own again which these most unjustly keep from him We cannot serve God and Mammon both at one time Good and evil cannot stand both together If the King come in and rule these men must fall If we serve the King as we ought we cannot serve these at all If God re-establisheth his Anointed Lucifer must call down his Children wickednesse must be abolished when righteousnesse takes place therefore the Gaolers of the Liberty of England must down when Charles the Second our only lawfull Soveraign is restored to his Crown and Kingdome Which they very well know therefore they would fain keep as long as they can their Empire which cost them their Souls and Reputation But let us return to our King When the Conquerour came in He got by right of Conquest all the Land of the Realm into his own hands the whole Kingdom was his direct and proper inheritance in demeasn so that no man can at this day make any greater title than from the Conquest to any Lands in England for the King being owner and sole Lord of the whole Land and the People therein did as he lawfully might dispose of the Land and people according to his will and pleasure he gave out of his hands what Lands he pleased to what persons he pleased and reserved what tenures and services he pleased So that in the Law of England we have not properly Allodium that is any Subjects Land that is not holden We all hold our Lands mediately or immediately of the Crown neither have we any right to our Lands any longer than we are faithfull and loyal to the King who first gave us them upon that condition for by the Laws of the Realm if we take up arms against the King imagine his death or commit any other offence which is high Treason we forfeit our estates to the King so that they return from whence they were first derived the greatest and highest title or property which a Subject hath to his Lands is Quod talisseisitus fuit in dominico suo ut de feodo Now though this word Feodum doth as Littleton teacheth legally signify inheritance and so Feodum Simplex signifieth a lawfull or pure inheritance yet it is apparently manifest that Feodum is a derived right and doth import with it a trust to be performed which trust broken forfeiteth the Estate to the King who only hath as Camden observeth Directum imperium cujus nullus est Author nisi Deus For all the Lands within this Realm were originally derived from the Crown and therefore the King is Soveraign Lord or Lord Paramount either mediate or immediate of all and every parcel of Land within the Realm 18 E. 3.35.44 E. 3.5 48 E 3.9.8 H. 7.12 Therefore though in other places he which findeth a piece of Land that no other possesseth or hath title unto entreth into it gaineth a property by his entry yet in England property to Land cannot be gained any such way for the Subject can have no property but what was first by the Kings grant therefore those Lands are still appropriated to the Crown which the King did not give away to his Subjects as if Land be left by the Sea this Land belongeth to the King and not to him that hath the Lands next adjoyning or to any other but the King Caelum Caeli Domino terram autem dedit filiis hominum All the whole Heavens are the Lords the Earth hath he given to the Children of men for which he only reserved their service as an acknowledgement of his bounteous liberality so the whole Kingdom is the Kings but the Land therein he hath given to his Children the people for which he only reserved their allegiance and service as a remembrance and recognition of his Royal bounty in which reservation the King as my Lord Bacon writeth had four institutions exceeding politick and suitable to the State of a Conquerour First Seeing his people to be part Normans and part Saxons the Normans he brought with him the Saxons he found here he bent himself to conjoyn them by Mariages in Amity and for that purpose ordains that if those of his Nobles Knights and Gentlemen to whom he gave great rewards of lands should dye leaving their Heir within Age a Male within 21 and a Female within 14 years and unmaryed then the King should have the bestowing of such Heirs in Mariage in such a Family and to such persons as he should think meet which interest of Mariage went still imployed and doth at this day in every Tenure called Knights service The Second was to the end that his people should be still conserved in Warlik exercises and able for his defence when therefore he gave any good portion of Lands that might make the party of Abilities or strength he withall reserved this service That that party and his Heirs having such lands should keep a Horse of service continually and serve upon him himself when the King went to Warrs or else having impediment to excuse his own person should find another to serve in his place which service of Horse and Man is a part of that Tenure called Knights service at this day But if the Tenant himself be an Infant the King is to hold this land himself untill he come to full Age finding him Meat Drink Apparel and other necessaries and finding a Horse and a Man with the overplus to serve in the Warrs as the Tenant himself should do if he were at full Age. But if this Inheritance descend upon a Woman that cannot serve by her Sex then the King is not to have the Lands she being 14. years of Age because she is then able to have an Husband that may do the service in person The Third institution that upon every gift of Land the King reserved a Vow and an Oath to bind the party to his Faith and Loyalty that Vow was called Homage the Oath of Fealty Homage is to be done kneeling holding his hands between the knees of the Lord saying in the French tongue I become your Man of Life and Limb and of earthly honour Fealty is to take an Oath upon a Book that he will be a faithful Tenant to the King and do his service and pay his Rents according to his Tenure The Fourth institution was that for Recognizance of the Kings bounty by every Heir succeeding his Ancestor in those Knight service lands the King should have Prâ—mer seisin of the lands which is one years profit of the lands and untill this be paid the King is to have possession of the land and then to restore it to the Heir which continueth at this day in use and is the very cause of suing livery and that as well where the Heir hath been in ward as otherwise Many other Tenures with services did the Conquerour institute as Grand Serjeanty Petit Serjeanty Tenure in Burgage Soccage Escuage c. which being holden of the King are called Tenures in capite which
