rebuke them sharply from one of themselves even a Prophet of their own In a word true Morals and good Thoughts lose nothing of their Innate Excellence from whencesoever they are handed to us The Devil had not been the Enemy but Friend of Mankind if he had spoke no worse in Paradise than he did at Delphos viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy self And therefore admitting the Accusation were true where lies the Scandal Nor will he have done while there 's a drop yet left The King says He call'd this Parliament with an upright Intention to the Glory of God and his People's good Our Answerer makes this of it That there be some whom God hath given over to Delusion whose very Mind and Conscience is defil'd of whom St. Paul to Titus makes mention To which I say there is not any one such Expression in the whole Epistle but others there are whom he calls Evil Beasts Slow-bellies and Lions With which I leave him and proceed to the second Section CHAP. II. Vpon the Earl of Strafford's Death I Looked upon my Lord of Strafford saith His Majesty as a Gentleman whose great Abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than asham'd to employ him in the greatest affairs of State Yes saith our Answerer He was a Man whom all Men look'd upon as one of the boldest and most impetuous Instruments that the King had to advance any violent or illegal design He had rul'd Ireland and some Parts of England in an Arbitrary manner Had endeavour'd to subvert Fundamental Laws and Parliaments To make Hostility between England and Scotland And Counselled the King to call over that Irish Army of Papists to reduce England For which and many other Crimes alledged and proved against him iâ— twenty eight Articles he was Condemned of High Treason by the Parliament The Commons by the far greater number Cast him The Lords likewisâ— agreed to the Sentence and the People cry'd out foâ— Justice c. Only the King saith he was not satisfied in his Conscience to Condemn him of High Treason In reply to which I think he might morâ— truly have said not prov'd but alledg'd as I shalâ— come to shew presently That he was oncâ— the Darling of the Commons His Tryal of Tho. Earl of Strafford Fol. 763. to 769. we have several Instances of it in Mr. Rushworth But alas the King had made him Lord Deputy of Ireland and the heighth of that Sphere contracted Envy in the Great Ones and an Odium in the People nor is it every one that can say nâ—â—pluribus impar Though during that his Government he improv'd the Revenue of that Kingdom which before his time had been rather 〈◊〉 Charge than Advantage to this and procur'd of the King that all Impropriations then in thâ— Crown be restor'd to the Church of that Nation and supplied it with Learned Men out oâ— England upon the Scottish Invasion in 1639 he counsell'd the King 't is true to fight them out Vox Reipub honesta sibi anceps as Taciâ—â— of Galba on the like Occasion for the Scotcâ— Commissioners not long after preferr'd that Charge in Parliament against him before-mention'd And then for the Irish Army of Papists c. that brings me naturally to the Article themselves which were as is said Twentâ— Eight in number Some of which were for matters of Fourteen Years standing some of them as the First Seventeenth Eighteenth not insisted on and others as the Fourteenth Twenâ—y first Twenty Second Twenty Fourth not â—rg'd Dr. Nalson's impartial Collect Part 2. Fol. 8. And to disable him of the Testimony and Assistance of Sir George Ratcliffe his quondam Secretary and now Friend he also was charged with High-Treason and Confederacy with him and sent for out of Ireland The Earl had now been under five Months Imprisonment when the 22d of March 1640. he was brought to his Tryal which held till the 13th of April following and in which he defended himself so well that since there was neither Matter nor Proof enough against him to take off his Head by the Common-Law it was resolv'd a Bill of Attainder should The pinching Article against him was the Twenty third and is the main Particular mention'd in the said Bill viz. That he advis'd the King that he was loose and absolv'd from the Rule of Government and that he had an Army in Ireland by which he might reduce this Kingdom A shrewd Article no doubt and sufficiently evidences their Crime that without the King's Consent afterwards brought the Scots into England But let us see how this was proved There had been an old grudge between Sir Henry Vane the Father Secretary to the King and my Lord of Strafford touching the Title of Baron of the Castle of Raby of which Vane was Proprietor and endeavour'd the Honour to himself notwithstanding which the King had given it to the Earl of Strafford And is so happen'd that the said Sir Henry having a sudden occasion to make use of a Paper gave his Son young Sir Henry Vane the Key of his Cabineâ— where lay another Key which open'd a Tilâ—â— in which he found some short Notes of a Committee of eight of the Privy-Council of whicâ— the said Earl was one upon this Question Whâ—ther the War with Scotland should be offensive or defensive In which there were Words 〈◊〉 spoken by the said Earl somewhat to that puâ—pose but still relative to the War with Scoâ—land However young Sir Henry carries it 〈◊〉 the Lords and makes it an Article of the Additional Charge against him which upon fuâ—â— Evidence of such of the said eight as were noâ— in Prison terminated in this The Earl oâ— Northumberland being interrogated touchinâ— these Words absolutely denied that ever hâ— heard the said Earl speak them Mr. Treasurer Sir H. V. shuffled in his Evidencâ— forward and backward The Tryal Fol. 563. and at last said hâ— thinks they were spoken positively or to thaâ— effect And a shrewd Evidence for the proof of a Bond The Lord Treasurer declar'd that he never heard the said Earl speak thâ—â— said Words or any thing like it The Lord Cottington to the same purpose and thinkâ— the Earl might say The Parliament had noâ— provided for the King and that the King ought to seek out all due and lawful ways to employ his Power and Authority Caste Candide which Words he very well remembers The Marquess Hamilton that he hath often heard the said Earl use those last Words to the King for otherwise said the Earl it were unjust and oppressive And to the same purpose the Lord Goring â—ll Nelson Fol. 87. and Sir Thomas German in behalf of the said Earl However die he must and to that end a Bill of Attainder was prepar'd by both Houses to which the King May the first in the House of Lords the Commons then present declar'd That in his Conscience he could not condemn him of Treason On which a City armed Rabble of
times at what time it pleas'd God in Mercy to these Kingdoms to restore King Charles the Second to the Throne of his murther'd Father but that they yet expect the Advancement of the Sceptre and that as obstinately as the Jews their Messias were there no other Argument the very re-impression of this Book may seem sufficient to evince especially if we consider the following Circumstances 1. That it bears the Impress from Amsterdam a Popular State to the freedom of whose Presses we are beholding for many things we had otherwise miss'd However whether it were that Amsterdam or another of the same Name in or near London as Printers have a way to themselves it matters not its Principles are altogether Republican and whoever he were that thus shuffled it into the World took the right course in chusing darkness rather than light because his Way was evil To have offered at a Commonwealth directly had been Madness and yet who knew how he might turn it about by a Side Wind 2. That a Book which from its first impression had been Waste-Paper and never read by any good Man without Contempt should after an interval of two and forty Years be raked out of its forgotten Embers if the design at bottom had not been to re-mind the People of the days of old and hint to them how the same Cards may be play'd over again as God shall enable them i. e. as opportunity shall offer And if this be not the drift of it let any Man judge when in bespattering that good King it represents to them by a false Glass what they may expect from other Kings and in effect tells them A Lyon is still a Lyon and tho' his laws be pared they 'll grow agen 3. That as if there had been some private agreement between them it was seconded by another to the same Tune intituled A Letter from Major General Ludlow to Sir E. S. which whether it were his or his Name only made use of to serve a turn will not be much in the Case tho' it confirm the Design The name is yet a popular name among that Faction and himself a daring Man witness his late regress into England and that not Incognito but in the face of the Sun in Westminster-Hall a Parliament and Judges then sitting where once he sate Judge himself and had there been a third of Mr. Jenkins's to have rung All-in What wonder if the Sheep had followed their Bell-weathers And if this were not the Design strange it seems and no small breach of Politicks to have thrust it on the World at a time when three of the Grand-Children of that King are yet Living and two of them in possession of the Throne It was one of Milton's Sarcasms to Salmatius Patrem defendis ad fillum mirum ni causam obtineas You defend the Father to the Son no wonder if you carry the Cause But on the other hand how can any of His Posterity think themselves secure while the murther of the Grandfather is yet mention'd without abhorrence When in a manner it hints the Faction with the Proverb Stultus qui patre caeso pepercit liberis tandem aliquando patriae necis futuros vindices He 's a Fool that kills the Father and spares the Children who some time or other will be sure to revenge it But malicious and nothing but malicious could be the Printing the Advertisement at the end of his Preface grounded it seems upon a Memorandum of the Earl of Anglesey's Viz. King Charles the Second and the Duke of York did both in the last Session of Parliament 1675. when I shewed them in the House of Lords the Written Copy of this Book meaning â—con Basilica wherein are some corrections and alterations written with the late King Charles the First 's own Hand assure me That it is none of the said King 's compiling but made by Dr. Gawden Bishop of Exeter which I here insert for the undeceiving others in this point by attesting so much under my hand Anglesey And that the Earl might have left such a Memorandum as is said I do not doubt because I have heard of it so often but what end the first Publisher of it had I cannot devise unless it were to Crucifie his Lord again and by putting in his Stab to His Memory expose him a second time which the more merciful Jews did but once to our Saviour with a Behold the Man and yet notwithstanding all this I doubt not to evince it to every unbiass'd Man that this The Portraiclure of his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First in his Solitudes and Sufferings was an Original drawn by Himself and not by any other Hand or Pencil For 1. He was able to do it as having been early bred up to Letters in design if Prince Henry had lived to be King for the Archbishoprick of Canterbury To which if it be said He had some little difficulty of Speech I answer Jer. 1.6 Exod. 4.10 Nescivit Jeremias loqui and Moses himself was Impeditioris Linguae And what of that It is the Office of a Steward to see the Provision be good and that the Family have it in due Season but I think no Man will say to Cook it himself 2. These Meditations are written feelingly and carry with them the Sense and Language of a Person under such Circumstances Jeremiah in his Prophecy denounceth Judgments to others and speaks with the Tongue of him that sent him but in his Lamentations we see him in distress himself and his Stile is as mournful as the City he bewails And he that reads Job with due consideration instead of doubting whether he wrote it himself cannot but sit down and weep with him Especially taking this with it that the Holy Ghost in his Pen labours more to describe that affliction than ever it did the Felicities of Solomon 3. Neither the Thought nor Stile are in the least like that of Bishop Gawden nor is it to be doubted if he had been the Author of so well a design'd Service to the Memory of a distress'd Father but that he might on the Son's Restauration have reasonably deserv'd a better Bishoprick than that of Exeter especially when so many of those Vacancies were fill'd with Covenanters Whereas on the other hand do but compare this Icon with his Majesty's Speeches in Parliament with his Discourse about Religion with the Marquess of Worcester His Papers with Henderson touching Episcopacy His Letters to the Queen Those his frequent tho' fruitless Messages to both Houses from Hampton-Court and the Isle of Wight when he was under restraint debarr'd of every one that might assist or comfort Him and the Company obtruded upon Him was more sad than any Solitude could be compare I say this Icon Icon. Basâ— 195. and them together and then tell me whether they do not all breathe the same Soul and consequently whether they can justly be denied to have proceeded from the same Pen. And for
