subiect vnto them for there is good and euill of all sorts but that I meane I haue found by experience these vices to haue taken greatest holde with these rankes of men And first that I prejudge not the Church of her ancient priuiledges reason would shee should haue the first place for orders sake in this catalogue The naturall sickenesse that hath euer troubled The diseases of the church and beene the decay of all the Churches since the beginning of the world changing the candlesticke from one to another as Iohn saith hath beene Pride Ambition and Auarice and now last these same infirmities wrought the ouerthrow of the Popish Church in this countrey and diuers others But the reformation of Religion in Scotland being
on or are debarred by mightier parties Plat. in pol. Arist 1. Rhet. Cic. ad Q. frat Plut. in Is But when yee are there remember the throne is Gods and not yours that ye sit in and let no fauour nor whatsoeuer respects mooue you from the right Ye sit not there as I shewe before for rewarding of friends or seruants nor for crossing of contemners but onely for doing of Iustice Learne also wisely to discerne betwixt Iustice and equitie and for pitie of the poore rob not the rich because he may better spare it but giue the little man the larger coat if it be his eschewing the errour of young Cyrus therein Xen. 1. Cyr. For Iustice by the Law giueth euery man his owne and equitie in things arbitrall giueth euery one that which is meetest for him Be an ordinarie sitter in your secret Counsell But specially to the secret Counsell that iudicature is onely ordained for matters of estate and repressing of insolent oppressions Make that iudgement as compendious and plaine as ye can and suffer no Aduocates to be heard there with their dilatours Cic. ad Q frat Tac. 1. hist Plut. in Demet. but let euery partie tell his owne tale himselfe and wearie not to heare the complaints of the oppressed aut ne Rex sis Remit euery thing to the ordinary iudicature for eschewing of confusion but let it be your owne craft to take a sharpe account of euery man in his office And next the Lawes Reading of histories I would haue you to be well versed in authentick histories and in the Chronicles of all nations but specially in our owne histories Ne sis peregrinus domi the example whereof most neerely concernes you I meane not of such infamous inuectiues as Buchanans or Knoxes Chronicles and if any of these infamous libels remaine vntill your dayes vse the Law vpon the keepers thereof For in that point I would haue you a Pythagorist Plat. in Menon to thinke that the very spirits of these archibellouses of rebellion haue made transition in them that hoardes their bookes Arist 1 Rhet. Polit. 1. Plut. in Timo. Cic. 2. de Or. or maintaines their opinions punishing them euen as it were their authours risen againe But by reading of authenticke histories and Chronicles yee shall learne experience by Theoricke applying the by-past things to the present estate Eccles 1. quia nihil nouum sub sole such is the continuall volubilitie of things earthly according to the roundnesse of the world and reuolution of the heauenly circles which is expressed by the wheeles in Ezechiels visions Ezech. 1. and counterfeited by the Poets in rota Fortunae And likewise by the knowledge of histories yee shall knowe how to behaue your selfe to all Embassadours and strangers being able to discourse with them vpon the estate of their owne countrey And among al prophane histories I must not omit most specially to recommend vnto you the Commentaries of Caesar both for the sweete flowing of the stile as also for the worthinesse of the matter it selfe For I haue euer beene of that opinion that of all the Ethnick Emperors or great Captaines that euer were he hath farthest excelled both in his practise and in his precepts in martiall affaires As for the studie of other liberall artes and sciences Of the arts liberall Sen. ep 84. I would haue you reasonably versed in them but not preassing to bee a passe-master in any of them for that cannot but distract you from the points of your calling as I shewed you before and when by the enemie winning the towne yee shall bee interrupted in your demonstration as Archimedes was Liu. I 24. Plut. in Mart. your people I thinke will looke very bluntly vpon it I graunt it is meete yee haue some entrance specially in the Mathematickes Of Mathematickes Pl. 7. de leg Arist 2. Meta. Iam. 2.17 for the knowledge of the arte militarie in situation of Campes ordering of battels making Fortifications placing of batteries or such like And let not this your knowledge be dead without fruites as Saint Iames speaketh of Faith but let it appeare in your daily conuersation and in all the actions of your life Embrace trew magnanimitie not in beeing vindictiue Of magnanimitie Arist 4. eth Sen. de cl which the corrupted iudgements of the world thinke to be trew Magnanimitie but by the contrarie in thinking your offendour not worthie of your wrath Cic. 1. off Virg. 6. Aen. empyring ouer your owne passion and triumphing in the commaunding your selfe to forgiue husbanding the effects of your courage and wrath to be rightly employed vpon repelling of iniuries within by reuenge taking vpon the oppressours and in reuenging iniuries without by iust warres vpon forraine enemies And so where ye finde a notable iniurie spare not to giue course to the torrents of your wrath The wrath of a King Prou. 20. is like to the roaring of a Lyon Foster trew Humilitie in bannishing pride Of humilitie not onely towards God considering yee differ not in stuffe but in vse and that onely by his ordinance from the basest of your people but also towards your Parents Plat. 4. de Leg. Xen. 2. de dict fact Soc. And if it fall out that my Wife shall out-liue me as euer ye thinke to purchase my blessing honour your mother set Beersheba in a throne on your right hand offend her for nothing much lesse wrong her remember her Quae longa decem tulerit fastidia menses and that your flesh and blood is made of hers and beginne not like the young lordes and lairdes your first warres vpon your Mother but preasse earnestly to deserue her blessing Neither deceiue your selfe with many that say they care not for their Parents curse so they deserue it not O inuert not the order of nature by iudging your superiours chiefly in your owne particular But assure your selfe the blessing or curse of the Parents hath almost euer a Propheticke power ioyned with it and if there were no more honour your Parents Exod. 20. for the lengthning of your owne dayes Exod. 20. Xen. 1. 3. Cyr. as GOD in his Law promiseth Honour also them that are in loco Parentum vnto you such as your gouernours vp-bringers and Praeceptours be thankefull vnto them and reward them which is your dewtie and honour But on the other part let not this trew humilitie stay your high indignation to appeare Cic. ad Q frat when any great oppressours shall praesume to come in your presence then frowne as ye ought And in-case they vse a colour of Law in oppressing their poore ones as ouer-many doe that which ye cannot mend by Law Arist 5 pol. mend by the withdrawing of your countenance from them and once in the yeere crosse them when their erands come in your way Matth. 18. recompencing the oppressour according to Christs parable of the two debtours
emploied as middesses for the furthering of that principall And being content to let others excell in other things let it be your chiefest earthly glory to excell in your owne craft according to the worthy counsel and charge of Anchises to his posteritie in that sublime and heroicall Poet wherein also my dicton is included Virg 6. Aeu Excudent alij spirantia molliùs aera Credo equidem viuos ducent de marmore vultus Orabunt causas meliùs coelique meatus Describent radio surgentia sydera dicent Tu regere imperio populos Romane memento Hae tibi erunt artes pacique imponere morem Parcere subiectis debellare superbos THE TREW LAW OF FREE MONARCHIES OR THE RECIPROCK AND MVTVALL DVETIE BETWIXT A FREE KING AND HIS naturall Subiects AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER ACcept J pray you my deare countreymen as thankefully this Pamphlet that J offer vnto you as louingly it is written for your weale J would be loath both to be faschious and fectlesse And therefore if it be not sententious at least it is short Jt may be yee misse many things that yee looke for in it But for excuse thereof consider rightly that I onely lay downe herein the trew grounds to teach you the right-way without wasting time vpon refuting the aduersaries And yet I trust if ye will take narrow tent ye shall finde most of their great gunnes payed home againe either with contrary conclusions or tacite obiections suppose in a dairned forme and indirectly For my intention is to instruct and not irritat if J may eschew it The profite I would wish you to make of it is as well so to frame all your actions according to these grounds as may confirme you in the course of honest and obedient Subiects to your King in all times comming as also when ye shall fall in purpose with any that shall praise or excuse the by-past rebellions that brake foorth either in this countrey or in any other ye shall herewith bee armed against their Sirene songs laying their particular examples to the square of these grounds Whereby yee shall soundly keepe the course of righteous Judgement decerning wisely of euery action onely according to the qualitie thereof and not according to your preiudged conceits of the committers So shall ye by reaping profit to your selues turne my paine into pleasure But least the whole Pamphlet runne out at the gaping mouth of this Preface if it were any more enlarged I end with committing you to God and me to your charitable censures C. