F H Van Hove Sculpsit CAROLUS Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor etc. HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE THE COMMON INTEREST OF KING and PEOPLE Shewing the Original Antiquity and Excellency OF MONARCHY Compared with Aristocracy and Democracy And particularly of Our English MONARCHY AND THAT Absolute Papal and Presbyterian Popular Supremacy Are utterly inconsistent with Prerogative Property and Liberty By JOHN NALSON LL. D. LONDON Printed for Jonathan Edwin at the Sign of the Three Roses in Ludgate-street 1677. TO THE READER IN this following Discourse I have endeavoured to pursue the Point I had before made an attempt upon in the Countermine without any other Passion or Design than a Loyal Zeal to my Prince and Country and a Conscientious Discharge of my Duty which because every person is in his station obliged to do will I hope render an Apology as unnecessary as it is disagreeable to Your most faithful Servant JOHN NALSON The CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE two great Principles of Nature Self-preservation and the Ardent desire of Happiness the Foundation of Society and Government Mr. Hobs refuted in his Impolitick Position That Fear was the first Origination of Society The Origine of Monarchy The occasion of the Primitive Wars The Original of Laws Monarchs or the first Leaders of Colonies the Primitive Legislators The reason of the Coercive power of Magistrates The Dangerous Error of those who make Law the Foundation of Monarchy when in truth all Laws were the Concessions of Kings and Legislators The Ill consequences of this mistake The Laws of Nature and Nations are of Divine Institution CHAP. II. Of the danger of Anarchy The necessity of Laws and Government to prevent it All People not fit for one kind of Government Of the three kinds of Government Democracy Aristocracy and Monarchy Some considerations and necessary Animadversions upon our late English Government by a Republick CHAP. III. The Government of a Republick examined whether in its own Nature so good for the Ends of Society as it is pretended The end of all Government the Happiness of the Society it consists in Protection Property and distributive Justice Democracy cannot in probability attain those Ends. It obliges the Supreme Magistrates to maintain a private separate Interest distinct from that of the Publick and the inconveniences that necessarily attend that imperfection Domestick Peace not secured by Democracy No security of Property or equal Distribution of Justice in a Republick in regard of the constant Factions which are inseparable from that form of Government CHAP. IV. Of Monarchy and its excellency proved from its Antiquity The first Essay to a Democracy the Rebellion of Corah and his Accomplices Secondly from the Universality of Monarchy The first popular State at Athens A. M. 3275. Thirdly Monarchy most agreeable to humane Nature by answering the three forementioned great Ends of Society and the Happiness of Mankind CHAP. V. Of the Excellency of the English Monarchy It is not apt to degenerate into Tyranny the King having by his gracious Concessions given Limits to his absolute Sovereignty Of the Interest which the three Estates have in preparing Bills for the Royal Assent to be by that past into Laws and the great obligation which thereby the People have to Subjection and Obedience CHAP. VI. Of the Priviledges of the English Government And first of the prerogative of the King The Imperial Crown of this Realm Hereditary Absolute and Independent The greatness of his power according to Laws The Kings person Sacred The priviledges of the People First in sending their Representatives to the Parliament Secondly in their Property secured Thirdly in the excellent and constant method of Justice In particular Priviledges and Franchises In all imaginable care to prevent the growth of the Poor and in providing for such as are so In committing the Execution of the Laws to such hands as will act with Justice And of the care that is taken to prevent all abuses of Laws CHAP. VII The great misfortune of Religion which is made the great pretence to ruine Monarchy A stratagem of the Devil to extirpate all true Religion The two opposites and enemies of Monarchy Papacy and Presbytery The opinion of the Catholick Doctors about Papal Supremacy and the new Roman Creed to confirm it Papal Supremacy devests the Prince of his absolute Sovereignty of his Legislative power and renders Monarchy insecure of Possession or Succession by bereaving it of the guard of Laws of the strength of Alliances of the Fidelity of their People Several Impolitick inconveniences which attend that Religion Papal Supremacy destructive of the peoples Liberty and Property CHAP. VIII Presbytery inconsistent with Monarchy proved from five of their Fundamental principles 1. That it is not the best form of Government 2. That the Right of Kings is not from God but the People 3. That Kings may be called in question for their Administration of the Government 4. That they may by the people be deposed 5. That they may be punished with Capital punishment CHAP. IX Presbytery in reality as great an enemy to Democracy and Parliaments as to Monarchy A short view of their Tyrannick Consistorian Government over the Magistracy Clergie and Laity Of the latitude and power of Scandal to draw all affairs into the Consistory Of their kindness to their Enemies The small difference betwixt a Jesuit and Geneva-Presbyter Both aim at Supremacy CHAP. X. Presbytery as destructive of the Peoples Liberty and Property as it is dangerous to Monarchy and all Government Some necessary Conclusions from the former Discourse Licensed Sept. 20. 1677. THE COMMON INTEREST OF KING and PEOPLE c. CHAP. I. The two great Principles of Nature Self-Preservation and The ardent Desire of Happiness the Foundation of Society and Government Mr. Hobs refuted in his impolitick Position That Fear gave the first Origination of Society The Origine of Monarchy The occasion of the Primitive Wars The Original of Laws Monarchs or the first Leaders of Colonies the Primitive Legislators The reason of the Executive and Coercive Power of Magistrates The dangerous Error of those who make Laws the Foundation of Monarchy whereas in Truth all Laws and Establishments were the Concessions and Sanctions of Kings and Law-givers The Ill consequences of this Mistake The Law of Nature and of Nations anâ— of Divine Institution AMONGST all those Principles of Nature which Mankind and indeed the greatest part of the Creation receive at the same Instant with their Being there are two which as they are the most Universal so they are of the greatest Necessity and most constant Use The two great Principles of Nature Self-preservation and the ardent Desire of Happiness the Foundation of Society and Government THE first is that of Self-preservation or an inseparable Desire to keep themselves in Being by the obtaining and enjoyment of all those things which contribute towards the continuance of it or which give them a