Astraea Redeunt Saturnia regna progenies caelo Demittitur alto Bishops the Coâ—on prâ—â—ier Booke â—ewarded Sectaries reiected SALMASIUS HIS BUCKLER OR A Royal Apology FOR King CHARLES the MARTYR Dedicated to CHARLES the Second King of Great Brittain Salus Populi Salus Regis LONDON Printed for H.B. and are to be sold in Westminster-hall and at the Royal Exchange 1662. The Epistle to the Reader THere have been so many Wolves in sheeps-cloathing and so many Innocents by the reviling tongues of their Enemies robbing them of their good names as well as of their good estates made Malignants in this our worse than iron age that I know not what Epithite to give thee If thou art an Honest man Rara avis in terris I invoke thee to be my Patron If thou art not Noli me tangere But since St. Austin once perhaps as zealous a Reprobate as thy self was converted by looking on the Bible by chance I will not prohibit thee from eating of this fruit Though I believe to think that thy view of my Book will work the like conversion on thee is to have a better opinion of thee and the Book than both will deserve For though an Angel should come from heaven or a man arise from the dead yet could he not perswade our hot-headed Zealots but that they did God good service even when they rebell against his own Ordinance transgress his Commandements murther their Father the KING and pollute their once flourishing Mother the CHURCH Before this prodigious off-spring like Vipers destroyed the Mother by their birth The Jews indeed murthered the Lord of life because they did not know him and therefore thought it was pleasing to God But wo be to them who did not only with Ham see their Fathers nakedness and reproach him but commit Paricide see his heart naked and call the multitude to laugh at it En quo discordia Cives produxit miseros O the miserable effects of seditious men Who shall now cure the Kings evil Or who shall cure the evil of the People O purblind City how long will you enslave yourselves to ravenous woolves who by their often changing of their feigned Governments do but change the thief and still your Store-houses must be the Magazine to furnish them with plunder You must never look to enjoy your lives estates or Gods blessing with the fruition of your Wives and Children before your lawfull King and Soveraign CHARLS the II. unjustly banished by Rebells be restored to his Crown and Kingdom For what Comfort can any honest or conscientious man take in any thing so long as he seeth his own native Prince like King David driven from his own natural inheritance by the unjust force of a multitude of Traytors both to God and their King Who Judas-like acknowledging his Master with a kiss so they swore with their mouthes that King CHARLS the I. was their only lawfull King and Soveraign and had the Supreme power over them all and then delivered him to the Sword-men who came out with Clubbs and Staves against their Soveraign as against a Thief and as the Jews did the Lord our Saviour whom they did not acknowledge to be their King otherwise they would not have done it These men murthered their dread Soveraign whom they all acknowledged and vowed to be their only King Excelling the Jewes only in wickednesse Therefore since by the Laws of the Land there can be no Parliament without the King what difference is there between a Protector and one of their Parliaments but only number For their Protectors are but the head thieves and their Parliaments but a headless multitude of thieves For so long as the Royal Progenie of CHARLS the I. which God long preserve remain alive all other our Governours besides them will be but Rebells Traytors and Tyrants let them call themselves a Free State or by what names they please continue until the worlds end Therfore rouze up Citizens and take courage How long will you be the common Hackney to be ridden by every one that will stride you How long shall your Sanctuary be made a Stable and Den for Thieves Shall your Streets blush with the blood of Prophets and with the blood of your Citâ—zens and will not you change your colour where is the reverend Doctor Hewyt that Glory of your City that Glory of all Christians that Glory of the whole World whose fame shall out-live the Sun and his renown shine longer and brighter than the Moon or the lesser Stars Caesar the Usurper was wont to say Si violandum est jus regnandi causa esse violandum That if it is lawfull to forswear one self for any Cause the Cause of gaining a Kingdom is the most lawfull But there are those amongst us who have turned the Supposition into a Proposition and confidently by their practice affirm that it is lawfull to forswear one self for any thing and most sacred to be forsworn if by the perjury a Kingdom may be gained But I will not touch the Soars which lye raw before every mans eyes only this will I say which every one knoweth to be true that no Kingdom in the World was so happy both for peace and plenty law and religion and all other good things as our Kingdom of England was whilest due obedience was lawfully paid to our Soveraign Lord the King but now the King being murthered and all goodness with him no Nation under the Sun is more miserable and so it will continue untill King Charles the second be restored to his Crown The Sword of Gods word ought only to fight for Religion the Iron sword of Rebels did never establish Christian Religion nor ever will set up Christs Kingdom especially if it be unsheathed against Kings by their Subjects And to satisfie all Objections whatsoever against my writing I answer Si natura negat facit indignatio versum It was not to shew my self to the world for as in Tempests so in our daies he is best who is seen least abroad But it was to shew and prefer the Truth which hath been laid asleep by the Charmes of our Sins For to this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witnes to the truth every one that is of the Truth will hear the voice of the truth when I saw the many revolutions turnings of men like Weathercocks being presented almost every day with new strange and various shapes and forms of Government it caused me more diligently to search after the true reason of our changings which I found to be our Sins and the absence of our King also which was the best kind of Government which I found to be Monarchy and that all trayterous Tyrants sine titulo might most lawfully be killed by any privat hand but Kings only by God Truth often getteth hatred and it is the doom of serious books to be hooted at by those who have nothing