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE TREW LAW OF FREE MONARCHIES OR The Reciprock and mutuall duetie betwixt a free King and his naturall Subiects AS there is not a thing so necessarie to be knowne by the people of any land next the knowledge of their God as the right knowledge of their alleageance according to the forme of gouernement established among them especially in a Monarchie which forme of gouernment as resembling the Diuinitie approacheth nearest to perfection as all the learned and wise men from the beginning haue agreed vpon Vnitie being the perfection of all things So hath the ignorance and which is worse the seduced opinion of the multitude blinded by them who thinke themselues able to teach and instruct the ignorants procured the wracke and ouerthrow of sundry flourishing Common-wealths and heaped heauy calamities threatning vtter destruction vpon others And the smiling successe that vnlawfull rebellions haue oftentimes had against Princes in aages past such hath bene the misery and iniquitie of the time hath by way of practise strengthned many in their errour albeit there cannot be a more deceiueable argument then to iudge ay the iustnesse of the cause by the euent thereof as hereafter shal be proued more at length And among others no Common-wealth that euer hath bene since the beginning hath had greater need of the trew knowledge of this ground then this our so long disordered and distracted Common-wealth hath the misknowledge hereof being the onely spring from whence haue flowed so many endlesse calamities miseries and confusions as is better felt by many then the cause thereof well knowne and deepely considered The naturall zeale therefore that I beare to this my natiue countrie with the great pittie I haue to see the so-long disturbance thereof for lacke of the trew knowledge of this ground as I haue said before hath compelled me at last to breake silence to discharge my conscience to you my deare country men herein that knowing the ground from whence these your many endlesse troubles haue proceeded as well as ye haue already too-long tasted the bitter fruites thereof ye may by knowledge and eschewing of the cause escape and diuert the lamentable effects that euer necessarily follow thereupon I haue chosen then onely to set downe in this short Treatise the trew grounds of the mutuall duetie and alleageance betwixt a free and absolute Monarche and his people not to trouble your patience with answering the contrary propositions which some haue not bene ashamed to set downe in writ to the poysoning of infinite number of simple soules and their owne perpetuall and well deserued infamie For by answering them I could not haue eschewed whiles to pick and byte wel saltly their persons which would rather haue bred contentiousnesse among the readers as they had liked or misliked then sound instruction of the trewth Which I protest to him that is the searcher of all hearts is the onely marke that I shoot at herein First then I will set downe the trew grounds whereupon I am to build out of the Scriptures since Monarchie is the trew paterne of Diuinitie as I haue already said next from the fundamental Lawes of our owne Kingdome which nearest must concerne vs thirdly from the law of Nature by diuers similitudes drawne out of the same and will conclude syne by answering the most waighty and appearing incommodities that can be obiected The Princes duetie to his Subiects is so clearely set downe in many places of the Scriptures and so openly confessed by all the good Princes according to their oath in their Coronation as not needing to be long therein I shall as shortly as I can runne through it Kings are called Gods by the propheticall King Dauid I sal 82.6 because they sit vpon GOD his Throne in the earth and haue the count of their administration to giue vnto him Psal 101. Psal 101. 2. King 18. 2. Chron. 29. 2. King 22. and 23.2 chro 34. 35. Psal 72. 1. King 3. Their office is To minister Iustice and Iudgement to the people as the same Dauid saith To aduance the good and punish the euill as he likewise saith To establish good Lawes to his people and procure obedience to the same as diuers good Kings of Iudah did To procure the peace of the people as the same Dauid saith To decide all controuersies that can arise among them as Salomon did To be the Minister
500. yeeres the Church groned vnder the heauy burthen both of heathen Emperours and of hereticall Kings the Visigot Kings in Spaine and the Vandals in Affrica Of whose displeasure the Pope had small reason or cause to stand in any feare beeing so remote from their dominions and no way vnder the lee of their Soueraigntie But let vs come to see what aide the L. Cardinall hath amassed and piled together out of latter histories prouided wee still beare in mind that our question is not of popular tumults nor of the rebellion of subiects making insurrections out of their owne discontented spirits and braine-sicke humors nor of lawfull Excommunications nor of Canonicall censures and reprehensions but onely of a iuridicall sentence of deposition pronounced by the Pope as armed with ordinary and lawfull power to depose against a Soueraigne Prince Now then Exampl 1. pag. 18 Enag hist Eccles lib. 3. cap. 32. The L. Cardinall sets on and giues the first charge with Anastasius the Emperour whom Euphemius Patriarke of Constantinople would neuer acknowledge for Emperour that is to say would neuer consent he should be created Emperour by the helpe of his voice or suffrage except he would first subscribe to the Chalcedon Creed notwithstanding the great Empresse and Senate sought by violent courses and practises to make him yeeld And when afterward the said Emperour contrary to his oath taken played the relaps by falling into his former heresie and became a persecutor he was first admonished and then excommunicated by Symmachus Bishop of Rome To this the L. Cardinall addes that when the said Emperour was minded to choppe the poison of his hereticall assertions into the publique formes of diuine seruice then the people of Constantinople made an vproare against Anastasius their Emperour and one of his Commanders by force of armes constrained him to call backe certaine Bishops whom he had sent into banishment before In this first example the L. Cardinall by his good leaue neither comes close to the question nor falutes it a farre off Euphemius was not Bishop of Rome Anastasius was not deposed by Euphemius the Patriarch onely made no way to the creating of Anastasius The suddaine commotion of the base multitude makes nothing the rebellion of a Greeke Commaunder makes lesse for the authorizing of the Pope to depose a Soueraigne Prince The Greeke Emperour was excommunicated by Pope Symmachus who knowes whether that be trew or forged For the Pope himselfe is the onely witnesse here produced by the L. Cardinall vpon the point and who knowes not how false how suppositious the writings and Epistles of the auncient Popes are iustly esteemmed But graunt it a trewth yet Anasta sius excommunicated by Pope Symmachus is not Anastasius deposed by Pope Symmachus And to make a full answere I say further that excommunication denounced by a forraine Bishop againsta party not beeing within the limits of his iurisdiction or one of his owne flocke was not any barre to the party from the communion of the Church but onely a kind of publication that he the said Bishop in his particular would hold no further communion with any such party For proofe whereof I produce the Canons of the Councils held at Carthage In one of the said Canons it is thus prouided and ordained * Nomecan Affric Can. 77. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any Bishop shall wilfully absent himselfe from the vsuall and accustomed Synodes let him not be admitted to the communion of other Churches but let him onely vse the benefit and libertie of his owne Church In an other of the same Canons thus * Can. 81. eiusd Nomo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a Bishop shall insinuate himselfe to make a conuciance of his Monasterie and the ordering thereof vnto a Monke of any other Cloister let him be cut off let him be separated from the communion with other Churches and content himselfe to liue in the communion of his owne flocke In the same sense Hilarius Bishop of Poictiers excommunicated Liberius Bishop of Rome for subscribing to the Arrian Confession Anathematibi à me Liberi Faber in frag Hilarij In the same sense Iohn Bishop of Antioch excommunicated Caelestine of Rome and Cyrill of Alexandria Bishops for proceeding to sentence against Nestorius without staying his comming to answere in his owne cause In the same sense likewise Victor Bishop of Rome did cut off all the Bishops of the East not from the communion of their owne flocks but from communion with Victor and the Romane Church What resemblance what agreement what proportion betweene this course of excommunication and that way of vniust fulmination which the Popes of Rome haue vsurped against Kings Examp. 2. but yet certaine long courses of time after that auncient course And this may stand for a full answere likewise to the example of Clotharius This ancient King of the French fearing the censures of Pope Agapetus erected the Territorie of Yuetor vnto the title of a Kingdome by way of satisfaction for murdering of Gualter Lord of Yuetot For this example the L. Cardinall hath ransackt records of 900. yeeres antiquitie and vpward in which times it were no hard piece of worke to shew that Popes would not haue any hand nor so much as a finger in the affaires and acts of the French Kings Gregorie of Tours that liued in the same aage hath recorded many acts of excesse and violent iniuries done against Bishops by their Kings and namely against Praetextatus Bishop of Roan for any of which iniurious prankes then played the Bishop of Rome durst not reprooue the said Kings with due remonstrance But see heere the words of Gregorie himselfe to King Chilperic If any of vs O King shall swarue from the path of Iustice him hast thou power to punish But in case thou shalt at any time transgresse the lines of equitie who shall once touch thee with reproofe To thee wee speake but are neuer heeded and regarded except it be thy pleasure and bee thou not pleased who shall challenge thy greatnesse but hee that iustly challengeth to bee Iustice it selfe The good Bishop notwithstanding these humble remonstrances was but roughly entreated and packt into exile being banished into the Isle of Guernsay But I am not minded to make any deepe search or inquisition into the titles of the Lords of Yuetot whose honourable priuiledges and titles are the most honourable badges and cognizances of their Ancestours and of some remarkeable seruice done to the Crowne of France so farre I take them to differ from a satisfaction for sinne And for the purpose I onely affirme that were the credit of this historie beyond all exception yet makes it nothing to the present question Wherein the power of deposing and not of excommunicating supreme Kings is debated And suppose the King by Charter granted the said priuiledges for feare of Excommunication how is it prooued thereby that Pope Agapetus had lawfull and ordinary power to depriue him of
