that know it already and trouble those that need not know the particular cases for it is one of the Fundamentals of Law That the king is not above the Law but the Law above the King I could easily deraign it from 1 Edward 3. to the Jurisdiction of Courts That the king has no more Power or Authority then what by Law is concredited and committed to him but the most famous Authority is Fortescue Chancellor to H. 6. and therefore undoubtedly would not clip his Masters Prerogative who most Judicially takes a difference between a Government wholly Regal and Seignoral as in Turkey Russia France Spain c. and a Government Politique and mixt where the Law keeps the beam even between Soveraignty and Subjection as in England Denmark Swede and Poland the first where the Edict of a Prince makes the Law resembles an impetuous inundation of the waters whereby the Corn and Hay and other Fruits of the Earth are spoiled as when it is Midwinter at Midsummer the latter is like a sweet smooth Stream running by the pleasant Fields and Meadows That by the Law of England the King ought not to impose any thing upon the people or take any thing away from them to the value of a farthing but by common consent in Parliaments or National meetings and that the people of Common-Right and by several Statutes ought to have Parliaments yearly or oftner if need be for the Redress of publique grievances and for the Enacting of good and wholsome Laws and repealing of old Statutes of Omeri which are prejudicial to the Nation And that the king hath not by Law so much power as a Justice of Peace to commit any man to Prison for any offence whatsoever because all such matters were committed to proper Courts and Officers of Justice And if the King by his verbal command send for any person to come before him if the party refused to attend and the messenger endevoring to force him they fell to blows if the messenger killed the party sent for this by the Law is Murther in him but if he killed the messenger this was justifiable in him being in his own defence so as to sue forth a pardon of course these and many other Cases of like nature are so clear well known that I wil not presume to multiply particulars That the king took an Oath at his Coronation to preserve the Peace of the Nation to do Justice to all and to keep and observe the Laws which the people have himself confesses And it was charged upon the late Arch-Bishop that he Emasculated the Oath and left out very material words Which the people shall chuse which certainly he durst not have done without the kings special Command And it seems to me no light presumption that from that very day he had a Design to alter and subvert the Fundamental Laws and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government but though there had been an Oath yet by special Office and duty of his place every King of England is obliged to Act for the peoples good for all power as it is originally in the people he must needs be extream ignorant malicious or a self-destroyer that shall deny it so it is given forth for their preservation nothing for their destruction for a king to rule by lust and not by Law is a creature that was never of Gods making not of Gods approbation but his permission And though such men are said to be Gods on Earth 't is in no other sence then the Devil is called the God of this world It seems that one passage which the king would have offered to the Court which was not permitted him to dispute the Supreme Authority in the Nation and standing mute the Charge being for High Treason it is a conviction in Law was That 1 Sam. 8. is a Copy of the kings Commission by vertue whereof he as a king might rule and govern as he list that he might take the Peoples Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and take their Daughters to be his Confectionaries and take their Fields and Vineyards and Oliveyards even the best of them and thair goodliest yong men and their Asses and give them to his Officers and to his Servants which indeed is a Copy and Patern of an absolute Tyrant and absolute Slaves where the people have no more then the Tyrant will afford them The holy Spirit in that Chapter does not insinuate what a good king ought to do but what a wicked king would presume to do Besides Saul and David had extraordinary callings but all just power is now derived from and conferred by the people yet in the case of Saul it is observable that the people out of pride to be like other Nations desired a king and such a king as the Heathens had which were all Tyrants for they that know any thing in History know that the first four Monarchs were all Tyrants at first til they gained the peoples consent Nimrod the great Hunter was Ninus that built Nineveh the first Tyrant and Conquerer that had no Title so were all kingdoms which are not Elective till the peoples subsequent consent and though it be by descent yet 't is a continuation of a Conquest till the people consent voluntarily submit to a Government they are but Slaves in reason they may free themselves if they can In France the king begins his Raign from the day of his Coronation the Archbishop asks the people if he shall be King the twelve Peers or some that personate them say yes they girt the sword about him then he swares to defend the Lawes And is any thing more naturall then to keepe an Oath And though vertuous Kings have prevailed with the People to make their Crownes Hereditary yet the Coronation shews the shell that the kernell hath been in Samuel was a good Judge and there was nothing could be objected against him therefore God was displeased at their inordinate desire of a King and it seemes to me that the Lord declares his dislike of all such Kings as the heathens were that is Kings with an unlimited power that are not tied to laws for he gave them a King in his wrath therein dealing with them as the wise Physitian with the distempered and impatient Patient who desiring to drink wine tels him the danger of inflammation yet wine he will have and the Physitian considering a little wine will do but little hurt rather then his Patient by fretting should take greater hurt prescribes a little whitewine wherein the Physitian doth not approve his drinking of wine but of two evils chooseth the least The Jewes would have a King for Majestie and Splendor like the Heathens God permits this he approves it not it seems to me that the Lord renounces the very Genus of such Kings as are there mentioned and the old word Conning by Contraction king does not signifie power
or force to do what he will but a knowing wise discreete man that opens the Peoples eyes and does not lead them by the noses but governe them with wisedome and discretion for their owne good Therefore Gentlemen-Royalists be not so mad as to misconstrue either the Oaths of Allegiance or Supremacy or any League or Covenant that any man should sweare to give any one leave to cut his throat the true meaning is that the King of England was supreme in this land in opposition to the Pope or any other Prince or Potentate as the words of the Oath do import that no foraigne State Prince or Potentate c. In case of any forraigne invasion the King was by Law to be Generalissimo to command the People for their owne safety and so it was expounded by the Parliament in 13. Eliz. which for some reason of State was not permitted to be printed with the Statutes besides God told those Kings whom he had formerly annoynted what their duty was not to exalt themselves overmuch above their brethren to delight themselves in the Law of God out of which I inferre that the Turkes Tarters Muscovites French Spaniards and all people that live at the beck and nod of tyrannicall men may and ought to free themselves from that tyranny if and when they can for such Tyrants that so domineer with a rod of iron do not governe by Gods permissive hand of approbation or benediction but by the permissive hand of his Providence suffering them to scourge the People for