in the blood and slaughter of his Subjects To what end to exhaust his Treasure lose his Revenues weaken his Friends deprive himselfe of the certain assistence of his Subjects at a time when he conceives it to be so usefull for his affaires They had need be strong proofes indeed that can incline the judgement of any rationall Man to such a senselesse Paradox Let us view them First The Rebells said so They pleaded the Kings Authority They called themselves the Queenes Army Is not this a doughty Argument By the same reason we may accuse Christ as the Patron of all Schismaticall Conventicles because they say here is Christ and there is Christ some out of a credulous simplicity others out of a deep subtlety or ascribe the Primitive Haeresies to the Apostles because the false Teachers did use their names to make their Haeresies more current So Sir Iohn Hotham and Serjeant Major Skippon doe pretend the Authority of King and Parliament the King disclaimes both the one and the other many who are now in Arms against the King do verily beleeve they fight for the King against some bad Counsellers whom they cannot name The same Rebells sometimes pleaded an Ordinance of Parliament Nothing is more usuall with Pirates then to hang out a counterfeit Flagge A second reason is Sundry Commanders of note were passed over into Ireland by his Majestyes warrant who were seen presently after in the head of the Rebells His Majesty hath long since answered this and demanded reparation of such a groundlesse Calumny I onely adde two things The one how ignorant our intelligencers are of the State of Ireland to fein such a devise of a Brother of Sir George Hamletons yet Sir George hath no Brother there but Sir Fredericke who was then and long after in Manour Hamleton as opposite to the Irish Rebells as the Observer himselfe The other is if this were true yet it were but a poor collection There are many who have had not onely Warrants under the Kings hand but Letters Patents under his Broad Seale who owe their very subsistence to His Majestyes bounty yet have made a shift to creepe from his bosome out at his sleeve If such a thing had been as it is an impudent Fiction yet these are neither the first nor the last that have betrayed the trust of a Gracious King The third and last reason is because His Majesty was not so active to represse this insurrection nor so ready to proclaime them Traytours so the Observer He that will not accuse the King of zeal against the Irish Rebells yet he may truely say there is not the same zeal expressed that was against the Scots c. The proffered supplyes of the English and Scottish Nation are retarded opportunityes neglected nice exceptions framed This plea is pertinent to make the King though not the Contriver yet the Conserver of that Rebellion but is as false as the Father of Lyes from whom it proceeds Hear His Majesty himselfe The Irish Rebells practise such unhumane and unheard of outrages upon our miserable People that no Christian care can hear without horrour nor Story paralell And as we looke upon this as the greatest affliction it hath pleased God to lay upon us so our unhappinesse is increased in that by the distempers at home so early remedyes have not beene applyed to those growing evills as the necessity there requires And we acknowledge it a high Crime against Almighty God and inexcusable to our good Subjects if we did not to the utmost imploy all our powers and faculties to the speediest and most effectuall assistence and protection of that distressed People He conjures all His loving Subjects to joyne with him in that Worke He offers to hazard his sacred Person in that Warre To ingâ—…ge the revenues of his Crowne what can the Observer desire more perhaps he may say these Offers came late and unseasonably Then let us looke backward to His Majestyes Proclamation of the first of Ianuary 1641 soon after his return from Scotland in a time of so great Distractions here at home when that Remonstrance which ushered in all our Feares and Troubles was ready to be published Let them shew that any Course was presented to His Majesty before this either by his great Councell to whom he had committed the care of it or by his Lords Justices and Councell of Ireland who were upon the place We abhorring the wicked Disloyalty and horrible Acts committed by those Persons do hereby not onely declare our just indignation thereof but also do declare them and their Adherents and Abetters and all those who shall hereafter joyne with them or commit the like acts on any of our good Subjects in that Kingdome to be Rebells and Traytours against our Royall Person and Enemyes to our Royall Crown of England and Ireland c. Commanding them to lay down Arms without delay or otherwise authorizing