their Party against it and therefore as they can blame no body but themselves so certainly all the loyal and good Subjects have a great deal of reason to complain of them who are the principal occasions of those Impositions which lye so heavy upon them AS for their conclusion that these and multitudes of other grievanceâ— should be taken away by turning the Monarchy into a Free State These were but fair words and fine promises to deceive the ignorant and credulous multitude for a miserable experience taught us the contrary And for one King who according to the most mild and easie Laws governed with the greatest wisdom and clemency they set up and established an Oligarchical Democratick Tyranny like that of the Thirty Athenian Tyrants And every one of these Parliament Demarchs was as absolute by himself as the Law of his own Will could make him Nor could any person question either their Actions or Authority without paying his Life and Fortune or one of them for so great a presumption And I remember when the late King at his Trial before their pretended High Court of Justice questioned their Authority they gave him no other answer but that they were abundantly satisfied with their own Authority and from his dreadful example it was easie to conclude that whoever would not be satisfied with their Power was certain to follow him in suffering under it and 't is easily remembred how arbitrarily all things were managed and the whole Kingdom brought into a slavery far greater than theirs who wear Canvass-cloaths and Wooden-shooes and look like Ghosts for they did not only amongst the multitudes of grievances which were redrest make men look like such but really made such of all those whom they either feared suspected or hated AND for their observation of the situation of the Nation for Trade and Manufactures it was so pretty a new Nothing to pin upon the peoples sleeves that it could not but please extremely As if all our Monarchs had liv'd in such profound Oscitancy and Ignorance that they never knew what Ports Havens or Creeks they had within their Dominions or as if the Sea-men knew not without this new Chart of discovery that Portsmouth lay more conveniently for a Trade with France than Robin Hoods-Bay or John-a-Groats-house in the remotest Orcades Or as if the common people whose great interest and constant employment it is from their very leading-strings were by these sons of Bacchus to be taught the art of Agriculture and under Monarchy could not tell the nature of their Lands or what Countries were fit for such or such Manufactures or any other thing relating to Trade or Husbandry but these great Ingeniosos of the Republick must have the honour of these happy Inventions which the people understood before far better than they could instruct them as is but too evident to all those Gentlemen who of late years having their Lands by the universal fall of Rents thrown upon their hands could never make those improvements and advantages of them which the Rusticks did by their better understanding of the Lands and the methods of Husbandry in which they had their education which the Gentlemen who are owners of the Land wanted And for their taking care for the Poor in one sence it was true enough they took all the care they could to keep the Nation as poor as it was possible that if ever they should have any such intentions or inclinations they might never have the power or the purse to effect their Design in bringing back their banish'd Sovereign to his undoubted Right the Royal Throne of his Illustrious Ancestors for which purpose they kept a continual standing Army at Land and a Navy at Sea to the incredible charge oppression and impoverishment of the Subjects of these Realms both their Friends and Enemies though they had the policy to lay the heaviest load upon the backs of their Enemies if possible to break them and they kept the Loyal Gentry and Nobility so poor that many of them have not been able or ever will to forget the kindness of that Government which was the utter ruine of them and their families SHOULD the same method be made use of with them sure then they would make a horrible out-cry but some people may better steal a Horse than others look over the Hedge and what was Wisdom Prudence and Justice in a Republick would be Tyranny Oppression and Cruelty in a Monarch AS for the last clause that Monarchy never had the leisure effectually to advance or encourage the Trade of the Nation How comes our Statute-Law to be so full of such Acts as are for the Improvement and Regulation of all Trades and Manufactures How come all those Charters and Grants to Corporations Fairs Markets and to the several Companies of the City of London However we will agree to them that some of our late Monarchs have not had the leisure effectually to look after these affairs but who was it that gave the obstruction and how come they not to have so much leisure Even these kind publick-spirited Commonwealths-men who from the very moment that our Nation began to look abroad into the World and by Navigation to advance the Interest of our Country even these great Merchants of Faction Sedition and Rebellion began to set up for themselves and to spoil our Markets by giving such disturbances to Queen Elizabeth in the last years of her Reign to King James during all his and to the Royal Martyr whom at last they bought and sold that Monarchy had something of nearer concern to mind than Foreign Trade viz. Domestick Peace and found work enough to quench those flames which they saw ready to blaze out or already broken out in the State which were kindled and blown up by the fiery Zeal of these hot-headed Republicans And our Kings by that Charity which begins at home were obliged first to take care of their own Preservation which yet so violent was the rage of that unruly combustion that they were not able to effect but all was laid in heaps and ashes thank the good honest men of the Commonwealth for their industry and successful pains they took about it God reward them for it BUT God have the praise who had compassion upon our Ruines and pitied to see us lye in the Dust we have seen a glorious Resurrection of Monarchy we have seen all these frivolous calumnies confuted We have seen Monopolies taken away and yet the Court remain Purveyance restrained and both the Waggoner and Barge-man paid for serving the King to their own content we have seen unnecessary Protections taken away and Courtiers obliged to pay their just Debts which the Democratick Government for all their publick Faith never did We have seen all incouragement given to Manufactures Navigation and Merchandize the Pooâ— taken care of and all this done mosâ— effectually And much more we mighâ— see England the most Potent flourishing and quiet Kingdom in thâ— World
not willing by an over-zealous confidence to erect a Trophy upon the Ruines of my modesty and if I transgress the limits of the decency which ought to bound every private quill I hope it will be attributed to fear and apprehension of danger which sometimes authorizes or at least renders a freedom pardonable which it may be cannot be reconciled to the severe rules of prudence or discretion And that this practice is not without most manifest danger former experience in whose severe School we have lately been disciplin'd into an unhappy certainty does sufficiently convince us Since it is beyond denial that we owe all those desperate misfortunes of our late dreadful revolutions to this great Art of Faction and making a party which by the secret and successful Industry of some people gave a prevalency to those Men who being in their principles opposite to the Interest of the Church and Crown in a short time by their furious practices ruin'd and overturn'd them both And the present prospect of the restless and unwearied Machinations of the same Faction may likewise make it appear no less necessary now it having always been esteemed as a wise and approved Maxim in the Physick of the Body Politick as well as Natural in times of spreading and Epidemick Contagions to prescribe Prophylacticks as well as Alexipharmacks one of which has and ever will be Principiis obsta venienti occurrite Morbo For Fatal Dangers Ill Events Early Prudence oft prevents And because I would shew a good precedent for these little shreads of the Muses I have seen it upon a quarry of Glass in the window of a publick house at Huntington written with the hand of the late glorious Martyr our Sovereign Charles the First agreeable to