manner put in ure any of the Acts abovesaid That then all and singular Persons by whose speaking deed act or other the means above specified to the number of twelve so raised shall be adjudged Felons If any Persons to the number of forty or above shall Assemble together by forcible manner unlawfully and of their own authority to the intent to put in ure any of the things above specified or to do other Felonies or Rebellions act or acts and so shall continue together by the space of three Hours after Proclamation shall be made at or nigh the place where they shall be so assembled or in some Market Town thereunto next ajoyning and after Notice thereof to them given then every person so willingly assembled in forcible manner and so continuing together by the space of three Hours shall be adjudged a Felon The things provided against by this Statute are plainly and directly a levying of War yet are they declared to be but Felony But it may be objected that by Statute 3d. and 4th Edw. 6. Those Offences were made Treason it is very true yet it does not alter the Case but rather proves the Point For first it being made Treason by Statute proves that it was not so in it self Secondly Because in the two next succeeding Reigns it is declared to be but Felony for the Statute of Queen Mary is confirmed by Statute 1st Eliz. 16. and therefore the Argument is the stronger because those two Queens were of different Religions Thirdly Because when a thing is declared an Offence by Act of Parliament and is afterwards made a less Offence it proves that it was not so great an Offence in it self but that the necessary Circumstances of Time and Affairs require it should then be such But the Case is yet stronger because in some Cases it may be but a Trespass to levy War as it was in the Case of the Earl of Northumberland 5th Henry 4. He did actually raise Forces and such as was taken to be a levying of War for which he was questioned before the Lords and tryed for High Treason but tho' the Lords did believe the Fact yet they adjudged it but a Trespass because the Power raised were not against the King but some Sabjects This precedent seems to carry great weight in it first because it is a Judgment given in the highest Court of Judicature and Secondly Because it was given so soon after the making of the Statute 25th Edw. 3. and therefore they must be supposed to understand the meaning of the Statute full as well as succeeding Ages The Case of those who aided Sir John Oldcastle might be also urged if there were occasion but what has been already said is sufficient yet one Clause in that Statute 25 Edward 3d. is not to be passed over in silence because it puts the matter out of Dispute and the Clause is as follows If percase any man of this Realm ride Arm'd covertly or secretly with Men or Arms against any other to Slay him or Rob him or take him or retain him till he hath made Fine or Ransom for to have his Deliverance it is not the mind of the King nor his Council that in such case it shall be adjudged Treason but it shall be judged Felony or Trespass according to the old Laws of the Land of old times used This proves That altho' the Statute had made it Treason yet that it was not so in it self and therefore it will follow that if a War may be levy'd which is neither Treason nor Felony so it is unnatural that a Conspiracy to Levy War should be construed to be an Overt Act of Compassing the Kings Death Thus the Second thing Objected has received a full answer and likewise the first in a great measure but to put all out of doubt a few words shall be added to give a compleat answer to the first also If the Consequences on all hands be duely considered the danger will be found to lye on the other hand yet be it as great as it can be pretended let it be considered that the Law has settled the point and so it must stand till by the same Authority it be alter'd for the Rule in Law is not to be forgot Nemo Legibus Sapientior It is to be pretended that out of a tender regard that the Law and all Subjects ought to have for the Kings Life that a Conspiracy to Levy War is taken to be an Overt of Compassing the Kings Death To this it may be answered by way of question How comes it about that this Age should have a greater care and tenderness of the Kings Life than our Porefathers had Can it be Imagined that they did not understand the Nature of the Government as well as we do nor did know of what Consequence to the Publick the Preservation of the Kings Life is Can it be thought that they did not duely weigh and consider the consequence on all hands Yet however were there never so many Defects in it seeing it is settled by Law it cannot be altered but by the same Power for if it may then let the Consequence be duly considered of leaving it in the Breast of the Judges to rectify the Mistakes or Desects be they Fictions or real for then when a turn is to be served the Law shall always be defective and so in effect they shall Legem dare Treason will then be reduced to a certainty that is if the Judges please otherwise not There will be no need of Parliaments for the Judges shall both declare and make Law What will all our Laws signify tho made and penned with all the Wisdom and Consideration that a Parliament is capable of if the Judges are not to be tyed up and guided by those Laws it renders Parliaments useless and sets the Judges above a Parliament They can undo what the other has done the Parliament Chains up some unruly Evil or Mischief and the Judges let it loose again But besides where is this dangerous Consequence as is objected Indeed there had been some weight in the Objection had a Conspiracy to levy War been left wholly unpunishable but the Law has provided a punishment commensurate to the Offence and tho' it does not extend to Life yet is sufficient to deterr Men from the Commission of it yet if a Conspiracy to levy War is to be punisht in a high degree as a War when levyed this would be to punish Thoughts as highly as Deeds which if it be just yet it is Summum jus VVhere the Law has provided a Punishment for an Offence the Judge can pass no other Judgment upon the Prisoner no no more than the Executioner can execute the condemned Person in any other manner than according to the Sentence passed upon him without incurring the Guilt of Felony for the one is but the Officer to declare or promote the Law and the other the Minister to Execute it Therefore upon what has been said
considering that Popery was so long professed in this Nation To that a short Answer will serve That the Pope's Authority was never establish'd here by Law altho' he was allowed many things by reason of the Superstition and Blindness that then overspread this Island yet the King and Parliament could never agree to give him any power by Law nay when he grew immodest in his Encroachments upon the Church they made Laws to restrain him but the Truth is it was the Resolution of the Parliament and especially of the Lords that protected the Nation against the Pope but if Popery should now come in we should have it to all intents and purposes for it would possess both Church and State it must have all Q. Marys days are a sufficient Warning what we must expect from a Popish Successor and how far their Promises are to be relyed on for by the assistance of the Men of Norfolk and Suffolk it was that she did her business and what Promises did she make to them not to make any alteration in Religion and said many other fine things yet as soon as she was setled on the Throne the first thing she did was to alter Religion with the greatest violence and effusion of Blood that was possible and these Men of Suffolk and Norfolk felt the first stroke of her Hand and perhaps the greatest heat of her Fury But I have too far digressed from my first Argument which is That if Protection from the King is not given to his Subjects or Obedience in the Subjects is not paid to the King then if one side fail the other is discharged and the Condition being broken the Obligation is void And this was the reason why Vortigern the Saxon King was deposed by his Lords for he was grown too friendly to Heugist the Dane and the Lords perceiving that he intended to betray the Land to him they to prevent the Common Destruction and because by this practice he had absolved them of their Allegiance therefore they deposed him and set up his Son Vortimer because he was a true lover of his Country There are several other Instances of the like nature which would be needless to be cited because I should rather amuse than satisfie you of the Truth should I recount them all In the next place I do conceive that the King until he be Crowned is not so much King to all intents and purposes as he is after he is Crowned for if the crowning of the King be but a meer Ceremony or Compliment of State and not essential in giving him a Right to the Allegiance of the Subject then certainly no King of England would be troubled with the Ceremony of being formally crowned because then there will lye no Obligation upon him to take the Coronation Oath and so he may be more at liberty to act according to his Will because his Conscience will not be clogged with the weight of so solemn an Oath and then with less Infamy and Reflection he may suspend or pervert the Laws and therefore with submission to better Judgments I am not convinced that the King whilst he is uncrowned has that Right in our Allegiance as he has after that the Crown is set upon his Head in the same way that it ought to be done for before the Crown is set upon his Head by the Archbishop or other person appointed to do it the Nobility and People are asked if they will do their Homage and Service to him which by the way implies that the People are at liberty in the thing and that if he be Crowned it is by their Leave and Election then if the People consent the King takes the Coronation Oath which is to preserve the Church our Laws Liberties and Properties and to administer Justice indifferently and thus when he has Sworn to us the Crown is immediately put upon his Head and then the Nobility and People do their Homage to him and according to this has been the Practice ever since there were Kings in England And I believe there is scarcely an Instance where the People ever swore to the King before be had taken his Oath to them If there be any such President it is to be look'd upon as irregular and not to be a Direction to us for it is not impossible but such a thing may happen but however is it reasonable that one or two Instances shall be sufficient to invalid a Practice of several hundred years to the contrary And is it not a piece of nonsence that we should adventure our Religion and Properties and all we have in the Hand of him that for ought we know has an Obligation on him to ruine or give us up to a Foreigner and not in the first place to take Security from him that he will defend and do us right before we repose so great a Trust in him for otherwise such Confusion and such Contradictions would follow that the Wit of Man cannot invent how to salve them But I acknowledge there are some Instances where the People have sworn to the Succession in the life-time of the Father and thence some do inferr that the King is entitled to our Allegiance before the Crown is set on his Head but this under correction will not hold for it does not appear but that the intended Successor swore to them also at the same time and it is very probable he did yet if he did not it cannot thence be concluded that the King has Right to our Allegiance before he is Crowned for whenever it happen'd that the Successor was sworn to in the life-time of his Father if afterwards he came to the Crown he took the Coronation Oath before the People swore Allegiance to him And therefore it is very plain that an Oath taken to the Successor in the life-time of his Father is nothing more but a declaring the good liking they have of the Successor and that if in case he will promise to defend them and their Properties when his Father or Predecessor dies they will elect him for their King as possibly it might now fall out if in case the Duke of Monmouth were legitimate Don't you think that the People would be very inclinable to swear to his Succession next after the King And I believe you will never find it done but when the King had the Hearts of the People or out of the hopes they had in the Successor for English Men if the King pleases them he may have all they have even to their Skins as a wise man said If an English King will be kind to the People he can never want their Heads Hands and Purses and therefore it is that in the most peaceable and tranquil times that ever the Land saw when King and People had a mutual Confidence of each other we find things done by the King that are more irregular in those times of agreement than was done in times of greater confusion and the reason is because