what the Memorandum further says That King Charles the Second and the Duke of York did assure him it was none of the said King 's compiling c. An Earl it is said wrote it and I dispute it not but this I say That neither the King nor the Duke could speak it of their own knowledge but as by report from others because the King then Prince of Wales from his Expedition into the West with General Ruthien from whence he went off to France could not have seen His Father in near four Years before His death and therefore it seems improbable that the King should have shewn him a Letter To the Prince of Wales and at the same time told him it was not of his own compiling when yet the Letter says Id. Iâ—â—n 221. Son if these Papers come to your hands c. and concludes Farewel till we meet if not on Earth yet in Heaven And if the King did not tell him so then what he assured the Earl could not be of his own knowledge And for the Duke of York he was under Thirteen at the Surrender of Oxford from whence he was brought to St. James's where he made his Escape for Dort so that except when he saw his Royal Father at Hampton-Court which could not be often he could not have seen him in two Years and an half before his Death Nor seems it probable that the King should communicate his Thoughts with a Person of those Years albeit a Prince and his Son but not his next Heir But on the contrary more probable for both that what they so spake was but by report which young Princes are but too apt to take up from those who to cover their own Ignorance perswade them it smells too strong of the Pedant for a King to take up a Pen when yet the greatest of former Ages are oftner remmembred by their Pens than their Swords Caesar yet lives in his Commentaries M. Aurelius in his Philosophy and we may read Trajan by his Epistles to Pliny But to come nearer home Our Henry the first is as well known by the Name of Beauclerke as of King of England Henry the Eighth's Pen not his Sword gave him the Title of Defender of the Faith And this the Royal Portraict of our murther'd Sovereign shall outlast every thing but it self and Time Lastly And if there yet want some living credible Testimony of that time or matter of Record since Sir William Dugdate an indefatigable Searcher of our English Antiquities and perfect Master of the Transactions of his own Time gives us this gradual account viz. That these Meditations had been begun by His Majesty in Oxford long before he went from Oxford to the Scots under the Title of Suspiria Regalia That the Manuscript it self written with his own Hand being lost at Naseby was restored to him at Hampton-Court by Major Huntington who had obtain'd it from Fairfax That Mr. Thomas Herbert who waited on His Majesty in his Bed-Chamber in the Isle of Wight and Mr. William Levett a Page of the Back-stairs frequently saw it there and not only read several parts of it but saw the King divers times writing farther on it And that that very Copy was by his Majesty's direction to Bishop Duppa sent to Mr. R. Royston a Bookseller at the Angel in Ivy-Lane the 23d of December 1648. who made such Expedition that the Impression was finish'd before that dismal 30th of January on which the King was bereft of his Life As may be better read from himself Sir W. Dugdâ—â—â—'s Short View c. p. 380 381. in his Short View of the late Troubles in England And this further I speak of my own Knowledge That the very next Morning after that horrid Act I saw one of them and read part of it under the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which it now bears And for matter of Record and that the World may the more undeniably be convinc'd that both King Charles the Second and King James the Second did believe this Book was written by their Royal Father let him that doubts it but look upon Reliquiae Sacrae Carolinae Printed it the Year 1662 or any Impression of this Book since that time and he will find prefix'd to them a Privilege or Patent of King Charlâ— the Second to the said Mr. Royston his Executors c. for the sole Printing and Publishing the Book intituled Reliquiae c. and all other the Works of his said Royal Father and moâ— especially mentions these most excellent Meditation and Soliioquies by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it so happening that most of that Impression in 1662. coming to be lost in the Fire of London whereby the Book became very dear anâ— scarce to be had King James the Second upon his coming to the Crown reciting those former Letters Patent grants him the like Privilege for the Printing and Publishing the said Book as it had been in the Year 1662. And now what shall an honest Man do in such a Case sâ—aâ— he give Credit to a bare Memorandum of what another said and as 't is most probable by report only or say the Circumstances before were not of weight to two Records For my part I take the King's Certificate to be of high nature yet I should hardly believe thâ— King himself against any one single Record against which the Law of England admits no Averrment and therefore I think no Man ought to make more of a Posthumous Memorandum than what the Law makes of it In a word these Pathetick Meditations no sooner came abroad than the Nation was undeceiv'd concerning the Author the Scales were fallen from their Eyes and they religiously look'd on Him whom in the simplicity of their Hearts they had pierced These our Pharisees saw and confest it themselves but said they if we let it alone the Romans will come and take away our City And therefore finding they could not suppress them they made it their Eusiness what in them lay to blot them Nay to that impudence they were arrived that and I saw it my self this Icon was exposed to Sale bound up with the Alcoran III. What end I proposed to my self in making this Reply And that 's easily shown nor is it forbidden any Man to burn Incense where the Air 's infected That this Royal Martyr has been calumniated is but too visible but how justly I am coming to examine In which I have this advantage to my hand That Time the Mother of Truth has justified her Daughter concerning Him and might have stopt the Rancour of his most inveterate Enemies but that nothing how evident soever can affect those that have a secret against blushing To be short my end is to vindicate this Good this Just however Unfortunate Prince to blow off that Froth that has been thrown on his Memory and according to my strength deliver him to the World as he was A great if not the only steddy
Example of both Fortunes and of a Mind unchang'd in the greatest change of either A Prince Learned Eloquent Affable Courteous and born for the Good of Mankind his Lot had fallen among a better People One iâ— a word who if he had any fault it was hâ— not timely adverting his Father's dear-bough Experience who thus confesses of himself Where I thought by being gracious at thâ— beginning to win all Men's Hearts to a loving and willing Obedience Basilicen Doron p. 23. I on the contrary found the disorder of the Country anâ— the loss of my Thanks to be all my Reward Which how truly it was verified in this Hâ—â— Son will be the Subject of the ensuing Discourse And so I come to this Accuser and hiâ— Book in the examining which I shall follow his own Method and as he pretends to answer the King make him a suitable Reply and thaâ— also with as much brevity as I can for neither needeth so much Barbarity any Aggravation nor so plentiful an Argument as the Vindication of an oppress'd King any Art to inforâ—â— it But I stay too long in the Porch The King's Meditations are thus Intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as the English Title speaks it Thâ— Portraicture of His Sacred Majesty And this Answer of Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Breaker-in-pieces of that Portraicture Which how he has done Sub Judice Lâ—est CHAP. I. Vpon the King's calling his last Parliament THAT saith he which the King lays down here as his first Foundation Milton p. 1. and as it were the Head Stone of his whole Structure That he called this last Parliament not more by others advice and the necessity of his affairs than by his own choice and inclination is to all knowing Men so apparently not true that a more unlucky and inauspicious Sentence and more betokening the downfal of his whole Fabrick hardly could have come into his Mind And a good mannerly beginning A Man may not say to the King What dost thou and yet it seems may tell him Eccles 8.4 He lyes And without proving any thing but throwing it out boldly that somewhat may stick charges the Court Parasites as he calls them with their averseness to Parliaments and that the King never called a Parliament but to supply his Necessities and having supplied those as suddenly and ignominiously dissolv'd it without redressing any one Grievance of the People And broke off the Parliament at his coming to the Crown for no other cause than to protect the Duke of Buckingham against them who had accused him besides other heinous Crimes of no less than poysoning the deceased King his Father In reply to which it is but necessary to take notice of the condition of that time The Parliament had engaged King James in a War with Spain in which the Parliment 1 Car. 1. deserted his Son He had a large Dominion and a flourishing Kingdom left him but as I said a War and an empty Treasury with it beside which King James died in Debt To the City of London One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds Vid. Annals of K. Charles 1 â—in Râ—â— 1. and â—â—r Râ—â—w Câ—ileet 1 Paâ—â— Fâ— 179. besides Interest For Denmark and the Palatinate One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds For his Wardrobe Forty Thousand Pounds Laid out for his Navy Twenty Thousand Pounds For Count Mansfield Twenty Thousand Pounds For the Expence of his Fathers Funeral Forty two Thousand Pounds For the Queen Forty Thousand Pounds And to equip and pay the Navy for the Expedition for the Palatinate Three Hundred Thousand Pounds And what was worse than all this there had follow'd King James out of Scotland a sort of People whom himself calls Puritans very Pests in the Church and Common-weal whom no deserts can oblige Basâ—â—â—n Dorâ—â— p. 31. nor Oaths or Promises bind breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumnies aspiring without measure railing without reason and making their own Imaginations the Square of their Conscience These Men had by degrees spread themselves through City and Country and watch'd the People like Hawks so long till they could do any thing with them and sow what they pleas'd as they found them napping Nor wanted there some of the same Kidney here among our selves who under the specious pretences of easing the People had got the command of most of their Purse-strings King James 't is true might have helpt it at first if his Beati Pacisici that is Give Peace in our time O Lord had not been too much in his Light by which means all Remedies in his Son's time came too late and joyn'd with the Disease to the destruction of the Body In this Case what could King Charles the First do Monarchy is more Ancient and Independant than Parliaments and yet their Advice and Assistance makes it more compacted He calls a Parliament in the first Year of his Reign which sate not long And another in his Second in which he lets them know his and the Kingdoms condition and particularly that of the Palatinate Instead of answering which they fall into Debates and Reflections against the Duke of Buckingham and at a Conference of both Houses Vid. The 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 in 〈…〉 p. 15. â—â— 1. p. 104. the Commons deliver in an Impeachment of thirteen Articles against him the last of which was That the King being sick of an Ague at Theobald's the Duke had given him a Plaister and a Posset-drink without the Advice and Consultation of his Physicians Three days after the King by message to them takes upon himself as having full knowledge of all those transactions to clear the Duke of every one of those Articles Pâ—â—â— Câ—◠〈…〉 However the Duke makes his Defence to the Lords and puts in his Answer and Plea to the Impeachment made against him by the Commons And to the thirteenth Article says That having been recovered himself of an Ague by a Plaister and Posset-drink given him by a Physician of the Earl of Warwick's the King impatiently press'd to have it but was delayed by the Duke who pray'd the King not to make use of it but 〈◊〉 the Advice of his own Physicians nor till it wâ—â— tryed upon one Palmer of the Bed-Chambeâ— then also sick of an Ague which the King said he would do However the Duke being goâ—â— to London the King would have it and 〈◊〉 took it and upon his return hearing a Rumoâ—â— that the Physick had done the King hurt as that it had been administred by him withoâ—â— Advice the Duke acquaints the King with iâ—â— who with much discontent answer'd thus Theâ— are worse than Devils that say it And so having put in his Answer the Duke moves thâ— Lords that the Commons might expedite the Reply Instead of doing which they Petitioâ— the King against Papists and suspected Papist holding Places of Authority and Trust in thâ—â— Kingdom and draw a Remonstrance againâ— the Duke and Tonnage and Poundage
