Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
justice_n court_n high_a law_n 4,921 5 5.0788 4 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A62100 The Kings most gracious messages for peace and a personal treaty published for his peoples satisfaction, that they may see and judge, whether the foundation of the Commons declaration, touching their votes of no farther addresse to the King, viz His Majesties aversenesse to peace, be just rationall and religious. England and Wales. Sovereign (1625-1649 : Charles I); Symmons, Edward. 1648 (1648) Wing S6344; ESTC R669 99,517 147

There are 3 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

the Turks Alchoran or else from among the Savage Heathens in New England for no Protestant no true Christian nor no Parliament before this did ever allow or connive at it much lesse urge or alleage it to warrant themselves in the practice of it But we cannot passe by without observation how they prove their fore-mentioned Charge against the Scots in the same page Some of these very Commissioners say they were amongst the forwardest to ingage the Kingdoms in a joynt War upon the Principles fore-named viz. to exercise the Legislative power and Militia without and against the Kings consent also in Oaths and Covenants to be imposed on both Kingdoms in Taxes to raise Mony upon them taking away the Book of Common Prayer and establishing the Directory instead thereof and in divers other things wherein the highest exercise of the Legislative power doth consist These be their Arguments whereby they speak themselves to be as bad Logitians as they are Christians Their doings since they began are alleaged as Reasons to prove why they began and their unjust Actions in their progresse are made the grounds and warrants of and for their ungodly undertaking But did any of those Oaths and Covenants which were imposed on both or either of the Kingdoms mention the cause of the war or of peoples ingagement to be for to take the Legislative power and the Militia totally from the King and to have it exercised without and against His consent if any such matters had been expressed we are very confident they would have had but few either English or Scots joyning in Covenant with them or lending their Assistance But in pag. 66. of the same Declaration they would fain suggest that though there be no Reason yet there is some likelyhood of Reasonablenesse in this their injustice and wrongfull dealings in taking the Legislative Power and Militia from the King for they argue thus It is much more likely say they that a King should be mistaken then the Great Councell of the Kingdom and that a King should stop that which is for the good of the whole Kingdome then that the whole Kingdome represented in Parliament should desire what should be for their own hurt And 't is much more likely that a King should make use of one of His Kingdoms to oppresse another that He might make Himself absolute over all if He hath the Militia and Power in His hand then that He should with the same hinder one Kingdome to wrong another or all the Subjects of a Kingdome to wrong themselves We do very well remember that many of us the Common people of England were befooled with these their likelyhoods at the beginning for they used these very expressions then unto us but we can now answer them from our own experience better then we could at that time do and we say 't is much more certain that a King hath been is and will be much more tender of the bloud of His Subjects much more indulgent of the wealth of His people much more carefull to maintain and preserve them in their Rights and to keep them from oppressing one another then those are or have been who now call themselves the Great Councell of the Kingdome We are sure there are more of a Parents bowels in Him for we have felt them then there is of Brotherly affection in them towards us which we have had some feeling of too though to our grief and sorrow And therefore we can and must conclude that the Subjects are far more happy every way and free from being oppressed by one another under the fatherly Government of a King then under the tyranous usurpation of fellow-subjects for we now remember that God hath promised in express words to guide the King so that his lips shall not transgresse in Iudgment but we find no such promise made to a Parliament that resolves to act without and against their Kings consent we know that Scripture saith the Kings heart is in Gods hand and from thence we now believe it was that His Government was so just and gentle but the Actions and behaviours of these men hath fully perswaded us that their Hearts be in the Devils hand whereby it hath come to passe that their purposes and their practices have been so bloudy so mischievous and so destructive And yet these men supposing as it seems that we are all as bruit Beasts in respect of themselves having no understanding at all but must submit still to be held in with their Bits and Bridles do declare that the Militia is the foundation of security to them and to their posterity as if we were all bound to believe and had reason for it that their blessed selves and their precious posterity were