will take away your Lawes nay would take away your Life will you be obliged by this Promise then To these particulars and others like to these because it is more then probable the King would never have oblig'd Himselfe being interrogated concerning them when He made this generall Promise of not Abolishing those Lawes Therefore that generall Promise of His extends not nor is appliable saith the Law to these Particulars And so by Consequence the King promising to Abolish those Lawes upon such enforcements and such reasons as He would never have promised Not to Abolish them if He had been moved particularly thereunto Does nothing by this second that either is unjust or contradicts that His first Promise So that when the King made this Promise the King did remember though Mr Browne is pleas'd to thinke that He did not that Declaration wherein He doth declare that He will not abolish the Lawes made against Recusants but the King does not remember any thing in that Declaration that tyes Him why He may not make it and although many simple Citizens are men of so well-affected Ignorance that they cannot see this yet I hope there may be some who may lye under the suspition of having some common-Sence and I am sure They cannot but discerne it Mr Browne The next are the Queenes letters to the King in them you may see her unwearied endeavours by Sea and Land to raise Forces against the Parliament to destroy it You see She marcheth in the Head of an Army and calls Her selfe the Generalissima You may see farther in her letters the great Interest She hath in the Kings Councells No Office or Place can be disposed of without her You may see her letters her advice concerning Peace In making Peace She adviseth the King not to abandon those that have served Him for feare they forsake Him in his need She expresseth whom She meaneth the Bishops and the poore Catholiques She adviseth the King for the honour of God that He trust not himselfe in our hands If He goe to London before the Parliament is ended She tells Him He is undone You may see by her Letters how active She is with the Duke of Lorraine for sending over 10000 men You may see her Advice concerning this Parliament She saith That perpetuall Parliament must be disbanded The rest She saith will follow if the King conclude a Peace without that She will into France She saith I am sure you cannot forget these passages Animadversions Having been somewhat over long in these Animadversions which past upon the Section going before I am afrayd I shall doe by these Animadversions upon this which is next unto it as the Fellow did by his Character and Discription of the great Church which he reported to be two miles at least in length and when he perceived the company were not very forward to beleive it he vowed that notwithstanding all that it was not above two Inches in breadth and so thought that he had well mended his Matter For all that I shall say will be nothing but this Here is much of Care in a Pious and most Exemplary Queene here is nothing of Crime And He that will thinke the worse of Good Councell because his Wife does give it Let some other man think better of his Wife then He does and let Him not beleeve it Mr Browne In the King's Letters to the Queene you may observe these following particulars First His Apology to Her for calling us a Parliament at the last Treaty It seemes she was offended at it and you may see by his letters with what difficulty he did it For he saith that if but two more had joyned with him in opinion to the contrary he would never have done it yet he hath told us He will keep all the Acts of this Parliament inviolable How those can stand together let all men Judge He hath told us that he will maintaine the Lawes and observe them himselfe yet you may see he layes that bloud of the Kingdom which is shed in these Warres upon the shedding of the Innocent bloud as he calls it of my Lord Strafford Yet my Lord of Strafford was condemned by himselfe and by the Law that he saith he will maintaine Animadversions The King is here charg'd with a brace of Contradictions May he never receive more hurt from any other Bullet The first is that he makes an Apology to the Queene for calling the Rebels at Westminster a Parliament and yet he professes he will keep inviolable all the Acts of this Parliament This is one horrible Contradiction and all men are called in to Iudge how these two can stand together The second is That the King tells them He will maintaine the Lawes and observe them and yet he calls the bloud of my Lord Strafford the innocent bloud of my Lord Strafford which was shed by the Law which he saith he will maintaine This is another For the first of these The King may keep inviolable all Acts that have bin made this Parliament that is all Acts which have passed Both Houses and had his owne Consent while He was joyned with them For then they were a Parliament and a perfect Body and yet the King may not account that excrementitious Part of that Body which