Laws of this Kingdom and have been so adjudged by two Acts of Parliament and ought to suffer as Traitors Die Jovis Octob. 8. 1642. In the Instructions agreed upon by the Lords and Commons about the Militia They declare That the King seduced by wicked Counsel hath raised War against the Parliament and other his good Subjects And by the Judgment and Resolution of both Houses bearing date Aug. 13. 1642 upon occasion of his Majesties Proclamation for suppressing the present Rebellion under the Command of Robert Earl of Essex They do unanimously publish and declare That all they who have advised declared abetted or countenanced or hereafter shall abet and countenance the said Proclamation are Traytors and Enemies to God the King and Kingdom and guilty of the highest degree of Treason that can be committed against the King and Kingdom as that which invites his Majesties Subjects to destroy his Parliament and good People by a Civil War and by that means to bring ruine confusion and perpetual slavery upon the surviving part of a then wretched Kingdom The Law is acknowledged by the King to be the onely Rule by which the People can be iustly governed and that as it is his duty so it shall be his perpetual vigilant care to see to it Therefore he will not suffer either or both Houses by their Voâ—es without or against his Consent to enjoyn any thing that is forbidden by the Law or to forbid any thing that is enjoyned by the Law The King does assert in his Answer to the Houses Petition May 23. 1642. That He is a part of the Parliament which they take upon them to defend and secure and that his Prerogative is a part of and a defence to the Laws of the Land In the Remonstrance of both Houses May 26. 1642. They do assert That if they have made any Precedents this Parliament they have made them for posterity upon the same or better grounds of Reason and Law than those were upon which their Predecessors made any for them and do say That as some Precedents ought not to be Rules for them to follow so none can be limits to bound their Proceedings which may and must vary according to the different condition of times And for the particular with which they were charged of setting forth Declarations to the People who have chosen and entrusted them with all that is dearest to them if there be no example for it in former times They say it is because there never were such Monsters before that attempted to disaffect the People towards a Parliament They further say His Majesties Towns are no more his care than his Kingdom nor his Kingdom than his People who are not so his own that he hath absolute power over them or in them as in his proper Goods and Estate but fiduciary for the Kingdom and in the paramount right of the Kingdom They also acknowledge the Law to be the safeguard and custody of all publick and private Interests They also hold it fit to declare unto the Kingdom whose Honour and Interest is so much concerned in it what is the Priviledge of the great Council of Parliament herein and what is the Obligation that lies upon the Kings of this Realm as to the passing such Bills as are offered to them by both Houses in the name and for the good of the whole Kingdom whereunto they stand engaged both in Conscience and Justice to give their Royal Assent First In Conscience in respect of the Oath that is or ought to be taken by them at their Coronation as well to confirm by their Royal Assent all such good Laws as the People shall chuse whereby to remedy such inconveniencies as the Kingdom may suffer as to keep and protect the Laws already in being The form of the Oath is upon Record and asserted by Books of good authority Unto it relation is had 25 Ed. 3. entitiled The Statute of Provisors of Benefices Hereupon The said Commons prayed our said Lord the King sith the Right of the Crown of England and the Law of the said Realm is such that upon the mischiefs and dammages which happen to this Realm he ought and is bound by his Oath with the accord of his People in Parliament to make Remedy and Law for the removing thereof That it may please him to ordain Remedy This Right thus claimed by the Lords and Commons the King doth not deny in his Answer thereunto Secondly In Justice the Kings are obliged as well as in Conscience in respect of the Trust reposed in them to preserve the Kingdom by the making of new Laws where there shall be need as well as by observing of Laws already made a Kingdom being many times as much exposed to ruine for want of a new Law as by the violation of those that are in being This is a most clear Right not to be denyed but to be as due from his Majesty to his People as his Protection In all Laws framed by both Houses as Petitions of Right they have taken themselves to be so far Judges of the Rights claimed by them That when the King's Answer hath not been in every point fully according to their desire they have still insisted upon their Claim and never given it over till the Answer hath been according to their demand as was done in the late Petition of Right 3. Caroli This shews the two Houses of Parliament are Judge between the King and the People in question of Right as in the Case also of Ship-money and other illegal Taxes and if so why should they not also be Judge in the Cases of the Common Good and Necessity of the Kingdom wherein the Kingdom hath as clear a Right to have the benefit and remedy of the Law as in any other matter saying Pardon and Grants of Favour The Malignant Party are they that not only neglect and despise but labour to undermine the Law under colour of maintaining it They endeavour to destroy the Fountain and Conservators of the Law the Parliament They make other Judges of the Law than what the Law hath appointed They set up other Rules for themselves to walk by than such as are according to Law and dispence with the Subjects obedience to that which the Law calls Authority and to their Determinations and Resolutions to whom the Judgment doth appertain by Law Yea though but private persons they make the Law to be their Rule according to their own understanding only contrary to the Judgment of those that are the competent Judges thereof The King asserts That the Act of Sir John Hotham was levying War against the King by the letter of the Statute 25 Ed. 3. cap. 2. The Houses state the Case and deny it to be within that Statute saying If the letter of that Statute be thought to import this That no War can be levied against the King but what is directed and intended against his Person Or that every levying of Forces for the defence
