King And as in Bracton cited by Stanf. 99. b. Since nihil aliud potest Rex in terris cum sit Dei Minister Vicarius quam quod de jure potest ita quod potestas juris sua est non injuriae c because the King as he is Gods Minister and Vicegerent can do nothing upon the Earth but what he may do by Law so that the Power of Equity and Justice not of injury and Injustice is properly said to be his Power Therefore his late Sacred Majesty not being minded to Calm the Stormes of some discontented Spirits by stirring up a Tempest in his own Bosom was pleased at the opening of the late Parliament at Westminster to signifie to the Two Houses that he desired them to preserve the Succession of the Crown in the right Line and withall intimated to them that he would give his Royal Assent to any Laws they should devise or make for the Security of the Protestant Religion as it is now Established by Law in the Church of England or to that Effect but we are living in faece seculi in the very Dregs and the very last and worst of Days we are Jealous again of our own shadows nay we mistrust Gods Providence and Protection and the Kingdom again is like to be ruined by secret Plots and Machinations We have for many years by the wonderful Providence of God been delivered from the Slavery and Superstition of Popery And yet nothing is now more feared than the Introduction and Publick exercise of Popery again in these Kingdoms Although as King James the First the Royal Grandfather of our gracious Soveraign Lord King James the Second in his first Speech to his first Parliament next after his Advent to the Crowns of England and Ireland did declare that it was then our happiness that our Head meaning himself was of the same Religion that the Body was of and that as he was no stranger to us in Blood no more was he a stranger to us in Faith or in the matters concerning the House of God so likewise his Sacred Majesty whom God long preserve in his first Speech to his Privy Counsel next after his first Advent to the Crowns of Great Brittain and Ireland hath been Graciously Pleased to Declare that he will do his utmost endeavours to Preserve and Defend the Government in Church and State as it is now Established by Law in his several Realms and Dominions And besides divers other undeniable Arguments might demonstrate that his late Sacred Majesty or his dear Royal Brother now King James the Second never intended in their Imaginations the least thought to make any alteration of the Protestant Religion as it is Established by Law in the Church of England that further happy alliance of Marriage contracted and Consummated between the Eldest Daughter of his Royal Majesty and the most Illustrious Prince of Orange And a later Marriage contracted also and Consummated between his Younger Daughter and the most Illustrious Prince George of Denmark most clearly confirms the reality of their intentions herein by which Nuptial engagements it appears further that their joint endeavours have been not only to defend uphold and maintain a bare profession thereof in these his Majesties Dominions but also to enlarge and corroborate it abroad as much as lyeth in their Power Do we not know that when a Protestant Prince is to intermarry with a Forreign Princess of the Catholick Religion what great care and provision is made by the Parents or Friends on either side by Articles made and confirmed by some Ministers of State equally chosen and impowered for the purpose of her having a set number of Priests and other Ministers and Servants of her Judgment and Profession for the due Administration and Execution only of such Rites and Ceremonies as are proper for her having and enjoying that Freedom and Liberty that is agreeable to the Rule of her Conscience in that Religion wherein she hath been born and educated And I pray in the time of his late Sacred Majesty by whom the true Protestant Religion was professed that by Law is Established why might not some wholesome Law or Laws have been made by the great Council the Parliament for the prevention of the extirpation of the Protestant Religion and the setting aside those Idle and Aiery Jealousies of the Massacre of the true professors thereof after his Demise or Death But alas I fear I am mistaken in or do not put the question right there are divers Sects and not Religions such as are called Presbyterians Anabaptists Independents Quakers and I know not how many sorts of Novelists amongst us that had not only their Birth and Production but also their full growth in the late times of Usurpation and Rebellion who though they differ in judgment amongst themselves yet in this as formerly they are all still agreeing that if they had but the opportunity they would all shake hands and join together in being against the Kings Supremacy in Church and State as much if not more than the Papists For these several sorts of Sects do not so much differ from us in points of Religion as in their confused form of Policy and Parity being ever discontented with the present Government and are impatient