now remaines at Westminster to be a Parliament because they possesse the place of the Parliament no more then a man sworne a Squire of the Body to some Prince and doing the Person of that Prince all Service can thinke himselfe bound to give Reverence to his Close-stoole if it should by chance be brought and set downe in the Presence And then for that other charge about my Lord of Strafford First what a simple Inference is this The King thinks my Lord of Strafford dyed Innocent who was condemned by Law Therefore the King does not maintaine the Law Certainly many poore men in a yeare through the malice or ignorance through the presumptions or perjuries of those that bring in Evidence against them have bin and may be thought Innocently condemn'd as guilty persons of that fact which they never did and yet those men that thinke so may not nay doe not thinke the Law nocent which condemnes them or hold it no longer fitting for to be maintayned In the second place what ever that Law was whereby my Lord of Strafford was condemned all the world knowes they themselves have taken order that the proceeding against my Lord of Strafford by that Law should not be drawne to President for after times And yet these men charge the King for not maintayning that Law which they themselves are ashamed of and will not stand by Mr Browne You see how pressing He is to the Queene to procure ayde from the Duke of Lorraine upon hopes of his comming He is very glad and saith the Prince of Orange shall help to transport His Souldiers Compare this with his former Declarations concerning Forreigne Forces It needs no Aggravation We have all
never so foolish and ridiculous and receive no present Answer to that which they have said They make that advantage of their getting Plutarch no Answer which Cato they say made when he could get no Statue who gave out that it was more for his Honour and Reputation that posterity should enquire why Cato had no Statue then why he had And therefore I shall take them all three in order as they lye beginning first with M. Lisles Oration whose masculine eloquence it seems was thought worthiest to enjoy the Mayden-head of the Citties Attention who bespeaks them in the manner following M. Lisle his Speech My Lord Major and you worthy Gentlemen of the Famous Citty of London I am commanded by the Lords and Commons in Parliament Assembled to observe to you some passages out of these Letters which you have heard They are passages of that nature though it be most happy to this Kingdom and Parliament to know them yet my very heart doth bleed to report them Animadversions Well said good obedient Oratour Higgin you have said nothing it seems but what you were commanded But I say not well done my Lord Major and you worthy Gentlemen of the famous City of London for you have done a thing which no body could command you you have resigned and given up your sences and your understanding here to three Brothers of the Observance as if you were able to marke nothing of your selves but what they Observe unto you What my Masters are the Walloones that came over lately crept already from the Campe into your Councell that a Common-Hall at London cannot understand English when they heare it Have you not only lost your Loyalty but your very Language that you must have an Interpreter to your own Mothers tongue take my word for it the Letters although they were not the old English foretoppe in their forehead of After my hearty commendations remembred unto you hoping to God that you are in good health as I am at the writing hereof yet they are writ in nothing but errand English The King and the Queen as much as you suspect them for superstition are not yet come to that height of Popery as to write their mutuall private Letters in an unknown Tongue For shame then be not such Wittalls to your own understanding as to say you know not English when you doe I can tell you the Cost of this Interpreter may chance prove greater then the Worship you see M. Lisles heart bleeds in the very begining of the businesse It was never known but Bloud would have Bloud you know and I feare your Hearts also that is your Purses will bleed before ever it be done There is so much of the Pharisee between you that if his Trumpet should goe before and your Almes should not follow after I would sweare one of you were very much out in playing of his part but M. Lisle is not out for he goes on Mr Lisle The first thing that I shall observe to you is concerning the King's endeavours to bring Forraigne Forces a Forraigne Prince with an Army into this Kingdom By His Letters to the Queen which you have heard read He endeavours to basten the Duke of Loraine with an Army into England It is well known to the Parliament that the Duke of Loraine is a Prince highly esteem'd at Rome the most complying with Iesuites of any Prince in Christendomes and yet the King writes to the Queen to hasten the Duke of Loraine to come with an Army into England Animadversions If the Major and his