rather to be secured and preserved thereby then the King and His and in page 70. they argue as Rabsaketh did from their successe that God favoured their unrighteous doings and was even such another as themselves directly of their opinion the dispute say they concerning the Militia hath been long and sadly debated both in black and red letters but God himself hath now given the verdict on our side And in the very same place they tell all us English-men as if the Militia had never yet been in His Majesties hand or we had quite forgotten our freedome happinesse and prosperity under Kingly Government that our Magna Charta our Courts of Iustice our High Court of Parliament it self our Lives Liberties and Estates that we are not all at the will of one man that the King cannot make Laws nor raise Monies without consent of Parliament and that all Offenders may be punished in Courts of Iustice all this say they signifies nothing at all to us if the Militia by Sea and Land be in the King alone we are all absolute slaves and by so much in a worse Condition because we think our selves at Liberty All this of theirs doth but shew us what opinion they have of us for our giving so much credit to them heretofore But truly we shall deserve to be their absolute slaves for ever as they would have us and to be branded to all posterity for absolute fools too and for the rankest Cowards that ever were if this their Language were there nothing else should not fill us up with high disdain against them and make us resolve never to desist till we have made them know both themselves and us better And to awaken our spirits more yet let us hear what they say further in the same place to our conceived simplicities How ridiculous say they are those Laws which may be violated by force and by force not be defended who hath violated our Laws by force but themselves and who hath been the defender of them but the King whose Laws they are And what a mock Authority say they is that of Courts of Iustice and of the High Court of Parliament it self if it be not accompanied with the power of the sword when by
some of His own Chaplains which hath hitherto been denied Him and such other Divines as shal be most proper to inform Him therein and then He will make clearly appear both His zeal to the Protestant profession and the Union of these two Kingdoms which He conceives to be the main drift of this Covenant To the seventh and eighth Propositions His Majesty will consent To the ninth His Majesty doubts not but to give good satisfaction when He shall be particularly informed how the said penalties shall be levied and disposed of To the tenth His Majesties answer is That He hath been alwaies ready to prevent the practices of Papists and therefore is content to passe an Act of Parliament for that purpose And also that the Laws against them be duly executed His Majesty will give His consent to the Act for the due observation of the Lords Day for the suppressing of Innovations and those concerning the Preaching of Gods Word and touching Non-Residence and Pluralities and His Majesty will yeild to such Act or Acts as shall be requisite to raise monies for the payment and satisfying all publike Debts expecting also that his will be therein included As to the Proposition touching the Militia though his Majesty cannot consent unto it in terminis as it is proposed because thereby he conceives he wholly parts with the power of the Sword entrusted to him by God and the Laws of the Land for the protection and government of his people thereby at once devesting himself and dis-inheriting his Posterity of that right and prerogative of the Crowne which is absolutely necessary to the Kingly Office and so weaken Monarchy in this Kingdom that little more then the name and shadow of it will remain yet if it be only security for the preservation of the Peace of this Kingdom after the unhappy troubles and the due performance of all the agreements which are now to be concluded which is desired which his Majesty alwaies understood to be the case and hopes that herein he is not mistaken his Majesty will give aboundant satisfaction to which end he is willing by Act of Parliament That the whole power of the Militia both by Sea and Land for the space of ten years be in the hands of such persons as the two Houses shall nominate giving them power during the said term to change the said persons and substitute others in their places at pleasure and afterwards to return to the proper chanell again as it was in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King Iames of blessed memory And now His Majesty conjures His two Houses of Parliament as they are Englishmen and lovers of Peace by the duty they owe to His Majesty their King and by the bowels of compassion they have to their fellow Subjects that they wil accept of this his Majesties offer wherby the joyfull news of Peace may be restored to this languishing Kingdom His Majesty will grant the like to the Kingdome of Scotland if it be desired and agree to all things that are propounded touching the conserving of peace betwixt the two Kingdoms Touching Ireland other things being agreed His Majesty will give satisfaction therein