and requiring his Lord Iustices there and the Generall of His Majesties Army to prosecute them as Traytours and Rebells with fire and sword But if we look further still when the first tydings of this cursed Rebellion came to His Majesty in Scotland he did not sleep upon it but presently acquainted both His Parliaments with it required their assistence recommended it to their care promised to joyn in any course that should be thought fit Neither did His Majestyes care rest there but at the same time he named six or seven â—…olonels in the North of Ireland to raise Forces instantly to suppresse that insurrection which was done accordingly and they say if some had been as active then as they were made powerfull by the confluence of that part of the Kingdome in all probability that Cockatrice egge had been broken sooner then hatched before that ever any of the old English and many of the meer Natives had declared themselves In pursuance of these premises when the Act for Undertakers was tendered to His Majesty he condiscended freely to give away all his Escheats to this Worke an Act not to be paralelled among all his Predecessors yea though some clauses in that Statute especially for the limitation of His Majestyes Grace might seem to require a further discussion The wants of Ireland and the present condition of England doe speak abundantly whether those great Summes of Mony or those great Forces raised for that end have been imployed to the use for which they were solely designed yet Rabshekeh will not want a pretext to raile aâ—… good Hezekiah though Spider like he suck poison out of the sweetest Flowers Surely there must be some fire whence all this smoake hath risen Perhaps they conceive that His Majesty was not willing without good advise upon the first motion to put all his strong Forts in the North of Ireland into the hands of the Scotch Army can you blame him considering the present State of Affaires there I dare referre it to any mans judgement that is not wholy prepossessed with
the legallity anâ—… expedience of each circumstance which perhaps he 〈◊〉 not capable of perhaps reason of State will not peâ—… mit him to know it The House of Commons havâ—… a close Committee which shews their allowance oâ—… an implicit confidence in some cases yet are theâ—… but Proctors for the Commonalty whereas the Kinâ—… is a Possessor of Soveraignty But it is alleged thaâ—… of two evills the lesse is to be chosen it is better to disobeâ—… Man then God Rather of two evills neither is to bâ—… chosen but it is granted that when two evills arâ—… feared a Man should incline to the safer part Noâ—… if the Kings Command be certain and the other danger but doubtfull or disputable to disobey the certain command for feare of an uncertain or surmised evill is as Saint Austin saith of some Virgins who drowned themselves for feare of being defloured to fall into a certain crime for fear of an uncertain A third error in this distinction is to limit the Kings Authority to his Courts All Courts are not of the same Antiquity but some erected long after others as the Court of Requests Neither are all Justices of the same nature some were more eminent then others that were resident with the King as his Councell in points of Law these are now the Judges Others did justice abroad for the ease of the Subject as Iustices of Assise Iustices in Eire Iustices of Oier and Terminer Iustices of Peace The Barons of the Exchequer were anciently Peeres of the Realme and doe still continue their name but to exclude the King out of his Courts is worse a strange Paradox and against the grounds of our Laws The King alone and no other may and ought to doe justice if he alone were sufficient as he is bound by his Oath And again If our Lord the King be not sufficient himselfe to determine every cause that his labour may be the lighter by dividing the burden among more Persons he ought to choose of his own Kingdome wise Men and fearing God and of them to make Iustices These Justices have power by Deputation as Delegates to the King The Kings did use to sit personally in their Courts We reade of Henry the fourth and Henry the fift that they used every day for an houre after dinner to receive bills and and heare causes Edward the fourth sate ordinarily in the Kings Bench Richard the third one who knew well enough what belonged to his part did assume the Crown sitting in the same Court saying He would take the Honour there where the chiefest part of his duty did lye to minister the Laws And Henry the eight sate personally in Guild-Hall The Writs of Appearance did â—…un coram me vel Iusticiariis meis before me or my Justices Hence is the name of the Kings Bench and the teste of that Court is still teste meipso witnesse our selfe If the