pleasure In a word I find it far more glorious to be a loyal Subject then to be a King disobeyed Prepare then your selves to render me all that obedience which you owe me and without farther informing you whether you are to hope more for Clemency or Iustice resolve your selves to an absolute submission I know well some peevish Polititians will censure that I act not as I ought in this conjuncture and that I should reflect on former passages with some sweetness and gratifie you with Presents to encourage you with future hopes but I presume my Policy is more generous and more secure then theirs for if I had so perswaded you perhaps you would have believed me to have been more fit to wear my Fathers Irons then his Crown and would have more suspected me of weakness and dissimulation this excessive indulgence would give you more of fear and me less of honour and estimation I being then so far from following such Maximes tell you once more that I declare my self to be your King And without farther capitulation with you I ascend the Throne by the steps of mine own Authority as Soveraignly as if not recalled by you at all Hitherto I have let you know I am not ignorant how far the duty of Subjects ought to bend But moreover I judge it fit to acquaint you to what degree Soveraign Clemency may extend it self to this end that by that resentment you may reasonably know what to fear and what to hope Know then that although a Prince may justly punish Traytors he may likewise pardon penitent offenders principally then when he discerns his pardon shall reclaim insolency to obedience and fidelity For seeing Kings are the Fathers of the people they ought not alwayes to be too severe in justice and seeing that a Prince may afford grace and pardon to his enemies he may without doubt shew pity and mercy to his own Subjects He cannot well punish them all but must in part enfeeble himself nor sluce out their blood without emptying his own veins wherefore he ought to spare as far as Reason and Iustice can make the way passable When then a particular accident grows up against a Prince or State it may suffice that the heads of some chief offendors be sacrificed to a reparation and that by some severe examples others may be instructed with exemplary terrour But seeing that the number of the offendors may prove infinite and if all should be punish't a desolation of entire Provinces might succeed and consequently more men be lost then 15. main Battails could devour so that the piles of dead corps should make mountains and severe execution of revenge cause Rivers of bloud in such considerations I say It may be better to use a great example of Clemencie then of Iustice and hazard something rather then to loose the lives of so many miserable souls and there cannot be a greater Victory then to vanquish ones own passion in such dangerous conjunctures Fear not then that I shall abuse my Authority since if I should punish all who have offended I should reduce my Kingdom to a forlorn Desart For who is there among you that hath not failed of his duty Some have done mischief others have desired it or at least permitted it to be acted some have assisted Robert others have directly fought against their King some have most perfidiously laid their hands upon their Anointed Lord committed a sâcred person into prison and others have at least forsaken him The publick good is pretext of all things but Rebellion alone is the mother of that horrid Monster The Nobles agitated as they did for their own interest and the people by their madness and unavisedness seconded their fury and put in execution the intention of the Parricides Your wives and your children are not exempt from these crimes seeing without doubt they made vowes for their Parents offending and prayers against their Prince Whereas then I cannot punish you all but that I must utterly exterminate you it resteth at my choice whether I would become a King without Subjects or to pardon you out of pure grace and bounty and not by Obligations It may be that during your lives you may repent you of your ancient crimes and become as faithful as you have been disobedient But perhaps you will tell me as to our selves we have repented formerly before we sent to you to come and receive the Scepter which belongs to you 'T is true it may be as you have said and that I have considered your Addresses to me were to make reparation of what formerly passed and that with those hands you would advance to the Throne his Son whose Father you had barbarously removed But after all whosoever can abandon the path of Virtue to make choice of that Vice can again embrace that occasion if presented Wherefore you owe greater obligation to me then I can confidence to you for had I not resolved to shew Grace and Pardon the great number of Nobles which the King of England my Uncle hath presented to me to attend my person had not come without Souldiers each one of these who incircle me have troops at their command and I would not have received my Fathers Crown but in the head of a victorious Army in the midst of a Field covered with dead and dying men bedewed with the blood of ten thousand Rebels I would have been the Conquerour of my Kingdom and not have mounted unto the Throne supported by the same hands who snatcht it from my Fathers head But I call to mind I am your King as you are also my Subjects and in this relation I can love you yet as guilty as you are I can have pitty for your errors and kindness for your obstinacy and I will not put my self into a condition of sadness after the Victory I am then come to you without an Army to receive what is mine This Action without doubt is hardy bold and well deserveth glory and is sufficiently obliging to demerit your acknowledgement in all degrees of fidelity Before that you were criminous the Divine humane right conjured you notto forsake your Prince but this day a new obligation chaineth you to more strict obedience It is not enough alone to be faithful so to satisfie your dutie but it is your part to blot out the memorie of what is past and to justifie what is present you ought not to look on me meerly as your King but as a King of your own choice as a King who hath pardoned you as a King who confideth in you who now is commending his person into your hands and commits the very care of his life to your protection next to Heaven Studie then to gratifie such pressing endearments and provoke not the wrath of Heaven uppon your heads by new rebellions Those who have examined your by past actions approve not doubtless that resolution that I have taken to return into France as I have done for
Israelite was a person of honour and courage truly valiant 6 Temperance requisite in all royalists and therefore more proper for service of highest trust and as this bright shining virtue did shew it self in Hushai so temperance doubtlesse kept him company without whose influence understanding sence and reason or what can be thought honorable to a Prince will suddenly be drowned and overwhelmed in the stinking puddles of gluttony drunkennesse ryot luxury or detestable debaucheries Temperance and valour loves to keep company with justice And 't is very probable that this golden rule of doing right and giving to every man his due was a chief motive to King David to employ one of so just and righteous resolutions 7 Iustice and upright dealing who so dutifully paying his loyalty to his Prince as so cheerfully to hazard and adventure his life might possibly be more succesful in so near a concernment as the preserving of a King on his Throne and the appeasing and extinguishing of the flames of so formidable a treason These three fair Ladies are never without the society and counsel of Prudence 8 Prudence and in this perillous juncture she might be more highly useful because as Plato she is the cheifest guide that best adviseth humain actions q Prudentia sola praeit ducit ad recte faciendum Plato in menae Aristotle is more plain urging r Fieri non potest ut quisquam vere probus sine prudentia audiat Arist. hic that no man can be justly stiled good or honest who is not prudent as necessary to true Policy and Government as the line and plummet to the skilful Architect Å¿ Vt Architectis nullum epus recte processcrit sine libella I. Lips This as the rudder turnes the