Brethren must observe and note this as a piece of Novelty which they knew not of before namely that the King did intend to bring in Forreigne Forces me thinkes the Exchange had been a fitter Theatre then the Guild-Gall to have call'd the Citizens together to have heard it and Mr Lisle's heart needed not to bleed for that But if they must observe and note this as a piece of Tyranny in the King as a breach and violation of any knowne Law in the Land and to that end it is most likely he would have them to observe it Then truly does Mr Lisle deserve to have his Nose bleed as well as his Heart he deserves to be well beaten for offering such a Cheat unto the Common People For Gods sake why may not the King bring over Forreigners when He shall be deserted and derelicted of his own Subjects Why may not the King invite Forreigne Forces hither now at the last for his Preservation and Reliefe whom the Rebels themselves have entertain'd already this two whole yeares and over for his Destruction and Ruine I cannot imagine why the worthy Citizens of London are to note and observe this as any unlawfull thing unlesse Mr Lisle will undertake to prove that the King by bringing in of such Forces into the Land does trespasse upon their severall Acts against Forreigners which are of so great force in London For I know no other Law written against which He does offend For I demand either it is lawfull for the King to defend himselfe by Force against those that doe rebell against him or it is not lawfull If they say it is not lawfull for him to defend himselfe by Force then have the Rebels the same argument against the King's raising of his Domestique Forces from amongst his owne Subjects here at home which they have against his bringing in of Forreigne from abroad For if it be not lawfull for him to defend himselfe by Force then is it not lawfull for him to raise any kind of Forces If they say it is lawfull for him to defend himselfe by Force then doubtlesse are all kind of Forces in themselves equally lawfull Because in this great Action of Defence no body but the King himselfe indeed is a proper Agent All others whether Persons or Things are but nearer or remoter Instruments used and employed by Him for his best advantage and therefore he that saies it is lawfull for the King to defend himselfe against Rebels with a native English or a Welch man but not with a Dutch or French man not with a Turke or Jew and thinkes he hath spoken high reason to the point that is in question He saies nothing more in effect then this That it is lawfull for the King to defend himselfe against the Rebels with an English Sword but not with a Spanish Blade or that it is lawfull for him to shoot powder at them which is made for him here in England but not to shoot that which is sent him hither out of France Or lastly that it is lawfull for him to charge the Rebels upon a Horse that hath been bred for him here at Brackley but not upon a Horse that hath been brought him over hither from Barbary For as all sorts of Weapons so all kinds of men are but the Kings Instruments in this great Action of his Defence and it is as lawfull for him to use the One for
you nothing but Men or Womens Faces but being turn'd the other way is as full of horned Beasts or Divells And then as touching the Kings Protestations which have been often made to maintaine the Lawes of this Kingdome for God's sake what of them If they meane That because the King protesteth to maintaine the Lawes of the Kingdome therefore he cannot repeale any one of those Lawes whom he hath protested to maintaine why then doe they presse him to repeale divers and sundry Laws made concerning Episcopacy and the Book of Common Prayer seeing they are Lawes which he is bound to maintaine by this Protestation But if the meaning of those wordes be That the King protesteth to maintaine the Law which is establisht for Law to be ruled by that Law and to doe nothing in an arbitrary way contrary to that Law as no doubt that is the meaning of his words then does not the repealing and abrogating of any Law thwart and crosse his Protestation of maintaining the Law because when it is Repealed it is no longer a Law And as the Divines use to say that our Saviour when he came and touched the dead mans Coffin offended not against the Law which holds such Persons uncleane because he purposed to restore him againe to life So does not the king offend against His Protestation of maintaining the Law of the Land if upon good occasion offered he should a little suspend the Execution of those Lawes made against Recusants for the present which hereafter a free Convention of Parliament will find as good occasion wholly to take away if their Assistance of the King in this his present exigence and necessity shall appeare to them so vigorous and hearty to deserve so great a Favour Mr Lisle The third thing Gentlemen that I shall observe to you is concerning the use and the ends that have been made which you may observe out of these