this purpose Errors in time may be redrest The shortest Follies are the best What from a Tragical experience he found fatally true certainly cannot be ill resented when from so great an authority offered as a necessary Caution for the future CHAP. VI. Of the Priviledges of the English Government and first of the Prerogative of the King The Imperial Crown of these Realms absolutely Independent The greatness of his Power according to Laws The Kings Person Sacred The Priviledges of the People First in sending their Representatives to the Parliament Secondly in having their property secured Thirdly in the Excellent and Constant method of Justice In particular Priviledges and Franchizes In all imaginable care to prevent the growth of the Poor and in providing for such as are so In committing the Execution of the Laws to such hands as will act with Justice and the care that is taken to prevent all abuses of Laws THUS have we taken a view of those choice Ingredients which compose the Government of the British Isles in which there appears the very refined extract and most sublime quintessence of all the several forms of Regiment in the World And from such a noble and well-temper'd mixture it is impossible there should naturally result any thing but the most sound and healthful Constitution in the Body Politick and a frame of Government built for wonder and Ages Certainly that bright Star to whose shining glories we owe the Day does not in all his travels round the Earthly Globe survey a more happy spot of Ground And if any place since the loss of Paradise can pretend to it this may justly challenge the name of Albion the Happy the Fortunate Island O nimiùm foelices bona si sua nôrint Anglicolae Pardon kind Reader the Pedantry of this little remaining Apollo which warms me with these fragments of his almost extinguisht fire O more than Happy â—ritish Land If our own Good we understand Happy by Nature Happy by Arts but much more Happy by the best Laws and Government that the whole Earth can shew THERE is nothing does so evidently demonstrate the excellency of a Cause as the noble effects which it does produce nor can any thing so plainly speak the goodness of a Covernment as the mutual happiness of the Governed and Governours To manifest this I wish my power carried a just proportion to my will and that my Pen were capable of keeping pace with my Intentions and both with the real worth and merits of this most incomparable Government IT is not without some degrees of arrogance to attempt it but it would be the most insupportable vanity and certain indication of a crazed fancy to pretend to the accomplishment of such a 〈◊〉 design He that will undertake to draw the picture of the Sun when he is mounted in his Meridian Chariot of Light and attended with all his dazling guards of Brightness can expect no other reward of his audacious folly but to lose his labour and his eyes The best and safest prospect of that glorious Planet is in his agreeable Reflections and benign Influences And for my own particular I am not so familiar with Majesty as to approach it though but with my Pen without some certain tremblings of my hand occasioned by that awful veneration which the very name of Dread Sovereign raises in my mind Nor can I believe that Great things and greater Persons are to be treated or so much as treated of but with the greatest respect and deference caution and the most profound submissions And therefore if whilest I endeavour to display their amazing glories and excellencies with a design of rendring them the greatest services I am capable of I draw them in the Miniature of this short Discourse I retain some faint hopes that the imperfections of so small a Piece being so much more pardonable by being little will be attributed to my timerous hast Fear is a passion which is apt not only to disorder the Fancy but even to discompose Reason it self And it is not uncommon for great Persons and generous Spirits to pardon with a gracious smile the effects of that veneration which they have occasion'd and which is apt to give such confusions to their Inferiors as sometimes makes them mistake the necessary decencies of their Duty even whilest they would endeavour most respectfully to preserve themselves within its Limits Let us therefore with all due humility look upon the Robes of Majesty the Ornaments and Ensigns of Royal Dignity those unvaluable Jewels whose radiant Lustre adorn the English Diadem and which is it self adorned by the Head that wears it Which will with ease convince us how happy that People must needs be who live under the kind Beams of such a Monarchy and such a Monarch Of the Priviledges of the English Government and first of the Prerogative of the King THE Excellency of the Ancient Flourishing and August Monarchy of Great Britain which God long preserve in Peace Glory and Prosperity consists principally in this That it is absolutely Independent and That the Sovereign and Imperial Crown of these Realms The Imperial Crown of this Realm absolute and Independent though it does admit of Foreign Equals knows no
Superior nor owes either Tribute or Homage to any other besides the Almighty Sovereign the Supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth from whom as the King receives it so to him only is he accountable for the managery and administration of it The King is the sole Fountain of all Honour The greatness of his Power according to Laws and the Foundation of all Law nay the very Soul and Life of it for by his Royal word he gives it a Being and by his * Le Roy le veult Affirmative breath that which before was a dead and inanimate Bill becomes a living and an Active Law And in like manner by his powerful negative or ‖ Le Roy s' avisera suspending his consent any intended Sanction becomes abortive and never sees the Sun And as it is both his and his Peoples happiness that his Will is not his Law but that his Law is his Will so it is but highly reasonable that he should have the liberty and freedom of the choice of those Laws by which he obliges himself to Rule and Govern In him is the sole Power of the Sword the Power of making Peace and War and in order thereunto of raising Forces granting Commissions both for Land and Sea In him is the sole Power of Calling Adjourning Proroguing and dissolving Parliaments when and where he judges it most expedient In his power it is to remit the severities of the Penal Laws whereby he may manifest his goodness and clemency as well as his greatness and justice by graciously pardoning both the smaller breaches of his Laws and the more capital offences which he might most justly punish From him all metals receive their Impress and according to the Standard he puts upon them they become valuable and currant Coin From him all places of high Trust derive their Authority by his Commission they Act and put his Commands and the Laws in execution And in short without him or against his Will and Consent nothing can be legally acted or done The Person of the King most Sacred AND as his Power is thus Great so his Person is most Sacred and is therefore most strictly guarded by the Laws which like Solomon's Lions stand on each side of the steps and ascents of his Imperial Throne 13 Car. 2. and with no less Terror than Majesty declare That it is High Treason within or without the Realm to Compass Imagine Invent Devise or Intend Death or Destruction or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction maim or wounding imprisonment or restraint of the Person of the King or to deprive or depose him from the Stile Honour or Kingly Name of the Imperial Crown of this Realm or any other of his Dominions or Countries or to levy War against him within or without the Realm or any other of the Kings Dominions or Countries