about Six Thousand tumultuously flock to Westminster crying Justice Justice against the Earl of Strafford Which within a day or two they second with a Petition On which the Earl less valuing his Life than the quiet of the Kingdom writes a Letter to the King whereby to set his Conscience at Liberty and by his own Consent prays him to pass the Bill which in a few days after was by Commission to the Earl of Arundel and three other Lords accordingly done with this Proviso That no Judge or Judges c. shall adjudge or interpret any act or thing to be Treason nor hear or determine any Treason any other way than they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act and as if this Act had never been had or made A modest Confession and that nothing but an Act of Parliament could affect him Nor unlike that Clause in an Ordinance of the King and Lords for the Banishment c. of the Lady Alice Pierce a Favourite of King Edward the Third's viz. That this Ordinance in this Special Case Mr. Seldâ—n's Privilege of Baronage 71 which may extend to a Thousand other Persons shall in no other case but this be taken in Example However after the Bill was pass'd the King as deeming They will reverence my Son wrote a Letter to the House of Lords with his own Hand and sent it by the Prince of Wales in which he interceeds for that Mercy to the Earl which many Kings would not have scrupled to have given themselves But 't was resolv'd and nothing would do And thus between Accumulative and Constructive Treason nor better prov'd than I have shewn before Sic inclinavit heros caput Taken from Mr. Cleveland Belluae multorum Capitum Merces favoris Scottici praeter pecunias Nec vicit tamen Anglia sed oppressit Or if my Reader had rather have it in English take it from that happy Flight of Sir Richard Fanshaw on that Occasion And so fell Rome herself oppress'd at length By the united World and her own Strength And yet not to leave his Memory in the Dust there is an Act of Parliament that vindicates all I have said in the matter and that is The Act for reversing this Attainder 13 14. Car. 2. c. 29. which says thus That the Bill of Attainder was purposely made to Condemn him upon Accumulative and Constructive Treason none of the said Treasons being Treason apart and so could not be in the whole if they had been prov'd as they were not And the Act further says It was procured by an armed Tumult the names of Fifty nine of the Commons that opposed the Bill posted by the name of Straffordians and sent up to the Peers at a time when a great part of them were absent by reason of those Tumults and many of those present protested against it For which Causes and to the end that Right be done to the Memory of that deceased Earl it was enacted c. That the said Act c. be repeal'd c. And all Records and proceedings of Parliament relating to the said Attainder be cancell'd and taken off the File c. to the intent the same may not be visible in after-Ages or brought in Example to the prejudice of any Person whatever Provided that this Act shall not extend to the future questioning of any Person c. however concern'd in this Business or who had any hand in the Tumults or disorderly procuring the Act aforesaid c. A shrewd suspicion that they thought that Act of Attainder was not so regularly obtain'd as it ought to have been for if it had what needed that Proviso And having duely considered this Act I think the Wonder will cease why the King was so dissatisfied in his Conscience touching the giving his Assent to that Bill of Attainder His Speech on the Scaffold or that the Lord Capel so publickly begg'd forgiveness of God for having given his Consent toward it At least I presume it may startle any Man that from such repeated Calumnies has not yet come to be of our Answerer's Opinion That there may be a Treason against the Commonwealth as well as against the King only A Treason not mention'd in 25 Edw. 3. or in any Statute since saving those of the late Usurper's making inasmuch as no Estate or Estates of the Realm make any thing of themselves but as joyned to their Figure the King And therefore passing the King 's most detested Conspiracy as he calls it against the Parliament and Kingdom by seizing the Tower of London bringing the English Army out of the North c. I leave him and his Stuff together and come to the Third CHAP. III. Vpon His going to the House of Commons I Said ere-while His Majesty might think the Lords would reverence his Son nor was in to be doubted whether the Commons would himself Especially considering the business he went about It was faith the King to demand Justice upon the Five Members whom upon just motives and pregnant grounds I had charged and needed nothing to such Evidence as could have been produced against them save only a free and legal Tryal which was all I desired Which fill'd indifferent Men with Jealousies and Fears yea and many of my Friends resented as a motion rising rather from Passion than Reason See says our Answerer He confesses it to â—an act which most Men whom he calls his Enemies cried shame upon indifferent Men c. as before He himself in one of his Answers to both Houses made profession to be convinc'd that it was a plain breach of their Privilege Yet here like a rottâ— Building newly trimm'd over he represents it speciously and fraudulently to impose upon the simple Reader c. Words insolent enough without adding the rest though it had not been from his Matter if he had told that simple Reader in which Answer of his Majesties he might have found that Profession However for the discovery of the Truth on both sides it may not be amiss to make a few steps backward that considering the occasion we may the better judge of the thing It had been advis'd to the King by the then Privy-Council of Scotland to send the Book of Common-Prayer to be receiv'd and us'd in all Churches of that Kingdom The King's Declaration 1639. which was accordingly order'd And in the Month of July 1637. publickly read in the great Church of Edinburgh The Kirkmen took fire at it nor wanted there some in England to fan the Flame which in a short time got that head that they invade England but finding the design not ripe enough yet they humbly submit and the business is smother'd Whereas had those smoaking Brands been sufficiently quench'd they had not made a greater Eruption the next Year During this time the King had gotten into the matter and calls this Parliament with a real intention of quieting all They begin where the last Parliament
of a King A King of England of whose Predecessors the Parliament of England had declar'd That they could not assent to any thing that tended to the dis-inherison of the King and his Crown Sir Ed. Coke 4 Inst 14. whereunto they were Sworn But what could the wisest of Men say to it when the Parliament and the Rabble were both of a side And whether they were so or not witness those Tumultuary Routs from the Men of Essex Colchester Devon Somerset Middlesex Hartford Sir W Dagdale's Short View Fol. â—5 London Apprentices Seamen nay the very Women and all for putting the Kingdom into a Posture c On which follow'd those several Associations for suppressing the Popish Malignant Party though in truth it was to pursue the King with all vehemence Id. Dagd 113. for such are the Words of Essex's Letter to the Houses near that time Nor were the Black Cloaks less wanting to their Parts they could blow the Bellows well enough tho' they car'd not how little they wrought at the Forge And therefore seeing the Reverence of his Government was lost with the People and the Great Ones moving at another rate quam ut Imperantium meminissent 〈◊〉 As it was no less than time for His Majesty to retire and pray for fair Weather so our Answerer instead of snarling and catching at his Words might have suffer'd him to depart in Peace But to go on with him I am saith the King not further bound to agree with the Votes of both Houses than I see them agree with the Will of God my Rights as a King and the general good of my People And better for me to die enjoying this Empire of my Soul which subjects me only to God than live with the Title of a King if it carry such a Vassallage with it as not to suffer me to use my Reason and Conscience in which I declare as a King to like or dislike An use of Reason saith our Answerer If he thereby means his Negative Voice most reasonless and unconscionable and the utmost that any Tyrant ever pretended over his Vassals For if the King be only set up to execute the Law which is indeed the highest of his Office he can no more reject a Law offer'd him by the Common than he can new-make a Law which they reject And yet as reasonless and unconscionable as he pretends to make it this Negative Voice is and ever has been the undoubted Right of the Kings of England For besides what I had the occasion to speak to this matter before it is no Statute if the King assent not to it Because if it were all those Bills that have passed both Houses and for want of the Royal Assent lie buried in Oblivion might as occasion serv'd be trump'd up for Laws And if he may dis-assent it is a sufficient Proof of this Negative Voice and that he may refuse or ratifie as he sees cause And withal shews where this Legislation lies though the use of it be restrained to the consent of both Houses whose Rogation which is exclusive of all co-ordinate Power preceeds the Kings Ratification Then for his if the King be only set up c. If this if be false his whole matter falls with it And that it is so I thus prove it The Parliament-Roll 1 Edw. I. n. 8. says That upon the decease of King Richard the Second 9 Edw. 4. Fol. â— 6 the Crown by Law Custom and Conscience descended and belonged to Edmund Earl of March under whom King Edward the Fourth claimed And Henry the Fourth who had usurp'd upon King Richard the Second makes no other Title but as Inheritor to King Henry the Third Sir J. Hayward's 1st year of â—â—n 4. So the Parliament of the first of King James the First Recognize as say they we are bound by the Law of God and Man the Realm of England and the Imperial Crown thereof doth belong to him by Inherent Birthright and lawful and undoubted Succession The same also for Queen Elizabeth 1 Eliz â— 1. as to her Which shews that Kings are neither set up by the People nor have the Titles to their Crowns from the two Houses but by Inherent Birthright Which needs no setting up And so I think what depends upon this if sinks with it though I shall have a further occasion to speak to it in his next Paragraph And here he taxes the King for saying He thinks not the Majesty of the Crown of England to be bound by any Coronation Oath in a blind and brutish formality to consent to whatever its Subjects in Parliament shall require But where does the Law of England say the King is so bound Tho' yet out Answerer is pleas'd to say What Tyrant could presume to say more when he meant to kiâ—â— down all Law Government and Bond of Oath Least considering what his Majesty subjoyns viz. I think my Oath fully discharg'd is that Point by my Governing only by such Laws as my People with the House of Peers have chosen and my self consented to Nor did the Coronation Promise See the Oath in every Hist of his Reign or Oath oblige him to more than To hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this his Kingdom have and to defend and uphold them to the Honour of God so much as in him lay Whereas had there been any Obligation upon him to have consented to whatever the Parliament shall require it is not to be doubted but it would have been expressed in the Oath as it is not And yet our Answerer less doubts to say That that Negative Voice to deny the passing of any Law which the Commons chuse is both against the Oath of his Coronation and his Kingly Office in that he makes himself Superiour to his whole Kingdom which our standing Laws gainsay as hath been cited to him in Remonstrances That the King hath two Superiors the Law and his Court of Parliament An excellent Proof in the mean time But we 'll examine it a little The Common-Law saith Omnis sub Rege Sir E. Coke 1 Inst 1. c. Every Man is under the King and he under none but God And to the same purpose Bracton Lib. â— Ed. 55. 2 Inst 496. from whom he quotes it His Prerogative is a part of the Law of the Land All offences are said to be against the Peace of our Sovereign Lord the King c. The Laws of England are call'd the King's Laws The Parliament as is confess'd to my hand his Parliament And therein also the King is sole Judge 22 Ed III. 3. the rest but Advisers His is the power of Calling Proroguing and Dissolving them 4 Inst 46. Id. Inst 3. And by his Death they are dissolv'd of course And why all this but that the King is Principium Caput c. The beginning the head and end of a Parliament As he is also the Head of