the Oath of Allegiance Doeth not his Holinesse by this meanes draw so much as in him lyeth persecution vpon the backes of my Papists as vpon rebels and expose their life as it were vpon the open stall to be sold at a very easie price All these examples either ioynt or seuerall are manifest and euident proofes that feare to draw mischiefe and persecution vpon the Church hath not barred the Popes from thundering against Emperours and Kings whensoeuer they conceiued any hope by their fulminations to aduance their greatnesse Last of all I referre the matter to the most possessed with preiudice euen the very aduersaries whether this doctrine by which people are trained vp in subiection vnto Infidel or hereticall Kings vntill the subiects be of sufficient strength to mate their Kings to expell their Kings and to depose them from their Kingdomes doth not incense the Turkish Emperours and other Infidell Princes to roote out all the Christians that drawe in their yoke as people that waite onely for a fit occasion to rebell and to take themselues ingaged for obedience to their Lords onely by constraint and seruile feare Let vs therefore now conclude with Ozius in that famous Epistle speaking to Constantius an Arrian heretike Apud Athanâ—in Eâ—â—st ad solitâ—â— vitam aâ—gentes As hee that by secret practise or open violence would bereaue thee of thy Empire should violate Gods ordinance so bee thou touched with feare least by vsurping authoritie ouer Church matters thou tumble not headlong into some hainous crime Where this holy Bishop hath not vouchsafed to insert and mention the L. Cardinals exception to wit the right of the Church alwaies excepted and saued when she shall be of sufficient strength to shake off the yoke of Emperours Neither speaks the same holy Bishop of priuate persons alone or men of some particular condition and calling but hee setteth downe a generall rule for all degrees neuer to impeach Imperiall Maiestie vpon any pretext whatsoeuer As his Lordships first reason drawne from weakenesse is exceeding weake so is that which the L. Cardinall takes vp in the next place The 2. reas Pag. 77. He telleth vs there is very great difference betweene Pagan Emperours and Christian Princes Pagan Emperours who neuer did homage to Christ who neuer were by their subiects receiued with condition to acknowledge perpetuall subiection vnto the Empire of Christ who neuer were bound by oath and mutuall contract betweene Prince and subiect Christian Princes who slide backe by Apostasie degenerate by Arrianisme or fall away by Mahometisme Touching the latter of these two as his Lordshippe saith If they shall as it were take an oath and make a vowe contrary to their first oath and vow made and taken when they were installed and contrary to the condition vnder which they receiued the Scepter of their Fathers if they withall shall turne persecutors of the Catholike religion touching these I say the L. Cardinal holds that without question they may bee remooued from their Kingdomes He telleth vs not by whom but euery where he meaneth by the Pope Touching Kings deposed by the Pope vnder pretence of stupidity as Childeric or of matrimoniall causes as Philip I. or for collating of benefices as Philip the Faire not one word By that point he easily glideth and shuffles it vp in silence for feare of distasting the Pope on the one side or his auditors on the other Now in alledging this reason his Lordship makes all the world a witnes that in deposing of Kings the Pope hath no eye of regard to the benefit and securitie of the Church For such Princes as neuer suckt other milke then that of Infidelitie and persecution of Religion are no lesse noisome and pernicious vermin to the Church then if they had sucked of the Churches breasts And as for the greatnesse of the sinne or offence it seemes to me there is very little difference in the matter For a Prince that neuer did sweare any religious obedience to Iesus Christ is bound no lesse to such obedience then if he had taken a solemne oath As the sonne that rebelliously stands vp against his father is in equall degree of sinne whether he hath sworne or not sworne obedience to his father because he is bound to such obedience not by any voluntarie contract or couenant but by the law of Nature The commaundement of God to kisse the Sonne whom the Father hath confirmed and ratified King of Kings doeth equally bind all Kings as well Pagans as Christians On the other side who denies who doubts that Constantius Emperour at his first steppe or entrance into the Empire did not sweare and bind himselfe by solemne vowe to keepe the rules and to maintaine the precepts of the Orthodox faith or that he did not receiue his fathers Empire vpon such condition This notwithstanding the Bishop of Rome pulled not Constantius from his Imperiall throne but Constantius remooued the Bishop of Rome from his Papall See And were it so that an oath taken by a King at his consecration and after violated is a sufficient cause for the Pope to depose an Apostate or hereticall Prince then by good consequence the Pope may in like sort depose a King who beeing neither dead in Apostasie nor sicke of Heresie doeth neglect onely the due administration of iustice to his loyall subiects For his oath taken at consecration importeth likewise that he shall minister iustice to his people A point wherein the holy Father is held short by the L. Cardinall who dares prescribe new lawes to the Pope and presumes to limit his fulnesse of power within certaine meeres and head-lands extending the Popes power only to the deposing of Christian Kings when they turne Apostats forsaking the Catholike faith and not such Princes as neuer breathed any thing but pure Paganisme and neuer serued vnder the colours of Iesus Christ Meane while his Lordship forgets that King Attabaliba was deposed by the Pope from his Kingdome of Peru and the said Kingdome was conferred vpon the King of Spaine though the said poore King of Peru neuer forsooke his heathen superstition and though the turning of him out of his terrestriall Kingdome was no way to conuert him vnto the faith of Christ Pag. 77. Yea his Lordship a little after telleth vs himselfe that Be the Turkes possession in the conquests that he maketh ouer Christians neuer so auncient yet by no long tract of time whatsoeuer can he gaine so much as a thumbes breadth of prescription that is to say the Turke for all that is but a disseisor one that violently and wilfully keeps an other man from his owne and by good right may be dispossessed of the same whereas notwithstanding the Turkish Emperours neuer fauoured nor sauoured Christianitie Let vs runne ouer the examples of Kings whom the Pope hath dared and presumed to depose and hardly will any one be found of whom it may be trewly auouched that he hath taken an oath
direct vs to speake of Delegates of subordinate Magistrates and such as are in Commission from the Prince but of the supreame Prince himselfe the Soueraigne Magistrate ordained by nature and confirmed by succession Our question is whether such a Prince can be vnthroned by the Pope by whom he was not placed in the Throne and whether the Pope can despoile such a Prince of that Royaltie which was neuer giuen him by the Pope vnder any pretended colour and imputation of heresie of stupiditie or infringing the priuiledges of Monasteries or transgressing the Lawes and lines of holy Matrimonie Now that S. Pauls commandement which bindeth euery soule in the bands of subiection vnto the higher powers is no precept giuen by way of prouiso and onely to serue the times but a standing and a perpetuall rule it is hereby more then manifest S. Paul hath grounded this commandement vpon certaine reasons not onely constant and permanent by their proper nature but likewise necessary for euery state condition and reuolution of the times His reasons Because all powers are ordained of God because resisting of powers is resisting the ordinance of God because the Magistrate beares the sword to execute iustice because obedience and subiection to the Magistrate is necessary not onely for feare of his wrath or feare of punishment but also for conscience sake It is therefore a case grounded vpon conscience it is not a Law deuised by humane wisedome it is not fashionable to the qualities of the times Apostolicall instructions for the right informing of maners are not changeable according to times and seasons To vse the L. Cardinals language and to follow his fancie in the matter is to make way for two pestiferous mischiefes First let it be free and lawfull for Christians to hold the commanding rules of GOD for prouisionall cautions and what followes Men are ledde into the broad way of impietie and the whole Scripture is wiped of all authoritie Then againe for the other mischiefe The glorious triumphes of most blessed Martyrs