of the Kings foundation and the Kings of England are the Founders of them all and they sit in Parliament and have the Names of the Lords of the Parliament non ratione Nobilitatis sed ratione Officii not by reason of their Nobility but by reason of their Office and in respect of their Ancient Barronies annexed to their dignities C. Inst 1. part 97. a. And in C. 5. 1. part Cawdreyes Case it may be seen That King Kenulphus by Charter in Parliament in the year of our Lord 755. Exempted the Abbot of Abingdon from Episcopal Jurisdiction and gave it him That amongst the Laws of Edward the Confessor it was Ordained that he should Govern the Kingdom and his People and above all the Holy Church not the Pope That William the Conqueror Appropriated Churches with Cure That King Henry the First presented to Abbeys as well by his Ecclesiastical as his Kingly Power That Henry the Third granted Prohibitions and in Issue of Loyalty of Marriage and general Bastardy the King wrote to the Bishop as his immediate Officer That in the time of Edward the Third the Temporalties of the Archbishop of York were lost during his Life for refusal of a Clark of the King by reason of a Provision of the Pope That by 25. Edw. the Third a Man might kill those that procured Provisions from Rome and those that executed them Also by 25. Edw. 3d. It was Enacted that the Pope shall not give Archbishopricks Bishopricks c. but that the King them shall give c. That by 16. Rihard the Second chap. 5th It is Enacted that because the King holdeth his Crown immediately under God they who purchase or pursue in the Court of Rome Translations Processes Excommunications Bulls Instruments c. and their Fautors and Councillors shall be out of the Protection of the King and Praemunire facias shall be awarded against them That 2. H. 4. 9. It is resolved that Collectors of the Pope by their Bulls have not any Jurisdiction here and that the Archbishops and Bishops are called the Spiritual Judges of the King And 11. H. 4. 37. it is said Papa non potest mutare leges Angliae that the Pope cannot change or alter the Laws of England That 2. Henry the Fourth chap. 3d. he that obtaineth from the Bishop of Rome to be exempt from regular Obedience is within the Case of a Praemunire That 6. H. 4. chap. 1. Forfeiture was imposed upon those who payed great sums to the Chamber of Rome That by 2. H. 5. chap. 1. The King not the Pope gave power to the Ordinary to enquire of the Foundation and Government of Hospitals and to correct c. That in 9. H. 6. 16. The King only can give License for the Foundation of a Corporation Spiritual not the Pope That 12th Edw. 4th 16. A Legate of the Pope was compelled to Swear that he would not attempt any thing against the Crown c. That in 2. Rich. 3. It is said that Excommunication or Judgment at Rome is of no force here That in First Henry the 7th 10th It is said that in time of King Henry the Sixth Humphry Duke of Glocester burnt the Letters of the Pope that were in Derogation ot the King and his Crown And 1. H. 7. 20. It is adjudged that the Pope may not grant Sanctuary And 25. Henry the 8. chap. 21. It is Enacted by the Statute forementioned of faculties that none shall make suit to Rome but that the Archbishop of Canterbury may grant to the King and his Subjects such Licenses Dispensations Grants Faculties Escripts Delegacies Instruments c. not repugnant to Holy Scripture as been used to be granted by the Pope yet it is to be noted that such Cannons Constitutions Ordinances Synods Provincials c. were provided to be in force which had been allowed by general Consent and Custom within the Realm not repugnant to Law or the Prerogative of the King and so by the same general Consent may be Corrected Enlarged Explained or Abrogated hence we may rest satisfied that for many Hundreds of years last past successively in the time of one King after another King when all our Ancestors were Papists and of that profession that yet the Government of the Church ever was inherent to the Imperial Crown of the Kings of England In the time of King Henry the Third the Usurped Jurisdiction of the Pope was elevated more high than ever before or since yet it may be observed that in the Ninth year of his Reign in the very first Chapter of the great Charter Entitled and Called The Confirmation of Liberties is mentioned First We have granted to God and by this our present Charter have confirmed for Us and Our Heirs for ever that the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable And by the Statute of 24. H. 8. chap. 12. by 24. Bishops and 29 Abbots it is recited that England is an Empire and that the King is the Head of the Body Politick consisting of the Temporalty and the Spiritualty impleet and furnished with full Power to render final Justice in all matters whatsoever as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal And that part of the said Body Politick called the Spiritualty hath been always thought sufficient and meet of it self without the intermeddling of any Forreign Pope or any exterior Person or Persons when any cause of the Law Divine happened to come in question or of Spiritual Learning to declare and determine all such doubts and to adminster all such Offices and Duties yet as the Spiritual Judges of and under the King as to their several Roomes Spiritual doth appertain And the Laws Temporal for Trial of Property of Lands and Goods and for the conservation of the Realm in Unity and Peace without Rapine or Spoil were and yet are Administred Adjudged and Executed by sundry Judges and Ministers of the other part of the Body Politick called the Temporalty And their Authorities and Jurisdictions do conjoyn together in the due Administration of Justice the one is a help to the other and both are a help to and in ease of the King the Head of this Body Politick here you have concisely and in few words discovered unto you the Ancient form of the Government of England both in Church and State and accordingly in Ancient times the Parliaments of England consisted only of the King the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal who were Anciently the Representatives of the whole Kingdom in Parliament Assembled under the Kings or Queens thereof but for some Hundreds of years last past a Writ hath been framed for the Election of Knigts c. to sit in Parliament and these Knights c. are to be chosen by the Freeholders in their several Counties CHAP. XX. As to the Kings Supremacy is shewed the difference between the Primitive and more modern times herein the Author adviseth all to be at Vnity within themselves and
to restrain and be a curb to such as will not Conform and be Obedient to those Rules the Law prescribeth requiring their Obedience to the Magistrates Superior Middle and Inferior and as all are to know the Superior is not nor can be subject to the controul of the Inferior In pares est nullum imperium multo minus in eos qui majus imperium habent therefore all Magistrates Subordinate be they either of the Superior Middle or Inferior Rank and à fortiori all other Subjects whatsoever are to be Obedient to their Soveraign Lord the King as Supream qui majus imo maximum imperium habet that hath the greater yea the greatest Command Power and Supream Soveraignty over all his Subjects in these his Majesties Realms and Dominions But as to this matter of the Kings Supremacy in Church and State Here I shall say no more but shall leave all to be further informed as to their bounden Duties therein in this ensuing Treatise wherein is more fully and at large discoursed thereof I remember in this ensuing Discourse also is said citing Sir Edward Coke in 7th Report 7. b. in Calvins Case that every Subject is bound to go with the King in his Wars infra extra Regnum but he is there pleased to add that the Subject is not compellable to go out of the Kingdom without Wages and citeth many Statutes as 8th Ed. the 3d. ca. 7th c. in defence of his opinion I do not presume to contradict him but am satisfied that he sheweth good warrant for what he there Writeth Moreover no considerable Foreign War upon any occasion whatsoever is ever so rashly undertaken but first the King useth to Summon his great Council the Parliament and therein is the Honour Interest and safety of the King and Kingdom considered and Parliamentary Supplies are granted for the defraying carrying on and answering the necessary charges of the War however Sir Ed. Coke denieth not but infra regnum within the Kingdom all are compellable and bound by duty of their Allegiance with or without Wages to serve the Lord the King in his Wars for then if ever that saying is true ad regem potestas omnium pertinet ad singulos proprietas the Power of all Men and all Things they have enjoy or possess belongeth to the King and yet every Mans single property remains and is continued but as may be seen in St. Jermin in his Doct. and Stud. 64. b. The Law doth assign divers conditions upon the Property and that to alter the Property without consent of the Owner if the conditions are not contrary to the Law of God or Reason And nothing is more agreeing with the Law of God nay our Obedience to the King as Supream is commanded in and by the Word of God and nothing can be more agreeable to Reason unless we will simply and contrary to all Reason admit of the Children to give Laws to their Father or Infants Males or Females to give Suck to their Mothers And it is a thing obvious and well known to every Man that knoweth any thing in our Law that every Mans Property and Estates whatsoever by Act in Law are Forfeit to the King for Treason or Fellony for Treason which all and every Rebellion is to the King for ever of what mean Lord soever they are holden for Fellony to the King for a Year Day and Wast and afterwards to the Lord of the Mannor of whom they are holden for ever In my ensuing Discourse to shew what care was made for the preservation of the Royal Rights Priviledges Jurisdictions and Prerogatives and Person of the King I make mention of the Stat. made in the 12. Car. 2di chap. 1. though in the first clause thereof by me mentioned is said That if any during the Life of the Kings Majesty c. I let this stand unaltered though the death of the Natural Body of the late King happened since because that clause thereof was made but in affirmance of the Common Law and the Stat. of 25. Ed. 3. ca. 2. as to the security of the Kings Person and the Government as appears in Mr. Stanford's Pleas of the Crown the first chap. as to the Second and Third clauses thereof the offenders against the Second clause are not only made uncapable of any imployment in Church or State but are also made lyable to such punishments as by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm are to be inflicted in such Cases As to the Third clause thereof every Person offending against the same shall incur the danger and penalty of Premunire mentioned in the Stat. of 16. Rich. 2. ca. 5. It appeareth by Bracton Libro 3tio Tract 2do cap. 15o. Fol. 134o. that Canutus the Danish King having settled himself in this Kingdom in Peace kept notwitstanding for the better continuance thereof great Armies within this Realm The Peers and Nobles distasting the Government by Arms and Armies odimus accipitrem quia semper vivit in armis Wisely and Politickly perswaded the King that they would provide for the safety of him and his People and yet his Armies carrying with them many inconveniencies should be withdrawn hereupon Canutus presently withdrew his Armies and within a while after lost his Crown and the same was restored to the right Owner I mention this matter and have it from Sir Ed. Coke who citeth Bracton for his voucher in his 7. rep 16. b. and withall I desire all to take notice that the Excise by Act of Parliament made in the first Parliament after his late Majesties most happy Restauration was continued to be paid to the late King during his Life Hearth Money was settled upon the late King his Heirs and Successors and was in recompence to the Crown for the dissolution of the Court of Wards and Liveries Customs upon Merchandizes imported and exported this little Book will tell you were all originally payable to the King his Heirs and Successors and that Subsedies granted by Parliament are but an improvement in the improvement of time and trade of the Ancient Customs payable to the Crown and were granted to the late King for his Life as they were from the time of King Henry the 7th granted to all his Royal Ancestors Kings and Queens of this Realm except his Sacred Majesties Royal Father King Charles the First Now mark what Sir Edward Coke more saith in his 7th rep 10th b. Haereditas Principis est successio in universum jus quod defunctus Antecessor suus habuit The Inheritance of the Prince is his Succession unto every Right that his deceased Ancestor had And suppose the Right Heir of the Crown had been attainted of Treason yet shall the Crown descend to him and eo instante without any reversal the attainder is utterly avoided as it fell out in the case of King Henry the 7th as may be seen in 1 H. 7th Fol. 4o. I have laid down before you these matters to let you know that