which is not subject too but resisteth the power shall receive damnation but whosoever with defensive arms resisteth the King is not subject to but doth resist the power Therehe which with defensive arms resisteth the King shall receive damnation The Major no man can deny the Minor is inviolable and the Conclusion is perfect and sound There be those indeed who do confidently averr and have written a book too that there were men before Adam but I could never see any Scripture but their own interpretations and meanings to warrant their averments And untill Mr. Pryn can produce Texts of Scripture to warrant and maintain his confident averment he must excuse me if I still hold St. Paules Doctrine Canonical and his averment meer Apocripha For suppose the King subverteth both Law and Religion yet doth not that take away his supreme power he is still a King and Gods ordinance Saul was a King though an impious sinner and there have been wicked Kings as well as wicked Subjects to do evil saith one is no power but impotency therefore if the King command me to murther my self my Father to destroy my Country or to do any other wicked act I will not do it but obey God not him because it is his corruption not any power he hath from whence his commandment proceedeth and therefore I am not obliged to obey him because I must be a Subject to his power not to his sins yet if he should run after me with a naked Sword to kill me my Father my Mother ruine my Country Laws and Religion Yet would not I with defensive arms lift up my hands against him to resist hurt and destroy him because he is still my King and hath still that supreme power which God placed in him although he doth not then execute it and therefore if I should with defensive Arms lift up my hands to resist hurt and destroy him I should with defensive Arms lift up my hands to resist hurt and destroy the Ordinance of God and so receive damnation for my reward Not to perform the Kings command is a resistance although we suffer death Therefore if it be the Kings power and not his wicked will which commandeth me to do an evil thing if I did not perform his evil commandment I should resist his power and so be lyable to damnation although I patiently and meekly suffered death But doubtlesse the Kings power cannot command me to do any evil but it must proceed from his sinfull will for God is not the Author of any unrighteousnesse and there is no power but what God is the Author of therefore according to venerable Bede the Apostle doth not say Non est cupiditas nisi a Deo est enim mala cupiditas quae non est a deo nocendi autem voluntas potest esse a suo quoque animo pravo That there is no concupiscence but what is of God for there is an evil concupiscence which is not from God and the evil will of sinning proceedeth from our own depraved mindes therefore if the King command me to do an evil thing I ought to obey God not his wicked will but rather than to lift up my hands against him though in my defence I ought cheerfully and meekly to suffer a thousand deaths for by dying unjustly here I shall live eternally in Heaven and since the Glory of a Christian is the Crosse by suffering and dying a Martyr I shall obtain everlasting Glory and by my thus doing well I shall get praise even of the Power which the Kings wicked will made use of to destroy me but defence against the power of a King is offence therefore if with defensive arms I should fight against him I should resist Gods Ordinance and so receive damnation for by Gods Ordinance the King hath the power over all and his Actions ought not to be questioned or resisted by any but the Almighty But for my part I hold clearly that when the King executeth Tyranny taketh away the Lives or Estates of his Subjects unjustly that he doth it not only by reason of his wicked will according to the precedent distinction but by force and virtue of his power which God hath given him and that this is the power which St. Paul commandeth us to be subject unto which if we resist we shall receive damnation and that for several reasons It is most certain that there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God for by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him Col. 1.16 Which expressions in the Abstract do expresse existents in the Concrete from whence it followeth that bad Kings have their power from God and are Gods Ordinance as well as good And it is manifest in Scripture that wicked Kings are often sent for the punishment of a Nation as in Hosea 13.11 I gave them a King in my wrath and took him away in mine anger And God commandeth us to pray for and be subject not only to the good but also to the bad Kings I exhort you that Prayers and Supplications and Thanksgiving be made for all men for Kings and such as are in Authority 1 Tim. 2.1 Thus Abraham prayed for King Abimeleck Gen. 20.17 And Jacob blessed the King of Aegypt Gen. 47.10 Yet the Kings of those times were Infidels and most notoriously wicked No man is ignorant that Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed Jerusalem was a great spoyler and oppressor yet the Lord tells us by Ezekiel that he had given unto him the Land of Aegypt for the good service he had done in laying it waste on his Commandement And Daniel said unto him thus Dan. 2.37 Thou O King art a King of Kings for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom Power and Strength and Glory and wheresoever the Children of men dwell the Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of Heaven hath he given into thy hand and hath made thee Ruler over them all Again to Belshazzar his Son Dan. 5.18 The most high God gave unto Nebuchadnezzar thy Father a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Honour and for the Majesty that he gave him all people Nations and Languages trembled and feared before him And again Jer. 27.6 I have made the Earth saith the Lord the Man and the Beast that are upon the ground by my great power and by my outstretched Arm and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me And now have I given all these Lands into the Hands of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon my Servant and the Beasts of the Field have I given him also to serve him and all Nations shall serve him and his Son and his Sons Son untill the very time of his Land come And it shall come to passe that the Nation and Kingdom which will not serve the same Nebcchadnezzar