thâ— sight yet be not extream to mark what we have done amiss and enter not into Judgment with thy Servants but in Mercy consider whereof we are made and remember that we are but Dust encompass'd with Frailties and Infirmities and so prone to Evil that of our selves we are not able so much as to think a good Thought therefore cleanse and purifie us both in Body and Mind that we may be able to do that which is acceptable in thy sight take away the reigning power of Sin that our Wills and Affections may be brought into obedience to the Law of Christ and let the time past suffice us to have wrought the will of the Flesh raise up our thoughts and desires Heaven-wards and convince us of the emptiness and vanity of these sublunary Enjoyments that we may not be drawn aside by them let us use this World as if we used it not and consider it but as a Passage into Eternity let us ever be mindful of the Snares and Temptations that lye in our way and that the Devil as a roaring Lyon walks about continually seeking whom he may devour that he is crafty and subtile and knows how to suit his alurements and wiles to the temper and inclination of every one of us give us Grace to resist him and Power to withstand and conquer all his Devices strengthen us with Grace in the inward man that we may be able to present our selves before thee at the great day of account holy and acceptable in thy sight And to that end let us be daily searching and trying our ways and doings that we may find out our weaknesses and infirmities and discover the Sin that does the most easily beset us and then let us meekly and earnestly beg thy gracious assistance against them and be thou found of us we humbly pray thee oh most merciful Lord God Let us be daily making an even reckoning with thee by Repentance and let it be sincere and from the Heart convince thou us of the danger of a late or Death-bed Repentance make us mindful of our short and uncertain stay and abode here let us be ever mindful that the young dyes as well as the old the healthy as well as the diseased let us not presume upon our Constitution or Youth but remember that the time of our departure is set and that after death there remains no more atonement for Sin Therefore O Lord we entreat thee to make us wise unto Salvation that at what hour soever the Master comes we may be found doing his Will and then receive the Reward which thou hast promised to those whom thou shalt find so doing Look down in mercy upon this poor Nation prevent those Judgments which our Sins and Transgressions have called loud for against us and cause thy Face to shine upon us and to that end be merciful to the King that he may see his true Interest and let all his Designs and Consultations be directed to the advancement of thy Glory and setling the Peace of this Land let no weapon formed against this ancient Government prosper and turn the designs of all those who have Evil to our Sion upon their own Heads with shame and confusion to the manifestation of thy Glory and the Comfort of those who wish her well and to all those whom thou shalt call out to have a share in the administration of affairs give them Understanding to see what they ought to do and say and Courage to reveal what thou shalt put into their Hearts and do it with an honest and upright intention that they may have cause to hope for thy Blessing upon their Endeavours and let us all learn to fear thee and in our greatest difficulties to look up unto thee and not to depend on an Arm of Flesh make us a People zealous of good works and let Holiness to the Lord be engraven upon us And bless us also of this Family all those that are related unto it and those for whom any of us may be in a particular way concerned for give us Grace to walk humbly and with obedience before thee let us in our several employments and stations study to do our duty conscientiously setting thee before us in all our Actions add unto us the good things of this Life bless our Basket and Store and so thankfully receive and carefully bestow them that they may be Blessings and not Snares to us let us whilst we are here live to thy praise and glory and be such eminent Patterns of upright living that others seeing our righteous conversation may also glorifie thee our Father which is in Heaven And remember we beseech thee all the Sons and Daughters of Affliction visit them with thy Kindness as their several wants and necessities do require support them under thy Hand lay no more upon them than they shall be able to bear and let the chastisement of their Bodies turn to the health of their Souls and enlarge thou our bowels and charity to every Object that needs it let us give without grudging and bless thy Name that we are not in their stead And now O Lord from the bottom of our Hearts we return our praise and thanks for all the Mercies and Favours we have received at thy hands we acknowledge that we are unworthy of the least of them and have not been sensible of our obligations to thee but oh Lord as thou hast hitherto conferr'd them upon us without any Merit on our part so we beseech thee to continue them to us for thy Son's sake Jesus Christ and we desire at this time in particular to offer up our tribute of Praise and Adoration for thy unspeakable goodness to several of this Family in that thou hast deliver'd us from those Fears and Apprehensions we had concerning them Death seem'd to threaten them and the Grave ready to devour them but blessed be thy great Name that didst rebuke their Distemper and hast given us such hopes of their perfect recovery thou wert the needful Help in time of trouble and let us learn by this to look up unto thee in all our distresses Take us this night into thy protection let no Evil approach us but let our Beds be places of ease and of refreshment to every one of us and raise us up in the morning fitted for our several Callings and Duties Hear us O Lord and answer us not according to our demerits and unworthiness or coolness in asking but according to thy love in Jesus Christ to whom with thy self and Holy Ghost be all Praise and Adoration both now and for evermore Amen These following were some Occasional Additions GRacious God who out of thine infinite Goodness dost allow us the favour of coming into thy presence and to make our Supplications unto thee possess us we beseech thee with such a sense and dread of thy Divine Majesty that our Thoughts may be so entirely intent upon the service that we are now to perform that
his Will and Pleasure For Principle is the great Director of all Mans Actions and every Man is either better or worse esteemed according to the Opinion that the World has of his Principles In the worst and most corrupt of times there has not wanted such as have been more solicitous about the well-fair of their Country than for themselves and if a King does not so much depend upon those that by the current of their Actions have made it evident they prefer the Publick Good to their own private Advantage as upon some other sort of Men it 's as clear as the Sun that he aims at something beside the Publick Weal or else that God has a quarrel to him and will not let him see his Interest For what greater pledge can be given of a Mans Integrity than when voluntarily and without Compulsion he dedicates himself and all that he has to the Publick service any other security being inconsiderable in comparison of it And therefore when a King knows such Men and yet imploys others rather than they it 's a clear Demonstration that his Designs and Affections are alienated from the good of his People and the Land is then in as ill a condition as when their King is a Child As to the third it will be no less extraordinary to see the King under equal Obligations to all Parties for it can only be for this reason because every Party shall have approved themselves equally serviceable or useless faithful or negligent steddy or inconstant to him which would be very wonderful though he dropt out of the Skies because there are so very many occasions in which a King needs the service of his People that if one Party acquit themselves better than others he will in a little time find who deserves best and it will be so plain and obvious that he must see it unless he be very unfortunate And till all Men have the same Complexion are of the same Stature and proportion of Body and Temper of Mind there will be distinctions of Men and Parties and therefore it will be the most remarkable thing that ever happen'd that notwithstanding their differences in other matters yet they should all concur to have the same Principle and Inclination to the King and Government But that Prince is very unfortunate who cannot depend upon one Party more than another nor has obligations to one more than another since it is an ill effect of a bad cause For the reason wherefore he cannot depend upon one more than another is because he has used and treated all alike And this Method as it will never make his Enemies to become his Friends so in a short time it will make his Friends so cold and indifferent towards him that they will serve him at the rate that others do and hereby his Obligations won't be greater to one more than to another So the Service that is done him will not be the effect of Duty and Affection but only according to the rate that he pays them But when a King cannot depend upon one more than another and is under equal obligations to all the most usual and truest reason of all is because he has so far disoblig'd all Parties that he has more cause to be afraid of than to trust any of them therefore till Men are of the same mind in every thing else it cannot be expected that these things or any of them can ever happen If then should a King act as if they were and the Case prove to be otherwise the consequence of it would be fatal to him For though it may be objected that by a distribution of his favours and imployments equally on all Parties he thereby gives incouragement to all to stand by him and makes none desperate yet on the other hand he thereby makes every Party Jealous of him and none to trust him For when he inlarges his hand to any Party it is to the regret and envy of the rest that were not then also consider'd which he cannot repair but by conferring greater things on them and then this turns to the dissatisfaction of the other Party as much as if nothing had been done for them So that thence it will follow that when ever his bounty moves every one must have a share for if any Party is omitted he will lose more on one hand than he gains on the other and what Prince ever found that his bounty turn'd to account where the Persons that were the objects of it had not something of affection or duty for him because all that he can do in that way will ingage them no longer than till they can make a better bargain or could he winn them by it yet the case of that Prince is much to be lamented who has none to depend on but such as he has gained by his liberality But could he gain any by such a Method which is very uncertain yet for one that he so makes his Friend he thereby looses a hundred who are such upon principle and that Prince gives himself very little leasure to think who does not know that one who is a Friend upon Principle is worth many who are made such by bounty preferments may be out-bid but Principles are permanent Every Prince will find himself out in his reckoning when he perceives what construction the People do put upon such a Method for they will be apt to conclude That it is the effect of Fear want of understanding or that his heart is not right towards them and its a dangerous thing to suffer such Notions to get into their heads it being very difficult to remove them if once they are fixt there Those that wisht him well will grow cold and indifferent towards him when they find that others who don 't deserve it are treated as well as themselves and it will discourage the honest endeavours of others for the future when neither they nor the Nation is much the better for their service and at last they will despise him and such as had no great good will for him will be sure to follow their blow as soon as they find his blind side and improve to their utmost advantage though to the ruine of him and the Nation all Parties will slight him undervalue all his Actions put the worst construction upon every thing and ascribe to chance whatever is well done When obnoxious Men are made use of it is too evident a sign that the same work is to be done because the same Tools come into play and hereby the King in a great measure becomes Particeps criminis of former ill councels and practices in allowing such to suck the fat of the Government who ought to be squeazed if not crushed to satisfie and vindicate the publick Justice and then well may such wipe their mouths and say What evil have I done when in stead of answering at the Bar their Treatment is more like a Reward for what they have done