the Death of the Natural Body of the King is called Plow 234. a. the Demise of the King because that thereby he Demiseth the Realm to another and the Body Politick is transferred from one Body Natural immediately to another Body Natural that Right hath and that because our Realm doth not admit of any Interregnum Hence it was that in the year of our Lord 1660. at the very instant of his late Sacred Majesties most happy Restauration all Charters and Writings whatsoever were Written Reputed and Esteemed to be made in the Twelfth year of his Reign though that from 1648. to that time he was injuriously and wickedly Deprived Robbed and kept out from his Inheritance of all his Regal Rights of the Crown whereof he was the undoubted right Heir by the late Usurpers CHAP. X. Herein you have an Heir defined and divided and is shewed that the Right Heir of the Crown ought not nor can lawfully be Disinherited that a Bastard ought not nor can be Heir to the Crown and further something is said to the late Bill for the Exclusion of the late most Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now our Soveraign Lord King James the Second NOW Sir Edward Coke in the First part of his Institutes Fol. 7. b. saith that in the Legal understanding of the Common Law he is said to be haeres an Heir that is ex justis nuptiis procreatus for haeres legittimus est quem nuptiae demonstrant and is he to whom Lands Tenements or hereditaments by the Act of God and right of Blood do descend of some Estate of Inheritance for solus deus haeredem facere potest non homo God alone can make an Heir not Man And Heirs are either Lineal who ever shall first Inherit or Collateral who are to Inherit for want of Lineal Lineal descent is conveyed downwards in the right Line as from the Grandfather to the Father from the Father to the Son c. Collateral descent is derived from the side of the Lineal as Grandfathers Brother Fathers Brother c. Now in Mr. Swinb 5th part Fol. 289. he that hath Issue Natural but not Lawful is said to die without Issue and in such Case the Fathers Brother shall Inherit and not the Issue Natural of the Father for such Issue Natural in our Law is said to be nullius filius no Mans Son whence may be Inferred that no Mans Son shall Inherit no Mans Land much less a Crown And in the 23d chap. of Deuteron the 2d verse is said a Bastard shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord even to his Tenth generation shall he not enter into the Congregation of the Lord. And 10. H. 7. 18. it is said that Rex est persona mixta cum sacerdote quia tam Ecclesiasticam quam temporalem habet jurisdictionem The King is a person mixt or participating with the Priest in the Priesthood because he is said to have Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as well as Temporal And Sir John Fortescue Fol. 95. a. b. saith that it is convenient that Mans Law in the benefit of Succession should cut them short whom the Church judgeth unworthy to be received into Holy Orders yea whom Holy Scripture judgeth as touching their Birthright inferior to the Legitimate or Lawfully Begotten as we read in the 25th chap. of Gen. 5 and 6th verses Abraham gave all his Inheritance to his Son Isaac and to the Sons of his Concubines he gave Gifts And again in Mr. Swinb part 5th Fol. 17. is said A King may ex plenitudine potestatis make his unlawful Issue capable of whatsoever by Will deviseable he doth give or bequeath unto him But Mr. Plowden saith 247. a. b. It is an evil or unlawful thing to Disinherit the Right Heir And Mr. Swinb in his 2d part Fol. 118. saith that by the Civil Canon and Common Laws also of this Realm of England It is unlawful for a King to give away his Kingdom from his Lawful Heirs However we had lately a House of Commons or rather a Major part of them that had framed a Bill for the Excluding and Disabling the then most Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now King James the Second for ever from Possessing Having Holding Inheriting and Enjoying of the Imperial Crowns of this Realm and Kingdoms It was a Presumptuous Bill for the Excluding of the Presumptive Heir of these Crowns However it was refused by the Lords House and so could not be offered to his late Majesty for his Royal Assent to make it a Law Have me excused for saying it was a Presumptuous Bill Matters of that nature have been in times past esteemed so in 35o. Eliz. Mr. Peter Wentworth and Sir Henry Bromley delivered a Petition to the Lord Keeper desiring the Lords of the Upper House to be suppliants with them of the Lower House unto her Majesty for entailing the Succession of the Crown whereof a Bill was ready drawn the Queen was highly displeased herewith and charged her Council to call the Parties before them so Sir Thomas Heneage was sent to fetch them they were first commanded to forbear going to the House and not to go out of their several Lodgings afterwards they were called before the Lord Treasurer the Lord Buckhurst and Sir Thomas Heneage Wentworth was Committed to the Tower Bromley to the Fleet together with Mr. Stevens as also Mr. Welch Knight for Worcester-shire and yet it was then thought no Breach of Priviledge They that meddle with this matter of the Succession to the Crown do not only trench upon the Power and Priviledge of Almighty God who as the Prophet Daniel tells us in his 4th chap. is the most High that Ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will but also we have found by woful experience that they Praevaricate with the King himself for in the very word King is included all Succession so that where a Guift is made to the King a Fee-simple passeth without the words either of Heirs or Successors or both as may be seen C. Inst. 1. part 9. b. and in the same Book Fol. 22. b. is said a Man cannot have an Heir during his Life for non est haeres viventis And Mr. Plowden 45. b. saith no Heir hath Right or Title till after the Death of his Ancestor that hath the Inheritance be the Heir either Lineal or Collateral and not in his Life and this is because let all the provision imaginable by Man nay by a Parliament be appointed yet the same by the death of the Presumptive Heir or Heir apparent in the Life time of the Ancestor by the Act of God not otherwise may and can be disappointed And Anciently and now also as in C. 8. 28. it is held That Princeps coruscat radiis Regis censetur una persona cum Rege the Prince is enlightned and made splendid by the shining brightness of the King and is esteemed to be one and the same Person with the
those Loyal Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament in the 12th year of his late Sacred Majesty well knew that he must needs want the necessary supplies to maintain defend and uphold the Government as the late Vsurpers had to offend alter and destroy the same The Kings Charges are great as well for the security and safety of his own Royal Person as for the preservation of the publick Peace of his Realms and Dominions for the general good of the whole Community A few Yeomen of the Guard before the late times of Rebellion called Beef-eaters were not enough for to nor could rescue his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First from that impious Act execrable Murther and unparalel'd Treason against his Sacred Person and Life committed the 30th of January 1648. neither was nor could such a Guard have been sufficient to secure the late Vserpers so ridiculous was their Right to what they Vsurped from that time to the time of his late Majesties Restauration We see before how in Ancient times King Canutus was served so soon as he was I grant Politickly but how Wisely I know not perswaded to withdraw and disband his Guards it may be his Arms or Armies might be attended with many inconveniencies but the present Guards of our Soveraign Lord the King may be necessary to be continued if ever in this our present Age which hath been very changeable and one Plot or other hath been too much threatning alteration of the Government in Church and State and these Guards of his Sacred Majesty are not attended with any inconveniencies nor are chargeable to any but the King himself Sir Edw. Coke saith That the Kings Treasure is the sinews of War and the Honour and safety of the King in times of Peace that it is firmamentum belli ornamentum pacis It is so but I deny any War to be justifiable against the Lord our King within his Realms and Dominions and therefore every Rising and Force raised within the Realm is properly called a Rebellion improperly a War Nor do the Kings Laws Protect any Subject to trade get and gain a great Estate to the end to impower him to ascend the Throne and to stand in competition with or to distast the Person or the Government of our rightful Soveraign Lord the King but rather it is the bounden duty of all in general to Love Honour and obey their Lord the King and proportionably according to their Estates Qualities and Degrees to give Aides and Supplies to his necessities for the just defence and security of his Royal Person and the preservation of the Peace and quietness of him and all his People in all his Realms and Dominions We say quo ditior est quisque eo nobilior by so much as every Man is the more Rich by so much he is the more Noble by so much he is the better respected and the more Esteemed But I say Principem habere ditiorem confert ad dignitatem subditorum ditiores habere subditos confert ad nobillitatem principis to have the Richer Prince conduceth to the dignity of the Subjects and to have the Richer People conduceth to the dignity of the Prince Now all here last mentioned is to this end and purpose that all old Animosities Jealousies and Fears laid aside after his Gracious Majesty shall have convened his Parliament unto him be given quod defunctus Antecessor suus habuit what his deceased Ancestor had Believe the word and promise of his Gracious Soveraign he beginneth his Reign with Clemency and Mercy to all his Subjects and will certainly be so far from invading your Properties that