of the King's Authority and of his Kingdom against the personal Commands of the King opposed thereunto though accompanied with his presence is Treason or levying War against the King Such Interpretation is very far from the sense of that Statute and so much the Statute it self speaks beside the authority of Book-cases For if the clause of levying War had been meant only against the King's Person what need had there been thereof after the other branch in the same Statute of compassing the King's death which would necessarily have implied this And because the former doth imply this it seems not at all to be intended at least not chiefly in the latter branch but the levying War against his Laws and Authority and such a levying War though not against his Person is a levying War against the King whereas the levying of Force against his personal Commands though accompanied with his Presence and not against his Laws and Authority but in the maintenance thereof is no levying of War against the King but for him especially in a time of so many successive plots and designs of Force against the Parliament and Kingdom of probable Invasion from abroad and of so great distance and alienation of his Majesties affections from his Parliament and People and of the particular danger of the Place and Magazine of Hull of which the two Houses sitting are the most proper Judges In proclaiming Sir John Hotham Traitor they say The breach of the Priviledge of Parliament was very clear and the subversion of the Subjects common Right For though the Priviledges of Parliament extend not to these cases mentioned in the Declaration of Treason Felony and breach of the Peace so as to exempt the Members of Parliament from Punishment or from all manner of Process and Tryal yet it doth priviledge them in the way and method of their Tryal and Punishment and that the Parliament should first have the Cause brought before them that they may judge of the Fact and of the grounds of their Accusation and how far forth the manner of their Tryal may or may not concern the Priviledge of Parliament Otherwise under this pretext the Priviledge of Parliament in this matter may be so essentially broken as thereby the very Being of Parliaments may be destroyed Neither doth the sitting of a Parliament suspend all or any Law in maintaining that Law which upholds the Priviledge of Parliament which upholds the Parliament which upholds the Kingdom They further assert That in some sense they acknowledge the King to be the only person against whom Treason can be committed that is as he is King and that Treason which is against the Kingdom is more against the King than that which is against his Person because he is King For Treason is not Treason as it is against him as a man but as a man that is a King and as he hath and stands in that relation to the Kingdom entrusted with the Kingdom and discharging that Trust They also a vow That there can be no competent Judge of this or any the like case but a Parliament and do say that if the wicked Counsel about the King could master this Parliament by force they would hold up the same power to deprive us of all Parliaments which are the ground and pillar of the Subjects Liberty and that which only maketh England a free Monarchy The Orders of the two Houses carry in them Law for their limits and the Safety of the Land for their end This makes them not doubt but all his Majesties good Subjects will yeeld obedience to his Majesties Authority signified therein by both Houses of Parliament for whose encouragement and that they may know their Duty in matters of that nature and upon how sure a ground they go that follow the Judgement of Parliament for their guide They alledge the true meaning and ground of that Statute 11. Hen. 7. cap. 1. printed at large in his Majesties Message May 4 This Statute provides that none that shall attend upon the King and do him true service shall be attainted or forfeit any thing What was the scope of this Statute Answ To provide that men should not suffer as Traitors for serving the King in his Wars according to the duty of their Allegiance But if this had been all it had been a very needless and ridiculous Statute Was it then intended as they seem to make it that print it with his Majesties Message that those should be free from all crime and penalty that should follow the King and serve him in War in any case whatsoever whether it were for or against the Kingdom or the Laws thereof That cannot be for that could not stand with the duty of their Allegiance which in the beginning of this Statute is expressed to be to serve the King for the time being in his Wars for the defence of him and the Land If therefore it be against the Land as it must be if it be against the Parliament the Representative Body of the Kingdom it is a declining from the duty of Allegiance which this Statute supposes may be done though men should follow the Kings Person in the War Otherwise there had been no need of such a Proviso in the end of the Statute that none should take benefit thereby that should decline from their Allegiance That therefore which is the Principal Verb in this is the serving of the King for the time being which cannot be meant of a Perkin Warbeck or any that should call himself King but such a one as whatever his Title might prove either in himself or in his Ancestors should be received and acknowledged for such by the Kingdome the Consent whereof cannot be discern'd but by Parliament the Act whereof is the Act of the whole Kingdom by the personal Suffrage of the Peers and the Delegate Consent of the Commons of England Henry 7th therefore a wise Prince to clear this matter of contest happening between Kings de facto and Kings de jure procured this Statute to be made That none shall be accounted a Traitor for serving in his Wars the King for the time being that is him that is for the present allowed and received by the Parliament in behalf of the Kingdom And as it is truly suggested in the Preamble of the Statute It is not agreeable to reason or conscience that it should be otherwise seeing men should be put upon an impossibility of knowing their duty if the Judgment of the highest Court should not be a Rule to guide them And if the Judgment thereof is to be followed when the question is who is King much more when the question is what is the best service of the King and Kingdom Those therefore that shall guide themselves by the Judgment of Parliament ought what ever happen to be secure and free from all account and penalties upon the ground and equity of this Statute To make the Parliament countenancers of Treason they say is enough
is not nor cannot be accountable by way of crime or offence against his Ruler and Soveraign but may do with his own what he please but still at his peril if he use not this his Liberty as he should to the end for which it is given him which is by voluntary and entire resignation to become an obedient Subject unto him who is the Supream Law-giver and Rightful King without possibility of change or defection Unto this right and the lawful exercise and possession of it this Nation did arive by the good providence and gift of God in calling and assembling the Parliament November 3d. 1640. and then continuing their Session by an express Act 17. Car. with power not to be dissolved but by their own consent which was not so much the introducing of a new Law as declaratory of what was Law before according to Man's natural Right in which he was created and of which he was possessed by God the soveraign giver of all things But the passing that said Act of Parliament alone was not that which restored the Nation to their original Right and just Natural Liberty but onely put them in the capacity and possibility of it That which wanted to make out to the Nation a clearness in having and obtaining this their right was the obligation they had put upon themselves and their posterities to their present Soveraign and his Authority which in justice and by the Oathes of Allegiance they were solemnly bound to in the sight of God as well as of Man And therefore unless by the abuse of that office of Trust to that degree as on his part to break the fundamental compact and constitution of Government they could not be set free nor restored to their original Right and first Liberty especially if together