being under his Obeysance THESE amongst many others are the principal Jewels which adorn the glorious Diadem of the English Sovereigns whose Government being so remote from Arbitrary that it is altogether by the exact Rule of Law Justice and Equity as it must needs be easie for the people so it contributes extremely to the Happiness and prosperous tranquillity of the Princes Reign And were it possible to add one Prerogative more to the Crown That the King might rule in the Hearts and kind affections of his People as well as over their Persons certainly there could no greater happiness befall both the King and his Subjects in this World And as such a blessed Union and Agreement would be their great and Common Interest where the one ruling with Love the other should obey their Ruler from a principle of affection so it is to be hoped that time and a right understanding of the most obliging Temper of their Prince or some other wise expedients will at last allay that dangerous Democratick fury the only present visible obstacle to this desired Happiness which whereever it prevails or enters possesses men with the principles of Usurpation upon many other but more especially upon this fundamental prerogative of the Sovereign by devesting him of the loyal and sincere affections of his People HAVING thus taken such a short view of it as the dazling Lustre of Majesty will permit let us pass from the Sovereign to the Subjects and there likewise we shall most convincingly see the effects of the most prudent easie safe and happy constitution of the English Government under which there is no person who lives in obedience to it who escapes the particular care and cognizance of the Laws The Priviledges of the People first in the sending their Representatives to the Parliament THE first great and fundamental Priviledge of the Subjects consists in the free Choice which the Commons of England have of Delegates or Representatives to be sent to the most Honourable Assembly of the Parliament there to make known the just grievances of the People and to offer such good wholsome and necessary Bills in order to their being promoted into Laws by the Royal Will as may be most for the advantage and happiness of those whom they represent By reason whereof all those Laws by which the people are governed for the present or are to be Governed for the future are such as they themselves have a share in the propounding and preparing there being nothing that can by the Royal assent pass into an obliging Statute or Act of Parliament either against or without their knowledge and consent as is evident from the Proem to most of those Acts which compose our Statute-Law which are in these or the like words Be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by the Advice and with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same So that they must be the most unreasonable amongst mankind who are not contented to be obedient to those Laws which are by their King Enacted and Established not only according to their own preparation and with their free and full assent but at their earnest request and humble Importunity NOR are they only highly irrational but most barbarously treacherous and perfidious who make no account of such mutual stipulations and lawful contracts with which they have obliged themselves as the whole Nation does when by the Parliament they Petition the King to make such or such Laws and upon that condition that he will please to give them the force and power of Laws they will live in obedience to him according to the direction of those Laws For Obedience is the end of all Laws and solemn Faith of Contracts is the essential Foundation upon which all Government and Happiness in this World does depend and there can no Bill pass into an Act of Parliament but it obliges Universally all Subjects to obedience by vertue not only of Royal Authority but of every individual persons promise For whoever gives his Voice
them which Government in its own nature is only capable of Duration and long Continuance And this will appear upon the first view to all such as will consider the nature of causes by their proper effects and how short the continuance of the most potent Commonwealths has been in comparison of that of Monarchy The several Grecian and even that proud Roman Commonwealth who thought her self Lady and Mistress of the Universe even the longest liver of them could not reach five hundred years and during that term they were many times Governed and oftener preserved or rescued from apparent Ruine by the Prudence Courage Counsel or Conduct of a single Captain a Manlius a Cunctator or a Scipio and by consequence were obliged to that little salt of Monarchy which preserved them so long from Corruption and a final Dissolution But whether we consider the Assyrian Egyptian Scythian Aethiopian Roman or the lesser Monarchies of the World we shall find that most of them according to the computation of the most creditable Chronologists have in their Duration far surpassed the most aged Commonwealths Monarchy does best answer the three Great Ends of Government wherein the Happiness of Society consists THE fourth and last Assertion That Monarchy is the most Excellent form of Government because it does most effectually answer the three forementioned great Ends of Government by advancing the happiness of Society does most naturally flow from the three former For if Monarchy be the most Ancient the most Universal the most Natural Agreeable and Durable form of Government it must be of necessity so because all People in all Ages and all Places have by constant experience sound it most conducive to their Happiness and well-being from the first foundation of it to this present day And had there been any other manner of Government established or to be established in the World by which Mankind could rationally have promised to themselves either more or more certain Happiness than from and under this so great and natural so constant passionate and ardent is the love which all men have for their own Happiness that there is no question to be made but that by degrees all Humane Race would long before this have hit upon it and there would have been an Universal Regifugium over all the habitable Earth Whereas on the contrary after trial and experience the most competent Judge which is the best Government we have seen many Commonwealths retreat into Monarchy to avoid Misery and Confusion and it is not impossible but the World may yet see more FOR the proving of this Assertion I shall not need to run over a long repetition of all the particulars mentioned in the three great Ends of Government and Society but desire the sober and judicious Reader to consider that which is most material in them which is That Hereditary Monarchy not Elective which for that reason is the worst kind of it has no separate Interest or distinct design from the good of the Publick for whether it be Peace Plenty Glory Riches Trade War Happiness or Misfortune the People can have none of these in general but the Prince must have his share of them too so that the Prince cannot be miserable and his People truly happy nor the Prince happy whilest his People are really miserable And therefore a Monarch in consulting the safety honour wellfare peace and prosperity of his People does at the same time consult his own Interest in every one of them And this must of necessity oblige him to act vigorously and constantly in all his endeavours for the attainment of these ends This will make him look to the equal distribution of Justice in Rewards and Punishments to encourage the Good and discourage the Ill to remove the Turbulent and dangerous who oppose the happiness of the Community and by consequence his own This will render him watchful and