having what was thought needful for his late Royal and Dear Brother nay I say the Richer you make him the more he will be respected at home the more safe he and all his People will be and the more he will certainly be feared and dreaded abroad But least with the Foolish Architect I make the Porch too big for the House I say no more only recommend to you the reading of this ensuing Treatise which was written for the confirmation only of the more knowing and Loyal and for the information of the more Ignorant and therefore less Loyal Subjects So I commit every Man to Gods protection and rest Every Mans well Wisher J. B. The Contents CHAP. I. SHeweth how things stood at the latter end of King James the First and something is said of the High Court of Parliament p. 1. CHAP. II. Sheweth how King Charles the First found things at his first coming to these Crowns and there is also said something as to the learning of the Customs the chief Maintenance of the Crown in his time p. 4. CHAP. III. Sheweth how the late Rebellion broke out and sâ—mething is said of the great Advantages the Rebels had with what Advantages only the Loyal Party had p. 12. CHAP. IV. Sheweth how the King the Loyal party and the Law suffered Violence p. 14. CHAP. V. Sheweth about what time the Kings Writs were first framed for the induction of the Commons into the Parliaments of England p. 16. CHAP. VI. Sheweth the difference between Parliamentary Priviledges and the Prerogatives of the King and sheweth how at the first Kingly Goverment was constituted by God himself and that by Gods Law also the Legislative Power and the Power of the Militia was given to the King and that in these highest Points of the Kings Prerogative the Law of England is agreeing with the Law of God and that God is vindex sui Ordinis the avenger of his own Ordinance p. 18. CHAP. VII Sheweth that vindictive Justice is also derived from God to the King as supream and that all Subordinate Officers derive their Jurisdiction from the King and through his Mediation from God also and that herein the Law of England is also agreeing with the Law of God p. 23. CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Subjects of England are bound by their bond of Allegiance to serve the King only in his Wars and that the King is the Fountain of Honour and by way of Induction to the same something is said of a Countee Palatine Davids worthies and good old Barzillai the Gileadite p. 25. CHAP. IX Herein you have a Subject defined you have Ligeance defined and is shewed that the King hath two Capacities the one Natural and the other Politick and that the Body Politick cannot be separated from the Body Natural that Ligeance is due to the Natural Body of the King that the Kingdom of England admits of no interregnum and that the Disherison of the Right Heir of a Kingdom is wont to be the beginning of Civil Wars p. 29. CHAP. X. Herein you have an Heir defined and divided and is shewed that the Right Heir of the Crown ought not nor can Lawfully be Disinherited that a Bastard ought not nor can be Heir to to the Crown and further something is said to the late Bill for the Exclusion of the late most
Illustrious Prince James Duke of York now our Soveraign Lord King James the Second p. 31. CHAP. XI Sheweth that Ignorance of the Law will excuse none and that therefore all Dissenters to the Government in Church and State are advised to Conformity p. 36. CHAP. XII Sheweth that all Subjects owe true Ligeance to their Soveraign though they never were or ever shall be Sworn to the same and is shewed the diversity between Enemies and Rebels then all are advised from Rebellion and is shewed that the King hath no Peer and therefore cannot be judged by his Subjects for his Actions p. 38. CHAP. XIII Sheweth that no Action lyeth against the King but in place thereof Petition must be made unto him and that due circumstances observed the Subject shall have his remedy against the King by way of Petition as readily as one Subject may recover against another Subject by way of Action in any of the Kings Courts for that all his Majesties Subordinate Officers are Sworn to do Justice between the King and his Subjects which if they do not they are Answerable for the injury not the King p. 41. CHAP. XIV Sheweth what inconveniencies happen in the Realm of France through Regal Government alone with the Commodities that proceed of the joynt Government Politick and Regal in the Realm of England And all the Community are herein disswaded by mutinous and Rebellious practises to Disinfranchise themselves p. 43. CHAP. XV. Sheweth how tender this Government Politick and Regal conjoyned is of the safety of the Kings Person and of all his Royal Rights and Prerogatives And that our Law doth not reject Women or Infants in the high point of the Descent of the Crown and that our King holdeth immediately of God to himself and acknowledgeth no Prince on Earth his Superior p. 46. CHAP. XVI Sheweth that all Vnlawful Assemblies or Meetings for the Plotting of harm to the King or the Alteration of the Government are Vnlawful and further sheweth what Misprision of Treason is and that it is the Duty of every good Subject presently to discover Treason p. 49. CHAP. XVII Sheweth that all Writs Process Executions and Commandments are and ought to be in the Kings Name only p. 51. CHAP. XVIII All Freeholders are advised as to what manner of Persons they are or ought to Choose for future Parliaments p. 52. CHAP. XIX Sheweth that the King of England is and always hath been Supream Head of the Church not the Pope p. 55. CHAP. XX. As to the Kings Supremacy is shewed the difference between the Primitive and more modern times herein the Author adviseth all to be at Vnity within themselves and since we are restored to our Ancient Government to give to our Soveraign Lord the King his Dues and desires all to joyn with him in the conclusive Prayer for the Morning Service in our Church Liturgy for the King p. 58. ADVICE TO THE Commons of England c. CHAP. I. Sheweth how things stood at the latter end of King James the First and something is said of the High Court of Parliament AS Noah rendred in the Word of God Gen. 6. and 9. ver to be a just and perfect Man and one that walked with God and that with his Family after the great deluge survived the whole World is fictitiously said to have had two Faces the one looking backward the other forward the one looking upon the World before the Flood the other on the World after the Flood so an old indigent Officer of the Kings Majesties Army King Charles the First of ever Blessed Memory may not improperly be said to have two Faces the one looking backward the other forward the one looking on this Kingdom of England before the late Civil War the other on the same since the said War Taking leave to look backward and to examine how and in what state of Affairs things stood in the latter end of the Reign of King James the First and how the said King Charles the First found things upon the demise of the Kingdom to him upon the death of the natural Body of His said Royal Ancestor I collect out of what I have read long since that about the Ninteenth year of the Reign of the said King James the First in a Speech to his House of Peers he expressed himself that he intended not to derogate from or Infringe any of the Liberties or Priveledges of their House but rather to fortifie and strengthen them for never any King had done so much for the Nobility of England as he had done and ever would be ready to do and whatever he should say or deliver to them as his thought yet when he had said what he thought he would afterwards freely leave the judgment thereof wholly to their House he knew they would do nothing but what the like had been done before and prayed them not to be jealous that he would abridg them of any thing that had been used for whatsoever Presidents in good times of Government could warrant he would allow acknowledging them to be the Supreme Court of Justice wherein he was ever present by Representation But his said Sacred Majesty then inferred that the Priviledges of the Commons which they claimed to be their natural Birthrights were but the favours of former Kings Against which the Commons then protested That the Liberties c. o◠Parliament are the Ancient and undoubted Birthright and Inheritance of the Subjects of England that the urgent Affairs concerning the Kings State and defence of the Realm and the Church of England and the Maintenance and making of Laws and redress of Mischiefs within the Realm are proper matter for Debate in Parliament and that this Debate ought to be free c. And no Member to be Imprisoned other than by censure of the House it self for debating Parliament business and if any Member is complained of for any thing done or said in Parliament the same is to be shewed the King by assent of the Commons before the King is to give credence to any private Information In Counsel afterwards this King expressed that he never meant to deny the House of Commons any Lawful Priviledge they had enjoyed by any Law or Statute by Custom or uncontrolled and lawful President In the Protestation some words viz. arduis Regni are cunningly mentioned but the word quibusdam which restraineth the generality to such particular Cases as his Majesty pleaseth to consult with them upon was purposely omitted Now as to what he is pleased to consult with them upon it is Customary for the King at the first opening of every Parliament in a short Speech to declare to the Three Estates the certain Occasions urged him to convene them on which or the particular Heads thereof the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England for the time being more Copiously enlargeth observing those measures the King his Master prescribeth him thô in fewer words for non-observance whereof and for
their omission of the word quibusdam in their said protestation the said Learned King James the First did actually take the said protestation out of the Journal Book propriâ suâ manu and on the sixth of January Dissolved the Parliament and some eminent Members of the Parliament were committed to the Tower and others to other Prisons and some sent into Ireland rather for Punishment than to Enquire as was pretended of sundry Matters concerning his Majesties Service There then appeared some Men of Antimonarchial Spirits and that insisted too highly upon Priviledges little regarding or rightly considering the measures chalked out to them by the Kings Writ by which they are summoned and impowered to sit in Parliament The Members before spoken of remembred not what the said King James the First in time before said the Parliament is a thing composed of a Head and a Body the Monarchy and the Three Estates it was first a Monarchy then after a Parliament that there were no Parliaments but in Monarchical Governments for in Venice the Netherlands and other free Governments there are none the Head is to call the Body together and for the Clergy the Bishops are the Chief for Shires their Knights for Towns and Cities their Burgesses and Citizens these are to treat of the certain difficult Matters and to Counsel their King with their best advice to make Laws for the Commonweale and the Lower House is also to Petition their King and acquaint him with their Grievances and not to meddle with their Kings Prerogative they are to offer supply for his necessity and he is to distribute in recompence thereof Justice and Mercy If this Head and Body Monarch and Three Estates be at unity within themselves they then make le treshault Court de Parliament the Supreme and in the superlative Degree the highest Court of Parliament Their Priviledges are so great that whilst that Court is at unity within it self I know not what it may not do and as directed by Mr. Plowden I shall not think much less speak any thing dishonourable of that Court but as in Arithmetick Three Cyphers with a Figure of One prefixed makes the compleat Number of one Thousand so take away the Number or rather the beginning of Number of One and the Three Cyphers that remain signifie nothing For when the Parliament is stiled the Supreme Court it must be understood properly of the King sitting in the House of Peers in Person and improperly of the Lords or Commons without him the Consultive Directive or Deliberative Power is in the House of Peers the Performing and Consenting Power is in the House of Commons but the Legislative Power lodgeth in the Person of the King yet altogether that is to say King Lords and Commons make Parliamentary binding Laws and Statutes 7. H. 7. 