with such breach of Trust both parties appeal to God and put it upon the issue of Battel and God give the decision and in consequence thereof that original Right be asserted and possession thereof had and held for some years and then not rightfully lost but treacherously betrayed and given up by those in whom no power was rightfully placed to give up the subjection of the Nation again unto any whatsoever Unto which is to be added that how and when the dissolution of the said Parliament according to Law hath been made is yet unascertained and not particularly declared by reason whereof and by what hath been before shewed the state of the Case on the Subjects part is much altered as to the matter of Right and the Usurpation is now on the other hand there being as is well known two sorts of Usurpers either such as having no right of consent at all unto the Rule they exercise over the Subject or such who under pretence of a Right and Title do claim not by consent but by conquest and power or else hold themselves not obliged to the Fundamental compact and constitution of Government but gain unduely from the Subject by advantages taken through deceit and violence that which is not their own by Law For a rational Man to give up his Reason and Will unto the Judgement and Will of another without which no outward coercive Power can be whose Judgement and Will is not perfectly and unchangeably good and right is unwise and unsafe and by the Law of Nature forbidden And therefore all such gift made by rational men must be conditional either implied or explicite to be followers of their Rulers so far as they are followers of that good and right which is contained in the Law of the Supream Law-giver and no further reserving to themselves in case of such defection and declining of the Rulers actings from the Rule their primitive and original Freedom to resort unto that so they may in such case be as they were before they gave away their subjection unto the Will of another and reserving also the power to have this judged by a meet and competent Judge which is the Reason of the King and Kingdom declared by their Representatives in Parliament that is to say the Delegates of the People in the House of Commons assembled and the Commissioners on the Kings behalf by his own Letters Patents in the House of Peers which two concurring do very far bind the King if not wholly And when these cannot agree but break one from another the Commons in Parliament assembled are ex Officio the Keepers of the Liberties of the Nation and righteous Possessors and Defendors of it against all Usurpers and Usurpations whatsoever by the Laws of England The Valley of Jehoshaphat considered and opened by comparing 2. Chron. 20. with Joel 3. IT was the saying of Austine Nothing falls under our senses or happens in this visible World but is either commanded or permitted from the invisible and unintelligible Court and Pallace of the highest Emperor and universal King who is the chief over all the kings of the earth For although he hath both commanded and permitted a subordinate external Government over Men administred by man for the upholding of Justice in humane Societies and for the peace welfare and safety of men that are made in Gods Image yet he hath not so entirely put the Rule of the whole earth out of his own hands but that in cases of eminent injustice and oppression committed in Provinces States and Kingdomes contrary to his Lawes to their own and the very end of Magistracy which is the conservation of the Peoples just Rights and Liberties He that is higher than the highest amongst men doth regard and will shew by some extraordinary interposition of his that there are higher than they Such a seasonable and signal appearance of God for the Succor and Relief of his People in their greatest Straits and Exigencies when they have no might visible Power or armed Force to undertake the great company and multitude that comes against them nor know what to do save onely to have their eyes towards him is called in Scripture The day of the Lord's Judgement Then the Battel and cause of the Quarrel will appear to be not so much theirs as the Lord's and the frame of their heart will be humble before the Lord believing in the Lord and believing his Prophets for their good success and establishment This Dispensation is very lively described under the Type and by the Name of The Valley of Jehoshaphat as to the Season and Place wherein God will give forth a signal appearance of himself in Judgement on the behalf of his People for a final decision of the Controversie between them and their enemies It Litterally and Typically fell out thus as is at large recorded 2 Chron. 20. By way of allusion to this and upon occasion of the like yea and far greater Extreamities which God's People in the last dayes are to be brought into is that Prophesie Joel 3. for a like yea a far greater and more signal appearance of God for their Deliverance and Rescue in order to
our best security The Common Law then or Liberties of England comprized in the Magna Charta and the Charter of Forest are rendred as secure as authentick words can set them from all Judgments or Precedents to the contrary in any Courts all corrupting advice or evil counsel of any Judges all Letters or Countermands from the Kings Person under the Great or Privy Seals yea and from any Acts of Parliament it self that are contrary thereunto As to the Judges no question they well know the story of the 44 corrupt Judges executed by King Alfred as also of Tresillian Belknap and many others since By 11 Hen. 7. cap. 1. They that serve the King in his Wars according to their duty of Allegiance for defence of the King and the Land are indempnified If against the Land and so not according to their Allegiance the last clause of that chapter seems to exclude them from the benefit of this Act. 6 Hen. 8. 16. Knights and Burgesse of Parliament are required not to depart from the Parliament till it be fully finished ended or prorogued 28 Ed. 3. cap. 3. No man is to be imprisoned disherited or put to death without being heard what he can say for himself 4 Ed. 3. 14. and 36. Ed. 3. 10. A Parliament is to be holden every year or oftner if need be 1 Ric. 3. cap. 2. The subjects of this Realm are not to be charged with any new imposition called a Benevolence 37 Ed. 3. c. 18. All those that make suggestions against any man to the King are to be sent with their suggestions before the Chancellor Treasurer and his grand Council and there to find surety that they will pursue their suggestions and are to incur the same pain the party by them accused should have had if attained in case the suggestion be found evil or false 21 Jacobi cap. 3. All Monopolies and Dispensations with Penal Laws are made void as contrary to the great Charters These quotations of several Statutes as Ratifications and Restorers of the Laws of the Land are prefixed to the following Discourses and Pleas of this Sufferer as certain steady unmovable Land-marks to which he oft relates The rouling Seas have other Laws peculiar to themselves as Cook observes on that expression Law of the Land in his Comment on the 29th Chapter of Magna Charta Offences done upon the High Sea the Admiral takes conusance of and proceeds by the Marine Law But have those steady Land-marks though exactly observed and never so pertinently quoted and urged by this Sufferer failed him as to the securing of his Life 'T is because we have had Land-floods of late Tumults of the People that are compared to the raging Seas Psal 65. 