Letters of a Treaty with the Parliament I shall read His Majesties words to you in a Letter of the fifteenth of Febr. 1645. a Letter to the Queene And be confident that in making Peace I shall ever shew my Constancy in adhering to Bishops and to all our Friends and not forget to put a short period to this perpetuall Parliament And in his Letter to the Queene of the ninth of Febr. 1644. there is this passage Be confident I will never quit Episcopacy nor the Sword We did all hope that the end of a Treaty had been to settle a happy Peace a firme and a well grounded Peace But now we see by the Kings Letter that his Resolutions are still to keep the Sword in his owne hands We did all hope that the end of a Treaty was to settle Church-Government according to the Protestation the Solemne Vow and Covenant which we have all taken But you see by the Kings Letters that he avowes to the Queene that he will never quit Episcopacy We did all hope that the end of a Treaty was rather to confirme the Parliament then to dissolve it But the King sayes in his owne Letter that he will not forget at this Treaty to put a short period to this perpetuall Parliament Animadversions Here is a very fine Rhetoricall Rainbow much is represented in shewe nought in substance Mr Lisle knew well enough to whom he spake to the common sort of People Qui frequentèr in hoc ipsum fallendi sunt ne errent as Quintilian speakes of them who are alwayes to be cousened and even for this very purpose often That they may not be deceiv'd For I dare say Mr Lisle is no more perswaded in himselfe of the truth of these particular Aspersions which are here cast upon the King then Theopompus when he changed cloathes with his wife and scaped out of prison could beleive himselfe a woman because he made the keepers to beleive it We will only divide a little between his Conclusions and his Clouds and then you will the more easily perceive it One of the Conclusions which he takes upon him to perswade and worke in the minds and affections of the people is this That the King never intended Peace in the last Treaty The Cloud which is cast about that Conclusion to cover it from their understandings is this Because his Resolutions are still to keep the Sword in his owne hands Now the People can doe no lesse then subscribe to this Proposition as being necessarily true He that is resolved to keep the Sword still in his hands is resolved not to have a Peace But the double acceptation of that notion the Sword would easily dispell this Cloud and spread it into nothing For the word Sword as well in Sacred as in Civill Writers as it sometimes implyeth the materiall Sword that Instrument of violence wherewith one private man smites and hurts another of which our Saviour Christ speaks in the Gospell when he saies unto S. Peter Put up thy Sword So doth it other whiles imply the Civill Sword or that power and administration of Iustice which resides in the Supreme Magistrate and inflicts severall punishments on severall persons according to their severall offences of which S. Paul speaks in his Epistle when he saies of Nero the Emperour that He beareth not the Sword in vain Now nothing can be playner then that the King useth that word Sword in this latter Acceptation and as by Episcopacy They cannot but acknowledg that the King understands that old Forme of Hierarchicall Government in the Church now establisht which he tells the Queene he will not quit for that of the Presbytery which is the new Fangle So they cannot deny without denying their reason that by the Sword which the King there joyneth with Episcopacy He meanes that Monarchicall Forme of Government in the State now establisht which He tells the Queene He will never quit for a Democracy which the Rebels labour so hard to superinduce upon him And then this horrid Conclusion having broken thus through the Cloud resolves into lesse then a mans Hand for it resolves into no more but this The King never intended to change the present Government of the Church or the present Government of the State Therefore the King in the last Treaty never intended Peace But what needed the Queenes Letters to be broken up for this Did not the King's Commissioners when they were at Vxbridge tell you the very same thing twenty dayes together that the King would not alter the Government of the Church or State unlesse there were better Reasons urged then your bare wills how comes this then halfe a yeare afterwards to be told the good Citizens of London for such newes Alas you must thinke They have brought up the men of London who by nature were never very fierce to such a tamenesse of understanding that they must needs think every thing a great Secret and of some mysterious Consequence in the Queenes Letters and therefore they care not at how deare a price of Inhumanity they purchase