As to the mutuall Declarations proposed to be established in both Kingdoms by Act of Parliament And the Modifications Qualifications and Branches which follow in the Propositions His Majesty only professes that He doth not sufficiently understand nor is able to reconcile many things contained in them but this He well knoweth That a generall Act of Oblivion is the best Bond of Peace and that after intestine Troubles the wisdom of this and other Kingdoms hath usually and happily in all ages granted generall Pardons whereby the numerous discontentments of many Persons and Families otherwise exposed to ruine might not become fewell to new disorders or seeds to future troubles His Majesty therefore desires that His two Houses of Parliament would seriously descend into these considerations and likewise tenderly look upon His Condition herein and the perpetuall dishonour that must cleave to Him if He shal thus abandon so many persons of Condition Fortune that have ingaged themselves with and for Him out of a sense of Duty propounds as a very acceptable testimony of their affection to Him That a generall Act of Oblivion and free Pardon be forthwith passed by Act of Parliament Touching the new great Seal His Majesty is very willing to confirm both it and all the Acts done by vertue thereof untill this present time so that it be not thereby pressed to make void those Acts of His done by vertue of His great Seal which in honour and justice He is obliged to maintain And that the future Government therof may be in his Majesty according to the due course of Law Concerning the Officers mentioned in the 19. Article His Majesty when he shall come to Westminster wil gratifie his Parliament all that possibly he may without destroying the alterations which are necessary for the Crown His Majesty wil willingly consent to the Act for the confirmation of the Priviledges and Customes of the City of London and all that is mentioned in the Propositions for their particular advantage And now that His Majesty hath thus far indeavoured to comply with the desires of His two Houses of Parliament to the end that this agreement may be firme and lasting without the least face or question of restraint to blemish the same His Majesty earnestly desires presently to be admitted to His Parliament at Westminster with that Honour which is due to their Soveraign there solemnly to confirm the same and legally to passe the Acts before mentioned and to give and receive as well satisfaction in all the remaining particulars as likewise such other pledges of mutuall love trust and confidence as shall most concern the good of him and his people upon which happy agreement his Majesty will dispatch his Directions to the Prince his Son to return immediately to him and will undertake for his ready obedience thereunto Holdenby May 12. 1647. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore To be Communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland WHen our Saviour was tempted in the wildernesse He was as Saint Marke saies among the wild beasts there so was our Soveraigne as it seems at Holdenby but these were worse mannered to the King then those other were to Christ and lesse civill a great deal for these were men degenerated into Beasts which of all others are the most savage we see in the beginning of this Message with what barbarity and inhumanity they behaved themselves towards Him their Lord and Master who by Gods appointment had the just right and Dominion over them they kept His Servants from having accesse unto Him not suffering one of His owne Election to come neer Him they declared it a crime for any of mankind to converse or speak with Him to give any Letters to Him or
the power of the sword it shall be opposed affronted resisted their summons scorned their Messengers kicked about the streets their Votes and Iudgments derided A mock-Authority indeed that is and a mock-Parliament too that disclaims Him from whom it self derives its being and to whom God and the Law hath committed the power of the Sword We have had heretofore many Parliaments but never read or heard of any while they kept their integrity and adhered to their maker that conven'd them together who were ever opposed affronted resisted or had any of their summons scorned their Messengers kicked about the streets or their Votes and Iudgements derided therefore all this is but copia verborum some flowers of Rebellious Rhetorick whereby they thinke to keep silly fools such as they take us still to be in that vile Captivity unto themselves wherein they formerly had and led us Yea and pag. 73. of that their so bonny Declaration they tell us to the everlasting comfort both of us and of our purses that t is necessary that their Armies be kept still on foot even so long as themselves and their posterities shall fit which they make account shall be but in perpetuum from Generation to Generation till the worlds end their words are these for the Parliaments consulting freely and acting securely it will be necessary as we have ever done since the war to keep up forces which were they all disbanded as the Scotch Commissioners desire we should not long consult freely and act securely