vigilant against the attempts of foreign Powers assiduously diligent in promoting Domestick peace because otherwise he can have no security of his own Happiness which is so inseparably united to the prosperity of his People Insomuch that the State cannot fall either by intestine Discords or foreign Force but he must fall with it And which rarely happens though he should escape with his Life yet he must part with his Dignity Dominion and Fortune without which Life to a Prince is so far from being grateful that it is scarcely supportable and in all the History I have read I have only met with the single Instance of Dionysius the Syracusian Tyrant who had the humour to laugh after the loss of a Kingdom and to please himself with playing the Rex amongst Boys in a School at Corinth And I am apt to believe that Life would scarce be tolerable to a dethroned Prince were it not that the greatest extremities of misfortune do yet in Princes as well as private persons admit of Hope the only flatterer that does not forsake them with their prosperity And that faithful Friend brings in Reason Examples and Experience to perswade the most inconsolable if they will permit her Audience that as it frequently has so the Wheel of fortune may turn round again as that King in Harness told the great Sesostris Of the truth of this we might produce many Tragical instances in great Princes who have chosen to turn the fatal points of their vanquished Swords upon their own breasts for being unable to defend their Scepters rather than to over-live the disgraceful loss of their Crowns and Kingdoms And having resigned themselves to the first violences of unreasoning Despair that has not permitted them patience enough to furle their Sails and with the Anchors of Hope to weather out the Storm of a sudden and great misfortune though possibly had they waited upon what they call'd Fortune and Destiny and we Providence they might not only have out liv'd their present Disasters but might have re-ascended to their pristine Glory Rank and Dominion Many great Men having by their constancy under and compliances with their unkind Fortune overcome her first malicious efforts by yielding to them and have been reserved to a far better and more Glorious Destiny afterwards a most pregnant instance of which we have in our Henry the Third who in the former part of his life was plunged into as great misfortunes as ever attended a Crowned Head which yet he overcame with Patience and Constancy and afterwards enjoy'd the satisfactions of a long happy and prosperous Reign And if my wishes may be prophetick after Ages will find a second Example in the miraculous Adventures of the glorious Reign of our present Illustrious Monarch IN a word as the late Usurping Powers stil'd themselves The Members or Representatives of a Republick may be Custodes Libertatis Patriae I will not as one wantonly though too truly English it The Jailors of the Liberty of their Country but the Guardians and as such many times commit great Wastes but a Monarch
the Coast of Loyalty made Shipwrack of their Lives and Fortunes as before they had done of their Allegiance and a good Conscience witness Mr. Love and several others with whose Martyrdom as they call'd it and some other trifling assistances to his Majesties happy Restauration which they could not avoid they would perswade the World that they have made such an attonement for the last that now they may run upon the score with us and have credit enough for a new Rebellion THAT they believe the People to be above the King which is a fair step towards one is plain for they take it for a fundamental of Government and the Liberty of the People That they may appeal from the King to the Parliament as did the Scottish Kirk whose words are That the Parliament ever retained a Jurisdiction in it self both over the Church and Crown though as I shall shew hereafter this is but a Presbyterian wheedle to a Parliament to make them give the King the Mate and the People I say the Good People are the Men in whom the Supreme Power resides that is the Presbyters and Elders assembled in the Great Sanhedrim who represent both Church and State which the Parliament as they would have it being dismembred of the Episcopal Clergy cannot properly do But to take them at their word for once though I know they do not mean as they speak and let it pass for one of their piae fraudes at which art they are more dexterous than an old Jesuit we know no appeal with hopes of redress can lie but from an inferior to a superior Power and all they aim at in it is to ruin Monarchy by advancing a Popular Supremacy above it which till by them they have accomplished their design they make Semblance as if it were in the Parliament yet Ultimately they intend it for themselves and the Spiritual Cabal for if the Parliament as the Peoples Representatives be Superior to the King all his Right as to Possession Power and Succession depends upon them and how incompatible a Superior Jurisdiction within the same Dominions is with absolute Monarchy we have already made appear since it is the same thing whether the Pope or Parliament in the name of the People have the Supremacy over the Unfortunate Prince The third Principle of Presbytery That Kings may by the People be called in Question for their Administration of the Government A third Principle of Presbytery and which is the natural consequent of the former is That Kings may by their People or their Representatives the Parliament by which word they always understand the Commons the Lay-Lords as well as the spiritual being in truth their great aversion and abomination as experience has told us be called in Question for their Miscarriages or ill Administration of the Government This is the Doctrine of Calvin and of Devils those Primitive Rebels and perpetual Incendiaries of the World the malicious disturbers of the peace and happiness of Mankind Our blessed Jesus the Everlasting Prince of Peace taught no such Doctrine for the word which God sent was preaching Peace by Jesus Christ he is Lord of all Obedience to Magistrates Acts 10.36 and to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars which by his great Example in paying tribute and working a Miracle for himself and St. Peter he confirmed and it may be in that single instance has cut the sinews of the Papal as well as popular Plea to Supremacy over Earthly Sovereigns But what sayes Mr. Calvin with his new Geneva Gospel Cal. Inst lib. 4. p. 540. cap. 20. §. 31. Audiant Principes terreantur Hear O ye Kings and be terrified and well they may at what follows if what he says be as true as the Gospel which though his believers credit I must beg their excuse if I dare not for saith he if there be any popular Magistrates appointed to moderate the lawless lusts of Kings such as were formerly the Ephori opposed to the Kings of Sparta the Tribunes of the people to the Roman Consuls the Demarchi to the Athenian Senate and with which Power it may be as things now stand the three Estates in all Kingdoms are vested when they meet in Parliament I do not forbid them to interpose as it is their duty against the fierceness of Kings so that if their impotent rage trample upon or insult over the meanest of the Populace and they wink at it I do affirm that such their dissimulation cannot be excused from a most wicked perfidiousness because they do thereby fraudulently betray the Liberty of the People of which they know themselves by Gods appointment the Preservers or Defenders according to the Commonwealth translation of the place the Keepers or as Nol render'd it the Protector of the Liberty of the People Private Men indeed he there teaches must submit but a Parliament may nay must Rebel by their own Authority and of necessity HERE is in little