Ship and best steers the course when she is under saile the King experiencing a quick and lively spirit a great judgement and more solid understanding in his loyal subject the Archite resolved to make choice of his faithful abilities when his Crown and life and all that was soveraign and truly royal seemed to be in an ambiguous and dangerous state To all these the constancy the fidelity the secresie the extraordinary friendship passionate love and amity that King David had for Hushai or that Hushai had for the person and high calling of the King these happy experiences might rationally incline King Davids confidence 9 Constancy Fidelity Secresy are requisite in true loyalists to recommend and commissionate his faithful subject to manage and conduct this weighty business These are lively marks of true loyalists and well worthy and becoming the imitation of all who pretend to be loyal subjects yet this case of Hushai seems to be of a most remarkable and extraordinary quality both in respect of King David and in relation to Hushai First in regard of the King who surprised with a rebellion under a pretence of Religion and a vow to be performed at Hebron was forced to a suddain necessity to use his greatest Art and Policy to disperse and dissolve that growing traiterous cloud which began to spread and to look so formidable Thus a great Critick adventures to comment on the text t Non deserebant Davidem in tantis malis suae Artes sed ubi Leonina non proderat assumit vulpinam H. Grotius in 2 Sam. 1â— and saith David as a great commander and experienced general wanted neither wit nor arts and martial designs to crush in peices and counterplot Absolons ambitious aimes others conjecture that this extraordinary command and commission was given to Hushai from David as his King who having a soveraign power over all his subjects might exact obedience having a superlative Authority in so great a peril to circumstance his royal pleasure in this service as the King should please to judge fit for persons time and place and this seems very probable from the Prophet Samuel u 2 Sam. 15.33.34 Si veneris mecum eris mihi oneri who thus records the dialogue betwixt the King and Hushai If thou passest on with me thou shalt be a burden to me but if thou return into the City thou maist defeat the Counsel of Achitophel And Vatablus x Videsne tu valesne tu in concilio quod si vales concilio revertere plus enim mihi profueris redeundo quam manendo Vatablus in loc 2. Sam. 1â— seemeth to encline much to this purpose as if the King had reasoned y Nonne videns es nonne Propheta es si dominus responderit tibi redeundum in urbem redito Chal. Paraph. the case and debated with Hushai thus saying thou art a subject of great experience as sharp-sighted as an Eagle in popular commotions strong in judgement prudent in Counsels Eloquent and powerful in perswasion a Lion for courage and a Lamb for courtship civility and curtesie go thou into the City Hierusalem and if possible defeat Achitophels counsel there is a third conjecture which seems to carry with it the clearest truth and that is in this unexemplary command and service King David as a Prophet and the Lords annointed by a divine direction or infusion from above in this sea of troubles guided more especially by the dictates of Gods holy spirit found out this happy expedient to avoide his Enemies and to destroy their traiterous combinations this seem to be genuinly derived from the sacred history 2 Sam. 15.31 which relates that King David worshipping God fell to his prayers and said z 2 Sam. 15.34 Dixeris Absolom servus tuus sum Rex Patere me vivere O Lord I pray thee turn the counsel of Achitophel into foolishnesse and the King had no sooner ended his prayers and was come to the top of the mount where he worshipped God but Hushai came to meet him and the King as directed by the spirit of God immediately commandeth Hushai instructing him with the matter and a form of such words as seemed to be sutable only for such a service as he was employed in and as sent from Heaven to save a King from perishing and to preserve a Kingdome a Say Hushai unto Absolon I will be thy servant O King as I have been thy Fathers servant hitherto so will I now be thy servant also This commission was only sutable to such a soveraign Prince whose divine spirit was directed from above and it is very colligible from the context of this story that King David had for the transaction of this high concern wherein a King a Church and Kingdome were all in such eminent danger an extraordinary and prophetical spirit and that will plainly manifest itself when it is observed and scanned how Hushai comported himself in this royal trust wherein the King employed him which was so succesful that by Gods assistance it caused the ruine of the traitors and that high rebellion The Prophet mentions Hushai's insinuation into Absolons presence and into his Counsels wherein as he shewed
nothing else to doe but to study how to Rule and Reign and hereby I shall enforce you to believe that you shall not be able to make a Royal Throne a passage into my Fathers prison And after you have presented me with a Crown to dare to wish me so much ill as once to think of Chains and Irons I know well that this discourse will surprise you and that you did not believe when you presented me with a Scepter that I should not rather have received it with Thanks then Reprehensions but this act is extraordinary in its commencement in its progress and in its conclusion and it is just that all circumstances should be proportionable Let it then suffice you onely to know that if I be ignorant to what point Subjects are to pay their obeisance yet I am not ignorant to what degree Soveraigns may extend their clemency Notwithstanding there is this difference betwixt them that the Subjects have no limits for the first but Soveraigns have for the latter The People are obliged to the Princes wills both by their Births their Lawes They owe them their goods their lives and their liberties and their Princes owe them nothing but Iustice which can hardly pardon Traytors If these Truths Maximes had been equally understood and followed by the late King my Soveraign and you his People affairs had not been in that sad condition as they now are The State had not been reduc'd to such confusion the Provinces had not been Cantonized Germany had not been so full of Factions Italy had not been so divided all the Cities of the Kingdom had not had so many kings as they now have Governours you had not been guilty of the crime of Treason in elevating an Usurper to the Throne the King my Father might still have Reigned or at least I might have received the Crown from his hands and not from yours his Tomb might have been bedewed with my tears his Scepter had not been prophaned his Hearse might have been covered with Trophies not with Chains you might have been happy and innocent But as his Clemency and your Rebellion were the sole causers of all these evils so your Obedience and my Iustice are the only means to make reparation Consider a little I pray you that you fall not back in the same estate wherein you were in what Relation you now stand and in what condition I am First you have violated all sorts of Rights in the person of your King you have raised a War against him you have assaulted him and afterwards poysoned him you have abused the confidence he had in you you have detained him prisoner with as great Treason as Injustice with as great insolency as cruelty an injury which was never offered hardly to the person of an ordinary Herald Thus you have violated and impudently abused your King you have detained him prisoner during a Treatie of Peace for five years together led him from prison to prison you have forced him not only to set by his Militia and to depose his Crown but you have constrain'd him with violence to transfer it into other hands then to mine To conclude you put him to death and you have reduced my self to a strict necessitie to search my safetie in my flight and to go and shew my miserie beyond the Seas Yet this is not all you have done one thing which never any did before it hath been seen sometimes that the Grandees of a Kingdom have interposed themselves against a Tyranny and have destroyed it but 't was never seen that they