and thereby they are confirmed in their Wickedness and all honest and deserving Men discouraged When a King calls such Persons near him as ought for ever to be banisht his presence every Man else that is more deserving will withdraw themselves because not consistant with their Honour to herd with any who are unworthy the places they hold and so in a short time the King will be left destitute of Council or any to defend him and exposed to his Enemies both at home and abroad and his own People so prepared that when any fair occasion offers it self to cry out Nolumus hunc regn are and thereby from a Potent King may become a Nominal Prince and no more Upon the whole matter then May not that Prince be judged to be born under an untoward Constellation who goes out of his way when it Iyes so open and directly before him or that splits upon a Rock which he may more easily avoid than fall upon it For that which is necessary to make him as happy as a King can be is not more difficult than what was required of the Syrian General to cure his Leprosie the one was bid to wash and be clean and the other to keep fair with his People and what they desire is reasonable and just in relation to themselves and honourable and safe for him and is the thing in the World that can add most to the Excellency of His Majesty and the Might of His Power When a Prince mistakes his way for want of experience or a true representation of the State of Affairs this is an Error on the right hand and there remains hopes of his return but when it proceeds from his own inclinations and it is the dictates of his own breast then it is an evil that threatens the Land during his Life because nothing but some very pressing necessity can make him alter his course How great a Blessing or a Burden then is a King to the Land and how ought a good one to be valued and a bad one to be dreaded since there is no Medium betwixt those two and since so much of the good or evil depends upon the advices that are given him how careful does it behove him to be in the choice of his Council and then how highly ought he and the Nation to value such who set light by any Imployment when it stands in Competition with their Duty That King then who is inform'd of and sees his mistake and does not rectifie it will leave no good Character behind him but he that finds he is out of his way and returns to the right path is both Wise and Just and he that always keeps in the right road is a fortunate Prince But to say that his administration was unblameable and yet from the first resolved that if he did slip aside he could not sooner discover his Error than he would set things to right is the greatest Character of a King REASONS why King JAMES Ran away from Salisbury In a Letter to a Friend SIR ACcording to my promise when we were last together I send you my further thoughts upon what we then discoursed The first thing as I remember that we had under our consideration was an Inquiry into the true and real cause of King James's running away from Salisbury I then was and am still of opinion that he was acted by Fear more than by any thing else from the first Notice that he had of the Prince of Orange his design to the Moment that he got into France Nothing but fear could make him neglect what is so expedient upon such occasions That is to clap up every Man of Quality or Interest that he suspected but he was so far from laying hold of any man that he courted and even humbled himself to those very people whom before he would not admit into his presence and with so much abjectedness made an offer of their Charter and Franchises to the City of London and other Corporations What else but Fear could put him upon so unpolitick a thing as to send for so very many Irish For not to insist upon their insufficiency to help him at a dead lift had he consulted his reason he must have foreseen the discontents and divisions that it would create in his English Forces for it shewed that he reposed a confidence in the Irish even to a distrust in the fidelity and sufficiency of the rest of his Army and a distrust at any time much more at that would be felt very sensibly though toucht never so lightly and therefore if he could not be confident of his Army before he might expect that this would dispose them to a Revolt upon the first occasion that they should meet with Could any thing but Fear dispose him to those methods which he took to oppose the Prince at his first landing For as upon a Fright all the Blood retires to the Heart so he drew all his Army together and reckoned himself so much the safer by how much less distance any part of his Forces were from him thereby neglecting the advantage that he had against the Prince of Orange whom he was certain must land either in the West or North and eight or ten thousand men sent down to each of those places to receive him at his landing might either have destroyed his Army or else have broke it so much that a small supply of Fresh men in a few days would have made an end of that Matter if withal he had dispersed a few of his Forces conveniently up and down the rest of England which would either have wholly prevented or hindred any considerable Assistance from coming into the Prince for the Nation had been rid so long that little of the old English Spirit was left and most who declared for the Prince of Orange proceeded with so much caution that they shewed more Cunning than Courage as I will shew you by and by and besides those Forces thus placed to prevent any that should appear for the Prince could in a few days joyn that Body that was to attack the Prince when he landed and have made up a Force considerable enough to ingage his that did not exceed 12 or 13000 having lost most of their best Horses and the Men much weakned and disheartned by the Stormes and lying long on Ship-board or had they come on more equal terms it was doubtful whether they could have kept their ground against an equal number of King James his Army But had King James his first Body been routed yet the remainder of his Forces far exceeded in Number the Princes and would have found him fresh work over and over if King James would have staid with them But this Method so prudent and obvious he refused and as little made use of the other which he took He quartered all his Army in and about London till he heard the Prince was landed when he ordered it to march and followed it in
constituted by God himself But that cannot be so for it would follow that God is unjust which he cannot be There neither is nor was any Government of that sort but only that of the Jews the rest of the World were left to themselves to frame such a Government as suited best to their Inclinations and to make such Rules and Laws as they could best obey and be governed by Ours is compounded of an absolute Monarchy and a Common-wealth and the original of it we have from the Saxons But be it what it will or whence it will it is without question that the first original of our Kings was that the people found it for their advantage to set one over them because of his Wisdom Valour and Justice and therefore they gave him several Prerogatives above the rest of the People that he might be the better able to govern and defend them for there is none of the Kings Prerogatives but are for the good of the Nation if rightly imployed But it will be a strange conclusion to suppose that the People obliged themselves to submit to the Posterity of that Man whom they first chose for their King because of his extraordinary Endowments let them be what they would and never so unfit for the Government For the next of blood may be incapable of governing in several respects suppose a Fool or Lunatick by his Principles if he aim at Arbitrary Power by his Religion if he be a Papist or a Heathen or by his practises before he comes to the Crown to destroy the Religion and Government by Law Establisht Now this I do not say to argue that the Election of the King is in the People though I think much might be said in that case neither is it now the question but that which I speak for is to prove that the next of blood has not so absolute an Inherent Right to the Crown but that he may for the good of the Nation be set aside There is yet another Inconvenience to allow the next of blood to have so absolute a Right to the Crown because the Possession of the Crown takes away all disabilities but only such as are by Act of Parliament which being so every King must thank his Successor for every moment that he lives if he kill him himself he cannot be questioned for it because as soon as the one is dead the other is King for here the King never dies If therefore the next of blood has so absolute a Right the King is very unsafe For though the D. be not inclined to shorten his Brothers days nay though he be averse to it yet in obedience to the Pope and his Priests it must be done either by himself or some other hand and then how long we expect his Majesties life If Kings were good Men an absolute Monarchy were the best Government but we see that they are subject to the same Infirmities with other Men and therefore it is necessary to bound their Power And by reason that they are flesh and blood and the Nation is so apt to be bad by their Example I believe was that wherefore God was averse to let the Jews have a King till they had Kings they never revolted so wholly from him when their Kings were good they were obedient to him but when they were idolatrous then the People went mad of Idols I hope it is no Regis ad exemplum that makes our Nation so lewd and wicked at this day A SPEECH AGAINST Arbitrary and Illegal IMPRISONMENTS BY THE Privy Councill THere is not any thing that an Englishman can claim as his Right that we value more than Freedom and Liberty I mean that of the Body because Imprisonment is a sort of Death and less tolerable to some than Death it self For by it we are deprived of all our Earthly Comforts What is a Man the better for having never so great an Estate never so great Honour or what else is desirable in this World if he is restrained of his Liberty Now there are several sorts of Restraints or Imprisonments and they are all forbidden by our Law unless the cause be very just and reasonable not for bare surmises or vain stories that a Man shall be imprisoned and hurried from his aboad but only for such cause as shall prove that it is for the good of the Government and the support of it that this or that Man is imprisoned or restrained Although the Law has taken very good care yet the Subject is often abused in his Liberty sometimes by the Courts in West-Hall sometimes by other Courts and particular Magistrates But the greatest cause of complaint proceeds from the Privy Council The Privy Council that is though they have been much to blame in this particular yet it is not a new thing that they practice but this Itch of sending for and imprisoning the Subject upon vain pretences has descended from one Privy Council to another like an Infirmity that runs in a Blood for no sooner is a Man made a Privy Councellor but this Spirit rests upon him This Mischief was early espied even in Henry III's time and several Lawes have been made to restrain the Privy Council By the 9. H. 3. Chap. 29. it 's declared that No Free-man shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his Free-hold or Liberties or Free Customes or be out-lawed or any other way destroyed nor we will not pass upon him nor condemn him but by Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land By the 5. Edw. III. 9. It is Enacted That no Man from thenceforth shall be attacht by any Accusation nor fore-judged of Life or Limb nor his Lands Tenements Goods nor Chattels seized into the Kings Hands against the Form of the Great Charter and the Law of the Land By 25. Edw. III. Chap. 4. It is declared That from thenceforth none shall be taken by Petition or Suggestion made to our Lord the King or to his Council unless it be by Indictment or Presentment of his good and lawful people of the same Neighbourhood where such Deeds be done in due manner or by Process made by Writ original at the Common Law Nor that none be out of his Franchises nor of his Free-holds unless he be duly brought in answer and fore-judged of the same by the Course of the Law And if any thing be done against the same it shall be redressed and holden for none By 28. Edw. III. Chap. 3. It is Establisht That no Man of what Estate or Condition that he be shall be put out of Land or Tenement nor taken nor imprisoned nor disinherited nor put to death without being brought in answer by due process of Law And by 37. Edw. III. Chap. 18. It says Tho' it be contained in the Great Charter That no Man be taken nor imprisoned nor put out of his Freehold without process of the Law nevertheless divers people make false Suggestions to the King himself