away the very Sence They presse those words of His Declaration which they conceive expresly makes against it wherein the King does assure the World that He hath no more thought of making Warre against the Parliament then against His own Children and that he hath not nor shall not have any thought of using of any Force unlesse he shall be driven to it for the security of his Person and for the defence of the Religion which words truly doe condemne the King to my thinking just as Pilate did Christ namely by washing of his hands For can any thing be plainer then that as those tearms of Ampliation We have not nor shall not have any thought of using of any Force doe comprehend in them a formall profession that the King will not wage Warre against the Parliament so those words of Limitation and exception unlesse we shall be driven to it for the security of our Person doe contain in them a virtuall profession also that He will And therefore when M. Browne will condemne the King for making Warre against the Parliament as doing contrary to His expresse Declaration and will take no notice of that Case of Reservation annexed thereto which as expresly justifies all that the King hath done He saies no more in truth against the King then the Welch-man did against the Iudge who cryed out upon him for putting him to death for stealing a Rope but left out the Mare Concerning the second His Alteration of Religion they produce these words out of another of the Kings Declarations God so deale with Mee and Mine as My thoughts and intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion and those words in His Declaration concerning His going into Ireland That His Majesty will never consent upon what pretence soever to a Toleration of the Popish profession there or the Abolition of the Lawes now in force against Recusants in that Kingdomes And then concerning the third that is His Alteration of the Lawes the words of another Declaration are remembred and cast in His teeth wherein He professes That He is resolved not only duly to observe the Lawes Himselfe but to maintain them against what opposition soever though with the hazard of his being And now how false the King hath been to both these solemne Professions by His secret practises let His Letters and M. Browne declare Mr Browne Concerning Ireland you have heard the Propositions made to the Queene for sending into this Kingdome diverse Irish Rebells under the command of two professed Papists six Thousand of them were to be under the command of the Lord Glamorgan the Earle of Worcesters eldest Son the other of ten Thousand under the command of Colonell Fits Williams The tearmes that they were to come upon were read to you in the Propositions which themselves sent to the Queene You will not thinke that these came to maintain the Lawes but to destroy them not to maintaine the Protestant Religion but to overthrow it These Propositions being sent to the Queene and allowed by Her and Shee sent them to the King For the Letters concerning Ireland they were written by the King to the Earle of Ormond who is now Governor there in some of them Letters the King gives way to the suspending of Poynings Law which was an Act of Parliament in the tenth yeare of Henry the seaventh It was called Poynings Law because Sir Edward Poynings was Governor of Ireland when that Law was made That Law made all Statutes that were before made in England of force in Ireland and the King may as well suspend all the Lawes there as that Law By that Law of Poynings all Lawes that were after to be presented at the Parliament in Ireland must be first sent hither for approbation before they could be presented to the Parliament there and no Parliament must be called there before the causes of calling the Parliament and the Acts to be passed in that Parliament are first sent hither and approved But that Law now must be suspended Further in the Letters to the Lord of Ormond you see the King doth not count it a hard Bargaine for to make a Law in Ireland to suspend or to take away the Penall Lawes against Papists there so that they will help Him here against His Protestant Subjects When this promise was made the Declaration was not remembred wherein the King doth declare that upon no pretence whatsoever he will Tolerate the Popish profession in Ireland or Abolish the Lawes against Popish Recusants now in force there He farther saith in another Letter to my Lord of Ormond that rather then He will faile of making a Peace or a Cessation with the Rebells He would have him engage himselfe to joyne with the Rebells against the Scots and the Lord Jnchequin which is the maine visible Protestant Forces that are in Ireland all this is enjoyned to be kept secret from all but two or three of the chiefest Rebells in Ireland whom you heard named in the Letters You may farther observe that a Peace was Treated of with the Rebells about the same time that the King did Treat with the Parliament here concerning Ireland and the King wished a quick dispatch of the Peace there least if He should make a Peace here first He could not shew such Favour to the Irish as He intended They are the words of His Letter