14. it is said that there are many Statutes indicted quod dominus Rex Statuit that our Lord the King hath ordained yet if they are in the Parliament Roul and have always been allowed as Statutes it shall be intended that they were made by Authority of Parliament But if a Statute be made thus the King with the Assent of the Lords or the King with the Assent of the Commons It hath been held from about the time of H. 3. to the time of the late Rebellion not to be good for all ought to Assent Coke 8.20 21. so that as Sir John Fortescue saith Fol. 40. a. b. Statutes are made in England not only by the Princes pleasure tho he saith not that in England they can be made without the Princes pleasure or Royal Assent but by and with the Assent of the whole Realm in Parliament assembled by their Representatives so that of necessity they must procure the Wealth of the People and in no wise tend to their hindrance which well they cannot do seeing they are ordained not by the device of one Man alone or of a Hundred wise Councelors only but of more than three Hundred chosen Men much agreeing with the number of the Ancient Senators of Rome and if it chance these Statutes being devised with such great Solemnity and Wit not to fall out so effectually as the intent of the makers did wish they may quickly be Reformed in a Subsequent Parliament but not without the Assent of all the Powers by whose Authority they were first passed and devised CHAP. II. Sheweth how King Charles the First found things at his first coming to these Crowns and there is also said something as to the learning of the Customs the chief Maintenance of the Crown in his time I Further observe that at the first coming to the Crown of the said King Charles the First his first Parliament in the first Year of his Reign or the Major part of them met not without being armed with some prejudice to his said Sacred Majesty King Charles the First for therein the Act for Tonnage and Poundage passed not which in the first Parliaments from the time of H. 7. to this time as it were accustomably and of course had been granted and passed to all his Royal Ancestors Kings and Queens of this Realm The sudden Dissolution of that Parliament preventing the Act of Subsedies he was forced to draw from his People by borrowing of Persons able to lend such competent Sums of Money as might discharge his present Occasions and to that purpose directed Letters to the Lord Lieutenant of Counties to return the Names of Persons able to lend omitting the Names of Noble Men and Clergy-men and the Names returned the Comptroler of the Kings Household by the Councils order issued forth Letters in the Kings Name under the Privy Seal to the several Persons returned for Loane of Money Though this was not the first time that ever such Loanes under the Privy Seal were had upon certain emergent Occasions and in cases of urgent necessity by failer of Parliamentary Supplies Yet in the Parliament next after in tertio Caroli primi many of the Members took the occasion to strive as to their insisting upon their Priviledges to outdo one another Then the modesty of the House of Commons which was very great in former times was by them forgotten and they began to arrogate more Power than what the Kings Writ gave them heretofore they evaded matters of State as much as they could and when their Advice hath been desired they have humbly desired not to be put to consult of things of which they had no knowledge and at other times they have humbly desired that the King would be advised in matters of War or Peace by the Lords being of more Experience than themselves in such Affairs and have used modestly to excuse themselves as too weak to consult in so weighty Matters But then several Speeches and Resolves made by divers Champions of the House of Commons who were no friends to Prerogative put the Lords and Commons then Assembled in Parliament upon their Petition concerning divers Rights and Liberties of
the Subjects to which the late Kings answer was That he willed that right be done according to the Laws and Customs of the Realm and that the Statutes be put in due Execution that his Subjects may have no cause to complain of any Wrong or Oppressions contrary to their just Rights and Liberties to the Preservation whereof he held himself in Conscience as well obliged as of his Prerogative But this answer not giving satisfaction he was again Petitioned unto that he would give a full and satisfactory answer to their Petion in full Parliament whereupon the late King in Person after their Petition was read by the Clerk of the Crown the Kings answer thereunto was read by the Clerk of the Parliament in these words Soit droit fait come est desire Let right be done as is desired And on the last day of the Session of that Parliament he declared his dislike of a Remonstrance given him by the House of Commons and since he was certainly informed of a second Remonstrance was preparing to take away his profit of Tonnage and Poundage alledging that he had given away his right thereunto by his Answer to their Petition that therefore he was forced to put an end to that Session before he meant it being unwilling to receive any more Remonstrances to which he must give a harsh answer And as for Tonnage and Poundage it was a thing he could not want and never meant by him to be granted As single Persons usually quarrel before they fight so now began there to be a kind of Logomachy a contention in Words Speeches Remonstrances and Declarations began to be cryed up and down the Streets all which in time after ushered in the late War It will be material for a plainer discovery of the injury intended to his said most excellent Majesty in the said second Remonstrance to take away his Profit of Tonnage and Poundage to speak something for the explanation of this learning of the Customs from our Books of Law from which it is observable That the Duties payable to the King out of Merchandizes exported or imported are of three kinds 1. Customs 2. Subsidies 3. Imposts or Impositions all which admit of these Definitions and Divisions 1. Customs are Duties certain and perpetual payable to the King as the Inheritance of his Crown for Merchandizes imported and exported to and from parts over and beyond the Seas from one Realm to another Realm These Duties called Customs are divided into three kinds 1. Magna antiqua Custuma 2. Parva nova Custuma 3. Prisage and Butlerage and in all these the Crown hath a certain and perpetual Inheritance 1. The great and ancient Custome is payable out of native or homebred Commodities of three sorts to wit Wool Woollfells and Hides and is in certainty 6 s. 8 d. for a Sack of Wool for 300. of Woolfells 6 s. 8 d. for a Last of Hides 13 s. 4. d. 1 f. And every Sack of Wool containeth 26 Stone and every Stone 14 Pounds And the Last of Hides is 20 Dickar and every Dickar is 10 Hides this is the Ancient Custom payable by every Merchant Denizon for the exportation of the Commodities aforesaid but the Merchant Strangers payed a third part more for remission of Prizes and other Priviledges to them granted by the Charter of 31. Ed. 1. Dyer 1 Eliz. 165. b. 1. 2. The new and pettit Custom is 3 d. of the Pound payable by Merchant Strangers only for all Commodities by them imported and exported as is expressed in the said Charter of 31. Ed. 1. 3. Prisage is a Custom taken of Wines of all sorts and is in certainty 2 Tuns of Wine out of every Ship laden with 20 Tun or more the one Tun to be taken before the Mast of the Ship and the other behind the Mast and because that this Custom is part of the Merchandizes imported and taken in specie it is called Prizeage and this Custom of Prizeage was payable in England by all Merchants Denizons and Aliens before the said Charter of 31 Ed. 1. for which the King remitted to all Merchant strangers all Prizes And in the same Charter it is expressed that in consideration thereof the Merchants strangers had granted to pay to the King and his Heirs by name of Custom 2 s. of every Tun of Wine that they shall bring or cause to be brought into the Kingdom c. which Custom of 2 s. of the Tun is now in England called Buttlerage and payable there by all Merchant strangers See the Stat. de Extra ad Scaccar 15th Ed. 2. And this is the nature of these several Duties for the Original of these Customs 1. The said Ancient and grand Custom is parcel of the Ancient Inheritance of the Crown and as Ancient as the Crown it self Inhaeret sceptro and is due of common Right and by Prescription and not by grant or benevolence of Merchants or by Act of Parliament Dyer 1. Eliz. 165. b. But because that every thing that is due of common Right and by Prescription ought to have a reasonable cause of beginning it is to be Noted and Observed that this Custom was payed to the Crown for four principle Causes and Reasons 1. For the better knowledg of such as depart the Realm and of what Commodities are carried out of the Realm See Dyer 165. b. and the Statute of 18. Ed. 3. ca. 3. 2. For the Interest that the King hath in the Sea and in the Braches and Arms of it 22. Ass Pl. 93.15 Eliz. Dyer 326. b. the Sea is of the Ligeance of the King as of his Crown and is his proper Inheritance Davyes rep 56. a. 3. Because the King is Guardian of all the Ports and Havens of the Realm which are Ostia or januae Regni and the King is Custos totius Regni 4. For Waftage and Protection of Merchants upon the Sea against the Enemies of the Realm and against Pirates who are the common Enemies of all Nations 2. The Pettit and new Custom payable by Merchant strangers only had its beginning in the time of Ed. 1. for before this time the duties payable by Merchant strangers for all Commodities imported except Wines and for all native Commodities exported except the said staple wares of Wool Woolfells and Hides were uncertain For the King by his Prerogative took to his use and at his own price so many and such portions of their Merchandizes as he had need of by name of Prizes which were always uncertain But King Ed. 1. by his said Charter dated the 1 of Febr. in the 31 year of his Reign in favour of Merchant strangers and to invite and occasion their Commerce and Trade remitted to them all Prizes and granted to them divers other Priviledges In consideration whereof all and singular the said Merchant strangers for themselves and others of the same parts with them and every of them beyond the Seas unanimously agreed to pay to the King and