to suffer any Superiority which maketh these Sects unable to be suffered in any well governed State or Kingdom But if we take into serious consideration that it is above Forty years since the late times of Rebellion and that every Individual person now living and that hath since attained to the Age of Fifty years or thereabouts were then Children and had not the discretion to discern or put a difference between good and evil if we consider the great changes and mighty revolutions the Metamorphosis and Transposition of all things in point of Government then and afterwards in time till his late sacred Majesties most happy Restauration then all these Sects or most of them I hope will be ready to conclude with me that they did not nor could know better because that in their Youth in stead of better and more wholsome nutriment they sucked in were nursed and educated in those bad times upon Venomous and Rebellious Principles Quo semel est imbuta recens fervabit odorem Horace Testa diu c. Accordingly what Children have been instructed or Grammard in in their Youth it is hard for them to leave in their Old or Elder years some of these several Sects do still retain their first drunken in Liquor upon a certain shamefacedness to be thought curious or changeable others of them that are more Willful and Obstinate will not be reformed because contrary to St. Pauls advice Rom. 12.16 they are wise in their own conceit and will not be informed CHAP. XI Sheweth that Ignorance of the Law will excuse none and that therefore all Dissenters to the Government in Church and State are advised to Conformity IT is horrible that St. Paul saith they that
ADVICE TO THE COMMONS Within all His MAJESTIES Realms and Dominions Written By Jacob Bury Esq An old Indigent Officer for the County of Bedford as a Captain of Horse in the Royal Army of King Charles the First Containing the perfect Harmony Consent and Agreement between Divinity and Law in defence of the Government Established by Law in Church and State And that Kingly Government is by Divine Right Nihil dictum nec scriptum est quod non dictum scriptum prius LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Jun. for Richard Northcott adjoyning to St. Peters Alley in Cornhill and at the Marriner and Anchor on Fishstreet hill near London-Bridg 1685. To the Right Honourable Robert Earl of Ailesbury and Elgin Vicount Bruce of Ampthill Baron Bruce of Wharlton Skelton and Kinloss Lord of the Honour of Ampthill High Steward of Leicester Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the Counties of Bedford Huntington and Cambridge and one of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council c. Right Honourable HAving received some kindness from your Lordship as also from the rest of His Majesties Commissioners of the Peace for the County of Bedford whereof and wherein your Honour is deservedly for your known and well approved Loyalty Summus procerum proximus à Rege the Chiefest of the Governours and the very next under and after the King therefore I thought my self obliged to shew my thankfulness by doing something that might tend to the good of the whole Community In order thereunto I was principally moved to Write this small ensuing Treatise wherein is contained chiefly The perfect Harmony Consent and Agreement between Divinity and Law in Defence of the Government by Law established in Church and State and is plainly demonstrated That Kingly Government is by Divine Right And now my Lord I most humbly beg your Pardon that I presume to prefix your great Name before this Discourse But since there is nothing therein but what hath its Weight and Warrant from the Holy Scriptures or our Authentick undeniable and well approved of Books of Law I cannot but hope your kind Approbation and Acceptance and am very well pleased I have the occasion offered me to let your Honour know how much I am My Lord Your most Humble and very Obedient Servant Jacob Bury THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader THis small ensuing Treatise Entituled Advice to the Commons within all His Majesties Realms and Dominions are confessed to be but the Gleanings of an Old Indigent Officer of the Royal Army of King Charles the First gathered from the vintage or the larger and more Fruitful Fields of such Authentick Books of Law c. as are cited by the Author for his Vouchers It was Written in time a little before and is Published in short time after the Demise or Death of the Natural Body of our late most Gracious Soveraign Lord King Charles the Second who to his Glory and Honour in all after Ages to come will be Chronicled Miraculously to have excelled all his Royal Ancestors in Mercy and Amnesty to all his Subjects whatsoever that survive him by whose Prudent Governance and Wise Management of all Publick Affairs the Publick Peace of these Kingdoms was to a Miracle preserved ever since his long expected and for good reasons much wished for Restauration Now blessed be God for it his rightful Successor whom God long preserve hath declared and