themselves elevated a Tyrant to the Throne as you have done In these kind of crimes the Abettors may be said to be more criminal then he who hath received all the fruit For if each one of you in particular had aspired to set the Crown upon his own head you might have been more excusable then to have snatcht it from your lawfull Prince to place it on the head of an Vsurper But you 'l say to me the Prince that bore it was not able to support it To that I shall answer As I have the honour to be his Son and was his Subject it belongeth not to me to determine what he could or what he could not seeing he was my Father I ought not to presume to be his judge and seeing he was my King I ought not to be so impudent to censure much lesse to condemn his actions he being not obliged to render an account to any But God alone Believe then the same respect I have for his memorie you ought to have had for his person he was your King as well as mine seeing then that Kings are called the Fathers of the people Their Subjects are obliged to have for them a true resentment of a respect which their very birth may infuse into them Besides as Soveraigns are the true Images of God and that the splendor of their puissance is abeam and ray of his power Subjects ought to have an equal submission to their Soveraigns will When you see a Comet appear the Sun eclipsed the Thunder bolt fall on innocent heads when you see Floods drown whole Towns by their inundation and the Sea passing his bounds and swallowing whole Provinces in the bottome of the deep devour them up When you see an Earthquake make Kingdoms tremble and cause horrid devastations of whole Countries then I say it is permitted to the People to murmure Do you not discern the contrarie how in these occurrences they redouble their vowes and prayers and that they are never more obedient to God then at such a time as if God had forsaken his providence of the Universe and when it shall so happen that Heaven for the punishment of your sins gives you a Prince under whose Reign policy and prudence are not well observed during whose Government Forraign and Civil Wars devour all with cruell ravages it belongeth not then to you to reprehend and condemn your Soveraign for is he feeble then you ought to sustain him is he unfortunate you ought to bemoan him is he wicked you ought to look upon him as a scourge and chastisement sent from Heaven and to wait with Patience for a remedie from that hand which hath caused your evil For when a Prince commands an Armie and gives Battail if it so happen that the Souldiers perform not their devoirs and dutie that his squadrons yield the main body be broken and in the end after he hath done even miracles in his person he be yet constrained to quit the field and to retreat from his Enemies is it not the Prince that loseth the Battail Is it not the Prince that suffers the disgrace Is it not the Prince that is reputed vanquisht And that bears the loss and infamie of the day Notwithstanding that by his own particular actions he hath merited to be conqueror seeing it is thus why will not you in such conjunctions bear with the infirmities misfortunes
2 Sam 15 vers the 32 Behold Hushai the Archite came to meet the King with his coat rent and earth upon his head Loyalty amongst REBELS The True ROYALIST Or HUSHAY the Archite A happy Counsellour in King's DAVID'S Greatest Danger Say unto Absalon I will be thy servant O King 2 Sam. 15.34 I Counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandement and that in Regard of the Oath of God Eccles 8.2 Written by EDWARD WOLLEY D.D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Sacred Majesty King CHARLES the II. LONDON Printed for Iohn Williams at the signe of the Crown in S. Paul's Churchyard 1662. To the Right Honourable JOHN Baron Grenvil of Kilkhampton and Biddiford Viscount Grenvil of Lands-Down and Earle of Bathe Groome of the Stool and first Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber Lord Warden of the Stanneryes Lord Lieutenant of the County of Cornwall and High Steward of the Dutchy and Governour of his Majesties Town Island Fort and Castle of the Garrison of Plimouth MY LORD I Have had the honour and happines to know you from your tender years and have discerned your cordial affections and endeavours to serve the Church as an obedient Sonne your Prince as a most Loyal Subject your Countrey as a most faithful Patriot And as Pompey when but a youth to experience your Fortitude fidelity to the Crown and without injury or flattery it may in some degree be said of you as Plutarch writes of that Noble Roman Is etiamnum adolescens totum se factioni Syllanae addixit cumque nec Magistratus nec Senator esset magnum ex Italiâ contraxit exercitum That you were a very early Commander in your youth and those four terrible wounds which you received in the fight at Newberry three in your head and one in your arm Continue those marks and cicatrices which as honourable badges of loyalty will bear you company to your Grave It was a question once started about Ascanius by Andromache whether he was like his Father Aeneas or his Vncle Hector Ecquid in antiquam virtutem animosque viriles Et Pater Aeneas a vunculus excitat Hector Andromache in Virgil Aeneid de Ascanio But there is not any need of such a question concerning your Lordship in whom the varietie of your Noble Ancestors seem to concenter So that the pietie of Richardus de Granâ Villâ who founded the Abbey of Neath in Glamorgan-shire in the fourth year of the raigne of King William Rufus liveth in you The courage of Sir Richard Grenvil your great Grandfather who commanded the Rear-Admiral a Ship called the Revenge wherein he so gallantly behaved himself that in a desperate fight at Sea with the Spaniards he sunk destroyed infinite numbers of Qu. Elizabeths enemies when others made all the sail they could to avoid the danger And the loyalty and great worth of Sir Bevill Grenvill seem as thriving seeds to grow up and flourish in you And it will be an honour and happiness to your Lordship to be not onely a Son and Heire of his Name loynes but of his virtues who so loved the Church of England that in person he guarded the late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury against the fury of the tumultuous Rabbles in all commotions and Rebellions either of England and Scotland in the late blessed Kings Raign he manifested the dutie of a Loyal Subject and of a noble Commander at the fight at Stratton he was successful against the enemie with a handful of men And at the fight at Lands-downe like another Epaminondas though he lost his life he got the Victory Et cum sentiret vulnus esse lethale non prius ferrum eduxit quam audisset Thebanos vicisse tum satis inquit vixi invictus enim morior To encourage his Souldiers he fought with bleeding wounds and finding that his countrey men like Gallant Thebans won the day animam efflavit he fell gloriously into the bosome of true honour renown These exemplars of virtue have doubtless attracted your Resolutions to imitation of your Ancestors and have enflamed your affections with true and right principles of Nobleness and honour But that which renders you most lovely to all who know your Lordship is that incomparable service which by your prudence fidelity secrecy and courage was transacted effected together with the Duke of Albemarle and his brother the Lord Bishop of Hereford in order to his Majesties Restauration which maketh three Kingdomes happy This is the chiefest loadstone motive that makes me address to your Lordship for patronage and protection in this argument wherein I endeavour to prove that truth may be in company with Traitors and Loyalty amongst Rebels as Hushai the Archite who was King Davids best friend and most faithful subject in his greatest danger It is true many worthyes did attend his Majesties Person in pinching extremityes abroad for many years and many thousand loyal Subjects of the three Kingdomes indured insupportable miseries from usurping bloody Wolves at home and the stings of a sort of Trepanning creeping Serpants as equally venemous as dangerous hardly to be avoided These true Royalists were on all occasions active in their persons in their counsels in their relations their friends in their purses and their prayers and by all wayes and