But be they good or bad the people must not resist them because as Samuel sheweth the manner of kings is to do what they will Principi summum rerum arbitrium Dii dederunt subditis obsequii gloria relicta est To Princes God hath given the highest power to Subjects only is left the glory of obedience saith Tacitus which indeed is the greatest glory can be conferred on them if they had but hearts to receive it for what is more glorious in Subjects than obedience to God and their King Super imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fert imperatorem The King hath no superior but only God saith Optatus Bishop of Milivis Generale pactum est societatis humanae obedire Regibus It is a Natural a General a Universal Compact Covenant of humane society to obey their Kings saith St. Austin li. 3. Confess cap. 8. But since optimus Legum interpres praxis practice is the best interpreter of the Law Look into the Scriptures and learn what our Ancestors have done before us I am confident you cannot find in all the Scripture where God appointed any people to be the chusers of their Kings but rather to accept of them and submit themselves to them whom the Lord had chosen and placed over them Nusquam invenio Regem aliquem Judaeorum populi suffragiis creatum quin si primus ille erat qui designaretur a Deo vel a prophetae ex Dei jussu vel sorte vel alia ratione quam Deus indicasset I never find any Jewish King made by the suffrages of the people but whom God did first by some means appoint saith Piueda de rebus Solo. li. 1. c. 2. neither did the Children of Israel chuse any unlesse Abimelech the Bastard son of Gedeon and as some say Jeroboam who made Israel to sin and of the evil successe of their reigns the Scripture will give you an account Would not the people have established Adonijah in King Davids throne crying out before him 1 Kings 1.25 God save the King Adonijah But God whose property it is only to make Kings rejecteth Adonijah and maketh Solomon to rule in his Fathers stead although Adonijah his title was by birthright aswell as by the consent of the people For 1 Kings 2.15 saith he to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon Thou knowest that the Kingdom was mine and that all Israel set their faces on me that I should reign howbeit the Kingdom is turned about and is become my Brothers For it was his from the Lord. In this verse you may see the title of Adonijah and the title of Solomon to their Fathers Crown Adonijah claimed it by birthright and the power of the people But Solomon claimed it from the Lord. It is no marvel that Adonijah put in his title for the Crown for God hath appointed the right of primogeniture by which the Patriarchs and all the rest of the posterity of Adam injoyed their royalty The elder is to rule over the younger by the Law of Nature Suppose Adonijah to be more wicked than Solomon yet doth not that take away his Birthright For God saith to Cain though he was never so wicked an Hypocrite unto thee shall be the desire of thy Brother and thou shalt rule over him though Abel was never so Godly and sincere a server of God which made Jacob so earnest to purchase his Brothers Birthright Gen. 25.31 And Jacob said sell me this day thy Birthright But Adanijah his Title was not only by birthright but also the people would have made him King and if those people had had as much power as the people of England pretend to have Adonijah would have wanted no other title than their power for the people of England are not afraid to say like Gods By us Kings reign we throw down Kings set them up again there is no power but what comes from us they provide themselves Kings they have spoken once yea twice have I heard this that Power belongeth unto them and that their Kings are only Derivatives from them O monstrum horrendum ingens cui lumen ademptum Did ever the world produce such blind prodigious Monsters Was ever God and Christ robbed so much of their Power Honour and Majesty as by these Vipers Adonijah no sooner saw his Brothers Title but he released his own and quitted the Crown wo be to them who usurp the Crown and have no Title of their own The Title of King Solomon was from the Lord he only set the regal Diadem on his head the people stood by as Ciphers Solus verus Deus dat regna terrena bonis malis saith St. Austin de Civit. Dei li. 4. cap. 33. It is God alone who disposeth of Crowns he crowned Adam a King in Paradice before his fall and before the rise of our Mâ—so-Monarchical Statists and therefore Monarchy is no Creature of the peoples which makes them confess and believe the Devils do the same that Monarchy is the best of all Governments which perhaps is the reason that they would so fain have it to be a Bird of their own hatching But me thinks their Tenets prove the contrary for if all Supreme power were originally in the people and derived from them to the King then without doubt Democracy were the best of all Governments for that form of Government which cometh nearest to its Original is the best But Democracy cometh nearest to its Original therefore Democracy is the best for the nearer the Fountain the purer the stream But change the Supposition into a true Proposition and then the Conclusion will be found as thus All Supreme Power is originally derived from God That Government which cometh nearest to its Original is the best But Monarchy cometh nearest to its Original therefore Monarchy is of all Governments the best And that Monarchy is the best form of all Governments is the conclusion of all Politicians Omnes vero palmam dant regno all give the palm to Monarchy Praestantiam autem Monarchiae non ex vetustate cum Lipsio nec ex naturae ductu cum Hieron ad Rastic Mona probo sed ex commoditatibus quibus caeteras species antestat I do not only prove Monarchy to be the most excellent because it is most antient and most natural but also because it is most profitable saith Henningus Arnisaeus As it is the most beautifull so it is the most profitable government Therefore none but mad men will dart forth the weapons of their Tongues and Hands against Monarchy or else those who would be Commonwealths-men only for their own private ends or else those men who will not have a kingdom unless it be their own and Reges abominantur nisi ipsi sint think kings abominable unless they may be kings themselves And these men think they may the easier attain to kingship by preaching this new Doctrine with the Iesuits that the kings power is derived from the people and so fool the ignorant multitude