promised that as he is by Right of Bloud and Act in Law next and immediately to succeed his said dear Royal Brother in the Station God hath placed him that is to say in the Governance of these his Realms and Dominions as our Soveraign Lord and King so he shall always imitate his Predecessor in Clemency and Mercy to his Subjects that however he hath before by Wicked and foul Mouthed Detraction been misreported to have been for Arbitrary Government that he always shall and will do his utmost endeavours for the defence and preservation of the Government as it is Established by Law in Church and State that he will invade no Mans property c. Now seeing that it hath pleased God to take to himself from us our late Gracious Soveraign let us all rest contented and fully satisfied that we have wofully experienced the Mouths of Slanderors to have been always apt to call all things into question but that always also they have been unready to approve of any thing tending to the publick Peace and welfare of the whole Community Therefore believe the Word and gracious Promise of his Sacred Majesty believe not every Idle report neither be moved by vain suggestions least through light trust thou bring thy self into danger and which is more bad be counted a fool Let us all believe that none sprung from the Loyns of King James the First will ever alter the Protestant Religion or the Government Established by Law in Church and State Remember there was this Plea allowed in bar of an Action brought in the late times of Rebellion for that the Plantiff had not taken the ingagement to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth without King or House of Lords Take into consideration also what the Impression and Charecter of the Money Coined at Oxford was in these times and also consider what was the Impression and Charecter of the Money then Coined by the late Vsurpers these matters duly considered will without further Arguments demonstrate what the good Old Cause Men aimed at certainly they aimed at nothing less than the alteration of the Government both in Church and State and in order thereunto it may be said that at the last they Fought neither against great nor small but only against King Charles the First the blessed Martyr of ever blessed Memory Now though it be in these his Majsties Realms and Dominions suffered to every one by Lawful ways and means to desire to aspire to a better private Fortune yet withal it is an Office just in all inferior degrees to bear without grudging the Ordinance and Sentence of their Lot otherwise there would be confusion of all Imperies and Governments if it were suffered to every one to aspire to such liberty as he lusteth after beyond the quality State and condition of a Subject wherein God hath placed him The late Plots proceeded as it were by the publick consent of the Dissenters to the present Government and by incitation of certain Seditious Heads who by their rashness are wont to draw the Commons into commotion that by Poverty are assured they can lose nothing and by their Nature are always desirous of Innovation and being easily filled with vain errors and false perswasions are moved at the appetite of any that will provoke them and be their leaders as the Waves of the Sea are carried and hurried hither and thither with the blasts of the Wind. Therefore every Law was made at the first to no other end but to bridle such as would live without Reason and Law and
their own Wills and Pleasures There is no Government more resembling Heaven or more durable on Earth or that hath any certain principles but Monarchy and such a Monarchy that hath an actual visible military strength to support it self not only to protect the Good and Loyal but also to awe the Bad and Rebellious People The King represents God the Houses of Parliament the People And as in some sort is expressed before the King by his Writ gives the very essence and form to his Parliament being the production of his breath therefore Priviledges which are the consequences of the Form must necessarily flow from him Now would you know how to Elect Men Fearing God Honouring the King and such as will not meddle with those that are given to change Know aâ—d take notice that true Religion is the well tempered Mortar that buildeth up all Estates that there can be no true Religion where the word of God is wanting or not duly observed I have proved from and made it plain to you that the word of God condemneth and prohibiteth all mutinous Rebellious Actions whatsoever against the Magistrate either Supream or Subordinate And because there can be no surer sign of the ruine of a Kingdom than the contempt of Religion My Advice is to all that they would Conform but as to such that will not Conform nor be Reformed nor advised to joyn with us in the way Established by Law for the Service and Worship of God because they are either stubborn obstinate or wise in their own conceits and will not be informed such as these that are Dissenters from us in the better half of the Government that is to say in the