being only from the People For it is not the Persons or Names but the superiority of the Authority against which this Faction of Geneva levels all its aims and though for the accomplishment of their ambitious designs which they vail over with the name of Religion they are pleased in words to vest the Parliament in the name of the People and as their Representatives with Authority both over Church and Crown Yet do they at the same time declare that all men of what degrees ranks or conditions soever must be subject to the Scepter of Christ which Scepter they say is committed to their hands So that here is a Yoke ready for the Neck of a Parliament whose intolerable heaviness has already discovered that it is none of Christs but of these Modern Scribes and Pharisees who lay heavy burthens upon other Men but by advancing themselves into the Chair of Supremacy will not touch them with one of their Fingers For these Saints who pretend to a power of binding Kings in Chains will without scruple so claim the honour of shackling the Nobles with Fetters of Iron That this is most certain will appear if we consider that a Parliament can pretend to no right to Government but a Monarch may do the same and upon far better grounds now you see how all their Doctrines vest the people with a Superiority over Monarchy the same Arts and Arguments which subject the Regal Authority to their Will and Jurisdiction must of necessity bring a Parliament within their Power and it is no more but a Mutato Nomine de te narratur fabula turn the Tables and they will play the same Game at the one as the other for if a King for opposing which they stile persecuting them and their seditious practices may be called in question Excommunicated deposed and deprived of his Royal Authority for the same Crimes a Parliament and the Government by Democracy may be altered abrogated and the several members of it may by the people be punished with loss of Life Estate and all other lesser punishments and disgraces And all this must be fathered upon the Good People who shall be flattered into a belief that they have the Supreme Authority when in truth a few it may be one leading politick Presbyters who shall have gained the Sovereignty over the inferior Clergy and by their means and the severities of their Discipline over all the populace who must of necessity have their heads tyed under their Uncanonical Girdles will have under Christ the whole management of all the affairs of Church and State and whoever will venture to dive to the bottom of the Lake of Geneva wil find the fifth Monarchy of the Church which the Papists have so long been setting up but by an Earthquake was tumbled in thither which the Presbyters are weighing up again in order to the new trimming it and putting in a better figure that so it may pass upon the Princes and People of the World under the Notion of the Scepter of Christ and that it is the defire of Sovereignty under the Colour of Religion at which they aim and to which whatsoever is an obstacle whether King Parliament Prelates Lords or Commons shall all be declared Antichristian and Unlawful Powers THE little respect they have shewn to all Parliaments that have opposed them demonstrates the little value they have either for those Honorable Assemblies or their Constitution and they who could pull down the House of Lords because it stood in their light and are so eager to dislimb the Parliament of the Lords Spiritual cannot in reason be supposed to esteem the lower House further than they frame to themselves a prospect that it may be serviceable to their present Interest I need not go back to fetch instances from former times either in Scotland or England of which I could produce a Cloud of Evidences the rude and insolent treatment which this present Parliament has met with from their blades of the Pen is a conviction beyond exception Nor would a new one of which they appear so fond receive any better entertainment at their hands unless to advance the slavery of the Nation in promoting their interest it should imbarque in their design A short view of their Tyrannick Consistorian Government BUT because some peoples ignorance of their intentions is in probability the reason why they admire this Government let me present them with a short view of it in its proper Colours without the shining varnish which they usually lay upon it to deceive the credulous and unwary THAT they are the true Sons of Ishmael whose hands are against all Men will in short appear if we consider their procedure against all sorts of people whom they indeavour to reduce to Obedience to Christ by the method of their Consistorian Discipline Over the Magistracy WE will begin with the Magistracy If they do not their duty in promoting the Holy Discipline by which name is meant Presbyterian Tyranny of Parochial Ministers and the Lay Elders over their Parishes of the Classis or Presbytery over their Division and of the yearly Assembly over the whole Nation or much more if they oppose it or establish any other Church Government they may and ought to be excommunicated deposed and punished and the rule is Universal as to all and all manner of Magistrates whether Kings Parliaments Judges Counsellors or other inferiour and subordinate Governours Now what is the duty of the Magistrate and whether he performs this duty as he ought what means ways and methods of Government are conducive to the Salvation of Men and the good of the Society in order to the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ they are the only Judges and though they pretend to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures yet will they put their own Interpretation upon them which though manifestly contrary to the construction of the most learned men in all Ages and to the universal practice of the Church as is plain in the Case of Episcopal Government Yet herein must they be obey'd under pain of Excommunication and though nothing be more manifest that herein their Will is their Law yet must the Magistrate as well as the People submit to this Arbitrary Supremacy premacy which hereby is manifestly vested in the Presbytery as to direction ultimate Judgment and final determination and the secular Magistrate is no more but the Executioner of their Commands No Law can be binding which they declare contrary to the great design of promoting the Gospel though by seditions violence and tumults and this interest of the Gospel is in reality their own absolute Sovereignty No Obedience is due to the Magistrate further than they assure the People the things commanded are lawful To them may be made all appeals even from the highest Courts of Judicature So that down goes Magistracy and its Power or however must receive its limits bounds measures and rules of Government