his Heirs 3 d. of the Pound for all Merchandizes imported or exported by them as is expressed more particularly in the said Charter which is to be found in the Office of the Chief Remembrancer in the Exchequer And this Charter of Ed. 1. in all Points was ratified and confirmed by Act of Parliament 27 Ed. 3. ca. 26 and this is the Original of Pettit Custom so called because this Pettit Custom for Forreign Commodities was accepted by the King when but a small quantity of such Forreign Wares was imported into England for in the time of Ed. 1. and after that in the time of Ed. 3. the native Commodities of England exported were of greater quantity and value by two parts of three at the least than the Forreign Merchandizes imported but now it is quite contrary for at this day the Outgate is less than the Ingate the Foreign Mercery and Grocery Wares c. imported are of far greater quantity and value than our Native Commodities exported 3. Prisage of Wines is also a Custom due by Prescription and parcel of the Ancient Inheritance of the Crown and that the King hath Inheritance in the Prisage of Wines appeareth by the Charters granted to the Citizens of London and to those of the cinque Ports to be discharged of Prisage in all Ports for ever See the Stat. of 1 H. 8. ca. 5. And the Duke of Ormond hath an Estate of Inheritance in the Prisage of Wines in the Kingdom of Ireland by grant of the King and this is the Nature Original and Difference of the Ancient duties payable for Merchandizes which are properly called Customs and are the Inheritance of the Crown 2. Subsedies also are duties payable for Merchandizes exported and imported but are granted by Act of Parliament Dyer 31 H. 8. 43. b. 1. Mar. Dyer 92. a. and are of three divers sorts according to the diversity of the Commodities and are called 1st Aides or Subsedies being granted out of the said Native Commodities to wit Wool Woolfells and Hides over and above the Ancient Custom aforesaid 2dly Tonnage granted out of Wines of all sorts over and above the Prizage and the said Custom of 2 s. on the Tun granted by the Charter of 31. Ed. 1. now called Butlerage 3dly Poundage granted out of all Commodities imported and exported except Wines and the staple Commodities aforesaid and payable by the Merchant strangers over and above the said Pettit Custom 1. These Aides or Subsedies were not of a certain quantity or continuance till to the time of Ed. 6. to which King in the first Parliament of his Reign was granted a Subsedy of 33 s. 4 d. of every Sack of Wool 33 s. 4 d. for every 240. Woolfells and 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. for every Last of Hides exported by Denizons for every Sack of Wooll exported by Aliens 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. and for every 240. Woolfells 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. and for every Last of Hides 3 l. 13 s. 4 d. And this Subsedy was granted to continue during the Life Natural of that King And after his demise or death all Kings and Queens except King Charles the First have had the like grants for Life 2. Tonnage which is a Subsedy out of Wines of all sorts was first granted by Parliament 5th R. 2. where 2 s. of every Tun of Wine to be imported into England was granted to the King for Two years and that was for Maintenance of a Fleet upon the Sea to suppress the Pyrates But after by Parliament 3. Ed. 4. Tonnage was granted to this King for Term of his Natural Life in this manner viz. 3 s. for every Tun of Wines and besides those 3 s. for every Tun of Sweet Wines 3 s. more see the Statute of 12th Ed. 4. ca. 3. And this Subsedy was after granted to H. 8. and Ed. 6th with this Addition in time of Ed. 6th that of every Awm of Rhenish Wine also 1 s. shall be paid and after the time of Ed. 6th this Subsedy of Tonnage was as of course Granted in England by several Acts of Parliament to Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and King James during their several Natural Lives 3. Poundage which is a Subsedy granted out of all Commodities exported and imported except Wines and the Ancient staple Wares as above and payable by all Merchants Denizons and Aliens is the 20th part of the value of Merchandizes to wit 12 d. of the Pound and was first Granted by Parliament in England 31. H. 6. during the Life of this King which Grant was immediately resumed But after that 3. Ed. 4. this Subsedy of Poundage was granted to the said King See the Stat. 12. Ed. 4. ca. 3. and after the same Subsedy was Granted to H. 8. during his Life and the same Grant was renewed to Ed. 6. Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and King James during their several Lives by several Acts of Parliament 3ly Imposts or Impositions are the Third kind of Duties payable for Merchandizes and are sometimes Rated and assessed by Parliament and then are in nature of Subsedies and are sometimes imposed by Prerogative Royal to support the necessary Charges of the Crown and then Nihil magis justum est quam quod necessarium est nothing is more just than what is necessary as an Ancient Senator of Rome was wont to say The Impost upon Wines in Ireland was first assessed by Parliaments and limitted to be paid for a certain time of Years which being expired that is now continued there by Prerogative of the King Davyes rep 12. a. It is to be observed from what hath been said that Anciently the Outgate was more than the Ingate and that since or of latter times it is otherwise that the Merchandizes imported do far surmount the value and quantity of our Native Commodities exported which caused the aforesaid Pettit and new Custom to exceed the said grand and Ancient Custom for by continuance of time all the Kings Dominions were much better Peopled and are more Populous at home and in all his Foreign Plantations of latter time acquired and by reason thereof our Lands and the Annual Rents thereof within the Kings said Dominions are much improved and likewise trade by Sea is also much improved as is easily made manifest by the great disproportion of the Rent reserved to be paid for the Customs by the Farmours thereof when last let to Farms and the Rent paid for the same to go no higher in the times of King James and Queen Elizabeth and that wise King Ed. 1. by his said Charter remitted Prizes and by Priviledges Granted to Aliens encouraged them to the more free Trade and Commerce and by consequence there was in after Ages the greater reason for an improvement of the Customs by the best usual and accustomed way of Granting Subsedies for the Lives of our Kings Successively one after another by Act of Parliament Seeing Subsedies themselves are no more than an Improvement in the Improvement of time of
the Ancient Customs of common Right and by Prescription belonging to the King his Heirs and Successors and that we may Collect from what is aforesaid that if not so granted they may and have been imposed by Prerogative Royal for the Four principal Causes and Reasons aforesaid and to support the necessary Charges of the Crown The Words of the King when he Passeth the Bill of Subsedies are observable which are these Le Roy remercye ses Loyal Subjects accept lour benevolence aussi ainsy le veult The King thanks his Loyal Subjects accepts of their good will and also will have it which last Words make the Act of Subsedy a Law and so binds every Man to the payment of it insomuch that the Two Houses of Parliament joint or separate cannot impose a Penny upon the Subject without the King nor can the Freeholders whom they serve invest any such power in them But for the Soveraign Prince himself there are many Examples Old and New how he hath not only raised pecuniary summs in specie but layed Impositions upon Commodities by meer Royal Authority I shall instance only in Two viz. in Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the first laid an Imposition upon Cloth and Gascon Wines the other upon sweet Wines and Alloms without Parliament Therefore those Parliaments of the First and Third years of King Charles the First and the Members of the same that so highly insisted upon their Priviledges their meun and tuum Liberties c. and that would have been unwilling to have abated one of their Tennants of any their Manours or Farms a small matter of their Rents though it may be credited for truth that Twenty Acres of their Lands then let at 20 l. per ann might in the time of Ed. 1. be let for 20 s. per ann were very injurious to the said King in that they contrary to their bounden Duty neglected to Grant to him the usually Granted and Passed Act for Tonnage and Poundage being the chief Maintenance of the Crown in his time The first Parliaments of King Charles the First being Dissolved in a short time after by Order of the said King and Council the then Farmors of the Customs were Commanded to receive the Customs and all Duties payable for the same as in the time of his Royal Ancestor King James the First and the first Seventeen years of the said King Charles the First were times of great Plenty then Trade was great and good and the Farmors of the Customs did very much augment their Estates insomuch that none of them did refuse to Obey the said Order But in time next subsequent they were all great Sufferers for the fatal Parliament called in Noverber 1640. wanted Money for the work they had cut out and after they had Sat a few Months they questioned the Farmers for Intermeddling Farming and Receiving the Customs and Imposts contrary as they said to Law contrary to a Declaration and Vote 3o. Car. and contrary to the Liberty of the Subject they being Threatned and Timorous thô there was no Law to prohibit the Receipt for Farming of the Customs nor any Vote Passed 3o. Car. primi against it suddenly submitted to a Composition of 165000 l. and whilst or a small time before these things were agitating the Farmers contracted for a new Farm of the Customs with his late Majesty for Four years from Christmass 1640. and Lady day 1641. upon the which Farm and the Assignments of the Rents for the same the Sum of 200000 l. was Advanced for his said Majesty King Charles the First by which the said King had made some provisions for War which the said pretended Parliament recovered and made great use of against himself and the next day the said Composition was reported the Contract for the new Farm was Voted Void the Assignments upon the Rents were made Null instead of Farmers many of them were made Commissioners and the said Parliament resolving not to spare this Revenue Commanded them non obstante the Law lately passed by themselves to run into the same Crime for which they had lately Punished them to receive the Customs which with the said Composition paid by them in the space of Two Months was made use of to raise and pay the pretended Parliaments Army which said great Sums of 165000 l. and 200000 l. which the said Farmers may be said to have been Fined and to have advanced for his said Majesty King Charles the First reduced all of them to low Estates and some of them were Prisoners for near Twenty years before his late Majesties most happy Restauration who afterwards in the 16th year of his Reign was graciously pleased to take into Consideration the great sufferings of the said old unhappy Farmers of his late Majesties Customs and out of his special Grace and Favour by his Letters Pattents under the Great Seal of England and by Privy Seal and Tallyes thereupon Struck Leavyed and Allowed of Granted unto Sir John Jacob and other the said Farmers 200000 l. for the discharging and satisfying of the rest and residue of the great Debts by them Contracted for his said Majesty King Charles the First and for their reimbursement and satisfaction of such Sums of Money as they had lent to or paid for the said King Charles the First to be Received and Deducted by them out of their Rents payable to his late Majesty out of the Farm of the Customs then or lately before made to Sir John Wolstenholme Sir John Jacob Sir Nicholas Crisp and Sir John Shaw in Five years being the Term of their then said Farm which they or some others of them or on their behalfs accordingly Received and Disposed of in payment and satissatisfaction of the said Debts which if his late Majesty had not been pleased to do the said Farmers and many of their Creditors also had been utterly Ruined and undone CHAP. III. Sheweth how the late Rebellion broke out and something is said of the great Advantages the Rebels had with what Advantages only the Loyal Party had NOW in time King Charles the First had lately left White-hall because of the rude Insolency of Tumults backed and abetted by those intended nothing less than confusion upon Church and State nothing in the World had more of horrour than these Tumults Enormous and Detestable were their outrages and no means could take place for their Suppression so that to Redeem his Royal Person and Conscience from violence the said King withdrew himself hoping thereby to give time both for the Ebbing of their Tumultuous fury and others their Abettors regaining some degrees of modesty and more sober sense But it is a thing Common to Men High and Low Noble and Ignoble of all Qualities and Conditions whatsoever that when their Adversities approach they lose chiefly that Reason and Wisdom with the which they might have hindred or avoided the ills that happen and it is common to Men and Kingdoms that draw towards their destinies that when