as well for Malice as otherwise whereof the King is often grieved and divers of the Realm put in damage against the Form of the same Charter Wherefore it is ordained That all they which make suggestion shall be sent with the same suggestions before the Chancellor Treasurer and his Grand Council and that they there find Surety to pursue their suggestions and incur the same pain that the other should have had if he were attainted in case that his suggestions be found evil And that then process of the Law be made against them without being taken and imprisoned against the Form of the said Charter and other Statutes In the 38. Edw. III. Chap. 9. is contained the Informers punishment in these Words It is assented That if he that maketh the complaint cannot prove his Intent against the Defendant by the Process limited in the same Article he shall be commanded to Prison there to abide till he hath made gree to the Party of his damages and of the slander that he hath suffered by such occasion and after shall make fine and ransome to the King And the Point contained in the same Article that the Plantiff shall incur the same pain which the other should have if he were attainted shall be out in case that his suggestion be found untrue And still there is another Law made 42. Edw. III. Chap. 3. In these Words At the Request of the Commons by their Petitions put forth in this Parliament to eschew the Michiefs and Damage done to divers of his Commons by false Accusers which oftentimes have made their Accusations more for revenge and singular benefit than for the profit of the King or his people which accused Persons some have been taken and sometime caused to come before the Kings Council by Writ and otherwise upon grievous pain against the Law It is assented and accorded for the good Governance of the Commons That no Man be put to answer without presentment before Justices or Matter of Record or by due process and Writ original according to the old Law of the Land And if any thing from henceforth be done to the contrary it shall be void in the Law and holden for errour These are Laws that are as much in force as any Statutes whatever and ought to be as duly observed But I beseech you consider to what a degree they have been violated by the Privy Counsel How have they sent for Gentlemen from all parts of the Nation upon meer Flamms and Stories No Man could be quiet but upon any groundless pretence away went a Messenger to bring up that Man not considering the great charge and trouble they put the Gentleman upon by it I will mention only that of Sir Giles Gerrard he was sent for up by a Messenger to answer to I know not what a business about a Black Box and who charged him with it But when it came to be examined it proved nothing but Town-talk and what a pudder did they make In our Countrey when a Man makes a great stir about a matter and it ends in nothing that is significant we say Billy has found a Pin So I pray what did this hurly burly of the Black Box end in but nothing that was worth a straw And to this mighty purpose Sir Giles was fetcht from his House in the Country And several other Gentlemen have been thus used against Law and Reason It 's strange the Privy Council should not remember the Bill of Habeas Corpus which passed in the last Parliament that might have brought to their remembrance these Laws that I have mentioned and might further convince them how precious a thing we esteem our Liberty It puts me in mind of the Petition of Right and what I have heard and read after it was passed how soon it was violated and broken The Privy Council has been very unjust to these Gentlemen whom they have molested by their Messengers in that they have not made their Accusers to find Sureties to make good their Accusations as the Law requires 37. Edw. III. 18. for then idle Stories would not be so currant by reason of the Punishment inflicted on those false Accusers by 37. Edw. III. 18. and 38. Edw. III. 9. which Lawes are grounded upon the Word of God Deuteronomie 19. chap. 18. and 19. ver But now such Fellows as are mentioned in the 37. Edw. III. 18. and in 42. Edw. III. 3. who make their Accusation for Malice or for Revenge or singular benefit more than for the Profit of the King or his People these I say shall be allowed to accuse honest Men though they cannot prove a word of what they say and for these devices are we to be forc't from our Habitations to appear before the King and his Council Methinks it's hard play and yet what remedy have we left but to sit down and be quiet But without doubt the Land intended a Redress in these Cases for 25. Edw. III. 4. says that whatever is done contrary to that Law shall be redress't and holden for none but it does not tell us how satisfaction is to be had But since it is left uncertain I hope for the future we shall so order it that every Man may have relief against this great Oppression and that I humbly move for if we let this alone we leave an Arbitrary uncontroulable Power in the Privy Council which will never stop till it has made the Law subject to them But I have heard it objected that if this Power of sending for People be not allowed to the Privy Council then you put them in a worser condition than any Justice of Peace because by his Warrant he can send for any body in the County where he lives I must in the first place deny this altogether for the consequence is not true In the next place I say that the Law is the best Judge of this whether the Privy Council ought to have such an unlimited Power and what the Law has determined over and over again ought not to be disputed by us besides it is a thing of dangerous consequence to put Discretion into the Ballance with so many written Lawes which conserve so dear a thing as our Liberty But the Power of the Privy Council is not hereby made less than that of a Justice of Peace for a Justice of Peace it is to be supposed will not send out his Warrant but upon a just and reasonable ground What Justice of Peace ever sent out a Warrant of the good Behaviour against any person but he either first heard the party accused which is the juster way or else the matter was proved upon Oath Or when was any Warrant of the Peace issued out but it was grounded upon the Oath of him that demanded the Surety of Peace And whatever Warrants or Precepts are granted by a Justice of Peace they ought to be for just causes or else he violates his Trust So the Privy Council may upon a just Accusation
and here 's the short and long of the case And therefore the Parliament must never yield that the Bishops shall Vote in case of Blood for the consequence of it will be to alter the very Frame of our Government and cursed be he that removes his Neighbours Landmark A SPEECH AGAINST THE PENSIONERS IN K. Charles II. Reign WIthout doubt the last Parliament had great Matters in agitation and the inquiry they made about the Pensioners of the preceding Parliament was no small one but rather one of the chief things they had in hand for had they been permitted to have perfected that it had been a good recompence for the disappointment which the Nation sustain'd in their other expectations by the suddain Prorogation And without all question nothing is fitter for the thoughts of a Parliament than to take into consideration how to punish them that had proved the Pest and had almost if not altogether ruin'd the Nation and how to prevent the like mischief for the future The Name of a Pensioner is very distastful to every English Spirit and all those who were Pensioners I think are sufficiently despised by their Country-men And therefore I will mention only two or three things that will lye at their doors before I offer my advice what is to be done Breach of Trust is accounted the most infamous thing in the World and this these Men were guilty of to the highest degree Robbery and Stealing our Law punishes with Death and what deserve they who beggar and take away all that the Nation has under the Protection of disposing of the Peoples Money for the honour and good of the King and Kingdom And if there were nothing more than this to be said without doubt they deserve a high censure Besides the giving away such vast Sums without any colour or reasonable pretence There is this great mischief will follow upon it Every man very well knows that it has put the King into an extraordinary way of expence And therefore when he has not such great supplyes it must of necessity bring the King into great want and need And shall not only give him an ill opinion of all Parliaments that do not supply him so extravagantly but perhaps put him to think of ways to get Money that otherwise would never have entred into his thoughts so that whatever ill may happen of this sort these Pensioners are answerable for it Furthermore they have layd us open to all our Enemies whoever will invade may not doubt to subdue us For they have taken from us the Sinews of War that is Money and Courage all our Money is gone and they have exhausted the Treasure of the Nation and when People are poor their Spirits are low so that we are left without a defence and who must we thank for bringing us into this despicable condition but these Gentlemen who notwithstanding this had the face to style themselves the Kings Friends and all those who opposed their practices were Factious and Seditious They had brought it to that pass that Debates could not be free if a Gentlemans Tongue happen to lye a little awry in his Mouth presently he must be called to the Bar or if that would not do whensoever any Gentleman that had a true English Spirit happen'd to say any thing that was bold presently away to seek the King and tell him of it and often times more than the Truth And thus they indeavoured to get an ill Opinion in the King of his best Subjects And their practice was the more abominable because their Words and Actions gave the occasion to force those smart Expressions from the Gentlemen that spoke them for their honest hearts were fired with true Zeal to their King and Countrey when they beheld the impudence and falseness of those Pensioners It 's true we find that in or about the 10th year of Richard II. it was indeavoured to get a Corrupt Parliament for our English Story says that the King sent for the Justices and Sheriffs and enjoyn'd them to do their best that none should be chosen Knights and Burgesses but such as the King and his Council should name but we find it could not be effected The next that occurs to my thoughts is that in the 4th year of Henry IV. the Parliament that was called at Coventry named the Lay-mens Parliament for the Sheriffs were appointed that none should be chosen Knights or Burgesses that had any skill in the Laws of the Land The next that I remember is that in Henry VI. time in the year 1449 or 50 when the Duke of Suffolk was Accused by the Commons and Committed to the Tower the King Dissolved that Parliament not far unlike our case of my Lord D but it differs in this that Suffolk was Committed to the Tower as of right he ought but we were deny'd that Justice against D only Henry VI. made the cases thus far even that he set Suffolk at liberty after he had Dissolv'd that Parliament Soon after a Parliament was called wherein great care was taken in choosing of Parliament Men that should favour Suffolk But they so far failed of their purpose that his appearance at the Parliament gave great distaste to the House of Commons and they were so far incensed that they began the Parliament with a fresh Accusation against him and others So that you may see that it was not in the power of the Court to corrupt the House of Commons In the time of Henry VIII about the 20th year of his Reign when the Parliament was active against Pluralities and Non-Residence there was an Act passed to release to the King all such Sums of Money as he had borrowed at the Loan in the 15th year of his Reign it 's said that it was much opposed but the reason that is given why it passed is because the House was mostly the Kings Servants but it gave great disturbance to the Nation And this is the only case that I can remember that comes any thing near to our Pensioners but we cannot find that they or any Parliament took Money to Vote So that we must conclude that there was never any Pensioners in Parliament till this Pack of Blades were got together Therefore Sir what will you do Shall these Men escape shall they go free with their Booty Shall not the Nation have Vengeance on them who had almost given up the Government It was they who had perverted the ends of Parliaments Parliaments have been and are the great Refuge of the Nation that which cures all its Diseases and heals it Soars But the Men had made it a Snare to the Nation and at best had brought it to be an Engine to give Money If therefore these go away unpunisht we countenance what they have done and make way to have Pensioners in every Parliament but far be any such thought from any Man that sits within these Walls And having said this I will in the next place humbly offer