You may see by all the Letters to my Lord of Ormond that the King did little stick at any thing to grant to the Rebells for a Peace with them but how little He granted to the Parliament of England at the last Treaty I hope all the World will soon know Animadversions Here are two principall things offered by way of proofe out of the Kings owne Papers concerning the Transaction of Affaires in Ireland to convince the King of Falshood and breach of Faith in two former Professions The first is where he promiseth my Lord of Ormond that He will suspend Poynings Law which they say crosses and contradicts his Solemne Protestation of maintaining the Lawes against what opposition soever though with the hazard of his being And the second is that he proposeth unto him The taking away of all Penall Lawes made against Recusants in Ireland which they say is poynt-blanke against his owne Declaration which he Printed when he had a resolution to goe over into Ireland wherein he does assure all his Subjects That He will never Consent upon what pretence soever to a Toleration of the Popish Profession there or the Abolition of the Lawes now in force against Popish Recusants in that Kingdome And truly the maine Engine of their detraction and Calumny moves upon these two Hinges These two particular Impeachments help and further all the rest to the Reputation of Crimes as one or two good peices of Wine they say will put off a whole range in the Merchants Sellar at the same rate and value with themselves Concerning the suspension of Poynings Law
I must needs say that if it were True that is True in that latitude of understanding and vast Comprehension of Sence which the Rebels would have the simple People swallow The King were to be condemned indeed not only as a man false to his Conditions but as a King false unto his Crowne For amongst all those Flowers that at severall times have been transplanted out of other Soyles into the English Crowne there is scarce any one that illustrates the beauty of her Majesty with more vigorous and fresher Colours then this very Law Because that by this and by no one thing so much as This is the Subordination and Dependance which Ireland hath upon this Kingdome established and the blush of her first Conquest revived For first This Law transported whole Colonies of other Lawes So that all the Statutes which were then made in England like Trees with their ground about the rootes were removed into that Kingdom where they prospered thriv'd though in another ayre as if there they had been first set and planted And the King were much too blame indeed if he thought of suspending this part of that Law For this were even to lay the reynes upon the Horses neck for feare least he should slip the bit out of his mouth This were to set open the Prison dore for feare the Prisoner should make some escape out at a window This were to breake that whole Chaine of dependance which unites that Kingdome in her subordination to this to prevent some men from loosning of a linke Secondly By this Law there could no Law be presented to the Parliament in Ireland to be confirmed and ratified as a Law unlesse it were first sent hither into England for the Kings Approbation before ever it was proposed And this part of that Law was not intended so much for an Abasement of the Subjects Liberty as for an Allay unto the Superiour's Power to put the Deputies in mind still that their Authority was not Absolute And truly if the King had promised to suspend this part of that Law although it was somewhat unlikely that those of Ireland would put any thing which concern'd the Superiours Advantage into the Subjects Scale The King had not done well for as in making the picture of a Crowne there is more Art use to paint it in Colours so that it shall look like Gold then to paint it in pure Gold indeed So in making Lievtenants which are but Counterfeits of Kings there is more Policy to embellish them with the shadowes and semblances of Royalty then with the Reall species But the King promises neither this nor that as the words of Letter XVI his Letter plainly doe declare and the truth of the whole matter is but briefly this A Peace in Ireland was now in agitation when the King wrote these Letters to my Lord of Ormond and the necessities of the Kings Affaires called for all quick dispatch therein That dispatch the King apprehended as it was indeed altogether Impossible if every particular Bill upon every particular emergent occasion which might facilitate and expedite that work must first be sent hither and then sent back again with the King's Approbation to it before ever it could passe in Parliament as the letter of that Law requires the passage being so obstructed as it was and the wayes so dangerous And therefore the King in favour of those affaires the quick transaction whereof so neerely concerned the good of both his Kingdomes promised my Lord Ormond to take no advantage against him by Poynings Law if he passed such Bills as might promote