Almighty hath said that ye are Gods and I will not say that ye shall die like men The radiant beams of your Countenance declare you more than mortal For in the light of the Kings countenance there is life saith Solomon Prov. 16.15 Neither is their voice like the voice of other men For A divine Sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth transgresseth not in judgement Prov. 16.10 Therfore I will conclude that the King is a sacred Deitie A day in his Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of the King than be a Protector c. and reign in the tents of wicked Traytors For the Kings Throne is established by righteousnesse and mercy but Traytors reign by their Villanies and raise themselves up by the bloud and downfall of their superiors But God hath given his judgements to the King and his righteousnesse unto the Kings son and he will judge the people with righteousness and the poor with judgement Therefore kiss the son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that are trusty and faithfull unto him I counsel thee to keep the Kings commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God Be not hasty to go out of his sight stand not in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever he pleaseth Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is black but comly he is just and will be a nursing father to the people his Queen shall be a nursing mother For God hath made him our King And our King cannot be made glad with our wickedness But our lies and hypocrisie grieve him to the heart The King by Judgement shall establish the Land It is abomination to Kings to commit wickednesse neither is it for Kings to drink wine Mercy and truth preserve the King and his Throne is upholden by mercy Therefore thrice happy would the people be if they did not rebel against the Lords anointed who is righteous and pious For when the righteous are in authority the people rejoyce but when the wicked beareth rule the people mourn Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft and stubornnesse is as Iniqvity and Idolatry and an evil man only seeketh Rebellion Therefore a cruel Mâ—ssenger shall be sent against him For if ye rebel ye shall be devoured Therefore Rebel not against the Lord nor the King But when he cometh salute him Hail King but not of the Jews for you professe yourselves Christians Therefore learn of Christ obedience to the King But sâ—ppose you were Jews the Jews abound with reverence to their King and loath to be so wicked as to murther their King For when Pilate said Behold your King shall I Crucify your King They answered We have no King but Caesar accounting it a most barbarous and worse than Jewish act for any people to crucifie their King though in a way of publique justice Therfore even of the Jews let Christians learn their duty to their King and rejoyce at his coming as the Bribe doth at the approach of the Bridegroom The Husbandmen indeed in the Gospel killed the servants and when the son came to demand the fruits of his Fathers Vineyard they conspired against him and said This is the Heir come let us kill him and the Inheritance shall be ours But they were wicked and their Judgement and doom was miserably to be destroyed to have their Vineyard taken from them and to be let out to others who would yield better obedience and render the fruits in their seasons Therefore let all men take heed that they doe not perish in the gainsaying of Core and with those wicked Idolaters Isa 8.21 Curse their King and their God and look upwards Whose reward is Hell where the Devil shall curb them and rule over them for ever because they would not let their King whom God placed over them be as in truth he was and is their only lawfull Soveraign It is so well known to every one who knoweth any thing how the Heathens did honour their Kings as Gods not onely when they were dead but also whilst they were living that it would not only be losse of inke and paper but also expence of time which is better to relate the particulars But pudet heu their obedience and allegiance may shame aswell as be a pattern to the Christians of our age who wander so far from the path their Lord and Master went in And if any one be desirous to know how God hath alwayes esteemed of Kings and with what reverence Gods people have alwayes obeyed them I refer him to the Bible Where I may with confidenee speak it there is no duty more commanded and prest upon the people than obedience and no sin so much punished as Treason and Rebellion And the chiefest end of their obedience to the King is not only for God his glory and the Kings honour but also for their own good praise and profit For for this cause did the Apostle exhort the people to pray for Kings and all that are in authority That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour 1 Tim. 2.2 O Melilaee Deus nobis haec otia fecit Virgil could tell that the welfare of the King brought Tranquillity and Peace upon the Land and therefore he calleth him a God Nay he will therefore honour him as a God Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus saith he And I fear his allegiance and due obedience will rise in Judgement to condemn many who profess themselves Christians yet by their actions are worse than Infidels who Judas like pretend loyalty to their Soveraign whilest they plot and contrive with a kisse