7. The first Paper of this deceased Sufferer towards the defence of his Cause and Life preparatory to the Tryal as the foundation of all that follows before he could know how the Indictment was laid and which also a glance back to any crime of Treason since the beginning of the late War that the Attorney General reckoned him chargeable with shews to be very requist take as followeth Memorandums touching my Defence THe Offence objected against me is levying War within the Statute 25 Ed. 3. and by consequence a most high and great failer in the duty which the Subject according to the Laws of England stands obliged to perform in relation to the Imperial Crown and Soveraign Power of England The crime if it prove any must needs be very great considering the circumstances with which it hath been accompaned For it relates to and takes in a series of publick action of above twenty years continuance It took its rise and had its root in the Being Authority Judgment Resolutions Votes and Orders of a Parliament and that a Parliament not onely authorized and commissionated in the ordinary and customary way by his Majesties Writ of Summons and the Peoples Election and Deputation subject to Adjournment Discontinuance and Dissolution at the King's will but which by express Act of Parliamenâ— was constituted in its continuance and exercise of its Power free from that subjection and made therein wholly to depend upon their own will to be declared in an Act of Parliament to be passed for that purpose when they should see cause To speak plainly and clearly in this matter That which is endeavoured to be made a Crime and an Offence of such an high nature in my person is no other than the necessary and unavoidable Actings of the Representative Body of the Kingdom for the preservation of the good People thereof in their allegiance and duty to God and his Law as also from the imminent dangers and destruction threatned them from God's and their own Enemies This made both Houses in their Remonstrance May 26. 1642. protest If the Malignant spirits about the King should ever force or necessitate them to defend their Religion the Kingdom the Priviledges of Parliament and the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects with their Swords The Blood and Destruction that should ensue therupon must be wholly cast upon their account God and their own consciences telling them that they were clear and would not doubt but that God and the whole world would clear them therein In his Majesties Answer to the Declaration of the two Houses May 19. 1642. he acknowledgeth his going into the House of Commons to demand the five Members was an errour And that was it which gave the Parliament the first cause to put themselves in a posture of defence by their own Power and Authority in commanding the Trained-Bands of the City of London to guard and secure them from Violence in the discharge of their Trust and Duty as the two Houses of Parliament appointed by Act to continue as above-mentioned The next cause was his Majesties raising Forces at York under pretence of a Guard expressed in the humble Petition of the Lords and Commons May 23. 1642. wherein they beseech his Majesty to disband all such Forces and desist from any further designs of that nature otherwise they should hold themselves bound in duty towards God and the Trust reposed in them by the People and the Fundamental Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom to employ their care and utmost power to secure the Parliament and preserve the peace and quiet of the Kingdom May 20. 1642 The two Houses of Parliament gave their Judgment in these Votes First That it appears that the King seduced by wicked Counsel intends to make War against the Parliament who in all their Consultations and Actions have proposed no other end to themselves but the Care of his Kingdoms and the performance of all Duty and Loyalty to his Person Secondly That whensoever the King maketh War upon the Parliament it is a breach of Trust reposed in him by his People contrary to his Oath and tending to the dissolution of this Government Thirdly That whosoever shall serve or assist him in such Wars are Traytors by the fundamental
and the King is slain in the battel This Treason is questionable by the Successor as Stonies Case is in Dyer Thus ended the questions of Law proposed The Sollicitor spake after to the Jury concerning the Fact which after they withdrew to consider and being withdrawn about half an hour returned with their Verdict which being delivered by the Foreman in the name of his fellows with their consent found the Prisoner guilty of High Treason from Januar. 30. 1648. They not only found him guilty according to the Indictment which was laid for what the Prisoner did 1659 but for a long series of High Treason as they reckon from Jan. 30. 1648. By which it may appear they were a well-prepared Jury for their work The Judges oft if not alwayes pretend that the Jury is to pass Verdict only as to matter of Fact according to the Evidence given by the Witnesses thereof But a general Verdict evidently involves both that he is guilty of such fact and that the fact is Treason as they in this Verdict openly undertake to determine taking in the full sence of the Indictment and much more Unless a Jury distinguish themselves out of this usually imposed snare by giving a special Verdict concerning the Fact only they undeniably have a share with their Tutors and Instructors in the shedding of innocent blood in case matter of Law be wrongfully stated For a Jury to resolve a Case of Law that so eminent a Subjects life was concern'd in and that in less than half an hour which never yet came before any Bench of Judicature in England may seem a very strange and bold adventure But Reader How far this falls short of a full Account of all that was spoken by the Prisoner though much interrupted by the King's Bench and Counsel in those ten hours which on this day of his Tryal he stood at the Bar pleading and answering for his Life and the Cause he had with many thousands been engaged in I leave to thee to imagine till a fuller and compleater Account thereof can be obtained than is yet come to hand This was remarkable That never being indulg'd the liberty of any repose to his body all that while which indeed he asked not nor receiving any creature-refreshings though sent him for his support yea and though after all his most rational Plea in his Defence the Jury gave their Verdict against his Life he came chearfully and pleasantly from the Bar as thought worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ and was so raised and full of rejoycing that evening at the place of his confinement in the Tower that he was a wonder to any that were about him This spiritual rejoycing in Christ Jesus and his heavenly raisedness of spirit increased more and more to the very moment of his death insomuch that meer strangers to his person yea very foreigners wondred at his triumphant dissolution The true Copy of the Prisoner's own Papers containing the substance of what he pleaded on the said day of his Tryal June 6. Memorandums as to my main Defence in relation to matter of Fact and as a Narrative thereof THat without any seeking of mine I was chosen by Writ under the Great Seal to serve as Burgess for the Town of Kingston upon Hull in the Parliament that sate down on the third of Novemb. 