is never good which turneth again and the good Christian will suffer himself to be broken in a thousand pieces before he will turn again with resistance against his persecuting King for why He knoweth that though he suffer here on Earth yet God will glorifie him in Heaven though he be contemned by the King yet he shall be exalted by God and though he dye by the Kings unlawfull command yet his comfort is that his dead body shall arise by the eternal Decree of the Almighty and so the good will always receive praise of the Power Neither are the Rulers a terrour to him because he always aboundeth with good works Hor. Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri Jaculis nequè arcuâ— Nec Venenatis gravida sagitis Fusce Pharetra Who lives upright and pure of heart Oh Fuscus neither needs the Dart Nor Bow nor Quiver fraught with store Of Shafts envenom'd by the Moor. Innocence is the only buckler which protecteth a loyal Subject from the terrour of his Soveraign But Traytors who have rebelled against their king deserved death by the known Laws of the Land These men must preach up Mr. Prynnes Doctrine to cover their malice hold the truth in unrighteousnesse and when with offensive Arms contrary to all Law and Religion and against their allegiance and oaths they set upon the Kings sacred Majesty and with an innumerous multitude of unhallowed Rebels they fight against and strive to murther their dread Soveraign in the open Air They must have the impudence with Mr. Prynne to excuse themselves may think it a glorious Apology To averr confidently that it was never the meaning of St. Paul nor the Holy Ghost to inhibit Subjects to take up defensive Arms against Kings themselves And thus they invoke St. Paul himself and the Holy Ghost to patronize their wicked Treasons and unparallel'd Rebellions and belch out Blasphemy to defend their injustice and themselves from the justice of their injured Soveraign The Apostles did not only teach us with their Doctrine that resistance of the power was unlawful but also suffered themselves to be wickedly massacred and murthered before they would resist an unjust power Nay all the primitive Christians which Mr. Prynne confesseth although they were many in number and sufficiently able to defend themselves against their Persecutors by force and Arms yet did refuse to do it yielding themselves up to any tortures punishments deaths without the least resistance of the power either in word or deed Nay our Saviour himself acknowledged that Pilate had power given him from above to Crucifie him as you may read in St. Iohn 19.10 Then saith Pilate unto him Speakest thou not unto me knowest thou not that I have power to Crucifie thee and have power to release thee Jesus answered Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above Therefore he which delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin Yet Mr. Prynne with his confident averrment for he cannot bring one word of Scripture for what he saith goeth about to maintain the defensive Warr as he calls it of the Subjects against their Soveraign Lord the King lawfull both in point of Law and Conscience Tantumnè potest suadere malorum Religio Could his Religion do this His surely and only his for it is against the foundation of Christian Religion and Mr. Prynne must publish a new Gospel or else rectifie the Bible at the Presbyterian Oracle before his King-killing books will be Canonical He bringeth his arguments from the time that never was nor ever will be for saith he 2d pâ—rt of his Soveraign power of Parliaments fo 82 83. Kingdoms were before Kings ergo the King hath no absolute negative voyce c. I alwayes thought that Kings were before Kingdoms they being correlativa and doubtlesse if Fathers were before Sons and Masters before Servants then Mr. Prynne speaks nonsense but for his Apology you must understand that he means Countryes and people were before Kings but I think that is false too for the first man Adam was a King and Mr. Prynne cannot shew any time before England was governed by Kings And the word Kingdom in the Reports of our book cases and in Acts of Parliaments also is oftentimes taken for the King himself as you may read in Calvins case lib. 7.12 Therefore since by the Laws of the Land there can be no Parliament without the King that the word Kingdom is often used for the King himself who can deny the truth of the Title of Mr. Prynnes book which saith That the Parliament and Kingdom are the Soveraign power But latet anguis in herba Open the leaves of his book and you will see the mystery of iniquity clouted together If the King saith Mr. Prynne dye without heir then the people might make what lawes they should think fit Ergo the Members at this day have power without the King to make Lawes and are the most absolute supreme power and law-giver not the King If the Sky fall we may perhaps catch Larks but it doth not therefore follow that we may catch Larks presently Mr. Prynne knoweth that it is a Maxim in Law that the King never dyeth But admit the King should dye without heir and that then the people had power to make Lawes yet grosse it were to conclude that the members of the two Houses might so do because they are dissolved and are extinct when the King dyeth Therefore with more reason as a Royalist observes the King might argue thus All the lands in England are holden mediatly or immediately of the King and if the owners dye without heir by the lawes of the Realm their lands escheat to the Crown and so become at the Kings disposal But every man may dye without heir Ergo All the lands in England at this present are the proper inheritance of the King No Lawyer can deny Major or Minor yet the Conclusion thereupon is absurd The Court of Parliament saith Mr. Prynne hath power to avoid the Kings Charters c. made against law Ergo it hath the Soveraign power and is above the King and why not Ergo the Court of Chancery or any other of the Courts of Law at Westminster have the soveraign power and are above the King for they have power to nullifie and avoid the Kings Charters c. made against Law But I am sick of Mr. Prynnes impertinence and nonsense if any one be desirous to drink more of it I referre him to the Ocean his Book I will only give you a taste of the abuses which Mr. Prynne hath cast on Venerable Bracton and how Mr. Prynne endeavoureth to make Bracton speak Mr. Prynne's own sense against Bracton's own sense expresse words and meaning And since Mr. Prynne can make the Gospel and Holy Ghost speak what he pleaseth no wonder if he hath the Law-books at his beck Bracton saith as you have already heard That the King