interests to promote his Majesties Restauration But your Lordship as a more signal instrument of much happiness hath received gracious markes of Noble trust honour and favour from his Majesty the thanks of all England in the Kingdomes Representative the Parliament which will prove a happy record of your honour to posterity and blessed for ever be those hands and hearts who have contributed much or cast in if but a mite to that blessed work There is another small tender branch which budded seasonably about seven years since and appeared in the Kingdom under the complexion and colour of a Translation in the case and Parallel of Lewis the fourth the French King This first went abroad to keep alive those loyal sparks which lay-under the ashes of Cruelty and Persecution in the year 1654. meeting with curteous tinder it took fire and inflamed many affections towards the King This small piece was reprinted eight moneths before his Majesties return to England and it proved so prosperous that some thousand copies were dispersed vented in fourty houres And then it grew suddenly a publick discourse in the City and Countrey videlicet the Kings Case in the Parallel of Lewis the fourth of France This Branch leans on your Lordships Patronage and favour is added to this discourse to perpetuate all Subjects resolutions in their allegiance to their Princes and as a part of justice and merit that his endeavours nay be discerned who gave it life first fixed and planted it in England and so not to be any longer fathered on adopted authors * Tulit alter honores Virgil. My Lord I shall not afflict your Lordship with any further present trouble but wishing
destroyed the Prince and his People or if there can be any thing worse there is a brood and generation of pretenders to the best and most loyal services because they attended in the Navie that wafted refluctuated the King into England that they had adventured to Breda to Brussels to Holland to France to Germany that they had been active at home and dutiful abroad and had contrived and contributed most both in their persons and purses towards his Majesties Restauration And it were an unkindnesse if not a crime to derogate from such pretensive merits but the sting that causeth a sore swelling is that these new brooms returned to loyalty sweep all so clean that they leave no work not the least Atome of honour in this high concern to those nobler spirits who never forfeited their fidelity to their King but as Hushai ever walked by the influence of his Majesties commission or commands and in all conditions whether active or passive in the concerns of their Faith and Allegiance never swerved nor so much as warped from their Native obedience or from the rules and dictates of Honour and a good Conscience This great Hero and exemplar of his fidelity to his Prince is recorded in the Sacred book of God and thence recommended to all subjects of all ages of all Kingdomes as a lively pattern to direct them in their duty and service towards their Soveraign and in many excellencies he is hardly imitable for the holy Historian tells the world 2 Sam. 15. that this loyal Israelite unsummon'd unsent for no sooner heard the news of the Kings sad condition that Absolon was unnaturally turn'd Traitor against his Father and the people in Rebellion against their King but instantly this great worthy marcheth after his Prince and finding him on the top of the Mount where he worshiped God he attended his Soveraign Lord with diligence and haste though his sad posture presented the Affliction and sorrow of his soul for his coat was rent and his head was covered with earth and what posture could better become a loyal heart then what cleerly expressed grief or indignation to see or hear of a disobedient Son persecuting a loving Father or a stubborn deluded people infatuated into a high and horrid Rebellion but Hushai was neither startled at his Princes dangerous condition nor consulted for his own safety nor was catched with flattery and the large promises of the Traitors oyle and smooth tongue nor did he dread or stand amazed at the oraculous Counsells of Achitophel the grand politician but his Native duty conducts him speedily to wait on his Prince and true and unspoted loyallty allegiance directing him in his march without any doubts or disputes laying his life at his Masters feet he in an instant bespeaks himself a perfect Royalist and so with his life friends and fortune ready to obey whatever commands the King thinks fit to impose upon him Some noble Heathens have left to the world famous examples of their love and loyalty to their Princes and to the shame and dishonour of many infamous Christians have exceeded them for their fidelity and true allegiance Plutarch * Hephaestion unut ex Alex. magni ducibus quem ille cum Cratero ita conterebaiut hunc quidem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hephastionem vero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellaret Plutarch in vita Alexandri hath recorded Hephaestion to the memory of his immortal honour that he passionately loved and esteemed the person of Alexander the great and in his discourse with Craterus the Conquerour told him that Hephaestion did not only love him as a King but did most affectionately honour him as Alexander And it was a royal mark and distinction of Alexanders own creating to stile Craterus a lover of the King but Hephaeston a lover and admirer of Alexander and it seems his duty to his Prince as it received bounty from his Soveraign whiles he lived was rewarded with high honour when he was dead for the same Author affirmes that this noble Emperour in a grateful memory to so faithful a subject and so couragious a commander magnificently expended more then twelve thousand Talents upon his exequies and Funerals There is such another passage of Clitus * Clitus inter pracipuos Alexan. Maced familiares eidemque charissimus quod filius essetnutricis illi us tum quod ab illo in vitae discrimine fuisset servatus hunc in convivio liberius in Persicos mores invectum Rex temulentus spiculo trajecit cujus facti postridie tanta cepit paenitentia discussa jam ebrietate ut totum triduum à cibo abstinuerit decreveritque omuino inedia sibi mortem concissere ac amicum optime de se meritum ad inferos persequi sumptuoso cumfunere sepelivit Plutarc in vita Alexandri who having been Alexanders nurcesson and in his person and Relations most serviceable to the King in many of his greatest dangers The Emperour advanced him to great favours and enriched him with Princely munificency and when a Persian intemperate excesse and debauchery had drown'd the Kings reason and had raised a tempest in his passions so that in his fury with a javelin he had slain his favourite yet this sad accident so deeply affected the Emperour when he had recovered his confounded reason that he appeared to be overwhelmed in a gulf of shame and sorrow and so giving rules for his own pennance obliged himself to a hard duty hence determining and decreeing that his intemperance should be rewarded with penury and that he who had so ignobly abused plenty and in such extravagant luxury slain his friend should justly dye and perish for want of food hereby the King proposed a more speedy death to himself that he might more suddenly follow the Ghost of Clytus to the imagined shades below Such a character of true worth and loyalty Darius gave of his dear Zophyrus who waging warr and besieging the vast City of Babylon but without successe or victory trusted the possibilities of the effecting of that design to the fidelity courage and wisdome of faithfull Zophyrus who the better to disguise himself and to accomplish the conquest with greater safety to his person and more secure successe to his Soveraign disfigured his face to a high deformity and having permitted his ears his †Nobilis Persa ipse sibi nasum aures labia amputavit ita Babylonas quasi transfuga se contulit conquerens de crudelitate sui Regis receptus egitur a Babyloniis dux belli constitutus urbem Dario tradidit unde Darius solebat dicere se Zophyrum malle integrum quam viginti capere Babylonas Herod lib. 4. lips and his nose to be cut off as pretended by a Persian barbarous cruelty in this posture he adressed to the Babylonians as an abused and tortured Persian fugitive where being received and advanced to great trust and command as a General of their Army by his prudence and