King be not learned in the Laws he may have learned Assistents as the Peeres have in Parliament A clear and rationall head is as requisite to the doing of Justice as the profound knowledge of Law It is a part of his Oath to doe to be kept in all his judgments Right Iustice in Mercy and Truth was this intended onely by Substitutes or by Substitutes not accountable to him for injustice we have sworne that he is supreme Governour in all causes over all Persons within his Dominions is it all one to be a Governour and to name Governours David exhorts be wise now therefore O yee Kings Moses requires that the King read in the booke of the Law all the dayes of his Life Quorsum perâ—…itio haec what needs all this expence of time if all must be done by Substitutes if he have no Authority out of his Courts nor in his Courts but by delegation When Moses by the advise of Iethro deputed subordinate Governours under him when Iehosophat placed Judges Citty by Citty throughout Iudah It was to ease themselves and the People not to disingage and exinanite themselves of Power It is requisite that His Majesty should be eased of lesser burthens that he may be conversant circa ardua Reipublicae about great affaires of State but so as not to divest his Person of his royall Authority in the least matters Where the King is there is the Court and where the Kings Authority is present in His Person or in his Delegates there is his Court of Justice The reason is plain then why the King may not controule his Courts because they are himselfe yet he may command a review and call his Justices to an account How the Observer will apply this to a Court where neither His Majesty is present in Person nor by his Delegates I doe not understand The fourth and last error is to tie the hands of the King absolutely to his Laws First in matters of Grace the King is above his Laws he may grant especiall Privileges by Charter to what Persons to what Corporations â—…e pleaseth of his abundant Grace and meere motion he may pardon all crimes committed against the Law of the Land and all penaltyes and irregularityes imposed by the same the perpetuall Custome of this Kingdome doth warrant it All wise men desire to live under such a Government where the Prince may with a good Conscience dispence with the rigour of the Laws As for those that are otherwise minded I wish them no other punishment then this that the paenall Laws may be executed on them strictly till they reforme their Judgements Secondly In the Acts of Regall Power and Justice His Majesty may goe besides or beyond the ordinary course of Law by his Prerogative New Laws for the most part especially when the King stands in need of Subsidies are an abatement of Royall Power The Soveraignty of a just Conquerer who comes in without pactions is absolute and bounded onely by the Laws of God of Nature and of Nations but after he hath confirmed old Laws and Customes or by his Charter granted new Liberties and Immunities to the collective Body of His Subjects or to any of them he hath so farr remitted of his own right and cannot in Conscience recede from it I say in Conscience for though humane Laws as they are humane cannot bind the Conscience of a Subject and therefore a fortiore not of a King who is the Law-giver yet by consequence and virtue of the Law of God which saith submit your selves to every ordinance of Man for the Lords sake and again Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe they doe bind or to speak more properly Gods Law doth bind the Conscience to the Observation of them This is that which Divines doe use to expresse thus That they have power to bind the Conscience in se sed non a se in themselves but not from themselves non ex authoritate Legislatoris sed ex aequitate Legis not from the authority of the Law-giver but from
jure but de facto he may which is the drowsiâ—…st dreaming devise that â—…ver dropped from any Manâ—… pen in his right Witts Iudas or the Devill himselfe can doe no wrong de jure unlesse both 〈◊〉 of a contradiction can be true A fair Privilege to give a Prince which a high way Thiefe may challenge It may with more probabillity be expounded thus That the King is to discharge the publick Affâ—…ires of the Kingdome not by himselfe but by His Officerâ—… and Ministers therefore if any thing be amisse or unjust they are faulty they are accouncountable for it not He. But there seems to be something more in this principle then thus For first 〈◊〉 the same reason a man might say the King can doe no right if he can doe nothing by himselfe he â—…s not capable of such thanks as Tertullâ—… gave to â—…elix Secondly it would be very strange that a King should be excluded from the personall discharge of all manner of dutyes belonging to his high