Governour and upon the King 's coming before Hull attended only with his own Servants and some Gentlemen of the Country audaciously shut the Gates against Him and standing upon the Wall denied him Entrance Upon which the King as by Law he might proclaim'd him Traytor A Cholerick and revengeful Act says our Answerer to proclaim him Traytor before due process of Law having been convinc'd so lately before of his Illegallity with the five Members Goodly goodly and yet at the same time doubts not to tax the King of a Treasonable Act in borrowing Moneys upon his own Jewels Not unlike the Parliament 41 Hen. 3. who took notice of the Lye given to Montfort Daniel's Hist of Eng. 171. and 175. Earl of Leicester by William of Clarence but not of the Lye given the King by the said Leicester But the Point between us lies narrow A Man with Train'd-Bands holds and defends a place of Strength against the King The question is whether this be a levying of War within the Statute of the 25th of Edward the 3d. Sir Edward Coke shall answer for me 2 Inst 10. If any with Strength and Weapons invasive and defensive doth hold and defend a Castle or Fort against the King and his Power this is levying of War against the King within the Statute of 25 Edward 3. And in the leaf before he says It was High Treason by the Common Law to levy War for no Subject can levy War within the Realm without Authority from the King for to him only it belongeth Le Roy de droit doit saver defender son Realm Fitz. N. B. 113. a. c. And therefore this being the Case wherein may it be said that the King was to blame And lastly for what concerns this Gentleman's Catastrophe and whether Hotham were more infamous at Hull or at Tower-Hill no less ignominiously pretended to be answer'd it may be enough to satisfie any Impartial Man that he repented and came in though it were at the last Hour and for the rest he stood and fell to his own Master CHAP. IX Vpon the Listing and raising Armies against the King I Find saith His Majesty I am at the same Point and Posture I was when they forced me to leave Whitehall What Tumults could not do an Army must which is but Tumults listed and enroll'd to a better order but as bad an end To which our Answerer thus replies It were an endless work to walk side by side with the verbosity of this Chapter only to what already hath not been spoken convenient Answer shall be given But what that Answer is see He begins again with Tumults all the demonstration of the Peoples Love to the Parliament was Tumult their Petitioning Tumult their defensive Armies were but listed Tumults and will take no notice that those about him those in a time of Peace lifted in his own House were the beginners of all these Tumults abusing and assaulting not only such as came peaceably to the Parliament at London but those that came Petitioning to the King himself at York Neither abstaining from doing Violence and Outrage to the Messengers sent from Parliament himself countenancing or conniving at them Which is the Substance of what our Accuser says to this verbose Chapter as he calls it An old Figure in Politicks to Calumniate stoutly till somewhat stick to a Prejudice But where lay this Love of the People that they must needs express it in such a Tumultuary way God Almighty is more pleased with Adverbs than Nouns and respects not so much the Justice or Lawfullness of the thing as that it be Justly and Lawfully done and I think the Case was not such here Three or more gather'd together do breed a disturbance of the Peace Mr. Lambert ' s â—irenarchâ— Lib. 2. c. 5. either by signification of Speech shew of Armour turbulent Gesture or express Violence so that the peaceable sort of Men be disturbed or the lighter sort embolden'd by the Example It is Turba a Rout And it has been said Decem So Kitchen page 20. multitudinem faciunt Ten make a Multitude What then must ten times ten not to say Hundreds and Thousands arm'd with Swords Clubbs Staves as many of these Demonstrators of their Love were Chap. 4 and throwing out Seditious Language as I have shewn before the did O but their Business was Petition The same said the Barons and Commonalty at Running-Mead in the 17th of King John But what came these for What but Matters that no way concern'd them Justice Justice against the Earl of Strafford Chap. 2 yet the Parliament of the 14th of Char. the 2d calls them arm'd Tumults as before For putting the Tower of London into confiding Hands Chap. 4 A City Guard for the Parliament And the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence c. But still what was this to them As if a Parliament must be beholding to a Fescue And their defensive Armies saith he were but listed Tumults So that now as a last Shift he turns the Question to a Quis prior induit arma When all the World knows That the Defensive part of it was the King's and the Parliament were the Aggressor's in that they had made their Associations rais'd an Army some Months before and made Essex General thereof the 12th of July 1642. Whereas the King set not up his Standard until the August following But stay say the King in defence of his Right had first drawn his Sword what Law of England warranted theirs When besides what Sir Edward Coke of whom so lately says No Subject can levy War without Authority from the King it appears that the ancient Law of England was ever such or the Parliament had never declar'd That both 1 Cat. 2. c. 2 or either of the Houses of Parliament neither can or lawfully may raise or levy War offensive or defensive against the King c. And will take no notice that those about him were the beginners of those Tumults That the King had his Guards about him was no more than what became the Majesty of a King and that the Loyal Gentry made their Appearances at Whitehall when they saw it beset with a kind of Gebal and Ammon and Ameleck a confus'd conflux of People which also the King had forbidden was but the least of their Duty But when he talks of listing and abusing and assaulting such as came peaceably to the Parliament and doing Violence to the Messengers sent from them it is such a Rapsodie of Stuff that no Man can credit upon his single Authority And therefore I leave it as I do the rest of this Matter it being either such as I have before spoken to or such as no Man that had not a hand in those Mischiefs had ever vented Yet before I go off to another I cannot but take notice how he says The King twits them with his Acts of Grace Proud and unself-knowing Words in the Mouth of any King who
Name of a Petition beset the Houses and force them to resettle it as it had been on the Citizens Hereupon the two Speakers with forty of the Lower House five Earls one Viscount and three Lords run off to the Army and Vote with them in their Council of War in the Nature of a Parliament and engage to live and die with the Army And a Mercy it was says our Answerer that they had a Noble and Victorious Army so near at hand to fly to The remains of the Houses on the other hand chuse new Speakers and raise an Army in the City and declare in Print it was in Order to his Majesty's being free and in a capacity of treating which yet they made use of but as a Stale to the Faction The Army-Soldiers also engage to Fair fax that they will live and die with him the Parliament i. e. such of the Houses as had fled to them and the Army who set out a Declaration of the Grounds of their march towards London and denying them to have been a Parliament since the said 26 of July at what time they were under a force call them the Gentlemen at Westminster and by a Letter to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen reproach them with those Tumults and demand the City to be delivered into their Hands to which purpose they were now coming to them To be short the Forces the City had raised were able and willing enough to have fought the Army but the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermens Hearts failing them they open their Gates and let them march through the City And now the first thing was to replace the Speakers and purge the Houses Aug. 6. 1647. which being accordingly done and a holy Thanksgiving appointed they declare all that had past in the Houses from the said 26 of July to the 6 of August to be null and void And the Army in their way impeach some imprison others demolish the Line of Communication and take every thing into their own Hands And yet to sweeten the People on the other side they treat the King now at Hampton-Court with more Liberty and Respect than had been shewn him by the Parliament's Commissioners for they not only allow him his own Chaplains and permit his Children and some Friends to see him but pretend to establish him in his just Rights to call Committees and Sequestrators to an account and free the People from Excise and Taxes and now who but the Army and Cromwell Tertius è coelo cecidit Cato Such as well as I could put them together were the Distractions in the two Houses the Army and the City that ensued the Army's surprisal of the King at Holmby And here they ended for this time what became of them afterward I shall come to show in the last Chapter CHAP. XXVII To the Prince of Wales HIS Majesty's Father King James the First who might have truly said Many and evil have been the days of my Pilgrimage thought it not enough to have pass'd those Windings himself without leaving his Son some Clue to direct him and therefore wrote that his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Instructions to his Son Henry the Prince And by his Fatherly Authority charges him to keep it ever with him as carefully as Alexander did the Iliads of Homer And the same seems this the King's Letter to the Prince of Wales A Manual penn'd by the best of Men and may be a Guide to the best of Princes For as to himself it is so ad fidem Historiae and as to the Prince so ad exemplar justi Imperii that whoever he be that opens it without prejudice cannot to use his Majesty's Words measure his Cause by the Success nor his Judgment of things by his Misfortunes And truly when I came to this Letter I was thinking to my self what our Accuser could say to it till having perused his Answer I was thus far satisfied that he deceiv'd not my Expectation for instead of giving it any solid Answer he only catches at Words Et minutiis rerum pondera frangit And had he gone no farther how blamable soever he might have been he had been less Ignominious But when he rakes those Kennels of his own making and throws his dirt-balls to blacken what he cannot destroy what is it but a spitting against the Sky where the Spittle returns upon his own Face In short this Letter might have shewn him if he had pleas'd how when some Mens Consciences accuse them for Sedition and Faction they stop its Mouth with the name and noise of Religion and when Piety pleads for Peace and Patience they cry out Zeal When on the contrary all good Men know that this is a Religion not proceeding from the Spirit but a Worm of their own breeding how devoutly i. e. Enthusiastically soever they vent it to the People for neither is every Dream new Light nor every Whim Prophecy And what the sad Effects of this has been we cannot sure have so soon forgotten When God was brought in to the worst of Actions the King abus'd in the affections of his People Religion wounded with a Feather of its own and the State fired with a Coal from the Altar CHAP. XXVIII Meditations upon Death after the Votes of Non-addresses and His Majesty's closer Imprisonment in Carisbrook Castle WHAT our Accuser says to this last Chapter and whether his Majesty had not a more particular ground for these Meditations will best appear if we look back to the latter end of the twenty sixth Chapter where I left the People in an Hosannah or now save us to the Army and Cromwell And now what might he not do before he was discover'd Or if he were the Army was in his Hands the Parliament in his Pocket the City at his Feet and which of them was there durst first say to him What art thou doing There stood nothing now in his way but the King he had no more need of him and how should he dispose of him To keep him in the Army was troublesome to let the Presbyterians get him had been a Bar to his design and to have murthered him had nothing further'd it for as yet he was but Lieutenant General The best way therefore was to let him escape beyond Sea To which purpose private Letters are slipp'd into his Hand that the Agitators had a design upon his Life which coming also to his Ear from report and the Guards purposely disposed for it the King in a dark rainy Night makes his escape from Hampton-Court but the Vessel that should have carried him over sailing he unfortunately fell into the Hands of Colonel Hammond Governour of the Isle of Wight who secures him in Carisbrook-Castle and sends to the Parliament to know their Pleasure concerning him From thence His Majesty sends to the Houses his desires for a Personal Treaty Decemb 6. 1647. which they refuse unless he first pass four Bills 1. That the Parliament have the Militia and