Meetings The next thing you are to inquire of is the sin of Drunkenness Those that are common Drunkards and frequenters of Traverns and Ale-houses I wish they were not so many as offend herein and that the abuses were fewer that people receive from those that are Drunk This also is a sin of Custom and not of Nature for Nature requires so little that a man cannot disorder himself by taking what is needful to satisfie it So that every Drunkard offers violence to the bent of Nature to bring himself into that condition and what is the advantage of it but to make himself nauseous to others over night that he may loath himself next morning when he is disgorging the last nights entertainment Nothing brings a man so near to a beast as it does for it deprives him of the use of his reason and exposes him to more extravagancies than any other sin What difference is there betwixt a drunken Man and a Swine only that the Brute has the better of him for a Swine follows that appetite which Nature has indued him with and when he is dead his carcass is worth the meat it has eaten But a drunkard forces himself beyond his appetite and when he is dead is good for nothing I have heard of many that boast how they can make others drunk and how much they can drink A notable thing indeed to value themselves upon considering that a Woe is denounced against those that set the Bottle to their neighbours Nose and he that drinks most cannot vaunt of so much as an Hogshead can do Do these men think that they were made to only devour the fat of the Land that they may vomit it up but their answer is that their Time Money and Body are their own and therefore they may do with them what they will so long as they hurt no body else 'T is true indeed they are their own yet only to some intents and purposes For as they may not injure others by the use of them so neither can they justifie the harming of themselves for both Body Time and Money are to be imployed for the advantage of others as well as of themselves because every man's Life and Estate is more the publick's than his own In order to the suppressing of this swinish practice you ought to present all such Ale-houses as of your own knowledge or by information suffer people to tipple and drink in their houses at unseasonable hours or that harbour men suspected and of evil fame or that suffer any other disorder Likewise if there are any Ale-houses in by-ways or other improper places which through inadvertency or mis-informatian are Licenced you ought to present them that they may be suppressed for as they do not answer the legal end of an Ale-house so they are the receptacles and harbours of Thieves and Rogues and consequently the occasion of all the Thefts and Robberies that are committed in the Country There are a sort of people who will go Ten or Twelve Miles to a three Penny Doal that will refuse six pence if offered them to go four or five Miles altho they have scarcely rags to cover their nakedness if you know of any such you ought to present them that they may be sent to a place where they 'll be forc'd to work There are also a sort of People that spend high and live very plentifully yet have no visible means of supporting that expence if you know of any such you ought to present them that an account may be taken of them and their way of living which is very necessary at this time when Clipping and Horse-stealing are two such great Trades The last thing I will recommend to your Care is to present all such Officers as have neglected their duties in seeking and Apprehending Vagrants and wandering Persons I believe Gentlemen you are very sensible that the numbers of these â—dle people are great and that the mischiefs they bring upon us are many for they do so swarm in these parts that it 's a wonder if some other of them are not apprehended every day in most Townsports and yet by what the Officers do one would think there was scarce any of them for in all the time that I have been a Justice of the Peace I don't remember that so much as one Vagrant has been seized by the Constables unless when they have been found pilfering so backward are they to do their duty herein that one would think the Vagrants were in fee with the Constables or else they could not pass along as they do without disturbance considering that the Law has given good incouragement for the apprehending of Vagrants not only by holding out a reward to such as shall apprehend them but also by inflicting a penalty for suffering them to pass along 'T is strange that the Petty Constables if not out of regard to their Oaths yet for the sake of their Reputations are not more diligent herein for he cannot boast of much honesty who is remiss in his duty and it is most apparent that there is a wilfull neglect herein I have now finisht what I thought fit to discourse on at this time and shall therefore conclude with this short word That till Vice and Profaneness be supprest till there is more a face of Religion if not a sincere profession of the Gospel till the glory of God is more regarded till men be convinced that they cannot be true Sons of the Church unless they be good Christians till the Government shall prefer men as well out of regard to their honesty and upright conversations as for any other reasons we must still expect to meet with difficulties and disappointments in our Affairs if not to be over-run by an Invasion or to be ruined by our selves A Speech against Asserters of Arbitrary Power and the Non-swearers I Believe you are all well affected to the Government and therefore to incourage you to do your part upon this occasion I only need to tell you that this is a time that calls upon the diligence and care of every man that wishes well to the publick peace And I am perswaded that this admonition is not very necessary to be given to you who I believe are already very sensible that we are an unsetled and divided people and in this you will concur with me that they are very much to blame who are the occasion of it Far be it from me to charge any one foolishly and I wish it could not be affirmed with so much truth but it is most certain that that Party who in the two late Reigns were so industrious to serve that interest that designed to set up Popery and Slavery are the very men that at this time are the troublers of our Israel And that you may the better understand them and their designs give me leave a little to look back and observe to you the principles upon which they seemed to Act. In the Reign of the
without the Law but that he might imploy his power to an ill end and those then that incourage arbitrary inclinations in their Prince are guilty of all the Oppression and Violence that he shall commit The Law is the best hold both of King and people for it 's their mutual and only interest which soever of them lets it go will have much ado to preserve themselves for never did any stand long that parted with it when the King forsakes the Law he ceases to be King and makes room for another that is more righteous than himself and therefore because he endeavoured to set his will above the Law was the late King James set aside and I am perswaded with all the Justice in the World Thus I have indeavoured in a few words to detect the unreasonableness of this arbitrary Doctrine and indeed the great Asserters of it at last discovered what was the true principle that guided them they had very honestly prescribed a rule for others which they could not practice themselves like the Pharisees who were reproved by our Saviour for laying heavy burdens upon others that they would not touch themselves Our Loyal men were very well pleased with arbitrary power whilst they might be imployed and lord it over their neighbours they little dreamt that the wheel might go round for no sooner did they see that this power was like to be exercised upon themselves but they changed their note all their encomiums upon King James were turned into the most bitter invectives that their wit could invent and their threatnings which they used to breath out against the Dissenters were turned into words of Vnity and Reconciliation I will not affirm that the mercenary principle of preferment made them so zealous for Prerogative but this is most certain their zeal never abated till they saw that other people were like to come into play and then they were as forward as any to explode the Doctrine of Non-resistance and to wish success to the Prince of Orange But since King William does not think fit to employ them nothing will serve their turn but King James And because they cannot for shame talk any more of their unshaken Loyalty they have wholly laid aside that word and now their mouths are filled with nothing but the Church and considering that they refuse the Oaths and indeavour to throw all the contempt they can upon this Government therefore in their sense the Church and this Government are two distinct interests and King James a profest bigotted Papist is more likely to support the Church than King William who is a Protestant and thus they demonstrate their care for the Church and if it be not because King William won't put them into imployment I can't imagine why they should be so averse to him unless it is because his Government is more Just and Mild and that he Governs more by the Laws than any of the four last Kings Gentlemen Your inclinations to the Government is not to be question'd yet in regard it has been indeavoured to be so much traduced it may not be improper to say some thing of it Every King of England receiving and holds his Crown upon condition to Govern according to the known and approved Laws of Land for by what means soever he may come to the Crown he can hold it by no other means than by making the Laws the measure of his Power and when he forsakes that good old way he ceases to be King and Male Administration is a forfeiture of his Crown This was the opinion of our forefathers as appears by the many instances of those Kings that have been Deposed for their evil Government And those who have succeeded them have still been acknowledged and obeyed as rightful and lawful tho the other were alive For when the Throne is vacant it naturally comes into the hands of the people because the original dispose and gift of the Crown was from them therefore whoever they place upon the Throne has as good a right to be there as the first King that wore the Crown No Government can want a power to help it self and therefore when the King has set his will above the Laws what other means has the people left but their Arms for nothing can oppose Force but Force Prayers and Tears are our proper applications to God Almighty but signifie but little with an Arbitrary Prince who will be rather confirmed in his purposes when he finds that he is like to meet with no other opposition But this opposing the King with Arms is not justifiable for every wrong step or miscarriage of the Prince save only in cases of extremity when it 's obvious to every man that the King has cast off his affection to the Common Good and sets up his will in the place of the Law and thereby rendered himself unmeet to sway the Scepter For this reason was King James deposed and therefore is this present Government justified to the last degree by very good reason and the constant practice of our Fore-fathers in the like case For long before King Charles dyed the Nation was very apprehensive of the mischief they should be exsposed to if in case the Duke of York should get into the Throne and he had not long been in possession of the Crown before he convinced the world that those jeers and apprehensions were not groundless for he quickly became so exorbitant in the exercise of his power that the Nation grew very uneasie under him where upon the Duke of Monmouth landed in order to deliver us from that which the Nation had so much cause to fear and it did not please God to give him success Yet I am perswaded it was not by reason of the justness of King James 's Cause that God permitted him to prevail for some years but that he might fill up the Measure of his Iniquities and all the Earth might see how justly he was Deposed To recount the particulars of his Male-Administration would take up too much of your time and therefore I will only say this in short That he had so notoriously broken the Constitution of this Government to set up Popery and Slavery that the Nation was necessitated to rise in Arms and by as good right did they take the Diadem from his Head as he ever had to claim it for he having rendered himself unmeet to sway the Scepter the Crown thereby fell into the hands of the people and where then could they so well and properly dispose of it as to set it on his Head that so generously and opportunely came in to our assistance at a time when the Nation lay gasping and just ready to expire with the weight of Popery and Arbitrary Power What horrible unthankfulness to God and ingratitude to King William is every man professing the Protestant Religion guilty of who is disatisfied with the present Government For I would ask any of them what else could have been done to bring