over all Temporal affairs LET us now consider how inconsistent this fundamental Article of the Roman Faith is with the Monarchy of the Prince and the Liberty and Property of the people which we shall easily discover by considering the practical Inferences which are necessarily to be deduced from it AND first this devests the Prince of his absolute and Independent Sovereignty Papal Supremacy devests the Prince of his absolute Sovereignty For it is impossible there should be two Supremes in being at the same time over the same places persons and things If the King be Supreme the Pope ought to obey him if the Pope be Supreme the King owes obedience to him and by plain consequence is no more than a greater and Crowned subject and must have a dependence on the Papal power which if it be admitted only purely in Spirituals will yet take away the Divine Right of Kings and if once you remove that foundation down goes Monarchy For it must have either a Divine or Humane right if their right be from Men as it must necessarily be if we admit a superior to it or a dependency upon any humane Creature the power upon which it has a dependency and is superior to it may whensoever it pleases reassume that Right Which would render the condition of Kings more unhappy because more uncertain than that of the meanest private Man by subjecting them to the Caprichio of any humane Authority whereby they may be deposed a degraded greatness being more subject to the greatest inward agonies and affliction and outward contempt than downright poverty and no misery being comparable to a fuisse foelicem NAY further if once you admit this superiority of the Papacy over Kings they thereby become only his Vice-Roys and Deputies and if he judges it expedient to exercise the Authority himself he may supersede theirs as superfluous and you destroy the absolute necessity of inferior Monarchy and the Kingly Office according to the doctrine of Zamorensis Rod. Sanccius Ep. Zamor ut citatur à Carrerio lib. de potest Rom. Pont. p. 131. who boldly tells us That the Papal Sovereignty being the of the World in Temporals as well as Spirituals the Secular Power is neither of pure nor expedient necessity but only where the Church cannot Act. Which in explicite terms is that it is absolutely unnecessary where the Government of the Church is established There is but one step between the unnecessariness and uselesness of Princes and their abolition Thus the second Rome bids fair for a Regifugium in order to the establishment of her Spiritual Empire and Temporal Dominion which can never be effected without destroying this Claim and Title of Princes to the Supreme and absolute Authority within their own Dominions BUT secondly This does intirely ruine and abolish the Legislative power Secondly it â—â—â—es away the Legislative Power of Princes and Executive Dominion of the Prince For if the Pope be superior to him all Laws must depend upon him for their ratification For no inferior Power can make a Law without or against the consent of the superior every such action being a manifest infringement of the Right and Prerogative of that Power which is Supreme nor can any Establishment or Law be put in execution by the Prince but there will lie an appeal against him if there can be any exception found which will never be very difficult Thus Bellarmine tells us That the Pope has power to make or abrogate Laws not as a Political but a Spiritual Prince if they be for the health of Souls or he may repeal them if he judged them dangerous in that particular So that it seems he may do it nor is it material how it is done whether as a Political or Spiritual Prince since how much soever he gains the Prince loses his Legislative power being thereby taken from him and vested ultimately in the Pope And the Gloss upon the Roman Law is clear in the case That if the Imperial Law contradicts the Papal if there may be the danger of Souls the Imperial Law is ipso facto abrogated by the Pontificial Now to disbelieve the Popes Supremacy being against an Article of Faith must needs be dangerous to Souls and by consequence to believe he may not make alter or abrogate any Temporal Law which would be a manifest Heresie and damnable Sin Laws are the Guard of Princes and the sword of Justice is one of their principal securities and if once they come to be disarmed they must lye at the mercy of all Enemies Affronts Insolencies and Injuries which the Envious Ambitious or Discontented with the ungenerous baseness of prevailing Cowards will dare to throw upon naked and exposed Majesty AND without all dispute the belief of this Doctrine of the superiority of the Papal Power and that for Heresie Disobedience and many lesser Crimes Bos de Sig. Eccl. l. 17 c. 3 4. pag. 406. and even unpardonable old age if Eosius be a Catholick Doctor Princes may be excommunicated deposed and punished with Capital punishments as it gave incouragement to the Infamous writings of Pope Urban the second Bar. Ann. vit Vrb 2. Ann. 1089. n. 11. Marian. Inst Reg. pag. 