left Complaints of Grievances Innovations in Religion Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Power and single out the Earl of Strafford for an example of their Justice The King I said was got into the matter and had discover'd whose Correspondencies and Engagements they were that had embroil'd his Kingdoms and ordered his Attorney to draw a Charge of High-Treason against the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Pym Mr. Hanbden Mr. Hollis Sir Ar. Haslerigg and Mr. Strode Which was accordingly done and the substance of it is this That they have Traiterously endeavour'd to subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Saudeâ—sin's Hist of K.C.I. Fol. 473. and to deprive the King of his Power That they have endeavoured by foul Aspersions to alienate the Peoples affections from the King That they have traiterously invited and encourag'd a foreign Power to invade His Majesties Kingdom of England That for the compleating their traiterous designs they have actually rais'd and countenanc'd Tumults against the King and Parliament And that they have traiterously conspired to levy and actually have levied War against the King Nelson 2d Part F. 811. ad idom On this the King having first demanded them of the House by a Serjeant at Arms a Warrant is granted to apprehend them but missing their Persons Id. Fol. 514. their Trunks are seiz'd and seal'd up While this was yet doing the Commons had notice of it and thereupon Vote That on all like occasions for the future any Member might call a Constable to his assistance defend himself and seize all such Persons The next Morning the King goes to the House with part of his ordinary Guard of Pensioners and orders them to stay without and having rested himself in the Speaker's Chair told them He came to demand five Persons whom he had accused of High Treason Id. Sander Fol. 474. And though no King that ever was in England could be more tender of their Privileges that yet they knew there was no Privilege against Treason So Sir Fâ— Coke a â—â—st 25. And looking round him I see faith he they are gone But assured them in the word of a King that he never intended any force but to proceed against them in a legal fair way and therefore expected the House would send them to him and so went off Nor was he yet out of hearing when the general Cry was Privilege Privilege And the next day they Vote this coming of the King a breach of Privilege and adjourn for a Week into London there to sit as a General Committee pretending they were not safe at Westminster and though the King afterwards wav'd their Prosecution would not be satisfied unless he also discover'd who gave him that Counsel to come to the House as if it were not enough that he for bore his Enemies without he also betray'd his Friends Upon this Tumult upon Petition and Petition upon Tumult daily encreasing the King Queen Prince and Duke retire to Hampton-Court the Members in the mean time passing to and from Westminster with Hundreds of Boats Flags Seamen Rabble and Huzza's as they pass'd by Whitehall And now again judge any sober Man between the King and them The King to avoid the ill consequence of a denial gave his Assent to the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford He demands Justice against the five Members and 't is refus'd him If they were guilty why were they protected against him And if not guilty why did they not clear themselves The King came to the House with an attendance short of his ordinary Guard and it was Voted a Breach of Privilege They had their armed Tumults of Six Thousand at a time to awe the King's Friends and no notice taken of it but rather encourag'd Whereas it is Lex consuetudo Parliamenti That wheresoever the Parliament is holden Sir F. Coke 3 Inst 160. there ought to be no wearing of Armour exercise of Plays games of Men Wothen or Children much less Riots What shall I add They in the Year 1647. submitted eleven of their Members to the impeachment of an Army after that their House to be garbled and when contrary to the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom they had voted themselves the Legislative Power of the Nation as tamely submitted to be turn'd out by their Journey-Men And yet when the safety of the Nation was at stake insolently contend nay mate it with their Sovereign And therefore weighing altogether in a true Balance judge I say wherein the King was to blame or where lay this breach of Privilege And for what His Majesty's Intention in this matter was besides what has been before urg'd take this further from himself where he says If he purpos'd any Violence or Oppression against the Innocent then let the Enemy persecute my Soul tread my Life to the Ground and lay my Honour in the Dust To which this Accuser thus What needs there more disputing He appeal'd to God's Tribunal and behold God hath judged and done to him in the sight of all Men according to the Verdict of his own Mouth Whereas in Common Humanity as a Man Charity as a Christian Reverence to him as a King and Duty as his King he might and that truly have said 2 Sam. 3.34 As a Man falleth before wicked Men so fell'st thou The Breath of our Nostrils Lam. 4.10 the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits of whom we said under His shaddow we shall live among the Heathen CHAP. IV. Vpon the Insolency of the Tumults WHat and how frequent the Tumults of London and Westminster that follow'd the convening of this Parliament were is obvious enough to every Man that knows the least of our own Story and how aptly His Majesty has compar'd them not to a Storm at Sea which yet wants not its Terror but an Earthquake which shakes the very Foundations of all may be also as visible from the too sad effects of them Earthquakes the more general they are do less hurt by reason of the united weight which they offer to subvert whereas narrow and particular Earthquakes have many times overturn'd whole Towns and Cities And such was the Case here The Kingdom as yet stood well enough witness those the Nobility and Gentry who out of a principle of Honour and Honesty adhered to the King Some humours t is true might glow and estuate in the Body but they were not yet got into the Head That Ricketty Head that was already swoll'n too big for the Body But when they once discover'd that Vent all gather'd to it and shook those Foundations which the Wisdom of so many Centuries had been laying and securing as I shall come to show presently In the mean time our Answerer for what concerns the King's Words says The matter here is not whether the King or his Houshold Rhetorician have made a Pithy Declamation against Tumults but first whether they were Tumults or not next if they were whether the King himself did not
cause them and having all along begg'd the Question as to the first makes the other as a consequence of the former The King saith he having both unwillingly call'd this Parliament and as unwillingly from time to time condescended to their several Acts first tempts the English Army with no less Reward than the Spoil of London to come up and destroy the Parliament But that being discover'd makes the like bait to the Scotch Army with the Addition of four Northern Counties to be made Scottish with Jewels of great value to be given in Pawn the while which they with much Honesty gave notice of to the Parliament Besides this a malignant Party was grown up The Rebellion of Ireland broke out a Conspiracy in Scotland had been made while the King was there against some Chief Members of that Parliament numbers of unknown seditious Persons resorted to the City the King upon his return from Scotland dismisses that Guard the Parliament thought necessary to have about them and appoints another which they discharge the People therefore lest their worthiest and faithful Patriots should want aid came in Multitudes tho' unarm'd to witness their Fidelity to them c. The King sends a Message into the City forbidding such Resorts the Parliament Petition the King for a Guard out of the City to be commanded by the Earl of Essex the King refuses it and the next day comes to the House of Commons and begins to fortifie his Court many are wounded whereof some died and so concludes it was no Tumult Or if it grew to be so the Cause was in the King himself who both by hostile Preparations and an actual assailing the People gave them just cause to defend themselves Which saving the scandal of his wording it is the full substance of his 24th 25th 26th 27th Pages Wherein also how far he has begg'd the Question I appeal to every unbiass'd Reader How willingly the King call'd this Parliament Chap. 1 I have already shewn And why he so unwillingly pass'd the Bill of Attainder against the willingly pass'd the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford I have not been wanting to it and if he had never condescended to several of the Bills pass'd this Parliament Chap. 2 and since repeal'd he had not with one hand cut off the other But when he calls them their Acts I am to seek what he means The office of the two Houses is Preparative and Consultive but the Character of the Power rests in the final Sanction which is the King The passing a Bill is but the granting a Request the two Houses make the Bill but the King makes the Law and 't is the Stamp not the Matter that makes it currant Then for that ridiculous Sham of the Spoil of the City of London c. He might as well have added the blowing up the Thames and drowning the City and altogether as probable unless he had prov'd at least somewhat towards it The Rebellion of Ireland 't is true was broke out and they had gotten Four Hundred Thousand Pounds towards the reducing it but what they did with those Moneys I have shewn before And for the Conspiracy of Scotland c. A malignant Party growing up unknown seditious Persons resorting to the City c. Why added he not the Pope's Marrying thâ— Great Turk's Sister For who besides himself ever heard of this Scottish Conspiracy against any but the King And for that new coinâ— Word Malignant Party if he means the King Friends they had an Act of Parliament foâ— their Warrant 11 Hen. 7. c. 1. but for those unknown Seditioâ—â— Persons 't is somewhat strange methinks 〈◊〉 should call them Seditious and not know wâ—â— they were unless it were in Contradistinction 〈◊〉 his own Party whom all the World visibly faâ— to be such And for the King 's discharging those Guarâ— the Parliament thought necessary c. And thâ—â— discharging those other that he had appointed the. They were legally conven'd by the King'â— Writ and the same Law was a full Security tâ— them But by what Law they could take Guard to themselves without the King's Coâ—sent I think the best of our Lawyers may bâ— yet to learn And when to gratifie their Inclâ—nations the King had appointed them anotheâ— which they discharg'd what was it but to spâ—â— a defiance in his Face For my part I speaâ—â— plain English and let my Reader judge between this our Answerer and me whether his Therefore the People came in Multitudes c. be a suffâ—cient Justification of those Riots The King saith he forbad those Resorts c. and no doubt justly for it was no more thaâ— what the Law had forbidden to his Hand 〈◊〉 call'd them Riots but take it thus Theâ—â— came to the assistance of that Parliament whâ—â—â— were then compassing and imagining to levâ—â— a War against the King the overt act of which was That they did actually levy it I 'll run it no higher Though I have heard it said Fascinus quos inquinat aequat However the Parliament Petition the King for a Guard out of the City c. Which because it falls more naturally under the subsequent Matter I leave it till then and in the mean time ask any Man whether from these Premises he has rightly concluded that they were no Tumults or if they grew to be so the cause was in the King himself c. more than as an honest Man fighting with a Thief in defence of his Purse and is kill'd by him may be said to be the cause of his own death And thus Men like Pythagoras's Scholars take things by the wrong Handle whereas if they took it by the right it would be quite another Matter and as near as I can I 'll open the truth of this The Scottish Invasion had been accommodated at Rippon some Months before this Parliament sate nor had the King yet lost the Reverence he had in the Hearts of his People who all stood waiting what this Parliament would do when instead of healing the Breaches they rather widen'd them in falling upon the old Trade of Grievances Popery and Arbitrary Power and that they might the better single him from his Friends and thereby deprive him of such as had either Wisdom Authority or Courage to prevent or oppose their further Designs they first fall upon those that had either Written or Preach'd in defence of those Rights of the Crown they intended to Usurp and arraign his Actions in his Ministers some of which are Imprison'd others fly And on the other hand set at liberty such as had been sentenc'd for Seditious Writing and Preaching against him and bring them to London in Triumph to trâ—â— how the People would be pleas'd with it anâ— consequently how their endeavours to draw thâ—â— Peoples Affections from the King had already succeeded and the general Applause on this occasion gave them no weak assurance of it And now having gotten from the King thâ—â— Eyes of Argus