calling â—…nd might occasion the renewing of the Womans complaint against Philip of Mâ—…edon why then art â—…hou King this were to make His Majesty anoâ—…er Childerick one of the old Ciphers or titulary Kings of France and put all the power into the hands of a Major of the Pallace or a Marshall or some other Subjects What is it then there â—…ust be something more in this old Maxime of â—…ur Law that The King can doe no wrong And it â—…s thiâ—… doubtlesse that in the intendment of Law his Person is sacred he is freed from all defects as though he be a Minoâ—… or an Infant yet in the eye of â—…he Law he is alwayes of full age he owes account of his doings to God alone the Law hath no coercive power over him This is that which Samuel cals The Law of the Kingdom not to shew what a King may lawfully doe but what a Subject ought to bear from a lawfull King To the alone have I sinned said David he had trespassed against Uriah and Bathsheba yet he saith to thee onely have I sinned quia Râ—…x erat because he was a King and accountable to none but God as Clemens Alexandrinus Arnoâ—…ius Saint Ierome Saint Ambrose Venerable Bede Euthymius and sundry others do all affirme upon this one place and Gregory of Towers Si quis de nobis If anyone of us O King doe passe the bounds of justice you have power to correct him but if you exceed your limits who shall chastise you We may speake to you if you list not hearken who can condemne you but that great God who hath pronounced himselfe to be Righteousnesse And even Antoninus whom the Observer so much commends for a renowned and moderate Prince yet is positive in this Solus Deus Iudex Principis esse potest God alone can be Judge of a Soveraigne Prince In the Parliament at Lincolne under Edward the first the Lords and Commons unanimously affirme the same with a wonder that any Man should conceive otherwise That the King of England neither hath answered nor ought to answer for his Right before any Iudge Ecclesiasticall or Secular ex praeeminentia status sui by reason of the preheminence of His Regall Dignity and Custome at all times inviolably observed To try Princes and to doe justice Some man would desire to know how farre this Justice may be extended whether peradventure to depose them and dethrone them to exalt them depresse them Constituere destituere construere destruere fingere diffingere But for this they must expect an Answer from the Observer by the next post when he sees how the people will dance after his pipe and whether his misled Partners will goe along the whole journy or leave his Company in the mid way when he hath sufficient strength then it is time and not before to declare himselfe Till then he will be a good child and follow Saint Pauls advice in part Stoppage is no payment in our Law Suppose the Prince faileâ—…â—…n his duty are the Subjects therefore free from that â—…bligation which is imposed upon them by the Law of God and Nature When His Majesty objects â—…hat a deposition is threatned at least intimâ—…ted what doth the Observer answer he doth not disclaime the power but onely deny the fact Thus he saith It may truely be denied that ever free Parliament did truely consent to the dethroning of any King of England for that Act whereby Richard the second was dethroned was rather the Act of Henry the fourth and His victorious Army then of the whole Kingdome Marke these words that any free Parliament So it seemes that some Parliaments are not free And again did truely consent there may be much in that word also First whether they who are overawed with power of unruly Mermidons may be said to consent truely and ex animo Secondly whether they who consent meerely for hope of impunity to escape questioning for their former oppressions and extortions may be said to consent truely Thirdly whether they who consent out of hope to divide the spoyle may be said to consent truely Fourthly whereas by the Law of Nations the rights and voices of Absentees do devolve to those that are present if they be driven away by a just and probable fear whether they may be said to consent truely Lastly they that follow the Collier in his Creed by an an implicit Faith without discussion resolving themselves into the Authority of a Committee or some noted Members may they be said to consent truely That which followes of Henry the fourth and his victorious Army shews the Observer to be as great an Heritick in â—…olicy as Machiavell himselfe he 〈◊〉 better have said the Usurper and his rebellious Aâ—…my For a Subject â—…o raise Aâ—… against his Soveraigne to dethrone him as Bullenbrooke did and bâ—… violence to snatch the Crown to him selfe in prejuâ—… of the right Heireâ—… is Treason confessed by all men His acquisition is meere usurpation for any Persoâ—… or