61. Suarez Def. Fid. Cath. adv Angl. l. 6. c. 4. n. 18. Sect. Ergo. Mariana Suarez and others not fit to be named amongst Christians and at which the very Heathens and savage Indians would turn pale so if we will give any credit to the Catholick Historians Sigonius Nauclerus Urspergensis Guicciardine and the French Chronicles the practice has not come short of the principle Instances of which are amongst a multitude Leo Isaurus Henry the Fourth of Germany John King of England Henry the Third of France and Henry the Fourth the most Illustrious Life and greatest Character in Europe and it may be in the whole World and since Treason Rebellion and even the murders of Princes if done in defence of the Papal supremacy will not only find Advocates but narrowly miss of Canonization no Prince can promise himself any security against the Dangers of this Doctrine which is always able to inspire the Race of Ravailac to adventure at the fatal blow Thirdly it renders them insecure as to Possession and Succession AND this conducts us to the third consequence of this Faith That no Prince can be secure either as to Person Possession or Succession of his Crown which by admitting a Power superior to his own must of necessity depend upon its pleasure supposing the Papacy in a condition by Coercion to justifie the Right it claims It bereaves them of the guard of Laws TO manifest this we must consider upon what humane grounds the Establishment of Crowns depends and they are principally these Laws Consederations and Alliances or the Love and Fidelity of their people upon the account of Conscience and Religion As for the Divine Right we see that is not allowed to any Crowned head by the Roman Doctrine
and for Laws you have heard their sence already Of the strength of Alliances Nor can the Royal Masters of the Universe expect more security from the strictest Alliances and strongest Confederations which knots cannot be so closely drawn but the Papal breath can effect that which the great Alexander was obliged to do with his conquering Sword Hear the Determination of Pope Urban the Sixth sent to Charles the Emperor Bull. Vrb 6. Ann. Pontif. â— and Wenceslaus King of Bohemia before the Council of Constance in which he declares That all Contracts Confederations Leagues and Alliances made with Hereticks who are separated from the Unity of the Holy Church or who shall afterwards come to be so are by the Divine Law Rash Unlawful Null and Void even though they be confirmed by giving the most solemn Faith and strengthened by Apostolical confirmation What Prince can now be secure in any of his Leagues or Alliances unless he will tamely take the Roman Yoke of Supremacy which to refuse is Heresie and that debars of any advantage of solemn Faith Leagues and Apostolically confirmed confederations if these be Tow Flax and green Wit hs what Bonds will avail against the Roman Sampson sure nothing but cutting off the winding Curles of this overgrown Supremacy Of the Fidelity of the People NOR shall the Sovereign Princes of the Earth find any Refuge by retreating to the Fidelity and Allegiance of their people founded upon the principles of Conscience For if this be taken for a Rule of Conscience which by being an Article of Faith it must necessarily be That the Papal Authority is Superior to the Imperial all men are bound to obey the Supreme power before the Inferior And so soon as a King for disobedience or any other Crime is declared Excommunicate his subjects are obliged not only to a non-obedience but to disobedience so that Rebellion and Treason are not only established by a Law but cease to be Crimes and become necessary Duties This gave the Original to all those Conspiracies and Treasons against Qu. Elizabeth and her miraculous Successor King James Viz. The Excommunicatory Bull of Pius the Fifth afterwards revived by Gregory the Thirteenth If we dare believe Hieronymus Gatena who writ the Life of the said Pope which was by licence from Sixtus Quintus then Pope printed at Rome Anno 1588. So that if kind Heaven as hitherto it has constantly done did not appear the solicitous Defender and Revenger of injured and oppressed Innocence and more particularly the Refuge and Protection of sacred Sovereignty which wearing its immediate character has rarely been exposed to contempt or been manifestly affronted without remarkable vengeance and were there not more Fidelity to be expected and found in the Generosity of Humane Nature than in this Religion all Kings would by this new Roman Faith be stript not only of all their Royal Robes their Divine Right and Title but left naked and exposed despoiled of all Humane helps and assistances to assure their Scepters in their hands or to recover them should they be lost NEITHER is it possible that they should be upon much better terms for their Succession and Posterity He who cannot assure himself of his own security and establishment is in little probability to do it for another though his Son and by right immediate lawful Successor You shall hear Bellarmine's opinion and judge whether I put an abusive construction upon their Faith If to this The Roman Church for Elective Kings Bell. de Rom. Pont. l. 1. cap. 3. says he were added that neither the chief King nor those inferior Princes should enjoy these as Hereditary Dignities but that the best Men should by the choice of the People be promoted to them it would be the best and in this mortal life most to be desired Government in the World Undoubtedly to the Roman Court to whose absolute will this pretended popular Right of Elections would presently devolve but a material Quaere whether to any other But adds he It would certainly be most agreeable to all Mankind I beg of his Eminence to except Sovereign and Successive Princes out of the number of the All for it would not be very agreeable to them who are the most considerable though not the Most because all love