to betray him But Judas hanged himself and if these men do not hang themselves It is a great mercy beyond their deserts if some body else do not do it for them before they live out half their dayes For in the fifth Commandment which as Divines hold is most obliging We are commanded to honour our Father and Mother by which words are meant Kings Princes and other Magistrates That our dayes may be long upon the Land which the Lord our God giveth us which is the first Commandment with promise as St. Paul observes Ephes 6.2 But this promise is not absolute lt is upon this condition that we honour and obey our Soveraign and if we do not perform our parts God is not tyed to perform his If we break his Commandments he may well break his promise which was made only on that condition that we should obey and if we had loved him we should have kept his Commandments But whosoever breaketh one one of them it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his
perform any wickedness which our power will assist us to effect Sen. Medea Tremenda caelo pariter ac terris mala Mens intus agitat vulnera caedem vagum Funus per artus levia memoravi nimis Haec virgo feci Homicides Paricides Mauslaughters murthers oppressions deceits extortions briberies and such like offences we committed in our youthful years when the Gospel was first planted in England but now we are become great proficients in Christianity we are now high and mighty Christians not fit to be fed with milk as babes and sucklings but with the bloud of Kings Regicides are our passe-times and to murther the King is holden to bee one of the chiefest Principles and proofs of a sound Christian whole Nations gather together and make a Covenant to murther their Kings which they hold to be as sacred and as beneficial as the old or new covenant in the Bible but Quae scelere pacta est scelere rumpetur fides That Covenant and trust which is made by wickedness by wickedness may be broken which doth most evidently appear in the transactions of the English and Scotish Rebels For they most wickedly swore and made a Covenant against the King like those Traitors of whom King David complained Psal 102.8 And after they had murthered the King then they swore and made Covenants one partie against another so that like those wicked men in Hosea 4.2 by swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out blood toucheth blood because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land verifying the Proverb of King Solomon Prov. 26.27 Who so diggeth a pit shall fall therein and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him for Rebellion by which they murthered the King is returned upon them and they now rebell one against the other so that we may truly say their own iniquities have taken the wicked themselves Prov. 5.22 and they perish by the devices and imaginations of their own hearts fulfilling the Scripture Prov. 11.21 Though hand joyn in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered For notwithstanding all the wicked plots and inventions of the bloody Rebels yet is our King C. 2. the seed of our most righteous Soveraign whom they destroyed delivered out of their hands as the bird out of the nets and snares of the fowler or as the innocent Hart out of the mouthes of the bloudy hounds Whilest they rage and are madd one against the other O the goodness and providence of the Almighty God! Where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou Eccles 8. 2 3 4. The fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lion who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul Prov. 20.2 What sins then are we guilty of who not only provoke our King to anger but quench his anger with his own bloud St. Peter teacheth us another lesson which you cannot hear too often 1 Pet. 2.13 17. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governours as unto them who are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God Honour all men love the Brotherhood Fear God and honour the King And to see the Civil Law and the Divine Law go hand in hand harmoniously agreeing and consenting to lead a loyal subject into due obedience and allegiance to his Soveraign is no less delightful to the Royalist than envyed by the Rebels which Barclay doth out of the best Civil Lawyers sum up together cap. 14. saying Principem ex certa scientia supra jus extra jus contra jus omnia posse Et esse crimen sacrilegii instar disputare de potestate Principis Et Principem esse legem animatam in terris Et Principem solum posse condere statuta licet humanum sit quod consilio Procerum utatur Denique Principem posse tollere leges positivas quia illis non subjicitur sed illae sibi Et Deum Principi leges subjecisse nullam Legem ejus Celsitudini imponi posse Et licet de jure aliquid non valeat si tamen Princeps de facto mandat servari perinde est ac si de jure valeret quoad subditos Et solum Principem soli Deo habere de peccato reddere rationem soli Caelo debere innocentiae rationem Et temerarium esse velle Majestatem regiam ullis terminis limitare Et Principem re vera esse solutum Legibus The Latine is so elegant that I will not cloath it in English raggs None but blind Sodomites who grope for the wall at noon day will not here see the door which openeth to obedience and go in concluding That the King is free from the Laws and cannot be limitted