their ill Fortunes comes it blinds their Eyes that they cannot discern it and binds their Hands that they cannot help it making them Instruments against themselves in the Execution of their mishaps His said Majesty King Charles the First was brought into great Streights he meaned well was much pleased in his Parliament and thinking to have preserved the Love of his Subjects thereby he was not so Tenatious as he ought to have been but cared not to lessen himself in the greatest points of his wonted Prerogative thinking he might have been no looser but that he might have gained a Recompence in his Subjects Affections he never bare any touch of Conscience â—ith greater regret than that Matter related to the Death of that Noble Learned and Loyal Earl of Strafford he passed the Bill for the Triennial Parliaments and withal settled that Parliament during the pleasure of the Two Houses then Mr. Lowry one of the Burgesses for the Town of Cambridge writ word to his Wife for Newse that the King had Passed an Act for a Triennial Parliament every year the Fishmonger spake truer than he was aware of for such construction was made thereof by those who intended Ingratefully and Wickedly to take Advantage of his large Concessions that the one with the other amounted to as much as to the Perpetuating that Parliament Whereas he hoped by this Act of high Confidence to have shut out and locked the Door upon all present Jealousies and future Mistakes they intended no less than to shut their King out of Doors and by Colour thereof to Rob and Denude him of all his Royal Power both in Church and State Then the Press and the Pulpit joyned to make the King Odious and all Artifices were used to raise Money for the Raising and Maintenance of their Armies After a Royal Subsedy of 400000 l. they next had Poll Money then after they hedged in an incredible Sum by way of free Loanes and Contributions upon the Publick Faith then the Irish Adventures for the Sale of Lands and the general Collection for the relief of the Distressed Protestants in Iroland brought in vast Sums of Money whereof the Tweentieth part was not imployed to the right use then they had an Imposition upon a Weekly Meal and a Loane from the City after the rate of five Subsedies besides the Five and twentieth part then there was an Assessment for bringing in the Scots besides several Weekly Assessments for their several Armies then they had the benefit of Kings Queens and Princes Revenues Sequestrations and Plunder by Committees and Compositions with Delinquents as they were pleased to call them did arise to such Sums as passed all understanding besides the Excise Fortification Money and vast Sums made by Sale of Bishops Deans and Chapters Lands to be short they Assumed to themselves all the Regalias of the Crown they Seized upon Sword Great Seal and Soveraignty upon the Customs the Militia and all the marks of Majesty nay they did Arrogate to themselves the Legislative and Supreme Power and they wanted not Commissioners of the Great Seal Judges Justices Publicans and all Officers for all Offices whatsoever That for the greatest part of them forsook their good Old Master as Demas is said to have forsaken St. Paul to embrace this present World They wanted not other mighty Advantages for they had all the Tenable places and Towns of Strength both by Sea and Land they had all the Navy Royal they had the Tower of London with all the Ammunition and Arms of the Crown and one Advantage they had exceeded all the rest they had the City of London which may be called the great Magazine of Men and Money where there is a ready supply of all things that may Cloath and make Men Gay and Gallant to put them in Heart and Resolution We with the said King had only this Advantage that we had the Word of God and the Laws of the Land for our Justification together with the great Tye and Bond of our Allegiance all which required our Obedience to the said Kings just Commands but to none other without him or against him in the Point of raising Arms Virgilii Aeneid jamque faces saxa volant furor Arma ministrat CHAP. IV. Sheweth how the King the Loyal Party and the Law suffered Violence GRievous were the various Effects and sad Events of the late Civil War Force was repelled with Force and the Publick Polemical Sword aggregate and made up of all the Ammunition and Arms and Military Strength of the Three Kingdoms the just Indubitable and Inalienable Right of King Charles the First in all his Dominions by vertue of his Royal Seigniory was put into the Hands of the People for the Protection and Security of those then at Westminster from the Law who against Law Ruled not but rather Overruled their fellow Subjects at and after their own Wills and Pleasures and did cut large Thongs out of others Hides to alter the Government in Church and State for no other reason but that they themselves could not be safe under the same they could not be Happy unless King Charles the First were Miserable they could not enjoy their Lives Peace and Liberties but they must first destroy his Friends and afterwards in cold Blood Barbarously Murder him Imparallel'd and unheard of Cruelty Monstrous Impudence and Impiety Killed their King nay their Good and Godly King It went not against their Consciences because he made a Conscience to Deny them what according to good Conscience he could not Grant them I remember in time before the late War above Forty years since in an old Obsolete Author I met with this passage Certant haec duo plerumque invicem inter se Rex populus quorum si vicerit unus personam induit tyranni si vincitur tot millia tyrannorum quot capitum nascuntur Crudelior autem semper est tyrannis multorum quam unius which Englished is That these Two that is to say the King and People do oftentimes Struggle are in Conflict and Strife between themselves of whom if one that is to say the King do overcome then he becomes a Tyrant but if he be overcome thence proceed rise up or take beginning to be so many Thousand Tyrants as there be Heads of Rebels or of single Individual Persons engaged in the Rebellion and concludes that more Cruel is the Tyranny of many than of one The whole truth of the Conclusion was lately seen in the Tyranny of a company of Men sitting at Westminster called Lords and Commons who Arbitrarily Reigned and Ruled over their fellow Subjects according to their Wills and Pleasures as if the Issue of the Fightings of their Armies had been centured only in the making of the People of the Kingdom Slaves Then followed the contempt and Oppression of the Clergy and sacrilegious Invasions were made upon the Rights of the Church and Men of the Church injurious Diminutions and Persecutions of the Loyal
Laiety by Sequestrations Decimations and otherwise ensued whereof we of the Loyal Party were not only Witnesses and Spectators but therein we were fellow Sufferers Now the Writs of the King suffered Violence of which Mr. Fitzherbert in his Preface to his Natura Brevium saith that they be the Foundations whereupon the whole Law doth depend of the which Writs and Processes as be appointed in the Law it is said in St. Jermin in his Book Written by way of Dialogue called Doctor and Student Fol. 64. a. That the King as Sovereign and Fountain of the Law is bounden of Justice to Grant them to every Person that will Complain be his Surmise true or false Yet in stead of Carolus Secundus Dei Gratia c. Vicecomiti c. was used The Keepers of the Liberties of England by Authority of Parliament To the Sheriff of c. But those who had built this Babel by their Divisions and Jealousies one had of another were in time brought to strange Confusions The Writs were to run no longer in the Name of the Keepers c. But all Writs and Process were issued forth in the Name of Oliver their General The Independent though the Younger now prevailed against the Presbyterian the Elder Brother whath the Elder had hunted after the Younger now catched for himself And now also it may be observed that a House of Commons singly Assumed to themselves the Title of and were stiled the Parliament of England though his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First had before truely told them in his Speech to them 3. Car. that none of the Houses of Parliament joint or Separate had any Power either to Make or Declare a Law without his Consent CHAP. V. Sheweth about what time the Kings Writs were first framed for the induction of the Commons into the Parliaments of England FRom the Norman Conquest untill some time in the Reign of H. 3. Parliaments were holden by the King and his Barons Spiritual and Temporal in whose days it is thought the Kings Writ for Election of Kinghts c. was first framed and that the Commons were reduced to a House by the Advice of the Bishops to the King in the heat of the Barons Wars It was thought expedient then to frame a Writ for their Induction that they might allay and lessen the Pride and Power of the Peers who had waged War so many years against the Crown However least they should arrogate too much Authority to themselves they never could so much as exhibit an Oath nor impose a Fine or inflict Punishment upon any but their own Members until the time of the late Usurpers when they were grown to that height of Impudence that the King himself and Lords Spiritual and Temporal were Excluded by them of whom as well before the Norman Conquest as since the Ancient Parliaments of England consisted only without them For it is true the People were wrought under by the Sword of the first William and his followers to a Subjected Vassallage Division and Power had Mastered them none of their old Nobility and Heads were left either of Credit or Fortunes what he Detained not in Providence as the Demeans of the Crown or reserved in Piety as for the Maintenance of the Church he parted and divided amongst those