that sort of Government best of which they may hope to have a share such as without doubt this proposed by us is where Power shall be annexed to Vertue and not Descent The Cardinal might at least in his Levelling proposal have spared this last reflection upon those Illustrious persons as if generally they wanted that vertue which should be the ornament to a Crown THERE are several other most Impolitick inconveniencies which of necessity do attend the admission of the Roman Religion and are directly against the Interest of Princes as first that Hereby the Pope maintains a constant Intelligence and exact Correspondency with his Votaries of the Religious Orders who own a dependence only upon him for the Generals of every Order being usually resident at Rome receive a constant account from those of their Order who are Confessors to Kings Queens and great Ministers of State of all the affairs of those Courts where they are permitted the greatest freedoms which if it be of moment is immediately communicated to the Pope or Cardinal Patron SECONDLY He has a Spiritual Militia in constant pay of the Jesuites Dominicans Franciscans and other Orders who do not only strangely influence the people but are able of themselves to compose a formidable power if another Julius or Boniface the Eighth Plat. in vita Bon. 8. should as Platina writes of him repeat the design of striking a terror into Kings Princes Emperors Nations and People IN the last place Hereby a vast and immense Treasure is Yearly drawn out of any Kingdom whilest men purchase from Rome Heaven and Earth by Pardons Indulgences Templa Saccrdotes Altaria Sacra Coronae Ignes Thura preces Coelum est venale Deusque Mantuan Calam lib. 3. Dispensations Investitures Palls Suits Appeals c. So that a Martial Pope has all the furniture of War Men Mony and Intelligence provided at the cost of the Prince and his People to keep them under or reduce them to Obedience if they venture to affront his absolute Power and Supremacy HAVING thus seen what treatment Sovereigns must expect from the Papal Supremacy Papal Supremacy destructive of the Peoples Liberty and Property it is easie to conjecture what must become of the Subjects and that Power which pretends to Excommunicate and Depose Princes and dispose of their Crowns must make no difficulty to be most Arbitrary in the disposal of all private fortunes and if it be Heretical to think that our Lord God the Pope has not Power to Enact what he does Extra Jo. 22. Sect. cum inter nonnullos Gloss ibid. Sect. declar as the Extravagant properly so called and the Gloss there tells us the Power of the
the Coast of Loyalty made Shipwrack of their Lives and Fortunes as before they had done of their Allegiance and a good Conscience witness Mr. Love and several others with whose Martyrdom as they call'd it and some other trifling assistances to his Majesties happy Restauration which they could not avoid they would perswade the World that they have made such an attonement for the last that now they may run upon the score with us and have credit enough for a new Rebellion THAT they believe the People to be above the King which is a fair step towards one is plain for they take it for a fundamental of Government and the Liberty of the People That they may appeal from the King to the Parliament as did the Scottish Kirk whose words are That the Parliament ever retained a Jurisdiction in it self both over the Church and Crown though as I shall shew hereafter this is but a Presbyterian wheedle to a Parliament to make them give the King the Mate and the People I say the Good People are the Men in whom the Supreme Power resides that is the Presbyters and Elders assembled in the Great Sanhedrim who represent both Church and State which the Parliament as they would have it being dismembred of the Episcopal Clergy cannot properly do But to take them at their word for once though I know they do not mean as they speak and let it pass for one of their piae fraudes at which art they are more dexterous than an old Jesuit we know no appeal with hopes of redress can lie but from an inferior to a superior Power and all they aim at in it is to ruin Monarchy by advancing a Popular Supremacy above it which till by them they have accomplished their design they make Semblance as if it were in the Parliament yet Ultimately they intend it for themselves and the Spiritual Cabal for if the Parliament as the Peoples Representatives be Superior to the King all his Right as to Possession Power and Succession depends upon them and how incompatible a Superior Jurisdiction within the same Dominions is with absolute Monarchy we have already made appear since it is the same thing whether the Pope or Parliament in the name of the People have the Supremacy over the Unfortunate Prince The third Principle of Presbytery That Kings may by the People be called in Question for their Administration of the Government A third Principle of Presbytery and which is the natural consequent of the former is That Kings may by their People or their Representatives the Parliament by which word they always understand the Commons the Lay-Lords as well as the spiritual being in truth their great aversion and abomination as experience has told us be called in Question for their Miscarriages or ill Administration of the Government This is the Doctrine of Calvin and of Devils those Primitive Rebels and perpetual Incendiaries of the World the malicious disturbers of the peace and happiness of Mankind Our blessed Jesus the Everlasting Prince of Peace taught no such Doctrine for the word which God sent was preaching Peace by Jesus Christ he is Lord of all Obedience to Magistrates Acts 10.36 and to render to Caesar the things that are Caesars which by his great Example in paying tribute and working a Miracle for himself and St. Peter he confirmed and it may be in that single instance has cut the sinews of the Papal as well as popular Plea to Supremacy over Earthly Sovereigns But what sayes Mr. Calvin with his new Geneva Gospel Cal. Inst lib. 4. p. 540. cap. 20. §. 