in their vnspeakable torments and sufferings by the L. Cardinals position shall bee iudged vnworthy to weare the title and Crowne of Martyrdome How so Because according to his new fiction they haue giuen place to the violence and furie of heathen Magistrates not in obedience to the necessary and certaine Commandement of God but rather to a prouisionall direction accōmodated to the humours of the times And therfore the L. Cardinal hath vsed none other clay wherewith to dawbe ouer his deuise but plaine falsification of holy Scripture For he makes the Apostle say to the Corinthians It is a shame for Christians to bee iudged vnder vnbeleeuing Magistrates whereas in that whole context of Paul there is no such matter For when the Apostle saith I speake it euen to your shame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doeth not say it is a shame for a beleeuer to be iudged vnder an Infidel but he makes them ashamed of their vngodly course and vnchristian practise that in suing and impleading one another they layd their actions of cōtention in the Courts of vnbeleeuing Iudges The shame was not in bearing that yoke which God had charged their necks withall but in deuouring and eating vp one an other with Writs of habeas corpus and with other Processes as also in vncouering the shame in laying open the shamefull parts and prankes played by Christians before Infidels to the great scandall of the Church Here I say the L. Cardinall is taken in a tricke of manifest falsification If therefore a King when he salls to play the heretike deserueth to be deposed why should not a Cardinall when he falls to play the iuggler with holy Scripture deserue to be disrobed Meane while the indifferent Reader is to consider how greatly this doctrine is preiudicial and how full of danger to Christians liuing vnder hereticall or Pagan Princes For make it once knowne to the Emperour of Turkes let him once get neuer so little a smacke of this doctrine that Christians liuing vnder his Empire doe take Gods commandement for obedience to Princes whom they count Infidels to be onely a prouisional precept for a time and wait euery houre for all occasions to shake off the yoke of his bondage doubtlesse he will neuer spare with all speed to roote the whole stocke with all the armes and branches of Christians out of his dominions Adde hereunto the L. Cardinals former determination that possession kept neuer so long by the Turke in his Conquests ouer Christians gaines him not by so long tract of time one inch of prescription and it will appeare that his Lordship puts the Turkish Emperour in minde and by his instruction leades the said Emperour as it were by the hand to haue no maner of affiance in his Christian subiects and withall to afflict his poore Christians with all sorts of most grieuous and cruell torments In this regard the poore Christans of Graecia and Syria must needs be very little beholden to his Lordship As for my selfe and my Popish Subiects to whom I am no lesse then an heretike forsooth am not I by this doctrine of the Cardinall pricked and whetted against my naturall inclination to turne clemencie into rigour seeing that by his doctrine my subiects are made to beleeue they owe me subiection onely by way of prouiso and with waiting the occasion to worke my vtter destruction and finall ruine the rather because Turkes miscreants and heretikes are marshalled by the Cardinall in the same ranke and heretikes are counted worse yea more iustly deposeable then Turkes and Infidels as irreligious breakers and violaters of their oath Who seeth not here how great indignitie is offered to me a Christian King paralleld with Infidels reputed worse then a Turke taken for an vsurper of my Kingdomes reckoned a Prince to whom subiects owe a forced obedience by way of prouision vntill they shall haue meanes to shake off the yoke and to bare my temples of the Crowne which neuer can be pulled from the sacred Head but with losse of the head it selfe Touching the warres vndertaken by the French English and Germaines in their expedition for Ierusalem it appeares by the issue and euent of the said warres that God approoued them not for honourable That expedition was a deuise and inuention of the Pope whereby he might come to be infeoffed in the Kingdomes of Christian Princes For then all such of the French English or Germaines as vndertooke the Croisade became the Popes meere vassals Then all robbers by the high way side adulterers cut-throats and base bankerupts were exempted from the Secular and Ciuill power their causes were sped in Consistorian Courts so soone as they had gotten the Crosse on their cassocks or coat-armours and had vowed to serue in the expedition for the Leuant Then for the Popes pleasure and at his commaundement whole countryes were emptied of their Nobles and common souldiers Then they made long marches into the Leuant For
much lesse I will doe it when a Law is to restraine me I owe no more to the Scottish men then to the English I was borne there and sworne here and now raigne ouer both Such particular persons of the Scottish Nation as might claime any extraordinary merit at my handes I haue already reasonably rewarded and I can assure you that there is none left whom for I meane extraordinary to straine my selfe further then in such ordinary benefit as I may equally bestow without mine owne great hurt vpon any Subiect of either Nation In which case no Kings handes can euer befully closed To both I owe Iustice and protection which with Gods grace I shall euer equally ballance For my Liberalitie I haue told you of it heretofore my three first yeeres were to me as a Christmas I could not then be miserable should I haue bene ouersparing to them they might haue thought Ioseph had forgotten his brethren or that the King had beene drunke with his new Kingdome But Suites goe not now so cheape as they were wont neither are there so many fees taken in the Hamper and Pettibagge for the great Seale as hath beene And if I did respect the English when I came first of whom I was receiued with ioy and came as in a hunting iourney what might the Scottish haue iustly said if I had not in some measure dealt bountifully with them that so long had serued me so farre aduentured themselues with me and beene so faithfull to mee I haue giuen you now foure yeeres proofe since my comming and what I might haue done more to haue raised the Scottish nation you all know and the longer I liue the lesse cause haue I to be acquainted with them and so the lesse hope of extraordinary fauour towards them For since my comming from them I doe not alreadie know the one halfe of them by face most of the youth being now risen vp to bee men who were but children when I was there and more are borne since my comming thence Now for my lands and reuenues of my Crowne which you may thinke I haue diminished They are not yet so farre diminished but that I thinke no prince of Christendome hath fairer possessions to his Crowne then yet I haue and in token of my care to preserue the same to my posteritie for euer the intaile of my lands to the Crowne hath beene long agoe offered vnto you and that it is not yet done is not my fault as you know My Treasurer here knoweth my care and hath already in part declared it and if I did not hope to treble my Reuenue more then I haue empaired it I should neuer rest quietly in my bed But notwithstanding my comming to the Crowne with that extraordinarie applause which you all know and that I had two Nations to bee the obiects of my liberalitie which neuer any Prince had here before will you compare my gifts out of mine inheritance with some Princes here that had onely this Nation to respect and whose whole time of reigne was litle longer then mine hath bene already It will be found that their gifts haue farre surpassed mine albeit as I haue already said they had nothing so great cause of vsing their liberalitie For the maner of the Vnion presently desired It standeth in 3. parts Secondly The first taking away of hostile Lawes for since there can bee now no Warres betwixt you is it not reason hostile Lawes should cease For desiciente causa desicit effectas The King of England now cannot haue warres with the King of Scotland therefore this failes of it selfe The second is communitie of Commerce I am no stranger vnto you for you all know I came from the loynes of your ancient Kings They of Scotland be my Subiects as you are But how can I bee naturall Liege Lord to you both and you strangers one to the other Shall they which be of one alleagance with you be no better respected of you nor freer amongst you then Frenchmen and Spaniards Since I am Soueraigne ouer both you as Subiects to one King it must needes follow that you conuerse and haue Commerce together There is a rumour of some ill dealings that should be vsed by the Commissioners Merchants of Scotland They be heere in England and shall remaine till your next meeting and abide triall to prooue themselues either honest men or knaues For the third point of Naturalization All you agree that they are no Aliens and yet will not allow them to bee naturall What kinde of prerogatiue will you make But for the Postnati your owne Lawyers and Iudges at my first comming to this Crowne informed me there was a difference betweene the Antè and the Post nati of each Kingdome which caused mee to publish a Proclamation that the Post nati were Naturalized Ipso facto by my Accession to this Crowne I doe not denie but Iudges may erre as men and therefore I doe not presse you here to sweare to all their reasons I onely vrge at this time the conueniencie for both Kingdomes neither pressing you to iudge nor to be iudged But remember also it is as possible and likely your owne Lawyers may erre as the Iudges Therefore as I wish you to proceede herein so farre as may tend to the weale of both Nations So would I haue you on the other part to beware to disgrace either my Proclamations or the Iudges who when the Parliament is done haue power to trie your lands and liues for so you may disgrace both your King and your Lawes For the doing of any acte that may procure lesse reuerence to the Iudges cannot but breede a loosenesse in the Gouernement and a disgrace to the whole Nation The reason that most mooues mee for ought I haue yet heard that there cannot but bee a difference betweene the Antè nati and the Post nati and that in the fauour of the last is that they must bee neerer vnto you being borne vnder the present Gouernement and common Allegiance but in point of conueniencie there is no question but the Post nati are more to bee respected For if you would haue a perfect and perpetuall Vnion that cannot be in the Antè nati who are but few in comparison of those that shall be in all aages succeeding and cannot liue long But in the Post nati shall the Vnion be continued and liue euer aage after aage which wanting a difference cannot but leaue a perpetuall marke of separation in the worke of the Vnion as also that argument of iealousie will be so farre remooued in the case of the Post nati which are to reape the benefit in all succeeding aages as by the contrary there will then rise Pharaos which neuer knew Ioseph The Kings my Successours who beeing borne and bred heere can neuer haue more occasion of acquaintance with the Scottish Nation in generall then any other English King that was before my time Bee not therefore abused