a true Landscape and prophetical direction of all our late Rebellion The Parliament he sayes the three Estates but his Disciples are greater Artists than their Master and can effect their design with a quarter of one of them are by Gods appointment the Keepers of the Liberties of the People they must not betray their trust by a base and wicked perfidiousness The King as they foreplot their suggestion to bait the people into Rebellion designs to take away these Liberties of the people and to enslave them under Episcopal Hierarchy in the Church Monopolies Purveyance Protections c. in their politick Liberties he insults over and tramples upon the Populace therefore the Parliament may and ought to defend them all Remonstrances and Petitions are in vain all the fair offers of Majesty in order to their satisfaction and a pacification are but pretences of kindness revocable at his pleasure and therefore there is a necessity to throw the fatal Dye of War and do themselves Justice by the Sword that Vltima Ratio Perduellionis rather than betray the trust reposed in them and which if it be true that he affirms that they know themselves appointed by God they have a Divine Authority to do and the Sovereign Power resides in them and the King is to be accountable for his ill administration of the Government and so farewel Monarchy for it is come to its Conclamatum est and must expire beyond all hope of recovery or resurrection A fourth Principle of Presbytery That Kings may by their People be deposed for miscarriages in Government AND this leads them to a fourth Principle by an unavoidable necessity for he that draws his Sword against his Prince must throw away the old Scabbard and find a new one for his own security in his Sovereigns breast Such dangerous Quarrels as are Competitions for Empire are not to be determined but by the fall of one Party and there is no hopes of comprimising where supreme Sovereignty is the apple
of Contention Caesar aut nullus is the word and therefore in order to the necessary security of Rebels or such who intend to be so who can never apprehend themselves safe so long as their Prince retains a power to punish them therefore they hold That if Kings be found guilty of Miscarriages they may by the people be deposed from the Government and deprived of their Crowns This is the Doctrine of John Knox which he brought from the Divinity Schools of Geneva Knox Hist of Refor or Scotl. p. 392 393. That Subjects may not only lawfully oppose themselves against their Kings whensoever they do any thing that expresly oppugns Gods Commandment but also that they may execute judgment upon them according to Gods Law so that if the King be a Murtherer Adulterer or Idolater he shall suffer according to Gods Law not as a King but as an offender Excellent Scottish Presbyterian Divinity borrowed from the Cobler of Collen of whom I have somewhere read who taught his fellow Mutineers so neatly to distinguish betwixt the Prince Elector and the Archbishop Great pity it was that this Perillus of Presbytery did not try the first experiment of his nice distinction in his own fiery brazen Bull which he invented for Monarchy and in reality all Government which is not agreeable to their humour and design Nec Lex est justior ulla Quam Necis Artifices arte perire suâ Rebellious Artists ought to try Their own Art first and by it die And if John Knox had been hang'd drawn and quarter'd for Treason not as Godly and zealous John Knox but as a most desperate Incendiary and impudent Traytor possibly the succeeding Rebels would have thought the difference betwixt the King and the Person so little as not to have granted Commissions to destroy the one whilst they pretended to honour and obey the other and it may be they would have considered that it might one day come to be their own Case to suffer as Traytors and notorious Malefactors though not as Men which measure since they could never have approved for themselves possibly they might have judged unfit for their Royal Master The former Principles bring the King to be a fellow Subject a Royal Slave in golden Shackles and submits him to the supreme popular Authority this leads him to the High Court of Justice and from thence conducts him to the Scaffold and the fatal Block NOR will worthy Mr. Calvin which title I will give him though it be plain Peter and Paul in his and his Disciples mouths who it seems reserve the Saintship only to themselves he I say will not want an Oar in the Boat of a Rebellion or a hand in establishing a Principle of High Treason against Sovereign Princes Let us hear him Comment upon the Text. Cal. in Dan. 6.22.25 Earthly Princes saith he * Abdicant se devest themselves of all right to power when they rebel against God and are unworthy to be accounted in the number of Men that is in plain English they do not deserve to live and men ought rather to spit in their faces than to obey them when they become so * Vhi sit protoralant saucily proud or froward as to indeavour to despoil God of his Right And. I wonder what he did deserve who was so saucy as to indeavour to spoil Princes of theirs and God too who is their only Judge and Superior and not Mr. Calvin or his People Let us once more reduce this Calvinistical Logick into Syllogisms and you shall plainly see the Presbyterian Conclusion THAT King who is an Idolater or a Persecutor is a Rebel against God and has disrob'd himself of all Right to Reign or Live according to Gods Law he is to be punished not as a King but as a Man in which number too he scarcely deserves to be accounted BUT the King of is an Idolater and Persecutor of Gods people the Saints of Presbytery Ergo. THE major or first proposition you see is their positive Doctrine and own words the minor is thus proved by them KNEELING at the Sacrament and bowing at the name of Jesus is Idolatry and punishing the Godly is Persecution BUT the King of kneels and punishes Ergo. AND though both the branches of the first proposition concerning Idolatry and persecution be false yet being decreed in the infallible Consistory all the arguments and demonstrations in the World are in vain to perswade them to the contrary And therefore from this abominable Divinity and new State Logick of Presbytery they draw the dismal Conclusions That Kings may be Excommunicated by the Presbyters for those Imaginary Crimes and may by the people be deposed as whoever will consult Knox Buch. de Jure Reg. p. 58.62.70 Knox Hist Ref. p. 372. Goodman in his Book of obedience or rather Treason passim praecipue p. 180 184 185. Buchanan Goodman c. may sufficiently be convinced and that they esteem their deposition not only lawful but their publick Murders or private Assasination and though a * Dr. Bilson Warden of Winchester p. 509. learned man of the Church of England indeavours to excuse this Doctrine and mitigate these harsh words of Mr. Calvin it was before he saw the Conclusion nor did he apprehend it would ever be drawn into practice and his Plea for Calvin is rather to be attributed to his great aversion to the Papacy which mistake still prevails with too many who by bending themselves too far from the one extream of Popery which they hate break into Presbytery as the most opposite Interest whose malicious Calumniations make all people Papists who are not Schismaticks though all the advantage such deceived Zealots purchase by running away from the Church of England under that abusive notion of Popish and Antichristian which her Enemies brand her withal is that Incidit in Scyllam dum vult vitare Charybdim Whilst swift Charybdis they avoid They into fatal Scylla slide And had the worthy Gentleman and many others who are imposed upon by the same stratagem either seen or foreseen the tragical consequences of this Doctrine I perswade my self he had too much Loyalty to become its Advocate and the other have too much honesty and love for Monarchy to advance the interest of Presbytery which is as mortal an Enemy to it as the Papacy King Charles the First who was thus like our Saviour rudely affronted by the barbarous Red-Coats WHEN the Son of God came to be spit upon he was very near his Crucifixion and a dreadful example has taught us that when a glorious Monarch felt the fatal effects of this rude and barbarous Divinity and in Westminster-Hall received the same insolent treatment from the impious Souldiers he was at no great distance from his Martyrdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Medit. upon death after the Vote of Non-addresses for if as he makes it his observation if there be but few steps betwixt the Prisons of Princes and