31. Audiant Principes terreantur Hear O ye Kings and be terrified and well they may at what follows if what he says be as true as the Gospel which though his believers credit I must beg their excuse if I dare not for saith he if there be any popular Magistrates appointed to moderate the lawless lusts of Kings such as were formerly the Ephori opposed to the Kings of Sparta the Tribunes of the people to the Roman Consuls the Demarchi to the Athenian Senate and with which Power it may be as things now stand the three Estates in all Kingdoms are vested when they meet in Parliament I do not forbid them to interpose as it is their duty against the fierceness of Kings so that if their impotent rage trample upon or insult over the meanest of the Populace and they wink at it I do affirm that such their dissimulation cannot be excused from a most wicked perfidiousness because they do thereby fraudulently betray the Liberty of the People of which they know themselves by Gods appointment the Preservers or Defenders according to the Commonwealth translation of the place the Keepers or as Nol render'd it the Protector of the Liberty of the People Private Men indeed he there teaches must submit but a Parliament may nay must Rebel by their own Authority and of necessity HERE is in little a true Landscape and prophetical direction of all our late Rebellion The Parliament he sayes the three Estates but his Disciples are greater Artists than their Master and can effect their design with a quarter of one of them are by Gods appointment the Keepers of the Liberties of the People they must not betray their trust by a base and wicked perfidiousness The King as they foreplot their suggestion to bait the people into Rebellion designs to take away these Liberties of the people and to enslave them under Episcopal Hierarchy in the Church Monopolies Purveyance Protections c. in their politick Liberties he insults over and tramples upon the Populace therefore the Parliament may and ought to defend them all Remonstrances and Petitions are in vain all the fair offers of Majesty in order to their satisfaction and a pacification are but pretences of kindness revocable at his pleasure and therefore there is a necessity to throw the fatal Dye of War and do themselves Justice by the Sword that Vltima Ratio Perduellionis rather than betray the trust reposed in them and which if it be true that he affirms that they know themselves appointed by God they have a Divine Authority to do and the Sovereign Power resides in them and the King is to be accountable for his ill administration of the Government and so farewel Monarchy for it is come to its Conclamatum est and must expire beyond all hope of recovery or resurrection A fourth Principle of Presbytery That Kings may by their People be deposed for miscarriages in Government AND this leads them to a fourth Principle by an unavoidable necessity for he that draws his Sword against his Prince must throw away the old Scabbard and find a new one for his own security in his Sovereigns breast Such dangerous Quarrels as are Competitions for Empire are not to be determined but by the fall of one Party and there is no hopes of comprimising where supreme Sovereignty is the apple
of Contention Caesar aut nullus is the word and therefore in order to the necessary security of Rebels or such who intend to be so who can never apprehend themselves safe so long as their Prince retains a power to punish them therefore they hold That if Kings be found guilty of Miscarriages they may by the people be deposed from the Government and deprived of their Crowns This is the Doctrine of John Knox which he brought from the Divinity Schools of Geneva Knox Hist of Refor or Scotl. p. 392 393. That Subjects may not only lawfully oppose themselves against their Kings whensoever they do any thing that expresly oppugns Gods Commandment but also that they may execute judgment upon them according to Gods Law so that if the King be a Murtherer Adulterer or Idolater he shall suffer according to Gods Law not as a King but as an offender Excellent Scottish Presbyterian Divinity borrowed from the Cobler of Collen of whom I have somewhere read who taught his fellow Mutineers so neatly to distinguish betwixt the Prince Elector and the Archbishop Great pity it was that this Perillus of Presbytery did not try the first experiment of his nice distinction in his own fiery brazen Bull which he invented for Monarchy and in reality all Government which is not agreeable to their humour and design Nec Lex est justior ulla Quam Necis Artifices arte perire suâ Rebellious Artists ought to try Their own Art first and by it die And if John Knox had been hang'd drawn and quarter'd for Treason not as Godly and zealous John Knox but as a most desperate Incendiary and impudent Traytor possibly the succeeding Rebels would have thought the difference betwixt the King and the Person so little as not to have granted Commissions to destroy the one whilst they pretended to honour and obey the other and it may be they would have considered that it might one day come to be their own Case to suffer as Traytors and notorious Malefactors though not as Men which measure since they could never have approved for themselves possibly they might have judged unfit for their Royal Master The former Principles bring the King to be a fellow Subject a Royal Slave in golden Shackles and submits him to the supreme popular Authority this leads him to the High Court of Justice and from thence conducts him to the Scaffold and the fatal Block NOR will worthy Mr. Calvin which title I will give him though it be plain Peter and Paul in his and his Disciples mouths who it seems reserve the Saintship only to themselves he I say will not