which like a violent torrent or overflowing inundation carrying all before it circled the Presbyterians in the same interest and as Iews Turks Pagans and Christians in a storm or tempest at Sea exercise their wits pour our their prayers imploy their hands to save the ship that after the storm all Passengers may arrive safe on shoar for so did Ionah with the Mariners Ionah 1.2 Act. 27.17 and St. Paul with the Souldiers So all parties of the three Kingdomes seeing the Royal Soveraign sailing with so prosperous a Gale and that the providence of Heaven had so ordered that the King inevitably should be restored they put on the loyal dress and if not to serve their King yet to preserve themselves appear on the suddain courtly converts and perfect royalists and as every good subject is obliged to rejoice at the Kings restauration to the Crown so is he to congratulate the conversion of his Enemies to those principles which cannot but confirm and justifie his resolutions to loyalty for ever But this latter or second sort of converted subjects come somwhat short of the excellency and worth of those nobler minds which were never stayned with Apostacy or defection from the crown and they are more deeply obliged to duty and fidelity to loyalty and gratitude to their Prince because they are not only secured by his clemencie and pardon but likewise have liberally tasted of his bounty and favours and though the royal party like the poor Israelites in AEgypt endured much bondage and yoaks hard task-masters trod clay and made brick and in the savage wildernesse of horrid confusion were pinched with cold and nakednesse and had there souls filled with scorn and reproach yet they are not envious at their reconciled Brethrens happinesse nor troubled that they have portions and dividents in the land of Canaan and share with them in the blessings of his Majesties restauration submissively recommending all such comfortable possibilities to the providence of God and to the goodness bounty wisdome and justice of their Prince who cannot but out of so many sad afflictions gain much knowledge and by such an universal experience of the humours and tempers of his subjects discern more clearly whom to employ or trust and whom to promote passe by or punish all this while there 's no pretence for excuse much less of merit in reconciled and converted Enemies First for excuse or apologies the most innocent can hardly plead any thing above a simplicity of their hearts as those silly sheep who hearkned too much to Absolons flattery and though liberty of conscience a through Reformation of Religion and the laws the hopes of more clear Gospel truths and a more exact and perfect way to Heaven and many such canting cunning and jugling pretences were as more pleasant baits whispered in the ear swelled from the Press and thundred cheatingly from the Pulpits yet the the late Royal Martyr in his prophetical spirit and golden pen found out the malice treason fraud malignity of those intoxicating and venemous delusions advising his dear Son the Prince with his own observation g Kings book Εικον Βασιλικε pag. 235. that the Devil of Rebellion doth commonly turn himself into an Angel of Reformation the old Serpent can pretend new lights when some mens consciences accuse them for sedition and faction they stop its mouth with the name and noise of Religion when Piety pleads for Peace and Patience they cry out zeal so the worst of men lurk under the pretensions of Reformation of Religion and auspicious beginnings have often the worst designs In the judgement and Counsel then of this sacred Orator there can be no excuse for traiterous errors and such disloyal deviations King Iames of ever blessed memory gave the like advice to Prince Henry his Son commanding him as a Father and a King Take heed therefore my Son to such Puritans very pests in the Church and Common-weale whom no deserts can oblige neither oathes nor promises binde breathing nothing but sedition and calumnies aspiring without measure K. Iames in the duty of a King p. 9. railing without reason and making their own imaginations without any warrant of the word the square of their consciences from these words the King raiseth his resentment of injured Majestie saying I protest before the great God and since I am here upon my testament it is no place for me to ly in that ye shall never find with any highland or border Thieves greater ingratitude and more lyes and vile perjuries then with these Phanatick spirits and suffer not the principles of them to brook your land if you like to sit at rest These two royal Princes had much judgement and wisdome great learning and experience The one tels the world that these virulent Phanaticks did persecute him before he was born being not at rest in his Royal mothers womb and the other having suffered many injuries in his life was sooner hurryed to an ignoble and untimely death As to excuses and apologies it was the ancient satanical devise which having first ruined Adam and Eve deluded them to extenuate their infidelity disobedience and crime with a second kind of errour pleading even before God himself as Adam h Gen. 3.12.13 Vnde tibi hoc accidit quis te in tantam induxit alterationem St. Chrys in Genes It was not I but the Woman and so Eve it was not I but the Serpent but an ingenuous confession is the best and surest remedy in the case of delinquency and Repentance proves the best cordial in such a fowl and loathsome dangerous disease it is not then a way to impunity or pardon to plead I was misguided or mistaken transported with zeal or catched by the ears by the insinuation of deluding Hypocrites these and such thin fig-leaves are not competent or comly veiles to cover or excuse sins of such a scarlet complexion nor jealousies and fears which have blown up some into tumultuous and rebellious resolutions an ingenious acknowledgment of crimes and errous committed with the promise and practise of loyalty and true obedience is a more exact and ready path to safety and satisfaction and as for apologies and excuses none may in the least degree pretend to them who have been such lavish prodigals of the King and Kingdomes bloud and Treasure and as there is no place for apologies or excuses so much less for merit or deserts for though many did grow weary of usurpation Tyranny and injuries towards their King and the loyal party or rather disappointed of those ends of power and command which they phancied and proposed to themselves began to totter and turn from those possibilities to which they had leaned so long yet by assed by a different faction and Interest they reflect on the Crown with a loyal aspect and in this second choice engage their persons and party and run many dangers and hazards of life and fortune to make themselves considerable and this service
SIR will you grant and keep and by your Oath confirm to the people of England the Laws and Customes to them granted by the Kings of England your lawful and religious predecessors and namely the Laws Customes Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious KING St. Edward your predecessour according to the Laws of God the true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdome and agreeing to the prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient customes of this Realm The King Igrant and promise to keep them Lord Bishop Sir will you keep peace and Godly agreement entirely according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergy and the people King I will keep it L. Bishop Sir will you to your power cause law and justice and discretion in mercy and truth to be executed in all your judgements King I will L. Bishop Sir will you grant to hold and keep the rightful Customes which the commonalty of this your Kingdome have will you defend and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lyeth King Igrant and promise so to do The Petition of the L. Bishops read by the L. Bishop of ROCHESTER O Lord our King we beseech you to grant and preserve unto us and the Churches committed to our charge all Canonical priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in his Kingdome ought to be a Protector and defender of the Bishops and