and to themselves the Hands of Briarius they think themselves able enough to lessen him in his Power and as preparatory to it they first procure an Act of Parliament that they should not be Dissolv'd or Prorogu'd but by Act of Parliament And which is remarkable that very day on which his Majesty Sign'd the Commission for giving his Assent to the Bill for the Earl of Strafford's Attainder And having in a manner necessitated him not to deny any thing they get his Assent to those several Bills before mentioned Chap. 1 Concessions one would have thought might have satisfied any sort of Men but those that were Pre-resolv'd not to be satisfied with any thing Nor did the King in the least doubt their being satisfied and therefore makes a Journey into Scotland to satisfie his Subjects there Aâ—â— 1641. as he thought he had done here and they all seem'd to be so especially as to the matter of Episcopacy which they saw was tumbling beyond a Recovery During this His Majesty's absence the Houses adjourn to the 20th of October three days after which the Rebellion of Ireland broke out The 25th of November the King returns to London as yet welcom'd with the full Acclamations of the People tho' he met not any suitable Reception from the Parliament who instead of having swept out the old Leven had prepar'd new However the King having call'd them together the Second of December recommends to them the raising Succours for Ireland and on the Fourteenth again press'd it and withal told them he took notice of a Bill that was then in agitation to assert the power of Levying and Pressing Soldiers to the two Houses which he was content should pass with a Salvo jure to him and then because the present time would not admit the disputing it and one would have thought that when the King came so near they might have met him half way But instead of that they send him a Remonstrance the next day in which they complain of the Designs of a Malignant Party which by their Wisdom had been prevented and running on with the old Cry against Papists Bishops and Evil Counsellors magnifie themselves in what they had done for the good of the Kingdom and cause it to be Printed About this time it was that the King had come to the House and they adjourn'd into London as before when upon their return to Westminster they Petition the King for a Guard out of the City to be commanded by the Earl of Essex a Gentleman who upon the account of his Father in Queen Elizabeth's time the business of the Nullity in King James's time and the little notice that had been taken of him at Court till now of late he had been made Lord Chamberlain was a Discontent July 29.1641 and conseâ—uently a Darling of the People as pretending â—â—ey could not otherwise sit it safety Which â—â—e King as well he might thought not fit to â—ant inasmuch as it look'd so like a Force against himself and afterwards prov'd so when they made him their General But withal let them know that if there were any such occasion he would command such a Guard to wait upon them as he would be responsible for to God Almighty On this the Militia of Westminster by Petition to the House of Commons offer them their Service Id. Nalson Part 2. Fol. 839 and 840. when it shall please them to commanâ— it The Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council of the City of London by Petition to the King representing amongst other things His going to the House c. Pray thaâ— the Tower may be put into confiding Hands anâ— a Guard be appointed for the Parliament or of the City which was insolently seconded bâ— the disorderly conflux of a Rabble about White hall and Westminster And that the House might not be wanting while the Iron was hoâ— they Petition the King that the Tower 〈◊〉 London all other Forts and the whole Militâ—â— of the Kingdom be put into the Hands of sucâ— Persons as should be recommended to him 〈◊〉 both Houses Which his Majesty as justly bâ— might refused to grant and for the Security of his Person withdrew to Hampton-Court And now from the whole let any indiffereâ— Man say for me first whether these disordeâ—â— Proceedings were not Tumults and next 〈◊〉 they grew to be so how the King can be said to be the cause of them himself For though those hostile Preparations and actual assailiâ— the People which our Answerer says gave the just cause to defend themselves might perhapâ— have been somewhat in the Case if those Peoplâ— had not been the Aggressors yet when as himself confesses the King had sent a Message into the City forbidding such Resorts what made they there Nor can these Hostile Preparations and actual assailing the People be other than what the Lord Mayor c. in their Petition to the King represent viz. His fortifying Whitehall and the wounding some Citizens Which His Majesty thus answers Id Nalson Part 2. Fol. 839 and 840. That as to the former his Person was in danger by such a disorderly conflux of People and withal urges their Seditious Language even at his Palace Gates And for the other that if any were wounded it was through their evil Misdemeanours And therefore to make it no more than the Case of a common Person every Man's House is his Castle and if a confus'd Club-rabble gather about it Cum kickis friskis horribili sonitu the Gentleman of the House commands his Servants to beat them off and in the doing it some of the Assailants are wounded nay put it further kill'd And what can the Law make of it That it was an unlawful Assembly I should not have minc'd it a Rout it is manifest and that what the Servants did was in defence of their Master is also as evident Sir Ed. Coke 3 Inst Let the Rule of Law cut between us Quod quis ob tutelam Corporis sui fecerit id jure fecisse videtur Whatever a Man does in defence of his Person the Law presumes it to have been done Legally O but you 'll say It was not the Master himself A Thief assaults a Gentleman in his House or upon the Road the Gentleman's Servant in defence of his Master kills the Thief he forfeits nothing And if this holds in the case of a common Person how much more then in Case of the King And lastly where he says Instead of Praying for his People as a good King should do he Prays to be deliver'd from them as from wild Beasts Inundations and Raging Seas that had overborn all Loyalty Modesty Laws Justice and Religion God save the People from such Intercessors I think A gente inimica dolosa libera me Domine From an evil and perverse Generation deliver me O God! might have very well become any honest Man's Prayer concerning them For in their Malice they slew their King and in their
the Commonwealth And of the Law 1 Inst 73. Id. Inst 99. which he is presum'd to carry in Scrinio pectoris sui And then for the Statute-Law besides those Statutes that call the Kingdom the Kings Ligeance 27 Ed. 3. c. 1. 10 11. R. 2. c. 1. 25. H. 8. c. 3. the King Liege Lord the People his Leige Men it is further declared 16 R. 2. c. 5. That the Crown of England hath been ever so free that it is in no Earthly Subjection but subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to none other So that of Henry the Eighth which says That by sundry old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declar'd and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire govern'd by one Supream Head and King 24 H. 8. c. 12. unto whom both Spiritualty and Temporalty are bound and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble Obedience And in another of the same King 25 H. 8. c. 21. the Crown of England is called An Imperial Crown recognizing no Superiour under God but only your Grace i. e. the King Which Statutes being declaratory Statutes as others of that kind made in affirmance of the Common-Law are a guide in praeteritis 2 Inst 308. as saith Sir Edw. Coke and shew us what the Law as before the making of those Statutes Which I the rather urge because our Answerer makes such a sputter about the old Law though as well here as generally throughout his Book he has an odd way with him of keeping it to himself However if this be to have a Superiour be the Superiour he that will and keep it without Envy And for what concerns me I hope I have prov'd that the King of England has no Superiour but God and that neither the Law nor his Coronation-Oath require his undeniable Assent to what Laws the Parliament agree upon but that he may well refuse them without the Imputation of Incomparable Arrogance aâ—â—Vnsufferable Tyranny as he is pleas'd to term it One thing I had forgot Suppose the King had never been Crown'd by which means he could not have taken the Coronation Oath was he the less King for that I should think not And if I am mistaken 3 Inst 7. Sir Edw. Coke was mistaken before me when he says The King iâ— King before Coronation So 7 Coke Calvin's Case and Coronation is but an Ornament or Solemnity of Honour Which in other Words may amount to this That he promises no more at that time that what he was morally pre-oblig'd to do viz. To discharge that Duty honourably which the Laws of God and Nature had requir'd of him without that Royal Promise CHAP. VII Vpon the Queen's Departure and Absence out of England AND truly this Chapter being but a kind of Re-capitulation of the mutual Endearments between the King and his Queen whose Sympathy with his Afflictions had assur'd him and might the World that she lov'd him and not his Fortunes might one would think if not for the King 's have for her own sake escap'd his Venom but poor Lady she was the King's Wife and Malice like Fear where it finds no real Object will be sure to create one And truly it was once in my Thoughts to have spoken more at large to it and had done it but that I fear'd even Truth it self might incurr the suspicion of Flattery What my end was in making this Reply I have already shewn it was to vindicate that good King from this ill Man's Calumnies and the Method I have taken in it has been from the History of that time and the Prior Law of the Land as it came in my way and therefore not to break that Method as I find him hereafter running wide of that Matter I shall purposely leave him as I do at present CHAP. VIII Vpon His Majesty's repulse at Hull and the Fates of the Hothams THIS my repulse at Hull saith the King was the first overt Essay to be made how patiently I could bear the loss of my Kingdoms The hand of that Cloud which was soon after to over-spread the whole Kingdom and cast all into disorder and darkness Which how Prophetically true it was the miserable effects of it both before and since the Restauration have too visibly spoken it And yet our Answerer thus slubbers it over That Hull a Town of great Strength and Opportunity both to Sea and Land Affairs was at that time the Magazine of all those Arms which the King had bought against the Scots The King had left the Parliament and was gone Northward The Queen into Holland where she pawn'd and set to Sale the Crown Jewels a Crime heretofore counted Treasonable in Kings and to what purpose the Parliament was not ignorant and timely sent Sir John Hotham Knight of that County to take Hull into his Custody and some of the Train'd-bands to his Assistance and seeing the King's Drift in raising a Guard for his Person send him a Petition that they might have leave to remove the Magazine of Hull to the Tower of London which the King denies and soon after goes to Hull with Four Hundred Horse and requires the Governour to deliver him up the Town whereof the Governour prays to be excused till he could send notice to the Parliament who had entrusted him and the King being incens'd at it Proclaims him a Traytor before the Town Walls and demands Justice of them as upon a Traytor who declare that Sir John Hotham had done no more than his Duty and therefore was no Traytor And this is the Substance of his 57. 58. 59 Pages How and by their own Authority which was none the Houses had rais'd an Army and made Essex General I have already shewn and though the King had not yet set up his Standard he knew he had a Magazine at Hull which might either help to defend himself or certainly annoy him if it fell into his Enemies Hands and therefore in order to a Self-Preservation takes a Journey to York where the Parliament had been before him with a Committee then lying there as Spies upon his Actions However upon Petition of that County to have the Magazine of Hull to remain there for the greater Security of the Northern Parts His Majesty thought fit to take it into his own Hands and appointed the Earl afterwards Duke of Newcastle to be Governour of Hull but the Townsmen had been so influenc'd by that Committee that they refused the Earl The Queen also had borrow'd some Moneys of the Hollanders upon the Crown Jewels a Crime heretofore counted treasonable in Kings but not a word of when or by what Law not in the least considering the Crown it self was the King's or how the King of England could commit Treason against himself The Houses during this time wanting no Intelligence from their Committee nick the Opportunity and send down Sir John Hotham who was receiv'd as