this businesse without sending them over unto him provided he passed nothing that might be prejudiciall to the safety of His Protestant Subjects and the preservation of His owne Royall Authority And this particular suspension of this particular Branch of Poynings Law limited to this particular Time and to be no farther extended doe the Rebels aggravate and heighten to a Suspension of all Poynings his Law yea and of all the Lawes that were ever there made besides as if the King purpos'd to destroy them all at one blow and without any more adoe without any the least regard had to His Solemne Declaration and Promise for the maintaining thereof But is this a Crossing and Contradicting of the Kings owne words in his Declaration where he promises to maintaine the Lawes against what opposition soever though with the hazard of his being I cannot think it For I aske but this Of what kind of Lawes will a reasonable man conceive that His Majesty there speakes questionlesse not of those which concerne His owne Royall State Person or Dignity notwithstanding those are as true and as necessary Lawes as any other because it is not imaginable that the People should suspect that He would not maintaine them But of those Lawes which concerne the Subjects Interest Right and Property as being most lyable to their suspition that the King by His Prerogative or by some violent and unnaturall Course or other might entrench too much upon them Now what colour of Contradiction or Falshood is there in this Inference The King by a second Promise undertaketh to dispence with a rigorous circumstance of one Law which only diminishes and minorates a little the Grandour and Honour of his owne Royall Person and Dignity therefore the King breaks his first Promise of maintaining the Lawes against what opposition soever which only concerne His Subjects Interest their Liberties and their Property There is nothing plainer then that both these promises may well consist together without clashing But if the Lyon say that the Foxes eares are hornes The Foxe hath more wit then to gainesay it And if the Rebels at Westminster say that the signe of St Laurences paralell'd gridiron is the signe of St Peters Crosse Keyes the Citizens of London have so little wit as not to disbeleive it But any man of common sence may now easily distinguish between the Pastboard and the Vizard and make him mirth with that in his owne hands which affrighted him but a little before upon anothers Face In that other Impeachment of Abolishing the Lawes made against Recusants in Ireland notwithstanding His former Professions that He would never doe it I confesse there is something which hath the colour and complexion of a Crime at the first blush and at a distance and therefore I shall desire leave to come a little nearer to it and to look better upon it in the disquisition of these ensuing particulars and pieces which certainly cannot but discover it if there be any thing truly Criminall within it First we will consider whether the Abolition of these Lawes made against Recusants be in it selfe a thing that is unjust Secondly we shall consider how farre it may become so by the Kings Promise and Protestation to the contrary And lastly we shall consider how farre that Promise does bind and tye up all other contrary Promises which may be made upon
repeale all the Lawes made against Recusants therefore the King is a Papist then it is to say the King will make no Lawes against the reading of the Alcaron therefore the King is a Turke The making or unmaking of Lawes of this nature having no naturall Influxe upon the Truth or Falshood of the Things or that conception which those men have of those things who make that Law but only upon the Conveniences or Inconveniences of Times The necessity then of those present times was the reason of the making of those Lawes the Queenes person was in danger from the Catholiques and that danger was so much the more because those Catholiques could not well be knowne To discover them and to defend her selfe were all those Lawes enacted and as God would have it they did that for which they were made they distinguisht Traytors from good Subjects they made her lov'd of the one and fear'd of the other and so between both she continued a long and prosperous Reigne amongst us But now the Tables are clean turn'd And the Kings Person is more in danger from a pestilent faction of Schismatiques then ever the Queen was from her Catholiques So that ceasing the reason of those Lawes there can be no great offence if the Lawes themselves now be made to cease and other Lawes establisht against those kind of men of whom the Person of the King is so notoriously knowne to be in great perill and danger Well the thing it selfe being thus clear'd that any Law made may be Repeal'd the King doth not erre in the Matter of his promise when He bidds the Queen promise in His name that he will take away all the Lawes in England made against Recusants provided they shall deserve so great