Chancery for other Benches I am not yet so well resolued of their Iurisdiction in that point And for my part I was neuer against Prohibitions of this nature nor the trew vse of them which is indeed to keepe euery Riuer within his owne banks and channels But when I saw the swelling and ouerflowing of Prohibitions in a farre greater abundance then euer before euery Court striuing to bring in most moulture to their owne Mill by multitudes of Causes which is a disease very naturall to all Courts and Iurisdictions in the world Then dealt I with this Cause and that at two seuerall times once in the middest of Winter and againe in the middest of the next following Summer At euery of which times I spent three whole daies in that labour And then after a large hearing I told them as Christ said concerning Mariage Ab initio non fuit sic For as God conteins the Sea within his owne bounds and marches as it is in the Psalmes So is it my office to make euery Court conteine himselfe within his own limits And therfore I gaue admonitions to both sides To the other Courts that they should be carefull hereafter euery of them to conteine themselues within the bounds of their owne Iurisdictions and to the Courts of Common Law that they should not bee so forward and prodigall in multiplying their Prohibitions Two cautions I willed them to obserue in graunting their Prohibitions First that they should be graunted in a right and lawfull forme And next that they should not grant them but vpon a iust and reasonable cause As to the forme it was That none should be graunted by any one particular Iudge or in time of Vacation or in any other place but openly in Court And to this the Iudges themselues gaue their willing assent And as to the Cause That they should not be granted vpon euery sleight furmise or information of the partie but alwayes that a due and graue examination should first precede Otherwise if Prohibitions should rashly and headily be granted then no man is the more secure of his owne though hee hath gotten a Sentence with him For as good haue no Law or Sentence as to haue no execution thereof A poore Minister with much labour and expense hauing exhausted his poore meanes and being forced to forbeare his studie and to become non resident from his flocke obtaines a Sentence and then when hee loookes to enioy the fruits thereof he is defrauded of all by a Prohibition according to the parable of Christ That night when hee thinkes himselfe most happy shall his soule be taken from him And so is he tortured like Tantalus who when he hath the Apple at his mouth and that he is gaping and opening his mouth to receiue it then must it be pulled from him by a Prohibition and he not suffered to taste thereof So as to conclude this point I put a difference betweene the trew vse of Prohibitions and the superabounding abuse thereof for as a thing which is good ought not therefore bee abused so ought not the lawfull vse of a good thing be forborne because of the abuse thereof NOw the second generall ground whereof I am to speake concernes the matter of Grieuances There are two speciall causes of the peoples presenting Grieuances to their King in time of Parliament First for that the King cannot at other times be so well informed of all the Grieuances of his people as in time of Parliament which is the representatiue body of the whole Realme Secondly the Parliament is the highest Court of Iustice and therefore the fittest place where diuers natures of Grieuances may haue their proper remedie by the establishment of good and wholsome Lawes But though my Speech was before directed to the whole Body of Parliament yet in this case I must addresse my Speech in speciall to you of the Lower House I am now then to recommend vnto your considerations the matter and manner of your handling and presenting of Grieuances As for the manner though I will not denie but that yee representing the Body of the people may as it were both opportunè and inopportunè I meane either in Parliament as a Body or out of Parliament as priuate men present your Grieuances vnto mee yet would I haue you to vse this caution in your behauiour in this point which is that your Grieuances be not as it were greedily sought out by you or taken vp in the streetes as one said thereby to shew a willingnesse that you would haue a shew made that there are many abuses in the gouernment and many causes of complaint but that according to your first institution ye should only meddle with such Grieuances as your selues doe know had neede of reformation or had informations thereof in your countreys for which you serue and not so to multiply them as might make it noised amongst the people that all things in the gouernment were amisse and out of frame For euen at the beginning of this very Session of Parliament the generall name of Grieuances being mentioned among you such a conceipt came in the heads of many that you had a desire to multiply and make a great muster of them as euery one exhibited what his particular spleene stirred him vnto Indeed there fell out an accident vpon this occasion for which I haue reason to thanke you of the Lower house I meane for your fire worke wherein I confesse you did Honour to me and right to your selues For hauing one afternoone found many Grieuances closely presented in papers and so all thrust vp in a sacke together rather like Pasquils then any lawfull Complaints farre against your owne Orders and diuers of them proceeding from grudging and murmuring spirits you vpon the hearing read two or three of the first lines of diuers of them were not content with a publique consent to condemne them and to discharge any further reading of them but you also made a publique bonefire of them In this I say you shewed your care and ielousie of my Honour and I sent you thankes for it by the Chancellour of the Exchequer a member of your owne House who by your appointment that same night acquainted me with your proceedings And by him also I promised at that time that you should heare more of my thankes for the same at the first occasion And now I tell you it my selfe that you may know how kindely I take your duetifull behauiour in this case But since this was a good effect of an euill cause I must not omit also to admonish you vpon the other part to take a course amongst your selues to preuent the like accident in all times hereafter otherwise the Lower house may become a place for Pasquils and at another time such Grieuances may be cast in amongst you as may conteine Treason or scandal against Me or my Posterity Therfore in this case looke ouer your ancient Orders follow them and suffer not hereafter
pitie them but if they bee good and quiet Subiects I hate not their persons and if I were a priuate man I could well keepe a ciuill friendship and conuersation with some of them But as for those Apostates who I know must be greatest haters of their owne Sect I confesse I can neuer shew any fauourable countenance toward them and they may all of them be sure without exception that they shall neuer finde any more fauour of mee further then I must needs in Iustice afford them And these would I haue the Law to strike seuereliest vpon and you carefullest to discouer Yee know there hath beene great stirre kept for begging Concealements these yeeres past and I pray you let mee begge this concealement both of the Bishops and Iudges That Papists be no longer concealed Next as concerning the Common wealth I doe specially recommend vnto you the framing of some new Statute for preseruation of woods In the end of the last Session of Parliament ye had a Bill amongst you of that subiect but because you found some faults therein you cast out the whole Bil But I could haue rather wished that yee had either mended it or made a new one For to cast out the whole Bill because of some faults was euen as if a man that had a new garment brought him would chuse rather to go naked then haue his garment made fit for him But on my coscience I cannot imagine why you should so lightly haue esteemed a thing so necessary for the Common wealth if it were not out of a litle frowardnesse amongst you at that time that what I then recommended earnestly vnto you it was the worse liked of The maintenance of woods is a thing so necessary for this Kingdome as it cannot stand nor be a Kingdome without it For it concernes you both in your Esse Bene esse and in pleasures Your Esse for without it you want the vse of one of the most necessarie Elements which is Fire and fewell to dresse your meate with