or have said that within such a time there will be a change or any other thing that tends to disturb the Government you ought to present it If any Parson or Vicar not having taken the Oaths has officiated at his Benefice since the 2d of Feb. last you ought to present them for it is as much an offence in them to officiate when they have not qualified themselves as if they had never been presented and their contempt is very great Gentlemen Tho I have not mentioned any other parts of your business yet I know you will not neglect them that which I have spoke to does so immediately concern us that I thought it necessary to inlarge upon it And since God has so wonderfully delivered us we could never answer it if we do not our parts for if we perish through our own neglect our blood lyes at our own doors and we deserve the burial of an Ass if we dye like Fools but I trust we shall not nor do I suspect you will be remiss in your parts and therefore I will trouble you no further but dismiss you to your business and I pray God direct you in it A Persuasive to UNION UPON King JAMES's Design to Invade England in the Year 1692. PEace in a Nation is like Health to a Natural Body whose Value is not sufficiently known but by the want of it God Almighty is wonderfully gracious to this Land not only in continuing to us the Blessing of Peace but teaching us the Worth of it by letting us see the Nations round about us at War and groaning under all the miserable Effects of it whilest it is kept at a distance from us and we are only at some Expence which is unavoidable all Circumstances considered unless we will submit to that Monster the French King and indeed God has done so many and great things for us that nothing is wanting to compleat our Happiness but our selves Of all the Mercies this Nation has lately receiv'd I think our Deliverance from King James was none of the least if it be a Mercy to be deliver'd from Popery and Slavery That we were in great danger of it I think 't was very evident from what we had suffer'd and King James had apparently further design'd to do had he been let alone a little longer for his Government was become so exorbitant that Men of all Persuasions many of the Papists not excepted did think his Yoak intollerable and that it was highly just to be relieved against his Oppression For when the Prince of Orange Landed there was scarcely any Man that appear'd for King James nay a great many of his Army deserted him which coldness and neglect could not probably proceed from any thing so much as from the ill opinion they had of his Cause Now if any that were then so indifferent and passive have now conceived a better opinion of him it may well be suspected that a particular pique or some sinister byass guided their Motion at that time and if so it 's no matter what side they are on for those who are govern'd in such Cases by any thing but a publick principle are easily turn'd about by every breath of Air. Nor can I imagine what can give any Man a better opinion of King James than he had of him before he went into France the only place as he says he could retire to with safety considering how improbable it is that any instructions which that Tyrant may give him will make him less inclined to Popery and Arbitrary Power I suppose it is no news to you that King James did lately intend to Land with a French Force I am persuaded that most people believe it they that don't may as well doubt whether there was a Gun-powder Plot for it is as plain as a thing of that nature can be which has not actually taken effect and it is as certain that he and those his good friends had been here several weeks since had they not been kept back by those Easterly Winds which continued so long Yet that did not break their measures it only delay'd the matter for at last they were ready to put all things on Board but were happily prevented by the wonderful Success of our Fleet for which the Name of the great God be prais'd The defeating of their design is a Mercy never to be forgotten for no design that we know of that was ever form'd against this Nation could be more bloody and destructive than this would have been For King James in his Declaration does expressly say That his intent is to spend the remainder of his Reign as he has always design'd since his coming to the Crown These words speak a great deal of Comfort to England for they cannot mean less than what he has already done When he took the Customs against Law Carried on Sham-plots by his countenance and bribery to destroy honest and worthy Men When he bereaved the Corporations of their Liberties and Franchises When he turn'd out Judges for acting according to their Consciences and filling the Benches with the Raff of the Gown When he avowedly set up Popery and erected publick Chapels in all parts of the Kingdom When he placed notorious Papists in the Seat of Justice and brought a Jesuit into his Councels which was more than any Popish Prince but himself ever did When he set up a High Commission When he set up in Time of Peace a numerous Army to the Terror of his Subjects and allowed so little for their Quarters as it amounted to little less than Free-quarter When he assumed a Dispensing Power and declared he would be obey'd without reserve These and a great many other Irregularities were the product of his Reign and it is not very probable that he is brought to a better temper by any thing that he has seen or learnt by his Conversation with the French King and it is as little probable that King would have treated him as he has done had he discover'd in King James any disposition to govern more mildly and reasonably for the future How much he is influenced to the contrary is very evident by designing to bring in the French upon us the people of all others this Nation ought most to dread â—n some Histories they are called the Old Enemy of England and very truly may be called the irreconcilable Enemy of England For who ever looks into Story will find that France has occasiond more trouble to England than all the World besides nay there has scarcely been any ill design against the Nation but France has had a hand in it as if their very Climate did necessitate them to be at Enmity with us If any of our Kings has design'd to enslave us they have entred into a Confederacy with France as the People of all others most likely to serve their purpose and it has always gone ill with England when our Kings have made an intimate friendship with the French
gave him the Crown and he soon perceived that there was no Rest for the Sole of his Foot till he had taken the Coronation Oath and had sworn to maintain their Laws and Properties Some little Irregularities must be admitted in a time when things are unsettled but it will scarcely be found that any man was disceased of his Freehold but only such whose Demerits render'd them unworthy of them and from his time the Norman Government proceeded upon the Saxon Principles for King William by the Advice of his Nobles caused a select number of Men out of every County to be summoned who were to set down their Laws what they were in Edward the Confessor's time for it was he who had collected the Laws which at this day is called the Common Law Then after him William II. and Hen. I. succeeded each other and their Title was by Election of the People for Robert their elder Brother was alive and saw them both preferred to the Crown and he never enjoy'd it for he died a Prisoner at Cardiff Castle in the time of Hen. I. The next was K. Stephen who was second Son to Adela Daughter to William the Conqueror he was chosen by the People for he had an elder Brother whose Name was Theobald and there was Maud the Empress Daughter to Henry I. and both these were nearer by descent than he After him came Hen. II. he came in by Compact between K. Stephen himself and the Nobles and the good liking of the People for Maud his Mother was alive and by descent it belonged to her Then Richard I. was elected in his Father's Life-time and received Homage from the Peers King John was chosen by the People or else Arthur his elder Brother's Son who was then living would have succeeded Richard I. Henry III. came in by Election for Lewis the French Prince pretended to the Crown several of the Nobility having called him into their aid against King John and had sworn to him but the Fall of Pembrook who had married Henry's Aunt stuck to him and got him crowned by the consent of the Nobles and People after that he had taken the Coronation Oath and made other promises to the People Edward I. being out of the Land when his Father died was chosen by the consent of the Lords and Commons and I find that the Nation was sworn to the Succession of Edward I. before he went to the Holy Land Edward II. being mis-led by his Favourites was deposed and his Son Edward III. was declared King in his life-Life-time Richard II. Son to Edward the Black Prince was deposed for his Evil Government Henry IV. came in by Election of the People and though upon occasion sometimes he might pretend to several other Titles yet he found them unstable and to make sure he got the Crown entailed by Act of Parliament and so came in Henry V. and then his Son Henry VI. but he being found unmeet for Government enclining too much to the Counsels of his Wife who was a Foreigner and neglecting the Advices of his Parliament he was deposed and Edward IV. who was E. of March whose Father the D. of York by Act of Parliament was declared Heir apparent to the Crown and afterwards slain in the Battel at Wakefield He I say was Elected and afterwards Henry was restored and Edward set aside but at last Edward was setled and dies and the Crown came to his Son Edward V. who lived no longer than to be put into the Catalogue of our English Kings and then Richard III. was confirmed King by Act of Parliament for Elizabeth Daughter to Edw. IV. was living who afterwards was married to Henry VII and by right of descent the Crown belonged to her and he had no Title but what the People gave him Henry VII came in by Election for his Wives Title preceded his and there was also Edward Plantaginet Son to George D. of Clarence had an unquestionable Right before him if Descent might take place but to clear all doubts he got the Crown setled by Act of Parliament upon him and the Heirs of his Body successively for ever and upon that came in Henry VIII and in his time the Crown was limited three several times by Act of Parliament and there succeeded upon those limitations first Edward VI. then his Sister Queen Mary by Katherine Widow to Prince Arthur and then Q. Elizabeth by Ann Daughter to Sir Thomas Bullen and in the thirteenth year of her Reign a Law was made whereby it is made penal if any say that the Parliament cannot limit the Succession And now Sir I have given you a just account how the Crown has been disposed and if I should say no more I think that this of it self might convince any impartial man that the Crown till King James was in the Peoples dispose But that I may leave no place for doubt I will say something to those things which are so frequently objected and I will begin with that which says as follows Although there be many Instances where the Crown has leaped over the right Heir by descent and has lit upon the Head of another yet say they there are several Instances both before the Conquest and since where the Son has succeeded to the Father and that these are chiefly to be regarded because most agreeable to the Word of God which tells us That by me Kings reign c. and that the presidents that are otherwise are no better than Usurpation and not to be esteemed as legal but to be forgotten as Errors in the Government I acknowledge there is such a Text of Scripture but I must deny that it is to be taken in the literal sence for otherwise the King must be look'd upon to receive his Soveraign Power immediately from God without any regard had to our Laws and Constitutions and then he is King Jure divino and no Bounds or Limits of Humane Contrivance can be set to his Will but we are wholly at his Mercy and Pleasure and Magna Charta and the Petition of Right are waste Paper nay it not only destroys our Government but it puts an end to all other Constitutions in the World But the true meaning of the Words are That Kings are to be obeyed and that they are to govern under God according to the Laws of that Government and that they are to administer the Laws and Justice according to the Rules and Directions of that Constitution and not that Kings hereby shall have a Warrant to be unjust or govern arbitrarily But because there are some Instances where the Son has succeeded to the Father that therefore the Crown comes by descent I cannot grant for this Island has seldom been free from War and then the People are not at leisure to regard every Particular of their Right but are willing to have it at an end upon any terms and are not then so regardful under whom they enjoy their Liberties and Properties as that they