Society of Men to joyn with him or to confirmâ—… him is to be partakers of his sin But Gods judgemenâ—… pursue such disloyall Subjects and their posterity as it did them The greatest Contrivers and Actors in that Rebellion for a just Reward of their Treason did first feele the edge of Henryes victorious Sword and after them Henries Posterity and the whole English Nation smâ—…rted for Richards blood It is oâ—…served that all the Conspirators against Iulius Caesar perished within three yeares some by judgement of Law others by Ship-wracke upon the Sea others by battail under the sword of their conquering Enemyes others with the fame boâ—…k in wherewith they had stabbed their Emperour one way or other vengeance o ertooke them every Man What others say of Richards resignation is as weake which was done by duresse and imprisonment or at the best for fear of imminent Mischief To conclude this Section God and the Law operate both in Kings and Parliaments but
is Diametrally opposite to the Law of God and of Nations The Observer deales in this just as if he had a Kinsman died testate and he should sue for a part of his goods and neither allege the Will nor Codicill not Custome of the Country but the Law of Nature onely for a Legacy Next the Observer raiseth a new Argument out of His Majestyes words A temporary Power ought not to be greater then that which is lasting This is first to make Draggons and then to kill them or as Boyes first make bubbles in a shell and then blow them away without difficulty The Sinewes and Strength of His Majestyes Argument did lye in the words to Him and to His Heires and not in the word above but if he will put the word above to the tryall if he reduce it into right Form it is above his answer To give a power above His Majesty sufficient to censure His Majesty to a Body dissolvable at His Majestyes pleasure is absurd and ridiculous as if the King should delegate Judges to examine and sentence the Observers seditious passages in this Treatise and yet withall give power to the Observer to disjustice them at his pleasure in such a case he need not much fear the Sentence The Observer pleads two things in answer to his own shadow First that then the Romans had done unpolitickly to give greater power to a Temporary Dictator then to the ordinary Consulls Secondly that it was very prosperous to them sometimes to change the Form of Government neither alwayes living under circumscribed Consulls nor under uncircumsâ—…ibed Dictators We see what his Teeth water at he would have His Majesty a circumscribed Consull and gain an Arbitrary Dictatorian Power to himselfe and some other of his Friends But in the meane time he forgets himselfe very farre in his History for first the power of the Dictator and of the Consulls was â—…ot consistent together but the power of the King and the Parliament is consistent Secondly the change of Government was so farre from being prosperous â—…o the Romans that every change brought that State even to Deaths doore To instance onely in the exâ—…ulsion of their Kings as most to the purpose How â—…ear was that Citty to utter Ruine which owes its subsistence to the valour of a single Man Horatius Coâ—…les if he had not after an incredible manner held a whole Army play upon a Bridge they had payed for their new fanglednesse with the sacking of their Citty Thirdly the choosing of a Dictator was not a change of their Government but a branch of it a piece reserved for extremest perills their last Anchor and Refuge either against Forre in Enemyes or the Domestick Seditions of the Patricii and Plebei and is so farr from yeelding an Argument against Kings that in the judgement of that Politick Nation it shewes the advantage of Monarchy above all other Formes of Government The Observer still continues His Majestyes Objection To make the Parliament more then Counsellers is to make them His Commanders and Controllers To which he answers To consent is more then to counsell and yet not alwayes so much as to command for in inferiour Courts the Iudges are so Counsellours for the King that he may not countermand their judgement yet it were a harsh thing to say that therefore they are His Controllers much more in Parliament where the Lords and Commons represent the whole Kingdome If there were no other Arguments to prove the Superiority of Parliament above the other Courts then this that it represents the Kingdome as they doe the King it would get little advantage by it To consent is more then to counsell and yet not alwayes so much as to command True not alwayes but to couâ—…sell so â—…s the pâ—…ty counselled hath no Liberty left of dissenting is alwayes either as much as to command or more a man may command and goe without but here is onely advise and yet they