1640. and having in pursuance thereof taken my seat in the said Parliament I was obliged by Law to give my attendance upon the said Trust as well as upon grounds of Duty and Conscience The said Parliament was not onely called and assembled after the usual manner and had the Power and Priviledges incident to that high Court but was by express Statute and Consent of the three Estates so constituted as to its Continuance Adjournment Prorogation and Dissolution that in none of these particulars they were subject to alteration but by their own common Assent declared by Act of Parliament to be passed by themselves for that purpose with the Royal Assent In the Preamble to the Act for continuance of the said Parliament these words are contained Whereas great sums of Money must of necessity be speedily advanced and provided for the relief of his Majesties Army and People in the Northern parts of this Realm and for preventing the imminent danger this Kingdom is in and for supply of his Majesties present and urgent occasions which cannot be so timely effected as is requisit without Credit for raising the said Moneys which Credit cannot be obtained until such obstacles be first removed as are occasioned by fears jealousies and apprehensions of divers his Majesties loyal Subjects That this present Parliament may be Adjourned Prorogued or Dissolved before Justice shall be duely executed upon Delinquents Publick Grievances redressed a firm Peace between the two Nations of England and Scotland concluded and before sufficient Provision be made for the repayment of the said Moneys so to be raised c. By all which the very work that was between the three Estates agreed to be done for the Good and Safety of the Kingdom was in sundry particulars declared and expressed and not only so but as is acknowledged by the late King himself in his Answer to the nineteen Propositions The Power which thereby was legally placed in both Houses was more than sufficient to prevent and restrain Tyranny So that by what hath been shewed the Law it self is with me and for me enjoyning my continued attendance on the Trust which by this means was committed to me and authorized me in particular to effect the things contained in the said Preamble and to act in all matters belonging to the high Court of Parliament for the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in time of imminent danger I had been liable to great punishment by the Law for dis-attendance and deserting my station therein till lawfully or by force dismissed there-from and this whatever occasions others might have by a voluntary or forc'd departure from attendance upon that Trust The actions therefore done by me in this capacity and according to the Law Priviledges Customs and Power of Parliament and that such a one as was thus extraordinarily constituted neither are nor can be brought within the Statute of 25. Ed. 3. cap. 2. nor are to be questioned tried much less judged and sentenc'd in any inferior Court Nay so far is it from this that by a Declaration and Resolution of Parliament Aug. 13. 1642 it is adjudged to be committing Treason in the highest degree to bring both or either Houses of Parliament under that or such like Imputations Nor till of late have I ever heard but that those who took the Judgment of Parliament for their rule and guide however tortuous or erroneous it might afterwards be accounted in succeeding times and they that acted by and under the countenance of their declared Judgments Orders or Ordinances ever acknowledged binding during the sitting of the Parliament were safe and indempnified from all punishment And
The next Consideration is how far I have had my share and part therein that by the Laws is not warrantable or by what appears in way of proof to the Jury For the first I shall crave leave to give you this account of my self who have best known my own mind and intentions throughout and would not now to save my life renounce the principles of that Righteous Cause which my conscience tells me was my duty to be faithful unto I do therefore humbly affirm That in the afore-mentioned great Changes and Revolutions from first to last I was never a first mover but alwayes a follower chusing rather to adhere to things than persons and where Authority was dark or dubious to do things justifiable by the Light and Law of Nature as that Law is acknowledged part of the Law of the Land things that are in se bona and such as according to the grounds and principles of the Common Law as well as the Statutes of this Land would warrant and indempnifie me in doing them For I have observed by Precedents of former times when there have arisen disputes about Titles to the Crown between Kings de facto and Kings de jure the People of this Realm wanted not directions for their safety and how to behave themselves within the duty and limits of Allegiance to the King and Kingdom in such difficult and dangerous seasons My Lord Cook is very clear in this point in his Chap. of Treason fol. 7. And if it were otherwise it were the hardest case that could be for the people of England For then they would be certainly exposed to punishment from those that are in possession of the supream power as Traitors if they do any thing against them or do not obey them and they would be punishable as Traitors by him that hath right and is King de jure in case they do obey the Kings de facto and so all the people of England are necessarily involved in Treasons either against the Powers de facto or de jure and may by the same reason be questioned for it as well as the Prisoner if the Act of Indempnity and the King's Pardon did not free them from it The security then and safety of all the People of England is by this means made to depend upon a Pardon which might have been granted or denied and not upon the sure foundations of Common Law an opinion sure which duly weighed and considered is very strange to say no more For I would gladly know that person in England of estate and fortune and of age that hath not counselled aided or abetted either by his person or estate and submitted to the Laws and Government of the Powers that then were and if so then by your Judgments upon me you condemn in effigies and by necessary consequence the whole Kingdom And if that be the Law and be now known to be so it is worth consideration whether if it had been generally known and understood before it might not have hindred his Majesties Restoration Besides although until this Judgement be passed upon me the people have apprehended themselves as free from question and out of danger by reason of the Act of Indempnity and General Pardon yet when it shall appear to them that such their safety is not grounded on the Common Law nor upon the Law of Nature but that against both these in their actions they are found faulty and tainted with a moral guilt and that as principals also since in Treason there are no Accessories what terrifying Reflexions must this needs stir up in the mind of every man that will be apt to believe his Turn will come next at least once in two years as hath befallen me in my pâ—rson who however I have been misjudged and misunderstood can truly affirm that in the whole series of my Actions that which I have had in my eye hath been to preserve the ancient well-constituted Government of England on its own basis and primitive righteous foundations most learnedly stated by Fortescue