Strangers that Sailed along with him in the same Bark of his Adventure leaving the Natives for the most part as may be seen by his Survey called Domesday Book now in the Exchequor in no better a condition than Villenage To supply his Occasions of Men Money or Provisions he Ordered that all those who injoyed any fruit of his Conquest should hold their Lands proportionably by so many Knights Fees of the Crown And permitted them to Enfeofle their followers with such parts as they pleased of their own Portions which to ease their charge they did in his and his Sons time This course provided him the Body of his War the Money and Provision was by Hidage Assessed on the Common People at and with the consent of their Lords who held in all their Seigniories such right of Royalty that to their vassals as Paris saith they were quot domini tot Tyranni and in time provided to the Kings so great a Curb and restraint of Power that nothing fell into the Care of Majesty after more than to retrench the force of Aristocracy that was like in time to strangle the Monarchy Though others foresaw the Mischief betimes yet none attempted the remedy until King John whose overhasty undertakings brought in the mentioned broiles of the Barrons Wars there needed not before this Care to Advise with the Commons in any Parliamentary or Publick Assemblies when every Man in England by Tenure held himself to his great Lords Will whose Presence was ever required in their Parliaments and in whose Assents his dependant Tennants consent was ever included from what is aforesaid the Commons of England or rather they whom the Commons shall Elect to future Parliaments and are properly said in Parliament Assembled to be the Representatives of all the Commons of England may take notice that Anciently was in use only one Writ of Summons to Parliament by which the King Summoned the Lords Spiritual and Temporal separately to come to his Parliament at a certain Day and Place appointed in the Kings Writ And of latter times with the reasons for the one and the other there hath been an Additional Writ framed which is sent to every Sheriff of England and Wales for Election of Kinghts c. for the Parliament in the Kings Name and when sent it is called the Kings Writ and is directed to his Subordinate Officer the Kings Sheriff For the truth is the King by his Writ giveth the very Essence and Form to the Parliament which is to be Summoned when he pleaseth to be Adjourned Prorogued and Dissolved when he pleaseth And in all good times of Government before and since the Conquest it was ever in the Kings power and was and is his Priviledge Royal Prerogative and Regality to Grant or Deny such Petitions as he pleaseth and all Acts of former times and some of latter time were and are in form of Petitions CHAP. VI. Sheweth the difference between Parliamentary Priviledges and the Priviledges of the King and sheweth how at first Kingly Government was constituted by God himself and that by Gods Law also the Legislative Power and the Power of the Militia was given to the King and that in these highest Points of the Kings Prerogative the Law of England is agreeing with the Law of God and that God is vindex sui Ordinis the avenger of his own Ordinance THE Speaker uf the House of Commons on the first day of every Parliament is usually Presented to the King and in the Name of the Commons of England he humbly Prays his Majesty would be Graciously Pleased to Grant them their Liberties and Priviledges which is a strong Argument that their Priviledge their
of this damned Thesis or Position then we are all presently fellows at Footbal and Over Milk will presently be as good as Swasey Cream and whatever gets uppermost will be King In the time of Edward the Second about 400 years since this separation of Soveraignty from the person of the King and manner of abstracting the Person of the King from his Office was found out by the Two Spencers the Father and the Son who to cover their Treason invented this damnable opinion that Homage and the Oath of Allegiance were rather by reason of the Kings Crown than his Person upon which as may be seen in C. 7. 11. a. b. were inferred these Execrable Consequences First If the King did not demean or behave himself well his Liege People were bound by their Oath to remove him Secondly Because the King might not be reformed by suit of Law that ought to be done by asperty Thirdly That his Liege People are bound to govern in aid and default of him All which detestable opinions were then condemned in two Parliaments the first was by an Act made in the time of Edward the Second called Exilium Hugonis De Spencer the Banishment of Hugh Spencer the last was by an Act made in the First year of Edward the Third the first Chapter Let all take notice that by the Laws of our Realm of England all Power Soveraignty Homage Allegiance and Subjection is commanded and required as properly due to the Natural Body of the King And that therefore it was said by Glanvil who was Chief Justice in the time of Henry the Second Dominus Rex nullum habere potest parem multo minus Superiorem Our Lord the King can have no Peer or Equal much less can he have any Superior within his Realms or Dominions And Bracton qui sub Henrico tertio viginti annos summi Justiciarii munere defunctus est that for Twenty years together was Chief Justice in the time of Henry the Third saith that Omnis quidem sub Rege ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub deo every Man is under the King and he is under none but God alone And Non potest Regi necessitatem aliquis imponere quod injuriam suam corrigat amendet cum superiorem non habeat nisi deum satis erit ei ad paenam quod Dominum expectet ultorem nor saith he can any Man put a necessity upon the King to correct and amend his injury unless he will himself since he hath no Superior but God it will be sufficient punishment for him to expect the Lord for his Avenger neither hath he hereby other Priviledge than what by God Himself is given to Kingly Majesty as may be seen in the 8th chap. of Ecclesiastes 2 3 and 4th verses I Counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God be not hasty to go out of his sight stand not in an Evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him and where the word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What doest thou Yet I observe that once heretofore the Miter may be said Sawcily to have Oretopped the Crown in the 20th year of King Henry the Eight we read in Mr. Howe 's Chronicle Fol. 541. that the Kings Marriage came on to be argued in open Court at the Black Fryers then the King and Queen were Summoned and Ascited to appear but there may be seen what the opinion of wise Men in those times was thereupon which was that it was a strange sight and the newest device that ever was read or heard of before in any Region Story or Chronicle a King and Queen to be constrained by Process compellatory to appear in any Court as Common Persons within their own Realm and Dominion to abide the Judgments and Decrees of their own Subjects being the Royal Diadem and Prerogative thereof However this was the less wonder then because the Pope did then send as Legate into England the Cardinal Campejus to debate the Controversie delegated to him and the Cardinal of York for the publication of the invalidity of the Kings first Marriage at the instance of the King himself as may be seen in Guicciardin's History Fol. 756. But as we may see in Stanf. 153. a. The King of England hath no Peer in his own Land Realm or Dominion and therefore he cannot be Judged or called to account for his Actions by his People Nay it may be there seen that Parliaments are Assembled for the profit of the King and his People and the People are Summoned thither by the Kings Writ ad consulendum c non ad consedendum solum multo minus ad supersedendum to consult of the certain difficult matters c. not only there to Sit together much less to Sit upon their Lord the King in Judgment CHAP. XIII Sheweth that no Action lyeth against the King but in place thereof Petition must be made unto him and that due circumstances observed the Subject shall have his remedy against the King by way of Petition as readily as one Subjct may recover against another Subject by way of Action in any of the Kings Courts for that all his Majesties Subordinate Officers are Sworn to do Justice between the King and his Subjects which if they do not they are Answerable for the injury not the King IT is said C. 11. 72. a. b. That the King being the Lieutenant of God solum hoc non potest facere quod non potest injuste facere which is agreeable to a Maxim in our Law that the King can do no wrong therefore as we may see in Mr. Stanford prer 72. b. In place of Action against the King for the dignity of his Person Petition must be made unto him in the Chancery or in Parliament for no Action did ever lie against the King at the Common Law but the party is driven to his Petition which is all the remedy the Subject hath when the King Seizeth his Lands or taketh away his Goods from him having no Title by order of his Laws so to do And this Petition is called a Petition of Right because of the Right the Subject hath against the King by the Order of his Laws to the thing he sueth for by Petition And it may be sued as well in the Parliament as out of the Parliament and if it be sued in the Parliament then it may be Enacted and passed as an Act of Parliament or else to be Ordered in like manner as a Petition that is sued out of Parliament And suit by Petition can be to none other than only to the King for no such suit shall be made to the Queen the Consort of the King or to the Lord Prince for these Personages have no such Prerogative Further plainly shewing and declaring the manner of suing by Petition and where and in what cases it lyeth and where not and that due circumstances observed by him