ends best known to himselfe untill he open a way for the people to work out their owne enfranchisements But before I speak of the warre it will be necessary for the satisfaction of rationall men to open and prove the Kings wicked designe wherewith he stands charged Now that he had from the beginning of his raigne such a designe and indeavour so to teare up the foundations of Government that Law should be no Protection to any mans person or estate will clearly appeare by what follows 1. By his not taking the Oath so fully as his Predecessours did that so when the Parliament should tender good laws to him for the Royal assent he might readily answer that he was not by Oath obliged to confirme or corroborare the same 2. By his dishonourable and perfidious dealing with the People at his Coronation when he set forth a Proclamation that in regard of the infection then spread through the Kingdome He promised to dispense with those knights that by an old statute were to attend at the Coronation who were thereby required not to attend but did notwithstanding with in few months after take advantage of their absence and raised a vaste summe of money out of their estates at the Councel Table where they pleading the said Proclamation for their justification they were answered that the law of the land was above any Proclamation like that Tyrant that when he could not by law execute a virgin commanded her to be deflored and then put to death 3. By his altering the Pattents and Commissions to the Judges wch having heretofore had their places granted to them so long as they should behave themselvs therin he made them but during pleasure that so if the Judges should not declare the Law to be as he would have it he might with a wet singer remove them and put in such as should not only say but swear if need werethat the Law was as the king would have it for when a man shall give five or ten thousand pounds for a Judges place during the kings pleasure and he shall the next day send to him to know his opinion of a difference in law between the king and a subject it shal be intimated unto him that if he do not deliver his opinion for the king he is likely to be removed out of his place the next day which if so he knows not how to live but must rot in a Prison for the money which he borrowed to buy his place as was well known to be some of their cases who underhand and closely bought great places to elude the danger of the statute whether this was not too heavy a temptation for the shoulders of most men to bear is no hard matter to determine so as upon the matter that very act of his made the King at the least a potentiall Tyrant for when that shall be law which a King shall declare himselfe or which shall be declared by those whom he chooses this brings the People to the very next step to slavery But that which does irrefragably prove the design was his restlesse desire to destroy Parliaments or to make them uselesse And for that who knowes not but that there were three or four National meetings in Parliament in the first foure yeares of his Reign which were called for supply to bring mony into his coffers in point of Subsidies rather then for any benefit to the People as may appear by the few good Lawes that were then made But that which is most memorable is the untimely dissolving of the Parliament in 4o Car. when Sir John Elliot and others who managed a Conference with the House of Peers concerning the Duke of Buckin ham who amongst other things was charged concerning the death of King James were committed close prisoner to the Tower where he lost his life by cruel indurance Which I may not passe over without a special Animadversion for sure there is no Turk or Heathen but will say that if he were any way guilty of his Fathers death let him die for it I would not willingly be so injurious to the honest Reader as to make him buy that again which he hath formerly met with in the Parliaments Declaration or elswhere in such a case a marginal reference may be sufficient Nor would I herein be so presumptuous as to prevent any thing that happily may be intended in any Declaration for more general satisfaction but humbly to offer a Students mite which satisfies my self with submission to better judgments How the King first came to the Crown God and his own Conscience best knew It was well known observed at Court that a little before he was a professed enemy to the Duke of Buckingham but instantly upon the death of King James took him into such special protection grace and favour that upon the matter he divided the Kingdom with him And when the Earl of Bristol had exhibited a Charge against the said Duke the 13. Article whereof concerned the death of King James He instantly dissolved that Parliament that so he might protect the Duke from the justice thereof and would never suffer any legal inquiry to be made for his Fathers death The Rabbines observe that that which stuck most with Abraham about Gods command to sacrifice Isaac was this Can I not be obedient unlesse I be unnaturall What will the Heathens say when they heare I have killed my only son What will
an Indian say to this case A King hath all power in his hands to do justice There is one accused upon strong presumptions at the least for poisoning that Kings Father The King protects him from justice Whether do you believe that himself had any hand in his Fathers death Had the Duke been accused for the death of a begger he ought not to have protected him from a Judicial Trial. We know that by Law it is no lesse then misprision of Treason to conceal a Treason and to conceal a Murder strongly implies a guilt thereof and makes him a kind of Accessary to the fact He that hath no nature to do justice to his own Father could it ever be expected that he should do justice to others Was he fit to continue a Father to the people who was without natural affection to his own Father Will he love a Kingdome that shewed no love to himself unlesse it was that he durst not suffer Inquisition to be made for it But I leave it as a riddle which at the day of Judgement will be expounded and unridled for some sinnes will not be made manifest till that day with this only That had he made the Law of God his delight and studied therein night and day as God commanded his Kings to do or had he but studied Scripture half so much as Ben Johnson or Shakespear he might have learnt That when Amaziah was setled in the Kingdom he suddenly did justice upon those servants which had killed his father Joash he did not by any pretended prerogative excuse or protect them but delivered them up into the hands of that Justice which the horridnesse of the fact did undoubtedly demerit That Parliament 4. Car. proving so abortive the King sets forth a Proclamation That none should presume to move him to call Parliaments for he knew how to raise monies enough without the help of Parliaments therefore in 12 years refuseth to call any In which interval and intermission how he had oppressed the people by incroachments and usurpations upon their liberties and properties and what vast summes of mony he had forceably exacted and exhausted by illegal Patents and Monopolies of all sorts I referre the Reader to that most judicious and full Declaration of the state of the Kingdeme published in the beginning of this Parliament That Judgment of Ship-mony did upon the matter formalize the people absolute slaves and him an absolute Tyrant for if the King may take from the people in case of necessity and himself shall be Judge of that necessity then cannot any man say that he is worth 6d for if the King say that he hath need of that 6d then by Law he must have it I mean that great Nimrod that would have made all England a Forrest and the People which the Bishop call his sheep to be his Venison to be hunted at his pleasure Nor does the common objection That the Judges and evil Counsellors and not the King ought to be responsible for such male-Administrations injustice and oppression