in his Book made in praise of the English Laws And I did account it the most likely means for the effecting of this to preserve it at least in its root whatever changes and alterations it might be exposed unto in its branches through the blustrous and stormy times that have passed over us This is no new doctrine in a Kingdom acquainted with Political Power as Fortescue shews ours is describing it to be in effect the Common Assent of the Realm the Will of the People or whole Body of the Kingdom represented in Parliament Nay though this Representation as hath fallen out be restrained for a season to the Commons House in their single actings into which as we have seen when by the inordinate fire of the times two of the three Estates have for a season been melted down they did but retire into their Root and were not hereby in their Right destroyed but rather preserved though as to their exercise laid for a while asleep till the season came of their Revival and Restoration And whatever were the intents and designs of others who are to give an account of their own actions It is sufficient for me that at a time critical and decisive though to my own hazard and ill usage I did declare my Refusal of the Oath of Abjuration which was intended to be taken by all the Members of Parliament in reference to Kingly Government and the Line of his now Majesty in particular This I not only positively refused to take but was an occasion of the second thoughts which the Parliament reassumed thereof till in a manner they came wholly at last to decline it a proof undeniable of the remoteness of any intentions or designs of mine as to the endeavouring any alteration or change in the Government and was that which gave such jealousie to many in the House that they were willing to take the first occasion to shew their dislike of me and to discharge me from sitting among them But to return to what I have before affirmed as to my being no leading or first Actor in any Change it is very apparent by my deportment at the time when that great Violation of Priviledges happened to the Parliament so as by force of Arms several Members thereof were debarred coming into the House and keeping their seats there This made me forbear to come to the Parliament for the space of ten weeks to wit from the third of Decemb. 1648 till towards the middle of February following or to meddle in any publick transactions And during that time the matter most obvious to exception in way of alteration of the Government did happen I can therefore truly say that as I had neither consent nor vote at first in the Resolutions of the Houses concerning the Non-Addresses to his late Majesty so neither had I in the least any consent in or approbation to his Death But on the contrary when required by
even whilst here in the body be made partaker of Eternal Life in the first fruits of it and at last sit down with Christ in Glory at his right-hand Here I shall mention some remarkable passages and changes of my Life In particular how unsought for by my self I was called to be a Member of the Long Parliament what little advantage I had by it and by what steps I became satisfied with the Cause I was engaged in and did pursue the same What the Cause was did first shew it self in the first Remonstrance of the House of Commons Secondly in the Solemn League and Covenant Thirdly in the more refined pursuit of it by the Commons House in their Actings single with what Result they were growing up into which was in the breast of the House and unknown or what the three Proposals mentioned in my Charge would have come to at last I shall not need now to say but only from all put together to assert That this Cause which was owned by the Parliament was the CAUSE of GOD and for the Promoting of the Kingdom of his dear Son JESUS CHRIST wherein are comprehended our Liberties and Duties both as Men and as Christians And since it hath pleased God who separated me from the womb to the knowledge and service of the Gospel of his Son to separate me also to this hard and difficult service at this time and to single me out to the defence and justification of this his Cause I could not consent by any words or actions of mine that the innocent Blood that hath been shed in the defence of it throughout the whole War the Guilt and moral evil of which must and does certainly lye somewhere did lye at my door or at theirs that have been the faithful Adherers to this Cause This is with such evidence upon my heart that I am most freely and chearfully willing to put the greatest Seal to it I am capable which is the pouring out of my very Blood in witness to it which is all I shall need to say in this place and at this time having spoken at large to it in my Defence at my Tryal intending to have said more the last day as what I thought was reasonable for Arrest of the Judgment but I was not permitted then to speak it Both which may with time and God's providence come to publick view And I must still assert That I remain wholly unsatisfied that the course of proceedings against me at my Tryal were according to Law but that I was run upon and destroyed contrary to Right and the Liberties of Magna Charta under the form only of Justice which I leave to God to decide who is the Judge of the whole World and to clear my Innocency Whilst in the mean time I beseech him to forgive them and all that have had a hand in my Death and that the Lord in his great mercy will not lay it unto their charge And I do account this Lot of mine no other than what is to be expected by those that are not of the World but whom Christ hath chosen out of it for the Servant is not greater than his Lord And if they have done this to the green tree they will do it much more to the dry However I shall not altogether excuse my self I know that by many weaknesses and failers I have given occasion enough of the ill usage I have met with from men though in the main the Lord knows the sincerity and integrity of my heart whatever Aspersions and Reproaches I have or do lye under I know also that God is just in bringing this Sentence and Condemnation upon me for my sins there is a body of sin and death in me deserves this Sentence and there is a similitude and likeness also that as a Christian God thinks me worthy to bear with my Lord and head in many circumstances in reference to these dealings I have met with in the good I have been endeavouring for many years to be doing in these Nations and especially now at last in being numbred amongst transgressors and made a publick Sacrifice through the wrath and contradictions of men and in having finished my course and fought the good fight of Faith and resisted in a way of suffering as you see even unto blood This is but the needful preparation the Lord hath been working in me to the receiving of the Crown of Immortality which he hath prepared for them that love him The prospect whereof is so chearing that through the Joy in it that is set before the eyes of my Faith I can through mercy endure this Cross despise this Shame and am become more than Conquerour through Christ that hath loved me For my Life Estate and all is not so dear to me as my Service to God to his Cause to the Kingdom of Christ and the future welfare of my Country and I am taught according to the Example as well as that most Christian saying of a Noble Person that lately died after this publick manner in Scotland How much better is it to chuse Affliction and