want an Oar in the Boat of a Rebellion or a hand in establishing a Principle of High Treason against Sovereign Princes Let us hear him Comment upon the Text. Cal. in Dan. 6.22.25 Earthly Princes saith he * Abdicant se devest themselves of all right to power when they rebel against God and are unworthy to be accounted in the number of Men that is in plain English they do not deserve to live and men ought rather to spit in their faces than to obey them when they become so * Vhi sit protoralant saucily proud or froward as to indeavour to despoil God of his Right And. I wonder what he did deserve who was so saucy as to indeavour to spoil Princes of theirs and God too who is their only Judge and Superior and not Mr. Calvin or his People Let us once more reduce this Calvinistical Logick into Syllogisms and you shall plainly see the Presbyterian Conclusion THAT King who is an Idolater or a Persecutor is a Rebel against God and has disrob'd himself of all Right to Reign or Live according to Gods Law he is to be punished not as a King but as a Man in which number too he scarcely deserves to be accounted BUT the King of is an Idolater and Persecutor of Gods people the Saints of Presbytery Ergo. THE major or first proposition you see is their positive Doctrine and own words the minor is thus proved by them KNEELING at the Sacrament and bowing at the name of Jesus is Idolatry and punishing the Godly is Persecution BUT the King of kneels and punishes Ergo. AND though both the branches of the first proposition concerning Idolatry and persecution be false yet being decreed in the infallible Consistory all the arguments and demonstrations in the World are in vain to perswade them to the contrary And therefore from this abominable Divinity and new State Logick of Presbytery they draw the dismal Conclusions That Kings may be Excommunicated by the Presbyters for those Imaginary Crimes and may by the people be deposed as whoever will consult Knox Buch. de Jure Reg. p. 58.62.70 Knox Hist Ref. p. 372. Goodman in his Book of obedience or rather Treason passim praecipue p. 180 184 185. Buchanan Goodman c. may sufficiently be convinced and that they esteem their deposition not only lawful but their publick Murders or private Assasination and though a * Dr. Bilson Warden of Winchester p. 509. learned man of the Church of England indeavours to excuse this Doctrine and mitigate these harsh words of Mr. Calvin it was before he saw the Conclusion nor did he apprehend it would ever be drawn into practice and his Plea for Calvin is rather to be attributed to his great aversion to the Papacy which mistake still prevails with too many who by bending themselves too far from the one extream of Popery which they hate break into Presbytery as the most opposite Interest whose malicious Calumniations make all people Papists who are not Schismaticks though all the advantage such deceived Zealots purchase by running away from the Church of England under that abusive notion of Popish and Antichristian which her Enemies brand her withal is that Incidit in Scyllam dum vult vitare Charybdim Whilst swift Charybdis they avoid They into fatal Scylla slide And had the worthy Gentleman and many others who are imposed upon by the same stratagem either seen or foreseen the tragical consequences of this Doctrine I perswade my self he had too much Loyalty to become its Advocate and the other have too much honesty and love for Monarchy to advance the interest of Presbytery which is as mortal an Enemy to it as the Papacy King Charles the First who was thus like our Saviour rudely affronted by the barbarous Red-Coats WHEN the Son of God came to be spit upon he was very near his Crucifixion and a dreadful example has taught us that when a glorious Monarch felt the fatal effects of this rude and barbarous Divinity and in Westminster-Hall received the same insolent treatment from the impious Souldiers he was at no great distance from his Martyrdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Medit. upon death after the Vote of Non-addresses for if as he makes it his observation if there be but few steps betwixt the Prisons of Princes and
keep the Name and to enjoy their private Fortunes together with many places of trust and advantage in the management of publick affairs though he transferr'd the absolute Power and Dominion from them to himself And there is not the least doubt to be made but since the greatest most durable and potent Commonwealth that ever was in the World did so easily submit the less and more inconsiderable would soon be perswaded to follow their example NOR would any of our Modern Republicks be of long duration were it not for the assistance of their Neighbours who to keep the scale even do not think it fit to let them fall as an addition to the Territories of a neighbouring Prince lest by the accession of so considerable a Power he should become too dangerous and formidable to which policy of State and not to the goodness of their Constitution they are therefore obliged for their continuance and preservation BESIDES to the safety of any Government there is necessarily required great unity in Councils and secrecy in the conduct of many State affairs neither of which can with any probable reason be expected from a Government which is committed to so many Heads who have all Tongues and it may be not brains enough to guard them Nay supposing them all wise men they will very difficultly be brought to agree upon the same expedients and it may be the more hardly for being such Since every mans own reason weighs more to himself than all the World because he apprehends and understands it best Now they who dissent from the rest which some will generally do out of envy and private Pique that their advice was rejected and despised will be apt enough to retard the publick affairs and to divulge the most important secret Counsels of the opposite Faction thereby