for neither can the people liue in these colde Countries if they want fire altogether nor yet can you dresse your meate without it and I thinke you will ill liue like the Cannibals vpon raw flesh for the education of this people is farre from that As to your bene esse The decay of woods will necessarily bring the decay of Shipping which both is the security of this Kingdome since God hath by nature made the Sea to bee the wall of this Iland and the rather now since God hath vnited it all in my Person and Crowne As also by the decay of Shipping will you loose both all your forraine commodities that are fit for this countrey and the venting of our owne which is the losse of Trade that is a maine pillar of this kingdome And as for Pleasure yee know my delight in Hunting and Hawking and many of your selues are of the same minde and all this must needes decay by the decay of Woods Ye haue reason therefore to prouide a good Law vpon this Subiect Now as to the last point concerning matters of Pleasure it consists in the preseruing of Game which is now almost vtterly destroyed through all the Kingdome And if you offer not now a better Law for this then was made in the last Session of Parliament I will neuer thanke you for it For as for your Law anent Partridge and Phesant you haue giuen leaue to euery man how poore a Farmour that euer hee bee to take and destroy them in his owne ground how he list But I pray you how can the Game bee maintained if Gentlemen that haue great Lordships shall breed and preserue them there and so soone as euer they shall but flie ouer the hedge and light in a poore fellowes Close they shall all be destroyed Surely I know no remedie for preseruing the Game that breedes in my grounds except I cast a roofe ouer all the ground or else put veruels to the Partridges feet with my Armes vpon them as my Hawkes haue otherwise I know not how they shall bee knowen to be the Kings Partridges when they light in a Farmours Close And by your Lawe against stealing of Deere or Conies after a long discourse and prohibition of stealing them you conclude in the end with a restriction that all this punishment shall bee vnderstood to bee vsed against them that steale the Game in the night Which hath much encouraged all the looser sort of people that it is no fault to steale Deere so they doe it not like theeues in the night As was that Law of the Lacedemonians against theft that did not forbid theft but onely taught them to doe it cunningly and without discouerie Whereupon a foolish boy suffered a Foxe to gnaw his heart through his breast And this doctrine is like that Lesson of the Cannon Law Si non castè tamen cautè I knowe you thinke that I speake partially in this case like a Hunter But there is neuer a one of you that heares mee that cares the least for the sport for preseruation of the Game but he would be as glad to haue a pastie of Venison if you might get it as the best Hunter would And if the Game be not preserued you can eate no Venison As for Partridge and Phesant I doe not denie that Gentlemen should haue their sport and specially vpon their owne ground But first I doe not thinke such Game and pleasures should be free to base people And next I would euen wish that Gentlemen should vse it in a Gentlemanlike fashion and not with Nets or Gunnes or such other vngentlemanlike fashions that serue but for vtter destruction of all Game nor yet to kill them at vnseasonable times as to kill the Phesant and Partridges when they are no bigger then Mice when as for euery one their Hawkes kill ten will be destroyed with their Dogs and Horse feet besides the great and intolerable harme they doe to Corne in that season And now in the end of all this faschious Speach I must conclude like a Grey Frier in speaking for my selfe at last At the beginning of this Session of Parliament when the Treasourer opened my necessities vnto you then my Purse onely laboured But now that word is spread both at home and abroad of the demaunds I haue made vnto you my Reputation laboureth aswellas my Purse For if you part without the repairing of my State in some reasonable sort what can the world thinke but that the euill will my Subiects beare vnto mee hath bred a refuse And yee can neuer part so without apprehending that I am distasted with your behauiour and yet to be in feare of my displeasure But I assure and promise my selfe farre otherwise THus haue I now performed my promise in presenting vnto you the Christall of your Kings heart Yee know that principally by three wayes yee may wrong a Mirrour Frst I pray you looke not vpon my Mirrour
had altered it And this I speake to root out the conceit and misapprehension if it be in any heart that I would change damnifie vilifie or suppresse the Law of this Land GOD is my Iudge I neuer meant it And this confirmation I make before you all To this I ioyne the point of Iustice which I call Vnicuique suum tribuere All my Councell and Iudges dead and aliue can and could beare mee witnesse how vnpartiall I haue beene in declaring of Law And where it hath concerned mee in my owne inheritance I haue as willingly submitted my interest to the Lawe as any my Subiects could doe and it becomes mee so to doe to giue example to others much lesse then will I be partiall to others where I am not to my selfe And so resolue your selues Iustice with mee may bee moderated in point of clemencie for no Iustice can be without mercie But in matters of Iustice to giue euery man his owne to be blinde without eyes of partialitie This is my full resolution I vsed to say when I was in Scotland if any man mooued mee to delay Iustice that it was against the Office of a King so to doe But when any made suite to hasten Iustice I told them I had rather grant fourtie of these suits then one of the other This was alwayes my custome and shall be euer with Gods leaue Now what I haue spoken of Law and Iustice I meane by the Lawe kept in her owne bounds For I vnderstand the inheritance of the King and Subiects in this land must bee determined by the Common Law and that is by the Law set downe in our forefathers time expounded by learned men diuers times after in the declaratory Comments called Responsa Prudentum Or else by Statute Law set downe by Acte of Parliament as occasion serues By this I doe not seclude all other Lawes of England but this is the Law of inheritance in this Kingdome There is another Law of all Lawes free and supreame which is GODS LAVV And by this all Common and municipall Lawes must be gouerned And except they haue dependance vpon this Law they are vniust and vnlawfull When I speake of that Law I onely giue this touch That that Law in this Kingdome hath beene too much neglected and Churchmen too much had in contempt I must speake trewth Great men Lords Iudges and people of all degrees from the highest to the lowest haue too much contemned them And God will not blesse vs in our owne Lawes if wee doe not reuerence and obey GODS LAVV which cannot bee except the interpreters of it be respected and reuerenced And it is a signe of the latter dayes drawing on euen the contempt of the Church and of the Gouernours and Teachers thereof now in the Church of ENGLAND which I say in my Conscience of any Church that euer I read or knew of present or past is most pure and neerest the Primitiue and Apostolicall Church in Doctrine and Discipline and is sureliest founded vpon the word of God of any Church in Christendome Next vnto this Law is the Law of Nations which God forbid should bee barred and that for two causes One because it is a Law to satisfie Strangers which will not so well hold themselues satisfied with other municipall Lawes Another to satisfie our owne Subiects in matters of Piracie Marriage Wills and things of like nature That Law I diuide into Ciuil and Canon And this Law hath bene so much encroched vpon sithence my comming to the Crowne and so had in contempt that young men are discouraged from studying and the rest wearie of their liues that doe professe it and would be glad to seeke any other craft So speaking of the Common Law I meane the Common Law kept within her owne limits and not derogating from these other Lawes which by longer custome haue beene rooted here first the Law of GOD and his Church and next the Law Ciuill and Canon which in many cases cannot be wanting To conclude this charge which I giue my selfe I professe to maintaine all the points of mine Oath especially in Lawes and of Lawes especially the Common Law And as to maintaine it so to purge it for else it cannot bee maintained and especially to purge it from two corruptions Incertaintie and Noueltie Incertaintie is found in the Law it selfe wherein I will bee painefull to cleare it to the people and this is properly to bee done in Parliament by aduice of the Iudges The other corruption is introduced by the Iudges themselues by Nicities that are vsed where it may be said Ab initio non fuit sic Nothing in the world is more likely to be permanent to our eyes then yron or steele yet the rust corrupts it if it bee not kept cleane which sheweth nothing is permanent here in this world if it be not purged So I cannot discharge my conscience in maintaining the Lawes if I keepe them not cleane from corruption And now that I may bee like the Pastor that first takes the Sacrament himselfe and then giues it to the people So I haue first taken my owne charge vpon me before I giue you your Charge lest it might be said Turpe est doctori cùm culpa redarguit ipsum NOw my Lords the Iudges for your parts the Charge I haue to giue you consists likewise in three parts First in generall that you doe Iustice vprightly as you shall answere to GOD and mee For as I haue onely GOD to answere to and to expect punishment at his hands if I offend So you are to answere both to GOD and to mee and expect punishment at GODS hands and mine if you be found in fault Secondly to doe Iustice indifferently betweene Subiect and Subiect betweene King and Subiect without delay partialitie feare or bribery with stout and vpright hearts with cleane and vncorrupt hands When I bid you doe Iustice boldly yet I bid you doe it fearefully fearefully in this to vtter your owne conceites and not the trew meaning of the Law And remember you are no makers of Law but Interpretours of Law according to the trew sence thereof for your Office is Ius dicere and not Ius dare And that you are so farre from making Law that euen in the higher house of Parliament you haue no voyce in making of a Law but only to giue your aduice when you are required And though the Laws be in many places obscure and not so wel knowen to the multitude as to you and that there are many parts that come not into ordinary practise which are knowen to you because you can finde out the reason thereof by bookes and presidents yet know this that your interpretations must be alwayes subiect to common sense and reason For I will neuer trust any Interpretation that agreeth not with my common sense and reason and trew Logicke for Ratio est anima Legis in all humane Lawes without exception it must not be Sophistrie or straines of wit