by any humane invention may do what he please if he be more a Tyrant than Phalaris or Nerone Nerouior degenerate from all humanity and prove a Wolf to his People Yet by the Law of God by the Law of Nations by the Law of Nature by the Law of the Land by the example of all Saints by the rule of Honesty and by all equitable considerations It is not lawful for his Subjects nor any man or any degree or sort of men within his Dominions upon this pretence of Tyranny to rebel against their Soveraign For if any cause should be allowed to be just for the Subjects to rebel then that cause would alwayes be alleged by the Rebels though in truth they had no such cause at all For whom one man and his Company did esteem a good Pious and Religious Prince another party would proclaim him wicked Tyrannical and Idolatrous And who shall be judge between them but the sword and then Excessit medicina modum The remedy would be worse than the disease For it is an undoubted truth that Subjects did never despose their Prince although he was a Tyrant But that a multitude of Tyrants far worse than they pretended their Prince to be did rise up in his room By the cutting off the head of one snake twenty snakes grow in the same place Therefore it is not profitable aswell as not lawfull for subjects to resist their King For hear what Bodine saith O how many Tyrants should there be If it should be lawfull for subjects to kill their Soveraigns though Tyrants How many good and innocent Princes should as Tyrants perish by the conspiracy of their subjects against them he that should of his subjects exact subsidies should be then as the vulgar people account him a Tyrant He that should rule and command contrary to the good liking of the people should be a Tyrant He that should keep strong guards and garrisons for the safety of his person should be Tyrant He that
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
their free will and pleasure So that the peoples Representatives must represent these Traytors in all their wickednesse otherwise they shall be no free-Statesmen for they account that Government most for the liberty of the people wherein themselves may have liberty still to continue in their Treason Rebellion and that they call slavery and oppression of the people which would suppresse their wicked and infandous Tyranny All the reason which they can give against Monarchy is because say they many of the people would lose their interests in their new purchased estates and we should be turned out of our possessions and perhaps lose our lives too A good argument indeed if maintained by the Logick of the sword So thieves and murtherers may argue against the Sessions because then perhaps they should lose their stollen goods and be hanged for their murthers and robberies O abominable that English men should degenerate into such impious impudence for this is the truth of their case might they but still have the Kings and Bishops lands which they have gotten by their horrible Treason and Rebellion and be sure to live secure from the punishment which the Law of the Land would inflict upon them they would easily confesse if the Devil have not made them contradictors of all manner of truth that Monarchy is the best of all Governments especially for the English Nation where as one may say it grew by nature until these destroyers of the Lawes of God Nature and the Realm rooted it up and endeavoured to plant their fancied Commonwealth in its room which will grow there when plums grow in the sky or when rocks grow in the air not before as you may see by the small root it hath taken ever since the reign of Charles the Martyr Dig and delve they may yet they will never set it in so fast but that if the right heir do not which God grant he soon may the wind and ambition of some one of their own sect and faction will quickly blow it down as did Oliver the wicked c. As Monarchy is the best sort of all govetnments so the Monarchy of England is the best of all Monarchies and hath in it the perfection and all that is good either in Aristocracy Democracy or Free-State For every one knoweth that Charles the Martyr though a King yet alwayes made himself a subject to his lawes accounting his prerogative safer being locked up in the custody of the law than in the absolutenesse of his own will And what lawes of any Nation in the world did ever maintain the liberty and freedome of the people more than the Kings Lawes of England I may most truly answer none more nor so much for what greater freedome can the people wish for than not to have any lawes imposed on them than what they please and desire The Kings of England never make any law but what the people consent to the Lords and Commons have a Negative voice as well as the King Although the inferiour Members receive all their authority from the head yet cannot the head act without their consent and privity so neither â—oth the King impose any lawes on his subjects without their concurrence and approbation The House of Lords resembleth Aristocracy and the House of Commons Democracy or a free State yet the King like the Sun which doth not diminish its own light by giving light to others continueth stil a royal Monarch and without any Solecism in State I may truly say that the House of Lords did excel Aristocracy and the House of Commons Democracy in preserving the Peoples