shewn wherein this Book had been so ill or unwisely settled But were there That had been to question the Godliness and Wisdom of the Compilers of it whom Mr. Fox calls Martyrs or what was worse 2 and 3 Ed. 6. c. 1. run foul of the Statute that says It was concluded by the aid of the Holy-Ghost But says he Edward the Sixth confesses it was no other than the Old Mass-Book done into English and modell'd no farther off it lest by too great an alteration they should incense the People And prudently one would think because to run farthest from what one was last may be a sign that he has altered his Opinion but no Argument that it is for the better But the point lies elsewhere The Universities had thrown more Truants abroad than the Church of England either could or thought fit to provide for to have gone back again they were too well known and to set up in the Country there requir'd no more but a few Notes at St. Mary's and a double Portion of Lungs and Confidence for Words says he will follow of themselves And if they had the knack of laying Damnation home to them whom should the People run after but those that could save them As if a Man had a Sore Leg and he should go to an honest judicious Chirurgeon and he should only bid him keep it warm and anoint it with such an Oil an Oil well known and that would do the Cure haply he would not much regard him because he knows beforehand the Medicine is but ordinary But if he should go to a Quack that should tell him your Leg will Gangrene in three days and must be cut off or you 'll die unless you do something that I could tell you what listning would there be to this Man Oh for the Lord's Sake tell me what it is I will give you any Content for you Pains And such was the Trade of these Men they cry'd down the Common-Prayer not that they could justly find any fault with that Dose of prepar'd Words as he calls it but make the better way for their own Enthusiasms whereas there seems no reason why a Man may not as well Pray in a Set-Form which is commanded as Sing in a Set-Tone which was never so much as recommended But we 'll examine it a little It is the advice of the Preacher Be not rash with thy Mouth Eccles 5. v. 2. and let not thy Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God For God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few And when the Disciples besought our Saviour to teach them to Pray Luke 11.1 as John also taught his Disciples how easy had it been for him if he had approv'd this Extemporary way to have bade them take no care for what they should say for it should be given them in that Hour Whereas on the contrary Math. 6.7.9 he not only forbade them the use of vain Repetitions as the Heathen do but laid an Injunction on them to pray after this manner Our Father which art in Heaven c. And denounced Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees for devouring Widows Houses under a Pretence of long Prayer Mar. 12.40 In a word and if the Authority of Holy Writ be of any force I think our Gifted Men may make up their Packs unless they produce some equal Authority to counterbalance it and if they shall not there was besides that Authority an Act of Parliament in the Case which no Ordinance could ever amend much less abrogate but least of all were Cranmer Ridley Latimer c. alive would they thank him for saying this English Mass-Book was Composed for ought we know by Men neither Learned nor Godly CHAP. XVII Of the differences between the King and the two Houses in point of Church-Government TOuching the Government of the Church by Bishops saith His Majesty the common Jealousie hath been that I am earnest and resolute to maintain it not so much out of Piety as Policy and reason of State And saith our Answerer hath been so fully prov'd from the Scriptures to be vicious and usurp'd that whether out of Piety or Policy maintain'd it is not material With this further that we may have learnt from Sacred Story and times of Reformation that the King 's of this World have both ever hated and instinctively feared the Church of God But that they have been so prov'd to be as he says he takes it for granted that his Assertion is Proof enough for other he gives none unless it be that Pharaoh when he grew jealous least the Israelites should multiply and fight against him his Fear stirr'd him up to afflict and keep them under And to the same drift this King and his Father found the Bishops most Serviceable And now 't is all out and we see what that Church of God he means is viz. The Seditious Exorbitancy of Ministers Tongues which his Father and himself and Queen Elizabeth before them so Instinctively nor without just cause had reason to suspect A sort of People which King James the first calls Proud Puritans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 65. who cry we are all but vile Worms and yet will judge and give Law to their King but will be judged nor controul'd by none And some Leaves before Id. p. 30. Informing the People that all Kings and Princes were naturally Enemies to the Liberty of the Church and could never patiently bear the Yoke of Christ Id. p. 31. and therefore saith he take heed my Son to such very Pests in Church and Commonweal whom no deserts can oblige neither Oaths nor Promises bind breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumnies aspiring without measure railing without reason and making their own Imaginations without any Warrant of the word the Square of their Conscience Nor were they of less disturbance to Queen Elizabeth than they had been to him as witness that Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham's before-mention'd Chap. 13 And the Lord Keeper Puckering's Speech in Parliament where by the same name of Puritans he charges them to have persecuted Her Majesty so vigorously that they thereby open'd the Door to the Spanish Invasion and warn'd the Parliament from her Majesty to give no Ear to their wearisome Sollicitations for while in the giddiness of their Spirits they labour to advance a new Eldership they do nothing but disturb the good Repose of the Church and the Commonwealth And how they dealt with his Majesty there are few Men sure can be so much Strangers at home as not to know And therefore if the Bishops as Cicero in his Consulship says of himself Eos qui otium pertuban◠reddam otiosos took his way of Silencing that Seditious Exorbitance of their Tongues they were Serviceable I must acknowlege it but wherein did they exceed the Obligation of their Office But to proceed What the Bishops by the Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom were and are
I have already shown And therefore for answer to what he says Chap. 14 That many Western Churches settled above Four Hundred Years ago in France c. have not admitted of Episcopacy among them The reason is obvious not that they would not admit Episcopacy but that they liv'd in a Catholick Country and so must either have Catholick Bishops or govern themselves as well as they might And if they have no Bishops they have something else that has the Power of Bishops though it be in many and thirty single Pence with us make a Half-Crown In a word they that would pull down Bishops and erect a new way of Government do as he that pulls down an old House and builds another of a new Fashion there 's a great deal of doe and a great deal of Trouble the old Rubbish must be carried away and new Materials must be brought Workmen must be provided and perhaps the old one might have serv'd as well CHAP. XVIII Vpon the Uxbridge Treaty and other Offers made by the King I look upon Treaties saith his Majesty as a retiring from Fighting like Beasts to argue like Men. And though I could seldom get the Opportunity I never wanted either desire or disposition to it And if says our Answerer he look'd upon Treaties as a retiring from Bestial Force to Humane Reason his first Aphorism here is in part deceiv'd for Men may treat like Beasts as well as fight When through dilatory purposes they come from fighting to undermining Thereby insinuating that such and no other was the end of all the King's Treaties But whos 's that degenerous way was and whether the King 's or the Houses we come to examine with this by the way that the Houses never desir'd any Treaty but when they were making their Recruits or foresaw the King would be upon them before they were ready for him if they could not divert him by a Treaty And such was this their Petition to him at Colebrook to vouchsafe a Treaty The Story lies thus The King had set up his Standard at Nottingham at which time Essex lay with his Army at Worcester to attend his Motion who finding his Forces not sufficient enough to give Essex Battle he went to Shrewsbury where he was quickly furnish'd and having appointed the Earl of Lindsey to be General marches towards London Essex seems to take no notice of it and makes no offer to stop him but as soon as he was gone by keeps close in his Rere The King to avoid being hemm'd in between Essex and the City of London turn'd upon him and gave him Battle at Edgehill in which whoever had the better of it Essex thought fit to get back for London which was so frighted that they had shut up their Shops and the Houses caused all the Train'd-Bands and Auxiliaries to be drawn together The King on the other hand unfortunately struck off to Oxford but continuing his former Resolves for London he again advances towards it and is met with the Petition before-mention'd at Colebrook but finding it nothing but a design to get time he forceth his way at Branford where he cut off three of their Regiments and by what Fate or Council I know not was again diverted for Oxford whither the North being generally reduc'd to his Obedience the Queen return'd from Holland His Arms successful in the West their own affairs half under Water and they Scots not yet come to their Assistance they send Commissioners to Treat but with such Propositions as they were sure would protract time but never be yielded unto And if he will not Essex and Waller had two Armies and they appear before Oxford but the design having been smelt before the Queen is sent into the West and himself marched towards Worcester on which Essex and Waller divide their Armies Essex goes into the West and Waller follows the King who turn'd upon him at Copredy Bridge and gave him a total Rout and forthwith follow'd Essex into Cornwall from whence Essex got off in a Boat for Plimouth and his Horse having broke through in the Nigâ—t the Foot were forc'd to lay down their Arms and upon conditions never more to bear Arms against the King were suffer'd to depart The King before this time had from Eveshaâ— desir'd and propounded a further Treaty for the full ending the matters in question July 4. 1644. but they had two Armies as was said before and thought it below them to return him an Answer However the King after this double Success thinks it no dishonour to renew his desires of a Treaty Sept. 8. 1644. and by a Message from Tavestock does it but to no purpose For what with the remains of Waller's Army Essex's Horse that broke through and the Foot whom they had Preach'd into new Arms by perswading them the Conditions were unlawful and consequently invalid the Train'd-bands and Auxiliaries they had form'd a considerable Army before the King could get out of the West but there also being disappointed in the Success a Treaty is appointed at Vxbridge Jan. 30. 1644. where the Commissioners on both sides met but those for the Houses limited to twenty days This Treaty is the Argument of this Chapter and though I have been longer in coming to it than might regularly become the shortness of a Reply yet because it contributes much to the discovery of the Intrigue and where the fault lay and whether the King or the Houses may be charg'd more justly with it I may be the more excuseable To be short the Treaty began and the King made such large Concessions that if they had met him one third of the way See the Treaty at large in the Folio Book of the King's Works Ecl. 512 it was impossible but it must have concluded in a Peace For it was as also says our Answerer come to these three Heads Episcopacy the Militia and Ireland To which His Majesty's Commissioners thus answer'd That the first as it was propos'd took off all dependency of the Clergy upon His Majesty proposing only the Bishops Lands to be settled on him subject nevertheless to the disposal of the Houses whereas all the Lands of Bishops Deans and Chapters c. if those Corporations must be dissolv'd belong to the King in his own Right As to the Militia as it was proposed the King was so totally divested of the Regal Power of the Sword that he would be no more able to defend any of his Allies than his own Dominions from Rebellion and Invasion and consequently the whole Power of Peace and War the acknowledg'd and undoubted Right of the Crown is taken from him And as to Ireland the Power of nominating the Lord Lieutenant c. and other Officers there and in that the dependency of that Kingdom would as it was propos'd be taken from him And to add to all it was farther propos'd to bereave him of the Power of a Father in the Education and Marriage of