Churches under their Government The King answered With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonical priviledges and due law and justice and that I will be your Protector and Defendor to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdome ought in right protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government Then the King went to the Altar where laying his hand upon the Evangelists he took the Oath following The things which I have here before promised I shall perform keep so God me help and by the contents of this Book and so kissed the Book The Homage of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury for himself and all the Bishops he kneeling down and all the Bishops behind him said I William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury shall be faithful true Faith Truth shall bear unto you our Soveraign Lord and your Heirs Kings of England and I shall do and truly acknowledge the service of the Lands which I claim to hold of you as in right of the Church So God me help Then he arose and kissed the Kings left cheek as did the rest of the Bishops The Homage of the Nobility I James Duke of York become your Leigeman of life and limb and of earthly worship and Faith and Truth I shall bear unto you to live and dye against all manner of folk So God me help The Oath of a Lord Chancelour YOu shall swear that well and truly you shall serve our Soveraign Lord the King and his people in the office of Chancelour and you shall do right to all manner of people poor and rich after the laws and usages of this Realm and truly you shall counsel the King and his Counsel you shall layne and keep and you shall not know nor suffer the hurt or disheriting of the King or that the rights of the Crown be deceased by any means as far forth as you may let it and if you may not let it you shall make it cleerly and expresly to be known unto the King with your true advice and councel and that you shall do and purchase the Kings profit in all that you reasonably may As God you help and by the contents of this book The Oath of a privy Counceller YOu shall swear to be a true and faithful servant unto the Kings Majestie as one of his privy counsel you shall not know or understand any manner of thing to be attempted done or spoken against his Majesties Person Honour Crown or Dignity Royal but you shall let and withstand the same to the utmost of your power and either cause it to be revealed to his Majestie himself or to such of his privie Councel as shall advertise his Highness of the same You shall in all things to be moved treated and debated in Councel faithfully and truly declare your mind and opinion according to your heart and conscience and shall keep secret all matters committed and revealed unto you or shall be treated off secretly in Counsel and if any of the same Treaties or Counsels shall touch any of the Councellers you shall not reveale it unto him but shall keep the same until such time as by the consent of his Majesty or of the Councel publication shall be made thereof You shall to your uttermost bear Faith and Allegiance unto the Kings Majestie his Heirs and lawful successours and shall assist and defend all jurisdictions preheminences and authorities granted to his Majestie and annexed to his Crown against all forraign Princes Persons Prelates and Potentates by act of Parliament or otherwise And generally in all things you shall do as a faithful and true servant and Subject ought to do to his Majestie So help you God and by the holy contents of this book The Oath of a Secretary of State YOu shal swear to be a true faithfull Servant unto the Kings Majestie as one of the Principal Secretaries of State to his Majestie you shall not know or understand of any manner of thing to be attempted done or spoken against his Majesties person Honour Crown or Dignity-royal but you shall let and withstand the same to the uttermost of your power and either do or cause it to be revealed either to his Majestie himself or to his privie Counsel you shall keep secret all matters revealed and committed unto you or that shall be secretly treated in Counsel and if any of the said treaties or Counsels shall touch any of the Councellors you shall not reveal the same unto him but shall keep the same until such time as by the consent of his Majestie or the Connsel publication shall be made thereof you shall to your uttermost bear Faith and Allegiance to the Kings Majestie his heirs and lawful successours and shall assist and defende all jurisdictions preheminences and authorities granted to his Majestie and annexed to his Crown against all forraign Princes Persons Prelats or Potentates c. By act of Parliament or otherwise Generally in all things you shall do as a true and faithful servant and subject ought to do to his Majestie So help you God and by the holy contents of this book Subscription of such as are to be made Ministers according to the 37 canon and constitution Anno Dom. 1603. and in the reign of our Soveraign Lord Iames by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland
Kingdomes or Dominions or to authorise any Foreign Prince to invade or annoy him or his Countries or to discharge any of his Subjects of their Allegiance and obedience to his Majesty or to give license or leave to any of them to bear Arms raise Tumults or to offer any violence or hurt to his Majesties Royal Person State or Government or to any of his Majesties Subjects within his Majesties Dominions Also I do swear from my heart that notwithstanding any Declaration or sentence of Excommunication or Deprivation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his Successours or by any Authority derived or pretended to be derived from him or his See against the said King his Heirs or Successours or any Absolution of the said Subjects from their Obedience I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successours and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity by reason or colour of any such Sentence or Declaration or otherwise and will do my best endeavour to disclose and make known unto his Majesty his Heirs and Successours all Treasons and Trayterous Conspiracies which I shall know or hear of to be against him or any of them And I do further swear That I do from my heart abhor detest and abjure as impious and heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That princes which be excommunicated or deprived by the Pope may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do believe and in conscience am resolved that neither the Pope nor any person whatsoever hath power to absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I acknowledge by good and full Authority to be lawfully administred unto me and do renounce all pardons and dispensations to the contrary And all these things I doe plainly and sincerely acknowledge swear according to these expresse words by me spoken and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words without any equivocation or mental evasion or secret reservation whatsoever And I do make this Recognition and acknowledement heartily willingly and truly upon the true faith of a Christian So help me God c. The Oath of Supremacy I A. B. Do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the King 's Highnesse is the onely Supream Governour of this Realm and of all other his Highnesse's Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal And that no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Forraign Jurisdictions Powrs Superiorities and Authorities and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King's Highnesse his Heirs and lawfull Successours and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Preeminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs and successours or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm So help me God and by the contents of this book These Platforms and models of Oathes as they are of holy use to unite our fidedelity to God and Man so they are of Divine Authority and seem to be influential from Heaven from whence we have the Sacred example so the Scriptures testifie Exod 33.1 Depart hence unto the Land which I swear unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Thus divine usage is very frequent with God Deut 1.8.34.35 Psal 95.9 Luk. 1.73 