but it was fifty or sixty rotten tainted Members of the lower House small in number but great in transgression So may the Tayl nay a piece of the Tayl destroy the whole body and reign sole Lord Paramount Oh what multitudes of impieties can the wicked accomplish in an instant Seneca Nullum ad nocendum tempus angustum est malis In no longer space than betwixt the Father and the Son did these Horse-Leaches subvert our fundamental Government destroy King and Kingdom Parliament and People and all our Laws and Religion so that the question is not whether the Parliament be above the King but whether a little company of great Traytors and Usurpers the Dregs and Lees of all Tyranny be above both King and Parliament For the Parliament as you see by the joyfull recognition made to King James c. enacted and most humbly acknowledged the King to be above both Parliament and People and the Crown to be hereditary to the King and his Royal Progeny but these men and only these who by violence make themselves above both King and Parliament defending their persons from the Justice of the Law with Armed Red-Coats and the greatness of their villanies These are they who deny it though the Laws of the Realm and all Histories and all Kingdoms teach them otherwise God calleth himself a King in several places of the Scripture to note and signifie his Soveraignity which surely he would not do was the King the Peoples vassal or under Officer as the Bedlam franticks of our age feign Thou art my King O God saith David Command delâ—verance for Jacob. The King and the Power to command are Individua He is a Clout no King which cannot command And who should be under his command What The People taken particularly and distributively as single men and not collectively as the whole Kingdom according to the fanatick opinion of our Lunaticks Why is he not then called King of single men If he be King of a Kingdom then all the People jointly or severally in his Kingdom are under his command and if under his command then he only hath power to give them Laws be they in one collective body as in Parliament at the Kings house or simple bodies at their private dwellings Le Roy fait les leix avec le Consent du Seigneurs et Communs et non pas les Seigneuns et Communs avec le consent du Roy is the voice of the Common Law The King makes Laws in Parliament with the consent of the Lords and Commons and not the Lords and Commons with the consent of the King Virg. 7 Eneid Hoc Priami gestamen erat cum jura vocatis More daret Populis And 5 Eneid Gaudet regno Trojanus Arestes Indicitque forum patribus dat jura vocatis The Lords and Commons have power only to propound and advise it is only the Kings Le roy le veult which makes the Law their propositions and advice signifie nothing if the King saith Le Roy se avisera They have not power to grant him any subsidies untill the King saith Le Roy remercieses loyaulx et ainsi le veult Therefore much less the Soveraignity It would be strange if the assembling of the Subjects together should make them Masters over the King who gave them power to assemble and hath power to turn them home again when he pleaseth Legum ac edictorum probatio aut publicatio quae in curia vel Senatu fieri solet non arguit imperii majestatem in Senatu vel curia inesse saith Bodin de Rep. li. 1. ca. 8. The publishing and approbation of Laws and Edicts which is made ordinarily in the Court of Parliament proves not the Majesty of the State to be in the said Court or Parliament It is the Kings Scepter which giveth force to the Law and we have no Law but what is his Will The King surely would never call his Subjects to bind him with Laws against his will much lesse to take his Dominion from him and make himself a Vassal and Officer to his two Houses or either of them who were not capable themselves of any Office without his Gift and Licence The Kings of England have called many Parliaments yet the Government hath alwayes continued Monarchical and the King not under but above the people inferior only to God even Forein Polititians will tell you so Let famous Bodin who tanketh our Kings amongst the absolute Monarchs speak for all lib. 1. cap. 8. Habere quidem Ordines Anglorum authoritatem quandam jura vero Majestatis imperji summam in unius Principis arbitrio versari The States saith he of England have a kind of authority but all the rights of Soveraignty and command in chief are at the will and pleasure of the Prince alone Learned Cambden in his Britannia fo 163. teacheth us As touching the division of our Common wealth it consisteth of a King or Monarch Noblemen or Gentry Citizens freeborn whow we call Yeomen and Artisans or Handicrafts-men The King whom our Ancestors the English Saxons called Coning and Gining in which name is implyed a signification both of power and skill and we name contractly King hath Soveraign power and absolute command among us neither holdeth he his Empire in Vassalage nor receiveth his investure or enstalling of another ne yet acknowledgeth any superiour but God alone Now if Reason and the Judgement of our Ancestors would satisfie our frenzy upstarts what greater authority would they have But that they are troubled with so many visions and false revelations of their own I would commend to them a true vision in the Reign of Edward the Confessor viz. One being very inquisitive and musing what should become of the Crown and Kingdom after King Edwards death the blood Royal being almost extinguished he had a strange vision and heard a voyce which forbade him to be inquisitive of such matters resounding in his ears The Kingdom of England belongeth to God himself who will provide it a King at his pleasure But now forsooth it belongeth to the people and they will provide it a King at their pleasure It is the people now which make the King if so why ever had we any Kingdoms why were they not called Peopledoms The Kings of England with them of France Jerusalem Naples and afterwards Scotland were antiently the only anointed Kings of Christendom And as the Kings in Scripture as Asia Jehoshaphat Hezechiah c. so the Kings of England have alwayes had the supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes Reges sacro oleo uncti sunt capaces spiritualis jurisdictionis 33 Ed. 3. Rex est persona mixta cum Sacerdote habet ecclesiasticam et spiritualem jurisdictionem 10 H. 7.18 And although Kings ought not to be Ministers of the Chutch so as to dispense the word and Sacraments For No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron Hebrews 5.4 Yet since they