vulnus opemque tulit The Fortune of that day in which His Majesty lost those Letters 〈◊〉 Naseby might one would think have been enough to the Houses at least kept them from forfeiting the dignity of Men. Some Men are drawn away by Interest others by Pleasure a third sort by Profit but every of these were least in the Case For what Intereâ— of theirs could it be to expose their King whose Honour they had so often pretended to defend Whereas having got their Point in had been their Interest rather to have justified those Pretences and dealt with him like a charitable Physician who when he cannot save his Patient's Life endeavours to make his Death easie Thâ—â— for Pleasure there was neither the Lust of the Eye nor the Pride of Life in it but rather the contrary for Mankind naturally pity the afflicted and are ready to put those Pieces together again which their Heat tore asunder And it may be generally observ'd he that takes Pleasure in the Evil befallen another has no good of his own And lastly for Profit there also could be the least Prospect unless it were by killing the Heir to divide the Inheritance And if there were none of these in it what remains but that it was a Wickedness even for the sake of Wickedness That low ignoble going of the Serpent which creeps basely on its Belly and not upon Feet And because His Majesty was most sensible of it take his Thoughts upon it The taking away of my Credit is but a necessary preparation to the taking away of my Life and my Kingdoms I must seem neither fit to Live nor worthy to Reign and by exquisite Methods of Cunning and Cruelty I must first be compelled to follow the Funerals of my Honour and then be destroy'd And yet they miss'd that their end as to his Credit when in thus exposing the Father of their Country they only discover'd their own Shame and evinc'd to the World what they were so loath should be believ'd of him That he could both mind and act his own and his Kingdoms Affairs as became a Prince and that he was his own Counsellor In short his Majesty in those Letters lost but so many Papers wherein had there been any thing disadvantageous to his Honour we had been sure to have had it And yet if there had who was more Praise-worthy C ham that discover'd his Father's Nakedness Gen. 9.23 or Jehu that buried those remnants of Jezabel 2 Kings 9.34 for she was a King's Daughter Especially when they did but bark at the Moon and all their Malice like Arrows shot against a Wall either broke in pieces or return'd on themselves CHAP. XXII Vpon his Majesty's leaving Oxford and going to the Scots THe King 's coming in whether to the Scots or English saith our Answerer deserved no Thanks for Necessity was his Counsellor And what deserv'd they that drove him to this Necessity which had not the Scots come in with their Brotherly Assistance had never been That the Scots first began his Troubles and the Houses improv'd upon it has been sufficiently shown And yet so desirous was the King of Peace that after so many fruitless Messages he again in the Winter 1645. sent to the Houses for a pass for the Duke of Richmond and others to bring them New Propositions which was denied him a first and a second time Then he sent to them that himself might come in Person which was as often denied him as being the only thing they now fear'd from him and therefore instead of granting it they made an Ordinance That the Commanders of the Militia of London in Case the King should attempt to come within the Line of Communication should raise what Forces they thought fit to suppress Tumults to apprehend such as came with him and to secure i. e. to Imprison his Person from Danger And our Answerer confesses it to have been said That His purpose was to have come to London till hearing how strictly it was Proclaimed that no Man should conceal him he diverted his Course And what in this Case should a distress'd Prince do Come to London he could not without endangering his Friends some of which they had so often gibbetted To have gone for Ireland might have been what they design'd and thereby justifie their Jealousies of an Irish Popish Army And to have made for France he knew not what Construction might have been forced from it To whom therefore should he rather apply than to the Scots They had begun his Troubles and who knew but by this time they might have seen their Errour What Prudence saith our Answerer there could be in it no Man can imagine Malice there might be by raising new Jealousies to divide Friends And excellent Friends no doubt but he thought them by the Character he gives them As hireling Army of Scots paid for their Service here not in Scotch Coin but in English Silver nay who from the first beginning of these Troubles what with Brotherly Assistance and what with Monthly Pay have defended their own Liberties and Consciences at our Charge And so concludes it hazardous and rash What the hazard of it might have been is too late to enquire now but that it was not Rash but Prudent will readily appear if we consider The King was their Country-Man born and there might be somewhat in that Natale solum of which Ovid speaks Et immemores not sinit esse Or if that were nothing V. Chap. 1. his Father had particularly oblig'd them to his hurt Himself had forgiven them several Insurrections Themselves had given him repeated assurances of their future Loyalty Their own Statutes Chap. 13 National Covenant and Letter to his Majesty had oblig'd them to his Defence And greater than all these their own Interest when by this one generous but Loyal Act they had recover'd themselves to the World and shown it was not the Nation but a Faction that were his Enemies And therefore considering what I have said give me leave also to conclude from it That this Act of the King 's in trusting himself with the Scots was not the Effect of Rashness but the Result of Prudence especially if we credit the general Belief of that time That the Scots had been pre-acquainted with his intention of coming to them and that they had return'd him private Assurances of their Fidelity to him CHAP. XXIII Vpon the Scots delivering the King to the English and his Captivity at Holdenby OUR Answerer says little to this Chapter but as little as it is see with what Art he manages it Nor are his Brethren less than beholding to him That the Scots in England should sell their King as the King here affirms and for a Price so much above that which the Covetousness of Judas was contented with to sell our Saviour is so foul an Infamy and Dishonour cast upon them as befits none to vindicate but themselves And it were but friendly Counsel
to wish them beware the Son who comes among them with a firm belief that they Sold his Father In the former Chapter he gibes them with their Brotherly Assistance and here to whet them against the Son of that Father he lays at their Door an Infamy so foul that if they do not Vindicate it themselves no one else he is sure can do it for them And why all this but to tell them in other Words Scelere velandum est Scelus they had gone too far not to go farther and therefore cannot be secure till they do as much by his Son Whatever it be I think this may be said in the Matter That as Trust is the Sinew of Society Truth is the Pledge of it And therefore as they were his Majesty's Countrymen and Sworn Subjects in Confidence of which he had intrusted his Person with them as the keeping that Oath impeded no moral Good a distinction yet which every Man will not allow as the Person to whom they swore was not incapable of an Oath which is much the same as he came not to incline them to any thing but that Duty which was incumbent upon them and if he had no voluntary Rule in their Hearts he wanted Power to gain a Coersive If they had not thought fit to defend him they should not have put him in a worse Condition than they found him He was their King and wanted no Letters of Safe-Conduct and therefore as he came free they ought to have set him as free out of his Enemies reach 2 Kings 16.22 Thou shalt not smite them said Elisha to the King of Israel concerning the Syrians he had then in his Power for thou neither tookest them with thy Sword nor thy Bow But set Bread and Water before them that they may eat and drink and let them go And the kindness prevailed with the King of Syria though had the Case here been that they had taken him I know not how they could have deliver'd him up And memorable to this Purpose is that of James the Fourth of Scotland who when Perkin Warbeck had fled to him for Protection from our Henry the Seventh not only protected him but rais'd an Army for him him with whose Head he might have made what Peace he would with King Henry his profest Enemy And when at last a Peace was concluded between the Kings upon the Marriage of King James with Margaret Eldest Daughter of Henry the Seventh by whose Issue came the Union of the Crowns he not only refused to deliver up the said Perkin but gave him a safe Transport for himself and his Followers There remains yet to have spoken to that other part of the Title of this Chapter His Captivity at Holdenby but because our Answerer takes no notice of it neither I think ought I. CHAP. XXIV Vpon their denying his Majesty the Attendance of his Chaplains viz. Dr. Juxon Bishop of London Dr. Duppa Bishop of Salisbury Dr. Sheldon Dr. Hammond Dr. Holdsworth Dr. Sanderson Dr. Turner Dr. Heywood THERE seems somewhat in it more than of Chance that his Majesty thus Names the particular Persons Whose Service and Assistance he both needed and desired in that Solitude they had confin'd him to and where the Company they had obtruded on him was more sad than any Solitude could be that more sober Times enquiring into the Ground of it might the better judge whether this his desire was more reasonable or their denying it him more barbarous A Mercy which not Religion only allows but even the Rigor of the Law never denied the meanest and greatest Malefactors Yet see how shamelesly this Accuser takes upon him to Answer it A CHAPLAIN a thing so diminutive and inconsiderable that to take up such room in the Discourses of a Prince if it be not wondred is to be smiled at The Scripture owns no such Order In State perhaps they may be listed among the Vpper Serving-Men The Sewers or Yeomen Vshers of Devotion The Implements of a Court Cup-board c. And what ail'd this King that he could not chew his own Mattins without the Priest's Oremus Which with the rest of this his Chapter has so out-gone even scurrility it self that though I had once resolv'd to have pass'd it over I could not yet but desire my Reader to consider the Persons of whom this Character is given and then tell me how well the Character of any one of them agrees with the Person And therefore let the World Censure me how they list I purposely avoid the further medling with this his Chapter as for the same Reason also I shall say less to the next CHAP. XXV Penitential Meditations and Vows in the King's Solitude at Holdenby HIS Majesty in this Chapter may seem to have had holy David in his Eye when he said Lord remember David and all his Troubles Psal 132. How he sware unto the Lord and vowed a Vow unto the Almighty God of Jacob. And yet this Accuser so maliciously detorts those Meditations that unless one run into the same Excess with him it will be impossible to get up with him which having for my part resolv'd not to do I leave him to run by himself and only desire my Reader to collate these Two Chapters of the King 's with those of our Answerer and then judge as he thinks fit and whether I have done other or less in this Matter than what became me to have done CHAP. XXVI Vpon the Army's Surprizal of the KING at Holdenby and the ensuing Distractions in the Two Houses the Army and the City THIS surprize of me saith his Majesty tells the World that a KING cannot be so low but he is considerable adding weight to that Party where he appears What the Presbyterians have hunted after the Independants now seek to catch for themselves And as an Argument that they are manumitted from the Rivals Service assume my Person into the Armies Custody without any Commission but that of their own Will and Power To which our Answerer To give an Account to Royalists what has been done with their Vanquish'd King 's yielded up into our i. e. the Peoples Hands is not to be expected from them whom God hath made Conquerors And for Brethren to debate and rip up their falling out in the Ear of a Common Enemy is neither wise nor comely To the King therefore were he living or to his Party yet remaining as to this belongs no Answer No! and why not Because those that had a Mind to be satisfied in the Action might desire to know by what just Means the King came into their Hands How Subjects whom the Law of England never call'd Enemies could be said to have conquer'd him How God came intituled to it when it was so directly contrary to the Law of God And how the Law of the Land which was their common Cry to defend could justifie that Rebellion and Parricide which it every where condemns And is it enough think ye