to render them ineffectual and to advance their own Interest by shewing from events that their Advice Opinion and Counsel was the best FURTHER many times the Debates and Consultations amongst so many different Judgments are so long protracted that before they can arrive at a resolution many favourable opportunities for action are irrecoverably lost And whensoever any great enterprize is to be undertaken for the defence or safety of the Publick in regard they cannot execute their own Commands and all be Generals or Admirals therefore the Commissions they grant to those high Officers are from their fears so limited and restrained lest they should by too great latitude of power grow absolute that it frequently occasions great miscarriages And the fear which their greatest Commanders have to offend so many Masters though it will infallibly render them most cautelous and wary yet will it most certainly make them slip the advantages of many sudden unexpected emergencies which they will be afraid to lay hold of without advice or command from their many Superiors lest the success not answering the promises in the attempt they should fall a sacrifice to an enraged Populace And thus whilest they wait for an Express occasion which will wait no mans pleasure slips away and shews them the bald part of his head which is never to be laid hold of again Domestick Peace not so well secured by a Republick as by Monarchy NOR is there a greater probability of expecting Domestick Peace from a Republick which is the second particular required from all Government in order to the happiness of any Society For where there are many who pretend to an equality and parity in Power and Dignity there will of necessity be jealousies emulations and animosities arising from the differences of Judgment as to the conduct and management of all great weighty or profitable affairs of State And where all things must be carried by majority of Vote since all men naturally have a good opinion of themselves their own wisdom prudence and ability every man will judge most advantageously of his own counsel and advice for otherwise he would not offer it in opposition to others and therefore in all transactions managed by suffrages those persons whose opinion is rejected will look upon it as a lessening of that esteem for Wisdom and Policy which they think they deserve because they desire it should be so and by an unavoidable consequence they will be most certainly dissatisfied if not exasperated with thoughts of revenge against the prevailing and opposite number These discontents occasion the making of parties entring into secret combinations of Faction and frequently end in popular Insurrections Tumults and Disorders to which for this very reason whoever will take the pains to observe it shall find the Government of a Republick far more obnoxious than any other way And Affairs being generally if not constantly managed by a prevailing Faction who endeavour to ingross the sole Authority and advantage to their party and favourites rather than by an even and unanimous consent it makes that party who think themselves injured and affronted by being deprived of the fundamental parity of their constitution restless and industrious in their endeavours to advance their Interest so as to be able to counterbalance the other THUS it was with the Roman Commonwealth when ever the busie active and ambitious spirits were not employed in foreign Wars they were always running into Mutinies amongst themselves Parties Factions and popular Insurrections which would have been more frequent and dangerous had not the policy of the prevailing part of the Senate taken care to cut out Sword-work for them abroad A. V. 281. T. Liv. lib. 2. The first remarkable Sedition was about the Lex Agraria immediately upon granting a forty years truce to the Veientes which was appeased by raising a War against the Sabines Aequi and Volsci No sooner was that at an end but a greater Sedition arose A. V. 297. Liv. lib. 3. in which ten Tribunes of the common people were created and this Decemvirate by violence wrested the Government from the Senate and Consuls And after the creation of the Military Tribunes A. V. 311. Liv. lib. 4. they did for almost seventy years usurp the Government and Authority And generally all those Tumults and great Disorders happened whilest they enjoyed peace and quiet with their Neighbours which can be attributed to nothing but that then the Factions and Factious spirits had time to mind their Interest at home whilest they wanted employment abroad And that there are no greater or more frequent popular Insurrections amongst the modern Commonwealths is to be attributed to that mixture of Monarchy they have in them which balances the Factions and like the natural Salt of the Body keeps those bodies Politick from a Dissolution as also because they are almost perpetually ingaged either as Principals or Confederates in foreign Wars No safety or security of Property in a Republick in regard of their constant Factions THERE is nothing more evident than that the very Essence and Natural Constitution of a Republick inclines it to Faction and it is as plain that