for an Almes and by and by knock their Benefactor on the head and make themselves Masters of what they before entreated for And indeed the most part of their Villanies did commence with Petitions for in driving on their wicked designs they alwayes got the Rascal rable of the People to heap in Petitions for what they themselves set them upon as if these Godly Villains did nothing but what they were driven to through commiseration of the people when God knows they did nothing but what was for the satisfaction of their own wicked Lusts and Ambition For when the Souldiers and other baser sort of the people cryed out for Justice and Privilege of the Parliament Even then was the Injustice of these Rebels most promoted and the Parliament did not then only lose its privileges but its very life and being Thus Barbers may cut off the Head when they pretend to trim the Hair and so may Physicians destroy and kill the Body when they pretend to apply Medicines For as now it appeareth even to the blind their pious pretences were but a Colour for their wicked intentions to destroy both King and Parliament and root up all our Laws and Religion when they seemed to act most to preserve them Now since the power of Warr only belongeth unto the King it must of necessity follow that the King hath power to levy Taxes and impose Subsidies on his people to maintain the Warr otherwise it would be in vain to think of waging Warr for all Souldiers must have Vectigalia Food Apparel and Arms and where should the King have this but in his own Kingdom To be short it is a duty laid upon the Consciences of all Subjects to supply their King with all necessaries both in time of Warr and Peace And a thing commanded both by our Saviour and his Apostles Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars And 13 Rom. Render therefore to all their due Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour But our Antipodes subverting all Scripture render to no man their dues and that they may act contrary to the very words and meaning of every Text They do not render Tribute Custom Fear and Honour to the King to whom it is only due but forsooth to themselves to whom it is not due So may the Servant murther his Master and take all his Revenues and Honour as due only to himself He which argueth that the King hath not right to chuse his Privy Counsellors Great Officers and Judges c. will likewise say that the Master hath not right to chuse his Servants it being the practice of all Kingdoms as well as of England and due to him by the Law of Nature Thou shalt provide out of the People able Men saith Jethro to Moses when the 70. grand Senators of Israel the Great Sanhedrim of the Jews were to be chosen By which you see the great Officers c. are to be chosen out of and not by the people but by the King So Pharoah not the people made Joseph Ruler over all the Land of Aegypt and Nebuchadnezzar and not his people made Daniel Ruler over the whole Province of Babylon And since our Lawyers are so forward to take Commissions and be made Judges by every power which getteth uppermost be it right or wrong Let me tell them that it is an undoubted truth that every person who hath been since the murther of Charls the Martyr or shall hereafter without the authority of Charls the second be condemned and executed for any Crime whether guilty or not guilty in the Kings Bench or at the Assizes or elsewhere is murthered and all the Judgments acts and proceedings of those nominal Judges or Commissioners are void as things done Coram non judice So that it consequently followeth that these lawless Judges are principals in every murther so committed Vengeance only belongeth unto God Deu. 32.35 The King is the Minister of God a Reuenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil Therfore whosoever prosecuteth in the Kings Courts against the life of any man as in an Appeal c. or sueth for recompence for any wrong done unto him he doth not take vengeance but God who executeth his wrath by his Minister the King But if any private man or the whole people take upon them to make themselves their own Carvers taking what recompence they think fit either against the King or any of their fellow Subjects in this case they make themselves their own Revengers and rob God of his rights for vengeance belongeth to him not to them Therefore if any man though in a way of publick Justice take upon him to condemn and execute any man without authority and power from the King he is a Murtherer and malicious Revenger upon whom the vengeance of God whom he endeavoureth to cheat and rob will fall Oh then admire and bewail the Infandous Murthers and Murtherers of our age wherein the good are destroyed for performing their duty towards God and their King and the wicked flowrish only because they are sinfull for whosoever will not be a Rebel must not be a Common-wealths-man amongst these new Republicans Yet forsooth they have such a form of Godlinesse amongst them that whosoever doth not approve of their wickednesse but speaketh of their actions according to their deserts they call such men the ungodly and flatter themselves saying the Saints of all ages have been spoken evil of by the wicked holy David nay our Saviour and his Disciples were reviled by the Reprobate therfore no wonder if the Malignant Cavaleers do reproach and vilifie our piousness and brotherly love and charity one towards the other So Belzebub may call them impious who do not account him the only good Angell How these men would be esteemed most Religious even when they commit Sacrilege and seem righteous even in the very act of wickednesse They murther many and take away the Estates of all Royalists yet if the Royalists whom they have thus spoyled tell them according to Gods Commandments that they ought not to be swift to shed blood nor covet their neighbours goods these Saints presently tell them that they have not the Spirit of Godliness in them but that they are the abusers of Gods word and his Children as if Gods Spirit gave them authority to act wickedly and that none but they were the children of God who had got their wealth by murther rapine and sacrilege O Monstrous If you call their ill gotten Government Tyranny or Usurpation they number you amongst those filthy Dreamers who speak evil of Dignities and will noâ— submit to lawfull authority Yet these Antipodes could revile their Soveraign the King with multitudes of scurrilous Pamplets cut off his head and banish his Royal Progeny taking away their Lands and the Estates of thousands more yet they would make one believe that they never spoke evil of Dignities nor ever resisted lawfull