rights and wel-fare because the necessity of their joyning votes each with the other and both of them with the King in making of a Law did inhibit either of them from having an unlimited arbitrary power which either of them without the other would have and so enslave the People as the House of Commons now do according to their lusts having destroyed their Master the King and the House of Lords their Moderators Whilest the King Lords and Commons like the three Graces joined hand in hand in passing votes approved by this triple touchstone then were our Laws like Gold seven times refined which made our Nation most glorious abroad and to overflow with peace and plenty at home we were then feared not derided by all forein Kings and Princes Religion not Faction then reigned in our hearts and our industry was then to preserve not to destroy Gods Sanctuary But now since the hand hath said to the eye I have no need of thee and the feet to the head I have no need of you the whole body of our Kingdom hath groaned and every Member therof as with a Consumption is wasted and grieved The Crown is fallen from our head and we are become a reproach and hissing amongst all Nations Oh therfore to redeem our credit and long lost happiness Let us all unanimously agree to be loyal Subjects to Charls our King and let all his loyal Subjects pray for and earnestly desire his safe arrival into our England that we may once more eat the Manna of our old Laws and Religion with the sweetnesse wherof we surfeited in the reign of Charls the Martyr Then shall we beat our Swords into plow-shares and our Spears into pruning hookes faction shall not rise up against faction neither shall we learn war any more For if we be willing and obedient we shall eat the good of the Land Isa 1 19. Hor. Concines laetosque dies urbis Publicum ludum super impetrato Fortis Augusti reditu forumque litibus orbum Tum meae si quid loquor audiendum Vocis accedet bona pars O Sol Pulcher O laudande canam recepto Cáesare falix Tuque dum procedis Io triumphe Non semel dicemus Io triumphe Civitas omnis dabimusque divis Thura benâ—s Then shall we sing the publick plays For his return and holy days For our Prayers heard and Law 's restor'd From Rebels Sword Then I if I may then be heard Happy in my regained Lord Will joyn ' i th' close and O! I le say O Sun-shine day The City leading wee 'l all sing Io triumph and agin Io triumph at each turning Incense burning Thus when we have received our gracious Soveraign from his long unnatural banishment what then can the Lord do more for us that he hath not done Wherefore when he looketh that we should bring forth good grapes let us take heed that we do not bring forth wild grapes let us fear God and honour the King and meddle not with them that are given to change as God hath commanded us for if we refuse and rebel we shall be devoured with the Sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and so our last rebellion will be worse for us then the first General Monk hath amply repaired his honour which he lost by pulling down the City Gates and Perculisses and
King of Babylon and that will not put their Neck under the Yoke of the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the Sword and with Famine and with the Pestilence Wherefore serve the King of Babylon and live And St. Peter saith Servants all the Kings Subjects are his Servants be subject to your Masters the King is our Soveraign Lord and Master with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward For this is thanks worthy if a man for Conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully From which it is most evident that we ought and are commanded to be Subject to evill Kings who are degenerated into Tyrants If then the power of evil Kings commeth from God if God commandeth us to pray for them and to be subject to them and if they are Gods ordinance as most certainly they are it consequently followeth that he which with defensive or offensive I can make no distinction for ubi lex non distinguit non est distinguenda Arms resisteth an evil King resisteth Gods ordinance and shall receive damnation What then if the King command us to doe Evill must we doe it God forbid nay God hath forbidden it therefore we must obey God not the King yet must we not unjustly resist him but rather resign up our lives and estates into his hands For we must needs be subject to the King not only for wrath but also for conscience sake saith S. Paul But our objecter saith that if it be the meaning of the Apostle to inhibit the resistance of the Kings unlawful commands then to flye or to die rather than obey is likewise inhibited because the not performance of the command is a resistance To which I answer that I may confidently averre that it was never the meaning of St. Paul nor the Holy Ghost to inhibit this kind of resistance under the pain of eternal damnation it being the Doctrine and practise of our Saviour and all the Apostles when they were persecuted in one City to fly into another Matth. 10.23 and all of them willingly suffered death under wicked Kings but you shall never find that they resisted with defensive arms but both with their lives deaths and doctrine set forth the contrary But if this kind of resistance be inhibited by the Apostle you must understand that the penalty is temporal not eternal damnation The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth judicium and so it is used in several places in the New Testament as in Matth. 