beare the weight of a feather in the ballance of right reason For 1. Who made such wicked and corrupt Judges were they not his own Creatures and ought not every man to be accountable for the works of his own hands He that does not hinder the doing of evil if it lies in his power to prevent it is guilty of it as a commander thereof He that suffered those black Starres to inflict such barbarous cruelties and unheard of punishments as Brandings Slitting of Noses c. upon honest men to the dishonour of the Protestant Religion and disgrace of the Image of God shining in the face of man He well deserv'd to have been so served But 2. He had the benefit of those illegal Fines and Judgments I agree That if a Judge shall oppresse I. S. for the benefit of I. D. the King ought not to answer for this but the Judge unlesse he protect the Judge against the complaint of I. S. and in that case he makes himself guilty of it But when an unjust judgment is given against I. S. for the Kings benefit and the Fine to come immediately into his Coffers he that receives the mony must needs be presumed to consent to the judgement But 3. Mark a Machiaveipolicy Call no Parliaments to question the injustice and corruption of Judges for the Peoples relief And make your own Iudges and let that be Law that they declare whether it be reasonable or unreasonable it is no matter But then how came it to passe that we had any more Parliaments Had we not a gracious King to call a Parliament when there was so much need of it and to passe so many gracious Acts to put downe the Starre-Chamber c Nothing lesse It was not any voluntary free Act of grace not the least ingredient or tincture of love or goodaffection to the people that called the short Parliament in 16 but to serve his owne turne against the Scots whom he then had designed to enslave and those seven Acts of grace which the King past were no more then his duty to do nor halfe so much but giving the people a take of their own grists and he dissents with them about the Militia which commanded all the rest he never intended thereby any more good and security to the people then he that stealing the Goose leaves the feathers behinde him But to answer the question thus it was The king being wholly given up to be led by the counsels of a Jesuited Party who indeavoured to throw a bone of dissention among us that they might cast in their net into our troubled waters and catch more fish for St. Peters Sea perswaded the King to set up a new forme of Prayer in Scotland and laid the bait so cunningly that whether they saw it or not they were undone if they saw the mystery of iniquity couched in it they would resist and so merit punishment for rebelling if they swallowed it it would make way for worse well they saw the poison and refused to taste it the King makes warre and many that loved honour and wealth more then God assisted him down he went with an Army but his treasure wasted in a short time fight they would not for feare of an after-reckoning some Commanders propound that they should make their demands and the King grants all comes back to London and burnes the Pacification saying it was counterfeit they reassume their forts he raises a second warre against them and was necessitated to call a Parliament offering to lay down shipmoney for twelve subsidies they refuse the King in high displeasure breakes off the Parliament and in a Declaration commands them not to thinke of any more Parliaments for he would never call another There was a King of Egypt that cruelly opprest the People they poore slaves complaining to one another he feared a rising and commanded that none should complaine upon paine of cruell death
the Representative stand but for a Cypher 5. But then out of Parliament the people are made to believe That the king hath committed all Justice to the Judges and distributed the execution thereof into several Courts and that the king cannot so much as imprison a man nor impose any thing upon nor take any thing away from the people as by Law he ought not to do But now see what prerogative he challenges 1. If the King have a minde to have any publique spirited man removed out of the way this man is killed the murtherer known a Letter comes to the Judge and it may be it shall be found but Manslaughter if it be found Murther the man is condemned but the King grants him a Pardon which the Judges will allow if the word Murther be in it but because it is too gross to pardon Murther therefore the king shall grant him a Lease of his life for seven years and then renew it like a Bishops Lease as he did to Major Prichard who was lately Justiced who being a Servant to the Earl of Lindsey murthered a Gentleman in Lincolnshire and was condemned and had a Lease of his life from the king as his own friends have credibly told me 2. For matter of Liberty The King or any Courtier sends a man to Prison if the Judge set him at liberty then put him out of his place a temptation too heavy for those that love Money and Honor more then God to bear therefore any Judgement that is given between the King and a Subject 't is not worth a rush for what will not money do Next he challenges a Prerogative to enhance and debase moneys which by Law was allowed him so far as to ballance Trade and no further that if gold went high beyond Sea it might not be cheap here to have it all bought up and transported but under colour of that he challenges a Prerogative that the king may by Proclamation make Leather currant or make a Six pence go for Twenty shillings or a Twenty shillings for Six pence which not to mention any thing of the project of Farthings or Brass money He that challenges such a Prerogative is a potential Tyrant for if he may make my Twelve pence in my pocket worth but Two pence what property hath any man in any thing that he enjoys Another Prerogative pretended was That the king may avoid any Grant and so may cousen and cheat any man by a Law the ground whereof is That the kings Grants shall be taken according to his intention which in a sober sence I wish that all mens Grants might be so construed according to their intentions exprest by word or writing but by this means it being hard to know what the king intended his Grants have been like the Devils Oracles taken in any contrary sence for his own advantage 1. R. In the famous Case of Altonwoods there is vouched the Lord Lovels Case That the king granted Lands to the Lord Lovel and his Heirs males not for service done but for a valuable consideration of money paid The Patentee well hoped to have enjoyed the Land not onely during his life but that his Heirs males at least of his body should have likewise enjoyed it but the Judges finding it seems that the king was willing to keep the money and have his Land again for what other reason no mortal man can fathom resolved that it was a void Grant and that nothing passed to the Patentee I might instance in many cases of like nature through out all the Reports as one once made his boast that he never made or past any Patent or Charter from the Crown but he reserved one starting hole or other and knew how to avoid it and so meerly to cousen and defraud the poor Patentee So that now put all these Prerogatives together 1. The Militia by Sea and Land 2. A liberty to call Parliaments when he pleased and to adjourn prorogue or dissolve them at pleasure 3. A Negative voice that the people cannot save themselves without him and must cut their own throats if commanded so to do 4. The nomination and making of all the Judges that upon peril of the loss of their places must declare the Law to be as he pleases 5. A power to confer Honors upon whom and how he pleases A covetous base wretch for Five or Ten thousand pounds to be Courted who deserves to be carted 6. To pardon Murtherers whom the Lord says shall not be pardoned 7. To set a value and price of Moneys as he pleases that if he be to pay Ten thousand pounds he may make Leather by his Proclamation to be currant that