Superior nor owes either Tribute or Homage to any other besides the Almighty Sovereign the Supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth from whom as the King receives it so to him only is he accountable for the managery and administration of it The King is the sole Fountain of all Honour The greatness of his Power according to Laws and the Foundation of all Law nay the very Soul and Life of it for by his Royal word he gives it a Being and by his * Le Roy le veult Affirmative breath that which before was a dead and inanimate Bill becomes a living and an Active Law And in like manner by his powerful negative or ‖ Le Roy s' avisera suspending his consent any intended Sanction becomes abortive and never sees the Sun And as it is both his and his Peoples happiness that his Will is not his Law but that his Law is his Will so it is but highly reasonable that he should have the liberty and freedom of the choice of those Laws by which he obliges himself to Rule and Govern In him is the sole Power of the Sword the Power of making Peace and War and in order thereunto of raising Forces granting Commissions both for Land and Sea In him is the sole Power of Calling Adjourning Proroguing and dissolving Parliaments when and where he judges it most expedient In his power it is to remit the severities of the Penal Laws whereby he may manifest his goodness and clemency as well as his greatness and justice by graciously pardoning both the smaller breaches of his Laws and the more capital offences which he might most justly punish From him all metals receive their Impress and according to the Standard he puts upon them they become valuable and currant Coin From him all places of high Trust derive their Authority by his Commission they Act and put his Commands and the Laws in execution And in short without him or against his Will and Consent nothing can be legally acted or done The Person of the King most Sacred AND as his Power is thus Great so his Person is most Sacred and is therefore most strictly guarded by the Laws which like Solomon's Lions stand on each side of the steps and ascents of his Imperial Throne 13 Car. 2. and with no less Terror than Majesty declare That it is High Treason within or without the Realm to Compass Imagine Invent Devise or Intend Death or Destruction or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction maim or wounding imprisonment or restraint of the Person of the King or to deprive or depose him from the Stile Honour or Kingly Name of the Imperial Crown of this Realm or any other of his Dominions or Countries or to levy War against him within or without the Realm or any other of the Kings Dominions or Countries being under his Obeysance THESE amongst many others are the principal Jewels which adorn the glorious Diadem of the English Sovereigns whose Government being so remote from Arbitrary that it is altogether by the exact Rule of Law Justice and Equity as it must needs be easie for the people so it contributes extremely to the Happiness and prosperous tranquillity of the Princes Reign And were it possible to add one Prerogative more to the Crown That the King might rule in the Hearts and kind affections of his People as well as over their Persons certainly there could no greater happiness befall both the King and his Subjects in this World And as such a blessed Union and Agreement would be their great and Common Interest where the one ruling with Love the other should obey their Ruler from a principle of affection so it is to be hoped that time and a right understanding of the most obliging Temper of their Prince or some other wise expedients will at last allay that dangerous Democratick fury the only present visible obstacle to this desired Happiness which whereever it prevails or enters possesses men with the principles of Usurpation upon many other but more especially upon this fundamental prerogative of the Sovereign by devesting him of the loyal and sincere affections of his People HAVING thus taken such a short view of it as the dazling Lustre of Majesty will permit let us pass from the Sovereign to the Subjects and there likewise we shall most convincingly see the effects of the most prudent easie safe and happy constitution of the English Government under which there is no person who lives in obedience to it who escapes the particular care and cognizance of the Laws The Priviledges of the People first in the sending their Representatives to the Parliament THE first great and fundamental Priviledge of the Subjects consists in the free Choice which the Commons of England have of Delegates or Representatives to be sent to the most Honourable Assembly of the Parliament there to make known the just grievances of the People and to offer such good wholsome and necessary Bills in order to their being promoted into Laws by the Royal Will as may be most for the advantage and happiness of those whom they represent By reason whereof all those Laws by which the people are governed for the present or are to be Governed for the future are such as they themselves have a share in the propounding and preparing there being nothing that can by the Royal assent pass into an obliging Statute or Act of Parliament either against or without their knowledge and consent as is evident from the Proem to most of those Acts which compose our Statute-Law which are in these or the like words Be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by the Advice and with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same So that they must be the most unreasonable amongst mankind who are not contented to be obedient to those Laws which are by their King Enacted and Established not only according to their own preparation and with their free and full assent but at their earnest request and humble Importunity NOR are they only highly irrational but most barbarously treacherous and perfidious who make no account of such mutual stipulations and lawful contracts with which they have obliged themselves as the whole Nation does when by the Parliament they Petition the King to make such or such Laws and upon that condition that he will please to give them the force and power of Laws they will live in obedience to him according to the direction of those Laws For Obedience is the end of all Laws and solemn Faith of Contracts is the essential Foundation upon which all Government and Happiness in this World does depend and there can no Bill pass into an Act of Parliament but it obliges Universally all Subjects to obedience by vertue not only of Royal Authority but of every individual persons promise For whoever gives his Voice