their Graves there cannot be many betwixt their being deposed brought to Tryal and Execution and therefore you shall see the Conclusion of the whole matter and what a certain Catastrophe unavoidably follows and must fall upon Princes from the former premises The Conclusion of the former Principles of Presbytery That Kings may be brought to Capital punishments THE last result of all their Positions may more properly be called a conclusion than a principle of Presbytery That Princes may be punished with Capital punishments and loss of Life as well as Dignity and Power I need not give my self the trouble or the Reader the Fatigue by a long proof of the truth of this horrible and tragical Assertion which is the natural and proper effect of the former Principles which you see bring a King to the Infamous Block from whence there is no instance of any Prince that ever returned alive They have done it themselves Vestigia nulla retrorsum must be the devilish policy of such procedures and their late actions are still so fresh in all mens Memories that it were an endless pain Infandos renovare Dolores to repeat them over again and the very rehearsal of such unexampled miseries when the breath of our Nostrils the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits Lament 4.20 of whom we said under his shadow we shall be safe and live among those Heathens would be so sensible an affliction as would be next to the suffering of them The deep Tragedy to the Eternal Infamy of the Villanous Actors was not done in a Corner or behind the Curtain but by a prodigious Excess of remorseless Impudence upon the publick Theater of the World and by the glorious Lamp of Heaven which with amazement beheld an Action to the Parallel of which his bright Beams had never before contributed their Assistance and I hope he will never see such another gloomy Day I am not willing to do that over again and by an Ingrateful task Copy over this Horrid Piece which has been so well and often done by others and particularly by Mr. Fowlis in his History of the Wicked Plots and Conspiracies of our pretended Saints to which Book if any persons can want satisfaction in these too well known Truths they may have recourse and there receive it in most ample measure from the Records and Evidences of the Actors themselves AND though I cannot think them so dangerous to the State whose Principles and natural subdivisions will crumble them into confusion yet must not the off-spring of Presbytery think to plead exemption from the guilt of being Antimonarchical or scape scot-free more than their Brethren in Iniquity of the Kirk The common saying has but too much truth in it to excuse them from the Plea of Not guilty That the Presbyterians brought the late King to the Scaffold and held him by the Hair whilst the Independants cut off his Royal Head For a short tast of their Natures and a little of this is enough to surfeit a Loyal Ear take the words of one of the Chief of them who pretends to be a great Friend to the Parliament Army and Congregational Churches but a greater to himself in concealing his name to one of the most Infamous Pamphlets that ever blotted Paper Printed by J.M. and Lodowick Lloyd and H. Cripps and sold at their Shops in Popes-Head Ally 1650. p. 57. which he Intitles One blow more at Babylon c. It is well known saith he that the late King was not Murdered by the Parliament but fell by the stroke of Justice and that so Legally and righteously administred for his bloody Crimes he became guilty of in the Face of Heaven that we doubt not but God was well pleased with it and will clear the inflicters of it if they keep their Integrity against all their Accusers and Condemners whatsoever HERE is a short Diagram of the Religion of Independency The King they say was guilty of bloody Crimes though never any one could be proved against him It was lawful for the Parliament to Question Judge and Condemn him this was Righteous and Legal Judgment and acceptable to God the taking away his life was not Murder but the stroke of Justice righteously administred All the misfortune is this man either was a false Prophet or God was not well pleased or the inflicters of this dismal stroke did not keep their Integrity for Divine vengeance by the miraculous and peaceable Restauration of the Gracious Son not only eagerly pursued but quickly overtook these villanous Murderers of the glorious Father and their Crimes were so publickly notorious and infamous to the whole world that they found not so much as a possibility of being clear'd against all their accusers and condemners or of the benefit of that general amnesty and pardon which speaks the Son as great and generous in forgiving as the unshaken Father was in suffering as some of their trayterous Heads still tell the World without a Tongue and make better speeches upon London bridge and the Prinnacles of the Parliament-House than ever they or any like them made within it whilest in their grinning Language they speak a terrible Talis eris to all Fire-brain'd Traytors and read a constant Lecture of Horror and Eternal Infamy to all perfidious and audacious Rebels who in those Monuments of Justice may see the inevitable destiny of Treason and Usurpation So that you may see Qualis Pater talis Filius Like Father Like Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Egg and Bird Independency the true though undutiful Son of Presbytery is as like it as if it had been spit out of its mouth but with this difference in the truth of the Case that the Presbyterians murthered the King the Independants only the Man As for the Anabaptist Leveller Quaker c. let Munster eternally complain of the first and England of them all The Rebel Army was a moving Amsterdam where it is said if a man has lost what he calls his Religion he may either find it or a new one every whit as good and most of these Sects and Opinions drew their Original from those Nurseties of Rebellious Saints and the People are like to be well tutor'd in Loyalty and the Principles of Allegiance who blinded by their bright pretences to light and sanctity commit themselves to the guidance and instruction of them scum and spawn of those trayterous Legions who are little inferior either in malice or design at least eventually to those who by the powerful command of divine humanity having quitted the miserable inhabitant of the Tombs enter'd by his permission into the prohibited Herd of the Gadarenes St. Mark cap. 32. for having once possest their followers and Disciples with their Devillish Doctrines they are not at quiet till they rush them violently down the steep Precipice of Rebellion to be drowned and swallowed up in the Ocean of Ruine and Confusion and the miseries we were so lately