must not goe without What a stirre is here about consent If he understâ—…nd consenâ—… in no other notion then Laws and lawfull Customes doe allow it is readily yeelded but makes nothing to his purpose One said of Aristotle that he writ waking but Plato dreaming The one had his eyes open and considered Men as they were indeed the other as he would have them to be but if ever Man writt dreaming it was this Observer his notes may serve rather for the Meridian of new England then old England and of Eutopia rather then them both He calls the Judges the Kings Counsellers as if they were not also his Delegates Deputies and Comissioners what they doe is in His name and His Act yet if they swerve from justice he may grant a review and call them to account for any misdemeanour by them committed in the excercise of their places and this either in Parliament or out of Parliament But the inference hence That because the Parliament may take an account of what is done by His Majesty in His inferiour Courts therefore much more of what is done by him without the Authority of any Court seemes very weake It is one thing to take an account of Himselfe another to take an account of His Commissioners His Majesty hath communicated a part of his judiciary power to his Judges but â—…ot the Flowers of his Crown nor his intire preroâ—…ative whereof this is a principall 〈◊〉 to be free from all account in point of â—…ustice except to Goâ—… and His own Conscience The last exception is That the King makes the Parliament without his consent A livelesse convention without all virtue and power saying that the very name of Parliament is not duâ—… unto them Which Allegation saith the Observer at one blow confounds all Parliaments and subjects us to as unbounden a Regiment of the Kings meere Will as any Nation under Heaven ever suffered under For by the same Reason that the Kings dissertion of them makes Parliaments virtuelesse and void Courts He may make other Courts voide likewise Here is a great cry for a little Wooll if he proves not what he aimes at yet one thing he proves sufficiently that himselfe is one of the greatest Calumniators in the World in such grosse manner â—…o slander the Footsteps of Gods Anointed Agnosâ—…as primogenitum Sathanae Where did ever the King say that Parliaments without his presence are virtuelesse and void Courts but he denieth them the name of Parliaments which is all one yes if a Goose and a Feather be all one The name Parliament with us signifies most properly the Parâ—…y of the King and his People in a secondary sense it signifies a Parly of the Subjects among themselves neither of these virtuelesse but the one more vigorous then the other So the Body is sometimes contradistinguished to the Soule and includes both Head and Members sometimes it is contradistinguished to the Head and includes the Members onely It is one thing to be 〈◊〉 True Parliament and another to be
discover I would every Englishman had it ingraven in his forehead how he stands affected to the Commonwealth We Beetles did see no signes of civill Warre but all of Peace and Tranquillity but the Observer and his Confederates being privy to their own plots to introduce by the sword a new form of Government both into State and Church might easily foresee that they should stand in need of all the strength both in Hull and Hell and Hallifax to second them whereof yet all true Englishmen do acquit the Parliament in their hearts desires though the Observer be still at his old ward shuffling Sir Iohn Hotham out and the Parliament in so changing the state of the question But what weight that consideration hath follows in his next and last Allegation Sir John Hotham is to be looked on as the Actor the Parliament as the Author in holding Hull And therefore it is much wondred at that the King seems more violent against the Actor then the Author but through the Actor the Author must needs be pierced c. And if the Parliament be not virtually the whole Kingdome it selfe If it be not the Supreme Iudicature as well in matters of State is matters of Law If it be not the great Councell of the Kingdome as well as of the King to whom it belongeth by the consent of all Nations to provide in extraordinary cases Ne quid detrimenti capiat Respublica Let the brand of Treason stick upon it Nay if the Parliament would have used this forcible means unlesse petitioning would not have prevailed or if the grounds of their Iealousie were meerly vain or if the Iealousie of a whole Kingdome can be counted vain Let the reward of Treason be their guierdon Hitherto the Observer like the wily Fox hath used all his sleights to frustrate the pursuit of the Hounds but seeing all his fetches prove in vain he now begins to act the Catte and flyes to his