Heb. 6.13 Heb. 7.21 And as God pleased to confirm his promise with an Oath So King David Gods annointed voweth and sweareth calling on God and praying Lord remember David and all his Afflictions how he swear unto the Lord and vowed to the mighty God of Jacob. Psal 132.1 2. And Solomon his royal Son gave Counsel to all his subjects and all the world I counsel thee to keep the Kings commandement and that in regard of the Oath of God Eccles 8.2 Having now set fourth the sacred ☜ Oaths and obligations of the Kings and Queens of England and of some of the cheif Officers and Ministers of State together with the Homage of the Ecclesiastical Hirarchy and temporal Nobility and of the three great Officers of Court the Lord high Steward the Master of the Horse and the Lord Chamberlain by their Oathes as privy counsellors under whose immediate command and power all servants at Court are sworn to fidelity and obedience in their respective relations and ranks of order degrees and subordinations It is plain and easie to every rational subject to discern and see the most excellent form of Government that the prudence and piety of former ages hath conveyed to the English to this present time and we cannot do less then admire and magnifie the gracious providence and riches of Gods favours to the Kingdome of England who hath with the golden chain of harmonious Government so lincked Kings and Queens to himself and all their subjects and people to their soveraign Princes that no Kingdome under the canopy of Heaven hath a better frame of Government either for Church or State or the transaction of Ecclesiastick or civil concernments and affaires in which there is such an incementing concatenation by wholesome laws and customes for justice and the happy preservation of all the peoples Rights that as the King may sit as happily and securely on his Throne as any Monarch on earth so his people may as prosperously thrive under his gracious Government and reposing themselves under their own vines and figtrees as cheerfully enjoy the inestimable blessings of their own just rights and labours Milk and Hony with the overflowing favours of Peace and Plenty How great a crime must it then be to wrest or break one of the invaluable lincks of this golden concatenation which Soveraign Princes graciously please to strengthen and consolidate if possible by their sacred Oathes to God which cannot but indear and more oblige ingenuous subjects to greater exactness of duty and fidelity considering that these pious proceeding are more acts of Grace and voluntary and Princely condescentions flowing from the fountaines of their own royal goodness being methods of high degrees of kindness and love where words or promises and those at their royal wills and pleasure are to be looked on not only as certainties and assurances but as deeds and compleat performances The civil Law expecteth as much from Noble men and Persons of Honour that there words be equally esteemed as their deeds m Promissa nobilinm pro factis habentur And Iser c. 1. Tantum fidei legalitatis presumitur in Nobilibus ut si quicquam promiserint id per equesit certum ac indubitatum ac si jam factum esset And Iser c 1.
designs for general advantages so they bend and humble themselves to court and catch all capacities Thus Cataline caressed the lowest of the Romans as he passed in the streets And it is remarkable in Absolon how like a Serpent he insinuated creeping and cringing bending and bowing to the earth so the Prophet observes him in his cariage to the meanest Israelite 1 Sam. 15.5 And it was so that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeysance he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him But that which was the cheifest cheat 8 Hypocrisie or the holy cheat and both deluded King David and his subjects was cunning hypocrisy or in the abused canting phraise of these jugling times Liberty of conscience and a pretence to holinesse or performance of religious vows so the Prophet describes the deceiver 2 Sam. 15.7.8 And it came to passe after forty years that Absolon said unto the King I pray thee let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron for thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria saying if the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Ierusalem then I will serve the Lord. And as this arch conspirator Absolon so his councellor Achitophel seemd to be very zealous and religious so the Prophet taketh notice that Achitophel being sent for by Absolon He was it his City of Giloh where he was raising rebellion when offering sacrifices 2 Sam. 15.12 There were many thousands engaged and envolved in the ☞ conspiracy and some few hundred more innocent or rather less malicious Traitors and the Prophet to their comfort recordeth both their number and their qualities 2 Sam. 15.11 And with Absolon went two hundred men out of Ierusalem that were called and they went in their simplicity and they knew not any thing 9 Traitors are false and most persidious There is yet one attendant more that is concomitant and adherent to traiterous dispositions which are for the most part very false and horridly perfidious thus Absolon had no sooner leave to go in peace to Hebron but immediately he sent his spies through all the tribes of Israel saying as soon as ye hear the sound of the Trumpet then ye shall say Absolon reigneth in Hebron 2 Sam. 15.10 These nine characters whiles they continue engraven on traiterous subjects hearts they cannot be permitted to the reputation of true royalists as Hushai the Archite that noble Israelite who was not tainted with any of these defiling qualities but positively and in the affirmative was richly endued with many heroick virtues which did highly capacitate his noble soul for the service of his God the God of Israel and for David the King the Lords annointed and for the Peace Liberty and Hapiness of the Kingdome and Country where he was an honourable Courtier a prudent Counsellour a loyal subject and faithful Patriot and the holy pen of that sacred writer who did set forth character Absolon Achitophel and their traiterous confederates doth delineate and portray in most lively colours the most incomparable and supereminent virtues of the true and perfect royalist in the great abilities and worth of Hushai the Archite who saith the Prophet was in zealous passion Characters of true royalists 1 Holy indignation for their King in a sad conditon 2 Sam. 15.32 or holy indignation to see his King in a sad condition his people in rebellion and the whole Kingdome in such a wild confusion and distraction Ecce occurrit ei Chusai Arachites scissâ veste terrâ pleno capite Behold Hushai the Archite came to meet the King with his coat rent and earth upon his head Good subjects they neither value liberty 2 Attend there Prince in greatest danger life or limb riches or fortune nor any personal concernment but when their King and his Crown is in danger and his royal Person in the field they hazard and adventure all as loyal subjects in their Princes service and they are not only to attend but to be active quick and lively in the concernment of a Crown this great worthy is a noble example of diligence and activeness in his swift endeavours to advance his princes cause their is no mention made of declaration or proclamation of the call of a drum or sound of trumpet but as soon as the royal Standaris mounted 3 True royalists ought to be quick and active for their King in danger and it is but whispered or at least but rumourd that King David was in danger and his people in rebellion Hushai speedily posteth and addresseth to the royal camp so the Prophet expresseth Chushai Arachites occurrit ran as with all haste to meet the King impatient until he came to his Princes aid and assistance This worthy Israelite was neither timorously or cowardly inclind as ignoble Poultrones nor treacherously affected as Laodicean newters nor shackled and imprisoned with the fetters of base and filthy lusts as lacivious and lu xurious epicures but as on a suddain abandoning and quitting all delights prophits and concernments as swift as lightning he flyeth to attend his Prince in his dangerous extremities as Hushai was quick and active for the preservation of his King 4 The best royalists the most