day or a Five shillings to pass for twenty shillings and if to receive so much a Twenty shillings to pass for Five shillings And lastly a Legal theft to avoid his own Grants I may boldly throw the Gantlet and challenge all the Machiavels in the world to invent such an exquisite platform of Tyrannical Domination and such a perfect Tyranny without maim or blemish as this is and that by a Law which is worst of all But the truth is these are no Legal Prerogatives but Usurpations Incroachments and Invasions upon the Peoples Rights and Liberties and this easily effected without any great depth of policy for t is but being sure to call no Parliaments or make them useless and make the Judges places profitable and place Avarice upon the Bench and no doubt but the Law shall sound as the king would have it But let me thus far satisfie the ingenuous Reader that all the Judges in England cannot make one Case to be Law that is not Reason no more then they can prove a hair to be white that is black which if they should so declare or adjudge it is meer nullity for Law must be Reason adjudged where Reason is the Genus and the Judgement in some Court makes the Differentiae and I never found that the fair hand of the common Law of England ever reached out any Prerogative to the king above the meanest man but in three cases 1. In matters of honor and preeminence to his person and in matters of Interest that he should have Mines Royal of Gold and Silver in whose Land soever they were discovered and Fishes Royal as Sturgeons and Whales in whose streams or water soever they were taken which very rarely happened or to have tythes out of a Parish that no body else could challenge for says the Law The most Noble Persons are to have the most Noble things 2. To have his Patents freed from deceit that he be not overreached or cousened in his Contracts being imployed about the great and arduous affairs of the Kingdom 3. His Rights to be freed from incursion of time not to be bound up by any Statute of Non claim for indeed possession is a vain plea when the matter of Right is in question for Right can never dye and some such honorable priviledges of
That the king shall improve his power for their good and make it his work to procure their safeties and they to provide for his honor which it done to the Commonwealth in him as the Sword and Ensigns of Honor carried before the Lord Major are for the honor of the city now as when any one of this people shall compass the death of the Governor ruling well this is a Treason punishable with death for the wrong done to the Community and Anathema be to such a man so when he or they that are trusted to fight the peoples Battels and to procure their welfare shall prevaricate and act to the inslaving or destroying of the people who are their Liege Lords and all Governors are but the peoples creatures and the work of their hands to be accomptable as their Stewards and is it not senseless for the vessel to ask the Potter by what Law he calls it to account this is high Treason with a witness and far more transcendent then in the former case because the king was paid for his Service and the Dignity of the Person does increase the offence for a great man of noble Education and knowledge to betray so great a Trust and abuse so much love as the Parliament shewed to the king by Petitioning him as good Subjects praying for him as good Christians advising him as good Counsellors and treating with him as the great Counsel of the kingdom with such infinite care and tenderness of his honor a course which Gods people did not take with Rehoboam they never petitioned him but advised him he refused their counsel and hearkened to yong Counsellors and they cry To thy tents O Israel and made quick and short work of it after all this and much more longanimity and patience from the Lord to the Servant for him not onely to set up a Standard of War in defiance of his dread Soveraign The People for so they truly were in Nature though Names have befool'd us but to persist so many years in such cruel persecutions who with a word of his mouth might have made a Peace If ever there were so superlative a Treason let the Indians judge and whosoever shall break and violate such a trust and confidence Anathema Maranatha be unto them Q. But why was there not a written Law to make it Treason for the King to destroy the people as well as for a man to compass the Kings death Resp. Because our Ancestors did never imagine that any King of England would have been so desperately mad as to leavy a War against the Parliament and people as in the Common instance of Paricide the Romans made no Law against him that should kill his Father thinking no childe would be so unnatural to be the death of him who was the Author of his life but when a childe came to be accused for a Murther there was a more cruel punishment inflicted then for other Homicides for he was thrown into the Sea in a great Leather Barrel with a Dog a Jackanapes a Cock and a Viper significant companions for him to be deprived of all the Elements as in my Poor mans Case Fol. 10. Nor was there any Law made against Parents that should kill their children yet if any man was so unnatural he had an exemplary punishment Obj. But is it not a Maxime in Law That the King can do no wrong Resp. For any man to say so is blasphemy against the great God of Truth and Love for onely God cannot erre because what he wills is right because he wills it and 't is a sad thing to consider how learned men for unworthy ends should use such art to subdue the people by transportation of their sences as to make them believe that the Law is That the King can do no wrong First For Law I do aver it with confidence but in all humility That there is no such Case to be found in Law That if the King Rob or Murther or commit such horrid Extravagancies that it is no wrong Indeed the case is put in H. 7. by a chief Judge that If the King kill a man 't is no felony to make him suffer death that is to be meant in ordinary Courts of Justice But there is no doubt but the Parliament might try the King or appoint others to judge him for it We finde Cases in Law that the King hath been sued even in Civil Actions In 43 E 3. 22. it is resolved That all maner of Actions did lie against the King as against any Lord and 24 E. 3. 23. Wilby a learned Judge said that there was a Writ Praecipe Henrico Regi Angliae Indeed E. 1. did make an Act of State That men should sue to him by Petition but this was not agreed unto in Parliament Thelwall title Roye digest of Writs 71. But after when Judges places grew great the Judges and Bitesheeps began to sing Lullaby and speak Platentia to the king that My Lord the King is an Angel of light Now Angels are not responsible to men but God therefore not kings And the Judges they begin to make the king a God and say that by Law his stile is Sacred Majesty though he swears every hour and Gracious Majesty though gracious men be the chief objects of his hatred and that the king hath an Omnipotency and Omnipresence But I am sure there is no Case in Law That if the king leavy a War against the Parliament and people that it is not Treason Possibly that Case in H. 7. may prove That if the king should in his passion kill a man this shall not be Felony to take away the kings life for the inconveniency may be greater to the people by putting a king to death for one offence and miscarriage then the execution of Justice upon him can advantage them But what 's this toa leavying of War against a Parliament never any Judge was so devoid of understanding that he denyed that to be Treason But suppose a Judge that held his place at the kings pleasure did so I am sure never any Parliament said so But what if there had in dark times of Popery been an Act made That the king might Murther Ravish Burn and perpetrate all mischiefs and play Reaks with impunity will any man that hath but wit enough to measure an Ell of cloath or to tell Twenty say That this is an Obligation for men to stand still and suffer a Monster to cut their throats and grant Commission to rob at Suters hill as such and no better are all Legal thefts and oppressions The Doctor says That a Statute against giving an alms to a poor man is void He is no Student I mean was never bound Prentice to Reason that says A king cannot commit Treason against the people Ob. But are there not Negative words in the Statute of 25 Ed. 3. That nothing else shall be construed to be Treason but what is there exprest Res That Statute was intended for