one great helpe to leape up into a Tree that is the Authority of Parliament ut lapsu graviore ruat that he may catch a greater fall By the way the Observer forgets how the King is pierced through the sides of Malignant Counsellers Three things are principally here considerâ—…ble First whether Sir Iohn Hotham had any such Command or Commission from the Parliament Secondly if he had whether he ought to have produced it Thirdly supposing he both had it and produced it whether it be valid against His Majesty or whether an illegall Command do justifie a Rebellious Act. To the first of these I take it for granted That a Commission or an Ordinance for Sir Iohn to be a meer Governour of Hull doth not extend to the Exclusion of His Majesty ouâ—… of Hull nor Warrant Sir John to shut the Gares against His Soveraign if it did every Governour might do the same and subordinate Command might trample upon Supreme Neither can a posteriour approbation warrant a precedent excesse for this is not to authorise but to pardon the sole power whereof is acknowledged to be in His Majesty without any sharers To the first question therefore the answer is Sir John Hotham had no such Warrant or Commission from the Parliament He himselfe confessed That he had no positive or particular Order How should he know of His Majesties comming by instinct or a Propheticall Spirit A negative can not ought not to be proved the proofe rests whollyon Sir Johns side and can be no other then by producing the Ordinance it selfe or his instrument whereby he can receive the sense of the House from Westminster to Hull in an instant If he have not a precedent Ordinance to shew it is in vain to pretend the Authority of Parliament To the second question Admitting but not granting that he had such an Ordinance whether could it be availeable to him being not produced when it was called for and demanded so often by His Majesty De non apparentibus non existentibus eadem est ratio Whether there was no such Ordinance or no such Ordinance did appeare is all one both in Law and reason He that can reade and will not make use of his Clergy suffers justly He that hath a Warrant and will not produce it may cry Nemo laeditur nisi a seipso No Man is hurt but by himselfe A known Officer so long as he keeps himselfe within the sphere of his own activity is a Warrant of himselfe But he that it imployed extraordinarily or transcends the bounds of Common Power must produce his Authority or take what falls Sir John hath not yet gained so much credit that his ipse dixit his word should be a sufficient proofe or his Testimony in his own case taken for an Oracle Thirdly admitting that Sir John had such an Ordinance and likewise that he did produce it for if we admit neither he can prove neither yet the question is how valid this Ordinance may be as to this act I doubt not at all of the Power of Parliament that is a compleat Parliament where the King and both Houses doe concurre but an ordinance without the King against the King alters the case this may have the Authority of both Houses perhaps but not of a complete Parliament Secondly the Power of both Houses is great especially of the Lords as they are the Kings Great Councell and in that relation are the Supreme Judicature of the Kingdome but before the Observer said it I never thought the Commons did challenge any share of this Judicature except over their own Members or preparatory to the Lords or that they had power to administer an Oath which the Apostle saith is the end of all strife who ever knew any Judicature without power to give an Oath This makes the Observers new devise of the people meeting in their underived Majesty to doe justice a transparent fiction It is not the Commons but the Lords or the Kings Councell that challenge Supreme Judicature But take both Houses with that latitude of Power which they have either joyntly or severally yet His Majesty saith they have no power over the Militia of the Kingdome or over his Forts or Magazines he avoucheth for it the Common Law Statute Law Presidents Prescriptions we have not yet heard them answered nor so much as one instance since the beginning of this Monarchy given for a president of such an Ordinance or of any new Ordinance binding to the Kingdom without his Majestyes concurrence in Person or by Commission If the Observer have any Law or President or Case he may do well to produce it if he have none he may sit down hold his peace his remote inconsequent consequences drawn from the Law of Nature are neither true nor pertinent Yet I never heard that Sir Iohn did allege any authority from the House of the Lords but from the House of Commons onely This brings the Parliament still into a straiter roome as if it were totum homogeneum every part to