crept into the Law and I haue it ready to bee considered of Looke to Plowdens Cases and your old Responsa prudentum if you finde it not there then ab initio non fuit sic I must say with CHRIST Away with the new polygamie and maintaine the ancient Law pure and vndefiled as it was before TO the Auditory I haue but little to say yet that little will not bee ill bestowed to be said at this time Since I haue now renewed and confirmed my resolution to maintaine my Oath the Law and Iustice of the Land So doe I expect that you my Subiects doe submit your selues as you ought to the obseruance of that Law And as I haue diuided the two former parts of my Charge So will I diuide this your submission into three parts for orderly diuisions and methode cause things better to be remembred First in generall that you giue due reuerence to the Law and this generall diuides it selfe into three First not to sue but vpon iust cause Secondly beeing sued and Iudgement passed against you Acquiesce in the Iudgement and doe not tumultuate against it and take example from mee whom you haue heard here protest that when euer any Decree shall be giuen against me in my priuate right betweene me and a Subiect I will as humbly acquiesce as the meanest man in the Land Imitate me in this for in euery Plea there are two parties and Iudgement can be but for one and against the other so one must alwayes be displeased Thirdly doe not complaine and importune mee against Iudgements for I hold this Paradoxe to bee a good rule in Gouernment that it is better for a King to maintaine an vniust Decree then to question euery Decree and Iudgement after the giuing of a sentence for then Suites shall neuer haue end Therefore as you come gaping to the Law for Iustice so bee satisfied and contented when Iudgement is past against you and trouble not mee but if you finde briberie or corruption then come boldly but when I say boldly beware of comming to complaine except you bee very sure to prooue the iustice of your cause Otherwise looke for Lex Talionis to bee executed vpon you for your accusing of an vpright Iudge deserues double punishment in that you seeke to lay infamie vpon a worthy person of that reuerent calling And be not tild on with your own Lawyers tales that say the cause is iust for their owne gaine but beleeue the Iudges that haue no hire but of me Secondly in your Pleas presume not to meddle with things against the Kings Prerogatiue or Honour Some Gentlemen of late haue beene too bold this wayes If you vse it the Iudges will punish you and if they suffer it I must punish both them and you Plead not vpon new Puritanicall straines that make all things popular but keepe you within the ancient Limits of Pleas. Thirdly make not many changes from Court to Court for hee that changeth Courts shewes to mistrust the iustnesse of the cause Goe to the right place and the Court that is proper for your cause change not thence and submit your selues to the Iudgement giuen there Thus hauing finished the Charge to my selfe the Iudges and the Auditorie I am to craue your pardon if I haue forgotten any thing or beene inforced to breake my Methode for you must remember I come not hither with a written Sermon I haue no Bookes to reade it out of and a long speach manifold businesse and a little leasure may well pleade pardon for any fault of memorie and trewly I know not if I haue forgotten any thing or not And now haue I deliuered First my excuse why I came not till now Next the reasons why I came now Thirdly my charge and that to my selfe to you my Lords the Iudges and to the Auditory I haue also an ordinary charge that I vse to deliuer to the Iudges before my Councell when they goe their Circuits and seeing I am come to this place you shall haue that also and so I will make the old saying trew Combe seldome combesore I meane by my long deteining you at this time which will bee so much the more profitable in this Auditorie because a number of the Auditorie will be informed here who may relate it to their fellow Iustices in the countrey My Lords the Iudges you know very well that as you are Iudges with mee when you sit here so are you Iudges vnder mee and my Substitutes in the Circuits where you are Iudges Itinerant to doe Iustice to my people It is an ancient and laudable custome in this Kingdome that the Iudges goe thorow the Kingdome in Circuits easing the people thereby of great charges who must otherwise come from all the remote parts of the Kingdome to Westminster Hall for the finding out and punishing of offences past and preuenting the occasion or offences that may arise I can giue you no other charge in effect but onely to remember you againe of the same in substance which I deliuered to you this time Twelue-moneth First Remember that when you goe your Circuits you goe not onely to punish-and preuent offences but you are to take care for the good gouernment in generall of the parts where you trauell as well as to doe Iustice in particular betwixt party and party in causes criminall and ciuill You haue charges to giue to Iustices of peace that they doe their dueties when you are absent aswell as present Take an accompt of them and report their seruice to me at your returne As none of you will hold it sufficient to giue a charge except in taking the accompt you finde the fruit of it So I say to you it will not bee sufficient for you to heare my charge if at your returne you bring not an accompt to the haruest of my sowing which cannot be done in generall but in making to me a particular report what you haue done For a King hath two Offices First to direct things to be done Secondly to take an accompt how they are fulfilled for what is it the better for me to direct as an Angel if I take not accompt of your doings I know not whether misunderstanding or slacknesse bred this that I had no accompt but in generall of that I gaue you in particular in charge the last yeere Therefore I now charge you againe that at your next returne you repaire to my Chancellour and bring your accompts to him in writing of those things which in particular I haue giuen you in charge And then when I haue seene your accompts as occasion shall serue it may bee I will call for some of you to be informed of the state of that part of the countrey where your Circuit lay Of these two parts of your seruice I know the ordinary Legall part of Nisi prius is the more profitable to you But the other part of Iustice is more necessary for my seruice Therefore as CHRIST said to the
Pharises Hoc agite as the most principall yet I will say Et illud non omittite which that you may the better doe I haue allowed you a day more in your Circuits then my Predecessours haue done And this you shall finde that euen as a King let him be neuer so godly wise righteous and iust yet if the subalterne Magistrates doe not their parts vnder him the Kingdome must needes suffer So let the Iudges bee neuer so carefull and industrious if the Iustices of Peace vnder them put not to their helping hands in vaine is all your labour For they are the Kings eyes and eares in the countrey It was an ancient custome that all the Iudges both immediatly before their going to their Circuits and immediatly vpon their returne repaired to the Lord Chancellour of England both to receiue what directions it should please the King by his mouth to giue vnto them as also to giue him an accompt of their labours who was to acquaint the King therewith And this good ancient custome hath likewise beene too much slacked of late And therefore first of all I am to exhort and command you that you be carefull to giue a good accompt to me and my Chancellour of the dueties performed by all Iustices of Peace in your Circuits Which gouernment by Iustices is so laudable and so highly esteemed by mee that I haue made Scotland to bee gouerned by Iustices and Constables as England is And let not Gentlemen be ashamed of this Place for it is a place of high Honour and great reputation to be made a Minister of the Kings Iustice in seruice of the Common-wealth Of these there are two sorts as there is of all Companies especially where there is a great number that is good and bad Iustices For the good you are to enforme me of them that I may know them thanke them and reward them as occasion serues For I hold a good Iustice of Peace in his Countrey to doe mee as good seruice as hee that waites vpon mee in my Priuie Chamber and as ready will I be to reward him For I accompt him as capable of any Honour Office or preferment about my Person or for any place of Councell or State as well as any Courteour that is neere about mee or any that haue deserued well of me in forreine employments Yea I esteeme the seruice done me by a good Iustice of Peace three hundred miles yea sixe hundred miles out of my sight as well as the seruice done me in my presence For