7.2 Luke 24.20 c. for temporal damnation and judgment So that we may conclude that the intention of the Apostle was that whosoever resisteth the lawful commands of the King shall receive damnation both from God and the King and he which doth not perform the unlawful commands of the King shall receive temporal judgment and damnation from the King but salvation and life everlasting from God but whosoever useth unlawful resistance against the Kings unlawful commands as defensive arms c. must expect temporal judgment and damnation from the King and eternal judgment and damnation from the Almighty But what doth God give power to Kings to take away mens lives and estates unjustly I answer that he doth the Devil himself hath no power but what God giveth him It is the wisdome of the Almighty oftentimes to scourge his people for their sins with the power which he giveth to wicked Kings The King is a minister of God saith St. Paul a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil and sometimes to try them that he may make them the more happy and glorious God gave power to the Devil to afflict Job who had not his like in the whole earth a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil Job 1.8 and what made Job so famous as his miseries Had not Job had sore boyles we should never have heard of Job's glory and good fortunes and was it not the Lord which authorized the Devil to afflict him It was for the Devil had not power to touch him until he had desired God to put forth his hand and touch his bone and his flesh which made holy Job to cry the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken not the Devil for he was but the instrument so God oftentimes by the power which he giveth to Kings afflicteth his dearest children both in their bodies and estates yet cannot unrighteousnesse be imputed unto God because he doth it for their good but the wicked wills of Kings which use the power which God giveth them so unjustly are unrighteous and shall by the Almighty be punished according to venerable Bede Injustum enim non est ut improbis accipientibus nocendi potestatem bonorum patientia probetur malorum iniquitas puniatur It is not unjust in God that the patience of the good be proved and the sins of the wicked punished by the power which is given the wicked to offend for by the power given to the Devil Job was tried and appeared to be just St. Peter was tempted that he should not presume too much upon himself and Judas was condemned that he hanged himself But it is unjust in the King to use it Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power saith the Apostle Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same A good man will have praise of the power let the King be good or evil If the King be good he will cherish the good and reward their piety and goodnesse with praise and dignity But if the King be evil yet shall the good receive praise from the power It is the Glory of a Chrstian to suffer wrongfully his unjust miseries are his best herauldry to ennoble him and every injury offered to him is as a Crown of gold set on his head he had rather be punished for a thousand faults wrongfully than for one justly For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God 1 Peter 2.20 Non dicit ab illa sed â—ex ea saith reverend Bede quia etsi potestas humana non laudat immo si etiam persequitur si occidit gladio ut Paulum si crucifigit ut Petrum habebis ex illa laudem dum ex eo quod illa malefacit in te justum et innoxium tuae virtutis patientia Coronam laudis meretur All the Apostles and Martyrs received a Crown of Glory by their sufferings under Tyrants and so will every good Man For they are the Ministers of God to them for good though they oppresse nay kill the Innocent and Righteous they do not hurt them but do them good as the best Gold is purified in the fire so the best Christians are discerned from the drosse by their afflictions That mettle
authority O pious Rebels So far are our Laws of England from allowing Subjects to take up arms against the King or to condemn execute him that it is high treason for any one or all of his Subjects but to imagine the Kings death which the wisdom and Religion of our Realm hath from age to age so much hated and abhorred that an offender therin by the Laws of the Land shall be hanged and cut down alive his bowels shall be cut off and burned in his sight his head shall be severed from his body his quarters shall be divided asunder and disposed at the Kings pleasure and made food for the birds of the air or the beasts of the Field and his wife and children shall be thrust out of his house and livings his seed and blood shall be corrupted his Lands and goods shall be confiscated and as by the Statute of 29 H. 6.1 It is ordained of the Traytor John Cade hee shall be called a false Traytor for ever But the Traytors against Charls the Martyr have prevented this punishment most due to them by the greatnesse of their villanies Yet though they are got out of the reach of Justice and trample our Laws and King under their feet let them remember that God is above Earth and will give them their reward if not in this world yet in the world to come The aforesaid Statute of 25 Ed. 3. as you may read in Pulton