no Popish but a Presbyterian Plot I doubt there are too many who account it Loyalty to oppose every thing that the late Parliaments have done and though there be never so much Reason in the thing yet if the Parliament had a hand in it it is a sufficient ground to them to traduce it But though they are resolved to think amiss of what the Parliament has done yet in the point of the Popish Plot they may allow the Parliament to be in the right since His Majesty is of the same opinion for he that shall oppose his Judgment against the Opinion of King and Parliament must needs tax them with a great deal of rashness and haste in their Declaration or else profess himself to be a Man of a very extraordinary Understanding and Observation that can see further into the matter than the King and Parliament If there be any man that is acquainted with this Mystery that is hid from the Eyes of King and Parliament it is no doubt a Duty incumbent upon him to reveal the Secret to his King and Country that they may no longer continue to harbour an ill Opinion of them who are not blame worthy He that can believe that there is no Popish but a Presbyterian Plot must also believe that both the Papists and Presbyterians have now changed their former Principles and Practices The Principles of the Papists are incomparably laid open by the Bishop of Lincoln by which every man may see how dangerous and destructive they are to all Civil Governments And the Church of Rome holds it to be lawful to promote their Interest by any way or means though never so contrary to the Word of God and Common Morality or Honesty Accordingly it has been their Practice which produced the Parisian Massacre where so many Protestants were barbarously murdered in one night And in K. James's time the Powder Treason when the King and both Houses of Parliament were to have been blown up and the rest of the Protestants were to have tasted of the same Cup. And in the late King's time the Massacre in Ireland where of Two hundred Thousand Protestants that fell into their Hands not one escaped and all those perish'd in one Month. And the same measure we must have had if their Plot had not been discover'd by which they had designed to turn the whole Land into a Butchers Shambles I don't mention these Particulars as all the Instances of their barbarous practices I only give you these as Examples of what they do elsewhere for in all places where they have endeavour'd to establish or propagate the Romish Doctrine and Superstition it has been carried on by Blood and Cruelty which proves it to be a false Religion for this is contrary to the Precept and Example of our Saviour and his Apostles who had recourse to no such things when they propagated the Christian Faith but to strong Reason and evident Truths for it is not the way to convince Men of the Truth by Hardships and Severities for by such Methods we can only hope to make Hypocrites but not to gain Proselites and besides it is an undervaluing of the Almighty Power of God as if he stood in need of such assistances to establish his Truth But the Presbyterians are not of such Principles they are willing to assist the Government against the Papists for they have no other Interest and therefore I cannot believe them to be like the foolish Woman that pulls down her House with her Hands And if we should believe that their Principles enclined them to practise against the King and Government I doubt it would cast a Reflection upon that which we would be loth to hear ill spoken of for as they differ from us only in some Indifferent Ceremonies but agree with us in Doctrines and Fundamentals therefore their Interest is the same and accordingly will their Inclinations carry them Their Practice proves them to be true to their King and firm to the Government for when the Popish Subjects have rebelled against their King they have always stuck to their Prince and that too in Popish Countries Examples hereof there are very many and the present French King on this score owes a great deal to them of the Reformed Religion for when his Popish Subjects rebelled and would have set up another in his room they stuck to him and setled him in the Throne It was the Presbyterians who were chiefly instrumental in his Majesty's Restauration whilst others who called themselves The Royal Party sate still to see the Game play'd and when they saw which way the Scales would turn were ready to applaud the Victor let it fall to which side it would And His Majesty was so sensible that the Presbyterians were chiefly instrumental in that Work that he declared himself in favour of them in these words From Breda April 14. 1660. WE do declare a Liberty to tender Consciences and that no Man shall be disquieted or called in question for Differences of Opinion in Matters of Religion which do not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and that we shall be ready to consent to such an Act of Parliament as upon mature deliberation shall be offered to us for the full granting that Indulgence This is not so very long since that it can in probability be imagined that they should now be so clean altered to the contrary as to practise against the King and Government I don't wonder that there is a noise of a Presbyterian Plot but it is some cause of admiration to me that so many seem to believe it I can't tell what Information others may have met with whereby they are prevailed upon to believe it but all that I can understand that has given ground for such a Suspicion is the Accusations against Colledge and my Lord Shaftsbury which methinks is too slender a proof to charge so many Thousands with a Conspiracy against the King and Government for in the Tryals both of Colledge and my Lord Shaftsbury it was not so much as attempted to prove a Plot in general though at Colledge's Tryal it was urged That that Method would be the more regular proceeding but in both the Tryals the Evidence was levell'd against them chiefly without fetching in such numbers as are necessary to make it a Plot of the Presbyterians I shall not say any thing whether the Evidence against both or either swore true or not nor of the Improbabilities of some of them but this I think I may say That the things chiefly insisted on against either of them were only Indiscretions committed by them surely then it will be very severe to charge so great a part of the Nation with a Plot because my Lord Shaftsbury and Colledge had overshot themselves if all were true that was sworn against them It is no new thing for the Papists to put Sham-plots upon others and the Papists are never nearer to execute a Plot of their own than when there is the
most noise and bustle about some other People for nothing can give them so great Security and Certinty to execute any Plot or Design as when they amuse the Government with the Fear and Danger of other People and accordingly have they acted all-along The Parisian Massacre was performed with the greater Certainty by pretending that the Hugonots had a design to seize the King In all the Attempts that were made upon Queen Elizabeth if any of them had taken effect it was to have been charged upon the Puritans as they were called The Gun-powder Plot if it had succeeded the Protestants were to have born the odium of it And if their present Conspiracy had not been prevented by an opportune discovery it must have been cast upon the Dissenters and thence the Papists would have taken occasion to murder Thousands of Protestants And though they were defeated at that time yet they quickly after attempted it again in Mrs. Celier's Meal-tub Plot and though that had no better success than the former yet I hope it is no breach of Charity to conclude that this noise of a Presbyterian Plot is a Contrivance of the Papists to cover their own Bloody Design till they have put it in execution It is a Plot of a large extent and what the Reformed in France endure at present is an Effect of it and the reason why they are not quite destroy'd is because the Work is not done here but if they could ever carry their Business here not only the Protestants in this King's Dominions and those in France but all the Protestants in Christendome must undergo the utmost Cruelties that Hell and Rome can invent And since nothing will suffice but our utter Destruction if they get the upper hand it is high time to unite our selves to oppose so dreadful an Enemy And for my part I do believe that I should incut the Censure of a Mad-man if my House were beset by People who had resolved if they could get in to spoil my Goods and cut the Throats of me and my Family if some of my Servants had offended me I should chuse rather at that time to correct them for their Offence than to pass by their Fault and encourage them to assist me against those who were attempting to break into my House And in my opinion there is the same reason to be at this time a little tender so far as by Law we can towards those who differ from us only in Circumstantials till the Common Enemy is subdued and then we may with greater Safety and Security use proper ways to make them more conformable I must confess that I am not very inclinable to persecute People barely on the score of Religion and I think His Majesty has declared himself to the same purpose and till the discovery of the Plot there was no man who found less fault with the Papists than I did but by it I am convinc'd that no Peace is to be had with them who without any provocation for they were tenderly used should frame and be ready to execute so black a Design as not to leave one Protestant alive Therefore if the danger to the King our Laws and Religion does not arise from the Papists I cannot imagine what else we need to fear but every man may sit safely under his Vine and Fig-tree I am very sensible that there are some who watch my Words and Actions very narrowly and from this present Discourse will take occasion to call me Fanatick or Presbyterian or if they could think of any term of greater Reproach would not stick to lay it upon me but such Revilings don 't disturb me for the Mischief they design to me by it will fall upon their own Pates for their Accusations are false they cannot charge me with the wilful breach of any Law or in what Particular I don't conform to the Church I am sure they cannot convict me of any enormous Crime if any day be appointed by the Government whether for Fasting or Thanksgiving they cannot say that I failed in my Duty they cannot say that upon the 30th of January or any other day of Humiliation that at night when I should have been in my Bed or else in my Closet to lament the Sins of the Nation and to bewail my own Offences that either at my own House or any adjacent Alehouse I sate drinking and tippling till three or four a clock in the morning till I had made my self and the rest of the Company drunk If any man be guilty of such things he highly deserves the Severest Punishment that can be inflicted upon him for this is such grand Hypocrisie and so plain a bidding of defiance to God that they are dangerous to any Civil Society Such People as these who fast only to prepare their Bodies for the Nights debauch are the Informers upon Penal Statutes who to gain something to themselves put their Neighbours to a treble charge these make no Conscience of an Oath and are inclinable rather to swear too much than too little yes neglect their manifest Duty to God that they may be able to accuse their Neighbours of a smaller Offence Men of such Principles and Practises as these are they who beget an ill understanding betwixt the King and his People by Informations and Suggestions which if they were but made publick they would be ashamed to own by these they endeavour to create in His Majesty a dislike of others who are better than themselves in every respect and hence it occasions that our domestick affairs are pry'd into I will not take upon me to say how legal these things are or how far these Proceedings are warranted by Law but I will leave it to every man to consider whether he is not safer any where than at his own House whether his Table may not become a Snare to him and his own Servants shall be the means to cut his Throat But if Informers would acquaint themselves with the Laws concerning Informations and Suggestions they would not be so hasty in accusing others for the Law does not seem to favour them at all but rather discourages such Proceedings for it gives the Party injur'd very good Reparation and severely punishes the Informer if his Accusation prove false as you will find by these Statutes 5 Ed. III. 9. It is enacted That no Man from henceforth shall be attacked by any Accusation nor fore-judged of Life or Limb nor his Lands Tenements Goods or Chattels seized into the King's Hands against the form of the great Charter and the Law of the Land 37 Ed. III. 18. Though it be contained in the great Charter That no Man be taken or imprisoned not put out of his Freehold without process of Law nevertheless divers People make false Suggestions to the King himself as well for Malice as otherwise whereof the King is often grieved and divers of the Realm put in damage against the form of the same Charter Wherefore it 's