that will satisfie them I appeal to their own practice when in Power That this is a great necessary and Universal Truth That Lawful Government is not to be disobeyed in Lawful Commands but that therefore the Violators of Laws especially the Principal ought for example and in terrorem to feel the force and penalties of those Laws they break since to be merciful to those few were to be cruel to the whole Body of the Society and to ruine the very Foundation of all Government For what was it that brought so many Noble Heads to the infamous Scaffold and some Ilustrious Lives to most ignominious Deaths was it not for transgressing their Ordinances opposing their Way Government and Usurpations in defence of the Ancient Establisht Fundamental Laws Priviledges Rights and Liberties both of the Prince and People What was Justice Prudence and of necessity to be done by them for the safety and support of their ill-gotten Dominion must much more be so now unless they can convince us that their Power was Lawful but the present is not which how good soever their will may be and though it appears to be what they believe and aim at yet they will never be able to prove by Law Reason or Religion and I hope they will never be in the Capacity to demonstrate it a second time by force and violence the rude and compulsive Logick of the Sword or Cannon Law Lastly it follows That this generation of Men the Presbyters with their Confederates are never to be trusted but upon the Demonstration of their sincere Repentance and Conversion attested by their Actions in regard that whosoever owns a Power Superior to his Prince does at the same time find an easie refuge and evasion against all the verbal Assurances he can give or that can be taken of him that he will be a good Subject For no person can oblige himself to an inferiour Power against the Right of a Superior for if a Country Justice of the Peace a Judge of Assise a Deputy or a Vice-Roy should exact any subscriptions or promises of fidelity from any Persons or by threatnings and severities compel them to give such to the prejudice of the King his Lawful Superior in Power there is no Person but knows that the one having no lawful Authority to require it nor the other to consent to give away the Right of his Prince over him all such Actions Promises c. must therefore be as null and void as if I should promise to give the City of London to the King of Spain THIS is the plain Case The King as with good reason for his own security and the safety of the publick he may expects assurances from these People they for fear of the Laws make some faint promises for an Oath of Allegiance to renounce their Trayterous Positions is too binding to be taken with this reserve That the Presbytery or Popular Authority is superior to the King and that therefore he has no just right to require such promises and assurances from them to the prejudice of that supreme Power nor they to give it away and that therefore they are not binding in foro Conscientiae but being prejudicial to the right of such a Power as may call him to an account and by the Grand Charter of Salus Populi both free them from all such Obligations and punish him for exceeding his limits by intrenching upon their native right of being a free-born People all such stipulations being forced and violent the effects of fear without the consent of the will are therefore null and void And their Actions speak this Language however their Tongues may sometimes seem to be of so ill breeding as to give them the Lye by protestations of great Kindness Love and I know not what to his Majesty and the Government of which they are in some humours prodigal enough only to deceive the credulous and cover their ill designs LET them not therefore think to deceive us by the smooth flatteries of soft words their usual blandishments and pretences of Innocence and that they mean us no more harm than they do their own Souls which is true in their sense for they would have us believe that it is much for our advantage to be setled upon the true Fond and Basis of Popular or Consistorian Supremacy If they do believe these Principles we cannot be too secure against their dreadful and necessary consequences and if they do not believe them let us see it in their Actions by a hearty submission to the King and his Laws and Government Ecclesiastical and Civil and let them never pretend the obstacle of Conscience for if they were as really tender against Rebellion as they are against Loyalty they might nay they must do this without prejudice to the most nice and scrupulous amongst them nor can they refuse to do it if they mean honestly and to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and all Men. And if they persist in the refusal of giving this Authentique and only creditable testimony of their Innocence and Loyalty and continue obstinately in the old road of their former practices no person can judge but that they are still managed by the same desperate Principles and though it is easie to determine from their own methods upon all that opposed them when in Power what they deserve according to the strictness of the Lex Talionis yet I will not pretend to Prophecy what they will receive they know by Experience which ought to have had another effect upon them and not this dis-ingenuous encouragement which they have taken from it that our Government is mild and gentle and has not taken any of its measures towards them from their proceedings But this they may assure themselves that their actings are too hot to hold long and they drive on too furiously in their desperate designs the dust which rises in such Clouds will give notice that their Troops are upon a hasty march and that the Conspirators of the zealous Reformer Jehu that furious driver are mounted in the Chariot of Rebellion which is drawn by the wild Horses of Ruine and Confusion In short I desire that all Judicious Sober and considering persons will without prejudice and partiality weigh in the just ballance of sacred Truth and convincing Reason whether the fore-mentioned Principles do not infallibly lead to the fatal consequences which have been shewn and if I have not been able to accomplish so great an affair as clearly to demonstrate the truth of it the defect is in my understanding not in my will and therefore may be my affliction but can never be my Crime However I flatter my self with the hopes of having the pleasure to see this small Essay give encouragement to some other hand which is furnished with more ability better opportunities and advantages than my present circumstances will allow me to evidence the greatness of these necessary truths and to give finishing strokes to this piece which I have according to my talent only rudely designed and though to some it may possibly appear too rough and bold yet the Masters of the Pencil say that freedom is no fault where it draws to the Life The imperfections are my own and no person shall be more ready to charge me with them than I shall be not only to own them but to indeavour to correct and amend them and from how inconsiderable a Person soever it comes Saepè olitor est valdè opportuna locutus Fools and Children speak Truth nor is it or ought it to be less considerable because it comes from them yet let it be remembred That Presbyterian Popular Consistorian Supremacy is and ever will be the unchangeable irreconcilable Enemy of Monarchy Law Liberty Peace Property and the true Protestant Catholick Religion FINIS Some Books Printed and Sold by Jonathan Edwin at the three Roses in Ludgate street THE Countermine or a short but true discovery of the dangerous Principles and secret practices of the Dissenting Party especially the Presbyterians shewing that Religion is pretended but Rebellion is intended And in order thereto the Foundation of Monarchy in the State and Episcopacy in the Church are Undermined The true Liberty and Dominion of Conscience vindicated from the Usurpations and Abuses of Opinion and Perswasion