the Cross than to sin or draw back from the Service of the Living God into the wayes of Apostacy and Perdition That Noble Person whose Memory I honour was with my self at the beginning and making of the Solemn League and Covenant the Matter of which and the holy Ends therein contained I fully assent unto and have been as desirous to observe but the rigid way of prosecuting it and the oppressing Uniformity that hath bin endeavored by it I never approved This were sufficient to vindicate me from the false Aspersions and Calumnies which have been laid upon me of Jesuitism and Popery and almost what not to make my Name of ill savour with good men which dark mists do now dispel of themselves or at least ought and need no pains of mine in making an Apology For if any man seek a proof of Christ in me let him reade it in his action of my Death which will not cease to speak when I am gone And henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus I shall not desire in this place to take up much time but only as my last words leave this with you That as the present storm we now lie under and the dark Clouds that yet hang over the Reformed Churches of Christ which are coming thicker and thicker for a season were not un-fore-seen by me for many years passed as some Writings of mine declare So the coming of Christ in these Clouds in order to a speedy and sudden Revival of his Cause and spreading his Kingdom over the face of the whole Earth is most clear to the eye of my Faith even that Faith in which I dye whereby the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ Amen Even so come Lord Jesus Some Passages of his PRAYER on the Scaffold
THe Heaven is thy Throne O Lord and the Earth is thy footstool but to this man wilt thou look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at thy Word Thou O Lord art the great God of Heaven and Earth thou fillest all places with thy presence art the Judge of the whole World and dost Righteousness We are poor unworthy sinful creatures by nature children of wrath as well as others We are wise to do evil but to do good we have no knowledge If to will be present with us yet how to perform and go through with that which is good and not be weary of well-doing we find not Bring us O Lord into the true mystical Sabbath-state that we may cease from our own works rest from our labors not think our own thoughts find our own desire or walk in the way of our own hearts but become a meet habitation of thy Spirit by the everlasting Covenant the place of thy Rest Let the Spirit of God and of Glory that is greater than he that is in the world rest upon us work in and by us mightily to the pulling down of flesh and blood the strong holds of Sin and Satan in our selves and others causing us so to suffer under the Fire-Baptism thereof as that we may cease from sin for ever or from that fleshly mutable temporary state of life and righteousness which at best is liable to roul back into sin again to be intangled overcome and finally triumphed over by the pollutions of this world Deliver us O Lord from the Evil One deliver us from our selves take us out of our own dispose our own liberty and power the freedom the mutable holiness and righteousness of the sons of men at its best and bring us into the most glorious Liberty the most holy immutable and righteous state of the sons of God a freedom to Good only and non at all to evil attended and accompanied with a power in us through thy Spirit of doing all things for the Truth and a disability brought upon us as to the doing of any thing against the Truth in the single power and freedom of our own spirit Then the prince of this world coming to us will find nothing in us at least no prevailing activity of self nature or flesh which at best is capable to be made by him an ergin of opposition to the Kingdom of Christ and our own true blessedness Thou hast laid on thy Son the iniquities of us all by his stâ—ipes we are healed We must all stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to give an account of what we have done in the body whether it be good or whether it be evil He will bring every secret counsel to light things that are wrought in darkness he maketh plain and evident Thine eyes O Lord run to and fro through the whole earth Thine eyes do behold thine eye-lids try the children of men The wicked and him that loveth violence thy soul hateth But thou upholdest the poor and needy him that is of a broken heart and of a contrite spirit The humble and lowly thou wilt teach the meek thou wilt guide in Judgment thou wilt beautifie the meek with Salvation Thou art the supream disposer of all the Kingdoms of men giving them to whomsoever thou wilt Whatever cross-blows thou sufferest to be given thy People for a season thou orderest all to thy own glory and their true advantage But thou hast a set time for Sions deliverance in which the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given unto the best and choicest of men the people of the Saints of the most high whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom Let the exceeding near approach of this bear up the spirits of thy poor despised ones in this day of extremity and suffering from sinking and despondency Carry them through their suffering part with a holy triumph in thy Chariots of Salvation How long O Lord holy and true make hast to help the Remnant of thy People Break the Heavens and come down touch the Mountains of prey the Kingdoms of this evil world and let them smoak Let the mouth of all Iniquity be stopped Silence every one that stands up against thee Rebuke the debauched prophane spirits of men that set themselves to work wickedness running with greediness into all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness They eat thy People as they eat bread They are profound to make slaughter skilful to destroy though thou hast been the rebuker of them all But Lord be this dispensation of what continuance it will for the serving of thy most gracious and wise designs let the spirit and resolution of thy Servants be steady and unchangeable that whether they live they may live to the Lord that died for them or whether they die they may die to the Lord who lives for ever to make intercession for them that they may glorifie thee with their bodies and spirits whether by life or by death Thou knowest O Lord that in the Faith of Jesus and for the Truth as it is in Jesus thy Servant desires to die walking in the steps of our father Abraham and for Righteousness and Judgment following the Lord in all his wayes whithersoever he goes worshipping the God of his believing fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob in that way which men call Heresie In this Faith dear Lord I have lived and in this Faith and Profession I die as one that hath herein stood up for the Testimony of JESUS against all Idolatry Superstition Prophaness and Popery or whatever is unsound or unfit to be brought before the Throne of so great and glorious a Majesty 'T is in this Faith that thy Servant dies Now set thy Seal to it and remove the reproaches and calumnies with which thy Servant is reproached for thou knowst his innocency Dear Father thou sentest us into this world but this world is not our home we are strangers and pilgrims in it as all our fathers were We have no abode here but there is a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens that when this tabernacle is dissolved we may enter into In our Fathers house are many mansions Oh! whatever the curses and condemnations of the Law are be thou near to us and spread the Righteousness of Christ over us and we shall be safe Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sins are covered Who wil speak who will take on him to say any thing or to plead with Thee upon any other terms but in the Name and Merits of the mighty Redeemer on whom our help is laid We desire to lie low to be abased and take shame confusion of face to our selves as that which properly belongs to us that Thou alone maist be exalted and advanced 'T is of meer Grace O Lord that thy Servant hath now some sign of thy special Salvation even thy free-Grace O God whereby thou dost accept him in thy