cum grano salis for if the Fine be immoderate or else he has not the Money then ready but either offers Security to pay it or else prays for some time and in the interim to stand upon his Recognizance in either of these Cases to commit for not paying the Fine into Court is not justifiable because it is to punish for not doing an Impossibility for Lex non legit ad impossibilia Secondly It is not justifiable because if the Fine be paid the Law is as much satisfied if it be paid five years hence as if it be paid then immediately into Court for the Law does not suppose that the most wealthy man does carry so much Money about him Thirdly It is very unreasonable because it does in a great part disable the person to pay the Fine for if he be a man that manages his own Affairs his Writings that are necessary to make the Security may be so dispos'd of that it will be difficult to come at them besides there being a necessity upon him to have the Money those of whom he is to have it will be very apt to hold him to harder terms for the World is so unnatural and brutish that one man is but too prone to make his Advantages upon the Misfortunes and Necessities of another and that Proverb Homo homini lupus is in no Case more true than in the business of Money ARGUMENTS AGAINST The Dispensing Power THAT which Sir M.H. Resolved by Lord Chancellor Egerton no Non obstante could dispense with the Law about Sale of Offices Coke 234. foresaw and prophecied is now fulfilled viz. That our Slavery whenever it happen'd was rather to be feared from the Twelve Redcoats in Westminster-ball than from 12000 standing Forces for this Opinion if from henceforward it shall be Law then has our Freedom received a dreadful Wound in the Head for we shall hold all our Rights and Properties but precariously even no longer than it is the King's pleasure to have it so But be it as it will and how clear soever it may appear to the Judges yet at present it does confound the Vnderstandings of all People besides because till now it has been hidden from the Eyes of our ablest Sages of the Law wrapt up in such Clouds and thick Darkness that the most discerning of them have not been able to pry into it and therefore it passes all our Understandings that this Sett of Judges who had not Law enough to employ them at the Bar before they were raised to the Bench should find out the Secret and give an Absolute Opinion for which there is not any president to be produced and therefore shrewdly to be suspected that it is not grounded upon Law no more than those Opinions were for which several Judges have been hanged The Law of England has ever been reputed to be as plain and intelligible as that of the Jews which was written on the Palms of their Hands save only when Judges are ignorant and needy and are assured that Parliaments are at a great distance and then only are such Opinions as those given for their Ignorance makes them assured their Poverty makes them leap before they look and when Parliaments seem very remote under that shelter they grow bold But it is to be hoped that such Opinions as these will pass for Law no longer than the Nation is govern'd without a Parliament which sooner or later will come as certain as that there will be a Day of Judgment It is strange that these Judges should understand so great a Mystery as this unless there be as great Vertue in a Judge's Gown as was in the Mantle of Elijah and if so how happens it that the same Spirit has not rested on those who have sate before them on the Bench but if a double Portion of that Excellent Spirit is rested upon our present Judges that they are able to dive into so great a Mystery as this and see so much further than any who have been before them surely they are also endowed with the Tongue of Angles and so can explain this matter to the Understandings of the People which in Duty they are bound to do or else in time with the price of their Heads they may come to give the true Reasons of this their Opinion 1. That the Kings of England are Soveraign Princes 2. That the Laws of England are the King's Laws 3. That therefore it is an incident inseparable Prerogative in the Kings of England as in all other Soveraign Princes to dispense with all Penal Laws in particular Cases and upon particular necessary Reasons 4. That of these Reasons and Necessities the King himself is the sole Judge and which is consequent thereupon 5. That this is not a Trust invested in or granted to the King but the ancient Remains of the Soveraign Power and Prerogative of the Kings of England which never was yet taken from them nor can be Therefore in this Case such Dispensation being pleaded by the Defendant and such Dispensation being allow'd by the Demurrer of the Plaintiff and this Dispensation appearing upon Record to come time enough to save the Defendant from the forfeiture Judgment ought to be given for the Defendant quod querens nil capiat per billam Soveraign Power is of a vast extent that is as much as unlimited and to which no Bounds is or can be set That the Kings of England in Parliament have a Soveraign Power is true that with the Consent and Concurrence of the Lords and Commons he may do what he will is without question and it is as certain that out of Parliament his Power is limited and confined within certain Bounds and Limits which he cannot pass without doing violence to Justice and the Laws for there are two Powers in the King the one in Parliament and that is Soveraign the other out of Parliament which may be directed and controuled by the former and therefore called Potestas subordinata pag. 10. Rights of the People p. 9. Argument of Property therefore his Power is Soveraign only sub modo for out of Parliament many of his Acts are not only questionable but void in themselves Rights of the Kingdom 83. for what he shall do against Law those Acts bind no more than if they were a Child's he cannot command one man to kill another he cannot pardon a common Nusance nor an Appeal at the suit of the Party And multitudes of the like Instances might be given for if the King's power out of Parliament was as great as in Parliament then there 's an end of the Policy of this Government and the Barons Wars was only to beat the Air. It is most certain that till these late days during which we have been so very much Frenchified Roads are called the King's Highway but the Freehold is in the Lord of the Soil and of the Profits growing there as Trees c. Terms of the Law 56. that
the Laws have been more frequently stiled or called the Laws of the Land than the King's Laws and therefore if the Denomination of them declares the right the King will be found to have no very strong Title But if they had constantly been called the King's Laws yet that is a very Sandy Foundation to build a power upon of suspending and dispensing with them at his pleasure Now if they are the King's Laws then he only made them but if the Lords and Commons also had their share in the contriving and making of them then that Advice and Consent of theirs gives them such a Title to an Interest in them that they cannot be changed or altered no more than they could be enacted without their Consent for nothing can destroy a thing but the same Power that made it and therefore unless the King alone be the same power that enacted the Laws they cannot be properly called his Laws so as that at his will and pleasure he may dispense with them But if the Laws were made and enacted by him only yet it does not follow that the King may dispense with the Laws when to him it shall seem meet for there is no King so absolute but may be limited Thus we see the Eastern Kings who were as absolute as any Princes upon Earth yet were limited and restrained by their own Promises and Acts. Even that great King Abasuerus who had Ruled over 127 Provinces when he had made a Decree he could not revoke change or dispense with it for the Writing which is written in the King's Name and sealed with the King's Ring may no man reverse Esth 8.8 no nor the King himself which is clear from that famous case of the Decree to destroy the Jews to reverse or suspend which it 's plain he wanted not Inclination and if ever would then have exerted his full power for he was prick'd on by all the Spurs and Inducements that could be in any case yet all he could do was to give the Jews leave to defend themselves therefore if those Heathen Kings were so bound by their Word and Laws of the Country it 's reasonable to suppose that Christian Princes should be as much tyed up by their Words and the Laws and if the King be bound by his Word and the Laws which he shall not pass then is he under the same obligation as if he had actually given his assent to every Law that is now in force because he has given his Word and taken an Oath to preserve and maintain all the Laws And it seems something strange to hear of a power to dispense with Penal Laws there being so late a Judgment against it the late King in Parliament disclaiming it and the whole Case is very remarkable for during the interval of a Parliament he grants a Declaration of Indulgence and at the meeting of the Parliament tells them Nothing of force or constraint brought him to make that Confession but the Truth was too evident to be denied he had done it and would stand by it and should be very angry with any man that should offer to disswade him against it Yet though he had thus braved the Parliament within ten days openly in Parliament he disclaimed it and confessed that he could not dispense with a General Law and had ordered the Seal to be pulled from the Declaration Surely the Case must be very plain that the King after he had justified the thing so solemnly yet should so suddenly eat his words and confess himself in the wrong and to that Parliament too which had almost unhinged the Government to please him which no doubt would have complied with him in it had it been less than to lift the Government quite off of the Hooks And indeed to say that the King can dispense with Penal Laws is nothing less than to dissolve the Government and resolve all into the King's Will and Pleasure for our Parliaments are then but a piece of Pageantry or Puppet-show because in a word the King can annihilate all that they shall do in many Ages all the Provisions that they shall make for the Good of the Nation are but airy notions and painted shews they are and they are not just as the King pleases Now if the King can do this to what purpose have several things been done what means the Statute de Prerog Regis 17 Ed. II for certainly it 's a thing of a much higher and transcendent nature to have power to dispense with all Penal Laws than to have the Preheminence of the Subjects in some particular cases only That he has it not in all originally is plain from that of Appeals for in case of Murder the Appeal at the suit of the Party was to be tryed before the Indictment which was the King's Suit and this was so till Henry VII's time when it was alter'd by Act of Parliament and this carries in it a great probability that there is something in England that is his Superiour but Bracton and Fleta say That Rex habet superieres in regno nempe Deum Legem Parliamentum Nay the Custom of the Mannor shall bind the King Statutes to prevent Fraud shall bind the King The King cannot give the Penalty of any Statute to any Subject he cannot pardon a common Nusance how manifestly preposterous is it then to suppose that the King can dispense with Penal Laws and is restrain'd in these and multitudes of other things of the like nature It has always been taken for Law that where the Subject has an Interest the King cannot pardon and therefore he cannot pardon one found guilty upon an Appeal at the Suit of the Party But if he can dispense with all Penal Laws he may also pardon where the Subject has an Interest and so consequently dispense with all Laws whatever and then no man's Title to his Estate is good nor can any man settle his Estate securely for Fines and Recoveries being now the means used in Settlements and those being directed by particular Acts of Parliament if therefore the King for some particular necessary Reasons shall think fit to suspend those Laws all the Settlements in England will be strangely confused and of how excellent a use upon occasion it may be to dispense with those Statutes which direct Fines and Recoveries is very easie to comprehend Now this power of dispensing seems to be of a very late date for Fortescue who wrote in Henry VI's time tells us That the Kings of England cannot alter nor change the Laws of his Realm at his pleasure and the reason he gives of it is because he governs his People by Power not only royal but also politick which is by such Laws as they themselves desire and gives a very pregnant Reason why the King cannot alter nor change the Laws because the Laws of Men are holy And he shews likewise That this Restraint is no diminution to his Power but does rather aggrandize him it