religious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Apol. 2 Sam. 15.32 Ista ingeniorum scabies ut omnes disputare malint quam viveve Seneca epist 2.5 so he appeares which was his greater honour and commendation religious and rightly setled for his principles in Gods worship and service he was no black soul'd Atheist whose devotion intirely attends his interest nor factious Schismatick hypocritical separatist or brain sick Phanatick but a true Israelite indeed and so it appears by the double circumstances of the manner and time of his attendance for the manner it was in a Iewish mode and dress his cloathes rent and his head covered with earth emblems of sorrow and indignation and a religious condolement and compassion And as to the time of his address it proved either by design or providence to be at that instant When the King was come to the top of the Mount where he worshipped God behold Hushai the Archite came to meet him Even then when the King was at his prayers and earnestly said 2 Sam. 15.31 O Lord I pray thee turn the Counsel of Achitophel into foolishnesse 5 Fortitude requisie in true royaliste Then as joyning in holy devotion did Hushai most happily attend his Kings commands To these excellent capacities and fitness King David found Hushai a man of courage magnanimity neither fearing the Enemies power nor distrusting the Kings more weak and sad condition not of a low and pusillanimous spirit nor of a ranting and vaporing humour who like some squibs and crackers will thunder and roare like lyons and though the cause be never so good in an instant change their notes and like timorus Hares betake themselves to there heels This
of your Princes as well as they do with yours Or to speak something yet nearer to the quick why doe you not repair these disorders by your own more exact obedience The Prince alone is obvious in a Battail to the infamie Cowardise and misfortune of his whole Army and you are thousands who are obliged to strengthen the Authoritie and honour of your King which he cannot support with his single valour Believe me if all Subjects would be loyal no Kingdome could be miserable and if all Princes thought more of severity then of Clemencie there would not be so many Subjects Rebels Moreover if it were permitted to the Capritious people to take and give Crowns when they fancied a change I conceive there is not a Shepheard but might hope to be a King and not a King but might be reduced to be a Shepheard so unruly and uncertain are their floating judgements But to speak the truth to you these things ought not thus to pass we are your Masters and you ought not to become ours It is not that I am ignorant that God disposeth of Scepters and Crowns as he pleases and gives them as he lists and bestowes them on or takes them from whom he will and what he alwayes doth is without all injustice sometimes permitting that the people shall elevate to the Throne those who never pretended to such a high degree But when such an accident happeneth it is usually in favour to those extraordinary persons in whom Virtue hath imprest a Royal Character so visible that it were almost injustice not to admit them Kings To conclude that which precedes and that which follows ought to be sufficient to justifie the effect and it became Charles Martel Pepin and Charlemain puissantly to erect a Throne which was not founded upon a line of right succession yet even in this re-encounter you will see the event to this present hath not authorized your design The Engine of this enterprize hath been slain in battail The Arch-Bishop of Rhemes preserved not his life but three dayes after he had anointed the Usurper But it is not seasonable to day to exaggerate the injustice of your proceedings I am not willing to particularize other things and I shall satisfie my self with telling you in general that Kings ought not to lose their Crowns but with their lives and that nothing can dispense Subjects from the respect and loyalty which they owe to their Soveraigns nor any pretence whatsoever Authorize Treason and Rebellion If sacred persons may not enjoy their particular priviledge which is derived from none but God they shall be exposed more then others to all sorts of miseries Their guards will appear to them instead of enemies their Thrones will rather seem a direful precipice then a place of honour and safety a King of this kind is no better then an illustrious slave when he shall have as many Masters as Subjects This first disorder will quickly cause a second for when the Nobles of a Kingdom fail in their duty to their Prince their own Vassals and Tenants will forfeit their fealtie to them and then Rebellion communicated from the Grandees to the Commons and so descending from one Soul to another an universal confusion swells and devours all Every one will command and no person obey and in this resentment of Levelling equality each person proves a slave to his own ambition no one either rationally Commands himself or others In effect this is the most sad condition that a Kingdom can fall into when there is no subjection and where for their punishment the Prince hath not force to reduce the people to their obedience For mine own part when I consider my self to be the Son of a King the successour of so many Kings and yet notwithstanding that I immediately succeed not my Father This Idea imprints in me a strange confusion as towards you and an extream grief as towards my self for when I reflect how the same Subjects who inchained Charles in Fetters and gave the Crown to Robert placed Lewis on the Throne the malice which they bore to the Father may it not easily fall upon the Son and may not they fear that the Son will revenge the outrages committed against the Father but yet may some one say those who have searcht after you and pass'd the Seas to present you with a Scepter they need not fear that the memory of their ancient injustice will obliege you to punish them They have reason rather to believe that this submission should blot out the memory of the first disservice It is certain in the exact Rule of justice no noble Action ought to pass without his recompence and it is really as true That no crime ought to escape without his punishment After all these reasons what ought you not to fear and what not to hope you have recalled me to the Throne 't is true but if you had not had you not been as Criminal against Lewis as you had been against Charles he who gives to another that which he hath taken from him restores without doubt that which he hath taken but his restoration is not a free present and he ought not to expect thanks for an Action of that nature No it sufficeth of one punish not the first without intending any recompence for the second I may say also that you understand not rightly all my present concernments for why because you have not left me still in exile because you have rendred what justly appertained to me Because you understood that I came to re-demand mine own not with a powerful Army and being tired with your crimes and miseries you believe you may probably disarm the furie of Heaven by this Act of justice No no confide not in any of these pretences for if I had not stronger considerations then these I should commence my Reign with the punishment of your treasons I should send them to prison who restrained the person of my Father expose them to the most cruel tortures who contrived and caused his death with the greatness of his misfortunes Those black crimes are such which nothing can exterminate Repentance and tears from common errours where humane frailty may plead excuse and not for Traitors and Rebels nor for those who have destroyed Thrones and Scepters inchaind Kings created and protected Tyrants Think not then that by taking an Oath of fidelity which is your dutie that I am thereby ingaged not to doe what becomes a King No I scorn a Throne where I should be a slave and I had rather be obscured in prison as my Father was then not to Reign as Soveraign Those people with whom Loyalty is elective forbear not to make their Kings absolute because they could have no pretence of Iustice to do otherwise judge then if those who hold their Crowns from Heaven ought to acknowledge their subjects for their Masters whether they ought not rather to punish or pardon as best agreeth with their