as God hath giuen me large limits so must I be carefull that my prouidence may reach to the farthest parts of them And as Law cannot be honoured except Honour be giuen to Iudges so without due respect to Iustices of Peace what regard will be had of the seruice Therefore let none be ashamed of this Office or be discouraged in being a Iustice of Peace if he serue worthily in it The Chancellour vnder me makes Iustices and puts them out but neither I nor he can tell what they are Therefore wee must bee informed by you Iudges who can onely tell who doe well and who doe ill without which how can the good be cherished and maintained and the rest put out The good Iustices are carefull to attend the seruice of the King and countrey for thanks onely of the King and loue to their countrey and for no other respect The bad are either idle Slowbellies that abide alwayes at home giuen to a life of ease and delight liker Ladies then men and thinke it is enough to contemplate Iustice when as Virtus in actione consistit contemplatiue Iustice is no iustice and contemplatiue Iustices are fit to be put out Another sort of Iustices are busie-bodies and will haue all men dance after their pipe and follow their greatnesse or else will not be content A sort of men Qui seprimos omnium esse putant nec sunt tamen these proud spirits must know that the countrey is ordained to obey and follow GOD and the King and not them Another sort are they that goe seldome to the Kings seruice but when it is to helpe some of their kindred or alliance So as when they come it is to helpe their friends or hurt their enemies making Iustice to serue for a shadow to Faction and tumultuating the countrey Another sort are Gentlemen of great worth in their owne conceit and cannot be content with the present forme of Gouernement but must haue a kind of libertie in the people and must be gracious Lords and Redeemers of their libertie and in euery cause that concernes Prerogatiue giue a snatch against a Monarchie through their Puritanicall itching after Popularitie Some of them haue shewed themselues too bold of late in the lower house of Parliament And when all is done if there were not a King they would be lesse cared for then other men And now hauing spoken of the qualities of the Iustices of Peace I am next to speake of their number As I euer held the midway in all things to be the way of Vertue in eschewing both extremities So doe I in this for vpon the one part a multitude of Iustices of Peace in the countrey more then is necessary breeds but confusion for although it be an old Prouerbe that Many handes make light worke yet too many make slight worke and too great a number of Iustices of Peace will make the businesse of the countrey to be the more neglected euery one trusting to another so as nothing shall bee well done besides the breeding of great corruption for where there is a great number it can hardly bee but some will bee corrupted And vpon the other part too few Iustices of Peace will not be able to vndergoe the burthen of the seruice And therefore I would neither haue too few nor too many but as many in euery countrey as may according to the proportion of that countrey bee necessary for the performing of the seruice there and no more As to the Charge you are to giue to the Iustices I can but repeat what formerly I haue told you yet in so good a businesse Lectio lecta placet decies repetita placebit And as I began with fulfilling the Prouerbe A Ioue principium so will I begin this Charge you are to giue to the Iustices with Church-matters for GOD will blesse euery good businesse the better that he and his Church haue the precedence That which I am now to speake is anent Recusants and Papists You neuer returned from any Circuit but by your accompt made vnto me I both conceiued great comfort and great griefe Comfort when I heard a number of Recusants in some Circuits to be diminished Griefe to my heart and soule when I heard a number of Recusants to be in other Circuits increased I protest vnto you nothing in the earth can grieue mee so much as mens falling away from Religion in my dayes And nothing so much ioyes mee as when
victuals and fewel that must be for such a multitude of people And these buildings serue likewise to harbour the worst sort of people as Alehouses and Cottages doe I remember that before Christmas was Twelue-moneth I made a Proclamation for this cause That all Gentlemen of qualitie should depart to their owne countreys and houses to maintaine Hospitalitie amongst their neighbours which was equiuocally taken by some as that it was meant onely for that Christmas But my will and meaning was and here I declare that my meaning was that it should alwayes continue One of the greatest causes of all Gentlemens desire that haue no calling or errand to dwell in London is apparently the pride of the women For if they bee wiues then their husbands and if they be maydes then their fathers must bring them vp to London because the new fashion is to bee had no where but in London and here if they be vnmarried they marre their marriages and if they be married they loose their reputations and rob their husbands purses It is the fashion of Italy especially of Naples which is one of the richest parts of it that all the Gentry dwell in the principall Townes and so the whole countrey is emptie Euen so now in England all the countrey is gotten into London so as with time England will onely be London and the whole countrey be left waste For as wee now doe imitate the French fashion in fashion of Clothes and Lackeys to follow euery man So haue wee got vp the Italian fashion in liuing miserably in our houses and dwelling all in the Citie but let vs in Gods Name leaue these idle forreine toyes and keepe the old fashion of England For it was wont to be the honour and reputation of the English Nobilitie and Gentry to liue in the countrey and keepe hospitalitie for which we were famous aboue all the countreys in the world which wee may the better doe hauing a soile abundantly fertile to liue in And now out of my owne mouth I declare vnto you which being in this place is equall to a Proclamation which I intend likewise shortly hereafter to haue publikely proclaimed that the Courtiers Citizens and Lawyers and those that belong vnto them and others as haue Pleas in Terme time are onely necessary persons to remaine about this Citie others must get them into the Countrey For beside the hauing of the countrey desolate when the Gentrie dwell thus in London diuers other mischiefes arise vpon it First if insurrections should fall out as was lately seene by the Leuellers gathering together what order can bee taken with it when the countrey is vnfurnished of Gentlemen to take order with it Next the poore want reliefe for fault of the Gentlemens hospitalitie at home Thirdly my seruice is neglected and the good gouernment of the countrey for lacke of the principall Gentlemens presence that should performe it And lastly the Gentlemen lose their owne thrift for lacke of their owne presence in seeing to their owne businesse at home Therefore as euery fish liues in his owne place some in the fresh some in the salt some in the mud so let euery one liue in his owne place some at Court some in the Citie some in the Countrey specially at Festiuall times as Christmas and Easter and the rest And for the decrease of new Buildings heere I would haue the builders restrained and committed to prison and if the builders cannot be found then the workemen to be imprisoned and not this onely but likewise the buildings to bee cast downe I meane such buildings as may be ouerthrowen without inconuenience and therefore that to be done by order and direction There may be many other abuses that I know not of take you care my Lords the Iudges of these and of all other for it is your part to looke vnto them I heare say robbery begins to abound more then heretofore and that some of you are too mercifull I pray you remember that mercy is the Kings not yours and you are to doe Iustice where trew cause is And take this for a rule of Policie That what vice most abounds in a Common-wealth that must be most seuerely punished for that is trew gouernment And now I will conclude my Speach with GOD as I began First that in all your behauiours aswell in your Circuits as in your Benches you giue due reuerence to GOD I meane let not the Church nor Church-men bee disgraced in your Charges nor Papists nor Puritanes countenanced Countenance and encourage the good Church-men and teach the people by your example to reuerence them for if they be good they are worthy of double honour for their Office sake if they be faultie it is not your place to admonish them they haue another Forum to answere to for their misbehauiour Next procure reuerence to the King and the Law enforme my people trewly of mee how zealous I am for Religion how I desire Law may bee maintained and flourish that euery Court should haue his owne Iurisdiction that euery Subiect should submit himselfe to Law So may you liue a happie people vnder a iust KING freely enioying the fruite of PEACE and IVSTICE as such a people should doe Now I confesse it is but a Tandem aliquando as they say in the Schooles that I am come hither Yet though this bee the first it shall not with the grace of GOD bee the last time of my comming now my choice is taken away for hauing once bene here a meaner occasion may bring mee againe And I hope I haue euer caried my selfe so and by GODS grace euer will as none will euer suspect that my comming here will be to any partiall end for I will euer bee carefull in point of Iustice to keepe my selfe vnspotted all the dayes of my life And vpon this my generall protestation I hope the world will know that I came hither this day to maintaine the Law and doe Iustice according to my Oath IMPRINTED AT LONDON BY ROBERT BARKER AND IOHN BILL PRINTERS TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTIE ANNO DOM. 1616. Cum Priuilegio