de pace Regis Regni fo 108. doth confirm it to be high treason for any person to compasse or imagine the death of our Soveraign Lord the King the Queen c. by which words it doth approve what a great regard and reverend respect the Common Law hath alwayes had to the person of the King which it hath endeavoured religiously and carefully to preserve as a thing consecrated by Almighty God and by him ordained to be the head health and wealth of the Kingdom and therefore it hath ingrafted a deep and settled fear in the hearts of all sorts of Subjects to offer violence or force unto it under the pain of High Treason insomuch as if he that â—s Non Compos Mentis do kill or attempt to kill the King it shall be adjudged in him High Treason though if he do commit petit Treason homicide or larceny it shall not be imputed unto him as Felony for that he knew not what he did neither had he malice prepensed not a felonious intent And this law doth not only restrain all persons from laying violent hands upon the person of the King but also by prevention it doth inhibit them so much as to compasse or imagine or to devise or think in their hearts to cut off by violent or untimely death the life of the King Queen c. for the only compassing or imagination without bringing it to effect is High Treason because that compassing and imagination doth proceed from false and traiterous hearts and out of cruel bloudy and murdering minds Thus you see with what reverence our Lawes do adore his sacred Majesty our King detesting nothing more than the violence or dammage offered to him yet forsooth the Rebels affirm they killed the King by the Common Law and why by the Common Law what because the Commons made it surely that is all the reason for there is no law under the Heavens which warranteth Subjects to kill their King but all lawes both humane and divine command the contrary Many are the publick oaths as you may read in Mr. Prynne's Concordia discors protestations leagues covenants which all English Subjects especially Judges Justices Sheriffs Mayors Ministers Lawyers Graduates Members of the House of Commons and all publick officers whatsoever by the Lawes and Statutes of the land have formerly taken to their lawful hereditary Kings their heirs and successors to bind their souls and consciences to bear constant faith allegiance obedience and dutiful subjection to them and to defend their Persons Crowns and just royal Prerogatives with their lives members and fortunes against all attempts conspiracies and innovations whatsoever But since all those sacred oaths have been trayterously violated and broken by the Rebels against Charles the Martyr I will only present you with the effect of the Oath of Allegiance which every one is to take when he is of the age of twelve years and this oath was instituted in the time of King Calvin's Case fo 7. Co. Lit. fo 68.172 You shall swear that from this day forward you shall be true and faithful to our Soverain Lord King Charles and his heirs and truth and faith shall bear of life and member and terrene honour and you shall neither know nor hear of any ill or dammage intended unto him that you shall not defend So help you Almighty God The substance and effect of this oath as it is resolved and proved in Calvin's case is due to the King by the law of Nature and is called Ligeantia naturalis being an incident inseparable to every Subject for so soon as he is born he oweth by birth-right ligeance and obedience to his Soveraign and therefore the King is called in his Statutes our natural liege Lord and his people natural liege Subjects But Ligeantia legalis is so called because the Municipal Laws of this Realm have prescribed the order and form of it None can deny but that obedience is due from the Son to the Father by the Law of Nature yet may the Municipal Laws of the Realm prescribe formality and order to it not diminishing the substance So likewise may they to the Allegiance due by nature to the King Thus have you seen how the English Trayterous Rebells contrary to all the Laws of God the Law of Nature the Law of Nations the Laws of our Realm and against the foundation of Christian Religion have by an unheard of example most wickedly murthered as a common Thief and vile vassal of the people condemned their gracious King whose name from the very beginning of the world hath ever been esteemed amongst all Nations great and holy whom the Prophets and Apostles nay our Saviour himself and all the Primitive Christians both with their lives death examples and Doctrine have taught and commanded us to reverence and pray for and to be subject to not violently to resist him though he violently persecute us whom God himself in his old and new Testament hath declared to be constituted by him and reign by him not by the People and particularly whom our fore-Fathers of this Realm of England have always accounted sacred and ever found by experience Kingly Government to be most glorious and profitable for them yet these forty or fifty Tyrannical Rebels contrary even to common sense and feeling upholding themselves by Force and Arms Treason and Usurpation do sit and Vote Kingship dangerous and burthensom to the good people of this Common-wealth when in the mean time out Merchants turn Bankrupts our Tradesmen break Food groweth
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