kind of pilling And the King there suffereth no Man to Eat Salt within his Kingdom except he buyeth it of the King at such price as it pleaseth him to Assess and if any poor Man had rather Eat his Meat fresh than to buy Salt so excessively dear he is immediately compelled to buy so much of the Kings Salt at the Kings price as shall suffice so many Persons as he keepeth in his House Moreover all the Inhabitants of that Realm give yearly to the King the Fourth part of all the Wines that their Grounds beareth and every Vintner the Fourth Penny of the price of the Wines that he selleth And besides all this every Village and Borough payeth yearly to the King great Summs of Money assessed upon them for the Wages of Men at Arms so that the charges of the Kings Army which is ever very great is maintained by the poor People of the Villages Boroughs and Towns of the Realm and these things not considered other exceeding great Tallages are yearly Assessed upon every Village of the same Realm to the Kings use whereof they are no year released And the People being with these and divers other calamities plagued and oppressed do live in great misery and thraldom for there the Princes pleasure standeth in force of a Law so that by reason thereof their Kings at their pleasure change Laws make new Laws Execute Punishments burden their Subjects with charges and also when and as themselves list they do determine controversies of Suitors as pleaseth them I have shewed you here out of Sir John Fortescues Book De laudibus legum Angliae For every sober Man would judge me or any other a Mad-man that should Write of Matters of this nature without good and warrantable Authority for that is Written what inconveniencies happen in the Realm of France through Regal Government alone with the Commodities that proceed of the joynt Government Politick and Regal in the Realm of England that being hence instructed with the experience of both Laws we may the better by their effects Judg whether of them we ought rather to choose for that Opposita juxta se posita magis elucescunt contraries laid together do the more perfectly appear It is and hath been held to be one of the principles of Policy in France to keep the Peasan which is the Gross of the People still indigent and poor because they are of such a volatil instable Nature that if they were Rich and Fed high Wealth and Wantonness would make them ever and anon to be kicking against Government and crying out for a change The Old Cavalier now again takes leave to look Backward and to put this Question to all the Commons of England for it is only to them he directs this his Discourse he may be taken notice of not to have presumed to take upon him to Advise the King or any of his several Counsels whether all the People of England comprehended under the notion of the Community or stile or name of the Commons of England have not been for Threescore years last past and upward of as volatil and instable a Nature as ever the Gross of the People of France are were or possibly could or can be I must Answer in the Affirmative that the People of England in this latter Age have been very changeable always endeavouring to promote alteration in Church and State and so in the late times of Rebellion they changed Peace for War and consequently all the miseries and sad effects thereof were laid open to their Eyes their Goods were spoiled their Children Slain their Wives and Daughters Ravished their Cattle driven away and themselves made miserable spectators to behold their own unhappiness and though what by destiny was decreed Man could not prevent his late Sacred Majesty was Miraculously restored to his Realms and Dominions yet still by reason of variety of Opinions lodging in various particular individual Persons Breasts differing amongst themselves the subvertion and alteration of the Government none will deny hath again been menaced and threatned and a person Good-enough for so Wicked an undertaking was imployed with Letters Legations and Messages to invite and desire the Aid and Assistance of our dear Brethren the Scots Ayming again to have subdued all to their own Will and Power under the Old disguises of Holy Combinations in the same manner as heretofore by Solemn League and Covenant or otherwise howsoever But my good Brethren of all the Community within all his Majesties Realms and Dominions seeing that as free born Subjects by Birthright we are Entitled to all those Fruits and Priviledges Government Regal and Politick conjoyned beareth let us take care for the future that by Mutinous Disobedient and Rebellious practises we do not Frenchifie and Disinfranchise our selves knowing that he that is free and voluntarily runneth into Fetters is a Fool and whosoever becometh Captive without constraint may be thought either willful or witless CHAP. XV. Sheweth how tender this Government Politick and Regal conjoyned is of the safety of the Kings Person and of all his Royal Rights and Prerogatives And that our Law doth not reject Women or Infants in the high point of the Descent of the Crown and that our King holdeth immediately of God to himself and acknowledgeth no Prince on Earth his Superior NOW as Government Politick and Regal conjoined is tender of the preservation of the just Rights of the Communalty and this Communalty without a head can in no wise be said to be corporate so in likewise we are to understand it is as tender and curious in the preservation of the Royal Rights Priviledges and Jurisdictions and Prerogatives of the Chief Head and Supream Ruler of this Body Mystical which is the King or Queen of these Kingdoms For in this high point of Descent of the Crown Our Law doth not reject Women tho Women are commonly said to be such whom Nature hath made to keep home to nourish their Family and Children and do not meddle with matters abroad nor are to bear Office in a City or Common-wealth no more than Children and Infants yet in such Cases wherein the Authority is annexed to the Bloud and Progeny as in the Descent of the Crown there the Bloud is respected not the Age nor the Sex and such a one is called an absolute Queen which hath the Name not by being Married to a King but by being the true right and next Successor in the Dignity and upon whom by Right of Bloud that Title is descended These I say have the same Authority though they be Women of Children in these our Kingdoms Realms or Dominions as they should have had if they had been Men of full Age. For the Right and Honour of the Bloud and the Quietness and Surety of the Realm is more to be considered than either the tender Age as yet impotent to Rule or the Sex not accustomed otherwise to intermeddle with Publick Affairs being always by common intendment
resist shall receive to themselves Damnation Rom. 13.2 I pitty them therefore and wish charitably their convertion I do not Condemn yet can do no less than shew them their Peril Ignorance of the Law excuseth not but it be invincible that is to say they have done that in them is to know the truth as to counsel with Learned Men and to ask them what the Law is in that behalf and if they answer them that they may do this or that Lawfully however they may thereby be excused in Conscience yet in Mans Law saith St. Jermin Dr. and Stud. 46. a. they are not thereby discharged but they that have taken upon them to have knowledg of the Law be not excuse by ignorance of the Law nay no more are they that have a Willful Ignorance and that would rather be Ignorant than to know the Truth and therefore will not dispose themselves to be informed or to ask any Counsel in it and if it be a thing that is against the Law of God or the Law of reason as the matter of Obedience to the Magistrate Supream and Subordinate is no Man shall be excused by Ignorance And the same Author Fol. 146 148. saith that Ignorance in the Law though it be invincible doth not excuse as to the Law for every Man is bound at his Peril to take knowledg what the Law of the Realm is as well the Law made by Statute as by the Common Law giving for reason that there is no Statute made in this Realm but by the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of all the Commons that is to say by the Knights of the Shire Citizens and Burgesses that be choson by Assent of Commons and every Statute there made is of as strong Effect in the Law as if all the Commons were there present personally at the making thereof and so since all were makers of the Statute the Law presumeth that all have knowledg of that that they make and are bound at their Perils to take knowledge of the Statute that they make and so be all that come after them And Mr. Plowden Fol. 343. a. saith that Ignorance of the Law is not to be presumed to be in a Subject and that therefore Ignorance of the Law shall excuse none Therefore let all of the Sects aforesaid who through Curiosity affectation of Novelties want of better Education in their Youths or that they will not yet suffer themselves to be weaned from the good Old Cause as it was called in the late times of Rebellion let them all make hast to come over and joyn with us in the same way and Worship of God and let them be more careful how they are for the future Factious stirrers of Sedition and disturbers of the Publick Peace All of all sorts have had ample proof of his late Sacred Majesties gracious Favour Mercy and Amnesty since his coming yet some good Old Cause Men none will deny but Walcot and Rumbald were such and others of Wicked and Traiterous principles lately contrived and Plotted Barbarously to Murder his late Gracious Majesty and his dear Royal Brother since our Lord the King and then the most Illustrious P. J. D. of York and instead of the best Government in the whole Christian World to have introduced a Hexarchy or a Government by Six whether joyntly or separately is not much material to enquire All persons in general within the Three Kingdoms are infinitely bound to praise God for the preservation of the Lives of his late Sacred Majesty and his dear Royal Brother our Soveraign Lord and for the timely discovery of their Wicked and Hellish designs and Machinations that threatned not only the alteration of the Government in Church and State but also then was by designed and forethought malice purposed and intended the expence of the Royal and all Loyal Blood And God give us all Grace to be thankful some only that were to have been the Malitious Authors and instigators of its Effusion have therefore suffered according to Law and their Wicked and Willful Obstinacy hath been corrected by the Magistrate and by Gods great Goodness and infinite Mercy his late Sacred Majesty his dear Royal Brother now King James the Second and the publick Peace of all the Three Kingdoms are preserved in peace and safety and under his Sacred Majesty as under a goodly Cedar Tree of full growth irremovable not to be otherwise or other where set planted or supplanted all his Subjects sit secure and are protected CHAP. XII Sheweth that all Subjects owe true Ligeance to their Soveraign though they never were or ever shall be Sworn to the same and is shewed the diversity between Enemies and Rebels then all are advised from Rebellion and is shewed that the King hath no Peer and therefore cannot be judged by his Subjects for his Actions ILlaesa sit Majestas Regis let the Majesty of our King hereafter be free from all hurt and injury either in our thoughts words or deeds And since you have heard not only cui sed quomodo debetur Ligeantia not only to whom but also in what manner your Ligeance is due unto the Natural Body of our Lord the King which is always at all times and in all places accompanied with the Body Politick and cannot be disjoyned or separated from the same you are likewise to understand that this Ligeance doth not begin by the Oath in the Leet or elsewhere and that the Swearing in the Leet or elsewhere maketh no denization For all Subjects owe true Ligeance to their Soveraign though they never yet were nor ever shall be Sworn in the Leet only that the King may have an account of his Peoples Frank pledg for their due Obedience and Subjection within the Precinct of every Leet the Municipal Laws of this Realm have prescribed the Order and Form of this Oath of Allegiance to be administred at or in the Leet All Subjects are Born under this Natural Ligeance Aliens and Strangers only are properly said to be amici or inimici to be in League with us or to be Enemies to us Hostes sunt qui nobis vel quibus nos bella decernimus ceteri proditores praedones c. They are Enemies against whom our King Proclaimeth War or who Proclaim War against our King all others are Traitors Rebells Thieves and Robbers A Rebel is to be Indicted but an Enemy is to be put to death by Marshal-Law Now as outward Peace is a great Blessing yet is it as far inferior to Peace within as Civil Wars are more cruel and unnatural than Wars abroad for avoidance whereof let all in general refuse so much as to harbour in their thoughts that detestable and long since exploded opinion that levying of War against the Command of the King though his person be present is no levying of War against the King but the levying of War against his Politick Person and Laws that is the only levying War against the King Admit