Soveraign or General Vicegerent of his Supremacy over all in Heaven and in Earth He therefore is the true Universal King and Root of all Soveraign and just Governing Power whether in Heaven or on Earth His Soveraignty is unquestionable and unaccountable because of the Perfection of his Person carrying in it an aptitude and sufficiency to Govern without possibility of Error or Defect of any kind Soveraign and Governing Power doth necessarily relate to Subjects that are to be the Ruled and Subjects capable of such Government Therefore when God himself purposes within himself to be Supream Legislator and Governour he doth withal purpose the Being and Creation of both Worlds as the Subject matter of his Kingdom He propounds to Govern his Subjects by and with their own consent and good liking or without and against it in the way of his revenging Justice Governing by Laws clearly stating and ascertaining the Duty or the Offence as also the Rewards and Penalties Herein Just Government consists or the Justice of Government for he that Rules over others must be Just and indeed should be seen to be so in all his Commands so seen as to render the Consciences of the Ruled and those whose duty it is to Obey inexcusable before God and before Men if they Dissent or Resist Inexcusable they are before God because the matter Commanded is the matter of God's Law therefore just to be obeyed They are also Inexcusable before Men that which is required of them being generally acknowledged and affirmed by those in whom the common consent of the Subjects is intrusted to that end to be Just and Reasonable and therefore to be Obeyed For the end of all Government being for the Good and Welfare and not for the Destruction of the Ruled God who is the Institutor of Government as he is pleased to Ordain the Office of Governors intrusting them with Power to command the Just and Reasonable Things which his own Law Commands that carry their own evidence to common Reason and Sense at least that do not evidently contradict it so he grants a Liberty to the Subjects or those that by him are put under the Rule to refuse all such Commands as are contrary to his Law or to the judgement of common Reason and Sense whose trial he allows by way of assent or dissent before the Commands of the Ruler shall be Binding or put in Execution and this in a Co-ordinacy of Power with Just Government and as the due Ballance thereof The Original Impressions of Just Laws are in Mans Nature and very Constitution of Being Man hath the Law in his Mind or the Superior and Intellectual part of him convincing and bringing that into obedience and subjection to the Law of God in Christ himself He hath also that which is a Law in his Members that are on the Earth or his earthly and sensual part whose Power is Co-ordinate with the other but such that if it be not gained into a Harmony and Conjunction with its Head the Spirit or Mind of man hath ability to let and hinder his Mind or Ruling part from performing and putting in execution that which is good just fit and to be acknowledged as the righteous dictates of the Mind which ought to be the Ruling Power or Law to the Man So in the outward Government over Man the secondary or co-ordinate Power concurring with that which is the chief ruling Power is essential to Just Government and is acknowledged to be so by the Fundamental Constitution of the Government of England as well as in the Legal Being and Constitution of Parliaments whether that which hath been usual and ordinary according to the Common Law or that which of late hath been Extraordinary by express Statute for the continuance of the Parliament 17. Car. until dissolved by Act of Parliament For together with the Legal Being which is given to Regal Power and the Prerogative of the Crown there is the Legal Power and Being reserved also unto that Body which is the Peoples or Kingdoms Representative who are the Hands wherein that which is called Power Politick is seated and are intrusted with giving or with holding the common Consent of the whole Nation according to the best of their Understandings in all matters coming before them and are to keep this Liberty Inviolate and Entire against all Invasions or Encroachments upon it whatsoever This second Power in the very Writ of Summons for calling a Parliament is declared to be of that Nature that what the first doth without obtaining the Consent and Approbation of the second in Parliament is not binding but ineffectual And when the Representative Body of the Kingdom in and with whom this Power is intrusted as the Due and Legal Ballance and Boundary to the Regal Power set and fixed by the Fundamental Constitution is made a standing Court and of that Continuance as not to be dissolvable but by its own consent during such its continuance it hath right to preserve it self from all violent and undue Dissolution and to maintain and defend its own Just Priviledges a chief of which is to binde or loose the People in all matters good or hurtful to them according to their best Judgement and discretion In the exercise of this their Trust they are Indemnified by Law and no hurt ought to come unto them that Governing Power which is originally in God and slowes at first from him as the sole and proper Fountain thereof is brought into exercise amongst men upon a differing and distinct account First As it is a Trust and Right derived conditionally from God to his Officers and Ministers which therefore may be lost who being called by him and in the course of his Providence to the exercise of it are to hold it of him the Universal King and to own themselves in the exercise thereof as his Vicegerents to cut off by the Sword of Justice evil-doers and to be a Protection and encouragement to them that do well But because it is part of God's Call of any person to this high Trust to bring him into the possession and free Exercise thereof by the common consent of the Body of the People where such Soveraign Power is set up unless they have forfeited this Liberty Therefore Secondly God doth allow and confer by the very Law of Nature upon the Community or Body of the People that are related to and concerned in the right of Government placed over them the Liberty by their common Vote or Suffrage duely given to be Assenters or Dissenters thereunto and to Affirm and make Stable or Disallow and render Ineffectual what shall apparently be found by them to be for the good or hurt of that Society whose welfare next under the justice of God's Commands and his Glory is the Supream Law and very end of all Subordinate governing Power Soveraign Power then comes from God as its proper Root but the restraint or enlargement of it in its Execution over such or