a favour at His hands for he promises nothing but what may be performed without any breach of any known Law of the Kingdom whatsoever All the scruple is that he hath erred in the Manner of it and that in Mr Liste's opinion these two wayes first privatively by secluding those that have the right of Abrogation with him that is both His Houses of Parliament and assuming the power wholly to himselfe because the words of His Letter doe runne thus I will take away c. and so soon as God shall enable me to doe it And secondly Positively by superinducing those that have no right of abrogation either with him or without him and that is Force and Armes because he speaks in his Letter of some powerfull assistance which surely can be meant of nothing else but of Armes and Forces But the truth is it is neither so nor so For first concerning His excluding of the Parliament Is any man so simple as to think the King is bound to write every private Letter of Complement in that severe stile and clogging forme as if he were to write an Act of Parliament and to choake up every line with The Kings Majesty by the Advice of his Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled as often as occasion offereth him discourse of the Transaction of any Parliament affaires Nothing can be plainer then that the King in saying I will take away the penall Lawes implyes the Power of the Parliament as virtually comprehended in Him and meanes that He will doe it in a Free convention of Parliament and as it ought for to be done and therefore if you marke it he addes as soon as God shall enable me to doe it which words must referre to such a Convention or they have no meaning For if the King had a meaning to repeale these Lawes without his Parliament or could thinke that He could Lawfully so doe Certainly He might have done it long ere this God hath enabled Him with Power and Might answerable to the compasse of many such Designes and for my part if He should doe it to morrow though I am confident He never will yet cannot I see what the Rebells have to object against it For I would faine know why the King may not repeale the Lawes against Recusancy without the Parliament as well and as farre forth as the Parliament Repeales the Lawes for the Common-Prayer and for Episcopacy without the King But the Kings Power loveth Iustice as the Psalmist speakes and Psal 99. 4. he considereth not his Might so much as his Right and therefore knowing well enough that He cannot lawfully doe it but in Parliament He presumes so farre upon the affections and gratitude of all His true hearted Subjects as to promise the Catholique party that in their names out of a Parliament which he doubts not but the better eloquence of successe against this present Rebellion by meanes of their Assistance will make appeare reasonable in it to performe Nor does this any way crosse shinnes with those Declarations and Protestations which the King hath made if a reasonable man have the laying of them both together For what if the King have upon some occasions made a Declaration to put the Lawes in execution against Papists Surely their suspitions and jealousies owe him more thanks for that inanimation which no doubt procured it But did the King ever make a Declaration that upon no occasion whatsoever He would consent to the Repealing of those Lawes If He did not then certainly the King may Declare that the Lawes against Recusants should be put in execution for one Reason at one time and yet consent that those very Lawes should be repeal'd for another Reason at another time His Religion all this while being the same although his Reason be not For his reason for the one was but their suspition His reason for the other is his own safety which certainly is the better reason of the twaine in regard that the obligation which is upon the King to satisfy the suspition of a peevish sort of People as he did in the one is but a Temporall obligation but that which is upon the King to provide for His own safety and the safety of all his good Subjects as he did in the other is an eternall The King hath made Declarations in behalfe of the Starre-chamber and of the Common Prayer and yet the Rebells are well contented He should quite abrogate the one and at this instant are as angry with him that He will not abolish the other nay it is yet within the memory of Man since our deare brethren of Scotland were esteemed and accounted Rebels by a Declaration and yet these men never yet question'd or accus'd the King for Accepting and Treating with them afterwards like honest Subjects When they have a purpose to repeale the Lawes made concerning Episcopacy then every solemne Oath which the King hath made against it is esteemed but a Gnatt but when they have a purpose not to Repeale the Lawes made against Recusants then every Declaration made for executing of those Lawes becomes a Camell This is just the trick of the Jugglers books that so amazes Country People and Children which being turn'd one way shewes