Spies being abroad they often met but durst not speake but parted with tears in their eyes which declared that they had more to utter but durst not this struck him to greaterfears he commanded that none should look upon one anothers eyes at parting therefore their griefes being too great to be smothered they fetcht a deep sigh when they parted which moved them so to compassionate one anothers wrongs that they ran in and killed the Tyrant The long hatching Irish treason was now ripe and therefore it was necessary that England and Scotland should be in Combustion least we might help the Irish Protestants well the Scots get Newcastle he knew they would trust him no more he had so often broke with them therefore no hopes to get them out by a treaty many Lords and the City petition for a Parliament the King was at such a necessity that yield he must to that which he most abhorred God had brought him to such a straite he that a few moneths before assumed the power of God Commanding men not to thinke of Parliaments to restraine the free thoughts of the heart of man was constrained to call one which they knew he would breake off when the Scots were sent home therefore got a Confirmation of it that he should not dissolve it without the consent of both Houses of which he had no hopes or by force which he suddenly attempted and the English Army in the North was to have come up to confound the Parliament and this rebellious and disloyall City as the King called it and for their paines was promised thirty thousand pounds and the plunder as by the examinations of Colonel Goring Legge c. doth more fully appeare And here by the way I cannot but commend the City Malignants He calls them Rebels they call him a gracious King He by his Proclamation at Oxford prohibits all commerce and entercourse of trade betweene this populous City the life and interest whereof consists in trade without which many thousands cannot subsist and other parts of the kingdome still they do good against evill and petitioning him so often to cut their throats are troubled at nothing so much as that they are not reduced to that former and a worse bondage then when there was a Lord Warden made in the City and the King sent for as much of their estates as he pleased But surely the Oxford-shire men are more to be commended for when the King had commanded by his Proclamation that what Corne Hay and other provision in the County of Oxford could not be fetcht into the said City for his Garison should be consumed and destroyed by fire for feare it should fall into the hands of the Parliaments friends a cruelty not to be parallel'd by any Infidell Heathen or pagan King nor to be presidented amongst the most avowed and professed enemies much lesâ—e from a King to his Subjects they resolved never to trust him any more But the great Question will be What hath been the true ground and occasion of the War which unless I clear and put it out of question as the Charge imports I shall fall short of what I chiefly aym at viz. That the King set up his Standard of War for the advancement and upholding of his Personal Interest Power and pretended Prerogative against the Publique Interest of Common-Right Peace and Safety and thus I prove it 1. He fought for the Militia by Sea and Land to have it at his absolute dispose and to justifie maintain his illegal Commissions of Array and this he pretended was his Birthright by the Law of England which if it were so then might he by the same Reason command all the money in the kingdom for he that carries the Sword will command the Purse 2. The next thing that he pretended to fight for was his Power to call Parliaments when he pleased and dissolve them when he list If they will serve his turn then they may sit by a Law to inslave the People so that the People had better choose all the Courtiers and Kings Favorites at first then to trouble themselves with ludibrious Elections to assemble the Freeholders together to their great labor expence both of time coyn and those which are chosen Knights Burgesses to make great preparations to take long Journeys to London themselves their Attendants to see the King Lords in their Parliament robes ride in state to the House and with Domitian to catch Flies and no sooner shall there be any breathings or a Spirit of Justice stirring discovered in the House of Commons but the king sends the Black-Rod and dissolves the Parliament and sends them back again as wise as they were before but not with so much money in their purses to tell stories to the Freeholders of the bravery of the king and Lords 3. Well but if this be too gross and that the People begin to murmure and clamor for another Parliament then there goes out another Summons and they meet and sit for some time but to as much purpose as before for when the Commons have presented any Bill for Redress of a publique Grievance then the king hath several games to play to make all fruitless as first his own Negative Voyce that if Lords and Commons are both agreed then he will advise which I know not by what strange Doctrine hath been of late construed to be a plain denyal though under favor at the first it was no more but to allow him two or three days time to consider of the Equity of the Law in which time if he could not convince them of the Injustice of it then ought he by his Oath and by Law to consent to it 4. But if by this means the king had contracted hard thoughts from the people and that not onely the Commons but many of the Lords that have the same noble blood running in their veins as those English Barons whose Swords were the chief Instruments that purchased Magna Charta then that the king might be sure to put some others between him and the peoples hatred The next prerogative that he pretended to have was to be the sole Judge of Chivalry to have the sole power of conferring Honors to make as many Lords as he pleased that so he may be sure to have two against one if the House of Commons by reason of the multitude of Burgesses which he likewise pretended a power to make as many Borough-Towns and Corporations as he pleased were not pack'd also And this is that glorious priviledge of the English Parliaments so much admired for just nothing for if his pretended Prerogative might stand for Law as was challenged by his adherents never was there a purer cheat put upon any people nor a more ready way to enslave them then by priviledge of Parliament being just such a mockery of the people as that Mock-Parliament at Oxford was where the kings consent must be the Figure and