They mean sure in cutting our throats in banishing imprisoning and hanging our persons in sequestring our estates in oppressing plundering and taking from us our goods and fortunes in destroying our Religion peace and order for nothing else do we know they have consulted about or acted since they first raised their Forces or begun their war we have had Parliaments before now that have behaved themselves a great deale better then these Declarers have done that have consulted better and acted better every way and yet never thought it necessary either to raise or keep up Forces for their owne guard or safety No for they were fenc'd with Innocency and Noblenesse of Spirit with their owne uprightnesse and their Countries Love which together with the Guard of God and his Angels was their Protection they desired no other Militia then Faith and a good Conscience to secure them For why they had never bath'd themselves in their Countries bloud nor foul'd their hands with oppression nor any way deserved the odium of their Nation But these men shew what they have merited by their fears and discover that as they raised Forces at first to subdue the King so they intend now to keep them up to subdue the Kingdome and to keep those in low slavery whose help they have had against Him and so they will pay their servants for as such onely they account those whom they have imployed or made use of a la mode du diable in that manner as Satan rewards those that work for him And now the world sees at last who began the war at first and hears from them who know best what was the true cause thereof even to wrest the Legislative power and the Militia out of the Kings hands and to excercise the same without and against His consent How true their former clamours have been that the King first tooke up Armes against the Parliament and that the Parliament was only on the defensive part let the very seduced part of men now judge His sacred Majesty in his great wisdome saw this to be their end at first and told the world of it but could not be heard or beleeved so loud a noise was made to the contrary themselves in the 68. pag. of that their Declaration tell the Scotch Commissioners who had said it was contrary to their judgements and Oath of Allegeance to divest the Crown the King and His Posterity of the right and power of the Militia that they fortifie their opinion with the very same Arguments and almost in the very same words as the King did at the beginning of this war in His Declarations whereby they acknowleged that His Majesty even then had spoken to that purpose It is hoped therefore that all men doe now apprehend who they are that all this while have been the Deceivers Againe the world also hath now seen how far and wherein His Majesty hath been averse to peace since the beginning of the war He would not hitherto be either forced or perswaded to resigne up wholly and for ever unto them that which from the very first they resolved to have from Him the Legislative power and the Militia of the Kingdome to be exercised without and against Himself to the perpetual enslavement and thraldome of all us His poor Subjects whom God hath committed to his trust to protect and defend And therefore if it were lawfull for Subjects upon any occasion to imprison their King yet what great cause or substantiall reason these have had to do so or to use their Soveraigne as they have done to resolve to make no more addresses or applications to Him let the world judge And from these many gracious Messages of His Majesty for peace thus slighted contemned and despised by them let their little modesty and candour or rather their great shamelesnesse and impudency be observed in their making the foundation of their impious Votes to be His aversenesse unto peace and in beginning their Declaration against Him in that manner as they have done viz. in these words How fruitlesse our former Addresses have been to the King is so well known to the world that it may be expected we shall now declare why we made the last or so many before rather then why we are resolved to make no more We cannot acknowledge any great confidence that our words could have been more perswasive with Him then Sighs and groanes the Tears and crying Blood an heavy crie the Blood of Fathers Brothers and Children at onse the Blood of many hundred thousand Free-borne Subjects in Three great Kingdomes which cruelty it self could not but pity to destroy We must not be so unthankefull to God as to forget we were never forced to any Treaty and yet we have no lesse then seven times made such Applications to the King and tendred such Propositions that might occasion the world to judge we have not onely yeelded up our wils and Affections but our Reason also and judgement for obtaining any true Peace or Accommodation But it never yet pleased the King to accept of any Tender fit for us to make nor yet to offer any fit for us to receive Be judges in this case O all ye people of the World now you have read and seen what offers and tenders the King hath made what reason these men had thus to ' peale Him thinke you not they are men of credit worthy to be trusted another time fit to be beleeved in all they say