Government of the Church I pray that as they absent themselves from us in the Divine Service and Worship of God so they would be pleased to absent and separate themselves from the publick meetings in their several Counties for the Choosing and Electing of Members to sit in Parliament for the future for as the Vessel savoureth of the same Liquor wherewith it was first seasoned so it is to be feared the mind of these Dissenters still retaineth those very qualities in their Elder Age wherein it was trained up in Youth However by their absence their misguided Consciences will be clear and the more Loyal and conformable Subjects by their so doing will be less offended and disturbed in their choise and Election of such as themselves that may better Comply than heretofore they did with his late Sacred Majesty in making and constituting such wholesome Laws and Provisions as may make for the security and preservation of our Protestant Religion which is confirmed by Scripture and History of Ancient Fathers in the Primitive Church to be agreeing in Doctrine and Discipline with the truly Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Christian Religion and Profession as it is now Established by Law in the Church of England CHAP. XIX Sheweth that the King of England is and always hath been Supream Head of the Church not the Pope FOR we are to know and understand that the King of England is in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal within these his Majesties Realms and Dominions Supream Head and Governour By the Ancient Law of the Realm the King hath power to visit reform and correct all Abuses and Enormities in the Church and by the Statutes made in the time of King Henry the Eighth the Crown was but remitted and restored to its Ancient jurisdiction which was Usurped by the Bishop of Rome Reges sacro oleo uncti spiritualis jurisdictionis sunt capaces Kings Anointed with Holy Oyl are capable of Spiritual Jurisdiction And 10. H. 7. 18. Rex est persona mixta cum sacerdote the King is said to be a Person mixt or participating with the Priest in the Priesthood Also the King shall have Tythes by the Common Law of which no Lay Person can be capable And the King by himself or by his Commissioners shall visit his free Chappels and Hospitals And by the Cannon Law Omnes Reges dicuntur Clerici and another Text thereof saith quod causa Spiritualis committi potest Principi laico All Kings are said to be Clarks and that however a Spiritual Cause may be determined by a Lay Prince as may be seen in Davyes rep 4. a. And although the proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts be in the Name of the Bishop yet they are the Courts and Law of the King as the Leet though it be holden in the Name of the Lord of the Manour yet it is the Court of the King C. 5. 1. part 39. b. The Canonists ascribe to the Pope Prerogative as to the Interpretation of Laws and granting of Dispensations but the jurisdiction that the Pope by Colour thereof claimed in England was a meer Usurpation to which the Kings of England as I shall presently shew you from time to time made opposition even to the time of King Henry the Eighth And the King of England not the Pope before the making the Statute of Faculties might de jure of right dispence with the Ecclesiastical Law for though that many of our Ecclesiastical were first devised in the Court of Rome yet being established and confirmed in this Realm by acceptance and usage they are now become English Laws and are no more to be reputed Romish Cannons and they are to be observed as the Laws of the Kingdom of England and not to be esteemed or reputed as Rules of the Pope Davyes rep 71 72. And the King is Supream Patron as King and not as in respect of the Supream Jurisdiction that the Realm by the Statute hath acknowledged in him Therefore a Resignation to the King of a Deanry is as good as if it had been made to the Bishop because that by the Common Law he is the Supream Head of the Church of England and the Deanry is void by it And the King shall be made privy and shall give his consent to every Appropriation where the Church is of the Patronage of another as well as where it is of his own Patronage Plowd 498 499. And it appeareth by Doctor and Student 124 125. That the Law hath appointed Six Months unto the Patron to present his Clark unto the Bishop but if the Patron do not present his Clark unto the Bishop within Six Months next after the Church shall become void then shall the Lapse incur to the Bishop and he shall present for the default of the Patron a Clark of his own choosing and his presentation is called Collation and if the Bishop or Ordinary surcease his time and shall not Collate within the Six Months then shall the Metropolitan the Archbishop of the Province Collate his Clark and if he do not Collate within other Six Months then shall the Kings Majesty not the Pope as Supream Ordinary of all the Benefices in England present his Clark to the Church And all the Archbishopricks and Bishopricks within the Realm of England are