mending his plea or suing in what Court he will and some such prerogatives of a middle indifferent nature that could not be prejudicial to the people but that the Law of England should give the King any such vast immence precipitating power or any such God like state that he ought not to be accountable for wicked actions or Male-Administrations and Misgovernment as he hath challenged and averr'd in his answer to the Petition of Right or any such principals of Tyranny which are as inconsistent with the peoples Liberties and Safety as the Ark and Dagon light and darkness in an intensive degree is a most vain and irrational thing to imagine and yet that was the ground of the War as himself often declared and that would not have half contented him if he had come in by the Sword But some rational men object How can it be murther say they for the king to raise Forces against the Parliament since there is no other way of determining differences between the king and his Subjects but by the Sword for the Law is no competent Judge between two Snpreme powers and then if it be onely a contending for each others Right Where is the malice that makes the killing of a man murther Take the answer thus first How is it possible to imagine two Supreme powers in one Nation no more then two Suns in one Firmament if the king be Supreme the Parliament must be Subordinate if they Supreme then he Subordinate But then it is alleaged That the king challenged a power onely co-ordinate that the Parliament could do nothing without him nor he without them Under favor two powers co-ordinate is as absurd as the other for though in quiet times the Commons have waited upon the king and allowed him a Negative voyce in matters of less concernment where delay could not prove dangerous to the people yet when the Commons shall Vote that the kingdom is in danger unless the Militia be so and so setled now if he will not agree to it they are bound in duty to do it themselves and 't is impossible to imagine that ever any man should have the consent of the people to be their king upon other conditions without which no man ever had right to wear the diadem for Conquest makes a Title amongst Wolves and Bears but not amongst men When the first agreement was concerning the power of Parliaments if the king should have said Gentlemen are you content to allow me any Negative Voyce that if you Vote the kingdom to be in danger unless such an Act pass if I refuse to assent shall nothing be done in that case surely no rational man but would have answered May it please your Majesty we shall use all dutiful means to procure your Royal Assent but if you still refuse we must not sit still and see our selves ruined we must and will save our selves whether you will or no and will any man say that the kings power is diminished because he cannot hurt the people or that a man is less in health that hath many Phisitians to attend him God is Omnipotent that cannot sin and all power is for the peoples good but a Prince may not say that is for the peoples good which they say and feel to be for their hurt And as for the malice the Law implies that as when a thief sets upon a man to rob him he hath no spite to the man but love to the money but it is an implyed malice that he will kill the people unless they will be Slaves Q. But by what Law is the King condemned R. By the Fundamental Law of this kingdom by the general Law of all Nations and the Unanimous consent of all Rational men in the world written in every mans heart with the Pen of a Diamond in Capital Letters and a Character so legible that he that runs may read viz. That when any man is intrusted with the Sword for the protection and preservation of the people if this man shall imploy it to their destruction which was put into his hand for their safety by the Law of that Land he becomes an Enemy to that people and deserves the most exemplary and severe punishment that can be invented And this is the first necessary Fundamental Law of every kingdom which by Intrinsecal rules of Government must preserve it self and this Law needed not be exprest That if a King become a Tyrant he shall dye for it 't is so naturally implyed we do not use to make Laws which are for the preservation of Nature that a man should eat and drink and buy himself cloaths and injoy other natural comforts no kingdom ever made any Laws for it And as we are to defend our selves naturally without any written Law from hunger and cold so from outward violence therefore if a king would dedroy a people 't is absurd and rediculous to ask by what Law he is to dye And this Law of nature is the Law of God written in the fleshly tables of mens hearts that like the eldest Sister hath a prerogative right of power before any positive Law whatsoever and this Law of nature is an undubitable Legislative authority of it self that hath a suspensive power over all humane Laws If any man shall by express Covenant under hand and seal give power to another man to kill him this is a void Contract being destructive to humanity and by the Law of England any Act or Agreement against the Laws of God or Nature is a meer nullity for as man hath no hand in the making of the Laws of God or Nature no more hath he power to marre or alter them If the Pilot of a Ship be drunk and running upon a Rock if the passengers cannot otherwise prevent it they may throw him into the Sea to cool him And this Question hath received Resolution this Parliament When the Militia of an Army is committed to a General 't is not with any express condition That he shall not turn the mouths of his Canons against his own Soldiers for that is so naturally and necessarily implyed that it 's needless to be exprest insomuch as if he did attempt or command such a thing against the nature of his Trust and Place it did ipso facto estate the Army in a right of disobedience unless any man be so grosly ignorant to think that obedience bindes men to cut their own throats or their companions Nor is this any secret of the Law which hath lyen hid from the beginning and now brought out to bring him to Justice but that which is connatural with every man and innate in his judgement and reason and is as ancient as the first king and an Epidemical binding Law in all Nations in the world For when many Families agree for the preservation of Humane Society to invest any king or Governor with power and authority upon the acceptance thereof there is a mutual Trust and confidence between them
would say He must make him a Bishop He had more learning and dexterity in State Affairs undoubtedly then all the kings in Christendom If he had had grace answerable to his strong parts he had been another Solomon but his wit and knowledge proved like a sword in a mad-mans hand he was a stranger to the work of Grace and the Spirit of God as the poor creature confest to Mr. Knowls after he was condemned and all those Maeanders in State his serpentine turnings and windings have but brought him to shame and confusion but I am fully satisfied none of his Councel durst ever advise him to any thing but what they knew before he resolved to have done and that they durst as well take a Bear by the tooth as do or consent to the doing of any thing but what they knew would please him they did but hew and square the timber he was the Master builder that gave the form to every Architecture and being so able and judicious to discern of every mans merits Never think that the Duke or Pennington or any Judge or Officer did ever any thing for his advantage without his command against Law or Honor Upon all which premises may it please your Lorship I do humbly demand and pray the Justice of this High Court and yet not I but the innocent blood that hath been shed in the three kingdoms demands Justice against him This blood is vocal and cryes loud and yet speaks no better but much louder then the blood of Abel for what proportion hath the blood of that righteous man to the blood of so many thousands If king Ahab and Queen Jezabel for the blood of one righteous Naboth who would not sell his inheritance for the full value were justly put to death what punishment does he deserve that is guilty of the blood of thousands and fought for a pretended prerogative that he might have any mans Estate that he liked without paying for it This blood hath long cryed How long Parliament how long Army will ye forbear to avenge our blood will ye not do Justice upon the capital Author of all Injustice When will ye take the proud Lyon by the beard that defies you with imperious exultations What 's the House of Commons what 's the Army as Pharaoh said Who is the Lord and who is Moses I am not accountable to any power on earth those that were murthered at Brainford knockt on the head in the water and those honest souls that were kild in cold blood at Bolton and Leverpool in Lancashire at Bartomley in