dear Trade dyeth thousands of Families are ready to starve Millions of men are ruined and undone the whole Realm groaneth under the burthen of excessive Taxes and Wars and rumors of Wars continually plague our Kingdom which hath lost its glory both abroad and at home and become a meer laughing-stock to all Nations and all this misery ariseth from the Tyranny of these Rebels who unjustly banish our lawfull haereditary King Charls the second and take possession of his three Kingdoms making themselves absolute Tyrannical Kings over us and so I believe they intend to make their Heirs for being accustomed to lye they declare in their Declarations that the People shall be governed by their Representatives in Parliament Yet their actions contradicting their words they will not suffer the People to chuse their Representatives or come into the House but they tell us that they will chuse men of fit qualities So one Thief chuseth another Similis simili gaudet We may be sure never to have an honest man amongst them if they have the chusing So that we may conclude that unlesse we arise and destroy these self-seekiâ—g self-created Tyrants and restore our gracious King to his Crown both we and our heirs shall be Slaves to the worlds end for no legal Government can be established without the King I have sufficiently proved that it is unlawfull for Subjects to rebel against evil Kings How much more then is it unlawfull to rebel against a pious and mercifull Soveraign which addeth to the bulk of the sins of our English Rebels For the whole world knoweth that Charls the Martyr whom they so trayterously murthered was the best of Kings and meekest of men He was Charls le bon Charls le grand good in his greatnesse and great in his goodnesse Some have said that a good King cannot be a good Christian but it is proved manifestly false in him for to the admiration of the whole Earth he was the best of Christians and no less to be admired as a good King So that his misfortune in his Government did not proceed from his deficiency in the art of Governing but from the excesse of the Rebels sins who transcended all Traytors since the creation of the world in sin and treachery as far as Hell is distant from the Earth Wherefore we may most truly say that he was murthered only because he was good For every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation if Satan also be divided against himself how shall his Kingdom stand Therfore if the King had been evil these evil Traytors would never have cast him out but seeing he was a pious and Religious King and so an evil Member to their evil Common-wealth They all united their hearts and hands to cut him off and lay to his charge all the Treasons Murthers Rapines Burnings Spoils Desolations Damage and Mischief to this Nation which they themselves committed So Thieves and Murtherers may spoil burn and make desolate all places and Massacre and kill many Noble and trusty Servants to the end they might take their Master and kill him and then having taken him lay all to his charge and execute him as the only Author of all those villanies which they themselves acted and occasioned O heavens Could the Almighty suffer this Why not The Lord made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil Pro. 16.4 As for our rising Sun Charls the second though hitherto obscured by the foggy mists of Treason and Rebellion in his own Kingdoms yet do the rayes of his sacred Majesty shine throughout the world beside and his renown ecchoeth in every part of the Earth to the admiration of forein Kingdoms and to the envy hatred of the Rebels in his own Yet cannot their malice but marvel at the virtues and patience of their King whom they so much wrong And it grieves them to see that royal progeny whose ruine they so greedily hunt after flourish with such glorious splendour amongst the Kings and Princes of the Earth growing in favour both with God and Man Whilst they odious to all but themselves by their Tyranny and Rebellion incurr the displeasure both of Heaven and Earth and become a Ridiculous Rump The object of the scorn and derision both of Old and Young Rich and Poor And had not these infatuated Rebels brasen faces to deny what their own Conscience telleth them is true They would presently declare that the only way to settle our distractions and restore our Nation to its pristin happinesse and glory were to call in the King and re-establish him in his own which they unjustly pocket from him For so long as there is one of the race of the Stewarts which God long preserve and any forein King or People remain alive we must never look for peace or plenty but as publick Thieves alwayes live in a posture of Warr and ever expect forein Nations to come in and swallow us up Who account it as indeed it is the greatest piece of Justice under the Sun to revenge with our bloods and utter destruction the bloody Murther of Charls the first and the unnatural Banishment of Charls the second our only lawful Soveraign Therefore let all English Spirits who have not washed their hands in the Innocent blood of Charls the Martyr joyn their prayers to God and their Forces to one another and lance this Ulcer and cut off this proud flesh whose growth destroyeth our King Laws and Religion Behold the Duke of York wiâ—l be your leader whose very name striketh terror to the greatest men of Warr and our Rebels tremble to think of his Martial atchievements It is he who will be our Champion to hunt out these treacherous Foxes who Rebel against his King and Brother and then make our Nation dreadful to the Pope and other forein Invaders Therefore let us not dream like Goats whilst we have this Lyon to be our Captain but follow him and destroy these Wolves who make us their continual prey keeping us in Slavery under a false pretence of Liberty and let us obey our King and Father Charls the second who will blesse us with the blessings of Jacob and weed out of our Church and State those Jesuits and Popish Blasphemors who now under the colour of a free State are working and contriving the ruine both of our Laws and Religion And then we shall prosper into a Kingdom Ezekiel 86.13 and once more be a glorious people under so glorious a King which God Almighty speedily grant for the glory of his Holy Name and for the welfare and happinesse of all Christian people Every one knoweth that in 1648. after the long tempest of a horrid VVarr and Rebellion raised by the Refractory and Treacherous House of Commons under a pretence of removing evil Counsellours from the King but in truth only to promote their own private Interests and factious designs The Currish Army who had for a long