Cheshire and many other places their blood cryes night and day for Justice against him their wives and children cry Justice upon the murtherer or else give us our fathers and husbands again nay should the people be silent the very stones and timber of the houses would cry for Justice against him But my Lord before I pray Judgement I humbly crave leave to speak to two particulars 1. Concerning the Prisoner When I consider what he was and how many prayers have been made for him though I know that all the world cannot restore him nor save his life because God will not forgive his temporal punishment yet if God in him will be pleased to adde one example more to the Church of his unchangeable love to his elect in Christ not knowing but that he may belong to the election of grace I am troubled in my spirit in regard of his eternal condition for fear that he should depart this life without love and reconciliation to all those Saints whom he hath scorned under the notion of Presbyterians Anabaptists Independents and Sectaries It cannot be denyed but that he hath spent all his days in unmeasurable pride that during his whole raign he hath deported himself as a God been depended upon and adored as God that hath challenged and assured an Omnipotent power an earthly Omnipotence that with the breath of his mouth hath dissolved Parliaments his Non placet hath made all the Councels of that Supreme Court to become Abortives Non curo hath been his Motto who in stead of being honored as good Kings ought to be and no more hath been idolized and adored as our good God onely ought to be A man that hath shot all his arrows against the upright in the Land hated Christ in his members swallowed down unrighteousness as the Ox drinks water esteemed the needy as his footstool crusht honest publique spirited men and grieved when he could not afflict the honest more then he did counted it the best art and policy to suppress the righteous and to give way to his Courtiers so to gripe grinde oppress and overreach the free People of the Land that he might do what he list the remembrance whereof would pierce his soul if he knew the preciousnesse of it but all fins to an infinite mercy are equally pardonable therefore my prayer for this poor wretch shall be That God would so give him repentance to life that he may beleeve in that Christ whom he hath imprisoned persecuted and murthered in the Saints that he which hath lived a Tyrant and hated nothing so much as holinesse may die a convert and in love to the Saints in England that so the tears of the oppressed and the afflicted may not be as so many fiery stinging serpents causing an eternal despairing continual horror to this miserable Man when all Tyrants shall be astonisht and innocent blood will affright more then twelve legions of Devils All the hurt I wish to him is That he may look the Saints in the face with comfort for the Saints must judge the world and however it may be he or this adherents may think it a brave Roman spirit not to repent of any thing nor expresse any sorrow for any sin though never so horrid taking more care and fear not to change their countenance upon the Scaffold then what shall become of them after death Yet I beseech your Lordship that I may tell him and all the Malignants now living but this Charls Stuart unlesse you depart this life in love and reconciliation to all those Saints and godly men whom you have either ignorantly or maliciously opposed mockt and persecuted and still scorn and jeer at as Heretiques and Sectaries there is no more hopes for you ever to see God in comfort then for me to touch the Heavens with my finger or with a word to annihilate this great building or for the Devil to be saved which he might be if he could love a Saint as such No Sir it will be too late for you to say to those Saints whom you have defied Give me some of your holiness that I may behold Gods angry countenance You can expect no answer but Go buy Sir of those Soul-hucksters your Bishops which fed you with chaff and poyson and now you must feed upon fire and brimstone to all eternity 2. Concerning my self I bear no more malice to the Mans person
then I do to my dear Father but I hate that cursed principle of Tyranny that hath so long lodged and harbored within Him which hath turned our waters of Law into blood And therefore upon that Malignant principle I hope this High Court which is an habitation of Justice and a Royal Palace of principles of Freedom will do speedy Justice That this Lyon which hath devoured so many Sheep may not onely be removed out of the way but that this Iron Scepter which hath been lifted up to break this poor Nation in pieces like a Potters vessel may be wrested out of the hands of Tyrants That my honorable Clients for whom I am an unworthy Advocate The people of England may not onely taste but drink abundantly of those sweet Waters of that Well of Liberty which this renowned Army hath digg'd with their swords which was stopt by the Philistines the fierce Jew and uncircumcised Canaanite the hopes whereof made me readily to hearken to the call to this service as if it had been immediately from Heaven being fully satisfied That the prisoner was long since condemned to dye by Gods Law which being more Noble and ancient then any Law of man if there had been a Statute that he should not dye yet he ought to be put to death not withstanding and that this High Court was but to pronounce the Sentence and Judgment written against him And though I might have been sufficiently discouraged in respect that my reason is far less then others of my profession yet considering that there are but two things desireable to make a dumb man eloquent namely A good Cause and good Judges The first whereof procures the Justice of Heaven and the second Justice upon Earth And thinking that happily God might make use of one mean man at the Bar amongst other learned Counsel that more of his minde might appear in it for many times the less there is of man the more Gods glory does appear and hitherto very much of the minde of God hath appeared in this action I went as chearfully about it as to a Wedding And that the glory of this administration may be wholly given to God I desire to observe to the praise of his great name the work of God upon my own spirit in his gracious assistance and presence with me as a return of Prayer and fruit of Faith believing that God never calls to the acting of any thing so pleasing to him as this most excellent Court of Justice is but he is present with the honorable Judges and those that wait upon them I have been sometimes of Counsel against Felons and Prisoners but I never moved the Court to proceed to Judgement against any Felon or to keep any man in Prison but I trembled at it in my thoughts as thinking it would be easier to give an account of mercy and indulgence then of any thing that might look like rigor but now my spirits are quite of another temper and I hope it is meat and drink to good men to have Justice done and recreation to think what benefit this Nation will receive by it And now my Lord I must as the truth is conclude him guilty of more transcendent Treasons and Enormous Crimes then all the Kings in this part of the world have ever been And as he that would picture Venus must take the eyes of one the cheeks of another beautiful woman and so other parts to make a compleat beauty so to delineate an absolute Tyrant the cruelty of Richard the third and all the subtilty treachery deep dissimulation abominable projects and dishonorable shifts that ever were separately in any that swayed the English Scepter conspired together to make their habitation in this Whited-wal therefore I humbly pray That as he hath made himself a president in committing such horrid acts which former Kings and Ages knew not and have been afraid to think of That your Lordship and this High Court out of your sublime wisdoms and for Justice sake would make him an example for other kingdoms for the time to come That the Kings of the Earth may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly That he that would not be a patern of Vertue and an example of Justice in his life may be a president of Justice to others by his death Courteous Reader for thy full satisfaction in Reason of Law how the late King was by the Law of the Land accountable for his Tyrannous and Trayterous Exorbitances I refer thee to my Lord Presidents most Learned and Judicious Speech before the Sentence read And I have one word to adde That High Court was a Resemblance and Representation of the great day of Judgement when the Saints shall judge all worldly powers and where this Judgement will be confirmed and admired for it was not only bonum but bene not onely good for the matter but the maner of proceeding This High Court did not onely consult with Heaven for wisdom and direction a president for other Courts to begin every solemn action with Prayer but examined witnesses several days upon Oath to inform their consciences and received abundant satisfaction in a judicial way which by the Law of the Land was not requisite in Treason the Prisoner standing mute as Judges which before was most notorious and known to them as private persons and having most perspicuously discerned and weighed the merits of the Cause in the Ballances of the Sanctuary Law and right Reason pronounced as righteous a sentence as ever was given by mortal men And yet what Action was ever so good but was traduced Not onely by unholy men but by the holy men of the world that professors should pray for Justice and then repine at the execution of it Blessed Lord How does the God of this world storm now his kingdom is shaking An enlightened eye must needs see that it is the design of Heaven to break all humane glory with an iron Scepter that will not kiss his golden Scepter and to exalt Justice and Mercy in the Earth I confess if the greater part of the world should approve such High and Noble Acts of Justice it might be suspected because the most people will Judge erroneously but that Christians that have fasted and prayed many years for Justice should now be angry to see it done what is it but like foolish passengers that having been long at sea in dangerous storms as they are entring into the quiet haven to be mad with the Pilot because he will not return into the angry Seas but I shall observe one passage in the Lord Presidents Speech as a Schollar may presume to say a word after his Master concerning the many menaces minatory dangerous speeches wch are given forth concerning this High Court If men must be kill'd for the faithful discharge of their duties to God their Countrey I am sure the murtherer will have the worst of it in conclusion if he should not be known here though
murther is a sin that seldom goes unpunisht in this world and never did any Jesuit hold it meritorious to kill men for bringing tyrants and murtherers to Justice or to do such horrid acts in the sight of the Sun It was a noble saying of the Lord President That he was afraid of nothing so much as the not doing of Justice and when he was called to that High place which was put upon him he sought it not but desired to be excused more then once not to decline a duty to God and the people for fear of any loss or danger being above such thoughts by many Stories as actions testifie but alledging That of himself out of an humble spirit which if others had said of him I am sure they had done him a great deal of wrong And though he might have been sufficiently discouraged because it was a new unpresidented Tribunal of condemning a King because never did any king so Tyrannize and Butcher the People finde me but that in any History and on the other side the leaf you shall finde him more then beheaded even to be quartered and given to be meat to the fowls of the Air yet the glory of God and the love of Justice constrained him to accept it and with what great wisdom and undauntedness of Resolution joyned with a sweet meekness of spirit he hath performed it is most evident to all the Malignants themselves being Judges Concerning this High Court to speak any thing of this glorious Administration of Justice is but to shew the Sun with a candle the Sun of Justice now shines most gloriously and it will be fair weather in the Nation but alas the poor Mole is blinde still and cannot see it but none so blinde as they that will not see it however it is not proper or convenient for me at present to speak all the truth that I know the Generations that are to come will call them blessed concerning the Integrity and Justice of their proceedings lest I that a maâ— servant should be counted a Sycophant which I abhor in my soul as my body does poyson and this I will be bold to say which I hope God guides my hand to write This High Court hath cut off the head of a Tyrant and they have done well undoubtedly it is the best action that they ever did in all their lives a matter of pure envy not hatred for never shall or can any men in this Nation promerit so much Honor as these have done by any execution of Justice comparable to this and in so doing they have pronounced sentence not onely against one Tyrant but Tyranny it self therefore if any of them shall turn Tyrants or consent to set up any kinde of Tyranny by a Law or suffer any unmerciful domineering over the Consciences Persons and Estates of the Free People of this Land they have pronounced Sentence against themselves But good trees cannot bring forth bad fruits therefore let all desperate Malignants repent ere it be too late of any such ungodly purposes and fight no longer against God Every man is sowen here as a seed or grain and grows up to be a tree it behoves us all to see in what ground we stand holy and righteous men will be found to be timber for the great building of God in his love when Tyrants and Enemies to Holiness and Justice will be for a threshold or footstool to be trodden upon or fit for the fire Lastly for my self I bless God I have not so much fear as comes to the thousand part of a grain it is for a Cain to be afraid that every man that meets him will slay him I am not much solicitous whether I dye of a Consumption or by the hand of Ravilliacks I leave that to my heavenly Father If it be his will that I shall fall by the hand of violence it is the Lord let him do what he pleaseth If my Indentures be given in before the term of my Apprenticeship be expired and that I be at my Fathers house before it be night I am sure there is no hurt in all this If I have but so much time left I shall pray my Father to forgive the Murtherer the blood of Christ can wash away sins of the deepest stain but when he sees his childrens blood sprinkled upon the bloody wretch he loves every Member as he loves himself But know this ye that have conceived any desperate intentions against those Honorable Justices who have made you Freemen unless you will return to Egypt If God in wrath to you and love to any of his people should suffer you to imbrue your hands in any of their innocent blood either you will repent or not if you repent it will cost you ten times more anguish and grief of heart then the pleasure of the sin can cause delight and what a base thing is it to do that which must be repented of at the best But if you repent not it had been better for you to have never been born But let every man be faithful in doing his duty and trust God with the success and rejoyce in Christ in the testimony of a good Conscience for he that hath not a soul to lose hath nothing to lose but blessed be God I have no soul to lose therefore I desire onely to fear him whom to fear is the beginning of wisdom And for all Malignants to come in and joyn with honest men in settling this Nation upon Noble Principles of Justice Freedom and Mercy to the poor will be their best and greatest understanding FINIS 2 Sam. 21. In 1571. 1. Book of Ord. fol. 2 King 12. 20. 14. 1 5. 27 Mar. 5. Car. Darlingrub 15. Apr. 20. Car. Com E Leicesters Case